I often avoid reading books of collaboration as a rule. In fact, as of three weeks ago I had yet to read a book which I felt showcased the creative perks of multi-authored stories. But as I was given a copy of The Seems and asked to read it for review, it seemed the Powers That Be wanted me to give multi- authored books another chance.
The Seems is a young adult (YA) novel about a twelve year old boy (Becker) who stumbles upon a "fantastic" job opportunity to keep the world a better place-- literally. Six months after filling out a job application for the "best job in the world" young Becker is recruited to work in the world that maintains our own. This world, "The Seems" is run like a big conglomerate corporation with its various departments such as the Department of Time, the Human Resources Department, and ultimately the Department of Sleep. These and other departments function as a whole with an executive branch and all, to fabricate every experience of our world, from the smell of eggs and toast in the morning to the snores coming out of our mouths at night and the beautiful sunsets in between.
But on occasion, something happens, an anomaly that makes this "seemless" system hiccup: A Glitch. In the movie "Matrix" they called this anomaly "The One", aka Neo. Well Neo isn't the world's liberator in this story. The Glitch is an ugly son of a bug who lives to create havoc and chaos in both worlds. The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, the many years of the Depression, your insomnia two nights ago? You have the Glitch to blame for that.
Which is where our hero comes in. Twelve year old, Becker Drane is a human trained in locating and fixing hiccups in the Seems. Written as if he were 36 not 12, Becker doesn't remind me at all of my years as a youth. His perceptions of the world reflect none of the innocence that is at the heart of any YA character. For all intensive purposes, Becker Drane is a man stuck in a twelve-year-old's body.
What is wonderfully attractive about this book is the world of the Seems. Hulme and Wexler have built a kid's fantasy world, where the most important jobs can be given to those that are often written off as inexperienced or worse, ignorant: children. YA's will love imagining all the various silly tools the hero uses in his travels and will feel the rush of adrenaline as Becker is kidnapped by Bed Bugs and forced to live out his greatest nightmare. Unfortunately, our YA's may also miss out on major chunks of subtle humor used to add complexity to the book such as jabs at the white collar industry that sends out standardized job applicant "Thank you" letters or footnotes that sound like well-written Mike Meyers lines in "Shrek" and its sequels. What works in the movies, comes up lacking in books partly because only one person at a time can fully enjoy a book. Reading a story is not a communal activity. My laughs as I read from one page to the next are not contagious to my daughter who has no idea of the pictures in my head. The humor one gets from books can not be transferred from those that know to those that don't.
Ultimately, however, the Seems is a well written and creative, if not completely original piece of YA fiction which, like the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Donnie Darko" may create its own unique following of readers as the years go by. 3 1/2 PAGES for the Seems by John Hulme and Michael Wexler.
