After his son’s unexpected death, a man decides to complete the boy’s community service work. He meets someone special in his son’s life and learns to love him all over again, even though it’s too late to tell him so. Author Monica Wood reels readers in with exquisite descriptions but lets the plot flounder in her novel The One-in-a-Million Boy.

Quinn Porter is proud to be a working musician. He doesn’t have major record deals nor does he play national venues. But he always has a job, somewhere, somehow, and when he plays his guitar the world falls perfectly in alignment.

It’s a relief Quinn has his music, because nothing else is going right. Despite being married twice to Belle, the only woman he’s ever loved, he couldn’t make the relationship stick either time. Belle wanted Quinn to settle down, get a regular job, keep normal hours. Quinn would try, really try, but became restless. They thought having a child would make a difference, but even after their son’s birth Quinn couldn’t get wanderlust out of his blood.

Now the worst has happened: his son has died from a congenital heart condition. One day he was here; now he’s not. Quinn is riddled with guilt about the fact that he never got to know his son. He made efforts, but the boy was so different from him that Quinn didn’t know how to relate to him. The fact that his son couldn’t play music drove them even further apart.

When Quinn finds out that his son was working toward a Scout merit badge in community service, Belle convinces him that the least he can do is finish their son’s last seven Saturdays. That’s how Quinn finds himself on the doorstop of Ona Vitkus, a senior citizen who is 104 years old and as sharp as a needle. Ona doesn’t quite trust Quinn at first, only because she’d come to enjoy his son’s company so much, but Quinn’s guilt propels him to fill Ona’s bird feeders, pull the weeds in her yard, and earn her respect.

As time passes, Quinn finds out about his son’s ardent wish to get Ona into the Guinness Book of World Records, and, to his surprise, Ona is game. The two help one another through their personal challenges, which will include a surprise marriage for Belle (to someone else,) a spontaneous road trip for Ona, and the delicate manner in which everyone helps each other through their grief for the boy who brought them together.

Author Monica Wood’s descriptions will delight readers and writers to no end. In one scene when Quinn encounters Belle’s sister, the narrative states:

“He said nothing, following her into the kitchen, where she resumed scrubbing Belle’s sink as if intending to make it disappear.”

Late in the book, Quinn watches a bandmate walk away, and Wood writes:

“From the back, not counting the waistline melting like candle wax over his belt, he could still be the neighborhood kid from Sheridan Street…”

Unfortunately the plot itself doesn’t exhibit as much finesse. Wood lets the characters follow little rabbit trails as they all deal with their collective grief about losing Quinn’s son as well as personal challenges. As a result, the book feels more like a series of short stories stitched together into one larger work rather than a novel with a central through-line.

Also, Wood chose not to give the son a name. Simply referred to as “the boy” or “his/her/their son” throughout prevents any close relationship with the very child who everyone in the novel loves so much. What Wood reveals about him makes him sound like someone readers would love as well, which makes the distance that much more disappointing.

Writers looking to sharpen their skills on descriptive narrative would benefit from reading this novel. Readers who don’t mind several tangents in books would enjoy it too. Otherwise, I recommend readers in general Borrow The One-in-a-Million Boy.

This novel is about a 104 year old woman, the slightly odd boy assigned to help her by his scout troop who forms a surprising friendship with her, and the boy's semi-estranged father who takes over his son's role at the woman's house after the son's death (not a spoiler as we're told this right up front). A little slow at times, but a sweet, sad, very original book with great characters.

This book has been on my list for so long and I am very happy that I got to it. This will be one of my favorite books this year. After the sudden death of his young son, Quinn finishes his son boy scout commitment to help Ona, a 104-year old Lithuanian immigrant. "The boy", who seemed to have possibly undiagnosed Asperger's or something similar, records Ona's life story for a project. "The boy" was obsessed with Guiness World records and searched for a record that Ona could break with her longevity. There is the story of Ona's life and Quinn and his ex-wife Belle's struggle to deal with their son's death. It is so hard to describe this extremely unique novel, but it is a gem.

Super cute story - the writing was engaging and fun. The plotline is interesting and I flew through the story pretty quickly.

First off, I would encourage you NOT to read any reviews for this one and to only read the synopsis that I included above, which I’ve removed all spoilers from.  The other descriptions found elsewhere, even on the book cover itself, includes a huge spoiler in my opinion.  I actually think going into this book not knowing much only enhances the plot.  It is going to be quite difficult to write this review without revealing this a particular detail in the plot, but I shall do my best!

I know this cover is deceiving, when I first saw it, I assumed it was a middle grade book, but it is not.  This is a beautiful adult contemporary book about life.

“The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don’t they teach you anything at school?”

If you have followed me for a while, you may know that I have a soft spot for the eccentric characters.  Wood gave me not one, but TWO new characters to love in Ona and the boy.  Despite the title, this book is very much about an 104 year-old Lithuanian immigrant named Ona Vitkus.  Ona is spunky, funny, insightful, and yet still very flawed.  By the end of this book, Ona learns that you are never too old for a new beginning.  I really enjoyed how Wood chose to reveal details of Ona’s life throughout the course of the book.  We get to know Ona slowly as the boy interviews her for a school project.

I have a soft spot for the boy.  I call him “the boy” because we never do learn his name… intrigued?  You should be.  The boy has a passion for numbers, facts, and Guinness world records.  I loved his inquisitiveness, his quirks, and his heart of gold.

I absolutely adored the relationship between Ona and the boy.  Unlikely friendships are my favorite kind of pairings.  I think the best part of this duo was that they both didn’t really realize how much they both needed a friend before they met.  They both got something different out of their odd relationship: Ona’s thirst for life was restored, and the boy had a goal to work towards (a Guinness world record).

I think Monica Wood wove this story together very cleverly.  The story alternates between past and present, revealing things about Ona and the boy slowly over the course of the book, and weaving their story together with the storyline in the present, which is more about the boy’s parents: Quinn & Belle.   Quinn was a very interesting & complex character in particular.  Though I do not agree with many of the decisions Quinn made over the course of his life (his role as a Father in particular), but I did feel like his character added a lot to the story.  There are multiple story lines going on within these pages, thus multiple themes: friendship, loss, grieving, forgiveness, aging, regret, etc. 

Be prepared for a roller coaster ride of emotions while reading The One-in-a-Million Boy.  This book made me smile, made me laugh, and also brought me to tears.  The ending in particular, broke my heart.  I bawled like a baby.   As you can probably infer from my review, this is a very character driven story.  The pacing is on the slower side, as this is more of a character analysis, but I was always engaged with the story and the characters.

The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood is a must read for fans of Fredrik Backman.  For those of you who have read A Man Called Ove and enjoyed it, this book had a similar feel to me.  Ona isn’t a curmudgeon, however she can be set in her ways and headstrong.  Not going to lie, I was pairing Ove and Ona together in my mind while reading this book.  They would be perfect for each other.

I really don’t understand how this book has not received more attention?  It has a 4.15 star rating on Goodreads with over 8,600 ratings… Trust me people, go pick this book up!  You won’t be sorry.

The audiobook, in my opinion, was wonderfully done.  The narrator, Chris Ciulla, did a wonderful job with all the different characters, Ona (and her Lithuanian accent) in particular.  It was a very believable performance.

*Big thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First allow me to apologize to the author and the publisher for how long it has taken me to read The One-in-a-Million Boy and to write this review. Every single time I began reading the book I was thrown right back to the days immediately following the death of my son. The days where it sometimes felt impossible to even manage to breathe for the day. Oh God, it hurt.

This time I was determined to push through and I'm so glad I did. This is a beautiful book, the likes of which come along all too rarely. Full of wonderful characters and authentic emotions, it will reach your heart in a way you will remember for years to come.

A rare treasure.

This is a wonderful story of a man honoring his son. He had been helping Ona Vitkas, 104 years old with chores around her house. Quinn takes over filling bird feeders and fixing little things. Alternating chapters has Ona answering questions on a tape recorder about her life. This book shows that people don't need to be related to be family. Insightful and brilliantly written, Monica Wood has given us a story for any reader. Listening to Ona relate historic events and how different inventions changed lives is thoughtful and sensitive. This is the first book I've read of hers and I enjoyed it.

Less interesting than I had hope and seemed rather roundabout and rambling in its storytelling