The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint - Brady Udall

My favourite book last year.
 
Udall writes serious humour with the kind of natural flair that is a joy to read.
 
A lost Arizona kid does what he can to survive institutions and the good intentions and wayward behaviour of adults, who are lost in their own way, odd and incompetent.
 
Edgar relates his story with a refreshing absence of grievance, learning how to make his own way in a discouraging and prosaic mid-west. His mere existence, it seems, is enough to generate the most engaging misadventures.
 
He is a clear-sighted survivor equipped with a rare strength of focus, and yet still a young boy, touchingly clouded by hope.
 
To it all, Udall brings to bear strong American poetry with understated elegance.