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Leatrice Kakolewski

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp Pd. 3

4 December 2020

When Life Isn’t Like The Fairytales

More often than not life doesn’t resemble the fairytales we grew up learning. Most will

have to face stuff like heartbreak and various other obstacles in their pursuit of happiness. Ollie,

the protagonist, most definitely experiences all different kinds of difficulties throughout his

senior year. Between moving to the opposite side of the country to help with his aunt who is

dealing with cancer and finding out his summer fling goes to his new school, it's safe to say that

Ollie’s life gets a whole lot more interesting. Ollie handles these new changes in his life as any

normal teenager would, not spectacularly, but eventually Ollie is able to carve out his own

Happily Ever After. In Only Mostly Devastated, Sophie Gonzales tells a compelling story with

relatable characters and a unique structure that most people can identify with.

First off, the way Gonzales structures the story provides a contrast that, as the story goes

on, depicts the growth of the relationship of Ollie with Will, his summer fling. Chapters that

focus on the two’s relationship were often prefaced with a flashback to the two’s summer

together. In these flashbacks, the two’s relationship is depicted as “perfect” and the two couldn’t

get enough of each other. These flashbacks provide the reader the context of how Ollie came to

initially fall for Will. As shown on page 203, when it came time to finally say goodbye at the end

of the summer the two could barely part from one another (Gonzales). Making promises that, at

the time, they knew they wouldn’t be to keep. The idea of never seeing the other again filled
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each with unimaginable sorrow at the thought of losing what they had developed over the

summer. In the flashbacks Ollie comes to idealize Will as the boy of his dreams, blind to any

faults one could find with him. This idea of a “perfect Will” is an unhealthy idea Ollie carries

with him, even when confronted that the fact that Will isn’t perfect. After these flashbacks, the

reader is brought back to the present condition of Will and Ollie’s relationship; the jovial

summer flashbacks are contrasted by the bleak condition of the current relationship. Highlighting

how problematic the two had become, with every miscommunication causing more hurt to each

boy. The two didn’t even have a proper conversation until page 70, in which Will had to

practically trap Ollie in an empty hallway to talk to each other (Gonzales). The two had ignored

each other, each with their own reasons, to the point where when they finally did talk it became

an explosive argument. Throughout this argument the reader is reminded of how well the two

know the other, with Ollie being able to quickly pick on what Will’s mannerisms meant. Once

again alluding back to their summer together, where they couldn’t wait to know every bit of the

other. The two boys knew each other too well, but at the same time with the new school year it

was if the Will Ollie saw in school was a completely different person. As their relationship

grows as the story continues, the use of flashbacks peters off. Meant to relate to how the two’s

relationship grew past what it used to be. The set-up of chapters focusing on the growth of

Ollie’s relationship with Will is purposeful; by contrasting how “perfect” the two were over the

summer and how their relationship had changed and grown from a simple summer fling, readers

watch the development of a realistic relationship.

Continuing on, the actions of the characters are believable in a way that enables readers

to relate and connect with the experiences the characters go through. The characters of this book

faced challenges that they grew from overcoming these obstacles. One such obstacle would be
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how Ollie’s family had to deal with his Aunt Linda’s cancer, and the aftermath of her death. The

reason Ollie’s family moved from California to North Carolina was because his aunt’s health had

taken a turn for the worse (Gonzales 3). Which is realistic. In the event of a close family

member’s health taking a sharp decline, who wouldn’t want to be near them in what could be the

last couple months of their life? No one wants to be apart from their loved ones in their last

moments, and Ollie’s wanted to be there. When Aunt Linda’s time finally wan out, the way the

family processes it something anyone dealing with the death of a loved one can relate to. There is

no set-in stone way to grieve, as evidenced with the various reactions displayed by Ollie’s

family. Ollie’s mom for instance, on page 224, is shown trying to remember Linda from her

better days through home movies (Gonzales). Which is contrasted by Ollie’s inability to put on

the happy façade like his mother, needing to escape to process the news of Linda’s passing. From

his grief, Ollie gained a new appreciation for how limited everyone’s time on earth was, and how

one can’t waste time with the people they love. Or as Gonzales put it, “life was too short to play

chicken with something as important as the person you love” (247). Through her realistic

characterization, Gonzales created characters in such a way that readers can relate and learn from

their experiences.

To wrap it all up, combined with the quirky story structure, Gonzales’s cast of characters

that readers can sympathize with created a story that anyone can easily connect with. By creating

a contrast between Ollie and Will’s “honeymoon” like summer and the actual development of

their relationship in the real world, Gonzales allows the readers to view realistic relationship

dynamics of two teenagers still struggling to figure themselves out. In creating a cast of

believable characters with realistic reactions to obstacles that they face, Gonzales made

characters that any person could identify with. In conclusion, Only Mostly Devastated tells the
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story of a teenager navigating his not so fairytale-like life the best he can with the cards life dealt

him, and anyone can relate to this story of self-discovery and growth.
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Work Cited
Gonzales, Sophie. Only Mostly Devastated. New York: Wednesday Books, 2020. Print.