Boy Swallows Universe

By Trent Dalton; 457 pages; Harper, 2019
Reviewed by Angela Allen, April 5, 2020

I made a resolution to read 100 books this year. I’m averaging about 1.5 a week, less than the required weekly two, because at times I read something long, such as "Boy Swallows Universe” written by Australian rising star/onetime journalist Trent Dalton. My son, Charlie, working and studying in Australia, recommended it, and frankly, he embraced the novel more than I, perhaps because he is/was a boy who loves over-the-top adventures. This book tells a classic coming-of-age story as Eli grows up in ridiculously difficult circumstances in Brisbane in the mid-80s. He always has something to conquer or deal with or roll up the mountain. He has to sort out drug-dealing parents, an MIA father, an ex-con for a babysitter, a mute visionary brother, and drug king Tytus Broz, a villain who thinks nothing of cutting off people's limbs for his artificial-limbs business. Eli loses part of his index finger to him, but in the end, Eli triumphs, gets the villain and the girl of his dreams, and reunites his family (sort of). Magical realism pops into this story off and on as Eli tries to discover what it means to be a "good man" amid the chaos. Gifted with an ultra-observant nature, Eli wants to become a crime journalist and to catch the bad guys (he does both). The 500-page novel is funny, touching, and moves along like a freight train. Dalton won some major Aussie literary awards for this first novel (published in 2018) and has a new one coming out this year titled “All Our Shimmering Skies.” Anyone from 12 years old to infinity would enjoy this book, though at times, you have to take a breather: All those crazy adventures and close calls can be overwhelming.