Second Banana to None: Going Ape for Abbi Waxman

When I read that Abbi Waxman's latest novel, Adult Assembly Required, was a follow-up to The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, I was excited.  I loved quirky bookworm Nina, especially how she dealt with her social anxiety.  The main character in Adult Assembly Required is Laura.  She suffers from anxiety too, although hers stems from a car accident.  In every other way, Laura is different from Nina.  She's into baseball, not books, wears sweats instead of vintage dresses, and runs every day.  (Upon meeting her, Nina makes Laura promise that she won't try to make Nina "healthy.")  Yet despite their opposing interests, Laura and Nina begin to bond.

Not that this is the focus of Adult Assembly Required.  That would be Laura's friendship-and-possibly-more with Impossibly Handsome Bob, a character from Waxman's first book, The Garden of Small Beginnings.  Contrary to his name, Bob isn't a ladies' man.  In fact, he can barely talk to women without tripping over his words.  I found this endearing because so many hot heroes are stuck on themselves.  Indeed, Bob's aw shucks demeanor is the puzzle piece missing from most leading men.  That's why his sweet, slow courtship of Laura is refreshing -- even if it's fraught with misunderstandings beneath its dignity.  But I was willing to let that slide in deference to the tenet that only trouble in interesting.  Also because Laura and Bob are good people whose biggest flaws are that they get in their own way.  That's the thing about Waxman's books.  The characters may be smarter than most -- but they're nicer than most too.  Mix in lots of wry humor, and you have brain candy worth the calories.  

Speaking of candy, one of my favorite scenes takes place during a Halloween festival:

"Unsurprisingly, Polly was a huge fan of dressing up, Nina was not, and Laura was somewhere in between.  This resulted in the following disparity: Polly was dressed as a banana, complete with a giant foam costume and shoes made of fake banana leaves; Laura was dressed as a monkey holding a banana, which simply meant she was wearing a giant onesie with ears and a tail she'd bought on Amazon; and Nina was eating a banana and making fun of the other two." (333)

Now, that's my kind of cerebral silly.  Way to go bananas, Waxman.