Freak Magnet Hardcover – June 15, 2010

Charlie is the Freak and Gloria is the Magnet. Charlie is refreshing and a delight; he captured my heart almost immediately. Gloria was a bit harder to love, but I did care for her by the end of the book. I'd say this story centers people's responses to life's difficulties - especially as they relate to loved ones. Charlie and Gloria are believable characters that I enjoyed reading about. My one complaint - and the reason I rate this 3 rather than 4 stars - is the abruptness of the ending. I felt like it needed a bit more.

I recently finished Freak Magnet and really enjoyed it. It was a refreshing, modern love story without any traces of sappiness or corrniness. Very realatable. I would highly recommend this book! Freak Magnet

Freak Magnet isn't at all how I expected it to be. I thought it would be a lighthearted, fun contemporary romance and, while it was all of those things, it was also a lot deeper and serious than I thought it would be. Ultimately it's about hope and surviving what life throws at you, whether it's loss or illness or simply feeling like an outcast.Auseon has a brilliant grasp of teenage vocabulary, and often made me laugh out loud with quick one-liners from Charlie, or sarcastic retorts from Gloria. The humour used was right up my street, as was Charlie's small obsession with Superman. The guy wore a Superman costume under his regular clothes... can you get much cooler than that?! I don't think you can. He has a cape and everything!Speaking of Charlie, he's a lovely guy. He's innocently honest (perhaps TOO honest!), and so thoughtful and kind that it's hard not to fall completely in love with him. He cares for his unwell mother while holding down school and a job, and at night he stargazes with a telescope he bought by mowing hundreds of lawns. He's like my perfect guy imagined and put onto a page, complete with an extensive knowledge of the Man of Steel. I want one!Gloria took me a little longer to warm to, but by the end of the book I loved her. She's still dealing with the loss of a family member, and meets Charlie purely by chance. She is a freak magnet, after all. When these two meet, it's like some kind of fate. They help each other more than they know, and provide much-needed comfort and support. The secondary characters - Charlie's friends and Gloria's sister - are also great to read about, and each has their own story that fits in seamlessly.I love novels told from two perspectives through dual narration, and Freak Magnet is now firmly on my list of must-read contemporaries. I wish there could have been a little more romance, but hey, that's not the most important thing to Charlie and Gloria. I liked that, because it was realistic and allowed for a beautiful friendship to develop. If I ever meet a boy who wears a Superman costume under his shirt, you can bet I'll be flagging him down on a crowded street. Some things have just got to be done.

You know that feeling you get when you love something so much you want to climb to the top of a very tall building and shout so loud you burst your own eardrums. Well, thats kind of how Freak Magnet made me feel. The only problem is that I'm kind of scared of heights, so that puts a downer on the whole situation, so I'm going to have to settle for shouting my love across the interweb. Can you hear that girl shouting "Charlie Whyatt I LOVE YOU" yeah, thats me. I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book, only I got something I never expected. Like missing the last bus home, only to have your crush pull up next to you and take you home and kiss you on your porch. It made me think "oh WOW this is *awesome*. And it wasn't a gradual thing either, i'm used to falling for characters gradually over the course of the book, but not these characters. They are quite literally magnets (yes I went there), I loved them instantaneously.I'm going to sound like a talking advert for some cheesy 80's song, because I want to litter this review with sayings like "my heart is full of love for this book" or "this book burns as bright as a star in the sky". Because thats how I feel, I even had a bizarre thought that maybe I should eat one of the pages. I didn't because I'm not cool with defacing books, but in all honesty, the thought was there. Then I put it down to the fact that I just love the way this man writes, how his characters manifest like real people on the pages, how something so witty can have so much depth. And that amount of admiration surely must mean that I should eat one of the pages, to see if it tastes as good as it reads, because if this book was food, it would be the best food EVER!Charlie Whyatt is a freak, I'm not going to lie, it says it right there on the cover. Gloria Aboud is a "Freak Magnet" she attracts that crazies like you would not beleive. She even writes it all down in her Freak Folio, a little book where she documents each and every time a crazy person talks to her. Then she meets Charlie, and when I say meets, well you'll know what I mean when you read this book. Because you will. Read it, I mean. We then follow the Freak and his Magnet to a place you will never see coming, but a place that is the best place of all the places.Auseon has a way with words that makes everything seem like your getting a private screening into the minds of real life people. Hey, Andrew, if your reading this and Charlie is based on a real life person, then can you give him my email? it's in the little box in the top left hand corner? Yeah, I know your a writer and not a pimp, but give a girl a break would you, your just the middle man, an enabler if you will. Back on topic, there is a hidden depth to this book that is not really hinted at by the synopsis, I expected a story that would be so light, we could float away together, but Auseton manages to give the characters a real sense of depth, and shows in the harsh light of day that real life is hard. Everyone battles with something, everyone has inner demons they need to fight. He shows us with these carefully crafted characters that people are not perfect and we shouldn't ask them to be, we should ask them to be who they are. Real.Charlie and Gloria are two characters that I wish were my friends. Charlie with his eccentric ways, how he can't seem to talk fast enough because he has too many words to say, and his love for his telescope and everything the universe holds. Gloria who was well, glorious. Broken and strong and artistic. I loved watching them both develop over the course of the book, how they come to realise that not tackling pain head on will only come back to bite you in the ass. And the secondary characters were just as awesome, in a more unassuming way. Edison with his crazy insane wheelchair and that old wise head of his. To the people who worked at the drug store, guys, I feel your pain. I'm kind of blowed away by how much I loved this book, because it was so unexpected. I would read this again and again and find something new to love each time. Poignant, witty, mesmorising and compelling, I dare you to read this book and not fall in love with every single word on its pages. Magic.