Odd
What does it take to make a human who they are? What influences affect each person in this spinning world of ours? Is it the parents and how much love each applies to raising an individual? Is it the environment to which they are born into? Humans are unpredictable at best, and when someone says they have humans figured out, they are proven wrong. We are creatures of habit who are never the same because of the very influences around us.
In Dean Koontz’s book Odd Thomas a young man’s life is laid bare before us. The book’s protagonist is a 20 year old named Odd Thomas. Odd is fry cook at a diner, in a small town in California called Pico Mundo. His life is described as pretty normal except Odd has the ability to see dead people. More importantly he not only sees dead people but he is given this ability to seemingly help dead people right the wrongs in their lives. The book is written in first person and it gives Odd’s account of a major event that happened in August, in the sleepy town of Pico Mundo. Through his recount and back story, we see not only what happens but the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings. Koontz’s book, Odd Thomas, uses in story influences to provide convincing characterization for a well-rounded main character that has had an interesting life.
Let’s start by looking to Odd’s past. His mother raised him with the help of his Grandmother, Pearl Sugars, who was gone most of the time on the gambling circuit. Odd’s mother was helpless to raise him; her inability to deal with any sort of problem is evident. This is personified on page 376 when Odd relates a story about when he was a child. While dealing with a bout of flu when he was about five years old, he cried and suffered for his mother to come...
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...eeps through the pages as Odd relays his thoughts for the book. This gives us a glimpse at Odd and the influences in his life. While not all of them are listed here, the ones that are, play a pivotal role in his life; something he seems to become more and more aware as this story goes on. It’s as if Koontz is trying to tell us a little about ourselves, that while we have known influences like our family, there are many more out there that help shape us into the beings that we are. Humans are a product of influences, but since no one human is influenced by exactly the same things then how are we to know what others want, need or feel. This story is a beautiful adaptation of that very concept with a little bit of mystical tossed in to keep it and the story interesting.
Works Cited
Koontz, Dean R. Odd Thomas: An Odd Thomas Novel. New York: Bantam, 2012. Print.
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