The Infinite Noise (2019)
Written by: Lauren Shippen
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 329 (ARC)
Publisher: Tor Teen
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
The Premise:
Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.”
Caleb is an Atypical, an individual with enhanced abilities. Which sounds pretty cool except Caleb’s ability is extreme empathy — he feels the emotions of everyone around him. Being an empath in high school would be hard enough, but Caleb’s life becomes even more complicated when he keeps getting pulled into the emotional orbit of one of his classmates, Adam. Adam’s feelings are big and all-consuming, but they fit together with Caleb’s feelings in a way that he can’t quite understand.
Caleb’s therapist, Dr. Bright, encourages Caleb to explore this connection by befriending Adam. As he and Adam grow closer, Caleb learns more about his ability, himself, his therapist — who seems to know a lot more than she lets on — and just how dangerous being an Atypical can be.
This review will be spoiler free.
Discussion: The Bright Sessions is a podcast started in 2015 about a group of people with superpowers that all go to therapy to figure out how to cope with being Atypical. It’s a beautiful, brilliant podcast with amazing voice actors and storylines.
You never know how a media tie-in novel is going to go, even when the media it’s tying into is as popular as The Bright Sessions is. So when I found out that Lauren Shippen, author and star of the podcast, was going to be writing a young adult adaptation of Caleb and Adam’s story, I was thrilled and also a little nervous. I love the way the podcast is written, but books are a very different medium.
After blitzing through this book in an afternoon on a plane? I really needn’t have worried. Caleb and Adam’s friendship was the storyline that really drew me into the podcast, and I loved getting to know them better here and having the cracks between the podcast episodes completely fleshed out. Things like Caleb dealing with feeling Adam’s depression, the depth of it, and that getting into a relationship with Caleb doesn’t fix it, because that’s not how depression works. It was nice to get to know their families better and see their dynamic.
The book is told in first person, flipping between chapters to between the two main characters. That is normally my least favorite device, but I think it worked well here. We’re used to Caleb’s point of view from the podcast, and it was nice to see more of Adam up close, to see first hand the impact of these revelations.
It was also nice to not have to deal with coming out drama for the main characters. They were dealing with so much else in the story that dealing with parents freaking out or fallout among classmates would have seemed like too much.
The most important question, probably, for people who haven’t yet listened to the podcast is whether or not this story stands alone, and I believe it does. The reading would certainly be enhanced by a knowledge of the podcast, but isn’t necessary to follow along with this story. Other characters from the podcast, mostly introduced later in the novel, aren’t integral to the storyline.
In conclusion: This book was a delight. Newbies to The Bright Sessions will be swept away by the storyline, and listeners of the podcast will revel in getting more depth for two beloved characters.
This sounds like a LOT of fun! Thank you for reviewing it!
Any time, it was so good!!