Keith Matters!

Everything Matters, by Ron Currie Jr.  What a fantastic read from a book that I just happened to pick off the shelf because of the cool cover design.  I had never heard of this book, or this author, until I stumbled upon it one day in Barnes and Noble.  Many of the reviews on the inside page compared him to Kurt Vonnegut, so I knew I had to give it a shot.

It is the life story of Junior, who, when in the womb, was told by some voice (God?) that the world would be hit by an asteroid and obliterated around when he is 36 years old.  This voice talks to Junior throughout his life, giving him inside information on everyone around him.  But it's also the story of others close to him as well, like his brother Rodney who was a young coke head and then turned into one of the greatest baseball players ever, even though he wasn't all there in the head.  Also his alcoholic mother, and his Vietnam vet father who is a baker at night and works in a warehouse during the day.  And the love of his life Amy.

I really enjoyed the setup of this book.  There are different chapters from each person's point of view, and there are also chapters of just the voice talking to Junior, in numerical bullet points that count down to the end of the world.  There are neat plot twists, as well as a complete reversal toward the end of the story.  Junior gets a chance to do it all over again, and even though the ending wasn't what I was expecting, he learns the lesson that he had been missing all his life... That everything matters.  Even if you know the world is going to end, it is important to realize what you have in this life, and keep them close.

There are many over-the-top elements in the book, like the baseball star Rodney, to Junior curing cancer, and Junior designing a spaceship to leave Earth and emigrate to another planet.  But in the end, it is a very heartwarming book, and even a little sad at times.  Very good read.
Four and a half out of five stars.