“House of Tomorrow” by Peter Bognanni
I read Peter Bognanni’s new first novel, House of Tomorrow, for the most recent meeting of Books and Bars. Bognanni is a local author, and was able to attend the 2nd half of the discussion, in which he read two very funny short pieces, and graciously answered questions about his book.
House of Tomorrow is a fast, fun read. It’s the bittersweet tale of Sebastian, a teenager who’s been squirreled away in a geodesic dome and homeschooled by his grandmother according to the principles of Buckminster Fuller. (Who, I learned from our discussion, seems to have been known as “Bucky” to his friends.)
I took a deep inhalation of chill air and began pressing and releasing my suction cups, moving over the apex of the dome to tend to the bird stains. At the age of sixteen, I was already the same height my father had been when he passed away, and my lanky frame covered a surprising amount of space on the dome. When I adjusted myself perfectly on the top, every major landmark in town was visible with the naked eye. (3)
When Sebastian’s grandmother collapses during a tour of the house, he meets a family only superficially more normal than his own. He gets to know the Whitcombs, and begins a tentative friendship with Jared, who introduces Sebastian to punk rock. Sebastian had never heard music with lyrics before, so this was a pretty big shock. Each of the characters is dealing (or not, as the case may be) with particular issues, which clash and change over the course of the story. While marketed to an adult audience, this is a charming teen coming-of-age story, and anyone who loves punk should probably check it out, too. It reminded me many times of Frank Portman’s King Dork, which is also a weird-kid-coming-of-age-who-play-in-a-band story. Bognanni (pronounced Bun-YON-ee, not Bog NON ee) says he hasn’t read it, though, so the similarities are coincidental.
Both the story and Sebastian are funny, sweet and sad. While I was bothered that the teen-girl character, Meredith Whitcomb, is overtly sexualized, this worked within the story, but my friend and YA crusader friend Dawn pointed out to me the trope of clueless boys being accosted by sexually intimidating girls, (e.g., King Dork, American Pie) and the same idea is in play here. While it ostensibly gives the woman the power, I think it subversively takes some of it away, too. To Bognanni’s and Meredith’s credit, she is empathic, savvy and intuitive, so a complex character rather than a stereotype.