Will Wonders Never Cease: Attempts at Something New

In his novel, Will Wonders Never Cease, Douglas Thayer tells the story of a fifteen year old boy named Kyle. At the beginning of the novel, Kyle gets trapped in his car underneath an avalanche and the rest of the novel focuses on how he changes he struggles to survive. This story was very unique due to its use of stream of consciousness, not to mention its interesting concept. (I mean, personally, I've never before read a story about a kid trying to dig himself out of an avalanche over the course of a week and a half). Almost the entire story takes place buried in an avalanche. It revolves around one character and his thoughts about himself, his actions, and the people who will miss him if he dies. This combination of details makes for a very unique story.
Because of its uniqueness this novel was a bit difficult to get into. I'd never read anything like it before and didn't know what exactly to expect. The story got a bit repetitive as Kyle reflected again and again on the same issues and people, mostly girls and his relationship with his mom. However, it was an attempt at something new, a fact that I can respect.
This novel isn't the first original attempt that we've read in this class. Nephi Anderson's plan of salvation novel, Added Upon, was the first of its kind, making it a unique, original story unlike anything that had previously been written. Luisa Perkins' novel, Dispirited, was a combination of young adult, LDS, paranormal, fantasy that made it impossible to categorize in terms of traditional genres. These attempts at originality can be hard to get into and they have some kinks to work out, but at least these authors had the courage to try something new. And each found some degree of success within their attempts.

Photo from Washington State Department of Transportation Flickr