Out of Nowhere

by Ouida Sebestyen

Book Overview

When he yanks his duffel out of the car, Harley knows he's never going back to his old life of drifting around with his mother and her latest boyfriend. Joining forces with an improbable assortment of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140376402
• ISBN13: 9780140376401
• Release Date: November 1995
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

A place to belong

The story of a lost kid wanting a family is hardly a new one, but Ouida Sebestyen infuses it with new life and new insights in "Out of Nowhere." Her solemn, stark book is a good read for both the lonely, and those who realistically want a better life for themselves.Harley Nunn leaves, fed up with his ever-shifting life with his promiscuous trailer-trash mom and her constant flow of boyfriends, in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. He soon acquires a travelling companion, a pit bull called Ish, who was abandoned as Harley feels he has been; soon after, the two are given a ride by an elderly woman named May, who is trying to forge a new life for herself after her husband left her. Though she doesn't want the responsibility of a boy and a dog, she allows Harley to come with her to her run-down little house. There they find a relentlessly Pollyannaish girl, Singer, who tells them that a junk-collecting drifter called Bill has been living -- and collecting junk -- in the house. Bill and May clash when he returns from the hospital (after setting his bedpan on fire to create a diversion while he escaped), with her ordering him to leave and him refusing. Singer offers philosophical advice, while Harley struggles with his lack of roots and his longing for even the vestiges of a home. But it seems that the collection of lost souls will never be able to exist in peace. Only a tragedy can give them the true soul of a family.Every sitcom has brought up the concept that family is defined more by love than by blood. Sebestyen adds extra dimensions to this by producing a group of misfits -- not all of them get along, and more often than not they don't. But neither do they despise one another. The paths of Bill and May make it difficult to accept Harley, and Harley's past makes him increasingly desperate for love. Harley is an unusually deep teenage character with a quietly likeable personality. Anyone who has felt alone or unloved -- or who HAS been alone or unloved -- will sympathize with his longing for someone to care about what happens to him. His outbursts as he realizes that nobody is going to keep him on are well-written, as are his feelings of guilt after Ish is injured. Singer is a little harder to care about, as Sebestyen seems to have tried a little too hard to make her relentlessly optimistic -- a few chinks in her armor would have made her seem more human and interesting. May is too similar to Harley for her own comfort, wounded by the loss of her lying husband and closed off emotionally, even to someone who needs her. Bill is the kindly curmudgeon, a cranky old guy who unconsciously becomes the paternal figure that Harley lacks. His almost comic stubbornness will win over most of the readers.People who need continuous hijinks and action won't like this book -- the pace is gradual and attention is paid to the characters. Aside from a minor accident, it's all introspection drama, with a splash of comedy from time to time. Sebestyen's style is informat

Interesting And Unique

OUT OF NOWHERE is quite different from most books that I've read over the past. It's not very well-known, but I went to my town's library one time and I saw this book on one of the racks and it caught my eye so I picked it up and decided to try it. Well, I did and it turned out to be very good. I never even realized I'd be interested in this kind of book, but as soon as I started to read it, I just couldn't put it down. I wanted to see what would happen at the end. This book is full of emotions but with hardly any action. There are some humorous parts, but this is more like a serious book rather than comedy. Anyways, this book is about a 13-year-old boy named Harley who just got abandoned in an Arizona desert by his outgoing mother and her boyfriend. Soon, Harley comes across an abandoned dog, Ish, who he befriends. He also meets May, a woman in her late 40s, Singer, 16-year-old girl, and Bill, May's tenent. The five have their own problems they need to learn how to face.This book was solidly written. If you're looking for a good book to read this summer, then go pick this one up. I highly recommend it for any teen.

The most well written book I have read.

Out Of Nowhere has got to be the best book ever written for my age group (young adults). The characters, the setting, and most importantly, the plot, make Out of Nowhere the most moving, ispirational, and superb book ever. Sometimes the emotion is so overwhelming that it is like getting punched in the stomach. (In a good way.) All of the feelings in Out of Nowhere are place subtley so that you have to identify with Harley and the other characters because it is like a personal narrative that someone in the situation would have written if it had been a biography. A great, great book.

a pretty good book without ACTION

This book was pretty good. I am not noe to read books that have no action or suspense or anything withouut athletics or sports. Other than that this book was written quite well. The book is about a boy that gets ditched by his mom in the middle of nowhere, and has to survive on his own. This book minus all of the I look for, I do have to admit I actually liked it. It was more of a serious and not really layed back but straight up to the point. I really liked the description of the setting and what it appears to look like. I really enjoyed the how the author showed the emotions of the characters. You could always tell how each of the characters felt. The only negative thing I can say about this book is it was kind of boring and there was alot of dull moments, but other than that I sord of liked the book. I don't really want to recommend this book to anyone.

It's a great book!

Out of Nowhere is one of the best books for the age group which I have read - characterization is strong; both dogs and people in the story are intensely appealing. The story is offbeat & unusual, not at all similar to other books in the genre. I found it difficult to put down, and would find myself thinking about the characters when I was not reading. Sebestyen has done a fine job in crafting a superb story that I'm sure I will remember for years to come. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an engrossing story