In an interview with John Corey Whaley at the back of this edition of Noggin, he wondered if he could ‘ground an absurd story in some sort of emotional reality and have a reader connect with something thats impossible’. He completely did just that.

(Some of my favourite quotes)

“We all get lots of people. And maybe we don’t always get to have them the exact way we want them, but if we can figure out a way to compromise, you know, then we can keep them all.”

“Maybe we all just exist, all versions of us exist at times, and we have to figure out a way to get to each of them, to find each one and tell that version that it's okay, that it's all just the way it works, a concept too powerful to ignore but too complicated to explain.”

This book is about a boy who got his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado and five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body. Yes it sounds crazy but the way Whaley wrote this had my heart aching and me chortling the next. This is exactly what Whaley aimed to achieve with Noggin as he says that his main inspiration was Kurt Vonnegut and how he is able to make the reader laugh hysterically on one page and he’ll bring you to tears on the next.

This book is everything. It deals with serious content as Travis has woken up after a 5 year long nap and has to deal with nothing being the same. There are definitely some quality quotes and messages within this book that I will admire Whaley for writing, as this book was what I needed at the moment and I will reveal that I did tear up in certain parts. There are a couple of particular scenes that I honestly will not forget as the writing was immaculate - Whaley’s writing had elements of poignancy without going to far. Never did I question the reality of this book because it felt so real and I honestly am waiting for a story like Travis’ to become real.

It is quite a ‘get the girl’ story, as Travis is left thinking he is still in a relationship with his girlfriend. Yet it deals with family, sexuality, school and having to deal with not being in control. It is a second time rite of passage for Travis and thank the almighty John Corey Whaley for letting me experience it. Whaley also states that ‘Noggin could be [him] processing the huge chance in life [he] had going from teacher to author. The book was what [he] always wanted to do. That was [him] waking up from a frozen nap, if you will.’ The fact that Noggin was a metaphor of some sort for Whaley makes me appreciate this ‘absolute best head transplant surgery’ book even more.

Noggin is filled with bad jokes, wonderfully horrible head puns and awkward situations, yet filled with insight as Whaley merges and collides the past and present, allowing us to feel just as Travis does as he struggles to accept that everything has changed.