A different road to adventure

The road to adventure is paved a bit differently in Riverdale author Josh Greenfield’s new book, “Full of Wonderment: a novel.”

When reading the first few pages of the young adult novel, the reader is caught up to speed with main character Jordan Fineman. Although Mr. Fineman and a portion of “Full of Wonderment: a novel” have been featured in Mr. Greenfield’s previous book, “The Obsessive Chronicles,” a prospective reader would not need to scan through the pages in confusion.

After finishing his sophomore year at Cornell University, Mr. Fineman plans to travel to Alaska to find a summer job and get back to New York in time for the fall semester. But beneath the surface of a spontaneous trip, he is dealing with the beginnings of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, a twist inspired by Mr. Greenfield’s own experience with mental illness. 

Mr. Greenfield is an advocate for raising awareness about mental illness. Although many contemporary young adult novels explore this topic, Mr. Greenfield’s approach to his character’s struggle is subtle but realistic. Instead of giving a laundry list of symptoms, the novelist briefly explains and describes them before moving the story along. Mr. Fineman’s disorder does not define him, it is only a portion of who he is. 

“Full of Wonderment” is a title inspired by a moment at the end of Homer’s “The Odyssey,” but the literary references do not end there. Throughout the book, Mr. Greenfield continues to draw from “The Odyssey” and “Don Quixote” to tell a story about what happens when a traveler ventures somewhere new and meets others along the way. Mr. Fineman finds unconventional jobs at a salmon cannery and as a mountain climber, and Mr. Greenfield manages to make his character’s experience a page-turner.

Book lovers who need a sense of structure in what they are reading might not be able to get past the fact that “Full of Wonderment” is not organized by chapters. But those who are not discouraged by this lack of formal structure may appreciate the way Mr. Fineman tells a story for 167 pages straight, as if he is talking to a friend. 

Although his niche is to discuss mental illness, it would be interesting to see Mr. Greenfield break out of that mold for a bit in a future novel to see where his writing talents can take him. 

“Full of Wonderment: a novel” is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.