When I think of friendship, I think of the halcyon days of my childhood with my neighbors, with the fading yellow light of the day and dust being kicked up by our bikes. We often spent entire days together roaming between our homes and would usually end up back in someone’s backyard around a campfire by dark. Some days, we’d each walk home at midnight – on others, we’d crash in a pile in one of our basements. Those neighbors are still my best friends today – we no longer all live on the same street, but the easy conversation and real love is still there. I think it is because I have been graced with such luck that reading books about friendship usually don’t hit the mark for me. However, a recent read felt as though my feelings had been transferred to paper – that read is Benjamin Saenz’s The Inexplicable Logic of My Life.

“I have a memory that is almost like a dream: the yellow leaves from Mima’s mulberry tree are floating down from the sky like giant snowflakes.”

The cover of “The Inexplicable Logic of My Life”

The Book

Saenz is perhaps most well known for his breakout coming-of-age romance novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and it’s sequel, but he takes a completely different direction with The Inexplicable Logic of My Life. Instead of the endearing romance of Ari and Dante, he examines an extremely close friendship. The main character is Sal, a high school senior who has suddenly started getting into fights. His father, who adopted him as a baby, is worried about him as he also deals with the slow demise of his beloved mother. Just as central to the story is Sam, Sal’s best friend since childhood. She is crass and loud, but the two balance each other out extremely well. She tries to help Sal as she deals with difficult boyfriends and a troubled home life.

Sal’s relationship with his father and Sam are are the cornerstones of the story, and Saenz really hones in on the idea of blood not making a family. Sam and Sal are hysterical with their banter, but it is extremely clear that they have a deep love for each other. It really made me think of my closest friends (those neighbors I talked about above). We have experienced so much of our lives together that it sometimes seems we can communicate without words. Even though we talk frequently, I am 1000% sure that if I were to go two years with no contact with any of them, we would pick up right where we left off. I feel that safety net with me wherever I go, and it was very apparent in this novel.

Myself and my neighbors – this was the last day we were all home before we split up for college

Saenz’s strength lies in his descriptions – he artfully crafts sentences about leaves that make them sound like poetry. One of my neighbors, Jack, thought those details dragged, but I feel as though they enhance the story and add to the world and emotions that Saenz is building. Another favorite detail of mine is that Sal’s dog is named Maggie – two of my neighbors, Abby and Alex had a lab named Maggie that was affectionately referred to as the “Neighborhood Dog”. She passed away a couple of years ago, but that little connection brought me a lot of joy when I read this for the first time.

Mags – The world’s best neighborhood dog (plus her buddy Simon)

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life gets five stars from me; I truly fell in love with the characters and felt fully immersed in their world and relationships – to the point that by the end of the novel, I was sad to see them go.

The Bop

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life‘s bop is “Happy Accidents” by Saint Motel. The song really talks about a romantic relationship, but I think it can be related to any type of relationship. It ponders on just how unlikely it is that two people exist at the same time and find each other. I am often overtaken by the sheer vastness of out planet, and how lucky it is that I have found my people in the sea of 8 billion humans. Sal’s story is especially applicable here – there were a lot of happy accidents that had to occur for him to be who he was, and that is not something that should be taken for granted.

So – if you’re on the hunt for a new read, try out The Inexplicable Logic of My Life. You will laugh and cry and all the emotions in between, but you’ll definitely be better off for it.

“Alone was not a word that applied to me as I sat there. Waiting for the sun to rise.”