Holding Up the Universe

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Niven

Cover art copyright © 2016 by Shutterstock

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Jack Robinson for permission to reprint lines from “I Love to Love (But My Baby Just Loves to Dance),” words by Jack Robinson, music by James Bolden. Used by permission of Robin Song Music SARL and ROBA Music Publishing.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Niven, Jennifer, author.

Title: Holding up the universe / Jennifer Niven.

Description: First edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2016] | Summary: “A boy with face blindness and a girl who struggles with weight fall in love”—Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016003865 (print) | LCCN 2016029920 (ebook) | ISBN 978-0-385-75592-4 (hardback) | ISBN 978-0-385-75593-1 (library binding) | ISBN 978-0-385-75594-8 (ebook)

Subjects: | CYAC: Prosopagnosia—Fiction. | Brain—Wounds and injuries—Fiction. | Obesity—Fiction. | Love—Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.N6434 Ho 2016 (print) | LCC PZ7.N6434 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

Ebook ISBN 9780385755948

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v4.1_r1

ep

for Kerry,

Louis,

Angelo

& Ed,

who help hold up my universe

and for all my readers everywhere,

who are the world to me

“Atticus, he was real nice….”

“Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.”

—
To Kill a Mockingbird,
Harper Lee

I'm not a shitty person, but I'm about to do a shitty thing. And you will hate me, and some other people will hate me, but I'm going to do it anyway to protect you and also myself.

This will sound like an excuse, but I have something called prosopagnosia, which means I can't recognize faces, not even the faces of the people I love. Not even my mom. Not even myself.

Imagine walking into a room full of strangers, people who don't mean anything to you because you don't know their names or histories. Then imagine going to school or work or, worse, your own home, where you should know everyone, only the people there look like strangers too.

That's what it's like for me: I walk into a room and I don't know anyone. That's every room, everywhere. I get by on how a person walks. By gestures. By voice. By hair. I learn people by identifiers. I tell myself,
Dusty has ears that stick out and a red-brown Afro,
and then I memorize this fact so it helps me find my little brother, but I can't actually call up an image of him and his big ears and his Afro unless he's in front of me. Remembering people is like this superpower everyone seems to have but me.

Have I been officially diagnosed? No. And not just because I'm guessing this is beyond the pay grade of Dr. Blume, town pediatrician. Not just because for the past few years my parents have had more than their share of shit to deal with. Not just because it's better
not
to be the freak. But because there's a part of me that hopes it isn't true. That maybe it will clear up and go away on its own. For now, this is how I get by:

Nod/smile at everyone.

Be charming.

Be “on.”

Be goddamn hilarious.

Be the life of the party, but don't drink. Don't risk losing control (that happens enough when sober).

Pay attention.

Do whatever it takes. Be lord of the douche. Anything to keep from being the prey. Always better to hunt than be hunted.

I'm not telling you all this as an excuse for what I'm about to do. But maybe you can keep it in mind. This is the only way to stop my friends from doing something worse, and it's the only way to stop this stupid game. Just know that I don't want to hurt anyone.
That's not why.
Even though that's the thing that's going to happen.

Sincerely yours,

Jack

PS. You're the only person who knows what's wrong with me.