Once for Yes

Millington, Allie. Once For Yes
March 25, 2025 by Feiwel & Friends

E ARC provided by Netgalley 

The Odenburgh is an apartment building at the edge of an urban area that has "Downtown Disease" and is the only older building left on the block. Since the original builder is portrayed as still owning the building, I would guess that the no nonsense, flat-roofed, red brick structure is from the late 1960s. All around are larger, more expensive apartment buildings devoid of style and soul, and the building is concerned about its future. It's put up with having residents, but doesn't really enjoy them, since they are loud and always have problems. One of these residents, Prue, has her share, and uses a defunct landline to perform her bathtub podcast and to talk to herself. She used to do the podcasts with her older sisters, Fifi and Lina, but Lina has passed away in an accident, and Fifi is not longer interested. When the news arrive that the building is going to be torn down, Prue is devastated, since it was where she has lived her whole life, and where she feels connected to Lina. Fifi is glad to move, and the parents, who don't discuss Lina, are practical and locate a new home. There is some mystery surrounding what happened to Lina, and when Prue meets Lewis, a boy who lives across the street, some of the questions are answered. We hear frequently from the building itself, and when Prue decides to mount a campaign to try to save it, the Odenburgh attempts to help by playing tricks with the lighting. Prue's best resource is Niko, who is taking pictures of both the demolition and rebuilding, and the residents do band together to paint the building and to record what the building meant to them. It is to no avail; the Odenburgh comes down, but the stone with the name on it survives, and is included in a park where the memorial bench to Lina is also placed.

Strengths: Millington does a great job at creating a sense of close knit if dysfunctional family, and her portrayals of urban neighborhoods are exceptionally rich. The use of a landline that is still connected but largely inoperable was interesting. This follows the current zeitgeist about land use in cities; I've even seen 1960s era houses in neighborhoods in Cincinnati being torn down so that larger, newer ones can be built. Prue's relationship with Fifi is realistic, since siblings often grow apart when age differences become apparent. I appreciated that this didn't end with the building being saved, which would have been somewhat unlikely given its condition and the problem with rodents.
Weaknesses: If inanimate objects speak, wouldn't it be more interesting if they were under happier and more adventurous circumstances? Like this author's Olivetti, there is a wealth of family trauma in this book, and my students just don't ask for this sort of book.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who are interested in the topic of gentrification and who enjoyed Dilloway's Five Thing About Ava Andrews, Nelson's The Umbrella House, Giles' Take Back the Block, Watson's This Side of Home, or Broaddus' Unfadeable.