I can't believe I've already finished the YA book for this month. I sure am glad I got a few recommendations during the meeting to tide me over until July 28th.
*Update*
Bed of Roses is on hold, just waiting for me at the library, and I won't have time to pick it up today. Forget it. I'll leave work early. I must have more books. I think I'm addicted to YA fiction.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Hunger Games *More Spoilers*
Ok, that was just cruel. Poor Peeta! Doesn't Katniss realize that they're probably going to have to get married? That if they split up that the government will be full of ire? Will Peeta be able to survive Katniss's indecision? Will she have to have secret side affairs with Gale? Will the next book be all about their stormy relationship mixed with their first attempt to help the next round of kids picked for the hunger games? Will they end up hating each other? OH my goodness. I hate cliffhangers. I may have to go write some really soppy fan fiction to cheer myself up. I'm glad that Peeta didn't die, but having her fake love for him, making him live in a world where Katniss doesn't love him seems a much worse fate than dieing to save her. Maybe he'll get over her. Likely not. She may even work out her feelings and realize that she does love Peeta after all. But will it be too late? I really love surly, gutsy Katniss. She's a great character. Freakin' heck.
Hunger Games *spoilers*
Ok, I've only just finished the first part of "Hunger Games," but I'm so excited that I thought I would post some of my initial reactions. This book is awesome! I love the humor at the beginning, of the relationship between the cat, Buttercup, and Katniss, that really pulled me in. I identify with her easily, to the point where I was almost surprised when she ended up in the Hunger Games, that's how wrapped up I was. It should have been obvious. Also, I just love Peeta. I found myself having the same issue as Katniss, I did not want to get too attached to him, since he is likely to die. And what about Rue? Will the three band together and escape the games? Thank God this is a YA book, so nothing too terribly awful should happen. I hope. So good!
I'm so wrapped up in it, I think I'll take a break from reading because I don't want it to end, but I really want to know what will happen! What will happen when she realizes that she is in love with Gale? Well, he is certainly in love with her. Will she have to choose between Peeta and Gale, or has she been in love with Peeta all along, and only sees Gale as a best friend? I love Cina, he is such a mysterious and fascinating character, and I love the design of the rich city, and the comparison of the two ways of life. This book is deep, engrossing, and ridiculously entertaining. I don't want it to end. Unlike Katniss, I have absolutely no problem gushing.
I'm so wrapped up in it, I think I'll take a break from reading because I don't want it to end, but I really want to know what will happen! What will happen when she realizes that she is in love with Gale? Well, he is certainly in love with her. Will she have to choose between Peeta and Gale, or has she been in love with Peeta all along, and only sees Gale as a best friend? I love Cina, he is such a mysterious and fascinating character, and I love the design of the rich city, and the comparison of the two ways of life. This book is deep, engrossing, and ridiculously entertaining. I don't want it to end. Unlike Katniss, I have absolutely no problem gushing.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Margarettown by Gabrielle Zevin
This book was an interesting crossroad between Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Elsewhere, but in a good way. I still preferred Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, but I think that is mostly because this book was just a bit too full of gritty reality to suite my taste.
Margarettown is a deeply psychological that borders on magical realism and explores the mind of a woman as seen by the man who loved her as told to the daughter he is leaving behind. A little complex, no? The book is supposedly written for the daughter of the narrator, as the narrator is dying of cancer. The narrator makes several references to the woman's anatomy such as her pubic hair which puzzled me since it was written by the father for the daughter once she is old enough, though at the time of the account being written the girl is only nine.
Once I got used the the strange way the plot twisted, and the reality of the story turned, I found it to be very interesting. There are several places in the book where the importance of perspective is stressed, that life can be seen from a great many directions. A lot of the themes explored here are echoed in her young adult book Elsewhere, which is completely fantasy, and somehow made less sense to me.
This book basically represents the fact that truth is not always what you believe it to be, and that reality hinges on perspective. We see the main character slip up into several people: May as a child, Meg as a teen, Greta as a young adult, Maggie as young woman, Marge as a woman past her prime, and finally old Margaret. I think that it is true that a woman is many people in her life, though Margaret is established as particularly complex character, and the narrator no entirely trustworthy.
If you want to read this book, you must accept that it will not entirely make sense, that the truth will only be eluded to, and that you are left to a large part to draw your own conclusions. I enjoyed this abstract voyage into a relationship, as this is a subject on which Zevin is particularly eloquent. I enjoyed this book well enough, and was sympathetic to the openly flawed characters. This book is not at the top of my favorite books, but it was thoughtful read and I am not sorry I read it.
Margarettown is a deeply psychological that borders on magical realism and explores the mind of a woman as seen by the man who loved her as told to the daughter he is leaving behind. A little complex, no? The book is supposedly written for the daughter of the narrator, as the narrator is dying of cancer. The narrator makes several references to the woman's anatomy such as her pubic hair which puzzled me since it was written by the father for the daughter once she is old enough, though at the time of the account being written the girl is only nine.
Once I got used the the strange way the plot twisted, and the reality of the story turned, I found it to be very interesting. There are several places in the book where the importance of perspective is stressed, that life can be seen from a great many directions. A lot of the themes explored here are echoed in her young adult book Elsewhere, which is completely fantasy, and somehow made less sense to me.
This book basically represents the fact that truth is not always what you believe it to be, and that reality hinges on perspective. We see the main character slip up into several people: May as a child, Meg as a teen, Greta as a young adult, Maggie as young woman, Marge as a woman past her prime, and finally old Margaret. I think that it is true that a woman is many people in her life, though Margaret is established as particularly complex character, and the narrator no entirely trustworthy.
If you want to read this book, you must accept that it will not entirely make sense, that the truth will only be eluded to, and that you are left to a large part to draw your own conclusions. I enjoyed this abstract voyage into a relationship, as this is a subject on which Zevin is particularly eloquent. I enjoyed this book well enough, and was sympathetic to the openly flawed characters. This book is not at the top of my favorite books, but it was thoughtful read and I am not sorry I read it.
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
Something about Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac made me want to read all of the writer's other books, and I find myself somewhat disappointed. Elsewhere was interesting and well written, but I must say that the plot devices were rather dull. I think that Gabrielle Zevin's strength is the way she writes the relationships between her characters, and there was just too much in the way of the characters' development to really make me enjoy this book.
I think I would have gotten the idea about living life no matter what just as well if it has been a love story set on this side of life, I really don't see what purpose setting the story in the afterlife really, truly served in the plot. Gabrielle has a strong grasp on allegory, as can be seen in Margrettown, why embrace fantasy now?
This story is based around the afterlife of a young teenage world in a place called Elsewhere, where the departed can have any day job they want and grow younger until they float back to Earth on a current to experience life again. I think the talking dogs where to keep me awake. I did not hate this book it was well written, and as I said earlier I enjoyed the relationships of the characters, but the whole afterlife thing was not working for me. I felt that the story was not very strong, what with the departed able to watch back on Earth should they choose, or to go back after a year, or to swim there and communicate via plumbing.
Why do lifetimes only seem to overlap one at a time, if each person has lived before? Are the personalities a fixed point in time, then? Why is there no crime or evidence of unhappiness in the other world if it is so much like ours? Why do they bother eating? I just felt the premise left me scratching my head. This book was not a waste of my time, and it gave me a sense of the flow of life, but I just was not over-all impressed by the book.
I think I would have gotten the idea about living life no matter what just as well if it has been a love story set on this side of life, I really don't see what purpose setting the story in the afterlife really, truly served in the plot. Gabrielle has a strong grasp on allegory, as can be seen in Margrettown, why embrace fantasy now?
This story is based around the afterlife of a young teenage world in a place called Elsewhere, where the departed can have any day job they want and grow younger until they float back to Earth on a current to experience life again. I think the talking dogs where to keep me awake. I did not hate this book it was well written, and as I said earlier I enjoyed the relationships of the characters, but the whole afterlife thing was not working for me. I felt that the story was not very strong, what with the departed able to watch back on Earth should they choose, or to go back after a year, or to swim there and communicate via plumbing.
Why do lifetimes only seem to overlap one at a time, if each person has lived before? Are the personalities a fixed point in time, then? Why is there no crime or evidence of unhappiness in the other world if it is so much like ours? Why do they bother eating? I just felt the premise left me scratching my head. This book was not a waste of my time, and it gave me a sense of the flow of life, but I just was not over-all impressed by the book.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Abandoned!
I got halfway through "Cry, the Beloved Country." I need to read something cheerful RIGHT NOW. This book is absolutely gorgeous, but the rich bitter-sweetness of the story supersaturated my mind.
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Silenced by James DeVita
"We as a people deserve whatever government we are willing to tolerate."
- James DeVita
Oh my goodness. This book was so good. It started at a slower pace and then snowballed until I found myself no longer able to set it down. "The Silenced" is the story of Marena, a teenage girl who lives in a fictional United States which is under the thumb of a tyrannical regime called "Zero Tolerance." The book is in a large part based on Sophie Scholl, a young woman who printed and distributed anti-Nazi propaganda in the early to mid 40's.
This book has the flavor of a young adult "Fahrenheit 451," though from the point of view of the revolutionary. As this is a young adult book, the theme largely centers around the philosophies that lead to apathy, victimization, and the illusion of powerlessness. If this book were written for adults it it would have been far darker, and far more brutal. Still, it is easy to see how this story or something like it can be the result of apathetic citizens.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away. The book was interesting, and fairly easy to read, though sometimes the choppy style of very short sentences got on my nerves. The twists of the plot were fairly predictable, but I felt very much for the heroine and her brave desire to risk all for what she believed was right. I think this book is great for young people by way of encouragement to exercise their minds and their voices, and for anyone else who might need a reminder that word are never just words.
- James DeVita
Oh my goodness. This book was so good. It started at a slower pace and then snowballed until I found myself no longer able to set it down. "The Silenced" is the story of Marena, a teenage girl who lives in a fictional United States which is under the thumb of a tyrannical regime called "Zero Tolerance." The book is in a large part based on Sophie Scholl, a young woman who printed and distributed anti-Nazi propaganda in the early to mid 40's.
This book has the flavor of a young adult "Fahrenheit 451," though from the point of view of the revolutionary. As this is a young adult book, the theme largely centers around the philosophies that lead to apathy, victimization, and the illusion of powerlessness. If this book were written for adults it it would have been far darker, and far more brutal. Still, it is easy to see how this story or something like it can be the result of apathetic citizens.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away. The book was interesting, and fairly easy to read, though sometimes the choppy style of very short sentences got on my nerves. The twists of the plot were fairly predictable, but I felt very much for the heroine and her brave desire to risk all for what she believed was right. I think this book is great for young people by way of encouragement to exercise their minds and their voices, and for anyone else who might need a reminder that word are never just words.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)