December was a painful and honestly written story that spoke to me as a parent, but also as someone who can still remember and understand the urging to just shut down as a child. The novel centers around eleven year-old Isabelle, who loss of control of a purposeful day of quiet has resulted in a nine month silence, and her parents, Ruth and Wilson, who are at the end of their wits.
Isabelle decided to stop speaking one day after witnessing yet another fight between her parents. Unfortunately, the silence took on a life of its own, and as the book begins, Isabelle feels powerless to make herself utter a sound, even to the point of not playing the piano if anyone is around. Her complete withdrawal makes it impossible for her to work through daily life with anyone, and thus her own youthful interpretations of the world around her play into her child's belief that she either does or should have much more control over the world than is realistic.
Her parents, for their part, are at a loss as to what started Isabelle's silence, and what to do about it. Their efforts to remain a family, and their heartbreaking, constant fight to find a way to allow Isabelle to open back up, are all too real. As a parent, I could only imagine myself in their shoes, feeling the growing helplessness and despair as the months wore on. Their attempts to help their daughter are so real, in part because in their struggle the parents make missteps that are absolutely something that I could imagine myself doing, like bringing Isabelle's sketchbook to her therapist, who then decides to use it as a tool in a therapy session rather than just reviewing it in private as had been previously agreed by the parents. Isabelle, furious, withdraws further due to what she sees as a betrayal. Ruth, dismayed, beats herself up for her failed attempts at getting help. This is a terrible cycle that continues throughout the book until the surprising final breakthrough.
December is very well-written. Each character is allowed to speak, and just as I would begin to identify too strongly with the parents' struggles and pain, and become angry with Isabelle on their behalf, the perspective would change and I would see through Isabelle's eyes, and her own painful emotional issues would flood thorough me. I could easily imagine this being a child I could know, or even one of my own children, and that will probably haunt me for quite awhile. The very idea that one of my children could shut down so totally without my having any idea what was coming, or how to fix it, terrifies me. It speaks of the effects of children on a marriage, and of marriage on children, as well as the stunning importance of the verbal connection between children and their parents. There are no 'bad guys' in this novel - just a family orbiting around silence.
Rating: four out of five stars - well-written, emotionally involving family drama.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Review: The Elegence of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery
Highly popular in Europe, The Elegence of the Hedgehog is yet another book told from two points of view (this is popular lately, it seems), that of Paloma, suicidal 12yo daughter of ultra-rich parents, and Renee, the concierge of the condo building Paloma lives in. Both are ultra-intelligent and, for their own reasons, are determined to hide this intelligence, and indeed their entire selves, from everyone around them.
For anyone who has read Sophie's World, this novel is in somewhat the same vein, in that it relies heavily on philosophical ideology for content. Both main characters are highly introspective, and interested in the reasoning of the world around them.
After I got past the initial chapters, and my mind adapted to the style, which is unmintakeably French, I started to become interested in the characters. Underneath Renee's determination to appear as the world expects her to be, and Paloma's preteen self-righteous angst, were complex and very human intellectuals that I found to be increasingly absorbing. The dry humor created by the snooty assumptions of the people around them as well as their own internal monologues was rich, and I appreciated reading material that was obviously written for its own worth rather than to make money for the author.
Until I reached the end.
The last two chapters left me feeling as I have after a French meal - nauseus from the heavy sauce and like I would feel better if I could purge it.
In a purely literary sense, the tragic event that takes place is understandable, if shocking, but was also entirely unnecessary. Things could easily have gone another way. I don't feel that deep has to necessarily equal tragic. In addition, the final chapter, which describes the aftermath, felt stale and removed after becoming so intensely personal.
I literally threw the book on the table when I finished. Those, my friends, are precious hours that I will not get back. While I do not read to be made happy, I do not like it when a book throws a huge curveball at the end and then stops, as it were, dead.
Because I can't stand not to tell you, I will give this SPOILER ALERT -
*******************
After going through the whole novel, and having Renee and Paloma find each other, and Renee meet new male tenant in the building who not only is her exact intellectual companion but who is also obviously falling in love with her, Renee goes out to run an errand and is hit and killed by a laundry truck. There are reasons why the truck is significant, but still, BOOM, she dies. Then there's one more chapter, and the whole thing is over. ARGH!!!
***********************
Rating: four out of five stars: just because I'm pissed doesn't mean it's not a worthy read. However, this is not a beach book - it's a little heavy and demands concentration, making it sort of an undertaking. The tale itself is good, and the characters interesting.
For anyone who has read Sophie's World, this novel is in somewhat the same vein, in that it relies heavily on philosophical ideology for content. Both main characters are highly introspective, and interested in the reasoning of the world around them.
After I got past the initial chapters, and my mind adapted to the style, which is unmintakeably French, I started to become interested in the characters. Underneath Renee's determination to appear as the world expects her to be, and Paloma's preteen self-righteous angst, were complex and very human intellectuals that I found to be increasingly absorbing. The dry humor created by the snooty assumptions of the people around them as well as their own internal monologues was rich, and I appreciated reading material that was obviously written for its own worth rather than to make money for the author.
Until I reached the end.
The last two chapters left me feeling as I have after a French meal - nauseus from the heavy sauce and like I would feel better if I could purge it.
In a purely literary sense, the tragic event that takes place is understandable, if shocking, but was also entirely unnecessary. Things could easily have gone another way. I don't feel that deep has to necessarily equal tragic. In addition, the final chapter, which describes the aftermath, felt stale and removed after becoming so intensely personal.
I literally threw the book on the table when I finished. Those, my friends, are precious hours that I will not get back. While I do not read to be made happy, I do not like it when a book throws a huge curveball at the end and then stops, as it were, dead.
Because I can't stand not to tell you, I will give this SPOILER ALERT -
*******************
After going through the whole novel, and having Renee and Paloma find each other, and Renee meet new male tenant in the building who not only is her exact intellectual companion but who is also obviously falling in love with her, Renee goes out to run an errand and is hit and killed by a laundry truck. There are reasons why the truck is significant, but still, BOOM, she dies. Then there's one more chapter, and the whole thing is over. ARGH!!!
***********************
Rating: four out of five stars: just because I'm pissed doesn't mean it's not a worthy read. However, this is not a beach book - it's a little heavy and demands concentration, making it sort of an undertaking. The tale itself is good, and the characters interesting.
Friday, March 20, 2009
New Book Announcement!
The next book will be.... The Book Thief! This narrative of a 9 year-old book-stealing foster child, as told by Death, who meets her at her brother's funeral, has over 500 five-star reviews, so I'm expecting an amazing read.
Questions will be posted May 1st. This will allow anyone who wants to catch up to take a little extra time, or to order it from the library. Also, it's out in paperback, so it will be inexpenisve should anyone want to buy it.
Questions will be posted May 1st. This will allow anyone who wants to catch up to take a little extra time, or to order it from the library. Also, it's out in paperback, so it will be inexpenisve should anyone want to buy it.
Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart
To me, this just goes to show that just because an author publishes an adult novel that I don't enjoy doesn't mean that I shouldn't give their children's works a try! If I had written off Trenton Lee Stewart after I read and didn't like 'Flood Summer', I never would have found The Mysterious Benedict Society, which is one of my new favorite-favorite children's books.
TMBS is the story of Reynie, Kate, Constance, and Sticky, four children among hundreds who answered a mysterious ad in the newspaper looking for 'gifted children interested in special opportunities'. Each of the children has a particular skill, such as a photographic memory or extreme resourcefulness, that sets them apart from others, in addition to one important, fateful fact; each of them is currently without parental involvement. These facts allow them to be accepted into Mr. Benedict's 'society', as child spies working to infultrate the evil Mr. Curtain's so-called Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened and destroy his Machine, a device with which he is planning on taking over the world using subliminal messages recorded by children at the school. The four aptly-named children must solve riddles, overcome henchmen, and 'Inspector-Gadget' their way through a series of obstacles that are both thrilling and entertaining.
I love this book. I love the writing, I love the characters, and, most of all, I love being able to play along on the adventure. I read this with my daughter, and we immediately read the second installment. The third will be out in the fall, and we will be first in line to get it.
Rating: Five stars. Definitely read this, and if you have kids who are old enough for chapter books, read it with them.
TMBS is the story of Reynie, Kate, Constance, and Sticky, four children among hundreds who answered a mysterious ad in the newspaper looking for 'gifted children interested in special opportunities'. Each of the children has a particular skill, such as a photographic memory or extreme resourcefulness, that sets them apart from others, in addition to one important, fateful fact; each of them is currently without parental involvement. These facts allow them to be accepted into Mr. Benedict's 'society', as child spies working to infultrate the evil Mr. Curtain's so-called Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened and destroy his Machine, a device with which he is planning on taking over the world using subliminal messages recorded by children at the school. The four aptly-named children must solve riddles, overcome henchmen, and 'Inspector-Gadget' their way through a series of obstacles that are both thrilling and entertaining.
I love this book. I love the writing, I love the characters, and, most of all, I love being able to play along on the adventure. I read this with my daughter, and we immediately read the second installment. The third will be out in the fall, and we will be first in line to get it.
Rating: Five stars. Definitely read this, and if you have kids who are old enough for chapter books, read it with them.
Review: Brave Story, by Miyuki Miyabe
At eight hundred and twenty four pages, Brave Story is the longest book I have read in some time. Although it is in the children's section at the library, it is not really a children's book; at most, it would be appropriate for YA readers, but it's subject and content are really more for adults.
The story follows Wataru, a young Japanese boy, whose father has turned his back on his family in favor of another woman. In an effort to save his family, and his suicidal mother, Wataru follows a classmate, Matsuru, through a portal into another world, called Vision, in hopes of completing a journey that will lead him to the Goddess of Vision, who can grant him his one true wish. On his travels, he joins up with two companions, Kee Keema and Meena, who help him in his quest to find the gems that belong in the base of his sword and beat the increasingly-evil Matsuru to the Goddess.
It turns out that Vision is actually created by the imaginations of people in the real world, and as such is a reflection of the real-world travellers that go through the portal. Each human traveller faces obstacles and situations that are a direct result of his own inner prejudices, loves, and fears. While overcoming these trials, Wataru becomes increasingly aware of what his true nature, and thus true desire, is. The ending is both satisfying and appropriate.
While I found the first few hundred pages of this book not too terribly difficult to walk away from, the deeper I got into the story the more I wanted to read, until by the end I was up until well after midnight so I could finish. It reminds me very much of Stephen King's Gunslinger, mixed with a smidge of Norton Juster's Phantom Tollbooth (which is one of the best books I have ever read, BTW, really, you should read it if you haven't) in that I feel as though I have more to think about now that I've finished it than I did when I started.
Rating: four out of five stars. engaging, creative, and thought-prevoking
The story follows Wataru, a young Japanese boy, whose father has turned his back on his family in favor of another woman. In an effort to save his family, and his suicidal mother, Wataru follows a classmate, Matsuru, through a portal into another world, called Vision, in hopes of completing a journey that will lead him to the Goddess of Vision, who can grant him his one true wish. On his travels, he joins up with two companions, Kee Keema and Meena, who help him in his quest to find the gems that belong in the base of his sword and beat the increasingly-evil Matsuru to the Goddess.
It turns out that Vision is actually created by the imaginations of people in the real world, and as such is a reflection of the real-world travellers that go through the portal. Each human traveller faces obstacles and situations that are a direct result of his own inner prejudices, loves, and fears. While overcoming these trials, Wataru becomes increasingly aware of what his true nature, and thus true desire, is. The ending is both satisfying and appropriate.
While I found the first few hundred pages of this book not too terribly difficult to walk away from, the deeper I got into the story the more I wanted to read, until by the end I was up until well after midnight so I could finish. It reminds me very much of Stephen King's Gunslinger, mixed with a smidge of Norton Juster's Phantom Tollbooth (which is one of the best books I have ever read, BTW, really, you should read it if you haven't) in that I feel as though I have more to think about now that I've finished it than I did when I started.
Rating: four out of five stars. engaging, creative, and thought-prevoking
Review: Dreaming Waters, by Gail Tsukiyama
I have read several of Gail Tsukiyama's books, and of my favorite adult books, she has written two - Street of Ten Thousand Blossoms and Women of the Silk. While not in my top ten favorites of all time, I still found Dreaming Waters to be a worthwhile read.
In DW, Tsukiyama tells two sides of a family story; Hana, who has Werner's syndrome, which has aged her 38 year-old body to that of a frail 85 year-old, and her mother, Cate, who is Hana's main caretaker, share alternating chapters. Later in the novel, a third voice, that of Hana's childhood friend's daughter, Josephine, as she visits Hana and Cate.
While the story focuses necessarily at times on Hana's illness, the real story is in their relationship, and their family's history. Thankfully, the typical mother-daughter strife is absent, and is replaced with their journey of togetherness and small discoveries of who they are as individuals. Hana's seemingly-golden childhood friend, Laura, joins the story after the halfway point, looking backward for comfort as her own family is falling apart. It is the story of the mourning of a life not fully lived, and yet also the celebration of the spirits with the strength of Tsukiyama's as-always beautiful writing.
Rating: two and a half out of five stars - well written, but not even close to some of Tsukiyama's other works.
In DW, Tsukiyama tells two sides of a family story; Hana, who has Werner's syndrome, which has aged her 38 year-old body to that of a frail 85 year-old, and her mother, Cate, who is Hana's main caretaker, share alternating chapters. Later in the novel, a third voice, that of Hana's childhood friend's daughter, Josephine, as she visits Hana and Cate.
While the story focuses necessarily at times on Hana's illness, the real story is in their relationship, and their family's history. Thankfully, the typical mother-daughter strife is absent, and is replaced with their journey of togetherness and small discoveries of who they are as individuals. Hana's seemingly-golden childhood friend, Laura, joins the story after the halfway point, looking backward for comfort as her own family is falling apart. It is the story of the mourning of a life not fully lived, and yet also the celebration of the spirits with the strength of Tsukiyama's as-always beautiful writing.
Rating: two and a half out of five stars - well written, but not even close to some of Tsukiyama's other works.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Mysterious Benedict Question 4: Sticky
Sticky runs away from home because he thinks that his parents only want him for the money his quiz show earnings have brought to their impoverished family. Do you think it was wrong of them to allow Sticky to become the breadwinner of the family, given their situation? What would you do if one of your children suddenly presented the family with such financial potential?
Mysterious Benedict Question 3: Rules
Both Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain are very fond of rules. Do you think that there is more freedom through the maintenance of rules, or the supposed lack of any at all? Is it possible to have no rules whatsoever, or are there always unspoken rules we must follow?
Mysterious Benedict Question 2: Similarity
Which of the four characters is most like you? Who would you *want* to be similar to?
Mysterious Benedict Question 1: Opinion
Well, what did you think? Did you like it? Why? What was your favorite part?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Benedict Society Questions Update!
I should have the questions for this month's book up shortly. Sorry for the delay!!!!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Review: Daniel Isn't Talking, by Marti Leimbach
Many of you may remember Marti Leimbach for another of her works, 'Dying Young', which was made into a movie starring Julia Roberts. Her latest novel, Daniel Isn't Talking, focuses once again around a medical issue, albeit certainly not a fatal one - autism.
Melanie is the mother of Daniel, who at three years of age cannot communicate other than by screaming, cannot sleep through the night, cannot use the toilet, and who is interested only in one wooden toy. As the novel begins, Daniel is undiagnosed, and Melanie is losing her mind trying to cope with raising Daniel and his sister, Emily, in a home where their father, Stephen, is desperately insisting that there is nothing wrong with anyone but Melanie, who he feels is imagining things. Once Daniel is diagnosed, Stephen immediately begins to insist that Daniel belongs in a special program, essentially away from the family, an option that is advocated strongly by the so-called experts Melanie initially consults. Their disagreement on how to work with Daniel, and the emotional disconnect that has festered between them for years, results in Stephen moving out, while Melanie begins to sell her posessions in an effort to get her son the treatment he needs.
While it took me a little while to get into this novel, once the real story began, I was hooked. The first few chapters deal mainly with Melanie's mental and emotional struggles over her fears for Daniel, and involve many visits with a therapist who basically drops out of the picture once the couple splits. I felt that for something to have been such a major part of the book, it is a little odd to have that topic dropped, but I was actually relieved; the therapy sessions are really a ruse to provide a backround on Melanie and her various relationships, so once that information has been provided, there's really no use for him, anyway. I was very interested in the process that Melanie goes through on finding out more about autism, and in the various therapies she tries. I do not have an autistic child myself, but know several children who are, and I feel like this story provides insight into their families, and what it must be like for them.
I also think that the relationship Melanie begins with Daniel's therapist was pleasant to read about, and I liked that it didn't add unnecessary drama to the story. No one had a fit of 'it's him or me'; it was very low-key, if overwhelmingly convenient. I also liked how Stephen's leaving was handled - Leimbach mentions events and phone conversations after the fact, where Melanie had apparently begged Stephen to return home, but there isn't overmuch painful detail. Stephen is developed in a satisfying way, and the final act of their relationship made me smile.
Review: three out of five stars - interesting and informative without being overdone
Melanie is the mother of Daniel, who at three years of age cannot communicate other than by screaming, cannot sleep through the night, cannot use the toilet, and who is interested only in one wooden toy. As the novel begins, Daniel is undiagnosed, and Melanie is losing her mind trying to cope with raising Daniel and his sister, Emily, in a home where their father, Stephen, is desperately insisting that there is nothing wrong with anyone but Melanie, who he feels is imagining things. Once Daniel is diagnosed, Stephen immediately begins to insist that Daniel belongs in a special program, essentially away from the family, an option that is advocated strongly by the so-called experts Melanie initially consults. Their disagreement on how to work with Daniel, and the emotional disconnect that has festered between them for years, results in Stephen moving out, while Melanie begins to sell her posessions in an effort to get her son the treatment he needs.
While it took me a little while to get into this novel, once the real story began, I was hooked. The first few chapters deal mainly with Melanie's mental and emotional struggles over her fears for Daniel, and involve many visits with a therapist who basically drops out of the picture once the couple splits. I felt that for something to have been such a major part of the book, it is a little odd to have that topic dropped, but I was actually relieved; the therapy sessions are really a ruse to provide a backround on Melanie and her various relationships, so once that information has been provided, there's really no use for him, anyway. I was very interested in the process that Melanie goes through on finding out more about autism, and in the various therapies she tries. I do not have an autistic child myself, but know several children who are, and I feel like this story provides insight into their families, and what it must be like for them.
I also think that the relationship Melanie begins with Daniel's therapist was pleasant to read about, and I liked that it didn't add unnecessary drama to the story. No one had a fit of 'it's him or me'; it was very low-key, if overwhelmingly convenient. I also liked how Stephen's leaving was handled - Leimbach mentions events and phone conversations after the fact, where Melanie had apparently begged Stephen to return home, but there isn't overmuch painful detail. Stephen is developed in a satisfying way, and the final act of their relationship made me smile.
Review: three out of five stars - interesting and informative without being overdone
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