Fabulous.
Just fabulous.
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is Truly, a girl born with a pituitary gland disorder so severe that she reaches physical proportions, even in utero, greater than anyone in small-town Aberdeen has ever seen. When her mother dies in childbirth, and her father, whose anger and helplessness propels him into alcoholism, dies an early death as well, Truly and her perfect porcelain doll sister, Serena Jane, are split up, Serena Jane going with one of the well-to-do families of the town to continue her charmed life, while Truly goes to live with the town outcasts.
Of course, not everything is as hopeless as it seems. The Dyerson farm, downtrodden though it may be, is the first real home Truly has ever known, and the family becomes her own. Their daughter, Amelia, finally opens up in Truly's presence and begins speaking, and the two of them, along with another 'unpopular', Marcus, who happens to be the smallest boy in school, form an insular group that lasts them into adulthood. Life holds surprises for the perfect Serena Jane, who follows the expected path and winds up somewhere she never expected to be. On their journey, their lives cross and continue in opposite directions, bringing the opposite of everything they had been branded with from birth.
In the midst of the social and emotional workings of the novel lies a mystery that dates back generations: where is the shadow book of Tabitha Dyerson, homeopath and great-great-grandmother of the town's current doctor (who also happens to be Serena Jane's husband)? The answer, and secrets within it, are Truly's salvation, if she can only decipher the clues.
This was a miraculously good book. Baker has created an entirely captivating town full of characters that are reminscent of LM Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, and Truly herself is an adventure. I finished it yesterday, and when I reached into the book basket to select another,
I turned every one aside, until I finally realized that what I was looking for was another Aberdeen. I may give in and read it again.
Rating: five out of five stars. Fabulous. Put it at the top of your to-read list.
As depressing as all of this sounds, it's really not. Truly's
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Review: Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Another YA book (I must be on a kick lately), Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why is a story-within-a-story. A high school boy, Clay, receives a box in the mail from his crush, Hannah, who had killed herself days before. The box contains a cluster of cassette tapes, which tell the story of why Hannah lost hope and faith in life, along with instructions to listen to them and then pass them on to the next person on the list, and a threat that failure to do so will result in the public release of a second set of tapes that are being held by a secret someone who is in turn watching recipients to make sure the instructions are followed.
I found this book simultaneously interesting and unsatisfying. We learn about Hannah's first kiss, her family, the people she has met since moving to town at the beginning of the year, and how the thirteen people on her list have been involved in her decision to end her life. It's very voyeuristic and fascinating, finding out what this poor girl went through, and in some ways put herself through. I think what bothered me occasionally was the delivery of the story - while the events themselves seem realistic enough, the existence of the tapes, and Hannah's way of telling the story, aren't as much so. I don't think this is something that would bother YA readers, so it's not a big deal unless you're an adult. I did like how Hannah was both mature and immature, and the way that the characters interacted with each other, because they were dead-on high school behavior.
I wish that the story hadn't stopped where it did; the reader has no idea what happens once Clay is done listening to the tapes. Does he act on any of the information inside? What happens once everyone has listened? Does the truth get out? I mean, this is high school, and information gets out. I would have liked an epilogue, and I think it would have fit nicely into the story.
Like most YA fiction, TRW goes quickly, and I finished it in an afternoon. The further I got into the story, the more absorbed I was, and I didn't want to put it down until I knew the entire story, in the same way you can't look away from the scene of an accident. It was sort of like an I Know What You Did Last Summer meets an afterschool special.
Rating: four out of five stars: well-written YA fuction about an interesting topic
I found this book simultaneously interesting and unsatisfying. We learn about Hannah's first kiss, her family, the people she has met since moving to town at the beginning of the year, and how the thirteen people on her list have been involved in her decision to end her life. It's very voyeuristic and fascinating, finding out what this poor girl went through, and in some ways put herself through. I think what bothered me occasionally was the delivery of the story - while the events themselves seem realistic enough, the existence of the tapes, and Hannah's way of telling the story, aren't as much so. I don't think this is something that would bother YA readers, so it's not a big deal unless you're an adult. I did like how Hannah was both mature and immature, and the way that the characters interacted with each other, because they were dead-on high school behavior.
I wish that the story hadn't stopped where it did; the reader has no idea what happens once Clay is done listening to the tapes. Does he act on any of the information inside? What happens once everyone has listened? Does the truth get out? I mean, this is high school, and information gets out. I would have liked an epilogue, and I think it would have fit nicely into the story.
Like most YA fiction, TRW goes quickly, and I finished it in an afternoon. The further I got into the story, the more absorbed I was, and I didn't want to put it down until I knew the entire story, in the same way you can't look away from the scene of an accident. It was sort of like an I Know What You Did Last Summer meets an afterschool special.
Rating: four out of five stars: well-written YA fuction about an interesting topic
Review: I Am The Messenger, by Markus Zusak
Having just finished The Book Thief, which is also by Markus Zusak and one of the finest books I have ever read, I was anxious to read another of his novels. I Am The Messenger, while a completely different novel from TBT, was not a disappointment.
The beginning of the story finds Ed Kennedy, a 19 year-old cabbie, caught at a bank during a robbery. After an act of daring that makes him a hero, Kennedy, whose life until this point has been a listless blank note, becomes the target of a do-good blackmail scheme involving increasingly cryptic directions written on playing cards -aces - that arrive at his house. Kennedy doesn't know where the cards are coming from, but two roughnecks that show up at his house let him know in no uncertain terms that it is in his best interest to solve the riddles, follow the directions, and do the good deeds he finds required of him. On his journey, Kennedy helps many people in ways ranging from keeping an elderly woman - who is convinced that he is her husband that died in WWII - company, helping the family of an abusive man, and filling the church of a lonely priest.
I liked this book very much. It did take a little while to get going, but once the deeds started rolling in, it was fun solving the riddles and witnessing the varied acts of kindness, as well as their intended and unintended effects on the lives of those with whom Ed becomes involved. The ending is a little too clever for its own good, or else was just rushed; it feels like Zusak wanted to make a statement, and had a great idea for how to do it, but was too excited to restrain himself to the point where he could work it into the story properly. It doesn't ruin the book, and isn't terribly annoying, just disappointing where the rest of the novel is so well put together. It wouldn't have surprised me in a lesser novel. In fact, I got the sense that, since this novel was written before The Book Thief, this was almost a training ground for him, because IATM has the same cleverness about it that TBT does, just not quite as skilled of an interworking.
While this novel is deemed as YA fiction, I had no idea that that's what it was. I requested it from the library online, so never saw which part of the library it came from. I would never have known except for the author's bio on the back that described it as such. It would definitely be for older YA readers, however, since some of the content involves beatings, a rape, and sexual content.
Rating: four out of five stars; interesting, fun to follow, and for once a focus on the good people can do for each other
The beginning of the story finds Ed Kennedy, a 19 year-old cabbie, caught at a bank during a robbery. After an act of daring that makes him a hero, Kennedy, whose life until this point has been a listless blank note, becomes the target of a do-good blackmail scheme involving increasingly cryptic directions written on playing cards -aces - that arrive at his house. Kennedy doesn't know where the cards are coming from, but two roughnecks that show up at his house let him know in no uncertain terms that it is in his best interest to solve the riddles, follow the directions, and do the good deeds he finds required of him. On his journey, Kennedy helps many people in ways ranging from keeping an elderly woman - who is convinced that he is her husband that died in WWII - company, helping the family of an abusive man, and filling the church of a lonely priest.
I liked this book very much. It did take a little while to get going, but once the deeds started rolling in, it was fun solving the riddles and witnessing the varied acts of kindness, as well as their intended and unintended effects on the lives of those with whom Ed becomes involved. The ending is a little too clever for its own good, or else was just rushed; it feels like Zusak wanted to make a statement, and had a great idea for how to do it, but was too excited to restrain himself to the point where he could work it into the story properly. It doesn't ruin the book, and isn't terribly annoying, just disappointing where the rest of the novel is so well put together. It wouldn't have surprised me in a lesser novel. In fact, I got the sense that, since this novel was written before The Book Thief, this was almost a training ground for him, because IATM has the same cleverness about it that TBT does, just not quite as skilled of an interworking.
While this novel is deemed as YA fiction, I had no idea that that's what it was. I requested it from the library online, so never saw which part of the library it came from. I would never have known except for the author's bio on the back that described it as such. It would definitely be for older YA readers, however, since some of the content involves beatings, a rape, and sexual content.
Rating: four out of five stars; interesting, fun to follow, and for once a focus on the good people can do for each other
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Review: Live Through This: A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love, by Debra Gwartney
I have never personally known anyone whose children have run away, and have only been able to imagine the heartache that must both preceed and follow such a tragedy. I have to admit that I imagined what these families must look like, who they must be, and the images I had weren't always kind. I imagined abuse, or drugs, or parents kicking their children out of the house. I imagined huge cadres of police searching for these children, agencies helping the parents find their babies and bring them home.
Gwartney, who has written for Newsweek and other publications, gives a painfully honest look at what one such family is like in her novel, Live Through This. With her daughters' permission, she has recorded in an incredibly raw way the demise of her marriage, her move and ex-husband's subsequent remarriage, and how as a result of these her two eldest daughters completely fell apart. It was shocking how quickly things moved beyond a normal parent's grasp of control. Gwartney is a well-educated, intelligent woman who loves her children, and yet still she was not able to stop the runaway train, literally and metaphorically. Her telling is so plain, it is easy to see her guilt and devastation at her own failings as a parent, of which she freely admits. The best way I can explain it is that it seemed as though her skin had been scraped with glass in the same way one would skin an animal, leaving only nerves and raw meat. That is what she has shared.
Her girls began somewhat innocently enough to rebel, staying out too late, and doing the usual teenage things. However, their anger and pain regarding the divorce, resulting poverty, and uprooting fueled their teenage angst, and they became involved with The Wrong Crowd, doing drugs and staying out all night, eventually coming home only after several days. The two younger girls were frightened, both of the sisters themselves and over not knowing where they were, and my heart broke for them as their mother tried to simultaneously make life seem normal for them, making cookies and going to ballet, while at the same time sneaking out of the house after they were asleep to scour the streets for her oldest two.
What really shocked me was the complete disregard authorities had for the situation. Police would not get involved. State agencies were no help. The schools only blamed her for not making sure the children were in school and threatened legal action against her for the girls' truancy, of all things. Gwartney had to turn to what were essentially bountyhunters, bootcamps, and eventually foster care, none of which worked. Still the girls disappeared, this time for months, on a drug-fueled tour of the west coast. Eventually, CA authorities informed her that there is a whole movement of runaways in the state, basically forming their own societies outside any regulation, and there is nothing they can do about it. I find this apalling and terrifying.
I applaud Gwartney for her bravery in coming forward, and her daughters for eventually straightening themselves out. This book exposes a minefield of social, familial and governmental failings, and is worth a read. After reading her story, I honestly feel that this could happen to any one of us, after making a few wrong turns or missing a few signs. I feel that maybe I'm more aware now of what to look for in my own children as they get older, and that's always a valuable thing.
Rating: five out of five stars. Raw, powerful and haunting, both frightening and socially valuable, with the added bonus of a post-reconcilliation chapter to soften the landing
Gwartney, who has written for Newsweek and other publications, gives a painfully honest look at what one such family is like in her novel, Live Through This. With her daughters' permission, she has recorded in an incredibly raw way the demise of her marriage, her move and ex-husband's subsequent remarriage, and how as a result of these her two eldest daughters completely fell apart. It was shocking how quickly things moved beyond a normal parent's grasp of control. Gwartney is a well-educated, intelligent woman who loves her children, and yet still she was not able to stop the runaway train, literally and metaphorically. Her telling is so plain, it is easy to see her guilt and devastation at her own failings as a parent, of which she freely admits. The best way I can explain it is that it seemed as though her skin had been scraped with glass in the same way one would skin an animal, leaving only nerves and raw meat. That is what she has shared.
Her girls began somewhat innocently enough to rebel, staying out too late, and doing the usual teenage things. However, their anger and pain regarding the divorce, resulting poverty, and uprooting fueled their teenage angst, and they became involved with The Wrong Crowd, doing drugs and staying out all night, eventually coming home only after several days. The two younger girls were frightened, both of the sisters themselves and over not knowing where they were, and my heart broke for them as their mother tried to simultaneously make life seem normal for them, making cookies and going to ballet, while at the same time sneaking out of the house after they were asleep to scour the streets for her oldest two.
What really shocked me was the complete disregard authorities had for the situation. Police would not get involved. State agencies were no help. The schools only blamed her for not making sure the children were in school and threatened legal action against her for the girls' truancy, of all things. Gwartney had to turn to what were essentially bountyhunters, bootcamps, and eventually foster care, none of which worked. Still the girls disappeared, this time for months, on a drug-fueled tour of the west coast. Eventually, CA authorities informed her that there is a whole movement of runaways in the state, basically forming their own societies outside any regulation, and there is nothing they can do about it. I find this apalling and terrifying.
I applaud Gwartney for her bravery in coming forward, and her daughters for eventually straightening themselves out. This book exposes a minefield of social, familial and governmental failings, and is worth a read. After reading her story, I honestly feel that this could happen to any one of us, after making a few wrong turns or missing a few signs. I feel that maybe I'm more aware now of what to look for in my own children as they get older, and that's always a valuable thing.
Rating: five out of five stars. Raw, powerful and haunting, both frightening and socially valuable, with the added bonus of a post-reconcilliation chapter to soften the landing
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