Book Reviews

With the marked decrease in work related stress this year, I've actually been reading for fun again. It's mostly been YA fiction, and to all the YA haters out there I'll just say this...there's a reason, other than the built in audience, that Hollywood keeps making YA novel film adaptations. It's been a while since I've posted a book review, so I may be a bit rusty, but here are two books that I finished this week and thoroughly enjoyed.


Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

This is a book that I bought years ago but it got lost in the shuffle of so many moves and ended up buried on my bookshelf. I don't want to summarize the plot because it'll just sound weird. So, here's what the back cover says. "Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and angry at the world for taking her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And her father has determined that Andi's accompanying him to Paris over winter break is the solution to everything. But Paris is a city of ghosts for Andi. And when she finds a centuries-old diary, the ghosts begin to walk off the page. Alexandrine, the owner of the journal, knew heartbreak also, and Andi finds comfort in the girl's words. Until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present."

Once I started reading, it wasn't a book I wanted to put down. It wasn't the obsessive, reading until 2 in the morning kind of book, but I found myself thinking about the story throughout the day. Andi is an angry senior in high school, struggling to keep her head above water. I actually found it refreshing to read a story with a less than perfect female protagonist. In fact, all of the characters are deeply flawed. And while the ending finds Andi on firm ground once again, not all conflicts between characters are resolved. Everything wasn't wrapped up in pretty bow. There was a little language, but overall I'd say it was mild.

Rating...3/4 stars


eleanor & park by rainbow rowell

I have been hearing about this book for a while now. It keeps popping up on various must read YA Novels book lists. It's set in 1986 and it's about two 16 year olds, Eleanor & Park...(original title, yes?) This is a book that I stayed up until 1am reading last night and then finished this morning. One reading list said that if you enjoy Romeo & Juliet, you should read eleanor & park. I see where that comes from, but disagree. They're not star-crossed lovers, no one dies and no one gets married. It is about falling in love for the first time and dealing with the social pressures of being a teenager. Eleanor's home life is a minefield. She's harassed at school by the popular girls and has built a protective barrier around herself. Park is half Korean and doesn't feel like he fits in at school or at home. They bond over comic books and 80's punk music. There are some definite mature themes in the book - particularly when dealing with Eleanor's home life - and there are some more mature scenes between Eleanor and Park, but nothing explicit. The language is definitely more R rated. I was surprised by that, but eventually saw that, for some characters, it was a realistic expression of emotion and circumstances. Some characters, I felt the language was unnecessary. . I think my favorite thing about this book is that the character's aren't perfect and they're not artificially flawed. The walls Eleanor puts up between herself and Park are a natural consequence of the life she has lived. I finished it this morning and I was a little angry because I felt like I wanted one more chapter, but I also understand why it ended the way it did. If you liked The Fault in Our Stars or anything else by John Green, I'd say you'll like this book.

Rating 3.25/4 stars

Dumbest.Book.Ever

I have been very disappointed in books lately. I read Mockingjay and I enjoyed it but thought the first book in the series was better. I wasn't seriously disappointed but mildly let down in my desire for a fantastic ending to an interesting and entertaining trilogy.

I then moved on to this book. Again, the premise sounds so interesting, especially considering society's preoccupation with beauty and the thriving beauty product industry - surgical and otherwise. I think I made it about a third of the way before giving up. I just didn't care about the story the author was trying to tell. I was interested in characters that didn't play a major role and I wanted to know more about some of the secondary characters rather than the primary characters. Needless to say, I stopped reading. It has been placed back on the shelf...possibly for another day, but probably not.

And then there's this book. Why in heaven's name, why?! I'm sure you've all seen this book and others like it..like this book. No? What about this one or perhaps this one. I've passed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies enough times in the bookstore to have gotten over the initial urge to cringe each time I saw it. As I saw more and more of these types of books pop up lately, I'm sorry to say my curiosity got the better of me. I just had to see what all the fuss was about. I want my $10 back. Oh and those several hours I spent reading it...yeah, want those back to.

Now, I know I'm a bit of a purist (ok...a lot of a purist) when it comes to the traditional English Literature Cannon but I can appreciate creativity and ingenuity when I see it. But I had to draw the line when after killing three of Lady Catherine De Bourg's ninjas, Elizabeth Bennet killed the third by pinning it to the wall with her Katana sword (huh?) and then finishing him off by punching her hand through his chest and ripping his heart out of his body and then eating it. I'm sorry...what?

Where is all the humor and satire? It seems the "author" (i use that term very loosely here) took out all the wonderful aspects of Austen's story and inserted Zombies, muskets, ninjas and dojos. Obviously he's catering to a very different audience but then why use Austen at all then? Or Tolstoy? or Shakespeare? The more I think about it, the more it irritates me. I suppose I should just be happy people are reading the "classics" but are they really?

I'm not saying that one has to read Austen or Tolstoy or any other of the "classics" to be an intelligent, well read person but if you're going to read them, at least read the original. And if Mr. Grahame-Smith had been in the least bit clever in his approach I probably would have enjoyed it. However, the only similarities between the two were character names and places. He would also occasionally insert some of the original dialogue...sometimes and very small portions.

I know Zombies, Vampires and werewolves are hot right now but really....? Enough already!

Sarah's Key (6/30)

Sarah's Key
-Tatiana De Rosnay

This was a book that I had passed several times before I actually picked it up to see what it was about. It centers around the Vel'd'Hiv' round up of Jews in Paris on July 16, 1942. Sarah is awoken in the early hours of the morning by the French Police pounding on her apartment door. She is eleven years old. It is just her, her four year old brother and her mother as her father has gone into hiding. The police tell them to pack a bag and to come with them. Her brother hides in a secret cupboard and Sarah locks him in, thinking she'll be back soon to let him out. Her father comes out of hiding to so the family can stay together. With more than 13,000 Jews, Sarah and her family are packed into the Velodrome d'Hiver stadium for several days without food or water. Those that survived were then shipped to Drancy internment camp outside of Paris. There the men were immediately sent to Auschwitz. The mothers and children were later separated - the children left in Drancy to fend for themselves. The children were then shipped to Auschwitz and immediately sent to the gas chambers. Sarah manages to escape from Drancy and is taken in by an elderly couple on a farm in Orleans.

The driving character of the story is Sarah but you actually don't spend much of the narrative specifically on her story but rather how her experience during WWII changes the life of Julie Jarmond, an American Journalist living in Paris sixty years later. Julie has a unique connection to Sarah and her family that she is completely unaware of until she is assigned a story of the anniversary of the Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup. Sarah's story is absolutely tragic as are most Holocaust survivor stories but it's how Sarah's life and the mystery of her life affect Julia and her family that is interesting. Julia is completely changed by what she learns about the round up and Sarah specifically and it sends her life on a completely different trajectory. It's as if de Rosnay is saying that no one who truly understand the horror, despair and tragedy of the Roundup could ever possibly be the same again.

De Rosnay uses the uncertainty and mystery surrounding Sarah as a beautiful and tragic metaphor for the thousands of nameless Jewish children that were rounded up that night, separated from their families and later shipped to Auschwitz and immediately sent to the gas chambers. No one knew who Sarah was - not even her husband or son. She died crippled under the knowledge that her parents were killed in Auschwitz and her younger brother starved to death in Paris. When her son finally discovers the truth about his mother and his heritage, he, just like Julia, is completely changed.

It was wonderfully written and beautiful in it's tragedy.

Literary Rut (5/30)

I confess. I have been in a literary rut of late. I have gotten more than half way through Les Miserables and I just hit the proverbial brick wall. I couldn't bring myself to read more. Instead I went on a bad/cheesy/horrible chick lit spree. Yes, I know. It's shocking and disturbing. They were light, fun (sometimes), easy to read and best of all required absolutely no brain power. I finished several books in a matter of days. After reaching my fill of contrived plots and overly dramatic romantic climaxes, I tried to read something a little more stimulating. Animal Farm, The Secret Life of Bees, Me and Orson Wells....all to no avail. The stack of approximately ten books on my night stand in varying stages of readness (yes, I said readness) will testify to the literary stupor that has held me captive of late. I searched in vain for the book to break the spell. I spent far too much money at Barnes and Noble but still could not find the book that could capture my attention as well as engage the mind. It wasn't until I perused my bookshelves late at night in search of something that would catch my attention.

Lo and behold, there it was - hiding on a double-stacked shelf, out of site. Could it be that I have never actually read this book? I've had it for well over a year...the receipt inside can testify to that. Really? Never? I immediately crawled into bed and rejoiced in the delicious sound of a new book spine being broken, the smell of ink and paper inviting me into a new adventure. Let it be know that my Literary Rut has ended all thanks to Cokie Roberts and her book...

Founding Mothers: The Women who raised our nation.

As you can probably tell this book is about the women behind the men known as the Founding Fathers of our nation. Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Dolley Madison and Mercy Otis Warren just to name a few. Roberts thoroughly explores the maxim - behind every great man is an even greater woman. By using excerpts of letters to each other, family members and their husbands, Cokie is able to paint a portrait of vivacious, intelligent, caring, ardent patriots that made the work of their more famous husbands possible. At one point Cokie states that if it hadn't been for their husbands, history would have forgotten or never known these women. Her point being, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary for their time and yet their lives were extraordinary. In a time when women were not expected to do much of anything by societal norms, these women and hundreds - thousands of women like them - defended their homes from the British, ran business, plantations/farms, supported the Revolution in spirit and physically in the form of donations of money, time, supplies and on more than one occasion by joining in the fighting. My favorite person is by far Abigail Adams. As her husband was off signing the Declaration of Independence, in Paris working on the peace treaty, being Vice President and then President, she kept the home fires burning. She managed their financial matters and often advised her husband on political matters. She often understood the political climate and events better than her husband (the President) and could predict quite reliably what would happen. She wasn't afraid to tell her husband what she thought and let him know she was upset with him. On more than one occasion in letters to anyone who would listen, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, her husband, she advocated the education and equality of women. She was feisty, independent and deeply loved her country and her husband.

If you have any interest at all in women's history or even early American history this book is a must read. Cokie's style of writing is easy to read and entertaining. It's more like talking to a good friend who happens to know quite a bit about early Revolutionary women.


PS. I didn't just arbitrarily skip to (5/30). I did read The Sari Shop Widow (3/30) and O, Juliet (4/30) but I am not going to review them as I didn't like or dislike them enough to make it worth the effort.

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart (Don't judge 2/30)

Mr. Darcy broke my heart - Beth Pattillo

I've been reading Les Miserables and really enjoying it but my dear friend Victor can be a bit on the heavy side. So when I went into Barnes and Noble last weekend I wanted something light and fun that I could get through quickly without the urge to mark passages and make notes in the margins. I was perusing the new fiction table and I noticed this book because of the cover. There is a woman in a pretty red dress...what can I say, I like pretty dresses!

I read the back and the first few pages and was intrigued. Now, here comes the disclaimer - even though I really hate to have to put one, I know I need to. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on modern representations of Jane Austen and actually devoted an entire chapter to Chick Lit - a term that just rubs me the wrong way. It irritates me that it's an actual literary term but so it is. What was I saying...ah yes...thesis. I was looking at how Austen has been used and maybe abused by authors today in a myriad of different ways. It's interesting to see that what is being said usually says more about the person saying it than Austen herself. It's something that still interests me a great deal so when I see a book that has anything to do with Austen I take a look. I've read it all. Continuations of Austen's novels, retellings and works "inspired" by Austen's novels. Some are quite entertaining and others are glorified fan-fiction with sex, duels and heaving bosoms. But I digress...

Pattillo actually surprised me with this story. What could have been more of the same - glorified fan fiction and heaving bosoms intrigued me. It takes place in one week while the main character, Claire, is attending a summer seminar at Oxford on Jane Austen. Claire has recently lost her job, she has a boyfriend that is less than enthusiastic, her parents died when she was 18 and she has been taking care of her younger sister ever since. While there she just happens to meet an old woman who just happens to be a direct descendant of Austen through one of Austen's brothers. And this woman just happens to have the lost manuscript of First Impressions - what would later become Pride & Prejudice.The plot is ridiculous but it's just what keeps the characters moving. Claire, of course, meets a good looking, mysterious man while there but it's not what you think it would be.

Pattillo does something that I haven't encountered with other Austen spin offs. She uses the larger than life character of Mr. Darcy as a vehicle for self discovery for her heroine. The story isn't really about Claire's love life or who she will or won't end up with. It's about her finally coming to terms with her parent's death and letting go of her little sister. It's not the best novel I've ever read but I was pleasantly surprised with it. The sections that took place in the classroom were fun for me because it reminded me of my own Austen Seminar Senior year. This definitely isn't a book for everyone but it was a good antidote to Hugo and his heavy handed metaphors and suffering.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde - see the musical (1/30)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

I think most of us are at least familiar with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There are movies, TV shows and even a Broadway musical based on the story. In fact, it was the musical that made me want to read the original source material (it's good!). I went to my local Barnes and Noble and got it for about $8 (I love the B&N Classics Series). Excitedly I sat down to read, looking forward to the suspense, mystery. Murder! Mistaken Identities! Good vs. Evil! A real page turner, right? Hm...not so much. It's not a full novel but rather a short novella...about 60 or so pages. I got to the very end where Dr. Jekyll explains what he did and I didn't even want to read it. I wasn't attached to the characters, I didn't care what happened to them or what Jekyll's reasons/motivations where. I just did.not.care. If you're looking for an exciting story with a little mystery, don't bother. However, if you're looking for a story that kind of sort of looks at Victorian morals, this may be the story but probably not.

Books and Such

I love books. I love being able to escape into a different world and forget about what's going on in mine if I need to. Of course, I read quite a bit and I have quite a few books than I have read more than once. As a Lit major in college I got credit for reading and talking about some of the greatest books in literature. It was a pretty sweet deal. As I have continued to read and expand my own library since college I have missed talking about what I've read. I recently met a friend of a friend that has a blog called Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Woolf? (It's Woolf not wolf..as in Virginia Woolf. Get it? It's the simple things in life really). Anyway, it's basically a blog for people to post book reviews. After briefly perusing the blog, I've already found several books that I have added to my "to-read" list. I also have a profile on goodreads.com. It's a cool website where you can build your own bookshelf and post reviews and can read others reviews. I've found several books that I know love from that website. Since I love books and reading so much, I've decided to share that with you all. It won't be every post but when I finish a book or come across a book that I particularly enjoyed I will give you all a heads up about it. It probably won't be a review a la Who's Afraid but it'll be my thoughts on the book.

So to start it off here are a couple of books that I have read lately that I thoroughly enjoyed.

1. The Nazi Officer's Wife
If you enjoy memoirs and are interested in WWII/Holocaust, this is a must read. It's the story of Edith Hahn Beer, a Jewish woman that grew up in Vienna. She was a young adult at the start of the war. She survives by marrying a member of the Nazi party who later becomes an officer. It's very well written and the story of her life moves at the perfect pace. I stayed up late to read the next chapter and then the next chapter. It was a very touching look at humanity and what we will do in order to survive. She is first forced to live in a ghetto and then into a labor camp. When she gets back her mother has been forced to the "east"...Poland and eventually death in a concentration camp. She goes underground for a brief period of time but then, with the help of a Christian friend she becomes a Christian woman and moves away from Vienna. She then meets and marries Werner Vetter, a Nazi Party Member. It's not graphic or violent as many WWII memoirs can be given the subject matter. It's a close look at it was like for countless Jews that were hidden in plain sight and the everyday terror that she and many others must have felt at a knock at the door, getting her weekly rations, clothing, etc. Seriously...read it.

2.The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
This is actually the first in a trilogy. The second book was recently published and I'm not entirely sure when the third will be completed. My coworker first got me interested in this book but when she told me what it was about I was seriously disturbed and I wasn't sure I was going to read it. Having read it, I really enjoyed it. It's a young adult novel. Following a rebellion, all of North America has been destroyed and it is now the nation of Panem. 12 Districts that are all controlled by the Capitol. The 13th district was utterly destroyed in the rebellion. In remembrance of the Uprising and to remind each district the control the Capitol holds over them the Capital hosts the Hunger Games. Each district sends two tributes, one girl and one boy ages 12-18, to participate in the Games. They are sent to the Capital and then they are all put in a huge arena that changes landscapes, traps, animals, conditions etc. every year. Once in the arena, they have to kill everyone off and the last person standing is the winner. So now you see why I was extremely unsure about this book but really it's very good. It's disturbing but I think it's supposed to be disturbing. You have to continually remind yourself that the characters you are reading about are just children. It reminded me a bit of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. This story centers on the two tributes from the poor, coal producing District Twelve. I can't say too much without giving away the ending but it's an interesting story and really pulls you in. If you look deeper you could find the social commentary but you don't need to in order to enjoy the book.

3. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
I am actually currently reading this one. I started it quite a while ago but at the time, I had recently been on a "classics" reading spree and I just couldn't get through it. But now, I've been reading pretty "easy" books and decided it was time to have another go at Hardy. So far I've been enjoying it. It's not a book that you read just to get to the end of the story. You have to enjoy the language and the descriptions of what is going on. Hardy has a way of layering meaning on top of meaning. It can be difficult to get through but it's worth it, in my opinion, to persevere to the end. In Tess the title character gets into bad situations, gets herself out just to get into more trouble down the road. It's not her fault necessarily but it's not a real pick me up sort of story. In describing Tess's budding relationship with another character throughout the day, Hardy describes the rising and setting of the sun. He says

The gray half-tones of daybreak are not the gray half-tones of the day's close,
though the degree of their shade may be the same. In the twilight of the morning
light seems active, darkness passive; in the twilight of evening it is the darkness
which is active and crescent, and the light which is the drowsy reverse.

Hardy has a way of describing the world around the characters as a way of giving further illumination into the mind, life and emotions of the characters. I don't think Hardy is for everyone but I'm enjoying it. I don't think he'll make it to my top 5 favorite "classic" authors but I can at least understand while he's considered a classic.

So that was more than just one novel but don't get used to it.