Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle

How far is too far?

At one of Manhattan's most elite ballet schools, wafer-thin ballerinas pull their hair into sleek buns and lace their pointe shoes high, waiting for their chance to shine. But beneath the pretty, polished surface, these girls are hiding some terrible secrets and telling some twisted lies.

Prvileged Bette is tiny and beautiful -- like a ballerina in a music box. But living forever in the shadow of her ballet-star sister and under the weight of family expectations brings out a dangerous edge in her. 

Perfectionist June can turn a flawless plie and diligently keeps her weight below 100 pounds. But she's never landed a lead role. Tired of always being the understudy, this year she'll settle for nothing but the best -- even if she must resort to some less-than-perfect means to get there. 

And new girl Gigi isn't your traditional ballerina. A free-spirited California girl, she's not used to the fierce competition. Still, that doesn't stop her from outperforming every dancer in the school. But even she's hiding a ticking time bomb, and the very act of dancing just might expose her secrets to everyone. 

Being a prima isn't all satin and lace; sometimes you have to play dirty. With the competition growing fiercer with every performance, and harmless pranks growing ever darker, it's only a matter of time before one spark ignites... and even the best get burned.

~Print copy, 438 pages
Published by HarperTeen


So, my first review in awhile. Here goes.

Plot: 3/5

The plot was alright. The pacing was pretty well off; the pranks grew steadily more menacing, while Gigi (the butt of most of the pranks) grew more and more tense and on edge. There were places it dragged a little, and there were places that didn't seem to fit with the rest of the plot, things that were brought up and never went anywhere or were mentioned again. One of these things was the (creepy) way Mr. K, the ballet instructor, took sexual favors from girls. But that wasn't even a minor part of the plot, just the basis for a nasty rumor about Gigi that wasn't even one of the worse pranks. And it was just casually tossed in there, and nothing happened with it.

Overall, plot was fine. Not the most engaging plot I've ever encountered, but definitely not the worst. A bit clumsy in places, but tension/pacing were good.

Worldbuilding: 4/5

I didn't have any problem with the worldbuilding, really. It was done well. The book is set in Manhattan, in New York City. But most of the novel doesn't take place outside the walls of the Conservatory. There are several key points when the characters go outside -- most notably at the end -- but the intensity of the girls' ballet practice makes their choice to stay inside completely believable and necessary. I know little about ballet, I confess -- I did take a beginner's class this past spring, but that's about it -- but in my limited experience, the ballet part seemed believable. The technical part of the dancing, I mean, not just the world it's taking place in. But I like the sparse detail and the intense characterization; every detail helps convey that particular viewpoint character's mind. And they all view the details differently.

Characters: 4/5

The thing about the characters isn't really an issue I see other people having with this novel. My main problem is the boy-centered obsessions between the girls, and that sort of thing isn't really my style. (You can find my opinions on romance here.) Gigi and Bette are almost exclusively fighting over priviliged ballet man, Alec. And even my favorite viewpoint character, June, is fighting to steal the boyfriend of her ex-friend, Sei-Jin. The jealousy plays a major role in the bitterness towards Gigi, of course, but more of the drama in this novel seems to come from Alec's attentions and the creepy French boy Henri's attentions towards Bette.

But June is also very centered on her family and her own eating disorder, which makes her my favorite. Suddenly, she isn't trying to be the girlfriend; she's fighting with herself, and her family, as she struggles to find out who she is. Gigi gets everything in this novel, even as she's harassed mercilessly for it; I don't mind her, in a way, because while she gets the man almost right off the bat, you can see the effect the harassment has on her. And Bette -- what I love about Bette is how much mystery there is surrounding her, even as her point of view is being told in first person. The clues are there; the interpretations are several, none confirmed. Bette was handled masterfully by the authors. She is the ultimate mean girl, but she is also crushed by her family, which makes her only slightly sympathetic; and the authors aren't afraid to rip everything away from her. But did she pull the pranks? Did she pull all of them? She is as mysterious as she is mean, desperate, and lonely.

Writing/Theme: 4/5

The writing is pretty well-off in this novel. The tension and pacing, as I mentioned above, were good. I didn't notice any typos at all. And the handling of character and plot arcs are wonderfully done. I don't know what quality is missing, that makes the writing go from "good" to "superior", but I don't sense it. I don't know. Perhaps it is all of the romance, and all of the troubling boy-centered drama that I don't like. I don't like what that says about the characters, and what theme is coming across with it: that girls are only obsessed with boys? That boys are the center of a woman's world, even in a world where there are few boys at all to be worrying about?

And the relationship between Henri and Bette (I'm not confirming an actual relationship, I mean in general terms) is too... weird. Creepy. Henri was the boyfriend of a girl Bette played cruel pranks on, and he becomes really creepy in his attentions -- several times, he's described as pushy, aggressive, too eager, and manipulative. He's constantly threatening to expose her secrets, and yet she continually is described to be somewhat attracted to him. And at one point, Gigi encounters his sexual creepiness, too, which is waved off. Perhaps this rant should be under character, but I don't like the implications of this particular character. It's like nobody sees him for the creep he is, except for (sometimes) Bette.

Ending: 5/5

What I love most about this novel, actually, is the ending. Not in an "I'm glad it's over" sense, but in the sense that it was masterfully executed. I won't spoil it... but it isn't happy, and it isn't tied up all neatly with a bow. There are loose ends and mysteries never solved, and it isn't happy at all. Because this novel isn't a fairy tale, and neither is the dance world it's set in. The ending perfectly conveys the atmosphere of competition that's promised in the summary.

Overall: 4/5 

I do like this novel, despite my dislike of romance. I knew when I picked it up that there would be drama of the boy kind. It seems like all novels inevitably have such drama in it, and I was just sick of trying to find otherwise. But I am glad I picked this novel up, even if I never read it again. I would recommend it to you, if you like contemporary fiction and jealousy and melodrama between girls.

 

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Sometimes, I worry that I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am. 
The philosophers assure me that this is the time, that the signs have been met. But I still wonder if they have the wrong man. So many people depend on me. They say I will hold the future of the entire world in my arms.
When they see me, do they see a liar?
Once, a hero rose to save the world. He failed.
For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably.
Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and defeating the Lord Ruler. A new kind of uprising is being planned-- one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine: a teenage street urchin named Vin.
Where a hero rose to save the world and failed, can a young heroine succeed?

~Print copy, 659 pages
Published: 2006 by Tor Teen

So, I realize I've been a bit absent on this blog lately, but never fear. I have been ruminating. Mulling over. Cogitating. Pondering. And, as always, voraciously reading fiction in between staring at the ceiling and watching TV.

And so, a new idea for book reviews has surfaced in my mind: a way to satisfy my love of lists and make some form of organizational sense. Normally, I'd just freewrite my entire review, rambling on about plot and whatever happened to stick out while I was reading. Now, I've got A List of Areas, and a fraction of how much I liked this particular area. 1/5 being it was either entirely unremarkable or almost painful to read, and 5/5, of course, being absolutely amazing and remarkable and very much a pleasure to read.

So here goes.

Character: 4/5

There's a little bit of a misnomer about that summary. It glosses over the "criminal mastermind" part and elaborates on Vin. When in reality, this is the first in a series and Vin is... she's more like an apprentice. In this novel, at least.

That "brilliant criminal mastermind" is named Kelsier. He's a Leader. The driving force behind the whole book, really. He's creative and impulsive, a genius, a strategist of Big Plans. He is given a job by the leader of a rebellion to gather an army, but he takes it much further -- he takes it to big heights. He plans on killing the immortal Lord Ruler, with his magical ability and some metals. (I'll elaborate on that later.) And his crew of soldiers, noblemen, and craftsmen all look up to him.

Vin, on the other hand, is an urchin, one of many thieves in an underground thieving crew. Her abusive brother abandoned her in this nest of leery criminals and she's wielding the only ability she can to survive in such conditions: she can Soothe the emotions of other people. And it's this ability that catches the attention of Kelsier, who takes her on as part of his own "thieving crew".

The character arcs of these two alternating narrators are pretty amazing. Over the course of over 600 pages, Kelsier goes from the bragging survivor to the somewhat-more-levelheaded leader, from an ambitious thief to a thoughtful authority figure and inspiration for thousands of people. Vin stretches from survivor to dazzled noblewoman to someone who can finally trust the other members of her crew.

Vin, truth be told, had me a little underwhelmed at first. She's tough and distrustful at first, very down-to-earth. And then she becomes a spy for Kelsier in the rich world of the noblemen, and becomes... almost like them. Grown away from her roots, she becomes her fake persona, Valette. But she redeems herself in the end. She makes some fumbling mistakes, spends some time soaking in the wrong message, but in the end -- she's a character to root for. She redeems herself something powerful.

Kelsier, well, I won't go into him too much (spoilers, after all), but... he is the more spectacular figure. There is no doubt to anyone who reads this novel that Kelsier is that person, the Artemis Fowl of this story, if you will. Powerful, confident, and just a bit too arrogant, he steals from the rich and is sympathetic to the poor. He's the Hero. (Though not, of course, the one that failed a thousand years before the story takes place.)

Worldbuilding: 5/5

Gracious wisdom, is the worldbuilding in this novel fantastic. It's fantasy, so of course it's well thought out... but it goes beyond that.

There are people called Mistings and Mistborn, who can swallow metals and "burn" them in their stomach in order to produce magical effects. Mistings can only swallow one of the eight Basic Metals for use. Mistborn -- like Kelsier and Vin -- can burn all eight, and then a couple more (the rare two Higher Metals). Both groups' magical abilities can range from Soothing and Rioting emotions to pulling and pushing metal objects around them.

It's all very organized. The metals are grouped into groups of four, according to whether they "push" or "pull" (Soothing emotions involves "pushing" the emotions down until the recipient is calmed; Rioting emotions involves "pulling" on certain emotions to excite the person). They're also grouped according to whether they are "external" or "internal" (Soothing and Rioting are external, because they affect someone else's emotions; but enhancing one's senses [pulling] and enhancing one's speed, strength, and endurance [pushing] are all internal, because they affect the Misting/Mistborn themselves).

And, of course, this is only one aspect of the worldbuilding. As impressive as the magic system is, the world itself is very vivid. The ashfalls from the nearby volcanoes and the mists at night are the dominant weather patterns. But it's not some backdrop: it highlights the brutality shown to the working class, the "skaa", who are seen sweeping the ashes away into the river; who struggle to keep the bare plants from dying under the dismal sunlight and frequent fallings of ash. It's for the skaa, who are abused and neglected at the hands of the noblemen, that Kelsier puts up this whole "kill the Lord Ruler" idea.

The strict class system, in which skaa are slaves and the noblemen are supposedly descendants of the Lord Ruler's allies back a thousand years before, is a tense one. The rebellion breeds under the Lord Ruler's nose, but he doesn't bother quenching it entirely. And the noblemen squabble amongst themselves regularly. But there is little overlap between the two groups -- noblemen are required by the Lord Ruler's law to execute any skaa women they bed. But some of them fall through the cracks, and what results is someone like Vin -- a skaa girl scratching out a living in a thieving crew, while possessing the Mistborn talent that is inherited only by the noblemen families.

All of this becomes a major part of the novel, tied tightly to the plot. And that's how worldbuilding is done -- tied so tightly to the plot that it becomes impossible to separate the two.

Plot:   4/5

The plot is pretty darn beautiful. It all unfolds in just the right way. It's very well-thought-out, like the worldbuilding.

It all centers on the struggle between the Kelsier, Vin, and the skaa rebellion vs. the Lord Ruler. Vin is just a street thief, until Kelsier comes along and hires her for her Mistborn talents. The leader of the skaa rebellion has enlisted him to raise an army 10,000 strong to march against the Lord Ruler, but Kelsier wants to take it a step further -- he and his friends (a soldier, a nobleman, and a skaa woodworker) all map out a plan to throw the capital city in chaos, and he needs Vin's help to do it.

Of course, Vin is kind of an apprentice here. She almost takes a backseat; she's not a leading character like Kelsier, and ends up another team member with the secondary characters, spying on the noblemen for information while Kelsier does the job of throwing the city into chaos. But she slowly takes a bigger role as the book progresses.

But, like I said, this all unfolds just slowly enough. The pacing is just right, despite the hefty 600 pages. There look to be a few slow places, but at the end of the book I look back and realize tha those scenes were good -- they helped you catch your breath after all of the daredevil magic and action.

Theme: 3/5

I was a little less enthusiastic on themes.

For one thing, despite Vin's redemption in the end, she still appears for most of the book to oscillating between prissy, spoiled noblewoman and hardened thief. And the idea behind it was a little sketchy, like, "Of course she'd be wowed by all of the beauty of this place; she's just a girl. So of course she'd just throw out this crazy idea of noble excess that she's held her entire life."

But I'm not really doing it justice. This idea is turned on its head at the end. Still, reading it, I feel like the former idea stretched on for too long a stretch, and the revelation that really, the opposite is the theme came a little too late.  And she is still one of the only female characters in this book, besides maybe one noblewoman she's turned into an enemy and a couple of female skaa workers. So the idea makes it seem like women don't really have a place in such rebellions, unless they have special, rare magical talents.

Still, I think the other themes aren't too out there. The whole theme of "chaos can be a beautiful thing" is pretty good. Many books attempt it, but this one actually engineers the chaos, and harnesses it for social change. And the themes on class, how the clueless excess of the higher class can blind it to the oppression of a lower class, hit spot on. The nobles see the skaa as something less than human, something other than human, and that's a very familiar line of thinking when it comes to traditional race oppression in this world.

The subtler gender ideas in the novel don't appear to be deliberate. And the other thematic ideas presented more obviously are ones I agree with. But let's just say I prefer enjoying the magic and worldbuilding more than the themes.

Overall: 4/5

Overall, I did really enjoy this novel. I would definitely recommend this book to others -- the world and the plot are fantastic. There were a few things that prevented me from making this a true, 5/5, fantastic novel -- mostly the lack of other females and my slight irritation with Vin's spying-on-the-nobility gig. But overall, a real nice novel.

Shine by Lauren Myracle

A boy beaten, bound, and left for dead, words of hate scrawled across his chest...
A girl shrinking from life, enslaved by a shameful secret...
A tight-knit Southern community riddled by poverty, clannishness, drugs, and intolerance...
When Patrick is found near death, strung to the pump of the local gas station, sixteen-year-old Cat emerges from her self-imposed exile to avenge the horrors inflicted on her former best friend. The local sheriff is ready to pin the crime on gay-bashing out-of-towners, but Cat's suspicions lie elsewhere. Despite ominous warnings to leave it be, Cat finds the will -- fueled by fury born of an old injustice -- to expose the homegrown hatred that gave rise to Patrick's attack.
Bestselling author Myracle has crafted a hypnotic mystery, steeped in a sense of place, that is also a searing coming-of-age story: an exploration of loss, guilt, and fear fused inseparably with a tale of courage, resiliency, and love.

~Print copy, 350 pages
Published: 2011 by Amulet Books


As much as I wanted to love this... I can't quite get there. It's rather random, my bits and pieces of opinion, but this post is supposed to organize it into something coherent.

I liked that this is set in the South. Everything seems to be set in New York or London, or even another world. I come across few novels set in the good old American South.

Books about gays are also rare to cross my sightline. This copy I've read comes from my local library. I've seen it in Barnes and Noble, but my mother happens to be very Christian-like and... well, she's the one with the money. But even then, either nothing's being mentioned in the summary or they are not here, because most of it looks overwhelmingly heterosexual romance. (See my rant on not finding what I want here.)

What also caught my eye was the main character, Cat, took off from chapter one. Literally. It is within a chapter that she breaks out of that "self-imposed exile" and decides to chase her friend's assailant. In truth, this is somewhat shaky to me -- I would have liked to see her in exile, not just in flashbacks but during the story time. But still, she can be a hardy character, not some fluffy-headed princess who walks down that haunted corridor and opens that spooky door despite your irritated shouts at her to stop.

The mystery part, too, was actually pretty good. I won't spoil the ending, but the twist was pretty well-carried out -- I never saw that ending coming, and simultaneously I could see how it led there. And those types of endings pack quite the punch.

On the other hand, there were quite a few things that churned in my gut.

One of the major secondary characters, Jason. I don't know about you, but college boys hanging around 16-year-olds seems a bit... creepy. To be in college, I have to assume he's at least 18 or older. I turn 18 tomorrow. Even I can tell you that who I am now and who I was then are VASTLY different -- at 16, I was vulnerable, even more timid than I am now. I didn't see things like I do now, things like the whole picture -- not even a bigger picture, than my own little world. Two years is forever.

And that is the minimum age he could be -- he has two more years, maybe three or four or even five years, than she has in terms of experience, of that seeing the whole picture. I don't care if she likes him. I don't care that she is "mature" or "fearless" or anything else. I don't like the way this sort of relationship -- between two teenagers of vastly different ages -- was portrayed, set aside, made sort of... cute, in a way. My parents would not let my 16-year-old sister hang out with an 18-year-old -- and she has. And that sort of thing ends badly.

I also wasn't fond of how quickly things went. Like I said, Cat was raring to go from chapter one. She's well into character development within a couple more. Near the end, it began feeling kind of preachy, like there was a lesson being pushed on me. All that there's-good-in-everyone sort of lesson, where there's no real villain, because no one's a real villain.

And going off of that, I don't like how quickly her quietness was cast aside at a moment's notice. Now, I've never really been attacked myself, and I've never dealt with the consequences, when someone I love has been hurt or even overly sick. But still, Cat acted like being quiet and withdrawn was just a phase she never wanted to go back to. There was her talk of how much it hurt her friends, that she stood by; even counted herself among evil people, because she didn't say "yes" to the world and go after everything.

But being quiet and withdrawn takes over your life. I know. I barely speak more than the Pledge of Allegiance in the mornings and a paltry conversation during lunch on any given day. It deserves more than just paragraphs here and there vaguely describing how she didn't stand up for [insert friend here]. It's a lifestyle, and there's more than one type of "withdrawn" person. It can be everything, it affects everything in a worldview, and quite frankly, I've been trying to find a way even partially out of "self-imposed exile", and it doesn't go away with one decision. It doesn't go away with a chest full of fury -- I have been furious, and it gets you nowhere when you are used to a certain quiet lifestyle.

And I refuse to believe that it is entirely negative, because there is something healing and calm in not being around people, about not being so extroverted as to have lots of conversations with people every day. It's not quite evil at all, really. I do have friends, now, but I've been at the place where I am a ghost. And it's lonely. But it isn't negative, not some phase to cast off and see the error of my ways, like it seems from this novel. It's a place of mind where you can think, and see yourself.

And, while it seems kind of minor after my talks of my philosophy, this novel can become character soup at points. It's a small town, I know, and she knows everyone's name, but the ladies at the church? Aren't entirely deserving of a name. And the librarian. And the names of the parents, of the kids she keeps talking to. At times, I became somewhat confused, and this wasn't really annoying in and of itself -- but in conjunction with my questioning some of the way other things were being portrayed, it really did pick on my nerves.

All in all, I wasn't entirely fond of this novel. Not really. The bits I liked about this novel -- the setting, the fact that it is about homosexuality, rather than the homogeneous heterosexuality -- seem kind of small in comparison with the way I dislike some of the other aspects. I don't like the way being quiet, or relationships with older teenagers, were sort of made cute, set aside, in favor of the plot, or of flashbacks of her and Patrick. How being quiet looked like something she had to "get over", and how meeting with a guy at least two years older than her was made casual.

I don't really know if I'd recommend this to someone. If you take anything from this post, it's that I am not always entirely clear myself on how I feel about it. But it does grate against what I believe in places, and I'm not sure I would actively seek someone out and place this book in their hands. All I can really give in terms of whether or not someone else would want to read this is a lengthy post explaining my tangled reasoning and hoping for a discussion.

And, having said that, I give this novel a 2.5 stars, because while I am not entirely in agreement with it, I really do respect a good plot twist. (Rounded up to 3 stars.)

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith

First came the storms. Then came the Fever. And the wall. 
After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, the residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct... but in reality, a new, primitive society has been born.
Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader's newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has slipped into the Delta illegally. Brought together by chance, kept together by danger, Fen and Daniel navigate the wasteland of Orleans. In the end, they are each other's last hope for survival.
Sherri L. Smith delivers an expertly crafted story about a fierce heroine whose powerful voice and firm determination will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.

~Print copy (from library), 324 pages
Published: 2013 by G.P. Putnam's Sons (an imprint of Penguin Group)

I meant to post this Monday -- I know, I know, it's rather late. But snow and school and lack of a proper Internet connection has made it hard.

So, here's a somewhat-more-organized-than-usual list of what I think of this book:

Premise/summary: Yes.

I love the premise, of course. Why else would I decide to read it? I had some doubts when the summary began to mention Daniel, because that smacked of romance to me, but the whole Fever and quarantine sounded interesting enough that I picked it up anyways. I wouldn't have called the Delta society "primitive," but that's because I'm picky and like to think that such paleolithic/early-neolithic-style societies are simply different, perhaps even innovative and worth studying more than they are to be looked down on.

Story/Plot: Meh/Yes.

The baby thing, written this way, made sense. The pacing didn't really flag. There was no romance, which was a relief. I'm not sure what the problem was -- well, I somewhat do. By the end, it was getting more... random. Things looked like they were happening by chance, and the things I would have focused on were mostly mentioned or just barely elaborated. And there were odd blocks of flashbacks that were there mostly to explain in detail Fen's backstory -- and just her backstory. There were mostly explanatory information on Daniel outside of true flashbacks. And I won't mention how out-of-the-blue-in-a-most-unpleasant-way the ending was.

For the randomness, as I won't mention that without some evidence for you, take this example: the growing feud between the O-Positives and the ABs. It looked to be getting steadily worse, but Fen cares nothing about it; neither does Daniel. It's just there, in the background. And the "cure" for the fever Daniel was working on -- I won't mention it, but I was a little disappointed in how that turned out.

Characters: Meh/Yes.

Fen was actually a decent character. She was fierce and smart. Always calculating the odds and means of escape. And she could easily have ditched this newborn girl, who only dragged her down and cried in the worst of moments. But she didn't; even when she had ample opportunity, and it would have facilitated her own escape, she didn't let the baby die. And it's not even hers, just her dead chieftain's.

Daniel, on the other hand, I was less fond of. A bit of a bumbler, and he didn't seem too motivated. Just there. He had his sob story about his brother, dead from the fever, but he's just sort of like, "Hmm, I managed to find my way into the Delta. What am I supposed to do now, with my outdated maps and total ignorance on what goes on around people-wise?" Unfortunately, he was a pretty major character, maybe almost more so than Fen, which I was disappointed about.

Writing: Meh.

A real problem, for me, was the switches in POV. It would randomly switch POVs between Daniel and Fen, but not only is it a total change in style -- Fen had "tribe speak," with very loose, imprecise grammer, and Daniel spoke much more grammatically, like you'd find in any other novel -- it also changed tense and POV style. Fen's was written in first person, present, with the aforementioned unique voice. Daniel's was written in third person, past tense, with a more conventional voice. It was jarring, to be bounced between the two.

I did love the uniqueness of Fen's voice. But instead of writing the book entirely in her voice -- which, I admit, would be a difficult feat -- it was sort of halved by the conventional voice of Daniel, and instead of dividing the chapters between the two, it furthermore would switch in the middle, at the end of a chapter, or after several chapters. I didn't like how this was organized.

Overall: Yes.

I did like this, of a sort. I think it's very original, with the fever and quarantine, the dynamics between the Outer States of America and the quarantined Gulf Coast, and the way they're both depicted. And there was a refreshing avoidance of romance. (I hate romance; the more I see it, the more it upsets me. And I read mostly YA, I am generally in the mood to cry when I pick up a book.)

I would recommend this to most people. I don't like the ending, or the way POV was handled, and Daniel was a bit iffy -- but I think that at points, the premise and Fen made up for it. I'd say a 3.5 stars, which of course can be rounded up to 4 stars.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

A vulnerable young girl wins a dream assignment on a big-time New York fashion magazine and finds herself plunged into a nightmare. An autobiographical account of Sylvia Plath's own mental breakdown and suicide attempt, THE BELL JAR is more than a confessional novel, it is a comic but painful statement of what happens to a woman's aspirations in a society that refuses to take them seriously... a society that expects electroshock to cure the despair of a sensitive, questioning young artist whose search for identity becomes a terrifying descent toward madness.

~Print copy, 216 pages
Published: 1972 by Bantum Books (originally published 1971 by Harper & Row)

I picked this up because... well, I'm not sure why. I knew it was depressing -- it does have the words mental breakdown, suicide attempt, and despair in the summary -- but I checked it from the library and read it, on a whim.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The suicide attempt isn't until farther in, past the halfway mark. It's sensitive and sad, not despairing, or overly gloomy, or angsty.

Where exactly do I start? The main character, Esther Greenwood, comes back from a glamorous New York assignment to her boring, suburban life, and becomes depressed. Not specifically because she came back from a city like New York to a "boring" life, mind you, like the summary suggests. But like real life, her depression doesn't need a reason. It just happens.

Depression, I feel, is a rather sensitive topic in fiction. I read many, many more books of character's angst, or their lovestruck woes, than I do about real mental illness. And it is a relief to see it here, displayed clearly, announcing, yes, this is what depression feels like and this is a way that I don't like it being treated. It shows the real fear and helplessness and lethargy of someone trying to understand this pale, restricted world with her pale, restricted senses, and honestly wanting to get out of it.

Now, I'm not going to say it's perfect. It's not always to my liking. But it's honest. Honest in an emotional way that you don't find often enough in fiction.

For example, her desire to lose her virginity. (This book's been out for 30 years. You can use some spoilers, if you haven't read it by now.) It isn't skipped over, it isn't smoothed over, because she's a girl. It's talked about.

And so is her depression. It's talked about. She tries to kill herself -- it's explained in detail how she tried (and failed) to do it, not just the attempt that landed her in the mental hospitals, but the ones before -- the ones her mother or her doctors didn't find out about, because she couldn't do it. It shows how she feels after the electroshock, both the first time with the guy doctor and the second time with the woman doctor. The feelings are acted out in subtle ways -- how she assumes everyone thinks terribly about her, how she feels "stuck under a bell jar." (I don't think that's a direct quote, but it is something similar.)

I don't like the jumps in topic. Sometimes, it is hard to follow. And I've never understood the whole "getting rid of your virginity" thing. (Obviously, that's not a quote at all.) Esther -- well, sometimes she is hard to connect with. She sort of makes it that way. She pushes everyone away, her neighbors, her family, and sometimes even the reader. But I don't consider that a fault with her, strangely enough, because it makes her that much realer.

In the end, I suppose, I don't mind this book. Not my favorite, maybe not something I'd reread, but certainly is thought-provoking and honest and sad. Sad books aren't thrown out of my books-to-read just because they're sad. But I suppose I would recommend this book to the sort of scholarly person who wants to ruminate on the sadder aspects of life, the ugly aspects like mental illness, that no one else seems to talk about -- especially in a 30-year-old book, about a woman in a very patriarchal world, who sticks out.

3.5 stars. (I'll round that to a 4.)
Have a blessed day.

 

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?
As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight... for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.
From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.

~Print copy (library), 300 pages
Published: 2008 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Yes, I saw Laurie Halse Anderson's name and picked this up. I am a fan of her Speak and Wintergirls, as well.

And, also... well, I do like psychological, kidnap/slave/people-as-property stories, where the protagonist emerges from that situation and deals with the aftereffects. Which sounds wrong, but I swear, I don't get off on suffering -- I just enjoy observing psychological effects. And stories where I'm really punched in the gut by the protag's suffering. It keeps the mind empathetic.

Chains, in essence, is a historical fiction, of course, not a psychological horror/thriller story. But as I read through, I loved the metaphor, the easily-grasped way of looking at the psychology. Isabel, a slave from Rhode Island whose owner's will granted her freedom, is taken anyways to New York, where she and her sister are sold to -- well, really, the only bidders.

Through the beginnings of the war -- the signing of the Declaration of Independence, through the British occupation, to a great fire in New York City during this time -- Isabel wants nothing to do with it. All she knows are the newspaper stories, as her last owner had taught her to read, and the oppression under the Locktons. 

I don't doubt that Isabel would've considered the Locktons' treatment of her to be normal. Completely UN-oppressive. IF it hadn't been for the way Madam Lockton treated Ruth.

Because, you see, Ruth is described as simple-minded. She's five years old, has fits/seizures, and from what I gather, can't say much. Madam Lockton thinks she's possessed by the Devil, and the little girl ends up crying and in the kitchen.

Isabel, when serving Sir Lockton in his library with some of his Loyalist companions, stands in the corner and cannot help overhearing details of Loyalist plans. Because she is just a slave, and has no ears at all as far as the men are concerned.

Curzon, a slave under a Patriot, offers her a chance in a lifetime to help the Patriots by passing such information on: the Patriots will track down that lawyer with her late owner's will, giving her freedom. Freedom to go back to Rhode Island, where her mother is buried. Freedom to leave the beatings, the cold, the rags, and the humiliation of serving the Locktons. And best yet, the freedom for Ruth not to be beaten.

The characterization of this novel really brings the convoluted American Revolution to life. Even though, yes, I'm American, and I'm glad I have liberty and freedom and all that, the plight of these two slave girls -- even if they're fictional -- brings home the complicated philosophy behind an event in American history I don't pay much mind to.

There is, first of all, the issue of slavery at all. The North, contrary to some people's beliefs, DID have slavery. Despite getting riled up over liberty and equality, slavery still held strong. and the British, on the other side, weren't fond of giving these colonists liberty and equality, but they did offer some slaves their freedom, on the condition they help the British.

Except, of course, the British only offer that deal to the slaves of Patriots, to sort of undermine their economy. Slaves were still property of their owners, and there are several parts of this book where Isabel -- though clearly in the right, or at least the understandable -- is still punished for defying the Locktons, once by being branded in the face with a letter I.

And what's a really, really good part of this novel for me? There is no romance. Curzon is a friend, who helps save her life, and she's indebted to him -- but they don't fall in love. It's so rare for me to find such a book, one without romance or romantic subplots or tropes. I feel a little lighter, knowing that not all my precious YA books are filled with romance, romance, romance.

What else? ... Did I make my opinion of Isabel clear? She's a pretty strong girl. She bears the weight of lifetimes on her shoulders, and still gets up every morning for a day of hard, back-breaking work. Her suffering, repeatedly, is referred to as "ashes" and "bees" under her skin, choking her throat, buzzing in her brain and pushing her thoughts out. She is and should be, by all rights, miserable. (I won't name specifics. Read the book.) But it doesn't leave her staring passively out a window like a certain vampire's wife we know in a muddle on the cellar floor.

It's not just her strength to stand up, though. It's her strength to stand up for her freedom. Like I mentioned, she got branded in the face for her "insolence." She visits the prison where hundreds/thousands of rebel soldiers were captured and imprisoned, to feed them scraps and "conversate," as she puts it. (Did I mention voice? This has unique antiquated-American dialect here, but not enough to make the book obscure or difficult to read.) Madam could have her sold, beaten, branded, or hung on a whim, if she finds out.

Even the ending -- a part of the novel I usually dislike -- was pretty good. I didn't realize it had a sequel until pretty much the last page (Forge), but it didn't just, like, let off. It ended with enough closure to satisfy me.

Overall, while it's not catch-my-spark material (It's not Doctor Who, Artemis Fowl, and Harry Potter all rolled into one), it is a lovely read. I enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good, unique, strong voice, with no romance and good setting. 4 stars.

 

Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell

In prose poetry and alternating voices, award-winning author Marlene Carvell weaves a heartbreakingly beautiful story based on the real-life experiences of Native American children.

Mattie and Sarah are two Mohawk sisters sent to an off-reservation school after the death of their mother. Subject to intimidation and corporal punishment, with little hope of contact with their father, the girls are taught menial tasks to prepare them for life as domestics. How Mattie and Sarah protect their culture, memories of their family life, and their love for each other under this forced assimilation makes for a powerful, unforgettable historical novel.

~Print copy (library), 243 pages
Published: 2005 by Dutton Children's Books

This book... definitely worth a read.

At first, I thought this would be a bit plot-slow, that this would be a fast read. But the characters are rather engaging -- Mattie, the rebellious elder sister, looking after her little sister Sarah, who in turn wanted to keep her older sister out of trouble; Ruthie and Gracie, their friends who might be more fearful but try to be loyal nonetheless; and, of course, the evil villain, Mrs. Dwyer, who runs the school.

It's set in a special school during the early 1900s (late 1890s?), meant for Native Americans to learn English and "White People" culture. Of course, this was before things like making girls work in a boiling hot laundry room all day was frowned upon. Mrs. Dwyer, the headmistress (or whatever her title is; I'm not really an expert on school titles from over a century ago) has the girls march every place, makes sure Mattie and Sarah -- who've never been apart -- don't have beds next to each other's, and when they don't follow rules, has them skip supper. At one point, Mattie writes a beautiful short story about her mother's basket weaving, and when the English teacher tries to have it published in their school newspaper, Mrs. Dwyer has it crushed for being too "Native American".

There is, of course, a plot, though it drags a bit in the first half of the novel. It's written quite beautifully, though, between the two sisters. The plot really picks up about halfway through, when the abuse suffered at the hands of Mrs. Dwyer gets worse, due to her thinking that rebellious little Mattie stole a brooch of hers.

The verse format makes this an easy read, but not a "dumb" or "inferior" read. It's just as complicated and real as a real novel. It's written almost directly how the characters think, and not along traditional styles of worldbuilding and scene-setting. It's more sparse, like poetry that insinuates the scenery in fewer words.

I also like the incorporation of Native American words into the novel, words like "Father" and "Mother" that really makes the whole family theme stick out without pushing it in your face. And how Carvell adds details of home, of their culture, into the current scene; things like a basket taken from home, how they remember the river outside their home, short myth stories (or really, summaries of those stories). It really makes this book stand out as not some "boring historical" but as a deep, cross-cultural novel.

Overall, this novel was pretty heart-rending. I didn't like the ending, though I appreciated the inevitability of it -- not that I'll spoil it for you. But it has a genuine, beautiful feel to it, and I recommend that everyone read it. Four stars.

  

Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

Welcome to the tyrannical city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime.
Goldie Roth has lived in Jewel all her life. Like every child in the city, she wears a silver guardchain and is forced to obey the dreaded Blessed Guardians. She has never done anything by herself and won't be allowed out on the streets unchained until Separation Day. 
When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie, who has always been both impatient and bold, runs away, risking not only her own life but also the lives of those she left behind. In the chaos that follows, she is lured to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets.Only the cunning mind of a thief can understand the museum's strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving. 
Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum -- plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him...
Museum of Thieves is a thrilling tale of destiny and danger, and of a courageous girl who has never been allowed to grow up -- until now.

~Print copy (library), 312 pages
Published: 2010 by Delacorte Press

[First of all, Happy June! I didn't get a chance to say that on the 1st day of the month, this past Saturday -- SATs suck. But anyways, brilliant yellowy month of sunshine and summer vacation! Yay! And, as a side note, I find it hilarious that my computer doesn't seem to think "Toadspit" is an actual word.]

Anyways, back to the book.

There are good things to this book. For one thing, it really marks how clearly Goldie has changed over the book, without hitting you over the head with it. For example, in the beginning of the novel, right after she runs away, she shivers in a boat all day and tries not to (and fails in trying not to) cry.

But then, near the middle-ish of the book (I don't like spoiling the endings), she faces a Brizzlehound, a huge black dog thought to be extinct but legendary for tearing humans to pieces, and she doesn't cry. She thinks of saving herself. (She didn't need to. But that's a long story -- about 312 pages worth. Read the book.)

Then, of course, in the end, she's got to be even braver and all that jazz. But it's really interesting, seeing how this coddled child is given a chance to be bold and takes it.

Also, the thought of adults chaining children to them, "to keep them from getting lost", is a horrifying idea. I like horrifying ideas. (You know, when they're confined within the pages of a book.)

Also, MUSEUM OF THIEVES. What could be more horrifying and fascinating at the same time? Especially one that shifts. Creepy mansion/museum/school type places that have weird or shifting rooms is a favorite trope of mine.

What didn't I like? Well, the author is a little ellipse-happy. I've never come across a book that's ellipse-happy, but here you go. (Ellipses are those "...." that come at the end of something, in case you didn't know.) Umm... The enemy -- the Blessed Guardians' leader, the Fugleman -- was a pretty cut-and-paste villain, but I don't really hate him. Well, cut and paste in that he seemed pretty obviously evil and charming, like most villains are, instead of the gray-matter villains that are more plausible. But he wasn't, like, a moron who monologued his plan to everyone he met. He was decently intelligent.

(Is monologued a word? My computer says NO!, but I kinda think it is. And if not, then I just made up a new word to rival Shakespeare's *cough*liberal*cough* use of new language.)

But anyways, that's about it. Overall, it was a good novel. I liked it. A couple minor things I didn't like, but it's worth a read, especially to people who like MG like this one. I give it four stars.

 

    

The Floating Island by Elizabeth Haydon*

*The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme: The Floating Island by Elizabeth Haydon.
(Long title.)

Long ago, in the Second Age of history, a young Nain explorer by the name of Ven Polypheme traveled much of the known and unknown world, recording his adventures. Recently discovered by archaeologists, a few fragments of his original journals are reproduced in this book. Great care has been taken to reconstruct the parts of the journal that did not survive, so that a whole story can be told...
Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme -- known as Ven -- is the youngest son of a long line of famous shipwrights. He dreams not of building ships, but of sailing them to far-off lands where magic thrives. Ven gets his chance when he is chosen to direct the Inspection of his family's latest ship -- and sets sail on the journey of a lifetime. 
Attacked by fire pirates, lost at sea, and near death, Ven is rescued by a passing ship on its way to the island of Serendair. Thankful to be alive, little does Ven know that the pirate attack -- and his subsequent rescue -- may not have been an accident. Shadowy figures are hunting for the famed Floating Island, the only source of the mystical Water of Life. They think Ven can lead them to this treasure and will stop at nothing to get it -- even murder.
In a narrative that alternates entries from his journals and drawings from his sketchbooks, Ven begins the famous chronicles of his exciting and exotic adventures -- adventures that would later earn him renown as the author if The Book of All Human Knowledge and All the World's Magic.
Hailed by reviewers and embraced by legions of fans, Elizabeth Haydon, bestselling author of the Symphony of Ages series, has created an unforgettable epic fantasy for a younger generation of readers.

~Print copy (library), 351 pages
Published: 2006 by Tom Doherty Associates (Starscape)

Whew, that was a long summary.

Of course I have problems with it -- I have problems with most back cover summaries -- but I shall not point out every last detail. (But I will mention the overabundance of hyphens in that thing. I type that stuff all out by hand into this post, you know.)

(Also, I'll say that for awhile after reading that summary that those books were real, before realizing, oh those books are made up famous, not real actual legendary books.)

Anyways, I liked the book. Since I finished it Saturday, and started reading the next book in the series (The Thief Queen's Daughter), I'm just going to make a list of Likes and Dislikes.

What I liked about this book:
~The characters. Some awesome ones include Ven (of course), his curate-in-training friend Clemency, the captain of the Serelinda Oliver Snodgrass and his wife, and the ever-loyal friend, Char.
~The world. I mean, a world that includes Spice Folk (fairies)! And merrows (mermaids)! And species like the Lirin, storytellers who take a vow of truth so the stories don't get mangled over the years! This world is really well thought out.
~How it's written. It switches back and forth between paragraphs of Ven's journal to longer paragraphs of 3rd POV. Well handled, and really does feel like a story pieced together between fragments of old journal.

What I disliked about this book:
~I don't know why, but it was a bit hard getting through this book. It took me 6 days to read 351 pages -- that's about 50 pages a day, instead of my usual 100. But I don't know what it was that caused this; it could have just been one of those weeks, where nothing was too appealing, even reading. (In fact, I felt kind of off all last week -- not physically sick, but more just emotionally sick. Probably a factor in my lack of obsessive reading.)

Really, I did like this book. It says up there that Haydon is a bestselling author and has legions of fans, but I was ten years old in 2006 and not really on the literary scene at the time. So, I can't really tell if this was a super-popular book at one time or another and I'm really late on the pickup; but it doesn't matter. I found it in the library now (well, a couple weeks ago), and I liked it now.

So, I recommend it now. To anyone who loves fantasy, or really anyone who wants something good to read next (as opposed to some fluffy romance that really isn't all that good when you look at it in retrospect. Ahem. Pardon my dislike of romance.) 4 stars.

    

The Ring of Five by Eoin McNamee

Something went wrong.
Danny Caulfield doesn't know how he ended up at a mysterious academy called Wilsons. A few of the students are pretty scary. Someone is trying to murder him. Even the ravens that haunt the school seem to be against him.
Yet he also finds friends: Les, an exceptional thief; Dixie, who has an unsettling talent; and Vandra, a physick with special powers.
It turns out that Danny is destined for a terrifying mission. As he embarks on his training, he is shocked and secretly thrilled to discover that he seems to have all the natural gifts of the perfect spy -- most importantly, the ability to betray. 
The Ring of Fire is the first book in a brilliant new trilogy by the author of The Navigator. Eoin McNamee's background as an author of adult thrillers informs this exhilarating, atmospheric adventure, which is full of surprises as well as fascinating questions about loyalty, destiny, and what it means to be a spy.

~Print copy (library), 345 pages
Published: 2010 by Wendy Lamb Books

First of all, let me start out that I don't know the Navigator series they're referring to in the summary there. This is important, because (shameful though it is) previous books I've read by an author can color how I view this one.

That being said, there is no other-book-ly influence on this story for me. I happened to enjoy it, for the most part.

(And did I mention? The author's Irish. Irish people are so awesome. The author of the Artemis Fowl series -- one of my most favorite series of all time -- is Irish. Weird coincidence -- AF's author's first name is Eoin, too.)

Les, Dixie, and Vandra all seem like lovely friends. I kinda wish I had such friends in real life. Danny is a bit iffy, but I liked him, too -- he wasn't evil and he wasn't good, but a mix. Like all the best people are.

The people are a bit strange. A good strange. Les is a winged Messenger, sort of like an angel but living and down to earth. He likes flying, even though most of the Messengers have given up flying as a "vulgar activity." Dixie is... what Dixie does, I suppose. Kinda daydreamy, can disappear and reappear at will. And Vandra is a vampire healer, who can suck the sickness out of any wound and get infected with it herself. (She can fight it off, though; she's a tough girl.)

That being said, the mysterious, magic-y aura in  this book makes me happy. I love magic-y books. That's why I read so much fantasy. Though this book isn't really fantasy... it's more thriller, or mystery, or something...

Back on topic. (Genre technically is on topic, but it's subjective in my view. You want to know what genre it is, read the book.)

The writing itself was kind of iffy. One thing that stuck out to me was the redundancy. Not repeated words -- rather, he repeated information. One character says something that's happening, and then it's followed with a "It was true. The.... [insert already-spoken event here]". That sort of thing. And sometimes things like reactions or emotions were stated instead of implied, but I don't really fault for that.

That stuff's easily written away, though. Right there in the summary, we know this author does adult thrillers; this book is either MG or YA.* So, the difference in age groups could easily have thrown someone off. Not that I imply the author would write terribly obvious because he thinks less of the YA group, or that he needed to "dumb it down", but perhaps the difference in writing style itself between the age groups** caused a few minor shifts in (writing-wise) modern-esque manners.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. The characters are good, the setting is solid (think of the magic-y aura! Meep!), and... I don't know... just that quality that makes you smile. The writing style showed some error that distracted my gaze, but I think it was definitely a worthwhile read for.. any age group, really. It took me longer than usual to read a book this size, but more because it's been a stressful week than because I had to drag myself through the book. I recommend it; 4 stars.

 

*My library has this book under YA, so I assume it's that. But I see so much romance in YA, and this book has none, that I don't know whether perhaps it was shelved in the wrong section. But rants on YA's increasingly homogenous nature at a later date.
**I could write a blog post on that. (That is how you know you're a writer/blogger -- when the first thing that pops into your head when you read "differences in writing styles across age groups" is whether you can write something on it.)  

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Some race to win. Others race to survive.
It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.
Some riders live.
Others die.
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
Puck Connelly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition -- the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.
As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.

~Print copy, 404 pages
Published: 2011 by Scholastic Press

I wasn't really expecting to like this novel.

I'm not a romance fan, as you might can tell if you've been poking around my blog for awhile. And this seemed, from its summary, like one of those books that understates the romantic element in the summary when really, the whole freakin' thing is romance dressed up as magical.

But thankfully, it wasn't like that. The romance was kinda subtle, didn't really pick up until the end. Most of it was the worrying over the water horses and Puck's stubbornness and a worrying lack of money.

Let me go into a bit of detail here. Puck Connelly is a stubborn, family-oriented girl who has never witnessed the Races, despite having grown up on the only island that does the Races. But she feels forced to participate when her brother announces that he's leaving for the mainland. Their parents are dead, and she and her little brother would be left all alone.

So she blurts out that she'll join them, just so he'll stay a couple more weeks. This seems kind of a flimsy reason to join the Races; she could have found a different way, or just accepted that he'll leave, or insist she'll go, too. But she does none of that. She joins a bunch of Races she's never seen for herself. Races that consist of superhorses who eat human flesh if you're not careful racing against each other, right next to the habitat that magically calls to their blood: the sea.

But really, overall, I kinda liked Puck. Whatever her reasons behind it, she still joined the male-dominated Races against everyone's advice, even after the male racers shun her in little ways and big ways. And anyways, she finds out she needs the prize money: without her older brother, the primary money-earner, she'll be kicked out of the house she grew up in. And that's worth fighting for. 

And Sean Kendrick? He's a weird one. He's a cool character -- for some reason, he reminded of Four from Divergent, though I can't pinpoint why -- and his reasons are his own rhyme. Or, in other words, he seemed like a real person, and moreover he seemed like a real person who I might actually be able to stand. He doesn't care about society, sticks up for Puck, loves his water horse a little too much.

This is a real character-oriented novel, really. I can't tell you where this novel took place, other than the romantic vision of an isle of scrubby grass and tough people, all living near cliffs and the sea. I believe, from the references to America and the mainland, that it takes place somewhere around the British Isles, or Ireland or Scotland or... you know the vague area I'm talking about. (I'm not good with geography.)

Overall, this novel was pretty interesting. I finished it a little less than a week ago and I can still give you this opinion, so obviously it was in some shape or form memorable. I wouldn't stick it among my greater favorite books, because it didn't quite catch my spark. It almost did, but it didn't for whatever minute reason. But I think it's a book that plenty of people would love beyond love. It's a fine book. So, I give it four stars.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

"Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch."
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All is lost.
Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?
Between Shades of Gray is a riveting novel that steals your breath, captures your heart, and reveals the miraculous nature of the human spirit.

~Print copy, 338 pages
Published: 2011 by Philomel Books

[First off, happy 1st day of April! My birthday's this month. And it's spring break. Meep!]

This novel... is most certainly riveting.

It starts off with Lina, along with her mother and brother, getting kidnapped by the Soviet police. It's the beginning of World War 2, and the Soviets have captured Lithuania, where Lina and her family live. For that, and because her father helps some people escape to Germany, Lina and her family is deported.

Lina can be a bit of a selfish girl, a bit young and immature. I sympathized with her, of course, overlooked her flaws over the course of the novel, but I really liked her mother and some of the other, secondary characters more. Those were the adults, who took care of everyone; they felt more rounded out, more alive than Lina, who only in flashbacks could see why they were captured.

But the premise... the setting... the details... All of it's sort of breathtaking. In a breaking-your-heart sort of way. I pictured it all so clearly, felt the hunger and despair and almost smell the stench and feel the lice. The details are unapologetically honest.

The middle-to-end sort of upset me. I was expecting it, but hoping for something different. I don't know, I guess I still wanted a happy ending. But it couldn't really have a happy ending, and it didn't have one. It's kind of emotional.

I haven't really picked up any new book since I finished this one on Friday. That's how much this book impacted me. It's a really honest novel, and most certainly a worthy read; I'm not sure how I feel about it, though. I think it's more a 4 star novel than a 5, simply because it impacted me too hard. I recommend this to anyone looking for a serious read.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Can one girl unite two worlds?
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend the court as ambassadors and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.
Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift -- one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.
In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the page.

~Print copy, 451 pages (from the library)
Published: 2012 by Random House

I agree with a statement in that last paragraph, up there in the summary: the rich, complex world bit.

Hartman's world is fully thought out, fully alive. Religion, politics, terminology, technology -- all was perfect-clear to me. The dragons, when they become human, are saarantrai; their lesser cousins, who can't fly and can't turn into a human, are quigutl. Everything has a name, a place.

The premise itself, of course, is interesting. I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. A dragon-human treaty? Dragons that turn to humans, to become scholars? And tension when a royal member of the family is suspected to have been murdered by a dragon? Of course I picked it up.

The writing was decent. It was pretty lyrical, actually, the type of writing you expect from a fantasy novel: not Tolkien, not Lewis, not Rowling, but a mix of all of the above. And I don't meant that it sounded like a knockoff; rather, it sounded like a classic.

I could have done without the romance, though. That summary made me think Kiggs was some old, grizzled man from the dragon wars. Really, he's the same age as Seraphina... and he's betrothed to his cousin, the second heir, Glissenda... and of course, romance has to blossom.

I say this too often, perhaps, but I am not a fan of romance. The romance played a decent part of this novel -- I don't want to say a large part of it, but a good amount-- and I felt it didn't really belong there. I'm kinda picky that way. Let me explain.

For example: in the Hunger Games (the first book, anyhow) the romance was necessary. It blended in, it was integrated, and it was necessary: if Katniss didn't at least pretend to love Peeta, in a convincable manner, she might have to kill the boy who had once saved her life. In Seraphina, however, it seemed like a side note: something extra to add in. It didn't feel like that at all. Just sort of, oh look here's two teenagers -- they should fall in love.

Seraphina also cried a decent bit in this novel. I couldn't fathom why. It wasn't that she was weak, it was just that... she cried a good amount of tears. I could understand some tears, especially in your typical patriarchal-world-where-women-are-nothing. But Seraphina didn't seem like that much of a crybaby. She seemed like a deep character: her love of music that led her to a palace, the true hatred she feels for herself for what she is (read the book to understand that), the awkwardness around family and strangers because she cannot feel like she truly belings. 

The other characters were pretty cool, though. I loved the secrets, and how it tore apart her friendships with others; Kiggs was an alright character, and I liked Glissenda. And Orma, her uncle and teacher.

But really, overall, the good outwieghs the cons doublefold. A little bit held me back, but I did really like this novel -- its world, the premise, the characters. A definite 4 stars.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

One choice decides your friends... One choice defines your beliefs... One choice determines your loyalties -- forever... One choice can transform you.
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to determine her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

~Print copy, 487 pages
Published: 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books

(The unbolded summary above is not the back-cover summary, because there was no back-cover summary, just the bolded sentence and rave reviews of the book. That is the... what's-it-called.... the publisher's summary. The one located on the back of the title page.)

Yes, I'm super late. I don't normally read popular books. I only picked this up at all because the whole "one-choice" thing caught my eye.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

What did I like about this?

• I liked the voice. I don't come across the first-person-present often, and Roth's style was perfect for a mature-teenager.
• I liked the premise. Obviously. If I hadn't liked the premise, I wouldn't have bought the book.
• Beatrice was... a strong character. Weak at the same time. Instead of contradictory, though, her conflicting qualities blended together to form an actual person.
• The whole conflict was well-handled. By that I mean, it took precedence. This isn't a romance story; it's an action story, and the struggle between Erudite (the Intelligent) and Abnegation (the Selfless) was the overarching thing. Not Tris and Four.
• The world-building was pretty decent, as well. I understood sort of where they were, even though I couldn't even tell you where Chicago is on a map. (Seriously. I looked US map on google and was like, "Chicago's really that far west?!")

What did I NOT like about this?

• I'm not a big fan of romance-in-general. The whole thing between Four and Tris, while at least not too much a love triangle, still made me a little impatient. Everytime they had an intimate conversation (which wasn't too often, but still) I was like, "hurry it along. Tell me about Erudite's prejudice and speculate on what they plan on doing next!"
• I wasn't too big a fan of Four, either. He was kind of... controlled-violent. Well, really, I can't pinpoint what I don't like about him.

That's about it. I couldn't really organize my thoughts too well on whether I liked it or not, so I thought it over Sunday (yesterday) and came up with this. I guess it's a 4-stars. Or a 3.75, which still rounds to a four.

 
(And yes, it's a Monday. We have the day off -- it's a teacher workday, because it's the end of the 9 weeks. They have grades to put in, report cards to get.)

The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell

Twelve-year-old Clara Dooley has spent her whole life in the crumbling Glendoveer mansion, home to a magician's widow, a cage full of exotic birds, and a decades-old mystery. Clara loves old Mrs. Glendoveer, but the birds in the aviary frighten her -- they always seem to screech and squall whenever she's near. And then one day, the mynah bird speaks, and the mystery starts to unravel.
Clara discovers dark secrets about the family, and about her own past. Somehow the birds in the aviary seem to be at the center of it all, and Clara can't shake the feeling that they are trying to tell her something...

~Print copy, 337 pages
Published: 2011 by Yearling

 Clara Dooley has a weak heart, and cannot leave the ancient Glendoveer mansion, where she spends her days reading and taking care of old Mrs. Glendoveer. But when Mrs. Glendoveer dies and the birds begin to speak to her, Clara needs to pry into the secrets surrounding Mrs. Glendoveer. Where are her children, who disappeared nigh on 50 years ago? Why does she keep those birds? How have those birds lived so long?

This book is MG, true, but as my mother tells me: "there are good books for everyone in every genre." (Perhaps not for erotica. But by "genre" she meant MG/YA/Adult, not specifics.)

I felt this book could appeal to if not everyone, then at least plenty of people. There's ghostly activity, a stronger-than-she-seems heroine (did anyone else think Winnie-the-Pooh right there?) and a decent amount of magic.

The characters were all pretty solid. Especially Clara and her best friend, Daphne. (They're not technically allowed to be friends, since Clara's mother wants her in isolation because of her "weak heart", but they're still friends. Read the book.)  They are not deterred from this mystery, even with the somewhat-sinister finding that the children were found dead in the nearby Lockhaven Bay... and the magician's right hand man, a hypnotist by the last name Booth, seems connected.

The mystery itself, while somewhat easy for me to guess at by mid-book, was pretty satisfying. It kept me on my toes, my imagination on alert. The ending, when all was said and done, both chilled and relieved me. I won't say more, for fear of spoilers.

The dialogue was somewhat stilted, of course, this book taking place in the late 1800s/early 1900s. I wasn't particularly fond of it, but I read books for the ideas, not the dialogue.

Overall, I loved this book. It was well worth the read. It wasn't one of my absolute favorites, but still worth the two days it took me to read it. 4 stars!

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison

Penelope "Lo" Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things.
But in the year since her bother's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous obsession. When she discovers a beautiful antique butterfly figurine and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as Sapphire, Lo becomes fixated.
As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues", with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld -- a world much closer to home than she ever imagined.
Kate Ellison's debut novel is a tour de force thriller about a girl whose obsessive-compulsive collecting leads her down a dangerous path of secrets, mystery, and murder -- where every clue she uncovers could be her last.

~Print copy, 325 pages (from the library)
Published: 2012 by Egmont USA


This book is about a girl with OCD who accidently happens to be there when a girl is murdered.

She was not a witness, per se, but she was standing outside an apartment when a gun shot fires. She runs, making it home on the bus, but the next day, when she hears about the girl who was murdered in that part of town ("Neverland"), she looks it up. The house she had been next to when the gun fired was the home of a strip-club dancer, Sapphire, who was raped and murdered.

Lo visits a flea market the next day, where she finds a man who is selling a butterfly figurine and a horse pendant, both of which were missing from Sapphire's apartment when the police found her body. She confronts the seller about it, who swears he had nothing to do with it and gives her the butterfly figurine for free. Lo feels obligated to help figure out the killer, having been there and now owning the dead girl's figurine.

What did I think about this novel, really? I did enjoy reading it. A lot. It wasn't my favorite, but it was worth reading.

First off, there's Lo. She has an obsession with the numbers 3, 6, and especially 9. She compulsively steals things. But she wasn't represented as a freak, or someone who "has" to get better by the end of the book. She didn't need "help". She was represented as a real person, and her "urges" were real.

I'm not going into a rant about how people with mental disorders aren't "freaks" (because really, I don't think I need to). But I did enjoy that Lo was as real as any character I've read in my favorite books -- Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter, Emily Strange.

I felt Lo was kind of weak at times, truth admits, but I couldn't fault her for it. Not just because of her mental disorder, but because her brother died, and she was coping the best she could, and sometimes that slowed her down. Like how she had to tap her thighs nine times and say "banana" before she could enter a place: not really useful when running from a killer. But she had to, it made her feel safe. And really, that's what makes this book not-hateful: you can connect with Lo because her habits make her feel safe. And who doesn't have something they do, some small tic, to make themselves feel better?

Secondly, I love the ending. Everything ties together, like it should. The author really did a good job with that: everything was cleared up, everything made sense. It was lovely, a real nice ending.

Which leads me to a point I semi-hated: the romance. There was nothing wrong with this romance; actually, it was an element of the plot that tied into the ending pretty well, too. But I just dislike romance in general. There was a part that got semi-sexual, but they didn't do anything besides make out (which was described in detail).

Also, the setting was a strip club in Neverland for a good portion of the book. She applies for a job there, so she can talk to the other girls about Sapphire. This was not a smart idea, in my opinion -- how do you turn that sort of job down without raising suspicion? It's kind of assumed in this poor neighborhood that you needed the money, or you wouldn't have applied. But I can agree to let a character have at least one bad decision. The setting descriptions, I couldn't picture exactly, just in jagged points -- a tree here, a birdbath there, how many of this or that -- but I got enough of a picture to imagine it.

The writing itself was beautiful, though. It was sort of Laurie Halse Anderson meets Eoin Colfer (the author of Speak meets the author of Artemis Fowl). Laurie Halse Anderson because of how Ellison points out just the right details and in just the right way to make it seem like actual thought. And Eoin Colfer because of the ending, how you can almost see everything tying itself together, but you don't guess the ending. I mean, you can't guess the ending, but you can see how everything led up to it. It was really unique, really. Managing to be compared to two of my favorite authors, but still sounding like a unique voice, is pretty spiffy. I'm vaguely impressed.

Overall, there wasn't much I hated. It didn't quite catch my spark (though it came awful close) but it was well worth a read. 4.25 stars (which we all should remember means we round down).

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Stealing Beauty
You saw me before I saw you.
A girl: Gemma, at the airport, on her way to a family vacation.
You had that look in your eyes.
A guy: Ty, rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar, eyes blue as ice.
Like you wanted me.
She steps away. For just a second. He pays for her drink. And drugs it.
Wanted me for a long time.
He takes her, before she even knows what's happening.
To sand and heat. To emptiness and isolation. To nowhere.
And expects her to love him.
Written as a letter from a victim to her captor, this is Gemma's desperate story for survival. Ty has stolen her bosy. Against every instinct screaming inside her, will he also steal Gemma's heart?

~Print copy, 299 pages
Published: 2010 by Chicken House

Where do I begin with this novel?

First of all, there's Gemma. She's an ordinary London girl: she feels her parents are too out-of-touch with her. As they're waiting in the airport to go to Vietnam, she steps into a coffee place for a drink, and Ty offers to buy a drink for her. She thinks he's handsome; but he drugs her coffee and smuggles her through the airport, onto a plane to Australia.

Once there, he takes her out into the unmapped desert, where he has a home set up for the two of them.

Ty is referred to as "you" the entire novel. It's a strange way to write a book; I like it. A romance, if I bothered to pick it up, should read like that. It makes things more intimate, more emotional. And even though he's stalked her since she was ten, kidnapped her, and took her miles from home, it still is a little bit romance-ish.

Gemma doesn't know how to feel about him. He's a stranger to her: somewhat familiar, since he's been stalking her since she was ten, but still a stranger. The entire novel, all she thinks about is escape and who this person is.

We learn Ty's backstory this way, through Gemma's questions. In my opinion, Ty was more realistic than Gemma was. A wild man, grown up among Australia's particularly wild wilderness.

What dampened my lovely opinion of this novel was the ending. I don't know: I guess I wanted a somewhat different ending. I can't tell you specifically what disappointed me, as that is what's known as spoilers.

There is a decent amount of swearing in this. And a little bit of nudity. But no sex. It was a bit of a damper as well, but life ain't perfect. There'll be swearing in a lot of books I come across, especially since I read so much YA.

The worldbuilding is amazing. Described in colors and emptiness. I suppose it has to be, being quite a part of the plot (no people around, no hope of rescue).
 
But overall, it's a decent novel. If it's your cup of tea. (Cup of tea. The main character's from London. Ohgoodness, excuse that.) I give it a 3.5 in my humble opinion. So, rounded to 4 by default.

[By the way, I am up to 7900 words on Nano. Whoot!]

Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett

Ariadne is destined to become a goddess of the moon. She leads a lonely life, filled with hours of rigorous training by stern priestesses. Her former friends no longer dare to look at her, much less speak to her. All that she has left are her mother and her beloved, misshapen brother, Asterion, who must be held captive below the palace for his own safety.
So when a ship arrives one spring day, bearing a tribute of slaves from Athens, Ariadne sneaks out to meet it. These newcomers don't know the ways of Krete; perhaps they won't be afraid of a girl who will someday be a powerful goddess. And indeed she meets Theseus, the son of the king of Athens. Ariadne finds herself drawn to the newcomer, and soon they form a friendship -- one that could perhaps become something more.
Yet Theseus is doomed to die as an offering to the Minotaur, that monster beneath the palace -- unless he can kill the beast first. And that "monster" is Ariadne's brother.

~Print copy (from the library), 310 pages
Published: 2011 by Harcourt

This was a pretty good book, overall. Adventure, Greek mythology, complications and misunderstandings.

One of the things I disliked was that in this summary, it mentions it could "become something more." Which it doesn't. There is very little romance in this at all, and so the summary is a bit misleading. I thought I would dread this book because of that one line.

But in fact, it was pretty good. It switches POV between Ariadne, in past tense, and Theseus, in present tense. Together, they tell this story of how Ariadne's mother died and how Ariadne has to take her mother's place.

They have this ritual in Krete, where She-Who-Is-Goddess (Ariadne's mother) chooses one man, who supposedly houses the god Velchanos's body, to make love to and then have him killed, so his blood can fertilize their fields. Ariadne is She-Who-Will-Be-Goddess, born to take her mother's place in this gruesome ritual.

Theseus is the illegitimate son of the Athenian king. His stepmother, the Queen, has had a child with the king already, and sees Theseus as a threat to her child's claim to the throne. When a serving girl (whose uncle is the king) suggests that they send Theseus along with the yearly tribute to Krete, everyone's happy... except Theseus.

I'm not sure what kept me from that I'm-obsessed-with-this! feeling. It just didn't catch my spark, for whatever reason. But I still think other people would love this new take on the Minotaur.

This book intertwines Theseus's adventures and Ariadne's destiny, and it was pretty well-written to boot. I would recommend this to any one who likes a good adventure/destiny/mythology book. I give it a 4.