How I Live Now: On the Fence, Apparently

I had no idea what this book was about before reading it.  I heard that it started slow and got better, but I was clueless about the content.  I also forgot that this was dystopian book week, so when this was revealed in the book it was a big shock to me.  I thought it was a story about cousins who fall in love, not some alternate reality war book.

I moved through several different phases as I read the book.  At first I liked it because of its interesting language and unique descriptions of things.  After awhile I grew to hate the main character and thought she was not that great of a person.  Then, for the last quarter or so, I didn't know how I felt about the book.  I thought that some of her imaginative, poetic descriptions were amazing.  I enjoyed reading them.  I enjoyed the feelings they evoked.  At the same time, I got kind of sick of them.  It was too much after awhile, but then I would read a passage that was just terrific.  The whole book has kind of a dreamlike feel to me.  It all seems so unreal, probably because of the writing style.  The poetry of the prose and the long run-on sentences make the events seem more surreal than they would if the book was written in a more standard way. 

I like to figure out the message of books and movies and I couldn't do it with this one.  Love conquers all?  There's always hope?  Be thankful for what you have?  Live an environmentally responsible life?  War is hell?  Live a simple life?  Maybe I totally missed the message this time.  Maybe the author didn't have a clear message in mind.  I think Edgar Allen Poe, or maybe it was Lovecraft, said that the point of writing was to evoke certain emotions in the reader.  That seems to be what Rosoff attempted (and succeeded, in me) to be doing here.  Would I recommend this book?  No, because I didn't really like the story or the characters.  For me, the only thing to be gleaned from this book is many emotional reactions, which someone else may not feel when they read it.  I'm glad I read it, but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it and I wouldn't read it again.  Rosoff sure knows how to create feelings in a reader though.

Late Night Book Talk!!!

Wowee zowee, it took forever to finish this thing!  So many small decisions seemed so big during the day, which caused my project to take probably an hour longer than it should have!  Also, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, which made it even more fun and unfortunately made it take even longer to finish.  Learning how to use the software, trying new things, coming up with ideas, realizing I didn't know how to implement said ideas, finding material, what a blast!!!  It was so much fun I ran out of time to write the report.  I'll try to wake up early tomorrow and do that before class, but if I know me, that's not going to happen. 

Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out and I want to make more videos!  Now I just need some topics and a reason to do them.  I may be giddy from a lack of sleep or I may be grumpy.  Either way, I apologize in advance.  It won't really be in advance because no one will read this before tomorrow or probably at all.  I tried.

Oh yeah, here's the link to the book talk/trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr42lFpLzCc  I'm not putting the video on here because I want to make sure the views get counted.  I'm pretty sure they would if I put the video here, but I'm not sure.  This may actually cost me views because people don't want to go to Youtube.  I want confirmed views though, so I'm willing to make that sacrifice.  Enough babbling!  To bed!

Official Review #2: "Getting the Girl"

"Getting the Girl" was written by Susan Juby, a Canadian author who lives on Vancouver Island.  She has written several other young adult novels, including the successful Alice MacLeod books which were made into a television series.  "Getting the Girl" is about a freshman who decides to figure out the mystery behind a strange and sinister social phenomenon at his high school.  Many interesting things happen to him as he investigates and the plot twists continue right up until the surprising conclusion.  Juby writes in a very realistic manner.  The language used by the teenage characters reminded me of some of the words I used and the way I talked as a teenager.  The way the main character investigates the high school mystery also seemed like the way a real teenager would do it.  He has no fancy equipment, he gets noticed when he tries to follow people, and he becomes easily distracted from his mission.  I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic portrayal of teenage life.  Juby tried to write a believable story and did it well.

This book is fast paced and easy to read.  Juby also interjects a lot of humor into the story.  This makes the book even easier to read.  Juby has a breezy sort of style, using simple sentences and short chapters to make the book flow quickly.  This book has an easily identifiable moral, yet at the same time Juby does not hit you over the head with it.  The focus is on the story itself rather than using the story to make a point.  Keeping with the non-moralizing theme, there are no simplistic "bad" and "good" characters.  This also lends to the realistic feel of the story.  Juby also deals with drugs matter-of-factly, treating them like a common high school occurrence, which they are and have been for a long time.  The characters also use moderately bad language; meaning that all of it would not be allowed on prime time television, but it would receive no more than a 14a movie rating and probably less.

Physically, the book is attractive and well-designed.  The picture on the front is of teenage feet, which (strangely) seems to be very common for young adult novels.  The text is large and easy to read.  This makes it suitable for younger teens to read.  The only caveats are the fairly mild expletives and depictions of drug use.  Any teen in middle school has probably heard of worse things, however.  Although suitable for younger teens, this book is funny enough and well written enough to be enjoyed by teens of all ages.  2008, HarperTrophyCanada, $14.99, ages 12 and up.