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.

Official Review (i.e. for marks, not just for fun) of "Doing It"

"Doing It" was written by Melvin Burgess, an English author who has written many other children's and YA novels, including "Junk", a controversial novel about teen heroin addiction.  "Doing It" is another controversial YA novel and predictably so because it portrays teen love, lust, and sex in a very frank manner.  To say that it pulls no punches is an understatement, because in several instances it appears that Burgess adds some extra punches just for fun.  The book is raw, both in the way it describes teen emotions and actions.  The reader is placed right inside the minds of the teen characters and gets to see what they see and feel what they feel, no matter how crazy their thoughts or actions may be.  Burgess also frequently flips into third person perspective and the reader is then given a glimpse of what the characters look like from the outside.  This is an effective tool for painting a complete portrait of the characters, but it is jarring at first and takes a little while to get used to it.  The book is mostly written in almost a stream of consciousness kind of way.  The characters often speak directly to the reader about what they are feeling and thinking, going into great detail about their hopes and fears, desires and lusts, anger and confusion.  There is little description of surroundings or settings.  Burgess was writing a character piece here.  The style makes that abundantly evident.

The book imparts a real dichotomy of authenticity; on the one hand it seems very realistic, as several times the descriptions of the way the characters thought or felt reminded me of how I had thought and felt as a teenager.  On the other hand several of the situations seem quite unrealistic and improbable.  Of course, the book would be a great deal less interesting if the situations were mundane and ordinary.  I suppose that's why the book succeeds in being an interesting read.  It places believable characters in some outlandish situations and does a good job of accurately portraying their reactions.  That is the real strength of the book, the authenticity of the characters.  I became involved in their situations and who they were.  Burgess made me care about them.  They seemed believable.  None of them was exactly like anyone I ever knew, but they come off as real teenagers, not somebody's idea of what a teenager is like.  They are not portrayed in a sympathetic light or a damning one, they are simply shown as is.  Burgess does a good job of letting the reader judge the characters for themselves.

The cover of the book is average.  It does not draw the eye particularly well and is another example of a YA book with legs or feet on the cover.  The book itself is also average size, not extremely thick or thin.  The type in the book is also of good size, not cartoonishly large or annoyingly small.  There are limitations to its use, as it is not suitable for younger teens in general.  The frank and persistent sexual talk and language, several adult situations, as well as some profanity, make this a book that would be most appreciated for older teens.  Most teens under 14 or 15 may not get much out of it other than the "dirty words".  There are also likely parental fears that younger teens may try to emulate some of the less desirable actions of the characters, which would be a problem if that is true.  2006 (1st paperback edition), Henry Holt and Co., $8.95.  Ages 15 and up.






 

14 Ways to Dance

When I began reading Kathy Stinson's "101 Ways to Dance", I didn't know it was a collection of short stories.  I was pleasantly surprised.  In general, I really like short stories.  You can get into a story right away if it's good or stop reading right away if it's bad without making a big commitment.  It's like a goldfish.  Whether it's good or it's bad, it'll all be over soon and there's plenty more where that came from. 

The thing I noticed about the book (besides the cover, which I don't want to see.  It made taking out the book particularly embarrassing because I'm a grown man and I'm taking out a book with a zoomed in picture of a young teen girl's butt.  Who decided this was the best picture for the book cover?  Were the publishers hoping teen boys would pick up the book due solely to hormones?  At least the pants aren't super tight or I don't think I could have walked to the check-out with it) was that

Ack!  Why is this in my face?

the book is both very politically correct and edgy at the same time, without ever crossing the line.  It is politically correct because it makes sure to include all types of teen sexuality, guy and girl, guy and guy, girl and girl, sick kids in hospital, developmentally disabled teens, and teen pregnancy.  There's obviously nothing wrong with including all these different types of sexuality, it just seems to me like maybe Kathy was maybe trying to please everyone.  Perhaps she did it so that everyone could relate to at least one of the stories and teens would know that they're not alone in their situation.  It's hard to guess an author's motivation, but I hope it was for the latter reason.  I'd hate to think that a book about something as personal as sexuality was influenced by something as impersonal as politics.  It probably wasn't.

At the same time some of the stories themselves are edgy, especially the story about the first-cousins that are into each other, grabbing each other and whatnot.  That story kind of grossed me out because I thought of my cousins and...eww.  Not cool.  There was one other story I thought was edgy because it actually described a sexual act, although in a non-explicit way.  All the other stories either breeze past the sex or the sex never happens or the sex was in the past.  This one story, where a...pleasuring, we'll call it, occurs, really stands out from the rest.  I don't know why Kathy chose to describe a sexual act only in this one story.  I thought that was kind of strange.

There is a sweetness and lightness to most of the stories, especially the one about the teens in the hospital.  This is mostly a book about stirrings that are felt, but not fully realized.  The beginnings of adult sexuality are what is written about, and, although some of the teens are already having sex, I got the feeling like none of them were fully in control yet.  They are still journeying toward sexual maturity.  Reflecting on it now, that obviously makes for a good teen read.  Not all the stories are suitable for children and would not be of interest to adults.  Fits the niche of teen stories nicely.

Some thoughts on The Outsiders

I read S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" today.  I thought I had read it before, but I was talking about it with a friend and he mentioned some stuff that happened in it that I never remembered.  I think maybe I started it previously and never finished it.  I should have finished it, because I liked it this time.  It was interesting, except when they go to the farmhouse, but that part was supposed to be boring, it was fast-paced, and it has some good insights into human nature.  However, there were a few things that I was wondering about as I read the book:

1.  What kind of city greasers go to rodeos and are big on riding horses?  It doesn't seem to fit well with the rest of their activities. 

2.  The main greasers are tough and bad, while at the same time soft and wimpy.  They're always crying because they can't help it, they always have their heads on each others' shoulders or laps, and at one point they have a pillow fight, not to mention they all took gymnastics together at the Y like I did in kindergarten.  Yet they also murder some guy, have a brawl (although it was organized and it was noted that the other guys were promptly on time), and commit suicide-by-cop.  There's a real dichotomy in the characters' actions.

3.  Some of the plot points don't go anywhere.  For instance, at the beginning of the book it's said that Sodapop understands everything, then isn't really shown to have any special understanding of human nature or anything for the rest of book.  He's just a happy-go-lucky goof off who doesn't care about much.  Instead, Ponyboy, Cherry, and Johnny are the characters that have real insight into human nature and the situation they're in.  Ponyboy also appears to have suffered brain trauma from the big rumble (can't concentrate, changed personality, grades suffer tremendously), yet no explanation is ever offered for those things.

4.  My biggest quibble with the book is that everything is explained; nothing is left for the reader to learn on her or his own.  A big part of the book is Ponyboy realizing that Darry actually does care about him and love him a lot.  The author gives many clues about this, but still feels the need to come right out and say it near the end of the book, complete with an explanation why.  This also happens with the poem about "staying gold" and how Johnny tells Ponyboy to stay gold.  I thought this one would be explained too, but then it wasn't for awhile and I was hopeful...but no, at the end the author spells out exactly what the symbolism means.  I know the book is meant for teens and I'm guessing the author was making sure that everyone who read it would understand everything she was writing about, but I wish she would have left some things for readers to figure out on their own.  She did give many clues when she was making a point, so it's not as if readers had almost nothing to go by.  Discovering deeper meaning on your own is a great feeling.  Also, if things aren't spelled out readers have to think critically about the text to try to decipher what it meant.  This helps readers appreciate a text more as well as develop critical thinking skills. 

At the end of the book there was information about the author and I learned that she wrote this when she was 15-16 years old.  That explains why everything was explained, I think.  She must have been a super smart person who wasn't old enough to realize that other people would understand her meanings too.  I have a friend like that, who thinks that no one understands anything and he has to spell things out for them.  It is both hilarious and annoying.  This book, however, was neither of those things.  It was just plain good.  Two thumbs up.

Review of the Sixth Grade Nick-namers (by Gordon Korman)

I read this book last night when I got home after class.  It's one of his books aimed at elementary school kids, so I wasn't expecting much.  I hadn't read a book of his since middle school, I think, so I was worried that he wouldn't be funny to me anymore.  He was.  It was just like I remembered.  I actually laughed out loud a little, several times.  I think he's just a flat-out funny person who knows how to communicate his jokes only using text really well.  I can't put it into words very well, but he creates scenes so well that they seem to have good comedic timing and tone of voice, even though it's only text.  The message of the book was pretty obvious (people become what they are called).  I wonder if it would be to kids, though.  I thought that Korman would spell it out at the end of the book (and he did a little bit), but he mostly showed his message through the outcome of the story rather than just by having a character explain it.  I thought that was cool and probably more effective than just telling the message.  Also, he wasn't absolutist about it either.  The characters go back to their nicknaming ways and live life the way they always have.  It wasn't like nicknaming was shown to be pure evil and that we should never label anyone again.  I liked it because it seemed realistic and a lot more subtle than I was expecting for a kid's book.  Rating: 5/5