The Fault in Our Stars

John Green’s most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, follows Hazel Lancaster through a year in her life – a life that’s bound to be too short. Hazel has cancer.

Green uses a fictitious novel (how's that?!) to add a dimension to the story. She and her boyfriend - who is in remission; they met through a support group - ultimately travel to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houton, the author of An Imperial Affliction. 

And he's a jerk.

It's just one of many ways Green illustrates the fact that life ain't fair.

When  Hazel and dreamy boyfriend Augustus arrive to meet the over-esteemed Peter Van Houton, the author is not only rude, he threatens to throw them out of his house. 

Hazel and Gus cope almost too well with that, and it's a good thing - because the author's unpleasantness isn't the worst thing that happens on the trip.

Hazel also learns that Augustus has had a relapse.

Interestingly, when she delivers her eulogy for Augustus (whoops - spoiler alert: Gus doesn't make it) Hazel quotes the author who so disappointed her, explaining that she learned from him that “some infinities are bigger than other infinities.”

Fortunately, Green's book is quite a bit bigger than I've probably made it sound; and it's right on target for YA readers - particularly girls.

~Diane Stresing

Who Would Give a Queen a Sloth?

Who would give the queen a sloth, and what's up with the Dustin Hoffman cameo? I almost didn't find out.

As you can see, my dog nearly ate The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart.

All right - the truth is that while "my dog ate it" would be a convenient, acceptable, and almost-true excuse for not finishing the novel, I can't blame the dog. I just took for-ev-er to read it.

Pace More Tortoise Than Hare

Why did it take me forever to read?  Well, it isn't exactly a page-turner. The action unfolds with about the same aplomb as a towel unfolds. No flash, no magic, no special effects. Still, I knew I had to finish it - any book that uses the word hirsute in its first fifty pages deserves that much - and Stuart's story is sweet. I suppose the reason I finished it, slowly, is because I couldn't help but like her almost-too-human characters. They're a miserable lot, but each one is charmingly full of quirks.

Quirky, Sad Characters

Shortly after I'd stumbled over hirsute, I found the Rev. Septimus "lost in the silent ecstasy of wearing new socks." I rest my case.

See, while I truly liked The Tower's crew, I could only spend so much time with them in one sitting.  Frankly, I found their company rather depressing. Even the animals.

It's not really my style to describe a book's plot - scads of other reviewers do that - but in case you don't know, the "zoo" in the title refers to the menagerie of animals that the Royal family received as gifts from heads of state and other Very Important People around the world.

Theme of Loss

In the end, I finally got it - the theme of the book, that is - I think.

I think it's about loss, and more specifically, about moving on after loss. Oh, I suppose the fact that main character Hebe Jones worked at the London Underground's Department of Lost Things might have been a clue, and that a whole plotline revolved around the issue of returning a lost urn might have been another, but look, give me a break. I have Stage III FTGO,* after all.

If you get to the end of this book - and I recommend it, really I do - you're going to need a tissue, but don't worry, it'll be a cathartic cry. Oh, and just for fun you'll be rewarded with a bizarre appearance by Dustin Hoffman. (Stuart could go on the lecture circuit just to explain how she came up with that.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy a new chew toy for my dog, and look for a happier cast of characters.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~Diane Stresing

*Failure To Grasp the Obvious. I'm sure the DSM will get around to including it one of these days...

Several Shades Better

You want to be like everybody else? Carry 50 Shades of Grey to the pool this summer. If you want to read a really good book - albeit one that might qualify for a chick-lit label - heft Diana Gabaldon's Outlander wherever you go. The author's storytelling skills guarantee a great deal of escape, and an equally well-written bit of smut only adds to the adventure.

Apparently, Outlander was a bit of escape for the author, who began writing it while she was a university professor. Degrees in zoology, marine biology, and ecology notwithstanding, Gabaldon managed to weave a tale that takes us on a time-travel jaunt from post-WWII England to the Scottish Highlands, circa 1743. Aye, and it's a bonny journey!

I highly recommend this book and won't spoil your enjoyment by going into plot details. In a nutshell, if you like adventure, romance, and botany, this is going to be one of your favorite books. If you'd like a well-crafted description of what a very strong female lead finds under an even stronger Scotsman's kilt, well, what are you waiting for? Go get Outlander. And read it quickly, without remorse -- there's a series of seven books waiting for you, with an eighth expected early in 2013. 

And you know all those silly typos and redundancies in Shades of Grey? You won't find 'em here. Enjoy!
__________________________________

Better than #ShadesofGrey

Back to Scary School

Scary School has given me a lot of food for thought. As a reading mom, I was reminded once again that I'm not very good at judging how my kids will respond to some titles. My eight-year-old absolutely loved Scary School, even though I'd have given it a lukewarm review. After we finished reading it together, he gave it that great compliment: "Can we read it again?" Well, I said no. (I'll never win mother of the year!) So... he read it himself. But first, he insisted on taking the online quiz to access the hidden chapter. You're getting the idea, right? Scary School is not only capable of captivating kids with a story perhaps best described as slapstick comedy a la Scooby-Doo and the Vampires meets The Munsters, it also spurs them to read independently, above grade level. I should mention that the book's packed with characters, too - keeping track of all of them helps improve memory skills. (Did I mention I'm not up for mother of the year? Look, I wanted to read something else, ok?!)

As a writer and reviewer, I learned something about book marketing and took in one more lesson about perseverance. Read the guest blog entry from author Derek Kent - aka Derek the Ghost - to find out what it took to bring Scary School to life.

The bottom line: I highly recommend Scary School, particularly for boys. Got a middle grade reluctant reader? This would probably make an excellent choice for him - or her. 

Moo and Monkeys Speaking in Complete Sentences

To answer my titular question it's Moo, by Jane Smiley. I like it, with its setting geographically removed enough from my own midwest-college-town so that I don't feel like the author is making fun of me and my neighbors specifically :)

Once I've finished Moo, I won't read more of Smiley's work right away. She's good - especially at character development, and she offers up lots of characters! - but her sentences run on a bit and her plots move too slowly for my liking. I find it's too easy to put down the book, and when I do, I'm less than eager to pick it up again.

Something I picked up when I put down Moo was a Discover Magazine article about several researchers who have apparently proven that Campbells monkeys (and many other species) have syntax. (Speaking of run on sentences!)

So maybe worrying about grammar isn't uniquely human after all.

A Mango-Shaped Space & More Sustenance

Wendy Mass's first novel, A Mango-Shaped Space, scored on many counts.

First of all, it got published, by Little Brown & Co. It boasts cover blurbs from Judy Blume, Paula Danzinger, and Meg Cabot. AND it earned a Schneider Family Book Award, for "honoring artistic expression of the disability experience." That's a heck of a debut!

Grading based on the YAs I've read in the past two years, I give it a B+. The story was solid, but not stellar; the writing the same. Character development is where Mass shines.

She creates a near-tangible relationship between main character Mia and her dearly-departed grandpa, for one thing, and then proceeds to build a brilliant connection between Mia, her pet cat (Mango), and Mia's entire family.

Initially I though Mass's development of Mia's parents was a little clunky. She included a lot of just plain description up front, while I prefer to learn about characters through their actions and interactions with other characters.

Later in the book, though, I realized the descriptions helped give the reader a base of believability which is necessary when mom and dad play a larger, and important, role in the story. Had Mass not laid the groundwork earlier, those actions would have seemed like convenient but rather out-of-nowhere responses.

I can't say much more without giving away the nut of the story, and I don't want to do that; it's worth a read.

The book highlights a very rare condition - not fatal, not really even harmful - called synesthesia. Folks with synesthesia see colors (literally) associated with numbers, letters, words, foods, or any or all of those things. Of course, the first book-form treatment of a condition like that is likely to garner the attention of agents and publishers, as well as get you short-listed for some specialized book awards, so Mass deserves kudos for getting to the synesthesia space first.

I would have preferred a lot more medical info about the condition, but I keep in mind it's a YA. Which brings me to...

More Sustenance!
I've decided to shelve YAs for a few months. After so many, they're starting to seem like candy to me. And I love candy, but, you know, meatloaf is good too. It takes longer to eat and to digest, though, so postings may come a bit slower in the future.

Next up: How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? by Moustafa Bayoumi.

Boyproof? But is it plot proof?

I really enjoyed Cecil Castellucci's Boyproof, but I have to admit it wasn't the story (primarily about the internal conflict of a 16-year-old who "struggles" through her senior year in high school) but it was author Cecil Castellucci's skillfully-created characters that kept me from putting the book down halfway through.

Also, just as important (and in my experience, even more rare) Castellucci created just enough characters to populate and tell the story, with no "extras" added because the author needed them to make a point or introduce an idea/conflict.

I had Boyproof on my to-read list for two reasons

1. I wanted to compare the author's style in a novel vs. her first graphic novel, The Plain Janes
, and
2. Castellucci's writing has been used as an example of how to say a lot about a character in just a few words.

The story takes place in a pretty well-heeled Hollywood (CA) suburb, where the kids can choose to protest genetically-engineered food or try out to be an extra in an upcoming movie or TV show. It's a little bit trite, but then again, isn't that the definition of teen angst? Perhaps. (However you feel about that, the fact is the book resonates with a lot of teens.)

Victoria is "boyproof," according to her actress-mother, because she eschews all feminine clothing/makeup/hairstyles and instead prefers to dress like (the made-up-for-this-book) sci/fi movie character, Egg. What's more, Victoria insists friends call her "Egg."

Max Carter moves in and breaks Egg's shell (ha, ha) because he's as smart as she is, giving her some competition for the Valedictorian race, and because he's cute, too - making her think maybe "boyproof" isn't what she really wants to be.

As a mom, I'd be OK with my tween reading the book because it treats the confusion that comes about during adolescence seriously, but not too seriously. Also, the romantic interludes are just kisses (with some musings about groping) - there are no sex scenes.

I'd be interested to hear from readers on both sides of sci/fi fandom as to how the sci/fi elements worked in this book. While it certainly helps to have an understanding of sci/fi techniques (in books and on film), Boyproof is firmly rooted in reality - that is, a safe, suburban Hollywood, teenage version of reality.

(((a longer version of this review appears on the Epinions website, here)))

Rules of the Road Driven by Characters

Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer features well-developed characters driving a fairly predictable story about growing up. The story isn't developed enough for me to consider it a coming-of-age story, exactly, but I think it's worth recommending to the 12-15 or 16 y.o. set.

Bauer's language keeps the story moving, and the pace of things ramps up very nicely when it should - during action-sequences and other tense moments.

Not wanting to offer a major spoiler, here's the story in a nutshell: Sixteen-year-old Jenna Boller, in a self-diagnosed "slump," feels like her job (selling shoes at Gladstone's) is the only area of her life where she succeeds. When her alcoholic father returns to annoy her, and the about-to-retire Mrs. Gladstone asks Jenna to drive her to Texas for the annual shareholders' meeting, fate hands Jenna the keys to her future. From Chicago to Texas, Jenna learns she can handle the road, a few demons from her own past, and the challenge of the future. A new hairstyle in the process helps.

I don't mean to trivialize the book (or the power or the right hairstyle) but folks, this is a book for girls.

As an aspiring fiction writer, I'm keeping the book on my shelf because I think Bauer provides a good example of getting the pacing right. I'm also hoping my daughter will pick it up off the shelf. While the plot line seemed rather obvious to me and there are too many cliches for my liking, the fact is, that's OK in YA fiction. We grownups who read kid lit have to remember that when it seems obvious or cliched to us it may not be to our kids, who haven't read quite as much or for as long as we have.

Related links:
This Fun Trivia quiz about Rules of the Road was created for kids, but I enjoyed it (and you might too) as a way to test my tired old brain. (I did OK. How 'bout you?) And homeschoolers or teachers may appreciate this http://www.joanbauer.com/rulesguide/index.htm teaching guide, designed for 8th-9th graders.

More Teen Lit, and a Revelation

Under the Watsons' Porch came highly recommended (by my 12-year-old) so I was anxious to read it, hoping to get a read on - well, a lot of things. Why she liked it, for one.

The Random House title written by Susan Shreve brought back some memories, pushing me somewhat reluctantly to recall how uneasy and unpleasant one can feel just being 12. In fact, what I remember most about being 12 was how badly I wanted to be 13.

The Watsons' story is a rather simple one: good girl meets mildly bad boy, and they get into some mild trouble together. The good and bad thing about the book, IMHO, is that it's too mild. Bad boy Tommy Bowers isn't nearly as bad as his neighborhood reputation. Shoplifting a couple of bags of lollipops and sneaking into an R-rated movie after purchasing a ticket for a PG-rated film is about the extent of his crimes. Good girl Ellie Tremont lies to cover a few of her and Tommy's escapades, but otherwise, she's good through and through. I found the supporting cast rather one-dimensional, too.

One-dimensional characters in "too mild" stories don't make great fiction, folks, but if ten-to-thirteen year olds like it, this mama is happy. Why? There's an abundance of books (including a few on our "to-read" shelf) dealing with suicide, mutilation, rape, drugs, and, and, and - and I'm referring only to the teen-lit books on our shelf!

My daughter said she liked Watsons' because it was a "romance," and frankly, folks, if the story fills her romantic interests at this point I say, "yippee!"

Still, in defense of (good) teen lit, I must say I'm still not a fan of Watsons'. There are lots of titles that are just as mild in their treatment of sex, drugs, and other stuff we don't want our 10-to-13-year-olds to read about, but that have better characters, and greater impact. For that reason, Under the Watsons' Porch won't earn a spot on my shelf. Unless you're hard up for reading matter, I suggest you skip it.

On the other hand, there's Rules of the Road... which I've only just begun, and therefore won't attempt to review. Let's just say I'm already making room on my shelf already so I can keep it around. It was recommended to me by the very fine writer Marsha McGregor. By page two, I had a revelation: when a writer recommends a book, it's probably a really good one. (Thanks, Marsha.) More on Rules of the Road later.

Barbara Kingsolver, beyond the Bible

Poisonwood Bible may be Barbara Kingsolver's best selling title, but fortunately it's not the only book she's given us. I'm soaking up Animal Dreams now. At about a third of the way into one of her books, I try to slow down, to a slow-motion crawl. Her books are that good to me - her characters so dear, and the stories so real that even though I know they're just ink on paper, I also know the end (of the book) is coming and I'll be a bit depressed when I'm done with it (and them).

Sigh.

In this case, of course, once I've closed Animal Dreams I'll have plenty of other reading to do. I picked up Team of Rivals at the library, again.

Sigh.