Book Review Wednesday: The Beckoners by Carrie Mac (Contemporary YA)

The Beckoners by Carrie Mac

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is one of those books I've picked up several times at the library, but never opened it because I'd never heard of it. So even though it sounded good, I'd end up reading something else I got at the same time. Silly me.

Here is this undiscovered gem of a book. All I kept thinking as I listened to it was, HOW THE HELL IS THIS BOOK NOT A PRINTZ AWARD WINNER!!!???? It is so good, and exactly like what they always pick. Except way better. I know it doesn't have the best reviews, but THIS BOOK ROCKS!

It was so grungy and grimy and sad and brutal and depressing and just all around...amazing. One of those books that, as I read, I kept thinking, "Man, I wish I'd written this book." Not in the way of, "I could have done it better," but in the way of, "I wish I was Carrie Mac."

I will never understand why this book isn't rated higher. I loved it. I loved the characters, I loved the evilness of children portrayed here. It's like a modern Lord of the Flies, about bullying and bad parenting and reality. And girls. And cruelty. And conformity. People have complained that it's written strangely, but I had the audio and couldn't tell (and sometimes, you can...ahem *sarahdessen*). It sounded great to me. I liked the reader, and the prose flows well. People have also complained that it dealt with too many issues, but I didn't even notice. I was too busy going squee squee squee all the way home.



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Review Wednesday: Alt Ed (Contemporary YA)

Alt Ed by Catherine Atkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3.5 stars

Reviewing this book is a bit challenging, because while it was going on, there was really nothing wrong with it, except for what didn't happen during it. Let me explain.

As I began this book, I was instantly drawn in. I loved Susan, our protagonist, for her sweetness and because she wasn't typecast as the fat funny girl. Call this a modern take on The Breakfast Club, where, instead of detention, these kids have an entire semester of after-school meetings with the counselor because of some bad behavior they each engaged in. Each participant is developed over the course of the book, morphing into wonderful, well-developed characters. As the book unfolds, we learn why most of them are there, although most of it is saved for what turns out to be the climax, since what should have been the climax is not actually included in the book.

I feel a bit guilty for withholding praise for what is NOT in the book, but with this one, I have to. There's an agent who posts on her blog the importance of knowing where to start your story. This author seemed not to know where to end her story. Normally, if that was the case, you'd think it was because an author dragged on and on after the climax, or left you with a cliffhanger. But this one just sort of...ended. Abruptly. In the middle of nowhere, right before what had been building towards what I thought would be the climax. It wasn't the kind of ending that lets you imagine what happens next, but the kind that makes you wonder if some pages were missing from your book, or if an incomplete draft got sent to the publisher and no one noticed. So while I enjoyed the book, I didn't enjoy the not-book that was missing.

I'm not opposed to book without happily-ever-after endings. I'm not opposed to a few loose ends--I like feeling like the characters live on after the last page. But this book leaves A LOT of loose ends. In fact, pretty much every end is left hanging.

(view spoiler)[ Susan and her dad started down a path to reconciliation, which was a good end for their story. But what about her and her brother? Nothing changed. What about things with Brendon? We can assume they stayed friends. What was going on with the counselor--was he sick? What happened with Randy? With Cal? Did he like Susan? Why was he such a bully? Did he ever change, or begin to change, or see that what he was doing was wrong? We never learn why he's there, or what he does when he finds out Susan and Brendon trashed his truck. In fact, we never even learn why they did it. We are told they are going to a confrontation where we will find out why he's there, and they will confess. And then the book ends.  (hide spoiler)]

Still, while I was reading it, I was completely captivated. It was one of those books that made me wish I'd written it. For someone who thinks the characters make the novel, this was perfect. Susan was sweet, but not too much of a pushover, and not a cliche. Amber was tough and wounded, but not a cliche either. Tracy, the perfect cheerleader who wasn't perfect, clashes with Brendon, the ostracized gay guy. Though some of the characters aren't exactly original, they all come alive enough that it doesn't matter that they are types, because here, they are real people who just happen to fall into a category. Each character is handled with compassion, realism, and care. Overall, Randy was the character who elicited the most emotion. He was the sweet jock, idolized by our protagonist but not quite as perfect as she'd like to imagine. He went along with the bullying, even when he didn't agree with it, which made him as culpable as anyone. I would have liked Susan to accept this a bit more than she did, but it didn't affect the story much. It was a nice change in today's YA landscape to read about a girl falling for the nice-guy hero. Honestly, I kept waiting for her to fall for Cal, because, well, that's how most YA girls are portrayed now--always irresistibly attracted to the asshole. Randy's character was so wonderfully drawn, someone we have all known, who goes along with his friends even when he shouldn't, easy-going and kind to everyone.

This is a wonderful book about bullying, conformity, friendship, family, stereotypes, and judging people, among other things. There are lots of books with the same message, but not many as good as this one. Would have been a 5-star if it had felt complete, or had a real ending. </["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]>



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Review: Nothing, by Janne Teller

Nothing by Janne Teller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


4.5 stars

Note: If you read the spoilers, they do give away EVERYTHING, including the ending.

It seems every review of this has 1 star or 5 stars, so I guess you'd call it a 'love it or hate it' book. I loved it. It was reminiscent of Lord of the Flies for me. In Nothing, a group of kids go to further and further lengths to prove to a classmate that life does indeed have meaning. It's like a modern-day existential Lord of the Flies, where they aren't fighting for dominance and survival, but for meaning, for proof that life isn't just a fraud, for survival not of their physical selves but of their entire belief system.

The group of twelve to thirteen-year-olds begins by giving up little things that have meaning for them to show that something in life does have meaning. The author does a wonderful job of making each request seem unfair as they escalate, so that at first, you think it's unfair for a girl to give up a pair of green sandals, and by the end, you can't believe how petty it was that she only had to give up her shoes and complained about it. As the book progresses, you are dragged along at a steady pace, more and more shocked and horrified by each request as the group members push each other to new and cruel limits to see how far they can go, to make the next person give up more than the person before had to. There were a few times when I guessed what was coming. (view spoiler)[ Such as when they killed Cinderella. I knew from the moment the dog peed on the cross that Holy Carl would get his revenge. I also sort of guessed the virginity thing, although not as far in advance. And let me just say in this spoiler, that part was the most disturbing of the book. Everyone else was promised they would get back what they gave up, so I didn't see how everyone went along with her having to give up her virginity. And the fact that she had to do it with 4 boys looking on was the most appalling of all. I didn't feel very sorry for the boy losing his finger at the end, though. I was sort of cheering them on. Why didn't Sophia ask for that right after the rape?  (hide spoiler)]
Everyone is saying this is a book about the meaning of life, but that wasn't the real message I took from it. If anything, this book was more about bullying and conformity and peer pressure. A few reviews have argued that Agnes is a weak and unlikeabale main character, but I didn't find her to be so. The book needed a point of view, so the author chose a random participant. She wasn't the best or the worst. She was just anyone, which fit perfectly with the story. That it could be just anyone, average in every way. She speaks up sometimes, but no more than anyone else. She's no better or worse than the others. She has qualms about the escalating events, but still goes along with the group, scared of speaking out, not only because she might get beaten up like some of the others, but because they might turn on her. I found the book gripping, horrifying, and possibly a bit damaging to my psyche. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good, deep read that doesn't drag on, but make sure you can handle a little grit in your peaches and cream.

The only part of the book that let me down was the ending, which was a bit abrupt for me, or just didn't feel really complete. (view spoiler)[ And I can see how some people would be angry that the kids are never held accountable for all they've done, including the murder. You would think someone would notice the body had been beaten to death before being burned, right?  (hide spoiler)]

The translation is not always smooth, and can be awkward at times, but the writing was still lovely. When I picked up the audiobook, I didn't realize it was a translation, and listening to it, I thought it might have been written in verse. When I found out it was a translation, the strange style made more sense.

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