In My Mailbox #3

  I'm back! Somehow I've managed to plow through a few more of my books for review in between grad school work, interning, and my small attempts at a social life and so I allowed myself to grab a few more on a recent library visit. So I am able to once again join in the In My Mailbox party!  IMM is a fantastic meme in which bloggers list the books that they received over the last week via mail/bookstore/library.  It's hosted by the lovely Story Siren over at her awesome blog. For more info, look here. So this week in my "mailbox," I got:

All of my IMM picks this week come from one of my lovely local libraries. 


 Bliss by Lauren Myracle


 Rampant by Diana Peterfreund


 Ash by Malinda Lo


I'm very excited about these books; they've all been on my radar for a while now and it's great to get my hands on them at last! Look out this week for reviews for a few of my past IMM books, such as The God Box and Forget-Her-Nots.  What was in your mailbox this week?

No and Me by Delphine de Vigan

No and Me

Delphine de Vigan

translated from the French by George Miller

SUMMARY: Lou has always been a little different from other kids.  Her exceptional intelligence has caused her to jump forward in school, making her the smallest and obviously youngest girl in her class.  She enjoys inventing studies about the ingredients in frozen foods and going to the train station to observe people saying their goodbyes.  When a school project forces Lou to take a step and approach a homeless teenage girl who hangs out at the station, her life slowly but surely slides into totally new territory.  Lou and No begin a tentative friendship under the guise of an almost business-like transaction; Lou buys No drinks and No answers Lou's questions about life on the streets.  But after the project is done, Lou cannot seem to let go of No.  After convincing her parents to allow No to come and live with them temporarily, Lou is determined to make No part of her broken family.  While No and Lou discover that their delicate connection can blossom into a powerful friendship and bond, they also must face the harsh reality that No's unhappy past might have a stronger pull than any support Lou can offer.  

ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS:  This book is yet another reason that I am so glad that I got into the book-blogging world and discovered exciting things like the 2010 Debut Author Challenge.  I fear that without the lists provided and the motivation to seek out these books, I might never have found a beautiful book like No and Me.  This novel is lovely; evocative and somewhat elegiac and bittersweet.  


Lou is unique and spot-on narrator for this story.  Her quirkiness and shyness are matched by her determination and big heart.  Being an introvert with a high IQ has made Lou an excellent observer and her narration is filled with thoughtful remarks about the behavior of those around her and her own confused attempts to sort out the implications of these keen observations.  


No and Me takes on a tough, and perhaps too often ignored, topic: teenage homelessness.  This English translation uses elegant and delicate writing to frankly portray the harsh reality of Parisian street life and the emotional and socioeconomic entanglements that make escaping it nearly impossible.  Through Lou's sharp but idealistic eyes the reader sees No's vulnerability and fear as she attempts to leave her damaged past behind. Like Lou, I found myself wishing desperately that I could save No.  But this novel refuses to allow for such an easy solution.  Instead, De Vigan seems interested in the complexity of relationships built on sheer instinctual connection and the desire to be needed by another person.  At one point, Lou thinks about her interactions with No in terms of a passage in The Little Prince where the fox asks the Prince to tame him because then they will need each other and so be unique to each other.  Lou wonders: "Maybe that's the only thing that matters.  Maybe you just have to find someone to tame"(180).  


I would love to try and refresh my French to read this novel in its original language; the language used in the translation is both lyrical and straightforward, reflecting the personality of its narrator. I read No and Me slowly, over the course of a busy week; I both wanted to savor its beauty and avoid the sadness it evoked.  Like all good books, this novel made me think and feel intensely without becoming preachy or didactic. No and Me is a novel that would be good for high school age teens as well as adults; I would highly recommend that anyone who enjoys elegant writing and a powerful story, check it out asap!


4/5 STARS

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins

WARNING: While this summary is spoiler-free for Mockingjay, it is not spoiler-free about the first two books in the Hunger Games trilogy. So if you haven't gotten a chance to check out The Hunger Games or Catching Fire, you might not want to read ahead.  Also, you should go hunt them down at your local library or bookstore asap! When there are spoilery sections in the review I will warn you :)

SUMMARY: Katniss Everdeen, the now infamous 'girl on fire' and Hunger Games victor, has managed to survive yet another ordeal in the arena.  Rescued from the Quarter Quell by the rebel force, Katniss now finds herself playing a whole different kind of game.  Her home district has been destroyed--firebombed by the Capitol following Katniss' own explosive act of rebellion.  But under the leadership of Gale, her best friend and hunting partner, many residents, including Katniss's mother and beloved sister Prim, have escaped to the rebel stronghold, the mysterious District 13.  So not only do both District 13 and a full-fledged rebel movement exist--the revolution against the Capitol has been underway for a while and it's gaining momentum by the minute.  And this revolution's leadership have rescued Katniss and brought her to District 13 with express purpose of using her popularity and symbolic status to advance their cause.  Of course, no one has consulted Katniss about these careful plans.  Meanwhile, Peeta has been taken by Capitol forces and placed in the hands of cruel President Snow.  The rebels claim that Katniss' participation is crucial to their success.  But is Katniss willing to become a pawn in someone else's game again and take responsibility for the millions of people at risk in the campaign?  Can she become the Mockingjay and withstand the great personal damage and expense that goes with it? 

ONESMARTCUPCAKE SAYS:  I initially read the first and second books in Suzanne Collins' awesome trilogy last spring.  I was a bit belated, I know, but I'll use being out of the country as an excuse.  Anyway, from the first pages of Hunger Games I was totally addicted to these brilliant books.  I have always enjoyed dystopian narratives, from The Giver to Fahrenheit 451 and my interest was immediately peaked by Collins' premise of a future in which the socio-economic gaps have expanded to extremes and the obsession with the media, especially reality television, has become lethal.  The compelling action-packed prose kept me turning the pages and the characters, especially the awesome Katniss Everdeen, had my heart hooked as much as my brain.   But I love the Hunger Games trilogy because it is much more than a good dystopian thriller with a cool heroine; these books attempt to grapple with the very current realities of violence, socio-economic inequality, and war.  Collins' novels explore the ways in which such realities are interconnected and how children and teenagers react to and interact with them.  Now,taking into account all those qualities, it is my opinion that Mockingjay was a superb and fitting conclusion to this excellent series.  


WARNING: It will likely get a little spoilery from here on out. Just so you know. 

Mockingjay continued to do all the wonderful things that the first two books did: it kept a good, quick pace and it delved into Katniss' head with honesty while also managing to provoke ethical and moral questions. But this novel is unique from the others in a variety of awesome ways.  Unlike the first two books, we are no longer in the Hunger Games arena.  Instead, the reader is plunged into the experience of being part of a war effort that is equally saturated in blood and televised propaganda.  But, as Katniss observes several times throughout the narrative, it remains a bizarre game with rules of unclear morality in which many players are merely pawns.  And this concept leads me to one area that I think was handled especially beautifully in the narrative: the lines between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' remain unclear and this ambiguity seems directly connected to both sides willingness to use violence and manipulation to achieve their ends.  In Mockingjay, Collins explores the role media plays in this process in new ways.  The rebels choose to use Katniss in televised propaganda in order to advance their cause and maintain support among the districts. Katniss soon realizes that she has been transformed from a person into a symbol, and it is the double-edged sword of this process and its effects on the individual involved that Collins details in this latest novel.  

Mockingjay also shows us an even darker and more broken Katniss than previous novels.  Our heroine remains angry, distrusting, and strong but simultaneously she is conflicted, depressed, and damaged. When the novel opens, Katniss is still recovering from the physical and emotional trauma of her last moments in the arena.  She has acquired a tendency to hide in small places and repeats a mantra of facts to herself when confusion threatens to overtake her.  As the narrative progresses, we also see Katniss's internal struggle with continuing depression and the conflict between her rage at the Capitol and her growing disgust with violence as a tool.  Later in the novel, the readers will also encounter a very damaged Peeta whose torture in the Capitol may have altered him irrevocably in painful and negative ways.  Along with these intensified portrayals of trauma and its effects, the novel has more graphic violence and even more tragic and seemingly pointless deaths.  And, in my opinion, all these factors are what make Mockingjay utterly brilliant.  

From my minimal browsing on the web so far, the reactions to Mockingjay have been mixed.  Some readers seem to have been disappointed in the conclusion to the now infamous love triangle of Katniss, Gale, and Peeta for a variety of reasons.  Either the end wasn't dramatic enough or the choice was unsatisfactory.  Now, I will admit that if pressed (lightly), I would have come down on the side of Team Peeta.  But frankly, I think that the conclusion to that portion of the story is merely a part of the larger conclusion just as the romance has always been part of the much larger and more complex narrative. I felt very satisfied by Collins' story, which tied Katniss's choice into her larger need to heal and recover.  She also developed the relationships between Katniss and Peeta and Katniss and Gale organically and within the context of wartime maturation.  Some other readers seem to have found the book to be too depressing or sad.  Is Katniss less outwardly spunky than usual perhaps? Well, she is dealing with the after effects of serious emotional and physical trauma while struggling with the ethics of participating in a war--even an apparently justified one.  So I think her occasional weakness and confusion is not only merited but necessary in the kind of story Collins is telling.  I also appreciated what other readers' seem to find disappointing: the seemingly pointless deaths of well-liked characters.  But, again, if Mockingjay aims to tell an honest story about war then death cannot always be obviously heroic and meaningful. Finally, I found the gentle, sad conclusion to the novel fitting; we leave Katniss somewhat bitter and still damaged but ultimately hopeful that the future might be brighter despite its bloody foundations.

Collins has written a masterful conclusion to a series that will take its place on the shelf of significant contributions to young adult fiction.  She has dealt with war, death, torture, social inequality, and refugee life with brutal honesty.  This book in particular pulls few to no punches in terms of displaying the violence, pain, and horrors of war.  But she does all this while maintaining a compelling narrative filled with characters readers will find themselves caring about deeply.  I have yelled, cried, and shivered my way through reading this trilogy and Mockingjay was no exception.  This novel is an intense, heart-pounding, and fist-clenching experience that also manages to provoke thought and inspire great emotion. And I loved every minute of it so much that I went back and reread it in combination with the first two books almost immediately after finishing it.


So, in other words, I really, really liked Mockingjay. I feel as though my thoughts are still being processed but I tried my best to get the bulk of them out here-hope I did okay! What are your thoughts on Mockingjay? 

A few other reviews of Mockingjay I've enjoyed reading so far:
       The Story Siren
       bookshelves of doom
       School Library Journal  

Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Devilish 


Maureen Johnson


SUMMARY:  All Jane Jarvis wants to do is survive senior year at St. Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls and carry her best friend Allison Concord along with her. Jane and Allison have always been a little bit too unique and unusual to be in the popular crowd at St. Teresa's.  But they've been together and so far, that's been enough.  However, after Allison has one publicly embarrassing moment too many, she comes to school transformed.  Suddenly, Ally doesn't need Jane to protect her; instead she's got the perfect new hair and wardrobe and will barely speak to Jane.  Meanwhile Jane seems to have picked up a unusually serious and knowledgeable freshman stalker named Owen and Allison has started dating Jane's ex-boyfriend.  Soon, Owen helps Jane discover the unbelievable truth: her best friend has sold her soul to a demon.  Now it's up to Jane to try her best to save Allison and stop the mysterious Poodle Prom from changing the world as she knows it forever in the most negative of ways. 


ONESMARTCUPCAKE SAYS:  After my introduction to Maureen Johnson's fiction in The Bermudez Triangle, I was pretty sure I would enjoy basically anything she wrote.  So far, my suspicions have been confirmed.  Devilish was a delightful reading experience, portraying the horrors of high school with supernatural twist.  Jane makes a great narrator, with her smart and sarcastic observations and her heartfelt determination to rescue her friend.  I loved her spiky hair, her sometimes equally prickly disposition, and her attempts to remain logical in the face of bizarre situation.  She's spunky but also human in her fears and small weaknesses.

Johnson does a great job of balancing the supernatural aspects of her narrative with the more everyday, earthly aspects.  She crafts an interesting and darkly humorous world where Hell is structured like any other big corporation and the boy's school across the street is a former satanic temple. Lanalee, a demon working her way up the evil corporate ladder, is the ideal antagonist for the story; she offers people escape from the pain of being different or unhappy in exchange for their souls and so is a villain that fits in perfectly with the desperate world of high school.  She's confident and cruelly manipulative, making her suited to lure in girls like Allison, whose own lack of confidence triples with every embarrassment.  Plus she uses cupcakes in her evil schemes, which just adds a new layer of amusement for me at least!

At its root, Devilish is a story about friendship and the value of individuality.  It prompts questions about what values or people are worth fighting for.  The novel highlights the very real pain of feeling like a freak and power of feeling like an insider.  In the end, Jane and Allison's friendship becomes the key motivation for both girls to fight against the seduction of having a perfect life in order to have their own lives instead.

In Devilish, Maureen Johnson combines dark humor and good characters in a smart and fantastic story with definite heart. If you're looking for a fun quality read, pick this one up asap!

4/5 STARS

In My Mailbox #2

Hello again! Now for my second In My Mailbox post ever! Yay! IMM is a wonderful meme in which bloggers post about the books they have gotten that week via mail/bookstore/library and it is hosted by Story Siren at her great blog. For more information, look here.  So, without further ado, here are my 'mailbox' books for this past week:

From the library: 

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
The God Box by Alex Sanchez

In the mail:

Olivia by Ian Falconer  

The library books are to be read and then reviewed here, for both personal interest and for the GLBT Challenge and the Debut Authors Challenge.  Olivia is the last book I've gotten for my Children's Resources class.  

Meanwhile, coming up this week on the blog: my Mockingjay review (finally!) as well as reviews of both Devilish and No and Me.  And hopefully at least one other review, of one of the books above!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay

Gayle Forman

SUMMARY: When Mia came down to breakfast that morning, snow flakes were still fluttering down outside and the voice on the radio was announcing the cancellation of school.  With her beloved cello stuck at school, Mia can't practice.  Her parents decide to use the day off to visit friends; Mia and her brother Teddy willingly pile into the car with them and the four set off as the snow already begins to melt.  As they finally shift the radio back to the classical music station and Beethoven's Cello Sonata no. 3 begins to play, a truck comes out of nowhere and crashes into the car.  Suddenly Mia is standing beside her broken body in the snow as the sonata miraculously plays on from the destroyed vehicle's intact radio. Her parents are dead.  Before Mia can find Teddy, the paramedics arrive to take her severely injured body to the hospital.  Compelled by the utter strangeness of her situation, Mia follows. Over the next few days, Mia must make the ultimate choice: will she let herself go or will she stay?

ONESMARTCUPCAKE THINKS:  I first began reading this book several months ago, when I picked it up in a store and then couldn't put it down for several minutes. I forced myself to place it back on the shelf, however, because at that point I was deep into senior paper land and had to spend my spare reading time on literary criticism about Victorian novels.  But I picked it up again at the library this summer and sped through it in about a day.  If I Stay is lovely and evocative work which delves into the delicate and difficult questions of mortality: what control do we have over our death and what is worth staying alive for?  

The novel shifts between Mia's current state after the accident and the significant and insignificant moments of her past that have shaped her relationships with her family, friends, and boyfriend.  Mia's voice is distinctive and recognizably realistic.  Her quiet but powerful passion for music, her occasional sense of separation from her former rock 'n roll parents and punk rocker boyfriend Adam, and her concerns about life after high school-all these basic facets build together through the shifting narrative to illustrate Mia in her complexity and humanity.  The details of Mia's reactions and experiences in both time frames allow the reader to become intimately connected to Mia and the circle of people surrounding her.  Even only a few pages into the novel, I felt as though I knew the characters, especially Mia, and so I felt every pain and twist in her brief but intense journey along with her. 

The relationships between Mia and her parents, her best friend, her grandparents, her brother, and her boyfriend are well-drawn and realistic in their complexity.  Mia and Adam's relationship in particular was enjoyable to follow; it grew organically and went beyond the flush of first love to the complications of mature affection. Forman's lyrical language beautifully evokes the genuine passion between the two without shifting into melodrama or overwrought teen romance.  


If I Stay is a short novel but its brevity contributes to its emotional impact. Forman's spare but poetic prose expresses a wide range of emotions and experiences with honesty and frankness.  Through her elegant writing, the reader is immediately drawn into the frightened and confused mind of a seventeen-year-old girl on the verge of losing everything.  The lyricism of the text seems to echo the large role music plays throughout the narrative, emphasizing that while the decision Mia faces is universal, the story remains that of an individual-a vital young woman for whom music represents all the pain and joy of life.  

Gayle Forman has written a small book that packs a big punch.  Her characters could step off the page and her beautiful writing is a pleasure to read.  Moreover, If I Stay marries serious questions about mortality with the concrete reality of human relationships and emotions.

4/5 STARS

In My Mailbox #1

Welcome to my first ever In My Mailbox post! Yay! IMM is a fabulous meme begun and hosted by The Story Siren at her wonderful blog in which bloggers post about the books they have received that week via mail/library/book-store. For more info, go here.  My post this week will be larger than usual because I am starting grad school classes on Monday and so several more books for my Children's Resources class came in :) 

So here's what I got this week: 

So I bought and received in the mail the following:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Home by Jeannie Baker
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

The Hunger Games trilogy was a long desired personal buy and receiving Mockingjay Friday afternoon was one of the highlights of my summer! The review will be up soon but I'll give you a clue now: I really, really liked it :) The other four books are for grad school but I hope to review some of them as well as the other 'school' books I read over the coming months. 

From the library, I got:
No and Me by Delphine de Vigan
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

I'll be reading and reviewing both of those books this week, baring natural disaster or academic overload :)