Book Review of "This is Shyness" by Leanne Hall

Title: This is Shyness
Author: Leanne Hall
Classification: YA Fiction, Dystopian, Fantasy
Source: Bought

Overall Grade:

A-

I thought...
An endearing little oddity.


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Summary (from Goodreads): 

A guy who howls. A girl on a mission to forget.

In the suburb of Shyness, where the sun doesn’t rise and the border crackles with a strange energy, Wolfboy meets a stranger at the Diabetic Hotel. She tells him her name is Wildgirl, and she dares him to be her guide through the endless night.

But then they are mugged by the sugar-crazed Kidds. And what plays out is moving, reckless...dangerous. There are things that can only be said in the dark. And one long night is time enough to change your life.

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My Thoughts:

Perhaps the only appropriate word for This is Shyness, Leanne Hall's 24 hour dystopian/fantasy, is surreal.

What starts out as a straight-forward girl-meets-boy tale soon turns into a fantastic one-night romp through a city that felt as much of a character as Wildgirl and Wolfboy.

However, the two-part narrative form, where Wildgirl and Wolfboy take turns narrating one chapter each, feels familiar and comfortable, juxtaposing against the strange story and the characters that are never what you expect them to be.

Although the world is strange and the characters are weird and the whole novel feels like walking down a dark alleyway dressed as Edgar Allen Poe, i.e. fitting, but strange all the same, the moments of lyricism seem to vanish as quickly as they come.

In the face of total oddity and suspense, there seems to be a slight lack of depth to some elements of the story: world-building, questions about overarching world plots, etc. Granted, this might be expected of a book that takes place over one crazy night, but This is Shyness could have used a few more moments of enlightenment, in my opinion.

By the end of the story, even the most critical reader is bound to feel a certain sadness at leaving Wildgirl and Wolfboy. These characters are endearing and brave and complicated, without taking themselves too seriously.

Thankfully, a sequel has now been published, Queen of the Night for readers who loved this crazy dark world as much as I did.

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Overall Grade:

A-

Recommended to...
An endearing little oddity.



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Book Review of "Feeling Sorry for Celia" by Jaclyn Moriarty

Title: Feeling Sorry for Celia (Ashbury/Brookfield #1)
Author: Jaclyn Moriarty
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Borrowed from the library

Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

This is the best book.

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

Life is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and her communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the "Joy of the Envelope," a Complete and Utter Stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else. 

But Elizabeth is on the verge of some major changes. She may lose her best friend, find a wonderful new friend, kiss the sexiest guy alive, and run in a marathon.  

So much can happen in the time it takes to write a letter... 

A #1 bestseller in Australia, this fabulous debut is a funny, touching, revealing story written entirely in the form of letters, messages, postcards—and bizarre missives from imaginary organizations like The Cold Hard Truth Association. 

Feeling Sorry for Celia captures, with rare acuity, female friendship and the bonding and parting that occurs as we grow. Jaclyn Moriarty's hilariously candid novel shows that the roller coaster ride of being a teenager is every bit as fun as we remember—and every bit as harrowing.

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My Thoughts:


I loved and appreciated Feeling Sorry for Celia so much that I've decided to write you a letter about it. I know! Lucky you. I know it's exciting to get a letter, but please don't brag about it to your friends or the stranger sitting next to you on the bus, because then they will want a letter too, and I simply don't have enough time to write to them all. Thanks.

Dear Reader: 

You are probably wondering whether or not you should read Feeling Sorry for Celia. I know this about you because you're reading this review of the book, which is supposed to tell you whether or not you should read it. If you think about it, this makes book reviewers pretty arrogant people. 

Like I should know you well enough to know if this book is any good for you. Who am I? A complete stranger. Yes, a slightly clever stranger who reads lots of books, but still a stranger. 

In my opinion, you shouldn't care so much about the opinions of strangers. I know that you care about the opinions of strangers because you're reading the opinion of a stranger right this second. 

See? You're still here. You care! 

But in this case, maybe you should care about what people say about this book. Maybe they'll tell you that this is the best book they've ever read. If they do tell you that, you should buy a copy of the book as soon as possible. Or request it at your local library. If you're bored while waiting for the library to get the book for you, you can think about things that are purple. What are some really purple things? 

Or maybe they'll say that this book is not worth the time, because they thought it was about the circus when they picked it up. I understand why someone might think that because there is a girl on a tightrope on the cover of the book. But it turns out the book is really just about some people named Elizabeth, Celia, Christina (NOT TINA), the mysterious J_____, and Saxton. 

Which is actually kind of boring compared to the circus. 

Then there will be some opinions that gently say that the book is readable and slightly entertaining and those are really no help at all, because why else would the book be published if it wasn't at least slightly entertaining, hmm? 

I think that with any of these options, you're pretty much screwed, because you can never know what you'll think of the book until you actually read it. But you're not reading the book, are you? You're still reading the strangely written review of the book from a complete stranger, which I've already told you, is pretty much useless. 

So go read the book already. 

Sincerely, 

The Society of Why Book Reviews Are Silly, But Sometimes Helpful, But Sometimes Completely Off-Base, and Why Don't You Just Read The Book Yourself Already?!... Oh Yeah, Because You're Still Reading This Review

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Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

This is the best book.

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Book Review of "Froi of the Exiles" by Melina Marchetta

Title: Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles #2)
Author: Melina Marchetta
Classification: YA Fiction, Fantasy
Source: ARC review copy from the publisher

To be published March 13th, 2012

Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

This is me: mind-blown and blubbering.

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

From master storyteller Melina Marchetta comes an exhilarating new fantasy springing from her celebrated epic, Finnikin of the Rock. 

Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home . . . or so he believes. Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been taken roughly and lovingly in hand by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper with a warrior's discipline. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. Soon he must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad princess in this barren and mysterious place. It is in Charyn that he will discover there is a song sleeping in his blood . . . and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen. 

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My Thoughts:


This. Book.

People! This book!

This is me, bug-eyed, mind-blown, trying to do this book justice.

Once again, Melina Marchetta creates a tale of fantasy and adventure and romance and hate and absolution and assassins and curses and she weaves a tale so thick with characters, who you love in all their self-loathing glory, that one wonders if Skuldenore isn't a real place that just hasn't been discovered yet.

The greatest strength of Froi of the Exiles lies in the individual, personal stories being told about each set of characters. While Froi and the half-mad Quintana are the focus of the novel, the other characters that we grew to love in Finnikin of the Rock also have their fair share of page-time: Finnikin, Isaboe, Trevanion, Beatriss, Lucian, Tesadora.

However, Froi of the Exiles is not simply a re-hashed Finnikin. The new characters it introduces to us are many and unforgettable: Quintana, Lirah, Arjuro, Gargarin, Phaedra.

When distilled down to its basic essence, the plot of Froi is quite similar to Finnikin: There is a curse upon the land that only these characters can amend. There is a curse upon the land that both unites and divides a people.

There is a curse upon the land and there is one who has been chosen to end it.

If Finnikin was a demonstration of the power of place, Froi is a tale of absolution. The characters in Froi are an extremely tortured and neurotic bunch. They are constantly faced with the grim reality of facing down their grievous past, sometimes giving into despair, sometimes coming to terms with it, sometimes telling it to back the eff off.

Under a less talented author, the split narrative of Froi would frustrate, but here it works. The deeds of both Charynite and Lumateran characters are given a place here, but let's not forget the stars of the show: Froi and Quintana/The Reginita/The Princess.

Watching the story unfold through Froi's eyes is like sending your child off to preschool for the first time and hoping that he doesn't punch someone in the face--(unless they really really deserve it, then it is condoned and appreciated and cheered)--and finding out that everyone else in his class is neurotic in the deepest sense of the word and realizing that this was going to be a lot more complicated--(and, forgive me, entertaining)--than you ever imagined.

In short: Froi of the Exiles is a wholly original and personal fantasy that will have fans begging for the next book in series, Quintana of Charyn, set for a March 2013 release in the US.

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Overall Grade:

A+

I thought...

This is me: mind-blown and blubbering.

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Book Review of "I Am The Messenger" by Markus Zusak

Title: I Am the Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary 
Source: Bought

Overall Grade:

A+

Would I recommend it?

Funny, heart-breaking, lyrical greatness.




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Summary (from Goodreads):

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

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My Thoughts:

  

Written with unique rhythm and lyricism, I Am The Messenger is one of my favorite young adult books ever.

Yeah.

It's that good.

To give those that haven't read this book a better idea of just what the heck it's about, we'll start with the bank robbery.

Because even if the gunman is useless (and we all know it), this scene is incredibly funny and surprising, and it changes Ed's life forever.

Ed and his friends are caught in a bank while some idiot tries to rob the place. For some mysterious reason, Ed has the nerve to run after the gunman, pick up the gun he so clumsily dropped during his escape, and stops the bad guy before he can get away with the cash.

After that, Ed becomes a short-term celebrity, being recognized on the street by strangers as "that guy who stopped the bank robbery." Then, the first ace arrives in his mailbox. No name on the envelope, no postage, just a battered playing card, the ace of diamonds, with three addresses and times scrawled in pen on the face. After it becomes clear to Ed that the sender of the card is serious about him doing something with the ace, he begins to investigate.

What results from this situation is heartbreak, compassion, bravery, beauty and empathy. The journey that Ed takes is incredible, and we learn that even when we believe that we could never be better, that we could never just come out and tell the truth, that we could never leave our comfort zone, we have the potential to do great things every single day.

From the opening scene at the bank, just one of many hilarious situations, you are pulled into Ed Kennedy's world. I love the way that each of Ed's best friends, Marv, Ritchie, and Audrey, are given their own dimension. We see them through Ed's eyes. We observe them, we watch them struggle and grow, we watch Ed's perceptions of them change.

One of the most resonating messages in I Am The Messenger is that every person has some great need within them that they try to hide or avoid or work around like a giant pothole in your driveway. These needs are often most visible to those that know you best, like friends and family members, but most of the time, they are ignored. Never acknowledged or talked about, because they are difficult.

Although much of this novel is serious and compelling, the narrative is lightened by humor and the camaraderie between Ed and his friends. Ed as a main character is fantastic... he is richly drawn, a supremely regular person that becomes epic and unforgettable.

I Am The Messenger is a truly unique and memorable young adult novel that will leave its mark on every reader that follows the journey of Ed Kennedy. Please, please read this book!!

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Overall Grade:

A+

Would I recommend it?

Funny, heart-breaking, lyrical greatness.

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Book Review of "A Little Wanting Song" by Cath Crowley

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Title: A Little Wanting Song 
Author: Cath Crowley 
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary 
Source: Bought

Overall Grade:

A+

Would I recommend it?

Yes! Entertaining, uplifting, lyrical awesomeness.

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Summary (From Goodreads):

A summer of friendship, romance, and songs in major chords. . .

CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.

ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.

Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, Charlie and Rose's "little wanting song" is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.

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My Thoughts:

A Little Wanting Song is an amazing young adult contemporary novel that manages to make seemingly unremarkable characters three dimensional. Cath Crowley creates characters that we both love and hate, makes them bend a little and break a little... with a whole lot of fun, mischief, and love along the way!

Throughout this book, both Charlie and Rose come to realize that people and places that they have known their whole lives are... different. Not what they thought. Unknown. And as their friendship grows and breaks and grows, as romance begins and ends, each girl realizes that not only did they not understand each other, but they did not understand themselves.

Like Graffiti Moon, this novel is largely a coming-of-age, character driven work. However, also like Graffiti Moon, it is fast-paced, entertaining, and very very un-boring!

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Overall Grade:

A+

Would I recommend it?

Yes! Entertaining, uplifting, lyrical awesomeness.

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Book Review of "Raw Blue" by Kirsty Eagar

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Title: Raw Blue
Author: Kirsty Eagar
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Public Library

Overall Grade:

B

Would I recommend it?

Yes, but with disclaimers for content.

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Summary (from Goodreads): 

Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.

And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

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My Thoughts:

This book is terribly difficult to review.

While I was instantly drawn in to Carly's world as a part-time chef and surfing-addict, I wish that I would have been warned about how intense this book is. As you can probably infer from the summary, Carly was viciously and brutally raped two years before the events of this book take place.

This is learned pretty early on in the novel, as well as the fact that Carly has not told a single soul that this happened to her. The effect of her rape is obvious in her daily life, with her obsession with surfing, her aversion to men, and her shame of not only her own worth, but of her smoking habit.

This was an incredibly tough book to read. Throughout this experience, I kept wanting to shake Carly awake, tell her to get help, tell her that it wasn't her fault. It seems obvious from the outside looking in, which is why Carly notes early on that rape is the perfect crime. It makes the victims hate themselves and blame themselves, when these emotions should be reserved for the aggressor's only. 

Although much of this book was very tough to get through, I was still compelled to read on by Carly's silly Dutch roommate Hannah ("Go vaginas!"), love-interest Ryan,  unexpected friend and synesthesia-ridden Danny, and of course, Carly herself. This book is a very well-written account of rape and it's aftermath, but is also a thoughtful contemporary novel about love and friendship.

This book begs to be read by all those who enjoy a non-formulaic YA novel now and then. However, I also wish to place a disclaimer for those like me that hate to be surprised by certain elements in YA lit. For instance, there are multiple sex scenes in Raw Blue that are pretty graphic for YA. There is also a detailed account of Carly's rape.

Disclaimers aside, please read Carly's story.

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Overall Grade:

B

Would I recommend it?

Yes, but disclaimers for content.

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Book Review of "Graffiti Moon" by Cath Crowley

Title: Graffiti Moon
Author: Cath Crowley 
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary

Source: ARC

To be published by Knopf on February 14th, 2012

Overall Grade: 
A+++++++ 
Would I recommend it? 
Holy mother of meat, read this book!!!


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Summary (from Goodreads): 

"Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers."

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

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My Thoughts: 

Oh my. 

Graffiti Moon is quite simply, the most delicious book I've read in recent memory. It is poignant and at times heart breaking. It is lyrical and quick and hilarious and romantic. It is not just about Lucy, Ed, Poet, Shadow, Leo, Jazz, Daisy, Dylan, Bert, and Al, even though they are important. 

It is about the incredible ability of art to translate from that kind of high-art that you see in museums to the kind of high-art that sprays from Shadow's brain onto a brick wall. (Little bird, what are you thinking? You come from a can.) 

It is about that feeling that you get sometimes (I got a good feeling... I got a bad feeling... as many of the characters in Graffiti Moon say) that is more about the people you're with than the time of night or the excellence of the party you're at. It's more about how your feelings are echoed by those around you in a recited haiku or a bicycle helmet with lightning on it or a brick wall that traps birds in mid-air. 

But if this review doesn't quite do it for you, (don't be embarrassed if it doesn't, I'm not doing a very good job at it), then you'll be happy to hear that Graffiti Moon is also incredibly entertaining. It takes place during one long crazy night after Year 12 and involves some illegal activity, a few parties, an even more cases of mistaken identity. Let the hilarity ensue!

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Overall Grade: 
A+++++++ 
Would I recommend it? 
Holy mother of meat, read this book!!!


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Book Review of "Finnikin of the Rock" by Melina Marchetta

Title: Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1)

Author: Melina Marchetta
Classification: YA Fiction, Fantasy
Source: Bought

Overall Grade: 

A+ 

Would I recommend it? 

I will not be your friend if you don't read it.


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Summary (from Goodreads):

At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh to save his kingdom. He stands on the rock of the three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and Balthazar's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood to safeguard Lumatere.

But all safety is shattered during the five days of the unspeakable, when the king and queen and their children are brutally murdered in the palace. An impostor seizes the throne, a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escape are left to roam the land as exiles, dying by the thousands in fever camps.

Ten years later, Finnikin is summoned to another rock—to meet Evanjalin, a young novice with a startling claim: Balthazar, heir to the throne of Lumatere, is alive. This arrogant young woman claims she'll lead Finnikin and his mentor, Sir Topher, to the prince. Instead, her leadership points them perilously toward home. Does Finnikin dare believe that Lumatere might one day rise united? Evanjalin is not what she seems, and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

In a bold departure from her acclaimed contemporary novels, Printz Medalist Melina Marchetta has crafted an epic fantasy of ancient magic, feudal intrigue, romance, and bloodshed that will rivet you from the first page.

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My Thoughts:

Amazing. This book is amazing. How amazing, you ask? Well, if your favorite YA paranormal author (Maggie Stiefvater for me) or YA contemporary author (Cath Crowley) wrote a book outside of their usual genre, would you read it? Would you read a mystery written by Walt Whitman, or J.K. Rowling's poetry?

Okay, so maybe I'm moving away from the point, because these questions provoke a whole new set of ideas which, while I would love to discuss them, are not exactly on topic.

In many of the cases above, you would most likely say NO. No, I don't want to read Stephanie Meyer's new literary fiction. No, I do not want to watch Michael Jordan play baseball. No, I do not want to buy a car made by Hewlett Packard.

But in this case, where author of contemporary young adult fiction, Melina Marchetta, creates a new fantasy novel, the results are spectacular, rather than disappointing and confusing.

This is probably because the main difference between the fantasy and contemporary genres is world building. In her contemporary work, Marchetta is great at building the world of a novel based on the characters in them, what they notice about their childhood home, whether or not they talk to the bum on the corner, what each piece of a city feels like to them.

In Finnikin of the Rock, the world building is more centered on the characters in the land of Lumatere, what happened to them, how they tell their stories, if they tell them at all, and what they must do in the future to secure their place in this imaginative world. It's like the best contemporary novel you've ever read, with sword fighting, magic, prophesies, royalty, intrigue, mystery, and a stunning romance.

While it does take a few chapters to get fully immersed in the story, and it can be difficult to imagine where each nation is located in this new world, once you are hooked, there is no turning back. You must follow Finnikin and Evanjalin to the end!

Please read this book. If not for the fantasy, which is not the strongest point of this novel, for the people of Lumatere!

PS: This novel has a redhead HERO!!

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Overall Grade: 

A+ 

Would I recommend it? 

I will not be your friend if you don't read it.

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