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| 1550545256
| 9781550545258
| 1550545256
| 3.82
| 1,725
| 1996
| Apr 06, 2004
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really liked it
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The Lesser Blessed is set in the fictional town of Fort Simmer - based on Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, a very harsh, bleak part of Canada.
The Lesser Blessed is set in the fictional town of Fort Simmer - based on Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, a very harsh, bleak part of Canada. Seventeen-year-old Larry is a Dogrib (Tlicho) Indian (as is the author), living with his mother who's studying part-time to be a teacher. Tall and skinny and covered in burn scars under his clothes, he has a wildly active mind and a poet's tongue. When he becomes friends with Johnny Beck, a Métis boy recently arrived in town who already has a reputation, he's also introduced to drugs, cigarettes and becomes closer than ever before to the girl of his dreams, local town slut and Johnny's girlfriend, Juliet Hope. There's something sweet and endearing about Larry, whose narrative voice comes through clearly and full of personality. He has a vivid imagination, and the way he speaks internally reminds me of me as a teenager - it's his artistic side I feel I can relate to, not the abusive childhood or tragic accident or violent friends. And as the story of his past - of his burns and the truth about his father - becomes clear, you also start to feel afraid of what might become of him, that he'll go down a certain, easy path and become a "floater" (a town drunk). Larry is a storyteller, and a very resilient kid. The way he describes things is often quite beautiful. There's a lot you can read between the lines here, a lot that is revealed not just about these kids - a mix of white, Métis and First Nations' - but about these impoverished, bleak northern communities of poverty, addiction, STDs and violence. The landscape is one of freezing cold wilderness, caribou hunting and social assistance housing. It's a landscape of people, of trial and tragedy and fortitude and survival. It's not all bleak, but when you're reading this in a comfy house in a sophisticated city, coming from a fairly typical white family, the problems of Indian reservation schools, of drug and alcohol problems, of a school system seriously failing its youth, seem so far away and beyond you. Which makes this an important book, on the social justice front, as well as a very human story. Fort Simmer braces for two things in winter. The first is the cold. The second is the Floaters. Floaters are the town drunks who stagger around the community at all hours of the night. Hobo Jungle is where they camp. But when it's cold out, they come into town to pass out in the alleys, or in the hotel lobby or at the taxi stand. Some throw bricks through the windows of the Bay so they can be charged and shipped off to Yellowknife where they can hibernate and clean up. They are the lost, and Johnny and I walked among them. The ice popped and cracked under our feet and we shimmied like we were wearing kimonos. [p.59] Speaking of the school system portrayed here - which you get the feeling is spot-on in its depiction, it makes my heart bleed. I don't know how typical it is for Canadian or North American schools - I don't have enough experience with the schools here to tell, though the single desks in neat rows, keeping students separate from each other, forced to just face the front, the teacher, and absorb or memorise, seems fairly indicative even in urban schools. As does the teacher who doesn't understand what teaching really means, or what students need in order to learn. I was cheering when Johnny suggested to their teacher that they should move the classroom around so the students are facing the windows, and the teacher can get the sun on his back. The teacher's reaction... well, it may be hard to get teachers to go to the schools in places like the Northwest Territories, but that's no excuse for ruining the chances the students have, or giving them such a god-awful experience. If that's what education means to them, it's no wonder they have no enthusiasm or wish to pursue post-secondary education (there are other reasons, I know, but kids need encouragement and a positive experience, at the very least). The sad thing about our school was that we were so far behind the system. It's true, and as a result, the students in our school were baby birds falling to their deaths while the school was guilty of failure to breathe. The teachers often sent their own kids down south to get an education. [...] One day we were having a huge debate about whether it was environment or upbringing that creates a criminal. I looked around. Wasn't it fucking obvious? With the quiet bleeding labour of shellfish in our lockers. The sweet rotting flesh of our feet. The fluorescent lights making me weakdizzydemented. The crab cream two desks over. The gum under my desk. The spits on the floor. The silverfish. The crunch under my runners. The bleeding badge of the sun. My father's teeth. The crunch under my runners. Kevin Garner was selling drugs in the back row. Clarence Jarome was jamming his HB pencil into the primer of a 12-guage slug. Everybody in the room, as their bodies cooled out, had their eyes fusing shut... [p.8] For such a short book (119 pages), it packs quite a punch. I can't say I loved it, though I was impressed by it and I did become emotionally invested in the characters. It was just the right length for the story it told and the way it was told. It wasn't always easy to connect closely with Larry though, because he keeps so much close to his chest, but you get to know him better than anyone else. The other characters were just as well drawn, from his mum and her boyfriend, Jed, to Johnny, Darcy, Juliet and Jazz. Once I started reading, I realised it wasn't a Young Adult novel at all - not that they can't read it, if they want to (it's heavy in violence, drug use, swearing, sex and other mature subject matter, as well as being pretty depressing really), but it didn't strike me as a book deliberately written for teenagers. I find that, a lot of the time, people will label a book YA if the protagonist is a teenager. That is not and never has been the defining characteristic of a YA book! But I do remember reading books in grade 10, for example, about teens with alcohol abuse, or realising they're a lesbian etc. I don't know that I ever read anything with this much violence in it, or anything this abstract in its narrative structure. I don't think it's written as a Young Adult novel because of the layers, the depth, the things you only get after having lived and kept your eyes and ears open - experience, I guess. But teens would still get a lot out of it, because this is a coming-of-age story, a story of being a teenager. A story of a boy running scared from the past, from the abuse of adults, from the world he's forced to live in and somehow overcome. Never more strongly has a story, and a character, captured that sense of harsh reality in trying to find your place in the world, a world that often forces you to choose between your native culture and white post-colonial expectations. This book is being made into a film, due out in 2012. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 29, 2011
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Nov 22, 2011
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0756406323
| 9780756406325
| 0756406323
| 4.10
| 2,895
| Dec 07, 2010
| Dec 07, 2010
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it was amazing
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It's been five months since Katharine "Kitty" Katt's fast and crazy introduction to the reality of aliens on Earth, five months of being Commander of
It's been five months since Katharine "Kitty" Katt's fast and crazy introduction to the reality of aliens on Earth, five months of being Commander of Airborne in Centaurion Division and enjoying explosive sex with her gorgeous alien boyfriend and head of Field, Jeff Martini. Her high school reunion is coming up and both Jeff and her longtime best friend, Chuckie Reynolds, are encouraging her to go. Then news arrives that a shuttle and its three astronauts had returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida under suspicious circumstances, and that they brought something alien back with them. But getting to Florida is suddenly a contentious issue, and there's pressure on the Alpha Centuari (A-C) aliens to appear more "normal", which means taking a commercial flight. From the very beginning, Kitty is clear that something's up, and it's not good. In fact, the whole Florida trip is one death-defying disaster after another, with anti-alien terrorists, bombs going off, a crazy A-C woman threatening Kitty over a man Kitty hadn't seen in ten years, and a couple of very determined alligators - not to mention a thrilling and scary high-speed car chase, a meet-the-parents Incident with a capital "I" and some very sexy tangoing on top of three marriage proposals. This is Kitty's life now, and it's time to bring out the big guns. Fun fun FUN! I absolutely loved this, was glued to the page and reluctant to put it down. High adrenaline, heart-pounding, hair-raising exhilaration. The first book, Touched by an Alien , was lots of fun and definitely made me keen to read more, but it also suffered a bit from having to introduce A LOT of new info to Kitty and us, all crammed into two days (now I'm more familiar with the world, I'm amazed that it wasn't more messy and confusing than it was). Alien Tango builds on it, reinforces what we new, and doesn't overwhelm us with lots of new info, which means you can really dig in and enjoy the ride. And what a ride! Again, the story takes place pretty much over just a couple of days, with a two-week interlude between the main action and the final showdown. The plot was just as all-over-the-place as the first book, if not more because here we have three distinct plots that are all interrelated: the Club 51 alien-haters, their political connection and their big Plan; the astronauts and the entity they brought back with them; and the nutjob A-C intent on hurting Kitty. There're lots of side-plots too, but I never once felt overwhelmed like I did in the first book. Part of the fresh genius of this new favourite series of mine is Kitty herself. She brings new meaning to the adjective, "kick-arse", literally: she knows some kung-fu, races to the rescue of her new alien friends even though they're stronger and faster, and has the best brainwaves I've ever had the thrill of reading. I mean, c'mon, alligators? Brilliant. Kitty is fantastic. So often this type of heroine (predominant in urban fantasy and paranormal romance) is just plain obnoxious and infuriating, but Koch has got exactly the right recipe here for a heroine I can love and really cheer for. I don't have much in common with her, but that doesn't put me off. I really like that she doesn't do lots of introspective thinking and re-thinking like some protagonists do - she doesn't overdo it (yes, I am thinking of Sirantha Jax right now). She's just right. I felt sorry for Jeff - Chuckie too, yes, but Jeff had established himself with me well before so I side with him. Aside from the attempts on his life and everything, he just didn't seem as relaxed and easy-going as he did in the first book. He was often angry and stressed and I really missed the Martini who could laugh with Kitty. I mean, he's still there, and when the two of them are alone together he's the Martini we all fell in love with in the first book, but when anyone else is around he's so much more tense than I remembered him being (and having started the third book already, I can say this stressed-out Martini continues - the guy really needs a holiday). I felt bad for Chuckie too, but honestly, his fault for not making a move sooner. This is one love triangle (Christopher's interest isn't really a problem anymore) that is quite fun, and doesn't feel at all contrived. There's a big fat clue at the beginning of the story as to who Chuckie is these days, so the whole book I was just waiting for that meeting - at the reunion - when the three would be brought together. Didn't happen at all like I expected/predicted, which was great. It was better! With a wonderful supporting cast of aliens and humans alike - yes, including Martini's mother - this is a world I'm quickly falling in love with. It's detailed, intensely fleshed out, and exciting. Alongside all the excitement and people trying to kill them are some really sweet moments and some pertinent questions around race and xenophobia. Overall, Alien Tango takes all that made Touched by an Alien great and amplifies it, and isn't bogged down by the things that made the latter sometimes slow and confusing. Alien Tango has as many comic moments to fill you with glee as it has thrills, chills and steaming sex. In a word: AWESOME! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 16, 2011
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Nov 21, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0756406684
| 9780756406684
| 0756406684
| 4.10
| 2,404
| Feb 23, 2011
| Apr 05, 2011
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really liked it
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Six months after accepting sexy alien Jeff Martini's marriage proposal, Kitty and the other Alpha-Centauris (A-C's) learn that a beacon has been trigg
Six months after accepting sexy alien Jeff Martini's marriage proposal, Kitty and the other Alpha-Centauris (A-C's) learn that a beacon has been triggered, alerting the A-C home world of the impending marriage. Why should it matter? Unknown to Jeff and his cousin, Christopher, they are the last direct male heirs to the ruling monarch on Alpha Centauri. That's right, Kitty's marrying royalty, and it looks like the home world is sending a delegation to discover whether Kitty is worthy. Only, naturally, it's not that simple. Multiple plans are afoot, and because of the impending invasion, the A-C division has been taken over by the CIA: namely, Kitty's best friend, Chuckie Reynolds. Throw in fanatic assassins, an inter-galactic plot, a visit to Alpha-Centauri and a lavish weddings and you've got a typical weekend in the life of Kitty Katt. The majority of this book was true to form: fast-paced, high adrenalin, complex and multi-layered, with engaging characters, serious fight scenes, and some very cool new aliens. Kitty finally faces her love for Chuckie and deals with her guilt, and Jeff is dealing with his jealousy problem. But I still missed the lighter-hearted Martini - I guess, as you get to know someone, it stands to reason you're going to see the less fun side of them too, but it's more the public scenes where Martini always seems so angry and hostile. He doesn't get much opportunity to show his smarts either, when he's around Kitty and Chuckie. This mostly upsets me because I like Jeff A LOT, much more than Chuckie who is so smug and high-handed. (Oh, and why don't the Dazzlers find Chuckie appealing? He should be exactly their type, right? Hope we find out!) I wasn't so keen on the long wedding preparations, which took a chunk of the book at the end; it's wonderful for on-going character development but wasn't very interesting to me. I'm not a big fan of weddings, and it just highlighted to me the unrealistic side of this series, which I've been doing such a great job of ignoring until now. Like, how similar the Alpha Centauri customs are to western Anglo customs. I get the psychology behind making the aliens familiar rather than, well, "alien", but it's still a bit of a cop-out. Also, Kitty's supposed to be a feminist - there's always the comment about her reading the Feminist Manifesto - and yet before the wedding she says, I must stop calling Jeff "Martini" because now I'm going to be a Martini too! (I forgot to mark the page so I couldn't find the exact quote, I'm paraphrasing here.) It was one little sentence but it threw me for a loop. I wouldn't have expected Kitty to just automatically change her name. It wasn't even a topic for discussion. Kitty's an educated, intelligent, independent woman with a great role-model for a mother. It didn't gel. But overall, Alien in the Family was fun, exciting, gripping and intense. Kitty is still lots of fun, and the world of aliens and master-plots continues to grow. If the plot seems full of holes and too confusing at times, stick with it: the questions do get asked and it does all make sense eventually, as Kitty and Jeff figure things out. Oh, and there is a serious mention of God in this volume, but such is the nature of the story and the scene's context, that it didn't bother me much or feel too tacky. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 19, 2011
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Nov 21, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 1442422017
| 9781442422018
| 1442422017
| 3.79
| 28,877
| Oct 01, 2011
| Nov 15, 2011
|
liked it
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Charlaina "Charlie" Hart is seventeen and a member of the Vendor class, the class of merchants. Her parents have a restaurant, she attends a school fo
Charlaina "Charlie" Hart is seventeen and a member of the Vendor class, the class of merchants. Her parents have a restaurant, she attends a school for vendor children, and her friends are the children of other vendors. As a member of this class, she's only allowed to speak two languages: parshon, the language of her class, and Englaise, the universal language and language of the Serving class, the lowest class in Ludania. But Charlie has a unique and very secret gift: she can understand all languages, even pictorial ones. And no one other than her parents can ever, ever know because it would be an instant death sentence for her. Then one night at an illegal club with her best friend, Brook, Charlie meets Max, a young, handsome man who speaks a language she's never heard before - but that doesn't stop her from understanding it. Terrified that he's realised she can understand him, Charlie is determined to keep him away and maintain her low profile. But when she stumbles upon the underground resistance movement, led by the enigmatic Xander, and learns the truth about Ludania's powerful Queen, Charlie must decide just what part she will play in the coming conflict. I read this as a standalone novel, especially considering the epilogue gives it a sense of finality, but learned afterwards that it's the first of a trilogy (mostly at the publisher's urging). It would have been fine - not great, but fine - as a standalone, but as the first in a series it's definitely lacking. The motivator for continuing to read it would be a really fleshed-out world (I get the sense that the characters will change in the next book, but that may not be the case), and I didn't get one. The Pledge continues my on-going disappointment with YA fiction these days, especially the sci-fi/fantasy kind. Though, to be honest, I'm starting to wonder just how much of it is because I'm an adult, with different expectations, and an imagination that works in different - and perhaps less effective - ways. I'm thinking of re-reading some of my favourite YA books from when I was a young adult, books that I know came alive in my head in vivid ways, and see how much that was the writing and how much simply my imagination being more fertile. If it's the latter, it won't grant a stay of execution to the many weak YA books being published today, but it might make me less harsh on the ones I mostly liked. That said, where do I stand on The Pledge? It's a fast-paced book, maybe too fast, and some of the plotting seemed a bit convenient. I'm unsure where I stand on the characters - I liked Max, and every scene he was in made me feel, from Charlie's perspective (she narrates), like I wasn't alone, that he made a good team, and had my back. That's the vibe he gave off, not in a dull way - there's a good dose of sexy charisma mixed in there. But both Max and Xander remained rather unknown by the end of it. You get glimpses - like Xander's true feelings for Eden, and Max recounting how he and his brother used to explore for treasures from the past and secret passageways - but you never really get to know them because we only see them through Charlie's eyes and understanding, and she's a bit preoccupied. Charlie was a pretty good heroine, if rather self-absorbed. She does have reason, but still. She has no real curiosity about her world, and misses some important - and rather glaring - questions. The one thing I did really love about her was her love for her sister, Angelina. Just four years old and with her own unique abilities, Angelina hasn't spoken a word yet - and her family fears she'll be taken away because of it, possibly even executed. Charlie's protectiveness of Angelina, and Angelina's utter and unspoiled sweetness, saved the book for me. A small, simple thing, but there you are. Speaking of Charlie's world, let's discuss. It's a far far future, and their history only really extends to previous versions of their own society. That is to say, they don't know about us. The world is made up of Queendoms, small countries each ruled by a queen. Only a queen can rule, because only a queen is born with some kind of magic, and it's hereditary. In Ludania's history, a bloody uprising brought down the Queen and her family and installed something closer to our kind of democracy - but the country was immediately isolated, shut off from the countries who refused to deal with them without a queen, so it fell apart. The current Queen was brought in from another country to be Ludania's queen, and through her magic has remained ruler ever since. In order to quell any future uprisings, she established the class system, which has been in place for long enough that the people have lost the ability to learn new languages. The law is, that if you look at a person from a higher class while they speak their own class language, you will be executed. I couldn't really believe that the ability to learn new languages would become obsolete - I don't think it works that way. They may not be able to look at someone higher up while they speak their own language, but that doesn't mean they aren't exposed to it. Language as a means of repression was an interesting concept, though, and I was saddened that the political, social and cultural aspects of it weren't more explored. As I said before, the world-building was a tad thin. Given the richness of the concept, so much more could have been revealed in the small details. As it is, I don't even know what the architecture was like, or what people ate; I have a basic understanding of what the vendor class wore, but nothing about the social structure of Ludania or how it interacts with the other countries. And I was completely confused by the two mentions of "Queen Eden", which is never explained. I was thrown by how contemporary some of the characters - Charlie and Brook, especially - seemed. I get that they may be more relatable this way, but it wasn't all that realistic. They didn't feel foreign - they live in a world foreign to us in every way, but sounded like teenagers from our own modern urban societies. And considering the fantasy world setting, that jarred. We haven't even got to the plot yet, and I'm already complaining about so much. As a fantasy (I'm not going to bother calling this a dystopia - it takes more than a rigid class system and a despotic ruler to make a dystopia), there's so so so much potential here, and the epilogue - which jumped ahead in time - made the story live on in my head. I still think it should have ended there, it's much more spooky that way and ends on more of an open question. Your imagination can take it the rest of the way. But for a fantasy it moved too fast and was too short (condensed, even). While Charlie narrates in first-person, her chapters are interspersed with chapters from the third-person perspective of the Queen, Max and Xander. This could have given Max, for example, a chance to really help us understand and believe in his growing attraction to Charlie. But the most I got was a sense that he was attracted to the mystery of Charlie. I also have to say that I really, really didn't like the typeface: they used a sans serif (like Arial), and I found it hard to read. It's the font they use when they put emails into novels, you know the one? It constantly kept me at arms-reach of the story and made it hard to really sink into it. All of that said, I didn't dislike the book, I was just disappointed by it. If it had been a longer novel, it could have gone into greater detail, and really fleshed out the world. The concept is quite scary, but that sense of everyday fear didn't carry over, and part of the problem was that the characters never really convinced me they were of this world. I hate to say it, because it sounds so pompous, but while I was reading it I kept thinking what I would have done to really make the world come alive. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 02, 2011
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Nov 18, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 1451612648
| 9781451612646
| 1451612648
| 3.55
| 192
| Oct 25, 2011
| Oct 25, 2011
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it was amazing
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Ellery Sharpe writes high-brow book reviews for Vanity Place magazine in New York, but her witty, contemptuous review of the memoir of romance publish
Ellery Sharpe writes high-brow book reviews for Vanity Place magazine in New York, but her witty, contemptuous review of the memoir of romance publisher Bettina Moore has her boss, Buhl Martin Black, seeing red. He's just started an affair with Bettina, so for punishment, and to appease Bettina, Black gives her a new assignment: write an ode to romance. It's a suitable punishment: Ellery thinks romance novels are drivel and not worthy of serious consideration; but also, unknown to Black and almost everyone else in her life, Ellery is a top contender for a new publisher job, and an article that takes romance novels seriously will ruin her chances. To top it off, Black has assigned her ex-boyfriend Axel Mackenzie as her photographer. Axel still has a thing for Ellery though they broke up in Pittsburg five years before. But Black offers Axel more money if he can get Ellery to write the article he wants, and Axel has a dream of buying his friend's microbrewery. So he gets Ellery three romance novels and plans their itinerary: a trip to Pittsburgh to the real Monkey Bar, where Bettina Moore's big selling paranormal romance novel, Vamp is set; then on to London to meet a romance reader's group and interview a couple of university professors on the topic. Along the way, Ellery and Axel do little to fend off their mutual attraction, fuelled perhaps, on Ellery's side, by the romance novels she's now reading. The journey doesn't just enlighten Ellery to a side of being human that she never really considered before, or show the merits of romance novels, but forces her to confront the reasons why she broke up with Axel, and what she really wants in life. This book is really an ode to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander , which Cready acknowledges as the book that inspired her love of romance novels. So one of the three books Axel gives Ellery is Kiltlander, starring Jemmie Forster and Cara, and throughout A Novel Seduction are snippets of Outlander and, for the third book, Cready used one of her own: Flirting with Forever . I wasn't sure whether Vamp was representative of one book or paranormal romance in general. Essentially, this is a book romance lovers will really appreciate, and Cready did a good job of explaining why we love romance, and the value to be found in it, with her usual humour and intelligence. I love the discussion Ellery has towards the end with a German sociologist at Edinburgh University, Dr Albrecht, which may be obvious but is still fun and satisfying to read: "So you think [romance books] are literature?" Ellery said, grabbing a stray carrot. I loved how realistic Ellery was, and also how I could identify with her reluctant appreciation of romance novels - because it reminded me of me, and I'm sure a lot of women will identify with her if they, too, always dismissed romance novels, found one they loved, and then struggled to reconcile their intellect with their enjoyment. Some genre fiction are more "acceptable" than others - notably, the ones men enjoy like science fiction and mystery/crime - while the others, we have to constantly defend our liking for. Ellery's well-paced introduction to romance novels, her resistance to taking them seriously, how she ran and hid in the loo to feverishly read a bit of Kiltlander, is reminiscent of those stories, movies especially, where the heroine learns to let her hair down - figuratively and literally (it's a common and effective device in films for the uptight heroine to start off with a very controlled hairdo, and by the end of the film her hair is wild and free and relaxed and so is she). It wasn't until Ellery heard her own old arguments against romance echoed back at her by the publisher she's hoping to work for that she realises how wrong she'd been, and how much her thoughts have changed. And then there's the corresponding romance - or re-ignition of - with Axel. We get chapters from both Ellery and Axel's perspectives, interspersed with short chapters from a few minor characters, and Axel was another wonderful, realistic, fun character. He also grows during the story, and he has none of the annoying tics of many romance heroes - he's fresh, real, and very sexy. He felt like a good mate, since Ellery had dibs. Flawed, honest, and easy-going, he's not a rehash of Cready's previous heroes but a man in his own right. There could be nothing worse than a romance novel extolling the virtues of romance novels that is itself poorly written and full of clichés: A Novel Seduction is extremely well-written, an ode to romance novels that maintains a high degree of freshness through its engaging characters and a plot that moves. This is an intelligent, fun and funny romance novel for the intelligent, fun woman who enjoys her romance and isn't afraid of it. It's also the romance novel for those of you who've yet to try a romance novel because you're sure they're just bodice-busting drivel full of historical inaccuracies, impossible sexual positions, weak character development and tired plots. Yes, this is like reading a romantic comedy, but it's a really good romantic comedy. And it really makes me want to re-read Outlander! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 04, 2011
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Nov 02, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0345523334
| 9780345523334
| 0345523334
| 3.83
| 10,570
| Oct 18, 2011
| Oct 18, 2011
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liked it
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It's 2195 and the world is a very different place. Climate change has driven the surviving human population to the land on the equator, and in New Vic
It's 2195 and the world is a very different place. Climate change has driven the surviving human population to the land on the equator, and in New Victoria - where Mexico used to be - society has reverted to old social mores of politeness, proper behaviour and corsets while maintaining and increasing their technological savvy. Those who rebuffed the tech left New Victoria for southern lands, becoming "Punks" who utilise steam-driven power. Fights on the border persist, and the New Victorians are sold the line that all Punks hate what they are and are the enemy. Nora Dearly has finished not just another year at St Cyprian's School for Girls but also a year of mourning for her father, Dr Victor Dearly, who left her an orphan in the care of her Aunt Gene. Against social proprieties, Nora walks home into the high-tech underground neighbourhood of the Elysian Fields; not far from her front door she is accosted by a hooded man who claims to have known her father. A glimpse of his face is enough to send fear from her, and the cops help her home. A couple of nights later, though, her home is broken into by a host of skeletal men with missing bits of flesh intent on kidnapping her. Rescued by a secret army of "good" zombies led by Captain Abraham "Bram" Griswold, Nora discovers that the Punks aren't the real threat after all. The highly contagious infection causing people to die within six hours and then reanimate, sometimes with their sanity intact but often without, is a danger to both sides of the border. Nora and her new undead friends are fighting not just rabid zombies but also prejudice against the "sane" undead. I found that summary ridiculously hard to write without giving too much away; with a book that covers Romance, Science Fiction and Horror, where do you even start? How about we look at them separately. On the Romance front, this is a sweet and also bitter-sweet love story between a mortal girl, Nora, and a zombie boy, Bram. Bram is one of the sane ones: his mind - and emotions - are intact and in that respect he's the same person he was when alive. Their blossoming feelings for each other provide a nice human story to balance the tech and horror aspects; it's also a story of looking beyond the surface issues and overcoming prejudice, a cross-class, culture and, in a way, race love story. Bram was definitely my favourite character, though Nora's best friend Pamela Roe had her moments of stealing the story. More on Nora and Bram later. The novel is clearly Science Fiction in premise and setting - and no, I would not call this dystopian. It's past time we stopped calling every YA Science Fiction novel "dystopian" just because it sounds better. I found the futuristic premise intriguing - a new ice age drives everyone south to the equator (or north, I guess, depending on where you started); the North Americans who fled south decide to establish a society based on the Victorian era - but with high-tech digital technology. A bit of a weird mix, but okay. I like original. The Punks, on the other hand, have the same Victorian ideals but with the steam-driven technology; we get very little of the Punks however, so the steampunk aspect was minimal. It also presents a very interesting scenario, having "sane" zombies: some people reanimate with everything intact except for their slowly disintegrating bodies. It makes me wonder: is such a life worse than death? And thirdly, on the Horror front, we have some pretty tense action scenes that move fast. When the zombies break into the Dearly home and Nora races for her father's gun cabinet, that was pretty thrilling. Later, when the infection is let loose in the city, there is a general sense of fear and chaos and confusion - Pamela's neighbours, the Delgados, are particularly sad and tragic. Then there's the more high-octane run-for-your-life dash through the city, with zombies hot on your heels. So that should hopefully give you a sense of how this book weaves together the different elements, which it does do well - to a degree. I felt that, while strong attempts were made to flesh out the setting and solidify the life of a young woman in New Victoria - the expectations, the social calls and chaperones - I still found it difficult to picture this world, both geographically and visually, in my imagination. It wasn't described in any great depth, from the houses to the climate, the terrain to the people - I just couldn't picture it. I was often confused over where they were and the distances between places - Bolivia is mentioned several times, and a mix of sea and air voyages, but where the army bases were in relation to anything else I don't know. I was also confused over how New Victoria was established, in terms of a flood of (predominantly) white English-speaking people into land already occupied. Certainly Victorianism and Colonialism go hand-in-hand together, but this wasn't present, making the set-up for this city less believable. I'm the kind of reader who really needs to get a sense of place and time as a solid foundation for the story, and here I felt it was lacking. It was too light on descriptions, tending towards a story made up of dialogue, action and a bit of thinking. Which brings me to the characters. While Nora is undoubtedly the common thread that brings the different narrators together, she is not the only person who narrates. Bram, Pam, Nora's father Victor Dearly and Captain Woolf, living leader of the zombie army, all take turns to narrate. This threw me a bit at first but it worked well, narratively and structurally. However (yeah you're starting to expect these "buts" aren't you?), their individual voices weren't distinguishable from each other - and I'm not looking for obvious quirks or anything here, but when you got Pam, Nora and Bram in a scene together, I often forgot who was "I" in the chapter and floundered, and I sometimes hated leaving a scene for a whole new one and a new character, which interrupted the flow for me. To be fair, though, a lot of readers will probably find that the chapters and changing perspectives move smoothly one to the other and work for better flow and pacing. We all read differently. And the pacing was good: steady, fairly fast, didn't linger overmuch on "boring bits". It was easy to get caught up in the action, and the interactions between Bram and Nora are really quite lovely and endearing. I've no idea where their relationship could possibly go, and while I could believe that Nora could fall for a zombie - he really is a wonderful character - I still found it hard to believe that a living person could find a dead person attractive, physically. I've never before found myself blanching at a kissing scene until I read this. One thing that the story touches on throughout that I really appreciated was an ethical and "racial" debate regarding the sane undead's place in society. We get Woolf's unabashed prejudice from the beginning, which gets us thinking and juxtaposes Bram's obviously intact humanity; by the time we get to the end where the idea of the living and the undead co-existing becomes a real issue, Dearly, Departed is touching on some real social issues and leaving it open to further exploration. There's definitely lots to enjoy here, especially if you take it less seriously than I did, and the series has great potential. But for such a long book, I was disappointed at the lack if setting, and I found it rushed at times - especially the epilogue, which rather ruined things. It's just that, at the end of it I found myself wondering where that word count had gone. What made up this story, really? Bottom line is: I'm not hugely fond of Habel's writing style, and while she has some fantastic ideas I wish they'd been better fleshed out. Still, if you want a new take on the zombie story (and let's face it, they're long overdue for one - zombies are pretty dull creatures, being mindless!), this could be just the thing. My thanks to the Random House and NetGalley for a copy of this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Nov 17, 2011
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Oct 19, 2011
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Unknown Binding
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| 019953781X
| 9780199537815
| 019953781X
| 4.01
| 44,322
| -458
| Jan 15, 2009
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liked it
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Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy of Greek tragedy plays, performed in 458 BCE - two years before Aeschylus's death in 456 BCE. This review summa
Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy of Greek tragedy plays, performed in 458 BCE - two years before Aeschylus's death in 456 BCE. This review summarises all three plays as a trilogy, and because I think that it's easier to read them if you know what to expect, I do give away all the relevant plot points. The first play, "Agamemnon", is about betrayal: King Agamemnon returns home to Argos after the successful sacking of Troy (in modern-day Turkey), only to be killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, Agamemnon's cousin, Aegisthus, who had taken over Agamemnon's rule in his absence. Clytemnestra is wrathful because her husband sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia, in order to placate the god Artemis and secure calm winds for the voyage to Troy, and kills Agamemnon in his bath. They also murder Cassandra, his spoils of war, the prophetess cursed to never be believed who sees her own death but is, of course, disbelieved. Such is the curse of Agamemnon's family continued. The second play, "Libation Bearers", is about just revenge, or deliverance. Clytemnestra and Agamemnon's son Orestes returns from another kingdom where he was sent to live, having learned from the oracle Loxias of his mother's murderous betrayal. Through Loxias he is given leave by the god Apollo to exact revenge by killing his mother and her lover. When he arrives at the palace he goes first to the tomb of his father to pay his respects; there he encounters his sister Electra, also in mourning. With the help of the palace servants, he disguises himself as a traveller bearing news of his own death so as to trick his way inside and see Aegisthus privately. He slews him and then his mother, who knows she is going to her death but does not fight it. The third play, "Eumenides", is about justice and change - it displays a new way of seeking justice, that in a new court-of-law, with the verdict decided by a group of citizen jurors in Athens. The Furies are hounding Orestes, demanding payment for the matricide. Orestes seeks out Apollo's temple and Apollo's protection, and then Athena (Pallas Athena), goddess of war, wisdom and justice (among many other things). Athena decides to hold a trial to hear the case, with the Furies the prosecution and Apollo defending Orestes. Athena casts her own vote in Orestes' favour, and the result is a tie: Orestes goes free. The Furies threaten to destroy the land but Athena placates them instead into protecting it, and decrees that henceforth a trial by jury shall always be used to decide such cases. That's the general overview of this trilogy of Greek tragedies, though there is a lot more going on in the details. I did struggle a bit, reading these short plays, because it's so hard for me to concentrate these days. I found my mind wandering continuously, thoughts intruding, and even when I made the effort to focus I often had to re-read passages several times and then admit defeat. The notes do help, but the fact remains that I had trouble with the structure of many lines, that like obscure poetry they alluded me. Full of metaphor and requiring a great deal of knowledge to get the mythic and historical references, a lot of "Agamemnon" in particular was hard to follow, in particular the Chorus' chants, like when they tell the story of the family curse (I only know that's what it's about from reading the intro and some notes. Other names are often used - like Ilion, for Troy, or Pallas, for Athena - and like an optical illusion the lines seem to double in on themselves so you don't know what the hell is really being said, or so it seems to me, like it's a language I don't know. It gives me a headache. Yet, on that note, it also made me wonder (an intruding thought among many), how these plays would have been heard by ordinary people, just as Shakespeare's plays were heard by the poor and uneducated as much as the rich - regardless, they all understood them, didn't they? I mean, the style of speech was understandable in all its convolutions and beseechings. We struggle to follow all the lines in Shakespeare today - it just makes me really recognise how much verbal language has changed, verbal English (I know Greek isn't English, but the translation honours the original). But I digress. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this story. We've all heard the story of Troy even if you haven't read The Illiad, and you've probably heard of Agamemnon and Cassandra too. Aeschylus wasn't the only playwright to create plays based on this myth of Agamemnon's murder - Euripides, for example, who came just after Aeschylus died, wrote one too. I've studied some ancient Greek plays, years ago, but I don't really have a background in it. To me, as a modern-day reader and an emancipated woman, I can't help but find them almost misogynistic in tone, even though scholars have apparently seen Clytemnestra as an early feminist figure for taking over the male role of ruler - the translator, Christopher Collard, Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Wales, says in his introduction that "it seems unnecessary to think of her as more than a playwright's imaginative construction for the sake of his drama." (p.xxvii) But there are far stronger anti-women sentiments voiced in these plays, especially the third one. (I want to bring it up not because I'm offended or anything, but because it's an interesting theme, to me at least, and because I vaguely remember when I studied Greek plays in university that strong, powerful, mad women are a common theme - but more than that, I can't remember!) In "Agamemnon", the king himself speaks of the gods' undivided and just support for the destruction of Tory, saying "it was for a woman that Troy was ground into dust..." (p.23) Apollo has the worst denouncement, though, when he says during the trial in "Eumenides": The so-called mother is no parent of a child, but nurturer of a newly seeded embryo; the parent is the one who mounts her, while she conserves the child like a stranger for a stranger, for those fathers not thwarted by god. [p.103] And Athena makes her judgement thus: It is my business in this case to give my judgement last; and I shall cast this vote of mine for Orestes. [...] I do so because there is no mother who gave me birth, and I approve the masculine in everything - except for union with it - with all my heart; and I am very much my father's: so I will set a higher value on the death of a woman who killed her husband, a house's guardian. [p.105] (Athena, a rational goddess, is the daughter of Zeus, born of his head.) So combined with Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, his other daughter Electra's idolatry of her father, Clytemnestra's usurping of a man's role and adultery, the gods' promotion of the masculine over the feminine is rather like having the last word. Bit hard to gainsay a god. I bring up the theme of women in these plays because I feel it is relevant in questioning, what is Clytemnestra's greatest crime here? Why does Orestes feel the need to kill her rather than bring her to justice? Certain lines jump out at me that make it apparent that her greatest crime was taking on a man's role, and therefore depriving Orestes of his inheritance. In "Libation Bearers", Orestes says of his decision to kill his mother, "Many desires are falling together into one; there are the gods' commands, and my great grief for my father; besides, it oppresses me to be deprived of my property, so that our citizens, who have the finest glory among men, and honour for their heart in sacking Troy, should not be subjects like this of a pair of women. [p.59] (By "pair of women" he refers here to his mother's lover Aegisthus, who he calls "effeminate at heart".) I wonder whether she would have been so abominable in mens' eyes if she had not sought to rule, which she was doing in her husband's absence anyway. It is so easy in mythology to lay all blame and evil and everything that goes wrong, at the feet of women. What scapegoats we make! Though to be fair, if Athena had not cast her own vote, Orestes would have been found guilty, for her vote made it a tie in which case she decreed he would be pardoned. The majority of jurors voted against him. Which brings me to the big idea of the trilogy of plays, though: justice itself. Here we have the myth of how the first court of law, the first trial, began and was institutionalised in Athens, making it the most sophisticated and modern city-state in Greece. With the Furies trying to avenge Clytemnestra's murder and losing, they bemoan the change: "You younger gods! The ancient laws - you have ridden them down! You have taken them out of my hands for yourselves!" [p.106] The tied verdict, though, helps Athena, the patron of Athens, placate the Furies by saying they have not been dishonoured, and the goddess moves quickly to give the Furies a new role, that of protecting Athens rather than bringing destruction upon it for losing the trial. In doing so, she posits the city as the pinnacle of all things, blessed by the gods and made fortunate by the Furies who she gives the role of "keeping both land and cit on the straight way of justice." (p.111) In telling the story of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's downfall, this trilogy of plays gives us the mythologised story of how Athens became great - to an Athenian audience, so it's very much a self-aggrandising story. There's lots more going on here; I've barely scratched the surface. I don't feel I can give it a rating, so I've given it a 3 because it's so middle-of-the-road. In terms of the general plot, it brought to mind "Hamlet" and also "Macbeth" - it's true that everything borrows from everything else, and stripped down, I'm sure there are probably only about three real plots or something (or was it seven? I think there's a book on this already!). It's tricky to read because all the action happens off the page; or rather, it happens in speech, making it fairly bogged-down with details, but this was also an interesting aspect of the plays. It was hard to read Cassandra and Clytemnestra's dialogue when they are both aware they are walking to their deaths - there's real emotion in those lines. The chants of the chorus are the hardest to read, being like poetry rather than prose and requiring significant background knowledge to understand. A note on this edition: This is a new 2002 translation by Christopher Collard for Oxford World's Classics, and it's more of an academic translation than a popular, readable one. There is a long introduction and essay by Collard on the characters, the theatre production of the plays, dramatic form and so on, as well as extensive notes in the back. It comes with a summary of the three plays - which it's a great idea to read first or it's hard to follow what's going on - as well as a chronology of Agamemnon's family and a map that shows Greece and Turkey, which I really appreciated. All in all, it's a very thorough translation, noting when lines and words are missing from the original manuscripts, and probably your best choice if you're studying the plays. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Oct 26, 2011
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Oct 11, 2011
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Paperback
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| 3.90
| 165,328
| Sep 29, 2011
| Sep 29, 2011
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it was amazing
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As far as contemporary YA romance goes, you absolutely can't top Stephanie Perkins. And I don't say that lightly, especially considering how disappoin
As far as contemporary YA romance goes, you absolutely can't top Stephanie Perkins. And I don't say that lightly, especially considering how disappointed I've been with YA fiction over the last couple of years. Perkins writes with humour, clarity and consciousness, bringing to life wonderful heroines and turning their simple, everyday lives into deeply engrossing fiction. Lola - short for Dolores - has been in love with Cricket Bell since she was five and he was six and he built her an elevator for her doll house. Now, she is deeply upset when her old neighbours, the Bell family, move back in after two years away. She's had two years to get over Cricket after their last disastrous parting, and now she has a boyfriend, rock musician Max, even if he's twenty-two and her parents disapprove of him. She's working on a full-scale, elaborate Marie Antoinette dress for the winter ball that she plans on wearing with platform combat boots, and life couldn't be better - if only her dads would ease up on Max. Now the Bell twins - the beautiful figure skating queen Calliope and the tall, lanky inventor Cricket - are back and suddenly Cricket is everywhere she goes, looking at her with eyes that yearn. And this time, he makes it clear that he's interested in her. But Lola is sure she's in love with Max, that she's moved on emotionally - if only being with Cricket weren't so easy she'd be able to believe the lies she tells herself, that she's not still in love with the boy next door. The only time I found myself comparing this to Perkins' debut, Anna and the French Kiss , was to note that it didn't have the witty banter of Anna, but this was hardly a point against it. It still has humour and a lightness, a freshness to the narrative that doesn't downplay the weightier issues touched upon. Lola and Cricket aren't Anna and St Clair, and you wouldn't be able to confuse them. I actually really liked that Anna and St Clair have minor roles in this story - they both work at the cinema where Lola has a part-time job, and St Clair lives in the same dormitory at the same university as Cricket; it helped me put aside their story and focus on Lola's, but it was also sweet to see them so strong together still. Lola is a wonderful character, very much her own person. I loved that she is a designer, making her own clothes and always wearing "costumes", a different look every day, right down to the wig. She expresses her creativity and her talent, and when Max accuses her of being fake, that she's a different person every time he sees her and he doesn't know who she is, it's Cricket who understands that her outward expression is exactly who she is, and appreciate her for it. We all wear uniforms when we put clothes on, usually unconsciously - clothes that tell people how to read us, both our position in society (class) and something of our personality. Clothing is also armour, a shield to protect ourselves and take comfort in. Lola understands it well, and I loved the descriptions of her flamboyant outfits. She felt so real to me that I reacted to events in her life as if I knew her in real life. It took me a bit longer to warm up to Cricket, only because Lola doesn't give us enough to go on at first - as she's the one narrating her story (in present tense, yes, one of my pet peeves, but it works here - at the very least, it's not distracting or awkward), when she first sees Cricket again it's not in a complimentary way, not the way Anna described St Clair. It's only as Lola lets Cricket be friends with her again that she starts letting slip the things about him that she admires and, yes, loves. The story is real on multiple levels, not least how it handles the relationship between Lola and Max, that felt - not familiar, as I never had a relationship like that, but they were around me as many of my peers, as teens, went out with much older guys. It was rather icky, it's true, when you think of it from the men's perspective - it's not the number of years between them but the difference in their place in life. Being a high school student and a minor is so very different to being in your twenties, living independently etc. that you have to wonder what they have in common. To Max's credit, he didn't approach Lola because she was sixteen (at the time), and she did lie to him about her age. But when I see sixteen year olds around, they look so young that I have to wonder if I really believe Max. Anyway, her relationship with him, going back to his flat and losing her virginity, was pretty much exactly what I remember from those years, of the girls I knew anyway. (I'm not joking, I was a pretty boring teen.) Then there are Lola's parents, Nathan and Andy, who, since they live in San Francisco, are nothing out of the ordinary in terms of same-sex parents. It's always refreshing to have a book present homosexuality as something normal, not even an issue but just the way it is (like Wildthorn , which I read before this). Considering that in America, only two - TWO! - states have legalised same-sex marriages and common-law unions, fiction is well-placed to help normalise homosexuality and homosexual relationships. Besides, Nathan and Andy are lovely, and being gay doesn't stop them from being pretty typical parents! But this review wouldn't be complete without discussing the romance as well. Lola and Cricket are a couple you'll definitely cheer for, and I developed a real soft spot for Cricket. Perkins writes the romance side of things with a light hand, relying on well-placed descriptions of the way Cricket looks at Lola to convey almost everything that boy feels, and it makes you warm and gooey inside. She writes healthy teen relationships, not sudden loves based on lovely hair (if that's one of your Twilight gripes), and the boys are worth loving. It doesn't matter whether you read this book first or Anna or the next one Perkins writes, you'll love these stories for the great characters, the wonderful writing, the sweet romance, the relevant teen issues deftly touched upon - there's no melodrama here, only a true-to-life story of a girl in love with the boy next door. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Oct 13, 2011
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Oct 03, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 044102078X
| 9780441020782
| 044102078X
| 4.02
| 3,567
| Aug 30, 2011
| Aug 30, 2011
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liked it
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This review contains spoilers. Sirantha Jax may have saved New Earth and its allied planets from a war they cannot win against the flesh-eating Morgut, This review contains spoilers. Sirantha Jax may have saved New Earth and its allied planets from a war they cannot win against the flesh-eating Morgut, but it came at the cost of six hundred Conglomerate soldiers. Returning to Venice Minor after changing the beacons in grimspace to prevent most of the vast Morgut fleet from jumping to their part of the universe, Jax quietly lets herself be taken into custody by her best friend and commander of the Ithtorian fleet, Vel, and taken to New Earth for her trial. Fully expecting to be executed or, at best, imprisoned for life, her amazing barrister gets her off all charges. But Jax can't forget the six hundred soldiers she accidentally killed, even if her actions saved the lives of everyone else in the Conglomerate. And her time spent alone in a cell has given her time to reflect and decide on her next course of action: to make amends. While the vast fortune she inherited from her mother can help appease the families of the soldiers who died, and she's spent six months planet-side, teaching jumpers how to read the new beacons in grimspace, Jax has more personal promises to keep. First she needs to clone the baby Mareq that died in her care, and return it to its mother. Her other promise is to Loras and his people, the La'heng, to free them of their genetic servitude. But her journey with Vel to right old wrongs leads them to make a momentous discovery that could change everything. I seem to be the lone Jax fan whose love is waning. I absolutely loved the first three books, but I found Killbox to be disappointing and Jax became, well there's no nice way of putting it: annoying. That hasn't changed with Aftermath, even though it's much more eventful and takes some very interesting turns. Plotwise, I have no complaints. So what's my problem? It's Jax herself. As Jax learns to be more thoughtful, considerate and less selfish, she's also lost her sense of humour. She narrates - in PRESENT TENSE no less, a tense that DOES NOT FIT the narrative style and adds nothing extra to the tension, adventure and suspense of the story - and we are stuck inside her head, a place I've become more disgruntled with as she matures and supposedly becomes less selfish. I say "supposedly" because it's still all about her, and that's no longer an interesting character flaw or trait, it's just a whole lot of self-indulgent whinging. And therein lies my issue: Jax is self-indulgent to the point of making me want to slap her. I can't stand self-indulgent stories, or self-indulgent people. Jax internalises EVERYTHING, it all becomes about her, in a really whiny, repetitive way. I still like her as a character, but I like her less than I did in the first book, when she was a wild, thoughtless party girl who spoke without thinking and put herself first. Then, she had the potential to grow. Now, she's "grown" but the result - which does fit her character - is more annoying rather than less. She is definitely more self-aware, but I think I'd rather she weren't. She spells out everything for us, and leaves us nothing to infer. We can't have an opinion about Jax because her voice is so loud, there's no room for anything else. The idea that my impetuous behavior might have hurt my best friend makes me ill. Big-picture thinking has never been my strong suit, but I've never been quite so sick over it before. I still stand by my decision, but I am beginning to believe I didn't consider it from all angles. Instead, I led with my heart and just jumped, which is my greatest strength and my biggest flaw. [p.33] There are countless such paragraphs, plus it feels like every second sentence is a "self thought": Jax thinking about herself, her reaction to something, how something affects her. Like I said, it's not an interesting or quirky flaw, it's just boring. On the other hand, March really has changed. By the end of Aftermath, he's like a whole new person. I'm no longer sure what he sees in Jax - or what Vel likes in Jax, either, to be honest - but matters of the heart aren't all that easy to explain. I always loved the fierce, intense chemistry between them, and there's a touch of that at the beginning, but it seems clear to me that for as long as Jax needs to travel the stars - and that is an inherent part of her, not something she can just give up - they can't be together in a happily-ever-after way. (That makes me think: we associate "happily ever after" with settling down, staying put, being content with where life is at - that's merely a social construct. There's nothing to stop Jax and March, hypothetically, being "happily ever after" AND travelling the stars together.) The problem is that March seems happy to live planet-side and raise his nephew, while Jax goes stir-crazy if she's on land too long and can't relate to a child. So who knows how that'll work out. To be honest, I read this as the last book in the series (there's one more, Endgame, due out in 2012). It felt final, at the end, with Jax and Vel going off to tie up unfinished business, Jax leaving March behind - "he'll wait for me" she reminds us again, it's a given; she'd be sad if he didn't but wouldn't try to hold him if he wanted to move on: a sign of her narcissism, truth be told, because if someone doesn't have time for her anymore, she simply moves on, keeping those who do. (Yes I know she fought to save March from his demons in Doubleblind, but if I remember correctly, even that was partly for herself. I will say, though, that that I can understand; I'd probably feel the same way. It's not that I'm being extra-hard on Jax, or that we don't all put ourselves first at the end of the day. It's that we don't go on and on about it!) She is trying to be more thoughtful and considerate and caring of others, but her world is and always will be Jax herself. I'm not saying she doesn't have moments of really thinking of others, or that she's fake, or her emotions are false - all I mean is that she thinks of everything in terms of herself, and is rather slow on the pick-up if something doesn't immediately involve her. And I'm not a big fan of people who are only interested in themselves. Mary, but I'm dying to jump. It feels like I've been grounded forever, and I am losing my mind slowly. It was bad in prison, but there, I knew I had no choice. So I sublimated my need in constant exercise. Here, I function as the school administrator, and I have no outlet for the junkie cravings boiling in my brain. I long to travel to Marakeq and try to make right the damage I've done. Perhaps I never can, but I will think less of myself if I don't try, and I need every scrap of self-esteem these days. [pp.114-5] I think the story would have been better told in third person past tense, I really do. I wouldn't feel at all annoyed with Jax if the above paragraph was written in third person; I would have felt sympathetic. Also, it seemed like they rushed the publication: it was riddled with typos and missing articles and more, which was very distracting. I did like the book, though, I want to be clear on that. While I wanted to skip over most of Jax's internal monologues, I did find the story interesting. I thought at first it might turn into a courtroom drama story, which would be an interesting turn, but that only takes up a small portion at the beginning. Once Jax was freed, it became clear that this was going to be a story you couldn't predict: a free agent now, Jax has her own plans and even those go off the rails. It was also great to have more Vel - he's so clearly alien, and I love that Aguirre is faithful to that. He doesn't think or feel like a human, so he remains something of an unknown quantity, unpredictable yet faithful. It was a bit of an anti-climax, truth be told (I found their discovery a bit of a quiet "Oh. Is that all."), and things seemed to come easily to Jax this time around - part of the science fiction genre, where technology is so "easy" (not only does Jax have nanos in her body mending everything, and translation chips and vocalisers so she can talk in foreign languages, but she gets a baby Mareq cloned in about a day, and Vel, for example, is conveniently an expert in almost everything - very handy) - but it was still an adventure and different from the other books. I won't speak more of it because I don't want to spoil everything. And that reminds me: it's important to say that, while I have my complaints, I would still recommend this series. The first book is amazing and I gushed stupidly about it; likewise the following two. I don't know why but somehow, between Doubleblind and Killbox, something changed. Aguirre has created a fleshed-out futuristic world and, yes, a strong heroine to lead us through it. There's always something new to learn about, and the characters - the supporting cast - are also well worth the trip. I will definitely read the last book, even though I felt like the story ended here; I must see it through, and for all my whinging, I have a soft spot for Jax, still. ...more |
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1
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Oct 07, 2011
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Oct 09, 2011
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Oct 03, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1770890327
| 9781770890329
| 1770890327
| 3.85
| 99,162
| Apr 26, 2011
| 2011
|
really liked it
|
A couple of weeks ago I heard to Patrick deWitt being interviewed about this book on CBC Radio, and The Sisters Brothers sounded so interesting I imme
A couple of weeks ago I heard to Patrick deWitt being interviewed about this book on CBC Radio, and The Sisters Brothers sounded so interesting I immediately had to look it up and eventually got a copy to sate my curiosity. DeWitt is a calmly spoken man who, by dint of not having an energetic way of speaking, makes you strive to hear him. He writes in just such a sparse, smooth, unwasteful way, a style perfectly suited to the voice of hired gun, Eli Sisters. Eli is the younger brother of violent Charlie, who's taken care of Eli since killing their violent father when he attacked their mother, and together they form the infamous Sisters Brothers, known throughout the United States as the deliverers of death for the man known only as the Commodore. The Commodore has a new job for the Sisters brothers: to hunt down and kill Hermann Kermit Warm, currently in California, but not before taking from him something the Commodore wants. It's 1851 and the gold rush is still booming; on the way from Oregon City to San Francisco, the Sisters brothers ride through small towns made prosperous by someone's gold stash, and pass would-be prospectors who meet death and starvation before they're even halfway. There's a kind of madness in the air, and Eli is slightly more sympathetic an observer than Charlie. Charlie is the scary one who would sooner deal death than chat, while Eli keeps giving his money away to whores and any woman who's kind to him. After several life-altering incidents along the way, they arrive in San Francisco and learning more about Warm, they come to feel a measure of respect for him and to question their way of life. Eli has decided not only that he doesn't want to kill Warm, but that he doesn't want to be the Commodore's man anymore. But whether they let Warm live or carry through with the job, breaking free of the Commodore isn't all that easy. The Sisters Brothers is a glorious, wonderful novel, at once understated with Eli's almost childlike yet at times wise narration, a comical ballad of two hired guns on their last job, and a stark, vivid realisation of the western United States and the gold rush days. It's also a fascinating character study of both brothers, with Eli possessing an astute understanding of Charlie, and revealing plenty about himself in the way he speaks and the decisions he makes. Eli is the "sensitive" brother, at least compared to Charlie. He grows fond of his slow horse, Tubs, for one thing, and hungers for shows of kindness and even love from women - their mother refuses to see them because of the work they do, and it's one of Eli's dreams to receive a kiss on his cheek from his mother. Even the killing, he belatedly realises, is due only to his need to protect and defend Charlie. Unlike his brother, Eli feels no pleasure in killing and never draws first. He'd rather open a trading-post and fit men with shirts and hats. Eli is a great narrator, with no obvious sense of humour but a way of describing things that makes the humour in a situation apparent. When he tries to eat less in order to lose weight for a hotel woman, he is teased but holds firm until he learns more about her, and immediately serves himself a generous portion of beans and pork fat. He's often referred to as "the fat one", but he takes no offence, knowing it to be true. He sounds somewhat childlike because of the touch of compassion in him, but also because of the simple, straightforward way he speaks. He doesn't contract - "I am" rather than "I'm" etc. - which adds a layer of formality and a weird kind of politeness to his speech. It all makes him more endearing - that and his new love for the toothbrush. The story moves at a consistent pace, if a bit slower at the beginning. It's an obvious kind of structure, the journey by horse to a new frontier a journey of introspection and self-discovery, the end of an era as Eli refers to it. It makes for a great yarn that I loved reading. The violence isn't glorified but described factually, a matter of life, especially given that Eli doesn't get the blood rush his brother does from violence. But be prepared for some grisly scenes. I think the one thing I expected more of was a sense of the frontier, but maybe because the brothers were travelling south instead of west - and maybe also because the author's Canadian? - it wasn't there. There was an understated sketch of the countryside, the wilderness, the lawlessness that felt very real even if sparsely illustrated, something that can fall flat and lifeless but here perfectly complements the kind of people who live in this land, especially the Sisters brothers. I can't think of a western I've read before - oh, except for Stephen King's The Gunslinger, but that book was wonderfully surreal and bizarre so not exactly an example of the genre. There's more going on in The Sisters Brothers than meets the eye at first, I feel: a sense of the wider world pressing down on this one, of environmental damage (those poor beavers!), and something else I can't quite put my finger on. Deceptively simplistic, I would say, is this book. Beautifully written, The Sisters Brothers has much to commend itself and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. The Sisters Brothers has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Rogers Writer's Trust Fiction Prize and the Man Booker Prize for 2011. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Oct 05, 2011
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Sep 29, 2011
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Paperback
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| 4.46
| 43,318
| Mar 23, 1999
| 1999
|
it was amazing
|
In the big dark woods, a mouse is going for a walk when he meets a fox that, thinking the mouse looks like a good meal, tries to lure him back to his
In the big dark woods, a mouse is going for a walk when he meets a fox that, thinking the mouse looks like a good meal, tries to lure him back to his den. The mouse is an intelligent little thing, and explains to the fox that he can't come because he's having lunch with a gruffalo. The fox has never heard of a gruffalo before, so the mouse starts to describe a terrible monster who likes to eat roasted fox. The fox, terrified, runs away. The mouse is molested by an owl next, and then a snake, and each time he tricks the animals into thinking there's a bigger, badder beast in the woods than they. Until the mouse meets an actual gruffalo, just as he described it, and the gruffalo wants to eat him too. But he's still got some tricks up his sleeve, does mouse! This is an absolutely wonderful story that I've read to my 2 month old baby several times already - he has no idea what's going on of course but the pictures grab his attention and I can do silly voices that make him grin and squeal; the word "gruffalo" seems to delight him and the cadence of the rhyming text does too. I can't wait till he's older and can actually enjoy the story of the clever little mouse who outwits the bigger, stronger animals of the woods - great lesson in that, but also lots of fun! ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 17, 2011
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Sep 16, 2011
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Paperback
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| 1849564892
| 9781849564892
| 1849564892
| unknown
| 4.25
| 36
| Jun 01, 2010
| 2011
|
it was amazing
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I had to get this because the pictures were so wonderful - reminiscent of
The Wizard, the Ugly and the Book of Shame
- but I was thrilled to disco
I had to get this because the pictures were so wonderful - reminiscent of
The Wizard, the Ugly and the Book of Shame
- but I was thrilled to discover that the text was very funny too. Each double-page spread is a letter on the left and an illustration on the right. The text doesn't rhyme but in about four short lines describes the thing for that letter with creative flair and a great deal of cuteness (but not very factual). N is for Nurse. Q is for Queen. V is for Vampire. I would love to show you an example of the pictures - T for Train would be one of my favourites - but the book is large and square and my scanner is too narrow for it. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 20, 2011
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Sep 15, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 1905117965
| 9781905117963
| 1905117965
| 4.16
| 1,097
| Jan 01, 1977
| Jan 01, 2009
|
it was amazing
|
This is a classic Australian picture book, that every school library has tattered copies of. It has been around since the 70s and is still very much i
This is a classic Australian picture book, that every school library has tattered copies of. It has been around since the 70s and is still very much in print. It definitely has the feel of an older style of picture book, as the illustrations - pen cross-hatchings and water colour - as well as the story itself have a more mature feel, not at all feel-good or cartoony. This is the story of Rose, a widow, who lives with her dog, John Brown. They have a quiet but lovely life together, one of routine and companionship. When a cat turns up outside at night, that life is threatened - for John Brown, anyway. Rose tries to befriend the cat, but John Brown is jealous and pretends not to even see the cat. When Rose becomes sick and doesn't want to get out of bed, though, he finally realises that the midnight cat can bring new life to his beloved companion. It's a very sweet story though laced with undertones of sadness - I think this is why it wasn't a favourite of mine as a child. I was a very sensitive child and the story was too upsetting for me - in a good way. But I still avoided it, going instead for upbeat picture books like my favourite one, Quentin Blake's Mister Magnolia . But it's not a story you can forget, so I got a copy of this recently to add to the collection, for it is a wonderful story, a thought-provoking story, and kids love it with good reason. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 21, 2011
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Sep 11, 2011
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1856024407
| 9781856024402
| 1856024407
| unknown
| 4.23
| 4,726
| 1989
| unknown
|
it was amazing
|
This is the story of a mole who, when he sticks his head up out of the ground one day, is poo'd on and he sets out to discover who did it. It never sa
This is the story of a mole who, when he sticks his head up out of the ground one day, is poo'd on and he sets out to discover who did it. It never says "something did a poo on him", instead it says (in brackets): "It looked a little like a sausage, and the worst thing was that it landed right on his head." The mole, being short-sighted, can't see who did it, so he asks all the animals around, but they show him how they do it and he can see that their poo is quite different (and all the while there's this big turd still on his head). My sister recommended this to me, along with The Gruffalo and a few others, and she always has great recommendations. Aside from the fact - yes, fact - that little kids are fascinated by their own bodily functions, in its own way this book teaches you how to recognise the excrement of different animals and birds. Don't you just love it?! Okay so maybe you have to read it to get the appeal, but it truly is a funny and delightful book, that says a lot without actually saying anything. Even the title has a double-meaning: "business" referring to going to the toilet, meaning that the mole knew he hadn't gone to the toilet on his own head. But it also refers to the expression, mind your own business. My one complaint is that I got the hardcover edition, but I got the tiny version. It is about the size of my hand, landscape-oriented, and while it's cute it is a bit hard to read, especially when you're reading it sideways so kids can see the pictures as you go (and the pictures are cute, too!). So if you're buying it online, check the dimensions first. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 11, 2011
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Sep 11, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 0373775873
| 9780373775873
| 0373775873
| 3.62
| 1,514
| Jul 01, 2011
| Jun 28, 2011
|
it was ok
|
Isabella Fairmont grew up to scandal: illegitimate daughter of a noblewoman and a rake, she has lived in a one-room cottage with her disgraced mother
Isabella Fairmont grew up to scandal: illegitimate daughter of a noblewoman and a rake, she has lived in a one-room cottage with her disgraced mother and her grandmother until both died. Now her circumstances have drastically changed: taken in by her widowed uncle, the Marquis of Stonebrook, and her fiery cousin Lucy, she is courted by a handsome but dull young archeologist, Mr Knighton, who's on the brink of a major discovery, and for as much as she misses her mother and grandmother, she loves Lucy, who is of an age with Issy, and has the time now to write her stories and pursue her dream of becoming a lady novelist. Lately the story occupying her time and imagination is a romance between a girl who increasingly appears to be Issy herself, and Lord Death. Then Isabella meets her neighbour, the reclusive, secretive Earl of Black - and finds that he is just like her fictional depiction of Death. The Earl of Black is reclusive for good reason: believing himself cursed, everyone else in his family has died, including, years before, his betrothed. And most people believe that he killed her. Black is one of three keepers to a dangerous secret, inheriting the duty of protecting an ancient and powerful relic, a necklace, that his Templar ancestor brought back to England along with two other nights and two other dangerous relics, a goblet and a document explaining how to use them. But when he sees Isabella for the first time, he becomes obsessed with her and is drawn out of his reclusion in order to meet her ... and seduce her. I loved Featherstone's first novel, Addicted , and so was eager to read more of her work. Unfortunately, I was less than enamoured by this plot-heavy, rather bizarre story of seances, family secrets, magic, Freemasons, knights Templar and evildoers. Not to mention the romance, which unfolded in a way that didn't really make sense to me. Let's start with Isabella and Black, and the romance. One thing Featherstone excels at is building sexual tension, and there's enough of that here to keep me reading. However, it is deeply overshadowed by the complicated plot, and the last half, shall we say, felt rather silly. Black is a real dark hero, likened by Isabella and Lucy to Mr Rochester (well, Death is, and since Black is Death...), very handsome and sexy and brooding and mysterious. And passionate. Even though you just have to use the word "obsessed" to describe his feelings for Issy, it's not a creepy obsessiveness. He just can't stop thinking about her, fantasising about her, and wants to tell her everything. He wants to put her first. He's rather like a paranormal romance hero in an historical romance setting. Isabella is a bit of a wet rag, though she holds her own well enough. She hints throughout the novel of some secret shame, but the way she talks about it made me think it was to do with her mother and some further scandal. The truth was rather anti-climactic, in the end, because it was revealed vaguely earlier on and then dropped as if it were unimportant. What I didn't get was the way their romance progressed. Isabella resists Black because she doesn't want the life her mother lived, doesn't want to be her mother, falling for passion and losing her home, her family, everything. So if Black really is serious, why doesn't he propose to her early on? It doesn't matter that she wouldn't accept because she considered herself practically engaged to Mr Knighton; what matters are his intentions. Her mother was never "made an honest woman of", and that's Isabella's fear too. It was never clear whether Issy feared that Black, being a passionate, sexual man, would marry her but then tire of her and throw her over, or if she feared that he'd seduce her and then abandon her. I got the impression it was the latter, so since Black wanted to marry her anyway, why not say so and then you don't have to seduce her? Why go to the effort of seducing her when you know she might end up resenting you for it, and hating herself for being seduced? Doesn't sound like a good way to start a relationship, to me. It seemed like it was written that way because it was more convenient for the plot. Ah, the plot. To be honest, I prefer romances that focus on characters, not ones that get distracted by a convoluted plot of murder, intrigue, conspiracy, mystery and what have you. That's why I loved Anna and the French Kiss so much, to name a recent example. The characters and their romance were overshadowed by the plot, and it was a plot I didn't care for. Templar knights were unscrupulous bastards, and I hated seeing them made into heroes here. The Freemasons are a downright creepy boys' club, though granted they're not glorified or anything, they're more an important feature of upperclass Victorian society (the novel's set in 1875). And it is interesting, getting a peak inside their sealed doors. Then there's the tired old plot of powerful relics and all, and it was all very Indiana Jones without the fun. Oh, and it also had a touch of Dracula , with red-haired Lucy and her admirer. This is the first book in a trilogy that follows the same plot - so complex it needs three books to resolve! - and the next one is about Lucy and her duke, another guardian of a dangerous relic (the chalice). Sorry I've forgotten his name just now! The plot bothered me because it got just a tad too silly, too ridiculous, with secret societies - the Freemasons, the House of Orpheus - and a mysterious enemy, who I think is probably Lucy's father, Isabella's uncle. We'll see. I got the second book from Netgalley before I'd read this one, so I'll keep going with it, but I'm less than keen to be honest. This is more of an historical religious mystery with a bit of romance and some sex thrown in at the end. Not a bad book by any means, just not my cup of tea. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 06, 2011
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Sep 06, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 9781554535033
| 3.96
| 644
| Mar 01, 2011
| Mar 01, 2011
|
it was amazing
|
Saul has always dreamed of a life at sea, so when he was old enough he tried to join the navy, only he wasn't big enough. "Fortunately, pirates aren't
Saul has always dreamed of a life at sea, so when he was old enough he tried to join the navy, only he wasn't big enough. "Fortunately, pirates aren't so picky, so he enrolled in Pirate College." I just love this book, and the illustrations are gorgeous as well as adding to the humour - the text may imply something, but the pictures really add extra detail. It wouldn't make a great audiobook, for example. There's just so much going on without being overwhelming. Like, in one picture there is the sheet of rules for Pirate College: RULES It's especially cute because Hugh, my nearly-three-month-old baby, sometimes makes an "Arrrr" sound - and sometimes only opens one eye - so I dub him Pirate Hugh. You know how you get private jokes going... Anyway, this story of small Saul trying to cut it as a pirate on The Rusty Squid, when he'd rather hand out flowers instead of robbing ladies, and tries to make the ship "a bit more homey. Sadly, his efforts failed to impress his crewmates." (They do eventually realise that they need him, as the ship begins to get squalid after they push him overboard.) The irony-laced text along with the clean, fresh illustrations really bring Saul and his naïve ambition to life. I'll have to look into her earlier book, Binky the Space Cat. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 17, 2011
|
Sep 04, 2011
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0545986168
| 9780545986168
| 0545986168
| 4.30
| 2,613
| 2008
| 2008
|
really liked it
|
Another Australian picture book that's made it to Canadian shores, yay! This is a really delightful tale of four friends, Zebra, Moose, Lion and Sheep
Another Australian picture book that's made it to Canadian shores, yay! This is a really delightful tale of four friends, Zebra, Moose, Lion and Sheep, who escape the rain by taking shelter in a cave and playing a card game to wile away the time, until their entrance awakens a very cranky bear who shoes them back out into the cold and wet jungle (it's a kids picture book - don't worry about the realism of a sheep and a lion being friends, or that they live in a cold jungle. It rhymes, and it reads well!). Lion, Moose and Zebra each come up with crazy ideas for making the bear happy, thinking that he must be cranky because he has no stripes, no horns and no mane. It's quiet Sheep that realises what Bear really wants: a nice pillow so he can get some good sleep! [image] The illustrations are reminiscent of Disney animations, being bold and clean and over-emphasising of classic traits. Yes, the sheep looks like a pink poodle, but she looks damn cute too! The rhyming text is very engaging, with details - like sheep being left out in the cold - captured by the pictures. There's lots for kids to look at, while the text is uncomplicated. It also has a great message, about not making assumptions or judgements about people you don't know, not assuming that everyone should conform to your own standards, and getting across the idea that what makes people happy etc. is different for everyone. The Zebra says, "If I did not have stripes, I'd be cranky too." So she paints stripes on the bear. (The illustration of the bear with mud stripes, antlers made of branches, and a mane of grass gave me the giggles!) Sheep, on the other hand, stops to think about the bear from a different perspective, tries to understand the bear, and that's what gives her idea success. Very good life lessons! ...more |
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1
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not set
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Sep 12, 2011
|
Sep 04, 2011
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0345510089
| 9780345510082
| 0345510089
| 3.62
| 6,048
| 2011
| Dec 27, 2011
|
liked it
|
Ah-ha! I've had my Kindle for about a year and this is the first book I've read (and finished) on it so far - success! It helped that this was a well-
Ah-ha! I've had my Kindle for about a year and this is the first book I've read (and finished) on it so far - success! It helped that this was a well-written, enjoyable story with some interesting deviations from the urban fantasy genre. Cailleach ("Kay-lex") McFay - Callie to her friends - has recently got her Ph.D in English and her thesis, "The Demon Lover in Gothic Literature: Vampires, Beasts, and Incubi" has been published to wide acclaim as Sex Lives of the Demon Lovers, and now she's looking for a university teaching job. Her first choice is the University of New York, where her long-standing boyfriend, Paul, can join her once he finishes his Master of Economics degree in California, but she's not putting all her eggs in one basket. The unique folklore department at the small Fairwick College in New York state draws Callie, as does a beautiful old Victorian house in the woods across the road from the inn where she's staying for the interview. Honeysuckle House isn't just up for sale; it used to be the home of Dahlia LaMotte, a popular gothic romance novelist from the early 20th century. The house comes with all of LaMotte's documents and manuscripts, and Callie finally has an idea for her next book. In an impulsive move, she not only accepts a teaching position at the college, but buys the house as well - without even discussing it with Paul. As soon as Callie moves into Honeysuckle House, however, the dreams begin: dreams of a sexy, seductive man made of shadow and moonlight who leaves her sore and aching in the morning. Callie thinks it's the same dream man as the one who comforted her when she was little and her parents died; he told her fairytales, but he too came with the scent of honeysuckle and sea salt. But it takes Callie a while to admit to herself that this dream lover isn't really a dream at all, and the small town of Fairwick - and Fairwick College itself - is more than what it seems as well. There's a lot more to the plot than that but I don't want to reveal too much. Suffice it to say, that the book takes some interesting turns, and develops a few mysteries that add intriguing layers to the overall plot. Juliet Dark is a pseudonym for Carol Goodman, who writes literary mysteries and gothic historical fiction, and she brings to the genre a new kind of heroine and a new approach that is refreshing - more on that later. This was an engrossing read for me, the fast pace and smooth prose eagerly carrying me across the pages and through the story. The main draw was Callie herself, who, as an English academic with a love for gothic romances, folklore and myth, spoke to me and seemed more real than any of the kick-arse, demon slaying, silent-'n'-stubborn heroines of most Urban Fantasy. That Callie is a bit of a nerd, that she has a passion for books and old houses, only made me like her all the more. She fights demons with her brain (and sometimes her heart) rather than her muscles, and it makes for a very nice change. She may be a bit slow off the mark, though - the plot contains a few mysteries that are very obvious to the reader, but Callie, who narrates, gives us all the clues without being able to put two-and-two together, herself. Not sure that I entirely buy that, as she seems quite smart in so many other ways. But I'm not going to hold it against her, because it's not like anyone'd expect any of this to be real. In some ways, the story didn't go where I was expecting, partly because I also saw it categorised as Paranormal Romance, which has a pretty simple formula. This isn't a romance novel, though: there's no detailed or complete sex scene (though there's lots of sex; Callie just doesn't share much of it with us), and there's no happy ever after romantic ending. In fact, it seems to be setting us up for a series about Callie and Fairwick, though I haven't seen anything about that online (Goodreads usually has that info but it's mum on this one). I liked that it didn't go where I was expecting, but I did find myself somewhat confused as to how to read it - as a romance or as a fantasy novel. There definitely wasn't a romance feel to it at all, not even when Callie shacks up with another teacher (I would say his name but I can't remember it and the problem with e-books is that you can't flip through the pages! Very frustrating). In fact, one of the things that disappointed me with this book wasn't the lack of complete sex scenes, but the unconvincing romantic relationships. Having Callie narrate made her a strong character, but she failed to convince me of her feelings for the demon lover and her boyfriends. I did love Ralph, the mouse, though. He was very sweet. And I was fascinated by many of the other characters and the history of the town, and Honeysuckle House itself was quite vividly drawn, but I was very confused by Callie's possible connection with faerie - not the doorkeeper part, but the riders/companions part. There were many fun references to popular television and fiction, and I loved the smooth, relaxed prose style and Callie's voice. I had mixed reactions to this story overall but it's a fun piece featuring demons, fairies, witches and gothic romance that'll keep you entertained. My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a copy of this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Aug 16, 2011
|
Aug 18, 2011
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0142419400
| 9780142419403
| 0142419400
| 3.97
| 456,808
| Dec 02, 2010
| Aug 04, 2011
|
it was amazing
|
When Anna Oliphant's father, a popular author of maudlin soap fiction, tells her that he's enrolled her in a boarding school in Paris for her final ye
When Anna Oliphant's father, a popular author of maudlin soap fiction, tells her that he's enrolled her in a boarding school in Paris for her final year of high school, she's not at all pleased. She likes living in Atlanta with her mum, hanging out with her best friend Bridgette and working at the local cinema with cutey-boy Toph, who she was hoping was going to be her next boyfriend. Now she's been completely uprooted, one of a hundred kids at the School of America in a country where she doesn't speak the language and is intimidated by the natives. But when she makes friends with her neighbour, Meredith, and Meredith's friends Étienne St Clair, Josh and Rashmi, she finds that their lively company quashes her homesickness. And Anna is quickly drawn to St Clair in particular - he may be no taller than she is, but he's very attractive, has a great sense of humour and loads of charisma - and a British accent, even if he claims to be American. Anna and St Clair hit it off from the beginning, and even though she still has hopes for a relationship with Toph and St Clair has a girlfriend, Anna has to acknowledge that she has much deeper feelings for St Clair than mere friendship. But how does St Clair feel about her? His easy-going manner and good cheer hide a fear of being alone and problems with his own father, a controlling man who keeps both St Clair and his mother tightly under his thumb. It's a year of friendship, love and tears, and the kind of life lessons you can only learn when you're living on your own in another country. I loved this book. It was funny, warm, believable, endearing and, yes, very very sweet. I fell into the story quickly and lived in Anna's world; it felt like I was living it. It was so realistic without becoming dull and depressing because of it. I've spent a mere two weeks in Paris, staying with my sister Tara when she lived there, so I could definitely picture it - and totally empathise with Anna's feelings: I too was intimidated and while "thank you" and "please" were the first words I learned when I moved to Japan, I was too scared of saying it wrong in French to even open my mouth, relying totally on my sister's fluency. Anna's fear of being hated for wearing white sneakers (as, apparently, all Americans do when overseas) made me laugh. The sense of humour prevalent in the novel is one of the things that made it work - there's fantastic banter between Anna and St Clair, as well as Anna's thoughts, to entertain. But it's also the characters, and the simplicity of the plot, that ensure Anna and the French Kiss's success. The story follows a full school year, and is about as eventful as a school year tends to be: that is, not very. But that just made me appreciate it even more: if you have really strong characters and excellent dialogue and lots of chemistry, you don't need a mystery-abduction-love triangle-threat to your life-ridiculous plot to keep a romance going. On the contrary, I love (and search fruitlessly for) romances that are entirely character-driven, as this one is. I don't want a silly mystery, or an abduction of the heroine, or some other weird plot-line. Just give me wonderful characters who I fall in love with, an engaging narrative voice, and a slowly evolving depth of feeling - that's what real romance is! I loved too the little digs at Twilight : when Anna first sees St Clair, she has to mention his beautiful hair - in fact, she uses those words and gets quite excited by it, and she mentions his hair several times. It may be unintentional, but it instantly made me think of how Bella was always going on about Edward's hair. ;) It also, indirectly, acts as a counter to that story by depicting a realistic, healthy relationship that began as a very strong friendship (I loved Twilight, but I read it as a fantasy). There was also what I read to be a dig at authors like Nicholas Sparks - at least, when I read the description of the self-indulgent, melodramatic, depressing books Anna's father writes, Sparks is the author who instantly came to mind. I haven't read any of his books, but the previews of his movies look thoroughly self-indulgent and maudlin (which is why I can't bring myself to try one of his books). I did see the first, oh, thirty minutes of Nights at Rodanthe and nearly tore my eyes out. So it's fair to say that I saw eye-to-eye with Anna about a lot of things - and Perkins too no doubt, who is a librarian by day and interspersed the story with references to several books I loved, like Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress . The side-plot regarding St Clair's parents could easily have slipped the novel too far into soap opera drama, but it never came to the forefront or dominated the story for it to cheapen it. I can see this becoming a comfort read quite easily. It's a quick read, being light in tone, smoothly written and loads of fun; with one book, Perkins re-established my love and appreciation for Young Adult novels, which has suffered such a beating over the last couple of years with so many badly written, trite stories out there, quickly published in order to grab the tail end of a fad. Anna and the French Kiss was a breath of fresh air to this jaded reader. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Aug 22, 2011
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Aug 12, 2011
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Paperback
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| 1741696976
| 9781741696974
| 1741696976
| 3.50
| 26
| 1997
| 2011
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it was amazing
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My mum sent this to me for my baby, Hugh, and it's a fun version of The Gingerbread Man. Here, we have a man made from lamington that runs off gloatin
My mum sent this to me for my baby, Hugh, and it's a fun version of The Gingerbread Man. Here, we have a man made from lamington that runs off gloating about how fast he is, until he's tricked by a crocodile and eaten. It has cute cartoon-like illustration that bring the lamington man to life, accompanied by text that leads to a feeling of satisfaction that someone gets to eat him - and shut him up! If you've never had a lamington, you're really missing out! They're an Australian cake, traditionally made into squares: you bake a kind of plain vanilla cake the day before, then trim the edges, split it in half, join the halves together with whipped cream, cut into cubes and then coat them in chocolate icing and roll in coconut. I've made them a few times - they're fiddly but worth it! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jul 07, 2011
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Jul 07, 2011
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Paperback
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my rating |
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| 3.82
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really liked it
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Dec 29, 2011
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Nov 22, 2011
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| 4.10
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it was amazing
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Dec 16, 2011
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Nov 21, 2011
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| 4.10
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really liked it
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Dec 19, 2011
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Nov 21, 2011
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| 3.79
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liked it
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Dec 02, 2011
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Nov 18, 2011
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| 3.55
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it was amazing
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Dec 04, 2011
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Nov 02, 2011
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| 3.83
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liked it
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Nov 17, 2011
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Oct 19, 2011
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| 4.01
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liked it
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Oct 26, 2011
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Oct 11, 2011
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| 3.90
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it was amazing
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Oct 13, 2011
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Oct 03, 2011
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| 4.02
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liked it
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Oct 09, 2011
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Oct 03, 2011
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| 3.85
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really liked it
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Oct 05, 2011
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Sep 29, 2011
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| 4.46
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it was amazing
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Sep 17, 2011
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Sep 16, 2011
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| 4.25
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it was amazing
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Sep 20, 2011
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Sep 15, 2011
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| 4.16
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it was amazing
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Sep 21, 2011
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Sep 11, 2011
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| 4.23
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it was amazing
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Sep 11, 2011
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Sep 11, 2011
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| 3.62
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it was ok
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Sep 06, 2011
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Sep 06, 2011
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| 3.96
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it was amazing
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Sep 17, 2011
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Sep 04, 2011
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| 4.30
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really liked it
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Sep 12, 2011
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Sep 04, 2011
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| 3.62
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liked it
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Aug 16, 2011
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Aug 18, 2011
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| 3.97
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it was amazing
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Aug 22, 2011
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Aug 12, 2011
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| 3.50
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it was amazing
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Jul 07, 2011
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Jul 07, 2011
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