Category Archives: Young Adult

THE AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker

September 29, 2012 – 10:54 pm

I finished another book! Shocking. This is my lowest book month in recent memory – 3 books completed in September. Sigh. I’m telling you – it’s not the baby, it’s the job.

And now to the book – The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. First off, I have to say that I rarely read sci-fi, dystopia, speculative fiction or YA. I have read a number of reviews of The Age of Miracles that criticize it for not holding its own in one or more of those categories. I can’t really address that criticism, because I am not familiar enough with those genres to judge. But I will say that I loved this book.

The Age of Miracles, which has gotten a great deal of attention this summer, is about the year when the earth’s rotation slowed down. The story is told through the eyes of an 11-year old girl named Julia who lives with her parents in southern California. With the slowdown comes a legion of problems for humans living on earth. The days start to get longer, throwing off the natural rhythm of life and confusing the calendar. Then birds start dying, unable to fly due to changes in the gravitational pull of the earth. Fruit can no longer be grown due to the changing pattern of daylight hours; whales are beached all along the coasts; and so on. Julia’s life is affected by these changes, just as everyone’s are, but at the same time she’s also a middle school girl trying to navigate the treacherous waters of fickle friendships, boys, and parents with their own problems.

The Age of Miracles (so named because adolescence is often called the age of miracles) is one of the most creative books I’ve ever read. Walker’s depiction of the gradual changes brought on by the slowdown, and the ways in which people reacted to those changes, was both realistic and totally original. There’s no revolution or apocalypse; there’s just ordinary people either trying to deny what is happening, or overreacting, or turning on each other because they don’t agree with how to adapt to the changing reality of a new way of life. Julia is a matter-of-fact, minimalistic narrator whose small, personal life is just as important to her as the cosmic changes taking place around her.

I found The Age of Miracles quite stressful to read, as I suppose many dystopian novels must be. Yet Walker’s artful prose and the poignancy of her story kept me going despite the difficulty of the subject matter. My one complaint is that there was too much needless foreshadowing; she often ended chapters with sentences like “We had no idea how bad it would get later” or “It was the last time I would ever be in her house” or “We would later learn that…”. I find that kind of foreshadowing a bit cheap and patronizing. If a story is strong (as this one was), then I don’t need that type of hinting at what’s to come in order to keep me interested. I’d rather be surprised. This is a minor complaint, but it happened enough throughout the book that it’s worth mentioning. One other quibble: there were few mentions of how countries other than the U.S. were faring on the new earth. I’d like to have learned more about what was happening in other parts of the world.

When I first read about The Age of Miracles, I wasn’t interested in reading it. But I ended up getting it from the library and decided to take a chance on it, and boy am I glad I did. What a creative, thoughtful novel. I highly recommend it.

Tags dystopia, karen thompson walker, the age of miracles, young adult | Permalink | Comments (9)

Fiction Young Adult

THE LAST SUMMER (OF YOU AND ME) by Ann Brashares

March 4, 2012 – 11:45 pm

Ann Brashares is best known for her YA book series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which was made into a few movies a few years ago and was a big success. Brashares has written two adult novels, including The Last Summer (of You and Me), which is about three kids that grew up together spending summers on Fire Island in NY. Riley and Alice are sisters in their 20s, and Paul, their summer neighbor, is Riley’s age and her best friend. But he’s always been in love with Alice, something that he has denied and sublimated for many years. Alice, meanwhile, loves Paul too, but is confused by his mixed messages and endless criticism of her over the years.

The Last Summer (of You and Me) is supposed to be adult fiction, but it felt pretty immature to me. The tortured relationship between Paul and Alice unspools slowly and tortuously, with much high school-esque drama and over-analysis. There is one tragic thing that happens in this book, and admittedly all of the characters are deeply affected by it. But there is so much angst experienced by the other characters throughout the book that it got tiresome after a while. I enjoyed the plot and the setting; I just wish that Brashares had gone deeper. I probably would have enjoyed it when I was a YA, but now it seemed superficial and overwrought.

I listened to The Last Summer (of You and Me) on audio. The narrator’s voice bothered me – too slow with a lot of overanunciation. I thought that her voice sounded familiar, and realized that she had narrated another book I reviewed: Songs Without Words by Ann Packer. And I had the same complaint then – pace and overanunciation. At least I’m consistent!

Unless you’re a huge Brashares fan, I can’t really recommend this one.

Tags Ann Brashares, The Last Summer (of You and Me), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | Permalink | Comments (2)

Fiction Young Adult

SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL: TEN YEARS LATER by Francine Pascal

October 22, 2011 – 6:37 pm

If you’ve never heard of Sweet Valley, CA, and the names Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield mean nothing to you, then I recommend you stop reading right now.

I just finished the audio version of Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later, the (most recent) sequel to the Sweet Valley High series that was very popular in the late 80s. Now, I was never a Sweet Valley fanatic. I read maybe 10 or 15 of the books. I didn’t know all of the characters. I didn’t read the prequel series, nor the prequel to the prequel series, nor the first sequel series. I was a casual fan who read enough to know the main players and some of the outlandish storylines Pascal presented in her addictive, cliche-ridden, but totally enjoyable books.

When I was at BEA last May, I came across a display that featured the audio version of Pascal’s widely-panned recent release, Sweet Valley Confidential and I just couldn’t help asking if I could have it. I must have been the only person that day who expressed even recognition of what the book was, much less interest in it, and the guy at the display gladly handed it over to me. It sat in my “BEA box” for several months until recently, when I decided that I was in the mood for it and popped in the first disc.

Yes, it’s totally silly and overwrought. Yes, it’s full of cliches. Yes, the emotions felt by the characters are extreme and over-the-top and yet totally transient. BUT… I will say this: the book was very enjoyable. It was fun to check in on Elizabeth and Jessica as adults, and to learn that Jessica has stolen Elizabeth’s longterm boyfriend Todd, that the couple is now engaged, and that the inseparable identical twins are no longer on speaking terms. (The horror!). There are other scandalous twists and turns that have befallen Sweet Valley’s most memorable residents, and Pascal at least attempts to “keep things real” by making her some of her characters dotcom millionaires, giving them cancer, and having them come out of the closet.

I’ve read a few reviews of Sweet Valley Confidential that complain that there are inaccuracies throughout the book, as well as several names and plot points that directly contradict things that happened in the high school series. Whatever. I didn’t notice them, and they didn’t bother me. Other people complain that the book is dumb and unrealistic. Yeah, I can see that. But for the last few weeks, my commute has been unusually enjoyable. And for that, I thank the generous folks at Macmillan Audio. (Hi FTC!)

A word about the audio: it’s fine, except that whenever the narrator voices a male character, she makes him sound like a moron.

I just read on Amazon (where the book got a whopping 2 stars on average) that there is a Diablo Cody movie version of Sweet Valley High coming out. Really?

Next post, I promise to return to the kind of fare that I – and you -wouldn’t be embarrassed to admit to reading.

Tags francine pascal, sweet valley confidential, sweet valley high | Permalink | Comments (5)

Fiction Young Adult

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY by Jay Asher

September 16, 2011 – 11:10 pm

I have been getting the sense that I may be the last book blogger out there who doesn’t read YA.

So I decided to see what the fuss was about, and dipped my foot into the YA stream. I just finished Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, which is a popular YA novel from a few years ago. The book is about Clay, a high school student who receives a mysterious box of cassettes in the mail. The cassettes turn out to be recordings by a fellow student, Hannah Baker, who killed herself a few weeks earlier. On the tapes, she has recorded the “thirteen reasons why” she killed herself. Those thirteen reasons turn out to be thirteen of her classmates who did various things over the course of high school that contributed to her despair.

In Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay listens to the tapes in order (he received them because he is one of the reasons, and is to pass them along to the person listed after him), and intersperses her dialogue with his narration and reactions to what Hannah says.

I am going to start with the good. I admire Jay Asher for taking this subject on, and I bet that this book is a powerful one for teenagers. The message is that your actions have effects on people, even ones you don’t intend, and that careless, thoughtless, and downright cruel actions can cause terrible consequences. There are testimonials all over the book from readers who say that it changed, even saved, their lives, and I can see why.

This book lent itself well to audio, thanks to the alternating structure of Clay’s and Hannah’s voices. It’s suspenseful, and kept me interested. The actors were pretty good at sounding like teenagers. And I liked listening to Hannah’s tapes, rather than reading them, just as Clay had.

But.

Reading this book as an adult, I found it overwrought. Perhaps I am too old now to relate to being a teenager (though I doubt this, because I read plenty of coming-of-age novels that I find very compelling). I found Hannah’s problems to be big, but not unsurmountable. She had paths out that she didn’t take. Her actions were too premeditated to convey the desperation that she supposedly felt. Emotionally, I didn’t find this to be a particularly satisfying read.

One other quibble – I don’t like books that take place in real time. This whole book basically takes place in less than 24 hours – which I always find sort of exhausting and unrealistic.

I won’t judge all of YA on this book, of course. I just didn’t love this one. I’ll try something else soon.

Oh, hi FTC! Paper and audio were both courtesy of the D.C. Library.

Tags jay asher, thirteen reasons why | Permalink | Comments (8)

Fiction Young Adult

THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney

November 2, 2010 – 1:56 pm

I don't usually blog about YA, but Daisy Whitney, the author of the just-released The Mockingbirds, is a friend of a co-worker, and her book has gotten great reviews, so I thought I would write about it for those of you that read or recommend YA. It covers a tough topic, but one worth reading about.

From Amazon:

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way–the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds–a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone–especially yourself–you fight for it.

The Compulsive Reader had high praise for The Mockingbirds (and featured a Q&A with Whitney):

The Mockingbirds is an excellent, excellent book that effectively portrays the psychological and emotional effects of date rape and also gives readers a different point of view in Alex as a girl who doesn't want to report the crime to the police. Whitney's prose is pitch-perfect and powerful; she keeps the reader right with Alex through her ups and downs, and she skillfully intersperses flashbacks from that terrible night among the chapters, building tension and angst.

Zoe's Book Reviews (written by a teen reviewer) also loved The Mockingbirds:

Wow. I am speechless. Daisy Whitney is a debut author who will make a fantastic name for herself with this book. The Mockingbirds is something to watch, this book is making my Top 10 2010 books. Throughout reading, I’ve noticed that books that discuss the topic of rape either take it too lightly… or are so intense that I couldn't read it in one sitting…. The Mockingbirds is the perfect balance between the two. The topic is taken seriously but you want to keep reading.

The Book Cellar calls The Mockingbirds "nothing but perfection".

I could go on all day pasting positive reviews here, but I think you get the point! Lots of praise for this book. I may even branch out beyond literary fiction for this one…

(Another reason to check out the book: Whitney has promised to donate a portion of the proceeds from The Mockingbirds to the charity Girls for a Change, to support a team of teen girls leading social change in their community.)

Please weigh in if you've read this – I know that the book was available at BEA so some of you may have gotten it there.

Tags Daisy Whitney, The Mockingbirds | Permalink | Comments (2)

Childrens Fiction Young Adult

Shelf Discovery Challenge #2: “The Cat Ate My Gymsuit” by Paula Danziger

March 21, 2010 – 11:57 pm

I have gotten very behind in my reading for Booking Mama’s Shelf Discovery Reading Challenge, for which I committed to read six of the books from Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, by Lizzie Skurnick, that were important to me when I was growing up. I read and reviewed Forever a few months ago, but haven’t read any other books for the challenge since then.

Well, I finally got to book #2 – The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger.

At my age (40) and this age (2010), The Cat Ate My Gymsuit is sort of an odd book. It’s about Marcy Lewis, a thirteen year-old girl who is shy, overweight, and insecure. She’s very antisocial until a new teacher, Ms. Finney, draws her out of her shell. At that point, a few things happen:

Ms. Finney is suspended because of her unorthodox teaching practices
Marcy is suspended for supporting Ms. Finney
Marcy bonds with Joel, a smart boy in her class, though it never turns into a romance
Marcy clashes with her father, who is very traditional and also very mean

I remember reading this book when I was young, but I don’t remember it being as dark and depressing as it is. I think a lot of it went over my head when I read it in the late 70s, even though its themes were certainly relevant then. Marcy’s father believes in following the pack, being thin and presentable, not speaking your mind, and women staying home. Marcy’s mother is a lonely stay-at-home mom who is afraid of her husband and unhappy about her daughter’s weight, but the only person she has to talk to is her daughter.

Here is something Marcy’s father says: “You’ve got to learn to stick with the majority, to play the game. And Marcy, now that you are going out, I want you to remember to be a good girl. You must protect your good name.”

When The Cat Ate My Gymsuit came out, I am sure that it was provocative and helpful to young women learning to forge a path for themselves in a world where women’s roles were changing. From a 2010 standpoint, the book feels awfully dated. It’s hard to imagine any father speaking to his daughter the way that Mr. Lewis speaks to Marcy, or a mother sharing the insecurities Mrs. Lewis shares with Marcy.

Marcy’s relationship with her friend Joel is pretty realistic for middle school – no Cinderella story here. She also never really resolves her weight issues – either by learning to accept who she is or trying to lose weight.

In all, it was sort of an unsatisfying read at this point in my life. I wish I could remember better how I felt about it when I was 12. If only I had blogged back then!

Tags Paula Danziger, Shelf Discovery Challenge, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit | Permalink | Comments (3)

General Young Adult

To TWILIGHT or Not to TWILIGHT?

November 19, 2009 – 10:21 am

The Washington Post has an article today about women who consider themselves readers of quality literary fiction who avoided the Twilight series, dismissing them as stupid and poorly written, and then finally read them, and then were hooked.

I have to say, I have had no interest in reading them. I like very literal books, and I think the vampire/werewolf part would really turn me off. And they're for teenagers, no?

So, those of you who have read the Twilight books – fill me in. What is so good about them? Am I really missing out? I have to say that the Post article has made me reconsider… a little bit.

Tags Twilight saga, Washington Post | Permalink | Comments (26)