Whistling Past the Graveyard
By Susan Crandall
Genre: Fiction
Published: 7/2/13 by Gallery books
Pages: 308
Format: Hardcover
My rating:
4 out of 5 stars
Whistling Past the Graveyard introduces us to a fiery and precocious 9 year old named Starla. When Starla decides to run away from home to avoid getting into trouble with her Mamie, she embarks on a wild adventure that will change her little life forever. Starla hitches a ride with a colored woman named Eula who is traveling with a white newborn baby. Their road trip through the South in the 1960s teaches them both important lessons about life, love and family.
This is a sweet story, and I really enjoyed reading it. It has been compared to both The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird. That is probably a decent comparison, but I think Whistling Past the Graveyard lacks the depth of those novels. Still, it is worth your time to read; it is a crowd-pleasing type of novel.
Starla is a fun narrator, and it is interesting to hear her perceptions about the world (and racial prejudices) around her. Because the book is told from her perspective, the tone is fairly simplistic but it works. While this wasn't my favorite book of the year, it is a great read. I think most everyone would enjoy reading Starla's story.
A House in the Sky
by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett
Genre: Memoir
Published: 9/10/13 by Simon and Schuster
Pages: 384
Format: ebook
My rating:
5 out of 5 stars
This is Amanda Lindhout's account of her terrifying kidnapping in Somalia. Along with a fellow journalist, Amanda was held hostage for 460 days. This memoir is more than just the details of her kidnapping. It is a story of courage, forgiveness, and survival.
Before I even started page one, I knew what was going to happen. I knew Amanda was going to be kidnapped, I knew she would be held hostage for 460 days, and I knew that she would be released. And yet, her story captivated me from page one and never let go. The details of what happened to Amanda and Nigel are horrific, but I didn't feel like they were the main purpose for sharing this story. The most amazing thing about this story is Amanda's surprisingly positive attitude throughout the whole ordeal, and even more surprisingly, her understanding and compassion for her kidnappers.
This book is beautifully written and well paced. It is hard to tell how much of the writing comes from Lindhout and how much comes from her co-author Sara Corbett. But in the end, who cares? It worked as an engaging and inspiring read, so who wrote what really doesn't matter to me .
Since reading this book, I have read more about Amanda Lindhout, reading and watching many interviews with her about her experience and the book. Not long after she was released from captivity, she started a foundation to HELP the people of Somalia, the very country where she was kidnapped! She definitely has her critics, but I don't think all the criticism is fair. I see Lindhout as someone who is taking something really horrible and trying to turn it into something positive. For that, I admire her greatly!
The Shade of the Moon
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 288
Published: 8/13/13 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Hardcover
My rating:
1 out of 5 stars
I read the first three books in this series by Susan Pfeffer about the catastrophic events that occur after an asteroid strikes the moon and knocks it off its orbit. In book one (which I gave 3.5 stars), we met Miranda and her family, who had to survive all kinds of natural disasters while their food supply grew lower and lower. In book two (which I gave three stars), Pfeffer wrote about the same events from a different perspective; this time focusing on Alex and his sisters, who had to survive all kinds of natural disasters while their food supply grew lower and lower. In book three (which I gave two stars), Alex and Miranda meet each other (and of course, fall in love), all the while surviving natural disasters while their food supply grew lower and lower.
Enter book four, which focuses on Miranda's little brother Jon. The one good thing I can say about this book is that the plot changes. After the same thing happened again and again and again in the first three books, there was nothing left to tell with that storyline. So I'm glad that Pfeffer decided to switch gears for this final book. (I am assuming this is the final book!!)
Except that I'm not glad, because I really did not like the plot line of this book. At all. I kind of wish I could have just kept reading about more natural disasters and starvation. It might have been less torturous than reading this story. In The Shade of the Moon, two years after the moon was struck by the asteroid, the world has stabilized somewhat, and natural disasters and food shortages no longer seem to be a problem. Jon is now living in a safe town, called an enclave, where only the privileged are allowed. As a claver, someone who lives in an enclave, Jon has greenhouses to provide food as well as a nicer home, air purifiers, a good school, a soccer team and many things that resemble life before the asteroid. Only those with special privileges can live in the enclaves. Everyone else must live in "grub" towns, and they are treated as second class citizens and live in much worse conditions. This book focuses mostly on the class wars between the clavers and the grubs.
This storyline and setting just did not feel believable to me. It has only been two years since the asteroid struck, and in such a short time, every person in society has completely changed the way they think about class and prejudice. I could see a system like this developing over time, but two years does not seem like enough time for this whole new way of living to have developed. Maybe natural disasters will make people do crazy things, but I wasn't buying this story.
My greatest complaint about the book is the characters and their (lack of) development. I did not like Jon, and I didn't really care what happened to him. All of the characters were one dimensional and boring. The dialogue was not impressive, and I just didn't feel connected to anyone. Miranda and Alex did not even seem like the same characters that we read about in the first three books.
I really think it would have been better for Pfeffer to have just stopped writing after the third book. This fourth book was not necessary, and I don't feel like it added anything to the overall story. I hope this is really the end of the series now. If more books are written, I don't think I will read them.
Allegiant
by Veronica Roth
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 544
Published: 10/22/13 by HarperCollins
Format: ebook
My rating:
3.5 out of 5 stars
I
came into this book with fairly low expectations. I can't even imagine
the kind of pressure Veronica Roth was under to conclude her wildly
popular trilogy in a satisfactory way. I've read enough of these types
of trilogies to understand that writing a perfect conclusion is
extremely rare and difficult. I knew that the book would probably not
be exactly what I wanted, but I was hoping to be able to walk away from
the series feeling satisfied with the story and the characters.
After
finishing Allegiant tonight, I can say that I am satisfied. I didn't
think this was a perfect book. I think it is my least favorite in the
trilogy. Though not for the same reason as everyone else! It appears,
based on the reviews I've been reading, that MANY people are unsatisfied
and upset with the ending. I disagree. I thought the ending was a
good and natural fit to where this story had been leading. I don't think
Veronica Roth just took the easy way out. I don't think she wrote this
to simply to create that big twist at the end. I believe the ending
was purposeful and authentic to the characters; it fit well with the
themes and purpose of the story.
My biggest complaint with the
book is the way that the story is written from both Tris and Tobias'
points of views. As the story progressed, I get that there were times
when it was helpful and maybe necessary to have Tobias' point of view.
But, I didn't find much distinction at all between their two voices.
Sometimes I would read a whole chapter thinking that I was reading Tris'
POV (I always forgot to look at the title at the beginning of the
chapters!), only to figure out at the end that it was really Tobias.
Then I felt the need to go back and re-read the chapter so I could read
it from the correct perspective. It was annoying. If Roth felt it was
necessary to include both voices, there needed to be something more
distinguishable between their voices. Or maybe they didn't need to
switch quite so frequently.
Also, I felt like this book was
fairly slow paced, especially at the beginning. There was a lot of
explaining that needed to be done, but that also made it kind of boring
at times. I felt like "boring" was a word that could not be used to
describe the first two books, so I was a little sad that this book
didn't quite have the same intensity.
There are other things that
I liked about the book: the realistic portrayal of a committed
relationship with Tris and Tobias, gaining another (although not
completely original) view on the dangers of prejudice and racism, and
just being able to see where all the characters in this series end up
when all is said and done.
I think it is a fair and mostly satisfying end to the trilogy, though I can't say that I loved it as much as the first two books.
(Edited to add: After thinking about this for a few months, I am liking it less and less. I'm giving it a generous 3.5 stars.)
Insurgent
by Veronica Roth
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 544
Published: 5/1/12 by Harper Collins
Format: ebook
My Rating:
4.5 out of 5 stars
I
think it must be tough to write the second book in a trilogy. In
general, authors know how they want their story to begin and how they
want it to end, which leaves the tricky task of writing a middle book
that moves the story forward without giving away the ending.
With
that said, I felt like Insurgent accomplished what is necessary for a
successful second book--the story moved along and was not boring, and we
learned more details about the characters and world Roth created for
this series. I especially enjoyed learning more about each of the
factions. The end of Insurgent leaves the door open for a wide variety
of possible endings, so I really don't know what is going to happen in
the final book.
I liked that Roth did not write pages of recap
information from the first book. The story picked up right where
Divergent left off, and only briefly reviewed what happened previously
when it was pertinent to the story. I also liked that almost all of the
characters in Insurgent were also in Divergent, so there was not an
overload of new characters to learn in this book.
Insurgent was
a fast-paced read that I consumed in a 24 hour time period. It's
possible I may have neglected my children today in order to finish this
book! It is a great continuation of the series, and I can't wait to see
what is in store for us in book 3!
Divergent
by Veronica Roth
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 576
Published: 5/23/11 by Harper Collins
Format: ebook
My rating:
5 out of 5 stars
I just finished reading this book again, in preparation for the release of the final book in the series next week. I've read Divergent several times now, so I figured it was time to write a proper review.
I am a sucker for the young adult dystopian genre. These stories about teens trying to survive and fight in a world controlled by an evil higher power pull me in EVERY TIME. Some of these books are excellent and well-written; others not so much. But I still read them regardless! I feel like Divergent falls onto the well-written end of this spectrum. I have read a lot of books in this genre, and Divergent ranks number two on my list of favorite YA dystopian novels behind the Hunger Games series.
Divergent is set in a world that has been divided into five factions: Abnegation, Dauntless, Candor, Amity and Erudite. Each faction focuses on a certain strength, and each teenager must chose to which faction they will pledge their allegiance. Beatrice (Tris) Prior leaves Abnegation, a group focused on selflessness, to join the Dauntless, the faction known for being both brave and dangerous. With the help of her instructor (and love interest) Four, Tris learns some dangerous secrets and must act with both bravery and selflessness in order to stop the evil leaders' plan to take over the city.
The plot is similar to many books in this genre, and I didn't feel like there were too many surprises in this story. But it's still good and lots of fun to read. I like the characters a lot, especially Tris and Four. There is also plenty of action throughout the story, so things are never dull.
There's a little action, a little romance, some family drama, lots of corrupt leaders, good friendships, and teenage drama...what more could you want in a book? =) It's just a fun book, so fun that I have now read it three times. And I have enjoyed it every single time!
Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Young Adult/New Adult
Pages: 448
Published: 9/10/13 by St. Martins Press
Format: ebook
My rating:
4 out of 5 stars
I have read all three of Rainbow Rowell's books this year (see my other reviews here and here). And I can say with confidence that I am definitely a fan!
Rowell's newest book, Fangirl, is about fans! Cath is the world's biggest Simon Snow fan (Simon Snow is suspiciously similar to Harry Potter). Along with her twin sister Wren, she not only reads and studies all of the Simon Snow books, but she also writes Simon Snow fanfiction. When Cath and Wren go to college, Wren quickly abandons Cath (and Simon Snow) for the sake of exploring a brand new world. But Cath would prefer to live in her fictional world rather than interact with real people, like her rude roommate who always speaks her mind or the handsome guy who is always hanging around Cath but couldn't possibly be interested in someone like her. Fangirl is a coming of age story about Cath's adjustment through her first year of college.
My description of the book is not doing it justice. This is a great little story! Rainbow Rowell's writing is just so much fun to read! I love her style. I love the way that she can get inside the mind of insecure, nerdy, introverted characters. I love the way she describes the awkward clumsiness of new relationships. I love how her characters always seem so real. I love her humor and wit and dialogue. Rowell writes with the perfect blend of sweetness and humor without being cheesy or sappy. Her books are cute, and I mean that in the best way possible!
My only complaint with Fangirl is the Simon Snow fanfiction parts. Interspersed throughout the book are portions from the Simon Snow books as well as Cath's Simon Snow fanfiction. I understand why Rowell included them as a part of this novel, but I really didn't care much for them at all. I ended up skimming over most of the Simon Snow parts, and I don't feel like I really missed too much. I probably would have given this book five stars if it weren't for the fanfiction excerpts.
I also didn't love the ending. The book ends with a portion of Cath's fanfiction, rather than her actual story. And I think that is why I don't like it. Because the fanfiction was my least favorite part of the book, it was anti-climactic to read it as an ending. I wanted the book to end with Cath's real life story and not her fictional world.
Regardless of my complaints, this was a fun book. It made me smile. A lot. I will be first in line to read Rainbow Rowell's next book!
