I thought the bullying side of the story was interesting, and I am hard-pressed to think of a YA author who writes characters as complicated and thorn...moreI thought the bullying side of the story was interesting, and I am hard-pressed to think of a YA author who writes characters as complicated and thorny and difficult and realistically flawed as A.S. King. However, I did not care for the ants or the dream sequences.(less)
I am pretty sure that I have never cried so much while reading a book. Pages 204 and 271, I'm looking at you.
Hazel and Augustus are very cl...moreI am pretty sure that I have never cried so much while reading a book. Pages 204 and 271, I'm looking at you.
Hazel and Augustus are very clearly John Green creations - they're very stylized and arch and always making with the fancily vocabularied conversations. But Green has my blessing in this because even if Hazel and Augustus's dialogue doesn't always feel real, their emotions do.
The less you know going into this book, the better, so that is all.(less)
Before he was Ernest “Papa” Hemingway, the big game-hunting, hard-drinking, womanizing giant of American letters, he was an unknown writer striving for the almost mythical bigness he would later attain. And before she became The First Mrs. Hemingway, an often skimmed-over footnote in the writer’s biography, she was Hadley Richardson, a St. Louis woman who played the piano, swam like a fish, and always shot from the hip.
In this fictionalized memoir, Paula McLain extrapolates from letters, books, and other sources a complex inner life for Hadley, who met Hemingway in 1920, married him in 1921, and divorced him in 1927. Along the way, she took some enormous chances on him, recognizing early his tremendous talent, and agreeing to live in near-poverty so he could nurture his art. She funds their move to Paris, where they come into the orbit of Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, and later the wealthy and dissolute expatriates who populate Hemingway’s first novel, The Sun Also Rises.
On the surface, Hadley appears very much the meek and adoring wife, but there’s far more to her in The Paris Wife. She’s not an artist like Gertrude Stein or glamorous like Lady Duff Twysden (upon whom the Sun Also Rises character Brett Ashley was based) or dramatic like Zelda Fitzgerald. Hadley is made of sturdier stuff than the Jazz Age women who make up her circle, but if she seems stodgy by comparison, she also seems possessed of a self-knowledge and honesty that they lack. She may stand by her man, but McLain’s Hadley knows her own mind - and her own limits.
In the first chapter, Hadley says, “I don’t want to say, Keep watch for the girl who will come along and ruin everything, but she’s coming anyway, set on her course in a gorgeous chipmunk coat.” When she shows up, in the form of Pauline Pfeiffer (who would become the second Mrs. Hemingway), Hadley draws upon the kind of stoic grace and resilience that would make a Hemingway hero jealous. Hadley may be shockingly ordinary, especially compared to Hemingway’s Paris friends, but she’s never dull.
McLain echoes Hemingway’s forthright dialogue and economical use of language throughout the novel. It’s not subtle, but it’s elegantly done and a welcoming touchstone. However, it’s Hadley’s voice that’s front and center and direct, with a cadence that serves as a constant reminder that she was the woman who was there at the beginning, when Hemingway became Hemingway. “I got the very best of him,” she says near the book’s end. “We got the best of each other.”(less)
Comic subjects range from Canadian history, the Bronte sisters, Gatsby, and Macbeth to glam rock, lady scientists, Edward Gorey, Andrew Jackson, Nancy...moreComic subjects range from Canadian history, the Bronte sisters, Gatsby, and Macbeth to glam rock, lady scientists, Edward Gorey, Andrew Jackson, Nancy Drew, and the French Revolution. It makes no goddamn sense, is the product of a fevered and geeky mind, and I have not laughed so hard at the funnies since The Great Outdoor Fight.(less)
3.5 stars. This cyborg Cinderella story is delightful and gives the imagination muscles a workout. On top of that, I like that a female character do...more3.5 stars. This cyborg Cinderella story is delightful and gives the imagination muscles a workout. On top of that, I like that a female character does a traditionally masculine job here with relatively little fuss over the fact that she's a GIRL mechanic. Nope, she's a girl who just happens to be an awesome mechanic. And a cyborg.
There's a lot going on in the story - a plague, a possible invasion, political intrigue, family drama, budding romance. Most of the time, this makes for an exciting, fast-paced read. However, things occasionally get a little convoluted, especially when Meyer inserts plot points from the Cinderella fairy tale that don't fit especially well in the novel. For example, in the midst of some rather big revelations and time-sensitive doings, Cinder drops everything and rebuilds a classic car to drive to the ball (her pumpkin coach).
This book will likely appeal to a wide range of readers. It's age appropriate for tweens, but complex and juicy enough to hold the interest of older teens, too.(less)
When Del was 14, a consensual sexting incident and an overzealous DA got him juvie, alternative school, probation, and a permanent spot on the state s...moreWhen Del was 14, a consensual sexting incident and an overzealous DA got him juvie, alternative school, probation, and a permanent spot on the state sex offenders list. Now, he's about to graduate from high school, and despite his straight As and clean nose, college and a career seem almost impossible. The only job he's able to get is digging graves at the local cemetery with only his pet parrot Fred for company. But then he meets Livia, who like Del, has tragedy in her past, and unlike almost every other girl, seems really interested in Del. Del struggles with how and when to tell Livia about his past, and how best to move forward from it.
Del's hopelessness and confusion about whether or not there's something wrong with him ring true, as do his relationships with his family, his few remaining friends, and especially Fred the parrot. The role that music plays in helping him cope seems more wedged in, and seems unlikely to resonate with readers, however. Going Underground is didactic in places, but is still an enormously affecting book and Vaught provides readers with much food for thought.(less)
Endearing, enjoyable, and endlessly quotable. I want to buy my own copy of this just so I can go through it with a highlighter. Also, I wish that Ap...moreEndearing, enjoyable, and endlessly quotable. I want to buy my own copy of this just so I can go through it with a highlighter. Also, I wish that Aparicio Rodriguez and his book were real.
There's something decidedly old-fashioned about this book. It's the kind of Great American Novel that would have seemed right at home with a publication date circa 1973 (save for the slang, the condoms, and the same-sex love story). I had a handful of nits to pick with The Art of Fielding, mainly that Harbach puts his characters through the ringer for about 50 pages too long. And the baseball stuff is so wildly good that I found myself almost resenting the other storylines. But, you know, whatever. This book does so many things well that I feel like a jerk for finding fault.(less)
Janie starts out a nonconformist among nonconformists - a farm girl who milks goats and tends chickens and appliques her own homespun clothes. But wi...moreJanie starts out a nonconformist among nonconformists - a farm girl who milks goats and tends chickens and appliques her own homespun clothes. But within weeks of starting high school, she's horrified to discover that she's changed - now all she wants to do is hide in the library and avoid attracting any attention. But when Janie joins a band and starts working on an oral history project with people who were involved in the civil rights movement, she learns that blending in isn't necessarily a good thing.
The book get a little ham-fisted and abrupt in its efforts to wrap everything up just so, but Janie is funny and endearing with a fresh but believable perspective. By the scene where she has a heart-to-heart with a goat named Loretta Lynn, I was won over.(less)
It seems unlikely that anyone could read this book, and come away unconvinced of the innocence of the West Memphis Three. However, that's not really ...moreIt seems unlikely that anyone could read this book, and come away unconvinced of the innocence of the West Memphis Three. However, that's not really Leveritt's point. Her point is that not only were the boys never presumed innocent, they also were never proven guilty. Leveritt combs through the evidence, the police investigation, the trials, and also conducts interviews with many of the parties involved, and exposes discrepancies, irregularities, and injustices that will make your hair stand on end. Leveritt's indictment of the police, prosecutors, and especially of Judge David Burnett is positively seering.(less)
The Magicians was inventive, ambitious, beautifully written, and extremely unpleasant to read. Most depressing book ever. Sure, this was on purpose,...moreThe Magicians was inventive, ambitious, beautifully written, and extremely unpleasant to read. Most depressing book ever. Sure, this was on purpose, but I found the delight of reading something so good did not quite make up for the fugue state that followed.
The Magician King, however, is so amazing that I didn't want it to end. It's funny, clever, and surprising, and it's also dark and melancholy without all the joyless brooding of The Magicians. I absolutely loved it. And now, I even want to go back and re-read The Magicians. Maybe.(less)
More a 2.5 than a 2, but still a frustrating book. Despite being set in 2083, in a NYC that has turned the Metropolitan Museum of Art into a nightclu...moreMore a 2.5 than a 2, but still a frustrating book. Despite being set in 2083, in a NYC that has turned the Metropolitan Museum of Art into a nightclub, the Statue of Liberty into a juvenile detention facility, and outlawed chocolate and coffee, Zevin spends most of the book on a boring old love story. The book's main character is an intelligent, street savvy 16-year-old girl poised to take control of one of the five families in the chocolate underworld, so I found myself less interested in reading about her doomed, forbidden romance with the DA's son. Love interest Win Delacroix starts out pleasant enough, but turns possessive and clingy and Edward-esque in a hurry. This is the first in a trilogy, and I hope the next installment provides more details about the criminal underworlds, and why the world is riddled with crime and disease and covered with rubble that suggests some sort of recent devastation that no one in this book ever talks about.(less)
Loading...
