Brian Herrera (StinkyLulu) - Albuquerque, NM (39 books)

Brian Herrera gave

to:

Dead to You
by Lisa McMann (Goodreads Author)

read in January, 2012

My rating:

Tautly written, engaging portrait a family confronting what they know (and what they think they know) when Ethan, abducted almost ten years prior, comes home. Told from Ethan's perspective, McCann captures multiple emotional points of view with vivid...more

Brian Herrera joined the YA LGBT Books group.

Brian Herrera said "yes" to attending the event: Happy Holidays FREE E-Book Giveaway For Goodreads Friends & Fans

date: December 26, 2011 01:00AM
location: Amazon.com, The United States
description: For 3 Days Only! Special holiday promotion, FREE e-book giveaway of Emily's House for Goodreads friends and fans.
This promotion will only last from 12/26-12/28.

Here is what people are saying about Emily's House:

"Natalie Wright is a very gifted author weaving elements of Celtic religion, Christianity and science to create a tale that will keep you wondering and guessing what will happen next." Reviewer Maegan Morin, Goodreads 4 Star Review

"I am a teenage girl who can relate to Emily as sh...more

Brian Herrera gave

to:

Trapped
by Michael Northrop

read in July, 2011

My rating:

Briskly told tale of what happens when a freak blizzard traps an unlikely group of teens inside their high school for the duration.

Brian Herrera is on page 136 of 240 of Trapped

Trapped
by Michael Northrop

progress:

My rating:

Brian Herrera added:

Out of the Pocket
by Bill Konigsberg (Goodreads Author)

read in October, 2009

My rating:

A strong coming-out/coming-to-consciousness story about a regular guy who happens to be a HS football star who must suddenly reconcile his dreams of the future with (A) the unavoidable realities of his own identity as a young gay man as well as (B) t...more

Brian Herrera added:

Invisible
by Pete Hautman

read in June, 2009

My rating:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

** spoiler alert **

SUMMARY:
The vivid tale of seventeen year old Doug Hanson who trusts only two things: the significance of the model train bridge he is building in his basement and the connection between him and his best friend Andy. Where Doug i...more** spoiler alert **

SUMMARY:
The vivid tale of seventeen year old Doug Hanson who trusts only two things: the significance of the model train bridge he is building in his basement and the connection between him and his best friend Andy. Where Doug is what the gorgeous Melissa Haverman calls a "worm," Andy is one of the most popular boys in school -- a football star who's also successful in drama and on student council. When Dougie gets caught "peeping" on Melissa Haverman, his life begins to get a little more complicated and not even his friendship with Andy seems able to get him through.

WHAT I ENJOYED ABOUT THIS BOOK:
:: Now this is a masterful YA protagonist voice -- a narrator who is utterly captivating and distinctive yet who's unreliability creeps into the narrative at precisely correct intervals.
:: There is a central mystery or secret within this narrative, one likely legible earlier than I caught it. But what's excellent about it is that, once you figure out what's happening, knowledge of the mystery only amplifies the poignancy and urgency of the story. It's an artful move -- to have this twist work on both sides. The narrative is captivating enough if you haven't figured it out, yet casts everything in a totally different light once you do. Really well-crafted.
:: I admire the way Hautman captured Doug's OCD aspects as features of his personality as well as what might be considered mental illness. Permits a kind of empathy for Doug's situation even as it productively exploits the mental illness aspects for their narrative utility.
:: The only reason I didn't give this book 4 or 5 stars is that I really didn't connect to it emotionally. I was fascinated and admired Hautman's craftsmanship, yet never really found myself emotionally captivated by the characters or the scenario. A tricksy, enthralling page-turner...in the best tradition of Rod Serling and Stephen King...but it didn't really make me feel a whole lot (which I sorta need for the higher ranking).(less)

Brian Herrera added:

Bullyville
by Francine Prose

read in May, 2009

My rating:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

SUMMARY:
Shortly after Bart Rangeley's dad dies in the collapse of the World Trade Center, he becomes a scholarship kid at Baileywell Prep, the elite boy's school on the other side of town that the locals sometimes call “Bullyville.” When Bart’s upper...more

SUMMARY:
Shortly after Bart Rangeley's dad dies in the collapse of the World Trade Center, he becomes a scholarship kid at Baileywell Prep, the elite boy's school on the other side of town that the locals sometimes call “Bullyville.” When Bart’s upperclassman“big brother” begins a campaign of daily torment and harassment against the eighth grader, Bart soon finds himself engaged in his own daily “War on Terror” as he struggles to survive the worst year of his life.

WHAT I ADMIRED ABOUT THIS BOOK:
Eighth grader Bart Rangeley's life changes when his dad's killed in the WTC North Tower on 9/11...but not in the ways anyone might expect. First, his father had -- months earlier -- stopped living with Bart and his mother, a fact the two have kept a careful secret from all who know them. Second, Bart's surprise flu the morning of 9/11 forced his mother to stay home from work, inadvertently saving her life and creating the circumstances for his becoming a rare "feel-good" story in the early aftermath of the attacks. Third, his newfound notoriety as "Miracle Boy" brings a load of gifts to the "newly" fatherless family, including a scholarship to the elite Baileywell Academy, a boy's school on the hill with a notorious reputation. Matriculating at Baileywell (known as "Bulleyville" to those in the know) makes "Miracle Boy" Bart the object of merciless taunting by the older boys, especially the richest and most popular boy in school Tyro, and as the liner notes say "so begins the worst year of his life." Francine Prose's 2007 YA novel develops three compelling narrative strands through Bart's story. First, she has the attention-grabbing "high concept" story of tragedy, grief, denial and secrecy in the aftermath of 9/11. Into that, she injects the bullying theme through a reliably provocative narrative of teen conflict framed by disparities of privilege. Then, she wraps things with a narrative twist about the importance of compassion (as "punishment" for keying the car of his main bully, Bart must do community service by visiting patients in the children's wing of a local hospital) where he meets Nola, a terminally ill girl from whom Bart has no secrets and in whose company he rediscovers a joy for life. The conclusion resolves all three: Bart discovers that Nola is Tyro's sister and feels betrayed, which again causes him to act out once more and to finally be expelled from Baileywell. The novel's gracenote coda comes as the adult Bart laughs about his year at Baileywell with his sons, who are the same age as he the year he attended.

STORY NOTES
My main reaction is that Prose used the 9/11 and bullying angles as provocative hooks, but really only delivered on the 9/11. She does a really nice job establishing Bart's core emotional reality as deriving from his feelings of difference, that no one will understand him, as being rooted not in the 9/11 death of his father but the fact of his father's abandonment months earlier and the code of secrecy he and his mother develop to deal with it. This is smart, because it roots our appreciation of Bart not only in our sympathy for the fact of the tragedy but also in our empathy for this second secret. Prose thus establishes Bart's role in taking care of his mother's emotions at the expense of his own, which folds into the bullying story really really well. I also admire how Prose creates the culminating moment of futurity in the narrative, placing the book well beyond the recent memory of 9/11. This seems very smart in terms of avoiding the book feeling "dated". My biggest disappointment with the book is its relatively glib handling of bullying. Bullying's bad and it's a kind of daily terrorism and folks'll say "it's bad" and "it's just what boys do" in the same breath. I do appreciate the comparison of a bullying relationship to a crush/romance in the manner of its obsessiveness but that's a fleeting moment of insight. Mostly, the bullying is the hook that creates the necessary antagonist but one which delivers little insight beyond is power as a framing device. The "teaching" of the lesson of compassion, which dovetails with the importance of being emotionally honest, is effective insofar as you read the book wanting to act out of compassion rather than cruelty. But the giant twist in the end -- with Nola being Tyro's sister and Bart freaking out -- well, I just didn't connect as fully to its operation as a plot point. I couldn't tell whether Bart couldn't handle having compassion for his violator OR whether he was so incensed by the layers of betrayal implicit in his friendship with Nola. I appreciate how this resolution permits concluding complexity (in contrast to concluding simplicity) but still found its execution to be brisk and even pat. (I also still struggle to understand why superrich white NJ socialite types would name their kids Nola and Tyrone.) And also I really didn't get much of a hit on Bart as an actual boy, indeed none of the male characters felt especially emotionally real to me. Although the mother-son relationship really glowed with integrity.

BASIC REACTION
Well-crafted and engaging story, with a genuinely likable protagonist who does some pretty lame/bad things. The emotional realities are charted well, but there remains a curiously glib emotional distance for me in this book. Only the mother and Bart feel actually real, with the others feeling more like devices than characters. The acceleration of "new" twists near the end cheapened what I thought to be the quiet integrity of the story, while providing undeniably efficient ways to tie up the loose narrative threads. The evil text message was really powerful, both in terms of escalating the narrative to its Act2 climax and in terms of cruelty/plausibility.(less)

Brian Herrera added:

Columbine
by Dave Cullen (Goodreads Author)

read in June, 2009

My rating:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Brian Herrera added:

Nothing But the Truth
by Avi

read in May, 2009

My rating:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Brian Herrera gave to: Dead to You by Lisa McMann (Goodreads Author) read in January, 2012	My rating:
Tautly written, engaging portrait a family confronting what they know (and what they think they know) when Ethan, abducted almost ten years prior, comes home. Told from Ethan's perspective, McCann captures multiple emotional points of view with vivid...more
13 hours, 13 min ago · see review
Brian Herrera joined the YA LGBT Books group.
Jan 16, 2012 12:26pm · see group
Brian Herrera said "yes" to attending the event: Happy Holidays FREE E-Book Giveaway For Goodreads Friends & Fans date: December 26, 2011 01:00AM location: Amazon.com, The United States description: For 3 Days Only! Special holiday promotion, FREE e-book giveaway of Emily's House for Goodreads friends and fans. This promotion will only last from 12/26-12/28. Here is what people are saying about Emily's House: "Natalie Wright is a very gifted author weaving elements of Celtic religion, Christianity and science to create a tale that will keep you wondering and guessing what will happen next." Reviewer Maegan Morin, Goodreads 4 Star Review "I am a teenage girl who can relate to Emily as sh...more
Dec 22, 2011 08:13pm
Brian Herrera gave to: Trapped by Michael Northrop read in July, 2011	My rating:
Briskly told tale of what happens when a freak blizzard traps an unlikely group of teens inside their high school for the duration.
Jul 19, 2011 10:42am · see review
Brian Herrera is on page 136 of 240 of Trapped Trapped by Michael Northrop progress:	My rating:
Jul 18, 2011 06:46pm · like · see status
Brian Herrera added: Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg (Goodreads Author) read in October, 2009	My rating:
A strong coming-out/coming-to-consciousness story about a regular guy who happens to be a HS football star who must suddenly reconcile his dreams of the future with (A) the unavoidable realities of his own identity as a young gay man as well as (B) t...more
Jul 14, 2011 11:45pm · see review
Brian Herrera added: Invisible by Pete Hautman read in June, 2009	My rating:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jul 14, 2011 11:44pm · see review
Brian Herrera added: Bullyville by Francine Prose read in May, 2009	My rating:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jul 14, 2011 11:43pm · see review
Brian Herrera added: Columbine by Dave Cullen (Goodreads Author) read in June, 2009	My rating:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jul 14, 2011 11:43pm · see review
Brian Herrera added: Nothing But the Truth by Avi read in May, 2009	My rating:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jul 14, 2011 11:43pm · see review

Brian Herrera's Profile

Brian's favorite books

Brian's Bookshelves

Brian is Currently Reading

rssBrian's Recent Updates

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