Savy Leiser's Blog, page 6
June 20, 2018
Pride Month Book Reviews! #4: Two Boys Kissing (an analysis of narrative perspective)
Two Boys KissingBy David Levithan
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD.
This is not at all what I expected. And that's not to say I wasn't expecting it to be good. I WAS. I had high expectations for this book. I already knew I liked David Levithan, since I read Will Grayson Will Grayson a few years ago, and because I once saw him at Book Con and he was awesome. So I definitely had high expectations.
This book did exceed my expectations, but it also completely subverted them. It went in a completely different direction than I thought it would.
Look at this cover. Look at that title. What does that look like? It looks like a cute romance, right? Or maybe some kind of angsty young-adult coming-of-age story? Both are things I like, by the way. But that's what this book is, right?
WRONG.
This. is. a. work. of. LITERATURE. This is like actual literary fiction. It's kind of groundbreaking. And I think it deserves a better cover than two conventionally attractive young adults. I seriously hope high schools are studying this book nowadays, because it's so much more than a book about young boys falling in love, or coming out as gay, or anything else. It's a book that indicates a lot about the construction of literature, and it could exemplify a lot about perspective and point-of-view.
This book is told from a third-person omniscient point of view, but it's also told through the plural first person. What?! I know! I've never read a book that does that before.
Let me break that down a little. So, throughout the book, the narrator is "we." It's implied that this book is narrated by a collective group of men who all died of AIDS in the 80s and 90s. They are looking at the world from the afterlife, and they're observing the interactions of four different pairs of guys who are forming relationships. The central pair, Craig and Harry, are trying to set the world record for the longest kiss (over 32 hours), and all the other characters come together through the spectacle of the world-record kiss.
However, even though the narrator is "we," the narrator is also omniscient; it understands what each character in the book is thinking and feeling, so we get every perspective. I'd say the narration in this book is comparable to a Greek chorus.
It's been theorized that third-person omniscient narration went out of style as people started to rely less on religion as a pillar of society. So, lots of books written hundreds of years ago have omniscient narration, because the reader base at the time all believed that the world was controlled by one god, so omniscience was a core part of everyone's understanding of the world. As more religious sects broke apart, and the idea of atheism and agnosticism rose, people stopped thinking in terms of omniscience; they just weren't as familiar with the concept. As a result, book narrators who were both removed from the story and had every character's perspective started to feel less authentic, and first-person (or third-person limited) became a much more common way to write. It remains that way.
This book manages to be both omniscient AND in first-person. And it's in first-person PLURAL. This is an incredible feat in terms of writing.
The plot is great, too, and the characters are all lovable and wonderful, and if you like books of any kind you'll love this.
But I can't get over the POV, because it's just amazing me. I'm now going to study everything David Levithan has ever done as a writer, because that man has skills.
Did you read this book? What did you think of it?
I'll be back next week with more Pride Month book reviews!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD.
This is not at all what I expected. And that's not to say I wasn't expecting it to be good. I WAS. I had high expectations for this book. I already knew I liked David Levithan, since I read Will Grayson Will Grayson a few years ago, and because I once saw him at Book Con and he was awesome. So I definitely had high expectations.
This book did exceed my expectations, but it also completely subverted them. It went in a completely different direction than I thought it would.
Look at this cover. Look at that title. What does that look like? It looks like a cute romance, right? Or maybe some kind of angsty young-adult coming-of-age story? Both are things I like, by the way. But that's what this book is, right?
WRONG.
This. is. a. work. of. LITERATURE. This is like actual literary fiction. It's kind of groundbreaking. And I think it deserves a better cover than two conventionally attractive young adults. I seriously hope high schools are studying this book nowadays, because it's so much more than a book about young boys falling in love, or coming out as gay, or anything else. It's a book that indicates a lot about the construction of literature, and it could exemplify a lot about perspective and point-of-view.
This book is told from a third-person omniscient point of view, but it's also told through the plural first person. What?! I know! I've never read a book that does that before.
Let me break that down a little. So, throughout the book, the narrator is "we." It's implied that this book is narrated by a collective group of men who all died of AIDS in the 80s and 90s. They are looking at the world from the afterlife, and they're observing the interactions of four different pairs of guys who are forming relationships. The central pair, Craig and Harry, are trying to set the world record for the longest kiss (over 32 hours), and all the other characters come together through the spectacle of the world-record kiss.
However, even though the narrator is "we," the narrator is also omniscient; it understands what each character in the book is thinking and feeling, so we get every perspective. I'd say the narration in this book is comparable to a Greek chorus.
It's been theorized that third-person omniscient narration went out of style as people started to rely less on religion as a pillar of society. So, lots of books written hundreds of years ago have omniscient narration, because the reader base at the time all believed that the world was controlled by one god, so omniscience was a core part of everyone's understanding of the world. As more religious sects broke apart, and the idea of atheism and agnosticism rose, people stopped thinking in terms of omniscience; they just weren't as familiar with the concept. As a result, book narrators who were both removed from the story and had every character's perspective started to feel less authentic, and first-person (or third-person limited) became a much more common way to write. It remains that way.
This book manages to be both omniscient AND in first-person. And it's in first-person PLURAL. This is an incredible feat in terms of writing.
The plot is great, too, and the characters are all lovable and wonderful, and if you like books of any kind you'll love this.
But I can't get over the POV, because it's just amazing me. I'm now going to study everything David Levithan has ever done as a writer, because that man has skills.
Did you read this book? What did you think of it?
I'll be back next week with more Pride Month book reviews!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
June 18, 2018
Pride Month Book Reviews! #3: Leah on the Offbeat
Leah on the OffbeatBy Becky Albertalli
BECKY ALBERTALLI IS THE QUEEN OF GIVING ME MIXED FEELINGS.
I feel like I could end this review there, and it would sum up all of how I feel about this book. But I'll be more specific, because I have a LOT of feelings.
This book is a solid 3 stars for me, but that's kinda misleading, because 3 stars makes it sound like I was "meh" about the book. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book inspired the opposite of apathy in me. I both adored and despised this book at the same time. I want to give it both a 5-star and a 1-star rating.
A few days ago, I reviewed Albertalli's other book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. When I did that review, I sectioned it off into "Things I Loved" and "Things I Didn't Love." My feelings are way more extreme for this one. For this one, the things are going to be "Things that Made Me Want to Marry this Book" and "Things that Made Me Want to Throw this Book into a Dumpster Fire."
I'd give a plot summary first, but you'll soon see why that's impossible.
Things that Made Me Want to Marry this Book:
Leah is just wonderful. She reminds me of myself at ages 18-22. She's obnoxious, she's got a dirty mouth, and she uses weird humor to mask all her insecurities. Leah is the most relatable character I've ever come across. I think the fact that so many readers have had such opposing reactions to her says a lot.
A major criticism I've seen of this book is that Leah seems way too immature at times, but I actually saw that as a strength. Teenagers in books should think and act like teenagers. That means they'll often be immature and irrational, but as long as they learn and grow, no harm no foul. (You'll see in a few paragraphs why that means that this also made me want to throw this book into a dumpster fire.)
Leah is an unapologetic weeaboo who speaks in inside-joke language, reads smutty fanfiction, and wears cute dresses with combat boots. She's passionate about music, she plays the drums, she has a strange unspoken sexual tension with everyone she encounters, and she struggles to come out as bisexual, even to her gay best friend. I've never felt a stronger connection to a fictional character than I have to her.*
I don't want to give away too many spoilers in this review, but I'll allude to something I liked about this without being too specific. There is this awful trope in fiction, whether books, TV, movies, whatever, where two female characters will hate each other for no reason, or it's implied that reason is a guy they both like. I find that this very rarely happens in real life. In my experiences, every time I've been hyper competitive with a girl or disliked her for no reason, I looked back later and realized I was attracted to her the whole time and was in denial. From what I've seen online, that's a very common experience for bisexual girls. Leah experiences that exact same thing. It's kind of subtle and not addressed outright. But it's there. And I applaud it, because it was relatable as hell.
And with that, let's move onto the negatives.
Things that Made Me Want to Throw this Book into a Dumpster Fire:
The plot. Friends, this book has less than zero plot. That is the reason I cannot summarize this book for you. There is no summary. Random things just happen, and not in a cool mumblecore way either. In a really disjointed way. And it didn't commit hard enough to being the book equivalent of cinema verite for it to feel earned.
Becky cannot plot her way out of a paper bag.
From reading the jacket interior description, this book sounds amazing. Bad-ass drummer 18-year-old girl struggles to come out to her friends and family while playing in a rock band and figuring out college plans. None of that is what this book is about. Leah plays the drums in like two scenes, and we never see her practice. As a former teenage musician myself, I can say with confidence that the musical aspects of this book were neglected, underdeveloped, and unrealistic.
This book is a romance, plain and simple. The entire plot is basically, "Leah likes this girl. Does that girl like Leah back? Will they end up together? Let's watch them flirt and go back and forth for 350 pages." And there is a LOT of prom talk. Like, half this book is about prom, which is fine, because high schoolers care about prom I guess. But there are also ten bazillion other books out there about prom. This book just didn't attempt to do anything new or interesting, and as a result, its amount of plot registers in the negative numbers.
You know how in the previous section, I talked about how character-based stories are fine, as long as the characters grow and change? That's the problem. No one grows or changes. Everyone just stresses out about college, and then they go to college. As with the previous book, the only development is that everyone's in a happy relationship. Sure, romance is a genre in and of itself, but when a book takes on the appearance of a coming-of-age story, and then we see very little character maturity or progression, the audience is left disappointed. At least, I was.
For example. There is this scene where Leah's female friend, whom she has a crush on, tells her that she thinks she might be bi. She's insecure about it, though, so she tells her cousins that she's "lowkey bi." Leah gets super mad at her and says that's not a thing, and you either have to be all in or all out, and basically accuses this girl of leading her on. She actually makes the other girl cry because of how rude she is to her about it. At first, I was not bothered by this, because I was like, "Leah is 18 and emotionally compromised by her feelings for this girl. She will be fine as long as she learns why that was wrong to do to her." Does she realize why this is wrong? Nope. It's never addressed again.
And finally, BECKY. STILL. FORGOT. ABOUT. CAL. Okay, maybe that's not fair. Cal is mentioned in passing. Apparently he's dating Simon's sister now? Even though he almost dated Simon in the previous book? Like, that's fine, date your almost-ex's sister if you want? But that's all the mention he gets.
This review actually sums up my opinions on this book really well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Rv5GuMB8Q
I recommend watching that YouTube review, because I am not confident that my amount of simultaneous love and hate for this book came through clearly enough on this post.
Did you read this book? What did you think? Please let me know in the comments! For real. When I have feelings this strong about a book, I really want to talk to other people about it. Okay, well, now that I'm thoroughly emotionally confused, it's time to get back to Furever Home Friends illustrations.
Join me again on Wednesday for another LGBT+ book review!
Love,
Savy
*I was a saxophonist instead of a drummer, though, and I'm not sure if Leah would approve.
BECKY ALBERTALLI IS THE QUEEN OF GIVING ME MIXED FEELINGS.
I feel like I could end this review there, and it would sum up all of how I feel about this book. But I'll be more specific, because I have a LOT of feelings.
This book is a solid 3 stars for me, but that's kinda misleading, because 3 stars makes it sound like I was "meh" about the book. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book inspired the opposite of apathy in me. I both adored and despised this book at the same time. I want to give it both a 5-star and a 1-star rating.
A few days ago, I reviewed Albertalli's other book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. When I did that review, I sectioned it off into "Things I Loved" and "Things I Didn't Love." My feelings are way more extreme for this one. For this one, the things are going to be "Things that Made Me Want to Marry this Book" and "Things that Made Me Want to Throw this Book into a Dumpster Fire."
I'd give a plot summary first, but you'll soon see why that's impossible.
Things that Made Me Want to Marry this Book:
Leah is just wonderful. She reminds me of myself at ages 18-22. She's obnoxious, she's got a dirty mouth, and she uses weird humor to mask all her insecurities. Leah is the most relatable character I've ever come across. I think the fact that so many readers have had such opposing reactions to her says a lot.
A major criticism I've seen of this book is that Leah seems way too immature at times, but I actually saw that as a strength. Teenagers in books should think and act like teenagers. That means they'll often be immature and irrational, but as long as they learn and grow, no harm no foul. (You'll see in a few paragraphs why that means that this also made me want to throw this book into a dumpster fire.)
Leah is an unapologetic weeaboo who speaks in inside-joke language, reads smutty fanfiction, and wears cute dresses with combat boots. She's passionate about music, she plays the drums, she has a strange unspoken sexual tension with everyone she encounters, and she struggles to come out as bisexual, even to her gay best friend. I've never felt a stronger connection to a fictional character than I have to her.*
I don't want to give away too many spoilers in this review, but I'll allude to something I liked about this without being too specific. There is this awful trope in fiction, whether books, TV, movies, whatever, where two female characters will hate each other for no reason, or it's implied that reason is a guy they both like. I find that this very rarely happens in real life. In my experiences, every time I've been hyper competitive with a girl or disliked her for no reason, I looked back later and realized I was attracted to her the whole time and was in denial. From what I've seen online, that's a very common experience for bisexual girls. Leah experiences that exact same thing. It's kind of subtle and not addressed outright. But it's there. And I applaud it, because it was relatable as hell.
And with that, let's move onto the negatives.
Things that Made Me Want to Throw this Book into a Dumpster Fire:
The plot. Friends, this book has less than zero plot. That is the reason I cannot summarize this book for you. There is no summary. Random things just happen, and not in a cool mumblecore way either. In a really disjointed way. And it didn't commit hard enough to being the book equivalent of cinema verite for it to feel earned.
Becky cannot plot her way out of a paper bag.
From reading the jacket interior description, this book sounds amazing. Bad-ass drummer 18-year-old girl struggles to come out to her friends and family while playing in a rock band and figuring out college plans. None of that is what this book is about. Leah plays the drums in like two scenes, and we never see her practice. As a former teenage musician myself, I can say with confidence that the musical aspects of this book were neglected, underdeveloped, and unrealistic.
This book is a romance, plain and simple. The entire plot is basically, "Leah likes this girl. Does that girl like Leah back? Will they end up together? Let's watch them flirt and go back and forth for 350 pages." And there is a LOT of prom talk. Like, half this book is about prom, which is fine, because high schoolers care about prom I guess. But there are also ten bazillion other books out there about prom. This book just didn't attempt to do anything new or interesting, and as a result, its amount of plot registers in the negative numbers.
You know how in the previous section, I talked about how character-based stories are fine, as long as the characters grow and change? That's the problem. No one grows or changes. Everyone just stresses out about college, and then they go to college. As with the previous book, the only development is that everyone's in a happy relationship. Sure, romance is a genre in and of itself, but when a book takes on the appearance of a coming-of-age story, and then we see very little character maturity or progression, the audience is left disappointed. At least, I was.
For example. There is this scene where Leah's female friend, whom she has a crush on, tells her that she thinks she might be bi. She's insecure about it, though, so she tells her cousins that she's "lowkey bi." Leah gets super mad at her and says that's not a thing, and you either have to be all in or all out, and basically accuses this girl of leading her on. She actually makes the other girl cry because of how rude she is to her about it. At first, I was not bothered by this, because I was like, "Leah is 18 and emotionally compromised by her feelings for this girl. She will be fine as long as she learns why that was wrong to do to her." Does she realize why this is wrong? Nope. It's never addressed again.
And finally, BECKY. STILL. FORGOT. ABOUT. CAL. Okay, maybe that's not fair. Cal is mentioned in passing. Apparently he's dating Simon's sister now? Even though he almost dated Simon in the previous book? Like, that's fine, date your almost-ex's sister if you want? But that's all the mention he gets.
This review actually sums up my opinions on this book really well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Rv5GuMB8Q
I recommend watching that YouTube review, because I am not confident that my amount of simultaneous love and hate for this book came through clearly enough on this post.
Did you read this book? What did you think? Please let me know in the comments! For real. When I have feelings this strong about a book, I really want to talk to other people about it. Okay, well, now that I'm thoroughly emotionally confused, it's time to get back to Furever Home Friends illustrations.
Join me again on Wednesday for another LGBT+ book review!
Love,
Savy
*I was a saxophonist instead of a drummer, though, and I'm not sure if Leah would approve.
June 15, 2018
Pride Month Book Reviews! #2: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaBy Becky Albertalli
Welcome to my second installment in Pride Month Book Reviews! Today I'll be reviewing Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which has gotten quite a lot of buzz lately, probably because its movie adaptation, Love, Simon, released a few months ago. I'm looking forward to seeing that movie. I haven't gotten a chance to see it yet, but I'll likely try to rent it over the next few weeks and watch it, since I've heard great things.
Overall, I had so many mixed feelings about this book. During the first half of the book, it was on its way to being one of my favorite books of all time, but then the second half left me disappointed. Since my feelings on this book are all over the place, I feel like it's easiest to break this review into two parts: Things I Loved, and Things I Didn't Love. (I won't say Things I Hated, because overall the book was really good, and I didn't think there was anything particularly bad in it.)
Now, for this next part, I'm going to have to include spoilers. So if you haven't read this yet, and you don't want anything spoiled, heed this warning. You can scroll past the next section, to where I clearly mark that there are no more spoilers.
SPOILERS START BELOW!!!
Things I Loved:
The voice! When I'm writing, character voice is the #1 thing I have fun with, and I could tell the author had a ton of fun here, too. Simon's voice was believable as a teenager. He was smart, goofy, and kinda snarky. He talked like an actual 17-year-old, not like an educated adult pretending to be a 17-year-old.
The characters! A lot of these characters felt super believable to me. Simon's parents seemed like real modern-day parents. I've read too many YA books where the parents are super easy on their kids for the sake of letting the plot move along. Simon's parents were just like mine were: they cared where their kid was, they paid attention to which friends were driving him where, and they grounded him when he got underage-drunk. Seemed believable to me! Also, I loved his friend Leah, so I was super excited to learn that there is an entire book from her perspective. I have started reading that one.
The pacing! Overall, I flew through this book. When procrastinating on finishing my finals, I read two books in one evening, and this was one of them. I read this book in basically one sitting. It captured my attention the entire way through. I never found myself getting bored or wondering how much was left. I was engrossed in the story 100% of the time.
Things I Didn't Love:
So this is more of the spoiler-y section.
I FEEL SO BAD FOR CAL. Simon just totally forgets about him, and no one seems to care! Poor guy! And honestly, it went beyond me feeling bad for Cal; the way he was dropped from the story honestly seemed like a flaw to me, and I couldn't get past it.
I mean, for the first half of the book, Simon is super interested in Cal. He hopes that Blue, the secret guy he's emailing, is Cal. He jerks off thinking about Cal. He goes on and on about the pretty blue-green mix in Cal's eyes. Then when Blue turns out not to be Cal, he just forgets about him. Even when Cal puts himself out there and basically asks Simon out, Simon just doesn't care anymore. I was honestly so confused here. Because even if Simon is so attached to his mystery email pen pal, I don't think it's realistic that he'd completely forget about the guy he was interested in outside of that.
Here's a few ways I could've seen it going that would've made this story make a lot more sense to me:
- Simon finds out Cal is not Blue. He's disappointed. But then when Blue stops emailing him, he goes out with Cal anyway. Then we as the audience would never need to find out who Blue is, because Simon would have shown character growth through getting over the email pen pal in exchange for finding a relationship in real life. We'd be satisfied seeing his maturity and arc enough to root for this relationship.
- Or, when Simon finds out Cal is not blue, he could still try going out with Cal but realize he doesn't like him as much as he thought he did. He gives him a try only to realize that he's so attached to this Blue guy that he can't get invested in anything else, so Cal breaks up with him or something, and Simon learns not to be so obsessive. Maybe we could still see him and Blue get together in the end, but at least he would've learned something.
The way it is now, he just forgets about Cal, goes crazy over Blue not emailing him anymore, and then when he DOES find out who Blue is, they just instantly start a relationship. There was no sexual tension between him and Bram (the real Blue) throughout the entire novel. It seems like the author wanted to choose a character no one would guess for the sake of having a plot twist, and then she went back and added in a few lines of Simon mentioning Bram is cute so that it will seem like there was some buildup. I don't buy it. There was no buildup.
The other problem with this is that Simon shows basically no character growth. One thing he does learn, which I liked, was to not make such a big deal out of everything within his family. Although he didn't seem to care that much about that realization. He is pretty much the same exact guy at the end. Just with a romantic happy ending. Honestly, I found his arc disappointing.
SPOILERS END HERE!!! YOU ARE NOW SAFE!!!
Overall, I enjoyed the author's voice and writing style, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. I'm currently finishing up her other book, Leah on the Off-Beat, which I was excited to read because of how much I related to Leah's character. I'll review that book within the next couple days here as well.
What were your thoughts on this book? Feel free to share them in the comments below!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
UPDATE: I have now also seen the movie, and I have even more mixed feelings, so I'll just stop talking now.
Welcome to my second installment in Pride Month Book Reviews! Today I'll be reviewing Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which has gotten quite a lot of buzz lately, probably because its movie adaptation, Love, Simon, released a few months ago. I'm looking forward to seeing that movie. I haven't gotten a chance to see it yet, but I'll likely try to rent it over the next few weeks and watch it, since I've heard great things.
Overall, I had so many mixed feelings about this book. During the first half of the book, it was on its way to being one of my favorite books of all time, but then the second half left me disappointed. Since my feelings on this book are all over the place, I feel like it's easiest to break this review into two parts: Things I Loved, and Things I Didn't Love. (I won't say Things I Hated, because overall the book was really good, and I didn't think there was anything particularly bad in it.)
Now, for this next part, I'm going to have to include spoilers. So if you haven't read this yet, and you don't want anything spoiled, heed this warning. You can scroll past the next section, to where I clearly mark that there are no more spoilers.
SPOILERS START BELOW!!!
Things I Loved:
The voice! When I'm writing, character voice is the #1 thing I have fun with, and I could tell the author had a ton of fun here, too. Simon's voice was believable as a teenager. He was smart, goofy, and kinda snarky. He talked like an actual 17-year-old, not like an educated adult pretending to be a 17-year-old.
The characters! A lot of these characters felt super believable to me. Simon's parents seemed like real modern-day parents. I've read too many YA books where the parents are super easy on their kids for the sake of letting the plot move along. Simon's parents were just like mine were: they cared where their kid was, they paid attention to which friends were driving him where, and they grounded him when he got underage-drunk. Seemed believable to me! Also, I loved his friend Leah, so I was super excited to learn that there is an entire book from her perspective. I have started reading that one.
The pacing! Overall, I flew through this book. When procrastinating on finishing my finals, I read two books in one evening, and this was one of them. I read this book in basically one sitting. It captured my attention the entire way through. I never found myself getting bored or wondering how much was left. I was engrossed in the story 100% of the time.
Things I Didn't Love:
So this is more of the spoiler-y section.
I FEEL SO BAD FOR CAL. Simon just totally forgets about him, and no one seems to care! Poor guy! And honestly, it went beyond me feeling bad for Cal; the way he was dropped from the story honestly seemed like a flaw to me, and I couldn't get past it.
I mean, for the first half of the book, Simon is super interested in Cal. He hopes that Blue, the secret guy he's emailing, is Cal. He jerks off thinking about Cal. He goes on and on about the pretty blue-green mix in Cal's eyes. Then when Blue turns out not to be Cal, he just forgets about him. Even when Cal puts himself out there and basically asks Simon out, Simon just doesn't care anymore. I was honestly so confused here. Because even if Simon is so attached to his mystery email pen pal, I don't think it's realistic that he'd completely forget about the guy he was interested in outside of that.
Here's a few ways I could've seen it going that would've made this story make a lot more sense to me:
- Simon finds out Cal is not Blue. He's disappointed. But then when Blue stops emailing him, he goes out with Cal anyway. Then we as the audience would never need to find out who Blue is, because Simon would have shown character growth through getting over the email pen pal in exchange for finding a relationship in real life. We'd be satisfied seeing his maturity and arc enough to root for this relationship.
- Or, when Simon finds out Cal is not blue, he could still try going out with Cal but realize he doesn't like him as much as he thought he did. He gives him a try only to realize that he's so attached to this Blue guy that he can't get invested in anything else, so Cal breaks up with him or something, and Simon learns not to be so obsessive. Maybe we could still see him and Blue get together in the end, but at least he would've learned something.
The way it is now, he just forgets about Cal, goes crazy over Blue not emailing him anymore, and then when he DOES find out who Blue is, they just instantly start a relationship. There was no sexual tension between him and Bram (the real Blue) throughout the entire novel. It seems like the author wanted to choose a character no one would guess for the sake of having a plot twist, and then she went back and added in a few lines of Simon mentioning Bram is cute so that it will seem like there was some buildup. I don't buy it. There was no buildup.
The other problem with this is that Simon shows basically no character growth. One thing he does learn, which I liked, was to not make such a big deal out of everything within his family. Although he didn't seem to care that much about that realization. He is pretty much the same exact guy at the end. Just with a romantic happy ending. Honestly, I found his arc disappointing.
SPOILERS END HERE!!! YOU ARE NOW SAFE!!!
Overall, I enjoyed the author's voice and writing style, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. I'm currently finishing up her other book, Leah on the Off-Beat, which I was excited to read because of how much I related to Leah's character. I'll review that book within the next couple days here as well.
What were your thoughts on this book? Feel free to share them in the comments below!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
UPDATE: I have now also seen the movie, and I have even more mixed feelings, so I'll just stop talking now.
June 13, 2018
Pride Month Book Reviews! #1: Star-Crossed
Star-CrossedBy Barbara Dee
Welcome to the first in my series of Pride Month book reviews! During the rest of June, my goal is to review 2-3 books per week with LGBT+ main characters and themes. Some books handle this really well, and some don't. Personally, I thought Star-Crossed was adorable and handled all of this particularly well...and part of that comes from it being a middle-grade novel!
So, middle-grade novels tend to target middle-school audiences, usually kids between 10 and 14 years old. It's the age category right below young adult. While the past few years have presented a decent amount of LGBT+ representation in the young-adult genre (though, I'd argue, still not enough compared to the overflow of straight romances we get in young adult all the time), middle-grade novels still have not seen much of this. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is The Misfits, and that book came out about 20 years ago now. It was my favorite book in middle school, though, so maybe that says something.
Anyway, I first learned of Star-Crossed about a year ago. It may have been during a bit of controversy that surrounded it, in which the author Barbara Dee was asked not to talk about this book during one of her school visits. You can read her post about that here.
Star-Crossed tells the story of an eighth-grade production of Romeo and Juliet. Mattie, the main character, originally auditions for the role of Paris, but after the actor playing Romeo is injured in a hockey accident, Mattie has to step in as Romeo. At the same time, she's realizing that she might have a crush on Gemma, the cute British girl who's playing Juliet. Being thrust into the role of Romeo forces Mattie to face these feelings head-on, and ponder whether it's possible to like both boys and girls. (Spoiler: it is. JK, that's not a spoiler. I know you guys already knew that!)
So there were a lot of things I loved about this book! First, it brought me right back to my own middle-school theater days. I really related to the character of Tessa, Mattie's best friend, because she was way too loud and enjoyed yelling Shakespearean insults at people. That was definitely my weird idea of humor at 13, too.
The other thing I loved about this book was how it directly addressed the idea of bisexuality. That seems so incredibly obvious, but I'm really struggling to find media (whether books, movies, TV, or anything else) that discusses the fact that yes, it is possible to be romantically/sexually interested in more than one gender.
About a year ago, I did a review of Carry On, which is arguably one of my top five favorite books about all time. However, my only negative of that book is that the word "bisexual" is not used once. In a book where the main character literally has long-term relationships with both male and female characters over the course of the story. But that book's getting a sequel, so I'm just praying it'll finally be addressed there. Anyway, my point is, even in the places where it seems most obvious, somehow lots of different types of media still like to shy away from this, and I can't really understand why.
But I thought this book handled it really well. I think a major barrier to introducing LGBT+ topics in books aimed at younger readers is that some adults claim kids are "too young for that." This book, however, does a great job of showing how those topics do not have to be sexual in nature. Middle schoolers go on dates with each other. That's part of life. I went on dates in middle school. It was awkward and weird. I definitely wish I had a book like this to read when I was 13 and realizing that I liked girls too.
My only negative for this book was that I thought all the "mean-girl drama" with Willow and her friends was unnecessary. I was in middle school a little over a decade ago, and even then I remember thinking this idea of "popular girls" and all that was already a little outdated. I have a theory that this idea of "regular girls" looking up to "popular girls" and "wanting to get invited to their parties" was really just an 80s thing, and since most authors writing middle-grade and YA now were teenagers in the 80s, they still think it's like this. I might be totally off base, though. Maybe I was just really oblivious in middle school.
Anyway, I do highly recommend this! It's a great book, super cute, and any Shakespeare nerds out there will have a ton of fun reading this.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?
I'll be back in a few days with my next Pride Month Book Review, which is going to be Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. See you then!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
Welcome to the first in my series of Pride Month book reviews! During the rest of June, my goal is to review 2-3 books per week with LGBT+ main characters and themes. Some books handle this really well, and some don't. Personally, I thought Star-Crossed was adorable and handled all of this particularly well...and part of that comes from it being a middle-grade novel!
So, middle-grade novels tend to target middle-school audiences, usually kids between 10 and 14 years old. It's the age category right below young adult. While the past few years have presented a decent amount of LGBT+ representation in the young-adult genre (though, I'd argue, still not enough compared to the overflow of straight romances we get in young adult all the time), middle-grade novels still have not seen much of this. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is The Misfits, and that book came out about 20 years ago now. It was my favorite book in middle school, though, so maybe that says something.
Anyway, I first learned of Star-Crossed about a year ago. It may have been during a bit of controversy that surrounded it, in which the author Barbara Dee was asked not to talk about this book during one of her school visits. You can read her post about that here.
Star-Crossed tells the story of an eighth-grade production of Romeo and Juliet. Mattie, the main character, originally auditions for the role of Paris, but after the actor playing Romeo is injured in a hockey accident, Mattie has to step in as Romeo. At the same time, she's realizing that she might have a crush on Gemma, the cute British girl who's playing Juliet. Being thrust into the role of Romeo forces Mattie to face these feelings head-on, and ponder whether it's possible to like both boys and girls. (Spoiler: it is. JK, that's not a spoiler. I know you guys already knew that!)
So there were a lot of things I loved about this book! First, it brought me right back to my own middle-school theater days. I really related to the character of Tessa, Mattie's best friend, because she was way too loud and enjoyed yelling Shakespearean insults at people. That was definitely my weird idea of humor at 13, too.
The other thing I loved about this book was how it directly addressed the idea of bisexuality. That seems so incredibly obvious, but I'm really struggling to find media (whether books, movies, TV, or anything else) that discusses the fact that yes, it is possible to be romantically/sexually interested in more than one gender.
About a year ago, I did a review of Carry On, which is arguably one of my top five favorite books about all time. However, my only negative of that book is that the word "bisexual" is not used once. In a book where the main character literally has long-term relationships with both male and female characters over the course of the story. But that book's getting a sequel, so I'm just praying it'll finally be addressed there. Anyway, my point is, even in the places where it seems most obvious, somehow lots of different types of media still like to shy away from this, and I can't really understand why.
But I thought this book handled it really well. I think a major barrier to introducing LGBT+ topics in books aimed at younger readers is that some adults claim kids are "too young for that." This book, however, does a great job of showing how those topics do not have to be sexual in nature. Middle schoolers go on dates with each other. That's part of life. I went on dates in middle school. It was awkward and weird. I definitely wish I had a book like this to read when I was 13 and realizing that I liked girls too.
My only negative for this book was that I thought all the "mean-girl drama" with Willow and her friends was unnecessary. I was in middle school a little over a decade ago, and even then I remember thinking this idea of "popular girls" and all that was already a little outdated. I have a theory that this idea of "regular girls" looking up to "popular girls" and "wanting to get invited to their parties" was really just an 80s thing, and since most authors writing middle-grade and YA now were teenagers in the 80s, they still think it's like this. I might be totally off base, though. Maybe I was just really oblivious in middle school.
Anyway, I do highly recommend this! It's a great book, super cute, and any Shakespeare nerds out there will have a ton of fun reading this.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?
I'll be back in a few days with my next Pride Month Book Review, which is going to be Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. See you then!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
June 11, 2018
Writing Tip: Find Beta Readers
Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post about finding a critique group, and how getting feedback from others can help you become a better writer. Today I'm expanding on that idea. Critique groups are wonderful; I love the two I belong to! At the same time, sometimes you just want to get TONS of opinions on your writing. That's where beta readers can come in!
Let's say you've just written a draft of a novel, and you want feedback from 20 people on it, but your critique group is only 5 people. Where will you find the other 15? Well, what I did when revising One Final Vinyl, was I sought out beta readers.
If you haven't heard the term before, beta readers are similar to beta testers in any other field; just like beta testers examine a product before its release, beta readers read your draft before it goes through copyediting, before it goes off to a publisher, before it's in its final form. They give you feedback, tell you what's working and what isn't.
Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/byrawpi... media is a great place to search for beta readers. You can browse through the #amwriting hashtag and see what other writers are currently working on. Talk to some other people, and see if anyone's interested in trading stories. Then you guys can read each other's stories and give each other feedback. You can also just post a tweet about your search for beta readers. Often, lots of people are interested in getting to read a free book, even if it's not finalized yet!
Before sending your story to beta readers, I recommend letting them know what you're looking for in feedback. I think most readers will assume this, but it's good to be up front about not wanting feedback on grammar, punctuation, typos, etc. This is a stage for global editing, for finding major plot holes or parts of the story that were unclear. If there are any parts in particular you're concerned about, ask your readers about those as well. Giving your readers a list of questions to consider as they read can be really helpful for getting the kind of feedback you want.
Have you used beta readers? How has your experience been?
Happy writing!
Savy
Let's say you've just written a draft of a novel, and you want feedback from 20 people on it, but your critique group is only 5 people. Where will you find the other 15? Well, what I did when revising One Final Vinyl, was I sought out beta readers.
If you haven't heard the term before, beta readers are similar to beta testers in any other field; just like beta testers examine a product before its release, beta readers read your draft before it goes through copyediting, before it goes off to a publisher, before it's in its final form. They give you feedback, tell you what's working and what isn't.
Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/byrawpi... media is a great place to search for beta readers. You can browse through the #amwriting hashtag and see what other writers are currently working on. Talk to some other people, and see if anyone's interested in trading stories. Then you guys can read each other's stories and give each other feedback. You can also just post a tweet about your search for beta readers. Often, lots of people are interested in getting to read a free book, even if it's not finalized yet!Before sending your story to beta readers, I recommend letting them know what you're looking for in feedback. I think most readers will assume this, but it's good to be up front about not wanting feedback on grammar, punctuation, typos, etc. This is a stage for global editing, for finding major plot holes or parts of the story that were unclear. If there are any parts in particular you're concerned about, ask your readers about those as well. Giving your readers a list of questions to consider as they read can be really helpful for getting the kind of feedback you want.
Have you used beta readers? How has your experience been?
Happy writing!
Savy
June 6, 2018
How to Get a Totally CRUELTY-FREE Formal Look!
This past weekend, I attended the Liz Awards, which is basically an end-of-the-year awards celebration for all the wonderful people from the DePaul Writing Center. Everyone dresses formally for this event. At a time of year when lots of people are going to prom or college formals, it's sometimes difficult to find a way to dress fancy without using any animal products or products tested on animals.
So, I decided to give some recommendations based on the cruelty-free items I used to get myself dressed up last Saturday!
Hair:
Getting big, beautiful curly hair involves using the right products. Thankfully, I've been able to finally replace all of my hair products with cruelty-free ones. And in the process, I've actually found things I like better! In the past, I always just bought whatever was cheapest. But having to look for cruelty-free products forced me to look more closely at each product and decide what's best.
In this post, I detailed the shampoo, conditioner, and hair milk I'm using right now: all products from Shea Moisture. I recently added Miss Jessie's curl creme to that, and that has made all the difference! Miss Jessie's Quick Curls Creme is NOT tested on animals, and it is the greatest thing that has ever happened to my hair. Fellow women out there with big, curly hair: try this stuff! Your hair will feel the smoothest and have the best defined curl shape it ever has!
Shoes:
So, as I've mentioned before, the shoes I bought for my wedding are my favorite shoes I've ever owned! If you're like me, and have a very bad back that prevents you from ever wearing heels, I'd recommend this style of shoes. I got these from ModCloth and they're made of completely fake leather!
Nail Polish:
My nails were painted purple and gold! I've had a really hard time finding nail polish brands that are completely cruelty-free while also offering a wide variety of colors. So far, my favorite brand is Oh Tiff! I ordered three colors from them online-- purple, gold, and dark green-- and so far I love all of them! They have a great variety.
Lipstick:
Using lipstick is very new for me, since in this post I explained why I never wear make-up. Then in this post, I detailed how I learned make-up so I could do cosplay. In the process, I ended up with some purple lipstick that I love! This lipstick is from BH Cosmetics, a completely cruelty-free company!
Perfume:
I love shopping local! About a block and a half from my apartment is a store called Provisions, which sells a ton of merchandise from fellow Chicago small businesses. They have homemade body products there, and that's where I found Lulu Blossom perfume. Their perfume comes in a solid wax type thing, kind of like Vaseline or something, and you rub it on. I love their perfume called Androgyne! Best of all, none of their products are tested on animals! Supporting a small business AND a cruelty-free product is a win-win!
Bag:
So, I got a wonderful bag from a company called 88 Handbags a few months ago. They make all their bags with vegan leather (which means it's not really leather at all) but they look so nice! Unfortunately, their website doesn't seem to be live anymore. Does anyone know, have they gone out of business sometime in the past year? If so, that's a shame! It also means I'll be looking for recommendations for more vegan bags.
Hope these tips are helpful! If anyone out there has other great cruelty-free products to recommend, please let me know! I'm always looking to try new things!
Love,
Savy
So, I decided to give some recommendations based on the cruelty-free items I used to get myself dressed up last Saturday!
Hair:
Getting big, beautiful curly hair involves using the right products. Thankfully, I've been able to finally replace all of my hair products with cruelty-free ones. And in the process, I've actually found things I like better! In the past, I always just bought whatever was cheapest. But having to look for cruelty-free products forced me to look more closely at each product and decide what's best.
In this post, I detailed the shampoo, conditioner, and hair milk I'm using right now: all products from Shea Moisture. I recently added Miss Jessie's curl creme to that, and that has made all the difference! Miss Jessie's Quick Curls Creme is NOT tested on animals, and it is the greatest thing that has ever happened to my hair. Fellow women out there with big, curly hair: try this stuff! Your hair will feel the smoothest and have the best defined curl shape it ever has!Shoes:
So, as I've mentioned before, the shoes I bought for my wedding are my favorite shoes I've ever owned! If you're like me, and have a very bad back that prevents you from ever wearing heels, I'd recommend this style of shoes. I got these from ModCloth and they're made of completely fake leather!
Nail Polish:
My nails were painted purple and gold! I've had a really hard time finding nail polish brands that are completely cruelty-free while also offering a wide variety of colors. So far, my favorite brand is Oh Tiff! I ordered three colors from them online-- purple, gold, and dark green-- and so far I love all of them! They have a great variety.
Lipstick:
Using lipstick is very new for me, since in this post I explained why I never wear make-up. Then in this post, I detailed how I learned make-up so I could do cosplay. In the process, I ended up with some purple lipstick that I love! This lipstick is from BH Cosmetics, a completely cruelty-free company!Perfume:
I love shopping local! About a block and a half from my apartment is a store called Provisions, which sells a ton of merchandise from fellow Chicago small businesses. They have homemade body products there, and that's where I found Lulu Blossom perfume. Their perfume comes in a solid wax type thing, kind of like Vaseline or something, and you rub it on. I love their perfume called Androgyne! Best of all, none of their products are tested on animals! Supporting a small business AND a cruelty-free product is a win-win!
Bag:
So, I got a wonderful bag from a company called 88 Handbags a few months ago. They make all their bags with vegan leather (which means it's not really leather at all) but they look so nice! Unfortunately, their website doesn't seem to be live anymore. Does anyone know, have they gone out of business sometime in the past year? If so, that's a shame! It also means I'll be looking for recommendations for more vegan bags.
Hope these tips are helpful! If anyone out there has other great cruelty-free products to recommend, please let me know! I'm always looking to try new things!
Love,
Savy
June 4, 2018
Tips for Getting Through Finals Week!
For those of you on the semester system, this post may be coming a bit late. But for those of us like me, who are on the quarter system (what's up, all my Northwestern and DePaul friends?), finals are just getting started!
This is a time of year that can be accompanied by a ton of stress. Unfortunately, I can't make the stress go away. That part might just be unavoidable. But what I can do is offer up some tips to make the process easier, since I'm now heading into my 14th college finals week (that's the joy of the quarter system!).
Commiserate with Friends
I ate 7/8 of this pizza and Chewie ate the remaining 1/8.The best part about finals week is that everyone has to go through it! Well, maybe that's actually the worst part, since it's increasing the overall unhappiness in the world. However, that's ALSO the good news, because it means you have other people who are going through the same thing! So complain to each other! Yell about how stressed you are! Don't keep it in!
Once during finals week my sophomore year of college (that was 5 years ago now...blagh where has the time gone?!) my friend Maddie and I spent half of finals week talking about Pokemon and procrastinating by playing Nintendo DS. We also stayed up really late and got our work done together. Then we took a walk around the city at 1 in the morning and enjoyed the snow. (Don't do this part alone. Make sure you're following the "with friends" part of the advice.) Five years later, I barely remember what work I had to get done that week. But I do remember having a great time with one of my best friends!
Drink Lots of Coffee
This one is obvious, I know. But as a coffee addict, sometimes I actually look forward to having massive piles of work to get done, because it means I have an excuse to drink more coffee. Hmm. Maybe that is a sign I have a problem.
Regardless, let this be your excuse to drink all the coffee you want. Lattes! Peppermint mochas! Cold brews, for when the weather flips 90 degrees in one day in Chicago! (Warning: do monitor your caffeine intake though. If you never drink coffee, probably don't drink five in an hour. Just use your head.)
Let Yourself Have Unlimited Snacks
Finals week is also my excuse to let myself eat anything and everything I want. If you reframe finals week as "The One Week a Year (or Three Weeks a Year if You're on the Quarter System) When You Get Unlimited Food (and maybe have to study and write a few papers)" then it can become something you look forward to.
Last quarter during finals week, I ate an entire pizza by myself in one sitting. Okay, Chewie ate a little bit of it. But he was so cute, I couldn't deny him. Even though I tried to ask him, "Chewie, why do you deserve this pizza? Are YOU the one taking finals right now?" His eyes said yes. His mouth didn't say anything because he's a dog.
Remember: Being Nervous Means You're Mentally Prepared!
That's a piece of advice that has stuck with me for a decade! When I was going to take my driver's license test, I was feeling nervous that morning. My dad told me that being nervous meant I had mentally prepared myself; if I weren't nervous, then I wouldn't be thinking about it hard enough to put in any real effort. A few years ago, one of my debate students was really nervous for the tournament the next day. She was running around the classroom freaking out. So I told her that if she's nervous, that means she's mentally prepared. She won first place the next day!
So just remember that being nervous doesn't have to be a bad thing! It means you've put thought into what you're doing, and that it matters to you.
You got this!
Happy finals week!
Love,
Savy
This is a time of year that can be accompanied by a ton of stress. Unfortunately, I can't make the stress go away. That part might just be unavoidable. But what I can do is offer up some tips to make the process easier, since I'm now heading into my 14th college finals week (that's the joy of the quarter system!).
Commiserate with Friends
I ate 7/8 of this pizza and Chewie ate the remaining 1/8.The best part about finals week is that everyone has to go through it! Well, maybe that's actually the worst part, since it's increasing the overall unhappiness in the world. However, that's ALSO the good news, because it means you have other people who are going through the same thing! So complain to each other! Yell about how stressed you are! Don't keep it in!Once during finals week my sophomore year of college (that was 5 years ago now...blagh where has the time gone?!) my friend Maddie and I spent half of finals week talking about Pokemon and procrastinating by playing Nintendo DS. We also stayed up really late and got our work done together. Then we took a walk around the city at 1 in the morning and enjoyed the snow. (Don't do this part alone. Make sure you're following the "with friends" part of the advice.) Five years later, I barely remember what work I had to get done that week. But I do remember having a great time with one of my best friends!
Drink Lots of Coffee
This one is obvious, I know. But as a coffee addict, sometimes I actually look forward to having massive piles of work to get done, because it means I have an excuse to drink more coffee. Hmm. Maybe that is a sign I have a problem.
Regardless, let this be your excuse to drink all the coffee you want. Lattes! Peppermint mochas! Cold brews, for when the weather flips 90 degrees in one day in Chicago! (Warning: do monitor your caffeine intake though. If you never drink coffee, probably don't drink five in an hour. Just use your head.)
Let Yourself Have Unlimited Snacks
Finals week is also my excuse to let myself eat anything and everything I want. If you reframe finals week as "The One Week a Year (or Three Weeks a Year if You're on the Quarter System) When You Get Unlimited Food (and maybe have to study and write a few papers)" then it can become something you look forward to.
Last quarter during finals week, I ate an entire pizza by myself in one sitting. Okay, Chewie ate a little bit of it. But he was so cute, I couldn't deny him. Even though I tried to ask him, "Chewie, why do you deserve this pizza? Are YOU the one taking finals right now?" His eyes said yes. His mouth didn't say anything because he's a dog.
Remember: Being Nervous Means You're Mentally Prepared!
That's a piece of advice that has stuck with me for a decade! When I was going to take my driver's license test, I was feeling nervous that morning. My dad told me that being nervous meant I had mentally prepared myself; if I weren't nervous, then I wouldn't be thinking about it hard enough to put in any real effort. A few years ago, one of my debate students was really nervous for the tournament the next day. She was running around the classroom freaking out. So I told her that if she's nervous, that means she's mentally prepared. She won first place the next day!
So just remember that being nervous doesn't have to be a bad thing! It means you've put thought into what you're doing, and that it matters to you.
You got this!
Happy finals week!
Love,
Savy
June 1, 2018
New Novel Coming Soon!
A new-adult feminist sci-fi LGBT romance. I don't think that's a genre, but who cares? It's what this book is! So excited to release this book with Represent Publishing this coming fall!
More information will be coming soon! Be on the lookout for some fun blog and video content related to this book.
May 30, 2018
Book Review: Fun Home
Fun Homeby Alison Bechdel
I'm continuing with my trend of reviewing memoirs-- except in this case, this was not a book I read for class. However, everyone in my class was recommending Fun Home to me. When they saw that themes in my memoir ranged from OCD to questioning sexual identities, plus I was including comics, they were all like Why have you not read Fun Home?!
So I read Fun Home! And I am so glad I did. This is probably my favorite memoir I've ever read. It's honestly beautiful.
This book, told through a series of comics, follows Alison through her early years, from the 1960s through the early 1980s. During this time, Alison explores her complicated relationship with her father, an uptight funeral home director, while struggling with her OCD and slowly discovering that she is a lesbian.
The structure of this book is brilliant. Throughout the graphic novel, Alison weaves in literary threads that parallel the events in her life. Each chapter feels compact and circular in a way that real life rarely does, which I see as a sign that someone is masterful at crafting a narrative. It's hard to compartmentalize pieces of our own lives, much less parallel them with other media. Often, we can't separate the experiences we've had from each other. This book implies that she now has enough emotional distance from these events to analyze them and organize them into such a brilliant form.
The last chapter in particular blew me away. I won't go into any spoilers in the book. However, I just have to talk about the last chapter a little bit. In the last chapter, Alison is in college taking a class on James Joyce. Her father is shown throughout the book to be a literary connoisseur, and their discussions on classical literature often served as one of their only bonds throughout a somewhat distant relationship. In this chapter, Alison is reading Ulysses and discussing it with her father. She brilliantly takes not only the themes from Ulysses, but also the weird constructions of dialogue, and parallels it with her sexuality crisis and miscommunications with her father. I can't even describe it. It's just so good. How did she even think of these things?!
I highly recommend this book! Even though this has been out for a while now, I truly feel that it has elevated the genre of graphic novel to something literary. Beautiful. I'm going to read everything Alison Bechdel has ever written. I've also heard Fun Home has been turned into a musical, and that it's really good too, but I'm worried that I'm so emotionally attached to the literary construction of this book that the musical will let me down. If anyone's seen the musical, what do you think?
Have you read Fun Home? If so, what are your opinions? Based on my love for this book, do you have any other recommendations for me? Let me know!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
I'm continuing with my trend of reviewing memoirs-- except in this case, this was not a book I read for class. However, everyone in my class was recommending Fun Home to me. When they saw that themes in my memoir ranged from OCD to questioning sexual identities, plus I was including comics, they were all like Why have you not read Fun Home?!
So I read Fun Home! And I am so glad I did. This is probably my favorite memoir I've ever read. It's honestly beautiful.
This book, told through a series of comics, follows Alison through her early years, from the 1960s through the early 1980s. During this time, Alison explores her complicated relationship with her father, an uptight funeral home director, while struggling with her OCD and slowly discovering that she is a lesbian.
The structure of this book is brilliant. Throughout the graphic novel, Alison weaves in literary threads that parallel the events in her life. Each chapter feels compact and circular in a way that real life rarely does, which I see as a sign that someone is masterful at crafting a narrative. It's hard to compartmentalize pieces of our own lives, much less parallel them with other media. Often, we can't separate the experiences we've had from each other. This book implies that she now has enough emotional distance from these events to analyze them and organize them into such a brilliant form.
The last chapter in particular blew me away. I won't go into any spoilers in the book. However, I just have to talk about the last chapter a little bit. In the last chapter, Alison is in college taking a class on James Joyce. Her father is shown throughout the book to be a literary connoisseur, and their discussions on classical literature often served as one of their only bonds throughout a somewhat distant relationship. In this chapter, Alison is reading Ulysses and discussing it with her father. She brilliantly takes not only the themes from Ulysses, but also the weird constructions of dialogue, and parallels it with her sexuality crisis and miscommunications with her father. I can't even describe it. It's just so good. How did she even think of these things?!
I highly recommend this book! Even though this has been out for a while now, I truly feel that it has elevated the genre of graphic novel to something literary. Beautiful. I'm going to read everything Alison Bechdel has ever written. I've also heard Fun Home has been turned into a musical, and that it's really good too, but I'm worried that I'm so emotionally attached to the literary construction of this book that the musical will let me down. If anyone's seen the musical, what do you think?
Have you read Fun Home? If so, what are your opinions? Based on my love for this book, do you have any other recommendations for me? Let me know!
Happy reading!
Love,
Savy
