Today's Grateful List/31 December 2015
- Going to get answers no matter what
I don't usually write reviews right upon finishing a book, but Eleanor and Park is different. It's been a few hours since I closed it and my heart is still overwhelmed. I want to crawl inside this book; I wish I'd written it. Truly magnificent. There are lots of reasons why.1) Eleanor and Park are both REAL. They fall into this relationship in the most bizarre of ways (she's forced to sit with him on the bus) and yet, it all makes perfect sense. A relationship that develops slowly and as friends has a true base, and you can feel it in every word.2) The home lives of each one are entirely believable. I know people who have as messed up home lives as Eleanor, and they struggle to overcome every day. I also know people who have relatively normal, sane parents who strive to make a good home for their kids, even if they sometimes mess up along the way. Eleanor's world and Park's world are in perfect contrast to one another and they work.3) Eleanor works hard to rise above the horrible way she is treated at home and in school, but she also has a pretty impenetrable wall that only Park can get around. And yet, he still messes up. It's all a journey and both Eleanor and Park make major strides in becoming the person they want to be.4) It has a killer soundtrack. I grew up in the 80s and I loved the references to music I knew and loved, and I love how it tied Eleanor and Park together and to the storyline. Music speaks when we can't.5) The emotions are raw. There are so many and I experienced them all through the beauty of Rowell's writing: pain, anger, resignation, desperation, passion, happiness, embarrassment. You name it, it's there, and each emotion leaps off the page and wraps itself around you.6) That ENDING. Wow. Just wow. Please don't write a sequel; it's perfect as it is.7) Rowell's writing. I know I've already mentioned this but it is just exquisite. When Eleanor talks about Park's arms being a tourniquet around her...how beautiful. And it's all like this.There's a lot of adult language and I did get upset that Eleanor was so hesitant about Park but it's all a part of the story and every single bit makes sense. My heart hurt, my heart sang, my heart got dragged through it all. Now I just want to sit here and hold the book and experience it all again. Yes, it's that gush-worthy. Yes, it's that moving. Yes, you need to read it. Right now. Highly, highly recommended.
~taminator40
I'll start by saying I adore Mercy Thompson Hauptmann! She's a true heroine, real with faults but loyal and confident. Her relationship with her husband Adam is more than romantic: it's a partnership with bonds so deep you can feel them. So, yeah, I pretty much love all the Mercy Thompson books, and this is another outstanding addition.
This time around, Mercy faces what may be her strongest foe yet: Adam's ex-wife, Christy, who has slept with a man who is now stalking her big time. Christy is the antithesis of Mercy and it took maybe 1.5 seconds for me to dislike her completely. Mercy does better with the ex than I would have; she reminds herself that this is for Jesse, her stepdaughter, and Adam's need to make Christy safe. That said, it's more than a little hard for Mercy when it becomes obvious that the majority of the pack still loves Christy and Christy's out to use every bit of manipulation available to make herself look like a victim. Trouble is, she IS a victim to some extent because the man she slept with turns out to be a volcano god and he is beyond crazy, killing his way to get to Christy.
Possible spoilers ahead...you've been warned.
The scenes where Mercy engages the volcano god are action filled and top-notch story telling. Briggs writes so that you can feel every blow Mercy gives and receives, and her cunning is sharp and mostly self-reliant. I find myself holding my breath whenever Mercy fights because I know she's going to get hurt but the fact is, she is so determined that I feel as though I am there. The way she faces her demons, both literally and figuratively, is thoroughly believable and entertaining.
The other facet to this story is Mercy being asked by one of the Grey Lords to return the infamous walking stick which she had previously given to Coyote. This side story brings a whole new character into the sphere: Mercy's half-brother, Gary Laughingdog. Their exchanges are typical of siblings in a lot of ways, and their reactions to dealing with their shared father Coyote are often humorous. Definitely going to love seeing where this goes in future books.
This novel takes the pack and Mercy to new levels of understanding and brings some big issues to light. Is everything resolved neatly? Of course not, and that's the beauty of this series. I'm drawn in by Mercy's assertiveness, her relationship with Adam, and her never say die attitude. Highly recommended!
~taminator40
A Triple Knot is the fictionalized story of Joan of Kent, royal daughter descended from Edward I of England who ultimately became Queen Regent for her son, Richard II. The novel, however, does not get to this point of Joan's rather engaging life; we follow her from the time she's a child who is basically raised with the king's children until she finally marries the man known as the Black Prince, some twenty years later. What happens in between really could be the invention of a novelist, with Joan marrying Thomas Holland, a lowly knight, in secret, and then going into another marriage with the son of the Earl of Salisbury at her family's direction. Her feelings for Thomas and her resistance to her second marriage ultimately becomes a decision for the Pope and the proceedings are dragged out over time. It's really amazing that this renowned beauty somehow managed to be united with the man she loved and overcome her family's insistence of the validity of her second marriage; beyond that, she eventually captured the heart of the Black Prince and came to power in her own right. Truly an amazing account that should be excellent fodder for an historical novel.
Unfortunately, A Triple Knot does quite a bit of "telling" rather than showing; there's a dearth of dialogue that would have illuminated the characters involved and involved the reader more fully with events that are at times pretty confusing. Even when there is dialogue, it's often either stilted and formal, or very flowery; I just could not get a connection to any of the characters because I just couldn't relate to them. There's a lot of intrigue going on (as I'm sure there was at the time) but Joan is cast firstly as a victim of a sexual predator, then as a mature lover (at age twelve!), then as a brave woman defending herself and others on shipboard, then as a sullen, depressed young woman; after that we find Joan as victim again, lover again, repeat cycle. With all that actually happened in this remarkable young lady's life, it seemed a bit overdone to have her fight off an attacker physically on a ship but then be held captive by her erstwhile husband a bit later. I know the gaps needed filling, and it's the author's prerogative to do so, but I just couldn't buy into it.
Not that there's nothing redeeming in this novel; I did enjoy parts of it and found that the author remained as true as I could recall to the known facts. It's just the characterizations the author chose in using those facts left me feeling cold. With a wealth of fascinating personages and events that changed the course of history, I just wanted at least one person to whom I felt a connection. I stuck with the novel through the end and never truly enjoyed the journey as much as I wanted to.
~taminator40
The Fifth Beatle is a graphic novel of the life of Beatles' manager Brian Epstein from roughly the time he meets the boys until his tragic death just a few short years later. At just over a hundred pages, it is lushly illustrated in a style that evokes the time period with its colors and likenesses, and yet it is more than that. It's both a celebration and a unencumbered documentary on the life of a troubled genius.
The novel takes us down the path of Brian's obsession with the boys, his driving ambition to see them become successful, and his tirelessness in bringing them to the world at a time when the world most needed them. It doesn't, however, shy away from the darker stuff, all of which contributed to Brian's demise: His necessarily closeted homosexuality, his addiction to drugs, and his not always sharp business acumen. More than that, the book is colored with Brian's insecurities and his overwhelming need for love in whatever form it was available. With sequences that chronicle actual events (this Beatles' fan recognized actual well-known conversations) interspersed with whimsical episodes, the story moves through the successes and disappointments, staying true to the facts and the people of the time.
The actual artwork is breathtaking and vivid, with characters' countenances reminiscent of their real life counterparts. It took me a bit to get the idea of Moxie, the girl who seems to be Brian's assistant; I didn't recall anyone so named in his real life, but after I *got* it, I have to admit, she's a good addition that helps us see another side to Brian's personality. When I finished the story, I was left with a sense of waste and disappointment for Brian Epstein, and yet the story is told so well in both pictures and text, it's a must for any Beatles' fan. Well worth the price for daring to examine and illuminate this tortured genius.
~taminator40
Graduation Day is the final book in The Testing series, and it wraps everything up rather nicely. While I never felt on the edge of my seat while reading it, I certainly can say I enjoyed the action (even if some of it was hard to swallow).
Basics: Cia is at the University, but she knows The Testing must stop so future generations will not have to undergo the rigorous, brutal conditions she and her fellow students did. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone is watching her, and she's unsure who she can trust, outside of boyfriend Tomas. When she expresses her concerns to the President, she finds herself at the heart of a plan to eliminate several officials. But she knows she can't do it alone.
There is a lot of action in Graduation Day, but also a lot of dithering, and "testing" of others' resolve. Cia always wants to do the right thing, but she takes a long time figuring out what to do, a fact that makes the novel drag at some points. In fact, though overall I liked the novel, there were several times I felt events were way too coincidental; without giving away spoilers, I will say that I doubt young people could move about so freely as Cia does in the beginning, especially when she's being watched for suspicious activity. I also wondered about the confidence the President placed in her, which seemed a little far-fetched, even for a post-apocalyptic novel. And I'm still not sure I'm buying that explanation at the ending, but it was action-filled and interesting. Overall, this is a good ending to the series and actually rates a strong 3.5 stars, so I'm rounding up for general enjoyment.
~taminator40
I'm a big Rick Springfield fan, but I have to admit, I wasn't so sure about reading a novel written by him because, well...you know, really, what sort of writer would he turn out to be? So with my sights set low, I dived into a novel that has our main character conversing with a God who texts and answers the phone. And then...surprise of all surprises...I found myself sucked into the story and actually enjoying it. Really enjoying it. Who woulda guessed?
The basic story revolves around Horatio "Bobby" Cotton, and his unlikely conversations with a God who is at times irritating and very oblique. Through flashbacks, we get the story of Bobby, as told in the book Magnificent Vibration (which he stole from a local shop). Life wasn't very pretty for Bobby, with parents who were mostly cold and whose sister has a myriad of emotional issues. Bobby tries to hold it together, even if he is inordinately obsessed with sex and his penis (but then again, maybe not...teen boys are notorious). As the flashbacks continue, we find Bobby as a young adult adrift and not particularly motivated, who marries badly and ends up worse. Meanwhile, there's the present day version of Bobby, who finds a hot, almost-ex nun, and a rather beefy man and discovers they both have the same book. As the story progresses, some very surreal moments take place as the trio tries to figure out what the meaning is of the strange coincidences that have brought them together.
While the premise is odd, it is oddly compelling as well. Vulgar? Yep. Intriguing? Yep. I was totally drawn in by the hapless Bobby, especially in his teenage form. Springfield has a way of pulling the reader so that the oddness becomes something to be dissected rather than puzzled by. While I wasn't so crazy about the ending, I did enjoy the references to the Loch Ness monster, the deep bond of a brother and sister, and the funny view of life as evidenced by our sort of hero. Definitely worth a read and pretty interesting to boot.
~taminator40
It's been a while since I read The King; I purposely waited until the expected furor died down before settling in to write a review. I've read reviews that praise the book and some that flog it within an inch of its life, and now it's time for me to decide which side I'm truly on.I liked it.Before you cast that negative vote, please read what I have to say, and recognize that this is my opinion, and mine only. I have some very close friends who loathed this book, mostly for what it could've (and should've) been, and in some respects, I agree with them. Ward really really needs an editor or someone to keep up with her details for her. This is a big, big issue that must be addressed because she rewrites history with surprising nonchalance. In that regard, my friends are correct: there is no excuse for some of the inconsistencies she continues to make. Her readers have been loyal and many reread with a fine tooth comb. If she can't keep her facts straight (or at least give plausible reasons for changes), she needs to employ someone who will do that for her. When someone's skin color keeps changing (Selena), we have a problem.But those things aside, The King is actually pretty well done. I was pleased that everyone seemed to get a shout out, though Ward's Caldwell universe has grown so large it's hard to keep them all involved. I adore Trez and iAm and am glad to see them featured. And say what you will about Assail and Sola, (and I'm NOT a fan...Assail could have been so much more than just another male on his way to getting mated), that shower scene was hot. I also liked the general flow of the book, and the glimpse back into Wrath's lineage through his parents' storyline. I didn't like the interaction between Wrath and Beth throughout most of this book; Wrath was a jerk who only knew his side of the story and refused to entertain his shellan's. And that ending tied things up a little too easily and a little too well for my taste. But Lassiter? That angel made the entire book in my opinion. He stole my heart and the show every time he appeared on the page.When I think of my overall rating of this book, however, I think of the fact that I continue to enjoy visiting the world of Ward's, and I continue to enjoy my interactions with the Brothers. Sure, I'd change a few things, including all the product placement, and I'd beg Ward to never again allow the name Miley Cyrus to even jokingly be used in these stories, but overall, I did enjoy the book.By the way, if Ms. Ward is reading this review, I'm available for said position mentioned earlier: I'd be one heckuva fact checker. I'm very certain that could apply to many of her readers, some of whom are way more irritated than I am about this series.
~taminator40
I knew I wasn't going to read The One for any deep, philosophical glimpses into a post-apocalyptic society; hey, we're talking a royal version of The Bachelor here, correct? But for what it is, The One is an enjoyably light read that intrigued me enough to gulp it down in two short afternoons. As with most escapist reading, it accomplished its goal in that respect very well.
If you're reading this review, you know the basics of how we got to this point: America is one of four young women left vying for the attention and potential marriage of Prince Maxon. Throughout the first two books, America's been inching toward a true relationship with Maxon, despite her feelings for childhood boyfriend, Aspen. In this final installment, she's decided to fight for him, though of course the road isn't smooth. Despite Maxon's protestations of his intentions to choose America, she frequently messes things up and acquires the wrath of the king in the process. There's also two rebellions going on, and somehow America finds herself in the middle of negotiations that may bring down the caste system once and for all.
While I loved this story--it's hard not to--the constant fighting between America and Maxon, complete with about 5000 misunderstandings, eventually wore at me. I like a good, headstrong, righteous heroine, but America spent a lot of time making things worse when they didn't have to be. Frankly, from a slightly more mature standpoint, I can't see this marriage working out in the long term if these two don't learn to build on what they have and stop bickering over past slights. But that's the beauty of the novel once again...I don't have to worry about those things because the story itself isn't about that. It's about two young people who aren't perfect finding one another when they least expect to and learning how to make a difference in lives. I could bemoan the fact that we didn't get a lot of closure on the rebellion aspect, and that there was really no point to some of the incidents, but that would just be a distraction from my overall enjoyment of Cass's writing and the storyline itself. Definitely fun and surprisingly touching at times, this series is one I'd have no problem recommending when you're in the mood for light reading.
~taminator40
After The End is sort of a post-apocalyptic novel, and yet it's not. What it is without a doubt, however, is an excellent read with pages that fly by. If there are flaws, they are minimal, and I'm already waiting for the next book.So what makes this book so interesting? The writing, pure and simple. When we are introduced to Juneau, she's a young woman of seventeen surviving in the Alaskan wilderness after the devastation of World War III drove them to a remote place on earth. She and her clan know there are others out there--the appearance occasionally of planes overhead confirms that--but they believe the others may be contaminated or perhaps "brigands" ready to take all they have. More striking than all this, though, is the mystery of the Yara, a sort of natural force that the clan can tap and use to Read and Conjure; all the children of the clan bear witness to their connection to the Yara through a bright starburst pupil marking them. When Juneau goes out hunting, she is panicked when she realizes helicopters have invaded her home and taken all the members of her clan, so she goes out past the boundaries set by the Elders in search of her family. What she discovers is that she's been lied to all her life: there never was a World War III and life is going on. Tapping into the Yara, Juneau discovers that a boy named Miles is the key to finding those she loves, and she teams up with him, not realizing his father is also searching for her because apparently she knows something vital.Well, that's the bare bones of the story, and it comes nowhere near explaining what really works for this book. Juneau's naiveté is quickly overcome as she discovers the desperation of her plight, and Miles's determination to make his mistakes up to his father override a lot of the choices he makes. Their relationship develops slowly, but the danger both are in forces them to re-evaluate all they know. The back-and-forth method of changing points of view works very well as we see what makes each character tick, and the fact that there really aren't too many other characters to actually interact with makes the story focused. If I'm not sure of the magical elements, I can still buy into the humanity of the story and the breathless way Juneau moves to avoid those chasing her. The truth is, I don't know who to believe at this point, and that's part of the appeal. This book merits a strong 4.5 stars and definitely has me thinking about what's coming next.
~taminator40
I've always liked Charlaine Harris's writing, up until about the last 2-3 Sookie Stackhouse books. Then I felt she descended into a pattern of description of clothing and food, and away from the characters themselves, which made for not very interesting reading. Still, I was willing to give her new series a try because I was hoping it would be fresh and exciting.
I really shouldn't have bothered.
The story is set in Midnight, Texas, and features the strangest group of people as very odd friends. There's young Manfred, new in town, and possibly psychic; there's Fiji, a young witch who is in love with Bobo, who owns the pawn shop. There's Lemuel, a vampire, and his often-missing girlfriend, Olivia; there's the Rev, a man of God who doesn't speak much. I could go on and on, each one more oddly named than the rest, and none of them particularly endearing. The story essentially revolves around getting to know the group and the disappearance of Bobo's girlfriend, Aubrey, whose body turns up almost halfway through. Not that I cared, really; no one is the sort you'd cheer for and the "gang" who is behind many of the attacks seems to be not quite as smart as a gang should be.
I kept reading, hoping I'd finally get interested, and then mostly so I could write this review. What made the characters quirky and fun in the Sookie books is totally lacking in this book; there's just no spark. I may have been engaged a time or two, but overall, I just couldn't have cared less. I won't be looking for the next one.
~taminator40
