Spotlight Saturday: Eleanor and Park

Eleanor & Park

Sigh.

This. book.

It honestly makes me sigh.  This is a young adult romance, but it is so much more than that.  It is a story of survival, of compassion, of hope.  Its a story of opening yourself up to new people.  Most importantly, it is a story about learning to believe that you deserve to be loved.

Eleanor is new to "The Flats", a lower income community in 1980's Nebraska.  Until recently, she'd been living with a random neighbor in her old neighborhood.  She was living with this neighbor because her mother abandoned her there a year ago, choosing her new, abusive husband over her teenage daughter.  Time has passed and her mom has finally come to collect her and reunite her with her younger brothers and sister.  The story begins on Eleanor's first day on her new school bus.

Park has lived in "The Flats" his whole life.  His dad is military, and met his mom in Korea during the war.  She is tiny and bubbly and runs a hair salon out of their garage, where she gives the neighbors spiral perms and recommends bright pink lipsticks (remember....it's the 80's).  Park is half Korean, and has inherited his mother's height.  His younger brother, Josh, favors his father's side of the family and is already taller and better at Tae Kwon Do than his older brother.  This is an area of frustration between Park and his father, and creates a slight adversarial relationship between them.  Although he has known most of the kids in school his whole life, he mostly keeps to himself, turning on his walkman headphones and sitting alone on the school bus.

The school bus is almost entirely full as Eleanor steps on it for the first time.  Everyone else has been around for awhile and has already claimed "their" seat. All eyes are on her as she inches her way down the aisle to the only available seat....an empty spot next to a short Asian kid.  Park isn't happy to have to share, especially not with this big, red-headed, funny-dressed new girl.  Insults are already being slung her way and he would rather not be in the line of fire.  His parents have raised him right, though, and he offers her the spot....even if begrudgingly.

What unfolds over the course of the school year is Eleanor and Park discovering each other.  It's starts with her reading his comic books over his shoulder, and when he notices this, he brings her some to read at home.  They gradually start talking and he discovers she hasn't heard very much popular music, so he makes her a mix tape.  Then he gives her batteries when he hears her walkman died a long time ago.  This gradual, sweet process continues as two misfits find their safe place in each other.  These two falling in love is one of the loveliest things I've ever read.  There is a scene where they hold hands for the first time.  Such simple things are so often considered mundane and are even glossed over in romantic books.  This book celebrates it, and Rainbow Rowell gives me one of my favorite quotes in the book as Eleanor contemplates how much she felt holding Park's hand:


How could it be possible that there were that many nerve endings all in one place? And were they always there, or did they just flip on whenever they felt like it? Because, if they were always there, how did she manage to turn doorknobs without fainting?

The book is filled with complications, most noteworthy, Eleanor's stepfather, Richie.  He is abusive in every way imaginable, and as uplifting as Eleanor's moments with Park are, her scenes with her family are that heartbreaking.  From a very young age, Eleanor's parents have chosen money, freedom, partners and addictions over her, and this has informed her life.  She begins to realize that Park can't possibly love her....she is unlovable.  She is uncomfortable with his family, because she has no idea how to be a part of a (mostly) functional one.  She doesn't trust anyone's affection for her and doubts anyone's ability to help.  It's hard to read her push others away, but it is so true to her story that it added authenticity.

This book crawled up inside of me and made itself at home.  While my life in no way resembles Eleanor's, I could certainly relate to the struggles of feeling unworthy and unlovely.  Seeing her growth is inspirational.  Park is a remarkable hero for our story.  He is not hunky or swoon-worthy.  He doesn't sparkle in sunlight or battle demons.  He's simply good.  When the chips are down, he does the hard thing, even if he bumbles it a bit as he does it.  Some people have objected to this book being for younger audiences because of its language.  I admit that the language is rough.  Really rough at times, particularly from Eleanor's step father.  Yet I feel like the lessons taught in this book outweigh the harsh words.  Teenage girls reading this book will learn about being treated well and cherished.  They will learn that holding hands is special enough for awhile.  They will learn that being yourself is important, and someone will love you just the way you are.  And if they've read a few ugly words along the way?  Well....they've probably already heard them before anyway.  (Just my opinion).

Please meet Eleanor and Park.  You will be so glad you did.  I'm going to end with another quote from Park, speaking about Eleanor.  This is the stuff....

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

We Were Liars

We Were Liars

I was desperate to read this book.  There was so much buzz around it.  I couldn't read a blog or watch a book vlogger without hearing about "We Were Liars" and the great twist.  I LOVE a good twist and put it into a frothy, romantic YA novel and I was sold.  I stalked my Kindle app, hoping that it would dip in price (rarely am I willing to pay $10 for an e-book) (don't get me wrong...I will pay far MORE than $10 for the RIGHT e-book....its just rare), but it never did.  Finally fate intervened and I threw out my back.  I spent a few days with ice packs, heating pads and my Kindle for companions and decided I could splurge on this mysterious book I kept hearing so much about.

That paragraph I just typed probably explains why I ended up really, REALLY disliking this book.  My expectations were too high.  I had dragged out the anticipation until I was practically salivating over the desire to know what the fuss was about.  I had placed this book on a very high, very unstable pedestal and watched it fall, very hard, onto unrealistic expectations.

Cadence Sinclair Easton is our narrator.  When we meet her, she has suffered a trauma of some kind.  The details are all elusive not only to us, but also to Cadence, as she is suffering from partial amnesia.  She introduces us to her family, a Kennedy-esque old-money clan that places great value on tradition, loyalty and legacy.  She has spent nearly every summer of her life on an island off the coast of Cape Cod.  This island is owned by her grandfather, and all of her aunts, uncles, cousins and assorted family relations gather there every year.  Its all very gauzy and dream-like, the descriptions of these Summers.  Lots of boating, napping in hammocks, playing on beaches and evenings ended with clam bakes and bonfires.  Cadence is very close with two of her cousins, Johnny and Mirren, and their friend Gat, who joins them every summer because of a family connection.  The four of them are called "The Liars" by the rest of the family.  (Why do they call them "The Liars"??  We never find out.  Seriously.)

During their 15th Summer, Cadence and Gat fall in love.  There are complications surrounding their romance, primarily due to his skin color.  While the Sinclairs feel very magnanimous and benevolent for allowing this teenager of Indian decent to spend time on their island, they draw the line at letting him marry one of their daughters.  This creates the major conflict in the story and becomes the catalyst for all things that follow.  Something shocking takes place, and when the Liars and the rest of the family return to the island during their 17th Summer, Cadence attempts to put together puzzle pieces of memories.

I will stop there, because some of you will still want to read this book (and I don't blame you...I certainly let curiosity get the best of me).  What I will say, however, is that I saw the "twist" coming a mile away.  In fact, it was so obvious to me that when I got to the end of the book, I was still waiting for the "twist" to happen.  I couldn't believe that the plot point in question was really what everyone was referring to as surprising and amazing.  To be fair, had I picked up the book knowing nothing about it and having no idea there was a twist, I might not have clued in on it so easily.  The problem becomes that when a book like this one becomes popular, there is no way of avoiding the hype.  You know ahead of time that there is a surprise coming and see all the fore-shadowing highlighted in bright, neon yellow.  A good book (or movie, or TV show) can be written in a way that is creative enough to still shock you even when you're waiting to be shocked.  I think of "Gone Girl", "The Sixth Sense" and "Mad Men" as examples of those genres that received hype and were still able to surprise their audiences.  "We Were Liars" doesn't.  At least it didn't surprise me.  

In fairness to the author, I should probably give it a little slack because adults are not her target audience with this title.  Technically this book is for Young Adults, so it should not be held to the same standards as fiction for grown-ups, right?  I don't think so.  "Harry Potter" was also written for a younger crowd and it is arguably some of the most amazing world-building and plot twisting ever put on paper.  A good book is a good book.  "We Were Liars", is not a good book.  In my opinion.  (Yet I don't blame you if you still want to read it.  I would have still read it after reading this review.  Just don't say I didn't warn you.)

Spotlight Saturday "Attachments"

Attachments

This is the first book in my October Spotlight series on Rainbow Rowell.  Come back next Saturday for a review of "Eleanor & Park", her most well known title.

This book is darling.
I enjoyed it the first time I read it, and re-reading it recently, I realized that I adore this book.  I am a sucker for a good rom-com, and that is essentially what this is, in book form.  Not just any rom-com, though....a good one.  One with snark and pop culture references and characters you know in real life.

Beth and Jennifer work for a local Omaha, Nebraska newspaper, The Courier. They are best friends, and spend quite a bit of their day conversing via email through the office intranet.  Its important to note that this book takes place in 1999.  While that is only 15 years ago chronologically, it feels like centuries, technologically speaking.  This book wouldn't take place in 2014, because cell phones and texting and Facebook have made the central dilemma to this book obsolete.  Yet here we are, visiting Jennifer and Beth in 1999.  Beth is in a long term relationship with a hot, aloof musician.  Jennifer is married and terrified of becoming pregnant.  They have a wonderful report and I found myself laughing out loud as I read their email correspondence.

Lincoln has been hired by their newspaper to monitor all intra-office emails.  It is his job to make sure nothing of "questionable" nature is being discussed on office time. When he was hired by The Courier to be the security officer in their IT department, he had no idea his actual job would essentially be snooping into other people's business.  Yet a job is a job, so night after night, he reads other people's emails, and as Jennifer and Beth's letters pop into his WebFence folder, he starts feeling real affection for these women he's never met.  Particularly the witty and kind-hearted Beth.

We meet lots of colorful peripheral characters throughout the course of this book.  Lincoln has a bit of a "failure to launch" situation and is still living at home with his over-bearing mother.  His older sister, Eve, is constantly trying to force him out of the nest.  He has a handful of friends, one ridiculous ex-girlfriend and even a couple of nephews who steal the scene when they are on the page.  As Lincoln falls harder and harder for Beth, he begins to realize that he has to live his own life more fully if hes ever going to deserve a girl like her.  She becomes the catalyst for some much needed change in his life, even though he knows she's taken.  And he's been secretly reading her emails.  And he doesn't actually know what she looks like.

There was very little about this book that I didn't like.  I found it absolutely charming and an easy, feel-good read.  It was fun to go back to 1999, before social media, before iPhones and before we all knew that Y2K was nothing but a big dud.  If I had to mention anything negative, it is that the book did feel like it dragged on just a little bit at the end.  I imagine it had to, however.  There were some knots in Beth and Lincoln's relationship that required some untangling.  It's a minor issue, however, and when all was said and done, I was proud of Lincoln, happy for Beth, and thrilled for Jennifer.  I closed the book with a smile on my face, and that's always nice.

This book is a difficult one to rate, because there isn't too much to object to, and yet one character, Justin, has a MOUTH on him.  I found it funny, and completely true to who Justin is, but I want to make sure that if you're concerned about these things....there is some language.  Mostly only when Justin is around, though, and he's not around that much.

If you love a rom-com and want to read something that will make you feel good, read "Attachments".  You won't regret it.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl


Where to even begin?
Probably by saying that this is the craziest book I have ever read, and to this day, several months after I turned the last page, I have no idea whether or not I even liked it.  The movie comes out today, and I find myself excited to see it, so I must have enjoyed the book on some level....right?
Or maybe I'm just curious.

The book begins and we meet Nick Dunne.  His wife, Amy has gone missing on their 5th wedding anniversary.  Nick is the obvious choice of suspect not only because the husband is always a suspect, but because he has recently increased her life insurance, he comes across as not being invested in the investigation to find his wife, and to top it all off, he has been having an affair.  The nails in the coffin of his guilt come in the form of a diary that Amy had been keeping. Within its pages, she chronicled the deterioration of her marriage and her husband, painting the picture of an unhappy man who was beginning to turn violent in his frustration.  We spend the first half of the book being convinced of Nick's guilt.  He insists he is innocent, but there is nothing to support his claims.

This is the point where I have to stop giving you any information about the book.  There is no way to even loosely describe the last half without giving away major spoilers.  In fact, just saying that is probably a spoiler in itself.  Here is what I promise you, however....not matter what it is you think happened to Amy....you're at least partially wrong.

 I will tell you that as I read this book, I was fully engaged in what was happening.  It is well written and engrossing.  I burned to discover what had happened to Amy, and once I found out, I needed to see the resolution and the comeuppance.  The tricky part in this review is when I have to tell you that I found every single character in this book to be loathsome.  The redeeming qualities were few and far between, and I was unable to root for anyone. Yet I think that was the whole point.  I can't know what the author's intentions were, but I got the impression that she relished the idea of telling a dark, twisted story in an interesting, disturbing way.  If that was her intention, I can say with certainty that she hit the mark.

So don't pick up Gone Girl expecting to get any warm fuzzies.  It is not a feel-good book, and it will not leave you satisfied.  If you are looking for an interesting, buzz-worthy mystery with an obtuse angle, however...this is the book for you.  I will give it an "R" rating, simply because this book is Disturbing.   

October Spotlight: Rainbow Rowell

Once a month, my plan is to introduce you to an author who I think is worth your time.  Depending on the month, it may be someone who I consider a favorite, or it may be someone I simply feel is noteworthy.  Whatever the case, I hope to give a little bit of information about the author themselves, then spend the month reviewing some of their titles individually on what I'm going to refer to as "Spotlight Saturdays".  

This month I am starting with an author who has recently stolen my heart.  Her name is Rainbow Rowell.  She and I are of similar age, and we are both married with 2 boys.  We both love Disney, comic books and all things "nerdy".  She may not realize this, but as far as I am concerned, she and I are imaginary BFFs. You may have heard some of the buzz surrounding her book "Eleanor and Park".  It was nominated for a handful of awards and won a few of them.  It was not her first book, but it was Rainbow's first YA (Young Adult) novel and the one that put her on the map.  She followed up "E&P" with another YA title, the critically acclaimed "Fangirl", and these titles have been book ended by contemporary adult fiction "Attachments" and "Landline", respectively. 

It sounds like a cliche, but the reason Rainbow's characters have captured so many of us is because they are real.  They aren't beautiful or sterilized.  They aren't formulaic and they don't always do or say the right things....just like you and me.  She has a knack for dialogue and conversations feel organic.  In all of that, she is still able to infuse her stories with a dream-like quality that pulls you in and reminds you of that time you fell in love.   With the real sometimes comes the ugly, and as adored as her books have been, there have also been plenty of critics, claiming that her subject matter is too profane or inappropriate for the younger audiences she targets.  I will touch on this more deeply when I review her individual titles, but I truly believe that with the rare exception, the disputed content is true to the characters she has introduced us to and is never gratuitous.  

I'm excited to tell you about Rainbow's books this month.  She is someone who is relatively new to me, and yet I knew instantly that she and I were kindred and I devoured every book she'd written. In like a week.  (The laundry may have gotten neglected that week.)  I think I'll start at the beginning, and tell you about "Attachments" this Saturday.  It's the most easily accessible, if not the most moving, of her books.  I think you'll like it.  I know I did.

The Soldier's Wife

The Soldier's Wife

It took me awhile to decide which book to review first on this blog of mine.  I wanted the book to be something I loved, something that I thought a lot of people would enjoy, and also something that was a good representation of who I am as a reader.

So let me introduce you to Vivienne.  She lives on Guernsey Island with her mother-in-law and her 2 daughters.  It is World War II, and her husband is fighting in France.  The Germans have occupied the Channel Islands, and she finds herself living next door to a house full of soldiers who are aligned with the enemy.  The story takes place over the course of 6 years, so we are given a good idea of how things evolved over the course of the war.  Nothing is left untouched.  Flower beds become vegetable gardens as food rations grow scarce.  Curtains become clothing as children grow, yet have nowhere to purchase new things.  Enemies become lovers as black and white ideals become gray.

One of my favorite things about reading is being forced to see things through the eyes of someone else's experiences.  To me, The Soldier's Wife epitomizes this.  There are choices Vivienne makes during the book that many would consider wrong, myself included.  On paper, she has committed sins of the worst kind.  She is often selfish and cowardly and finds herself in bed with a man who is not only not her husband, but is not her countryman.  She puts herself, her daughters and her mother-in-law in danger with her actions, and I found myself often frustrated with her and scared for her.  I also found myself feeling compassion for her.  I am a person who believes that morality is black and white.  Right is right and wrong is wrong.  What reading allows me to do, however, is to realize that while morality is black and white, humanity isn't.  We are flawed creatures who are often put in no-win circumstances, and while wrong choices should never be endorsed, they can be understood.  Understanding then breeds compassion.  I like to think I wouldn't have made some of the decisions Vivienne made.  Yet again, I've never lived on an occupied island during a war without my husband.  So I can't really say.

There are some choices Vivienne makes that are nothing short of heroic.  I don't want to spoil this book for those of you who will go on to read it, but you will meet a man named Kirill.  His circumstances and the relationships we see him form will haunt you and change you.  He brings out the best in our protagonist and you will love her for it.

The Soldier's Wife is a tale of war, and the complexities it creates in our lives.  It is a history lesson, introducing you to the Channel Islands and their desperate attempts to keep hope alive when it appeared that England had forsaken them.  And it is a tale of love.  Love for country, love for family and love for your enemy.  Read it.

**On the recommendation of a friend, I am going to add a bit of a "rating system" to my book reviews.  I have many friends who love to read, but want to be aware before opening a book of any potential language, violence and sex.  Everyone's standards are different for what they want to read, so I will give these ratings with total neutrality.  They are simply for information's sake.**

I would rate this book a PG-13.  There is nothing salacious in this book, but there are some intimate scenes and the implication of many more.  The subject matter is sometimes controversial and sometimes difficult to swallow.  

A Confession

I can't stand reading Dickens.

There.  I said it.

I want to write a blog about books, but I have never been able to get all the way through any of the stories penned by one of the most famous, if not THE most famous author in history.  I've tried.  In high school, in my 20's and even within the last 6 months.  I keep thinking I must be missing something.  He is considered nothing short of a literary genius among so many, and yet I can't stand him.  

So what business do I have starting a blog about books?

Certainly my disdain for the Dickensian canon disqualifies me from being any sort of an authority on what is and is not quality reading material, right?

Probably.  But I'm going to blog about books anyway.  

A lot of the books I write about on this blog aren't going to earn you any credibility among the scholarly or the snobbish.  They will, however, earn you lots of credibility among your girlfriends over a glass of wine or with your co-workers around the water cooler.  I am not a fancy reader.  I will read the classics (not Dickens), yet I will read bestsellers and I will also read the latest YA rage.  Whatever sounds good.  What I hope I get to do is then let you know how I felt about those books, and maybe help you pick out your next beach read (or your next "sneak a few pages while the kids are doing their homework" read).  

If you don't understand the hype around Dickens....or even if you do...welcome to my blog.  Lets read together.