Room

by Emma Donoghue
published: Little Brown and Company, 2010
pages: 321

Jack and Ma have always been in Room.  They eat and play and work and watch TV in Room.  Jack has all he needs and all there is is Room.  Occasionally Old Nick will come at night, but Jack has never seen him because Ma won't let him.  Then one day Ma and Jack have a chance to escape, but will they escape and what will happen if they do.

I've been on the fence about reading this book for ages, and I picked it up because it was my book club book for the month.  I was overwhelmed by it.

This book covers a very sensitive and traumatic topic.  Never in a million years would I wish kidnapping on anyone, and hearing the events of the story from a 5-year-olds point of view make me that much more uncomfortable.  He literally knows nothing but the room he was born in and he has trouble comprehending the world outside.  He doesn't understand why his mother would want to leave the room either.  It's heartbreaking and increasingly troubling to read.  Frankly, it got a bit annoying and irritating as well.

One thing I did enjoy about the book is that it deals with the aftermath of captivity.  Very rarely does a book talk about what happens after the escape/rescue/tragedy/loss.  Half of this book is devoted to that, to the reentry of the characters into the world and how the world responds to them.  Ma and Jack aren't normal, they don't come from a normal situation but to be treated as celebrities because of something terrible is strange.  There is so much insight to dealing with life after and the healing process for both Jack and his Ma.

If this hadn't been my book club book for the month, I probably wouldn't have finished this book.  I wanted to like this book.  I wanted to be moved by this book, but I just wasn't. The movie adaptation is coming out fairly soon, but honestly, I'm not sure I want to see it.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"Talented, versatile Donoghue relates a searing tale of survival and recovery, in the voice of a five-year-old boy..."
     -Kirkus Review

"The stars are in perfect alignment for Emma Donoghue's new novel, Room....And the topic couldn't be more provacative."
     -USA Today

"...little has been written about the pain of re-entry, and Donoghue's bravado in investigating that potentially terrifying transformation grants the novel a frightening resonance that will keep readers rapt."
     -Publisher's Weekly

A 2015 Full House Challenge book. 
An Ultimate Teen Reads Challenge book.

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls

by David Sedaris
published: Little Brown and Company, 2013
pages: 275

David Sedaris writes about his life in narratives from childhood into adulthood.  He explores his life and what it means to be a part of a family, to love and be loved in return.  Also, owls.

Most of these stories are his, however, there are a couple that he has written from someone else's point of view.  It's rather confusing because I sometimes couldn't tell which ones were his stories and which ones he was making up.  He did warn us at the beginning of the book, but I kind of wish he hadn't included those stories.

There is a great deal of humor in this book, some that I even appreciate, but it was much darker than I anticipated it.  I had people tell me that Sedaris books are great and that I should read them.  Maybe I just chose the wrong Sedaris book.

Some of the narratives in this book are insanely interesting, if not a little morbid.  I enjoyed reading the one about the Kookaburra and the one about the passport was interesting too.  However, I found myself skimming stories near the end of the book because I just wanted to be done reading.

There is no denying this book is well written.  It's vivid, entertaining and the humor is evident.  However, I just did not get into this book as much as I wanted to.  It's not to say that someone else shouldn't read it.  I would gladly recommend this book to someone who has similar humor to David Sedaris writing style, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"Wickedly deadpan prose.... Even the most mundane experience is described through the skewed prism of Sedaris's unusual sensibility."
     ---Sarah Lyall, New York Times

"Sedaris is still the funniest guy around, hilarious enough to make you want to call your friends, book in hand, and read pieces out loud."
     --Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press

"Sedaris ain't the preeminent humorist of his generation by accident, and his reluctant charm and talent for observing every inch of the human condition remain intact."
     --Whitney Pastorek, Entertainment Weekly

The Summer We Read Gatsby

by Danielle Ganek
published: Viking, 2010
pages: 304

When Aunt Lydia dies and leaves her beautiful old house in the Hamptons to her two nieces, they must decide what to do with the house.  These women have nothing in common other than a shared father; Cassie grew up traveling in Europe and Peck grew up in New York.  Now, their Aunt is forcing them to spend time together in the place where they shared their summers growing up.

This book was entertaining and engaging but the writing itself felt very immature.  The women in this book are in their late 20s, early 30s but the writing felt more they were much younger than that or much older.  Either way they are traipsing around as if they have nothing more to do than talk trash about people and spending money they don't have.  The biggest plot twist in this book should have been common sense.  I definitely saw it coming and I thought it was crazy that they didn't suggest it to begin with.

The characters personalities were entertaining, especially, Peck. Her ostentatious personality and over the top certainty was quite annoying but slowly became endearing through out the story.  I found myself enjoying her less than witty banter and her dedication to her friends and family.  However, my favorite character Hamilton.  

Danielle Ganek had plenty of potential with this book, but it just didn't translate well as I wished it would.  The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books and I love the idea of using the book as a center piece but the parallels just weren't my cup of tea.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"What a charming book!  Danielle Ganek's The Summer We Read Gatsby is a fully engrossing page turner filled with delightful characters and sumptuous details about one perfect July in the Hamptons.  Like summer itself, this bewitching novel will leave you half in love and yearning for more."
     --Elin Hilderbrand, author of Barefoot

"Even though many of the novel's revelations can be seen a mile away, getting there is a fun, witty, and surprisingly moving trip."
     --Publisher's Weekly

An Eclectic Reader 2014 Challenge book. 

Island of the Blue Dolphins

by Scott O'Dell
Published: Yearling
pages: 184

Karana lived on an island her tribe named for the blue dolphins that circle it.  She lived in happy seclusion from the rest of the world until one day some Russian hunters came for otter pelts.  She suddenly finds herself alone on this island, waiting for someone to find her and take her away from the loneliness.  In that time, she learns the ins and out of the island she's called home and discovers what it means to be herself.

The writing in this book is very well done.  The narrator starts as a 12 year old, and grows as she tells her story.  The writing grows with her.  It's as though we are actually in the mind of this girl.  Even though we don't understand her language, we get her thoughts as though we did.  She describes some animals and people in her language, which is cool because as the reader we have to decipher what exactly she is talking about.

This book is very well written and it gets into the mind of a young girl growing up on her own.  However, the story itself didn't keep my attention for very long.  I didn't read more than 20 pages each time I sat down to read.  This book took me a lot long than it should have given the length.

I do appreciate that there was a section in the back of the book that explained where the story came from.  I was surprised to find out that that this story was a recreation of actual events.  Even though there is very little information about the actual woman that lived on an island by herself for 18 years, her story is intriguing.  Had I known this was based on a true story, I might have enjoyed the book more.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"A haunting and unusual story."
     --Library Journal, Starred

"Strange and beautiful, revealing courage, serenity, and greatness of spirit."
     --The Horn Book Magazine

"Island of the Blue Dolphins has the timeless enduring quality of a classic."
     --Chicago Tribune

Nevermore

by James Patterson

Published: Little Brown and Company, 2012
Pages: 368

This is an Eclectic Reader Challenge book!

Max and company are back in the final installment of the Maximum Ride series.  All is well for the group as they try to be normal kids, that go to normal school. But what happens when The Voice, tells everyone that they have specific jobs to help protect Max and save the world.  All hell is about to break loose and Max is the only one that can save us all, or can she?

To be perfectly honest, I did not have very high expectations going into this book.  I wasn't a huge fan of the last couple books in this series, but I wanted to see how this story ended.  It left me very unsatisfied.  It was almost as though Patterson had just remembered there were questions that needed answers and he started scrambling to answer them without taking the time to make the answers make sense.

As for the characters, they continue to be my favorite part of these books.  Even though the love triangle between Dylan, Max and Fang irritated me, I really did enjoy Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy and Angel.  I thought of all the characters these four were most interesting, in fact they seemed to be the only ones that stayed in character throughout the series.  We still got the craziness of these kids in their own environment, at their best.

By the end of this novel, I was so frustrated with the answers we were given these questions: who/what The Voice was, how was Max supposed to save the world, are Fang and Max going to finally get together, why was Dylan even introduced. ect.

I was looking forward to a strong ending with questions answered.  It was quite unfortunate that this series didn't end better.  That being said, I am still sad to see this series end.  The bird kids have taken me from middle school into adulthood.  I enjoyed seeing how their stories end, even if I didn't like the way it ended.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:
"This book...has all the characteristics of [James Patterson's] work for grown-ups: pace, action, mystery and cool.... This skilled and compulsive take is so involving...and it proves that girls can be tough, too."
               --London Times, "Children's Book of the Week," July 3, 2005

"The key to Maximum Ride's success may be that it incorporates concepts familiar to young people....  What  makes these characters so appealing is that they have wings and can fly... Another plus: the book has a feel of a video game.... Fights and flights are nonstop in Maximum Ride.  The writing is visual and cinematic-things that kids expect from their video games, TV cartoon shows, and action movie."
               --USA Today

Where It Began

by Ann Redisch Stampler
Published: Simon Pulse, 2012
pages: 369

When Gabby wakes up next to her boyfriend, Billy Nash's, totaled BMW, she has no knowledge of how she got there, what happened or even her own name.  She is fine to keep everything as it was before the crash, the girlfriend of the most popular guy in school. Gabby has to start finding out the truth but is it really what she wants to hear?  It takes her best friends to show her what's really going on.

I was not immediately enthralled with this book mostly because the Gabby was so blindly ignoring the obvious.  Her character is so infuriating, it's no wonder I wasn't apart of this crowd in high school.  Although, I have to think if I had been apart of this crowd in high school, I may done some of the same things Gabby did.  Despite all this, Ann Redisch Stampler gets into the mind of Gabby extremely well.  I actually believe a teenaged girl is telling me her thoughts.

The humor throughout this book is chuckle worthy.  The SAT words springing up every once in a while and the sarcastic remarks about colleges made me laugh on more than one occasion.  The wit that Ann Redisch Stampler writes with is amusing and wonderful.  I really enjoyed the sarcastic side of Gabby.

Although the book started a little slow, I was quickly sucked into the world of Gabby and her new popular friends.  I found that I couldn't put this book down.  I had to see if Gabby would continue to stay in her own little world, or if she would find out what happened the night of the car crash. 

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"A terrific read!  Ann Redisch Stampler puts you in Gabby's head and keeps you there until the griping conclusion.  A writer to watch!"
                - Alex Flinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beastly

"Unputdownable!"
                - Jenny Han, bestselling author of the Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding
Published: Pedigree Books edition, 1970
pages: 202

This is an Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge book!

This review has SPOILERS!

This is the worlds worst book, parable if you will.  It left me highly irritated and unsatisfied, also slightly depressed for the nature of society. (Not really, it was very well written.)

A group of boys gets stranded on an island and are left to find food and shelter.  The boys elect a leader, Ralph, who was determined to find a way off the island and back to England.  Along with Piggy, he tried to keep the boys safe and in order.  Ralph, determined to get off the island, he commands that a fire be built and sustained so that passing ships will see it.  For a while this works but Jack, the boy in charge of the hunters, gets restless and decides that he should have been the leader.  This is reaffirmed after he successfully catches and kills his first wild hog.  When the group of boys splits in two, most going with Jack, nothing but animosity between the boys is left.

William Golding does not neatly skirt around his opinions of the true nature of humanity.  He does not baby or hold the reader's hand.  He lets you fall deep into the most horrifying and ultimately distressful story of good and evil. Each character seems to symbolize a different characteristic like common sense, knowledge, violence, spirituality, and evil.  It is not immediately evident who symbolizes what, but the reader can quickly draw conclusions through the characters actions.  For example, Ralph symbolizes common sense because he is so adamant about keeping the fire going, which is the only way they would get off the island.  Anyone with self-preservation or common sense would realize that the fire was their best chance of being rescued.  Also, Jack symbolizes violence.  As the new chief and the leader of the hunters, he is wild and blood thirsty, always craving to kill more hogs.

Ralph and Piggy seem to be the only boys with enough sense to continue to strive to get off the island.  The others seem to submit to their fate.  They care less about getting off the island and more about hunting and killing.  The reenacting games are terrifyingly violent that result with two murders and one attempted.  The consequences are nonexistent because the tribe leader sees nothing wrong with it.  All of the savage ways, seem to be completely forgotten as soon as an adult steps onto the shores.  The boys become English children once again.  It's like the subconscious can erase the horror that occurs when there is no one around to monitor it.

People are inherently evil and occasionally do good things.  I absolutely do not like the fact that the subconscious goes away, essentially making everything that happened on the island okay or accidental.  No responsibility is taken and because there was no one to witness it, no one will ever take responsibility.

So it is with sadness that I cannot tell you whether I did not like this story because of it's implications or if I just did not enjoy reading it.  I guess it can be one in the same.  I wanted to like this novel, I wanted to meditate on the morals and meanings behind William Golding's tale.  Alas, consensus is: negative.

Stars: 2.5/5

Praise:

"One sees what Golding is doing. He is showing us stripped man, man naked of all the sanctions of custom and civilization, man as he is alone and in his essence, or at any rate, as he can be conceived to be in such a condition." 
     - Walter Allen

"To me Lord of the Flies has always represented what novels are for, what makes them indispensable." 
     -Stephen King