To: The Society of Totally Awesome Books

Subject: For your consideration – Jaclyn Moriarty’s books

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Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books,

It is with the utmost delight that I write to you today. I have found a new-to-me author and I would like to bring Jaclyn Moriarty’s Ashbury/Brookfield books before this esteemed society to ask that these books are officially granted “Totally Awesome Books” status. Below I give a SPOILER FREE overview of the series and try to explain why I think these books should be granted the aforementioned status.

But first, a bit of background: Jaclyn Moriarty is an Australian writer of (mostly) YA novels. The books I am submitting for your consideration are known as the “Ashbury/Brookfield” series that consists of four standalone novels but which are linked by setting, narrative and a few recurring characters. The series revolve around students who attend two schools: the private, exclusive Ashbury High and the comprehensive, public Brookfield High. All fours novels are epistolary novels , i.e. written in the form of or carried on by letters, emails, journal entries and other types of writing (including essays for school).

The Ashbury/Brookfield series of novels are, in order of publication (please note the different titles and covers depending on where the novels have been published):

1- Feeling Sorry For Celia
2- Finding Cassie Crazy (AUS/UK title) or The Year of Secret Assignments (US title)
3- The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie (AUS title) or Becoming Bindy Mackenzie (UK title), or The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie (US title)
4- Dreaming of Amelia (AUS/UK title) or The Ghosts of Ashbury High (US title)

I have come to this series very late (the first book was published a good ten years ago!) and started with the latest book, Dreaming of Amelia / The Ghosts of Ashbury High :

I will have to admit that the book took me completely by surprise, and I loved it so completely, it is now one of my top 3 reads of 2010. I have written a review which I submit along with this correspondence as Attachment #1.

I LOVE epistolary novels, dear Society of Totally Awesome Books and it is a fact that one of the reasons why I loved that book so much is Jaclyn Moriarty’s complete mastery of the narrative form. When I learnt that all of her novels were in that format I went on a binge, bought all three previous novels and read them straight away and loved them all.

Take for example, Feeling Sorry for Celia:

which is a book from this girl’s, Elizabeth Clarry, perspective. Elizabeth attends Ashbury High and her new English teacher (a recurrent character throughout the series) decides that students of Ashbury and students of Brookfield must start a pen pal project, a twofold mission to rekindle the “joy of the envelope” as well as an attempt to cease hostility between the two neighbouring schools. Elizabeth’s pen pal is a girl named Christina and it is via their exchanges that we learn about both girls: how Christina’s best friends are her dog Lochie and her friend since childhood Celia, someone who keeps pulling disappearing act (the latest: she has joined a circus) and whose well-being is always at the back of Elizabeth’s mind. We also learn that Elizabeth is responsible, sporty (she loves to run), as well as being self-conscious and troubled by the fact that she might not be a typical teenager. Her narrative is interspersed by (obviously her own unconscious) communications from for example the Association of Teenagers or the Cold Hard Truth Association. We also learn that Christina is having problems with her boyfriend after they decide to have sex and that Elizabeth and her mother communicate solely by notes stuck on the refrigerator.

Feeling Sorry for Celia can be seen as a coming of age story as Elizabeth considers her relationships, the old ones with her family and her friend Celia and the new ones with Christina and a potential suitor and little by little gains self-confidence until the last letter she exchanges with the Association of Teenagers which made me jump up and down.

Hereby I present Evidence #1 for granting this series a “TAB” status:

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books, it is a fact of life that a book that makes you literally jump and down is a totally awesome book.

But that is not all. The second book in the series is Finding Cassie Crazy or The Year of Secret Assingments (don’t you prefer the original title? I know I do….) :

Which is a book that depicts the second year of the pen pal “experiment” and it is from the perspective of three girls, best friends since forever: Emily, Lydia and Cassie (all three from Ashbury) and their correspondence with three guys from Brookfield, Charlie, Seb and Mathew.

This is a book where Moriarty explores not only the difference between the two schools but also the stereotypes that surround both. I loved how all the first letters to each other, the kids are exploring, teasing, trying to establish limits at the same time that they try to go beyond them. The girls especially are awesome at calling the guys out on their sexism and on the stereotyping but above all the girls are awesome, period. They are extremely loyal to one another and that loyalty comes into play when Cassie’s correspondence with Charlie goes awry (they don’t even know if he exists, at first) and their dedication to one another is incredible to behold and how Emily and Lydia (by the way, Emily and Lydia are two of the main protagonists of Ghosts of Ashbury High) want to protect Cassie and how Cassie is broken for several reasons. The book is also very romantic, probably the most romantic of the bunch (but without being extra-sugary).

And then there are the secret assignments, the fight for privacy rights, the fact that the girls are strong yet vulnerable and how it all warmed my heart so much, I hugged the book.

Thus, I present Evidence #2 for granting this series a “TAB” status:

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books, when a book warms your heart so much you have to HUG it, then you know that you are reading something special and totally awesome.

And just when I thought Jaclyn Moriarty could not possibly be any more good, she gave me Bindy Mackenzie……

The third book in the series and the last one I read is: The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie, AKA Becoming Bindy Mackenzie in the UK, AKA The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie in the US (are you confused yet? Can we please agree that there is NO REASON whatsoever for three different titles for the same book?) :

Society of Totally Awesome Books, you have no IDEA how much I love Bindy Mackenzie, the character. And do you know what is the best thing about it? That Bindy Mackenzie is very possibly, the least likeable of Moriarty’s characters. The book opens as Bindy learns what some of her fellow students – from a new class called: Friendship And Development – really think about her and the opinions are not really that positive.

Cue to Bindy’s dismay. Because she truly thinks she is the best person around, the most positive, the most helpful student that ever walked Ashbury High’s corridors but through her own narrative we see that she is as a matter of fact: arrogant, judgemental, stuck up. She does honestly believe she is being kind when she is being condescending. Her next step is to stop being nice to her colleagues and to tell the truth of what she thinks about them. THEN, to realise that maybe they do have a point and THEN to start a process of deconstruction and eventual reconstruction of her own personality.

Bindy is an extremely intelligent girl, with best grades at everything, very precocious too and perhaps even a bit of a child prodigy: she wrote at the age of ten: “I’ve been struggling a bit with Ulysses by James Joyce”. She thinks that she is NOT a teenager because she can’t be bothered with regular teenage stuff. She also had a role to play in the Cassie-Charlie mystery in the previous novel and in here we see it from her point of view.

The fact that I came to care to deeply for Bindy is a testament to this writer’s insane writing skills. That this is transmitted via stuff like BOXES to keep words like REVERIE from expanding or stationary headings like: “The Philosophical Musings of Bindy Mackenzie”, “Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie” that once you learn why exactly these even exist half way through the book, I guarantee heartbreak ensue. And then dears sirs, Moriarty writes the most heartbreaking scene of them all when Bindy has a talk with her mother and I think I need a new copy of my book because this one has been irreparably lost to tears.

In this manner, I present Evidence #3 for granting this series a “TAB” status:

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books, when a book breaks your heart into tiny million pieces and you find yourself sobbing so much for a character that you didn’t even think you would like, that you nearly drowns in your own tears, only to then have the heart put back together by the incredible author then you know that you are reading a totally awesome book.

I hope I have made my case with the examples above but just to reiterate why I love these books so much:

We are taking about a series that have the most excellent female characters as its protagonists: female characters that are strong (without being kick-ass), diverse (although perhaps, one criticism I have is that they might not be as diverse as they could have been in terms of race or sexuality) and extremely complex. They are all flawed yet sympathetic in different ways, when they make serious mistakes they work to fix them; they are not afraid to say they are sorry nor are they afraid to fight when they know they are right. These girls are intelligent (although not necessarily book-smart) , they have friends whom they are loyal to and hobbies they love. When there is a romantic interest they do not become shadows of themselves. The romance works become it is part of their lives, adding to it, not by making them separate.

There is no character major or minor that is not described with great empathy by the author.

In terms of narrative, I already said how much I adore epistolary novels and how much the author is great at it. This is also because she is a master of the random that is not really random; each book has different types of correspondence and it never becomes old or repetitive because there is variety.

Epistolary novels are about perspective as well as the possibility of unreliable narrators and it needs to be taken into consideration that these characters are building letters, and depending on who is writing and whom they are addressed to, and who is going to read it, there might be not a lot of truth there. For example: an essay is going to be read by a teacher. How much truth can a student actually write when a figure of authority is going to read what they are writing? It requires a rapport from the reader and the need to read between the lines.

The books are also about revealing stereotypes and prejudice and getting past them.

These are all a bit of mystery novels too: in book 1 there is a secret about a father and a secret admirer; in book 2, is Cassie really crazy? book 3: is someone trying to kill Bindy? In book 4, are there ghosts in Ashbury High?

The books are often funny:

“I’m only writing it because of Mr Botherit. He’s our new English teacher and he seems really upset that the Art of Letter Writing is lost to the Internet generation, so he’s going to rekindle the joy of the ENVELOPE. Next he’s going to bring in a club and a sabre tooth tiger and rekindle the joy of the STONE AGE.

But also sad, with subtle ways of conveying hurt:

“The last few days I’ve been feeling like I can hear people crying everywhere. Behind the shower water I could hear a sound like someone just sobbing and sobbing.”

A series where small, random things have huge significance: like the reason for painting one’s bedroom wall, for breaking a mirror, for putting your hand in the air, for stationary paper, for words inside boxes to prevent their expansion; when one has an asthma attack; how name calling and choosing one’s name can change things, double meanings and the excessive use of exclamation points!

You will remember that the last time I contacted you was back in 2009 to forward Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen Thief’s series for “TAB” consideration and I am very grateful for your reply letting me know that they had already been granted “Totally Awesome” status ages ago. Therefore, I do appreciate the fact that I might be, once again, way late on the uptake and that you might have already granted these books “TAB” status. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised. In which case please do disregard this missive. I shall proceed now to forward a copy to your sister organisations: the Society of Author Crushes, The Society of Lovers of Epistolary Novels as well as the Association for the Appreciation of Awesome Female Characters.

You will hopefully hear from me again in the future, and I remain as always, your loyal member.

With my best regards,

Ana

Title: John Belushi is Dead (US)/ Hollywood Ending (AUS)

Author: Kathy Charles

Genre: YA/ Contemporary

Publisher: Text (AUS) / MTV (US)
Publication Date: 2009 (AUS) / August 24 2010 (US)
Paperback: 320 pages

IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out
…more IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.

Hilda and Benji’s morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank’s terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she’s come to Echo Park searching for . . . and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: ARC from MTV

Why did I read this book: The publisher contacted me and offered a review copy and after reading the blurb I thought I would like to try and read it.

Review:

Hilda and her friend Benji are a couple of teenagers who live in LA and go around visiting sites of celebrity murder and suicide. In one of these incursions, in search of the apartment in which an old Hollywood actor stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors, they end up in a rundown Echo Park apartment where an elderly, bitter man called Hank lives. Recognising his loneliness, Hilda starts visiting Hank often and sharing stories over watching old Hollywood movies and then striking yet another friendship with Hank’s neighbour, Jake. As Hilda’s friendship with both Hank and Jake develop, hers and Benji’s start to fall apart.

John Belushi is Dead is quite an interesting book, one that provided me with a fascinating journey.

Starting with Hilda and Benji’s interest in the macabre side of LA/Hollywood and its celebrities. The narrative is constructed in a very clever fashion by introducing its main characters in the middle of one of these raids and then interspersing the text with glimpses into their past. Hilda and Benji have been brought together by a fascination with death, albeit for different reasons. Hilda’s motivations are clear to herself and to the reader: the sole survivor of a horrible car crash that killed her parents, she feels like she has cheated death and is only buying her time until it catches up to her. Hilda is of course, the narrator, the main character, the one that makes it possible for the reader to connect with or possibly even relate to. Benji, on the other hand has no similar back story and his motivations are a bit shadier. Why is this important?

Because most of the book is spent on sites where death occurred or with the characters talking about death. And the author doesn’t shy away from graphic details either. I admit to feeling extremely uncomfortable reading about crimes, suicides, accidental deaths of celebrities and I felt very much like a voyeur. It felt a bit too morbid for me and very difficult to understand where these characters were coming from. We are talking about visiting sites such as where Sharon Tate died, or where James Dean’s car crashed or buying “memorabilia” such as tiles from a famous actress swimming pool.

This book brought to mind something that author John Green talked about in an event I attended recently, an analogy between mirrors and windows and how sometimes when we look at someone we are looking at a mirror and seeing ourselves or what WE expect that person to be or behave when in reality we should be looking through a window. I think that this analogy can also be applied to books and reading and how sometimes, we read excepting to find a certain story and expecting the characters to behave similarly to how we would behave when in fact, a book is a window into a different world. Although I do think that it is possible to combine both when reading: depending on how you focus your eyes, you can look into a room via a window and still be able to see your reflection. Meaning: it is, I think rather impossible to distance oneself completely when reading.

But nevertheless I was extremely aware of this analogy when reading this particular book and how it felt utterly incapable to understand what could possibly move these characters into talking about or visiting these places. What is a statement to the writer’s ability is the fact that beyond the uncomfortable feeling, there was also an element of interest. And that comes from the fact that the writer expertly handles her subject by introducing a plethora of characters with different motivations (going back to the last paragraph) and exploring the different ways that people deal with death and with Dark Tourism (which is what Benji and Hilda are effectively doing here) : from curious morbidity to exploitation, from sympathy to genuine care and remembrance.

I spoke about my journey as a reader when reading this book and this is part of it. That at the same time that the morbidity and the interest on these deaths felt wrong to me, I also had to confront the fact that I too, have done something similar before. I have visited a concentration camp in Austria; a town that has been decimated by the Plague in England; a battlefield in Scotland; and just last Sunday I was walking through a small town cemetery looking at old graves. As much as I would like to think that I did all these in remembrance and in a respectful manner, who is to say that there isn’t an element of voyeurism and morbidity? For that realisation alone, the book was well worth the read.

Having said that, as it happens with all good books that deal with death, this is a book about life and the living, and having to carry on living despite past mistakes, difficulty, loss and grief. And as the plot it builds up with darkness, Hilda starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel and a way out if it. I loved her different relationships and way of connecting with all characters: her memories from her hippy parents; her problematic dealings with her aunt who is now raising her; her budding romance with Jake; her strange, difficult relationship with Bejji and her even more difficult friendship with Hank.

The original title John Belushi is Dead when it was first published in Australia was Hollywood Ending and both the title and cover of the book are , I think, more fitting than the US ones. Not only because they point to the fact that book is dark and possibly disturbing but also the title is twofold. It refers to both that idealised, happy Hollywood Ending and to the real, it happens-too-often Hollywood Ending.

And that brings me to the ending of the book itself and how it feels disconnected to the remainder of the book. The build up is such that I believed an all-around happy Hollywood Ending would be not only impossible but also unwelcomed and unrealistic. When it does happen, it feels like a cop out. Although of course I was rooting for a good ending for Hilda, I found the Hank-ending and the Benji-ending extremely problematic.

The first because it feels like erasing a problem, and forgetting something that should not be forgotten which is ironic, given the context of the novel. The fact that Hank is allowed an ending of his own choosing is somewhat beautiful but at the same time unsettling because his past slips away and there are no repercussions (to him or to Hilda) whatsoever. The Benji-ending is an even bigger issue because throughout the entire novel , it is made very, very clear that Benji has extremely serious issues and is potentially a dangerous person. His ending is simplistic and unrealistic within the context of the novel.

Ultimately, I enjoyed John Belushi is Dead very much. It is very different from what I usually read and I appreciate it for taking me to places I didn’t even know existed – both in fiction and reality.

Notable quotes/ parts:

We watched Double Indemnity, one of my favorites, and whatever discomfort may have existed between us melted away. I was a firm believer in the unifying force of art in all its forms: a shared love for a movie, book, or song could transcend all other obstacles in a relationship. Hank reminded me of a song by Tom Waits, or a novel by John Fante. For all his cragginess, there was an underlying soulfulness, and his words floated in the air like the music of a raspy trombone or a wailing saxophone.

Rating:7 – Very Good

Reading Next: I have no idea!

Title: Freak Show

Author: James St James

Genre: YA/ Contemporary/ LGBT

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication date: May 2007 (first edition)
Paperback: 304 pages

Meet Billy Bloom, new student at the ultra-white, ultra-rich, ultra-conservative Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy and drag queen extraordinaire. Actually, “drag queen” does not begin to describe Billy and his fabulousness. Any way you slice it, Billy is not a typical seventeen-year-old, and the Bible Belles, Aberzombies, and Football Heroes at the academy have never seen anyone quite like him before. But thanks to the help and support of one good friend, Billy’s able to take a stand for outcasts and underdogs everywhere in his own outrageous, over-thetop, sad, funny, brilliant, and unique way.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Bought.

Why did I get this book: Once again, I blame it on Renay.

Review:

“Tease hair not homos!”

I am delighted with my YA reading at the moment. Yes, there were a few hurdles on the road, but you know, the obstacles only serve to help me appreciate the good books more and boy, Young Adult books are proving to be such a joy to me at the moment. And Freak Show is a bright diamond amongst other equally awesome jewels and I will just shut up with the jewellery analogy because I don’t think it is working that well.

What I want to say is: this book is FABULOUS!! with capital letters, exclamation marks and extra glitter on top. It is quite hilarious and I found myself laughing till I cried. I also found myself crying till I could cry no more. I had a similar reading experience when I recently read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie: how can a book be so hilarious at the same time that is breaking your heart?

Meet Billy Bloom: 17 year old drag queen who just moved from liberal Connecticut to ubber conservative Florida to live with her father after her mother decided she’s “had enough”. The book opens with her first day at high school and it gives a measure of who Billy is and how her mind works and what to expect from her narrative. She is fully aware of where she is living now and that Florida is not really the most welcoming place in the world for someone like Billy. But she is who she is. On her first day of school, out of a mixture of fear (the book opens and Billy is hiding under the sink) and a little bit of common sense, she decides to lay low and play the heterosexual role at least to start with. And this is what happens:

She dresses like a pirate (seriously) because that’s the most manly thing she can think of, tries to go for that no-makeup look that straight boys do (but perhaps just a bit of mascara, eyes shadow –because really, WHO WOULD NOTICE – and some lip gloss) and then walks into the classroom:

“Ah, biology,” I cried, and threw my hands in the air. “The Science of LIFE! Up from the primordial goo and all that! Here we stand, on the threshold of such great knowledge. Don’t you feel it? Isn’t it TOO exciting? Couldn’t you just SQUEAL?”

Of course, all hell breaks loose with the kids and much teasing and bullying ensue until things escalate to a horrible confrontation and in the aftermath of that, a more confident than ever Billy emerges. And also sweet, awesome Romance (and his love interest is the one who needs to “come out” in this story)!

This is only (I am the first to admit it) a crappy summary of the basic plot of this book. But of course, as a character-driven novel, Freak Show is much more than that.

Billy is unique, I don’t think I ever read character like that in my life and I love her. She is fantastic, dramatic, flamboyant, earnest and true. She is a boy, in case it wasn’t clear before, but because she only thinks of herself as a girl (even when mentioning erections), I shall respect her when addressing her as a “she”. I think one of the most important quotes from this book is:

gender is a choice, not a life sentence

Mind you, Billy often refuses to answer the question about her gender and whether she is gay or not. She is “gender obscurist” and this is very important to her and very clearly a perfectly legitimate choice.

But not only that: Billy’s personality comes across in the narrative itself. The book is written in a stream of consciousness manner as Billy goes along and that includes live commentary of her life and even passages of self denial with Billy going all la la la la on our asses. It is very dramatic, with constant CAPS LOCK, exclamation marks and everything in between. I love Billy’s voice and I loved how different it is, but also, how personal it is, and how it emulates exactly what goes through plot-wise: it takes a few pages to get used to Billy’s voice because it is “different” from regular narratives but when little by little details of Billy’s life are revealed to the reader – the more you read, the more intimate it all becomes and then soon enough Billy becomes a rounded character rather than a “voice” and even the things left unsaid are important.

And this, this is the most important aspect of the book to me. That Billy is UNIQUE and PROUD to be unique. And that she makes it about HER, about what she wants, what she needs and how she will live her life. There were quite a few moments of ugliness in this book that were so, so revealing as well. Billy goes through a lot of shit and the worst thing is the realisation that she goes through so much contempt, hate, violence and disgust and it is not even about HER, Billy Bloom. And that is one of the most enlightening, heartbreaking things I ever read: that bigotry it is never about the individual who is attacked, it is about conceptual ideals of what is right or wrong but alas, at the end of the day the individual, the person is the one that hurts, that suffers, and that has to go through all that. That it is so fucking personal to the one that is at the receiving end of hate but the haters can’t even be bothered to understand that and will carry on blindly hating on principle. What it’s worse? When even allies make it about them and their guilt .

WAY TO MAKE THIS STORY ABOUT YOU, DUDE.

says Billy at one point.

There is much to love about the book: Billy’s makeup lessons; his relationship with Flip and how compassionate and understanding Billy is and possibly the only person to understand the weight of outside expectations that Flip has to live with; Billy’s difficult relationship with both his parents; plus a lot of comedy, drama and HEART!

Notable Quotes/Parts:

“I’m pro-glamour and anti-khaki. I support total artistic freedom, and I’m against conservative backlashes. I intend to stamp out redneckism where I find it, and fight discrimination and Christian intolerance, using only my beauty, wit, and wig-styling skills. I’m going to try, single-handedly, to bring about an end to the hatred I’m found here at Eisenhower. … TEASE HAIR, NOT HOMOS!”

Additional Thoughts:

At one point, something REALLY bad happens to Billy and to everybody’s dismay there are no official repercussions to what happens to him. But one of the things that Billy hopes to accomplish it to start a Gay-Straight alliance at this school. I think this is really important and I thought I should add here a link to the GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students).

Verdict:I love, love this book and I adore Billy Bloom: my newest addition to my list of favourite characters.

Rating: 8 Excellent – leaning towards 9

Reading Next: Haywired by Alex Keller

Title: I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip

Author: John Donovan

Genre: YA/ Contemporary/LGBT

Publisher: Flux
Publication Date 40th anniversary edition – September 2010
Paperback: 240 pages

When the grandmother who raised him dies, Davy Ross, a lonely thirteen-year-old boy, must move to Manhattan to live with his estranged mother. Between alcohol-infused lectures about her self-sacrifice and awkward visits with his distant father, Davy’s only comfort is his beloved dachshund Fred. Things start to look up when he and a boy from school become friends. But when their relationship takes an unexpected turn, Davy struggles to understand what happened and what it might mean.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Why did I read this book: The book had been under my radar since I heard that Flux was reissuing it.

How did I get this book: ARC from BEA.

Review:

Warning: this review contains spoilers

I picked up an ARC of I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip at BEA after reading about it on their website. This edition is the 40th anniversary edition of the book, first published in 1969 and it is recognised as the first LGBT YA mainstream novel to have addressed homosexuality in a positive manner.

This edition also includes 3 interesting essays by Brent Hartinger (Geography Club), Martin Wilson (What They Always Tell Us), and Kathleen T. Horning (Director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center), with a foreword by Stacey Donovan (Dive) niece of the author. These essays provide perfective and context for when the novel was first published and its importance seems to be twofold both on YA and LGBT contexts. With regards to the former, the majority of books for children or Young Adults at the time seemed to resort to storytelling for an idealised youth, with a tendency for moral lessons and this book offers a realistic portrayal of a teenage boy. As for the latter, suffice to say that the book was published only a few months before the Stonewall Riots and at that time, homosexuality was still classified as a psychological disorder by the American Psychiatric Association and was a crime in the majority of the estates.

Important Historical context aside, what is the book about?

About Davy, a 13yo boy, whose parents divorced when he was a kid and who ended up being raised by his grandmother. The book opens in the aftermath of his grandmother’s funeral with his family fighting over what is to become of Davy and he ends up having to move to NY to live with his self-centred, unstable, alcoholic mother. Luckily for Davy, he has his Dachshund (named Fred) , who is his best pal, with him. The story progresses to include Davy’s growing attachment to his father, who also lives in NY, and to Fred, his difficult relationship with his mom; and his budding friendship with a guy from school, Douglas Altshuler, a relationship that might grow into more after the two boys share a (very tame) kiss one day and a second (fade-to-black) making out session.

The book’s strengths lie with Davy’s , keen, earnest, first person narration. From his amazing relationship with his dog, observations of life in NY, from his assessment of his mother’s personality to his friendship with Altshuler, the narrative allows for a connection with the kid, a connection that reaches its peak when

– *AND HERE LIES THE SPOILER* –

Fred, his beloved dog dies. Of course he does. Now, I am not a dog person, I am not a fan of animals in books, because more often than not, I feel that these are needlessly exploitative and usually end up in death and tears. But Fred’s death got me in such a way, I cried a lot along with Davy.

But Fred’s death, I think serves as an important metaphor within the story. Because it happens after Davy and Altshuler made out twice, Davy reaches a tremendous, horrible conclusion: that it is HIS fault that Fred died and it is his punishment for doing “queer things” with Altshuler. Mind you, before Fred died, Davy didn’t really think a lot about their kisses. To him it was just something that happened and he tells himself:

“It’s not dirty , or anything like that. It’s all right, isn’t it?”

The fact the he doesn’t think, he doesn’t feel that it is something dirty is positive in itself as it comes from inside. To me, then, Fred’s death and its ensuing conflict present Davy with external conflict, forces that are beyond his control: the downright negative view of homosexuality from the world the lives in. It is a wakeup call that inasmuch he is ok with the way he feels, the outside world may not be, after all being queer at that time, is a crime, is “wrong”. Fred’s death marks the moment in which Davy quits being a child, and enters adulthood and examines his feelings for Altshuler in light of what happened. It is a struggle, it comes with guilt, and his mother’s homophobia doesn’t help. But even though Davy lost his best friend and ally – yes, ally because Fred LOVED Altshuler as well, he is not alone. The most surprising conversation in the book happens between Davy and his father who proves to be open and reassuringly understanding. And of course, the talk between Davy and Altshuler when a very firm, self-confident Altshuler tells him to get a grip, Fred’s death is not his fault and

“Go ahead and feel guilty if you want to. I don’t.”

The book ends with a conversation with Altshuler and regardless of what happens next, they agree to at the very least respect each other and remain friends. Whether they become a couple is open for interpretation and it doesn’t really matter, they are only 13 after all. But the title to me is a clue: Davy will get there, to a positive place of self-acceptance which Altshuler seems to have already reached. And the trip will not be an easy one: friends will leave; his mother will not accept it but he has allies, he is not alone and in the end, it will be worth it. And I think it is awesome, that such a positive, intelligent book for Young Adults was written AND published when it was. That alone, makes the book way worth reading.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Davy and his father:

“Then Father talks a lot about how hysterical people sometimes get when they discover that other people aren’t just what they are expected to be. He tells me there are Republicans who are always secretly disappointed when friends turn out to be Democrats, and Catholics who would like their friends to be Catholic, and so forth. He says that such people are narrow-minded he believes, and funny, too, unless they become hysterical about getting everyone to be just alike. Then they are dangerous. They become religious bigots, super-patriots, super-anti-patriots, and do I understand? I tell him I think I do, but can’t people learn to understand other people? He thinks they can, but only if they want to.

Verdict: A groundbreaking novel for Young Adults and historical context aside, a pretty good one too. Well written, bittersweet and with flawed, realistic characters. I loved it.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Freak Show by James St James

Title:My Most Excellent Year

Author: Steve Kluger

Genre: YA: Contemporary, LGBT

Publisher: Speak
Publication date: February 2009
Paperback: 416 pages

Best friends and unofficial brothers since they were six, ninth-graders T.C. and Augie have got the world figured out. But that all changes when both …more Best friends and unofficial brothers since they were six, ninth-graders T.C. and Augie have got the world figured out. But that all changes when both friends fall in love for the first time. Enter Ale. She’s pretty, sassy, and on her way to Harvard. T.C. falls hard, but Ale is playing hard to get. Meanwhile, Augie realizes that he’s got a crush on a boy. It’s not so clear to him, but to his family and friends, it’s totally obvious! Told in alternating perspectives, this is the hilarious and touching story of their most excellent year, where these three friends discover love, themselves, and how a little magic and Mary Poppins can go a long way.

Stand alone or series:: Stand Alone

How did I get this book: Bought.

Why did I read this book: Because of this review.

Review:

I blame it on Renay. When she wrote about My Most Excellent Year she said:

it is unflinchingly, over the top, with-no-shame-whatsoever the happiest book in the world. Ain’t nothing but blue skies.

She had me at hello. And she was right too: My Most Excellent Year is an extremely happy book. Like ponies and rainbows and butterflies in a field of dreams, happy. And it has so many elements that I LOVE like the fact that it is an epistolary novel with romance and theatre and musicals and Mary Poppins and romance and kissing and I really loved it and hugged the book once I was finished and will treasure it like I treasure beautiful fairytales.

I reviewed The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty a couple of days ago and I talked about how much I love epistolary novels and it is funny (and most excellent) how both books follow a similar format with both being written as school assignments. In this case, three kids: Augie, Alejandra and T.C. writing about their most excellent year which was their freshmen year of high school in letter format as well as having IM convos, emails between all of the involved (including their parents), theatre reviews clippings from Augie’s mom.

T.C. addresses his letter to his late mother. She died when he was six and that when he became best friends with Augie. They became such good friends that they decided that they are in fact brothers and have been ever since. Both their families adopted each other too and T.C has a room at Augie’s and calls his parents Mom and Dad and Augie has a room at T.C.,’s and calls his dad pop. T.C.’s narrative covers his relationship with his dad, his love for baseball especially the Red Sox, and his love for his brother and his new found feelings for a girl named Alejandra. Then he befriends a small deaf kid who lives in an orphanage.

Alejandra is Mexican, daughter of an ambassador and her families have Big Plans for her but really Alejandra just wants to act and dance more than anything but she thinks her family would never allow that. She might be falling for T.C. but she thinks he is too cocky and perfect. Her letters are addressed to Jacqueline Kennedy and Alejandra is an incredibly interesting, strong-willed female character.

Augie is Chinese – American, plays soccer and loves all things about theatre. He is dramatic and loud and AWESOME, AUGIE I LOVE YOU. He addresses his letter to several Hollywood divas and when he starts to develop a crush on another boy named Andy Wexler, he realises that he is gay, a fact that doesn’t surprise anyone, not even his father who had been waiting for him to realise that so that they could talk about it. And that is quite possibly my favourite thing about the book: that there is never a “coming out” for Augie.

One day he realises he is gay, and that is it. It is ok and it is a fact that is respected by everybody. His conflict is just a regular love story – does he love me, does he not love me, more importantly, does he love me the way I am? – and it is great, you guys, and when they first kiss it is hilarious and awesome. To put things into perfective, Alejandra has a harder time coming as a theatre-lover. Part of me thought that perhaps this was too wishful thinking, that having Augie not finding any problem whatsoever at school for example is not really realistic. But then I thought about this great article that Malinda Lo wrote for John Scalzi’s Big Idea blog about her own book Ash:

That allowed me to write Ash as a fairy tale, not a coming-out story. That means that Ash only has to fall in love. When her love interest is another woman, it’s just as wonderful as it would be if she fell in love with a man.

I’m guessing that most if not all LGBT people understand that this is the true fairy tale: the idea that you could fall in love with someone of the same sex and only know the dizzying feeling of falling in love — untarnished by any of society’s disapproval. And you know what? Gay people need fairy tales, too.

I love that and that is exactly what My Most Excellent Year proposes.

But Augie’s story is only but a part of the book and there are many other things to love about it. All the theatre references including reviews by Augie’s mom in which she criticises several well loved musicals and they made me think so much and review things I never thought about. Or how the story is also about perception. There is a very telling story that is recounted by both Augie and T.C. about how one day T.C. showed up at school with his shirt inside out and then all kids did the same. For Augie it showed how much T.C. was a leader whereas T.C. thought the kids were making fun of him . All of the relationships are incredible too especially the one between Augie and T.C. and never once did I not think that they were NOT brothers. There is so much love and acceptance in this novel and about choosing who you love rather than that being determined simply by biology.

Where the novel fails slightly for me is in the relationship between T.C. and Hucky, the small kid he befriends. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is beautiful and it certainly goes back to T.C. own childhood and how Augie helped him get through his mom’s death but there are certain aspects of that relationship that are too fantastical ( I am not going to spoil) and too much of a stretch. Plus, everybody is so perfect and nice. The kids, the parents, teachers, students, even *gasps* older brothers and although this certainly infuses the novel with a lever of heart-warmth that is hard not to succumb to it also sort of undermines the entire point of Augie’s storyline – because his fairytale is within the realm of possibility one day, but the others aren’t because as Jack Lemon once said: nobody is perfect.

Having said that, there is so much diversity and awesomeness about this book that it is really hard to be even slightly critical of it. I loved it and there is only one thing left to be said about it. My Most Excellent Year is well:

Most excellent, dudes. Approved by Bill and Ted

Notable Quotes/Parts: A letter from Augie’s father to T.C.’s father:

The Word Shop
Brookline’s Favorite Bookstore
E-Memo from the Desk of Craig Hwong

Hey Teddy,

You know you’ve earned your wings as a father when you drop by your kid’s bedroom to kiss him good night and on your way out of the door he stops you cold with “Dad? Is love supposed to hurt?” I’m not sure if there’s an easy answer to that particular riddle (yes, I am – there isn’t), but hearing that question from my son is the reason I wanted to be a parent in the first place. How did he know?

(…)

All he really needed to hear was that he’s not the first kid who’s had to go through this. (Isn’t that usually what it takes?) by the time I came back from the bathroom with his glass of water, he was already out like a light. And while I was tucking him in, I realised that we’d never had the “I’m gay” conversation. Has this generation finally made it superfluous? If only.

Additional Thoughts: Augie has a website! It is hilarious and full of cool things to check out (and links to Ale’s and T.C.’s too).

Augie’s stats:

Status: In a relationship. His name’s Andy. His eyes don’t match any color in the spectrum, so we think he invented Andy Blue.

Here for: Friends and anybody who can tell me in ten words or less WHY Alanis Morissette stopped touring. She was my entire life for three
weeks. Now I’m SO over her.

Orientation: Gay. Normally you can only go as high as a Kinsey 6, but they gave me an 8.

Hometown: Brookline, Massachusetts

Body type: 5′7″ and athletic: soccer, swimming, and track
(which really means cutoffs, Speedos, and white shorts—when you got it baby, flaunt it)

Ethnicity: Second generation Chinese American

Religion: Stephen Sondheim

Aww AUGIE!

Rating: 8 – Most Excellent!

Reading Next: Hero by Perry Moore

Title: The Ghosts of Ashbury High (US)/ Dreaming of Amelia

Author: Jaclyn Moriarty

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (US) / Macmillan Children’s Books (UK)
Publication Date: June 2010 / April 2010
Paperback:(UK) 400 pages / HC (US): 496 pages

This is the story of Amelia and Riley, bad kids from bad Brookfield High who have transferred to Ashbury High for their final year. They’ve been in love since they were fourteen, they go out dancing every night, and sleep through school all day. And Ashbury can’t get enough of them.

Everyone’s trying to get their attention; even teachers are dressing differently, trying to make their classes more interesting. Everyone wants to be cooler, tougher, funnier, hoping to be invited into their cool, self-contained world.

But they don’t know that all Amelia can think about is her past — an idyllic time before she ran away from home. Riley thinks he’s losing her to the past, maybe even to a place further back in time. He turns to the students of Ashbury for help, and things get much, much worse.

Stand alone or series: It is part of a series of books set at Ashbury High/Brookfield schools but can be read as a stand alone.

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: It called to me. Honestly. I had not read any reviews, nor any of this author’s previous books. I saw the cover and the title and IT WAS LIKE DESTINY CALLING MY NAME.

Review:

It was a dark and stormy night (when I started reading The Ghosts of Ashbury High). The rain fell torrentially and the trees outside rattled against my window occasionally. The house was silent and I was all alone. The lights in the street were out and I was reading by candlelight (ok, not really, but just go with the flow…). Reader! Hear the truth of my words! I had a strong sense of foreboding and a feeling of impending DOOM right after the first few pages and I felt I could faint at any moment.

And why, do you ask? The ghosts?, were you scared of the ghosts? Yes, Ghosts!!!! I say. I was too scared of the ghosts but no!!!! That sense of impending doom came upon the realisation that this book is INCREDIBLE and that I would have to go and buy Jaclyn Moriarty’s entire backlist, even if that made me bankrupt!! Even if I had to walk the miles to the bookstore in that DARK AND STORMY NIGHT!!!!!!

You know, gothically speaking.

It is the last year of High School for the students at Ashbury High and most of the story takes places during an HSC (High School Certificate in Australia) English exam on the topic of, yes, you guessed right, Gothic Fiction. The students have been asked to write a personal memoir which explores the dynamics of first impressions, drawing on their knowledge of gothic fiction. Thus, the majority of The Ghosts of Ashbury High’s narrative is via that exam question but also with letters, minutes from the school boards’ meetings, IM transcripts, blog entries (another assignment: write about Your Journey Home) interspersed throughout. Most of them alternate between the same four kids’ writings: Riley, Emily, Lydia and Toby and it mostly involves Riley and…Amelia.

“The first time I saw her I knew that my Amelia was a ghost”

Riley

Riley and Amelia are new at Ashbury High, a private school for rich and privileged kids, recently transferred from the neighbouring Brookfield public school on scholarships. From the get go Riley and Amelia take over everybody’s imagination with their aloofness, their mysterious comings and goings and their complete, obsessive involvement with each other at the expense of everybody else. Soon, they are excelling at everything: swimming, essay writing, arts. But there is just something not quite right about these two kids…….

I love epistolary novels. I LOVE them, in fact one of my all time favourite books is Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White. Jaclyn Moriarty made me remember why exactly I love this form of narrative with this excellent novel. Starting with infusing these letters and essays with so much character and voice that it would be easy to recognise which of the characters is writing what even if it wasn’t stated at the beginning of each part. The mysterious, dark Riley; the reliable, deep Toby; the almost serious yet spoiled Lydia; the drama queen Emily.

“It was the first day of Year 12.I had set out that morning with trepidation. I did not, in all honesty, see a crow, a raven, or any other black bird on the way to school that day. And yet! I was trepidatious.”

Emily

BUT!!!!!

Those are first impressions dear readers. Because this book is terminally clever: as the kids write their memoirs and starting with their first impressions of Riley and Amelia, we, as readers, are doing the same with the kids. And by the end of the book, none of them are left standing – within the book or within the reader.

It starts very, very light, hilarious even with each of them writing in what they think a Gothic narrative should be (complete with excess of exclamation points!!!!) and because of that, the reader never knows if what we are reading is true or not. Yes, epistolary narrative always has a degree of unreliability because we are wholly dependent on whoever is writing and whether they have chosen to write the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

BUT!!!!!

Even what a narrator chose to leave out of its narrative is important. And because there are four distinct narrators, a certain degree of truthfulness always end up making its way into the story. Sometimes they narrate the same event even, from such a completely discrepant point of view and yet both have got to be true somehow.

“There was the first time I saw this exam question. It happened just now. (…) my first impression of this question is that it sucks. Nothing has happened so far to change my mind.”

Lydia

As the story gains momentum and the plot thickens, I could not turn the pages faster. The story is almost like a farce, definitely gothic (ghosts!), a lot of comedy and so much heartbreak and character growth that I don’t even know how or when it happened but all of a sudden I am not reading the book I thought I was reading when I first set out.

This is a story about rich kids, poor kids, how their surroundings influence and the parenting that each has, shaped their present and possibly the future. About the opportunities the State and life give them (or not), and about abuse and about turning a blind eye to abuse and how adults sometimes suck so much (I could sucker punch the school’s principal if I could after a conversation he has with Emily) and how friendship and resilience and smarts can help with changing things.

BUT!!!!

That is not all. Somehow in the middle of it, Moriarty manages to go all historical as Toby’s narrative is actually him telling a story of an Irish convict who is sent to Australia when it was still a penal colony. Tom Kindaid’s story intermingles with the other narratives and is as interesting as the rest of it all.

“I have just noticed that the exam question asks for a personal memoir. So you want to hear from me – Toby Mazzerati – not some Irish convict dude named Tom Kinkaid who lived here in 1804. Hence, please disregard the above, and I will start my answer now.Thanks for your time”

Toby

And also: BLACK HOLES!!!!

And if you think for a moment that all of this is too much, please trust me when I say this. It is not! I can’t stress that enough!!!! With extra exclamation points!!! It is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE that I get this point across!!!!!! All is flawlessly linked and you only realise that in the EXTRAORDINARY ending when every.Single.Plot.Line comes together and my head exploded (gothically speaking) with the sheer brilliance of this book.

It is imaginative, poignant, heart-warming AND heartbreaking. Hilarious too.

PLUS!!!!

It has awesome GIRLS. Who talk to each other about many, many things other than boys. Although boys are involved and for example, the romance between Lydia and Seb which we see happening via Emily’s narrative (because she is a “student of love”), is amazing. But not as amazing as the girls themselves and how smart, talented yet flawed they are and what they will do for each other and how afraid they are of the future because this is what this book is all about: the future and how to get there and how terrifying that moment between the end of your teenage years and the beginning of your adult life is.

Above all though, this is a book about second chances (for everybody. And I do mean, EVERY SOUL) and how without them there is NO future.

I can’t think of a single thing that does not work in this book and I loved it with every bit of my being (brain and heart!) and I re-read it before writing this review and still it managed to evoke this feeling of greatness and warmth and it is awesome and I URGE you to go and read it. Your life may depend on it!!!!! You know, gothically speaking.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

There was also the first time I saw them. It happened in roll call, the first day of the year.

He had a pair of swimming goggles slung over his shoulder. She
had bloodshot eyes. He sat on the window ledge, facing the room.
She turned and pressed her forehead to the glass to look out.
They were talking to each other.

I remember he called her Ame. Like aim. Like a command. And I
thought that her bloodshot eyes were looking out the window for a
target.

I remember she called him Riley, like his name could not be touched.

They both had wet hair, only hers was brushed back into a long
ponytail. From behind, I could see that the ponytail was leaking:

Thin watershadows formed on her school shirt.

As I watched, he rubbed his hands over his head. He was friendly
and rough with his head, as if it were a dog. Now his hair stood up in
spikes.

And then something happened.

She reached a hand toward him and he reached his hand toward
her, but his eyes found the eyes of strangers in the room. Their hands
almost touched but did not.

I saw cobwebs in the slender, empty space between those hands.

* * *
Later, at lunch, I told my friends about them.

“There’s two new people,” I said — and a storm rattled the windows
of the room.

I said they’d been together for years. I said they were swimmers. I
said they trained every day, and that swimming was her passion but he
went along just to swim beside her. I said she had a secret that was
breaking his heart.

Everything I said was based on my impression of Amelia and Riley
at the window in the classroom.

But nothing has happened so far to change my mind.

Additional Thoughts

Jaclyn Moriarty has written three other books in The Ashbury/Brookfield series – all of them epistolary novels, be still my heart:

The first (which I already read and it is GREAT too) is:

Life is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and her communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the “Joy of the Envelope,” a Complete and Utter Stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else.

But Elizabeth is on the verge of some major changes. She may lose her best friend, find a wonderful new friend, kiss the sexiest guy alive, and run in a marathon. So much can happen in the time it takes to write a letter…

The second one, also has different titles in the US and UK/Australia

When Lydia, Emily, and Cassie are assigned pen pals among the thugs at Brookfield High, they respond in characteristic style:

Cassie: “I always think it’s funny when a teacher tries to be cool. I want to sit them down and say ‘It’s okay, you’re a grown-up, you’re allowed to be a nerd,’ and they will look up at me confused but also relieved and teary-eyed.”

Lydia: “I am a fish. You wouldn’t think so to look at me, what with my uniform and the hair on top of my head and all that. But it’s true. I am a fish.”

Emily: “Don’t get me started about chocolate! My nickname might be ‘Em,’ but sometimes it’s also Toblerone! I think this is an angiogram of Thompson, which is my last name.”

And their pen-pals? Sebastian is an artist, a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, and a major hottie. Charlie is utterly gullible, a car expert/occasional thief, and a really sweet guy. But Matthew is…well, he’s either a psychopath or a figment of Cassie’s imagination, neither of which is a good sign. And what starts out as a simple letter exchange leads to secret assignments, false alarms, lock picking, legal drama, mistaken identities, Dates with Girls, and all-out war between the schools . . . the biggest challenge Lydia, Cass, and Emily’s friendship has ever faced.

And the third:

The Motive
Bindy Mackenzie is the most perfect girl at Ashbury High. She scores in the 99.9th percentile in all her classes. She holds lunchtime advisory sessions for her fellow students. She keeps careful transcripts of everything said around her. And she has been Kmart casual Employee of the Month for seventeen months straight.
No wonder somebody wants to kill her.

The Suspects
Bindy is horrified to learn she must take part in the Friendship And Development Project – a new class meant to provide a “life raft” through “the tricky seas of adolescence.” Bindy can’t see how airheaded Emily Thompson, absentminded Elizabeth Clarry, mouthy Toby Mazzerati, malicious Astrid Bexonville, silent Briony Atkins, narcissistic Sergio Saba and handsome, enigmatic Finnegon Blonde could ever possibly help her.
(Well, maybe Finnegan could.)

The Crime
But then Bindy’s perfect life begins to fall apart. She develops an obsession with the word “Cincinnati.” She can’t stop feeling sleepy. She fails an exam for the first time ever. And – worst of all – she just doesn’t care.
What could be the cause of all these strange events? Is it conspiracy? Is it madness? Is it . . . murder?

The Truth
Lots of people hate Bindy Mackenzie – but who would actually kill her? The answer is in Bindy’s transcripts. The detectives are the members of her FAD group. But Bindy has made every one of them into an enemy . . . and time is running out.

I shall read them all and review them soon.

What about you: are you a fan of her books? Which one is your favourite. And WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT HER BOOKS BEFORE?

Verdict: The Ghosts of Ashbury High is stupendous. Engaging, clever narrative and with the amazing characters. The plot itself doesn’t let go and the ending is….perfect. Straight into my top 10 of 2010 it goes.

Rating: 10. TEN!!! It is as perfect as only an Ana-Book could ever be.

Reading Next: My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

Title: The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie / Art by Ellen Forney

Genre: YA/ Contemporary

Publisher: Little, Brown (US)/Andersen Press (UK)
Publication Date: Re-print April 2009 (US)/ June 2008 (UK)
Paperback: 288 pages

Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author’s own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character’s art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Bought.

Why did I read this book: It has been recommended to me by many people. All the rave reviews. All the awards it won. Neil Gaiman.

Review: I know I am reading a good book when it simultaneously breaks my heart into tiny million pieces and makes me laugh as the pieces are put together – over and over again. The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian is one such book. I heard only good, awesome things about it, about the many awards it won and the Neil Gaiman quote on the cover only helped me picking it up. But I was not prepared for what I found and I don’t think anyone could ever be prepared for it. The book was first published in the US back in 2007 and is a first person, semi-autobiographical account of Arnold Spirit, Jr’s life as a Spokane Indian living in the Reservation with his family, and his ultimate decision of going to an all-white school just outside the rez in search for a chance to have a future. It is filled with hope to its brim even as hope is something that Indians are not supposed to have.

The heartbreaking starts on page 1 as Junior starts telling his story about being born with “water in his brain” and the resulting physical damage: ranging from over-sized head, hands and feet, bad eyesight to seizures, stuttering and lisping. Being a child with all the aforementioned is bad enough but you can just about get away with being “cute” but being a 14 year old teenage boy is unbearable. Especially when you are bullied, constantly beaten up (careful with the head!) and called a “retard”.

Junior also has forty-two teeth – ten more than normal, and if I thought my heart was breaking on page 1, it was on page 2 that I truly learnt the meaning of a heart shattered with RAGE:

I went to the Indian Health Service to get some teeth pulled so I could eat normally, not like some slobbering vulture. But the Indian Health Service funded major dental work only once a year, so I had to have all ten extra teeth pulled in one day. And what’s more, our white dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much pain as white people did, so he only gave me half the Novocain.

And it continues. Junior is dirty poor, his father is an alcoholic, as are most Indians in the reservation; no one looks into the future, his sister has been living in their basement for years. He is constantly threatened with physical damage by bullies (some of them, ADULTS) . His best friend is his dog Oscar who has to be put down by his father because they can’t afford to take him to the vet when he gets sick. It is not all sadness though, he does have a best non-canine friend in Rowdy, another teen whom he has been friends with since childhood, his grandmother and his drawings. You see, Junior loves to read and draw comics and wants to be a cartoonist one day:

I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.

His cartoons are inserted throughout the narrative and complement it perfectly sometimes being the much needed funny break to what is being described.

What is most impressive about the narrative: that all of the horrible, tragic, things that happen to Junior don’t ever come across as being there merely for shock value or drama. The worst (or the best part?) is how it comes across as natural, as normal, as you know, things that happen. Shrug, shrug move on. The style is as though you are deep in conversation with your best friend who might as well be telling you how he went to the grocery store to buy a bottle of milk. That is in itself genius: not only because the reading flows but also because the narrative itself is part of the story. As though Junior, in narrating the story in such an easy way has assimilated the one idea that might bring him down and has brought down his family and ancestors. That Indians are good for nothing and deserve what they have. Over and over again, Junior will say something that will show how ingrained the self-loathing is, only to try and get pass that. This, as much as facing racial problems, poverty is perhaps Junior’s most important challenge. I get a sense of purpose in the storytelling.

And how does Junior start breaking the vicious circle though? It starts this one day at school when he is given a new book except the book is not new -it belonged to his own mother. Filled with sense of foreboding, Junior throws the book and it hits his teacher. In the aftermath, the same teacher impresses upon Junior the need for him to GET AWAY. He enrols at the all-white school and he is the only Indian attending it, if you don’t count their mascot. Surprisingly, he has a harder time with his fellow Indians back at the Rez for making this decision than he has with the white kids. He soon makes friends, joins the basketball team and even gets a white girlfriend. But these things don’t come easy, there is guilt, violence, heartbreak as Rowdy won’t have anything to do with him anymore and a reality that keeps dragging him down but Junior? Junior will not give up.

This is a story about identity too: Junior is at once part of his tribe and not a part of his tribe and the way that struggle is handled is superb. I thought that the fact that the ideas are never shorthanded to Indians = Good (the poor Victims) and Whites=Bad (Ultimate Evil). In fact, I think one of my favourite quotes in the book is and the one I shall use to close the review:

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,” I said. “By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not”.

Notable Quotes/Parts: I love this quote with all my heart because it is filled with TRUTH:

But we reservation Indians don’t get to realise our dreams. We don’t get those chances. Or choices. We’re just poor. That’s all we are.

It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that somehow one deserves to be poor. You start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because you’re Indian. And because you’re Indian you start believing you’re destined to be poor. It’s an ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.

Additional Thoughts: This video is part Sherman Alexie reading from the book, a part that is HILARIOUS in which Junior and his geeky white friend talk about how books and reading give them boners. Then, he answers questions and talk about YA authors are welcoming and made of awesome.

Verdict: The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian is unique, raw, funny as hell. A triumph in storytelling, filled with heartbreak but also so much warmth and I can’t recommend it enough.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next:The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty

Title: 8th Grade Super Zero

Author: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic
Publication date: January 1st 2010
Hardcover: 272 pages

For middle schooler Reggie McKnight, being called “Pukey” is the least of his problems. School elections are coming up, but he’s as far away from being school President as he is from shutting down his enemy Donovan or meeting up with the beautiful Mialonie. His friends Ruthie and Joe C. have his back, but let’s face it: Reggie can only be a superhero on the pages of his graphic novel, Night Man.

Then Reggie gets involved with a local homeless shelter, the Olive Branch. Haunted by two of the clients there — George, a once proud man now living on the streets, and five-year-old Charlie, who becomes his official “Little Buddy” — he begins to think about making a difference, both in the world and at school. Pukey for President? It can happen…if he starts believing.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Bought.

Why did I read this book: Basically because people whose opinions I admire and trust told me to. Like, Aja Romano. And Ari. And Karen Healey.

Review: When writing about 8th Grade Super Zero author Karen Healey opens her post with:

The next time someone tries to tell me that YA is all insignificant puerile kids stuff, I’m going to beat them with this book until they read it, and THEN, they will cry.

This line is what prompted me to pick the book up and it is also the line I would love to have come up with myself. Because it is made of TRUTH.

Reggie “Pukey” McKnight had the worst first day of school ever known to an 8th grader (his nickname is a clue) and has been trying to lay low ever since, hanging out with his friend Joe C and writing his comic book Night Man. But life happens around Reggie and he simply can’t pretend that it doesn’t.

Back home, his father is unemployed, his mother is carrying the family by herself. Even though the situation is not dire yet, there is always this fear hanging over Reggie’s head that they might lose everything one day. This sense of impending doom grows even more once he starts visiting a local shelter – the Olive Branch- for homeless people as part of a Youth Group’s oral history assignment in which he must interview the residents. It doesn’t help that Charlie, his “little brother” from a school program, lives there. At school, the elections for school president are coming up and Reggie reluctantly signs up as the manager of another kid’s campaign. And always, at the back of his mind, there lies his best friend Ruthie (awesome, incredible, made of win Ruthie) who is this revolutionary kid always remembering him about the big picture.

8th Grade Super Zero is Reggie’s coming of age story and all of the aforementioned elements are flawlessly combined never once becoming “too much” because the book is centred around its characters and their relationship with each other and with the world. The thing is, for a book that deals with potentially loaded subjects such as poverty, racism, religion, activism, these very same topics are not heavy handed at all. For example, Reggie and Joe C’s relationship; Reggie is black (of Jamaican descent) and Joe is white and it is in the way that people around them react when they see together and how Reggie perceives their reaction and reacts himself (sometimes by taking a step away from Joe C) that racism is incorporated in the story. It is subtle yet extremely powerful and significant.

This is a very quiet and reflective book and it invites the reader the same way that it invites Reggie to pay attention. The first part of the book, before Reggie decides to run for president (think globally, act locally) is this long walk in which Reggie follows his homeless friend George’s advice to look at the world around him and question things. Similarly, Reggie is part a Youth Group at the church and I can’t even begin to tell you how much these meetings were awesome. Sometimes religion is so heavily incorporated into a story and the outcome is this preachy-like environment that I do not appreciate. Not here. Reggie and his friends are once again stimulated into discussing and questioning God, faith, everything. In one such meeting the leader of the group, Dave is wearing this Malcom X t-shirt that says :

Think: it ain’t illegal yet!

that basically sums up the idea, the feeling that permeates the story itself. Reggie thinks, analyses, makes mistakes, falls downs, picks himself up and carries on, over and over again. And all of that whilst still being your typical teenage boy feeling insecure, thinking about girls, having silly fights with his big sister, reading comics, teasing his friends.

His relationship with his father and mother are awesome – finally, present parents who talk with their kids – as is the one with Ruthie. As I said before, that girl is an amazing character and I LOVE how all of them make mistakes but also say “I am sorry” with an easiness that is great to behold.

You guys, this book is funny too, and poignant, and just…so very good. And the ending left me with a huge smile on my face (big heavy sigh of contentment). For now, i am just going to sit here and wait for the shower of awards that will sure fall on this book. I will then smile a wise smile and nod my head and say: I totally knew it.

Notable Quotes/Parts: There is this scene between Reggie and his little buddy Charlie, where Reggje is navigating the murky waters of trying to teach a 5 year old life lessons, that I loved:

“I don’t know why I have to apologise to Anndalisa. She’s always mean to me!”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” I say automaticcally.

“But…when that boy was saying mean things to you, you said mean things back, and it was COOL!” he says. “And everybody was laughing at him, not you.” He takes a deep breath. “Anndalisa always says mean things to me, and everybody laughs. But today they laughed at her.”

“But Charlie,” I say, “how do you feel when people laugh at you?”

Good. Classic turnaround stuff. Ruthie would be proud.

“Bad!” he says, like I’m not as smart as he thought I was.

“So do you want to make someone else feel bad?” Hey, I am pretty good at this.

“Yeah!” he crows. “Especially Anndalisa!”

And there is also how Reggie’s dad presents him with a book of poetry by Black poets and of of his favourites is this one by Gwendolyn Brooks:

Speech to the Young : Speech to the Progress-Toward

Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
“even if you are not ready for day
it cannot always be night.”
You will be right.
For that is the hard home-run.

Live not for battles won.
Live not for the-end-of-the-song.
Live in the along.

Also, the Dora Shoes. The ending. The talk between Ruthie and Reggie on page 261. The ending.

Additional Thoughts: check out this great video narrated by the author about what inspired her to write this story:

Verdict: A poignant and funny story of boy trying to make things right in the world – with a little help from his friends. I can’t believe this is Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich’s debut and what a debut it is. Highly recommended.

Rating: 8 Excellent leaning towards a 9

Reading Next: The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Title: Dark Goddess

Author: Sarwat Chadda

Genre: YA/Fantasy (Contemporary)

Publisher: Puffin/ Disney (US)
Publication Date: July 1 2010 / October 2010 (US)
Paperback: 384 pages

After the death of her soulmate Kay by her very own sword, Billi SanGreal has thrown herself into the brutal regime of Templar duties with utter abandon. There is no room for feelings any more – her life is now about hunting down the Unholy. But when Billi and another Knight Templar are caught at the heart of a savage werewolf attack, only Billi survives – except for a young girl at the scene who Billi unthinkingly drags away with her as they escape. But Vasalisa is no ordinary girl. She is an avatar with an uncontrollable power – and it’s not only the werewolves who want her. Billi has to flee to the frosty climes of Russia, with a human timebomb who, it seems, could destroy the world . . .

THE DARK GODDESS will take Billi to Russia to rescue Vasalisa, a young girl Billi’s promised to protect. To save her, Billi must defeat the werewolves that serve the witch Baba Yaga – and the Dark Goddess herself.

Baba Yaga is sickened by the destruction and corruption humanity has spread across the natural world. She recognises mankind has become a plague upon the Earth, and her duty is clear: to cleanse the planet and rid it of the pestilence of Man. Billi is sent to stop her, but does she have the right?

Betrayed and alone, Billi faces a final mighty battle in the abandoned ruins of Chernobyl.

Stand alone or series: book two in the Billi Sangreal series

How did I get this book: Bought.

Why did I read this book: I recently attended an event at the book store Foyles, where the author talked his writing, his research and I was sold after that and bought the book on the spot.

Review:

Dark Goddess is the sequel to Devil’s Kiss. In the first book, Billi SanGreal becomes the first ever female Knight Templar, following on the footsteps of her father. Her calling is not one that come easy as the life of a Templar is not all ponies and rainbows as evidenced by the sacrifices she has to make, including killing her best friend (and potential love interest) Kay to save the world (vibes of Buffy – season two finale here).

In Dark Goddess, it’s been three months since those events and Billi is still struggling with her feelings and trying to deal with her grief by throwing herself into the fray and shutting her heart out. The book opens with a bang and an excellent fight sequence against a group of werewolves who are after a small girl. Her family is entirely decimated and Billi just about escapes with the child – Vasilisa. Turns out, Vasilisa has the potential to be the next Oracle for the order but her budding powers prove to be exactly what the werewolf pack need to appease their Goddess. When Vasilisa is kidnapped and taken to Russian, the crazy action pacing increases as the Templars must face the werewolves and the Dark Goddess, also known as Baba Yaga or Mother Russia herself and thwart her plan to rid the world of humans. But they have the help of a local religious/military order who is led by a descendant of the Romanovs whose son, Prince Ivan becomes a close ally to Billi but not before some bickering.

First and foremost, something needs to be said about Billi: what an incredible teen character. It is easy to relate to her and to feel for her, from her difficult relationship with her ruthless, removed father to her constant musings about duty. She is strong and a fighter but also vulnerable especially when having to make choices. I find it incredibly compelling that she has to go through the same conflict as before: when the time comes will she kill someone she loves to save the world?

Another fascinating aspect (and something that worried me before I started the book) is how the religious aspect would be played out. The author opted for an interesting twist and basically removed the religious aspects from the Knights Templar by replacing their historical enemies with a new one, the Unholy: werewolves, vampires and other assorted dark creatures. But if the Templars are no longer a religious order per se, religion still plays a role but possibly not how I expected. The Knights do believe in God and hope to be doing his will but that does not necessarily mean that ONE religion is the right one. In fact, Billi’s mother was muslin for example and Billi at one point asks herself:

She could pray in Latin, Greek, English and Arabic. She knew the direction of Mecca and the psalms. Did God really care?

This balance is also applied to the characters and central storyline: most of the former are presented in a grey light and the latter, with Baba Yaga trying to remove humans from the equation is rooted in what we, as a race have brought to our own world. The horror of plot, which is truly terrifying, comes from partly realizing that hey, perhaps the witch has a point.

The Russian setting is unique and it seems to be well-researched (I saw the author speaking about his trip to Russian) including the incorporation of the Baby Yaga myth.

Also extremely vivid and well-paced are the fight sequences with a myriad of different weapons. This is a bloody and dark tale with a dash of romance on the side although Billi’s feelings for Ivan develop perhaps a bit too fast considering both their surroundings and current predicament and her very recent history with Kay.

I really enjoyed Dark Goddess and will definitely be following more of Billi Sangreal’s adventures as a teenage Templar Knight.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

The Rottweiler’s head lay in a bush, just off the snow-sprinkled path. One eye was gone, leaving a blood-encrusted socket. Its tongue hung out stupidly from a broken jaw. The body was a few metres further, its chest carved open so the ribs stuck out of the skin like a row of gruesome lollipops.

Billi covered her face with her sleeve. The cold night air was fresh with January frost, but the corpse stank of
spilt intestines. The dog was, had been, brutishly big, but its size had not saved it from being torn apart.
‘Well?’ asked Pelleas as he searched further along the path, scanning the ground with his torch.
They were on the edge of the woods, spiny trees to one side and a low hedge bordering a white-coated field to the other. The dense snow clouds of the day had lifted, leaving the velvet-black sky hazy with starlight and the crescent moon. The sky over London never looked like this – vast and fathomless.

Billi snapped off a twig and used it to bind her long, black hair in a loose bun. She leaned over the corpse,
directing her torch at the wounds. She’d seen the pictures of the other slaughtered victims, but the artificial eye of the lens had made them seem remote, fake even. This was sickeningly real. She poked at the body with a stick and grimaced as semi-congealed blood oozed from the gaping tears. They hadn’t been made with knives – that much was obvious.

They’d been made with claws.

Without touching, Billi spread her hand carefully over the line of the wounds. Five ragged talons had been
dragged through the dog’s guts. Judging by the width of the wounds, the beast was big. ‘Definitely a Loony,’ she said. Pelleas peered over his shoulder. ‘You mean “were-wolf”, of course.’

‘Of course.’

Additional Thoughts: The author wrote an article about writing Dark Goddess including links to several quite interesting guest posts in other blogs including:

1. Why research trips are always good. Or ‘Sarwat’s excuse to go to Russia’.
2. Why Conan the Barbarian is a 21st Century feminist icon.
3. The baddest of the bad bad-ass heroines through history. Or ‘where Billi SanGreal came from’. 4. Why Pride and Prejudice would have been so much better with elephants.
5. Tragic romance.
6. Supernatural horror.
7. Swordfights. Lots of swordfights.
8. Why your mother should read Dark Goddess.

Verdict: An interesting twist on the Knights Templar’s stories with a compelling female character in Billi and a vivid setting make this book a great read. I really enjoyed it.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: 8th Grade Super Zero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Welcome to Day 1 of our Young Adult Appreciation Month ( July 18 to August 21). For the duration of the month we will be celebrating all things YA with loads of reviews, giveaways and guest posts by YA authors.

Today is dedicated to Romance. I chose to review Beastly by Alex Flinn and Forget You by Jennifer Echols together because the two books have a couple of things in common on top of being contemporary romances: they are both heartwarming, quick reads and all four protagonists have fathers who deserve the Worst Parent of the Year Award. And regardless of a few misgivings, I enjoyed both books a great deal.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: October 2007
Hardcover: 304 pages

How did I get this book: A present from a friend.

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.

Review:

I must have been living under a rock or something because I only heard about Beastly a few weeks ago when a friend gave it to me and told me it was about to become a movie. I saw the trailer and decided I had to read the book pronto. And here we are.

Beastly is another retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in contemporary NY and entirely from the beast’s point of view which makes it, as far as I can tell, unique amongst the tale’s retellings.

Kyle Kingsbury, our beast du jour, has it all: money, looks, popularity, friends and a hot girlfriend. He is also a jerk. His latest dastardly move is to lead on and invite a weird girl named Kendra to a dance only to humiliate her in front of everybody. Big mistake. Kendra is a modern-day witch and she curses Kyle to become a beast – to look as awful on the outside as he is inside. But because Kyle does this one kind thing on the night of the dance (he gives a rose to the girl selling tickets at the door) , the witch gives him a way out: he has two years to break the curse which can only be broken by a kiss from someone that loves him but only if he truly loves this someone back.

Kyle’s reaction to the curse is to first laugh it off (come on, magic? Witch? As if, it must be a dream) then to despair. His father believes he has a disease and takes him to the best doctors available but they can only be mystified and their verdict is that there is nothing to be done. Kyle’s father then decides that no one can know about his son’s “condition” and promptly dispatches him to a house in Brooklyn where he will live with a maid and a blind tutor where he will eventually learn to become a better person.

The best thing about the book is Kyle’s transformation and this insight about the Beast of the story is great. From being an egotistical jerk to realising that there is more to life than looks and popularity, the first part of the book – or the first year of the curse – follows Kyle and his slow transformation. It shows his uneasy, terrible relationship with an absent father; his despair and depression that he might be a beast forever and even feeble attempts to find someone to love online; his eventual acceptance that there might not have a way out and then the beginnings of a new life. Forming a true, believable relationship with his maid and with his tutor; studying and reading and paying attention to the world around him. This transformation is so profound that he even chances his name to Adrian.

Until one day, hope blossoms . A thief tries to break into his house and upon being caught by Kyle, ends up offering his own daughter Lindy to the beast on lieu of being sent to prison. Kyle accepts the offer. Lindy of course, turns out to be the girl he gave the rose at the beginning of the story to and he hopes she will love him one day. The relationship is difficult to start with because Lindy is effectively a prisoner and she hates being trapped. But they soon forge a friendship when they start to read and study together and Kyle falls in love hard but will Lindy love him back?

I liked that from the beast’s point of view, he does feel terrible about it all, at the same time that he sees no other way, perhaps this is his only chance to break the curse. We all know that the Beast eventually lets Lindy go and it is her choice to return for him. The same happens here but I felt that Lindy was less of a believable character and it is this second part that proves slightly problematic to me and somewhat diminished my enjoyment of the novel. I found that Lindy was too easy in forgiving Kyle/Adrian for ruining her life. Yes, so he rescued her from a life with a horrible father (who gave her away at the first sign of trouble) but still he made her a prisoner, made her lose her chance of getting a scholarship to college, something that was her one and only chance of getting away from her horrible life with her dad.

Furthermore Lindy is presented as being the ultimate good heroine: a martyr for her father, always taking care of him even when he beats her up and extremely naïve and innocence. There is one scene in particular when Kyle/Adrian takes her to the countryside to see the snow. Lindy’s reaction is that of a child, asking after only a couple of hours driving if they were “still in the USA”. Really? The girl is presented as a smart, intelligent, studious girl in the 21st century and she doesn’t know that there are OMG, mountains in the US? This is something that makes me angry, because it sounds as though a person cannot be “good” without being pathetically innocent. That somehow put the two in different level and makes it less of a believable romance in the end. This is why I think the movie seems to be promising: the trailer shows Lindy in a much more interesting light with a bit more of personality.

Still, fun is to be had as I enjoyed to read the story from the Beast’s point of view. And there are these really fun additions peppered throughout the novel of the “Unexpected Changes” chat group that Kyle attends online where he chats with other teenaged fairytale characters that are undergoing changes like the Little Mermaid (who is considering a transformation,) and froggy (who thinks he will never find a princess to kiss him) that were really creative.

Rating:6 – Good. Recommended with reservations

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Publisher: MTV
Publication Date: July 20th 2010
Paperback: 293 pages

How did I get this book: an ARC from the author

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER? There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.

Review:

Forget You was one of my most anticipated reads of 2010 after I loved, no, adored this author’s 2009 book, Going Too Far, a novel that made my top 10 last year. Forget You turned out to be an extremely well written story that pulled me in, even when it shouldn’t have. I devoured it like a starved reader but the end result was nowhere near as emotionally satisfying as Going Too Far. Perhaps it is not fair to compare both novels or to come to this one with such high expectations but that is how things are, to pretend that it is not so, would do me no good. And who knows, to make this plain in this review, will perhaps help to enlighten why I felt the way I felt when reading it.

The way I see it, both novels are very similar, expect when it matters the most. Both are set in small towns where the characters live under the weight of expectations, of their pasts or with the mask they wear in public. Both follow a similar pattern, with secrets being slowly revealed to the reader about who the characters are, building tension towards the ending when conflicts are resolved. But whereas in Going Too Far the conflicts (both internal and external) were believable, relatable which made caring truly and deeply for the characters an easy ride, in Forget You they seemed contrived.

Zoey is the seemly perfect girl, from a moneyed family, a good student, member of the swim team at school; she has many friends, including a popular boy named Brandon and she is in control of her life, or tries to be. But she is faced with so many things out of her control: her father leaves to start a new family with a lover and her mother tries to commit suicide, and is sent to a mental institution to recover. Her father forbids her to tell anyone about her mother but she knows that the resident bad boy Doug, whom she has a difficult relationship with, has seen them at the hospital and she doesn’t know what he will do with the information.

The only thing that Zoey still has control of is her body and on the night of her mother’s suicide attempt, she decides to sleep and lose her virginity to Brandon. It is a quick, non eventful affair but Zoey is adamant that this one night with Brandon means something and that he is her boyfriend.

A few days later, she is involved in a car crash. She wakes up the next day with a concussion and with Doug, not Brandon behaving as though they have something going on between them and no memory of it. Her father –the winner of Worst Parent Award – leaves for his honeymoon, but not before threatening Zoey with a trip to the loony bin if she keeps on “pretending” to have amnesia. What a champ. But now she needs to put the pieces together and try to remember what happened that night.

The novel starts well enough, it is easy to understand why Zoey makes the choices she makes when she makes them, she is very, very human. And I love Jennifer Echols’ writing and the greatest similarity between her two dramatic novels and a positive one at it, is indeed her prose and the construction of the novel. If I were to compare with anything it would be with an impressionist painting: with small smidges of paint or in this case details that only become whole or understandable when you look at it from afar or once it is completed.

But this story proved to be less inspiring, less challenging than I hoped for…….the romance between Doug and Zoey is sweet but their connection seemed to be based more on lust. Not that there is anything wrong with that, hell no, but since they exchange I love you’s pretty soon, it didn’t feel believable.

And that is because the conflict felt extremely excessive and contrived. Life can be messy, complicated, and full of mistakes and bad decisions, I get that. But the one thing that prevented Zoey from forming a relationship with Doug, was her insistence that she is dating Brandon: even though they don’t talk, don’t see each other, never once discussed being together AND he is seeing another girl. Denial makes it an interesting part of it all, and the reason for that denial makes sense, but since Zoey is presented as an intelligent young girl, who, as his friend, KNEW Brandon’s propensity to jump from girl to girl, it felt like it was unnecessarily prolonged. Similarly, Doug is represented as being a bad boy but I saw literally ZERO proof of this. Yes, he spent some time at juvie but that was due to his horrendous father and there is absolutely nothing that concurs with this assessment. He is a good guy through and through, even when he makes his own mistakes.

The prose, the two characters who are so human (and saddled with poor excuse of a parents) make it for an interesting, enjoyable read but one that is not as emotional and satisfying as I hoped.

Rating: 6 – Good. Recommended with reservations

AND, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HEREBY DECLARE:

THE BOOK SMUGGLERS’ YOUNG ADULT APPRECIATION MONTH OFFICIALLY OPEN.