Book Review: Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

When I first started reading, I wasn't sure I would like Eleanor & Park.  I'm not necessarily a huge romance fan.  I used to be when I was in middle school and high school and refused to read much else.  Often when I read YA romances as an adult I read it and think along the lines of the teenage me. As an adult I want to roll my eyes at the pining and giggling and sunsets and all that stuff, but the teenage me would have been all over it.  I have to say that I never felt the urge to roll my eyes at anything in this book and I found that I wasn't just reading it for the teenage version of me, but for the adult version.  Rainbow Rowell has written a love story that can transcend age barriers, even though it's focused on high schoolers.

Take two teenage misfits, put them on a bus full of high school mean kids, and make them sit next to one another. Eventually they'll become friends.  Eventually they'll become more than friends.  This is the story of Eleanor and Park.  Eleanor has just moved back in with her mom, her brothers and sister, and her step dad who hates her.  She just wants to disappear, and then Park notices her.  Park's family is the opposite of Eleanor's, with two parents completely in love.  Even though he feels like a disappointment to his dad, and he is nothing like his classmates, Park has a safe place.  When he sees Eleanor, he dislikes her at first, but something about her pulls him towards her.

The dual perspective was done extremely well, keeping me equally intrigued by both characters.  Eleanor's voice comes across so strong, yet quiet at the same time as she tries to disappear when she's at home.  For Eleanor, I wanted her to be all right and I needed to know when she would truly be safe.  For Park, I wasn't so much worried for him, as I was interested in his relationship with his mother and father.

I loved the pop culture references that were woven throughout.  The story is set in the 80's and although the story isn't stuck there and inaccessible to teenagers, it definintely lives there with the Walkmans and punk music, Star Wars references, Watchman comics, and clothing choices.  I loved these little bits!

In its way, this romance is sweet and innocent, with Eleanor & Park experiencing their first real loves, but it's also not for the younger reader.  Even though there is no sex in the novel, there are some heavy make out scenes and a lot thinking about sex and touching.  It's painted as something beautiful and wonderful because they care about one another so much and at no time did I consider it gratuitous or distasteful.  I never even rolled my eyes at it for being cheesy.  Also, there is a lot of language in this novel, so be aware of that if you are considering this for a younger reader.

If you have any interest in romances, or even if you don't because they just make you roll your eyes, then I suggest giving this one a try.  Eleanor & Park will pull you in and make you want to follow both characters forever.  You'll feel like Park when he realizes how much he loves Eleanor, ready to follow her across the sky.

Book Review: This is What Happy Looks Like

This is What Happy Looks Like

Jennifer Smith

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2013

Source: borrowed from school library

Rating: 3/ 5  stars

This is What Happy Looks Like is a sweet romance.  After an accidental email turns into penpals, Ellie and Graham talk for months without having met. Then one day Graham shows up in Ellie’s town.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t go weird internet stalker on us.  Graham is a big time teen actor, and although it sounds creepy, he’s gotten his newest movie set in Ellie’s small town.  After a little mix up in identity (neither of them ever shared their real name through emails) Ellie is overwhelmed with the news that the person she’s been emailing is Graham Larkin.  She wants to let him into her life, but she has secrets to keep and the cameras and gossip that follow Graham around won’t make that easy.

LIke I said, this is sweet and innocent, making it perfect for middle school students who enjoy reading romances.  It’s exactly the kind of book I would have devoured as a middle school student.

As an adult, I would have enjoyed a little more development of Ellie’s relationship with her mom or with her best friend instead of always being focused on Graham, but then it wouldn’t be a romance, would it?  At the same time, I would have also liked Graham to be more than just this piece of eye candy, Prince Charming character.  I think there was an attempt to make him more, but it was never fully brought out.  What about his drawing?  Or possibly more about the books he’s read.  Each of these were alluded to her and developed slightly, but not much. Not only would this fill out his character and flesh out ideas from the beginning of the novel, but it would help to solidify his relationship with Ellie more.  Their relationship would be grounded in something a little more solid as they have some kind of solid ground.

Overall, I probably won’t read another Jennifer Smith novel--it's just not my type of book.  I will, however, recommend her books to some of my students who are into romance stories.   I think they would love it.

Review: Warriors

Warriors:Dawn of the Clans: The Sun Trail

by Erin Hunter

Harper

2013

Source:  I received this book from a student

Rating: ***

Let me begin by saying that it’s not every day that one of my students not only recommends a book to me, but puts it into my hands and tells me that I should really read it so I can understand what they’re talking about more.  Okay, point taken. Warriors it is.

Within the Warriors series, there are a few “sub-series.”  Dawn of the Clans is the prequel--the beginning of it all.  It shows how this group of cats traveled down from high mountains, seeking new territory and finding their place in a new land.  We follow Gray Wing as he struggles with the idea of leaving the only home he’s ever known in order to find a place with enough prey to sustain a tribe of cats.  As the cats travel down their mountain, they encounter many dangers, some of which take the lives of their friends and family.  Gray Wing and his litter mate, Clear Sky, struggle with loss and their relationship with one another as they travel and finally arrive in a place that seems peaceful and like it could be called home.

I can see how animal lovers, especially cat lovers, would really enjoy this book.  The cats have their own lives, relationships, feelings, families, and loyalties.  They converse with one another, are angry at one another, and have rifts that at times tear them apart.  It seems like this is what should bring this story together and help create characters out of these animals, however it falls short.  Not only are there so many cats (enough that I was often confused at which cat I was reading about), but their interactions with one another are somewhat contrived.  For example, when Clear Sky’s mate dies tragically, Gray Wing blames himself because he was with her.  He cannot speak with Clear Sky because he feels so guilty.  It’s obvious that Clear Sky is upset.  When they finally do speak, surprise!  Clear Sky blames himself and never even thought of blaming his brother.  There are a number of instances like this that make it difficult to read.

With all of this being said, I have to remind myself that this is written with a younger audience in mind.  My students love this series, like I said before.  I, on the other hand, am not as thrilled with it.  The dialogue is often unbelievable (perhaps because cats don’t speak in reality) and it seemed like the story just repeated itself.  They hunt, they eat, they walk.  They hunt, they eat, they walk.  There was an awful lot of description of the hunting and what they ate, which makes sense because what else does a cat do?  In between the hunting and eating and walking there were episodes of suspense and fighting or running for their lives.  There are times of discovery and awe as the cats see something for the very first time.  There are even times of discussion among the cats, although those were mostly during hunting or eating or walking.

My suggestion is to skip this book, unless you are a kid who loves cats.  In that case, you’ll probably love this book and hearing about all the crazy cat things they do.  You might even compare them to your own cat.

Book Review: Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Darkness

by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Little, Brown and Company

2011

Rating: **

Warning:  There are some minor spoilers--nothing big, and honestly I think it’s obvious, but just in case, stop after the second paragraph!

As the second in a series, I don’t have a lot of hope for later books.  Beautiful Darkness was rather difficult for me to muddle through.  We follow Ethan Wate again as his pines after Lena Duchannes, the Caster whose ultimate choice in Light or Dark will determine The Order of Things.  Now, Lena is mourning the death of her beloved uncle and pushing Ethan away as she becomes closer with her already Dark cousin Ridley, and new boy in town, John Breed.  He has to figure out a way to convince her that she still has a choice in her own life, that it’s not too late, but only if she’ll stop running from him.

Ethan spends most of this books on a quest to find Lena.  He’s following her.  He’s having visions of her and John Breed.  He’s going to save her.  He is her only hope.  Commence the eye rolling.  The amount of time spent searching and wondering about Lena could have been spent actually moving the story forward.  There were snippets of time when something truly interesting was happening, and the at the end things finally started moving, but overall, I felt like this journey to find Lena must have taken them weeks--months even.  It was dragged out so much that it felt like it took me months.

In addition to the new boy that Lena has taken up with, a new girl arrives in town--Liv, a Keeper In Training.  It gave me a little hope that maybe the book would take a twist and Ethan would find some happiness with her and just stop moping around and trying to save someone who could just make her own decision if she wasn’t such a wuss.  Liv is more interesting than Lena.  I wanted to know more about her and I didn’t understand why Ethan wouldn’t have made that decision as well.

I haven’t decided if I will read the next book in the series, Beautiful Chaos.  The only thing that would really convince to me read it is if Liv is also there.  I want more of her.  I care about her more than I care about the others, but from what it felt like at the end, I’m doubting she has much of a role--if any--in the next book.   

Book Review: The Fever

The Fever

By Megan Abbott

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

June 2014

Stars: *

I read some really great reviews on this book and put it on my to-read list fall of last year.  It sounded great.  A story about a mysterious disease that is sweeping through a school, affecting only girls.  The hysteria caused by the unknown, and the swooning, dramatic symptoms that seemingly affect all the girls in this school, but one—the one girl who finds herself at the center of all the crazy.

The girls in this book were painted to only be weak, mindless drones, content with following the latest craze; they were all sex-starved and a little crazy. It made me uncomfortable reading it—not because they were teenagers having sex.  What made me uncomfortable with this book was that, for most of the book I felt like this was a warning tale to all girls that as soon as they have sex, they’ll go crazy, the world will go crazy around them, and it’ll be their fault.  There was that underlying vibe, even if it wasn’t intended.

So putting the negative view of girls aside, the males in book aren’t much better.  The father just seems like an idiot—when it comes to understanding girls, because girls are crazy and don’t make sense as soon as they hit puberty.  The brother was also a mess—because having sex with all those girls who just appear at his door, offering themselves up to him, has finally made him feel uncomfortable.  Girls are confusing.  We’re still focusing on how girls are confusing and, underneath it all, awful because they are girls.  Let’s be honest, it’s not girls who are confusing—it’s teenagers in general!  How can they not be confusing?  They barely understand themselves and are struggling to get a firm grip on who they are, what the world means to them, and how they fit into this world.  Heck—life in general is confusing and people are confusing.  Even though blame was at one point thrown haphazardly at the boys, the girls came out looking like terrible people--because they were girls.

All in all, I was interested in finding out what started the illness in the first place, but was disappointed in  the revelation, although it was somewhat obvious (see above: negative view of crazy teenage girls, who are terrible people because they are girls).  I had been hoping I was completely off base.  I wasn’t.  The characters for the most part are flat and unbelievable, fitting nicely into clichés that help to explain part of their characters.  The worst is the father and I found myself skimming over much of his section (which was a lot).  

I don’t recommend this book to anyone and I will not be reading anymore of Meg Abbott’s work—unless you can convince me that it’s worth it.