Spring Break gave me lots of free time to read some great books this month!
(15) Unwind by Neal Shusterman
To appease escalations of war between the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the country, the military offers an option: retroactive abortion of children between the ages of 13-18. Essentially, abortion of the unborn is illegal, but children who are still unwanted or have difficulties with their families or communities by acting out are sent to a facility to “unwind” their bodies where all of their tissues are reused in individuals who pay for their new body parts. This story follows three children who have been designated for unwinding, and follows their attempt for escape from certain doom.
One of the great successes of this dystopian novel is that the pacing and mystery about this society continues throughout the entire book. I’ve noticed some dystopians, especially “Divergent,” that aren’t paced well enough to allow the reader to continue to be interested; not enough tantalizing details about this strange new world sprinkled throughout. In “Divergent,” the author lays out most of the details about the society in the first 30-50 pages, and the rest of the novel turns into a coming of age story and then oddly and abruptly, the tone shifts into a violent war story. In “Unwind” Shusterman maintained my attention even through the action scenes (which typically bore me) because he kept revealing more details about this society in which life is undervalued. It is difficult to gage whether the intention of this book is to be a pro-life or pro-choice message; I think his primary goal is to make the reader think about how we feel about children and teenagers. This was a satisfying young adult book! (Finally!)
Content Rating: Appropriate for young adults; deals with pro-life & pro-choice issues
Length: 352 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
(16) I Want It Now! By Julie Dawn Cole
This short memoir is about the life of Ms. Cole, who as a young actress was cast as Veruca Salt in the classic film: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As a huge fan of Willy Wonka, I was massively interested to read about the secrets and stories of the set of Willy Wonka. And certainly, the middle part of this memoir, devoted to retelling her experiences on set, were fascinating to an avid fan of the film. However, this book was short, and I’d say only about 30% of the length of the book was spent telling stories about the experiences on the set. About 25% of the length of the book was an index/reference section (unsure why that needed to be included), and the rest of the book talked about her life prior to and after the film. She is has lived an interesting life with her film and television career and humble beginnings, sure, but I wanted more about Willy Wonka--not about her television and fitness career. Unfortunately, the memoir seems focused on glazing over the part of the story that most people who picked up this little book would be curious to read about, and I felt disappointed that there wasn’t more funny stories and insights about the making of the film. Luckily, I didn’t pay for this novel as I got it as my free book through Amazon Prime, but I’m surprised that the publisher has the audacity for charge $10 for the kindle version and a tidy $22 for the book with a index that makes up 25% of the novel. There are many full color photographs and scans of letters and mementos from cast members, so I chose to read this on my kindle fire rather than my kindle.
Happily, I was amused that the “Snozzberry” wallpaper had been flavored with jam. I’d always wondered what the actors tasted as they licked that wallpaper.
Content Rating: Nothing
Length: 252 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Version (Amazon Prime Free Book)
Genre: Non-fiction film memoir
(17) The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
A young woman’s reflection on the life of her recently deceased grandfather is told here through her work dispensing vaccines to orphaned children. She retells two tall-tale stories that were told to her by her grandfather about the tiger’s wife and the deathless man. My interest in this novel stemmed from the fact it was on some of the “Best of 2011” lists and Amazon kept recommending it to me. The cover looked interesting enough, reminded me a little of “Life of Pi” so I waited two and a half months for my kindle library version to be delivered to me. The writing in this novel by a very young author is absolutely exquisite; the story is painfully dull. I kept on reading through ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent, thinking “The writing is so good, the story has got to get better. I just need to give it more time. It’s on all these best of lists, what am I missing?” By the time I was at seventy percent, reading it was like an high school exercise with a book you’ve been assigned but have no interest in finishing. I figured, I’ve come all this way, I better finish it. Can’t comment on it negatively if I don’t finish it. So I finished it, and now I can tell you, the story here is sluggish, lacks interesting characters, and I do not recommend. Such a huge disappointment.
Content Rating: Language
Length: 352 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Family Saga Fiction
(18) The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
This book is an adult version of “Unwind.” Instead of teenagers being harvested for organs, childless adults who reach age 50 (women) and age 60 (men) are declared “dispensable individuals” and are sent to the Unit where they begin to donate kidneys, corneas, and participate in supposedly humane scientific studies until it is their turn to submit to the “final donation.” This book is about friendship, relationships, and the value of life. The tone of this story is achingly haunting and sad, and it was one that I kept thinking about days after I finished it. I think one of the most striking themes of this book is undervaluing of the single person or the non-parent. In this society, having children is the epitome of life, and if you never have the opportunity to be a parent, you have no choice but to meet your fate at the Unit. The short length of this novel was also great for proper pacing with this simple and effective story. Also, even though it is a translation from Swedish, the writing has a nice and easy to read flow to it, unlike some translations I’ve encountered. Recommend to adults.
Content Rating: Sexuality, language, adult themes
Length: 272 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Adult Dystopia
(19) The Maze Runner by James Dashner
A 16-year old boy wakes up in a box, his only memory is his name. He finds himself living among a group of boys with the goal of finding a way out of the area they appear to be stuck in. The only apparent exit is a giant maze whose walls shift and change every night, guarded by strange robotic creatures. This book will easily become classic dystopia along with The Hunger Games. Students warned me, and I agree, that the very beginning is a little slow. Rather than using traditional swear words, Dashner develops his own euphemistic swear words which I felt brought authenticity to the speech of teenage boys. However, it takes a little getting used to, but after awhile you realize, oh, that word is supposed to be THAT, and then the dialogue flows better. It reminds me of the use “frack” in Battlestar Galactica, which at first sounded silly, but now that I’m four seasons in, I do think it does give more edge to the series without actually having to listen to real language. This book is mostly fast paced, dynamic characters (reminds me of Lord of the Flies, slightly) with an interesting cliff-hanger ending. My only complaint I really have is that I felt the only female character is the book is under-utilized in the story, but I definitely got the feeling that this book was written for a male audience. Another great young adult dystopia I feel I can actually recommend!Content Rating: Appropriate for young adults, euphemistic language
Length: 400 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
(20) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
With a curious writing style, this is a story about the desperate survival of a father and son set within a muted horror novel. Little explanation is provided about how the country fell apart and why most of the human population has died, but this isn’t a dystopian novel trying to warn its audience about where we could be headed to if we don’t watch ourselves and values; the post-apocalyptic world is merely a vehicle to tell a story about father and son. This is mostly a survival tale in a land that is falling apart. Most of this dismal story is about the father and boy’s search for food and warmth. Some parts are slow, but the pacing allows you feel their hunger, fear and their frostbitten, bloody and mangled feet. I recommend, but there are some graphically violent images conjured up by the text that may be bothersome to some people.
Content Rating: Violent images, small amount of language
Length: 287 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Adult dystopia/survival story
(21) The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
The City of Ember is meant for 5th-7th graders, so I had low expectations when I started. It was found on best dystopian novels lists on GoodReads, so I requested it from Overdrive. I was surprised at how good the story development was--fast paced, immersive setting, quick and to the point storytelling. Unlike some books for kids, I felt the story was easily accessible by adults; they wouldn’t feel that it was too juvenile. I do think the character development was a little shallow; but for a short kids chapter book that was okay. There are several sequels, and although I had both the second and third checked out, I never got to them before they were due.
Content Rating: Appropriate for children
Length: 270 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Children’s Dystopian
(22) Matilda by Roald DahlMatilda is one of my favorite children’s books, and I look forward to reading it to Lotte one day. I kept having a craving for re-reading this story, so I revisited it this month. I remember being a ten year old, laying on my parent’s couch and devouring this book over and over in one sitting. As an adult, I was extremely impressed with the humor; I kept giggling aloud and reading parts to Greg that were especially absurd. The artwork adds so much to the story as well; the story would not be the same without Quentin Blake’s silly drawings. I do feel it starts stronger than it ends--the beginning part that tells the story of Matilda traveling by herself to the library and loving the classics (as a four year old) is the strongest part of the story. If you had an awful childhood because you missed out on reading Matilda, then it is one you should pick up.
Content Rating: Appropriate for children
Length: 240 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Children’s Fiction
(23) The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
I waited so long on the library hold list for this book! Having read (and loved) the Virgin Suicides and Middlesex by Eugenides, I was excited to see his new book on the “Best of 2011” book lists. The protagonist is a graduating college student trying to navigate her love life and future after college. I felt she was very relatable; took me back to being a college student at Scripps. Some reviews I read stated that they felt the book was pretentious due to the frequent literary references, but I wonder if those reviewers had been in a rigorous humanities or core program in college where you do read those types of works. Following her graduation, the story takes a turn to examine mental health and relationships. Examines questions like: When do you walk away from a relationship when your partner is not healthy? Do you sacrifice yourself for others? For me, this was an immersive, engaging and enjoyable read. It was also great to read something that wasn’t a young adult book!
Content Rating: Sexuality and language
Length: 416 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Adult Fiction
(24) The Scorch Trials by James DashnerThis is the second novel in the Maze Runner trilogy, and for all the reasons I liked the Maze Runner, this book unfortunately lacked. The Maze Runner’s story focused on mystery and decoding the maze, so as a reader your interest is high because you want to know how these boys are going to find their way out of their puzzling enigma. The second installment does not have the same level of mystery, and so it ends up being a book about boys walking across the desert, running into predicaments. There is an underdeveloped and strange love triangle mixed in the story, which felt out of place. No more questions are answered, and are left for the third book. I suppose I’ll read the third book to get my questions answered, but I was disappointed with this one.
Content Rating: Appropriate for Young Adults
Length: 384 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
(25) When the Killing’s Done by T.C. Boyle
Oooo, a book about dueling ecologists, sign me up! The obsessed PETA activist fights against the killing of invasive species on islands off the coast of California. A Ph.D. works hard to protect the native species and certainly destructive from rats and pigs that have been delivered by previous sailors and visitors to the islands. This book was custom made for me. T.C. Boyle is the author of “Tortilla Curtain,” a politically charged novel about immigration, and one of my favorite books. I also read T.C. Boyle’s “Friend of the Earth,” but was disappointed with the story within that one (probably my expectations were too high). Boyle is an amazing writer--awesome with symbolism and dealing with difficult topics in an honest, frank and fair way. I recommend this one if you have an interest in ecology, animal rights or environmental issues--and not necessarily on one side of the fence or the other. I think a carnivore might enjoy this one more than a vegetarian.
Content Rating: Language & Sexuality
Length: 384 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Adult Fiction
(26) Amazing Grace: A Dog's Tale by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff
Amazing Grace is a short non-fiction story about Dye's relationship with his deaf dog Grace, and how her finicky eating habits lead him to create the Three Dog Bakery with Beckloff. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories of Gracie growing up and learning about the world with a doggy disability. I cried through the ending (it's a dog book--you know what HAS to happen in the end). I got it as the kindle special of the day for .99 cents, which was a super deal! Right now it is only $1.99 at amazon and it is well worth more than that. Content Rating: Nothing
Length: 248 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Book
Genre: Non-fiction
