You bear the unbearable because you have no other choice

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)

You have to know this book is setting you up to carry a heavy weight. The setting: Nazi Germany. The narrator: Death. That's all you really need to know, yes?

Liesel steals her first book at her brother's graveside. Her brother, who died beside her on a train as her mother accompanied them to a new foster home. Her father? A Communist, so who knows where he was. Liesel gets new parents, a harridan of a mother and a gentle musician father. And a new life. She learns to read, makes friends, all against the backdrop of a gathering storm, that breaks out in Poland, and then everywhere.

And then... her new Papa owes his survival in the First World War to a comrade who lost his life. He vowed to the widow that he would be there to repay the debt. And so the family finds itself sheltering a young Jewish man in the basement.

Because it's Nazi Germany, even the glimmers of joy are against a background of dread, destruction, and death. Speaking of death, the narrator helpfully softens the blow by foreshadowing much that befalls them. And yet, each time the dagger falls, it cuts. Reading this book is a devastating experience.

And yet, there are those glimmers of joy and beauty. For one, you discover that beneath the carping facade of Liesel's foster mother is a loving, giving, and strong woman. Zusak offers a plausible depiction of a town where many of the people (with a capital P if you like) do not subscribe to the policies and beliefs of the Nazis, and perform their own small acts of rebellion. Everyone was culpable, but maybe some did all they could.

All good things...

Allegiant - Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2013)

I feel like I had heard this book had a rather controversial ending. I get it - I mean, how can you [REDACTED] and not expect people to be upset? I'll admit, my suspicions ran in a different direction. As a result, I felt okay about Roth's decisions, although I suppose I will have to go look around for some press where she talks more about it.

Throughout the series, the motivating force is the desire for agency as it comes into conflict with a world that wants to use the characters as puppets. And the circles just keep expanding. Here we go outside the only world Tris has ever known, and discover that what has seemed high stakes has pretty much been child's play. Again, they have been tools in someone's grander scheme.

I find myself at a bit of loss for what else to say. I'm frustrated by the YA staple of 16 year olds being placed in positions of great authority. Um, no. (Maybe this is why it's a dystopia? :P) I wonder about the relationships, and how they would look if they were being nurtured by less apocalyptic times. And how the film will adapt the major plotlines. And what on earth was going on behind the science, which generally just made my head hurt. But it was a really fun ride, especially Divergent. I look forward to the alternative world trilogy in which the stakes stay a little smaller, and people carve out what it means to have agency and be human without overthrowing regime after regime after regime.

Shifting allegiances

Insurgent - Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2012)

So, maybe it was the fact that I read Divergent twice in one weekend, but while that book remains vivid in my mind, this one has largely flitted away in the 10 (?) days since I finished it. It was good - not as good as the first one but still - and yet I find myself unable to really write about it.

In all fairness, this may not be the book's fault. Since finishing it, I got engaged (!!!!!) and suddenly almost all my brainpower is devoted to wedding planning. I never expected to be this kind of bride ("oh, I knew you would be," says the fiancé) but here I am so I suppose it's to be expected that this book would get a little lost. Why didn't I write about it sooner?

Moving on. Tris remains pretty awesome, but she's frustrating and difficult in this novel. Maybe I'm overly attached to Four, but (spoiler alert?) a lot of the quieter drama here revolves around how poorly they communicate, and to me it seems like it's almost always her fault. We should cut her some slack though - not only is she a teenager feeling her way into a first relationship, but she's also near the epicenter of the upending of their entire society.

People (both individuals and groups) seem to switch sides pretty often, and villains get complicated. (I approve of this.) I also approve of the continued lack of love triangle, although the cheeseball in me found myself rooting for one. (I like Tris, but I also like antiheroes, and I had a whole thing happening in my head.)

I can't figure out how exactly the last one will turn out, but it's sitting on my coffee table, so if I ever manage to get off the wedding blogs, I guess I will find out.

Choosing a tribe

Divergent - Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)

I could NOT put this book down. I'm not sure whether those will prove to be empty calories, but I just wanted to be reading all the time. The day after I finished, after talking myself out of going down to the bookstore to buy Insurgent, I started it again. Lovely.

Blah blah YA dystopia. And love story. Young woman discovering she is stronger and more important than she ever imagined. So this world is a future Chicago, and society is split among five factions. At age sixteen, young people take a test that will tell them to which faction they are inclined, and then they get to choose one. That choice, determines the rest of their lives.

"Decades ago, our ancestors [...] divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray. [...] Those who blamed aggression formed Amity. [...] Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite. [...] Those who blamed duplicity created Candor. [...] Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation. [...] And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless."

Beatrice, raised in Abnegation, has her test results covered up: she is what they call Divergent, with equal inclination toward more than one faction. (Or, you know, what we call being normal and human.) This is dangerous, and she must keep it a secret. And then she chooses her faction, and ... well, you know the drill. Exciting stuff happens.

But since I'm already doing a bad job of making this book sound as compelling as I found it, let me switch to why I found it so philosophically interesting. The end matter includes an interview with the author, where she mentions that she hadn't meant to create a dystopia, and makes the (obvious but sometimes overlooked) point that dystopias arise from the utopian systems put in place to make a better world. And her utopia is a little like the world she's created here. And I get it, because how cool to be trained to really amp up your natural inclination toward friendliness, knowledge, selflessness, straight-forwardness, and courage. Except the division seems so much like the way our current society is self-segregating by politics and socioeconomic status. The latter has always been a problem, but the way we congregate so much with those who share our world view... it's dangerous. And then suddenly I was tweaking Roth's creation, and imagining a world where you rotate through the "factions," honing your abilities in each one and creating a more well-rounded personality, and interacting with people much different from you.

And since our main character is Divergent, maybe that's sort of what we'll see happen in the next two books.

BTW, I am definitely Amity, with a strong undercurrent of Erudite. Which is to say, almost exactly Beatrice's opposite.

And *there's* the love triangle

Prodigy - Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013)

Not just one triangle, but two. Or maybe more. It gets kind of complicated. But sort of more fun. Because when it's a bunch of teenagers running a rebellion against one (or more?) totalitarian regimes, you need something to remind you that they are kids and have hormones and stuff.

Day & June are recruited by the rebel Patriots, but June isn't sure that the Republic isn't trying to change from within. And then there are the Colonies, which is some sort of capitalism-gone-wild state. And the two protagonists aren't sure who they can trust, particularly whether they can trust one another.

Which is all to say: blow it all up. Let's the children take over. Easy. Done.

So what happens in the next installment?

Legend - Marie Lu (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011)

Eventually I will burn out on the YA dystopia novels. But until then....

This one is set in LA! Well, some sad future version of LA with giant lakes (from flooding) and plagues and such. And of course this is the Republic of America, fighting against the Patriots and others to the east who are making claims about how the whole land was once one united country and such.

But anyway, there are people! You've got a whole Romeo & Juliet thing. Death, lies, love, etc! All very exciting, and half of the people have crazy names.

This is pretty much the worst and most snarky sales pitch ever, but I did sincerely enjoy this book. Waiting for the next one.

Ashes ashes they all fall...

Reached - Ally Condie (Dutton Books, 2012)

Book One was just Cassia, Book Two introduced Ky's POV, so no surprise that in the final entry of the trilogy we get Cassia, Ky, and Xander. (As I was hoping for.)

Because I'm not in the mood for spoilers, there isn't a whole lot to share without giving away too much. But the rebellion against Society comes to a head, and things get out of control, and somehow -- like in all great revolutions -- three teenagers are the key to saving the world.

If you're really in it for the love triangle, which I'll admit I may have been, you may find yourself feeling a little unsatisfied. On the other hand, you get to face the exciting possibility that instead of Cassia being torn between two very different loves, both guys may decide on a future that moves on without her. [For Vampire Diaries watchers, this is akin to wanting Stefan to run off with Caroline and Damon to run off with ... well, someone, and Elena to sit around wondering how she somehow stopped being the center of attention. And don't we all kind of want that?]

Anyway, super propulsive read. I kept trying to find ways to sneak in chapters despite the fact that I spent the whole weekend running around doing other stuff. (And finishing up yet another book - post coming shortly....)

And it gets a little more complicated

Crossed - Ally Condie (Dutton Books, 2011)

I think what I liked most about this sequel to Matched is that it adds narration by Ky. This allows us to track both teens as they try both to survive and to make their way back to the other, which occasionally is pretty cute, and also stressful. But more importantly, we get inside Ky's head and learn his secrets before Cassie does. Because in addition to everything else going on, there is trouble brewing for the couple. Cassie wants to be part of the Rising; Ky has his own reasons for avoiding it. (Erin thinks that parts of this sound quite a bit  like The Hunger Games.) And while Xander only makes a brief appearance in the book, his presence is enormous. Which leads me to believe that maybe if I ever manage to get a copy of Reached, we'll get some Xander-narration too. Very exciting.

Teens love a good romantic triangle

Matched - Ally Condie (Dutton Books, 2010)

Would it even be a young adult novel without a love triangle? Which reminds me of my first young venture into romance reading. When I was younger, there was a series of YA historical fiction that always had a young woman in some interesting time/place. And against the backdrop of History, said heroine had to choose between two suitors: one stable, the other exciting. While it seemed like Mr. Exciting usually won out, Mr. Dependable got the girl often enough too.

Anyway, before I get too bogged down in wondering about the elements of a good triangle (Who is Mr. Dependable in Twilight? Jacob? Edward? Um, no.) let me move back to Condie. Love story PLUS dystopian future. And believe me, if you go on Goodreads you will read no end of opinions about the various other dystopias that helped inform Condie's world. (People get cranky on Goodreads.)

Long story short. Cassia lives in a future where the Society plans everything out for optimal results - when and whom to marry, where to live, where to work and in what profession, and more. Crazy enough, she's "matched" with someone from her area, her best friend. Except on the little microcard with his info, another face appears - and yet another guy she knows. And, like any good 17 year old, she finds herself drawn to this second, false, match. Which leads her to question everything she's ever known.

This story had its ups and downs. I wasn't crazy about Cassia or the writing. But it had enough momentum to keep me going, and I requested the second book in a hurry.

(PS - The Society relies heavily on statistics. Which I have to admit, sounds a little awesome. But even I recognize that probabilities work exactly because they are only that: probabilities.)

How we learn to be ourselves

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares (Delacorte Press, 2001)


The Second Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares (Delacorte Press, 2003)


Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares (Delacorte Press, 2005)


Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares (Delacorte Press, 2007)


Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares (Random House, 2011)


I've been moving! Which meant that I was very excited when a friend had a book swap and I was able to bring over all the books I had been saving up. It also meant that despite my best efforts, when I saw 3  of the Sisterhood novels, I picked them up. Years ago, a friend recommended them (or the movie?) and I had vaguely planned to read them. So in the midst of packing, I started reading the first one. Because really, what is better than YA as an escape from stress?

And then the second, and the third. And then I started looking online to see if there were more. All told, I think I read the five in about 4 weeks? Everyone already know the story, right? Four friends, and a pair of jeans that magically fits them all, and not just fits, but makes them look extra hot. The Pants become the way they "stay together" when summer takes them to different places. The Pants bear witness to their struggles to cope with change, and growing up, and love and loss. The first summer, the girls are a summer away from their 16th birthdays, by the third they are about to leave for college. The fourth finds them after their freshman years, and the last novel comes a decade later.

Reading them in the span of a month rather than over ten years, as they were written, it really jumps out at you how much the girls have to learn the same lessons over and over and over. How to be brave, how to be open to change and to forgive those who change around you, how to see past surfaces and accept the love that's offered, how to be vulnerable. And then to return to them, as young women about to turn 30, with years more of experience, the lessons are still there to be learned.

And that tore me up. It was an unexpected sucker punch. Maybe because it threw into such stark relief that fact that the lessons I have learned over the years need to be learned again and again and again. You don't just reach an epiphany and get to happily ever after. Or even to the next level, like some sort of video game. Or perhaps, to play with the video game analogy some more, you do, but you just repeat the same level again and again, in slightly different guise. You have to reach that epiphany, defeat the same boss, time and again. And that's a tough realization.

But no one reads the same book. We bring so much of ourselves - our past and especially our present - to what we read. I'm curious to know how others found Lena, Carmen, Tibby, and Bridget.

Lizzie Bennet in high school

Prom & Prejudice - Elizabeth Eulberg (Point, 2011)


I was reading some RA (readers' advisory) thing about new young adult fiction when I came across this title. And the description made me howl. At work. Lovely. My library didn't purchase it, but I finally came across one that did, and here we go.

I can't figure out if it's even possible to read this book without knowing the source material. Certainly it can't be as amusing. Longbourn is no longer the home of the Bennets, but instead a very posh New England boarding school, where prom is a BFD. Lizzie is a scholarship student. Jane & Lydia are sisters, but not Elizabeth's sisters. Bingley & Darcy attend the neighboring boys' school, named - naturally - Pemberley. Other references to the book pop up in unexpected places.

Eulberg has a difficult task adapting P&P for modern teens. The grand themes of the love story are as apt as ever: pride, an unwillingness to change initial impressions, misunderstanding, stubbornness about who we think we are and what we think we want.... all of these get in the way of true happiness. But actions and attitudes that make sense in the early 1800s seem bizarre in today's climate. Bingley & his sister, for example. Are brothers really that persuadable? And Lydia.... you can have a wild child today (easy enough) but how do you demonstrate how humiliating that wildness is? Can it really bring shame on a family?

Anyway, it's cute. But I'm afraid I would have hated it had I read it as a teen.

A little bit of magic

Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones (Greenwillow Books, 1986)


First of all, the book is pretty different from the Hayao Miyazaki film (which I want to go back and watch again). So you should probably make sure you come across both of them, else you'll be missing out.

This was a book club selection (I finally made it to a meeting!) and received positive-to-mixed reviews from the members. There was some frustration with the abruptness of the ending, and uncertainty about whether Howl was actually a romantic dude.

But first, plot. Sophie has resigned herself to a dull life taking over the family hat shop when a witch's curse turns her into a 90 year old crone and she leaves home to ... well, that's not very clear. But she soon finds herself in the walking castle of Wizard Howl, where she and his fire demon agree to a deal: he'll lift her spell if she can free him from the contract binding him to the castle hearth.

And then adventures go from there. Howl is a dandy rather than an evil eater-of-hearts, everyone seems to have more magical power than they think, and Wales circa 1986 makes an appearance even among the towns in this fantasy land.

I am slightly embarrassed to say that Sophie reminded me very much of Bella Swan (Wow, I barely blogged about Twilight at all. I must have been ashamed) and if Stephenie Meyer didn't use Sophie Hatter as inspiration, both authors were at least trying to do the same thing. Which is? Sophie & Bella don't see their own power. Sophie believes she is plain and destined for a plain life; Bella is plain and awkward and surrounded by creatures far more beautiful and powerful. And yet, the problem throughout is that they don't see themselves clearly; they don't recognize their own beauty and strength. It's a difficult task to carry off, and both books have problems, but the trope is one of the things I like most about YA fiction.

The Dark Side

I Am The Cheese - Robert Cormier (Dell-Laurel Leaf, 1977)

First of all, my boy Corey Perry just won the Hart Trophy for League MVP. I'm a whole mess of happy about that. But I won't let that distract me from my book review.

It starts with Twitter, and the #YASaves trending topic that got big a few weeks back after a WSJ article posited YA lit today was darker than in past years, and even dangerous. (I am oversimplifying.) Anyway, the response was immediate and severe. The consensus: YA literature helps teens navigate the perils of adolescence, and adults who write for the WSJ need to calm the eff down. (Again, oversimplifying.)

I had a few discussions arising from some RTs of mine. A friend told me that while reading the article, he was reminded how I Am The Cheese was a really powerful book, that stuck with him. I decided to read (or maybe re-read?) it. Which I did on Monday night.

It's powerful stuff, this book. Adam's story is revealed in alternating chapters. His solo bicycle journey from his hometown to a Vermont town 70 miles away, where his father is in the hospital, and then the transcripts of taped sessions between him and a shadowy doctor of some sort, who is asking questions about his past. It quickly becomes clear that something in his life went dramatically awry, both recently and in his very early childhood. You fear for Adam, and reading this now, an adult, all my maternal instincts kicked in. I was troubled that I was obviously too late to protect this child.

1977, and this is dark. Apparently not as graphically dark as what's out there today. But powerful. Harmful? I doubt it.

Speaking of the impact of YA, another discussion led to Lois Duncan.... My friend brought up Don't Look Behind You, a 1990 novel about a girl whose family is in the Witness Protection Program. Of course I remember this book! I must have read it a bunch of times. But the one that stuck with me more is Stranger with My Face, the novel that introduced me to the concept of astral projection, and also terrified me away from ever being willing to give it a try. (Wimp.) Are these books still being read?

Before I wrap up, I want to mention that the books that stuck with me the most are the scary ones. I bet this isn't uncommon. And I wonder how much it relates to the central thesis of Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment, namely that dark tales enable children to safely grapple with their fears. I am sure there is plenty of scholarly literature out there on the topic. Maybe one of these days I'll do a little more searching. For now, just speculation....

Face of a Revolution

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2010)

After waiting 3 months between The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I waited about 10 hours before diving into Mockingjay. I mean, what is the point in being finished with the semester if you can't do things like that?

So.

A lot of this trilogy is about the indignity of being having no control over your life, of being a pawn manipulated for the entertainment of others. Of finding ways to live with integrity in this system, of being authentically yourself. (This does seem a little like being a teenager, doesn't it?) Katniss is particularly compelling because of what I have to call - although the term is so inexact - her naivete; she is capable of genuine independent and surprising action, but within a system of other actors that continue and continue to try to use her to meet their own ends. This does not change in the third installment. In fact, if anything it gets more brutal.

This book was the saddest of the three for me. I found it difficult even as I couldn't stop reading - and it was both good and bad that while I was reading the suspenseful trip through the Capitol, J was arranging (arranging?) a three-part harmony to "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" - the juxtaposition was creepily appropriate. But it finally ends. And while I saw a few different ways in which Collins could satisfactorily conclude, I felt like this perhaps made the most sense. It was always what I wanted, more or less.

This was some of the most fun I had reading this year. I'll be recommending it for sure.

Back to Panem

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2009)

For some reason that I won't try to understand, my library has far fewer copies of Catching Fire than of either The Hunger Games or Mockingjay. So - and since I was supposed to be concentrating on school anyway - I waited to request a copy, figuring that if one was free it was meant to be. Otherwise I was supposed to wait until the end of the semester.

But then I got impatient, and got on the list so that I would get the book right around the end of the semester. So as soon as I turned everything in last week, I got down to the important business of returning to Panem and finding out what was up with Katniss. (er, spoiler: she survives the Games in the first book.)

Anyway, there is more love-triangle drama. Of a decidedly tame - and thus adorable - type. Plenty of unexpected twists. And life in general there just sort of sucks. But Katniss remains this interesting, thoughtful, extraordinary young woman. And the other characters gain additional dimension this time around too.

The plot moves quickly, and I was surprised when I came to the end. Fortunately though, I had already snagged my copy of Mockingjay, so instead of waiting and reading something else, I will be finishing the trilogy this week instead...

May the odds be ever in your favor

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2008)

Unlike with many things that get overhyped, I was not "ugh, this is going to be overhyped," I was actually ready and eager to really enjoy it. (I actually felt this way about Twilight too, come to think of it, so many my natural skepticism falls away for YA materials. But talking about Twilight in a discussion of HG is unacceptable, so let me get back to the point.)

The hype is totally deserved. I was really blown away.

The prose is simple, and the plot arc is fairly predictable, but none of that really matters because Katniss has such a strong voice. The dystopic world is the right ratio of familiar and foreign, and just because you are pretty sure how the end will look doesn't mean that you won't be wrapped up in figuring out how to get there.

Oh yeah, plot. It's the future. An evil Capitol demonstrates its power over the outlying districts by forcing teens to compete against one another to the death. For the winner: glory, wealth, fame. For the 23 losers: well, duh. Katniss ends up there and the boy from her district is one with whom she has a past. And maybe a future? (By the way, if you can read this book without thinking about Bella, Edward, and Jacob, you are a stronger person than I am. But Katniss is about a zillion times more kickass than Bella, and there is no good correlation to be had among the men. At least not yet.)

Anyway, go. Read. Also, games. They are fun.