Out – Natsuo Kirino (Review)

Paperback, 520 pages
Published 2004 by Vintage (first published 1997)
Source: Purchased

Synopsis:

Natsuo Kirino’s novel tells a story of random violence in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works a night shift making boxed lunches brutally strangles her deadbeat husband and then seeks the help of her co-workers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime.

The ringleader of this cover-up, Masako Katori, emerges as the emotional heart of Out and as one of the shrewdest, most clear-eyed creations in recent fiction. Masako’s own search for a way out of the straitjacket of a dead-end life leads her, too, to take drastic action.

The complex yet riveting narrative seamlessly combines a convincing glimpse into the grimy world of Japan’s yakuza with a brilliant portrayal of the psychology of a violent crime and the ensuing game of cat-and-mouse between seasoned detectives and a group of determined but inexperienced criminals. Kirino has mastered a Thelma and Louise kind of graveyard humor than illuminators her stunning evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds and the friendship that bolsters them in the aftermath.

Review:

It took me about three months to read this novel. For those who know my reading habits, you will be aware that I read fast. Inordinately fast, I am told. The reader for my lagging pace where this book is concerned was not because it was so bad I couldn’t make myself read it, it was because the novel was a bit too realistic, it sucked me in a bit too deeply – enough anyway that I had to put it down, recover and then resume reading. So from the synopsis you will know that four women work the nightshift in a bento factory (bento = lunchboxes). One of them kills her husband and another steps up to help her get rid of the body.

Kirino has this particular ability to create relationships between women that are at once simple and profoundly complex. Masako, the so-called ringleader of this quartet of murderers, is a very complicated character. Actually, all of them are but Masako, perhaps, is more complex than any others, maybe because we spend the most time with her as readers. She has no obvious reason for helping Yayoi, who murders her husband after he throws away their savings on gambling and women. The other two women have financial reasons to help Masako get rid of the husband but Masako does not. That in particular is one of the most interesting part.

When the three women (Yayoi is told not to help so she can maintain her alibi) are cutting up the dead husband – those scenes are graphic and written with enough detail that they will pluck you out of your comfortable life and toss you into the wet and cold bathroom, with the tiles beneath your bare feet, the smell of blood in the air and a cut up corpse in front of your eyes. You will hear the wet sliding of the meat that was a man and you will smell the contents of his intestines. It is incredibly vivid and I had to stop reading for a long while.

The novel goes into the human psyche, the depravities humans are capable of and the dark desires that cannot find verbal expressions but more often than not are expressed in actions. There is Satake, the casino owner who is accused of killing the husband because of prior records which include murder of a woman – he swears revenge on these women, Masako in particular and the story takes another turn. If you go into this expecting a neat little resolution, you will be disappointed. It takes a labyrinthine approach to the ending, there is no neatness, no overtly moralistic tone that denounces murder, no punishment, nothing of that matter. This is a study of the human character and psyche but it is not all doom and gloom. It is incredibly profound. I thought I would despise the end and to an extent, it did leave me perplexed but it left me thinking, wondering…and the best books often do. Do I recommend this? I don’t know. You have to have certain tastes to read this and not many people I know do.

Dreamhouse – Alison Habens (A Review)

336 pages
Published January 15th 1997 by Picador
Source: Published

Synopsis:

Celia Small has spent years planning her engagement party, from the food she’ll serve to the dress she’ll wear. When she finally met her fiance, it was less a romantic event than a satisfying check mark next to the last item on a long list of tasks. Now Celia’s big night has arrived, and nothing can stop her from fulfilling a lifetime’s worth of dreams. Nothing, that is, except her hated housemates, each planning a party for this same evening. Suddenly careening between future in-laws, radical feminists, and an Alice in Wonderland costume party, Celia veers off the path to married bliss, and along a path of suspicious raspberry tarts that lead her into very strange places.

Review:

If you are lucky, you will come across scrumptious books like Dreamhouse at least once in your lifetime. A loose (adult) retelling of Alice in Wonderland, Habens, in a stroke of pure genius, reinvents all the characters in Alice in Wonderland giving them a distinctly human hue that retains all the craziness that characterizes the denizens of Wonderland. Dreamhouse is a treat for the evil little girl in you who loves irreverent situations, who delights in crazy retellings and who simply loves a story that is soaked deep into the narrative and can mean something different every time you read it.

If you read the title, you will be misled into thinking that the “dreamhouse” is descriptive of that wonderful house that people assume little girls dream of, you know, the one with the white picket fences, pretty poppies in the nicely kept yard, stuff like that. Instead, Dreamhouse, very literally means “dream house” a place where dreams happen. Okay, that sounds campy and it’s not meant to.

Celia Small is getting engaged and on the night of her engagement dinner, her two horrible roommates throw parties of their own. So in that one house, there are three simultaneous parties occurring and one of them has um…some “magic” tarts that Celia just happens to eat. There is a logic to the narrative that sort of explains how the wonderland is achieved. One of the parties is a costume party, therefore the rabbit costumes etc, Celia’s delusions come from the magic tarts and other, uh, substances that may be around. The mad queens etc are Celia’s parents, in laws etc.

The construction of the popular story is firm enough that it holds up the very real and very contemporary themes in the book. What it means to be oppressed, what it means to be a woman and what freedom really tastes like. I was also impressed by how Habens inserted the transvestite issue and that rape, regardless of gender, is rape. I also really liked Celia’s gradual evolution and the ending is bloody fantastic. Haben’s gleeful experimentation with language to express her characters’ emotions in a veritable manner is nothing short of genius.

So, after all is said and done, I recommend this book. Wholeheartedly. It tells a wonderful story in a strange new way that I found absolutely fascinating.

Black Heart – Holly Black (A Review)

Hardcover, 296 pages
Expected publication: April 3rd 2012 by Margaret K. McElderry
Source: Publisher

Synopsis:

Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love.

Review:

This, to my dismay (utter and complete), is the last (noooo!!!!) book in the Curse Workers trilogy. I don’t want it to be over. I really don’t. But if it does have to be over, I am so glad that it’s over with this book. You know how sometimes the trilogy is fantastic until you reach the last book and several layers of frigid effery later, you step out of the story utterly horrified, devastated (and if you are me, angry, very very angry)? No? Well maybe I have crappy taste but this has frequently happened to me. Anyway, this is not the case with Black Heart.

Black Heart is an amazing conclusion to one of the slickest, sexiest and bad-ass-iest (in honor of it’s awesomesauciness I made up a word to describe it) trilogy I have had the fortune of reading. Now usually, I am not a great fan of male protagonists. Oh I am sure they’re cool and all but honestly? I’m a girl. I can empathize with girls and Harry Potter aside, boys are like aliens I can’t fathom. (I don’t even want to fathom them, they have cooties.) However, Cassel differentiates himself from the rest in a variety of different ways. But I do not want to rehash what I have already discussed in the reviews of the last two books.

Let’s discuss Black Heart. This was, perhaps, the most, I do not want to say sentimental because it wasn’t, but rather, the most passion driven of the three. I like how Black made it possible to talk about love and feel about love without reverting to melodrama and sappiness. Oh and dude, cookies for her since there wasn’t even a whisper of the word “soulmate.”

One of the biggest strengths of the Curse Workers trilogy is the realistic nature of its portrayal of supernatural events and activities. Does that make sense? We all know that the trilogy is fantasy but its execution is edgy and situated firmly in contemporary society with issues and concerns that have gone through a metamorphoses to better fit the world of the curse workers but nonetheless remain pertinent in a way that makes it extremely easy to relate to. And wow, yes, I know, convoluted sentence is convoluted. To elaborate, think about the whole deal with the Senator trying to pass laws against curseworkers. This smacks of discrimination and raises a whole lots of questions on what it means to be human and the nature of humanity. The novel asks, more successfully than others in the genre, about how far people can go before they can no longer be called people and if they can’t be called people, do they still retain the same rights and freedoms that people take for granted. This is interesting stuff, you guys!

It also talks about the nature of evil. Is it an inherited gene? Can you ever escape or run away from what history and your parents have condemned you to? Or is evil a reaction to society and its overbearing norms? I love books that entertain you and manage to ask questions that move beyond the momentary enjoyment and linger in your mind.

The world building is ace but what cinches Black’s success in this conclusion are her characterizations. She manages to keep her characters real. Flawed but redeemable. Bad but good. A whole host of contradictions doing the dance around each other. The book may be called Black Heart but all you’ll see are shades of gray. The pace is fast, the plotting spot on and the ending made me jump up and down and squeal. Thank God I was hidden from the public’s judging eyes. Ha.

Also, I love the fact that Black does not tie up all ends neatly. She leaves the book with some questions scenting the air with possibilities and perhaps this is what has me hoping for a spin off but even if it is intentionally meant to give the book a sort of asymmetrical end (you’ll know what I mean once you read it), Holly Black’s Curse Workers has ensured its spot on my list of favourites.

Girls like her, my grandfather once warned me, girls like her turn into women with eyes like bullet holes and mouths made of knives. They are always restless. They are always hungry. They are bad news. They will drink you down like a shot of whiskey. Falling in love with them is like falling down a flight of stairs.

The Humming Room – Ellen Potter (review)

Hardcover, 192 pages
Expected publication: February 28th 2012 by Feiwel & Friends
Source: Net Galley

Synopsis:

Hiding is Roo Fanshaw’s special skill. Living in a frighteningly unstable family, she often needs to disappear at a moment’s notice. When her parents are murdered, it’s her special hiding place under the trailer that saves her life.

As it turns out, Roo, much to her surprise, has a wealthy if eccentric uncle, who has agreed to take her into his home on Cough Rock Island. Once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children of the rich, the strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets. Roo doesn’t believe in ghosts or fairy stories, but what are those eerie noises she keeps hearing? And who is that strange wild boy who lives on the river? People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth.

Despite the best efforts of her uncle’s assistants, Roo discovers the house’s hidden room–a garden with a tragic secret.

Inspired by The Secret Garden, this tale full of unusual characters and mysterious secrets is a story that only Ellen Potter could write.

Review:

Potter narrates The Humming Room with a finesse and a skill that makes reading the novel a true (serious) pleasure. Roo Fanshaw is an amazing protagonist. She is half wild, existing in a world that measures space and how she can use it to conceal herself. Her world is entirely different from the world that adults exist in and I love how Potter doesn’t spell out Roo’s early home life to the reader and instead hints at it in a way that older readers will catch it while the younger readers may not be able to. This is what makes The Humming Room such a multi-faceted novel that will work for a person no matter what their age.

I didn’t know it was a retelling of The Secret Garden and to be honest, I didn’t think there was much emphasis given to the garden as was given to the fledgling relationship between the cousins. It was truly refreshing to read Roo’s metamorphosis, for lack of a better, from the scared half-wild child she was into the still, eccentric, but someone a bit calmer, a lot happier. Also, the real wild child, the boy who may or may not be real, the boy who is legend, he is also one of the most interesting characters I have recently come across in a novel.

I love the hint of a romance between Roo and this boy. It’s just a whisper really, just the subtlest hint and I think that is what makes it even more awesome. The little cousin’s floundering, his sickness, the ominous doctor, all these separately come together to create a novel that is immensely entertaining and that lets you have a glimpse of the magical world of childhood that many of us have unwillingly left behind. The only problem I had with this novel was how abruptly it ended. I wasn’t ready for it to end, I thought there was a lot more to be told and that Roo had a lot more story in her but alas.

Do I recommend this? Hell yeah. I think you should all pick yourselves up a copy as soon as you possibly can.

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth – Xiaolu Guo

Hardcover, 176 pages
Published August 5th 2008 by Nan A. Talese
Source: Purchased

Synopsis:

From the author of the 2007 Orange Prize finalist A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers comes a wholly original and thoroughly captivating coming-of-age story that follows a bright, impassioned young woman as she rushes headlong into the maelstrom of a rapidly changing Beijing to chase her dreams.

Twenty-one year old Fenfang Wang has traveled one thousand eight hundred miles to seek her fortune in contemporary urban Beijing, and has no desire to return to the drudgery of the sweet potato fields back home. However, Fenfang is ill-prepared for what greets her: a Communist regime that has outworn its welcome, a city under rampant destruction and slap-dash development, and a sexist attitude seemingly more in keeping with her peasant upbringing than the country’s progressive capital. Yet Fenfang is determined to live a modern life. With courage and purpose, she forges ahead, and soon lands a job as a film extra. While playing roles like woman-walking-over-the bridge and waitress-wiping-a-table help her eke out a meager living, Fenfang comes under the spell of two unsuitable young men, keeps her cupboard stocked with UFO noodles, and after mastering the fever and tumult of the city, ultimately finds her true independence in the one place she never expected.

At once wry and moving, Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth gives us a clear-eyed glimpse into the precarious and fragile state of China’s new identity and asserts Xiaolu Guo as her generation’s voice of modern China.

Review:

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth offers a glimpse into the life of a 20-something Chinese woman trying to survive in the city of Beijing. This is a rather bare statement and does not do justice to what the book truly contains. It’s a peek into the psyche of someone who is just like you and me except she exists in a city, in a country that is alien to what people in North America are used. Fenfang’s voice is wry and cynical and her signature phrase (also incidentally the one that attracted me to the novel initially:

Great Heavenly Bastard in the Sky

is very revealing of her irreverent attitude towards life and the living of it. You always feel a bit removed from Fenfang. The book is told almost entirely in narration and contains very little dialogue and most of it is introverted thoughts and observations. Not something that would normally be interesting but somehow, maybe because it’s pithy and so very involved, I had no trouble empathizing and feeling for Fenfang. I really loved the ending not because it tied up everything so perfectly but because it ended on this irrepressible note of possibility.

This book is a study in contradictions. There is a lot of cynicism in it but it is hope that buoys it and makes it a success. It paints a very convincing picture of a girl trying to survive the life given to her. To not just be a passive passenger in this journey but, excuse my advent into cliches, to make something of herself. I think you will enjoy Xiolu Guo’s interpretation of youth and the hunger that accompanies it

14 Books of Lurve

So tomorrow is Valentine’s Day (and if I see another pink flower, my eyes will cross and I will begin a campaign to eradicate all pink flowers) (I’m just kidding) (really) and those of us who are without significant others (and by that, I mean that the pretty boys on TV/movies/behind microphones? They’re not your boyfriends. Yes, shocking, I know.) will have to turn to books for romance (or you could go out and meet someone new, really, but it’s cold outside and my bed is hella comfy). So I, always in the mood for civic duty, have compiled a list that um, lists (what else would it do?) books that have romance that made my toes curl.

(Important note: Twilight is not on this list.)

Now admittedly, I don’t read many books that have romance as a central theme but I like books that have a certain glimpse of it. The toe curling kind. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the list of lurve:

• Skip Beat- Yoshiki Nakamura
  Okay fine, this is a series and manga at that but people, it has Ren. No wait, let me say it properly.Ren. Look, I know he’s 2-D but damnit, I wish he wasn’t.
• The Ghosts of Ashbury High – Jaclyn Moriarty
  This book is awesome on its own but the subtlety and the beauty of the romance between the two titular characters (er, the ghosts) made me swoon a little bit.
• The Agency Series – Y. S. Lee
  James is bloody awesome. So is Mary but that was a given because I wouldn’t read a book without an awesome protag but James? Sweet, nerdy, awesome.
• The Bride of the Water God – Mi-Kyung Yun
  Okay, so, the art in this book is divine. And while it is rather complex, the romance (what I read of it) is delicious in a manhwa kinda way. Plus the art!

• Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances – Masami Tsuda
  This manga series is intriguing in that it gives you the same situation twice. Once from the viewpoint of the guy and then again from the girl’s perspective. I liked it.
• Oyayubihime Infinity – Fujieda Toru
  Okay admittedly, even though it may not look like it, the book was a lot more intellectual than I had thought it would be. It takes a long look at what real love is, of course in a manga-ish way.
• Gakuen Alice – Tachibana Higuchi
  You know what’s galling? An elementary school kid’s love life is way more exciting than mine. That’s just sad but this series is like Harry Potter set in Japan. Honestly, if this was made into a movie…okay no, they would kill the fun in it, Hollywood would.
• Cold Fire – Kate Elliott
  So the romance was barely present in the first novel but boy did the second one amp it up. I literally swooned multiple times.

• Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta
  You already know how much I love the romance in this. Subtle, deep, the stuff ever afters are made up off. Sighhhh.
• Keturah and Lord Death – Martine Leavitt
  I must thank my friend Emily for bringing this to my attention. The book’s out of print but I think the e-book is available for purchase on Amazon and guys, you need to go out and read this. It is freaking beautiful. So unexpectedly compelling.
• Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins
  Duh. (Sorry Krystle, haha.)
• In the Forests of the Night – Kersten Hamilton
  Finn! Irrepressible, wonderful. I must reread this series just to make myself ready for the last book in the series. So very gorgeous, this book.

• Nevermore – Kelly Creagh
  You just need to read this and figure it out for yourself. Honestly, I’m forgetting why I liked this because it’s been a while since i read it but I did like it and I wish they’d hurry up and release the next one.
• Eona – Alison Goodman
  Kygo and Eona’s love story is a messy one with blood and betrayal but it’s got lots of toe curling moments that will make you wish the book wouldn’t end.

And there you go. Oh no, wait, one more thing.

Hee. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Reign Fall – Michelle Rowen (Demon Princess #3)

Published January 2012
Source: Author

Synopsis:

Prophesies, demon slayers, dragons, homework… It’s going to be a hell of a week!

It’s been a dangerous ride for Nikki Donovan since she first learned she’s a demon princess. And the ride isn’t over yet!

She’s just found out that her best friend is a demon slayer in training, one who doesn’t know that Nikki is exactly the prey she’s sworn to hunt. Nikki’s demon king father has signed her up for lessons in how to master her erratic half-demon powers, and that’s on top of her regular homework! Also, she’s torn between two boys—Rhys, the faery king she’s prophesied to marry, and Michael, a Shadow whom she’s forbidden to love.

To top it all off, a dark force is haunting Nikki, something mysterious and evil that wants the demon princess dead…but who — or what — is it?

Review:

The third book in the Demon Princess series definitely does not disappoint. Book 1 was okay, Book 2 was good but Book 3 won me over. I realize that the publishing house dropped the series so Ms. Rowen, listening to the enraged (and desperate) cries of her fans, went ahead and self-published this book and you know what? It rocks. It seriously rocks. There are so many things I liked about it so get comfortable as I recount them.

1. Nikki continues to grow as a character and I totally appreciate that. She didn’t start off as someone I could like very much but as the series continues, she comes into her own and you can actually map her growth by her responses to certain events. In fact, the major players in the series all seem to be evolving and I really, really like that. I like how faery prince seems to be changing just as much as I like how the Shadow is becoming something (or someone?) different. It’s fascinating.

2. The honesty. You know how sometimes you read books and you figure out everything before the characters know it (dramatic irony?) not because it is a secret or something but because they refuse to put it out there (maybe to create tension or suspense, I dunno) but in The Demon Series, people just tell each other stuff and I APPRECIATE THAT SO MUCH. Even the stuff that is not easy to tell. For example, Nikki and her Shadow “boyfriend” (that is in quotes because there seems to be an ambiguity about their relationship). They tell each other stuff that I wouldn’t tell my boyfriend, like you, she actually liked kissing Faery Prince (not that I blame her, I mean, the dude is totally hot). And he returns the honesty. It’s something refreshing and this earns lots of points with me.

3. The friendship. Okay, so you’re a demon (well half, but whose measuring?) and your best friend is a demon slayer. You see how that could get awkward? Yeah but Rowen manages to avoid melodrama and keep it fresh and funny between the girls. I liked the lack of pathos and once again, honesty.

4. Girl Power. There is no damsel in distress trope going on here. Nikki saves herself. More than once. And does it brilliantly.

If you are in the mood for fluff, hot boys and kick ass heroines, give this series a go. You will laugh, swoon and sometimes roll your eyes. It’s good as ice cream.

Aleeza’s Guest Post: Top Ten Underappreciated Books of 2011

Entertaining you today will be the brilliant Aleeza from Aleeza Reads and Writes. Enjoy her perceptiveness and amazing observations about books that really should have gotten more attention.

—————————————-

All right, so first of all, I’m so excited to be blogging for Bibliophilic Monologues! Nafiza was the first bookish friend I made on Goodreads, and I’ve been following her lovely, deliciously bookish blog for ages now. But before this turns into a quasi-love letter, I’ll get on with the topic at hand.

You see, I’ve read lots of books this year. Lots as in, ‘more than the combined number of books I’ve read in the last five years.’ Some of them were hyped releases, some of them I just happened to stumble upon—and some of the latter I ended up REALLY liking. So I’m going to highlight the ones I read this year, which also released this year, that I feel should’ve gotten more buzz.

1—Split by Swati Avasthi: Reading about physical abuse is hard. Excruciating, actually, because I live in a place where it happens every day, all around me, even if I don’t see it happen—like my housemaid, for example, gets beaten by her husband even though she’s almost fifty, only because sometimes she gets home a few minutes late, whereas her husband sits home all days and lazes around doing nothing. This book, however, is about two brothers who’ve been broken apart because of their abusive father, and how they have to learn to live through the consequences. It made me cry my eyes out and made me want to hug every single person in this world who’s gone through similar experiences. And I am not a hugger by any stretch of the word, so you know I liked this book a LOT.

2—Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess: So like Split, this book also centers around how a girl’s life has been affected by a Horrible Parent ™. In this case, her mum’s a major druggie—by major I mean SHE’S NEVER, EVER, EVER SOBER—and reading about how she finally fights her way out of all that crap was tough but oh so worth it.

3—The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller: In the vein of tough but beautiful books, this one DEFINITELY deserves a mention. I mean, yeah, so maybe the first half is boring enough to make you almost cry, but once you get through that, you realize just how much of a gem this book, especially if you know of the horrible fate of the last Tsar and his family. (I didn’t. Hey, I never claimed to know much—or anything—about world history.)

4—Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez: Violins, cut-throat musical competitions, hot English competitors you’re not supposed to be attracted to but end up being so anyway, realistic and absorbing mother-daughter relationships…this book’s got it all. It’s short but GRIPPING and just…really grips you. Okay, okay, sorry about the lameness, but this book does just that—grabs you until you get totally sucked into it. Can’t believe it’s the author’s debut!

5—Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis: How can you a resist a book that has an amazeballs combination of the following: Spunky heroine, hilarious dialogue, lovable characters, a wonderfully well-executed plot AND set in Victorian England? Exactly—you can’t! I had no idea I would like this one so much and, can’t wait to reread it before the sequel comes out.

6) How to Save a Life: I don’t know a SINGLE person who’s read this book and not loved it. So I really wish more people would read it and fall in love with it. It’s about so many different things I can’t even begin to try to encapsulate it in a couple of lines—all I can say is that it’s heartbreaking and real and just so very lovely.

7—Ashfall by Mike Mullins: So yeah, a lot of people do in fact know about this book, but I’m including it anyway because LOADS more people should. As far as survival stories, this one’s top-notch.

8—Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson: Let me just tell you right away: THIS BOOK WILL BLOW YOUR MIND AWAY. You probably have heard of it, but here’s me recommending anyway to go out and get a copy ASAP. It’s that brilliant.

9—Variant by Robinson Wells: So this may not be the best book I’ve ever read, but it’s just so intriguing and suspenseful and well-executed I’d never hesitate to recommend it. Believe me when I say that the twist in this book will leave you BREATHLESS.

10—Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt: So I’m including this book last because it was actually a NYT Bestseller. Despite that it seems to me that most people in the YA blogosphere haven’t really heard much of it. I can’t really even explain how much I love this book—it’s heartbreaking and just so goddarned beautiful. It’s a historical MG contemporary—I know I just majorly contradicted myself, but I hope you get what I mean—and it’s a must read for EVERYONE. I don’t even read much MG but this one made me realize how awesome it can be if it’s well done.

And because I can’t help it, here’s some other books I also liked that I felt should’ve received more attention:

Dreams of Significant Girls by Cristina Garcia: Three girls who meet in a Swiss boarding school, all from different cultures, and how their lives intertwine with each others.

Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal: A simple yet gorgeous story about a girl falling in love for the first time, and the devastation she goes through when it goes awry.

Past Perfect by Leila Sales: Cute, unique and full of heart.

Clean by Amy Reed: Teens in rehab and their painful pasts and how they learn to live with them.

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts: Post-apocalyptic fiction at it’s best. Will most likely result in you hiding under a rock for the rest of your life in fear of earthquakes. Or not.

Always a Witch by Carolyn McCullough: Sequel to Once a Witch, which it improves upon by approximately 17 gajillion notches.

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley: An atmospheric and absorbing high fantasy with rich imagery and heartfelt characters—including one really hot one. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself, heh.)

Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins (A Review!)

Hardcover, 372 pages
Published December 2nd, 2010 by Dutton
Source: Library

Synopsis:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near – misses end with the French kiss Anna – and readers – have long awaited?

 

Review

I had to let a lot of time elapse before I wrote this review because I was afraid that I would sound like a blubbering idiot – tru fax. However, (and this is also true) no matter how much time passes, I still love Anna and the French Kiss as much (if not more) as the first time after I read it. I put up a good resistance, you know. I didn’t read the book that was The Da Vinci Code (without Tom Hanks and the conspiracies) for the young adult book lovers. It is an insanely popular book and the hype is…well, somewhat overwhelming. But in this moment, I can boldly attest to the fact that this time around, the hype is totally well deserved.

I don’t normally read romances. I mean, of course I like romance. But not when it is the focal point of the novel. And teenage romances – I have read a lot of Dolly Fiction (Australian books about teenage girls falling in love in the outback or something, think Love Stories as the American counterpart) so I like to think that I have gotten over that phase. What makes Anna so different is its characters.

Many times when you read a book, the characters in it seem artificial. Not always in a bad way. What I’m trying to say is that the reader will always perceive the character as a human construct no matter how much development the character undergoes throughout the novel. There’s a certain fictionality to them that is almost impossible to rub off. So while you may get caught up in the adventures of Miss A and Mr. B and their burning passion (and starcrossed love) you are always aware in some part of your brain that these people don’t exist. What sets Anna and the French Kiss apart is that the characters are rendered so wholly, so truthfully that they could be your best friend’s love story or, if you’re very lucky, your own. There is a sincerity to Anna, to Etienne, to all the other minor characters, a realness about them that you can’t help but respond to.

Another reason why I love Anna and the French Kiss is because of the writing. Reading it is like going to the market early in the morning and getting the freshest produce. It’s crisp. And the dialogue – I took this class two years ago, Modern British Theater, and we studied some relatively contemporary plays. My professor pointed out passages in a play called The Homecoming by Harold Pinter where the dialogue seems stilted and bookish. You know, when the character talks less like a person having an actual conversation and more like any of Jane Austen’s (or Bronte’s) characters. Anna and the French Kiss doesn’t have that. The dialogue is actually like it occurs between real friends and not made up characters.

I’m determined to read all the books mentioned in the book so if anyone has a list compiled, please pass it to me. I have read the Banana Yoshimoto book (Kitchen) mentioned and loved it and, seriously, how awesome is it when people talk about books fondly in novels? The meta just about kills me each and every single time. A person in a book reading a book about a person reading another book. Hah. Also, I feel like visiting Paris now. I think Ms. Perkins should be given recognition by the French government because of how awesome she has made the city seem. There is a certain sense of longing in the way the city is described, like a lover reminiscing about a past mistress. A certain knowledge about the streets, the nooks and the crannies, the air and the gardens – the book makes the city seem beautiful.

And finally, the romance. Of course, it has to be discussed. Etienne is just…such a wonderful person. I know he’s a character in a novel but I believe that boys like him exist. Not because he’s so great but because he’s not. He’s flawed as they come but he is cognizant of his flaws and works to get over them. He is vulnerable and afraid to get hurt and he does not treat Anna like she needs to be protected from the world but treats her as a real friend. He is just as confused as Anna is and he is as much the protagonist as Anna is. Most of the times you read a book by a female writer and they totally mess up where the boys are concerned. Sometimes the guy ends up sounding like a teenage girl and sometimes he ends up donning the stereotyped cloak of Hot, Mysterious Boy I Met in Biology (and Who Wants to Bite Me But Doesn’t Cuz He’s My One True Lurve). Etienne, though, will make you sigh. He’ll make you want to fall in love.

I know I said in the beginning that Anna and the French Kiss is mostly about romance and it totally is but it is also about growing up far from home, making your home somewhere (or someone) else. It is about finding the courage to be brave even when it hurts. About confrontations, friendships and truths you were too scared to see.

I don’t know whether my review did the book any justice but I believe that you should read it. It is just that good.

Babe in Boyland – Jody Gehrman

292 pages
Published February 17th, 2011 by Dial
Source: The Library

Synopsis:

When high school junior Natalie – or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper – is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want. But the guys in her class won’t give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected – especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?

Review

First, let’s discuss the cover. The girl has huuuuge eyes (I suspect photoshop) and the reason I mention it is because the huge eyes is common in shoujo (girl’s) manga. So, the huge eyes automatically led me to expect something a bit wacky because well, suspension of belief is quite necessary to read some manga -_- (the shoujo ones anyway) and the mustache makeup is kinda genius. You have to admit that. It elicited a chuckle out of me anyway.

First, let me just say that I love gender benders. I love the improbability of it and how it can create some pretty interesting situations. I have read a lot of gender benders, seen many dramas about them (they are a common trope in Asian pop lit) and so I have come to expect certain situations that seem to go hand in hand with gender benders. One of those situations is that the girl (if she’s in a boarding school, which she almost always is) has a room mate and the roommate is the boy she is majorly crushing on. This occurs in: The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz, Hana Kimi by Nakajo Hisaya, She’s the Man movie and now Babe in Boyland.

It might be a cliche, it might be expected but I actually like it. I like that the boy roommate is the love interest because come on now, how else is a girl in a boy’s boarding school supposed to get all mushy and romantic with any boy other than one who is asleep at the time she is being mushy and romantic? Well. That sounds wrong. But you get my point.

Anyway, let’s talk about Babe in Boyland. While Ms. Gehrman does her best to plausibly set up circumstances that make Natalie’s undercover week at a boy’s boarding school seem realistic and possible, at a certain point, you just have to accept that this is a book and things are possible in it that will not be possible in real life. Suspension of belief is very necessary. Once you do suspend your expectations of reality, you are free to enjoy the book for what it is. I certainly did.

The strengths in the book lies in the narrator. Natalie is a very likeable person. She is flawed to be sure but she contains a certain vulnerability to her, an honesty in her observations that you can’t help but empathize with. The friendship between girls is also refreshing as both the best friends are not just a means to an end – you know, the accessory friend, the one who is chubby, or stupid, the one who serves to make the heroine look better? Yeah, none of that in this book. I like how all the side characters are solidly developed and feel like real people instead of caricatures of them. The writing is flawless and the dialogues witty. The pacing is perfect and the relationships compelling.

I liked how this book delves into the differences between the genders and instead of looking at it from just the perspective of the female. I think, too often, we forget to give boys the same respect that women demand. I know that most of the times they do not deserve it but I think that as we women fight not to be stereotyped and categorized, we should give the same consideration to the other gender. What does it mean to be an adolescent guy? I’m not sure I want to know. (Haha.) But I think that Ms. Gehrman correctly portrays that boys are just people. Yes, shocking, I know. The book takes a look at social status and divisions in high school and how a girl who starts out trying to understand boys ends up understanding herself and her gender.

Oh and the love interest in this book? Smoking hot. I was in love with him at first description. I’m sort of shallow like that. Haha. Anyway, final verdict? I enjoyed the book. A lot. I think it is entertaining and has a bit of substance that saves it from being entirely fluff. So I think you should check it out.