Book Review/Discussion: The Night Strangers

I love books that create a mood. I do NOT meant this in the typical literary sense. Mood is really just the feeling and atmosphere, and every good book has one. But when I mention mood (I always envision it in italics) in relation to novels I'm reading, I mean something very specific....

a dark, brooding setting......envision winter, in New England or maybe the Pacific Northwest....a plot where something is amiss, something not right, something a little grotesque...extraneous amounts of ellipses...

That is what I mean. And this book HAS IT. Not many do. It's a particular type of book. I can usually count on Chris Bohjalian to give me this mood, and boy did he! 

For those who have not yet read The Night Strangers 

Our protagonist, Chip Linton, is (was) a pilot. But he is no Sully Sullenberger. When he had to crash-land his plane in a body of water, it was not The Miracle on the Hudson 2.0. Through no fault of his own, it was a disaster, and 39 passengers died.

Fast forward several months, and Chip, his lawyer wife Emily, and his young twin daughters Garnet and Hallie have relocated to a secluded, small town in rural New Hampshire, into an old, sprawling Victorian that had sat vacant for years while on the market. While it at first seems like an idyllic place for Chip to convalesce after his severe psychological trauma, certain oddities among the town's inhabitants start to emerge. Why are so many women in the town named after flowers and herbs? Why are they so interested in Garnet and Hallie? And what is behind the strange, sealed door in the Linton's basement? As the reader, we soon catch on to the fact that there is danger lurking in every corner of this town and house. But will Chip and Emily realize it before it is too late?

This book is the kind that will draw you in and will not let you get out. I find this to be true with all of Bohjalian's book (this one and Before You Know Kindness are my favorites). Isn't that the kind of book we all want to read? I enjoy his use of third person omniscient. As we move from one character to another and back again, we get a sense of the real danger long before the Lintons do, and it builds incredible suspense.

Recommended

Yes! I am hesitant to give books 5 stars. To me, those are books that are sheer perfection, like Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Gregory Robert's Shantaram. So though I am tempted to say 5/5 stars, I'll give it a 4.5/5 stars and a ringing endorsement.

Tips

I got this at the library, so check your county's library system. Also, try to start this book when you're not too busy to read for hours at a stretch. Because trust me, you'll want to!

For those who have read The Night Strangers

The Docket

Hello all!

I've decided to start a new feature on my blog: I'm going to be listing my upcoming reads! So here they are, just in case you want to grab a copy for yourself and read along with me! 

So here is what is coming up in my reading (I won't be reading quite as quickly right now because I'm also reading some professional books that I won't be blogging about)

First up (I've already read a bit): 

 

Why I chose it: I've read four books by Bohjalian (Midwives, Before You Know Kindness, Trans-sister Radio, The Double Bind) and I know him to be an incredibly talented writer. 

Next:  

Why I chose it: This was a birthday present and I am SO lucky to have gotten it! I love all things Alice and can't wait to read it. 

And then: 

Why I chose it: I've been interested in this book but haven't been convinced I'd like it, so I was reluctant to spend money on it. Finding it at the library sealed the deal for me! I love the library :-)

HAPPY READING! 

Book Review/Discussion: The Painted Girls

When I saw this book by Cathy Marie Buchanan at the library it seemed quite natural to pick it up. I love ballet, I love Paris, I love Edgar Degas...and this book had all three! Now, I've already written about my feelings on historical fiction, but I didn't even think about my usual compunction when I picked out this book. I just wanted to read it. I didn't think about historical accuracy. I just got lost in the story. (Now, it helps that I didn't think these characters were actually real...but at the end an author's note informed me that they were, though the author says they are mostly fictionalized, which is fine with me). 

For those who have not yet read The Painted Girls 

This is the story of Marie and Antoinette Van Goethem, two teenage girls living a life of destitution in the slums of Paris. They live with their mother, a drunk widow, and their little sister, Charlotte, and everyone must pull their weight. After getting kicked out of her spot with the first quadrille at the Paris Opera, Antoinette helps Charlotte and Marie secure spots at "petite rats" (young dance students) at the Paris Opera's ballet school. While training, Marie catches the eye of famed painter Edgar Degas, and becomes a model for him. Antoinette, meanwhile, falls in love...and risks also falling from grace. 

Let it be said that this story is beautiful. It's compelling. You will fall in love with Marie and Antoinette, and genuinely care what happens for them. Buchanan is both a talented storyteller and a masterful crafter of words, and her talents shine through her depictions of Marie, Antoinette, and life in 19th century Paris. 

One thing I loved about this book was the emphasis on destiny...or rather, our fear of it. Do we have free will, or not? This is something I'm not going to discuss here beyond its implications in the books. Poor Marie, who was well-educated before her father died and an avid newspaper reader, comes across the theory that cranial features are indicators of a predilection for depravity, crime, and poor moral character. Unfortunately, Marie exhibits these facial features. She lives in fear that she will live up the expectations her face has written. She also attends a play that Antoinette is in as a walk-on, and is horrified to discover that the antagonist of the play, a poor washwoman who is working hard to pull herself out of poverty, is unable to do so. Marie lives in constant fear of dying in the gutter, the way she was born. It is heart-wrenching. 

There is a scene where Marie gets to see the public part of the Paris Opera house when her ballet madam takes her class to a dress rehearsal. I have been to the Paris Opera house and it is indeed one of the most grand, beautiful buildings I have ever seen. Imagine the awe Marie must have had. That is the awe I feel as I read this book. 

Recommended? 

Absolutely yes. 4.5/5 stars. 

Tips

If you are not familiar with the Paris Opera or the work of Edgar Degas, I would go ahead and familiarize yourself. It will make the reading more visceral and enjoyable. Here's a primer real quick to save you some time if you don't want to go look it up on your own :-) 

Edgar Degas: 

Paris Opera: 

For those of you who have read The Painted Girls 

Review/Discussion: Taylor's Gift by Todd and Tara Storch

This is going to be a little different from the normal format, because this book is a little different. It is also the debut of nonfiction here on Unless you Write It!

This isn't going to be divided into sections for haven't read/ have read. It is also not going to be given a rating. Spoilers don't really apply. It will also be largely about a cause. 

I took care last time I went to the library, carefully examining the books before I checked them out. I didn't want to end up with another Placebo. I try to balance my fiction with a little smattering of nonfiction, so as I was checking out the nonfiction section this book caught my eye. Reading the blurb, I realized I had to read it. I'll explain why in a second. 

This book is about two parents, Tara and Todd Storch. They, along with their three kids, were a happy, fairly affluent Texas family. They were a great family, all very close, all very happy. Then, when Taylor, their oldest daughter, was almost fourteen, the family took a ski trip to Vail. A fun day on the slopes went horribly, terribly wrong, and left two grieving parents surrounding their brain-dead daughter in a hospital room. And then the fateful question; "would you like to donate Taylor's organs?" 

They said, without having to think about it, yes. It's what they knew Taylor would have wanted. The majority of the book is spent exploring their grief (some of the scenes are painfully, brutally, tear-jerkingly written) and also how they channeled their grief into something great: the Taylor's Gift foundation, which promotes and advocates for organ donation. It is also about the people who received Taylor's organs, and how their lives have been changed so dramatically for the better. 

That is why I wanted to read this book. I am a HUGE supporter of organ donation. I always have been. The thought of life-giving organs rotting in the ground or burning in a fire is sickening to me. I am also on the National Bone Marrow Donor registry, if you're interested you can sign up here: bethematch.org. The ONLY thing you have to do is swab a cheek with the kit they send you and send it back. You do not have to do any other medical tests to be on the registry.  

But besides that, I promise that this reading experience will be very visceral. I was a bit skeptical when I saw that there was a ghostwriter (Co-writer? What do you call these people???) named Jennifer Schuchmann. I am always very skeptical of these books because I've always felt that if you can't write a book on your own you probably don't have any business writing one. But then I stopped sticking my nose in the air and realized that this book isn't about literary merit (though, whoever wrote it and in what combination, it is beautifully written). It's about telling a personal story, celebrating a life, and promoting a cause. It is not about extended metaphor and subplot and pacing and all the things on which we normally judge a book. It is a great, though heart-wrenching, read. Should someone be excluded from telling an important story because they aren't the strongest writers? 

One thing I learned was that just because your driver's license says "organ donor" (and mine does, and has since the day I got it on my 16th birthday) doesn't mean your organs will be donated. The best thing to do is make sure you are on your state's official registry, and you can do that through taylorsgift.org (I went and joined the registry just in case). It is also very important to make it very clear to your close family that you want your organs donated, and which ones. I have point-blank told my family, "when I die, I want all my organs donated." They are all very clear on this issue. It is an option to have some organs donated but not others, and if that is your wish, be sure to specify which ones you are willing to donate and which you aren't. Of course, I hope you choose to donate them all! Please note that dying from a disease, such as cancer, does not preclude you from donation. My mom is an oncology nurse and many of her patients, who have died of cancer, donate their corneas. Also, even disease-riddled organs can be very useful to medical research, which can also contribute to saving lives. Barring that, real corpses are needed to do things such as calibrate crash test dummies, which enable manufacturers to make cars safer, and, again, save lives. My objective is for my body to be put to good use after I'm dead. Organ donation is my first choice but if that isn't possible, then I want it to be put to good use in other ways. For a great book about how your dead body can be used, I'd recommend Mary Roach's delightfully macabre book, Stiff. 

Of course, none of us want this to be an issue that crops up soon. We want to die a long time from now. But as Taylor's death shows, you just never know. Isn't it better to take a few simple steps to ensure that your remains could save a life, no matter when you die? You truly can, as Taylor's Gift foundation says, outlive yourself. How cool is that? 

So this for me was more than a book. It was a reminder that good can come out of tragedy and that we can all take a simple step that makes a HUGE difference. Truly Tara and Todd are amazing people. But it also is, inescapably, a book. And, I think, a pretty darn good one. 

Please check out taylorsgift.org to learn more about Taylor and organ donation. 

Book Review/Discussion: Boost by Kathy Mackel

When I finished Invisible Murder, I reached for the next book...and remembered that was it. I had no more books left. And it was Friday. THE LIBRARY IS CLOSED ON FRIDAY!

Then I remembered that I'd purchased several books for my classroom library a month or so ago at the Scholastic warehouse sale (which was awesome, by the way). So I decided to read one of those. That makes this the first YA book to appear on Unless You Write It.

My feelings on YA literature are pretty simple: I love it. I don't read it much, but when I do I thoroughly enjoy it. I think it can be just as well crafted as adult literature. There is also really AWFUL young adult literature. But there is also really AWFUL adult literature.

I majored in literature in college and also have a master's degree in it, and one class that stands out is a YA literature class I took in undergrad. It was a very challenging class with a lot of theory, but that's not relevant here. One thing I learned, though, is: there are various definition for YA literature. One definition is that it is written for young adults. Another is that it is written about young adults. I'm not sure which definition I prefer, but at any rate I've found that they usually overlap. YA literature is often both for and about young adults. This book is no different.

 Here goes!

For those who have not yet read Boost

Savvy (short for Savannah) and her sister, Callie, have had a rough year. After their family hit a rough patch financially, the sisters' parents moved the family from Arizona to Rhode Island, where they moved in with Savvy's great-aunt on her sheep farm. Savvy, our first-person narrator, is also a very talented basketball player and throws herself heart, soul, and body into her new team. Callie, a former gymnast turned cheerleader, throws herself into cheerleading (or rather, is thrown, she's a flyer...haha see what I did there?). Both girls have some trouble adjusting, but tough Savvy seems to be doing a better job than sensitive Callie. But when they both start struggling in their respective sports, one of them takes things a little too far.

This isn't a bad book, so I don't mean for this to sound disparaging, but this is what I call a "plane book" (since I'm not really a beach person but I love to travel). It's easy, quick, conversational. Does it exhibit the true art of writing? No. But is it a good read nonetheless? Yes. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed it. It highlights some issues that I think are important. Is it high literature? No. But it's a good book. I enjoyed Savvy's character quite a lot and thought the main characters were solidly developed, though some of the peripheral characters came off as caricatures.

Recommended? 

Yes. 3/5 stars. I recommend it especially to actual young adults, especially athletes and super especially to girl athletes.

Tips

I actually did NOT get this one at the library! As I noted earlier I got it at the Scholastic warehouse sale to put in my classroom library. I imagine it would be pretty cheap on Amazon. As far as stocking classroom libraries go, if you're interested, here is my personal philosophy: get ALL SORTS of books! So that any student trying to pick out a book can find one he or she likes. It is not about what I like. My classroom library would be totally different if I just bought books I like. Anyway, I know that sports are super important to lots of my students, so one of my goals when I went to the warehouse sale was to get a few more books about sports. This book is the result of that goal.

For those of you who have read Boost

Book Review/Discussion: Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

So behold, Invisible Murder, the last of my "grab any books at all costs" library run. But first, a confession. I returned this book late. I returned five books late, this was just one of the bunch. Leaving me with not only $1.25 in library fines but also the mortification of having to walk up to the librarian and murmur, "um, I have to pay a fine, please." I was mostly afraid, though, that Mr. Bookman would come after me. 

Luckily, he didn't! I renewed the book just to write this blog, so here we go!

For those who have not yet read Invisible Murder

First off, Invisible Murder is a Danish book, by which I mean it was written by two Danish women and also takes place mostly in and around Copenhagen, though we venture to Hungary a little bit, too. Apparently it is part of a series, which I did not know when I started reading it. It was just fine as a stand-alone read, though. 

Invisible Murder is about a group of illegal alien Roma who fall ill just outside Copenhagen, and nurse/activist (nactivist?) Nina Borger's attempts to help them. It quickly becomes apparent that this is no ordinary illness, and when Nina herself falls sick things get bad, fast. Things also get bad, fast, for Sandor Horvath, a brilliant Hungarian law student who suddenly finds himself entangled in a big mess that he has nothing to do with. Unfortunately I can't really say more about the plot without spoiling it, so just know that what seems to be the Danish equivalent of the NSA (or maybe FBI or CIA, I'm not really sure) get involved as well. 

One thing that I liked about this book is that it offers a peak into life in an idyllic European country. Maybe it's just me, but I'd be willing to bet that many Americans feel this way too: I grew up thinking that life in Europe must be perfect. People sipped drinks outside cafes on beautiful European streets and explored and read books and went to museums all day. Actually living in Europe for a year didn't do much to dissuade me of that notion, to be honest, because I found my time in Europe to be pretty much like that (with a liberal dose of school work mixed in). But this book goes to show that, well, it's true...people are alike all over. I mean, look at these pictures of Copenhagen: 

I think we're pretty tempted to think that life would be pretty much perfect across the board if you lived in a place like that. Or in Istanbul, where Sandor lived before his life was interrupted: 

I mean, life there has to be PERFECT, right? Not so much, as we learn from Invisible Murder. I'm sure for some people life in these places is as perfect as it gets, but certainly not for everyone, as we see in the novel. Some people have small problems in these places, and some people have huge problems. Sandor finds himself in a huge problem, and he also introduces us to another very real problem: the Romani people, who are the largest minority in Hungary, face massive amounts of discriminations. From the (admittedly cursory) research I've done, it's not unlike how we in the US treated blacks before the civil rights movement. It's that bad. 

So as far as the writing goes, it's hard for me to say on a translated work. I always wonder, how much of the art of the writing is lost (or invented) in translation? Plot-wise, it's solid. It kept me interested. Character wise, also solid; I cared about the characters, especially Sandor and Nina. But the craft of the writing, which is a major point for me...again, it's hard to say due to translation. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't say it was beautiful, either. There was one aspect of the plot that I thought was absurd and poor writing, but I'll get to that in the next section. 

However, that said, I enjoyed this book, mostly due to the insight it afforded me to those living in countries I've never been to (but I'd love to go, especially to Budapest...which actually used to be two cities, Buda and Pest, until they were united in to one). I also enjoyed learning about the political and social realities of these two countries. Isn't it amazing how we can learn so much through fiction? A good, solid read. 

Recommended

Yes. 3/5 stars. 

Tips

The book before this is The Boy in the Suitcase. You might want to read that first, though I did not. 

For those who have read Invisible Murder 

Book Review/Discussion: Placebo by Steven James

I finished this book several days ago and am just now blogging it, a much longer turn-around time than I have done in the past and would like to do in the future. Part of this is the hectic nature of the last few days of school (I'm a middle school teacher), and part of it is due to the fact that I just am not excited about this book. Again, apologies to Steven James, you've at least finished and published a novel which is way more than I've done, but I didn't think this book was any good. It was one of my "quick grab a book before the library closes, any book, just grab a book!" books. Not a great technique, apparently. 

For those who have not yet read Placebo 

Placebo is a thriller/crime novel/medical drama. It follows Jevin Banks, our protagonist, a former escape artist/stage magician who now creates debunking shows for TV. It seems to be pretty obvious that Jevin's show is based on Penn and Teller's Bullshit, which is one of my favorite shows. I thought that was pretty cool, but it also got my hopes up that this would be a real anthem for skepticism, but by about halfway through I realized it was anything but. Anyway, I think Jevin was written as a Houdini/wannabe Penn Jillette hybrid. I don't buy it. Penn is one of my idols; I've read his book, I've seen every episode of Bullshit, I listen to his podcast, I've even seen his stage show in Vegas and met him afterwards.  You, Jevin Banks, are no Penn Jillette. But that's okay, it's not like Steven James ever said he was Penn Jillette, so I can let that slide. Jevin is his own character. 

Here is what I will not let slide: The blurb about his book proclaims it is "rooted in groundbreaking science and inspired by actual medical research." Well I'm sorry, but if you claim the book is inspired by actual medical research, I damn well except to see a work cited page. Spoiler alert (not really): there is no work cited page. 

Wait, wait, let's back up to a synopsis. The book opens as Jevin Banks watches the bodies of his wife and young twin sons be pulled out of the water. As it turns out, his wife had purposely driven off the pier in an obvious effort to kill herself and her sons. This leaves Jevin devastated and would have been a really interesting thing in and of itself, but wait, it's about to get muddled up in our "real medical research" (cough snort cough). As a result of this personal tragedy, Jevin quits his stage show and starts his "expose" TV show. This is where the action really starts: Jevin, along with his beautiful assistant Charlene, his whacky conspiracy theorist friend Xavier, and his homeschool mom/ uber-hacker helper Fionna (along with her four precocious children), set out to debunk some unbelievable research about quantum entanglement and realize that the researchers might actually be on to something...and that a very dangerous plot is brewing. The plot is so bizarre that I can't even really explain the rest cohesively. Just know that the other cast of characters involves a psychopathic doctor, another psychopathic doctor, a psychopathic freelance assassin,  a voodoo priestess (perhaps also a psychopath), two stony special-forces twins who can kill people with their minds (quite definitely psychopaths) , yet another psycopathic doctor, a non-psycopathic doctor, the Undersecretary of Defense, and the god damn president of the United States (why not throw POTUS into this cluster eff?). 

Don't worry, I think I have some more rants left in me. Remember when I said that I wasn't ready to accept it was based in real medical research without a work cited page? Well, that real medical research seems to be all about quantum physics. I've seen a lot of documentaries about quantum mechanics, as well as read some popular science books about it. It's an interest of mine. And one quote always seems to surface: If you think you understand quantum physics, you don't understand quantum physics. And this is obviously the case with the author. When the best scientific minds in the world can barely understand quantum physics and its implications, how can we expect a novelist to? It reads like make believe, because it pretty much is. To quote Penn Jillette: real medical research "my aching ass." 

Okay. Done. For now. 

Recommended? 

No. Don't even bother. 

Tips

Find a better book to read. (Ouch, harsh. I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just felt that this book was really a waste of time and I resent it for that). 

For those who have read Placebo