review: forget-her-nots

Book Description:

Something—some power—is blooming inside Laurel. She can use flowers to do things. Like bringing back lost memories. Or helping her friends ace tests. Or making people fall in love.

Laurel suspects her newfound ability has something to do with an ancient family secret, one that her mother meant to share with Laurel when the time was right. But then time ran out.

Clues and signs and secret messages seem to be all around Laurel at Avondale School, where her mother had also boarded as a student. Can Laurel piece everything together quickly enough to control her power, which is growing more potent every day? Or will she set the stage for the most lovestruck, infamous prom in the history of the school?

My Opinion:

Forget-Her-Nots is one of those feel-good books that are a complete delight to read. I don't think the sedately cover gives off the right atmosphere of this book: a wholesome burst of friendship, flowers, fun & sun. Targeted at a young-er adult audience, Forget-Her-Nots will find fans in preteens, teens, and adults alike.

Engaging and well-written from the first, Forget-Her-Nots successfully navigates the tricky waters of grieving and fourteen-year-old girl drama with an added twist. Laurel, the main character, is just so sweet and lovely and kind. Which is a major accomplishment for White; too often, grieving teenage girls in young adult novels are badly done and quickly grow irritating. Laurel, although she doesn't have the most vivacious personality of a main character in YA, is still likable and real. White manages to portray her shyness and overall niceness in a non-grating way that is very rare in YA lit today. Secondary cast members such as her cousin and teachers were interesting; Laurel's friends and frenemies were a tad 2-dimensional but this did not detract from the narrative.

Forget-Her-Nots focuses on Laurel, her relationships at her new boarding school, and the rollicking fun (and disasters) her new found flower powers give way to. Laurel's flower powers make for an intriguing setup, and the originality of this premise is refreshing. It allows for a cute book that also explores elements of magical realism, which are expertly weaved into the fabric of the novel. I loved the flower language that White included, and the foundations of flower lore in Victorian times was equally enjoyable. And in my opinion, I think Forget-Her-Nots is representative of a element soon to burgeon in YA town: magical realism.

Even the climax of this story was fun to weather; it consisted of a few "uh-oh" moments and a really big "OH NOES" moment, but not to worry--this sweet book ended up with a satisfying conclusion. Throughout the course of the book, Laurel and her friends mature and Laurel's conflict between using power selfishly or responsibly is an engaging one. Her crush on a boy is very cute; her interactions with her father are well-portrayed; and the only complaint I have is that sometimes the dialogue wasn't up to par (especially in the case of Laurel's best friend). But I was impressed again and again by the extent of flower knowledge in this book. I actually learned a lot about flowers from reading this!

All in all, Forget-Her-Nots is a great addition to YA, and I would strongly recommend it for younger teens who will find a character-friend with Laurel and a book they'll be able to relate to. And at the time I read this book, it was exactly what I needed--a few hours of lighthearted misadventures that were very entertaining, and honestly lifted my mood considerably. I smiled quite a lot through the course of this novel.

My Rating: I give it a 8/10; it's a solid debut novel for White and it's pretty darn enjoyable.

I was able to read this thanks to 1 ARC tours

ya fiction of the future

So my mind's sort of buzzing after hearing about a few HUGE young adult publishing deals. It amazes me that publishers are willing to advance* so much, but here's to hoping that their predictions of bestsellers come true. Here are the recent three that really made my jaw drop, since the advances were so enormous:

1. Allie Condie's MATCHED (7 figure deal, coming out in Nov 2010)

From Publishers Weekly article:

Dutton Kids Nabs Hot Debut

[T]he house compared the book to Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale, calling the dystopian work “one of the year’s most talked-about manuscripts.” In the book, a 17-year-old girl, who’s spent her life waiting for a group dubbed “The Society” to tell her who her ideal mate is, has her world upended when she discovers she’s falling in love with someone other than her supposed soul mate."

2. Josephine Angelini's STARCROSSED: (coming out in summer 2011)

From the Publisher's Weekly article:

Harper Teen Pays Seven Figures for Debut YA Trilogy

The first book is called Starcrossed--and said she pitched it as "a Percy Jackson for teenage girls."...

In Starcrossed, which brings Greek tragedy to high school, a shy Nantucket teenager named Helen Hamilton attempts to kill the most attractive boy on the island, Lucas Delos, in front of her entire class. The incident proves more than a bit inconvenient for Helen, who's already concerned that she's going insane--whenever she's sees Lucas (or any of his family members) the image of three crying women appear to her.

The murder attempt does have an upside though, as it ultimately leads to Helen's revelation that she and the local heartthrob are, in fact, playing out some version of a weighty ancient love affair. (Said female apparitions are, in fact, the Three Fates.) So Helen, like her namesake, Helen of Troy isn't going crazy, she's destined to start a Trojan War-like battle by being with Lucas. This then begs the unfortunate question: should she be with the boy she loves even if it means endangering the rest of the world?"

3. Amy Huntington's SLEEPWALKING (coming out in summer 2011)

The Publishers Weekly article describes it as “Twilight...in Paris...with zombies.”

HC Goes Undead in Paris

"[a] new zombie series by debut author Amy Huntington.


The first book, Sleepwalking, follows a 16-year-old who, after losing her parents, is cast off from her Brooklyn life to live with grandparents in Paris. There she meets, and falls for, a French teen named Vincent, who just happens to be a zombie."

And if you're wondering how a zombie could possibly be a love interest:

"a new kind of zombie mythology in which the undead are “re-animated humans”—they look just like us—and don't feast on brains but, instead, carry out special missions."

Whoa.

So it looks like we've got a 1) dystopian love story 2) Greek-based love story and 3) zombie love story on our hands for big releases within the next year or so.

What do all of these novels have in common? The romance. I really have a hard time thinking of YA books without romances these days; and it looks like that's what's selling. And I think also that the Big Three here profited from the popularity of bestselling books now--Matched, the dystopian novel has the benefit (other than being represented by S. Meyer's literary agent) of The Hunger Games. The Greek-based novel, Starcrossed, has the benefit of the Percy Jackson's success. And of course the zombie novel, Sleepwalking, has the benefit of Twilight. For the latter two, it's mentioned specifically in the article--and you have to wonder--a lot of the times these pitches are only half-truths--I mean, they call every new bestseller "The next Twilight" or "the next Harry Potter" even if the book is nothing like them.

And may I say, the inevitable has finally struck: zombies are love interests. It'll be interesting to see how it's done, but it seems like the zombies have been stripped of their eww-gross factor. (If only they could eat brains AND be smoking hot).

And since I'm the greatest mythology geek ever, I'm pretty excited about the premise of Starcrossed--if you think about it, a retelling of the Illiad is absolutely spot-on for YA--it's the whole love/action combo.

But what will the next big advance go to?

I'm betting on mermen. Their skin scales sparkle in the water! What danger their hunger for blood fish poses! They could carry Bella the main character on their backs and race swim off into the deep green blue meadows waters of the forest sea! And play baseball water polo in truly EPIC proportions!

hey, maybe I should write that and nab me a 7-figure deal. I'm glad of this new dystopian trend though (I love dystopian).

But you have to wonder--these books have all expanded on respective bestsellers. A truly breakthrough novel are books like Harry Potter or Twilight or Hunger Games that expand a whole entire genre (children's fantasy, YA and paranormal romance, dystopian respectively)--and I'm really wondering what the next trend will be. I guess if anyone knew, they'd be writing it and keeping their mouths shut.

I, for one, am wishing I could plot a graph that would show all the rises in trends and genres, or analyze all the deals up at Publisher's Weekly somehow. But I'm sure there's some book percolating in a writer's mind that's going to absolutely blow our socks off in a few years time.

What do you think will be the next gamechanger? And are you excited by these books?

movie review: alice in wonderland

I'm doing something new here, reviewing a movie. But I went and saw Alice in Wonderland yesterday in 3D and thought I'd give this movie reviewing thing a try :)

Review:

Alice in Wonderland has been dusted off and made to shine with Tim Burton's 2010 remake of this classic tale. It's whimsical, it's strange, and the color palette is so oversaturated it's blinding in it's brilliance. For a girl who loves pretty pictures, this movie is the ultimate visual experience. I was slightly dazed after the film, and all I could think was "That was a pretty movie." Because while Alice in Wonderland is bursting with stunning effects, it misses the mark with acting and storyline.

Burton's Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is a bit different from the 7-year old Disney cartoon we know so well: she's now a rebellious 19-year old in Victorian times. We know this because she resists wearing her corset and really dislikes rich, but doltish future-fiances with indigestion. Add in an overactive imagination and strange dreams, and Alice doesn't quite fit in with high society. At her engagement party, she's lured away by a white rabbit, falls through a hole in a tree, and finds herself in room chock-full of locked doors.

From there she drinks a shrinking potion and eats an enlarging cake, discards a few layers of clothing in the process, and finally becomes the right size to open the door and finds...

Wonderland.

It's completely, absolutely, totally gorgeous. And I will ignore the whole "it-looks-like-a-drug-trip" comment to gush. And gush. Because Burton has rammed up the eye candy and it was just oh-so-wonderful to sit there and gaze onto a canvas of imaginings, fully realized in the form of a 3D film. The costumes were impeccable. The styling of the characters was eye-catching. The lighting, the effects--ahh, everything--was just beautiful. Burton's created a world I want to live in--both his Victorian England and his Wonderland are brimming with fun and in-your-face displays. Literally, if you factor in the 3D.

Alice is told (via a handy-future telling calendar), she's to liberate the down-trodden creatures in Wonderland from the tyrannical Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Here, I'm doing this review a disservice since I haven't read the books (I know, I know), and can't vouch for adaption accuracy. However, in this movie the Red Queen's thrall is suspiciously similar to the rule of the White Witch from Narnia. But as far as villains go, the Red Queen is an enjoyable one--and her enormous head gives way to some of the best parts of the movie . It's soon revealed that Alice is to be the champion for the White Queen (the benevolent ruler that the Red Queen overthrew, played by Anne Hathaway), and slay the fearsome and dragon-like jabberwocky. On the way, Alice befriends the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp--who, once again, is as make-up-ified as possible). I can't say that Johnny Depp delivered a satisfactory performance--it was like half-hearted combination of Willa Wonka and Jack Sparrow, with only striking green eyes and fiery red hair to accompany it, and none of the charm. I did like the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) quite a lot; he lit up the screen for the sadly short amount of time he was on it.

There were a few funny moments, most of them self-induced: from a distance, the White Queen's (Anne Hathaway) dark near-black lipstick was reminiscent of a mustache (yes, I'm very immature). The Red Queens' antics were also worthy of a few laughs.

All in all, I enjoyed Burton's spin on Alice on Wonderland. It's just so...pretty! If anything, I'd say recommend seeing this movie purely for the visual beauty--it's breathtaking and for the span of two hours, I was completely immersed in a cinematic experience unlike any other. I particularly liked the White Queen's castle--I want to live there, forever (even if the waterfall backdrop looked a tiny bit like LOTR's Rivendell).



Strip away the visual beauty though, and this Alice in Wonderland adaption and execution aren't without imperfections. I found that the future-telling calendar that revealed the climatic scene early on took away from a lot of the film's urgency--and the dramatic battle at the end was rushed and badly done. The resolution wasn't very believable either.

It's really the aesthetically-minded part of me that loves this film.

4/5 stars: go watch it and drool at the prettiness, haha.

cover alert: like mandarin

Kirsten Hubbard recently unveiled the cover of debut novel, Like Mandarin. Here it is:



Synopsis:

It's hard to find beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming. Fourteen-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances and pickup trucks adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild girl Mandarin Ramey: seventeen, shameless and utterly carefree.

Grace would give ANYTHING to be like Mandarin.

When the misfits are united for a project, they embark on an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and constantly searching for someplace magic. Grace even plays along when Mandarin suggests they make a pact to run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds that plague their badlands town.

But all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, even the best friendships can't withstand betrayal.


My thoughts: The cover is simple, but I think it just makes it all the more beautiful. The white part really stands out, and it just looks so clean and appealing. Besides having a brilliant premise, Like Mandarin will look so pretty on a bookshelf, don't you think?

Release Date: March 2011

Author Website: http://www.kirstenhubbard.com

Goodreads: Like Mandarin

where do words lead? (a rambling reflection)

I've been thinking about blogging. About reading. About writing. And most of all, words.

I've just realized that I've been blogging for a little over a half year now. Wow. (this both amazes and baffles me).

And I think it's time for a reflection--(if you're wondering: no, this post doesn't have a point, other to ramble. Be warned: spur-of-the-moment poetry and old writings lie ahead). And for the first time in a while I'll be mixing Writing Me with Reading Me on this blog. I made a decision a while ago to not really talk about my writing at all on In Which a Girl Reads. I think it was a sound one; I really like how this blog turned out--completely readercentric. But just for the purposes of this post, I'll include the writing. It's all tangled up with Reading Me and Blogging Me anyhow, and I don't quite have the strength to pick out the knots at the moment.

Yes, writing.

Some of you (*waves at writerly friends*) know that I *attempt* to write novels and poetry. Key word here is attempt. I make no claims to greatness; I'm just any other sixteen year old girl with dreams of publishing a novel someday. There are millions of Mes out there. My dream isn't anything original or special. I share it with a lot of people. Too many, in fact.--it seems like there are would-be writers in every nook and cranny of the interwebs. I don't begrudge them this; this hope to create something.

I'm feeling all poetic right now, so:

Hope and I,
we bend our heads
together into
a silhouette of shattered light.
Warm yellow,
like the center of an egg yolk.

I have this hope too, and I'm not more entitled to writing a novel than anyone else. If anything, I'm less. But there's no criteria for a writer, other than a love of words. And determination.

Here we go (I can't stop now that I've started):

Let's try again:
the bluegreen horizon
waits so patiently.
The birds kiss the waves
of the sultry afternoon,
and the pages of a dusty yellow-stained book
flutter in the wind.

Ever since I started blogging--ever since this summer, I've fallen in love with words. I liked words before, enjoyed them, but never loved them as I do now. I was always an avid reader. I devoured books. I still do. The writing came later--I began my first novel at twelve, and just finished it this summer. I'm a slow writer, but this doesn't mean my first efforts sucked any less. (they really sucked, if you're wondering.) But all of a sudden I started to write more.

I've abandoned two unfinished novels since August. After sticking with one novel for three years, it feels almost shameful. Fifteen for me will always be the age, the year of abandoning novels. That's basically three in a year (+ a month, but we'll overlook this). But some things are necessary. And I started on a new one this week--and for once, I'm liking how it's going. Sixteen will be the year of finishing something better than I've ever written before. I can feel it.

I wrote my first poem--my first real poem--about a month or two ago. After years of thinking I could never write a poem. I was inspired by the first book of poetry I'd ever read. I've written about twenty poems since then.

Somewhere in between Then and Now, I've changed. Words have become Everything to me when before they were only Something. I blame it at least partly on blogging. I blame everything on the internet.

The internet is the reason I've finally connected with fellow writers. (btw I love you guys if you're reading this). The internet is the reason that I started this book blog gig and that I've finally connected with other readers and people as passionate about books as I am. (I love you guys).

And this book blog has led to several things
1. More reading than ever before
2. A more analytical view of my books; i.e., I think about them to review them.
3. Better reviewing skills.

This is just a simplification of everything this blog has done for me; I'm leaving out the amazing community I've met in the blogosphere, the fun I've had, the essence of blogging. But to view it most clinically, this blog has allowed me to read more, and to write more.

It motivated me to do that whole crazy Literature Week in December. It's an example. Becuase as a result, I've come out of it (slightly scathed) and completely changed. I'm reading as much adult literature as I do YA now. I came into this blog thinking I only liked light fantasies and escapism books; I've now come to realize how powerful literature can be. How ground-breaking, how amazing.

My horizons
have not just expanded,
they've exploded.
And afterwards the skyline
punched me in the face
for lasting impact.
It stings
It meant to bruise:
an infusion of
blackblueviolet colors
like dusk.

It's instilled in me a greater appreciation for authors than I've ever had. For the ones who create something unparalleled. I never used to get so impassioned about books: I loved them before, I was obsessed, I reread some books everyday for a month. But now I want to cry at the beauty in some of them. Now I feel something inside of me when I read a great book that I really think is my literary soul responding to them. That's why I call them Soul Books.

They sing
to my soul.

And I can't even begin to tell you what reading greatness has done to me.

I can feel
the changes
in me.

How can words, simple words, change a person?

I'm skeptical.

You're skeptical.

It's strange.

But I can't look back on the last couple months without seeing a divergence between me before and me now.

It's like a road
splitting down the side.
Framed by an avenue of molting
feather trees.

It's terrifying but wonderful.

Because it's all for the better.

I think maybe this is what passion is.

And what does it mean, to be passionate about something? To think this is something that is worth dedicating your time to? A whole big chunk of time? Your life?

Blogging is just the beginning. And I wonder if I'll still be blogging ten years from now. Blogging hasn't withstood a test of time; no one's been blogging for ten years straight. Blogging didn't even exist ten years ago.

Have I started
something that never ends?

What is it like to be published? To hold a job in the publishing industry? To inhale nothing but words from sunrise to sunset?

Maybe one day I'll have a chance to experience some of those things.

Is it
possible?
No. Yes.
Maybe.

I have the rest of my life to tango with words. That's a whole lot of time. I've realized now the only thing I can hope for as a writer is improvement. It takes time. It takes pain and sweat and tears. It's my writing philosophy: to always strive to improve. To be patient and wait until I'm ready--many years from now. It's also, I've realized, my life philosophy. To always be improving.

I don't know anything about the future, but it sure feels wonderful. Scary, almost.

I owe it to you guys.

I owe it to authors that pen beauty that has inspired me.

And the internet.

And to not doing my homework on time.

(Amen to that^)

I sit here not doing my calculus homework and writing this completely rambling (and most likely nonsensical post) at eleven at night. Midnight now.

Why?

The words.

And to mash several old writings together:

I write:
for the words tumbling down the rocky path of my throat,
tiptoeing across my roof like lemon drop rain.

For the words as unreachable as charcoal sketches against the milky horizon.

For the paragraphs where I have to dip a ladle into the world and scoop a part of it out. Out of me.

I write for the words that render paintings in the air. Watercolors of vistas, mountains, lakes, roaring together.

What can I say?

I hope this post doesn't weird any of you out. It's sudden. I think I'll revert back to the reading posts from now on. Today is special for some reason, it's an exception.

The random poetry is a result of the time at night (I write at night--but I'm not a sparkly vampire, I assure you). I'm sorry; I won't inflict any of you poor followers anymore.

I lack the better judgment to edit it out. To not post this.

Thanks for hanging in there and reading this :)

<3

in my mailbox (15)

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

To the great dismay and horror surprise of my local librarians, I, the unrelenting Scourge of All Libraries, am now back in action! I've finally paid my massive, gigantic library fines* (why yes, it hurt very badly**). And I meant to check out a gazillion books in celebration but I thought about it and the pain was enough to limit me to fifteen. And here are the books I'm planning to review out of those:







1. Gone by Lisa McMann: Why hello, sentence fragments! I enjoyed both Wake and Fade, so I'm looking forward to reading this final book in the trilogy.

2.North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Hadley: Although this book has the same stock photo as one of my least favorite books, Evermore (review), I'm willing to give a try. It seems to be a good contemporary book with a great message.

3. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness: I LOVE dystopian fiction. And this book has so much praise tacked onto it that it's mind-boggling. So, so excited.

4. After by Amy Efaw: The cover with all the white is pretty striking, and I've heard good things about this one as well.

5. Wish by Alexandra Bullen: This book has a cool, fun premise and I love how her dress disintegrates into stars. So pretty :)


*I love the library. I do. But it seems that I'm always either paying off fines of accumulating them. Gah.

** *waves goodbye to chunk of savings* But to tell the truth, if I'm going to have to pay fines for anything, I'm most happy to pay money to a library. At least my forgetfulness is leading to some good (more money for the library).

thoughts on some stylistic techniques in novels

So I was thinking* about just how much I love authors who are brave enough to experiment with stylistic aspects of their writing. And I thought I'd do a roundup** of some of the interesting things I've come across while reading, along with excerpts from works that incorporate them and my comments.

There's going to be a lot of generalizations in this post, but I'll just point out what I do and don't like. Keep in mind, this is just my (rather fickle) opinion :)

***

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

my thoughts: okay, so maybe I'm a *little* biased here. On principle, sentence fragments are perhaps my most favorite stylistic technique that an author can employ. There's always the risk that the prose will get choppy, but when done right, it just adds so much impact and beauty.

I think my favorite instance of it in literature is from The God of Small Things by Adrundhati Roy.

quote:

They ran along the bank calling out to her. But she was gone. Carried away on the muffled highway. Graygreen. With fish in it. With the sky and trees in it. And at night the broken yellow moon in it.

There was no storm music. No whirlpool spun up from the inky depths of the Meenachal. No shark supervised the tragedy.

Just a quiet handing-over ceremony. A boat spilling its cargo. A river accepting the offering. One small life. A brief sunbeam. With a silver thimble clenched for luck in its little fist.

And when it's applied to YA books, it can be absolutely fantastic.

Wake by Lisa McMann takes it to a whole new extreme, and I love it.

quote:

Oh baby," he whispers. Steps back. Out of the doorway. His face ashen. He walks slowly back to the kitchen. Leans over the counter. Puts his head in his hands. His hair falls over his fingers.

The bathroom door clicks shut.

She stays there for a long time.

He's pulling his hair out.

final verdict: EPIC WIN

DIALOGUE WITHOUT QUOTATION MARKS

my thoughts: I don't even like it when James Joyce does it. And in the instances I've seen it applied to young adult literature, it's been very jarring.

quote (from Ulysses by James Joyce)

--A woeful lunatic! Mulligan said. Were you in a funk?
--I was, Stephen said with growing energy and fear

Gah. What is wrong with simple quotation marks?

I didn't like it much in YA with Girl in the Arena either:

--Have you met with Uber? another reporter asks.

--No. Not yet.

--So you plan to?

--There are no plans at this time, I say.

The whole dashes instead of quotation marks might not appear to be a big nuisance in small snippets, but when it's consistent throughout a large book, it really throws me off. It jolts me out of the dialogue.

final verdict: FAIL

COMBINING WORDS/MAKING UP WORDS

my thoughts: The instances I've come across have been brillamazing. I really like it as a stylistic technique--and the combined words only pop up every once in a while but they have extra impact.

Here's Cormac McCarthy in All the Pretty Horses:

quote

The wind was much abated and it was very cold and the sun sat blood red and elliptic under the reefs of bloodred cloud before him.

*loves*

And here's Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eye:

quote

Hereisthehouseitisgreenandwhiteithasareddooritisverypretty itisveryprettyprettyprettyp

It might lose it's impact separated here, but as chapter titles and as the opening of the novel it's wonderful.

The closest thing to the whole making up new words/combining them technique I've found in YA is in Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, when a whole 2 pages in the middle of the book runs:

quote

Must. Not. Eat. Must. Not. Eat. Must. Not. Eat.Must. Not. Eat.Must. Not. Eat.Must. Not. Eat.

It might not seem like much taken out of context here, but as it functions in the book, this shows the thought process of the main character and it just has so much impact.

The Verdict: WIN for Adult lit. Hopefully there will be some more in YA lit soon.

DRAMATIC FORM IN THE MIDDLE OF A BOOK:

my thoughts: It's actually pretty cool, the two or three times I've read it in a book.

In This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I really liked it. That was one of my literature week books that I had to read in one day, and by the 2/3 point I was getting restless. So the dramatic form really broke it up for me in an interesting way.

quote:

CECILIA: Well, Rosalind has still to meet the man she can outdistance. Honestly, Alec, she treats men terribly. She abuses them and cuts them and breaks dates with them and yawns in their faces--and they come back for more.

ALEC: They love it.

CECILIA: They hate it. She's a sort of vampire--I think.

*loves*

And Laurie Halse Anderson uses it both in Speak and Wintergirls.

quote (from Speak, Victim is the main character):

Mom: "...[l]ook at me when I'm talking to you."

[Victim mixes cottage cheese into applesauce. Dad snorts like a bull. Mom grasps knife.]

UNCONVENTIONAL STRUCTURE:

my thoughts: If it's done right, it can be awesome. There's so many different ways to experiment with plot structure and point of view and chapter divisions.

I love the headings in The Book Thief (and I love pretty much everything in that book) by Markus Zusak:

"When he turned the light on in the small, callous washroom that night, Liesel observed the the strangeness in her foster father's eyes. They were made of kindness, and silver. Like soft silver, melting. Liesel, upon seeing these eyes, understood that Hans Hubermann was worth a lot.

***SOME FACTS ABOUT ROSA HUBERMANN*

She was five feet, one inch tall and wore her
browny gray strands of elastic hair in a bun.
To supplement the Hubermann income, she did the washing
for the wealthier households in Molching.
Her cooking was atrocious.
She possessed the unique ability to aggravate almost anybody she ever met.
But she did love Liesel Meminger."

Amazing!

And then there are books that experiment with lists, which are pretty cool as well.

For the books with different types of chapters (or none at all), I'm not exactly sure. I love the how scenes are divided up in Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, by time:

[ oo8.00]

The air at the gas station is heavy with diesel and the smell of rancid deep-fryer fat from the McDonald's next door.

However, books that go on for long blocks of pages without any chapters can get a little heavy, where I'm waiting for a place to leave off and there's no chapter ending to stop at.

And the extreme experiment in structure is a nonlinear plot form. I haven't yet read a YA book other than The Year of Secret Assignments with a nonlinear structure, but I'm trying to get my hands on one.

Final verdict: UNDECIDED, mostly due to the wide range of variation.

***
I'm pretty fascinated by the diversity of style and techniques that authors employ. Of course, it's a bit hard to generalize when I think a lot of it comes down to execution: some authors can make pretty much any technique work, and some can't.

I'd like to see more experimental techniques in YA literature; it really can add an extra dimension into a narrative.

And here's the big question: do you agree or disagree with me on my assessments? Do you have any favorite unique stylistic techniques or do particular techniques really bother you in a novel?

*Yes, I do do that on occasion. Even though my brain is fried from SCHOOL. *weep*

**Okay, so maybe this is a plot to showcase novels I (mostly) like with awesome quotes that will hook you so hard you'll be running to the bookstore to read the books mentioned here. Most of 'em, at least.

review: the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian

Book Description:

Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live.

My Opinion:

I've been meaning to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for ages. It's been recommended to me right and left; brandished, paraded, and flourished in front of me. Every so often I'd see it around at a place of books and think, I have to read that soon. A few days ago, I finally picked it up and read it. And I should've read it sooner, I should've made time for it. Because The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is not the sort of book you should ignore. You got to take notice of it, you got to devour it, and you got to love it.

Junior, the main character, is just so plain lovable. His voice is distinct, funny, and wise. This book details his first year leaving his reservation in order to go to school at Rearden, whose students are all white and mostly well off. Junior on the other hand, is Indian and poor. Dirt poor. The kind of poor where he doesn't get enough to eat. The type of poor that breeds misfortune. And boy, does Junior go through misfortune. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should by all rights be a tragedy, because Junior's life is a pretty much a tragedy.

Junior goes through some lows and some high points in his life. When you're reading this book, you'll be stringed on along with him. You'll be immersed in his world--full of alcoholic parents that still love him, a sister nicknamed Mary Runs Away who wants to write romance novels, and Rowdy, his violent and misunderstood best friend. There's a whole host of great characters in this book. Which just makes it even more heartbreaking when Junior and his family have to endure horrible calamities.

But don't get the wrong idea: this book isn't depressing by any means. Sure, it's poignant and uninhibited and might make you cry. But it'll also make you crack up, make you smile so much you get cheek cramps*. And it'll fill you with hope. Because above all, this book is a tale of hope, of never-giving-up, and an example of what you can do when you set your mind to it. Thinking of this novel, I just want to reach into the velvety crisp pages of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and give Junior a hug, and tell him he's amazing, because he is. I have a thing for the underdog, for the hero who has everything against him. I think this is part of the reason why with Junior, Alexie has created a character that I'll love forever.

And speaking of Alexie, he's also amazing. His writing is beautiful, masterful. Here's some of my favorite quotes:

"I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats."

"We Indians really should be better liars, considering how often we've been lied to."

"I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there red and mute like a stop sign."

"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,' I said. 'By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not."

And scattered in between lines of lovely prose are cartoons (by Ellen Fogey). Junior wants to be a cartoonist, and I love the cartoons so, so, much. Here's one:


Maybe Junior's insights are a little too wise for a 14-year-old, but that's something I'm willing to overlook.

So this book is awesome story + wonderful characters + lovely cartoons + gorgeous prose. I'm not sure what that equals. Something jaw-dropping. Heart-stopping. Unparalleled.

Don't make the same mistake I did and put off reading this book. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a fairly short read, but the amount of pages has nothing to do with the amount of substance. In 200-something pages, Sherman Alexie pens genius. Pure, unadulterated genius. You know it's an amazing read when it makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. This book is full of laugh-out-loud humor and great tragedy; and the mixture of both makes for an absolutely unforgettable read.

My Rating: 9.5/10. If you don't go read this NOW I'll force you to, somehow. That's how much I recommend it.

*gah. Aren't those painful? Lol.

new magic under glass cover unveiled

I'm following up on the discussion post I did a while back about the Magic Under Glass controversy. Bloomsbury agreed to design a new cover, and recently unveiled it to the public.

(The old cover is on the left and the new cover is on the right)



I <3 the new cover. It's just so, so much more fitting for the character. And it's a lot more beautiful too--the design and the lighting are gorgeous. The font on the old cover really irked me for some reason, but I love the font on this one :) Definitely a huge improvement, and I'm looking forward to buying this one with the revised cover!

daily dose (5)

Daily Dose is a meme hosted by Good Golly Miss Holly. It showcases inspirational and beautiful pictures.

Before the fun begins, I just want to apologize for being AWOL for the last few days commenting-wise on everyone's blogs. School= crazy. And I think massive amounts of homework/tests was the cause of my sleep coma yesterday. (isn't it sort of strange/frightening when you sleep 20 hours straight without any warning?). Anyhow, I'll be back to commenting again now :)