Signing Off

Welcome, to those of you who find your way to this site. I am taking a hiatus from posting reviews here as I was not able to gain the attention of my fellow readers and writers. I'll update my work from time-to-time, but please look for me as a guest columnist on @Writersrumpus.com. And thanks for visiting.

Big Little Lies

by Liane Moriarty

Amy Einhorn Books, G.P. Putnam's Sons, Penguin Group, 2014

B+ because I hate gossip and bickering. A- because it is a well-written who-done-it!

Numerous people insisted I would love the TV series. They don’t know me very well. I insisted on reading the novel before watching the show. I’m glad I did.

Maddie means well but is nosy and bossy. Her 2nd husband, Ed, is a saint. Celeste and Paul are wealthy, kinky, and fun to be around. Jane is hiding from herself.

Their four kids all start kindergarten together in the first chapter. Maddie’s’ daughter Chloe is outgoing and a leader. Celeste’s twins, Josh and Max, are…well…boys, while Jane’s son Ziggy is more reserved.

On the first day of school, someone chokes Renatta’s (queen bee of the school committee) daughter, Amabella.

Renata makes a scene, Amabella points out Ziggy. Battle lines are drawn when Ziggy says he didn’t do it, and Jane supports him.

The cattiness and bitxxing infuriates us for months. Until a body flies off a balcony at the school fundraiser.

Moriarty entertains us with not only story but format. To engage the readers early, she introduces the murder in the first chapter but doesn’t tell us who died. The investigation then overlaps the backstory explaining the first months of kindergarten — an excellent use of format to set the story apart from more traditional reads.

I congratulate the author on her mystique. I pride myself on picking up loose threads and small clues. I was able to figure out who the victim was, but I was wrong about the murderer, although I nailed the motive. It was very well done, indeed!

So well done, in fact, that I decided to watch the tv series. But, the gossip and anger and talking-behind-the-backs of ‘friends’ gave me agita. I didn’t watch a second episode. I didn’t want it to ruin the book!

I Am Still Alive

by Kate Alice Marshall

Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018

One of the best hooks ever, “Hatchet meets the Revenant…” by S. A. Bodeen, describes this YA survival story in four perfect words. I gave this must-read an A+.

Jess Cooper’s Dad left her when she was an infant. Her mom raised her until she was killed in a car accident when Jess was 16. After months of rehab and foster homes, the state finally tracked down her dad, Carl Green, and she is flown to live with him in Alaska.

Only he lied. He keeps a mailing address in Alaska but lives off the grid in the wilderness of Canada. Carl’s best friend Griff meets Jess at the airport in Anchorage; they then drive and fly for hours to join her dad and his dog, Bo. It’s summer, but summer is short.

Jess is miserable, disabled, lonely, and out of her element. She wants to leave. Her dad promises it’s just for one year. He’s teaching her how to survive the long winter. She watches him set traps, learns about berries and other flora. She hunts with bow and arrow, learns to avoid predators, and how to cook over an open fire. A plane arrives, and it’s not Griff.

It’s too good a story for me to give it away here, so I won’t. But Jess and Bo have to learn to survive on their own. The things this author puts her antagonist through would make you think she doesn’t like her very much. But she made Jess strong!

Marshall used an unusual format that added to the power of this novel. Told in first-person point-of-view, she alternated with the backstory BEFORE she was alone in the wilderness and her survival AFTER.

When the BEFORE catches up with the AFTER, her goal becomes less of survival and more of revenge.

The writing is fast-paced. The main character is challenged beyond all belief, in an entirely plausible way, making it hard to put down.

Marshall took us into the beautiful, unforgiving wilderness. She also took us into a frantic and violent underworld. They collide in masterful prose.

Anger is a Gift

by Mark Oshiro

A Tom Doherty Associates Book, TOR Teen, Macmillan Publishing Co.

2018

Halfway through reading, I didn’t want to finish this book except, I needed to know that Moss, our main character, turned out okay. So here you have a perfect example of why the reader needs to care about your character. 

My thoughts then were to rate the novel a B. An A for story, diversity, LGBTQ, telling a story that doesn’t get shared often enough…if at all. But I averaged that with a C for writing style. I’ve changed my mind, so read on.

Moss, our 16-year-old protagonist, lost his dad to a San Francisco police officer in a case of mistaken identity, several years earlier. Now in High School, Moss is confronted with police brutality toward himself and his high school friends. The teens know they have to do something to speak out. Here I must applaud Oshiro. He breaks a YA ‘no parents’ rule and engages them as I believe would and should happen in the real-life of any 16-year-old. With parental support, they organize peaceful protests, which, unfortunately, but of course, turn tragic. Moss’ anger builds throughout the narrative. He learns to channel that to create change for his neighborhood and school. As was stated earlier, A for story.

This is Oshiro’s debut novel. His characters are genuine, unique, and empathizable (is that a word?) The final third of the book, packed with dynamic and engaging action, but the first two/thirds were too predictable: 

•    Moss encounters something
•    his anxiety rises
•    he tries his coping mechanisms 
•    ultimately Mama (a solid mom any kid would adore), Esperanza (the best friend), or Javier (the boyfriend) rubs his back or head 
•    Moss can cope again. 

Too repetitive for my taste.

The problem, in my opinion, is that Oshiro never made me feel Moss’ angst. He told me about it, a few too many times. In the last third, Oshiro truly engaged this reader in the mental and physical abuse at the hands of the police but not the anguish inspired by Moss’ own demons.

Having completed the novel, I moved my rating up to a B+/A-. This story did eventually grab me and something more. It enlightened me,(as it did for Esperanza), to a situation I thankfully have never witnessed and wish did not exist. However, according to the author’s notes, it does – and it shouldn’t.

Switchback

by Danika Stone

A Swoon Reads Book

Imprint of Feiwel and Friends and Macmillan Publishing Group

2019

Vale (Valeria) hates high school. Who wouldn't if you were bullied and had no friends. Well, she has one friend, Ash (Ashton), and thank goodness he's in her PE class. Friends since kindergarten, Ash intervenes between Vale and her nemesis Mike. Not to stand up to him, but in his usual class-clown way, making fun of himself and the world around him to diffuse the tension.

Why hasn't he ever stood up to Mike? Vale tries, but it does no good. So when the PE class embarks on the mandatory overnight hike in Canada's Waterton Park, Vale is glad Ash is along. Ash wishes he was home playing video games in the basement, but he wants to graduate, and he promised Vale he wouldn't bail.

Vale and Ash are lost and on their own by lunchtime. Enduring a real and daunting survival experience, their relationship changes and grows, and so do they. Vale has some survival instinct from reading and a fundamental love of nature. Ash respects this and lets her take charge until she rolls an ankle, and he knows she needs him to step up. He leaves before dawn to climb a peak and tries one more time to make a 911 call. Vale wakes up alone, feeling abandoned by the world.

Ash needs to get back to Vale. Vale hopes Ash will return but needs to leave the camp before the elk or grizzly return. Things only get worse.

I enjoyed Switchback. Reading about nature, the elk rut, and other wildlife encounters is right up my alley. The writing was a bit naïve for YA, so I rated it a B+. As a Middle Grade, I'd probably raise it to an A-. If you ever spend time in the great outdoors or wonder what it's like, you'll find some very realistic descriptions in Switchback.

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY?

By Horace McCoy

Serpents. Tail, Profile Books, London first edition, 1935; this edition, 2010.

I’m not sure how many years ago it was, but one fine day I made the decision to read the classics. I didn’t get very far. Truth be told, I didn’t enjoy many of them. As a writer, I found reasons to prefer today’s structure and general rules. As a reader, with a few exceptions, I was bored.

Last month I came across a very low-cost copy of THEY SHOOT HORSES DON’T THEY, one of the classics I had not yet gotten around to reading. A short paperback, I hoped it would be a quick beach-read – NOT.

The entire story is during Robert Syverten’s sentencing for the murder of Gloria Beatty. Robert shot Gloria on a park bench on the pier after spending five weeks as her partner in a dance marathon. When the police arrested him, they asked him why he shot her. He answered, “she asked me to.” When asked if that was the only reason, he thought about the time his uncle shot a horse with a broken leg and answered, “They shoot horses, don’t they?”

I didn’t enjoy this book for the same reason Robert shot Gloria. She was a miserable human being. Severely depressed and in dire need of help, which she would not get in the early 1930s during the Great Depression. And, Robert was as boring as she was miserable.

The story is told in Robert’s POV and his voice is clear but without emotion. He drones on and on about the details of their time together. I wanted to shake him and wake him up. I wanted to slap her. Or at least walk away from time to time but you couldn’t avoid these two, they danced together one-hour and fifty minutes of every hour, 24x7, for over five weeks! And McCoy dragged us through every intolerable minute. The only emotion in the novel was the chapter breaks which proclaimed the Judge’s statements throughout the sentencing, beginning with The prisoner will stand… and ending with …may God have mercy on your soul… That was a clever and I dare say inventive use of chapter breaks. 

Gloria was miserable, hopeless, depressed. She had attempted suicide, lost her parents, couldn’t get an acting job, destitute. She convinced Robert, a recent acquaintance, to enter the contest with her. At least they’d have food and a roof over their heads. Robert was also destitute but still hopeful of starting a career in films. When the contest abruptly ends, Robert and Gloria walk outside to see the sun for the first time in weeks.

She tells him she has nowhere to go and would be better of dead. He agrees with her. She hands him a pistol and asks for his help. Robert obliges. And we are told this at the very beginning of the story.

I rated this a C. It provided me some painful insight on life during the Great Depression. I loved the format of the interspersed Judges statements. I want to feel for Robert and Gloria but I can't. Other reviews describe it as "existential with deeply layered meaning, providing wonderful symbolism, and complex characters." But I disagree, it may be existential but not deep. Everything, even the characters, are transparent and raw yet unfazed. I’d like to see the rewrite with a little more drama, a lot more emotion, and a sub-plot or two that matter.

I guess I'm not cut out for the classics.

Tell The Wolves I'm Home

by Carol Rifka Brunt

The Dial Press, Random House, NY 2012

June Elba is lonely at age 14. Her best friend is her uncle Finn Weiss, her mother’s brother as well as a famous painter. Finn dies of aids much too young and June befriends a stranger named Toby, Finn’s partner for most of his adult life.

June is stunned she never knew of Toby’s existence until Finn’s death. When Finn moved back to New York from England, years before (after leaving because his father couldn’t accept he was gay) his sister, June’s mother, would only allow Finn to be a part of her and his niece’s lives if Toby was kept a secret.

So when June visited Finn (as she did regularly), Toby couldn’t come home.

Toby was even more lonely than June. Their time together was special and short as, of course, Toby also had aids. Like June's mother and Uncle Finn, June had once been very close to her older sister, Greta. But Greta was jealous of June’s special relationship with Finn and treated June poorly because of it. (We are our parents children.)

This is a story of family jealousy, judgment, and poor communication. It is also a story of growing up lonely and shy but true to yourself. And, learning that that’s okay.

The writing was quite good. The characters are authentic and the story very real. I rate this book a B+. I didn't give it an A, because it is a little slow paced but mostly because the mother’s poor decision and father’s willingness to go along (Finn and Toby’s too) ticks me off!

To Best The Boys

By Mary Weber

Thomas Nelson, Harper Collins, Nashville, TN 2019

Rhen Tellur has been born a Lower and a girl. Two strikes against her in this old-world, some-what fantastical seaport village. She has a slight advantage over most of the Lowers as her Ma was born an Upper, one of the wealthy, and her Aunt, Uncle and BFF cousin Seleni still welcome her into their home and upscale parties.

Still, Rhen is more herself in the pubs with her rowdy guy friends. Or, in Da’s lab working on biological experiments in hopes of finding a cure for the mysterious illness which is paralyzing and killing a growing number of Lowers, including Rhen’s Ma.

Each year every household in the county receives an invitation to Mr. Holm’s estate for the contest. “All gentlepersons of university age (respectively seventeen to nineteen)are cordially invited to test for the esteemed annual scholarship given by Mr. Holm toward one full-ride fellowship at Stemwick Men’s University.”

Rhen Teller is smarter than any of the boys her age and wants to go to college. There's only one way to get there – on scholarship. So, she and best friend Selani dress as boys and enter the contest.

There is romance: Seleni and Beryll are cutely coquettish throughout the story. Victor, an Upper and childhood buddy of Rhen’s, believes her intelligence will enhance his political career. His arrogance has him assuming Rhen would never turn him down as he announces he will court her. And then there’s Lute, the Lower who Rhen has her eye on.

There is angst and danger: the contest can be brutal and harsh. Many have been injured over the years, some have died; generally at the hands of greedy bullies who’ll do anything to win. There are also fantastical creatures to avoid or more often combat.

There are moments of darkness and bright spots throughout. The group of teen friends starts out working together to escape the maze, locked room, and other tests Holms has created. 
There is betrayal.

The love story is interesting (I’m not big on romance), the contest exciting, the descriptions delicious, the characters are uniquely engaging. Told in first person POV, Rhen's voice carries the story. You will love her.

Thanks to my friend Dana Nuenighoff for the recommendation. I rate it an A.

Misery Loves Cabernet

by Kim Gruenenfelder

ST. Martin’s Griffin, NY, 2009

My second time through this light-hearted, funny, “yo girlfriend,” summer beach read.  Rated A.

Charlie is the 'I can do it all' assistant to a young eccentric movie star, Drew Stanton. As she dutifully serves yet again as a bridesmaid approaching thirty, Charlie bemoans her future with a dead-end job, no boyfriend, and a few too many extra pounds.

Charlie’s sarcasm is comical as are some of the situations we find her in. Her situation is relatable as one, I believe, every woman has endured at some point in their life.

Throughout the novel, Charlie is writing her own book of advice for her granddaughter. All the things she knows now, she wished she knew when she was sixteen; like, “some days are a total waste of make-up” (a nod to Gruenenfelder’s prior novel), or “never drink wine from a box”. These nuggets add to the charisma and humor of Charlie’s story.

So, grab a glass of wine and a copy of the book and have a few chuckles on Charlie and Kim.

Then She was Gone

By Lisa Jewell
                    

Atria Books an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, 2017

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She had a perfect life, perfect boyfriend, perfect family, and a fairy-tale future. Until, at the age of 17, she disappeared and her family fell apart; especially, her mom, Laurel.

I would age this at the New Adult level. While it’s about Ellie, it is primarily told from the perspective of the adults around her, ten years after her disappearance. Jewell creates deep characters and an interesting story-line told in five parts.

While Ellie’s family is prominent throughout the story, the primary characters are Ellie, a 17-year old dream child, Laurel, her adoring mother, Noelle, her obsessive tutor, and Floyd, first Noelle’s and later Laurel’s lover. These characters, as well as the minor characters, are superbly crafted which is what kept me vested in the story. Although I was pretty sure I had the mystery figured out, (and, yes, I did, very early on) I had to know how things worked out for them.

My disappointment is the POV. Part One is the set-up. Presented in limited third-person POV change between Laurel today and Ellie THEN. I haven’t read a lot of third person lately I found it well done and refreshing but it took some getting used to.  Part Two is essentially Laurel finally accepting Ellie’s fate and moving on.

But then we come to Part Three which for me totally disrupts the flow of the story. We already know the when, where, and why of the mystery. Here, in Noelle’s voice, we are told the how. (The only remaining question is who, but I bet you can guess).  Who is Noelle talking to? Supposedly Floyd, but she is not present so how can this be? This would have been better presented as Noelle’s journal and earlier in the story amongst the THEN retrospections of Part Two. Part Three revisits information already given to us by Laurel and Ellie and really slows the plot pace down.

Part Four flips POV between an omniscient narrator and Noelle which doesn’t work for me. Then Part Five is told in the first person POV of Floyd (via a video but still). WHAT????? Whiplash.

Then She Was Gone is a contemporary mystery, set in England. (I actually had to look up what a jumper was. Should have remembered from my Hogwarts days.) Great characters and a strong story although the mystery was revealed too soon for my taste, and I would have preferred a different structure.

Overall, I gave it a B. A good read with a flawed format.

the Secrets we Keep

By Trisha Leaver

Farrow, Strauss & Giroux, 2015

 It’s hard to review this novel without spoilers so watch for the alert.

SECRETS is an emotional contemporary YA with themes of devotion between sisters, divisions within family, and the conflict of teen identity crises. I rated this a B+.

Ella’s character and story are deep and well presented. Some of it is a little beyond realistic but that’s why we call it fiction.

Polar-opposite identical twin sisters Maddy and Ella are in a car accident. Maddy is wearing Ella’s coat when she dies. Ella survives but wakes with no memory of who she is. Everyone believes she is Maddy; the super-perfect, popular girl everyone loves. Ella soon figures it out but decides to be Maddy because that’s who everyone around her wants her to be.

SPOILER ALERT:  But when Ella discovers a dark secret about Maddy. She decides she owes it to Maddy to right her wrong. And now she knows it’s okay to be Ella, flawed and alive; after all, Maddy wasn’t perfect.

Everything, Everything

By Nicole Yoon

Delacorte Press, 2015

 I recently had the privilege to volunteer at Esperanza Academy, a private middle school for girls in Lawrence, MA. The ladies I counseled on essay writing were articulate, poised, mature and utterly delightful. I asked each of them their favorite novel. This was one of their recommendations and I have to agree. One of the most romantic stories I have ever read, I rated it an A!

Maddy Whittier was diagnosed at age 4 with SCID, bubble baby disease. She can't leave her home or interact with the world. Her Dad and older brother were killed in a car accident shortly before her diagnosis. Her mother is her doctor. Her best friend is her nurse, Carla. Just before her 18^th birthday a family moves into the house next door and Maddy spies Ollie and his family and for the first time grieves her existence. Not seeing people come and go had made it easier for her to accept her life of reading, online classes, having her vitals checked every two hours and movie and game-nights with mom.

Mom is adamant that friendship with the neighbors will only make Maddy hurt more when she realizes she can't do the things healthy teens do. But after IMing into all hours of the night, Maddy convinces Carla to allow Ollie to visit. He must go through an hour-long decontamination shower each time. They are falling in love. When they kiss, they are both terrified Maddy will fall ill.

Ollie’s dad is abusive. When Maddy hears shouting and witnesses this from her window she runs outside to Ollie’s defense, not thinking of herself. Her mother, now aware of the deception, fires Carla and forbids communication with Ollie. After months of loneliness and longing, Maddy decides she may have a life but she is not living. She plots and plans, lies to Ollie about an experimental drug, and travels to Hawaii for a romantic getaway. But the story doesn’t end there.

 SPOILER ALERT:

As expected Maddy gets ill on day two. Ollie takes her to the ER. Mom brings them home. After a few weeks, Maddy receives a letter from the ER physician that rocks her world. Maddy does not have SCID. We learn her mother couldn't cope with the loss of her husband and son so she created a world where Maddie would always be safe.

Fresh Ink An Anthology

Edited by Lamar Giles co-founder of WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS

  

                                                         

Crown Books for Young Readers, Random House Children’s Books, NY 2018

Merriam-Webster - Definition of anthology. plural anthologies. 1. : a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music.

FRESH INK is an enlightening collection of fiction which exposes what is lacking in the literature available today. It exemplifies the essence of the WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS movement by bringing together short stories and other genres written by award-winning diverse authors.

A non-white family is forced out of their home of twenty years by higher rents and the broken romance that’s left behind.

A young woman first recognizes her attraction to another girl.

A Native America denying their heritage to fit in with the popular kids.

An outstanding one-act play featuring victims of inner-city gun violence.

A young woman coming out to her grandmother and the peace she achieves in her acceptance.

A sci-fi featuring people of color saving the world.

A gang of non-violent kids who steal to survive but care about and support each other.

College kids united against hate and the view that non-persons of color just don’t understand.

Standing up to bullies.

The uncertainty of living in America on a green card.

A young woman having the courage to become a young man during their high school years.

A young woman entrusted with saving the world takes a giant leap of faith.

Twelve tales of true-life troubles. Fresh Ink is something to experience. I rated it a B+.

A side note of particular importance to me. I support #WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS, 100%. This anthology solidifies my position on that. We need more stories by authors with these experiences. The experiences of today’s diverse youth. However, I cannot ignore the fallout created by the #OWNVOICES a cause with a similar goal. I urge diverse authors to come forward and write more of these powerful truths. At the same time, I urge agents and editors not to ignore a gifted author’s ability through research to craft a world which they themselves have never experienced. 

If we are adamant about #OWNVOICES – who will soon be left to write about the World Wars, the Holocaust, landing on the moon? Even Corrine Duyvis originator of #OWNVOICES believes… “Q: Are you saying privileged authors shouldn’t write outside their experiences?  A: “No. People can write whatever they want; that goes both ways…”1

 “All #ownvoices does is center the voices that should matter most: those being written about.”2 

I agree, these voices matter. I just don’t believe it’s the only way a story can be told. I can write contemporary fiction about countries I’ve never been to. Can I write about the American Revolution? I didn’t live it but I can still experience a vision of it. Be open to the possibility of good writing, whatever the source.

1,2 Source: www.corinneduyvis.net/ownvoices/

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

By Erika L. Sanchez

Borzoi Book Publishers by Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Random House

National Book Award Finalist, 2017

YA Contemporary

Julia’s older sister, Olga, is dead. Julia didn’t realize how much she loved and depended on Olga, but that’s not what is bothering her. Julia senses from the smirk on her dead sister’s face (I found this a bit of a stretch) that Olga had a secret. It’s only a twitch in the back of Julia's mind until she searches Olga’s room and finds lingerie and a hotel room key.

Their parents Ama & Apa are undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Ama runs a traditional household keeping her girls close and safe. Olga loved her parents and sat at home with them each evening, attended prayer circle with Ama and led too boring a life for Julia to understand.

Julia rebels, fights with Ama, is always sneaking out, getting caught, getting punished.

Olga is hit by a truck coming off the bus because Ama couldn’t pick her up because Julia got in trouble at school, again. Julia senses her mother blames her for her perfect daughter’s death. We go with Julia deeper into a depression that is so contained her friends and family don’t suspect.  Until one day they know.

Julia wants to be healthy and happy. She is sent to her grandmother, tias,  tios, and cousins in Mexico. Julia believed she was poor until she visited with them.

I haven’t mentioned Conor, her love interest, but it is a hopeful side story. Her BFF Lorena and her new friend Juanga are loyal and good to her, even while Julia learns to be good to herself.

I would love to share some of the secrets Julia uncovers in Mexico and upon her return, but I’m opposed to giving away the twists of the story.

Julia struggles. She keeps secrets and uncovers secrets as she learns about herself. Most importantly, Julia perseveres enough to get accepted to college and leave home. She needs and wants to be her own person.

I rate this a B+. A good story, a little slow in the middle, with a quiet hopeful ending – which is whatI love about this novel.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

YA Fantasy by Jimmy Patterson Books, Little Brown, 2018

At the age of seventeen, Lei is kidnapped from the family and home she adores by the same Demons who took her mother seven years before.
Lei is human. Human's make up the Paper Caste, the lowest of the three Castes in the old world Malaysian-like Kingdom of Ikhara. Above her reign the Steel Caste, part Beast-part human, above them are the Moon Caste, full beasts, and above them all is the intolerable Demon King, a Bull-form Moon Caste.

Each year eight girls of the Paper Caste are selected to serve as the King's concubines. Some go willingly, others go under the threat of harm to those they love. Lei serves her king to save her family. Or at least she wants to. But, that's not what's in her heart. At the palace, Lei falls into a forbidden love. Lei is beaten, raped, and stripped of all privacy and opportunity. But the King cannot control her thoughts, her desires, her soul. And, Ngan presents in an upper YA appropriate way. 

This is the story of strong women fighting what is wrong in their world. This is the story of true love between women. This is a story of determination.

Ngan is masterful in her development of characters we can't help but love. But the real artistry is in the language she uses to build us an ancient imperial world in which these characters come to life.

Her writing grabs you on the first page. The story propels itself forward in a gripping fight you want Lei to win. I look forward to finding out what happens in Lei's next battle.