Don't Hold Your Breath: Breathe

Okay readers, well this week I think I got what I deserved. After being so disappointed by Abandon last week I should have learned my lesson and moved on from discounted, Young Adult books for a while--just until my faith was restored, at least. I did not heed my own qualms, however, and as a result I have another underwhelming teen romance to tell you about this week.

Breathe, by Elena Dillon, also showed so much promise. The cover, on my nook, has a mysterious white Jasmine flower on it. It caught my eye and I was immediately intrigued. But, since I know how dangerous it is to trust a book's cover, I made sure to closely read the summary as well. The synopsis pulled me in right away too. Breathe tells the story of a girl, Jasmine, who's family was torn apart by tragedy: her older sister, Daisy, was murdered by a serial killer two years prior and he was never caught. Her family is now moving to a new town, where no one knows their sad story, to pick up the pieces and start fresh. Everything is going swimmingly for Jasmine until she starts getting messages from her sister's killer.

I know, right? Sounds good. I had to have the book immediately--I love books that creep me out. When I read Blue is for Nightmares the suspense had me on the edge of my seat--I could barely read it at night without freaking out. Unfortunately, Breathe just didn't do that for me--I was sitting fully in my seat the whole time. And, I don't know, maybe part of that's because when I read Blue is for Nightmares(another YA thriller) I was, actually a young adult. My expectations were a little lower than they are now. Perhaps now that I'm a grown-up (though that's somewhat debatable), YA fiction just can't entertain me the way it used to. Regardless, I will say that, as of right now, this book just didn't match up to my expectations or my other YA favorites.

One of the biggest problems I have with Breathe (and actually a problem I had with Abandon too) was the main character. I liked Jasmine a lot more than I liked Pierce, I'll give Dillon that much--Jasmine is a character with a lot of potential. Dillon creates a consistent, interesting character, with an interesting thought process and believable flaws. I particularly like Jasmine's penchant for lying, though I think Dillon perhaps reveals it a little too late in the book. Jasmine's talk of compartmentalizing her feelings and the parts of her life is interesting because, I think a lot of girls, and people in general, do that. We take the unpleasant things and box them away to cope, and sometimes we find ourselves lying so convincingly that even we start to believe it. In addition, through Jasmine's own opinion of her lying, and through Easton, her boyfriend's, reaction to it, we see both the positive and negative aspects--lying as both a necessity to keep it all together, and as an unhealthy, manipulative talent that introduces some moral issues.

So, for the most part, it was Jasmine's character that kept me reading. But, she is also the cause of many of the problems I had with this book. For example, throughout the whole story you'll be subjected to her irritating inability to tell that she's beautiful, despite the fact that everyone keeps commenting on how gorgeous she is. Female characters who behave this way are overused, annoying, and sometimes a little boring. In the real world, yes, there are a lot of women who are too insecure to recognize their beauty--young girls especially. But there are also a heck of a lot of girls who know how pretty they are and use it as an excuse to be mean. And there are plenty of individuals who think they're a whole lot more good-looking than they are, too. In my opinion, those characters are a lot more interesting because they haven't been done 100 million times. I mean, come one, aren't you tired of reading about (and watching movies about) these gorgeous girls who think they're plain? It's an insult to those of us who aren't actually gorgeous that all these beautiful people are portrayed as ugly. And if they are considered ugly then what hope is there for the rest of us. So authors, make up your minds! Your character's either ugly or she's not--don't keep giving girls role models with huge insecurity issues. Teach them how to live with either their beauty, or plainess in a strong, healthy way.

In defense of Jasmine, most of her annoying tendencies are brought out by her romantic interest, Easton, aka "Dream Guy," who turns her into a swooning, stereotypical teenage girl, and who's far too possessive for having just met her. I mean, I know he's southern and charming, but people don't really fall into "I'd die for you" love that quickly. Yes he might try to help her out, and yes they might like each other a heck of a lot, but he's supposed to be like 17 or 18 and he's convinced she's "the one" for him. A little unbelievable, even in the polite, southern setting. On top of that, the way he treats her, though it's played off as romantic, seemed a little overbearing to me. He's always getting involved in her business and telling her how to take care of herself. I mean I get that he's her boyfriend, but I found it a little weird--they're in high school, not married. And instead of drawing attention to the fact that Easton and Jasmine's relationship is a little off, it's portrayed as dreamy and perfect. I think my dislike of this just goes back to the role model thing--if we keep teaching young women that they should be treated like possessions, then how will they ever develop self respect? Is Easton an awful, terrible example of a man? No, of course not. He really isn't bad at all--I just happened to notice that Jasmine, while figuring herself out, is actually least sure of herself and her own strength when around Easton, and it was frustrating to see. She keeps calling him her safe place without acknowledging that she's strong enough to take care of herself.

Continuing my rant against Easton (yes, I know, I'm the crazy girl who hates knights in shining armor), Easton stunts Jasmine's development.The whole time we see her becoming a stronger, more confident character, coming into her own and, eventually, developing and executing a plan to take down the monster who took her sister away. She changes from a helpless victim, to a capable, if scared, young woman who refuses to let her sister's murderer hurt her family again. I think Jasmine's encounter with "The Monster" highlights both my favorite and least favorite aspects of Jasmine and the book as a whole. Did she make the right decision to fight him on her own? Maybe not--understand that I definitely do not encourage young women to challenge their stalkers all alone--but for the story it was perfect. Instead of living in fear she calls on her ability to lie, which, though perhaps unhealthy, gives her strength, and she does what she has to do. And then, all of a sudden, Easton comes in and ruins it! Easton is the one who ultimately saves her from the Monster--coming charging out of the forest and besting him in a manly tussle. For all her ingenuity, Jasmine still has to be saved by her big, strong, handsome prince.

Moving on from that, the main characters are not the only problem I have with the story. The other characters are an issue as well, as is the dialogue/dialect. The dialogue issue was pretty straightforward, Dillon doesn't keep up with Easton, or anyone else's accents or southern-specific vocabulary. It's kind of randomly thrown in there in a way I didn't find natural, and because it's not consistent, it just draws thw wrong kind of attention to itself. It would have been better for her to leave it out altogether and let the readers' imagination fill in the accent.

Meanwhile, there are really no minor characters of any interest. They're thrown in there because they have to be, but they're not explored at all--it almost would have been better not to add some of them in the first place. As you read, it seems like Dillon is going to make an interesting character out of Julia, Jasmine's best friend, or Lisa, the girl who resents Jasmine for dating Easton, but nothing comes of either of them. And even Trenton, Easton's little brother, who has a crush on Jasmine big enough that it caused a problem for him and his brother, yet Dillon only dedicates one short conversation to the issue. They're just loose threads leaving the reader with unanswered questions. In addition, this lack of interesting minor characters just puts a spotlight on the issues with Jasmine and Easton's relationship.

And finally, the nail in the coffin: this book still could have been saved, had it delivered the thriller-esque suspense it promised. I wanted to be scared. This was supposed to be a book about a girl with a murdered sister dealing with a psycho, serial killer. And instead it read like a YA romance novel. In other words, don't hold your breath waiting for the appearance of Daisy's killer, we barely see anything from "The Monster" until perhaps the last 150 pages of a 600 page book. Instead we're following Jasmine and Easton around, waiting for something to happen and repeatedly being disappointed. I think, perhaps, Dillon lost sight of what the book was supposed to be about. Yes, we needed to see Jasmine settling into her new hometown, and being lulled into a false sense of security, but then you have to unsettle that! If you don't then it's just a romance novel, and you should have committed to making it only a romance novel, so people like me, who wanted scary, don't pick it up and remain bored until just before the end. By focusing more of the story on the scary aspects, I think a lot of the books other problems would have been resolved. There wouldn't have been so much Easton being polite and "perfect," more time would have been spent on the plot and less on forcing the dialogue, and it would have been less obvious that other characters are left completely undeveloped.

So, I have another one for the box. This book was cheap, so I won't tell you to avoid it altogether. As I said, I was less disappointed with it than Abandon, and it's not bad. It caught and kept my attention for a reason, and I'd like to check out other titles by Dillon to see if she improves. But Breathe just wasn't anything I'd run out and buy--you're not missing anything if you skip it. And next week, I promise, I've learned my lesson and I intend to read something more appropriate for my age.

Left Behind for a Reason: Abandon

So, I don't know if it's only me who's noticed, but I feel like Greek and Roman mythology was the original soap opera/reality TV. Kim and Chloe couldn't hold a candle to the messed up stuff that goes on in some of those stories. I mean, Saturn devoured his son--devoured as in ate him up. Like a happy meal or something. Have you ever seen that Francisco de Goya painting? Yeah. Not pretty.

Anyway, when my life is full of drama--which it all too frequently is--sometimes I like to turn to a nice dramatic book--you know, just to remind myself that no matter how hard life gets, at least I'm not the main character in a Stephen King novel. So, when I saw that Meg Cabot, one of my favorite authors from my preteen and teen years, had written a book, Abandon, based on the Persephone myth and it was only like $3, I purchased it on my nook faster than you can say "Hercules, Hera, and Zeus!" Well, probably a good deal faster than that actually--that's quite a mouthful.

So, whatever, I bought it, I was excited, I settled into reading it, and after holding out, through all 219 pages, I really have to say this is probably the most disappointed I've ever been in a book. Ever. And I tried to give it a chance, I really did, but there was just so much of it that fell below my expectations that I really can't encourage anyone to read it.

Does that mean it was the worst book ever? No. It's only slightly below average actually. I may have actually doomed it even before I started reading it simply because I built it up so much in my mind. I mean, c'mon, the Persephone myth? It gives a writer so much to work with! Hell, pick any story out of Greek mythology and you've basically been handed the blueprints to a crazy messed up story--all you have to do is work on the details and the character development, because mythical individuals do tend to be kind of one-dimensional. But I personally think there's so much you could do with that. Unfortunately, Cabot doesn't even begin to tap into the creative madness that could have been accomplished.

For starters, the pacing of the book is confusing, especially in the beginning. The reader is forced to jump back and forth between the present day, and two separate past events of the main character, Pierce: the "accident" and the "incident." I think Cabot was trying to create a sense of mystery by not revealing too much about Pierce and her accident at the beginning of the book, but all she accomplished, for me anyway, was a sort of baffled, "What the heck, just tell me what happened or stop bringing it up."

On top of that, the timing/time setting in general left a little something to be desired. Cabot made the decision to set the book in present day, and though it certainly saved her some research and added some relatability for present day teen readers, I think she may have made the wrong choice. I don't know if it's simply been so long since I read Cabot that I forgot, but I thought she used to be good at teen dialogue and lifestyle depiction. I was a huge fan of both her Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-U series' when I read them in high school. And I don't know if I just remembered her writing wrong, or maybe she lost her touch, but this book just seemed cheesy. The colloquial tone of the narrator/main character, Pierce, just wasn't striking the right cord with me. It felt like she was going on and on in this conversational way, when I just wanted her to shut up and get back to the actual story.

Plus, I don't remember being that stupid and oblivious as a teenager. If I were Pierce it wouldn't have taken so long to figure out I was dead, or for me to understand that John liked me. And I would have understood immediately why my cousin and friend, Alex, was offended when I went to sit with the cool kids instead of him. Like, does Cabot really think teen girls are that dumb?--maybe some of them are, but not most of the ones who immediately recognize a Persephone myth when they see one. I was kind of insulted by Pierce's inability to figure things out.

Plus, Pierce's slow piecing things together, means the story is slow. It really shouldn't have taken so long for the events of this book to play out. I don't know if Cabot was purposely dragging it out so she could get more than one book out of it, but it would have maybe been beneficial for the story to just consolidate. And she does a heck of a lot of what I was told not to do while pursuing my bachelors degree in writing: telling instead of showing. That actually goes back to the time jump thing--instead of just starting from the beginning, we keep having Pierce tell us bits and pieces of what happened to her before she finally has a flashback and shows us. I could have done without all the repeats.

 To top it off main characters are just so blah. The only interesting characters, actually, are Pierce's Uncle Chris, his son/her cousin Alex, and Pierce's new-found friend, Kayla. Yet they barely feature in the book. Meanwhile the characters who take center stage, Pierce and John, are the same as pretty much every other boring teen romance novel main characters ever. Yeah, so John is the lord of the underworld and has some anger problems and an obsession with a mortal girl, Pierce, who died and came back to life. Sounds interesting, right? Wrong. Somehow Cabot failed to make even that interesting. John is simply the tortured, knight in shining armor--almost Edward Cullen-esque, but perhaps with even less of a personality. For cripe's sake he's the Hades character in this book! he could have been so much more. Especially if Cabot had just admitted that his "love" for Pierce is really more like obsession--as soon as he see's her he wants her to stay with him forever. It would have been a very interesting relationship to hash out, had Cabot not played it off as so normal and romantic and instead exploited it for what it was--a young man's desperate attempt to stave off maddening loneliness.

And don't even get me started on Pierce--not only does she not play a convincing Persephone, in my opinion, but in general she's just not a very interesting character. She's an inconsistently portrayed stereotypical teenage girl, who's both afraid of every bump in the night, and also completely unafraid of the fury (demon-like creature escaped from the underworld) that she encounters at the end of the book.

And you would think that an encounter like that, meant to be the climax of the book, I'm guessing, would be interesting too, right? Wrong again! It takes up about two pages and is perhaps one of the most boring scenes in the book. And there are far too few interesting scenes like this even attempted. Cabot has all of mythology to work with and she barely even touches on her main subject, the Persephone/Hades myth.

So over all, I have to say this book had a lot of potential. Greek and Roman mythology would actually be a great next direction for Young Adult literature to head in. As far as I know it hasn't been extensively done for that age group and there are so many myths to work with and explore. I myself, after reading this book, had the great urge to simply rewrite it--I had so many ideas of how the story could go--so many hopes, and they were all dashed. And I really did try to give it a chance. I read it through and I'm honestly considering reading the following books just to see if Cabot redeems herself. Because yes, like I said before, this book is not awful--you will not perish at the sight of it's terribleness like some unfortunate soul struck dead by Medusa's gaze. However, it is a book better left abandoned in the box.

A Good Old Fashioned Mystery: The September Society

So sorry to keep you waiting readers, as I only started this book last Tuesday, I was racing to finish it in time to tell you about it. Thankfully, it was a generally quick read, which was one of its many merits.

So, what did I read this week? The September Society, by the Agatha Award nominated author, Charles Finch. This book hasn’t been on my shelf very long—I got it as a gift for Christmas, in fact—however the cover was simply too intriguing to resist (readers, you know how I am about covers). Anyway, I picked it up as soon as I finished my previous book, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed—though I will say, as with most books I read, I unfortunately do have some complaints. But hey, you guys wouldn’t check in with me if I didn’t tell you both the good and the bad.

But let’s start with the good. First of all, Charles Finch is no writing slouch (though I’d venture to say he’s a tad long winded). The language used in the book was sophisticated enough to be appropriate for the setting, and to teach me a few words, actually, while not, I think, leaving the average reader in the dust. He includes long descriptions of the setting that really give the reader a feel for the atmosphere, which was helpful to me especially because I’ve never been to London or Oxford, where much of the book takes place.

As one of the reviews on the back of the book mentions, Finch also does a good job placing the reader in Victorian England, where the book takes place—yes, I mentioned he puts you in the place, but I also thought he did a particularly good job setting up the time as well. What I most liked about that, actually, was that he didn’t overdo it. Yes, he lets the reader know that they’re not in New York City 2013, however he doesn’t do so to the detriment of relatability. The characters and their situations are still, for the most part, accessible, and he doesn’t purposely confuse the reader with irrelevant time period specific information.

Another thing I must commend Finch on, and it’s actually something I think is often overlooked but, in my opinion, very important to the busy reader, was his ability to break up the book into appropriately sized chapters. I feel like I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but his chapter lengths were perhaps the most perfect I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Yup, I know, chapter length—not exactly the most riveting, passionate reason to drop everything and read a book—“do you hear this girl? She’s a lunatic. Rambling on about chapter length or some other boring rubbish! What a loon.”—but I’m telling you, it’s important. It made it so much easier for me to read the book throughout my busy day because I could customize how much I wanted to read based on the time I had, without having to stop in the middle of something important. You know how that is too—don’t deny it just because you already called me a loon—you hate opening up your book to start reading again and realizing “oh crap, I have to read that whole part over again because I don’t remember exactly what was going on and if I don’t reread it I’m going to miss something.” Yup, you’re a loon too. I mean, maybe I’m the only one who has that problem, but I don’t think so.

So anyway, moving on before I really do start to sound crazy—“this girl again. Having conversations with herself and everything…oh wait, I guess I’m doing it again…oops”—what else can I tell you about The September Society? Well to transition from good to bad, let me tell you something that I both liked and disliked about this book. I’m sure I’m not the first to notice, this is a very Sherlock Holmes-esque mystery novel. As only a recent Holmes reader, I don’t really have any particulars to share with you besides the general tone and feeling of the book. It tends toward the practical rather than the fantastic and emotional—though I’m sure Holmes himself would still find it too “romantic”—and at times it can be downright sparse. Now, this does make for a quicker, more practical mystery read—just as Holmes is—however, sometimes I like more of that human element. To be fair, Finch does try to include that, however I just felt he fell short in that department. And where Sherlock Holmes is a peculiar and interesting enough character to liven up the otherwise spare storytelling, unfortunately I found Lenox (the main character here) to be a little too dull and average to make up for the lack of drama in the story itself. Is that to say that The September Society read’s like the most boring of police reports? Certainly not. For one thing Finch has woven quite the complicated web of secret societies and identities and intrigue. However, I personally prefer crazier characters.

Another thing I both liked and disliked was the setting. As I mentioned earlier, Finch includes long descriptions of the places Lenox visits, especially long descriptions of Oxford and its traditions. Notice how many times I’ve said the word “long” when talking about these descriptions. Yeah, because they’re long. So long, in fact, that sometimes I found myself just wanting to skip them. I mean, I’m all for learning new things—especially historical things—but sometimes this stuff just got in the way. I mean, it was definitely not out of character for Lenox to go on and on about his old school and the descriptions were usually well placed where they weren’t really, physically getting in the way. But I just found myself wanting to get back to the mystery rather than learn about each and every hall, common, and alley of Oxford.

In relation to that, though I said that the book was generally quick read, I was again careful with my wording. I put the word “generally” in there for a reason. Because yes, the language of the book made it a breeze to read, and when things were happening, or there was a good deal of dialogue, you cruised right through. Also, back to those chapters again, you were never overwhelmed by the text because it was broken up so nicely. However, there are long stretches where Lenox really isn’t doing much of anything besides mooning over his, slightly out of place, romantic interest, and going over the case again and again in his head, trying to figure it out. As far as Lenox’s solving of the case, this really doesn’t move very quickly. And he spends a lot of that time eating, traveling, talking to people who are irrelevant to this particular case, and just generally not doing his detective duties. I mean, I understand that Finch is trying to set up a character here—I believe, based on the fact that there are approximately three books out featuring him, that Finch intends Lenox to be a recurring figure in mystery fiction. I get that, and I get that he needs to set Lenox up so that there is an overarching narrative for Lenox himself. Unfortunately, I found that set up distracting to this story—especially since the rest was so practical. You have the practical detective work and case solving broken up by Lenox’s daydreams of Lady Jane Gray and the marital problems of his doctor partner, McConnell, and while they should be intriguing bits of character development they are, again, for lack of a better word, more distracting than anything else because these forays into character just seem so out of place with the utilitarian tone of the rest of the book.

And again, that sparse tone caused yet another problem because of the sheer amount of characters involved in this story. As I mentioned above, the case Lenox finds himself working on is complex, however I couldn’t help but wonder if some of that complexity was created simply by the vast number of people involved in this story, some of them perhaps not quite useful. I understand that there has to be a certain level of confusion for a mystery to be a mystery, but at times I found myself completely lost in a sea of names. Now, I will take on part of the responsibility for this confusion because I think it may have been easier to follow had I had previous knowledge of Finch’s regular characters—he does, after all, have another book where he introduces Lenox and his crew of friends and allies. I think I would have had an easier time of it had I not had to be introduced to them as well as the players in this particular case. I will, however, still say that it was a tad annoying to be going back in the book to remember who people were, and constantly wondering who was important and who wasn’t.

Those negatives stated, I still think this was an overall good read. Finch obviously knows his stuff when it comes to Oxford, and did well keeping the reader engaged, with twists and turns along the way, in a case that was quite complicated. That, paired with the, now probably infamous, chapter length that I was so nutty about and you’ve got a solid book worthy of your shelf. As a sidenote though—just as I find Sherlock Holmes, this may not be one you need to keep on the shelf after you read it—once the mystery is solved, the writing itself is simply too practical in tone to read over and over and over again without having the aim of solving the mystery.

How to Make People Pay Attention to Feminism: How to be a Woman

Hey ladies and gents, hope you had a wonderful holiday. I apologize for my absence the past two weeks, but, as we all know from my explanation around Thanksgiving, holidays, for me, are not conducive to great amounts of reading. I did, however, enjoy my holiday—especially the assorted books and the $50 Barnes and Noble gift card that will fund my continued reading and participation with this blog. I hope everyone else was as fortunate present and family time wise, as I was.

So, on to this week’s book: Caitlin Moran’s How to Be a Woman. This one was recommended to me by a good friend who has excellent taste in books. You should know that I owe my picky taste in romance novels to this girl and her extensive collection—she knows how to pick books that are wonderfully naughty while still maintaining worthwhile characters and plots. Those of you who thought 50 Shades was great you should probably stop by and see her for some much more worthy (and yet still cheaper) reads.

Anyway, she reads a lot more than romance novels, and a few weeks ago she suggested that I pick up How to be a Woman. And, let me tell you, I’m so glad I did. This book is funny with a capital F—and there’s a lot of other F words in there as well. I  earned myself a quite a few weird looks after bursting out laughing on the T with this book a few times. Plus, while being hilarious and expanding your vocabulary of less than polite words, it also brings your attention to a lot of relevant questions and accepted beliefs surrounding women and their role.

Not only does Moran encourage women to take back and wholeheartedly support feminism, she draws our attention to why it has fallen out of favor in the past and which definition of the word we should focus on in the future. One of the keys to improving our world, especially in a societal sense, is recognizing accepted norms and questioning them. Sure, some things that are culturally acceptable or not acceptable might need to stay that way—they might be what’s best for right now. But some things that we take for granted as being okay, or not okay, are actually the opposite. If we’re not constantly seeing and questioning what’s accepted in society, we fall prey to subtle prejudices and stereotypes that can be harmful both to society as a whole, and to people on an individual level.

In this book, Moran draws your attention to and invites you to question the things we learn, both consciously and unconsciously, about how to be a woman. And she does so in such a fun, conversational way, that it almost seems like she’s inviting you to a girls-night-out gripe session where you finally have a chance to speak up about what you find ridiculous when it comes to what’s expected of you as a person of the female sex. You name it, she talks about it—waxing, high heels, fashion, porn, workplace etiquette, art and literature, music, menstruation, revolution—no topic is too big or too small.

One of my favorite parts was actually a small mention of body weight and image and it serves as a good example of what makes this book great. Though she may not devote the whole book to any one issue, she manages to breifly (and not so briefly) touch on many of the things many women are concerned with. In terms of the weight and body image issue, she not only assuages your worries, she also calls both society and you on your bullsh*t. Just to give you a little taste: the fashion industry does not make clothes for the average woman's body. So when we try to find clothes, we're constantly confronted by the fact that our bodys are not "right," instead of realizing it's the clothes that are the problem. In one case in the book, Moran has to do a photo shoot, and goes into it very optimistically, wondering what could possibly go wrong with a team of professionals to make her look good. She then realizes, however, how much work it is to look good in clothes that aren't right. In the same token, Moran calls attention to the fact that you can't just use that as an excuse to be an blob--a health disaster waiting to happen, perpetually unhappy with the way you look and feel. And she doesn't keep herself out of this assessment either--like I said she calls anyone and everyone out on their bull. No matter what you should strive to keep yourself in shape for health reasons and to remain "human shaped."

But the best part of all, in my opinion, is the final takeaway. Yes, Moran speaks up for feminism, but she also understands why it got a bad rap. Not every woman wants to participate in the same fervent, bra burning feminism many of us think of when the word “feminist” is used. Moran though, reminds us of and supports the most basic form of feminism. She simply states that every woman should be in favor of their right to do what they want—that no woman should be restricted because of her gender. Does that mean no woman should ever be a housewife, or wear heels, or stay in shape? No. Moran feels, and she encourages readers to feel, that feminism means doing what makes you happy and deciding to follow an accepted gender role doesn’t necessarily mean you’re betraying yourself and women everywhere. As long as you wear heels, work out, and take care of the house because that’s what you want and it makes you happy, then you should go right ahead.
That, I thought, was a great message for any reader—not only women, though that’s who she focuses on, but men as well. I mean, I’m not saying (nor is she saying) that you should go on a murderous rampage if that’s what would make you happy. Within reason and the general confines of the law (though perhaps not every law if it’s unjust) though, both women and men should be able to do what they want without worrying that it will make them seem unmanly or unwomanly.

Because of this idea, I would not only recommend this book to adult readers—who will certainly get a kick out of it and may even find themselves surprised by the things they’ve simply accepted throughout their lives—but I would also encourage younger women (and men actually) to read it. Yes, it does have some sensitive material—Moran doesn’t censor her swears nor her talk about sex, drugs, giving birth, and a variety of other things. But a reader mature enough to handle that, while still in the young formative years of their lives, would benefit greatly from her universally accepting attitude.

So readers, in case you couldn’t tell already, this is definitely one for the shelf. My only complaints about it actually were #1 She makes a lot of pop culture references that I completely missed—but honestly, that’s more my fault than hers because I’m not up to date at all in that department. #2 although she does break up her theorizing and commentary with amusing anecdotes, this isn’t really a “story” book. So if you’re looking for straight up fiction, just save this one for another day—you’ll appreciate it more if you’re expecting it. #3 This also isn't straight up nonfiction, so don't go into this expecting a thoroughly researched essay on feminine discourse.

And #4, if you're a straight male reader, or even a gay male reader, this may not exactly be your cup of tea. She does a good deal of complaining about bras and periods, which may be a little less relatable if you don't deal with either of those. BUT I still encourage people of any gender to read it if you think you can read it with an open mind. In general women are much more aware of the ways they're discriminated against, but sometimes we can be the biggest culprits when it comes to accepting and perpetuating harmful stereotypes. So we can always use more awareness from both halves of the population.

Not Tight Enough: Tighter

In college, perhaps my favorite class of all time was a class on haunting in literature. We read a variety of books with ghost/haunting driven plots and then discussed the ways in which the author built the haunted feeling and what haunting typically represents in literature. Maybe that isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I certainly thought it was the bee's knees.

Anyway, in addition to reading the obvious Edgar Allan Poe collection and Jane Eyre, we also took a look at the less familiar Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. So, when I saw a quote from The Turn of the Screw in Adele Griffin's Tighter, I had very high hopes for the book as a whole. Unfortunately, this book simply can not hold up to it's predecessors.

Now, before we even begin, you can get all the jokes about the books title out of the way. If you missed the twist of words there, I'm happy for you and I commend your maturity. It certainly is not the most blatant of sexual innuendos, but I still got funny looks and a few chuckles from people when I told them what I was reading. Because of this, I thought the selection of this title, on the author's part, was a little unfortunate. Although I see the slight play on Henry James's title (when you turn a screw, it gets tighter), I didn't find the title otherwise  relevant to the story. Griffin might have saved herself from a few immature laughs had she come up with a different title.

Moving on to the story itself, I didn't find it very mature either. This does fall into the Young Adult genre, so I feel I should cut it some slack, but I really wasn't that impressed with the characters or the relationships between them. Besides a few complications caused by the "haunting," this was the same old teen summer romance story I've read before--except without much of a romance either. About halfway through the book they introduce a love interest for the the main character, Jamie, that's honestly just a distraction. But I can't really argue that Griffin should have taken it out because then the whole story would just be Jamie's whining, trying to act cool, and underwhelming ghost encounters.

The mystery of the haunting wasn't even that good because you know immediately who it is and why they're haunting the place, and honestly, it's old news. Like the author simply took Turn of the Screw and rewrote it for a modern audience. Now, I'll admit, there are some merits to revamping an old story. #1, it introduces the old story, Turn of the Screw, to a new, in this case younger, audience--which is perhaps one of only two good things I could say about Griffin's story line (the other I'll mention in just a bit). I just think she could have made a little more of an effort and tied the whole thing a little tighter.

Another problem I had with this is that because it's kind of a  rewrite, in general it read to me more like writing exercise--I was actually assigned a similar one for that class I mentioned above. We had to take one of the stories we'd read and modernize it to show that we grasped the themes of the story and the concept of what made it "haunted". We could change the story drastically, in fact we were encouraged too, we just had to keep in mind the driving principles of the original. Unfortunately, I think Griffin would have gotten an F on that assignment because all she really did was add modern technology and a few modern themes. The story, otherwise, was unoriginal. And though, from experience, I know it's enjoyable and worthwhile to do that type of exercise, for practice writing on your own, I wouldn't personally publish a story like that (though now, considering that Griffin's made money off of hers, I'm thinking maybe I should).

Back to the other merit of this story, though. Although in general I was bored with this story, I guess it wasn't particularly awful. One of the things that actually saved it for me was the ending. And I'm warning you now, SPOILER ALERT: if you're going to read the book, stop reading this post now, because I can't really tell you what I liked about the ending without telling you the ending. So, in the end, you find out that the whole ghost experience was actually Jamie's episodes of undiagnosed mental illness. Now I don't know if I should have been--I may just be a dummy--but I was actually surprised by this turn of events. I think I was just expecting some sort of ghost encounter--though I should have known better, considering many of those Jane Eyre type stories have a logical and/or madness driven explanation for the "haunting". Whether I'm a gullible fool or not, it was my surprise over this explanation that redeemed the story, at least partially, for me. I like when I encounter something unexpected.

Unfortunately, she didn't even pull of the ending without a  hitch. Though the rest of the book was slow, almost too slow, the finale just suddenly falls together--and not in a good way. It seemed completely out of nowhere when the other characters start treating Jamie like she's crazy. No one has seemed to question her sanity before--not even will a confused look or a comment and then all of a sudden they're laughing at her and shunning her. Forget surprised, I was just totally taken off gaurd. Once it all played out I liked it much better and it almost made up for the fact that it just randomly came out of left field. But I thought it was worth mentioning that that part didn't exactly mesh.

Does the ending save Tighter from the box? No. This is one I have no qualms tossing. Yes the ending was unexpected, but the rest of it was completely within the realms of expected. And yes the ending redeemed the story slightly, but Griffin shouldn't have put herself in a position where she needed to be redeemed at all. So my final verdict is that this one goes in the box.

Give the Gift of Books!

So, I guess you've already noticed that I took a break this week on account of Thanksgiving. You'd think the break would have given me more time to read, but in reality it didn't. Unfortunately I suffer from motion sickness, which I think is one of the biggest curses I could have been dealt as a reader. All the time I spend in the car could be better spent ravenously devouring whichever book I'm reading at the moment. Instead, my eyes are chained to the windows, watching pointless, repetitive scenery and lamenting the many chapters I could have gone through were I not forced, on threat of throwing up or passing out, to watch the road.

Basically, in more direct terms: the four hour car ride each way from Boston to Pleasant Valley, NY to visit my family did not translate into extra reading time. And, once I arrived, I was too enamored with family time to do much other than loudly rehash fond family memories, and stare adoringly at my mother, sister, grandma, my sister's cat, and pretty much anyone else who happened to share even the slightest connection to my family tree.

So anyway, not too much reading time over Thanksgiving break. But, since returning to MA, my love affair with books and the written word in general has reclaimed me with a vengeance. And today, after a trip to Barnes and Noble, and a sudden, fierce and somewhat conceited wave of appreciation for my own vocabulary, I was inspired to write this post about giving the gift of literacy.

Last night when my boyfriend and I were checking out at Barnes and Noble, the woman asked if we'd like to donate a book to the local faction of Cradles to Crayons. We were immediately seized and delighted by the spirit of giving and picked out an old favorite, Curious George, to add to our total and add to the life of a less fortunate child. This morning, when thinking on that happy opportunity  to brighten someone else's life, I was struck by how fortunate I am to have had my love of reading fostered and fed by my wonderful family throughout my life. Every Christmas my grandmother has given me a beautiful new illustrated children's book with a loving note inside. My mother has driven me, on countless occasions, to the bookstore of my choosing to spend my birthday money, and often some of her  own money (to cover the difference) on piles of books. Last year, on hearing of my lack of space for books, they gave me a Nook so that I could carry a library's-worth of books wherever I go. Since then, various family members (mostly my grandma) have continued the generosity by keeping my Nook stocked with gift cards so that I can buy a book whenever the mood strikes me without having to worry about my limited supply of money.

My family isn't wealthy, in fact we often struggle to make ends meet: they couldn't buy me a car for graduation or pay out of pocket for my college education like some crazy-rich parents (who often end up spoiling their kids into entitled jerkdom). What they've always given me, I think, is something much more valuable. On top of their never ending love and support, they've given me literacy. They've given me unendingly useful reading comprehension, writing aptitude, and just an unashamed passion for the written word. Without this, I'd be lost. Without my command of the English language it would be so much harder to get my point across--to share my ideas and feelings in exactly the right way. And without that ability to describe all the facets of life, I almost feel like it looses some of it's sparkle--or at least the sparkle is harder to see.

Coming to this realization, I was also reminded me that some people are far less fortunate. I strongly believe that, when possible, we should all do our part to share whatever knowledge and privilege we have with others. Whether you have technological expertise, an eye for design, scientific genius, money, etc. I believe everyone should make an effort to donate it, not only throughout the holiday season, but also throughout their lives. Though I may not have some of those things, I do have words, and I fully intend to share them. So today I want to take advantage of the public platform afforded by my blog and social media to encourage all you fellow book lovers to give that gift you were given.

You can donate, like I did, at your local Barnes and Noble, or find some other way to make sure that others are sharing the benefits of literacy. It's a gift and a skill that sometimes people overlook. Even I don't always stop and take a moment to think about how important it has been, is, and will be to me throughout my life. Unfortunately, many of the people who do realize its importance on a regular basis realize because they are unable to get enough of it. So donate your old books, donate your time and tutor someone who struggles with reading and writing, or read out loud to whoever you can get your hands on. (Maybe don't chase people down with your favorite paperback or anything, but you know what I mean). I encourage you to also check out the links I have in the sidebar that say donate, or check out this website, Playing By The Book, where someone has taken the time to provide an updated list of reading and literacy charities worldwide. Honestly, do whatever floats your boat. Just take the time to try and instill in others that passion for the reading, writing and words.

Brighter than Twilight: The Host

After being bombarded by thousands of pop-up commercials for the upcoming Twilight movie while online this week, I decided that I can’t escape Stephanie Meyer. And, as they say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Now, for those of you adamantly against the Twilight saga, don’t worry, I’m not reviewing those books now, or ever. There are plenty of people telling you what to think about them without me adding to the mix. I will say, mostly because I can’t help myself, that the books are neither as bad, nor as good as they are made out to be. And I actually must say I admire Meyer’s attempt to revamp the vampire by making them sparkly. I mean, yes, maybe sparkly wasn’t the most prudent choice since it so easily invites ridicule by classic vampire fans, but at least she did what she could to make vampires her own--put her stamp on it so to speak.

Anyway, I’ll move on from Twilight before the decision to discuss it at all comes back to bite me (haha…see what I did there?). The book that I was inspired to talk about this week is actually Stephanie Meyer’s other novel, The Host. Despite the fact that this book escaped as much notice, I would venture to say that, though certainly no masterpiece of literary innovation, it is more deserving of the spotlight than Meyers’ saga.

Now, don’t get your hopes up too high, like I said, this is not something that will blow you away. What makes me an advocate for its readability, though, is the relative originality of the story. Unlike Twilight, which takes a story and creature that has already been thoroughly explored, The Host takes a much less hackneyed look at a “body-snatcher” alien creature. Yes, this has been done before, but, as I always feel myself on the verge of saying, “What hasn’t?” At least this is something you’re much less likely to find in the Young Adult section of your bookstore.

To give you a little background, the main character is actually two characters. Melanie is the actual owner of the body, but her body and mind are inhabited by Wanderer, a parasitic alien form. These aliens call themselves "Souls", and they have invaded earth and taken over, with the goal of creating a better world, without conflict or disease (as they have done many times before). Wanderer, however, finds that her host, Melanie, is not so willing to submit to a takeover that she sees as hostile. Because Melanie won’t go quietly, Wanderer is overwhelmed by emotions that both are and are not her own, mostly for Melanie’s fellow resistor, Jared. As a result, Wanderer finds herself rebelling against her own species as she and Melanie seek out Jared and the resistance.

Like A Certain Slant of Light, the duality of the main character makes for interesting development of relationships. It takes the expression “walk a mile in another’s shoes,” quite literally. What this particular partnership has over what is found in A Certain Slant of Light, is the tangible presence of Melanie—she’s still there and she and Wanderer literally fight for control of her body. Despite their original status as enemies, they eventually become a begrudging team and, later, unlikely friends. Through their friendship, both of their perceptions of “the enemy” change—their relationship exposes the fact that, as is often the case, neither side of this fight is necessarily in the right. Both have flaws in their arguments and weaknesses in the logic they use to try and prove that their side deserves to win the fight for Earth.

It is this theme, running throughout the book, that is one of the books most redeeming qualities. I personally think the message of the book is a good one to share with young readers (and old readers actually). Even those who seem like bad guys, or those who are your enemies, are not necessarily wrong just because they're your enemies--they have their own, often originally good intentioned, motivations. The fact that Wanderer is the main character really highlights this--Meyer's choice to have her, rather than Melanie, narrate this story, was perhaps her best decision of the entire book. Though it is not a new concept to have the "bad guy" tell their story, I think in this case it was particularly potent because you realize that Wanderer, who is a parasite trying to invade a human's body and take over her life--a character you would normally condemn as being evil--is actually sometimes a more compassionate, fair, and human character than some of the human characters she encounters. Meanwhile her perspective, as an alien outsider, simultaneously critiques and exalts in the wonders and flaws of humanity.

Another facet of her character that adds interest to the story is her conflicting emotions. Her in-between state as both alien and human provides the reader with a character who is constantly left wondering which feelings are actually her own--which I think is a relatable trait, even though most of us are not torn between our body and the parasite who has taken it over.Wanderer finds herself falling for the man that Melanie loves, Jared, at first simply from feeling and seeing Melanie’s love for him. When confronted with Jared in person, her feelings intensify. Though she did not actually share in the moments that made Melanie and Jared fall in love, she cannot erase Melanie’s memories, nor can she extract herself from the body and mind that react so strongly to him. Meanwhile Melanie is also conflicted: she finds herself jealous of her own self—or rather the parasite living within her. She both longs to be with Jared again and to keep Wanderer away from him. That confusion they both face--wondering what's right, what feelings are really coming from someone else or from some obligation, and what they really feel--is something I think will especially appeal to young women.

So yes, I liked the alien, body-snatchers and the way they influence character development, but there’s a reason I said this wasn’t some sort of masterpiece. This book falls short because #1 the writing is nothing to brag about. She get's the job done, but I wasn't reading it going "Oh my goodness, I could really learn something from this woman." And, #2, the story underneath is not so new. In general, it’s still predominantly a teen love story. Despite the originality of the setting and the characters you’re still bombarded with the somewhat immature “I’ll love you forever. We were made for each other,” mentality that you find in Twilight, and a lot of other YA novels. Unfortunately, because that’s also the driving factor behind Meyer’s Twilight saga, it can be difficult to ignore the fact that, in terms of creating romantic relationships, she didn’t create a love story that was all that much different. Yes there are different complications for Melanie, Wanderer, Jared, and Ian, but the love square seems a little reminiscent of Meyer’s previous love triangle with one more player added in.

However (and this is a pretty big however), I think the reader has to concede that most Young Adult books these days reuse the same old love story. Because really, if a large component of the story is romantically based, what else are they going to do: it almost always has to go something like "Girl meets boy, they fall in love, they run into some problems, and they either get through or don't get through those problems." And if there's no love story whatsoever, unless the story is otherwise absolutely amazing, the writer is going to lose the interest of the teenage girls who make up the majority of the audience reading YA novels. Could Meyer have written a more unique and compelling love story with the same setting, but stronger characters? Sure. But really, she didn't do too bad. Just the fact that she didn't use vampires, werewolves, or magic this time helped win her case.

So, all in all, this book is actually going to stay on my shelf. If I happen to find a stronger alien-body-snatcher story, it will probably get booted off, but for now it stays simply because, I'll admit it, I liked it. It was a quick, easy read and I don't have anything like it on my shelf. Will I tell you your life won't be complete until you read it? No. In fact, I know that many of you might not like it if you didn't like Twilight--it is the same writer after all, and she wasn't taken over and changed by an alien life form. What I will say is that maybe if you can borrow it from someone or the library, it would be worth giving a chance on a lazy day when you have nothing better to read/do.