Teen Review: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls
By Patrick Ness
Inspired by an idea by Siobhan Dowd
Illustrated by Jim Kay

Overall Rating: 5/5 
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Illustrations: 5/5

A Monster Calls tells the story of Conor, a teen living with his mother. His mother is in the advanced stages of cancer and continually tired from chemotherapy, leaving Conor mostly on his own.

And then the Monster shows up. Dark and imposing and utterly tree-like (without resembling Groot in text or in illustration), the monster says he came walking to answer Conor's call and would tell him three stories.

I read this in one day. At the desk and in the window at work, then in a wild desperate sprint at home that evening. I cried so hard by the ending. This is a masterfully-told story about a young boy coming to terms with the unthinkable, with survivor's guilt, with all the things that come before the after. Conor's story is heartbreaking and so very, very true to the experiences of anyone who has watched a loved one dying. The very idea of the book is gut-wrenching, terrifying and still holds a fragile, resilient hope at its center. That there will be an after. That we can move on.

The illustrations are intense, beautiful black-and-white pieces that mix pen and ink drawing with block cuts and stamping to produce the wildness of the untamed wilderness in a stark world that no longer cares for it. It evokes emotions of longing, of loneliness, of that feeling of watching a single crow flying overhead on a cloudy day. I could not review this book without gushing about the visuals. They added so much to the story, literally framing the narrative and giving the reader a sense of how important certain scenes were to Conor and the people around him.

I intend to watch the recent film release in the near future in order to post a book-to-film essay on Books by Day, Films by Night. There should also be a video forthcoming (I swear!) talking about what this book did better than the movie and vice versa on my (much neglected) YouTube channel.

Teen Review: Maddie & Sayara

Promotional copy provided by Netgalley in return for a review.




Maddie & Sayara
Sanjyot P. Dunung
Expected publication date: September 7th, 2017

Rating: 2/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2/5

Maddie and Sayara are two regular 13-year-olds who meet at a spring break vacation in the Bahamas. They become fast friends and slowly, Maddie comes to understand the differences between her own country's laws regarding women and the "kingdom" where Sayara lives. When Sayara's cousin is arrested for daring to drive while female, Maddie makes a whirlwind decision: she is going to the kingdom to talk some sense into that stupid government.

I feel like I say this a lot, but I really wanted to like this story. It seemed like it had real potential for expanding the genre of politically-motivated stories in the tween/teen area. What I found was a painfully frustrating account of a "normal family" which is obviously very much not the normalcy of American middle class that I know, as her mother can afford to not work and hires a nanny for the three children so she can spent weeks on end in the spa and thinly veiled (no pun intended) references to a Middle Eastern country which requires all women to wear a "tent."

I was also appalled at Maddie's characterization. She steals her mother's login and frequent flyer miles to book a plane to a foreign country, so she can "find someone who can fix the driving ban." I have known a lot of naive teens and tweens, but none of them would even think about trying to go to a foreign country alone. None of them would assume that changing nation-wide laws can be done by one individual, especially a girl in a country that marginalizes women to the degree that the kingdom does. Naivety is one thing; reckless self-endangerment is something entirely different.

Also disturbing was the characterization of Maddie's mother: a supposedly middle class mother who neglects her children, spends lavish amounts of money to pamper herself and to make sure someone else raises her kids, and seems to emotionally abuse her daughter through unreasonable demands and silent treatment tactics. She also has intensely old-fashioned views about what women's roles in society should be, without a corresponding religious or social class basis for her opinions. It is stated that "that's how she was brought up to be" but the abusive effects of her behavior with Maddie are never addressed.

The writing also frustrated me. It seems that the author didn't expect that her readers would retain key plot points between chapters, so insisted on repeating--often in exactly the same words--those plot points throughout their relevant chapters. And while I appreciate Maddie's stream-of-consciousness approach to narrating, sometimes it is distracting from the story that is actually happening.

As a whole, I was disappointed by this tween/teen novel. Perhaps there are parents who care more about preaching the evils of overbearing faith institutions than a believable and relatable story. As an informational parable, it works relatively well and the pacing of information does keep you wanting to turn the page to find out what happens next. The information dumping is heavy-handed though, especially when it comes from a tween who doesn't seem particularly bright or able to make logical jumps on her own. The inconsistencies in writing and character development put this book very low on my recommended reads list.

Teen Review: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer
Rick Riordan

Rating: 4/5

The Sword of Summer begins another of Rick Riordan's multi-book series centered on mythology from different regions. This particular series focuses on Norse and Scandinavian mythology and opens with a smart-aleck first-person narrator named Magnus. As Magnus is introduced to a new world of monsters and gods that lives parallel to the world he knew, Riordan brings out a time-tested formula of snappy narrator, unknown evil, and a whole new set of rules that the reader is learning just as the main character is. The result is a fast-paced, hysterically funny read for teens, mature children, and adults who can't resist a smart-mouthed narrator.

Rick Riordan does follow a formula in writing these mythology reboot series, it really is a fantastic formula. His characters glow, popping off the page both from his dialog and his vivid descriptions. The action happens fast, at the speed of the character's grasp of the situation. And then there's the later commentary from now-Magnus looking back on then-Magnus. Riordan is a master of the cliff-hanger ending, drawing the reader from page to page even between chapters with a constant sense of curiosity.

This series came to my attention after the announcement that Rick Riordan had been awarded the Stonewall Award for the second installment. In that book, he introduces a trans and gender-fluid character, Alex Fierro.

Rick Riordan (in his acceptance speech): "I think, to support young LGBTQ readers, the most important thing publishing can do is to publish and promote more stories by LGBTQ authors, authentic experiences by authentic voices. We have to keep pushing for this. The Stonewall committee’s work is a critical part of that effort. I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors." 

Adult Review: The Fever

The Fever
Written by Megan Abbott



Overall Rating: 2/5
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2/5

After taking a dip in the local polluted lake, several girls in a school begin showing symptoms of some strange disease, causing uproar and chaos in a small town. This story focuses on the stories of Deenie, a teenaged girl just coming into her sexual maturity; Eli, her older brother and a star player for the hockey team; and their father, Tom, a well-known teacher in the school. Viewpoints jump between these primary characters, with occasional jaunts to explore other viewpoints, all told third-person limited.

I got to the end of this book, placed it in my lap, looked at my husband and said, "I still don't know." I spent the entire book waiting to see if it was any good. Trying desperately to decide if it was worth reading. Was it scary? Was it supposed to be supernatural? In the end, I put it down feeling like I still didn't know if it was good or not. Which, I suppose, means it wasn't.

The writing is actually very beautiful. Lush and ethereal, it gives the setting a very abstract quality that works fairly well in scaring the living snot out of the reader. But the characters are uninteresting, self-absorbed, and uncompelling. The plot takes 70% of the book to even really get rolling, at which point it actually tells you everything that happened in the course of about twenty pages and then it's the end of the story. I found this book very poorly paced and not something I'm likely to recommend.

Also, as an active reader and reviewer of YA material, I found the teen characterization to be very lacking. It feels like teens written through the lens of parents or other adults who don't understand them, as if everything they do is adults looking at each other, shrugging and saying, "Kids, right? Nobody gets them." These inner thoughts are not the inner thoughts of real adolescents but the characterization of adults who have forgotten what it's like to think like a confused teenager. And that is probably the major failing of the book for me.

Non-fiction Review: Happiness Like Water

Happiness Like Water
by Chinelo Okparanta

Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 3/5

This collection of short stories and essays is written by a Nigerian immigrant in scenes from her homeland.

While I found the stories and characters fascinating, I struggled greatly with the voice. I didn't finish the material, but I hope to go back when I have more cognitive space to give this collection the attention it deserves. I can tell it's important and meaningful, but I just wasn't in the right place to read it this time around.

Watch this space.

Adult Review: The Green Kangaroos

Based on a promotional eBook received from NetGalley in exchange for a review.



The Green Kangaroos
Written by Jessica McHugh

Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Plot: 4
Characters: 4
Writing: 3

The Green Kangaroos is set in a speculative near-future in which televisions exist on every corner and broadcast a set material based on where you live. A class system has come more strongly into play in the United States and Baltimore is rife with drugs and degradation. A drug called Atlys has come into the forefront and its use is encouraged by a cultural phenomenon called "potsticking" in which active Atlys users sell bits of their flesh in return for money and drugs to restaurants, which in turn sell them for the consumption of the extremely rich.

Perry Sampson is one of these drug users, fallen from a middle-class family in the wake of his older brother's OD and his parents' perceived neglect. His little sister hopes to rehabilitate him, to regain the relationship with her brother she used to have, but Perry has resisted those attempts for years. When his sister catches wind of a new treatment with advertised 100% success rates, Perry is in for a wild ride beyond even his own reality with not only his own life on the line, but that of his entire family.

I really loved this book, but it was a hard book to read. It was graphically violent, rife with strong language and sexual imagery, and tackled some deeply disturbing cultural taboos. Due to the nature of the book, these elements were necessary and even in keeping with character and world, but it didn't make it any easier to read without wanting to put the book down. It is for these elements that it receives such a low score for me. I would love to recommend it for the story, for the characters, and for the world they live in, but most of my readers would be put off by the graphic and taboo elements. For those that aren't, though, it's a fantastic read with compelling characters (I love Emily in particular) and a twisted ending.

Non-fiction Review: Fun Home

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Alison Bechdel

Overall Rating: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters 5/5
Writing: 4/5

Alison Bechdel is also the author and illustrator of Dykes to Watch Out For. This graphic novel follows Bechdel through her early life and details her relationship with her father, who ran a funeral home and died when she was in college. It also maps her coming-out story and how her relationship with her family affected the person she became.

Fun Home is funny, discomforting in places, and honest. While this bills itself as a "family" tragicomic, it is more about family than it is family-friendly. There is nudity and content that would probably make most parents think twice about allowing a younger teen read it, though it is a stellar offering for adults and older teens.

I really enjoyed this insightful examination of family dynamics and how they can affect us, personally and formatively. I did find the story to wander a bit aimlessly, though, which happens sometimes in memoirs. A great read, though, and one I would highly recommend.