Posts Tagged "Realist Fiction"

We recently asked Maggie Stiefvater, author of the popular fey book Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception if she would be interested in reviewing one of her own fave YA novels. Maggie chose Saving Francesca by Australian author, Melina Marchetta.

This morning, my mother didn’t get out of bed.

So begins SAVING FRANCESCA, the story of Francesca, one of the few girls going to St. Sebastian’s, a previously all-boys school. The joys of going to St. Sebastian’s are numerous: the sounds of musical burping and farting echoing through the halls, male-centered theater picks, and the general feeling of living in a fishbowl as the thirty girls go about their business amongst the seven-hundred-and-fifty boys who also attend the school.

But this is only sort of a book about being a girl in a boys’ school. It’s a fact that needles Francesca, but not as much as it needles Tara Finke, a slightly hilarious feminist schoolmate, and certainly not as much as it needles Francesca’s mother, Mia. Mia is a vivacious, passionate, take-no-prisoners sort of person, and Francesca has been living in her shadow for her entire life — until the beginning of the novel, when Mia doesn’t get out of bed.

When Mia’s sudden and all-encompassing depression leaves her bedridden, Francesca floats adrift, not realizing how much she had used the framework of Mia’s beliefs — the ones she didn’t believe in just as much as the ones she did — to live her life. Though Francesca’s narrating voice is bright and entertaining, the reader soon sees through her actions that she is, as the title suggests, definitely in need of saving.

Lest this all start to sound rather heavy, depressing, and angsty, I have to mention here that this novel is not what you expect. It is whimsical and occasionally laugh-out-loud, pulling you from the darker moments for some well-earned humor before returning you to some poignant observation.

One of my favorite parts of the entire book is the relationships between the couples. Francesca’s mother and father have a relationship that feels real and familiar; I identified very strongly with pre-depression Mia and thought their dialogue was just pitch-perfect. Francesca’s changing feelings toward the other characters is portrayed so beautifully and subtly through the close first-person point of view that I completely bought her disdain to crush to love relationship progression.

And yet I know that no matter how I describe the plot and characters of this book, I’m not conveying how much I love it. It’s that rare breed of literary novel that is nearly impossible to sum up tidily and yet still manages to drag the reader through the pages in happy captivity, in love with the prose and charmed by the dialogue and sighing with the slow twists of the plot as Francesca slowly saves herself.

I haven’t read Melina Marchetta’s JELLICOE ROAD yet, but based upon SAVING FRANCESCA, I’m not at all surprised that it just won the Printz.

She saw me and I could see the smile overcome her lips.
My pulse quickened.
It burned in my throat, as slowly, I reached into my pocket, pulled out the tiger shell and placed it gently onto the jacket where all the money was strewn.
I place it there, and the sun hit it, and just as I was about to turn around and make my way back through the crowd, the music stopped.
In the middle of the song, it was cut short.
The world was silent and I turned again to look up at a girl who stood completely still above me.

According to his family, Cameron Wolfe is a bit of a lonely bastard. He’s never had a girlfriend, never even been touched by a girl, in fact. But he thinks about it all the time. He watches on as his older brother, Rube, brings home girl after girl only to use them up and throw them away. Cameron reckons Rube needs to learn a thing or two about how to treat women, but what would he know? He’s never had a single date in his life.

The thing about Cam is, he really is a bit of a lonely bastard. Apart from the no-girl thing, Cam doesn’t have too many friends either. In fact, his friend count is down around the zero mark (unless you count his family members and the fluffy Pomeranian pooch next door). I never really did understand why he’s such a loner, though. Sure, he’s pensive and severely introverted, but not in a bad way, and certainly not so much that I can’t imagine no one liking him. He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he seems to have the human compassion thing down pat. He’s a gentle, poetic kid that is just underestimated by everyone around him.

Then he finds Octavia – or rather Rube finds Octavia, has his way with her and discards her like all the rest. Octavia is beautiful, smart, and seems to be a really deep kind of gal. And when Cam finds out that Octavia actually has the hots for him, he nearly doesn’t believe it. Why would someone that went out with Rube be interested in him? Cam and Rube are nothing alike, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to Cam. But then he realises – Rube and Octavia aren’t really anything alike, either, and that’s when he sees a little but of Octavia Ash in himself. Their romance is touching in an unconventional kind of way.

Cameron Wolfe is a simple kid whose unique way of looking at the world will warm your heart from the inside out. He’s fiercely loyal, and smart where it really counts. He understands that family is one of the most important things a boy could have, even with all their faults.
When Dogs Cry isn’t one of those teen romance novels that focus on beating hearts and sweaty palms. It goes deeper than that and focuses on why people are attracted to each other in the first place. It’s raw in an enigmatic kind of way and I found it simply impossible to put down.

Markus Zusak proves yet again, that he is a literary mastermind; When Dogs Cry is a force to be reckoned with.

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If I had a cheerleading uniform and a pair of pom poms, I’d break them out right now so I could show David Levithan and Rachel Cohn just how much I love their work. I’d cheer, I’d jump, hell I might even attempt some of those crazy backward flip things. I’d definitely concoct a cheesy rhyme that I could shout at the top of my lungs that outlines my enthusiasm and appreciation. Yes, I’d go to THAT much effort.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (their first collaborative novel) was so supremely perfect that I didn’t think David and Rachel could do much better than that. I mean, how can you top perfection? You can’t, right? Wrong. Apparently perfection now holds a new name, and it sounds a little something like Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List.

Ely and Naomi have been friends forever. They live in the same apartment block and couldn’t be closer if they tried. They’ve got so much in common that they even like all the same boys. Yes folks, Ely is gay. So in order to protect their friendship against possible crush conflicts, Naomi and Ely devise a No Kiss List – a list of people that are off limits to both of them, under all circumstances. This works very well for them both, and life couldn’t be better.

Until Ely kisses Bruce The Second, Naomi’s supposedly straight boyfriend.

Because it’s the right thing to do, Ely tells Naomi and, not surprisingly, all hell breaks loose. For the first time in the history of The Ely and Naomi Show, the pair finds themselves experiencing some serious trouble in paradise. Things get nasty, they stop speaking and suddenly the No Kiss List no longer applies. All bets are off, every gay boy and straight girl for themselves.

Although the title suggests otherwise, this book is not entirely and exclusively about Naomi and Ely. Each chapter is told through a different character’s perspective, which adds a whole host of different tones and complexities to navigate. But it’s a good thing, and gives the novel depth. For example, through Naomi’s eyes, Bruce the Second is kind of boring and actually presents as a little two-dimensional. However, when Bruce the Second is actually given his own voice, readers step inside his head only to discover that he is adorable, smart, and kinda crazy about Ely. Cue violin music now, please. I found it very easy to forgive him for the terrible way things end between him and Naomi.

And then there’s Gabriel, who through Naomi’s eyes, is pretty much just a piece of eye candy, and through Ely’s eyes, is just the big-eared doorman. But when Gabriel finally gets his chance to narrate, readers learn that he’s deep, poetic and sensitive in a new aged kind of way. And man, does the boy have eclectic taste in music (which he is disappointed to learn, Naomi does not share). There’s also Bruce the First, Kelly, and the Robins.

Switching between characters so frequently means that you’ll never get bored reading this book because each character has a new agenda, a different purpose in the story. The one thing they do share in common, however, is Naomi and Ely, and everybody’s individual journeys are somehow linked to the Great Break Up of Ely and Naomi. Interestingly enough, I also think the constant switching between characters highlights just how limiting first person narration really can be. Naomi and Ely’s perceptions of the other characters are often unfair, or just plain incorrect.

There are some seriously touching AWWWWWW kind of moments in this story, but there are also a whole stack of humorous ones too. In fact, in several places I laughed so hard I had to put my book down, wipe the corner of my eye, and take a deep breath. Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List is pure quality entertainment, in the strongest, most emphatic sense of the word.

Cohn and Levithan write together brilliantly, and their enthusiasm for their work shines on every single page, through every single tiny, insignificant word. Their characters are so real, so alive, that I think I saw Ely at my local Starbucks last night. For the record, Bruce the Second wasn’t with him, but a very loud-mouthed, jaw dropingly gorgeous girl was. Defintely Naomi, for sure.

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John Green is no stranger to praise. His previous novels, Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines scored much recognition, and won many awards. The hype surrounding his new novel, Paper Towns, is huge. Everyone knows someone that has read it, or knows someone who wants to read it. So when I picked up the three hundred odd page novel I had super high expectations. That’s the problem with expectations: as soon as you expect something, you’re almost always going to be disappointed. And I was, but not for any reason that I can justify. I think I thought it was going to be breathtakingly mesmerising from the very first word. In all the hysteria, I forgot that a novel needs to lay its foundations and introduce its characters to the reader before any kind of connection or relationship is achieved. Once I remembered all these things, I let my preconceived ideas dissipate and found myself really enjoying everything Paper Towns had to offer.

Paper Towns is narrated through Quentin’s point of view. His neighbour – and long time crush – Margo Roth Speigelman has a thing for running away from home. When she disappears again, everyone is upset, but no one is surprised. Only this time it is different, and Quentin thinks Margo wants him to find her. He uncovers some clues, which he believes she deliberately planted for him, and begins piecing all of them together. While Quentin spends the final months of his senior year looking for Margo, the rest of his friends spend their final months preparing for prom and revelling in the fact that their high school days are finally numbered. Quentin becomes totally consumed with finding Margo and misses out on all kinds of experiences (like graduation) as he follows dead end lead, after dead end lead. He starts to wonder all kinds of crazy things, like whether or not he’ll find her alive, or whether he’ll ever find her at all.

Quentin is an incredibly likeable character. He’s compassionate, dedicated to his cause, and everybody’s best friend. Margo, on the other hand, I found harder to care about. Although she is gone for a lot of the novel, readers learn a lot about her through the clues that Quentin uncovers on his journey. From my vantage point, Margo is conceited, superficial, melodramatic and not worthy of Quentin’s affections at all. I found myself wishing that he’d stop looking for her and just let himself enjoy the last few months of high school with his friends. But if I’m honest with myself, Quentin’s supreme dedication to find her, dead or alive, is one of the characteristics that I admired about him most.

In the end, although none of them really think they’re going to find her, all of Quentin’s friends forfeit their graduation ceremony so they can accompany him on a last ditched effort to follow a lead. They end up in a car headed for New York. It’s during this trip that readers are really exposed to the true strengths of friendships, relationships, love and loss. The road trip to New York is my favorite part of the novel and I found myself re-reading several pages because I was so touched by some of the words and actions of the individual characters. I’m not going to tell you whether they actually find Margo or not, because that would ruin the ending for you all. But I am going to tell you that I think Margo is someone that will always run, will always look for the quickest escape route when anything gets tough. She’s one of those girls that lack the strength of character to look life in the face and deal with its raw and brutal consequences.

This was my first experience reading a John Green novel and I can happily say that it will not be my last. There is a little something for everyone in this novel, with action, drama, romance and real life experiences and emotions spread across its pages for all to absorb. yaReads give you two very big thumbs up, John Green. Two very big thumbs indeed!

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I am speechless. Numb.

I just finished reading Jay Asher’s debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, and although my brain is buzzing, I can’t seem to find my words. So I’m going to ramble of a bunch of statistics, which hopefully, will highlight the gravity of the issue Asher deals with in his novel.

Did you know:

Approximately 8 in every 100 000 people aged between 15 and 24 in the United States commit suicide every year.

Among 15-19 year old Australians, suicide accounted for a total of 85 registered deaths in 2004, at a rate of 6.2 per 100,000 people (7.5 for males, 4.8 for females). Suicide accounted for 15.2% of total male deaths and 17.1% of total female deaths registered in this age group (source: Suicides, Australia, 1994 to 2004. ABS, 2006).

Teen suicide is often attributed to drug and alcohol abuse, poor family situations, extreme trouble at school, mental illness. Sometimes, pinpointing a reason why someone kills themselves is impossible and friends and family of the deceased live out the rest of their days wondering why, what – if anything – they could have done to help.

In Thirteen Reasons Why, readers are given a detailed blow-by-blow account of Hanna Baker’s journey towards death. Before she dies, she records her story on a set of audio tapes. She devises a plan to make sure that everyone featured on the tapes receives them, and listens to every single word she says.

When Clay receives the tapes, he doesn’t know what they are at first. But after listening for only a couple of moments, the realisation that he is in possession of Hanna Bakers last words, and that he is somehow part of her downward spiral is a sobering thought indeed. Clay listens, not just because he wants to learn about his role, but because it was Hanna’s last dying wish that everyone that receives the tapes, listens to them in full.

Clay always had a thing for Hanna Baker, but they’d only made out once, so what could he possibly have done to contribute to her decision to kill herself? As Clay is listening, often with tears streaming down his face, he realises that his failure was unavoidable. Sure, he could have tried harder to get through to Hanna in her time of need, but she pushed him away – and how can you help someone that doesn’t want to be helped?

Some of the events that unfold in Hanna’s tale are really quite horrific, and I found myself questioning the very essence of human nature over and over. How could these kids do these kinds of things to each other? Can’t they see that their actions, their words, all come with consequences? Or maybe they do know, but just don’t care? Reading Thirteen Reasons Why made me realise that I’m either a very naïve person, or I’ve lead a very sheltered life (quite possibly a combination of both). Teenagers can be the cruellest creatures on Earth.

Foresight is not a characteristic commonly employed by the characters in this novel. From the those that contributed to her demise, right through to Hanna actually committing suicide, no one looked past the now. Would Bryce have done the things he did if he knew it would lead to Hanna ultimately deciding that she couldn’t live with herself anymore? Maybe Clay would have stayed in the room longer, maybe Justin wouldn’t have started that rumor. Maybe. But maybe not, too.

Hanna herself was guilty of lacking foresight. She couldn’t see past her immediate problems, couldn’t see that her life wasn’t necessarily always going to be at the whim of the idiots she went to school with. But I argue that she couldn’t see these things because she didn’t try. She didn’t want to see a life beyond what she knew. The question then stands, then, if the combination of events Hanna blames as the source of her desire to die, hadn’t happened, would she have found other reasons to justify her death? Was it set in her brain, programmed from birth? It’s a difficult question to answer and one that often gets asked in the wake of a successful suicide attempt.

Teen Suicide is not an issue to be taken lightly, so I was happy to see Jay Asher dealing with Hanna’s death in a responsible, accurate manner. Thirteen Reasons Why is written in simple, straight-forward language. As this is Asher’s debut novel, it’s hard to tell whether such a technique was intentional or is just the product of his natural writing style. But it works, very well. Hanna’s story is profound enough that it does not need the help of colourful language to get the message across. Asher captures the essence of the teenage mind brilliantly, providing a captivating, raw tale with lessons about humankind for all.

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