Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (2011)

My cynicism has been known, from time to time, to get me into accidental trouble. I was especially cynical in groups, perhaps feeling that a witty cut-down about a stranger would earn me the respect and admiration of friends. This rarely worked. You can only act like a jerk so many times before people stop listening to you (p 47).

This is going to be a rather unfair review. I read this book after it won both the Morris Debut Author Award and the Printz Award. I was hoping Okay For Now by Gary Schmidt would win the Printz. This book is not Okay For Now and I am therefore going to unfairly compare it to Okay For Now.

I begin with the voice. Told with alternating points of view, those chapters told in first person from Cullen’s pov told about a boy who enjoys thinking up book titles and fantasizing about zombies. Doug Swieteck’s first person narration is so damn good (go to my earlier post “Road to the Newbery” to read more) that Cullen’s narration, while good, pales in comparison.

Then there are the third-person-pov chapters told first from Benton’s and then Cabot’s perspective. The link between Benton and Cullen is revealed at the book’s conclusion. While some refer to this as ‘complex,’ I thought it was unbelievable and served the plot. The characters were all over the place messed up. I could probably express this sentiment better but I don’t have the time and the book’s details are already fading from my mind.

The best aspect of the novel is its treatment of Gabriel’s disappearance. Gabriel is Cullen’s younger brother and a character I took issue with while he was present. Praise for Gabriel’s intellegence and uncanny abilities suffused the narration and yet Gabriel didn’t actually do anything that justified the praise… unless a literate teen who enjoys reading is supposed to be considered brilliant.

So, am I disappointed in the book? A bit. It’s a good book, but it’s not Okay For Now. In terms of literary quality, it sure isn’t The Isle of Blood. So I can only sit here and scratch my head and wonder how both those books were overlooked by the committee.

Other review are more favorable:
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Reclusive Bibliophile
Reading Rants!

Young Adults Books for Adult Readers: The Remix

About a year ago, I posted a list of YA books for adult readers. Consider this an extension of that list:

• Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky (1999) – movie coming in 2012
• The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango (2011)
• Toby Alone (2009) and Toby and the Secret of the Trees (2010) by Timothee de Fombelle
• Huge by Jame W. Fuerst (2009)
• Reckless by Cornelia Funke (2010)
• Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005)
• The Water Seeker by Kimberly Holt (2010)
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jaqueline Kelly (2009)
• Boy Toy by Barry Lyga (2007)
• Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (2006)
• The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan (2009)
• Born Blue by Han Nolan (2001)
• Sexy by Joyce Carol Oates (2005)
• A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (2010)
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (2011)
• Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (2008)
• Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Z. Stork (2009)

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)

Nailer clambered through a service duct, tugging at copper wire and yanking it free. Ancient asbestos fibers and mouse grit puffed up around hum as the wire tore loose. He scrambled deeper into the duct, jerking more wire from its aluminum staples. the staples pinged about the cramped metal passage like coins offered to the Scavenge God, and Nailer felt after them eagerly, hunting for their dull gleam and collecting them in a leather bag he kept at his waist. He yanked again at the wiring. A meter’s worth of precious copper tore loose in his hands and dust clouds enveloped him (p 1).

In the ship breaking yards along the Gulf Coast, crews work tirelessly to strip grounded oil tankers of copper wiring and other valuable materials. It’s a thankless, bleak, and dangerous task. Nailer is small enough for Light Crew, those assigned to dive into the tight spaces on a ship to plunder. Conditions are horrible and accidents are frequent. That’s why crews swear blood oaths. So you know someone has your back and you have someone else’s back.

Yet everyone’s looking for a Lucky Strike, a get-rich-quick scavenge that will free them of their drudge life. Nailer and his crew leader and friend, Pima, come across just such a Lucky Strike when a fancy clipper ship wrecks along the coast after a city killer storm rolls through. In their attempt to scavenge the light materials before Heavy Crew workers sliding on crystal arrive to take their find, Nailer and Pima find a beautiful young girl trapped in the wreckage. She obviously swank but she’s alive.

Nailer is faced with a life-changing decision. Does he save the girl and hope for a reward or leave her for dead (the smart thing to do)?

Paolo Bacigalupi has created a fascinating post-oil era dystopia where humanity has paid for their crimes against nature. Cities along the Gulf have been destroyed and buried by category 6 hurricanes called city killers. The few extremely wealthy have usurped power and administer through cruelty. Science has created genetically enhanced “half-men” whose DNA is a combination of animal and human, making them loyal and vicious.

It is in this jungle that Nailer has learned to survive. Though his father beats him and his crew mate betrays him, he begins to change. Instead of sinking in the quagmire of self-interest and brutality that surrounds him, he begins to see through them, to empathize and to detach.

This was not an easy read. It felt a bit like reading a Philip K. Dick book where you are discovering this complex world and how it came to be throughout the work. There is no convenient introduction and explanitory dialog. A fantastic read but it took me a while to plow through it. It’s intense.

Read an interview with the author.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

After a great prologue, the story slumped into a Falkner-like muddle that I had little patience for. It would be about 100 or so pages before it sparked my interest again. And it was half-way through that I began to understand what was going on. This is, in part, due to a purposefully ambiguous story and overlapping plots. But also, in some small part, due to intermittently clunky sentence structure that I had little patience for.

“I don’t know his name, and I don’t know why he comes calling, but he is there every time, playing the same music on one of those Discmans for tapes from the eighties, a song about flame trees and long-time feelings of friends left behind” (p 4).

“My insides are in a million pieces and I feel like someone out of one of those tragic war movies” (p 407-8).

Or there was a cultural language gap (the author is Australian). “So while the mouths of the year twelves move and their hands threaten, I think back to my dream of the boy…” (p 3-4). I was thinking, “What the heck is a ‘year twleve’?” It took me three tries before I understood that sentence.

Otherwise, it was an emotionally gripping story of childhood frienship and tragedy. I thought the main character was more of a vehicle to tell the more involved story of her parents than a fully developed and realised character herself. But all the plots came together like an expertly written Dicken’s novel and I found myself more than satisfied (and crying) at the end. The 2009 Printz Award winner.

The First Part Last: Discussion Guide

The second book read and discussed through a grant funded by YALSA and the ALA: The First Part Last by two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Angela Johnson. (Page numbers refer to the hardcover version, copyright 2003, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.)

1. How did Bobby’s parents respond to the news of Nia’s pregnancy (pg. 12)? How did Nia’s parents respond to this (pg. 20)? How would your parents respond to this same announcement?
2. Look at how Bobby’s friends react (pg. 37-40). How would your friends react?
3. What does Bobby mean by saying, “I walk to my room…look around my room and miss me” (pg. 35)?
4. How does Bobby feel about Feather? Would this be different if Nia were awake? (pg 81)
5. What do you think about everyone’s reaction to Bobby and Nia’s decision to put their baby up for adoption?
6. Do you agree with the way Bobby’s parents support (or don’t support) him and Feather?
7. Imagine your room at home. What things would you have to change if you became a full-time parent? What everyday things would you have to do differently?
8. Where do you see these characters five, ten years from now?

The reactions to this book surprised me somewhat. The students were very critical of Bobby, saying he was stupid for letting the pregnancy happen. They also saw Bobby’s parents in an odd role reversal where his father acted more like a mother, supportive and understanding, while Bobby’s mother was distant and unhelpful. Two of the boys in the discusison group were young fathers and mentioned the strong support of their parents made things very different for them. All noted the strong feelings Bobby held for Feather but there seemed to be no definitive opinion on Bobby’s success as a father. Also, the cover image was not well liked. Many thought the image was of a woman holding a baby!

The 2004 Printz Award winner.