I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm going to have new posts on my blog sometime early in the week (e.g., Sunday or Monday). And sometimes I'm going to be later than that. Overall, though, I've been much better about updating this blog than any other blogs in the past, so at least there's that...Now, on to the main event! A review of a book by one of my favorite contemporary YA authors: Rainbow Rowell. I was first introduced to Rainbow Rowell when my bookclub read her YA book, Fangirl (yes, you should all read that one too) and I was so happy I read it. So of course I read Carry On, too. Carry On is the fanfiction that one of the characters in Fangirl was writing, and I'm so happy Rainbow Rowell actually wrote it (the sequel to Carry On, Wayward Son, is also coming out in September, just saying). Then I read Attachments, which is an adult contemporary novel by Rainbow Rowell, and I was not disappointed at all. That being said, up until yesterday, I hadn't read the book that many people think put Rainbow Rowell on the map: Eleanor & Park. But now I have, and I'm ecstatic that I did. Because it was awesome!!! There are definitely times that I've avoided contemporary novels in the YA genre that deal with romance. I have found that many of them feel too dramatic for me, and I sometimes end up wanting to yell at the main characters. Part of this is probably because I was homeschooled, so the "normal" high school type relationships have always been slightly foreign to me. I'm also not going to lie, I get this way about many adult/new-adult contemporary romance novels. While there are things that I can shrug off when it's fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, or historical romance (because obviously I have no real experience with those so I can't complain too much if there's bits of it that annoy me because maybe that's just how it was/is in those settings) it is harder for me to do so when the setting and characters are real-time and my age or an age I've already lived through. I say all of that to set the scene that it takes a really good contemporary YA novel to keep me reading. And I finished this book in a single day. Eleanor & Park hit that perfect spot between sweet and hot when it came to the romance, but this book was about more than just two slightly misfit teens finding each other and embarking on a relationship that may last past their formative years. It was about finding yourself even as you find another person. I get that that isn't necessarily encouraged when you think about things logically. You shouldn't be using another person as a crutch to tell you who you are. That tends to end badly even in books. What happens in this book, however, is more of two people meeting, interacting, and then being willing to explore more of their own wants/needs because they realize that not everyone has the same options and/or they now have a safe place to make those explorations. It is a story of friendship as well as love, and there is plenty of tension (romantic and otherwise) thrown into the mix. Lovers of Sarah Dessen and Rainbow Rowell's other books are probably going to enjoy Eleanor & Park. The characters draw you in and the sweetness of the romance is well balanced by the realities of life (some of which are relatively universal teenage troubles and some of which are ones we thank a higher power that we never had to experience). I wish I had read this book earlier in some ways, but I'm very glad that I read it now. I think I can appreciate some parts of it more as an adult (though still a new one) that I may not have as a teenager. As with many books, this one may not be for everyone, but I suggest everyone give it a try anyway. And if you read any of Rainbow Rowell's books, let me know in the comments. I'm always happy to talk about them! Happy Reading!
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So, I meant to write this post last week, but time got away from me. It's a sneaky little thing, time. And I missed yesterday's normal posting time too. That was more procrastination and working on another project (one that might get me at least partial funding for my PhD so I consider it a worthy sacrifice), but still. I apologize for the lapse in posts. Regardless, today's post is a book review about Lost Boy by Christina Henry, which was amazing and I really want to suggest everyone read it! Now, the premise of Lost Boy is that Captain Hook used to be one of Peter Pan's lost boys and this book is the true story of what happened to make him Peter Pan's worst enemy. It's a dark tale, to be sure, and one that involves quite a bit of gore. In some ways, it reads a bit like Lord of the Flies on steroids with giant spiders. If you can say one thing about this book, it's that it isn't your Disney Peter Pan (which, honestly, you can say about most stories that became Disney movies). Lost Boy is a book that explores what truly makes a monster, a villain, a boy, and a man; and it does so through the eyes of the first of Peter's lost boys: Captain Hook, nee James. While the narrator, James, is not exactly reliable, readers get the sense that he's at least more reliable than Peter is. After all, even in the Disney version of the story, Peter's pretty much a jerk most of the time. Peter Pan is narcissism and privilege personified, and it shows really well in Lost Boy. *****Spoiler paragraphs. Skip ahead until you read the book. And you really should read the book.***** In Lost Boy, a key component of the book is about how all the boys love Peter, and while they stay young he seems to love them back. Mostly. James is really the one who takes care of them though. And cares if they die. Because that's the part you forget about with Disney and even the original story. These boys fight pirates. They have no care for personal hygiene until Wendy comes along. And they live in a tree in the middle of a forest where there are creatures like crocodiles and bears and tigers. Not to mention, in Lost Boy there are the addition of the Many Eyed. Translation, gigantic spiders that eat meat. It's not really a safe place where you can stay young forever. It's a place where, generally, you're still young when you die. And the boys that do grow up are then sent off to the pirate camp and they die too, because when Peter goes raiding he doesn't just steal trinkets. Throughout the book James feels himself growing in small spurts, but doesn't really know why. That is, until Peter threatens boys more innocent than usual and James remembers how he really came to Neverland. James loses his love for Peter and suddenly he's a grown man. A man who's cursed to never leave even though everything he's wanted to save has now been destroyed by this selfish boy who seems more monstrous by the day. I'm not sure I can put the lesson here into words. Maybe it's personal for all of us. But I think it's very powerful and important. Growing up means letting go of things. It means recognizing that we aren't the center of the universe and that what we do hurts others. Growing up is painful (though hopefully not as painful as what James went through). But staying young forever, staying with Peter...it's not a viable option. I know I wish for those carefree days of childhood again sometimes. No bills. No obligations. But then, I'm privileged. I had time to be a child. Many children don't. So I think the important lesson this book gave me is actually about memory. Remember your childhood. Remember your mistakes. Remember that you are fallible and that is okay. But always try and become better than you were. Otherwise you get stuck in a cycle where you're either Peter or Captain Hook. And neither one of them has a charmed life. ****Spoilers Finished**** So in conclusion (and yes, do read the book so you can read my "insightful" interpretations of its lessons in the above two paragraphs), I suggest reading the book. It is, I think, a carrier of many lessons wrapped up in a package that turns a story we loved as children on its head. It is dark. It is horrifying. And it is so good! I literally read it in a single day. It's a short read and it's a quick one. The characters grab you, the language is fantastic, and the setting is appropriately idyllic and disturbing. It is a great read for lovers of fractured fairy tales, YA books, and people who actually enjoyed Lord of the Flies. If you do read it, let me know what you think in the comments.
Happy Reading! We're taking a break from book-themed posts this week, because I have very little energy and my brain does not feel capable of making logical commentary on the books I've read this week. Consequently, today's post is also likely to be quite short.
Exhaustion is a funny thing, because there are some days when you should be exhausted and you are, some days you should be exhausted and you aren't, and some days when you shouldn't be exhausted but you are anyway. Today is one of the latter for me. I think part of it may be because I'm crashing after about a month of high stress all the time. With grad school application issues (thankfully they've all been resolved), a last minute conference, preparing for Purim at work, preparing for and hosting a Purim Extravaganza Shabbat, and calling in to my Colorado book club, it's been a long stretch of late (for me) nights and high adrenaline levels. Of course, what this means for me is that when all those tasks are complete, my adrenaline crashes and I'm actually aware of how tired I am. So really, today I just want to take a nap. That being said, I can't take a nap because that messes with my sleep cycle and just makes the exhaustion of tomorrow worse...And with another conference coming up this week I'm not willing to risk that. It does, however, remind me of a book I read on the recommendation of a co-worker, "The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker. While it was not one of my favorite reads last year, it did have some beautiful language and does comment on the importance of the circadian rhythm (though that is most definitely not the main point of the story). The book is about something going wrong with the rotation of the Earth which results in days getting longer. While I forget what number of hours the days eventually stopped at, it was enough that the normal circadian rhythms of organisms all over the planet were getting screwed up. While the book is primarily a coming of age story framed around this disaster, it mentions two factions: those who simply get black-out blinds and continue to work with a 24-hour day schedule regardless of whether there is sunlight outside or not, and those who attempt to reset their sleeping rhythms by staying awake when it is light and going to sleep when it is dark. There's no real resolution between these two factions in the book (again, that wasn't the point of the story), but neither one really worked that well. And while I don't know whether one or the other would actually be better for human beings should such a strange thing happen, I do know that maintaining sleep rhythms in everyday life is pretty important. It's why I've read multiple blog articles in the past about how you shouldn't change your sleep/wake cycle on the weekends. It's also why people invest in products that help them sleep when they need to (e.g., sleep-masks, ear-plugs, blackout blinds, etc.) even if nature isn't cooperating. It's also why Daylight Savings tends to make everyone grumpy at some point. And because I believe in the importance of sleep, it means that as much as I want to nap today I'm going to keep pushing through the day so that I can sleep tonight without worrying about tossing and turning until midnight. Thankfully, reading isn't too strenuous and I have leftover food from my Shabbat dinner for lunches this week. ;) Happy Reading! Spoiler Warning: For those of you haven't watched the movie or read the book but want to do so, please be aware that there are spoilers in this blog post. Do not read if you do not want spoilers. Thank you.And with that lovely comparison picture I'm just going to jump right into the first, but hopefully not last, post of the category "Book Vs. Movie!" When you read that, you should hear a deep announcer voice in your head that then echoes off into the distance after the last syllable. Please tell me I'm not the only one who hears that every time I type out "Book Vs. Movie!"
Internal experiences of my psyche aside, I tend to have a love-hate relationship with books that are turned into movies or TV shows, mainly because I'm also a fandom girl, which means that I tend to get bogged down by the little details that "just aren't right" in the movie and angry at the gigantic changes that often happen (moral of the story, you probably don't want to ask me what I thought of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians movies). Moving on. I think that modern society, most especially in the Western capitalist world, has done a great disservice to men and women when it comes to conceptions of beauty. I'm sure you all probably have thoughts of your own on that topic, and a quick Google search will show you a plethora of other opinions too, but the point of this post isn't to debate the consequences and origins of body-shaming. Today, I'm going to be giving my take on the Young Adult novel turned Netflix film book celebrating fat-positivity and the rise of a teen beauty pageant contestant. Three Big Differences: It's been a few weeks since I read the book, and because of Netflix it is super popular right now and therefore I had to return it to the library and do not have it in front of me to remind myself of small details, so I'll just discuss three big ones. #1 Where's the love triangle? For those of you who haven't read the book, I'm sure that's a major spoiler, sorry but I did warn you at the top there would be spoilers. One of the huge differences between the book and the movie was the lack of Willowdean's love life, and El's as well to some extent. There was a definite love triangle going on, and it started during the summer when Bo and Willowdean started going out (the timeline of the movie is completely different from the book, though I give the movie some leeway because they do have to condense things a lot), then Willowdean found out Bo didn't tell her he was going to be attending her school (another huge difference that I'm giving some leeway for, see above) and they sort of broke up, and Willowdean went to the dance with a different boy from the football team who is super sweet but the spark isn't there, and she still likes Bo and Bo still likes her, and this new boy likes her too, and it's like every other teen love triangle: a mess. But this was missing from the movie. Potentially because of time constraints. Potentially because of how confusing it was. Potentially a bit of both. I'm both glad the movie didn't try to fit it all into the movie, but sad as well. Because the movie shares and overall uplifting message, but the book is able to add greater depth to what fat girls and boys go through, especially in high school. Now as for El's love life with her boyfriend, who we see at the very beginning of the movie and then hear is puking in the bathroom at the end of the movie but otherwise know nothing about, is also more detailed in the book. And it actually causes some added tension between Willowdean and El which increases the intensity of their "break" during the pageant. And that's a perfect segue into the next gigantic difference. #2 Willowdean and El break up I fully acknowledge that time cannot truly be compared in movies and books, because while both tend to skip days/weeks/months as the plot needs, books can add it tons of little details to the days whereas movies...can't. There is no way a movie is going to be able to do what a book can do because people start leaving at 2 hours. Most of the time, anyway. So I understand why the movie may have chosen to have El and Willowdean's fight work out the way it did. But in the book? El wasn't even supposed to sign up. That's when the fight started. And cracks were already showing before that when Callie (El's friend from where she worked) dropped a line to Willowdean that El might have confided more about her first time to Cali than she did to Willowdean. That, coupled with a lot of the other stuff, pushed the breaking point much earlier in the book, which means it lasted longer too. The main basis for the fight was the same, however, so I accept the slight changes the film made for time. #3 Missing characters!!!! So, there are at least two relatively main characters from the book that never made it into the movie. And unfortunately I can't remember their names (which is really bad and I'm sorry) and since they aren't in the movie, they aren't mentioned anywhere but in the book! And I don't have the book right in front of me. However, these two characters were relatively important to the plot of the novel. One, is Millie's very good friend who enters the pageant with Millie, Hannah, and Willowdean. The second, is the third leg of the love triangle mentioned above. Obviously, the movie was still able to tell the story without these characters, but it's difficult for me as a reader to fully love a film that cuts characters, even if it is for a good reason. Conclusion: Read the book. And watch the film. As far as book-to-movie films go, Dumplin' did pretty well. There were some large differences, and probably a whole lot more small ones than I caught, but the overall message was the same. Conventional forms of pretty? They should mean less than we think they do; and while it can be incredibly difficult to do so, ignore those conventions and just be yourself. Also, Dolly Parton is queen. ;) This has been another long post, so I'll leave it at that for now. Definitely reach out or leave a comment if you want more detail though. I'm always willing to talk books. Happy Reading! |
AuthorThe author is a librarian who reads "too much" (is there such a thing?) and talks just as much. As an aspiring author she gets bogged down by grammar rules when she just wants to forget them to make a sentence flow, but never seems to be able to. She appreciates thoughtful comments and constructive criticism, but internet trolls beware, she's read enough fantasy novels to know how to defeat the monsters. Archives
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