Newes From the Dead by Mary Hooper

Mary Hooper imagines the details of Anne Green’s story in Newes From the Dead. Ms. Hooper learned of a servant who survived her hanging in 17th century England, and built on the known facts to write what might have happened. The story is told from two different perspectives: Robert, a medical student who is about to witness a dissection of a recently hung corpse, and Anne, a servant accused of infanticide. The story begins with Anne in limited consciousness, and she struggles to figure out where she is and whether she can move while she recalls what led her to this point. 

I was interested in reading this due to the based-on-a-true-story plot, but I had to push myself to get through it. Much of the book is spent waiting in present tense while Anne tells her back story. The scenes set in the dissection room involved a lot of nothing for at least half the book, and at times it gets unbelievable: one medical student stomps on Anne to make sure she is dead. Really? You are about to take apart a body to learn about how it all works and it is okay to stomp on it? The pay-off in the last part of the book is interesting, although I’m not sure it is worth it. Anne struggles to comprehend the fact that she isn’t dead while the doctors pat themselves on the back for “bringing her back to life.” Many people are interested in seeing the girl who did not die, and the reader will want to know if the authorities still expect Anne to pay for her supposed crime by hanging. Ms. Hooper includes a copy of the pamphlet that originally told Anne’s story in the back of the book. 

This would be interesting to fans of historic fiction, particularly fiction based on fact. It is probably not fast-paced enough for reluctant readers or readers who want more plot movement from their books.

Two and 1/2 stars

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

I do not usually care for zombies – I don’t hate them, but just not something I jump to watch/read. When I started hearing that zombies might be the new vampires in the YA lit world, I didn’t believe it. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan made me reconsider. (Her awesome first name might have also swayed me a bit.)

Mary has grown up in a village that is surrounded by a fence, used to keep the Unconsecrated out. While the author never labels the Unconsecrated as zombies, she makes it quite clear. Mary is concerned about keeping her mother away from the fence. Her father went out on an expidition and never returned; it can only be assumed that he became an Unconsecrated. Villagers do not always deal well when they see a lost loved one appear on the other side of the fence after they have turned, and Mary hopes to avoid having her mother experience that. 

Things don’t always go as we hoped, though, and soon Mary is living with the Sisterhood, learning about them and the Guardians, and what they do to keep the village safe. But how safe are they really?

I inhaled this book – I could not put it down. Mary’s POV is very easy to be pulled in to, and the descriptions of the setting are so well done. I read the majority of this book in my backyard on a sunny Sunday afternoon, but I don’t remember the sun or the lounge chair, I remember the trees, the fence and the moans. It does start out a bit slowly, but once you get past a certain point, I was hooked. As one would expect when dealing with zombies, there are some stomach turning parts. This is less from gore and more due to difficult images like a zombie baby. While there is a bit of relationship drama, it never takes over the story. Mary’s dreams of seeing the ocean one day are more important than any boy crush.

I really like the cover design for it, with the trees and the fog. I saw a UK cover design on another blog and it left me less than thrilled. Carrie Ryan promises future books set in this world, and I can’t wait to find out what more she will reveal.

4 stars

Columbine by Dave Cullen

It took me a few weeks to get through Dave Cullen’s Columbine, and another couple weeks to write about it. Not because it is slow, uninteresting or poorly written, but quite the opposite. I would pick it up before bed, meaning to read just a few pages. Before I knew it, 2 hours had flown by and I would have to force myself to put it down so that I would not be too tired at work the next day. After a few nights of this, I had to limit myself to reading the book in the afternoons and on weekends because I also began to have nightmares that a similar attack would happen at graduation for the high school where I work. It is evident that Cullen has spent the past ten years closing studying the events surrounding April 20th, 1999, and he puts the reader right into the middle of it.

Rather than lay out the events in a linear fashion, Cullen moves about in time, replaying part of the attack, rewinding to tell you the backstory on one or more of the people involved, moving forward to relay the after effects for all involved. I appreciated this structure as it allows the reader to get to know the people involved as they enter the stage, rather than give you the full backstory upfront and then have to remember details as events happen. It also allows you to learn a bit about the attack, and then step back and catch your breath, rather than assault you all at once with the full story.

While I have to think that we will never fully know every event that pushed Dylan and Eric to that day, Cullen goes a long way towards getting inside their minds with excerpts from journals, writing assignments, and videos. Some critics have said they think he makes big assumptions about both young men, but I don’t feel like they are big assumptions, based on what he shares with the reader.

Cullen clears many rumors and myths that swirled around that day, such as who told the boys they believed in God, and whether bullying was what pushed the two towards their actions.

There are no pictures included in the book. At first, I was surprised since true crime and biography books tend to include something. I came to appreciate this decision; I imagine this was done out of respect for everyone – to avoid the sensationalism and just lay out the facts. It made me take the book more seriously than I might if I was provided images of the attacks, the victims, and the two young men.

While it is not an easy book to read, I recommend it. 5 stars

I did have one question that I have wondered and never had answered. The majority of the deaths happened in the library. No staff or faculty member is ever mentioned when relaying the events that took place in that room. (Cullen does mention an adult or two hiding in the back, but doesn’t clarify who they were.) I can’t help but wonder where the library staff were during the attack, and why were they not there but there were still students left?

Misc pop culture in mid-May

Do you watch Lost? WOW!!! What an awesome finale! Can’t wait to see the final year!

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I LOVE Scrubs, have watched it from day 1, own the dvds and watch them, but I am not on board with another season. I think this past season was excellent and they should have ended it there. Go out on top, don’t trickle out in tiny flames.

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I watched the pilot for Glee tonight. LOVED it! So freaking good! I know it’s only one episode, but I am already ranking it with Friday Night Lights and Everwood. Of course, that means it has a long way to fall if it’s not good, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

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Most other tv, I am either behind on or feeling eh. But there are a ton of movies I want to see, a stack of book reviews that need to be written (sorry, it’s been a busy month), and an ever bigger stack of books to read! I’ll be working on catching up in the next few weeks.

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Just watched the trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movies. I have never read a book or seen anything associated with it, so I am not a purist, but it looks totally fun!

Heaven by V. C. Andrews

Heaven begins a V. C. Andrews series that follows Heaven Leigh (really) Casteel as she grows up in the hills of West Virginia. Heaven is one of 5 children growing up in a shack high in the hills. She lives with her grandparents, stepmother, and often-absent good-for-nothing father. We soon learn that Heaven is perfect – she’s beautiful, smart – loves school and books, and uber-helpful, keeping their shack clean and the younger kids in line. Her half-brother Tom is also pretty perfect as he loves school and never seems to be grouchy, and weirdly enough (for V. C. Andrews) does not seem to be in love with his sister. (Yet? We’ll see as the series progresses.) Fanny, a few years younger than Heaven, seems to have been born the town slut. She also has a quiet little brother Keith who does appear to be weirdly obsessed with the 3rd sister, who is also the youngest, called Our Jane. Everyone loves Our Jane, and I don’t understand why. She’s the whiniest little brat. I get that she has health problems, but she whines about everything – eating, not eating, walking, attention. I was surprised she didn’t want someone to breathe for her. 

Heaven’s mother died in childbirth, so she never knew her mom, although she harbors dreams of one day going to Boston to visit her mother’s family. Her dad never got over the loss and blames Heaven for her mother’s death. He quickly remarried Sarah, although he doesn’t love her despite her best efforts. He now spends his time dealing moonshine, losing money, and sleeping with the town hookers. Everyone is miserable because they never have enough food, the shack is always cold, and dear ol’ dad doesn’t care. Fun!

The children walk 7 miles to school every day (I can’t completely blame Our Jane for whining about that) and Heaven soon meets her dreamy soul mate, who is 2 years older than her and the rich boy in town. They have a perfect relationship, never getting into any of the shenanigans that Fanny enjoys with every boy in town. Heaven and Tom also have a perfect teacher, who gives them food and books, and has someone received the special privilege of advancing a grade each year with Heaven’s class so they always have the same teacher.

Heaven’s grandmother dies, and dad comes home to announce that he has an STD and must leave again for treatment. Sarah takes off and for a while, Heaven tries to hold her family together without a functioning adult in the house. Dad does eventually return home, with the brilliant idea to sell off his children. Heaven is the last to go, and she ends up with a young couple who live in Atlanta. It turns out the wife is an ex of her dad, and is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. She heaps a variety of abuse on Heaven, and there is a disturbing scene involving a hamster that is not for anyone with a weak stomach. Her behavior and long work hours encourages Heaven to become close with her young husband, which you know will not end well. Meanwhile, Heaven is trying to track down and stay in touch with her siblings and childhood sweetheart.

Heaven definitely has its moments of crazy, keeping with the V. C. Andrews trend. I am interested to see what happens next, although this one is not as much of a page turner as Flowers in the Attic.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Gayle Forman’s If I Stay follows 17 year old Mia for 24 hours as she watches her loved ones deal with a tragic accident from outside her body. The novel begins with a car accident, and Mia discovers that her parents were killed instantly. She doesn’t know what happened to her little brother, and she realizes that she is no longer in her body when she finds her body lying in a pool of blood. She travels with her body in an ambulance to a hospital and watches as the staff fight to keep her alive. The book goes back and forth between the present and memories of Mia’s past with her family, her best friend, and her boyfriend. We learn that she comes from a musical family, although she prefers the cello while her parents are into punk rock. Her boyfriend’s music style leans more toward that of her parents, but the two work because of their shared passion for music. Mia hopes to attend Juilliard. but now wonders if it is worth staying alive without her parents. While the book has been compared to The Lovely Bones, the reader must watch Mia consider life or death, unlike Susie Salmon who had that decision made for her.

Lots of buzz built up around this book, especially when Catherine Hardwicke was quickly hired to direct a movie version once it came out that she would not be continuing with the Twilight saga. I truly enjoyed If I Stay, although I am hesitant to say it is worthy of all of the buzz. I do think a lot of that feeling is because I kept seeing the comparisons to The Lovely Bones, which is one of my top 3 favorite books, so my expectations were probably too high. I think if I had heard about the book with all the buzz minus TLB comparisons, I would have been less disappointed.

I came to love Mia; she is a unique character. She is serious, and prefers her instrument and the music style suitable to a cello, but Forman avoided making her into a music-nerd stereotype. One understands how Adam fell in love with her despite their surface differences. I thought the friendship between Mia and Kim was so honest and deep and true. I also loved Mia’s family and their relationships, and can understand why Mia would want to consider not returning to life without them. I would suggest having a tissue or 2 close by when you read it.

4 and 1/2 stars

This completes my 2009 YA Lit Challenge!

Two recommendations

Two quick recommendations for today:

I finally got around to reading Speak, and since it is a ten year old book (and fairly widely read) I’m not going to bother with a full review, just some thoughts.

In a Children’s Lit class in grad school, a few other people read this for an assignment and discussed it in class. I was under the impression that Melinda never spoke in the book, so I was surprised to see that she does speak, she just doesn’t speak about the important things. I much preferred this as I found myself wondering, before I began the book, how someone could just stop speaking and not have people freak out. (See Silent to the Bone by E. L. Konigsburg as an example.) Because she does talk a bit, no one realizes that she’s holding something back; her freshman year goes by with little notice from others. I love that despite the fact that she is bottling up so much, she finds a way to give voice to a lot of anonymous girls with similar feelings. 

I love the relationship that develops between Melinda and Ivy in art class. While they were friends in junior high, that relationship fractured over the summer. But I feel like that isn’t unusual – to have your junior high/middle school friendships that aren’t always based on anything deep, more on the need to travel the halls in a pack to survive (see Melinda’s friendship with Heather as an example of how this need doesn’t die off after junior high). In high school, even in the best of circumstances, those thin ties wear away as you find people you have things in common with. I like that while Melinda’s junior high pack broke up and directed a lot of hatred at her, she and Ivy are able to find their own solid ground to form a friendship on.

Speak is an excellent book; if you haven’t read it I really recommend that you do.

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I stopped by the bookstore today to pick up a few books for a work baby shower this week, and discovered a children’s book that has somehow escaped my notice despite the fact that it was published in 2006.

Once I Ate a Pie is a must read for any dog lover out there. I honestly stood in the bookstore and cried while I read it – not because any dog dies (thank goodness!) but because it so perfectly captures the spirit and personalities in dogs. The illustrations are gorgeous and the text is original and delightful. I think dog lovers of all ages will enjoy this.