Novel Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: Adult/Literature Fiction, Realistic

Publisher: Back Bay Books (Little, Brown and Hachette Book Group)

Release Date: 2010

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 
To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world....

Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience—and a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible.

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough ... not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

The Cover:

I really like the cover above, which is the one on my copy. I think it makes the emphasis on the title nice and clear, and shows the childishness of Jack, while all of the white gives an eerie or ominous feeling. There are a few other covers, as well, and I think most of them give a similarly good impression of the book. It's mostly the movie-version cover that I don't care too much for.

Review:

I've been wanting to read this book ever since it came out. I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Jack's mom was kidnapped by this guy seven years ago, but Jack is only five and he only knows this tiny room he's never left. He doesn't know what's beyond Door, and he doesn't know that he's missing anything. Anything he sees on TV, he knows is fictional.

Despite the very serious matter of this book, Jack is the one telling it, and he's a rather optimistic, cute kid. He's very smart for his age, but he also only knows the contents of Room. Everything else is fiction as far as he knows. Up until he leaves Room, at least.

I wouldn't say that Jack makes this book light-hearted, per se, but it does help. While he doesn't directly mention some of the things that happens, and a lot of things are merely said around him when they leave, it's always apparent that he's aware. He has an idea of things being wrong, even if he doesn't quite acknowledge them, or know what they are.

I really liked this book. Seeing Jack discover things is nice, even if some of those things are bad or have consequences. The ending was really well done, too. I wasn't sure where it was going to end, but the significance of that ending and where they are now, was really well done.

This is definitely a book worth reading. It was enjoyable to read, even if it was very sad at times.

Novel Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Genre: YA Realistic

Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

The Cover:

I actually really like this cover. It's simple and not at all embarrassing. The scene is fitting for the characters and the island they live on, and I think the blurring effect works really well with how the story goes.

 

Review:

I must admit, I didn't see that coming.

I knew that a big twist was going to come, but I didn't think that would be it. Literally not until it pretty much spelled it out. And even then, I didn't want to believe it. For one, because I didn't realize this was going to be that kind of book. But for another, because it's just so awful, and unfair, and sad.

It leads up to it really well. You get to know each of the characters, and there's some mixed feelings and some really close friendships. Slowly, the tension on the island grows, and slowly you discover why. Part of Cadence's brain was filling in the pieces of what she was missing, in odd ways and odd memories and stories. Looking back, I quite enjoyed the little fantasies she created and how it evolved into the truth. And how it all adds up makes perfect sense, and the events leading up to it were realistic. I was even behind the groups decision, up until we realize how wrong it went.

Even though this is “that kind” of book, I think it handled it really well. How it wraps up in the end, how the goodbyes are handled, I thought was really sweet. It, maybe, softened the blow a little bit.

I was surprised by this book, and I did rather enjoy it. Or, more accurately, I definitely think it was worth reading.

Novel Review: Shackled by Tom Leveen

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Realistic, Thriller, Romance

Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)

Release Date: 2015

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From author Tom Leveen comes a taut, suspenseful novel about a girl’s abduction that leaves her best friend emotionally paralyzed, until a chance encounter points her toward the truth…and a terrifying new danger.

Sixteen-year-old Pelly has a master plan. After years of therapy, medication, and even a stint in a mental hospital, she’s finally ready to re-enter the world of the living. Pelly has been suffering from severe panic attacks ever since her best friend, Tara, disappeared from a mall six years ago.

And her plan seems to be working, until an unkempt girl accompanied by an older man walks into the coffee shop where she works. Pelly thinks she’s seen a ghost, until the girl mouths “help me” on the way out, and Pelly knows she’s just seen Tara.

Too shocked to do anything, Pelly helplessly watches Tara slip away again as she steels herself against a renewed spiral of crippling anxiety. But rather than being overcome by anxiety, Pelly feels more energized than she has in years. Determined to track down enough evidence to force the police to reopen Tara’s file, Pelly’s master plan takes a turn for the dangerous.

Pelly decides she cannot be shackled by her past—and the anxiety, fear, and grief that comes with it—any longer if she wants to save Tara. But in seeking answers through whatever means necessary, she’ll come face-to-face with true evil. And not all the shackles are in her head...

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's simple, and not a cheesy YA one, but shows exactly what's important with this book and what you're getting. It displays the scary elements, the anxiety, well, I think.

Review:

Pelly can barely keep her job, what with her fear of being outside her home. She can't go to school. And then she thinks she sees her best friend from childhood who was kidnapped. And she has to do something.

I really admire the way that Leveen can make so many different voice so very realistic. I love reading his books so much, because each time you're right inside the characters' head, and every time it is very different. Pelly is afraid of being outside, and she's terrified of a lot of things, and has panic attacks. And it's very evident in the writing.

I really liked the way that Pelly pushes herself. She's terrified, but she makes herself keep going. She makes herself do something about the girl she sees, even when no one else believes her. She even drags one of her co-workers along, even when he doesn't believe her but wants to help anyway.

I wasn't terribly surprised by the twist at the end regarding who the girl was, but I did like it. I really liked how Pelly got out of the situation, too. It was exciting, and it made sense.

I'm definitely a reader of Leveen at this point. This book was fast and intriguing, and it was an easy read to the end.

Manga Review: Fire Punch, Volume 2, by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: April 2018

Volumes: 8.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In a frozen dystopia where inhabitants eat flesh to survive, can the destructive powers of fire bring salvation?

In the not-too-distant past, the Ice Witch blankets the world in snow, starvation, and madness, leading the inhabitants to seek their salvation in fire. With that, an unusual destiny unfolds for two young orphans, Agni and Luna, blessed with the ability to regenerate. But will this ability prove to be more of a curse than a blessing?

Following the fight with his longtime enemy Doma, Agni is beheaded, and it’s decided that his head is to be taken to the sea. However, during the journey, a mysterious person named Togata appears, and their madness-tainted filming begins!

Review:

I missed the first volume of this, but it looks like the plot moves pretty quickly. From what happened in this volume, and what was mentioned to have already happened, it seems like a lot probably already happened.

From the first half of this volume, I was kind of hating it. There were several moments where I just did not want to read more. There's a rape scene that's kind of stopped, and then we meet an even worse character than the rapists, and then almost everyone we've met is killed.

It was a very graphic first half. And it was extremely disturbing.

Then we move onto the second half, where Togata is determined to help Agni get stronger to get his revenge, but really he's intent on filming all of it. Togata is a disturbing character, and he might even be my main distaste for this series. I've met messed up, realistic characters like this before (Mars, E.S.?, Golden Kamuy), and it just turns my stomach. This might even be the worse I've read to this point.

But then again, the filming parts in the middle are kind of interesting. And I liked Neneto, the camera-girl, and how she follows along with it. There were some sad topics surrounding her, like how she wasn't surprised about what almost happened to her, and how a lot of the men around her before this thought so little of women. There was also a surprising mix of characters surrounding Togata, like a gay couple. These aren't things we see much unless the whole story is about them, so it was odd—and kind of nice?--to have it just be another mention.

Togata gives a not-really-surprising twist at the end of the volume, right after we get to see what is really happening in Behemdorg. It's possibly even more disturbing, what they're doing to Blessed people under the city.

It all turns my stomach.

I kind of hate what I read so far, and yet I have another volume to read waiting. I'm offset and disturbed. This series is graphic and gross and awful. I'm almost glad that I didn't go looking for it when it was first released, as I didn't realize it would be this awful. But there were a few elements of this volume that intrigued me, or that I appreciated.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Novel Review: Random by Tom Leveen

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Realistic; Suicide, Cyberbullying

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Who's the real victim here? This tense and gripping exploration of cyberbullying and teen suicide is perfect for fans of Before I Fall and Thirteen Reasons Why.

Late at night Tori receives a random phone call. It's a wrong number. But the caller seems to want to talk, so she stays on the line.

He asks for a single thing—one reason not to kill himself.

The request plunges her into confusion. Because if this random caller actually does what he plans, he'll be the second person connected to Tori to take his own life. And the first just might land her in jail. After her Facebook page became Exhibit A in a tragic national news story about cyberbullying, Tori can't help but suspect the caller is a fraud. But what if he’s not? Her words alone may hold the power of life or death.

With the clock ticking, Tori has little time to save a stranger—and maybe redeem herself—leading to a startling conclusion that changes everything…

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It portrays the subject really well, it's eye-catching. I think the model being a boy works, since the victim was, but mainly because the person who calls Tori is also a boy. I really like the tag-line, too. It's perfect for this.

Review:

I don’t know how I feel about this book. It definitely dealt with a tough, serious subject, so maybe that’s how it should be.

Tori, and her supposed friends, is being accused of cyberbullying and pushing a classmate into killing himself. And when she gets a strange call in the middle of the night, from some guy claiming to be looking for a reason not to kill himself, she’s forced to look at things a little differently.

Tori is definitely an unlikable character. She doesn’t feel she’s at fault, she’s extremely selfish and self-centered, and doesn’t really even feel very sympathetic about what happened. She just wants it to go away. I did not like her in the beginning, but I appreciate how well her voice was done. I believed her, completely, that she believed herself. Leveen really knows how to write a unique voice.

I liked the twist at the end. I think it just makes the call seem that much more important, and I like what they did to try and make her realize what had happened and who she had become. I also think, though, that her sudden change in thought was a little sudden. I think she still has a ways to go before she’s really changed, and I do think that was realized, though.

This is definitely a book worth picking up. The perspective, the subject and the way it was handled, I think it was all well done. And I look forward to reading his other books.

Novel Review: Ostrich Eye by Beth Cooley

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Realistic

Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)

Release Date: 2004

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Is the man Ginger meets in the park really her long-lost father . . . or is he her family’s worst nightmare?

The guy is everywhere. On the jogging path. At the video store. In the coffeehouse. He’s beginning to give Ginger the creeps. But maybe he’s not a weirdo. Maybe he’s just a man looking for the daughter he walked out on ten years ago.

Or maybe not.

Beth Cooley’s cautionary tale of family relationships, identity, and the disastrous results of miscommunication is a gripping novel with the unsettling premise that danger lives closer to us than anyone ever wants to think possible.

The Cover:

This cover is just blah. It's plain, not eye-catching, the colors are all weird. It kind of gives an idea of what the book is about, but otherwise I'm not a fan.

Review:

I was more impressed with the subject matter in this book than I thought I would be.

If Ginger’s mother had just been honest with her from the start, several things would have been different in her life. Sadly, Ginger didn’t know the whole story. And it turned very badly when Ginger thought she’d found her real father.

This is definitely a sad story, a creepy one, and I had a bad feeling from the beginning. It didn’t turn out quite like I expected, but I did like that there was more story after the fact, that we got to see the aftermath of it. Usually stories cut off at that point, and I was glad this one went beyond. It gives a more rounded picture of the event, and I liked that.

This was better than I expected, and while very creepy and upsetting, definitely worth reading.

Novel Review: LoveSick by Jake Coburn

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Realistic Romance

Publisher: Speak (Penguin)

Release Date: 2005

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ted's drunk-driving accident has ruined his life. it cost him his basketball scholarship, ended his plans for college, and forced him into AA. But just when Ted has resigned himself to his new life, Michael appears. The wealthy father of a bulimic Manhattan rich girl has a tempting proposition. He has agreed to pay for Ted's college tuition, but there's one catch. Ted has to secretly keep tabs on his benefactor's daughter, Erica. A seemingly simple task, with only one minor problem: Ted never expected to fall in love.

The Cover:

This cover is just okay. It's average, not eye-catching, and gives just the feel of the book, not really an idea of what it's about. It's pretty meh.

Review:

This book was mostly meh.

Erica is finally going away to college with her father’s permission, since she’s supposedly recovering from an eating disorder. Ted is a recovering alcoholic starting college just out of high school, and he’s been hired to watch Erica.

Given this plot line, of course this book is going to be dark. I expected Ted’s problems, what with not drinking in general, let alone as a college freshman living in the dorms. I didn’t expect Erica’s problem, or the detail in which it was going to be described. The detail was rather off-putting.

I liked the way that the book was written, though. With alternating points of view, as well as the emails exchanged for Ted’s job with Erica’s father and IMs between Erica and her therapist. I liked the ending, where the characters were at that point. The romance, though, and the actual writing, was pretty meh, though. I didn’t feel much chemistry between the characters, or why they were supposedly feeling more than simply attraction. The writing didn’t pull me in.

This book was average in the end. I didn’t love it, didn’t hate it.