The Fault in Our Stars: Book Review

Summary:

Hazel Grace has more or less accepted her short life -- dying of terminal cancer at the age of sixteen, she spends her days peacefully watching America's Next Top Model and rereading her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. She might have continued this way if not for Augustus Waters, a boy she meets at cancer support group whose life becomes irrevocably entwined with Hazel's in ways that are both wonderful and painful.

Overview:

Without spoilers I can tell you that this a masterfully written book that made me both laugh and cry. In John Green's typical style, he captures the perfect tragic comedy. Although, I'd have to warn anyone who's lost someone to cancer that this book will be both cathartic and terrible--like rubbing alcohol onto an open wound. This is not, however, the fault of the book. As the title clearly states, it's the fault of our stars that might make this book more difficult for some than others. Yet, in spite of the dark places it took me, I couldn't put it down--probably because it took me to good places too, places where even mostly unremembered, short lives matter.

I'd give this book 9 / 10 stars * * * * * * * * *

Personal Experience:

I got to see John Green on tour for this book. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to read the book, yet. But since he tries to avoid spoilers on tours, this might have been for the best. If you don't already know, John Green has an excellent YouTube channel with his brother called, the vlogbrothers. So this was really just a vlogbrothers tour in disguised as a book tour. This means there was lots of fun dancing and singing in addition to talking about literature. It's largely due to his online fan following that he's a best-selling author, so I doubt his publishers mind the strangely unrelated additions to his tour. He was always a good author, but the vlogs helped his notoriety exponentially.

Here's their awesome tour bus.

Here's me in front of the bus. I know, you can all barely contain your excitement. You know that in all your lives you'll never see another vehicle full of this much awesome. Not even the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile or the Red Bull Car. I've ruined vehicular excitement forever.

Behind me you see Hank Green (in the black shirt) and John Green (in the green shirt). My book was signed by John and a lovely Hanklerfish was drawn by Hank, based on one of his songs. My shirt is also a vlogbrothers shirt based on a song about people who love giraffes who love giraffes.

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Spoilers:

I think John Green hits a very interesting theme of how it might ruin some of our heroes if we met them. There's also the point that you do not have to be a good person to create something good, and sometimes our interpretations of things are more important than the artist's.

I've met a couple of my favorite authors (John Green and Neil Gaiman), and it was excellent. However, I admit others of my favorite authors I'm actually not sure I would like to meet. Like Peter Van Houten, I think they created something beautiful, but I am not sure I would like them as people or that they would like me.

I sensed throughout the books that Hazel wasn't going to find the answers she sought from Van Houten. Still, this sense did not dull my compulsion to find out what she did find. I was less interested in Van Houten than I was in Hazel's development, and I think that's as it should have been.

John Green did an excellent job writing from the perspective of a sixteen year old girl. Augustus and Issac's characters were also very real--the type of well-crafted character you can almost see and touch. I felt there was more distance with the parents and the part where Hazel's father tells her he thinks the universe wants to be noticed sounded very literary for a man who had just proclaimed his lack of literary skills. But it didn't bother me that much because, for the most part, there's so much truth in this story. Like Hazel, I don't feel the need to be remembered. I think our lives can be important without us being important outside those who love us, and I'm glad John wrote this beautiful ode to life.

The Red Queen: Book Review

Summary:

Margaret Beaufort has grown up with the certainty that she has been chosen to do God's will. Since she is denied her true desire to join a convent, Margaret decides that God must want her to put her son Henry on the throne. Although, always denying vanity and insisting she does only God's work, Margaret is vain, jealous, and self-serving--always longing for the day when people will have to call her, My Lady, the King's Mother and when she will sign her name: Margaret R--for Margaret Regina--Margaret the Queen.

Overview:

I really enjoyed this book. The political machinations of pre-Tudor England are delightfully complex and yet relatable as described by the plotters themselves. Even though the main character was strongly unlikeable, you can completely understand how her mind works. Plus, she was never unlikeable in the "Ugh, I can't stand to read about this person" way but more in the "Ha, ha, something bad just happened to her, let's see how she weasels out of this" way. Gregory has a talent for making even unlikeable characters interesting. All of the other characters have their own agendas that you understand completely from how the author paints their personalities, and they are as rich and vibrant on the page as if they had stepped directly out of history. I know that Gregory embellishes, exaggerates, and sometimes downright changes things (though nothing big that I've noticed). But it is fiction and there's only so much we can know about these people. Gregory's tales are compelling enough wonder how much is true,and to wish or hope that some of it is true because by the end I always feel like I know these people.

However, I should note this is not a book if you're looking for a romance like those of The Other Bolyen girl or The White Queen. But I wasn't for once, so it was the perfect time for me to read this. Margaret does love, but she doesn't have time for it and love stays firmly in the background in this book.

8 / 10 stars * * * * * * * *

Spoilers:

I loved the portrayals of Margaret's husbands. They were all so distinct. I completely understood why a pious 13-year-old would be disgusted by the chore of begetting Edmund Tudor's heir. My heart broke for the gentle Sir Henry Stafford who wanted nothing more but to be left out of the war while his kindness and affection for Margaret was only rewarded with her scorning his practicality. At the same time, I also I loved the cunning duplicity and amorality of Thomas Stanley.

I thought the end was very well done. Even though I didn't like Margaret at all, I was glad that she finally got to sign her name, Margaret R. Perhaps going on the journey with her made me feel as if I too got to sign my name as queen. Or perhaps it's just a respect for someone so ambitious even if I don't like them.

Intrigues: Book Review

Summary:

Mags is still enjoying attending the collegium when a dark vision predicts that he may be an assassin to the king and suddenly he is the object of suspicion.

Overview:

I enjoyed the first part of this book. It was like returning home after a long hard day to be in Valdemar again. For many years, I've loved this world of companion horses and valiant heralds. It's a simpler world with easier moral absolutes, but the characters are always complex enough to make up for it. Lackey knows how to make day to day life interesting. She also makes characters that are very sympathetic. Mag's fears of all these good things being taken away from him are easy to relate to.

However, I wish there had been more of Mags dealing with Lena's father, spying for Nikolas, or spending time with his friends. I also wish there'd been more about Lydia just to help my memory because I didn't remember her from the previous book. Even characters I did remember, I could have used a charcter glossary to remind me of pertinent points. This isn't to say there are too many characters, just that it's been a long time since I read the last book, and I don't think I should have to reread the other one to get this one. She did a good job rehashing the previous plot. It was just the characters that missed out, which was disappointing since they're normally Lackey's greatest strength.

Then there was the magical sport of Kirball that was completely uninteresting to me. Whether or not it was a rip-off of Quidditch doesn't concern me as much as how much I felt it took away from the actual story. Maybe it's just my impatience with sports, but I feel most of the games could have been portrayed just as well in half the pages.

I also personally dislike ostracization plots. They make me uncomfortable. But more importantly, I feel some of the characters acted outside their usual nature to serve the plot. Also, while I get that there's going to be another book, this one was far too unresolved for my tastes.

5 / 10 stars * * * * *

Spoilers:

It was Mag's friends in particular that I felt acted outside their normal characters when they yelled at Mags to make him leave. I think they had been portrayed as better friends before this. It didn't make sense to me that they would care more about Dallen than Mags or not even try to understand how the accident happened. Also, once they realized their mistake, it didn't feel like they did enough to atone for it, considering its gravity. Particularly Lena ,who doesn't seem to have learned anything at all about what a cad her father is. If I was Mags, I wouldn't have forgiven them. It's simply a trust thing. How can one trust a friend who could do that to you and not appear to learn anything from it? What's to prevent them from renouncing you again?

Dark Places: Book Review

BLOG NOTE: I've decided to start to blog again daily because I have the time again. But I'm thinking of changing the structure a bit. More on that when I work it out.

Summary
Libby Day's entire family was butchered when she was only seven years, old and the one locked away for their murders was her brother. But now that Libby's an adult, a club investigating her family's murders makes her doubt everything that she's ever believed.

Overview (No Spoilers)
The characters are hard to like, which is usually a turn off for me, but there were enough bits of sad and recognizable humanity in Libby to keep me going. I felt bad for her mother and didn't care at all for her brother or his friends as characters. For a murder mystery, the imagery was very well done. I'm not used to mysteries being particularly artsy in their descriptions. At the same time, I felt the plot, structure, and pacing, were all complex enough where I was compelled to keep reading but couldn't predict the end.

Book Club (Spoilers)
We talked about this book in my actual book club and a lot of people did not like the end of the book. They seemed to feel it stretched the credibility of how much Libby could change. But I didn't feel as if she was that changed at the end. She indicates that Diane had always forgiven her before. With such certainty and the fact that she's all Diane has left, I actually thought it was surprising that Diane didn't forgive her earlier and began to wonder if she might be dead. Also, while didn't care for Ben and I think he was pretty guilty for allowing his girlfriend to murder at least one of his sisters, I was less annoyed with him as an adult and could understand perfectly well why he would feel honorbound to keep the secret to protect Diondra and his child. Although, I did hate Diondra and I'm surprised her baby wasn't born malformed with all her drug use.

Calamity Jack Youth Graphic Novel Review and New Weekly Schedule

Summary

In this sequel to Rapunzel's Revenge we learn Jack's back story which includes some magic beans, a giant, and floating penthouse? Jack also yearns to show Rapunzel he's a sauve city boy--but upon returning home he finds his city on the verge of destruction and his mother kidnapped by giants! Can he save the day in time and win Rapunzel's love? Find out in this clever, fast-paced steam-punk adventure!

Overview

The story of this and its predecessor are both delightfully clever while still being unambiguously age appropriate. They manage to make a good story without talking down to children, which is what I look for in good youth fiction. Their plot-lines both follow and stray crazily from the original fairy tales but it's always good.

The characters might be a little simplistic but they're still more fleshed out than their fairy tale counterparts and their standard motivations like love, fear, and jealousy are easy to relate to. It's also hard not to love them and want good things to happen to them. They are the stuff childhood heroes are made of.

I also enjoy the bright colors and style of the artwork. The drawings are a little Disney-esque if Disney did awesome steam-punk fairy tales.

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In blog news. I'm thinking I'm only going to remember weekly posts if they are on a specific day. Since I seem to have forgotten this week. So the new day shall be Sunday. I should be able to swing that. We'll see. If not, I'll change it. But for now, expect to see a post every Sunday.

Review Friday
Suite Scarlett

Summary

A rich and eccentric visitor comes to stay in Scarlett's family hotel for the summer, and it quickly becomes the strangest summer any of them have ever experienced. Both for the worst and the better.

Overview

Teen chick lit isn't normally the type of book that I read, but since Maureen Johnson is a friend of John Green's, and I have found her YouTube videos on writing both amusing and insightful, I thought I'd give it a try. It's still not my favorite genre, but I liked it enough to get through the whole thing and get the sequel. However, that is probably because I'm a bit of a voyeur when it comes to functional but quirky families, which is something portrayed in this book. I liked the interactions that Scarlett had with her siblings and like, just as in many families, the siblings had their favorites, those they couldn't stand, and those they just didn't understand. It wasn't a profound book, but I got the feeling it was never meant to be, and that's fine. If you're looking for light read with humor and family drama, I'd recommend this.

Book Club (Spoilers)

I kept thinking that it was going to be revealed at the end that Mrs. Amberson was actually just some crazy mental patient escaped from the institution and that she'd somehow stolen all the money she was giving Scarlett. I was a little disappointed with the actual truth.

I laughed out loud a few times while listening to this book, but one of my favorite lines was the description of Lola's "creepy underwear sandwich."