Suspense -- and empathy, too, in this book

Ms. Hayes' freshman English classes have been reading Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman, so I decided to read it, too -- it's been on my "to-read list" for quite a while. It was a fast read, and a real page turner. Shawn is a 14-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy, and therefore has no control over his muscles. We the readers are able to hear his thoughts, and he sounds like any other kid his age, though he is very honest about his abilities and disabilities, his desires and wishes, and his relationships or lack thereof. Shawn can't speak, feed himself, control his bowels, stand, or let anyone know his thoughts. His parents have been divorced for years. Shawn, his brother, and sister live with their mom, and Dad is not too far away. He had written a Pulitzer-Prize winning poem about Shawn years ago that won him a lot of acclaim, and now he is appearing on TV to suggest that too much money is spent to "educate the uneducable" -- and he features an imprisoned man found guilty of murder after he killed his brain-damaged 2-year-old son. Shawn comes to suspect that his father plans to kill HIM, too. And if that IS his dad's intention, Shawn knows he can't do anything to stop it.

This was an enlightening book which made me really think. I found it especially moving that the author has a son much like Shawn - and he must have wondered whether his son has deep thoughts, whether he knows things and is aware of his world as Shawn is. That thought is both sad and hopeful. I highly recommend this book -- and can't wait to read its partner-book, Cruise Control, told from the point of view of Shawn's brother Paul.

Omnivore's Dilemma

My son has been telling me facts from this book for months. I've heard rumblings in various conversations, read in assorted news reports, and have been on the periphery of understanding many "background secrets" of how our diets or overly dependent on Almighty Corn. Well, as a former Iowan, and as a descendant of many Illinois farmers, the chapters on corn and the changes in farming over the past 25 years was fascinating. How agribusiness has changed the planting cycle, the use of the land, the use of pesticides, the way livestock is raised, fed, and butchered -- it all was very depressing and yet, viewed logically, understandable from a purely business perspective. Nutritionally, ethically, and possible-doomsday-apocalyptic-worldly, it is easy to buy into Pollan's view that the changes we have wrought may come back to bite us in the ____. Feed us now, starve us later. . .
This is an important book. But somewhat overwhelming in what it calls for us to change in our daily lives. And leads to the view that "though I may change my own little piece, what possible difference will that make in the world as a whole?" But then, an awareness of global climate change has brought about all sorts of movements and changes -- so maybe we can also bring the world back into harmony agriculturally and food-wise, too. If you haven't read this book, check out at least the first section on corn. I hear the second section, on organic gardening/farming, is also good, so I intend to keep plugging away.
Rating so far: 3 out of 4 stars.

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

LONG time, no update! Since October, I have finally finished reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. It's a LONG book. Very interesting, very descriptive, intriguing characters, and a lot about animal training and about dog behavior (and dog mental states -- does that sound weird?). I was into the story, wishing it were a little better edited (it's so LONG -- did I mention that?), but still hanging in there. And when I got to the ending, I tried to figure out why that ending was necessary. Did it resolve a character, or a theme, or did the author just not have any other ideas of what could happen next? It was totally an Oprah book ending, and I was a combination of disgusted, disappointed, and depressed. Why invest that much time in a book to end it with no hope, no uplifting message, no real resolution for the problems that the characters had wrestled with throughout the book??? Why, why, why?
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars. Some good phraseology, but yuk on the construction of the story/and the ending.

Anyway, as you can see from the image posted above, I just read another book -- Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. It was a pretty quick read -- well, if you decide to do without sleep, read during an entire three-hour car ride, and ignore people around you, which was my process. The premise is that Clay receives a box with no return address which contains several numbered audiotapes. When he begins to listen, he hears the voice of a girl from his school, Hannah, who had committed suicide a short time before. He hears that he has received the tapes because he is one of thirteen people who needs to hear why she killed herself, and he may be one of those reasons. What follows is an agonizing step-by-step journey through some painful interactions she, Hannah, had with other people, and we, the witnesses to her story, are forced to acknowledge that what we say and do really DOES make a difference -- sometimes in ways we can't foresee or imagine. I usually cringe if a book is too melodramatic (my objection to the Twilight series,) but this one gets a pass because the emotion is too real and raw. This book provides a lot of ideas to think about, and would be a good one to discuss with others. If somebody else reads this, please seek me out so we can chat.
Rating: 4 out of 4 stars