Finishing a Trilogy

In Timelock, David Klass finishes his futuristic warning about the eventual destruction of our planet due to human's careless and selfish habits. Jack (Jair) meets his parents after time-traveling to the future. But the final battle against the Dark Lord must be fought and won in order to change the otherwise inevitable extinction of all plant life and of the human species. And Jack must decide two things: in which time he belongs (the one in which he was born (future), or the one in which he grew up), and the woman with whom he will spend his life (P.J, his high school girlfriend, or Eko, the ninja priestess from the future). Will Jack accept his destiny? Klass did a great job of creating a deep, believable, and inspiring trilogy. And each of the three individual stories stands strongly on its own while continuing to develop the running thread of the environmental disaster story. 3 out of 4 stars.

On the road again . . .

The book opens with a young boy (12) waiting sleeplessly in his room for his mom and her new boyfriend to come back. He is all packed, ready for a trip across the country. But this isn't a fun vacation -- his mother is sending him on a Greyhound bus from Stockton, California to Altoona, Pennsylvania. Chain-smoking and impatient, she can't wait to dump him so that she can run off to get married (again) without being bogged down by her son. Sebastien is shy, he stutters, he knows nothing about bus schedules or transfers, and he begins the trip with only the $35 his mother reluctantly gives him. His inner voice expresses the anger and frustration with his mom, but he has gotten used to keeping his thoughts to himself, as he remembers beatings, ridicule, and other consequences of speaking up. Somehow Sebastien is taken under the wing of Marcus, an ex-con also traveling cross-country, and the two of them share adventures, dangers, and a growing knowledge of how to work the Greyhound system -- where to sit on the bus, where to eat at the stops, and how to deal with the drivers. This book has been compared to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and I would agree. Marcus is like Jim in his wisdom (or is it just life experience and street smarts?) Some of the best parts come during the conversations that Sebastien and Marcus share about life, troubles, literature, the future, and so on. It's also enjoyable to read about the "world of Greyhoune" (history!), and the places they visit - each stop seems to have its own culture, which the author represents in the characters these two encounter along the way. A question I had at the end - is this autobiographical? (the question sparked by the photo of a young boy, dated "circa 1981" accompanied by the specific dates that are spread throughout the book. Hmmmm.....) All in all, this was a great "vacation read," and a quality representative of the "road trip" genre. I would give this book 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

A not-so-surprise ending

Yes, spoilers here. So don't read on if you like the suspense of a slowly-revealed mystery. But then, that's my biggest objection to this book -- her usual twist at the end is such a disappointment. This novel introduces us to Jacob, an older teenager with Asberger's Syndrome who has been accused of murdering the college student who tutored him on handling social situations. Jacob's fixation on forensic science has led him to follow local and national cases, to conduct his own tests, to set up "crime scenes" at home for his mom and brother to "study," and to insist on a regular daily viewing of a CSI-type TV show during which he records observations in several notebooks. This "hobby" brings him to the attention of the local police and leads to his arrest after the murder.

Jacob's mother Emma, divorced and employed as an advice columnist in the local paper until forced to quit after Jacob's arrest, hires a VERY young and new attorney, Oliver, to defend him. Throughout the book we readers are well-educated about Jacob's "condition" - and about the hardships that his mother has endured in trying to ensure for Jacob a life as normal as possible. But now his only hope lies in claiming that Asbergers is the cause of his loss of control -- for while his mother doesn't believe he is capable of murder, she apparently somehow thinks that he is guilty, and will try anything to keep him out of prison. Jacob's younger brother Theo has not had a normal childhood, either -- the whole family's routines, eating habits, etc. revolve around Jacob's unpredictable tantrums, quirks, and preferences.

Although it went on in minute educational detail about Asberger's Syndrome, the descriptions made it seem as if Jacob's traits represent the full spectrum of AS -- whereas I know that the syndrome can take a wide range of characteristics, and can vary greatly from person to person. Picoult obviously had a reason to write this novel, and as always her characters are painted clearly and deeply -- but the mystery itself was a disappointment. I would give this book only 2 out of 4 stars.

Creepy Irish ghost story...

Three dead women are found by the postman in a house at the end of a lane, in a small town just outside Dublin. One woman died from having her head bashed in, presumably by the shovel found upstairs, next to the emaciated bodies of her two nieces who had been imprisoned, fed rat poison, and slowly starved to death. Shortly after the grisly discovery, Niall, an aspiring graphic artist who works at the post office, finds an unclaimed package in the dead letter bin, mailed by Fiona Walsh (one of the dead girls) to "anyone at all" in the post office. It turns out to be Fiona's diary, and once Niall opens the book and begins to read, he is dragged into a world of fairy tales and evil. Fiona and her sisters grew up in a town in West Cork, and Niall goes there to follow the story.

How much of the tale is fanciful or exaggerated? How much is just a romantic telling of something very real and horrible? Fiona and her sister are dead -- and so is their Aunt Moira. They all had been involved with a traveling storyteller named Jim. And it is Jim's story that forms the spellbinding tale which leads to the final chapter of doom.

Read this one with the lights turned down low -- to get into the mood of horror and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. Or keep all the lights on to their full brightness so you won't get too freaked out. I give this book 3 1/2 stars for spinning such an intriguing yarn.

Beautiful but Haunting

Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gilead, started her published writing career with the short (in page length) novel Housekeeping, published in 1980. Her writing is gorgeous and rich - I wanted to slow down and treasure the phrases and descriptions. But this is a novel that is short on plot and which focuses on character development. The narrator is Ruthie, who was raised by a number of relatives. Her mother, Helen, dropped Ruthie and her younger sister Lucille off at their grandmother's house just before she drove her car off a cliff into a lake. After their grandmother died a few years later, some old maiden great-aunts came to watch over them, but they were set in their ways, easily worried, and didn't "take" to child- rearing so they were happy to go back home when their mother's long-wandering sister Sylvie showed up to take over. The novel is awash in watery imagery. (get the pun?) They live in Fingerbone, a town perched beside a bottomless lake, into which their grandfather's train dove off the tracks on the long bridge which spans the lake. That tragedy (and their mother's suicide in that same lake) colors all their lives. Sylvie's care of Ruthie and Lucille doesn't meet the standards or expectations of the town or the school, and eventually people stop by and observe the hoarded piles of newspapers and tin cans, the rat droppings, and other signs of Sylvie's lack of "housekeeping." We learn that Sylvie has a hard time being tethered to any house, and Ruthie is increasingly drawn to Sylvie's dreamlike wanderings. Lucille, on the other hand, craves a life of normalcy.

As a lover of language, I appreciated the writing. I can see how Robinson was awarded a contract to write a second novel. But this one was just too drawn out and sad for me to give it any more than 2 out of 4 stars.

Girl Gone Bad - - - ?

Devon is the perfect high school girl: straight A's, varsity and club soccer player with Olympic aspirations, more responsible even than her mother, a sought-after babysitter. But then she is arrested and charged with disposing of her newborn infant in a dumpster behind the apartment building where she lives. And she denies that she was even pregnant. During the following days in the juvenile detention center, as she meets with her attorney, a psychologist, and other adults sent to get to the bottom of the "incident," she flashes back to significant scenes in her life over the past few months. And to all the years with her mother, the flirty and flighty Jennifer, who'd had Devon when she was 16 and has spent most of the years since going from one man to another. Devon remembers when she was 5 and her mom left her alone for the weekend, because she "needed some time to herself" - (though she had really gone away with a man). Devon has lived her life according to some very strict rules, trying to be excellent and to be -- at any cost -- NOTHING like her mother.

I liked After for its look into the mind of a teen portrayed as a monster by the media, whom we see in all her complexities. I liked it for the sympathetic look at the many "types" of girls who are incarcerated, and at the people who choose to work with them. In some ways this book took on an almost nonfiction tone, though Devon's character and story were fictional. I give it 3 out of 4 stars.

Road trip to self-discovery

Just before graduating from high school, Sam runs into beautiful Naomi -- almost literally, as they are both jogging through the woods at the time. Sam's home life is terrible, as his stepfather, Old Bill, continually abusing him, both verbally and physically. And his mother doesn't stick up for him. Part of the reason Old Bill picks on Sam is the Tourette's - a disease which causes his muscles to continually contract, jerk, and twitch. Then Sam meets "Old Coot" (his village nickname), or George (his real name), a gardener who knew Sam's real dad. But he won't call Sam by his name -- he keeps calling him Jack, saying that's his REAL name. And the things he's saying about his dad are very different from the stories Old Bill has been feeding him for over 16 years: that his dad was no good, a drunk, that when he crashed his car into a telephone poll a strange woman was in his car. That he was dumb, couldn't hold a job -- and that Sam is very lucky that Old Bill took him in and has spent money all these years to feed and house him, even though (as Old Bill repeatedly tells him), he's as worthless as his old man. George paints a very different picture, and even offers Sam/Jack a job as an assistant gardener. One day they plant flowers at a beautiful house - in which the beautiful Naomi lives.

And then George dies, leaving Sam/Jack his business, house, and entire estate - including an assignment to follow a map and drive out west, stopping at designated locations all the way to California, where his grandmother whom he's never met lives. Through a coincidental run-in, Naomi ends up going along for the ride. Each stop along the way introduces more and more people who knew his dad, and gradually he comes to know the real James Keegan -- and gets to know the real Jack Keegan, too. Naomi has her own issues and challenges, and she and Jack help each other out on their respective quests.

The author interview at the end was instructive - it turns out that he also has Tourette's, and so much of this book is autobiographical. In addition to being a good character-centered story with believable conflicts, this novel many discussable topics. It was a page-turner which held my attention throughout.
I give it 3 out of 4 stars. This is another of the 2011 Abraham Lincoln H.S. Book Award nominees.

Camelot's little brother

When one thinks of the Kennedy's, how many of us think of Teddy? Well, maybe I'm thinking of people in MY generation as opposed to those of you currently in high school. Us old folks tend to think of JFK and Bobby -- but how much of our remembrances are centered around their assassinations rather than their leadership or their impact on legislation? In actuality, Teddy, as a longtime leader in the Senate (the longest-serving in American history) until his death this past August, had perhaps the most enduring impact on social and political policies of all the Kennedy's. Throughout his early life he had his brothers' popularity to live up to (and sometimes to overcome).

I haven't read many biographies lately -- and only picked this one up because my two Book Clubs are doing it. But I am very much enjoying it! A co-writer is not mentioned (though my skeptical self wonders about a possible staff of ghost writers), and I was impressed at the writing style - how the chapters are organized and titled, and the way he told the stories of his childhood, education, and policial life - and how he told of coming into his own. He admitted using lots of notes, letters, and other sources to remind himself of dates, speeches, and so on, and those details added a lot to the writing -- but the strength of the book comes from his personal voice, which is self-deprecating and honest. His references to his parents are unfailingly loving and admiring -- the same with his references to other family members. He gives perspectives on his colleagues which provide a behind-the-scenes look at the daily life of a legislator. I found that enlightening, and gave me an admiration for the work that they do. He readily admits without excuses some of his escapades, which led to my trust when he insisted that some things of which he has been accused (Chappaquiddick) did not happen the way the media portrayed them. (for example, he was kicked out of Harvard for a year when he allowed a friend to take his Spanish final, an impulsive mistake that he confesses and regrets.)

He knows that his family has a lot of money, and we readers can easily see how that money provides some great opportunities, as in travel and education, as well as the THINGS - homes, boats, and so on. He probably takes those things for granted to some extent, but he also clearly outlines the high standards and expectations to which he and his siblings are held. "Of those who have plenty, much is expected." While growing up, they were expected to be well-prepared for dinnertime conversations on a variety of topics (announced daily via a notecard on the hallway bulletin board) from the situation in Uganda to possible solutions to the hunger crisis. Over the years this very public family suffered tragedy again and again - of the 9 children, Joe, Jack, Bobby, Kathleen all died early; Rosemary's mental problems were increased as a result of a faulty surgery; and Teddy's oldest son had a childhood cancer which resulted in amputation of a leg. Throughout it all, Kennedy maintained his positive attitude of hope, belief in the basic goodness of people, and the conviction that if we all work hard enough for justice, society as a whole will benefit. The many photographs scattered throughout the book help to remind we readers that these larger-than-life people were real. The names we know from history were down to earth family people facing many of the same issues as the rest of us, enjoying holidays and special events with their family, laughing together -- just like us. It's easy to forget, in the stories and the pictures, just how different their situation has been. What a fun close-up of the lives of the Rich and the Famous.
Because I learned so much and enjoyed the writing style, I give this book 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Favorite Book of 2008 -- what's yours?

Mrs. Duell challenged all the RB teachers to identify their favorite book that they read this past year (don't you just love all the end-of-the-year Best-Of lists?) Believe it or not, I have kept track of all the books I've read this year (and the movies and plays I've seen -- what a nerd, right?) But that list is at home. Nevertheless, it took me only a moment to think of my favorite. The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield, was at the very top of a long list of great books that I met this past year. It had suspense, drama, well-developed interesting characters, humor, pathos, and a satisfying ending. It was very well written, which captured my admiration -- it's fun to observe how an author structured a book, and to be still surprised by wonderful turns of phrase, delightful word choices, gorgeous passages... So - what it's about - - - Margaret Lea works at her father's rare book shop and hides the pain of her knowledge that her conjoined twin sister died on the day they were born, in the very operation that saved Margaret's life. After she wrote a biography that reveals her understanding of sibling (and specifically twin) relationships, she was contacted by reclusive author Vida Winter to write her biography. Miss Winter has spent a lifetime telling various biographers varying fantastic stories - but she vows that THIS time she'll tell the truth. Margaret combines interviews of Miss Winter with independent investigations. Vida tells about the once-proud Angelfield family from Yorkshire, who lived in an estate now fallen to ruins. There was eccentric and seductive Isabelle, her sadistic brother Charlie, and Isabella’s oddly disturbing twin daughters Adeline and Emmeline. A governess, a doctor, a few devoted servants, an abandoned baby, and a streak of madness and murder run through Angelfield. What do these characters have to do with Vida Winter? Finding out will keep you pasted to the pages of this wonderful novel. Grab it for a cold winter's day -- or couple of days. I guarantee you won't be able to put it down.

4 out of 4 stars