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.

People are the same everywhere

(This book takes place in contemporary Jeddah, a coastal city in Saudi Arabia.) Nouf ash-Shrawi, 16, disappears 3 days before her wedding. A truck and a camel disappear, too. She comes from a wealthy family, and her brother Othman asks his old friend Nayir, a desert guide, to find her. After a couple of weeks Nouf's body is found. When Nayir goes to the coroner's office to claim the body for the family, he overhears an argument between two people: the coroner and a lab assistant, Katya. Nayir, devout and modest, is horrified to see a woman who is unveiled working where she might be with men. But when the police officially close Nouf's case, citing an accidental death by drowning, Nayir and Katya end up working together to track down some unexplained details - things that Nayir couldn't understand about the crime scene, and things that Katya noticed during the autopsy that are being swept under the rug.

What I loved about this book was the realistic way it portrayed the lives of both men and women in a modern and changing Mideastern world -- in a country that is caught between preserving the "old ways" that have identified their culture and the new ideas brought through commerce and communication with the rest of the world. What is one to think about a woman who doesn't recognize that those traditions and rules that were intended to protect her, but rather sees them as stifling? Nayir, who has no experience with women (he is an only child who was raised by his elderly uncle), feels that he is putting his soul at risk as he pursues the truth for the sake of his good friend Othman -- even if it means violating society's rules about men and women being alone together.

This book develops its characters well as it describes the culture and society without judgement. It's also a page-turning mystery. If you like this book, you will probably also like its sequel, City of Veils.

4 out of 4 stars!

A Girl With Serious Problems

This book was OK. Not wonderful. Not terrible. Somewhat mysterious -- where did she go? Why? Is she dead or alive? Quentin ("Q") has grown up next-door to Margo Roth Spiegelman (always referred to by full name), and when they were nine, they found a dead man under the tree at the park. Q's parents are therapists, and they "talked him through his feelings" - but Margo's parents are painted as less-involved, less-tolerant, and less-loving. So what happened when they were just about to graduate from high school might have been caused by that early trauma.

Q has loved Margo from afar since their worlds spun apart years ago -- hers into popularity, and his into nerd-dom. One night about a month before their graduation she appears at his bedroom window and lures him out to a night of pranks, adventure, and revenge. And then she disappears, leaving clues that seem meant just for Q to follow.

As I said, the mystery is somewhat interesting. But the characters and descriptions are over-the-top, beyond believable, and overly dramatic. That really lost me after a while. I just kept reading to see what would happen, but this is not on my top-ten.
Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

It's GOOD to be skinny - - - right?

Karen Carpenter. Justine Bateman. Susan Dey. Mary-Kate Olsen. Nicole Richie. There are always new names in the celebrity news telling about girls and women battling with eating disorders. As a person who LOVES to eat - and loves to cook for others - it has been hard for me to understand the need to do without food. In fact, I've lacked the self control to even diet effectively. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak), really draws the reader into the mind of a girl, Lia, suffering from anorexia. Her best friend Cassie was bulimic, and until Lia was put into a treatment center over a year ago, they shared their problems with each other. After Lia came back, Cassie had not wanted to be her friend any more. Now Cassie has died, alone in a motel -- and the night she died, she tried 33 times to call Lia. But Lia wouldn't answer her phone. And now she's dealing with the guilt and self-hatred in the usual way - by refusing to eat. Punishing herself, and proving how strong she can be. Her mental and physical deterioration are masterfully described - and you won't be able to read this book without truly understanding anorexia. It isn't a diet plan. Or a means to becoming a famous model and actress.
For the descriptive language, the well-developed characters, the style (loved the cross-outs which were Lia's true thoughts), and the education, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars.

How Romantic!

Jack and Laurel Cooper are owner/operators of a small-town B&B in Virginia. They've been married a long time, and are leaders in their community and at their church. At the beginning of this sweet book, they die one night in each other's arms, he from a brain tumor and she of a heart attack. What, you say, they die at the BEGINNING?! What kind of a story is THAT?

Well, the rest of the book deals with their three adult children and other family members who gather for the funeral and share memories of this loving couple. Each of their kids is dealing with his or her own life problems. Matthew, the oldest, comes "home" without his wife. They have been trying unsuccessfully to adopt a baby, and the stress has been damaging. Morgan has been on the run (most recently in Brazil) from an outstanding warrant for his arrest, and when he returns, he is forced to confront his old sweetheart, who is now engaged to his nemesis (i.e. "enemy"). Samantha (aka Sam) is a single mother, having divorced her husband after learning about his second extramarital affair. Going through their parent's things, they discover several boxes full of letters, and they learn that throughout their entire marriage, their father had written a letter to their mother each and every Wednesday. These letters range from love letters to newsy chats, and sometimes the letter was no more than a scrawl on a used envelope -- but as they go through the letters, the kids read about a devastating event that their parents had kept secret for years. They are forced to confront not only their own problems, but their parents' -- and to decide what to do next.

I liked this book because it was a quick read, the characters had real problems, and the solutions weren't pat or too-predictable. There was a definite Christian angle, which I found refreshing after reading too many books about vampires, murder, and social deviants.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars