Tales of the Madman Underground: A Historical Romance 1973 by John Barnes
Pub Date: June 2009
Fiction (Young Adult)
544 pgs.
Karl Shoemaker is starting his senior year of high school in the small town of Lightsburg, Ohio. In many ways the town and its people are hurting. There seem to be more empty, boarded-up stores than open stores. Like other families in town, Karl’s family struggles with alcohol, drugs, relationships, and anger. Karl’s story is told over the course of six days in 1973.
Karl’s dad died of alcoholism a few years before Karl and his mom become alcoholic wrecks. His mother loves him, but she is Karl’s companion and provider when it comes to the alcohol. Finally, Karl decides to put down the bottle of booze and go to AA. I know the story sounds bleak, but in fact, the book shines with wisdom and in a way I see Karl as a teenage philosopher.
At school Karl along with the other kids with “screwed-up families” are required to attend therapy sessions. This small group of kids has nicknamed themselves the Madman Underground. Even though the members of the group provide Karl with his own alternative family, he just wants to be “normal”– which to him means out of therapy and out of Lightsburg.
While the story is tragic and sometimes borders on disturbing, the writing is sharp and funny. Karl’s story gives a great perspective on what it was like to grow up as a teenager in seventies. And while this story does take place in 1973 and life may have been different back then, after reading this book it seems as though most of life has stayed the same.
Although the book is a coming of age story, it is really about survival and determination and how the friendships we make with one another can help us overcome anything–alcohol and messed up families included. Karl and his buddies in the Madman Underground are truly struggling to survive. There are other Shoemakers out there and if they are lucky, they have their own madman underground.
-Noelle
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams
Pub date: July 2010
Science-Fiction (Adult)
417 pgs.
If you’re at all interested in Star Wars or videos games, you probably know that the much-anticipated online role-playing game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, was just released. Fatal Alliance is a tie-in novel to this game, the first of a series of three, with a fourth set to be released in fall 2012. Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t heard of The Old Republic. You don’t need to know anything about it in order to enjoy the novel, but you should have at least a basic knowledge of the Star Wars universe.
Fatal Alliance is set in the Old Republic era, thousands of years before any of the films took place. The story begins on the Auriga Fire, where captain Jet Nebula has just encountered a mysterious ship in Wild Space. When he attempts to contact the ship, warning that his crew is preparing to board them, the ship responds “we do not recognize your authority” and proceeds to blow itself up. The Auriga Fire just manages to escape, thanks to Jet’s quick reflexes.
The strange ship wasn’t entirely destroyed, however. A couple of remains end up in the hands of the Hutts, who decide to hold an auction, knowing that these objects’ value will attract bidders from both Empire and Republic alike. Meeting at the auction are a Jedi Padawan who is trying to prove himself ready for knighthood, a Republic Trooper who was kicked out of her squadron, an Imperial spy who would much rather stay in the shadows and out of the action, and a Sith apprentice, ruthless and full of hatred for the master who sent her. A botched robbery attempt soon reveals the true nature of the auctioned objects, and everyone on all sides find themselves fighting for their lives. A threat is revealed that is far too powerful for either Empire or Republic to face alone, and they begin to realize that they must fight together to save the galaxy.
If you’re looking for a book full of intense sci-fi action scenes, look no further, because this one delivers. It was definitely un-put-downable at moments. I’ve heard some criticize it for having shallow characterization, but I don’t think I would entirely agree. While some fringe characters could use some fleshing-out, I thought the main characters were all pretty well-written. I could recognize the Jedi’s feelings of failure and his lack of self-confidence. I enjoyed seeing the directionless and lonely Republic Trooper find a place for herself both in battle and among friends. I also have to praise the book for having some great, well-rounded female characters, which can be rare in the science-fiction genre.
This book’s aim was to get the reader excited about the video game, and interested in this period of Star Wars history. In that, the author certainly succeeded. If the plotlines of the game are half as exciting as this novel, I’ll gladly join in.
-Christine
Shine by Lauren Myracle
Pub Date: May 2011
Fiction (Young Adult)
350 pgs.
I’ll admit, this book first came up on my radar due to the controversy over the National Book Awards. (Condensed version: in October, Shine was mistakenly listed as a National Book Award finalist for Young Adult Literature. Myracle was initially told her book could stay among the ranking titles, but then was abruptly asked to withdraw.) As it turns out, Myracle may reap many unexpected rewards of the National Book Awards Board’s gaffe. After learning of the book’s premise, I, for one, was intrigued, and I know I’m not alone.
Patrick, a gay teenager in a “back-woods” Southern town, is brutally attacked one night, and left for dead, strung up with a gas nozzle at a local gas station. Cat, his lifelong best friend until she withdrew from their friendship three years ago for reasons inexplicable to Patrick, is devastated by the hate crime and sets off on her own to uncover the perpetrator.
Myracle, until now best known for her “Internet Girls” book series (TTYL, TTFN, L8rG8r), takes a decidedly darker turn with Shine, lacing her tale with brutal realism and conflicted characters. Cat’s ventures into the underbelly of her town bring to mind Daniel Woodrell’s starkly beautiful Winter’s Bone (see my review of Woodrell’s book). Her town is teeming with abuse of all kinds: sexual, drug-related, physical. As you might expect, there is also a strong undercurrent of homophobia.
I have to say, while I was very admiring of both the premise of the book and the descriptions of the characters, not to mention the lovely cover, Shine took a while, longer than I expected, to grab me. However as I read more, I became more invested in Cat and members of her close-knit community. Two thirds of the way through, this book reached true “un-put-downable” status for me. I do have my quibbles: while Cat and most of the other characters were well-drawn, I wish we could have had more insight into the life of Patrick himself. The mystery was satisfying, but the ending was a bit puzzling and “convenient.” I don’t want to give too much away, though: powerful and affecting, Shine is definitely worth a read.
-Becky
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Pub Date: September 2011
Historical fiction (Children’s)
608 pgs.
You may have heard the name “Brian Selznick” recently. His book The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the 2008 Caldecott Medal, and was recently made into a movie by Martin Scorsese, which opens this month under the title Hugo.
Like his last book, Wonderstruck is told through both words and pictures. Its main characters are Ben Wilson, a boy living in Minnesota in June of 1977, and Rose Kincaid, a girl living in New Jersey in 1927. While Ben’s story is told entirely through text, Rose’s is told entirely through black-and-white illustrations.
We meet Ben first. He is devastated and confused after being orphaned by the recent death of his mother. She was the town librarian, and raised Ben in a sheltered world surrounded by quotations from books that Ben has never read. One night, Ben wakes up to find a light on in his mother’s room, and he sneaks over to investigate. What he finds there will lead him to run away from home, needing to find the answers to questions he has had his whole life.
Rose’s story is told alongside Ben’s. When she sees a man arrive at her front door, Rose frantically climbs out her bedroom window to escape, ending up at the local cinema, where her favorite silent film star’s movie is playing. Rose returns home to a father who is alienating her, and a tutor who tells her she will be incomplete and alone without his help. Looking for a sense of belonging that has been missing her whole life, Rose runs away to New York City, where the stories of these two children collide.
Selznick’s beautiful black and white illustrations make up 460 of the book’s 608 pages. The story moves along at a fast pace, and once you become involved in the lives of the two seemingly unrelated characters, you’ll want to know how the two will come together. Wonderstruck is an imaginative, engrossing read that will leave you…well, wonderstruck.
-Christine
Got Fangs? by Katie Maxwell (Book 1 of the Goth series)
Pub Date: January 2005
Fiction (Young Adult)
193 pgs.
Author Katie Maxwell had already roped young readers into thinking that vampires were enigmatic, yet charming, before the spawn of the current vampy trend of teen lit. And that a vampire novel does not necessarily need to be either gory or romantic; it can be mysterious, magical, and passionate. Katie Maxwell has written several other adult vampire books under the name Katie MacAllister, and in this young adult series she has done her job translating her adult Dark Ones theme to teens.
Francesca Ghetti quickly realizes how different her life is from the average teen. She finds herself traveling with her mother to a psychic faire full of witches, mediums, and magicians. And although the atmosphere provided by GothFaire is quickly deemed by Fran as abnormal and freakish, she soon realizes that she harnesses powers of her own. While her mother tries to encourage Fran to use her power in conjunction with the faire, Fran feels it is wrong to do so.
Enter the vampire Benedikt, who begins to worship Fran’s psychic abilities. As Fran tries to fend off her new acquaintance, she agrees to use her skills in solving the mystery of who has been robbing the faire of its money. Fran’s life becomes even more complex when she finds herself battling against magical demons. As the relationship between Fran and Benedikt develops, Maxwell gives the reader an entertaining story filled with magic, mystery, and evil spirits.
The second book in the series is Circus of the Darned. While Fran awaits Ben’s return to the fairgrounds, she is approached by a man named Tibolt who has asks her to guard his pendant, and she obliges. Fran soon encounters a huldra, or Viking warrior ghost, as she unknowingly runs through their sacred burial grounds. During Fran’s attempt to send the Vikings home, all manners of gods and goddesses come into play, including one that is obsessed with Fran’s horse, Telsa. Although the vampire relationship is not developed further in this plot, Maxwell has a knack at introducing us to more fabulous legends and fantastical creatures.
The third installment of the series, In the Company of Vampires, was published in 2010, and Maxwell has published it under her adult pseudonym. While the subject matter is a bit more sensual in nature, Maxwell does not lose her bearing on the oddities that the faire offers or the enchanting encounters of Fran’s life. Throughout the storyline, Maxwell tends to a humorous writing style that is full of paranormal and mythical delight.
-Noelle
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Pub Date: August 2011
Fiction (Adult)
336 pgs.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers has gotten a lot of attention of late, and after finishing the book this weekend, I decided it reads like a kinder, gentler White Oleander. (For those of you not familiar with this title, it is a novel by Janet Fitch that follows a young girl through California’s foster-care system after her mother is convicted of murder. It is scathing, heartbreaking, and one of my favorite books.)
The Language of Flowers is also set in California, and also follows a young girl who has grown up in foster care. We first meet Victoria Jones on her 18th birthday, the day she is to be “emancipated” from the foster-care system. (Read: she is no longer a ward of the state, but things will not get easier for her.) After a brief stint in a group home, she takes up residence in a San Francisco park, and plants and tends to a small garden. Flowers are very, very important to Victoria–the only thing of importance to her, really. She is a student of the Victorian-era “Language of Flowers” that she learned from Elizabeth, the most significant of her past foster-mothers. In a plot point a bit too far-fetched for me, Victoria beats the odds of her living situation and finds work in a local floral shop, becoming an apprentice of Renata, the shop’s owner. Renata recognizes Victoria’s special, almost supernatural gift: she knows the meaning of every flower inside and out, and they’re not always what you’d expect. (Yellow roses, for example, stand for jealousy and infidelity–not the greatest choice for a wedding!) Once Victoria starts recommending the right flowers to Renata’s customers, their lives start changing for the better.
In alternating chapters, the story of ten-year-old Victoria’s time with Elizabeth unfolds bit-by-bit. Elizabeth was Victoria’s last chance to become adopted, and the year they spent together affected them both deeply. They loved each other, but each one was damaged. You know that their time together is not going to end well. After someone else from her past shows up in her new life, will Victoria be able to face those painful years of her childhood?
Diffenbaugh keeps a slower pace throughout the novel; I would not categorize this one as “un-put-downable.” I did put it down, several times. However, I always picked it back up again. Another online reviewer compared it to a fairy tale, and I have to agree. But the reviewer also pointed out that it’s not like a Disney fairy tale, but rather a Grimm’s fairy tale. Victoria’s situation is certainly hard, and she is not always likeable as a character. But Diffenbaugh takes what could be a very difficult, gritty story and sweetens it considerably, and that in itself will appeal to many readers. Also, I have to give credit to Diffenbaugh for introducing her readers to the little-known Victorian language of flowers–I had never heard of it before starting this book, and it’s always nice to read a novel where you learn something new about an unexpected subject. This will be a good novel for book clubs, because many people will like it, and others may not…but disagreement usually makes for the best book-club discussions. Happy reading!
-Becky
We All Fall Down: Living With Addiction by Nic Sheff
Pub Date: April 2011
Non-Fiction (Young Adult)
Memoir
368 pgs.
Never have I ever met a character to route for more than Nic Sheff. When we last left Nic, in the book Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines, he was struggling to maintain his stability with drugs and alcohol. Then in a profound companion novel, Beautiful Boy, his father, David Sheff, shares the family’s battle with Nic’s addiction.
Now, in We all Fall Down: Living with Addiction, Sheff offers the reader his heart wrenching attempt at recovery. In and out of detox centers and on and off of the drugs, Nic’s story is garnished with detail, compelling and emotional. Although profane language is used, Nic’s voice is both daring and truthful and resonates with readers.
Nic shares a lot of characteristics of an addict, such as self-destruction, lying, and harming close relatives and friends. Within his story, Nic also shares long term relationships with women who have addictive behaviors. More so, Nic goes through several abuse programs, none of which seem to aid him. However, as Nic faces such setbacks he continues his attempt to be clean and extracts use out of a 12 step program. Because of his fight, Nic is able to find solace in relating to the sober community.
Complete with relapses, bad language, and sexual encounters, it is a poignant and true account of drug addiction. However, nowhere does Nic say recovery is easy. If anything, his narration reveals that not every program works, nor is there a single program for any one addict. This memoir of addiction is more than just a complex story of a boy’s battle with sobriety; it is about faltering, realizing and accepting your mistakes, and grappling with picking yourself up afterwards.
-Noelle
Featured Contributor Friday
Today we have a review from Alison, our newest staff member. You will see her mainly at the Reference desk upstairs. Stop in and say hi!
The American Heiress by Daisy Godwin
Pub Date: June 2011
Fiction (Adult)
480 pgs.
I picked up The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin for two reasons:
1) It was touted as the perfect book to hold over any lovers of Masterpiece Theatre’s Downton Abbey until the next season airs in America
2) The cover- the regal dress, a wistful backward glance, an exquisitely illuminated setting, and the elegant title all combined to make one undeniably gorgeous and intriguing book jacket. I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but what if it just calls to you? Is that so wrong??
The only thing that money cannot buy Cora Cash, New York’s wealthiest heiress of the gilded age, is a title. Or can it? When her mother whisks her daughter away to England in hopes of securing her such a title, little does she know that Cora may literally fall right into one. One moment Cora is seated on her horse, and the next thing she knows, she is waking up in a Duke’s castle after a riding accident. How fortuitous! Her mother didn’t even have to arrange her illness, as Lizzie Bennett’s mother did in Pride and Prejudice. She goes from heiress to Duchess in no time at all.
As Cora leaves behind her fabulous life in New York, she struggles to understand the differences between her old life as an heiress, and her new one as a Duchess. Goodwin accurately uses Cora and Duke Ivo to flesh out these issues, which are symbolic of the differences between the Old World and the New. She also uses Cora’s maid, Bertha, to great effect to establish a truth that is still accurate today: America will always be focused on race, while Britain cares only for class.
It seems as if Goodwin attempted to base her novel around Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess.” Several of the themes ring true- money and nature, control and art- and they are well done, if not quite in keeping with the poem. Goodwin’s biggest triumph is her intricately woven detail of the Gilded Age, and her ability to create complexity through the repetition of allusion: a string of pearls that we may have seen earlier, the longing present in one look but not another, or feelings associated with a given moment in a previous chapter.
While The American Heiress may fall short of Downton Abbey, Edith Wharton, and Jane Austen, it does have its fair share of snappy dialogue, intrigue, and romance. It is a lovely choice for a summer read- it’s vacation, pool, and stay-up-way-too-late-to-finish-it worthy. Thankfully, what was under that breathtaking cover did not disappoint!
-Allison
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Pub Date: April 2011
Non-Fiction (Adult)
Memoir/Humor
288 pgs.
Here is a tribute to the power of audiobooks, if there ever was one. I have a feeling that if I’d read the print version of this memoir by Tina Fey, I would have given the book maybe 3 stars out of 5. Not because Fey isn’t funny, but because her slightly disorganized, stream-of-consciousness style may feel lacking in book form. The audio version, however, gets a full 5 stars. This is because it is narrated by Tina Fey herself, a natural performer. Listening to, rather than reading, Fey’s musings feels like consuming them in their purest form.
Fey’s subject matter is lightly told and feels somewhat insubstantial at times. She weaves scant traces of memoir–that is, stories of her upbringing and her family–in with more general anecdotes about her time on Saturday Night Live, her TV show, 30 Rock, and her experiences as the mother of a young daughter. It’s something to page through, a few pages at a time, but not something to sit down and be absorbed in cover-to-cover.
But as an audiobook, her format works beautifully. I popped it in my car stereo before a car trip with my mom–it was just before Mother’s Day–and we started laughing almost immediately. From Fey’s stories of the drama camp she attended as a teenager, to her work with Chicago improv troupe Second City; from a love letter to fellow comedian Amy Poehler to a list of prayers for her 5-year-old daughter (“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches”), Fey gets it so, so, right. The beauty of the audiobook is that you get every accent, every pause, and every drip of sarcasm so perfectly conveyed. (As a bonus, all of the pictures of Fey that are included in her book, childhood and otherwise, are included with the audiobook as pdfs on a disc. Also, the entire recording of Fey and Poehler’s famous skit as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton.)
As soon as it finished I wanted to start it all over again. And it made a great Mother’s Day gift!
-Becky
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
Pub Date: June 2011
Fiction (Adult)
368 pgs.
Fans of the wonderful Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series get a surprise sequel with this, Ann Brashares’ latest offering, detailing the adult lives of the four lifelong best friends.
Brashares’ series began with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, published in 2001 and introducing us to four very different fifteen-year-old friends: Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bridget and their “magical” pair of jeans, which fit all four differently-built girls perfectly and traveled between them as they spent their first summer apart in different corners of the world. Three more books followed, and the series supposedly wrapped up with Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, set when the girls were nineteen. I discovered these books only a few years ago and devoured them in quick succession. While I was sad when the fourth one ended, I understood that it was the logical conclusion of the series.
So imagine my happy surprise when I discovered that Brashares was coming out with a new title! In Sisterhood Everlasting, Brashares fast-forwards ten years after that fateful fourth summer, when the Pants disappeared in Greece. The four girls–women–are now about to turn 30. They are still in touch, barely, and, like that first summer, are all leading very different lives in very different parts of the world. Tibby has moved with her long-time boyfriend, Brian, to Australia; restless Bridget apartment-hops with her long-time boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco (readers will remember these two favorite male characters from the other books in the series); Carmen is a semi-famous actress in New York City (that drama summer camp in Vermont apparently paid off); and Lena lives in a tiny apartment in Providence, Rhode Island while teaching part-time at RISD.
Tibby has been the least in-touch of all, and out of the blue, she surprises her three friends with plane tickets to the Greek island of Santorini, with the promise of a reunion. Carmen, Bridget and Lena eagerly make the trip, and for a short glorious time, it seems like nothing has changed. Then Brashares takes the story in an unexpected direction.
Suffice it to say that the tone of Sisterhood Everlasting is decidedly darker, and yes, more adult than the first four books in the series. Some readers may be unhappy with the direction in which Brashares decides to take things. I admit I was surprised, but I thought it admirable that Brashares is able to gracefully carry her characters through nearly fifteen years of their lives, and manages not to lose the essence of any of them. Of the four, I did think Carmen was the most changed in this book–but later in the novel, her character becomes more fleshed out and more like the old Carmen that readers are familiar with. Ultimately, fans get a satisfying, fairly uplifting ending. Will there be yet another volume in the series? Never say never.
-Becky
