Books and Sensibility

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Kat C

The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson

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Publication Date:

Pages: 240

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic)

 

The Great Greene Heist caught my attention during the #weneeddiversebooks campaign when John Green promised 10 signed copies of TFiOS to any bookstore who hand sold 100 copies of The Great Greene Heist. The synopsis felt Curseworker-ish (sans magic), which was enough for me to delve into reading my first Middle Grade as an adult.

13-year-old con artist Jackson Greene is cleaning up his act. After the Kelsey Job, or the Mid-Day PDA as his friends have dubbed his last con, Jackson is hanging up his cons for good. That is until he gets recruited by his best friend Charlie de la Cruz to rig the school election for his sister Gabby, the girl whose heart Jackson will do anything to fix.

The atmosphere in this novel felt very campy and sort of like a satire. I don’t know if this is a typical of middle grade or if it’s just this novel. The students exist in a school where they are never in class, principals easily accept bribes and all clubs have a budget that the school council president controls. As I read this I imagine it as more as a cartoon or Nickelodeon sitcom than real life.

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This Summer So Far….in Books

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I’m kind of breaking the rules by talking about books too but, oh well ! 

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A Matter of Fate: If I Stay by Gayle Foreman & Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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At first these two books seem worlds away, one a much-praised modern literary classic the other a backlist YA contemporary climbing its way up the NYT bestsellers list with a film release weeks away.  

I found myself reading both books at around the same time and the more I thought about writing the individual reviews, the more I realized these books have a lot in common. Both main characters, Kathy  H. in Never Let Me Go and Mia in If I Stay, are young women trying to figure out their future. While Kathy’s path has been laid out  since  birth Mia gets the opportunity to decide hers.

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At first these two books seem worlds away, one a much-praised modern literary classic the other a backlist YA contemporary climbing its way up the NYT bestsellers list with a film release weeks away.  

I found myself reading both books at around the same time and the more I thought about writing the individual reviews, the more I realized these books have a lot in common. Both main characters, Kathy  H. in Never Let Me Go and Mia in If I Stay, are young women trying to figure out their future. While Kathy’s path has been laid out  since  birth Mia gets the opportunity to decide hers.

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The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

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  • Release Date: March 1, 2013
  • Pages: 289
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Publisher: Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic)

June Costa is the best artist in Palmares Três, the lush futuristic pyramid city built a midst a post post-apocalyptic South America. June’s art has always been about expressing herself and the things she loves, but her street art takes on new heights when she teams up with Enki, the 17-year-old reigning summer king of Palarmes Três who, as dictated by tradition, will be sacrificed at the end of the year. 

The Summer Prince is a fairly complex novel, there is just so much going on in this world and society I don’t even know where to begin. The world building can be a bit tough to get into, especially for someone like me coming from a Western world. Johnson’s  world  is so far from anything analogous to American society. The driving force of this novel is the tradition of the summer king; Palmares Três matriarchal society elects one boy to serve as the summer king alongside the Queen and he is sacrificed at the end of the year. The reasoning behind this tradition is a little fuzzy in the book, but this is based on some ancient South American traditions.

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The Last Policeman and Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

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Release Date: January 1, 2012

Pages: 316

Genre:  Adult Mystery

Publisher: Quirk Books

 

 

The story of the first big case for rookie detective Henry Palace could easily be a run of the mill mystery novel. Except in The Last Policeman universe an asteroid, known as Maia, is coming and in six months the planet Earth won’t  exist. They are suddenly  “in a world where the idea of long term consequences had magically disappeared” which also means it’s not the best time to be in law enforcement. But when Palace  suspects foul play during a suicide he strikes out  on his own to solve the murder before time ticks away.

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Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

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  • Release Date: September 10th, 2013
  • Pages: 445
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (MacMillan)

I can’t believe how long it took me to get to this book. Last Fall Fangirl seemed to be the buzz of the bookternet. Ever since I stumbled onto LiveJournal 8 years ago, I’ve been  just fascinated by fanfiction and fandom culture. I’ve observed my fair share of fanaticism and I couldn’t wait to see how Rowell tackled it.

Fangirl tells the story of Cath, the titular unapologetic  fangirl of the Simon Snow books, a pretty clearly Harry Potter Expy. Cath, or rather her username, Magicath is a BNF (big name fan)  because her Simon Snow fanfiction, Carry On,Simon gets 20,000 views a day. The novel  follows Cath through her freshman year of college as she struggles through family issues, school problems and severe social anxiety. Along for the ride is Cath’s belligerent roommate Reagan and Reagan’s friend Levi to help her navigate the journey.

I really enjoyed this book, it took me a week to knock it out which is a record for me for a book this length. One of the things I like about Rowell is her writing style, she writes in a close third person that reads like a first person because we see everything from Cath’s perspective. Something about Rowell’s use of this style makes me breeze through her novels.

Despite the bright, cutesy cover, this book delves into  darker issues than I was expecting. While I can’t speak to how honestly these issues were portrayed, I found the situations to be believable and well represented.

Going into this novel I was concerned I wouldn’t by the Simon Snow / Book Within a Book idea. However, because Rowell included snippets from the Simon Snow series I felt like I got to know the books too, which helped me relate to Cath. However, It was a little confusing to separate out the actual book snippets and the fanfiction snippets. I’d get confused about what happened in the actual series and what just happened in her fanfictions.

Overall, I think Rowell does well by fanfiction and fandom.  Cath writes slash fiction, which for the uninitiated is when you pair two characters of the same sex romantically. Slash fiction has it’s dark corners, but I liked how Rowell showcased that slash fiction isn’t all about titillation and can also be about relationships.  Cath’s personal struggles are clearly connected to her writing, she clings to the characters for her own sanity.

This book was apart of the inaugural Tumblr Book Club and I went into this book knowing a lot about the love interest Levi. I liked that Levi existed in Cath’s world, but also had his own life and wasn’t there to solve all of  Cath’s problems. He’s allowed to have flaws that are more than a crooked smile (seriously, what is with YA and crooked smiles ?) Cath also has a twin sister and I think Rowell’s portrayal of twins is pretty spot on. She really captures how hard it can be to have your identity when people associate you with your twin all the time.

I devoured this book, it was funny, heartfelt and represents a type of YA I’ve never seen….I would really like to see more books that tackle first years college experiences and fandom.