Legend

In my ongoing quest to get caught up by blogging about all the books I've read lately, I give you the following short and poorly written review of Legend. (I wrote much of the following review on my phone during a particularly dull Family Home Evening).

I love dystopian fiction! Anthem, The Giver, 1984, Fahrenheit 451...these books capture my imagination and make me think in ways no other genre quite can. The world of modern Young Adult dystopian fiction, however, can be a bit of a mixed bag. I read and enjoyed Hunger Games, but didn't find it to be as deep or engaging as the greats, and I had major problems with Divergent. So when a friend of mine recommended yet another YA dystopian series I approached it with a sizable dose of skepticism. Fortunately for me my skepticism was unfounded. Legend is one of the better works of YA dystopian fiction that I've read in recent years. It's just as good as Hunger Games, and in some ways is even better because it benefits from a more original premise and better writing.

Legend is about some kid, your typical teenage prodigy who is somehow special for reasons that are unclear but will certainly be extremely significant by the third book. Anyway, he ends up joining forces with his former enemy in order to fight against the evil government that is doing all the bad things typical of a dystopian society. The paragraph above this one I wrote a couple months back, and I have to say that the book hasn't aged very well in my memory. I really liked it while I was reading it, and thought it was above average YA dystopian lit. Now I think it is just average YA dystopian lit. The characters are kind of canned, the plot is pretty predictable, and the world isn't terribly imaginitive. Now I will give Marie Lu some credit here. She managed to create a dystopian world that I can actually believe. I found Hunger Games to be really far fetched. In Legend the dystopian world is accomplished through simple economic means. Basically they have a poor class that they oppress by not giving them access to good education and jobs. This is done by means of a standardized test which, SURPRISE, is rigged. That's not far from the world we actually live in, so I can appreciate her attempt at verisimilitude. But the plot and characters are pretty stale, and therefore keep the world from becoming a place of much interest. Also, I'm surprised that I thought this book was more well-written than Hunger Games. Heck, I don't think it's even as well written as Divergent, which I really disliked. Well, it might be as good as Divergent, but HG is better written, even if Katniss is obnoxious.

Overall this was a decent read. I enjoyed it while I was actually reading it, but looking back I realize it was fairly mediocre. Still, sometimes mediocre is a good thing. If you're just looking for an enjoyable read that goes pretty quickly I think you might find this to your liking.

Score:7/10 (Originally a 6, but I realized that was too harsh considering I did genuinely enjoy the book while reading it, even if its flaws are more apparent when seen through the lens of hindsight).
Read this book if: You don't want to think to hard in order to be entertained while reading.
Don't read this book if: You're on a quest for literature that will be more that just a quick thrill and will instead actually teach you something about life and the human condition and all that stuff.

Casino Royale

Sometimes I forget that the only reason I'm writing this blog is to keep track of the books I've read as a sort of personal record of my life of reading. As a few more people have started reading this blog I've developed a degree of pressure-induced writer's block, fearing that my little reviews aren't "good enough" for public consumption. Well, I've decided that that's not my problem! I'm just gonna write little reviews that are rambling and make no sense, and if anyone else wants to read them that's fine by me. And with that said, onto Casino Royale!

Right after I read this book I wrote up the following just to remind myself how I felt about it: "I loved it. It was exciting and sexy and alluring. Basically it was everything James Bond is, but before Bond became burdened by the weight of being a pop culture icon. It was raw and rich, and fantastic. Great action, interesting characters, cool cars, lots of baccarat. A delight to read." I still stand by all those things, which I will elaborate on below.

So Casino Royale is the first James Bond book. It was written by Ian Fleming, and it introduced the world to the suave super-spy that we all know and love. And ya know what? It's amazing!!! I genuinely loved this book. It was an absolutely thrilling read, and I really couldn't put it down. I don't often read books that are sixty years old and expect them to be page-turners, but this one really was. It's all the best parts of James Bond, but free of all the silliness that has grown up around the bond legend over the last 50 years. I say if you're a bond fan, read this book!

The story is actually really simple. There's this bad guy name Le Chiffre who is a big whig with a Soviet spy ring called SMERSH, but who has a bit of a gambling problem. He's got some bad debts that he's hoping to repay by hosting a big baccarat tournament at Casino Royale, winning, and then paying off his debts so SMERSH never knows about his financial indiscretions (which would probably lead to his death, since he was gambling with SMERSH's money). Well M over at MI6 gets wind of this, and decides they're going to beat Le Chiffre at his own game in order to take out a top level SMERSH operative and deal a blow to SMERSH's operations in Europe. So Bond goes, they play baccarat, action and adventure ensue. It's great! It's an uncomplicated plot that is driven by the compelling character of Bond. Bond in the novel is just like Bond in the movies, but even more hardcore. He's a sexist, chauvinistic egotist who loves fast cars and beautiful women, and who uses his license to kill with a cold liberality whenever he deems it necessary. What's cool about the book, though, is that we get to see what Bond is thinking beneath his shiny veneer of tuxedos and martinis. So even though Bond is even more hardened on the outside, he is simultaneously more human than he ever appears in the films. This duality rings true with human nature in general, as I think duplicity is somehow inherent to everyone. We are all trying to appear to be one thing while within we are plagued by doubts and fears about who we are and who we want to be.

Beyond the human themes and compelling characters, this book also has a lot of great action. It has car chases, fight scenes, torture, bombs, mystery, intrigue...all the good stuff! It's a guy book through and through, but it manages to be cool while still being deep, a rare trick in the 50's, and even rarer now. I loved the book, and I think anyone who likes the Bond films will really enjoy reading Casino Royale. It is, after all, Genesis for the Bond universe, and with such a strong start I find it unsurprising that Bond is still going strong sixty years later.

Score:9/10
Read this book if: You feel like having danger for dinner, death for breakfast, with a dry martini on the side and a splash of humanity thrown into the mix. Shaken rather than stirred, of course.
Don't read this book if: You're a female. Bond's sexism might be offensive. Otherwise it's awesome!

Flowers for Algernon

I approached  Flowers for Algernon with really high hopes, thanks entirely to Reddit. I had read a post on Reddit where a bunch of people were just gushing about how much they loved the book, how it made them weep for hours on end, and how it changed their lives forever. I like books that have that effect, and I believe to a degree at least that the old Whoism "Sad is like happy for deep people" is at least partially true. So I was excited to read this book and feel deeply moved or something. Well, it didn't happen, and I was disappointed. I don't think it's entirely the book's fault, but I'm not prepared to exonerate it completely.

Flowers for Algernon is a sci-fi novel written by Daniel Keyes which was based on a short story of the same name. It tells the story of a mentally handicapped man named Charlie Gordon who undergoes surgery to increase his intelligence. The story takes its name from a mouse named Algernon, who was the first test subject to successfully undergo the surgery, and who eventually becomes something of a kindred spirit to Charlie as the two have more in common than they do with other members of their own respective species. The book is supposed to make you feel sad for Charlie and his plight, but mostly it just made me frustrated. The book examines the role intelligence plays in a person's social sphere, and shows that regardless of who you are, if you change dramatically (even if it is ostensibly for the better), you are going to alienate some people in your life.

Honestly, I didn't like this book much. Part of that is because I had really high expectation, which is never a good idea going into a book. But I think it's mostly the book's fault. The writing isn't great, the characters are flat, and I found I couldn't relate to Charlie's plight. Worst of all, though, is that I found I just didn't care. Charlie isn't a very likable guy, so I wasn't too bothered when things went poorly for him, and I likewise wasn't too thrilled when things went well for him. The only thing I really liked about the book was that it revealed the invisible class structure that exists within society based on intelligence, however that idea wasn't well-developed enough to save the novel from its tedious narrative. The book's concept is interesting, and I think it raises some intriguing ethical questions about whether it is right to try to "improve" people's lives by artificially altering some aspect of their nature, but overall I found the book to be pretty dull. I have a strong suspicion that I would have liked the short story better, as it could have included all the good themes without getting annoying.

Score:5/10
Read this book if: Ummmm...you like stories about guys who hang out with mice and alienate all their friends by being pedantic, I guess.
Don't read this book if: You want to read a good book.

Jellicoe Road

The world of Young Adult Lit is littered with a lot of garbage, and the sad thing is that most of said garbage manages to be extremely popular. It's therefore often difficult to find good pieces of YA Lit to read, simply because the stuff that's well-known isn't all that good. This is where knowing a librarian can become really helpful. I was fortunate enough to befriend a YA Librarian a few months back, and she suggested I read this book. It won the Printz Award, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm really glad I did! Melina Marchetta has created a powerful story with good characters that, despite some ridiculous teenage drama and antics, manages to be moving and honest.

The novel is about a 17 year-old girl named Taylor Markham who was abandoned by her mother as a little girl and has been raised at a boarding school on Jellicoe Road. Her only mentor is a woman named Hannah who lives near the boarding school, but has mysteriously vanished without a word. Taylor must struggle to work through her own curiosity about her parents while simultaneously trying to maintain friendships in the midst of an annual border war between members of the boarding school and a group of visitors from a military academy is Sydney. All the characters are well-developed and likable, in an idiosyncratic teenager sort of way. The plot is also interesting, as it drifts back and forth between Taylor in the present time and a story that Hannah has been writing about five teenagers in the 80's. These seemingly unrelated stories eventually weave together in a fascinating and enlightening way which is a pleasure to experience for the first time. What I like best about the book, though, are its lessons about loyalty, friendship, and the meaning of family.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to people who generally enjoy the idea of Young Adult Lit, but struggle to find books of depth and quality within the genre. This book has all the feels, as the kids say these days, and thankfully they manage to be authentic and meaningful without resorting to cheap tricks and sentimentality.

Score:8.5/10
Read this book if: You like stories about teenagers and are tired of all the fluffy romance pieces that pervade the genre of YA Lit.
Don't read this book if: You are averse to YA Lit in general, or prefer stories with many complex layers. Though this book is well-written and engaging, it lacks the literary complexity of a true classic.

The Fault in Our Stars: Redux

I don't often re-read books, but I think it can certainly be a valuable practice. Some books have such a special feel that it's impossible to find something that quite compares, and re-reading that book is the only way to get the magic back. I've re-read Harry Potter, The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Book Thief, and had excellent results with all of them. Re-reading provides you with new insights into a book, and occasionally reveals to yourself how you've changed as a person.

As some of you know I was an enormous fan of John Green's latest novel when I read it the first time. When I started re-reading TFiOS I was motivated almost entirely by a desire to rekindle some of that magic that I felt during my first reading of the novel. A secondary motivation, however, was also present. I know a few people (not many) who think this book is super overrated, and I wanted to read it with a critical eye in order to prove to myself that these critics were indeed on crack, and that I was completely correct in hailing this novel as one of the finest I've read in the past three years. So how did TFiOS bear up under my increased scrutiny? Was I able to recapture the magnificence of the first reading? Did I independently determine its timeless literary merit in the face of countless (one) detractors?

Basically the answer to both of the above questions is yes...and no. I found it easy to engage in the story, just as I had the first time. I still found the characters likable and the emotions accessible and real. It still tugged at my heartstrings, made me smile, and kept me up later than I'd have liked. However, some of the magic was gone for me. I enjoyed it, but I didn't fall in love with it all over again. This brings me to my second point: the book's literary merit. On the second reading I was freed of the tension of finding out what happens next. Some of the emotional cachet was gone for me, so I had more mental resources to put into looking at the book as an actual work of literature and not just a vehicle for visceral emotional reactions. What I discovered was slightly troubling, though in retrospect not unexpected. As a work of literature the book is decent. The themes aren't subtle, the characters are a bit exaggerated, and the writing feels a little stale after a while. The dialogue between the characters feels somewhat unnatural as well, which is a claim I'd heard from others that I hadn't given any credence to in the past. I've spent enough time with teenagers by now to realize, however, that no sixteen year-old has the term "toe-specific dysmorphia" in her lexicon. These issues essentially amount to a few literary quibbles. They don't make it a bad book, but I think they do keep it from being a truly great book. The story is still lovely, the messages are interesting and thought-provoking, and the emotions the book elicits are valuable and cathartic, but I'm not sure this book deserves a plinth in the pantheon of Greatest Books Ever. It's a book that is deserving of the elevated position it currently holds, but which will likely not withstand the test of time in the way the true greats have and will. If you haven't read it already, I still give it a strong recommendation. If you've already read it once, it might be better to enjoy the memories.

Redux Rating: 8.5/10

Crossing to Safety

Some months ago I began reading a book that I never finished. It was called The End of Your Life Book Club, which is about a family that reads books together as their mother dies of cancer. Although I didn't get very far into the book, I got far enough to read a lot of praise for Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. I'd had another of Stegner's books, Angle of Repose, suggested to me previously, and I knew that Stegner was the favorite author of some of my most literate relatives, so I figured I'd give this one a try. I'm really pleased that I did. Crossing to Safety turned out to be a beautiful book about the power of enduring friendship in helping to cope with the joys and tragedies of life with grace and compassion.

Crossing to Safety has an exceptionally simple premise: two young married couples form a lifelong friendship, and ride the ups and downs of life together. The book is unconventional in that there is no antagonist or huge conflict at the center of things. It's tension is simply the tension of ordinary living: illness, unemployment, war, death. But the joys of ordinary living are there too: births, weddings, successes, laughter, and love. The book doesn't attempt to idealize the relationships in the story. There is tension between friends and between families, but it is never overly dramatic or destructive. Stegner writes beautifully, and has a keen ability to describe ordinary things with a clarity and charm that never comes across as disingenuous. His writing feels like a combination of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. His prose is clean and concise, yet vividly descriptive and lush.

This book was truly excellent, and anyone who believes in the power of friendship and the joy of everyday life will benefit from and enjoy reading it.

Score:9/10
Read this book if: You want something that is calm and gentle with a measured degree of hope and joy.
Don't read this book if: You want a strong central conflict and a clear and direct plot.

Fangirl

This is the second novel by Rainbow Rowell that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. The first is, of course, Eleanor and Park, the delightful novel that introduced me to Watchmen. Ever since reading E&P I’ve been impressed by Rowell’s carefully crafted characters and realistic yet hopeful story lines. When I saw that she had published another novel, and that it was getting rave reviews, I just had to give it a try. I’m glad I did. I found in Fangirl a story that is more conventional than E&P, yet no less delightful. Rowell still manages to strike a great balance by creating a book that addresses serious real-life issues, while still providing likable characters and a pleasant reading experience.

Fangirl is the story of Cath, (short for Cather, which I assume is a nod to Nebraska-born novelist Willa Cather, who joins Rowell as one of just a handful of good things to come out of the state) who is an avid writer of Simon Snow fanfiction (Snow obviously fills the place of Harry Potter in Rowell’s world). When Cath goes to college she finds that she must try to balance her academic rigors (which include a fiction writing professor who considers fanfic to be plagiarism) worries about the father that she left at home, struggles to maintain a relationship with her twin sister, and of course trouble with boys.

I really liked Fangirl. Rainbow Rowell is one of my favorite YA novelists, and this book was charming, engaging, and addressed serious issues without becoming too heavy. It suffered from some of the minor flaws that tend to plague the genre, namely a tendency towards sentimentality and romanticism, but that was kind of what I was hoping for, so I wasn’t bothered. The book also made me want to eat corned beef hash, which can be either good or bad depending on how you look at things. Anyway, I liked this book, and I hope others will too.

Score: 8.5/10
Read this book if: You like the world of fanfiction, are just starting college, or feel nostalgic about your early college years.
Don’t read this book if: You dislike occasional schmaltz.