Title: Graduation Day
Author:  Joelle Charbonneau
Genre: Dystopian YA
Pages: 304
Year: 2014
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Source: Personal Collection
Rating:  3/5

Summary (from Amazon):

She wants to put an end to the Testing
In a scarred and brutal future, The United Commonwealth teeters on the brink of all-out civil war. The rebel resistance plots against a government that rules with cruelty and cunning. Gifted student and Testing survivor, Cia Vale, vows to fight.

But she can’t do it alone.
This is the chance to lead that Cia has trained for – but who will follow? Plunging through layers of danger and deception, Cia must risk the lives of those she loves–and gamble on the loyalty of her lethal classmates.

Who can Cia trust?
The stakes are higher than ever—lives of promise cut short or fulfilled; a future ruled by fear or hope–in the electrifying conclusion to Joelle Charbonneau’s epic Testing trilogy. Ready or not…it’s Graduation Day.

My Thoughts:

Honestly, this one fell short of my expectations. I love this series and I will recommend it in a heartbeat, but I just wish the final book had been as great as the first two. (Final books almost always disappoint me though, and I have no idea what others have said, so maybe it’s best not to listen to me.)

For me, the plot was too convoluted. People were double crossing the people they were double crossing and I had no idea what side anyone was on. I also had some trouble with the plausibility. Yes, this is dystopian fiction, but why would the president of a county ever think it was a good idea to put a teenage girl in charge of a rebellion? And, two months later, I am really struggling to remember how the book actually ended.

On a positive note, the book is action-packed and Cia becomes an even stronger, independent young woman, which is satisfying in its own way. It almost becomes a political thriller, rather than a typical YA dystopian.

In short, this book was by far my least favorite in The Testing series, but the series, as a whole, is still very much worth reading.

 

Title: The Next Best Thing
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Pages: 400
Year: 2012
Publisher: Atria Books
Source: Review copy via Netgalley
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

When Ruth Saunders graduated from college, she packed up her life – and the grandmother who raised her – and moved to Los Angeles to be a writer. At 28, she finally gets her big break when the television pilot she wrote – a coming of age story about a young girl and her grandmother loosely based on her life – gets greenlit. But when her boyfriend dumps her and the she starts losing control of the show, her life seems anything but perfect.

My Thoughts:

I’m so happy to be back in love with Jennifer Weiner. I adored her first four books, then fell behind, and then had a rough experience with Best Friends Forever. But I can say I’m a fan again. The Next Best Thing was everything I wanted from a novel of hers: a lovable, flawed main character, an uncommon romance, and a happy ending (pretty sure that’s not a spoiler).

Ruthie was a great character. She’s been hurt – both physically and emotionally – and I couldn’t help but cheer for her. Even though I knew she would succeed in the end, I felt her frustration as I watched her struggle. The peripheral characters were also good. From her grandmother’s boyfriend, Maurice, who used to buy his suits in the boys department to her boss, Big Dave, who never takes anything seriously. And of course, her grandmother and her love interest.

This book was also an interesting look at how a television series gets made, from the first draft of a pilot through its premiere. Any one who watches a little television should find that part fascinating.

I can’t say much about Jennifer Weiner’s more recent books since I haven’t read them, but if you were a fan of her earlier books – like Good in Bed and In Her Shoes – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with The Next Best Thing.

Title: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Genre: Literary Fiction
ISBN: 0618329706
Pages: 368
Year: 2005
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

9-year-old Oskar Schell lost his dad on 9/11. One day, he finds a key in his father’s closet in an envelope marked “Black.” He decides to go on a mission and speak to every person named Black in New York City to solve the mystery in the hopes of learning something about his dad.

My Thoughts:

I am kicking myself for waiting this long to read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I am a big fan of Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animals literally changed my life) and this book only solidifies it.

Precocious and socially-awkward, Oskar is immediately lovable. He’s one of those characters you just want to hug. He is so sad without his dad and he can’t seem to find a way to move on with his life. Until he finds this key and suddenly he has A Plan. Along the way he meets all kinds of people, befriending many. In the end, he is different, though maybe not in the way he imagined.

The book jumps between Oskar’s story and the story of his grandparents, who fled Dresden during WWII and found each other again in New York. This is where Foer takes liberties and plays with different writing techniques. It is ambitious, but works. Yet even during these wonderfully-written passages, I was drawn back to Oskar and longed for his story.

The story happens because of September 11th but it is not a book about September 11th. It is a story of survival, loss, love, and life. I highly recommend it to those of you who, like me, have let it linger on your shelves.

Others’ Thoughts: S. Krishna’s Books; Erin Reads; Take Me Away;

Buy It Now: IndieBound

I read all three of these books during the fall readathon. So why not review them all at once?

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The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
4.5/5

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10-year-old Milo is bored with life. Until one day, when he discovers a large package has arrived for him. Inside he finds a tollbooth. When he drives through, he finds himself teamed up with a watchdog named Tick on a rescue mission through new lands.

This was, perhaps surprisingly, my first experience with The Phantom Tollbooth. What I found inside was both silly and smart. I enjoyed the adventure and would gladly pass it on to any reader of any age.

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I Heart You, You Haunt Me
Lisa Schroeder
4/5

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When Ava’s boyfriend, Jackson, dies, she finds herself incapable of moving on with her life. Then Jackson comes back into her life and Ava begins to think she doesn’t have to. But, of course, life must always go on and Ava is forced to face her reality.

This is my third book of Schroeder’s and my love for her continues to grow. Written in verse, this is a beautiful story of death and grief (that only takes an hour or two to read).

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Good-Bye, Chunky Rice
Craig Thompson
4/5

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In Thompson’s first graphic novel, Chunky Rice, a turtle determined to see the world, must say goodbye to his best friend.

I am honestly getting teary-eyed just thinking about this book again. It is a lovely and heartbreaking story of friendship. This graphic novel is short but  the characters are rich. I dare you not to cry with this one.

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Title: Olive Kitteridge
Author: Elizabeth Strout
Genre: Short Stories; Literary Fiction
ISBN: 0812971833
Pages: 304
Year: 2008
Publisher: Random House
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (I tried to write this myself and failed. Here is the publisher’s summary):

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

My Thoughts:

I’ve struggled writing this review (just as I struggled writing the summary). The book is very good, but I am not sure I can adequately explain why. When this happens, I kind of want to just tell you to go read it but that wouldn’t make me a very good book blogger so I am giving this a shot.

This collection is an honest and heartbreaking look at life. It is beautifully-written but even more beautifully-developed. The characters, Olive and the rest of the town, and the keen insight into human interactions are what make this so good. Its Pulitzer is well-deserved.

Olive is woven in and out of the stories; sometimes she has the lead and sometimes she just makes a quick appearance. While the town is the obvious connection between all of the stories, naming the book Olive Kitteridge, a subtler move, makes the reader dig a little deeper.

The stories are sometimes sad, in the way that people stuck in a small town are so often portrayed as sad. People seem trapped by the lives they’ve made for themselves, but when we finally leave Crosby, we see more of the same.

If you haven’t already, I recommend picking up Olive Kitteridge. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Buy It Now: Amazon; IndieBound

“I guess I just get angry that people can have lots of relationships that no one would blink an eye at, but because mine have formal labels the get listed against me somehow, and the get lumped together as if they’re all equal, but they’re not.” p. 101*

Title: The Ninth Wife
Author: Amy Stolls
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 0061851892
Pages: 496
Year: 2011
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Source: Review copy from publisher
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

When she starts dating Rory, Bess thinks she’s finally found her future husband. But his proposal is a bit overshadowed by the news that he has been married 8 times. Naturally, she is a bit apprehensive. So she sets out on a cross country road trip with her grandparents, her gay neighbor, his dog, and a mannequin named Peace. Along the way, Bess searches for Rory’s previous wives in hopes of discovering her answer.

My Thoughts:

The Ninth Wife is a thoughtful look at marriage in today’s world. Each of Rory’s marriages were different. Some lasted longer than others. Some were the result of true love, while some were more done out of convenience. Through each story, through the 65-year marriage of Bess’ grandparents, and through Bess and Rory’s own tale, we see the worry that often goes along with marriage – will this work out? is it inevitably going to end? does s/he really love me?

But The Ninth Wife is about more than marriage, it is about friendship, family, and identity. It is about how we’re all trying to find our place in the world, whether it is next to another or not.

At first I thought this was going to be lighter women’s fiction. But the second half of the story becomes much more serious and thought-provoking. After closing the book, I found mind wandering back to it. It was like Stolls sucked me in with the promise of a lighthearted book and then held me captive when it turned more serious. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The Ninth Wife felt almost like two separate books. In part one, the story alternates chapters between a third person narrative of Bess’ life and how she is falling for Rory and Rory’s first-person tale of his many, many wives. Then, in part two, the story becomes about Bess’ road trip. Rory still has his role, but it is smaller and his first-person narrative is gone. I enjoyed this change halfway through the book – at 496 pages it’s a fairly lengthy novel and the variation kept me on my toes.

Stolls did something interesting with The Ninth Wife that is worth checking out. This book is funny, touching, and full of hope and Bess is a wonderful heroine in her own, unique love story.

Others’ Thoughts: Raging Bibliomania; That’s What She Read

Buy It Now: Powell’s; IndieBound; The Book Depository; Amazon

*Page numbers refer to the advanced copy and may differ in the published version.