My Reading Frenzy

Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach

Life Among Giants is one of the books I had on lists to read, then took it off, then put it back.  Finally I put it on my hold list at the library.  I knew it was time to read an adult book and take a break from YA.  I need to do this from time to time to engage my brain a bit more and get away from the angst.  Though to be fair, adult fiction has its fair share of angst. 

Life Among Giants reminds me of some of the John Irving I have read.  Those of you who have read my reviews before will know that generally I love Irving's work.  This similarity is therefore positive to my mind.  I do not mean to say that Roorbach is an imitator.  There were just some atmospheric and tonal things that made me think of Irving.  The plot was not similar to any of Irving's work. 

In Life Among Giants, Lizard, or David tells his own story.  His story really begins with the murder of his parents when he is 17, just about 18.  He tells his life before this incidentally, sharing only relevant memories.  Afterwards he covers his life in detail, but even 20 years later much of what he is is related to the loss of his parents.  In a minor way, the book is a mystery with David and his sister Kate trying to discover exactly who murdered their parents and why.  At times through the years, Kate is obsessed with the crime.  She spends time in a mental institution trying to deal with her intense paranoiac beliefs about what happened.  David on the other hand lives a quiet life as a football player for the Miami Dolphins then as a restaurateur.  Always in the background of the siblings' story, are Sylphide, a ballerina who lives in the mansion that backs up to David and Kate's modest family home and Dabney, the ballerina's rock start husband who died not long before David and Kate's parents.  How all of these people and events are tied together if at all is the central conflict of the story. 

Just as much of YA literature deals with the central character's place in the world, this adult story revolves around adults having to confront who they have become and how on earth they ended up this way. 

David Levithan's Every Day

is how I know I will never be a writer.  I mean how does he come up with these things.  I enjoyed Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares that Levithan wrote with Rachel Cohn.  (I did not really like Naomi and ELy's No Kiss List.)  I also loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson by Levithan and John Green.  All of these books are mind bogglingly clever with an interesting approach without being weird or unrealistic.  How does he do it?!?!?

Every Day is the story of A., a spirit, boy, girl, person, something, who wakes up in a different body every day.  His/her life has always been this way.  As a child he/she thought this was the way everyone lived, then he/she discovered his/her uniqueness.  It is not until A. falls in love with Rhiannon that the trouble begins.  Before this, A. has always striven not to have much of an impact on the life of the daily host.  After the day he spends as Rhiannon's boyfriend Justin, A. makes an effort to see her as whomever he is that day.  The story is clearly fantasy and actually reminded me a bit of the Things Not Seen series by Andrew Clements.  As A. grows more and more frustrated with his/her lot in life we come back to the ever present "search for identity" motif in teen literature.  Levithan has turned this on its head by making it impossible, or so it seems for A. to have an identity, or is it his very lack of a permanent physical manifestation that makes his identitiy all that he does have. 

Lots of interesting questions and issues at work here. 

Libba Bray,

Maureen Johnson, and maybe Holly Black and Robin Wasserman are in cahoots.  I have recently read The Name of the Star by Johnson and The Diviners by Bray.  The former is about a creey killer from the past, the latter is about a creepy killer from the past.  I have not yet read The Book of Blood and Shadow by Wasserman, but the dust jacket blurb leads me to believe it might....be....about a CREEPY KILLER FROM THE PAST. (This one needs to go closer to the top of my TBR pile.)

This type of writing is a bit of a departure for Johnson whose previous novels include the Suite Scarlet series as well as 13 Little Blue Envelopes and its sequel, The Last Little Blue Envelope, none of which contain anything more creepy than a guy the heroine does not like at first. Now all of a sudden there is a sequel with equally creepy goings-on?

Bray is not new to stories of the supernatural as evidenced by her fabulous A Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy, but horror was not really a part of those books. 

Holly Black has more experience with the weird as in Black Heart, White Cat, and Red Glove, but these seem to be more fantasy than horror.  (Full discloser: I have not read any of them.)  

Robin Wasserman has some experience with sci-fi dystopia, but seems to have only delved into horror recently. 

So, my question is, were the four of them sitting around one night with a couple of bottles of wine brainstorming ways to challenge themselves and write something different?  I picture them writing down a bunch of ideas and putting them all  in a hat.  What came out was, "write a novel with..... A CREEPY KILLER FROM THE PAST." 

Since this blog has a limited audience I doubt if any of these writers will ever see my theory to confirm or deny, but I am convinced that something is going on here!

So to wrap it up, I really liked In the Name of the Star, though it did creep me out.  I fully intend to read its sequel The Madness Underneath despite what it may do to my ability to read at night with just a reading lamp.  The Diviners was really good as well.  Its setting in Jazz Age, Prohibition Era New York City is well researched and wonderful.  I am looking forward to the next in this series as well.  Luckily I have the Waserman and the Holly Black books to tide me over while I am waiting. 

If you are perhaps interested in a bit of crying

then I would recommend both One for the Murphy's by Lynda Mullaly Hunt and See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles.  I cried during both of these books.  My threshold book for crying is Of Mice and Men so if you cried when George shoots Lennie then you will cry during these.

In One for the Murphy's, Carley moves in with the Murphy family as a foster child after her mother's new husband injures her and seriously injures her mother.  With the Murphy's, Carley is able to be part of a happy family.  They are by no means perfect, but they give Carley the sense of normalcy she needs after such a harrowing experience.  I won't ruin it by telling you how it all ends: with Carley going back to her mother or staying with the Murphy's, but I will say Carley realistic reactions, doubts, and changes really get to the heart of why it is tough to be a foster kid.  (On principal I wanted to avoid this book because of its "kid in snakers" cover, but I am glad I did not.)

 

See You at Harry's is again about family.  This time a family that owns Harry's, an ice cream shop and restaurant.  In addition to Fern, the main character, there are Holden, a high school freshman, who is just beginning to feel comfortable as a homosexual, Sara a recent high school graduate, and Charlie their three-year-old surprise brother in addition to their ex-hippie parents.  They are all getting along as best they can when tragedy strikes.  How they deal with this is the most singnificant part of the novel as each member of the family feels tremendous guilt, but must rely on the others for comfort and support.  This one is difficult to reveiw without giving away the key event, but the portrayal of this confused and hurt family is realistic.  On another note, I am glad to have found a book that deals with a homosexual character in a way that is appropriate for younger readers who may also be struggling with admittance and/or acceptance.