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Adios, Nirvana by Conrad Wesselhoeft

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A few months back, I reviewed Jandy Nelson’s The Sky is Everywhere and while it wasn’t my favorite read, it’s one that has really stuck with me. I find myself thinking about Lennie quite a bit and I think about the way that Nelson weaved the different poetic elements into the book.

Fortunately, fans of Nelson’s book will find a heck of a lot to enjoy in Conrad Wesselhoeft’s forthcoming debut Adios, Nirvana, which could be easily seen as sort of the male side of loss.

Ever since Jonathan’s twin brother Telly (short for Telemachus, which isn’t his real name) died, he’s been a wreck. He can’t get himself together, and everything for which he once had passion he has forgotten about. Jonathan was last year’s Best Young Poet in Washington, but this year he hardly shows up to class, let alone write poetry or perform music on his guitar. He’s on a fast track to repeating his junior year of high school until the principal offers him an ultimatum: write the life story of a local World War II vet, David, who lives in a local hospice. Obviously, Jonathan’s thrilled with this idea, especially given the fact he’ll have to deal with more death than he’d like to, but as he embarks on this trip with David, he comes to really better understand himself and better understand the importance of loss and tragedy in developing a sense of self.

Adios, Nirvana is raw. Jonathan is a foul mouthed teen boy but one who you absolutely cannot help but love throughout the story. He is a poet and a song writer, and throughout the book, we are greeted with some of his poetry and the vast knowledge he has of writers and literature. Jonathan’s been working on his own version of what could be considered a combination of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” Ezra Pound’s “Cantos,” and Jack Kerouac’s “Choruses”: he call is a Chaos. Through these chaoses, we get a deeper look into the way the loss of his brother has really influenced his behavior and how he sees himself as an artist.

Wesselhoeft’s debut is well-paced, but it begs to be read slowly. The use of poetry throughout helps make this happen, as we are forced in particular to listen to the words David shares with us about his experience in the war. And despite Jonathan’s reluctance and downright refusal to partake in such a depressing project, deep down, he loves it. David is an utter inspiration to him, and as we progress through the story, he becomes what Jonathan maybe hopes to become. I won’t go further in explaining how something that David says ends up being what helps guide his apprentice through the end of his junior year.

This book will have wide appeal, particularly to male readers. Fans of Nelson’s story will find a lot to love here, as this is another story of loss and deep grief. However, this story contains stronger language, as well as many instances of drugs and alcohol, so if those are of concern, this might not be the best readalike for The Sky is Everywhere. However, fans of realistic fiction and of strong and smart male characters and of stories with a strong basis in writing or in music will have a lot to enjoy here, and quite frankly, Jonathan’s going to be one of those characters like Lennie for me: I’ll be spending a long time thinking about what happened to him in the future and what he’d be up to now.

* Review copy picked up at BEA and available on netgalley.com

The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff

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At one point in my life, I was a bit of a math genius. Although it’d be hard to call me that now, I still am a total geek when it comes to statistics and about percentages (I love figuring out tipping since it’s much simpler than people give it credit for). But Lily of The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff is much better at math than I am, and fortunately, this isn’t a story about math. Well, maybe it is.

Lily, Noah, and Simon have been good friends for a long time, and all of their lives are defined by some sort of tragedy. Simon’s dealing with a family member’s illness; Noah’s got an abusive parent; and Lily’s folks are not going to be keeping their marriage together for anything. Oh, and both Noah and Simon have the hots for Lily, even though she only has eyes for one of them.

Brezenoff’s story sounds exceedingly simple: it’s the tale of three teens who have a rough life. It’s told through each of their perspectives, beginning with Lily and ending with Simon. However, this is far from a simple story. Lily, Noah, and Simon are complex characters living within fluid and rapidly changing family situations, and it is through the tragedy and turbulence that these three characters find themselves and they figure out how they can relate to one another.

Bookending the stories of these three characters is Suzanne’s story: she’s Simon’s sister, and she plays a major part in Simon’s story. The book begins and ends in the same scene, molding the moments between that play out among the other three characters. Although the idea of teens coming from rough backgrounds is nothing new or earth shattering, especially in teen lit today, I thought that Brezenoff’s take was unique — I really liked and was fascinated by the stories underlying each teen’s life. I wanted to know what drove them to do what they did, and I wanted to know why Lily fell so hard for Noah while Simon fell so hard for Lily. Noah, who we know the least about going into the story, we continue knowing the least about because he offers us the least insight. It works, though, as Simon acts as a bit of the glue holding them all together.

While reading The Absolute Value of -1, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this is a book with serious award potential, either that of the National Book Award or the ALA Morris Award. There was something real and believable about the story, as it was about the kids you always seem to forget about in school. They aren’t necessarily losers or stoners or jocks or bullies. They participate in what interests them, but they aren’t super stars. This is a slice-of-life readers are interested in but aren’t often indulged with enough. Moreover, Brezenoff’s writing is believable and paced well. The book moves quickly, as readers are engaged with the characters who they want to get to know better and better. And by beginning the story with a real cliffhanger, we are immediately drawn into the who and the what, which won’t be truly resolved until the last page. It reminded me a lot of Rita Williams-Garcia’s Jumped, and I think fans of that style will eat this one up, as well.

Brezenoff’s story is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of angst and tragedy, as well as a lot of terse and unforgiving language. But the story pulses and moves, and the characters will not be easily forgotten. Simon earned a lot of respect from me as a reader quickly, and I found him to be such a refreshing male compared to a lot of other males lauded in teen lit today. Sure, he’s got it rough, but he also chose to make the best of the situation. If only Lily would open her eyes.

We are left knowing an end to a part of Simon’s story, but the book itself doesn’t resolve many issues. This tactic works, and it does not leave the door open for sequels. Perhaps the word I’m looking for is authentic — we know this story is just that, and readers will come away feeling that way, too. Hand this off to your fans of character-driven novels and fans of grittier lit, as well as fans of Gail Giles or Split by Swati Avasti. I think this book, in the right hands, will really open the doors of reading to many. This is the sort of book that will leave readers identifying heavily with someone or better understanding someone else.

* Review copy read and available at netgalley.com

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivan

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Natalie would never be the girl to give up her obligations. She’s been working hard to become the class president since the day she began high school. She’s got goals of going to a top college, graduating at the top of her college class, and taking over the world. She’s not going to ruin her life by getting involved with boys in high school, and she’s made it a personal mission to make sure that other girls don’t ruin their future, too. Her best friend Autumn had gotten into a hot-and-heavy relationship with an older guy her freshman year and it didn’t end well. Let’s just say Autumn’s earned the nickname of fish sticks, and it won’t be leaving her.

When Natalie sees a freshman girl digging in her locker and exposing her backside, she decides to tell the girl kindly in hopes of helping steer the girl away from a life of being an easy girl into a Ross Academy rising star. Little did Natalie know that this freshman — her former babysittee Spencer — will instead go the opposite route and take to boys like Natalie repels them. Oh, and Spencer will make sure to be around Natalie all the time, whether because she adores her, loves the feeling that comes with being friends with the student body president, or maybe to teach Natalie a thing or two about having fun and letting loose.

Not That Kind of Girl is a fast-paced book that looks at the whole spectrum of high school: the college-bound driven girl, the party girl, the best friend, and the boys. The boys are collective, sharing the traits of being cute, taunting girls, and having athletic prowess. Natalie, for me, was one of the best written characters I’ve read in a while, and I couldn’t decide throughout the entire book whether I liked her or utterly hated her. She was extremely full of herself, and she was always interested in pushing her beliefs and morals on those around her (and issue that will be brought up and discussed when it comes to both Autumn and Spencer near the end of the book). Natalie has a hero complex which becomes more and more difficult to deal with as the story goes on. She needs to be the protector of everyone, and she believes she’s the only reason why her best friend Autumn hasn’t just offed herself yet. She holds this over Autumn’s head, just as she holds the fact that she’s saved Spencer’s reputation and behavior from trouble time and time again. However, this will come to a head and I think it does so quite well.

On the other hand, Natalie was driven and self-confident: traits that many high school girls in her position seek to be. She knows what she wants and seeks it out. She doesn’t necessarily step on people to get these things, either. Ms. Bee, a history teacher at the school, becomes her role model, and it is refreshing to see a character who truly admires an adult. Not to mention the respect and care she has for her parents, as well. Natalie’s both easy and hard to love.

Enter Conner.

After Natalie’s insistence that boys are worthless and not to be fussed with in high school, Conner comes through for her again and again. When she decides to have a bonfire as one of her first projects as student body president, guess who shows up on time with free wood (courtesy of the family business)? When she needs food for the Thanksgiving baskets for the less fortunate, guess who shows up with food from the family business? Oh, and guess who utterly adores Natalie, despite her hard shell? Conner.

I found Conner to be a fantastically real male character, despite some of the shortcomings I found with the other males in the book (this is not the fault of Vivian’s writing but instead a fault of Natalie, our main character). He will be the person who ultimately helps Natalie think about the way she’s been acting and behaving, and I think that he is quite a stand up guy. He never feels the need to dominate Natalie, nor does he make a display of conquoering her “Taming of the Shrew” style. Instead, he truly cares about her, despite the way she’s acted a number of times and how different they are. Natalie is downright mean to him when he tells her he won’t be going to college and instead will take over the family business. He doesn’t care. He still wants to be with her.

Vivian’s writing is fast-paced and her characters are well developed, leaving me as a reader much more satisfied with this read than I thought I would be. Not That Kind of Girl is a story about being a strong girl and despite the fact that Natalie changes her tune a bit when she becomes involved with a guy, it is NOT the guy who changes her. Rather, it is Natalie herself who wakes up, and it is through the insights by Autumn and Spencer she figures out what is really important in her life. This coming-of-age story has romance and will appeal to a wide range of primarily female readers. Fans of Melissa Walker, Kody Keplinger’s The DUFF, Sarah Dessen, Sarah Ockler, and others will find a lot to enjoy here. Although not the most memorable story, Natalie is a memorable character, as she elicits a lot of emotion from the reader.

*Review copy received from the publisher.

Somebody Everybody Listens to by Suzanne Supplee

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Retta Lee Jones has a dream to leave her small town in Tennessee and make it big as a country music singer down in Nashville. Now that she’s graduated high school and her friends are going to be going to colleges out of town, she knows it’ll be harder being the only one to stay. But with the nudging of her good friends, she decides to take the $500ish dollars she has saved up from working at the diner and use it to strike out on her own in the big city of country music. She has a voice, but will she have the will power?

With a little help from the local grump, she borrows a beat down car and makes the trip with promises to be back in September if things didn’t work out. But when she runs into a little car trouble, Ricky Dean saves her with his mechanic skills and puts her to work as his secretary so she can make a little money. A gig at a local hotel and doing open mics at the Mockingbird Cafe, though, might be the recipe for seeing her name in the big lights sooner than Retta’d ever imagined.

Somebody Everybody Listens To is a sweet story about perseverance and about growing up. Retta is a fun lead character in this story, and she is 100% authentic as both a teenager, a dreamer, and a southern girl. The book is chock full of allusions and stories about country music legends, as each chapter opens with a small biography of a well-known country star, when and where they were born, their road to fame, their first jobs, and something significant that happened in their personal lives. This mimics exactly how the story works out for Retta: we know when and where Retta is born, and as the story progresses, we see how she gets her first big break, and then we discover some of the big road bumps that jostle her.

Supplee, whose Artichoke’s Heart I’ve also read, has a really enjoyable writing style that has wide appeal: her characters are full of heart, and her prose moves smoothly and at a good pace. She doesn’t get too caught up in details nor does she weigh the story down with too many characters. There’s a nice balance of lead and ancillary characters in her story: just enough to know Retta intimately but enough other characters to know that there is more going on in the world than just Retta. I thought Ricky Dean and Bobby McGee play in well, as does Retta’s best friend Brenda. We also learn that Retta would not have been the only one left in their small town — and I think that this entire feeling Retta and Brenda develop mirrors what a lot of people who just finished high school feel.

Although Retta is ultimately successful in Nashville, it’s the kind of success that is believable in just a couple of months. She’s not a multimillionaire, and at the very end, we actually don’t know what Retta chooses to do. We can speculate, and I think that Supplee does her readers a huge service by leaving the ending open a little bit.

This book will work well for middle and high school students, as it is entirely clean and free of any issues relating to drugs, alcohol, or sex. Retta doesn’t as much as kiss anyone in the book either: this is a story of her following her dreams of success as a singer. Fans of country music will dig this, as will fans of a coming-of-age story. Hand this off to fans of Supplee’s Artichoke’s Heart, Lisa Greenwald’s My Life in Pink and Green, and fans of Wendy Mass. And as a bonus to readers, the author’s provided her writing playlist, so readers can make their own listening list that will fit the mood of this book perfectly.

Also, how cool is it this book has a blurb from Dolly Parton?

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins

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Like everyone else in the blogosphere, we believe we can add something to the discussion of the last and final book in the “Hunger Games” trilogy by the genius Suzanne Collins. Here’s our take on some of the issues in Mockingjay, as we don’t necessarily agree, despite both enjoying this book and the rest of the series.

*Spoilers are included, so please beware

One of the things I loved best about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was the fact that I read it at the exact same time as thousands of other people across the world. Reading, an inherently solitary act, became – in a way – a social act as well. I felt like my own excitement mingled with the world’s – the build-up to the release, the feeling of finally holding the book, turning the first page and delving in – and it made the whole experience that much richer.

I haven’t felt the same level of excitement since then, but Mockingjay came pretty close. It had been three years since I felt so enthused about a book’s release, and the feeling was almost intoxicating. I tell you this because this is the mood I was in when I began reading Mockingjay, and the mood was sustained through the four hours it took me to finish.
All the things that I expected were here: lots of action, lots of death, an explanation of President Snow’s blood-scented breath, questions answered and a few left unresolved. Even with such an action-propelled book, Collins still managed to give us new characters we care about and build upon the ones we already knew. I often complain about young adult literature’s sacrifice of things like character and setting in favor of a fast plot, but Collins has struck a good balance.
A week after finishing the book, the thing that sticks with me most is hijacked Peeta. Even for those of us who feel confident that our relationships (romantic or otherwise) are based on love, sometimes we all worry that the person who claimed to care so much for us is going to wake up one day and not remember what is it they thought they liked so much about us. While I think this could have come across as a cheap ploy to cause romantic strife, it reads naturally and believably in Collins’ hands. Even more than Finnick’s or Prim’s death, this is what I remember. 
Peeta’s return to himself (and to Katniss) isn’t rushed like so many things in the series are. It’s slow, deliberate, takes effort, and isn’t fully complete by the end of the book. We as readers aren’t sure that it ever will be complete. One of the things that bugged me so much about the romance between Katniss and Peeta in the first two books is that Katniss never knew how Peeta really felt – whether he was putting on a show or expressing genuine emotion. (Personally, I could never be with someone who left me guessing so much, which is why I was so strongly Team Gale.) Peeta’s hijacking allows us to see that his feelings for her are real. Not only that, but his love is strong enough that he fights to regain it. Even more than the romantic angle, though, it’s a really good piece of character development.
I had some quibbles with the end. I didn’t buy that so many people would agree to a reinstatement of the Hunger Games. I know why Collins wanted that in there, but I felt her point could have been made more subtly. (Perhaps something less horrific than another Hunger Games, something that would have been more believable as justice rather than revenge, thus making it more of a grey area, would have worked better for me.) I felt the writing off of Gale was rushed, and that Katniss’ decision of Peeta should have stood alone without her one or two sentence explanation at the end. (If a decision is truly in keeping with character development, it shouldn’t require an explanation – that’s what we readers get to do!) I wanted more backstory about Panem. Above all, I was disappointed that Katniss wasn’t involved in the final battle and that her trial occurred off-page.
These quibbles are really just nitpicks, though. For me, reading is ultimately an emotional act. I can be clinical about a book and tell you honestly whether its plot was derivative or its characters too two-dimensional or its writing sloppy. (Not that Mockingjay falls into any of these categories.) But really, I base my judgment of a book on how I feel when I walk away. Mockingjay engrossed me from start to finish. The action was exciting and felt natural, I was fully invested in the characters and their fate, my heart rate increased at all the right points, and I didn’t feel like Collins had cheated me or that the hype had been for nothing when I finished. It’s not a perfect book, and it’s not on my all-time favorites list, but it’s still really damn good.

I’ve got to get off my chest immediately that Catching Fire bored me. I read it the day it came out, and I reread it in an attempt to make myself like it a week ago, but I still felt the same way. It’s not that it’s not a good book or that the tension doesn’t develop more. It just felt a little bit like cheating to me, as the Quarter Quell happens, and it feels like The Hunger Games rehashed a little bit.

I was excited when my expectations for that were shattered at the beginning of Mockingjay, when Katniss decides to bite the bullet and be the symbol for all things anti-government. Kind of, at least.

If I were to rate this series, Mockingjay would be my second favorite, but it still didn’t quite captivate me the same way that The Hunger Games did, and here’s why: Katniss. Katniss throughout this book felt like a bit of a whiner to me. For the first two books, she’s a strong, independent and absolutely astonishing main character. She’s a revolution, if you will. But when Katniss steps up to truly take on the part of the revolution, she becomes a little too whiny for my tastes.

Not only that, but we know she’s been told straight out that when she’s not being fed lines or moves and she acts on her own accord, she’s a much more interesting, strong, and brilliant person. Yet, throughout the book, Katniss doesn’t WANT to act of her own accord. This is particularly evident, I think, in the end when she returns to her old home and proceeds to spend an inordinate amount of time sitting around and being inactive. Obviously she has a lot on her mind, but it felt to me she’d rather feel sorry for herself and wait to be told how to act than to be the Katniss we knew and loved. I just felt let down that she couldn’t listen to the fact she’s such a powerhouse; I saw Katniss as more of a person to take that compliment and move with it.

Alas.

I did quite enjoy the growth of Prim throughout this book, but it left me longing for more of it in the other two books. I liked her a lot as a character and seeing her come into her own was worth the wait. And Gale? Loved seeing his transformation. As far as Peeta went, I thought he was perhaps the most dynamic character in Mockingjay, as we got a glimpse of someone truly impacted by the games to the point of (imho) PTSD.

I’m a little sad Katniss ended up with Peeta. I was Team Gale, if I had to pick one, if for no other reason than the fact they’d been buddies forever. But I’ll also say that the romance in this book never worked for me, as I like it a little hotter and heavier, but for a book aimed at teens of all ages (it’s on a middle school awards list in Illinois, even), I think it strikes a good balance of reality and fantasy.

Overall, I thought that the third volume answered a lot of questions burning from the other two, but it didn’t *quite* live up to what I was hoping for. I still wish I could know more about Panem and how it came to be, and I wish that Katniss would have grown a little more as a character, rather than wither. The anti-war and government message grated a bit on me, as well, but I don’t believe it’s as much as political statement as other readers may have believed. Maybe that says something about me, too.

What did you think? Share your comments with us, and feel free to post spoilers in the comments.