STACKED

books

Don’t Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon

|

Don’t Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon is either a straight-up thriller or a pseudo-fantasy, depending on how the reader interprets certain events.  Either way, this adult novel gave me the creeps (in a good way) and has me seeking out other books by McMahon.
Fifteen years ago, tween Lisa Nazzaro disappeared in the woods behind her home.  Before she disappeared, she told her brother Sam and her cousin Evie that she was going to meet the King of the Fairies, who would take her to the Land of the Fairies and make her his Queen.  Lisa was never found, and her disappearance is still shrouded in mystery.
In present day we meet Phoebe, a woman who has managed to dig herself out of an unpleasant past and make a life for herself with Sam.  Sam doesn’t speak much of his sister who disappeared a decade and a half ago.  One day, Phoebe receives a phone call from a young girl, and the girl tells Phoebe that Lisa has returned from the Land of the Fairies and they should meet her in the forest in a few days. 
From then on, things get super creepy.  Phoebe and Sam reunite with Evie and her husband in order to determine what to do.  Evie has something to share that will shed more light on the mystery of Lisa’s disappearance, but before much can be determined, an old woman shows up at the house where they’re staying, stabs Evie with a corkscrew, and takes off running.  Phoebe and Sam give chase, and things get even creepier after that.  
Phoebe has had nightmares – or visions, really – since she was a little girl about a dark man who hides in the shadows, in doorways, and underneath her bed.  Her drunk mother sometimes explained it away as a dream, and sometimes acknowledged that the dark man was there, letting on that she, too, had seen him on occasion.  Is this dark man the King of the Fairies who stole Lisa away all those years ago?  You’ll wonder up until the very end, and even after you turn the last page you’ll still wonder.
The book flits back and forth between the past and present, alternating between Phoebe and Sam’s current investigation into Lisa’s disappearance and the summer fifteen years ago when Lisa disappeared.  The present-time entries are told mostly from Phoebe’s perspective, and the past-time entries from Lisa’s.  This method works so perfectly, because it allows the reader to piece things together bit by bit, slowly coming to a full understanding of what really happened the night Lisa disappeared.  Or as full of an understanding as you can get.
I loved so many things about this book.  For one thing, it’s got such a twisty plot.  Just when I thought things were settling down into a more normal clue-searching, calm sort of mystery, McMahon threw something creepy at me.  She’s got a way of writing that makes you want to check underneath your own bed to make sure there isn’t a trap door there from where the evil King of the Fairies can emerge and snatch you away. 
I’ve probably used the word creepy about a dozen times in this review, but it’s really the most accurate term.  To be honest, I’ve kind of creeped myself out just by summarizing the plot here, and the odd noises my refrigerator is making don’t help.  Don’t Breathe a Word is a real page-turner that manages to tie up all loose ends – giving the reader awful but rational answers – but still leave you with shivers and a decision to make at the end.
That decision you make, it’s a big one.  What I loved most about the book is how it toed the line between realism and fantasy.  When you read the last few pages, after you think everything’s been answered satisfactorily and comfortably explained away and there couldn’t possibly be anything more to say, McMahon shows you that she does have more to say.  How do you interpret it?  Are there malevolent fairies, or are they just a figment of a girl’s imagination, of her need to explain away the terrible things that happened to her?  It could really go either way, and I love it.
Speaking of creepy, McMahon’s book covers all seem to have a theme: creepy girl with big eyes staring at you.  (You can see a collection of them on one page at the author’s Goodreads page.)  The effect works very well with Don’t Breathe a Word, and I think it’s interesting that it’s a trend for her books.  It’s actually one of the reasons I’ve decided to seek out McMahon’s other books – I want a similar read to this one, and the similarity of the covers indicates she’s written more in this vein.
This is just the kind of adult book (or book in general, really) that I like to read: a plot that keeps me guessing, writing that flows well and doesn’t jar me out of the story with unnecessary flourishes, compelling characters with mysterious, sometimes lurid, pasts.  It got my heart rate up for sure, and I dug every moment.
Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.  Don’t Breathe a Word is on sale May 17.

The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B Sheinmel

|

Nick’s a junior in high school, and he’s your average kind of guy. He floats by. But everything changes on night when he receives a strange phone call for his father — it’s a voice on the other end of the line that he doesn’t recognize and he takes a message. When the strange caller strikes again and this time his father is able to answer, Nick knows something unsettling is going on.

Little did he know how much his life would change when one of the deepest secrets his father holds unravels before him.

The Lucky Kind, Sheinmel’s sophomore effort, is a quiet book in the same style as her first novel, The Beautiful Between. It’s not a quick read, and much like Sarah Dessen does, Sheinmel really develops a world for her characters that is easy to fall into. The two make excellent readalikes for that and for their ability to delve into family drama in a realistic and relatable way.

But for me, The Lucky Kind was not as strong as The Beautiful Between, and it all hinges on the fact that Nick is not a believable male voice to me. He’s far too emotional and internally driven, set on making everything right between people in his world. Although there certainly are boys who are emotional, it doesn’t ring true here. This book won’t really reach male readers but I think that many female readers will appreciate the voice that Nick has, despite the fact it’s a little unrealistic.

Sheinmel has a way with writing interesting and evocative scenes — I wanted to keep reading, despite my disinterest and disbelief in Nick. The thread of the story was compelling enough to keep going, and perhaps most important to me was the fact this story did not drag. It’s a short book, clocking in at just over 200 pages, and I had enough interest to keep going. The big secret which Nick discovers about his father is believable enough, and I found the actual relationship that developed between father and son to be honest: there’s a lot of hurt going on with Nick and with his father in the big reveal, and as readers, we feel it. I would have liked knowing a little bit more about the mother in the story, but since this story really focused in on one thing, that could have added unnecessary weight.

Sheinmel excels at relationship building. Nick develops a relationship with a long time crush in the story, and I enjoyed seeing how that developed through the course of the book; not only was this relationship between them, though, it connected right back to the relationship that Nick and his father were having and the relationship that develops between Nick and the person on the phone. I’d say it even connected right back to the relationship Nick had with best friend Stevie, too. This year it seems there are a lot of strong books about family and the fluidity therein, and I believe The Lucky Kind offers a glimpse into this.

That said, I had to suspend a little bit of my belief in reading because the entire plot depended upon a single phone call on a land line phone. And while this alone isn’t necessarily unbelievable, the fact Nick said he depends upon that land line phone, particularly when it came to communicating with his friend Stevie, was hammered out more than once; a little dated, perhaps, for teen readers today, but again, not entirely problematic. But the issue lies in the fact that after the first couple of chapters when the big phone call plot is set up, everything is done via cell phone. Stevie is the last person Nick called on his cell phone. He only communicates with girlfriend Eden via cell phone. It was a thin string to unhatch the plot, but the narrative inconsistencies made the string even weaker.

The Lucky Kind will appeal to readers of realistic fiction, family stories, or sweet romances. Sarah Dessen fans will enjoy this, as will fans of Deb Caletti, and perhaps those of CK Kelly Martin. This wasn’t my favorite read of this year, but it does stand out a little bit as something different from much of what I have read. I liked the family dynamics, and I thought the ending offered something that wasn’t as open and closed as many other similar stories. Girl readers will probably find Nick an extremely likeable character, though I think they won’t necessarily buy him as realistic. I’d skip handing this one off to the boys, though, in hopes of reaching them with a good guy voice; but don’t brush off the fact that this character will still appeal to some boy readers who like more romantic stories (they do exist).

Book picked up at ALA. The Lucky Kind will be released May 10.

Guys Lit Wire Book Fair

|


Can you imagine what it would be like if you didn’t have books in your high school library? If you couldn’t access things like an SAT study guide?

Thanks to the efforts of Guys Lit Wire, one high school in such a situation is being offered the chance to change that through the donations of book lovers and youth advocates.

Ballou High School is this year’s recipient of this book fair, and donating to the cause is incredibly easy and rewarding. Click here to get the full details on how to access the school’s wish list and have items sent directly to them.

I donated 2 fiction titles, and after making my donation, I got notes from two of my friends — not bloggers or book friends, but people I went to college with — that they also donated a handful of books EACH to the cause. So readers, I implore you: if you can spare 10 or 15 bucks to put much needed books into the hands of these high schoolers, you would make a difference in someone’s life. It’s easy and important.

If you DO donate, please drop me a comment here with what you sent. I think I can do something to reward you, too.

The Great YA Blogger Meetup @ ALA Annual in New Orleans

|

More details are to come, but for now, mark your calendars!

We’ll be having our meet up on Saturday, June 25 from 8-11 p.m. at Tommy’s Wine Bar.

There is a super exciting co-sponsor of this meet up, which you will hear about soon. To say I was excited about this blog offering to help in advertising and having some of the bloggers in attendance would be a total understatement.

Want to join us? Fill out the form here!

Lost and Found by Shaun Tan

|

Lost and Found by Shaun Tan is a book to be pored over again and again.  Although it was just published in 2011, the book actually consists of three stories written and illustrated by Tan in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Though fairly different in subject matter, they all touch upon the theme reflected in the title.
The first story, The Red Tree, centers upon a young girl who is having a bad day and the marvelous thing she finds at its end.
In the second story, The Lost Thing, a boy finds a strange lost thing and tries to find it a home, which is more difficult than it seems.
Tan concludes the book with a story written by John Marsden called The Rabbits.  This one is perhaps the easiest to interpret – a description of what is lost when colonists displace the native people on the land they conquer – and also the darkest.
For those less careful or more inquisitive readers, Tan includes an author’s note at the back where he elaborates upon the themes discussed within the three stories.  This addendum serves to give meaning to the stories in case the reader missed it, but also may prevent the reader from interpreting the stories for herself.  (I say this from experience, since I got something slightly different from one of the stories and had to re-think it when I read the explanation.)
The words Tan and Marsden have selected are nice, but it’s the illustrations that make this book a standout (not surprisingly).  Tan’s illustrations are so wonderfully unique and immediately recognizable as his style.  Sometimes I was reminded of pieces I had seen by Bosch and Dali – Tan’s got a great sense of the weird and pays attention to every little detail on every single spread – but his art is also unlike anything else.  The words themselves contribute to the illustrations.  Sometimes they’re handwritten, sometimes they’re “pasted” onto the page like a collage, sometimes they dance around or fall down the page.  The colors are rich and evoke just the right mood for each story.  It’s difficult for me to describe just what the art is like, since I am by no means an art aficionado, so I’ve given a couple examples here.  
I think kids would definitely be enthralled by Tan’s art.  There’s so much detail and a reader could spend a long time just studying the pages to ensure every little thing has been spotted.  The themes are pretty heavy, though, and full understanding comes with a bit more age, particularly when you consider the meaning is given with so few words.  There’s lots of room for interpretation.