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books

Lie by Caroline Bock

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As a reader of and advocate for contemporary literature, it always excites me when a topic comes up that I haven’t read before. Caroline Bock’s debut Lie tackles a hate crime, which was something I haven’t read before and which excited me to read. More than that though, this book handles the topic in a unique matter, giving perspectives from more than one narrator and delving into issues of not only race, but also of class and status.

Skylar’s boyfriend Jimmy’s been accused of brutally attacking two Latino immigrants in a neighboring town. Skyler’s being asked about it because she was the only witness there that night, but she has kept a vow of silence about everything she’s seen. She wants to protect Jimmy, but the more she thinks about the crime and the more she delves into the greater meaning of everything, the more she wonders if keeping her silence is the best thing she should be doing. It’s not just Skylar at the helm of the story, though. Jimmy’s best friend Sean is also debating whether or not he played a role in the assault and whether or not he needs to face the music himself.

Lie is a slower paced book, and it’s one that requires paying a lot of attention. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, but rather, this isn’t a book you will breeze through. When I started the book, I expected it to be a bit of a louder read because the topic at hand seemed like it would call for that. I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t because it forced me to listen to what all of the different characters were telling me. In listening, I, too, was forced to think about the moral issues the characters debated.

This is a book that tackles multiple points of view, and I believe Bock does a pretty good job nailing them all. We’re given the perspective of Skylar and what she’s going through as a witness to a crime. We believe in her mental anguish, and we want her to do the right thing. Sean’s voice is given to us next, and all we know is that he’s sitting in jail for the crime. He makes bail eventually, and this is one of those details I drop in the review because it does play a larger role in one of the secondary story lines. Then we hear from Lisa Marie, who is Skylar’s best friend and one of those people in her life who helps her realize she plays her own part in the crime and she needs to do something about it. We also get the chance to meet Skylar’s father, who is an EMT. Of all the characters in the book, he has the most distinct voice, and it’s one that begins in denial. He’s convinced his daughter knows nothing and while he feels bad for the kids who were beat, he also thinks it’s ridiculous his daughter is being punished for it.

Continuing the story are the principal at the high school that Skylar, Jimmy, and Sean attend. Her role is much less about telling the story than it is about setting the backdrop for where and what these come from. I liked this about her character, and I appreciated that she isn’t introduced to readers immediately. Her first appearance is about 1/3 of the way through the book, which gives readers enough time to meet the main players in the story and build confidence or disbelief in who they are before getting further back story. Along with the principal, we meet coach Martinez, who oversaw both Jimmy and Sean on the ball field. He, like the principal, plays less a role in the story as a character and more as a voice to offer back story and development for Jimmy and Sean.

Finally, two characters who also chime into the story are probably the ones that spoke to me the most and really made the story flourish: Gloria Cortez, the mother of the two boys who were brutally attacked, and Carlos Cortez, the boy who was attacked and didn’t require lengthy hospitalization. With Gloria, we learn why and how her sons Carlos and Arturo made it to America and why she wanted them to be here. When she learns of the attack, she makes arrangements to get back and pray Arturo, who was still quite injured in the hospital, back to health.

It sounds like a lot of characters and a lot to keep track of, but in all honesty, it’s well done. I believed every voice, and I felt like each of them contributed something greater to the plot than any one character telling the story alone could. Moreover, I thought it did a lot of favors that the description of the book didn’t. The book depicts Skylar as a devoted girlfriend to Jimmy because he saved her. I’m not sure what that even means, and while reading, I kind of anticipated some sort of romantic subplot that would detract from the greater importance of the story. However, the romance here is really not a big part of the story, and never once did I get the feeling from Skylar that she was a love drunk girl who needed to be rescued by a boy. Instead, I bought a girl who was terrified to turn in someone she cared about, and she would have been in that position no matter who the person she was with was. Although information dumps in stories can be tiresome, Bock does a great job of using her characters to do the information dropping in a way that’s not simply convenient nor flat. I get a full sense of who both the principal and the coach are, even if their roles are smaller than many of the other characters.

One of the things that really worked for me in this book was the setting. It takes place on Long Island, and the characters really feel authentic to the place. They’re from a variety of backgrounds and statuses, and that’s sort of the key. These characters range from middle class (which is something that the principal talks about) to lower class and immigrant. The disparity is palpable, and it creates tension in the story that amplifies the severity of the hate crime that happened. Readers are put into the same position as Skylar, as we do develop a sympathy for both the victims and the perpetrators of the crime. We know what’s right and wrong, and we have our expectations and beliefs validated when Gloria and Carlos have their chance to talk in the story, but we still have a sense of understanding to Jimmy and Sean. For me, the story was less about the hate crime and more about the realities and hardships faced by different classes and social statuses.

This was far from a perfect book, as it did take quite a while for the storyline to pick up. There are a few big reveals that don’t come until 2/3 of the way through the book, and given the slower pacing of the story, it felt like a long time to wait. I also never bought the depth and devotion in the romantic sense between Skylar and Jimmy, and it’s really unfortunate that that plays such a big part in the book’s description. It doesn’t need to. The story is about whether to tell the truth or to lie, and it’s about the millions of things in one’s life that makes doing something that seems so simple so challenging.

Lie would make for a fantastic book discussion book, as I think that it’s relatable and understandable to readers on many levels. This is the kind of book you give to those who like their stories with depth and with slower pacing. Bock’s book strikes me as the kind of story with potential to be considered for awards as well because it is genuine and it is well-written. It doesn’t fall into a lot of the traps books like this can that tackle a serious issue and do so with more than one voice. It’s also a shorter book, clocking in at 224 pages; the story is tightly edited and after reading a ton of books that went on just a little too long, I appreciated this. It’s also a paperback release, for those of you who purchase with a tight budget.

If I may, one of the things I think I like a lot more about this book than I should is the title. Lie sounds simple, but in the context of the book, it holds a lot more meaning. I think it’s probably one of the smartest titles in a while.

Review copy picked up at ALA. Lie will be available August 30.

Binky the Space Cat and Binky to the Rescue by Ashley Spires

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Binky is a space cat, although no one else in his household knows it. He’s received his official letter from F.U.R.S.T. (Felines of the Universe Ready for Space Travel), which means he is ready to venture outside of the house and into outer space (known simply as “outside” to the rest of us). Binky’s goal as a space cat is to protect his family – a woman and her son – from the aliens that encroach upon their home (also known as the space station). You and I may call the aliens bugs or insects, but Binky knows better.

In Binky the Space Cat, Binky begins his tenure as a space cat by building a space ship. His family ventures into space all the time, and Binky knows he must protect them from the aliens that live out there. The only way to do that is to build a space ship and go out exploring. He also must undergo a lot of self-directed training for his trip. His faithful companion Tim, a stuffed mouse, is with him constantly. Binky’s project goes fairly well for some time, but when he nears the launch date, he realizes something that changes all of his plans.

Binky the Space Cat

In Binky to the Rescue, Binky falls out a window into outer space. He is rescued by his family, but when he is brought back inside, he realizes Tim has been left outside – right underneath an alien warship! Binky mounts a rescue, all the while being thwarted by his family who insist on keeping him inside the space station.

The stories are told mostly with captions rather than dialogue. Binky is not a talking cat – he meows and sobs and munches and makes other noises, which means he is much more of a “real life” cat than his feline counterparts in other stories. It wasn’t what I was expecting – I’m so used to talking animals by now that I’m surprised when they don’t talk – but it made for a nice change. Spires’ narration is witty and sly and just right for kids, who should get a real kick out of Binky’s misunderstanding of common everyday items as things from outer space.

Because Binky doesn’t speak, he communicates a lot through his facial expressions. All of his emotions are crystal clear and highly amusing. In fact, I’d say Spires excels more at the illustration aspect of storytelling than the writing, although she’s no slouch at writing either. As a bonus, these books are full-color, something I almost always require in a graphic novel before I’ll even consider picking it up.

Binky to the Rescue
Possibly my favorite review of this series of books is the one from School Library Journal, which calls it “sweet and clever, and for those who disdain sweet and clever, there is also farting.” The books are perhaps not as clever as I had wished – I tend to get my hopes up sometimes – but they’re clever enough to keep me reading and enjoying. Plus, Spires includes plenty of details in the illustrations that can be picked up on a re-read (in my case, I discovered at least one new fart, helpfully pointed out to me by my boyfriend). Binky’s a winner – and there’s a third adventure due out on September 1.

Books borrowed from my local library.

At The Hub!

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I’ve got two posts over at YALSA’s YA Lit blog this month that I thought would be worth sharing. First, I talk about my love for Recovery Road and why I nominated it for the YALSA Reader’s Choice Award. I really liked that book. A lot.

Today, I shared my monthly piece on debut authors who have their books out this month. I’ve talked about two of them here already, and one of them I’ll be talking about later this week. Go check it out.

Stay with Me by Paul Griffin

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Mack’s a high school drop out, and he’s been tasked with a mission by his soon-to-be-deployed friend Tony, and that’s to take care of his sister CeCe. Mack’s skeptical of Tony’s request, part because he doesn’t think he’s good enough to take care of CeCe and part because he thinks CeCe is a knockout and the kind of girl he dreams about. In other words, he’s afraid to get too close, ruin his chances with her, and ruin his friendship with Tony all together.

The thing is, though, Mack lets himself get close to CeCe, and soon, they’re a couple. Soon, he’s falling head over heels with her, and he knows she’s the only girl for him. Even though she doesn’t share some of the passions he does, he wants to be with her. But he’s also afraid to let her in on his secrets and on his past.

Mack’s biggest talent, and the one thing he thrives on, is his ability to train dogs, specifically pits. When he finds a pit who has been abandoned, he takes her in and wants to rehabilitate her. This scares CeCe, who had been a victim of a dog attack before. But slowly, Mack turns CeCe around and teaches her that even a dog with a reputation can be loved. She believes him so much that she wants to adopt the rescue, which Mack named Boo. And that’s when the story takes off.

It takes little time before Mack finds himself in prison, then finds himself in solitary confinement, then finds himself in the position to completely change his life around using his talents. But he also knows he’s really screwed up his future. He worries he’ll never get to be with CeCe again. He doesn’t know if he can live with that, either.

Stay with Me is a fast-paced, urban novel that will appeal to fans of Simone Elkeles, as well as those who like their stories with edge. The characters in this story are what you’d imagine them to be: hard, passionate, and gritty. They’re all good at the core, though, even if they make huge mistakes. That’s what I liked about this book so much, though: as readers, we know that these are all good characters and that they make mistakes and that they are learning from them. As much as we get to know Mack’s huge mistake from his perspective, we also learn that Tony’s decision to enlist as a combat medic ends up being quite a bit of a mistake. CeCe’s no perfect girl, either. She’s struggling with a home life that’s anything but perfect, and she knows that whatever happens to her brother overseas will inevitably impact what goes on at home with her and her alcoholic mother.

Griffin’s book is a plot-driven narrative, but he doesn’t sacrifice character development. I loved how the three main characters in this story grew into themselves and one another over the course of the story, and I felt like it was extremely authentic. There was no ah ha moment for them. The events in their lives forced them to adapt, which inevitably forced them to grow. They became stronger for that.

The romance in this book is simultaneously hot and sweet, which is why I think this book will appeal to fans of Elkeles’s titles. Although CeCe and Mack seem to get together quickly, despite Mack’s initial reluctance due to his own history and reputation, it doesn’t feel false or contrived. Big brother Tony had a hitch they would be good together, and it simply took them actually being alone together for things to start. The way their relationship developed felt real, too, as it started slow and tenuous but rapidly moved into something more. If I were being honest, though, I’d say I felt that Mack was a little too in love immediately and I felt that, at times, he became a little too involved with the idea of CeCe, rather than the true CeCe. This ends up being the thing, of course, that helps him power through his time in jail.

Despite all of the things that really worked for me in this book, there was almost an over reliance on happenstance in the last third of the book. While Mack’s in jail, he has the opportunity to work with an organization that uses criminals to rehabilitate abused and neglected dogs. It’s perfect for him, and though this sort of organization doesn’t really exist, Griffin notes at the end of the novel that such things have been tried before and proven successful both for the animal and for the criminal who gains a sense of self and responsibility — and frankly, I thought this element of the story was important because it shows that even “broken” people can be fixed. However, the dog that Mack ends up working with and training to adoptability ends up becoming a convenient tool to tying him back with CeCe. See, when he goes to jail, he avoids CeCe as much as possible, but in working through this program, he’s brought back to her in a way that inevitably changes their relationship. It felt too convenient and was too predictable. For a novel that kept me surprised and engaged, this last third fell apart for me because it went too much down the obvious path.

Can I also say that this cover is fantastic? What a perfectly fitting cover to the story, and I think it has mega appeal to the intended readership. Hand this book off to your urban contemporary readers. I think this will have appeal to those who like a good romance story, as well as those who like stories that include crime. In my community, my teens are very interested in stories about gangs, and even though this book doesn’t tread into that territory, I know this book will find a good readership with that audience. It’s a story about change and growth and overcoming one’s past, which is precisely what I think appeals to fans of that genre/niche. This is a fast paced story, and I think despite the length, it will appeal to more reluctant readers.

Review copy picked up at ALA. Stay with Me will be available September 8.

Reviews Twitter-style

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I’ve been able to read a ton of things lately, but typing up in-depth reviews for everything I read is impossible. So, here’s a few books I’ve dove into recently and my thoughts on them, Twitter-style. Of course, they’re a little longer than 140 characters, but these are short and to the point.

Where Things Come Back bu John Corey Whaley: This quiet contemporary gem is a story about small town life. Told through dual, seemingly unrelated narratives, this layered and nuanced story introduces us to Cullen, whose brother Gabriel has just disappeared. While everyone searches high and low for Gabriel, Cullen begins his own mourning process. At the same time, we meet an academic hell bent on finding meaning in faith who is so driven by uncorking the mysteries of life and the afterlife, that he becomes delusional and destructive. Both narratives tie together over a man named John Barling, who has come to Lily, Arkansas and claims he has rediscovered the elusive Lazarus Woodpecker. This story of faith and belief is one that will appeal to those who like sharp story telling and more literary works. Faith, family, and small-town politics are all at play and all given even-handed, fair treatment, and Cullen’s voice in this story is knockout: it’s rich, authentic, and full of emotion that begs the reader to feel things right along with him. I suspect this is the kind of book that might see some Morris attention this year because it really is that good.

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell: This historical fiction, set in 1899, follows Amelia van den Broek as she’s sent from her home in rural Maine to live with her cousin Zora’s family in wealthy and stylish Balitmore. The goal, of course, is for her to court a suitable man and settle down but things go a bit awry. See, Amelia can see the future, and as much as it becomes a fun parlor trick that bemuses the girls in Zora’s social circle, it becomes a burden when the futures start to play out in ways that ruin lives. This is a well-paced story that exudes the historical setting, right down to the language and lush, sometimes extravagant, settings. It’s a clean story, too, and one that will appeal to a wide range of young adult readers. I’m eager to go back and read Mitchell’s first novel, Shadowed Summer, and I am happy to say that this book left me eager to read the next book in this series. It was that engaging and fresh that, when I finished, I anticipated future installments in Amelia’s story.

Kiss & Tell by MariNaomi: This graphic novel is one for fans of Julia Wertz. Naomi’s written a memoir that follows all of the relationships she’s been through. Rather than focus only on the romantic aspects of them, she broaches other things that worked or didn’t work in the relationship. She begins with her youngest relationships — those little kisses and “I like you” sort of things that happen in elementary school — then delves into the later relationships. Although I liked the concept, the book was a little too long for me and felt uneven, as there was a lot of emphasis on those very early relationships and not enough on the later relationships, which had more depth and made for more interesting reading. For a first novel, though, it was a good effort, and it has piqued my interest in future stories from MariNaomi. This book would be fine for older teens and definitely adult readers, and it’s completely LGBTQ friendly. Be prepared for reading and seeing what happens in real, honest relationships. That is to say, there is nudity and it’s unflinching at times (and sometimes in a really funny way, too).

The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt: This story was uneven for me, as it’s set in the 1980s for no good reason (actually, I think anyone knows the big reason books are set in this time period frequently is that it’s often a way to avoid technology and because it’s a time period that many authors are comfortable with, having experienced it themselves). Likewise, I found it a bit jarring to read a story told through the eyes of an 18-year-old about being 13, as it was a little too self-reflective. That said, Reinhardt’s style continues to grow on me, as she’s a slow reveal storyteller, and her writing is tight. Drew is an interesting character, and I loved the setting in a cheese shop. Perhaps my favorite part of the story was the use of her father’s notebooks as a way to discover who she is and a way to figure out how to be her own person. I loved seeing how much Drew related to the father she didn’t know through his life lists, and I loved how, despite not wanting to be a list keeper herself, she is, and we as readers get to see her become a strong, independent person.

Dark Souls by Paula Morris: Morris’s debut novel Ruined is one of my favorite books to book talk because it has a mix of so many good elements — it’s a ghost story, it’s got a great setting in New Orleans and builds upon the lore of the city to enhance the ghost story, and it’s a story about a girl fitting in as an outsider. It’s clean and well paced, and it’s one of my perennial book talk picks. I was thrilled to get to read Morris’s second novel, also a ghost story, but this one was set in York, England, following a horrific accident that led Miranda to discover she had a power to see things that don’t really exist. The setting and lore upon which this story is built wasn’t as strong nor memorable as it was in Ruined, and I found the story to drag in more than one place. The romantic elements fell flat and were uninteresting to me, and even after finishing what should have been a really enjoyable supernatural story, I found myself disappointed. That said, I think fans of Ruined will like this one, and it’s appropriate for younger and older teen readers who want a spooky story that doesn’t rely on witchcraft or paranormal romance. It’s a true ghost story.