Reckoning the Experience of War

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes
New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, c2011.
xii, 256 p. ; 22 cm.

I bought this book after reading a positive review of it in Leatherneck, the magazine of the US Marines.  I was interested in it since the author had been a US Marine in Vietnam and a Rhodes scholar and a novelist.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm really very opposed to war, except as a last resort and have no interest in books that romanticize or glorify combat.

This book is a thoughtful, honest account of the experience of deadly combat on a young, intelligent person.  The author takes exceptional pains to be honest about his behaviors, motivations, fears, successes, and what he as learned of war and combat through both experience and study.   He is not interested in glorifying combat or vilifying enemies that the US has waged war with.  His goal seems to be to try to convey what the life-altering and profoundly destructive nature of war is like to anyone who will read his book.

Whatever one's opinions are on the military adventures of the United States, anyone working with young people knows that many of the students we work with choose the military as an option after high school or are considering it as an option.  With that in mind, a book such as What It Is Like to Go to War would be a very beneficial book to get into the hands of any thoughtful student who wants to wrestle with the idea of war and his or her possible participation in war or who asks if there is an account of what war is like.

War, Survival, and... Oh, That Other Thing

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
New York : Wendy Lamb Books, c2004.
194 p. ; 22 cm.


How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff's first novel, came out almost eight years ago - and it was about that long ago when I first read it.  It received a lot of critical praise - including the Printz Award - and I recall that I liked it well enough.  I revisited the novel because recently our English department was looking for a novel that would be required reading for English 9 classes - and the teachers wanted a novel that was engaging, relatively contemporary and had a high lexile score.  How I Live Now seemed to answer all those requirements: it involves teen characters in an imagined contemporary England, its lexile score is over 1300, and it involves suspense, war and violence, family relationships, and romance - so it should be popular for both young men and women.

I found I really enjoyed the novel the second time.  It is well written, interesting, timely and mature.   It deals with themes of terrorism, violence, survival, family bonds, mild dislocation (an American in England), serious dislocation (war refugees) and is well plotted and moves along.  There would be a lot to discuss in a classroom regarding this novel...BUT...

...there would be one (very big) problem with using this novel as required reading in a class: the main love affair involves a sixteen year old girl (the narrator) in an intense and sexual relationship with her fourteen year old first cousin.  It's too bad - really - because the plot and deep issues of the novel do not depend on having these two lovers being family or being fourteen and sixteen.  If they both were sixteen or seventeen and not blood relatives, then the novel would be fine for classes - since the sexual activity is just referred to and not detailed by the author. Of course, one can not expect an author to change their artistic expression just to fit the needs of a school curriculum, but it would be interesting to hear why Rosoff felt it was necessary to have the two lovers be blood relatives and for one to be so young....

That addresses the usefulness of the book as required curriculum material, but my other dislike was with the end of the novel.  Without spoiling too much of the plot, I found the six year jump in time at the end of the novel and the absolute and complete personality change in one of the main characters to be rather unbelievable.  I think a shorter jump in time would have been effective and a more subtle (and yet still disturbing/damaging) character change would have made the ending more poignant and less melodramatic.

Uglies a Pretty Good Read

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
New York : Simon Pulse, 2005.
1st Simon Pulse ed.
425 p. ; 18 cm.

Uglies is the first of the trilogy by Scott Westerfeld exploring a utopian/dystopian future where everyone is surgically made beautiful when they turn 16.  In the tradition of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, all is not perfect in the perfect world of those who are turned into "pretties" and set to live out a life of fun, beauty and light-hearted distraction.

The main character, Tally, discovers that there are those who opt out of becoming "pretty" and live in a hidden settlement called the Smoke.  Tally's interest in the Smoke brings her to the attention of the ultra authoritarian Specials who run her society, and leads Tally into some serious ethical dilemmas.

There is a lot of substance to Westerfeld's Uglies.  The book holds an uncomfortable mirror up to our current social situation with its obsessions with appearance, shallow pursuits, conformity, and social controls.  The plotting of Uglies is deft and draws one in quickly so that you really want to know what's going to happen.

Another positive aspect to Westerfeld's Uglies is that there is something for both male and female readers in this novel - relationships, romance, thrills, danger, violence, excitement and a creatively imagined future world. Lastly, my experience in a high school library is that the book is popular and circulates frequently - as do the follow up books to the trilogy: Pretties and Specials - and there's nothing ugly about that!

Dessen Does Not Disappoint

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
New York : Viking, 1998.
281 p. ; 22 cm.

Novels by Sarah Dessen are popular at UHS Library and I've been meaning to read one of her novels for a long time. After finishing The Handmaid's Tale for our book club, I decided to pull Someone Like You off the shelf and take it home to read.

The novel focuses on two senior high school friends, Scarlett and Halley who are neighbors and best friends. Early in the novel Scarlett is pregnant and Halley is changing from her parents' "good girl" into a young woman interested in serious dating, and breaking rules. Halley's coming of age is complicated by having a mother who's professional life is being a writer/expert on raising adolescents. It sounds all rather boilerplate and boring, but...

Dessen has an extraordinary ear for dialogue and for subtlety that escapes many less capable YA authors. Her strength is very rich character development that avoids stock characters and stereotypes. Additionally her plotting is interesting and moves along briskly; I found the book hard to put down. Probably the most refreshing aspect of this book was the way in which almost all the characters in the book are sympathetic, but imperfect. Reading it, I found my sympathies shifting between characters as they developed and confronted situations that showed their deeper qualities...

I would definitely recommend Sarah Dessen to anyone interested in the "problem novel" who wants a well written, complex, character-driven but enjoyable story.

The Unbeaten

Source of graphic: Robbie Veldwijk

Sucker Punch by David Hernandez

New York: Harper Teen, c2008.
217 p. ; 19 cm.

I first knew of David Hernandez as a poet (check out this poem of his or his web page), so I was intrigued when he came out with Sucker Punch, a work of fiction for young adults.

I enjoyed this book about two brothers who bear the scars of an abusive father who has recently abandoned his family when the novel opens. The older brother, Marcus was not beaten by the father, but Enrique, the younger - more attractive, more physical - brother was often attacked by the father. These dynamics play out in the action of the novel, which revolves around the complicated emotional ties and tension between the two young men as they pursue revenge plot on their father who is planning on returning home after a year away.

Though the writing is gritty, mature and harsh at times, there is a lot of subtlety to Hernandez' style - and his characters are fleshed out in full. Thankfully, the novel ends without being tied up neat and tidy - instead the reader is left to wonder how the plot will continue and if the characters will be able to overcome the weight of their past and the demons that haunt them.

Science Times Ten

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
xiv, 192 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.

I enjoy books of science and this one was pretty good. The author has chosen what he considers to be ten experiments that capture the power and aesthetic of the scientific method because of the creative, straightforward and elegant means used to arrive at various scientific conclusions. Experiments range from Galileo's experiments with the constant acceleration of falling objects to Lavoisier's conclusions about oxygen to Galvani's experiments (see the graphic above) with bioelectrical impulses.

My only complaint of the book is that the brevity given to each episode can make them either a bit difficult to appreciate or forgettable. However, the shortness makes the book excellent for on the spot reading and does not require the reader to read the book beginning to end - on the contrary it is an excellent book for sampling a chapter here or there.

Bygone Prairie

My Ántonia by Willa Cather
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, c1988.
238 p. ; 21 cm.

I've been meaning to read Willa Cather for a long time and this summer I chose her first novel My Ántonia. It's really a beautiful novel, capturing a lost period of US/European settlement of the prairie frontier in Nebraska. The novel is told from the perspective of a young man, who is sent to Nebraska from West Virginia at the end of the 19th century when his parents die. He lives with his well established and kindly grandparents and becomes friends with a girl his age, Antonia - newly arrived with her family from Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic).

The novel is an unabashed fond look back at childhood on the plains of Nebraska. The novel doesn't shy away from the hard life of early settlers and farmers, but brings out the magic of the geography as seen through the eyes of a child and growing young man.

The writing is vivid and Cather's gifts for setting and characterization are in full force in this novel. She is able to convey the stark and sometimes harsh beauty of the Nebraska frontier and conveys the various interesting characters of the prairie farms and towns.

Finally Baldwin

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
New York: Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, 2005.
226 p. ; 21 cm.

As a former English major and a librarian for ten years, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I had not read any James Baldwin novels until now. I decided that as a newbie, I'd start with his first novel, Go Tell it on the Mountain. I was not disappointed.

Set in Harlem in the 1950s, this novel uses the setting of a small Harlem independent Christian Gospel church to unfold the layers of stories buried within one African American family of the time. The main character, teen John Grimes moves toward a spiritual rebirth as the novel tells the stories of several important characters who's lives are tied together by family and religion.

It is not a novel that stuns with amazing techniques or plot development, but as a first novel the writing is sure-footed and rich and the unfolding stories behind the characters is satisfying and very interesting.

The novel also richly conveys the atmosphere of a Bible-based, Holy Spirit centered small African American church in the thriving New York City area of Harlem in the 1950s.

A teacher recommended that my next Baldwin novel be Giovanni's Room, and I will definitely add it to my must-read list.

Bad Scientist Equals Bad Monster

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
New York: Signet Classic, c[2000]1963.
212 p. ; 21 cm.

So I finally got around to reading this classic of British literature and of the horror genre. I enjoyed reading it, but did find that a lot of the writing was quite overwrought - consider this little excerpt:

"My abhorrence of this fiend cannot be conceived. When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflamed, and revenge burst all bounds of moderation."

However, in spite of the dated feel of the tone, the plot is fun and compelling. There is also quite a bit to think on regarding the relation of humans to their exploitation of nature through science and the relation of the artist to what they create. Considering the monster, there is also much to think about regarding alienation, existential despair, and the cruelty of the human experience.

Finally, one has to respect the originality of the plot and its development in the hands of the Mary Shelly.

Judging Anna

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
New York: Penquin Books, c2002.
837 p. ; 22 cm.

I tried reading this novel last summer and simply ran out of time, and so this summer I started it in early June and finished it by the end of the month. Several people had recommended Anna Karenina to me and I was not disappointed.

I think the best quality of the book is how sympathetic and complex all the main characters are and how intricately developed personal relationships are in the novel. Whether its the adulterous Anna, her lover Voronsky, the initially superficial Kitty, or the country estate owning Levin- the reader can expect to find her sympathies changing as the characters change and develop throughout the course of this long novel.

I also was pleasantly surprised by several plot twists that caught me completely unawares and reveal the hand of a truly masterful storyteller in Tolstoy.

I read the introduction to the book after finishing the novel and I'm glad I did since there were several plot spoilers in the introduction. But I appreciated the information about Tolstoy's first intentions for the novel - to make it a morality tale about adultery - which he let go of as he developed and came to like the complex main character of the novel, the eponymous Anna Karenina.

Finally, I should note that I read this novel on an eReader, a Nook, and quite liked it.

Cut and Thrust

The Book of Swords by Hank Reinhardt
Riverdale, NY, Baen, c2009.
235 p. ; 24 cm.

This book, written by a sword aficionado, is a great introduction to the history of swords and their use by humans. Since the writer is passionate about the subject and is not an academic, there is a fresh and personal tone to the writing. Reinhardt, had spent most of his adult life collecting, testing, talking about, and reading about swords and he brings this to his writing on the subject.

The reader will learn about early metallurgy and the development of iron and steel weaponry. Reinhardt is interested in explaining the basic structure and function of swords - and dispelling myths about swords.

This book should appeal to any reader with a passing interest in the subject of swords, but especially to any students interested in Roman, Viking, or Medieval times - or fantasy fiction where swords play a major role. The book also benefits from generous illustrations that are clear and supportive of the text.

Plowing Through Betrayal

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate
New York: Razor Bill, c2009.
235 p. ; 21 cm.

This book was recommended by the Wilson Senior High Core Collection 2010 supplement, and I can't say I would have recommended it. It's shallow, overwrought, and filled with cardboard characters.

The central figure is a soulless high school senior named Natalie, whose only ambition in life is to see her and her boyfriend crowned Palmetto Queen and King: a goal she achieves, only to see it unravel over her guilty attempt to cover up a prank gone awry. She comes from the poor side of town and wants nothing to do with that old life with its stereotyped "trashy" inhabitants - opting instead for the snideness and snobbery of her elite friends (and the equally unpleasant adults). In the world of this book almost everyone seems to be crass, superficial, and hedonistic.

I guess being too judgmental of this book is to miss the point entirely; it's pure escapist fantasy and really meant only to entertain (though the author has attempted to have the story echo Macbeth). For myself, I just have to care a little bit more about the characters to lose myself in the entertainment of a book - or the plot has to be so compelling that I'm willing to forgo better character development. This book just didn't have enough of either for me, but I'll see how it circulates with students before completely writing it off.

Except for an Ending, the World is Yours

The World is Mine by Lyah B. LeFlore, ill. by DL Warfield
New York : Simon Pulse, 2009.
1st Simon Pulse pbk. ed.
269 p. : col. ill. ; 18 cm.

There is a lot that is good to say about this book. It has interesting characters from different race, class and gender backgrounds; involves teens dealing with conflicts with parents, with friends and in their romantic relationships; shows the difficulties of balancing work, school and parental expectations; and offers a drama based on young people pursuing their dreams in the business/creative world of hip hop. This book is the first of several planned for "The Come Up" series.

The dialogue and situations are crisp & contemporary and the setting in Washington, DC offers a nice blend of urban and suburban settings. The structure of the book makes it an uncomplicated read, with each chapter heading titled with the name of the character who is narrating it. A bit of the plot and pacing is somewhat overblown (e.g. the main characters quickly move from livening up a high school dance party to the big time world of hip hop music production and party promotion) but setbacks, relationship drama, and a few plot complications keep the reader engaged.

My biggest complaint with this book is the ending. After a major climax (involving new plot complications) the book ends by leaving the reader hanging - and not on just a few minor points. It is clearly a hook for selling the sequel to the book, which may be good business, but - as far as I'm concerned - is not the most respectful way to treat one's readers.

One Wild Trip Down the Mississippi

Total Oblivion, More or Less by Alan Deniro
New York : Spectra/Ballantine Books, c2009.
306 p. ; 21 cm.

Reading this book was an interesting experience for me. I liked it a lot at the beginning - started to dislike it a lot about a third of the way through, but then found myself liking it - and unable to put it down until I finished it. Not bad for a book!

The book opens in St. Paul Minnesota as the US has fallen apart to roving bands of horsemen called the Scythians. Sixteen year old Macy and her family flee, go to a refugee camp, and end up escaping on a boat just before the camp is overrun by marauders.

Along the way they encounter more and more bizarre events, suffer from the plague - which creates the strangest buboes in the world - and split up and reunite. The book has a wacky atmosphere of gloom about it, but is tempered by adventure and genuine family love and loyalty. In many ways, I found this a much better book than this year's Printz winner, Ship Breaker.

I'd recommend this to readers who like Neil Gaiman but want something a little darker. I also think any reader who enjoys an unusual setting - such as the Chaos Walking books - might find this a good read, too.

The Big Split

After the Prophet: the epic story of the Shia-Sunni Split by Lesley Hazleton
New York : Anchor Books, 2009.
239 p. : geneal. table, map ; 21 cm.

This is a great book for understanding the schism between Sunni and Shia Islam. What makes it a compelling read - in addition to it being very well written - is the fact that the story reads like a Greek tragedy or play by Shakespeare. Taking place in the mid to late 7th century, there is romance, betrayal, mystery, murder, heroes and villains - all playing out with consequences that are still with us today.

I really like how Hazelton writes with obvious passion, and clearly has her own idea of whose actions are most noble, but leaves a lot of conclusions to the reader. Did Muhammad really want Ali as his immediate successor? Was Ali's son foolhardy or Christlike in heading into the obvious tragedy of his death? Was Aisha a vainglorious, spoiled favorite, a brilliant political strategist, or some combination of the two? Is the Shia or Sunni interpretation of the succession true? She manages to leave all these open-ended without seeming evasive or vague.

With its index, this is a fine resource for student research on the origins of Islam and for any student of ancient history it is a great read.

Ship Breaker Hits Lucky Strike

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010
326 p. ; 22 cm.

Like Going Bovine, this book won the Printz Award. Unlike Going Bovine, which I just didn't care for, I think this book is more likely to circulate among teen readers. My friend and I were discussing this book, and she was less positive about it than I was. We both thought that Bacigalupi was masterful at setting and atmosphere, but she felt the plot was a stretch - even for the willing suspension of disbelief required of dystopian sci-fi.

Like her, I question whether this is the best book of the year for young adults [my vote would have gone to The Curse of the Wendigo], but I thought the plotting was tight, suspenseful and would engage many readers.

Both of us agreed that the adolescent main character,Nailer, and his original crew were both interesting and strong - and that the opening scenes of the novel are really compelling. I think both of us found that the relationship between Nailer and the rich swank - Lucky Girl - he saves to be too cliche. We both thought that his moral code of crew loyalty would not have made such a quick acceptance of this girl.

I thought his father's power and evil to be overdone, and think that a more powerful ending would have had Nailer ultimately betrayed by Lucky Girl - or at least betrayed by the swanks who take her back in....alas, that might have made the novel too depressing...

Classic Yuck!

The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
New York : Simon & Schuster BFYR, c2010.
424 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

Yancey's follow-up to The Monstrumologist is great; I think an even better book than the first. As in The Monstrumologist there is plenty of gruesome gore and supernatural violence - bodies turn up flayed, eviscerated, and missing eyes and faces. There are basements full of green sewage and dead bodies. What raises this book above all the ick is it's finely crafted plot and superbly drawn main characters - Dr. Warthrop the late 19th century monstrumologist and his orphaned assistant are fully developed and interesting characters.

The framing of this novel, like the first one, is a clever device attributing the story to the journals of a very old, deceased William Henry - giving the novel an air of authenticity. It also benefits from many references to people and events of the period, so that it reads a bit like historical fiction - but without the dullness that genre sometimes exhibits.

Our book group at the high school just finished Stephen King's Pet Sematary - and the contrast couldn't be greater. Where King's writing is sloppy and uneven, this book was tight and elegant. I'm definitely a fan.

More Darwin, Yes!

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: a Graphic Adaptation
Michael Keller, illus. by Nicolle Rager Fuller
New York: Rodale, 2009.
192 p.

I think I fell for Darwin after reading his Voyage of the Beagle about 15 years ago. (BTW, it's a great adventure read.) That prompted me to read several biographies of Darwin, and these only improved my admiration for him. He was a ridiculously rigorous scientist and a very humane person. I remember being especially impressed by his rather progressive attitudes toward parenting and by his generous decision to share the discovery of natural selection with Alfred Wallace - even though Darwin had arrived at his theory (though unpublished) many years before Wallace. Finally - which brings me to the book I'm highlighting here - I tried (but failed) to read all of Darwin's Origin of Species. Well, let's just say that it is not an easy read - it's labored and technical at times; after all Darwin, was trying to cross all his t's and dot all his i's - knowing how controversial his theory would be. So it was with interest that I found this "graphic novel" adaptation of the Origin of Species.

I'd recommend this book with a few qualifications. The book is an excellent introduction to Darwin's theory of natural selection. I especially appreciate how it follows the organizing structure of Darwin's work and distills its main points of evidence and argument in a clear and understandable way. The book is also colorfully illustrated and lovely to look at (that's why I've included a picture of its cover). My only complaints are that it is nearly impossible to tell what are exact quotes from the Origin of Species, quotes from Darwin's letters, or the authors own retelling. I would have appreciated some kind of key to this such as all excerpts from the letters in quotes, while excerpts from Origin in italics, or some such format. At times it was also a little confusing to tell what findings were modern contributions vs. those contemporaneous with Darwin. These complaints aside, this book is a wonderful contribution to popularizing Darwin's stunning discoveries and insights.