Art Lives!

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older 

New York, NY : Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., c2015.    

297 p. ; 20 cm. 

I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while. I was going to read it during Hispanic Heritage Month, but a students checked out the copies we had (which is great!). So when they came back in I checked it out to myself and read it.

Shadowshaper is the debut novel writers dream of - it was a "Top Ten" on ALA and YALSA lists, a "Best Book of the Year" at NPR and Publishers Weekly, and received stellar reviews, etc. The praise was not undeserved. It's a wonderfully creative novel - undergirded by concerns of ethnic heritage, sexism, gentrification, cultural appropriation - that manages to be a supernatural thriller, urban fantasy, and coming of age story all at once.

At the heart of the story is Sierra a Puerto Rican teen artist/muralist living in Brooklyn. As the story unfolds she learns that her powers are not just artistic, but connected to an age old spiritual power that allows her to bring spirits into her works of art - literally bringing them to life.  This of course would be a ho-hum story without an evil force that seeks to destroy shadowshapers like Sierra so as to gather all that power into himself.  It is a life-and-death danger and Sierra must confront it head on with the help of a another shadowshaping artist - Robbie - and her friends and brother.  The battle between the forces of Sierra and her allies and their nemesis provides the action of the novel.

For some this action will be what draws and holds them in the story.  For me this was the weakest part of the novel. The climactic battle scenes feel like they owe too much action movie staging. I found the most moving parts of the novel were the beginnings of Sierra's understanding of her powers and the descriptions of the art works coming to life, and her meeting with her grandmother's spirit.  But that's me, and I recognize that the gruesome creatures and the bone-crunching fights will be what keeps many readers going right to the satisfying end.

Tough and Tender

The Closest I've Come by Fred Aceves

New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

310 p. ; 22 cm. 

I'm a sucker for a book with heart, and this novel had me pretty early on.  It's about a Latinx young man growing up poor in Tampa, Florida and struggling to find love, a way out of his impoverished neighborhood, and a way out of the restrictions of having to keep up a tough macho front.  He also is trying to survive a negligent alcoholic mother and her racist and abusive boyfriend who lives with and sponges off of them.

What are the things I especially liked about this book? I love that though Marcos, the main character, is smart and at times humorous, he is not constantly throwing out witty, hip comments and comebacks. In some YA books the protagonist feels like an attempt by the author to come up with a contemporary Holden Caulfield that doesn't ring true. In this novel, Marcos is so believable. He is also believable in his struggle to become a more authentic human being - we get glimpses of his true feelings through his inner thoughts and those feelings get expressed imperfectly (as they do with most people growing up).  I also love the romance (or desired romance) that forms a core of the novel.  It doesn't follow the conventional route in resolving itself and that is refreshing. I appreciated the portrayal of teachers in the book; they are not stereotyped as saviors or villains, but as people who have a tough job and can be really kind. The book also deals with race and cliques in ways that don't feel incredibly heavy handed or unrealistic.

I also love a book that bluntly reveals the struggles of being poor as just the matter of fact situation someone finds themselves in. Marcos just gets by with having to wear crummy shoes and just enough clean t-shirts to look good at school. One of his buddies - the academically most successful of the bunch - starts dealing drugs for an aunt in order to make more money - a decision that is treated realistically. Finally, I should mention that the book helpfully portrays the complicated situation a young person can find themselves  in when an adult in their household is physically and emotionally abusive.

Would I recommend The Closest I've Come? I definitely would. I think it would satisfy a lot of different kinds of readers.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia 

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harpercollins Publishers, [2019]

363 p. ; 22 cm.      

To say that Mejia's debut YA novel has gotten good reviews would be an understatement. Booklist gave it a starred review, it snagged an excellent write up on NPR, and other less notable reviews also highly recommended it. 

I think the praise is well deserved for the premise and set-up of the book; the patriarchal world it creates has it's own origin religion story which underlies it's elite family set-up where husbands have two wives: a Primera who is hard-core business, brains, and no-nonsense, and a Segunda who must be gorgeous, entertaining, and ready to bear children.  The elite - a minority in this fictional world - rely on the exploitation of everyone else, an exploitation enforced by police, violence and legal privilege.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Which is exactly what makes it a powerful novel.  I also liked the main characters and the first part of the book's world building.  

My only issues with the book are with the plotting of the resistance and with the rushed descriptions of the rebellion.  I just never believed the main character's acts of joining the rebellion. And the major conflicts of violence seemed a bit rushed and confused to me.  

That being said, it's still an enjoyable read and one that should appeal to a lot of different readers.  It's also got an unexpected lesbian romance simmering away at the center which - though rushed to me - is sweet and unexpected.  

Finally the book is written by a Latinx woman and is touches on issues of xenophobia, border violence, resistance, dangers of patriarchy and economic exploitation - so it is very relevant to the times we are experiencing now in the US. Would I recommend it. You bet.