Of Course It's a Mess

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer
New York, NY : Dutton Books, [2016]
355 p. ; 22 cm.

A bloody mess actually, because what else would you expect when living people suddenly (or should I say spontaneously) explode into a mess of liquefied body parts and fluids?   

The beginning of Spontaneous reminds me a bit of Gone by Michael Grant, in that an ordinary day at a high school becomes anything but normal with a shocking turn of events.  In this case it's when one the seniors in the school spontaneously combusts during a class.  When this is followed by many more single and multiple combustions over the course of the novel things get very crazy, and very disturbing.

I liked the first three-fourths of this novel pretty well.  The premise is a real hook for readers and by telling it all from the viewpoint of one of the smart and grim-humored characters - Mara Carlyle - the novel moves along at a raucous, albeit grotesque pace.  Of course, the government gets involved, theories of causes emerge, the town in New Jersey where it happens is first the scene of a media frenzy, and then quarantined - all the while the hapless senior class that is being afflicted by this tragedy is trying to figure out how to keep living and keep finding meaning in life.  Part of that search revolves around friendships, family, and the sweet romance between the main character and the quirky but nice young man, Dylan.

The challenge of this novel is where to go with it.  And in that I found it not as good as I hoped.  There is a bizarre character, FBI agent Carla Rosetti who by the end of the novel has gone strangely rogue.  There is a friend who's fate is a mystery - was her end a dream or did she escape or something else? There are many unanswered questions.  I didn't expect the novel to tie up all its loose ends, or have a happy ending, but it felt to me like the storyline simply got the best of the author who couldn't figure out a satisfactory ending and so let it just kind of fizzle out.

All in all, I'd recommend it to a student who wants a bizarre story and who won't mind finishing a book while still having a lot of unanswered questions.  Besides, the writing is fresh and interesting and the novel conjures up a lot of questions about mortality, meaning and how one should live in the face of imminent dangers - a parable for our own dangerous times, perhaps.

Potty Mouth Powerhouse is a Four-wheel Force of Nature

Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw
New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2014.
250 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

What's not to like about this rollicking, bawdy and well-written memoir by 21-year old Shane Burcaw who has SMA - Spinal Muscular Atrophy - a degenerative muscular disease which is likely to kill him?

Burcaw's book has been positively reviewed, and rightfully so.  Publisher's Weekly states: "His honesty, tempered by mordant humor and a defiant acceptance, is refreshing, even as he thumbs his nose at the disease that is slowly stripping him of the basics." Booklist notes, "Burcaw's smart, gracious, and funny take on his life is an object lesson in positivity, and this eloquently written and moving memoir would easily find a home in both adult and youth collections."

The thing I love about Burcaw's book is his ability to be both positive and life affirming, but also angry, cynical and unsparingly honest.  He also is really funny and at times raunchy in describing many situations he has found himself in.  He is not afraid to be blunt about his fears, his dislikes, and the painful and humiliating ways his disease has affected his life.

I would definitely recommend this book to students.  There is a lot to admire in this book and so much to learn.  

Unlikely Cast

Still from Aguirre the Wrath of God

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
New York : Amulet Books, 2015.
295 p. ; 21 cm.

A creative, funny, sometimes vulgar, and ultimately meaningful book about a young man - Greg Gaines - who strives to stay unattached through high school, but ends up pressured by his mother into a relationship with a dying girl - and has to question just who he is and what life means to him.

Part of the wonderful catch to this book is that until he's pushed to be friends with Rachel, the dying girl, Greg has one other "friend" - fellow amateur filmmaker Earl.  Earl and Greg also love film, and the film that they both love best is Werner Herzog's classic, Aguirre the Wrath of God (and so the graphic above).

A lot of the power of this book - which became a bestseller and was well reviewed - owes to it's humor and cynical slant.  Greg is not about to try and learn any deep life lessons from his involvement with Rachel - but he does come to sort of like Rachel in a normal, low-key friendship way.  He also comes to understand that his privileged life is nothing like Earl's life with his intensely dysfunctional family.

There is a lot of bodily, vulgar boy humor in this novel, but that surely is part of what made it successful.  Finally, the movie version of the book did extremely well at Sundance and was bought by by Fox which can only increase the book's appeal.

Payback and Karma

Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook
New York : Simon Pulse, 2010.
261 p. ; 21 cm.

Well written fun! What more can I say about this very readable revenge tale.  The plot seems straight-forward enough: 8th grader gets horribly betrayed and humiliated by her best friend (a popularity-aspiring "mean girl"); moves away for 3 years; and then returns for her senior year with a very different look, and a lusciously detailed plan for payback. 

As you might guess, her campaign for revenge doesn't go in exactly a straight line, but instead leads her to discover a few truths about herself and the costs of deception and revenge.  All of this is woven into a very enjoyable, thoughtful, occasionally humorous and believable story that is hard to put down.

Getting Revenge is not a great novel, but it doesn't aspire to be that - but it is a novel that exceeds its modest aims, and has more depth to it than you might think on just glancing at it's appealing cover (see the graphic above), and the humorous by-line on the cover: "This time, the mean girl is going down."

Next time a student asks for something "good to read" and is looking for something fun, I won't hesitate suggesting this solid work of teen revenge and self-discovery fiction.