Flowers for Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes
Orlando, Fla : Harcourt, 2004, c1959.
311 p.

I was recently at a public library where the librarian was looking for a recommendation for a young man who had read A Child Called It, and wanted to find a book that hooks you in and is a fast interesting read. Our book club at Urbana High School had just finished reading and discussing Flowers for Algernon and so I suggested it as a choice for the young reader. It came to mind quickly because the main character in the book also reveals life with a mother who - though not as monstrous as the one in Child Called It - is a horrible, abusive parent.

It's pretty amazing that this book was written in 1959. There is a certain timeless quality to it, and it still captivates readers; our book club readers all liked it. There are a few dated moments in the novel, but its plot is so engaging and the emotional impact of the novel is really compelling.

If you are completely unfamiliar with this novel, it involves a 30+ year old man with mental retardation who becomes the subject of an experiment that not only eliminates his retardation, but rapidly turns him into a polymath genius. Of course, there is a catch, but you'll have to read the book to find out what that is. What saves the book from being just an interesting curiosity, is its grappling with issues of what does it mean to be "intelligent" - and how does intelligence shape our understanding of what it means to be human. The main character also must come to terms with family memories, his stunted emotional life, new and old friendships, and of course, love.

Do you have a young reader looking for a catchy, plot driven book? Then suggest Flowers for Algernon - and old, but good read that doesn't disappoint.

Don't Rush to Rush

Rush
Johnathan Friesen
New York : Speak, 2010.
295 p. ; 21 cm.

I honestly wanted to like this book, but Publisher's Weekly judges that Friesen's "effort mars the excitement of rappelling into wildfires with flat characters that seem more motivated by the needs of the plot than real development....and too many of the other characters...are paper-thin archetypes." I couldn't agree more.

It's a shame, though, because there's a lot of good storytelling in this novel, and I confess that Friesen has a knack for hooking you in so that you want to read on - which is no small achievement, especially when looking for books that will interest young adult readers. However, I found some of the over blown heroics and feats of the main character just downright silly. His first day in elite firefighting training he runs a five mile wilderness course in 25 minutes flat and is barely winded! Additionally, motivations of the wooden characters leaves much to be desired. For example, one can never really understand what the main female character - Jake's love interest - sees in him, his main trait is a disturbed, depressed personality that only comes to life in adrenaline pumped danger.

I probably should have read Friesen's book, Jerk, California - which is probably a bit better. This book misses a chance to be a thrilling read that could have seriously wrestled with what makes thrill-seekers tick, the nature of courage, and definitions of honor. Instead it's more like a Saturday morning cartoon: fun, but ultimately very, very thin.

Breaking the First Rule of Fight Club

Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk
New York : W.W. Norton, 2005, c1996.
218 p. ; 21 cm.

"The first rule of fight club is you do not talk about Fight Club."

A student recently asked me if we had any other books by Chuck Palahniuk besides Fight Club, and I said, "No, we don't. Do you like his books?" We got into a short discussion and when I explained that Fight Club was on my "to read" list, the student told me I absolutely had to read Fight Club as soon as I could. So this weekend, I put aside Crime and Punishment (our Book Club choice for October and November) and read Fight Club.

Wow! It is an amazing first novel. It opens strong, has taut, crisp writing and dialogue, and develops its opening premises through to the very end. Additionally, there is a lot to think about in this novel - ideas of masculinity, violence, alienation, reality v. delusion, leadership, and individual v. group identity predominate, but are by no means the only subjects. This would be a great book for a book group.

The novel has mature/graphic subject matter and so it wouldn't work as a high school classroom text, but is suitable for a library collection. The novel's most graphic material are the descriptions of the fights, the violence positive attitude of its main character, and some sexual situations.

Part of Fight Club's widespread popularity is due to its being made into a movie starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. The movie is an excellent adaptation of the novel, but - as I told my son - I wish I had read the book first because it was impossible for me to get the movie characters out of my head as I read the novel.

Given the strength of Fight Club, I'll definitely have to see about adding a few more titles by Palahniuk to our library's collection.

Werewolves, and Vampires, and Shadow Hunters, Oh My!

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare
New York : Simon Pulse, 2007.
1st U.S. ed.
340 p. ; 24 cm.

I have to be up front and admit that this is not really my kind of book, but that being said, it was a fun read with a very imaginative and compelling plot. Where does one start with this realistic/fantasy set in New York. Regular high school girl Clara Fray quickly finds out she's anything but regular and quickly becomes part of the world that we regular folks (mundanes) never see. It is a world of demon killers (shadow hunters), down worlders, raveners, the Forsaken, magic, portals, etc. (you get the picture). The story revolves around Clara coming into her own as she seeks to find out who she really is, how she can save her mother, and who she can love and trust.

Clara is an admirable protagonist - not ridiculously smart, but smart, brave, loyal and oddly normal. The strange coexistence of magic and the normal world recalls Rowling, Gaiman, and Meyer. The plot has just enough romance along with plenty of fights, blood and scariness.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I assume it will be popular.

A Wondrous Read

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Diaz
New York : Riverhead Books, 2007.
1st U.S. ed.
340 p. ; 22 cm.

No wonder Wondrous won the Pulitzer Prize for 2008. It is a stunning read - full of passion, humor, history, wit, and anger (and an unforgettable protagonist, the overweight and unlucky in love Oscar). Reading this book, most Americans will realize how little they know of the Caribbean Stalin aka Trujillo, who merits some unsavory nicknames from the author, the nicest of which is the Cattle Thief. Unfortunately, Trujillo ruled with help from Uncle Sam, and when overthrown, popular rule was again thwarted by US Marines sent in by LBJ. The joy of this novel is all in the telling though - the history is woven in with such scathing humor and deadpan craziness that it only really sinks in after you have put the book down.

And what about the high school audience? Well, the book was written for adults, though Booklist recommended it for mature YA readers, which makes sense with the teen/college-aged protagonist. It's definitely not a book one could assign since it has mature sexual scenes and rather salty language. It's also rough with political violence, but for any student who wants to get a grip on the history of the Dominican Republic through an inspired coming of age/immigration novel - this is it.

New World, New Insights

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
465 p. ; 25 cm.

This book offers the reader much to think about, and I would highly recommend it to any US History teacher. However, I don't think it is a great read for most teen readers since it spends an inordinate amount of time discussing the scholarly/academic rivalries and infighting over issues regarding when and how the first peoples came to the Americas. That being said, it would be an excellent reference source for any students researching the peoples of the Americas.

The book naturally looks at three regions: North America, Mesoamerica, and South America. Things I found especially fascinating were the discussions of Cahokia (since it is fairly near to Urbana, IL), the amazing civilizations of the Andes, and the ways in which the "pristine" environments of the Americas that Europeans stumbled into (prairie, woodland, Amazon rainforest, etc.) were really not pristine at all, but essentially well managed ecosystems constructed and cultivated by the original inhabitants to benefit them.

1491 also helped me realize that the origins of American Indians is not yet a settled issue, and there may have been several waves of immigration extending farther back than the usually dated 15-20,000 year range.

Not Mad About Mad Cow Adventures

Going Bovine
by Libba Bray
New York: Delacorte Press, 2009.
480 p. ; 22 cm.

All right, this book garnered great praise and won the 2010 Printz Award - but... I just couldn't lose myself in this overwrought book. The back of the book offers breathless comparisons to Catcher in the Rye and predicts that it may well become a cult classic. I don't think so. It's hard to put my finger on what I don't like about this book, but perhaps a few excerpts will illustrate:

"'Who the heck is Don Quicks-oat?' That's what Chet King wants to know.

It's early February, six weeks into the new semester, and we're in English class, which for most of us is an excruciating exercise in staying awake through the great classics of literature. These works - groundbreaking, incendiary, timeless - have been pureed by the curriculum monsters into a digestible pabulum of themes and factoids we can spew back on a test. Scoring well on tests is the sort of happy thing that gets the school district the greenbacks they crave...." (p.6)

***

"After some minor league pleading with Mom, she agrees to let me take the Turdmobile, her crap-brown box of a car. It's ugly but it runs, and it's better than the bus when you're late. All down the block, the lawns are alive with men on riding mowers. They gallop across their yards, whipping them into shape, in control of those few square feet of ground. All hail the suburban action heroes!" (p.39)

I just don't buy it. The voice is of an adult writing as if a teen. I think what made Catcher in the Rye so unbelievably great, was its pure originality. There's nothing about this character that's original. He's cynical about school, jocks, and suburbia...yeah? A real cult classic will have a protagonist who loves suburbia and who's school is both inspirational and dull and complicated - now that I will get my attention.

The plot of the story is creative and original, though, featuring the hero who is literally losing his mind to mad cow disease. Is the narrative real or in his head? For this the book deserves great praise, in that it's action puts you very much inside the mind of someone who's mind is disintegrating and becoming increasingly unreliable.

My experience with this book is that it just doesn't circulate all that much, and the several kids who checked it out did not recommend it, alas.