A Terrible Time

All Involved by Ryan Gattis
New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.
372 p. ; 21 cm.

Gattis' novel won an Alex Award this year, an award recognizing books published for adults which have a high appeal for young adult readers.

All Involved is a powerful read and the author's site for the book is a good place to go for links to some of the history behind the novel.  

I can see why Gattis' book won an Alex Award, but I would definitely note that the content is very mature.  Set in the lawless, violent days of the LA upheaval (riot? insurrection? uprising?) the novel is gritty, violent, vulgar and disturbing.  However, it is hard to imagine a book about the LA Riots of 1992 that would be able to avoid some very upsetting and graphic episodes.  What makes this novel exceptional its use of seventeen interconnected 1st person narratives that tell the story of six days of unrest that followed the acquittal of police officers unknowingly filmed as they savagely beat Rodney King nearly to death.  In this novel we see gangs settling old scores, sweeping in innocent and not-so-innocent people with savage violence and betrayal.  We also see the humanity of people working to save the injured, the dying and buildings that have been set ablaze.

I found this a compelling read, even if somewhat demoralizing.  It is a book that would appeal to students who are interested in urban violence, gang life and extreme situations - think Rodriguez's Always Running or Reymundo Sanchez' Once a King - and, like those books, it is one that is for mature readers.

In Greed We Trust

Griftopia by Matt Taibbi
New York : Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011.
299 p. ; 21 cm.

How can you not want to read a book by the author who described the sleazy investment bank, Goldman Sachs, as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money"? Taibbi writes with a lot of emotion (often peppering his prose with well-deserved name calling and occasional cuss words) but also with a quiver full of meticulously documented facts and knowledge.  He manages to make a raucous, fun read out of a subject that is both very complicated - can you say Collateralized Debt Options and Credit Default Swaps? - and very infuriating .  

After reading this book, you will never look at mortgages, investments, bailouts and Wall Street in the same light.  This is a book which will shake your faith in the fairness of the financial system in the US, but it will also make you smarter as you start to understand the outright fraud and criminality that lead to the great crash of 2008.  

And you might even find yourself laughing out loud as you read it.  So what are you waiting for?  Read it!

Honey and Dream

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015.
345 p. ; 22 cm.

What a fine and unusual novel this is.  In some ways I think I should end my review here and say, "Just read it for yourself, and see."

I read Bone Gap after seeing it come up several times - a finalist for the National Book Award and a Printz Prize winner this year.  As you can see on the author's website, the book has received a great deal of high praise - and I'd have to concur.  The author both employs - and cleverly does away with - realistic narrative.  Several reviews acknowledged "magical realism," but it is more than that - dreamy, psychological and mythical.

I love that the novel is set in a town that actually exists in my home state, and yet it really only exists between the covers of the book. I also appreciate that the novel could well be a lovely little adult novel and not just a young adult novel.  It tells the story (stories) of two brothers, the likeable and unlikable characters of the town, a Polish immigrant, a kidnapping, a romance (two romances?) and the magic of love and imagination.  What more could you want from a simple, and not so simple, coming of age story.

The novel made me think a bit of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, Master's Spoon River Anthology, and even works of Günter Grass.  If you like well written novels, with a touch of romance, mystery, magic and danger, then Bone Gap should definitely be on your to-read list.

Like _________ on Steroids

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
New York : Del Rey Trade Paperbacks, 2014.
400 p. : ill., maps ; 21 cm.

I don't know if I would have read Pierce Brown's Red Rising but for a student who recommended it to me.  This student is an exceptional reader who comes to the library, checks out a trilogy of novels (such as the Red Rising trilogy) and brings them back in three or four days - having read them all! Yes, as a middling-fast reader I am jealous.

So I had to jump into the Red Rising series when this student returned them saying, "These are the best."  Did I have a choice?

I'm glad I read Red Rising.  It is a satisfying read.  As Booklist and Library Journal note, it is in the tradition of The Hunger Games, and should appeal to fans of that series.  I especially liked the opening of the novel, where the underground mining world of the main character, Darrow, is developed.  It is a grueling and brutal world of miners on Mars, laboring to harvest an element necessary for the terraforming of the planet. The miners are the Reds, and as the novel develops we learn that world (solar system) they live in is a hierarchy of genetically modified colors dominated by the beautiful and ruthless Golds - with Reds occupying the lowest rung.

The novel quickly moves from the realm of the Reds to a story of rebellion as Darrow is secreted out of his miserable (but meaningful life) and quickly inserted into a shadowy rebellion that aims to overthrow the entire order of the Golds.  From the paced opening, the novel rushes pell-mell into high-tech, high-combat mode with genetically modified beings and a deadly competition among the young adult Golds which will allow Darrow to gain access to the highest realms of power.  And how did Darrow a Red gain access to this elite competition?  Sorry, you'll have to read the novel to find out.

There is a lot of battle violence, romance, intrigue and tight plotting that holds everything together.  But for me, I found it a bit over-the-top, reminding me of how I feel with many contemporary movies--yes, the special effects are awesome and compelling to watch, but I want more finesse and subtlety.  That criticism aside, I would definitely recommend this series to dystopian, survival, science fiction, and thriller novel fans.  It delivers.

Admit It, You Loved It

Confessions by Kanae Minato
New York : Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Co., 2014.
234 p. ; 21 cm.

Ok, maybe I didn't love it, but it is a good read.  It's funny to see a book praised as "a nasty little masterpiece" or "the most delightfully evil book you will read this year" - but that is the verdict on this well received first-book phenom of Japanese author, Kanae Minato.    

I found the opening of the book to be slightly disorienting - the avenging teacher at the heart of this novel is addressing her students in a way that no middle school teacher would in the US, but once you get past the slightly different mannerisms of the opening, the novel quickly pulls you in and doesn't let go. The novel opens with a punch, a teacher knows that two of her young students have killed her child, and she is leaving the school - but will get even.

The novel has been compared favorably to Gone Girl, and like that novel, it presents a really nasty view of human relationships - in this case between parents and children, children and children, and teachers and children.  There's really no redeeming characters in the book, but that doesn't stop it from being well plotted and compelling.  Part of Minato's success is the shifting narrative viewpoint.  We hear the story from about six different characters' perspectives - and from each come disturbing and/or shocking revelations.

I would definitely recommend this to a student who wants to read a good murder-thriller, revenge novel.  After all it's a vile little read that you just can't put down.

Rough Cotton

The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist
New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2014]
xxvii, 498 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Read this book!  If you love history, read this book. If you want to see US history in a very new way, read this book.  If you want to have many of your assumptions about slavery and the Civil War turned on their heads, read this book.  The Half Has Never Been Told is long, complicated, riveting, and incredibly well written - read it!  For me this book brought to mind the books - Slavery by Another Name and Guns Germs and Steel - for it's power to tilt one's understanding of history and how power works.

I can't say enough about what an important and interesting book this is.  I'll be recommending it to any students who love history, and to any teachers interested in history.

Lastly, I'd be remiss not to note that I first heard of this book on a list of recommended books from Ta-Nehisi Coates who's book Between the World and Me is another book to recommend again and again!  

No Solution for X

Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
341 p. ; 19 cm.

This is a funny review to write.  I've written two reviews to cover book one and book two of the Southern Reach trilogy, and though I didn't love this final installment in the trilogy, there is a lot to admire and respect in the writing of the book.

In general, reviews of Acceptance have been very good, but I have to join the minority of readers who ultimately found it lacking.

As I wrote before, I really liked book one, and found book two not as compelling.  For me, book three just jumps around too much - each chapter shifts point of view to one of the characters.  I like the idea of the book ending without tying everything up, but I found myself thinking there were just too many unanswered mysteries.  Is Area X a creation of an extraterrestrial alien of some kind?  I think so... How does is transform humans into strange creatures, or clone them, or develop living words and sentences?

I think the strongest elements of Vandermeer's writing is his uncanny ability to convey the breakdown of rational thought and convey the feeling and texture of strange phenomena.  His writing about setting and emotional/psychic states can also be quite lovely.

The title of Vandermeer's last entry in the Southern Reach series seems very much aimed at his readers.  There is much about the mysterious Area X that defies reason, understanding, and answers - and we readers will just have to accept it.

Whether to recommend Acceptance to students or not, I think I will stick with my conclusion to book two.  I will let students know that I really loved book one, but that they will have to decide how far into the series to proceed.