Category: Realistic Fiction
Matilda by Roald Dahl
(Cover picture courtesy of Melville House Books.)
Who put superglue in Dad’s hat? Was it really a ghost that made Mom tear out of the house? Matilda is a genius with idiot parents—and she’s having a great time driving them crazy. But at school things are different. At school there’s Miss Trunchbull, two hundred menacing pounds of kid-hating headmistress. Get rid of the Trunchbull and Matilda would be a hero. But that would take a superhuman genius, wouldn’t it?
This is probably one of my favourite children’s books of all time and I still re-read it once a year or so. It was one of the books I read aloud to my little sister to get her interested in reading and will always hold a special place in my heart, like many of Roald Dahl’s books.
Matilda is the embodiment of everything children want to be and she does things they long to do: she stands up to adults, stands up for herself and proves that adults aren’t always in the right. At the same time, this isn’t an adult-bashing book because we have the lovely Miss Honey who is shown as a kind, caring woman who loves children.
Miss Trunchbull is her exact opposite and is the teacher (technically, headmistress or principal) out of every kid’s worst nightmare. This being a children’s book, her behavior is over-the-top, but in my experience, some of her behaviors are not far off what really terrible teachers do.
Matilda is a classic children’s novel, as it should be. It’s funny, teaches important life lessons and is incredibly entertaining. Parents, if you want to read aloud to your seven or eight year olds, this is the perfect book to choose. Both you and your children will enjoy this hilarious novel written by one of the greatest children’s writers ever. As a bonus, the movie is a great adaptation of the book if you want to see your favourite characters come to life.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Image Courtesy of Goodreads
Synopsis: 12.07… a time of dread and anticipation for 13 year-old Conor. Every night a monster knocks at his bedroom window; but it’s not the monster that plagues his nightmares. This one is of a different kind, one that tells Conor that he called him. Yet Conor doesn’t recall calling such a ferocious and strange creature. This monster is old and has walked the earth for a long time. It claims that he is here to help Conor tell the truth. Will Conor find the courage to tell and feel the truth he has been running away from all this time?
Cover Gushing Worthiness: I think the cover of A Monster Calls is one of the most beautiful and dark covers that I’ve ever seen for a children’s book. Funnily enough when I showed the book to my brother he didn’t believe that it was a book written for children. As he glanced at it, he even said “It seems really dark to be a children’s book. Are you sure it’s meant for kids?”. The truth is that it’s meant for everyone. I like the darkness of the cover because the moment you see it, you instantly feel drawn to it and the story grips you in the exact same manner.
I should say that the original idea for the story was author Siobhan Dawd’s idea. Sadly she lost her battle with cancer before she could write the story. This is Patrick Ness’ tribute to her, where he states that he wanted to write “a book Siobhan would like” and I believe she would have loved this book. I first heard about the book through Stacey’s Blog when she posted some pictures of the book. I became curious about it when I read that it was about a monster visiting a 13 year-old child and that is where the story begins.
The plot of A Monster Calls is universal because it looks at how loved ones of cancer patients attempt to come to terms with the illness that takes over the body and later the lives of those involved. I don’t want to dumb down the story and say it’s a simple plot because I don’t believe that it does the book justice. But this book literally ‘spoke’ to me because I experienced a similar situation personally. However I was older than Conor when I went through it. But I still remember the pain, the grief and the feelings of horror I felt for some of the thoughts I had. The monster is very much Conor’s own creation because it is in the form of emotions Conor has pushed down to the depths of his being. However when the emotions resurface, Conor comes to accept the reality of the situation. The monster tells Conor three stories in an attempt to get Conor to reveal the truth he has been running from all this time. As a reader you know how the story is going to end, but it doesn’t stop you from finishing it because you’re taking this journey with Conor. You feel his pain and anguish. You feel the anger and helplessness and I think this book teaches you a lesson in the human condition.
Character wise I adored Conor. Maybe because I related to what he was going through so much. I felt his emotions so much that I teared up a few times and it forced me to put the book down because I didn’t want the pages to get all blotched up with my tears. After all it’s the library’s copy. While I was older when I went through my situation, I can’t imagine what it must be like for a 13 year-old to watch the life you know literally fall apart as you watch without being able to do anything about it. I have to say that I was happy to have recognized the monster as it introduced himself and a I had a small moment of triumph where I went “Yes! You were in Robin of Sherwood” except he was in a different form. While the monster was a mixture of Conor’s emotions, there was a wisdom to it; like a mentor or a wise old loved one. The relationship between Conor and his grandmother was both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time because it reflected how much of a toll an illness on loved one can affect those involved. The relationship reflected the strain that both Conor and his grandmother felt because everyone deals with these situations differently.
Before I end this review I want to take a moment to appreciate Jim Kay’s illustrations. They were beautifully done. I liked that the illustrations were done in black & white because the colour combination helped bring the story to life. It reflected the emotions one feels when you’re in a situation like Conor’s. There’s no longer the colour grey because you know there are only two ways to the end of the story.
Overall I will say that A Monster Calls is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2012. It hit close to home for me and it brought up painful memories, but it also reminded me that I got closure, just like Conor did. I’m so glad that this was the first book I read by Patrick Ness because I will definitely be going back to read his Chaos Walking Trilogy. Ness has a mellifluous way with words which resonate with you. I think I might even purchase a copy of A Monster Calls because I know it’s a book that I want to read again.
My Rating: 5/5
Would I recommend it? Absolutely
If you’d like to read more reviews of A Monster Calls check out some from the list below.
Also here is the book trailer for A Monster Calls
Rape Girl by Alina Klein
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Valerie always wanted to be the smart girl. The pretty girl. The popular girl.
But not the rape girl..
That’s who she is now. Rape Girl. Because everyone seems to think they know the truth about what happened with Adam that day, and they don’t think Valerie’s telling it..
Before, she had a best friend, a crush, and a close-knit family. After, she has a court case, a support group, and a house full of strangers..
The real truth is, nothing will ever be the same..
Rape Girl is the compelling story of a survivor who does the right thing and suffers for it. It is also the story of a young woman’s struggle to find the strength to fight back.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
With a title like this, obviously young readers and sensitive people should stop reading right now. Consider yourself warned.
Rape is an issue that is all too-familiar for people today; it’s not exactly a new issue. But finally, we are beginning to talk about it and hopefully it’s books like this that will help people understand that blaming the victim is counter-productive. And since Rape Girl is written by a rape survivor, it is tastefully handled while at the same time tackling the emotional and psychological consequences of rape, not to mention the social ones.
This is a rather short book, only a little over 120 pages, but it is very powerful. Valerie is a powerful main character who does “the right thing” by reporting her rape and goes through hell because of it. We really feel her guilt, anger, sadness and her struggle to regain her old, normal life. Her friends turn against her, her family acts weird around her and even the teachers at school turn against her, blaming her for her rapists’ reputation! It’s an emotional roller coaster that readers won’t soon forget.
This is not a book you should read if you like fast-paced plots. Rape Girl is a book you read for the message and the characters. And if you read it with an open mind, you may find yourself a much better person for it.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
(Cover picture courtesy of The Oubliette.)
Ponyboy can count on his brothers. And on his friends. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect—until the night someone takes things too far.
Warning: I am about to criticize another classic novel. But before you begin writing your hate mail, at least hear me out.
S. E. Hinton was sixteen when she wrote most of the novel and the quality of writing reflects her inexperience. I mean, sixteen is young no matter how you look at it and most sixteen-year-olds are barely mature enough to shut up and pay attention in school, let alone write a novel. I truly admire her for writing and publishing a novel so young, but The Outsiders is a poorly written novel. Hinton did not have the maturity to write as well as she would have if she wrote it as an adult. If only John Scalzi’s advice to teenage writers had been around at the time…
Ponyboy feels like a girl to me. When I say this, I mean I can tell his first person point of view was written by a woman. Some women writers like Mira Grant can change their voices very well (see Deadline), but Hinton could not pull it off. Yes, I know Ponyboy is supposed to be sensitive, but there is a fine line between sensitive and obviously written by a woman.
The plot of The Outsiders isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. Nowadays it would be considered cliché (the class warfare between the socs and the greasers), but one has to take into account when it was written. In 1967, this wasn’t cliché; it was reality. As for the characters…meh. They’re not really terrible, but none of them are memorable, despite their weird names. Ponyboy? Sodapop? Give me a break.
I give this book 1/5 stars.
Pretty Girls Make Graves by Nicole Trilivas
(Cover picture courtesy of Literary R&R.)
Sparked by a break-up with her married lover, Justine trades in college to live abroad, and descends into a destructive reinvention with a backdrop of the underbelly of Scotland, Ireland, and Australia.
Acutely aware that she’s not the first girl to experience these formative misadventures, Justine hijacks the vocal chords of archetypal characters from myths, fairy tales, literature, and pop culture such as Medusa, Rapunzel, and Catherine (of Brontë’s Wuthering Heights). She echoes the voices that display her story–the violent exit from girlhood via a botched love life–better than her own.
She doesn’t have to write another mistress’s manifesto; Kalypso, one of the betrayed goddesses from Homer’s Odyssey, has that one covered. She was never overtly cruel without justification; that’s the job of a sadomasochistic Wicked Witch of fairy tale infamy. She doesn’t have a penchant for picking the wrong guy over her soul mate; Catherine does.
PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES is a dark and stylized examination of the vicious things we do in the name of self-preservation, and questions the frantic necessity to tell our stories to establish human connection-however ugly they may be.(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)
[Full disclosure: Nicole Trilivas, the author of this book, contacted me and gave me a free e-book so I could review her novel. This is not the type of book I would normally read, but I will try to review it as objectively as possible.]
Pretty Girls Make Graves certainly had an interesting premise: the story of a young woman’s life being told through the voices of legendary women like Medusa, Rapunzel and Kalypso. Unfortunately, these women rarely speak up, so we are stuck in the point of view of the main character, Justine. Justine is not in any way sympathetic or even particularly interesting. She whines about missing Jason, hooks up (but doesn’t necessarily have sex) with every being with a Y chromosome she can get her hands on and drinks ad nauseum—quite literally. Did I mention that she breaks men’s hearts for fun and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever? I can understand ruthless women, like Thu from House of Dreams, but even she had redeeming qualities. Justine? Not so much.
As for the plot, don’t bother looking for one. You won’t be able to find it amidst all of the hooking up and drinking. Justine seems to wander aimlessly around, travelling from country to country on her rich father’s money and generally acting like a spoiled brat. Okay, I know how it feels when the man of your dreams belongs to someone else, but sooner or later you have to grow up, get over it and move on. Justine doesn’t and that’s part of the reason why I was so frustrated with this book by page 43.
Nicole Trilivas tried to insert some meaning into all of the Jersey Shore-like behavior in this book, but it fell flat. It seemed like in the last 20 pages she realized that there had to be a point to her novel and rushed to put on in without really going back to add hints about said point. My overall impression of this novel is not good because it made me ask: Why did I read this? No book should ever make its readers ask themselves that.
I give this book 1.5/5 stars.