Week #5: Tunnel Vision by Susan Shaw

As opposed to the last book I read, Tunnel Vision by Susan Shaw was really good! I chose it because the summary in the inside cover sounded captivating, and I read it in just a few days. I didn’t want to spread it out over a week; the suspense all the way to the ending made me want to keep reading. 

The first couple pages of the book drew me into the plot right away. The protagonist, Liza, is walking home through a tunnel when she passes a group of men. When they start yelling at her, she runs to her home which is right outside the end of the tunnel. Her mom is working outside, and one of the men shoots a gun, presumably aiming for Liza but killing her mom instead. Along with Liza's character, the reader is left wondering, "Why are they trying to kill her? What are we missing?" The answer to those questions are what keep you reading!

The rest of the book is about Liza and her father on the run. They are tangled in an inescapable web, hiding in the witness protection program but never staying anywhere for too long because Liza’s red hair and tall, athletic stature keep giving her away. The media constantly features news stories on tv and articles in magazines and papers about the father and daughter who are missing, and they offer an award to anyone who finds them. All currents seem to be working against them, and as Liza is grieving the loss of her mother and hiding at the same time, she finds it difficult to trust anyone, as they may be working for “The Core,” or the group of men that’s hunting her.

The only problem I found with this fast-paced book was that it didn't have an obvious climax. It’s a lot of run, run, running, and a bit of a mystery as you (and Liza) try to figure out why The Core wants to kill her. The mystery unravels at the end, although I didn’t feel like there was enough closure to leave me satisfied. At least it’s not one of those predictable endings where everyone lives happily ever after. (Gag me, please.) That’s all I’ll say.

There’s an occasional difficult vocabulary word here and there, but it’s a pretty simple and straight-forward book with a lot of stream of consciousness narration. You may get annoyed that the action in the middle slows down a bit, but the fact that you’re constantly trying to figure out the mystery and learn what the conclusion will be keeps you reading.

Themes: hiding, grief, murder and crime, trust

Good for: reading for fun (doesn’t clearly/easily follow a plot development chart because it lacks a major climax, and Liza is not dynamic enough to really study her)

Would interest: boys and girls grades 8-11, reluctant readers (although it’s a bit longer than most books I’d recommend for them)

My grade: A-

Week #4 1/2: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

After reading Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why that hooked me from the beginning and had what I thought was a great story line, and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Mackler which I also thought was great and fairly deep, I was sure this was going to be another one that I couldn’t put down.

Wrong.

It takes place in 1996 and is about a girl, Emma, who is given an AOL cd-rom to load onto her computer. When she signs on for the first time, it opens up to Facebook which wasn’t even invented yet. She and her friend Josh figure out what Facebook is and determine that the “Emma” and “Josh” that they’re seeing on there are actually them in the future. They keep checking their status updates, home towns, and relationship information as it changes almost daily based on decisions (even small and seemingly insignificant, like throwing some water on a carpet) they make. Emma’s status updates are almost always based on her relationship with whoever she’s married to, and they’re always miserable. Josh is seemingly destined to marry a girl he already knows and have a wonderful life with her. Most of the book is based on Emma trying to change the present so that she’ll be happy in the future, and Josh trying to figure out how his actions in the present will ensure his future with Miss Perfect is indeed bright.

What bugged me the most about this book was that it was full of all that high school drama I’m always trying to steer students away from. I don’t think that high school students should be worrying about who they’re going to marry and how many kids they’re going to have, but this book falls right into that drama trap! I found it SO ridiculous that I actually laughed out loud in horror when Emma, a junior in high school, cried out, “So I can end up unemployed at thirty-one like the first time we checked [Facebook]? Or angry that my husband spends all my money when I do have a job?” (134).

Seriously? Worrying about all this in high school? Lord help us.

As I read some reviews of this book, all for the most part positive, I tried to step outside my critical mind to see what other critics liked (ummm….yeah….I’m a critic now too, right?!). School Library Journal’s review had mentioned that the first-person narration back and forth between Emma and Josh gave the book a sense of urgency. Nah. I disagree. It was amusing, but I don’t think it led to any sense of urgency. I was actually confused at times.

 Booklist said it’s “clever” (agree) and “timely” (agree) and “will attract any teen with a Facebook account” (disagree…the cheesiness overrules all else).  I’m going to agree with Kirkus Review on this one, remarking that “Focusing almost entirely on the teens' future love lives, the authors neglect 1996-era subplots involving the teens' friends and families that might have given the story additional depth and immediacy.”  * Nodding my head YES. * Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Themes: today affecting tomorrow

Good for: boys and girls grades 8-10....but mostly girls since it focuses so much on future marriage and kids

Would interest: shallow readers who like to be caught up in lame romantic drama

My grade: C-

Boo.

Week #4: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Wow. What a long book. 470 pages later, I’m still thinking about what the point was.

It’s about a teenage girl named Samantha who dies at the beginning of the book, but instead of going to heaven or hell or limbo or wherever characters usually go when they die, she relives the day she dies. Over and over and over. And over. Oh, and over a few more times after that. There’s no logic or scientific reasoning to it; it just keeps happening, like the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. When she changes certain things, hoping to change the outcome of her death, she becomes a dynamic character and by the end you no longer hate her for the conceited, selfish, narcissistic witch that she is. Did I mention how much I HATED her? And by the way, the fact that I hated her so much really made me want to throw the book against the wall. I like a character with multiple facades to him/her, one that I can think deeply about, weigh the positives and negatives, and make my mind up about. Samantha Kingston is not that character. I hated her from literally the first page when she snapped at her little sister. And by the end, I still hated her because I remembered what she was like at the beginning.

The day she relives consists of various interactions with her friends and family: her little sister Izzy with a lisp who is somehow still the most self-confident character in the book, her three best friends who each have problems of their own, her shallow boyfriend who has been waiting for her to have sex with him, a childhood friend who just could be something really special if she lets him, a hot teacher who she has a secret crush on, a girl with steel-tipped black boots who locks herself in the bathroom every day to smoke pot, a quiet girl who is bullied,… the list goes on. And on. And on some more. Remember, the book is almost 500 pages long.

When I think waaaaay back to the first couple chapters, I remember thinking how slow the story was. It was so detailed that I thought, “What’s the point? WHY? STOP TORTURING ME!” If you can stick with it, the pace picks up, and by the end, you’re wondering if the theme is going to be based on if she can change her fate or not. I won’t spoil it.

Unrealistic books like this are not usually my cup of tea, but the plot of this one wasn’t as bad as others because I found it fairly easy to relate to some of the characters. I started reflecting on my years in high school, thinking about who the Samantha Kingston clique of my class was made up of and what sorts of issues they could’ve been concealing. I thought about the bullying that occurred around me and what I would’ve changed had I been given the change to relive certain moments with people. And then I wondered if changing anything would’ve affected any outcomes. And THEN I got mad thinking about things I can’t change anyway, and I remembered why I didn’t like the premise of the book.

As you can see, I have mixed feelings about this book. I am struggling between giving it an A- or a B+. I guess I’ll give it an A- because it’ll make you self-reflect and maybe start thinking twice about decisions and relationships. That is, if you come to the conclusion that you can change fate. The end is screwed up and I’m not quite sure I totally got the point or the message.

Because it’s so long and hard to get in to, it’s not a good pick for a reluctant reader. It lacks multicultural characters, too.

I would, however, recommend it for girls who are avid readers, perhaps those who liked the Sarah Dessen books.

Themes: bullying, self-reflection, impact of choices, friendship, suicide, popularity, loss, sacrifice

Good for: reader self-reflection, character analysis

Would interest: girls grades 8-12 who are avid readers and can handle lonnnnng books

My grade: A-

Week #3: Once by Morris Gleitzman

I wasn't sure if this book was going to meet my criteria of 2010 or later, since it was first published in Australia in 2005. The inside cover said it was published in the U.S. in 2010, so I thought I'd let it slide.

I knew this was going to be a Holocaust book, but I really had no idea what to expect. I usually don't like historical fiction, but I really liked this book.

It's about a young boy (younger than 10) named Felix who is Jewish. His parents have left him at an orphanage with nuns and he's been there for three or four years, convinced that his parents are going to come back for him. Felix is a story-teller: he has a vivid imagination mixed with a child's naivety, he tells stories to everyone, and what he thinks is logical reasoning to his stories leads him to believe many of them are true. For example, when Felix finds a carrot in his soup, he's convinced that his parents sent it as a sign that they're still alive because carrots are his favorite vegetable. This inspires him to run away and find his parents.

Throughout the story, the reader is exposed to the horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust going on in Poland while witnessing Felix trying to make sense of it. It's depressing. It really is. The dichotomy between his perception and the reality is heart-wrenching.

It's no Night by Elie Wiesel in the sense that it's definitely not as graphic, and it's not based on the author's real encounters. But just as I teared up reading Night, I admit I teared up while reading Once, as Felix took pages out of his beloved notebook of stories he had written and gave them to an old woman on the train car who didn't have any toilet paper. Okay, writing this I can see how you might think it's sort of ridiculous that that part was so emotional, but if you read the book and understand the context, you'll understand.

Parts of Once reminded me of Life is Beautiful, the Italian movie with the father trying to shield his son from a Nazi death camp. I watched that movie in high school, and this book would've been a perfect companion.

Once is short (163 pages), easy to read, and exposes the reader to the horrors of the Holocaust in a way that's appropriate for young adults learning about it for the first time. It gives you a realistic picture of what this time period was like for children, and it's very emotional. It's a Sydney Taylor Honor Award book (Association of Jewish Libraries) and I definitely recommend it.

Themes: horrors of war, survival, coming of age, ethics of lying, book burnings/censorship, morality, human rights
Good for: Social Studies classes learning about the Holocaust, point of view, symbolism
Would interest: boys and girls grades 8-12
My grade: A


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