Week #14: The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco Stork

I chose this book because it had tons of reviews, although I didn’t read them carefully because sometimes they give away endings. I just skimmed them enough to determine the reviews were good before deciding to read this. There’s nothing worse than getting all comfortable in a blanket with a cup of tea on a crisp fall day and starting a book that is just plain BAD. I am determined to only read GOOD books this fall!

I was not disappointed! I had no idea that the effects of cancer were going to be another theme in this book, as I just read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, but it had a unique plot and cancer was not the main focus of the book, so it ended up being okay.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors is about a Mexican boy named Pancho whose father died in an accident and whose sister was recently found dead in a motel room. Pancho wants to get to the bottom of his sister’s death-- he is convinced she was murdered—and he wants revenge. In the midst of this, he is sent to a religious orgphanage he does not want to go to, where he meets D.Q., a skinny, weak white kid who is suffering from cancer. D.Q. immediately lets Pancho know that they are going to be friends, but Pancho doesn’t understand why and he doesn’t really want to be. All he cares about is seeking revenge on his sister’s killer.

Pancho and D.Q.'s relationship ends up growing anyway, as D.Q. grows sicker and Pancho gets closer to his goal of identifying and confronting his sister's killer. They go to Albaqurqe where D.Q. starts a new cancer treatmet and they also spend time with some other characters including little kids, a love interest, a shaman, and D.Q.'s mom who has been out of the pictures for his whole life.

The relationship between Pancho and D.Q. is the focus of the book, including D.Q.'s attempt to make Pancho a "Death Warrior." D.Q. is writing a manifesto in which he describes how a Death Warrior acts, trying to live up to it himself and trying to get Pancho to buy in to it. For example, D.Q. writes that one should become a Death Warrior "...so you can live and die with truth and courage..." (196).

Pancho is definitely a dynamic character, although not in a fake way. He stays true to his slightly cold character throughout the book, although when he warms up in certain parts the reader really understands why because you know what he's thinking.

This book is a great book,especially for boys. The title kind of turned me off (I thought it was going to be about real warriors fighting) but I was satisfied with the plot and the unique characters.

Would interest: boys and girls grades9-12
Good for: static and dynamic characters, symbolism
Themes: friendship, revenge, belonging, natural healing

My Grade: A

Week #13: Gil Marsh by A.C.E. Bauer

I am still cringing from how awful Gil Marsh by A.C.E Bauer was. It seems like lately I either love what I’m reading or absolutely detest it.

I’ll give the author some credit: this book was an attempt to write a modern version of the 5,000+ year old tale of Gilgamesh, and there were some parallels. That doesn’t make up for the fact that this modern twist of the famous tale was underdeveloped and ridiculously fast paced to the point where it was unbelieveable.

It’s about a teenager named Gil Marsh who is a track star headed toward a National Competition when a new student from Quebec, Enko, moves to his school. Enko is extremely hairy like a beast (which is pointed out many times because it’s supposed to remind you of Enkidu, the man who lived with beasts in Gilgamesh) and also a runner. At first Gil hates him because he’s afraid Enko will steal his thunder, but he grows to become best friends with him. Soon thereafter, Gil is injured and cannot compete in the Nationals, but Enko is still going strong so Gil supports and roots for him. After the competition, Enko suddenly becomes very ill and dies. Gil’s parents do not let him attend his funeral, and Gil is so upset that he runs away to Canada where he’s determined to find the location of the grave (he can't ask Enko's parents because they will tell his parents where he is) and find the man who made Enko’s beloved ring; Enko had told him that the ring was a family heirloom and was made by a man who was immortal. Gil thinks the immortal man can bring Enko back to life.

I won’t give away the ending but I will make some comments about the plot and writing.

First, back to the pace. In the first 38 pages, Gil establishes himself as an athlete, Enko moves to town, Gil hates him, then Gil loves him, they get in trouble with the law, they bond, Enko gets sick, and Enko dies. Can you see how choppy and fast that little description was? Well that’s how it is in the book. It’s difficult to really buy into a strong bond between the two friends when deep and meaningful interactions are scarce and Gil goes from loving him to being best friends in like, 20 pages. Sidenote: Some of the cheesy texts Gil sends Enko right before the Nationals competition imply a bit of homosexual romance: “I’m w/U.” Barf-a-roni. There are other things Gil says later, too, that imply this. I think one time he even said he loved Enko.

Second, most of the story is realistic and Gil’s character seems fairly intelligent until he unbelievably leaves for this journey to find an immortal man in Canada who might be able to bring Enko back to life. Seriously?

Third, for being a fairly smart kid, Gil’s stupidity amazes me. He only brought approx. $200 on this journey to run away to Canada. How long did he think he’d last on this? And why was he buying other people food and not scrounging every penny for himself? This just bothered me. And then he spent all of his money and had no plan as to what he was going to do next besides “find a job somewhere” which any educated person knows would be nearly impossible when he was an illegal alien to Canada! AHHHHH I hate stupid characters who don’t get any smarter by the end!

Finally, the writing was extremely choppy and lacked imagery.

Good for: not much—I don’t even think I’d recommend it to a teacher to use as a companion novel in the classroom, since Gilgamesh is usually taught at upper grade levels and this writing and story are very elementary
Would interest: a boy or girl with a low (6-8th grade) reading level
Themes: immortality, friendship
My grade: D

Week #12: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 

Last year, a ninth grade girl in honors English wrote me a letter that said, "I want to read a book that makes me FEEL something." Well, she said a lot more than that, but the point is, I wish this book had been published already because this would've been the perfect recommendation for her. I'll have to find her this year and put it in her hands.

This book was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Awesome. Like Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines, John Green nailed this one and it won't let you down. It's officially one of my new favorites.

The main character is an intelligent, clever, witty seventeen-year-old girl named Hazel Grace who must suck her oxygen out of a tank because she's terminally ill with cancer.  She's hesitant to start living her life when she knows it's limited by time but all this changes at the beginning of the book when she attends a Cancer Support Group and meets Augustus Waters. With a cigarette in his mouth that he dare not ever light, this young man takes her breath away, and mine too.

I'm not going to go into details about their relationship, as what happens between them and how deeply they're effected by each other is the basis of the entire book. But I will say this: this is not a cheeseball story like you might be imagining. It's deep. And it really makes you think about love and life through the eyes of someone dying. At one point I had tears flooding my face and I just wanted to hug my husband and tell him how much I loved him. (Of course he thought I was just being emotional and obviously didn't understand the context....but if he read the book I bet he'd understand.)

Read it. You won't be disapp

Good for: point of view, symbolism, characterization
Themes: terminally ill, love, death, living, overcoming obstacles
Would interest: boys and girls (but more-so girls because the narrator is a girl)
My grade: A+

Week #11: Miss Timmins' Schools for Girls: A Novel by Nayana Currimbhoy

I'm so sorry that I've been on a hiatus, my loyal fans. A vacation hiking in the Canadian Rockies for two weeks resulted in not much time to read anything other than how to not get eaten by grizzly bears! But it's okay now: I'm back! Perhaps I'm not as motivated as I was, as the school year has just restarted and I'm taking on National Boards (among other stressful things) this year, but I'll continue to do my best here. I may just have to read some books that are not 500 pages long, like this one I just finished!

Holy crap, this book was long. I enjoy reading books that take place in other countries, mostly because I can learn a little about different cultures. Sometimes it's frustrating when I can't understand a lot of the vocabulary used, but this book wasn't so bad. I occasionally came across a word I didn't know, but it didn't stop me from comprehending what was going on. I just wish I had known while reading that there was a glossary of Indian words in the back of the book; instead I realized this after I finished the last page. Whoops.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is told from the main character, Charulata Apte's point of view. She goes to work at a private school for girls in a different region of India from where she is from. The school pushes British influences and ways, and the staff of women consists of some very interesting characters. One particular teacher, Moira Prince, is a very complex character that Charaluta develops a relationship with. In fact, some lesbian romance occurs between them, in addition to drug use. Charulata falls hard for Moira, but is it really True love or just puppy love, since Charulata has never been in a relationship before, or even really had a close girl friend like Moira.

The second part of the book is told from the perspective of one of the girls who attends the school and is in Miss Apte's class. It was refreshing to read another person's "voice", especially that of a teenage girl. The climax of the book is during this part when the girls sneak out of the school (just to rebel) and see Moira Prince on the edge of a big cliff. They see some other characters in the area that night, too, which thickens the plot because after the girls walk away, Moira falls off the cliff and dies. There appears to have been a struggle, and the girls are determined to get to the bottom of this supposed murder case.

The third part of the book is again told from Charulata's perspective. She is also determined to solve the mystery of the murder, since she "loved" Moira (but no one knows this). The reader, however, can't help but wonder if the narrator is somewhat unreliable and played a role in it all. It takes the plot a long time to unravel, literally until the last pages of the book, with some surprises at the end. I was left satisfied with the conclusion but a little frustrated it took so long to reach it.

Overall, this book was good! It's actually an adult book but would definitely interest upper-level YA readers (girls) who are okay with lonnnnnggg books. Because of the sex and drugs, I'd have to recommend it for eleventh and twelfth graders, as these parts may distract a younger or less mature reader from the rest of the book.

As far as depth is concerned, I'm not so sure I can come up with some deep meaning or message to the book. There are definitely some small conclusions you can make  about staying true to one's culture, doing what's best for one's family, and trusting people, but there isn't a huge overall "AHHHHH, that's it!" sort of message like in most YA books I've read. Oh, there are plenty of small conclusions, based on the various sub-stories going on besides the murder mystery: there's a romance with a man, finding the truth about her father's career failure, a very sick mother, slowly becoming an outcast, etc.

I think this one is worth reading if you want a good story and a good mystery, but not if you're looking for a deep message.

Good for: mystery unit, multi-cultural books, setting helping to convey theme
Themes: experimentation, obstacles, remaining true to one's culture, truth, appearance vs. reality,
Would interest: 11th and 12th grade girls who can read lonnnng books
My Grade: B+