Week #8: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

I'm a sucker for award stickers on books. They always drive me in, thinking, "Well, if this book was good enough for a bunch of people to vote for it, I'll probably like it too!"

And so I grabbed Hold Me Closer, Necromancer off the shelf not knowing what to expect, the William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist sticker glimmering in the light. Little did I know it would fall into the supernatural/fantasy genre, which I usually can't stand. This book was okay. Really, just okay. Not super, not horrible...just okay enough for me to finish it and contemplate if I should file it in the "I actually like it" category. Still debating.

It's about a boy, Sam, who dropped out of college and works at a fast food place in Seattle. Due to a little mishap with a potato one night, Sam gets the crap kicked out of him by a mean customer who has noticed a "talent" in Sam that has never before surfaced. Sam is a necromancer and didn't even know it. If you're like me and have no idea what that word means (and if I did, I wouldn't have chosen this book.....cheers to my severe lack of vocabulary.... hint of sarcasm there), a necromancer can apparently bring the dead back as zombie-sorts, and control them.

Anyway, because Sam just learned of his talent and is now in major trouble with the most powerful necromancer in the area, Douglas, (and Douglas means business-- he killed Sam's friend and sent her talking head to him which he now keeps in a bowling bag) he seeks answers to a lot of questions he has, including why this secret has been kept from him. He learns about his mother's past (as well as her unique talents) and is in a time crunch to find and meet some family members. Toward the middle of the book, Sam is kidnapped by Douglas and held captive in a cage with a hot, naked fairy-were that he bonds with. Douglas starts to train Sam on how to use his powers, but things get out of control and soon Sam and his new powers are truly put to the test.

The author's writing style is fun and witty, and very light considering some of the deaths that occur. I have to admit, I was confused by what seemed to be a parallel story plot at the beginning of the book. I hate it when books and movies do that: you're following a story line and are really invested in it when all of a sudden new characters and a completely different plot are introduced. Then you have to wait, wait, wait until the two plots are somehow going to become linked together later because they always are. In the meantime, it's so frustrating as you wonder how much this other plot really matters and how closely you should be paying attention to names and details.  By the time the connection is revealed, you feel like you need to go back and reread a good portion of the beginning because you're like, "Damn, I should've paid more more attention to [whatever you didn't play attention to because you were mad the author did this]!" SO FRUSTRATING!

I did think the pacing of the book was at times uneven, as it slowed down a little in the middle, and then a major action scene toward the end was over in a flash.

I will, however, compliment the author's creativity in coming up with all these different characters and finding a way to wind them together-- witches, werewolves, fairies, necromancers, and other creatures. Most of the characters were strong and unique, which made their interactions interesting.

I'm not so sure my high school population that requests books about werewolves would actually go for this one, as it's kind of long and a lot different from something like Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. It is, however, amusing if you can set aside your confusion enough to get to where the two plots converge. I feel a sequel coming, too. (I probably won't read it though. I mean, the zombie panda finally died and I was really depressed about that...)

Themes: identity, good vs. evil
Would interest: boys and girls, grades 9-12, motivated readers who like realistic books mixed with some fantasy
Good for: a fun read
My grade: B

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-