Critique

Very much in the tone of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird or John Grisham’s A Time To Kill, this exposé of the climate of the South in 1963 reveals the social and racial tension 100 years after slavery had been banned. The mentality of the African American community is still too often that of passive-aggressive servitude, and taking that final step to bridging the gap proves to be more of a mountain than it should be. The White community is often both cruel and two-faced when it comes to their African American townspeople, and it’s sad to see that people were treating each other this way even this long after slavery had been abolished.

Burg also relates the happenings of the townsfolk with that of the important historical moments during the summer of that year, which ushered in the Civil Rights movement in full force. This text is not for the faint of heart, but it’s a great tool in order to help us all remember how far things have come in America, and how far they still need to go for full racial equality and dissolving enmity between cultures. I recommend this to all readers 12+.

Critique

It is difficult to find books that could be classified as Steam Punk, but this novel is a great candidate. Of course, I say that as a compliment since I’m a big fan of Steam Punk art and culture, and books and movies that explore that world are hard to come by. For those are unfamiliar with the term, Steam Punk is a fantasy world generated from a specific time period in our own world’s history, based in the time of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. As such, most Steam Punk works are set to look like that time period, are usually in England or Europe, and imagine a world where everything is powered by steam, or, in the case of this novel, have a strong fascination with metal. Even if the writing weren’t great, which it is, I would still recommend this novel just for its contribution to the world Steam Punk.

So, to the writing itself. Rutkoski has created a very tangible imaginative world with unique magic and fresh characters. Petra is a lovable character who you can’t help but to root for, and Neel is also fun to follow. There are so many elements to this book that I loved: that it’s set in the Prague of an alternate history, the living metal animals, especially Astrophil, the various types of magic and that, characteristically, each person only has one ability, the rich description of the scenes and the world as a whole, and Rutskoski’s talent in creating narrative voice with the perfect balance of inner dialogue, dialogue between characters, scenery description and plot movement/action.

Having seen the name and the cover, I was hoping that it would be an amazing book, and I was not disappointed. I recommend this novel to all readers 11+.

Critique

Woodson, as always, delivers a profound story in a short and beautiful way. She has this talent of keeping you interested in the story itself while showing you the light and dark sides of life that many people face on a regular basis. All of the characters seem real, and you come to love them throughout the narrative, especially D, who is often so mysterious in one moment and deeply candid in the next that you feel both intimidated and comforted by her presence simultaneously. 

Also, as always, Woodson integrates challenging subplots, like Neeka’s older brother, a young gay man who’s been wrongfully imprisoned, young Black men disappearing off the street and in jail for what seems like no reason, and the despair surrounding the death of Tupac. It wasn’t until after having read this book that I truly understood even a small portion of the gravity of Tupac’s life and what he represented to the African American community at large (a little personal thanks to Woodson for touching on that theme).

In many ways, Woodson seems to be a YA Lit representation of Toni Morrison or Alice Walker. It’s not surprising that she keeps winning awards for her texts. They’re the perfect balance of engaging and enlightening with a unique voice and excellent literary quality. I recommend this book to readers 12+.

Critique

I feel like “experience” is a truly fitting adjective for this text. I would actually recommend it to children and adults alike, not only because of the richness in historical value, but also because the stories of Holiday’s life that are told through this medium create a rich experience for all readers. 

I believe, however, that Weatherford’s most phenomenal accomplishment with the text is that it communicates the story in a very similar way to the songs and jazz style of Billie Holiday—her signature style of singing just behind the beat, improvising in subtle but profound ways. All of that, although not represented in the same way, is brought to life throughout the text. I recommend this to all readers.

Critique

It’s not surprising that the Surrender Tree won so many awards, including a Newbery Honor. The language is beautiful, and the story itself is one that is not often told. Especially for an American audience, this text reveals a new type of Cuba that predates the Communist revolution that sparked an arms race during the Kennedy presidency. This is a Cuba much like the early America or Jamaica—a country of people who want to have their own independence, who want to live freely as one people, no slavery, all equals.

It’s interesting to see the story from so many perspectives, and I think that Engle adroitly switches through the first person narratives with ease. Often writers will struggle to create variance in the voices and speech patterns of their characters, but each of the four sounds different from each other, not only in style and rhythm, but also in their character—hopes, dreams, loves, actions, driving forces. I read it twice, and I would recommend it to all readers.

Critique

Anyone who knows Virgil’s The Aeneid will either love or hate Le Guin’s retelling of the life of Lavinia as it intersects Aeneas’s story. Le Guin, as always presents a tale replete with layers of conflict and underlying social commentary. Some of the most obvious is the masculine and feminine roles, the duties of a ruler to her/his people, the view of women as property and powerless, the tragedies of war, and, oddly, the inner conflict of homosexuals in a heterosexually dominated culture. Whether these elements will be endearing to lovers of Virgil’s story, or if this will be seen as a good edition to the overall telling of Aeneas’s tale is left to be seen. 

However, for those not caught up in this as an extension of Virgil, the story actually has legs of its own. Many reviewers have said that it’s not one of Le Guin’s best, but I beg to differ. The same was said about C.S. Lewis’s retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche in Til We Have Faces, although Lewis is quoted as having considered it his greatest work, and I feel much the same way about this novel. It takes a lot of work and effort to get the history correct, and not only that, but Le Guin spends great lengths describing everything about the culture and time period—clothes, food, rituals, architecture, gender interplay, landscape, and much more—so that the reader can imagine every last detail of each scene. The early Latin culture becomes illuminated so that the story itself can live in an accurately detailed world. 

My guess is that since there is no magic in this story, outside of some prophesies and allusions to the intervention of the gods, people who love Le Guin’s usual writing couldn’t quite get into this one. However, I believe that it will stand the test of time as one of her greatest works, and hopefully it will be seen as an addition to Virgil’s great epic. Le Guin herself reveals her love for The Aeneid in the afterword, pining after the days when people were still taught Latin as part of their education, so that they could be enriched by the words of Virgil. She insists that people will not be able to understand the full beauty and magnitude of the work unless they read it in the original Latin.

Critique

Skillfully interlacing Indian mythology with its history and culture, this ornately woven tale shows the beauty and power of India during the twentieth century. Michaelis’s captivating words, blossoming somewhere between poetry and prose reveals the influence of storytelling. Strong themes of redemption, rebirth, forgiveness and personal conviction toward the greater good are delineated powerfully throughout the text, and even though some of the content is for more mature audiences, its handled in a way that makes things like sexuality, evil, and death appear symbolic in the overall journey toward life and growth. I recommend this text to all readers 14+.

Critique

This was a fun and endearing book. Mibs was such a fun character to follow during her journey into discovering herself, her abilities and some surprising friends along the way. Although the ‘people with special powers’ story has been told over and over now, Law’s take on it is refreshing. Rather than creating heroes who have to save the world against deadly foes, the Beaumonts are simple people who want nothing more than to keep to themselves and have as normal of a life as possible. The best part of the book is watching Mibs’s bravery and her indomitable spirit throughout some of the most difficult circumstances, simply because of the love she has for her own father.

Critique

Collins has created a gripping epic of a story, which is an arguably darker combination of the already dark stories 1984, Lord of the Flies, and the short story The Lottery. I certainly couldn’t put the book down from beginning to end, however I found myself thinking the text was very dark and not suitable for younger readers. In fact, I was reminded of stories like The Bluest Eye, which is a text involving children as the main characters, but is often banned from various school reading lists and regarded as a book not suitable for kids.

That disclaimer aside, this is one of the better books that I’ve read in a while, and it certainly deserved all the press and awards that it’s received. I’m sure that several production studios will consider it for a film, which is bitter sweet in my opinion. This would make a great movie, but it would be incredibly dark.

On the literary front, this is a perfect example of a dystopian society, which is the best kind of science fiction. Also, what makes any good science fiction novel really good is the subtle or not so subtle hint that all of the terrible things going on in the story are palpable at some level. It seems a little farfetched that our society could turn into this, but it’s not far from where Rome was just before its fall and the degradation of art and culture had reached its limit with rampant incest and duels to the death in the Coliseum. Even now, reality TV is not a far cry from the gladiator games. How long will it be before we want to be entertained by watching people compete by killing each other?

However, what makes this book amazing, in my opinion is that Collins has taken a relatively original idea (possibly pulling from sources like the Japanese film Battle Royale) and really flushed it out in a phenomenal way. The great travesty with science fiction and fantasy books is that many of the authors have great concepts, but are terrible writers, leading them to flood the market with books that have great elevator pitches, but are, in reality, not that great. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think that Collins has given us a truly original story, but what made Chaucer and Shakespearre so great, among other things, is that they took well-known stories and rewrote them with their literary genius.

The way that Collins writes the story through the eyes of Katniss creates empathy for the reader, and makes the dark world tangible and the characters she’s interacting with three-dimensional. Katniss is always believable in every action and decision, making her a reliable narrator, and therefore, making the other characters reliable as well. In doing so, the story’s underlying messages are communicated clearly and effectively, showing our own society a mirror of itself and what it can become if we don’t start moving in a different direction. I recommend this book to all readers 14+.

The other books in this series so far are Catching Fire (book 2).

Critique

There are parts from time to time that are a little slow, unnecessary or poorly timed descriptions of the landscape and setting throughout the novel, but all in all it was a fantastic read. There are elements of what seem to be realistic danger, and Conor, even though the hero, definitely seems as though he may not make it out of many of the scrapes he gets himself into, including all of the flying inventions he creates. The ending is almost a little too happy/sappy, but it’s ultimately what one is hoping for deep down inside, so that the hero can win and everyone lives happily ever after. 

Some of the elements that make the story original are Colfer’s recreation of the history of the Saltees, how they were populated, and what makes them wealthy. In reality, the Saltee Islands do exist, and are owned by a family, but no one really lives there, and there are no diamond mines. There is, however, a wonderful culture of birds and seals that live throughout the islands. Also, the integration of the realistic struggle for power and Conor’s desire to escape are accompanied well with the fantasy/science fiction aspects that revolve Conor’s dreams of flight, and his capabilities as a scientific genius to make them possible. Not only does he create a personal flying machine that can take him back and forth from the islands, but he creates the first plane with angled propellers as well.

I don’t know of any books to be released to follow this in a series, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were, knowing Colfer. I recommend this text to readers 9+, skewing more toward boys.