BOOK REVIEW: Paper Towns (Task #3 Complete!)

Paper Towns by John Green is not only my book club's discussion piece for March, but it is also the third task I've completed as part of the BookRiot Read Harder Challenge as "A book by a person whose gender is different from your own."  It could also count this as my YA novel - but I  have already reviewed that one! (Do I have a YA lit problem? Honestly, I probably do.)

Paper Towns has been on my list ever since my best friend, Brooke, gave me The Fault in our Stars. I bawled for days over that one. SO WONDERFUL!  I went into Paper Towns not really knowing what to expect.  I knew it was coming out as a movie, but other than that, I wondered how closely it would align with the only other book by the author I had read.  To my pleasant surprise, I found it quite different and in a very good way!

The book begins Quentin Jacobsen (also known as Q) and Margo Roth Spiegelman riding their bikes to a local park.  When they arrive, they find the body of a man who has committed suicide.  Q and Margo have very different reactions to the situation - Q is scared and wants to go find help. Margo is a bit enthralled and steps toward the body to get a closer look before Q snaps her out of it.  

"I think I maybe know why," she said finally.

"Why?" 

"Maybe all the strings inside him broke," she said.

Flash forward to present day, when Q and Margo are now in high school.  They aren't friends - in fact, Margo is basically the queen bee of their high school and Quentin is one of the band kids. They haven't really been friends since they stumbled upon the body as kids. 

Then one night Margo appears at Quentin's window, wearing black face paint and a black hoodie.  She has a long list of wrongs to right and talks Q into chauffeuring her around as she marks items of the list.  After their crazy night of shenanigans, Quentin gets to school and Margo isn't there.  Margo is nowhere to be found and at first, everyone just assumes it's another one of Margo's legendary trips and she'll be back eventually.

Except, she doesn't come back.  After speaking with Margo's parents and the police, Quentin sees that someone has lowered the window shade in Margo's room - and there is a clue staring him right in the face.  Joined by his friends Ben and Radar, Q begins the most epic scavenger hunt that ever existed hoping that, in the end, he could find Margo.

There were so many things that I liked about this book.  There are wacky and specific details about each character that really bring everything to life.  For example, Radar's parents own the largest collection of black Santa's.  Ben calls all people of the female persuasion "honeybunnies."  I really felt a connection with Quentin as the narrator.

What I loved most, though, is the sense of seriousness and humor that John Green wove throughout the story.  It begins with the seriousness of suicide, draws you in with pedantic attention to high school life - where the most important thing is whether or not you're going to prom - followed by possibly the funniest revenge plot I've ever encountered.  Then you're hit with the harder hitting parts during Q's search for Margo.  Green really digs into the "coming of age" story line here.  Q and his friends question what it is to really know someone and what it is to really know yourself and the different personas one may have depending on the situation they find themselves in.  

This book, like The Fault in our Stars, absolutely has an existential thread to it. I think that's what I like best about John Green's writing - it's light, it's goofy, it's fun, but it also tackles these larger ideas of what it means to exist in this life.

I would give this book a 3 out of 4 stars.  There is a lot here for readers to connect with, even if YA lit isn't your thing.

BOOK REVIEW: The Light Between Oceans (Task #2 Complete!)

The Light Between Oceans is a book by M. L. Stedman that my book club selected to read for our February meeting. Therefore, I decided that it would count as the second item crossed off of my BookRiot Read Harder Challenge list as "A book that someone else has recommended to you."

I thought this book was beautifully written, but also quite heartbreaking. I was incredibly moved by the story line. 

It is about a couple, Isabel and Tom, who cannot conceive a child, when one day a baby washes up on shore in a boat with a dead man. Instead of notifying authorities about the body and the baby, the couple decides to keep and raise the baby as their own. It's only years later that they realize the impact this decision has had outside of their little family. There were moments where I wanted to cry and scream because things just weren't fair, and there were moments where I was just so frustrated I was beside myself!

On one hand, I could absolutely understand Isabel's grief and want to keep the baby as their own; however, I am a guilty sort of conscience like Tom, so I think the weight of the decision would eat away at me in a similar fashion.  And then, of course, after they'd already made the decision to keep Lucy, it muddied the water that much more because then they were in way over their heads at that point.  There were times when I just felt so awful and wished there was a clearer answer, rather than just a whole lot of anguish for everyone.

It's a book that I would recommend to most people. However, I wouldn't necessarily say the plot is fast paced, so for people who are looking for an exciting plot, this book wouldn't be suitable. I would give it 3 of 4 stars, though!

BOOK REVIEW: Hontas by V.M. Sawh

I recently read a "re-imagined fairytale" by V.M. Sawh called Hontas and reviewed it on OnlineBookClub.org.  Check it out here!

I really enjoyed this short story.  It mixes a little Pocahontas and John Smith, with two parts danger and adventure and one part Wild West for a really unexpected and exciting story.  I loved it!

BOOK REVIEW: Second Hand Stops by Katie St. Claire (Task #1 Complete!)

I recently completed a review on OnlineBookClub.org for a book called Second Hand Stops by Katie St. Claire.  It's a YA novel about six adolescent telepaths who begin to unlock the truth behind their mysterious benefactor and an elixir that allows the drinker to live forever.

Read the full review here!

I also counted this as my BookRiot Read Harder Challenge books.  So, task #1 complete!

MOVIE REVIEW: Never Let Me Go

I'm not going to lie...I received Never Let Me Go from Netflix just before Christmas, and I didn't watch it until last night.  I'm not sure why!  I put it in my Netflix queue because it sounded interesting.  Here is how Netflix described it:

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's acclaimed novel, this sci-fi drama from director Mark Romanek is centered on thirtysomething Kathy (Carey Mulligan), who reflects on her time spent at Hailsham, an English boarding school, alongside classmates Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield). Born for an unusual reason, the three struggle with their destiny and their love triangle. Charlotte Rampling plays headmistress Miss Emily.

For whatever reason, I just didn't feel compelled to watch until I decided to bring it with me on my work trip to Orlando. I knew I would have an evening to myself in my hotel room with nowhere to go and no one to see, so I figured I'd make a movie out of it.  I was pleasantly surprised by the film as well!

Never Let Me Go begins on the premise that in medical breakthroughs have allowed the life span of humans to move past 100 years old by the year 1952.  From there, you are brought to Hailsham school, where an entire student body of children, including Kathy, Ruth and Tommy grow up, believing that they are special. There are stories that keep them from ever wandering outside of the school grounds, and their lives become so intertwined because Hailsham is all they ever know.  It isn't until their new teacher, Miss Lucy, shares with her class that their sole purpose will be to "give donations" of their vital organs once they've become adults.

From there, Kathy, Ruth and Tommy begin to have a tenuous relationship as Ruth and Tommy begin a relationship, while Kathy also has feelings for Tommy.  After their time at Hailsham is over, the three are sent to live at a cottage.  One day, they all take a trip with some of the others staying at their cottage because they believe Ruth's "possible," or the woman she is cloned from, works in the town.  Meanwhile, Kathy decides to volunteer as a carer - someone who cares for those giving donations, which distances her from Ruth and Tommy for some time. 

It isn't until Kathy happens to be caring for someone at the same hospital as Ruth that their relationship is rekindled.  At this point, Ruth has already given two donations and is fairly weak.  However, she wants to take a trip with Kathy to visit Tommy and visit the beach near his rehabilitation center.

There have been rumors of "deferrals" for couples who are in love wherein they are given a few year reprieve from giving donations in order to be together.  During her visit with Tommy and Kathy, Ruth apologizes for never giving them the chance to be together and suggests that they apply for a deferral.  Tommy and Kathy decide to apply, all the while still grappling with the reality that their lives will always have an expiration date.

I won't give away the ending, but trust me - it's a powerful one.  My very favorite line of the entire movie comes at the very end:

"What I'm not sure about is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time."

That is the biggest take home message for me with this movie.  It really made me reflect on how I live my life.  I don't think about the fact that my days are and always have been numbered, but had I been in a situation like theirs, it would constantly on my mind.  But my days are numbered.  The people in this movie made the most of every single day knowing that one day they would "complete."  Most of us don't - I sure know I don't and wish that I was more mindful of this.

The acting was also incredibly impressive.  I don't usually find child actors much to talk about, but the first third of the move was acted by some really great child actors.  The girl who played a young Kathy looked like Carey Mulligan as a child!  Not only that, but Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield gave incredibly heart-felt performances.

While this movie was billed as a sci fi movie, it wasn't an action sci fi movie that most of us are used to.  It isn't dystopian, and has more elements of drama and romance than anything else.  It really hit me at my core, and got me thinking about life quite a bit.  If that sounds like your kind of movie, I highly recommend it!   

I give it a four out of five stars.

A challenge for 2015!

As you may or may not know, I love to read. I recently learned about BookRiot's 2015 Read Harder Challenge. What is this goal you ask?

"...24 tasks, averaging out to two per month, that will hopefully inspire you to pick up books that represent experiences and places and cultures that might be different from your own. We encourage you to push yourself, to take advantage of this challenge as a way to explore topics or formats or genres that you otherwise wouldn’t try. But this isn’t a test. No one is keeping score and there are no points to post. We like books because they allow us to see the world from a new perspective, and sometimes we all need help to even know which perspectives to try out. That’s what this is – a perspective shift – but one for which you’ll only be accountable to yourself.

I love this idea. I get into a rut (though I don't like the word rut, per se, because of the negative connotation) where I read gobs of books that are similar to the books I just read, and never really branch out too much. With this challenge (especially bingo card that I've just printed off to help me remember all of the different categories), I can mindfully select books for each category and really stretch myself.

Is anyone else participating in this challenge? What's the first task that you plan to tackle? I myself have already completed the YA Novel (book review(s) to come!) and plan to tackle a book that someone else has recommended to me. There is even a Goodreads group dedicated to this challenge - check it out for book recommendations!

MOVIE REVIEW: Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer is a movie that I'd only heard of from flipping through the streaming movie options on Netflix.  However, when I was traveling back from visiting family over the holidays with my fiance, we stumbled upon this Best Movies Off Radar 2014 article by Rotten Tomatoes staffers, and it was on the list.  Their description was enough to put it on our "to watch" list.  We forgot about it for a couple of days and then while searching for something to watch on Netflix, boom!  there it was!  Needless to say, we didn't pass up the chance to watch it, and I am glad we didn't.

Snowpiercer begins with a little back story.  In 2014, Earth is going through terrible climate conditions, with the climate heating up to the point where the world's governments decide to spray a chemical in the air to help regulate temperatures.  The problem is, this chemical blocks all heat from the sun whatsoever, and throws the Earth into a perpetual winter.  We're talking tundra winter here.  The only human survivors are the people who were lucky enough to be aboard a perpetual-motion engine train that is on a track such that it circles the globe once every 365 days.  The people on board are separated by class, with the most elite at the front of the train, and the lower classes in the tail.  The elite live and eat like kings while the lower class lives in squalor and eats gelatinous protein bars rationed out to them.

We meet our main character, Curtis (played by Chris Evans of Captain America fame), in the year 2031, and he has plans for a rebellion in which the lower class breaks through the length of the train and take control of the engine from Mr. Wilford - the creator of the train.  Their initial efforts at breaking through the first gate are successful, at which point they break out Namgoong Minsu (Song Kang-ho), the man who built the security system on the train and their best chance of getting through all the gates, and his daughter Yona (Go Ah-sung).  They meet many foes along the way, and the movie breaks into a lot of gratuitous violence.  At the very end there is a moment that I would call a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment - you'll have to watch to see what I mean. 

The cast is also great, with appearances by Chris Evans (Captain America), John Hurt (Harry Potter), Allison Pill (Newsroom), Octavia Spencer (The Help), Jamie Bell (The Adventures of Tintin), Tilda Swinton (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), Ed Harris (Pollock) and more.

Overall, I found the premise really interesting, and for people who like the dystopian genre, it's worth seeing.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.