Wow! I really liked this book. Here's the thing. A lot of adults try to write a YA novel and end up sounding patronizing or hysterical when they write teenagers. Angie Thomas somehow manages to capture the angst of being a teenager in a realistic, sympathetic, and authentic way.Reading as Bri struggles with fairness and family obligation actually made me FEEL the way I did when I was a teenager - when I could not conceive of a world that didn't see right and wrong the way I did - when I was so SURE I knew what I was doing and admitting that I had no idea was not an option.In On the Come Up, Bri struggles to find her own voice as she is under increasing pressure from her family circumstances and societal expectations. See, she has a gift. She's a poet who works with words the way painters work with acrylics. That her father was an up and coming rap artist prior to being shot and killed hangs over her attempts to make her own name in the business.Her mother J, and her brother Tre are her solid support system. Thomas artfully shows how teens sometimes grow up before their family is ready. And Bri is attempting to shoulder a burden her mother and brother are sure she's not even aware of. As they recognize her personhood - she blossoms and is fully ready to take on the challenges she's facing. And her challenges are many. Her mother is laid off and out of work. Her family is struggling to pay its bills. Bri and her neighbors are bused to a less diverse school but are targeted by security personnel there. A local talent promoter is trying to exploit her and present an image of her she's not comfortable with.It's a wonderful story of finding yourself, forming bonds, the unsure footing of maturing, and romantic exploration. Thomas has crafted a story with so many people to root for, it was a pleasure to read.
4/5 Stars.
I had so many moments where I forgot that I was listening to an audio book and lapsed into full-fledged conversation with Jeannette Walls. "These parents in the Glass Castle... WTF on every page." is what I texted to my sister when it just seemed like the never-ending train of neglect and abuse rolled on. I couldn't understand how Jeannette turned out so normal. How she could forgive her parents. The story starts with a grown up Jeannette seeing her mother picking items from a garbage dumpster in a New York City alley. Then it travels back in time to a three year old Jeannette who is terribly scarred when a stove top flame catches her dress on fire. And then it travels forward. With Jeannette, her older sister Laurie, younger brother Brian and baby sister Maureen transported across the country by their parents. Who can never seem to settle down or "straighten up." Their mother, a trained teacher, elects to spend her time painting and writing novels and stories that are consistently rejected. Their father, a former Air Force pilot and engineer, works for about six months at a time before being fired. He is an alcoholic. Neither parent ever seems to be able to put their children first, a fact that becomes painfully more obvious when the family moves from the desert landscapes Jeannette and the older siblings are used to, and on to Welch, West Virginia, where their dad grew up and where their grandmother probably sexually abused him. Good grief. A multi-generational horribleness sets in. But all of this is told in a rather matter of fact way, by a woman who is entirely grateful to have had her siblings to navigate and survive with. Even when their parents chose booze or jewelry over putting food on the table and let their kids dig food from the trash, the siblings look out for one another and each gain they get is hard won and hard fought. I won't go into detail of every issue of neglect that's committed by the parents in this story, but ultimately, Laurie is able to leave for New York where she pursues her dream of being an artist. Rather than wait out her time in Welch, Jeannette follows to finish her senior year in New York. Brian follows suit the next year when he enters the 12th grade. And much to the relief of the siblings, Maureen is permitted to move to New York under Laurie's care at the age of 12. Their children all gone the parents wait a while and then follow them to New York, where they spend time homeless and on the streets and then eventually squatting in an abandoned building. If it wasn't a memoir I would have thought I was reading a piece of hard fiction. But the fact that this was someone's life is rather amazing. It's a sad truth that some people are not able to set aside the mental illness or addictions that prevent them from being fully there for others. And in the end, I think Jeannette forgives her parents for that, if she even felt like she needed to. She knew they loved her in their own flawed ways. If she can forgive them, who am I to hold a grudge. But I am going to hug my kids tighter today AND when I see them, my own mom and dad.
5/5 Stars.
I really needed this book after a lot of heavy reading in January. It was full of really honest critiques but also funny. I listened to this as an audio book, which based on how it unfurled, might be the only way to really digest this book. You Can't Touch My Hair (YCTMH) comes through in a series of essays by Phoebe Robinson, one of two women who make up the podcast duo of Two Dope Queens. Phoebe has been a writer, standup comedian, and actress and is still making her way in the entertainment business. I gather from the book that the book deal came after the popular success of a blog, Blaria (Black Daria), but I've never read the blog before.Robinson is a few years younger than me, so her pop culture references were on the periphery of my own experience, but still close enough that I understood them. Glad I didn't waste time watching The Kingsmen even though I love Colin Firth. Listening to the book was a bit like spending an extended period of time with a Millennial. As a gen-x type I got a little tired of the constant voice modulations prevalent in the young, but that's probably spot on generation-wise. I digress. I've spent time this past year consciously trying to make an effort to listen to more voices that aren't like mine, specifically cis, het, college educated, white woman. My echo chamber is deep and wide after almost ten years of college and post-graduate education. So listening to Robinson's book was not only entertaining because of the jokes, but also interesting because of the different perspective Robinson brings as a black woman.In the end, I felt the book ran a little long. I feel like there was quite a bit of material added for the audiobook that may not have appeared in print, and in the end it felt a little repetitive, but YCTMH still made me laugh. I actually spit coffee out in my car when she referred to Craig's List as Lucifer's Taint.
That's back to back Robinson books for me (Michelle Robinson aka Michelle Obama and Phoebe Robinson). What should I read next?
3/5 Stars.
I think I've lost my objectivity when it comes to Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch was such a spectacular book (you can read that review here) - the best I've read in ages, that I'm willing to give her leeway on meandering plots or superfluous details. The Secret History is so wildly different from The Goldfinch, it's hard to know where to start.The main protagonist is Richard Pappen, an unhappy California youth who does what many young people do, goes to college as far away from his parents and home as he can get. In this case, to Hampden Vermont. As a transfer student, he steps into established sociological webs and connections and tries to find a place for himself. The place he singles out is with an enigmatic and intriguing Classics professor who only takes a few students on each year. Julian hand picks and then guides each student personally through coursework he himself designs and teaches. Originally denied entry to this group, Richard seeks to impress the other five students - genius Henry Winter, twins Charles and Camilla, dashing Francis, and gregarious Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. He succeeds and is soon admitted to their circle. But no matter how close he gets to the group, he remains slightly on the periphery. So it comes as quite a shock when he discovers a secret about the group and their extracurricular activities. In an effort to show he is part of the exclusive tribe, he agrees to hide their secret, even to the extent that it means killing Bunny Corcoran, who threatens to expose the others. Bunny becomes wildly unpredictable and unhinged and so the group believes Bunny must be taken care of. Even though Richard tells the reader early on that Bunny is killed, the series of events leading to Bunny's death are so intriguing that the dramatic tension still exists, even up to the point where Bunny tips over the edge of the ravine to his death. The aftermath and its effects on the group - through the eyes of Richard is fascinating. The one weird element is that it is never really clear why Richard is telling this story. The events he imparts are so volatile that naturally one would imagine Richard would never tell a soul, so playing the narrative device out to its fullest extent is inexplicable. This niggling detail detracts from some of the enjoyment of the book. But Tartt's writing carries the rest through.
4/5 Stars.
This is probably 3.5 Stars. The writing it terrific as I would expect from Alice Hoffman. Faithful follows the story of Shelby Richmond, a 17 year old girl who has destroyed the life of her friend and herself during a near fatal car accident. Shelby is terribly depressed and pushes away everyone who tries to love and get close to her. The story is of her long, slow healing process which takes place in the book over the course of a decade. There are predictable elements and I didn't exactly like Shelby throughout the story, which made it hard for me to really fall in love with this book. The cast of supporting characters was great though. This book would probably make a good mini-series. The melodrama parts probably play better on screen. The character development Hoffman creates is well done for the most part, and her characters are nuanced and colorful. Otherwise there's really not much else to say about this little spare novel about a girl who has to learn how to love herself all over again.
3.5/5 Stars.
I have to hand it to Matthew Thomas. This book was long. Very long. But the writing throughout was really superb. We are Not Ourselves follows the lives of Eileen, Ed and Connell Leary (again sorry for spelling, I listened to the audio version). Eileen's story begins in her childhood and continues through her meeting and marriage to Ed, and the eventual birth of Connell. It would seem no detail of Eileen's life is too small to be left out. Which ultimately is the major flaw of this otherwise engaging novel. There's just too much. Connell becomes a narrator of the story in his own write as he reaches adolescence and then further on into his young adulthood. The book ultimately became more interesting after Ed is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. The story becomes tragic and engrossing. And yet, throughout the entire book, Ed remains the character with the most redeeming qualities. Eileen and Connell are selfish and flawed. Eileen does eventually let go of much of this, but never quite when you want her to. Ultimately the characters feel very real. They don't learn life lessons well, or sometimes at all, but never when you want them to, and never in a way that feels like satisfaction. The length of the book was its biggest drawback as the unnecessary details kept me from really falling into the book and getting lost in it. Had it not been for a long vacation car ride, I'd probably still be reading it.
3/5 Stars.
I'd give this book a solid 3.75 stars. I liked Eilis (pronounced Eye-lish). I liked watching her "come of age" through the process of the book. I like how she makes decisions and isn't overly dramatic or needlessly whiny. She accepts her choices like an adult and makes the next step.
In this story, Eilis is the younger daughter to a widowed mother in Ireland. Smart, but slightly less beautiful than her older sister Rose, Eilis works hard at her studies trying to advance herself and her family's fortunes. When it becomes apparent that there is no work for Eilis in Ireland, her sister and mother make arrangements for Eilis to go to Brooklyn to work in a shop and hopefully take classes to become a book keeper.
Eilis suffers through a rough crossing, but once in America, gets on well at her job and eventually makes friends. She begins a relationship with an Italian plumber named Tony and corresponds with her sister Rose in secret because she's not quite ready to tell her mother that she's moved on from Ireland. Part of the time Eilis seems like she's inhabiting someone else's life in America, as if she's going through the motions of her day without thinking of who she is becoming. But eventually she starts to make decisions of her own and use her intellect to excel at school.
Following Rose's death, Eilis must decide if she will go back to Ireland to stay, or if she'll claim the new life she's made for herself in Brooklyn. In a very real question of whether you can go home again, Eilis is presented with what her alternative life would have been had she stayed in Ireland. And she has regrets on both sides of the decision.
Understated, yet understandable, the story of Eilis is the story of us all, growing up, making decisions, living with the consequences and deciding our own futures. The only complaints were some fairly plodding points in the story that got a little boring, and the fact that nothing ever seems to really happen to Eilis. The lack of drama makes it realistic, but sometimes a bit tedious.
3.75/5 Stars.
