Molokai

Rachel Kalama is an average six year old. She is mischievous, she hates wearing shoes and she fights with her sister.  Her Father is a sailor and he mails her dolls from all the faraway lands he visits. Her life is ordinary in Hawaiian terms. Until a patch of thick, feelingless skin shows up on her leg. Her mother tries to hide it. Leprosy is a worse sentence than death in Hawaii. Rachel’s Uncle Pono contracted the disease. The government searched for him. They found him. They took him away from his family and sent him to die. But no matter how hard Rachel’s mother tries, she can’t hide the leprosy forever. Soon, Rachel’s condition is discovered. The six year old is taken from her home, her family, her beloved father. She is sent to Molokai, the leper’s island, where the sick are sent to die, out of sight and out of mind of the public. Sent to die, but Rachel’s life is just beginning.

Alan Brennert’s writing is smooth and easy to read. His passion for Hawaiian history and people is evident through his meticulous detail of the islands. The book was steady and constant, but didn’t throw in too many surprises. Taking on a character’s entire life is difficult to do. The reader tends to lose interest. It’s hard to make a character constant and relatable throughout eighty years.

Pros: Little talked about issues with an easy reading style, great word pictures and writing that generates a response in the reader.

Cons: Too long of a book with unoriginal characters. He essentially bit off more than he could chew and a result, chunks of Rachel’s life are glossed over.

For me, the novel dragged on a bit long. I thoroughly enjoyed it however, and I cried for the last 100 pages straight. Brennert does a good job of making the reader care about what happens to Rachel. The book spans from the dark ages of leprosy in the late 1800s all the way to its cure in the 1970s. Molokai isn’t just a book about leprosy, Hawaii, or even the island Molokai. It is a story about ambition, obstacles, and peace with our lot in life, no matter what it may be. Joy can be found in the saddest of things and beauty can be found in the ugliest of things. That’s what makes life livable. That’s what Brennert tells us. I just wish it didn’t take so long to do so.

 

Wild(ly engaging but unfortunately false)

I don’t think I’ve ever read an autobiography, so I didn’t know what to expect when my boss handed me Wild and said I should read it because she had enjoyed it so much. I finished the two books I had been reading, and started the book. Wild chronicles the author’s experience in hiking the Pacific Crest Trail following the death of her mother and the dissolution of her marriage Cheryl Strayed was at the end of her rope. When her mother died at 46, Cheryl’s life slowly collapsed. She lost contact with her step father and her siblings. She cheated numerous times on her husband Paul, for no reason other than she felt like it. She still loved Paul. He still loved her. But that wasn’t enough to save their marriage. They divorced. They remained best friends but Cheryl knew she needed a change. A big one. She got tangled up in heroin use. She read a book on the PCT and decided she would hike it. Everyone thought she was crazy. She did too. But she scraped up enough money to buy all she needed and then she set out. She was hopelessly under experienced and underestimated how hard the voyage would be. But she kept at it. And along the way, she healed. She forgave her mother for dying. She ultimately forgave herself.

Like I said, I’ve never really read an autobiography so I didn’t know what to expect. The writing was candid and engaging, and the pace of the story was consistent. The amount of detail in the story is crazy, considering Strayed wrote this memoir more than a dozen years after she completed it. She said she kept a journal, which is why she has such detailed information. She also must have an amazing memory, because no amount of journal notes would allow me to write down three months of conversations, verbatim. Hiking such a long way is an interesting feat and it got me thinking about hiking. I doubt I could ever do a long distance hike such as this one. I’m a student, and taking endless months off of work or school is out of the question. But I think a weekend hiking or even a week would be beyond cool. I love walking and running and the outdoors. I ride outside for hours every week and I run 2 miles everyday. What the book lacked, though, was substance, morality, a clear message. The subtext for the book title is “From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail”. I agree that Cheryl was lost. But was she found? I don’t think so. The taxing physical journey led to an inward journey for Cheryl, where I expected she would realize her blame, her wrong-doings. Where she would realize that everyone is lost without God. No, she chose to forgive herself, when she never really took responsibility in the first place. It was a muddy transformation that had no roots in any kind of spirituality or moral ground. It was an incomplete transformation. She learned to rely on herself, to be alone. She continues to be lost because she thinks she has found the answer. Trust yourself, rely on yourself, have faith in no one and nothing but yourself. But that is utter folly. We will always fail ourselves. The only way to be truly found is to surrender yourself to God. Trusting yourself is a sure way to be eternally lost, because we are fallen. And when the blind lead the blind, they both fall in a ditch. True joy does not come from serving ourselves, but by becoming a servant to others. Our sinful hearts cannot be trusted. And Cheryl Strayed has strayed from the path of what could have been redemption, but now has found “peace” in the lies of a hopeless world. Much of what she says is applicable, and even truth, but the book as a whole is riddled with muddy ideas and ultimately, philosophy that will not save souls, but lose them.

The tragic love triangle strikes again in “Hallowed”

Cynthia Hand took a tired, over-used storyline and made it a little bit newer.

Clara is caught between her love for Tucker, and her inevitable destiny with Christian. Tucker is her boyfriend. He’s a southern gentleman- chivalrous, handsome and likes to get a little mud on the tires. Christian is also part angel, drop dead gorgeous,  and he and Clara can read each other’s minds, that’s how in sync they are. Who to choose? May I just say that although this series is interesting, it is entirely unrealistic. No girl has two hot, sweet guys who want to be with her at the same time. I’m pretty sure it’s been proven impossible. To top it all off, Clara’s brother is in a downward spiral, and someone Clara loves will die. And she’s bent on fighting her purpose- indefinitely.

The love triangle gets old fast, but at least Hand tries to explain it a little bit. Clara marvels over and over again that this is happening to her.  And the narrative voice is candid and fresh. The pace throughout the book is even and methodical, with climax built up well and action spaced evenly. There are enough new characters and major revelations to make the book a continuation of the book before it, but also enough for a sequel. It’s a good book, mostly fluff however, unfortunately. There are no major moral implications, no grandiose themes about life or love or loss. Just a teenage girl type of read. I should really move away from these kinds of books. I should read more Tolkein, Dostoyevsky, Lewis. But they’re not as fun, not as mindless, not as captivating. The only book I’ve read that is actually riddled with complex, applicable themes while remaining utterly not put down-able is Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. And Steven James’ Patrick Bowers novels are a close second. Get your hands on those books if you can. They’re so worth your time and money.

On an unrelated note, does anyone else have trouble with the “site views” counter on WordPress? Mine isn’t logging many of the views I’ve had. Website: 7 people like this post. Me: cool, let’s check how views my page has gotten. Website: Zero. Me: Really? 7 people liked my post without clicking on my page? How magical. -_-

Sorry.

Unearthly

Clara is an average girl. She lives in California with her mom and brother Jeffery. She attends high school and is popular, pretty and friendly. Not as popular as Jeffery, but popular enough for comfort. Oh yeah, her mother is half angel, Dimidius and that makes her ¼ angel, Quartarius. She has wings, she can speak any language fluently and she’s faster and stronger than humans. Average? Not quite. Every angel-blood has a purpose, Mom says. She keeps seeing a vision of a forest fire and aboy she’s supposed to save. So they uproot their comfortable life and move to Wyoming where they’ve established Clara’s vision takes place. Clara’s no longer popular and normal. She’s here for a purpose. One she’s not sure she can complete. Angels always accomplish their purposes right? It’s destiny. Or can they fail? And if they do, what happens? Clara just hopes she doesn’t find out.

 This book stems from a peculiar verse in Genesis. Genesis 6:4 says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward- when angels went in to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”  So I guess angels living among us is not a totally outlandish claim. The book is written by Cynthia Hand, her first book. (What’s with me and reading authors’ first books?) On the surface the book seems like another teenaged girl love story. It is much more than that though. I was surprised at the depth of Hand’s writing, as well as her attention to detail. Despite this, however, it does have a very narrow target age group: teenage girls. As such, it can be somewhat superficial. Boys, fulfilling destiny, first love, fallen angels, school, God, kissing. Quite the mix up. It’s good. Better than I expected. But not earth-shattering. Perhaps I’m expecting too much. This is the first book in the series of the same name. The second book, Hallowed, made its American debut in January of 2012 and there are plans for a third. I hope there are only three books. I don’t really want to get invested in another long series (Oops, The Lying Game). Suspense and climax is built up well and the author gave just enough of a cliff hanger to keep audiences satisfied but eager and curious to read ensuing novels. I’m one of them.

The Birth House

Dora Rare is the first girl born to a Rare man in five generations. Long after her aboriginal great-great-great grandfather’s cinnamon skin diluted out of the gene pool, Dora is born female and she looks like a Native-rare three times over. She’s special, she’s different. Dora isn’t sure she wants to be different. The kids make mean rhymes about her and the older women see her as a menace. Her gaze causes the pregnant to miscarry, animals and humans alike, the superstitious farmers say. Dora ignores them, happy to not be included in their petty lives of tea and silk, earth and whisky. Dora helps Miss Babineau, Acadian midwife who is not one of the small community’s socially acceptable people. Miss B helps the women with their problems and they in turn leave her bread or potatoes, or whatever they can spare. But they do not speak to her outside of her small healing hut. Dora becomes her apprentice, unwillingly at first. She is left alone to battle the doctors for the right for women to have their babies in whatever way they see fit. To fight for midwifery, to fight for freedom, in however small a way.

The Birth House is Ami McKay’s first novel, a sort of literary scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings, letters and journal entries chronicling Dora’s life. Dora is sort of a magic child. Beyond her gender and dark skin, the author mentions that on one occasion she relayed a message to her aunt from a dead relative. Many of the healing balms, salves and drinks are accompanied with a prayer to Mary, something Dora learned from Miss B. In any case, there is an element of spiritualism found in Dora that the blond haired and doe-eyed women of Scots Bay do not possess. The story follows Dora’s life from adolescence through marriage and its after-effect, and on until she discovers her true calling.

McKay is a refreshingly new Canadian voice in literature. The book was melodically written with haunting rhythms and echoes. And Dora is a refreshing heroine, completely natural, relatable and interesting. Far too often I find the main characters in books have the least personality. I quite enjoyed the book and hope to read any subsequent novels from Ami McKay. The content was not always riveting but it was interesting enough to keep me coming back for more, subtly elegant and I always found myself quite enjoying the book for no reason that I could put my finger on.

The Prodigal Good Novel

Not her best.

That went through my mind when I finished Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer. I came to expect more of Kingsolver. The book centers on three main characters whose lives are unknowingly connected, albeit not quite intertwined.  Deanna Wolf is a divorced woman who has lived in the mountains for years, maintaining and watching the land for the forest authority. Garnett Walker is an aged widower who lives alone while trying to grow a chestnut tree resistant to the blight that wiped out the population some hundred years ago. Lusa Widener is a new and reeling widow, outcast and ostracized by her late husband’s tight-knit clan. Sex and loneliness seem to be the biggest players in the book. Deanna’s part of the story centers on sexual encounters of animals, plants and herself. Kingsolver has a way of making you see the details she does. Now all I think about when I see plants and pollen is plant procreation. The prose  isn’t trashy, just oddly innocent and somehow profound. The three storylines don’t link as fully as I think they should have. A chapter or two more could have solidified the novel, purely from a story-telling point of view.

The character development, as always, was marvellously detailed and well executed. Distinct traits of the characters came through subtly and richly, giving the story a much more real tone than others. However, as is usually the case unfortunately, incredible character development left the plot line lacking. The story was slow moving, meticulous and (gasp) a tad boring. The themes and message of the book were simpler than Kingsolver’s other books, and she hits you over the head with her point, especially in Deanna’s story. It felt a bit preachy at times, the point of view too simple to be realistic. So, because of the obscene amount of sexuality and a plot line so slow it almost went backwards, it is with regret that I do not recommend this book. Kingsolver has much better fiction out there. I got the book for free from a friend, so no harm done (aka money lost). Sadly this book is one for the shelf, never to be read by myself again. Lucky for the book, I never ever throw out books. It’s blasphemous.

The Night Circus (I reallllyyy wish this circus existed)

“I write. Fantastical, fairy tale-esque things with magic and mystery and tea.” Erin Morgenstern

Rich in sensory detail, intricate in plot and utterly fluid in style, The Night Circus had me under it’s spell. (Pardon all the plays on word relating to magic. It’s just too fun) Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel is a work of art. The fantastical descriptions of the circus are rich with imagery, smell, taste and sounds. I could taste the popcorn on my tongue, picture the monochromatic tents and feel the sent of cider and cinder fill my nose. Morgenstern’s melodically rhythmic narrative complimented the magical feel of the story.

Morgenstern has bottled the allure and the mystery of a circus, a stage whereupon two masters of magic play a dangerous game. Le Cirque des Rêves appears without warning and opens only after sundown. It closes at sunrise. No one knows where it came from or where it’s going. It travels the world- Australia, Bolivia, Mexico, England. The circus is unlike anything else. Only the best of the best work for the circus and the aura of mysticism and mystery is apparent around every corner. Celia, a girl with magical abilities passing it off as illusion, and Marco, the assistant to the director of the circus, are locked in an intricate game they don’t know the rules to. Their teachers, Mr A. H- and Prospero the Enchanter, watch from the sidelines to see which prodigy will ultimately win, and which will be dead. Celia generates the circus from the inside, keeping everything in order and possible. Marco works from the outside, creating exhibits of stunning skill, keeping his proverbial foot in the door by generating the bonfire burning at the center of the circus.

The unimaginable (at least to Mr. A.H- and Prospero. I saw it coming a mile away) happens- Marco and Celia fall in love. The circus is spinning out of control, too large for Celia to control and too complex for another to generate the power it needs to continue. Hundreds of lives hang in the balance. Celia has to choose love or life. And Marco won’t- or can’t- let her die. It’s the classic to-love-is-to-die and to-not-love-is-worse-than-death conflict, but the spin Morgenstern puts on it allows it to be quite fresh, if not new.

The use of magic in the novel is quite fascinating. I have never read anything that uses and explains magic like this book. This quote from the book sums it up.

“This is not magic. This is the way the world is, only very few people take the time to stop and note it. Look around you,” he says, waving a hand at the surrounding tables. “Not a one of them even has an inkling of the things that are possible in this world, and what’s worse is that none of them would listen if you attempted to enlighten them. They want to believe that magic is nothing but clever deception, because to think it real would keep them up at night, afraid of their own existence.”

I thought it a fascinating, although wholly unrealistic, explanation of the methods employed by Celia and Marco. But magic itself is unrealistic, so hey, the explanation is allowed to be as well, I suppose.

There are a few too many characters to keep track of if you ask me though. There must be at least 25 people who we follow, and it gets tedious trying to keep them all straight in one’s head.

All in all the book was fantastic. Although I borrowed it from the library, I hope to buy it in the near future. It’s one of those books where you can read it many, many times and still walk away feeling further enlightened and understanding more of the book than the last time you read it.

PS- I looked up Erin Morgenstern and browsed her website. It’s pretty cool. I have decided that if I met her, I would like her. A lot. She seems genuine, funny and humble. Check it out:
http://erinmorgenstern.com/

More Book Reviews

Sorry to those of you who are looking for my book reviews. I’m absolutely swamped with homework. I’m in the process of reading 2 books: Deception by Randy Alcorn and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I forgot Deception at my church, so I am focusing on The Night Circus. And so far, it is really, really good. Stay posted! I’ll finish it and review it soon enough.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games has been reviewed to death. But I read all 3 of the books and my aim is to review all the books that I read in 2012, so here it goes. I’m not going to review each book individually, but the trilogy as a whole.

In the somewhat distant yet surprisingly near future, the country of Panem sits on what used to be North America. The Capitol lies at the center, surrounded by twelve districts. Actually thirteen, but district thirteen was nuclear bombed 75 years ago. In order to exercise its iron grip on the people, the Capitol holds the annual Hunger Games- a televised gladiator-like event. One male and one female are selected at random from each district at the Reaping. Katniss Everdeen’s sister Primrose has been selected. But Katniss can’t let Prim go. She would dead in the first 10 minutes. So Katniss volunteers and she is whisked away to the Capitol to undergo training for the Games. Enter Peeta, a boy she never spoke to but who saved her and her family’s life years earlier. In order to survive she must kill the other 23 tributes. Including Peeta.

Dilemma of the century.

In the following second and third books, Katniss (What?! She survived? Who saw that coming? Spoiler alert!) becomes the symbol of rebellion against the Capitol. She’s not sure she wants to but she seems to have little choice. The ball is in motion.   The fire is catching. Katniss must lead the rebellion, or be burned in the encroaching fire of the uprising.

I was a terrible person and watched the Hunger Games before I read the book. Bad Ashley.  So, to be honest, I liked the movie better than the book. The writing in the book was surprisingly simple. I had expected better. It was easy to read and honestly, it took me about 3 hours of reading per book. The first book was great, the second book was good and I hated the third book. Unfortunately, that’s what happens all too often. The third book was long and drawn out, and there was no real climax. I don’t know why they intend to split the third book into two movies. If anything, you’d need to do that to the second book as it has more content.

Anyways, the books were good. Read them. But don’t expect a good ending. Of course, there is a team Gale and a team Peeta. That’s what we do when there’s a love triangle- we pick sides. So one of those camps will be severely disappointed. I was. Her choice didn’t make sense to me, and Peeta and Gale’s choices made even less sense. Plus way too many people die in the third book. It’s majorly depressing. I was hoping that the rebellion would bring about lasting peace and happiness. But Katniss is not happy. The country is hardly better off. Which makes me sad. I was hoping for something a little more uplifting, but that’s probably my fault. The books started out wonderfully, but for me they fell kind of flat, and I lost interest during the third book.  That doesn’t mean that I’m sorry I read them; I’m not. I guess I just expected more from an author whose first book started out so well.

Water for Elephants

I had desperately hoped that the library would send me one of the original copies of Water for Elephants. You know, one without a picture of Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon on the front. Alas, it was not to be and the copy I received has the two of them nestled in each other’s arms. Not off to a great start, as I really don’t have much appreciation for either actors. Anyways, cover art aside, Water for Elephants was a very interesting read. Although the characters were a little clichéd, I found that the atmosphere of a 1930s carnival came alive in the novel.

Jacob Janowski is an honour student, attending Cornell to become a veterinarian. He is days away from writing his final exams when his parents are tragically killed. He has no money, no home and nothing to live for. He jumps on a moving train on a whim and ends up on the Benzini Brothers’ Most Spectacular Show on Earth’s train. And soon Jacob becomes the resident veterinarian for the crumbling circus. Jacob wants no trouble, but he finds himself falling in love with Marlena, a star performer who is married to the cruel animal handler August. Jacob must give everything he has to try and escape the imploding show alive before it’s too late.

The entire story about Jacob working for the circus is one big flashback told by Jacob as he, now in his 90s, lives in an old age home. The parts that tell Jacob’s life in the present are touching and they really give us an understanding of what the elderly must feel, sitting alone day after day. Jacob’s character is strong, albeit somewhat predictable. I would have liked to see more character development in Marlena however. I got the feeling that I didn’t know Marlena at all, nor why Jacob is so desperately in love with her.  Many of the minor characters are what you would expect: cranky, fake Uncle Al leading the show, the working men who are rough around the edges and underpaid, the performers who want nothing to do with the working men, and so on. They are quite stereotypical but stereotypes come from truth, so perhaps it’s an accurate portrait of the workers. I enjoyed the fact that the book is not centered on romance. There is romance, obviously, but the main plot of the book has little to do with love until the very end. I was pleasantly surprised.

  The plot moved at a steady pace, with interesting (although not unexpected) twists and turns. Sara Gruen does a marvelous job of building the suspense as the story reaches its climax. One thing that I found disappointing was the bad language. The book is riddled with vulgar words and swearing. This is probably realistic, given the setting, but at some points it made me uncomfortable how easily such depraved words and phrases were thrown around. The end of the book was quite happy, and it left me smiling. I had fallen in love with 90-year-old Jacob Janowski, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with how his life progressed.

Water for Elephants was an interesting book, and I’ll bet the movie is too, although I doubt it will be very true to the story. Hollywood loves romantic stories, and I think the essence of Jacob’s life will be lost. They will, undoubtedly, focus entirely on Jacob and Marlena’s relationship. The movie will be filed in my mind as one of those ‘hey, I should watch that sometime’ movies and then I’ll never end up renting it. Which is probably just as well because I don’t need the poor choice of language repeated, this time, out loud.