Foreign Language Friday: In The Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

Dear Blog,

Original Title: Nel mare ci sono i coccodrilli

Original Language: Italian

Translated by: Howard Curtis

Summary (from Goodreads): One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah's mother tells him three things: don't use drugs, don't use weapons, don't steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn't there. They have fled their village in Ghazni to seek safety outside Afghanistan but his mother has decided to return home to her younger children. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone in Pakistan to fend for himself. In a book that takes a true story and shapes it into a beautiful piece of fiction, Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatollah's remarkable five-year journey from Afghanistan to Italy where he finally managed to claim political asylum aged fifteen. His ordeal took him through Iran, Turkey and Greece, working on building sites in order to pay people-traffickers, and enduring the physical misery of dangerous border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of lorries or trekking across inhospitable mountains. A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enabled him to get to Turin, find help from an Italian family and meet Fabio Geda, with whom he became friends. The result of their friendship is this unique book in which Enaiatollah's engaging, moving voice is brilliantly captured by Geda's subtle and simple storytelling. In Geda's hands, Enaiatollah's journey becomes a universal story of stoicism in the face of fear, and the search for a place where life is liveable.

Review:  When I sat down to start reading this book, I wasn't sure how many boxes of tissues I was going to need.  Surprisingly, I didn't need any- the story was told in a very straightforward manner, without  much strong emotion at all.  But although it didn't make me cry, it was still an entirely hard-hitting and harrowing book.  There were some moments now and again that just struck me as particularly horrifying, perhaps because of the unadorned and almost casual way they were described, as if they were nothing exceptional to Enaiatollah.  It reminded me a little of The Book of Everything in that respect; having things just told as they are, without any exaggeration, strong emotions and such put in, makes the events seem entirely shocking.

Enaitollah talks about human trafficking, the extremely hard time police across the Middle East and southern Europe give him and the desperate measures he'll go to in order to go abroad in such a frank way I want to just grab him and trap him in a massive bear hug.  Still, I think that was only because of his experiences; sometimes I wished that there had been more of his own thoughts and emotions included.  Although it's a very direct book, like he's sat right across the table from you telling his story, it would have been nice to have felt what he felt, as well as see what he saw.

In The Sea There are Crocodiles reminds me a lot of the Breadwinner trilogy by Deborah Ellis, which were some of my favourite books a few years ago (I read the whole trilogy in about three days). It's very insightful into the world of illegal immigration, and if I hadn't read this book then I  wouldn't have been aware of how it works in any detail. As well as that, there were things like the places Enaiat worked; for fourteen hours a day in a stone-cutting factory, and running all the errands for a hotel, that reminded me how lucky I am to be able to just babysit once a week and still be able to eat three meals a day, sleep with a roof over my head and get a good education.

Still, it's not entirely without hope, which was a pleasant surprise.  Enaiatollah, once he reaches Italy, recounts how he managed  to (gradually) settle down and live an ordinary life.   Enaiat was so resilient and just kept on going whatever life threw at him.  He did such brave and resilient things aged ten or eleven that, as a teenager, makes me feel hopelessly ditzy and (hypothetically) incapable of surviving in such a harsh world.  His fearlessness and determination to keep going, through five years and six countries, will stay with me for a very long time.

In three words: Insightful, hopeful, direct.
Reccommended for: Armchair travellers.
Rating: 3.

Thank you to Random House for sending me a copy for review.

Review: Now I Know by Aidan Chambers

 Dear blog,

So.  First post of 2011.  Feels like I haven't written an actual review in ages.

Summary (from Goodreads): Now I Know is all at once a compelling meditation on faith and religion—and the difference between the two—and an intense love story.

When a body is found hanging from a crane in a scrapyard, Tom sets out to investigate this strange case. Nik embarks on a research mission for a film about a contemporary life of Jesus. Then there’s Julie, a girl bandaged from head to toe and laid up in a hospital bed.

These three simultaneous plots— presented through a combination of letters, prose, poetry, jotted notes, flashbacks, and puzzles—are woven together into a provocative novel of mystery and self-discovery.

Like the other books in The Dance Sequence, Now I Know can be read alone or as part of the series.

Review: Following reading Postcards from No Man's Land a few months ago I've been quite the fan of Aidan Chambers.   Postcards  didn't quite live up to my expectations, but I was still intrigued enough to want to read the rest of the six-book Dance sequence, even though I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the rest of the series.  Well, Now I Know has restored my faith- no pun intended in relation to the subject of the book- in the Dance novels.

It's a strange little book in this respect; it's not actually narrated in any sort of chronological order.  It's a slightly confusing mix of letters, journal entries, transcripts and thoughts (not really unlike a Jaclyn Moriarty novel, I suppose). One part of the story seemed to be moving forward, while the other was kind of moving backwards with the same events...if that makes any sense.  Which I'm pretty sure it doesn't (but please give me a break. It's New Year's Day).  Anyway, by the time I'd worked this out, it occurred to me that it obviously wasn't that confusing, or else it wouldn't have taken so long for me to finally click which order the events of the novel were running in.  It didn't interrupt the flow of the story- nay, it was the flow of the story, and it worked well. 

Now I Know is very much a character-based book, for it has three central narrators: Nik, Julie and Tom.  In that order. I'll start with Tom first, seeing as there wasn't an awful lot to say about him.  Maybe  by calling him a central narrator I'm lying slightly, seeing as he can't have had more than forty-odd pages of the two hundred or so in the book, and for that he was probably the most disappointing thing about the book. He played a significant role, I'm sure, but perhaps if Aidan Chambers had spent a little more time writing from his perspective then I would have found him  a more likeable character.  Well, that's not to say that I disliked him.  Because he was so much of a two-dimensional character, I had no strong opinion on him.

Nik.  Now then.  At the start of the book, I actually kind of detested him and his general outlook on life.  Despite the fact that he seemed to play himself as the victim, he was actually one of those irritating people who looks down on Christians and other such forms of organised religion.  I don't see why he protested so much at playing Jesus in the film he was helping to make when, as the director of the film said, he acted like he was the son of God anyway; almost too clever and cynical, I suppose, for his own obnoxious good.  However, his encounters with Julie lead him to change into a much better person in many aspects of the phrase, until he was totally changed. He was open-minded, suddenly,  intelligent in as non-snarky a way as possible, and a pretty fascinating character to follow along on his spiritual journey (in the afterword of the edition I read, Aidan Chambers says that thought that Nik's name should be, well, Nik because the title was Now I Know. See?)

Nik had Julie to thank for all of this.  She was probably my favourite character in the book.  And what's not to like about her? She always had some sort of response to Nik's bitter put-downs of Christianity.  I felt kind of torn when I was reading her rambling monologues in the form of recorded letters to Nik, when she was talking about belief and Christianity.  Did I really buy into it or not?  Was I entirely persuaded to believe that there might be such a thing as a God, masculine or feminine (read the book and you'll get it)? Hmm.  It gave me a lot to contemplate, much like Nik I suppose.   She had many faces; one minute she was all serious and intense, wondering deeply into the human heart, and then the next she was lively, witty and utterly charming.

With the narrative told the way it was, it's hard to say where the climax of the story was; in terms of events, probably within the first hundred pages, but in terms of plot, and the way it all fitted together, it was conventionally towards the end (I hope that made sense). Which I loved.  The way everything fell into place, and the way that Nik and Tom's stories collided at the end was perfect in a "ta-da!" kind of way. It was hugely satisfying. 

So, in conclusion: Now I Know was everything that I wanted Postcards from No Man's Land to be, and it was no disappointment. And now I'm off to finish The Grapes of Wrath and South of the Border, West of the Sun so I can start on the next book in the Dance sequence, The Toll Bridge.
 
In three words: provocative, fascinating, deep.
Recommended for: teenagers who want answers.
Rating: 4.5. It would have been 5, had Tom been more well-rounded, probably.

Review: Kissing the Rain by Kevin Brooks

Dear Blog,

I've written loads of reviews since the chaotic month that was NaNoWriMo, but I've been so busy since all of them have ended up being half-finished or some such. 

Anyway.  This is going to have to be a quick review because it's just gone 10:30 here and I have a German lesson tomorrow morning and I've done barely any homework. 

Summary (from Goodreads): Moo Nelson likes to be alone. Overweight and shy, Moo is constantly mocked and bullied by his cruel classmates. He's happiest spending time on a secluded bridge above the highway, watching the cars go by. One day, from his special spot, Moo witnesses a crime that changes his life forever. He sees a car chase and a murder--and suddenly Moo's a celebrity of sorts. The police, the lawyers, and even the bullies are now really interested in Moo. But so is one shady character who seems intent on tracking Moo down. Now all Moo has to do is find out the truth behind the crime...before it's too late.

Review: I've heard many good things about Kevin Brooks since I started spending hours engrossed in book blogs and such.  Hence when I saw Kissing the Rain at a library the other day and finally decided to borrow it.
How glad I am that I did!  My expectations were pretty high after having heard rave reviews 90% of the time, and it was certainly no disappointment.

I read few thriller novels, for no apparent reason other than the fact that I don't tend to do gore and depressing things aside from apocalypse literature and the occasional film (Or an Ellen Hopkins novel.  Who doesn't want to read the most disturbing amazing contemporary YA lit out there?)  There wasn't much gore at all in Kissing The Rain, aside from the occasional fight (Oh, and the murder of course), and it was so...compelling.  Any depressingness was so well-written and enthralling that I couldn't help but want to devour it all in one sitting.  I'm sure I would have, had not small trivial things like eating and Christmas concerts with my string ensemble and such gotten in the way.

As well as being an utterly gripping plot in itself, I think that it wouldn't have been half the book it is if it wasn't for the writing style (if that last sentence makes any sense).  It's told on the first person, from Moo's perspective, and his outlook on the world is what makes him such a fascinating character, and the way he tells things.  For instance, the monotony of his life and the RAIN call for him to rename the days of the week: Oneday, Twoday, Threeday, etc., with Scatterday and Dumbday making up the weekend.  And the RAIN is the bullying that he has to put up with (and tries to ignore) at school because of his weight.  Such things seem like vital things for a unique character.  Some people complain that Moo's grammar and spelling, which are deliberately left uncorrected, make for an annoying and hard to decode book. I, however, loved it.

It took me a little while to get used to the way that he goes from one point in the story to another point in time which is referred to as now.  Now mainly concentrates on his emotions at the time, leading up to a certain event, which turns out to be a trial. Everything else just leads up to it, until finally everything is now.  Not to say that everything outside of now is just narration- it's not.  There's lots of monologue, and lots of rambling stream-of-consciousness thoughts.  But they're so direct in their rambling sort of way, every little thing that he says contributes. 

As for the  characters.  Moo was probably the only character that I did really like, mostly because Moo's own sense of paranoia and doubt about them, and there was no distinct good or bad side to the network of judges, criminals and lawyers that pressurised Moo for the truth. I do know however that I disliked Brady for a lot of the book- he was one of those characters that I just wanted to hit over the head with a hardcover copy of Anna Karenina.  Alas, fear is fear and I think that's what got the better of him more often than not.  Also, Moo's parents.   Providing I hadn't already worn out my copy of Anna beating Brady around the head then I probably would turn it on his parents.They were just so...ignorant.  I suppose mostly because Moo never really spoke to them about anything.  But was that because they never spoke to him?  This could go on for a while, but the dynamics (or lack thereof) in his family were frustrating. 

And the ending?  Whoooooah.  I shall say no more about it, leaving you only to throw the book against a wall and scream "No, curse you, Kevin Brooks, for ending it like that!" much the way you did when you read Catching Fire.  The ending, or lack thereof, is probably what stopped me from rating it a 5. The rest of the book was so good, the ending should have at least concluded things better than it did.

 I'd better mention that this is another one of those books that I've read it reviews can be with all its English dialect "awkward for the American reader".  All I can say is, enjoy it, because Moo is what makes it so unique.

In Three Words:  gripping, gritty, true.
Reccomended for: Everyone who hasn't read anything by Kevin Brooks yet.  Seriously, go and read it now.
Rating: 4.

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Dear Blog,
I finished Paper Towns this afternoon.  I know that the picture is the US edition as opposed to the UK one, but I couldn't find a good-quality image of the right size of the sceptr'd isle edition.  No matter.

Summary (from Goodreads): When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

Review: I read Looking for Alaska about a  month ago and completely fell in love with it, and a couple of days after finishing it I ordered Paper Towns off Amazon.  I haven't had a chance to read it since then, but decided to read it now so that it didn't just blend into my bookshelf and not read for another two and a half years, à la Artemis Fowl and Many Waters (neither of which I've actually read yet).  Although, John Green's writing is too good to put off from reading for very long.

Paper Towns is similar to Looking for Alaska in many ways.  Margo and Alaska are kind of alike, just because they're clever and worldly and mysterious.  There's one scene on page 77/78 where Q is describing Margo which seems almost identical to the "In the dark beside me, she smelled of sweat and sunshine and vanilla, and on that thin-mooned night I could see little more than her silhouette" scene in Alaska.  But I don't really care because it's so beautiful and well-written (as was the "she was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing.  She was a girl" part in Paper Towns)  And Miles and Quentin had similar characteristics, too, but all these similarities matter not because all these people are awesome-  the sort of people you wish would just jump off the page. I certainly wish that Margot would open my bedroom window one night and take me on awesome all-night escapades.  Too bad that stories are fiction, however realistic the characters may seem.  But that's how you know that characters are truly great, I guess.  Not only do you belive they could be real but you want them to be. 

Paper Towns has that brilliant mix of being funny and making you think.  It's the sort of book where you don't want to just add a couple of your favourite sentences to your Favourite Quote section on Goodreads, but the whole thing.  Indeed, as well as being deep and philosophical in a John Green sort of way, parts of it are hysterically funny.  Parts of it are certainly rude.  Generally it's both at the same time *sigh*. Boy humour...what more can I say?  Anyway, at some parts I was laughing so hard my little sister was giving me weird looks and asking if I was okay.  Which I was.
I don't tend to read mystery novels, but this is more than anything else a mystery and, like any good one, keeps you guessing.  Although I did get a bit annoyed about two thirds of the way into the book when we knew that Margo was in a paper town but not exactly where.  So that sort of got on my nerves because Q didn't actually get on the road until part 3 (to my mind the best part of the book).

I'm not really sure what to make of the ending, which I won't reveal because it will wreck the whole book.  Was it right?  Was it dissapointed?  I can't really tell, and will probably have to think it over for a few days before I come to any conclusions.  

Summary: excellent no matter what you make of the ending. Funny, thoughtful, exciting, rude, and absolutely awesome.  Rating: 4/5.

Review: Looking for Alaska

Dear Blog,

I have returned from Yorkshire, and I bring with me a review of Looking for Alaska by John Green. Seeing as I have blogged little the last two weeks, I have many many books to write a review of.  Sorry.

Anyway.  This will have to be a short review because I stayed up very, very late last night surfing Inkpop.com, aka a teen writing website I am now thoroughly addicted to.  Anyhoo, I'm tired and sleep summons. 

Summary (from Goodreads): Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words - and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Review: In my time I have heard many many good things about John Green.  In my time as a book blogger I've heard even more good things. So I bought a copy of Paper Towns off Amazon and borrowed Looking for Alaska from the library.  And now I have finally got round to reading his books, how glad I am that I have. 
  This is one of those books that both boys and girls can read, but alas like many similar books the UK cover seems to look like it would appeal more to boys, which is a shame. Note to boys reading my blog: get the US cover instead, perhaps.  I prefer the UK cover.  It's pretty.


The book is split into two parts: "before" and "after".  I won't say what event divides the two, but I had known what it was beforehand because somebody posted it on a review on Goodreads and didn't mark it as a Spoiler post.  Grrr.  Anyway, even though I sort of knew what was coming, the writing was so raw and tragic it didn't stop me feel like crying in an empty, devastated sort of way when The Event happened.  I didn't, but only because my little sister was sat next to me playing  on her Nintendo DS and would have mocked me ceaselessly, even though she weeps buckets at sentences like, "my  brother died when I was two."  before it moves onto another subject.  Anyway, though she herself is a wet blanket, I wouldn't have heard the end of it I had cried.  So, well, I didn't.
That said.  We know something sinister is going on when Alaska says things like, "you all smoke for fun.  I smoke to die." and "I may die young, but at least I'll die smart". And, in truth, I wonder if The Event would have come as such a shock to me even if I hadn't accidentally discovered it on the internet.

Looking for Alaska is one of those books where the characters are absolutely everything. You could keep the story and the writing but have different characters, and I bet it wouldn't be half good at it is with the cast of characters. They're quirky and cool, but with enough flaws and rough edges to keep them interesting. I think this is why sex-drugs-rock&roll Alaska is so compelling and mysterious: not just to Miles, a.k.a Pudge, but to the reader as well. Her mood swings are confusing and strange, her personality equally intriguing: energetic one moment and slightly scary the next. I was sort of surprised at first-having read heaps of reviews, I was sort  startled when the first thing she says as she appears in the book is recount to the Colonel how a boy she was with honked her boob.  I was like, "oh. Um.  Okay then."

I've read some bad reviews from adults who are all, "this book is BAD. They drink.  They smoke.  they drink drive. They have sex.  Bad, bad BAD. Bleeeeeurgh." All I can say is, I don't care.   It's not like they're the only teens in the world to do this things, so, well, get over it please.

 Miles was a likeable protagonist.  As I've said before, I read few books with male protagonists because I feel slightly alienated from them.  But Miles seems real, like he was an animate object instead of words in a book.  I loved that his main talent was memorising last words-how original is that?! 
While their were moments of such fleeting weirdness and teenagedom, it's a very deep and philosophical book. It's full of the sort of  sayings you might want to add to your favourite quotes if you have a Goodreads account (as every bookworm ought to).  Actually, having read the book I proceeded to add about a squillion quotes from the book onto my page.

Random extra paragraph: While in Yorkshire over the weekend, my father and sister were in a labyrinth and I, having completed it, was stood outside talking to the man who had designed it, having a slightly intellectual debate about the philosophies behind mazes (yes this is going somewhere).  I mentioned the last words that are at the centre of Looking for Alaska:  "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?"  The designer of the maze asked about it and then we had a long conversation about mazes and what they really mean.

Summary: emotionally draining whether you saw The Event coming or not, and an absolute must read for every teenager and adult.  Rating: 4.5.

Review: Struts and Frets

Dear Blog,
Sorry about the quality of the picture.  But I felt like I ought to say something about Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron, and a cover makes things interesting.  Ta-da! *points to cover*  This is Struts and Frets!  *jazz hands*.

Summary (from Goodreads): Music is in Sammy’s blood. His grandfather was a jazz musician, and Sammy’s indie rock band could be huge one day—if they don’t self-destruct first. Winning the upcoming Battle of the Bands would justify all the band’s compromises and reassure Sammy that his life’s dream could become a reality. But practices are hard to schedule when Sammy’s grandfather is sick and getting worse, his mother is too busy to help either of them, and his best friend may want to be his girlfriend.

When everything in Sammy’s life seems to be headed for major catastrophe, will his music be enough to keep him together? [close]

 

Review: I'll list various things because the inside cover of the hardcover edition lists things: (These Are The Things That Keep Sammy Awake At Night, So Read This Book If You...that sort of thing)

 

Some Reasons I Like This Book:

• It's told with the point of view of a boy.  I read little contemporary fiction, and even less with a male narrator.  I thought it was an interesting insight into the mind of the opposite sex.
• In relation to the last bullet point, Sammy's voice seemed so very realistic.  Well, to my mind.  I don't know if any boys would read this and go, "pffft!"  and laugh.  But Jon Skovron is obviously a male and most likely speaks from experience.
• Still lingering on Sammy's character (he must be good to have 3 bullet points mentioning him), he's both ordinary and unique. That balance makes him likeable and easy to relate to.  He's like any other teenage boy.  He worries about love and the future of his band and his grandfather.
• I really liked the relationship between Sammy and Jen5 (there were four other Jennifers in their class at school and all the other Jennifer-related names were taken).   All teenagers will be able to relate to and in away learn from it.
• The main reason I love Struts and Frets: This book is chock-full of music, much like If I Stay. But it's a different sort of music. Instead of being a cellist, Sammy plays in an indie-rock band and his grandfather is a jazz musician. But still, it's music, and it feels fantastically alive. Unlike some other music-related books I could mention (ahem, The Journal of Danny Chaucer by Roger Stevens). There's even a Rock and Jazz Mash-up Playlist at the back of the book, and it's fun to look the songs up on YouTube and think about how they're related to the book.

Some Things  I Didn't Like:

• I can't really think of anything...Oh, there is one thing I guess.  There's a lot of swearing in this book and it doesn't really add anything to the story. That's all :D

Summary: boy or girl, Struts and Frets is a must-read.  Read, listen, enjoy.  4/5