Review: What My Mother Doesn't Know

Dear Blog,

Sorry this review is one of my shortest ever, but I'm pretty busy this week.

Summary (from Goodreads):
My name is Sophie.

This book is about me.
It tells
the heart-stoppingly riveting story
of my first love.
And also of my second.
And, okay, my third love too.
It's not that I'm boy crazy.
It's just that even though
I'm almost fifteen
it's like
my mind
and my body
and my heart
just don't seem to be able to agree
on anything.

Review: I am a fan of two things; verse novels, and Sonya Sones.  And the reason I like Sonya Sones is because she writes verse novels.  I read her novel Stop Pretending  a few months ago (review here), and have since been meaning to seek out more of her work.
What  my Mother Doesn't Know is much more joyful and light-hearted.  The narration is noisy and happy in the same way that Stop Pretending seems distant and quiet, if that makes any sense, though there are some moments of seriousness as Sophie contemplates life, love and the world around her.

Speaking of Sophie.  She was completely boy crazy but instantly likeable anyway.   Probably, as nostalgic adults say, she was "in love with love" more than her boyfriends themselves, of which there are three.  There's Dylan, who seems nice enough at first but then just tapers off in typical teenage-love fashion, Chaz, an internet stalker, and Murphy, the class geek.  For a long time, although Sophie tells her friends she has a boyfriend, she doesn't actually confess it's Murphy for as long as possible.  But they were so cute together anyway.  Sophie herself was frighteningly realistic, complete with flaws and angry emotions and everything else that makes a character complete.  

The writing style is good in that it isn't just poetry that's been through a shredder.  Sophie has a voice, a certain way of talking.  Quite often it seems that poetry is poetry, and the narrator loses his/her voice in the attempt to make the poetry sound like  more than prose that's been through a shredder. And while it's told in a typical free-verse form, instead of experimenting with different shapes and forms  à la Lisa Schroeder or Ellen Hopkins, the choice of words and so on seems quite unique.

What My Mother Doesn't Know interestingly features on the ALA list of Most commonly challenged books in the United States in 2004 and 2005.  Having read up a little more about it, it's due to two things, 1 being, poems like It's That Time of the Month Again, which speaks for itself, and Ice Capades. The second reason is it being mismarketed and appearing in elementary school libraries, aimed at 11 and 12-ear-olds and so on. I suppose parents dislike the idea of their little darlings reading about the truth. Forgive me for being frank, but the truth is truth and  whether people like it or not we young people find reality interesting.  It seems a little unfair that due to the faults of various publicity departments and whatnot it should be so challenged everywhere.
Enough with my speech.  On to the summary.

In Three Words: Funny, realistic, rude, truthful.  Oops, that's four. 
Recommended for:
Rating: 4
 

In My Mailbox (3)

Dear Blog,
the weekly meme that is is IMM returns to my blog.  It's hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.
Since I slightly bought/borrowed slightly too many books this week, I didn't get much. 

IN MY MAILBOX/IN THE POST

nothing again.  How ironic. *wishes publishing companies would discover my blog*

BOUGHT

Nothing.  Saving up for Stolen by Lucy Christopher and If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  Being a lowly teenager, I am somewhat poor at the moment and lack sufficient book money.

BORROWED

Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones (you can see my review here. )

Canada, published by Lonely Planet.  I know it's not fiction, but I still borrowed it, didn't I? As part of my quest to find out as much as I can about Canada.

  Well, that was my quiet week.   What did you get (I hope it was more than me)? 

Review: Stop Pretending

Dear Blog,

It's late I feel like I should say something, no matter how much, about Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones .  Sorry this entry's so small.  But a blogger needs her sleep and I shall have to go and get some of it soon. 

Summary (from Goodreads): It happens just like that, in the blink of an eye. An older sister has a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. A younger sister is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief and friends who turn their backs on her. But worst of all is the loss of her big sister, her confidante, her best friend, who has gone someplace no one can reach.

In the tradition of The Bell Jar, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and Lisa, Bright and Dark comes this haunting first book told in poems, and based on the true story of the author's life.

Review: I love blank verse novels.  Maybe because I love blank verse. The added bonus of a plot is, well, fantastic!  I spend hours searching Goodreads for good YA blank verse books.  My main problem with it is that normally novels in verse are annoyingly short.  I mean, just because it's poetry why should it be only 150 pages? Many poets should take a leaf (or six hundred) out of Ellen Hopkin's  YA novels in verse, which are epic.  I've never read any, but I've been meaning to read Crank  for a while. (On the author's website there's a list of other YA verse novels.   But I think it works well that Stop Pretending is so short.  The language is spare and intense, and the words sit in a solitary way by themselves on the page.

The story itself is thought-provoking, and I imagine the theme of mental illness would spark much discussion at a book club. I like that it's told from the point of view of a relative and not the person themself (e.g, A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma, which is). A relative is close enough for their whole world to be shaken up, and a friend (e.g Life, Love and More Good Sense by Amber  Deckers) isn't so...direct.  It's a tricky subject but Sonya Sones writes it well, maybe because Stop Pretending is semi-autobiographical and her own sister had a nervous breakdown.

And what do I make of the main character herself?
I both feel like I was right over her shoulder, nay, I was her, but on the other hand I barely knew her at all.  I didn't even know her name.   I feel like I should have at least found out that much.   Although the reader sees right into her world, the mysterious narrator seems to keep us (meaning, the readers) at a distance and seems drawn inside herself. That took some getting used to, and it made it quite hard to relate to her, but thinking about it I suppose it was quite   effective.

Summary:  Short, deep and ultimately hopeful.  I shall most likely read some of her other books.  Who wouldn't want to read a book called One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies?!
Rating: 4