Review: Dirty Little Secrets

Dear Blog,
Because I refuse to give up the 2010 Debut Author Challenge, however much I'm failing.

Summary (from Goodreads):  Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others.
For sixteen years, Lucy has kept her mother's hoarding a secret. She's had to -- nobody would understand the stacks of newspapers and mounds of garbage so high they touch the ceiling and the rotting smell that she's always worried would follow her out the house. After years of keeping people at a distance, she finally has a best friend and maybe even a boyfriend if she can play it right. As long as she can make them think she's normal.
When Lucy arrives home from a sleepover to find her mother dead under a stack of National Geographics, she starts to dial 911 in a panic, but pauses before she can connect. She barely notices the filth and trash anymore, but she knows the paramedics will. First the fire trucks, and then news cameras that will surely follow. No longer will they be remembered as the nice oncology nurse with the lovely children -- they'll turn into that garbage-hoarding freak family on Collier Avenue.
With a normal life finally within reach, Lucy has only minutes to make a critical decision. How far will she go to keep the family secrets safe?

Review: Whoah. Hang on a minute.  Let me just collect my thoughts together.
...
...
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Okay.  Now I can begin.
Wow.  Dirty Little Secrets is the most shocking, disgusting and fast-paced novel I've read in a long time- the sort of book that you long to stop reading yet you can't not read on. 

It reminds me a lot of Gayle Forman's If I Stay.  It's set over 24 hours or so, with lots of flashbacks here and there to add extra dimensions to the story.  And unlike many books with flashbacks, in Dirty Little Secrets these little elements of the past are relevant. They give some more background to Lucy's mother's compulsive hoarding, seeing as she's dead for most of the book that takes place in the present. 

Lucy was one of those characters that you couldn't not dislike.  Not with everything that happened to her.  Her voice was clear and direct, even in descriptions never straying away from what needed to be said.  She seemed kind of tough and cynical, I suppose, slightly bitter and even snarky in a way, but she did have underneath all that an interior which was so real and true, that showed that she really did feel
Her mother.  My reaction towards her is kind mixed; do I pity her, or do I just loathe her for messing Lucy's life in such a way? Both, probably, at different times.  The flashbacks portrayed her in the past; but it's hard to see who she was in the present (yeah, you've probably got some clever answer for that)- perhaps who she was would have been different to who she is.  Was, I mean, seeing as she was dead. Eh...now I'm confused.  Moving swiftly on.
Speaking of family- one of my favourite scenes in the book was actually when Lucy's sister  Sara came to visit while she was frantically trying to clear out the house.  I don't know why, but the glimpse into Sara's car...It gave me chills.  I could just see the whole book playing out again, providing that she had a daughter of her own.  I guess it shows how things can appear to be so natural and how the environment can have such an effect on a childhood.

While I'm on this scene, I'll say that the reason it struck me so much was the way it was written.  The writing style was fantastic, for lack of a better word.  You know how some writing styles can be absolutely perfect for the subject matter (examples: Jinx, Green Angel, The Book of Everything)?  Well, Dirty Little Secrets is exactly like that.  C.J. Omololu seems to follow the rule don't use two words when one will do, or don't use a longer one in place of a shorter, but still the descriptions of the house are excellent.  Though one can't be achieved without the other, I'm not a fan of tidiness so much of minimalism, and standing in empty rooms make me happy.  So some of the scenes described made me feel almost claustrophobic, in a way.  I've never wanted to be sucked into a book so much; how I'd want to get into that house and try and restore things to order.  Even though I am unbelievably squeamish and one of those people who if she encounters a spider runs as far away as possible in the nearest direction.  But the way it was written; the descriptions of the house, of Lucy's despair and resentment, the flashbacks; I didn't need to wish that I could be there to attempt to turn things around.  More often than not, I was there. 

The ending.  Hmm.  It was, I suppose, fitting to the rest of the book; brief, rushed, and totally shocking.  But I can't help but ask: Did it really resolve things?  Not entirely, I don't think.   It's hard to discuss too deeply without giving too many things away, which is something I would not want to do.  I'll leave you to make up your mind about it; and I'm not sure I'm a hundred percent convinced.  It resolved things, sort of...for the time being.  One word: Sequel.
Oh my God yes.

To conclude; despite what may or may not be a slightly disappointing ending, Dirty Little Secrets is an excellent, excellent book that shouldn't be missed among the hordes of awesome debuts- no pun intended- that have been released this year. 

In Three Words: Shocking, disgusting, powerful.
Recommended for: Everyone.  Seriously.
Rating : 5

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: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Dear Blog,

Summary (from Goodreads): When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washed up child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl.

Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin's hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees everywhere.

Review: You may or may not know if you've been reading my blog for a while that I am a total fangirl of John Green's works after I read Looking for Alaska last summer.    Paper Towns followed quickly after and now, alas, the only of his works I have left to read for time being are his collaborate novel with David Leviathan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  Anyway, so no doubt I shall spend a lot of time in this review comparing it to his other works, and I'll probably repeat myself once or twice.

Anyway.  So I had pretty high expectations for An Abundance of Katherines and, most of the time, it didn't disappoint.

Maybe it's just me, but you can't help but speculate slightly at this formula: a protagonist with some strange personality quirk, a highly amusing sidekick, a strong love interest, and a lack of parental authority.  So there wasn't really much new, but it's physically impossible to not enjoy anything by John Green.  He is, along with Sarah Dessen, one of my few favourite contemporary authors.  It doesn't matter, at least to my mind, if you can start to predict what's going to happen.

A lot of An Abundance revolves around mathematics.  I should probably mention that all of this was totally lost on me because my knowledge of maths is totally appalling and I probably have the same mathematical knowledge as an eleven-year-old.  All the discussion and examples of the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability went over my head.  I did read the appendix at the end, by the way, but I just ended up saying to myself, "So, he's written a formula...which will tell him how long a relationship will last...so this line here is supposed to represent today...eh..." Maybe it was just me being mathematically challenged, maybe not.  Maybe there were just too many numbers.

That said.  Despite all that, like Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines is full of small, quirky facts that you wouldn't have known otherwise.  Read John Green books and you'll become one of those interesting intellectuals who can surprise their friends with things that none of them know.  Become cultured and exciting and intriguing and have people look up to you (or else just think that you're slightly bizarre). 

Colin was a nice enough protagonist.  He wasn't quite as humorous as Q and he didn't have so much to learn, I suppose, as Miles.  And his incessant whining did get on my nerves considerably a little at the start.  And for all his three dimensions, he seemed almost overly dependent on having a Katherine constantly at his side- though Lindsey Lee Wells was a welcome surprise, she was still amorous material.  That doesn't mean I disliked her.  Nay, I thought she was actually pretty awesome, and if there's any romantic material in a novel I like it to be sort of like her; Clever. Witty. Sassy.

The writing style is, strangely, told in the third person, which was a nice change.  And I think that's what actually set Colin apart from Q and Miles.  In not narrating the whole story, it made his dialogue and his thoughts seem even more...original, I guess you could put it.  If that makes any sense. 

So.  Hmm. Is it a good book?  Yes, definitely, compared to a lot of the novels in the vast expanse of YA lit.  But is it as great as I was expecting?  Hmm, not sure. When novelists are so fantastic I think it's hard for their second and third novels to live up to expectations. 

In Three Words: not quite Alaska.
Recommended for: John Green fans.  Despite a few flaws it's worth it.
Rating: 4. 

In My Mailbox 16

Dear Blog,

It would seem I haven't participated in IMM for a while, hosted as ever by The Story Siren..  Mostly because I've been trying not to buy too many books.

FOR REVIEW

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate

BOUGHT

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (Read-I'm writing a review now)

FROM THE LIBRARY
Kissing the Rain by Kevin Brooks (currently reading)
Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace
Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo (not pictured because I had to return it to the library) (I shall have to talk about this in a Foreign Language Friday post next week)
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert (ditto)

Well, that was my literary week.  And what about yours?

Review: I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert

Dear Blog.

NaNoWriMo is over, which means that I've got more time now for book-reviewing.  All my time got sucked into an infinite void of writing, writing and more writing.  Anyway, it's over now, so you can expect many more reviews from me.

Summary (from Goodreads): A raw, edgy, emotional novel about growing up punk and living to tell.

The Clash. Social Distortion. Dead Kennedys. Patti Smith. The Ramones.

Punk rock is in Emily Black's blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily's all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find the tune that will bring her mother home. Because if Louisa really is following the music, shouldn't it lead her right back to Emily?

Review: First things first- if there is one thing that you need to know about me it is that I am totally obsessed with music. 
However, armed with a classical guitar and a double bass, Mia of If I Stay is more my calling.  Still, whether it's rock or baroque I love books involving music because no matter what the genre or era or instrument, the passion for the sound and such is the same.  So I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is one of those books that makes me want to punch the air and yell, "heck yeah!"  This is what it's all about. 

I should probably mention that it is in some respects a very clichéd book, and the plot is hugely overdone. There's mothers who abandon their daughters, quests to find aforementioned mothers,  drug addictions, underground venues, stalkers, cigarettes, abuse, and casual sex among other things.  It has all the trademarks of a sex-drugs-rock 'n' roll novel.  Yet it's still enjoyable escapism, and you can't help but want to go along for the ride (especially if you've spent a while trying to conquer something with a title like Etude Opus. 60, no.5 in A Minor) (which I frequently do). 

The star of the show, no wordplay intended, is Emily Black, the tough lead singer in her punk-rock trio She Laughs.  She is for the most part fearless and gutsy, but her emotions are really what drives her-  for instance, she spends a year going across America trying to search for her mother. She's intelligent, I suppose, but you can't help but snort at her impulsive recklessness now and again.  But, well, it wouldn't be any fun if she didn't take such risks, would it?

The story is told through her point of view, most of the time (I'll get to the parts that aren't in a minute). Her voice seems kind of careless, as if looking back on her past she really thinks nothing of everything that she goes through.  She sounds kind of distant, if that makes sense, as if just casually recounting the events of a slightly boring day rather than actually her teenage years up until the age of about twenty-three, the later years of which totally change her life.   But she sounds so calm about it, like, "Yeah, and then my supposed boyfriend tried to kill me, and I had to run away.  It was really no biggie."
There are a few chapters, however, describing the comings and goings on Emily's mother, Louisa, which are told in a distant kind of third-person, portraying her life and coming back to her now and again while Emily is growing up.
I suppose one of my main complaints might be- it takes a very long time  to really get going.  It reminds me a little of The Hunger Games is that the real stuff doesn't come into it until about a hundred pages in.  But the first 100 pages sort of build up to that, describing her childhood and early teen years, and how she had decided that rock-n-roll was the path she wanted to follow from a young age.  It's not exciting, but it's essential, and so worth getting through.
 
Still, it makes for an interesting read.  It's a teenage book, but I think that those who are now adults who were teens in the 90s, when most of the book takes place, would enjoy it too.  Especially if they were as into music as Emily was. I, however, missed out on this, being a small girl who watched The Wild Thornberrys  at the time.   Such recent times seem kind of unvisited in teenage fiction, so I found it pretty interesting. Like something I missed out on because I was a) too small and b) too busy wishing that my parents had a comvee. not from a small town in the Midwest with a huge empty warehouse in which bands turn up to make music and stagedive. 
 
Anyway.   Read it, and see for yourself.  You'll either think it's hugely overdone and a shaky sort of debut novel, or else you'll just be able to toss that aside and go along for the ride.
 
In Three Words: Gritty, musical, exhilarating.
Reccomended for: teenagers...and adults, too.
Rating: 3.5