How I Live Now Review (teen novel)

Title: How I Live Now

Genre: None/All of Them

Rating: 1/5 Stars

Awards: Printz

First of all I only read this book because it was recommended by John Green during his hangout on YouTube.I now have now discovered it was made into a movie last year. Here is the movie trailer:

I’m sad to say that I didn't enjoy the novel at all. This is strange kind of book that I think could appeal to a select few but it didn't appeal to me at all.

First of all the novel is sort of genre-[less. Its about an anorexic girl who comes from a broken family. But then it turns into a sort of war-drama almost dystopia. Then its also a coming of age story of sexual angst. I think that Meg Rosoff intended her novel to be about how people react to war and other hardship as well as how people unite in the strange ways in order to live through war.

But if that is what Rosoff wanted to have her novel be about, it was all overshadowed by the shocking sexual relationship between two underage first cousins--the protagonist (Daisy) and Edmond. I have to ask myself Why is this there? And why is it glorified? I am pretty sure the same points about (anti) war and family could have been made without this aspect. In fact I know the other themes would have been more pronounced without the incestuous relationship.

Style-wise, Meg Rosoff writes in a unique way. Daisy's narrative gives very few details.  Very few adjectives are used and sentences and chapters are very short. Chapters, for example are not often longer than 5 pages. The lack of detail enough extends to the characters, none of whom have surnames. The only character with any background story is Daisy. Personally, I didn’t enjoy this type of narrative. The only pro was that Daisy was recalling the story rather than recording everything in real time (which in my view added a aspect of reality.) The lack of details given about the characters make them seem distant and shallow to me. Also I had trouble deciding what the time period the story was taking place in. For example, once ‘the war’ started there were references to World War 2 but not the war in Iraq. However, the characters have cell phones and emails so I knew the story was not meant to be taking place in the past. Even more frustrating to me is the mystery surrounding the war. The enemy is never named nor is the conflict. And the kids didn't seem to care about the bombing and lack of food or any changes occurring around her.

Although some aspects of Meg Rosoff’s style would work for reluctant readers, there is something frustrating about her style--she doesn’t separate her dialogue with “  ” marks or paragraphs, which can make for difficult reading at times.

All in all I was very disappointed in this novel. I didn’t like the style or the relationships.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks By: E Lockhart

Genre: teen fiction

Rating: 3 starts out of 5.

Way original, smart and funny. Highly recommend for anyone who likes clever, smart teen reads. 

As a boarding school fable, THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS works pretty well. As a girl power social manifesto, not so much. Lockhart seems to be grasping for a Message -- she throws in class lectures, P.G. Wodehouse, and one of Frankie's papers on the Cacophony Society (which I REALLY enjoyed).

 An omniscient narrator informs readers of Frankie's deviousness (that’s putting it lightly). Frankie's greatest achievements are putting bras on school portraits, sitting at the senior table when she's a sophomore (gasp), and making up words (a self-conscious, albeit whimsical, mannerism that undermines her insistence that people take her seriously). 

Read this novel for its clever dialog -- I LOVED this book for its fast-past witty dialog and I was fully willing to give it 5 stars. The occasional psychological insights I felt really added a lot of the novel. The elaborate pranks too were fun, but as Frankie became more obsessed with her pranks and her "Message" (whatever it was) she became less likable. That's why instead of getting five stars this book gets only three. This story starts very strong but by the end readers may feel not quite satisfied. .

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane By: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Adult Fiction, Literature, Fantasy,

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Intro

I just cannot get on the Neil Gaimen band wagon! I feel really bad about this because he is a very creative writer and a strong advocate for libraries, not to mention a writer for Doctor Who. But his work just simply tends to not be my cup of tea.

Summary:
"The Ocean at the End of the Lane" is a short tale about a lonely bookish seven-year old and his misadventures once his life takes a terrifying turn into a dark and creepy reality. The child is never named, which I thought was odd. 

The child lives in the lovely English countryside of Sussex--the same environment where the author grew up. And like Gaiman, the child is wise, responsible, and moral beyond his years. The parents are blithely confident that nothing bad could happen to their brilliant bookish son in such a bucolic setting. But of course, bad things can, and do happen...


My Thoughts:
Again I hate to say this, but I didn't enjoy the story at all. It didn't bother me that the main character is a young child, although I expect that may be a hang up for some adult readers. The prose is in its own way good, it just doesn't sing. Also there is the huge issue of magic, demons being at the core of this novel. I don’t have a problem with all fantasy. And it is not simply the presence of magic that made this work un-enjoyable. It is the way the magic is presented. I personally feel conviction when I read a novel that has magic in the real world. And especially when they bring spiritual matters into the novel which is what happens when demons appear in the novel. Demons, I might add that are presented in a un-biblical context.

In addition to all this, there is an affair which the young un-named boy gets a good view of taking place between his father and the witch more than once. Then, toward the end of the novel, there is a naked woman. I found this really odd there is about fifty pages where there is a naked woman around with a little boy. Why, I ask do people always have to be naked in books that are considered "literature"? 

I am a fan of fantasy but just not this kind. I enjoy a good mystery, but not like this where EVERYTHING is in a riddle. I really wanted to like this book, but I but between the endless riddles the affairs I just couldn't enjoy it at all.

The Battlefield of the Mind Book Review

Battlefield of the Mind By: Joyce Meyer Book Review
Genre: Adult Nonfiction, Christian Living, Psychology
Rating: Five out of Five stars

Intro
First to know, this is a religious-based book. The author, Joyce Meyer, is a popular Christian author and speaker.  She is both a bestseller author and well known television personality. Her television and radio programs air in many languages and countries. She has 2.58 Million followers on Twitter, so bottom life is, she's big. Joyce has written many books on Christianity, and Christian living "Battlefield of the Mind" is perhaps the most popular one.  To be honest I avoided reading this book for a long time. I was sure this book was full of pop psychology or unhelpful spiritualism. But the book's popularity finally convinced me that I need to actually read the book and make my own decision on it.

Summary
Battlefield of the Mind is about solving some of the common problems we all encounter in life, such as depression, anger, or worry, by getting you to examine the way you think about the everyday events in life, or as the book puts it, "you need to begin to think about what you are thinking about." And that's basically the goal of the whole book.

Other major points include:

-our actions are a direct result of our thoughts. 
-thoughts take place in your mind, so your mind is in essence "the battlefield"
-if you have a negative mind, you will have a negative life
-on the other hand, if you renew you mind according to God's Word, you will have a positive life

Thoughts
Much of the book is devoted to getting the reader to change their thinking and discusses how to tear down the "strongholds" that the devil tries to set up in the mind. Joyce uses parables and many personal examples along the way- which makes the book very interesting to read. Although when I began reading it I had my doubts--I was willing to pass it off as fake/pop psychology, but as I read through I found Joyce's points useful. So now that I finished it let me say that I personally found it very helpful in my own battles over my mindfulness.

ClockWork Angel Review

Clockwork Angel

1 out of 5 stars

 

There are so many things that prevented me from enjoying this book. I think I’ll just list them out in no particular order then I’ll break them down:

--the writing so many aspects wrong with the writing

--characters were un-likable

--Misrepresentation of Biblical truths

 

1. The Writing

To put it plainly, this book was not smart or clever. It completely lacked originality. The plot was over used. The overall themes, were cliche, and predictable. I often found the humor to be forced rather than actually funny or cute. If you don’t know the author’s history, let me explain:

 

Cassandra Clare started out  as a fanfiction writer, which is probably why this book seemed so very cliche. She borrowed plot points and themes from popular fantasy fiction that she wrote fanfiction for. There is a little from  

Twilight  

- a hint at a supernatural love triangle

A LOT of Harry Potter

-teen unknowingly part of a supernatural world

-that teen is some sort of superpower (just like Harry was the chosen one)

-teen is an orphan and goes to a school (ok “institute”) for supernaturals

-teen befriends two other teens and now there are trio of friends one girl and two boys

-there are even characters that seen similar to characters in Harry Potter

 

What is worse, Clare is even recycling her own work from her first series.

I mean the characters were almost CARBON COPIES of ones that I’d read in City of Bones, which leads the plot in Clockwork Angel to be into a nearly identical to that of Clare’s City of Bones:

--Both center around a teen girl discovering her supernatural abilities and entering the Shadow Hunter world.

--Both include a family member being kidnapped by a supernatural being.

--Both novels have the main character romantically interested in a suffering, self destructive teen. Basical a perfect representations of a  Byronic hero.

 

The point being that Clare’s first novel felt very familiar because it felt so similar to Harry entering into his world. And this novel just felt ridiculous because it merely a copy of  City of Bones which in of itself  merely decently written fan fiction.

 

2. Unlikeable Characters

The characters were boring and what’s worse---oh so very immature. All characters but Charlotte were selfish and impatient. These characters are moody (to say the least). They  are always keeping secrets from each other. A number of them hate each other. They  are not willing to listen to reason or empathize. They know what they want they also know better than anyone else, so don’t tell them what to do!

Because the characters were, there is no other way to put this, shallow, there were also predictable. Predictable and annoying. Not exactly the type of people one enjoys getting to know in real live or on paper.

 

3. Misrepresentation of Biblical truths

When it comes to fantasy I am OK with supernatural elements when the fantasy takes place in a made up world. But when the fantasy and in particular dark fantasy that twists what I know of life and death, comes into a fictional representation of the ‘real world’, I become more hesitant in approving it

.

Nephlilium

Clare goes even further however, and not only brings the fantasy to the ‘real world’. But she uses biblical terms and even knowledges the Bible in her novel. The problem though, is that Clare makes up her own definitions for Biblical words such as “Nephilim”.

The Nephilim in “Clockwork Angel” are half angel and half human beings. Although this IS a common understanding of Nephilim in secular fiction, it is a misinterpretation all the same.  The misunderstanding comes from taking Genesis 6:2 out of context. It reads:

                   “ the sons of God saw that the daughter of men were fair; and they took to wife of        

                     them as they chose...The Nephilim were on earth in those days and also afterward,

                     when the sons of God came in to the daughter of men and they bore children to

                     them.”

 

It doesn’t stand to reason that this a proper biblical definition for a number of reasons:

--”Sons of God” is vague unclear reference to angels. In Job 1&2 we see a the writer clearly identify that he is speaking of angels

--The term “Sons of God” appears in Deuteronomy and refers not to angels but to godly men

--Jesus says that angels do not marry (Matthew 24:39)

Taking all this into account, it is more likely that Genesis 6:2 is speaking of men of God marrying unbelieving women and having children with them.(Grudem)

 

Glory of God

If you can believe it, the Nephilim in “Clockwork Angel” are problematic because they are selfish yet self destructive and even though they recognize that their purpose is to protect humans, they do not value human life at all. They call us humans “mundanes”. Although it is their job to protect us, they find no joy in doing it. But the Nephilum don’t really see their job as being a Higher Purpose. There is no mention of them working for the Glory of God. They clearly only work for glory of themselves. Fighting demons for the sake of fighting demons not for glory of God. In fact, the Glory of  God is never mentioned. Rather than drawing power from prayer or faith etc. much of the Nephilim’s power come from strange markings they tattoo on their bodies.  These are an arguably occultist tattoos. These markings causes pain to the Nephilim but ultimately are what gives them their power.

Bibliography

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leocester: Zondervan, 1994.

 

Land of Stories Book Review

Title: Land of Stories By: Chris Colfer
Genre: Juv. Fiction, Fairy Tales
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Summary: (from amazon) When Alex and Conner's father unexpectedly dies, the twins lose the person who always had the perfect story to cheer them up. Then, on their 12th birthday, their grandmother gives them the book of fairy tales he used to read to them. Suddenly it seems to come to life, and the youngsters find themselves falling into the Land of Stories, seemingly with no way to get out. Desperate, they follow instructions in a mysterious journal: if they gather eight items from various residents in the kingdoms of the Land of Stories, they can complete the Wishing Spell and have one wish granted. After scaling castle walls, diving deep into the home of mermaids, and meeting characters from all of the beloved fairy tales, they are stymied by the Evil Queen, who has escaped from Snow White's dungeon. With the hope of using the spell gone, the twins appear to have no way home until they meet Fairy Godmother, their own grandmother. In a way, they find comfort from their grief over their father's death when they realize that they have been following his journal and that he grew up in this land.

Children especially those who have feelings of inadequacy or who have suffered early tragedy, will find lots of hope within its pages along with bravery and kindness and self-acceptance. It's a book about how every seemingly happy ending creates a new set of struggles to contend with, which you have to keep trying your best to overcome. while also making good moral decisions and finding some kind of peace in spite of hardship. It's also a book about how things often seem to happen for a reason, and how unexpectedly wonderful things can happen as a result of painful struggles.

The book has some interesting meditations on working hard, staying positive, compassion, the importance of family and reading. Of these mediations, the one that is probably the most profound is that of the power of understanding and compassion, even towards people who have done terrible things. This book doesn't condone those terrible things -- it heavily emphasizes doing the RIGHT thing. But it definitely paints the characters as more complex humans than the classic Good Vs Evil stories do, which makes it all much more interesting and more relevant to real world conflicts.