Review: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

THE FACTS: 

            Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

            Author:  E. Lockhart

            Publication Date:  2008

            Pages:  352

Round of applause: Printz Honor Book, Finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Cybils Award for best young adult novel.

SUMMARY:

            During the summer after her freshman year of high school, fifteen-year-old Frankie Ladau-Banks goes from a lanky debate dork to a curvaceous bombshell.  When she returns to her prestigious private boarding school as a sophomore, she catches the eye of the most popular senior boy, Mathew Livingston.  The two start dating and Frankie finds herself engrossed by the easy goofiness of Mathew and his friends.  However, Frankie’s latent abilities as a pranking mastermind slowly begin to surface as she grows discontent with the idea of being just Mathew’s girlfriend.  She wants to be a part of Mathews friend group—a bond made even more impenetrable by their membership in an all male secret society.  In a one-woman effort to subvert the patriarchal foundations of her school, the secret society and her relationship, to find acceptance and acknowledgement from her peers (particularly her male peers), and to shake up the sense of surveillance implicit in her school’s construction, Frankie manages to take covert control over the secret society.  Inevitably, these escapades get her into a great deal of trouble… but you’ll have to read it to see exactly why.

E’S 2 CENTS:

            Before we begin, a side note:  buy this book in hard cover.  The paperback cover is heinous.  For the record, I am absolutely against photographs of people on book covers.  Old photos, artistic photos and photos that show only part of the body (hands for example) are the exceptions—and then only if the picture represents the novel.  The girl on the paperback cover of Disreputable History is completely unnecessary. The highly commercial shot of a blond teenager on the paperback cover makes the novel seem trivial and disposable… which it is not.  The hardcover is much more representative of the novel’s quality and content. 

            Ok.  Good book.  It stands alone as an interesting and intelligent read, but also provides some great opportunities for further reading and research.  The panopticon, patriarchal structures, etc are all good things to keep investigating if you’re so inclined.  I think my favorite thing about this novel, though, is the exploration of power and gender and how they play out both in personal relationships and in society at large.  Lockhart doesn’t necessarily take a final, definitive stance on anything, but she provides an excellent literary environment to explore such issues.   When we started discussing this book in class, it became obvious to me that most people were making sweeping generalizations and assumptions about feminism and its definition.  The discussion failed to acknowledge that there are many types and forms of feminism—and I think that more than one are at play in this novel.  This is a good thing to dig into and discuss.  Do it.

            A final note:  be on the look out for the funky narration.  The narrator seems to have a singular identity (he/she uses the pronoun “I”) and engages the reader directly (uses “you”), but is somehow outside the story (he/she is not one of the characters).  The narrator’s perspective is limited to knowledge of Frankie’s feelings and experiences and does not extend beyond the time shortly following the main action of the novel.  I won’t lie to you, at first this really bothered me.  I was highly irritated with being addressed by a mysterious narrator that could identify with me, but whose identity I could not locate.  Then… it clicked.  You wont get this till you read the book, but I think Lockhart’s writing makes the reader feel the same way Alpha must have felt when receiving disembodied e-mails.  In many ways, I think this is Frankie writing her own Disreputable History for future generations. 

I’m really tired… let me know if that makes sense after you’ve read the book.  Worth a read.

--E

Review: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T.Anderson

THE FACTS: 

            Title: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing:  Traitor to the Nation, Volume I The Pox Party

            Author:  M.T. Anderson

            Publication Date:  2006

            Pages:  353

Round of applause:  National Book Award Winner, Printz Honor Book, ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults

SUMMARY:

            This novel opens in the home of a group of philosophers during the late 18^th century in Boston.  Octavian lives in this house with his mother who is an African princess.  Octavian is given the best of classical educations, but he eventually discovers that his education, upbringing and his very presence in the house have been part of an experiment.  Not only have he and his mother been studied like lab animals, but they also share a similar level of freedom with such domestic creatures:  they are slaves.  Over time the nature of the philosophers’ interests become clearer to Octavian, but when the philosophers irreverently intrude upon his mother’s death, Octavian flees.  He joins the revolutionary forces, and, as the novel progresses, contemplates the nature of freedom through a series of trials.

           

E’S 2 CENTS:

            I just couldn’t get into this book and I can’t figure out why.  The premise is interesting, the themes complex and engaging, the writing—though indirect and somewhat tedious at the beginning—is beautiful… even the cover is enticing… so what’s the problem?  I need to give it another good skim before I can figure it out.  I’ll be sure to repost when I get a handle on this one.  … But in the meantime, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it’s worth a read.

Review: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

THE FACTS: 

            Title: Hunger Games

            Author:  Suzanne Collins

            Publication Date:  2008

            Pages:  374

Round of applause:  ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults, Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book Honor, School Library Journal Best Book of 2008

SUMMARY:

            For 16-year-old Katniss, fighting to survive has been a way of life since her father died and her mother mentally checked out.  She lives in District 12—one of the poorest districts in a futuristic nation centered around the Capitol.  To remind the districts just how much power they have, the Capitol puts on the annual televised Hunger Games, where a boy and girl from each district are sent to fight to the death.  When Katniss’ little sister is chosen in the lottery, Katniss volunteers to go to the Games in her place.  She is transported to the capitol with the boy selected from District 12, peeta, the bubbly Games representative, Effie, and Katniss’s new coach/notorious drunkard, Haymitch.  Katniss spends the rest of the novel vying for sponsorship, playing the crowd, and legitimately trying to stay alive.  Giving you any more details would take the fun out of reading it.

E’S 2 CENTS:

            I was utterly and unabashedly sucked into this book.  While Hunger Games lacks the specificity to directly criticize a government or type of government, its comments on power, rebellion, media and economic inequity are noteworthy.  OK.  So I guess that’s a lot of things.  The last two of those items were what resonated with me most.  In the world of the novel, everything within the Hunger Games is televised.  Their chances of survival are greatly increased by having a good image and presenting compelling entertainment.  It seems so sick that the life of 24 teenagers could become a commodity—let alone a source of entertainment.  But then, don’t we thrive on intimate depictions of the world’s horrors in our media-driven society?  In the way of dystopian literature, Hunger Games picks a few of these social ills and drives them to extremes.  The effect is disturbing yet familiar. 

To make the novel better (and, honestly, to keep it from being entirely too preachy or didactic) these dystopian issues are all nestled within a dynamic plot where the stakes are literally life or death.  It’s fairly obvious that Katniss manages to survive somehow (really guys… her death would cause a serious problem with the established first person narration… not to mention… there’s a sequel), but that didn’t bother me so much.  I was still totally engaged and bewildered about how she would pull through.  I thought the ending was disappointing (not that it was poorly written, but because was inconclusive) but, I suppose, that’s why there’s another book.  …another book that I will probably read as well…

Worth a read.

--E

It's a YA sort of life

My Dear and Patient Reader,

Thank you for your understanding in my inability to post at a consistent time.  I can promise you more book reviews will come and that I will get caught up on everything… someday.  I’ve had a request or two to post some of my thoughts beyond the book reviews that make up the majority of this blog.  After all, this blog is supposed to be about my exploration of YA, and that has to do with more than just what books I’m reading from the genre—this still evolving genre that deals with the questions Who am I? and What am I going to do about it?

I’ve been thinking about and realizing lately that it’s not just teens who ask these questions.  We all reencounter them in adult life, especially at times of transition.  For me these questions are natural companions of feeling overwhelmed.  And right now… I’m there.  I’m working two jobs, taking five classes, rehearsing for a play, serving as president of a student organization, and trying to pull together graduate school applications…not to mention trying to maintain some sort of social life including friends, family and dating.  Much of the way I feel currently is comparable to my senior year of high school (although now it’s accompanied by the dreadful prospect of a hefty chunk of personal debt).  The over commitment to extra-curriculars, the sleep deprivation, the uncertainty surrounding where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing next year, the anxiety of wondering what will happen to the relationships I’ve formed over the last four years—it’s all back like an old friend (or fiend… not sure).

And so, here at 2 in the morning on a Wednesday at the age of 21 years 8 months and 3 days, I am still asking Who am I? and What am I going to do about it?  How YA of me…   I supposed the one thing keeping my personal existence from fitting right on a little YA shelf is that I don’t have the limited adolescent perspective of YA books:  I’ve traveled, lived on my own (both in another state and, for a while, another country), I’ve been a leader and a follower, I’ve been hurt (oh yes) and I’ve hurt others, I’ve loved and been loved, I’ve learned from some mistakes and repeated others, I’ve laughed, cried, failed and triumphed, I’ve discovered the people and ideas that are important to me, and I’ve developed a pretty darn good idea about the type of person I want to be.  And even for all that, I still find myself squinting at half-composed possibilities glowing with fuzzy uncertainty in the middle of the night. 

I suppose my point is this:  no matter how far removed one is from the ages, experience levels and contexts of YA novels, there are questions embedded within them that resonate with something human… not just something adolescent.  The novels that are truly able to speak to this without it being stifled by the superficial aspects of their respective genres (in this case namely the nostalgia of adolescence) are ones worth reading and keeping.  That, my friends, is how classics are born.  …and how I choose to end this post in favor of sleep…maybe.

--E

Other Blogs From My Class

Seeing as I'm behind in everything in my life--blogging included--I thought I'd give you something to bide your time till I write again.  Looking for a different take on the books I've been reading?  Want to read about more books from this genre?  My entire class is working it's way through YA.  Check out what they're doing...

Young Adolescent Lit 101

ENGL 487 YA Lit

Shake Well Before Enjoying

YA Lit: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Make Way for YA!

To Infinity and Beyond

Chasing Hermes

T’s Word

dear joshua,

The Golden Rule of YA Lit

One Does Not Love Breathing

Go Ask Alice … What is it all about?

Julie’s YA Blog

The Wide World of YA Literature

Confessions of an English Major

The Young Women’s Damsel-Free Literary Circle

Experimenting with YA Lit

Young Adult Lit for the High School Classroom

Reading the Youth

FYI: YA

Are You There, God? It’s Me, a YA Reader

Patricorp

An Impoverished Voice

Superman’s Thoughts

YA Lit is for Everyone Happy blog reading! --E

Review: What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

THE FACTS: 

            Title: What My Mother Doesn’t Know

            Author:  Sonya Sones

            Publication Date:  2001

            Pages:  272

Round of applause: 2002 ALA Best Book for Young Adult, 2002 ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2003 International Reading Association Young Adults' Choice

SUMMARY:

            This novel, narrated in verse, follows14 year-old Sophie’s thoughts as she navigates from love-interest to love-interest until finally arriving at an unlikely “Mr. Right.”  Along the way Sophie deals with other issues:  her Jewish identity, her mother’s depression, her father’s absence, her changing body and all the other friend drama that generally plagues young teens.  Through her chronological poetry, she explores the events of her life, her feelings about them, and, inevitably, comes to realize the importance to true human connection.

E’S 2 CENTS:

            I would scarcely call what Sones has produce poetry, or at least good poetry, but there is something innovatively effective about her use of verse.  While not particularly substantive in content, What My Mother Doesn’t Know absolutely mirrors the internal activity of an adolescent girl’s mind and heart.  The ups, the downs, the wanting but not wanting, the deception, the injustice, the miscellaneous emotion—it definitely struck a chord of recognition with me.  Somehow the first-person verse illuminates Sophie’s thought (and emotional) process better than regular prose could.  It also makes for a quick read (no wonder this is a top pick for reluctant readers).  Beyond providing adolescent girls with a reflection of themselves in verse form, however, I didn’t think this book amounted to much.  Sure, Sophie deals with some greater issues than just boy-girl drama, but overall the story lacked depth and complexity.  The fact that it was banned gives What My Mother Doesn’t Know some additional appeal, but the ‘deplorable’ reference that granted Sones’ book this status seems so trivial that I’m not enticed by its censorship in the least.  (Is a passing reference to masturbation so incredibly lewd?  Really?  Especially when the character supposedly engaging in such behavior is colored as a total creep?  …that hardly counts).  I give Sones props for generous and comprehensive website (geared a little more toward young teen readers/writers… but check it out here), but What My Mother Doesn’t Know didn’t really do it for me.  If you’re looking for a quick “Oh I’ve SO felt that way!” zone out book, it’s worth a read.  In most other contexts, I give it an apathetic “eh…”


--E