Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

Apathy is such an ugly word. We should always connect with the characters we read about, even if it’s not in a positive way – or we should fall in love with the author’s writing, or the setting of the story. In Under the Never Sky, none of that happened. Instead, I felt it: apathy.

A synopsis of the plot would probably pique readers’ interest. In Under the Never Sky, humans live in sheltered Pods where, through technological advances, they access the Realms – virtual realities in which one can do almost anything without fear. Aria grew up in a dome called Reverie, safe from the Aether storms that threaten the lives of all in the Pods. But a reckless choice and an unfortunate consequence causes Aria to be thrown out of her home and into the Outside, a dangerous place full of savages and empty of the comforting pleasures Aria has always known. There she encounters a gifted savage named Perry, and embarks on a journey to find her mother, Lumina.

It’s not like this was a bad book.

The New Normal Episode Review: “Pardon Me”

Wonderful precocious wisdom from Shania! Image via The New Normal.

Second post of the day! In yesterday’s episode of The New Normal, “Pardon Me” (season 1, episode 9) Bryan and David decided to revamp their Thanksgiving tradition of getting away from home – instead, they invited their close friends and family members to partake in a delicious, vegetarian feast. Things got a little rough when old tensions surfaced and new ones formed.

I haven’t written a review for a television episode in years, so I’ll keep it simple by separating my thoughts into three categories: plot, characterization, and themes. I have no experience in screenwriting or creating television shows, so please take this as a literal “review” – just me going over what I thought went on in the episode, focusing on things I loved, liked, or didn’t exactly appreciate. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments, and I included a small quote section at the bottom!

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

“If you pretend you love a boy, maybe after a while you start to care. If you spend months with the traces of someone else’s love and memories inside you, maybe those traces become a part of you. Or perhaps Amarra has nothing do with this. Perhaps I care because I’m jealous of what she had. That kind of love. That kind of freedom to love.”

As an echo, Eva’s sole purpose is to study someone else’s life and eventually replace her if she dies. Amarra, Eva’s “other”, happens to pass away after an unfortunate car accident. But when Eva leaves what she’s known for sixteen years to take the place of another girl, she finds that what she wants to do and what she was designed to do are two wildly different things.

The Lost Girl is almost a young-adult version of Frankenstein, with more sentimentality and slightly sweeter prose.

Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

When I finished this book, I felt overwhelmed. Like every bit of beautiful writing and bittersweet emotion had filled my heart and made it ready to burst. There are some books that you finish and think “thank goodness I’m a reader” or “thank goodness I got to read this one.” Tell The Wolves I’m Home is one of those books, and easily the best book I’ve read in 2012.

Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers

 

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

Eddie Reeves’ father committed suicide, but she doesn’t know why. There seems to be no reason – he was a famous artist, a talented photographer, and had a loving family, most importantly, her. While entrenched in her grief Eddie meets Culler, his former student. They form a dangerous attraction and embark on a mission to piece together the broken picture of her father’s death.

Another powerful book by Courtney Summers. Like a punch in the stomach, Fall for Anything surprises the reader, seizing them and forcing them to feel Eddie’s anguish. I think the writing – and the emotions evoked by the writing – were enough to justify giving this book 3.5 stars, even though I’m not sure if I actually liked it at all.

I did not like the plot in this one as much as Summers’ first two novels. Sure, if one of my family member’s passed away I would be overcome with despair and angst, but I do not think I would travel around with some strange twenty-year-old who randomly takes pictures of me. I also predicted the twist about halfway through the novel, which may have lessened my enjoyment when it occurred.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll end this review by saying that I wish Summers’ had focused more on the aspect of recovery rather than the descent into depression Eddie experienced.

Here are two quotes from the beginning of the novel that exemplify Summers’ writing talent:

“I imagine diving under, swimming down, down, down with my eyes open and not being able to see anything in front of me. Not even my hands. I imagine forcing myself farther down, until I feel weeds everywhere, brushing the sides of my arms, my feet, and then I’m surrounded. Tangled up in them so bad the lake would have me forever. I imagine drowning and what that would feel like, if I’d be scared. If I’d let it happen or if I’d fight it. I read in a book once you can’t drown yourself. Your body will fight to survive, whether you want to or not.

But I don’t think it’s the same when you jump.”

“Sometimes I feel hunted by my grief. It circles me, stalks me. It’s always in my periphery. Sometimes I can fake it out. Sometimes I make myself go so still, it can’t sense that I’m there anymore and it goes away. I do that right now.

I go so still the thing inside me doesn’t know I’m there anymore.”

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Cover via Goodreads

Rating: 5/5 stars.

Sing You Home is my new favorite novel by Jodi Picoult, and as of now (mid-March, 2011) my favorite book of the year.

There are so many things I wish I could say coherently about this book. I was at a loss of words when I finished it three hours ago, and I still am speechless. But I want to write this review while the emotions it evoked are still at their strongest.

The writing was superb as always. Picoult doesn’t use a lot of “SAT” vocabulary, or extremely complex sentence structure, but the way she engages readers with detail and finesse is extraordinary. I am always tempted to read just a single page more, then just one chapter more, until I’ve gone through the entire 400+ page book. I even forgot to put this on my to-read shelf on Goodreads.

Picoult’s characters are splendid – by the middle of the book I was immersed in Zoe’s yearning for children and Max’s difficulty with alcohol abuse, and I felt like they were real, breathing people. Vanessa’s no-nonsense attitude I admired, and side characters like Dara and Lucy I came to love as well.

The element that really made me appreciate this novel was Picoult’s take on gay marriage, and homosexual inequality in contemporary society. I cannot adequately state how inspiring this book was to me in that regard. Here is one of the many powerful quotes that I had to stop and re-read (I even put this in my favorite quotes section on Facebook)…

“I remember my mother telling me that, when she was a little girl in Catholic school, the nuns used to hit her left hand every time she wrote with it. Nowadays, if a teacher did that, she’d probably be arrested for child abuse. The optimist in me wants to believe sexuality will eventually become like handwriting: there’s no right way or wrong way to do it. We’re all just wired differently.

It’s also worth nothing that, when you meet someone, you never bother to ask if he’s right- or left- handed.

After all: Does it really matter to anyone other than the person holding the pen?”

Beautiful.