Review: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Published: 2014, Dial

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

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I don’t know how this can be but it can: A painting is both exactly the same and entirely different every single time you look at it. That’s the way it is between Jude and me now.

As children, fraternal twins Noah and Jude were incredibly close. So close, in fact, that they referred to themselves as NoahandJude, one soul divided between two bodies. But their thirteenth year is one of major changes for both of them, and the tragedies of their lives cause the twins’ relationship to fracture. At sixteen, the twins have seemingly lost their connection with one another, and both are so damaged, so bitter, so hopeless, that reconciliation seems impossible. A mutual love of art and creation that helped make Noah and Jude inseparable, and nothing short of rekindling that love will allow them to forgive each other and begin the slow healing process.

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Series Review: The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Opening Thoughts

At the beginning of this year I decided to finally read through Melina Marchetta’s Lumatere Chronicles. I’d had plans to do so for a while now - I’d read and enjoyed Finnikin of the Rock and was so convinced by others that the later installments are even better that I bought copies of the entire trilogy.

I’ve been working through this series since the beginning of the year: reading a book, taking many weeks worth of break with other books, and then moving on to the next installment. And I’ve savored each and every second I found myself with the likes of Finnikin and Evanjalin, Froi and Quintana, Beatriss and Trevanion, within the country of Lumatere and beyond.

Although I will try to focus here on my general thoughts of this series, this review will contain some spoilers for Finnikin of the Rock. I will try to limit spoilers for Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn. If you’re interested in my spoiler-free thoughts on the first book, read my Goodreads review of Finnikin of the Rock. And then I recommend you go read the entire Lumatere Chronicles.

Finnikin of the Rock

Series: The Lumatere Chronicles, #1

Published: 2010, Candlewick Press

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Source: Purchased
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In Finnikin of the Rock, readers are introduced to the land of Skuldenore. All of its countries are plagued with hardship and strife, but perhaps none more so than Lumatere. During a horrific event referred to as the five days of the unspeakable, the entire royal family of Lumatere was murdered and a puppet king installed, all said to be the work of Charyn, Lumatere’s greatest enemy. The destruction of Lumatere’s royal family and lands also triggered a curse that closed Lumatere off from the rest of the lands, leaving many Lumaterans trapped within the walls of their kingdom and many more stuck outside, unwanted refugees for neighboring kingdoms.

Finnikin of the Rock is one such refugee, and he and his guardian Sir Topher, once one of the head advisors of the king, bring aid to their people where they can and collect stories to ensure that their people - and their culture - will never die. When rumors start circulating that the youngest Lumateran prince was not killed in the massacre, Finnikin and Sir Topher find their way to the cloister where a novice is said to hold secrets that can save Lumatere.

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Review: Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer

Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer

Published: 2013, William Morrow Paperbacks

Genre: Adult Contemporary

Source: Library

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During Whitney and Merry Carole’s little banter, everything comes rushing back. I can’t believe I was so naive. There is no coming back to North Star on my own terms. I may be older and wiser, but we are still the villains. We are still the unwanted. We are still the ones parents point to and warn, “Don’t brush your teeth and you’ll end up like poor Merry Carole and Queenie Wake. Let a boy get to second base and you’ll end up like poor Merry Carole and Queenie Wake. Cheat on that final and you’ll end up like poor Merry Carole and Queenie Wake.” Being Brandi-Jaques Wake’s daughters meant being branded a pariah.

We are North Star’s very own bogeymen.

Never would I ever have imagined that my first five-star read of 2014 would be a work of contemporary adult fiction (that could probably be classified as “chick lit” by those who so desired to). After seeing positive review after positive review, I knew that I would eventually read this one, but perhaps as a lighter fare in between heavier reads. But this story ended up being so, so much better than I could have anticipated.

Over the past decade, Queen Elizabeth Wake has become skilled in the act of avoidance. She left her hometown of North Star, Texas shortly after graduation and hasn’t looked back since. She has no desire to return to the town where she has the unwelcome distinction of being Brandi-Jaques Wake’s daughter. Her mother was a talented chef, but also an example of parental neglect, as well as the town slut. As far as Queenie is concerned, the only legacy worth adopting from her late mother is her passion for cooking. For Queenie, North Star is full of too many painful memories, too many raw emotions, for her to ever want to return.

When Queenie finds herself fired at yet another restaurant in New York City, she’s forced to face a hard truth: she has nowhere she wants to go, nothing she wants to do. Until she figures that out, Queenie decides to return to North Star and live with her older sister and nephew. For a brief visit, she reassures herself. But after a decade of running, Queenie realizes that she can no longer evade her past. By returning home, Queenie has the opportunity to face the demons of her past - and perhaps ensure that they no longer continue to haunt her future.

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Review: All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

Published: 2013, Viking Juvenile

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Source: Library

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I don’t know how to feel. I am weary of having to choose my facial expressions the way others can choose their words. For those who wish to read my face, every movement on its surface becomes a shout.

All the Truth That’s in Me hits every single right note for me as a lover of stories. Beautiful and experimental prose, a realistic, well-written protagonist with a host of emotional struggles, a subtle, sweet romance, situations that delve into major life truths. Honestly, I could just stop there. But this is me, so of course I’m going to go into some more detail.

Judith Finch has returned from the dead, more or less. She and her best friend disappeared from their village four years ago. Her friend’s body returned shortly thereafter, devoid of life, but no one knew what happened to Judith until she returned to two years later with a missing tongue.

Even if Judith’s tongue had been whole, she would still have had little reason to use it back in her Puritan town of Roswell Station. No one knows what happened to Judith, and no one wants to. They’d all just prefer to ignore her existence, including her own mother. And Judith has been fine with that arrangement, as she has problems even internally articulating her thoughts on what’s happened to her.

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Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
Series: Code Name Verity, #2
Published: 2013, Disney Hyperion
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Source: Library book
Contains spoilers for Code Name Verity (my review)
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Hope is treacherous, but how can you live without it? When you lost hope, you turned into a schmoozich, nothing more than a starved mouth and snatching hands that even the guards ignored except when they were counting everybody – or you died.

Elizabeth Wein has done it again. Although, if I'm being perfectly honest with myself here, I didn't expect anything less from the incredibly talented author who wrote Code Name Verity. While both Rose Under Fire and Code Name Verity deal with strong female friendships, Allied female pilots, and women placed in unfathomable situations, they tell very different stories. Many of the historical elements of Code Name Verity have been expanded upon more prominently here, and Rose Under Fire could almost be considered to be politically-driven. While Julie and Maddie's story describes some of the suffering that could have happened, the trials and tribulations of Rose and her comrades are more concretely rooted in historical fact.

It is 1944 and the war effort is beginning to slow down, but that knowledge does not deter American Rose Justice from traveling overseas to become an Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) pilot for the Allied Forces. It becomes quickly apparent that Rose, a naive but idealistic aspiring poet with years of experience flying planes but a life of little hardship, has no idea what she volunteered for. Written in an epistolary style, Rose Under Fire recounts Rose's experiences as an ATA pilot, as a prisoner of war, and as a concentration camp survivor, from August of 1944 to December of 1946.

Rose Under Fire is a story about loss, hopelessness, and all forms of suffering. The story opens with Rose's observations from a fellow ATA pilot's funeral. She is supposed to write up a report detailing the accident. There's a bit of guilt on Rose's part, but she admits that she has no idea where to begin and seems to take a more clinical approach. Although Rose has started to realize that serving in the war is nothing like the propaganda she was given back in the States, there's still a curtain that shields her eyes (and her brain) from fully processing all that has been happening in Europe for the past few years. It is only after Rose is captured and sent behind enemy lines that the curtain rises abruptly and Rose loses her naivete for good, forced to adopt a new understanding of humanity's capacity for evil.

Rose Under Fire is not merely the story of a young American's loss of innocence in the face of the horrors of war, however; it is the story of the multitudes of women who were affected by the Axis Powers in the final years of World War II, most especially the prisoners of Ravensbrück women's concentration camp. And this is where the magic of this story lies.

For this is also a story about life, and the extreme measures that people take to survive and to help others survive. Once at Ravensbrück, Rose comes to realize just how petty her concerns and complaints as an Allied pilot truly are. A mislabeled nationality, a few close encounters with doodlebug flying bombs, and scanty rations are nothing compared to what the other women at the camp endured before coming there, and while there. All the women at Ravensbrück have lost something; most have lost everything. Most compelling is the friendship that Rose forms with a number of young Polish girls, referred to as the Rabbits. Due to their nationality, youth, and pure bad luck, these girls have essentially been tortured in the name of "scientific advancement." Their story is horrible enough, but through Rose Wein describes many more of the horrors that awaited women at this concentration camp: daily executions, starvation, lack of medicine, lack of hope.

Rose and her friends do manage to find hope, however, in small acts of rebellion: pocketing extra rations of foods and meds for those who need them most, smuggling out messages with their names, asking Rose to write poems about that elusive concept of hope. The camaraderie that forms between the women is perhaps the only grain of hope that readers can discern from Rose's captivity. They all are suffering, but there's a bit of comfort in the fact that they're together, that they understand what each other is going through.

Rose as a protagonist is not very similar to Julie of Code Name Verity (one of my top fictional narrators, I think), and I missed Julie's witty and unreliable narration. I do think, however, Wein's choice in protagonist for this story is perfect. I had little difficulty in seeing myself through Rose, and I'm sure that many readers can attest to the same. While Rose lived in America, the war was something far-off and distant. While she served as an ATA pilot, the war was still more something she heard of, her own missions kept out of harm's way. Until suddenly they weren't. It's easy to dismiss stories about World War II as old and no longer relevant, and getting easier as fewer and fewer people remain who lived through any of those experiences. Like Rose, through this story readers become exposed to some terrible truths about World War II. Terrible, but so very important.

As I've mentioned many times already, Rose Under Fire is no Code Name Verity. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. For their beautiful writing and focus on important aspects of history, I will read all future works of historical fiction that Elizabeth Wein decides to write.

Rating: 5 stars

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Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha, #2
Published: 2013, Henry Holt and Company
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Source: Personal collection
Contains spoilers for Shadow and Bone (my review)
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"I don't care if you think I'm a Saint or a fool or the Darkling's whore. If you want to remain at the Little Palace, you will follow me. And if you don't like it, you will be gone by tonight, or I will have you in chains. I am a solider. I am the Sun Summoner. And I'm the only chance you have."

With the constant self-inflicted pressure to read more and more these days, it seems I'd forgotten the power that settling into a familiar and beloved story can possess. I tend to read series back-to-back when possible, and, while I love re-reading, I haven't re-read anything for a while now. In opening the pages of my copy of Siege and Storm, viewing the expanded map of Ravka and its surrounding lands, once again reading the description of Grisha orders, I felt a palpable sense of relief. I knew these characters, this story, and was more than ready to see what would happen to them next.

Alina and Mal have successfully dashed the Darkling's plans to expand the Shadow Fold. Leaving him and his crew to the monstrous volcra, Alina and Mal have attempted to start over in Novyi Zem, far across the True Sea from Ravka. Although they both left everything behind for each other, Alina has a much more difficult time accepting their new lives and the limitations that come with them; primarily, her guilt in not acting upon the good she could do for her people as the Sun Summoner. She's willing to try, though, for the sake of Mal.

Before the two of them can decide where to go and what to do next, however, the Darkling has caught up to them once more. He has new and frightening powers, but still craves the amplified power that Alina possesses while wearing Morozova's collar. And better yet, he's discovered a the fabled ice dragon of the northern seas holds the key to yet another amplifier. The Darkling hasn't given up hope of harnessing Alina's power, and he's not the only one.

Where Leigh Bardugo really excels as an author is in her attention to detail. Shadow and Bone introduced readers to a whole new fantasy world, replete with Russian influences, an order of element-wielding sorcerers, political intrigue, destiny, and a young orphan girl caught in the middle of it all. Does this series bear similarities to many other published fantasy series? Certainly. But Bardugo skillfully writes a story that is worth reading, both in comparison to other fantasy novels and as a unique work of fantasy fiction in its own right.

Like any good sequel should, Siege and Storm reintroduces readers to the world of the first book and then expands it tremendously. While Shadow and Bone took place solely in the country Ravka, this newest installment offers a much wider scope of the world. Even though the characters do not explore all the various lands themselves, through the introduction of new characters and political intrigue, Bardugo convincingly fleshes out the world. Alina finds herself back in Ravka at a certain point in the novel, but it's more than simply the Ravka introduced through her childhood at Keramzin, her time spent in the First Army, or through her Grisha training at the Little Palace. Bardugo treats her worldbuilding much like a character, slowly revealing bits of new information. Readers become acquainted with the upper workings of the Grisha order, the royal family, tense political alliances with outside countries, and even with a fanatical new religious movement. 

Solid characterization is another strong point of Bardugo's, and in Siege and Storm there are three secondary characters worth mentioning: Mal, the Darkling, and Strumhond (although there are many other great ones as well). Not all three function as love interests necessarily, but all do offer something different and relevant to Alina. Mal is Alina's best friend and has recently become more than simply the subject of her unrequited love. He has given up everything in his life for her, but their relationship is not all bliss. Sure, he's a bit edgy and becomes increasingly discontent with many of Alina's decisions over the course of the novel, but he also is the only person who looks at Alina and sees Alina, not the benefits her power has. The Darkling remains the most enigmatic character in this installment, in part due to his lack of presence. He is only physically present for a small percentage of the novel, although his influence extends far beyond his page count. His desire to possess Alina's powers may border on obsessive, but so, too, does Alina's constant preoccupation with his presence indicate that she's just as drawn to all he can offer her. Strumhond, the privateer that the Darkling hires to transport them all to the northern seas, is new to this book but has already become a major player in the story. The twists and turns associated with his character are among some of the best. Although the best secondary characters are all male, there's no true love triangle (or quadrangle) that develops. All three are incredibly well depicted, and all three have distinct relationships with Alina herself.

Against three such male characters, it would have been easy for Alina to fade into the background. She still retains a tendency to think of herself as unremarkable, as unimportant. Certainly not as the all-powerful Sun Summoner, the girl sought after by some of the most powerful men in the world, or even as Sankta Alina. And yet, that's the type of person she's become to the rest of the world. Through much of the book, Alina still struggles to reconcile the difference between the image that she has of herself and what she's truly capable of. As the Sun Summoner in possession of an amplifier (with the possibility of acquiring another), Alina also struggles to balance the dynamic between what her powers could and should allow her to do. It's a very slippery slope that Alina balances above, and she does rely on the suggestions of others. But this is ultimately Alina's story, and it is she who gradually comes to learn just what she hopes to accomplish both with her powers and by herself.

Siege and Storm is an even stronger work than Shadow and Bone. As Bardugo herself has grown as a writer, so, too, have the story and characters matured. Bardugo has left many typical fantasy tropes behind in this latest installment, and the ending will be sure to leave her fans eagerly awaiting the release of the finale. Strong writing, strong characterizations, strong world-building, and a ton of originality make Siege and Storm well worth a read. Without a doubt, Leigh Bardugo has become one of my new favorite fantasy authors.

Rating: 5 stars

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Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Published: 2010, Dial
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Source: Library book
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Without the harbor and mayhem of Toby's arms, the sublime distraction of Joe's, there's only me.
Me, like a small seashell with the loneliness of the whole ocean roaring invisibly within.
Me.
Without.
Bailey.
Always.
I throw my head into my pillow and scream into it as if my soul is being ripped in half, because it is.

The Sky is Everywhere is a book that just sort of crept up on me. While the book has enjoyed its fair share of critical acclaim and every friend of mine who read it seemed to love it, I was not entirely convinced that this book would elicit similar feelings in me. And it didn't, at least not at first. For the first half of the book, I read with a sense of bemusement, for it is a strange little book. And gradually I found that my feelings of polite curiosity had morphed into ones of awe and adoration. I am so pleased to find myself in agreement with so many others and can wholeheartedly attest to the beauty and genius of Jandy Nelson's debut.

The Lennie plant is ailing, and this time Lennie's grandmother isn't sure there is anything she can do to heal it. This matters because Gram believes that this one plant is reflective of her granddaughter Lennie's health. But Lennie isn't doing well, and neither is Gram or Lennie's uncle Big, because Lennie's sister Bailey died of a sudden heart arrhythmia while rehearsing her role as Juliet for a community college production. The three remaining members of the family are left to deal with the aftermath of Bailey's death and find ways to move forward with their lives. Gram and Big try to maintain a sense of normalcy and continue with their hobbies as much as possible, which for Gram is painting in shades of green and tending to her gardens and for Big is smoking weed, working on his mini resurrection pyramids, and dating. Lennie, however, cannot imagine how to even begin putting back together the broken pieces of her life. Coupled with Bailey's death is Lennie's guilt, fear, lackluster desire to play her clarinet, and a new found sexual awakening.

The Sky is Everywhere is essentially about how Lennie deals with her grief and attempts to move forward with her life. In itself, this is a fairly common theme. It is how Nelson chooses to address this struggle that makes the book so memorable. Nearly all of Lennie's actions can be traced back to Bailey's influence over her. As readers and Lennie come to realize, Lennie didn't just love Bailey, but allowed her personal desires for Bailey's life to affect her own life and decisions. Lennie's always considered herself to be the companion pony to her sister Bailey's thoroughbred. Lennie is a very talented clarinetist, perhaps talented enough to get into a conservatory such as Julliard, but the summer before Lennie purposely failed the audition for first clarinet in her school's band. She believes that it was Bailey's dream to attend Julliard and become a performer, and Bailey's failure to get accepted there has made Lennie back away from similar ambitions. For her, Bailey's been the beauty, the actress, the role model, the love interest. And nothing changes in that regard once Bailey is dead, except that now Lennie cannot hide her own thoughts, talents, and ambitions behind those of her sister anymore.  

Except for whatever sort of relationship she seems to be forming with Toby, Lennie has cut herself off from the rest of the world. And then Joe enters the picture. Joe, whose good looks and incredible musical skills make him an object of desire for many girls, is somehow attracted to the post-Bailey Lennie. The Lennie who writes poems and snippets of thoughts about Bailey and then hides them outside. The Lennie who, along with Tony, tries to keep Bailey's memory alive with the help of the other person Bailey loved the most. The Lennie who refuses to touch anything on Bailey's side of their shared bedroom, preferring it to look as though Bailey has simply gone out for the day but will return shortly. The Lennie who just cannot make time to talk to her Gram or Uncle Big or best friend Sarah. 

Many of Lennie's actions could be considered to be heartless, naive, and even stupid, most especially her increasingly sexual relationship with Toby. And yet, as Nelson so artfully shows, according to Lennie the world without Bailey is both incomplete and heartbreaking. I found it impossible not to sympathize with Lennie, and I'd imagine that anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one can say the same. Again and again Lennie finds her soul crushed by thinking of an experience she'd like to tell Bailey, a question she has for her, any sort of little reminder of her, only to realize that she'll never be able to confide in Bailey again. And so she seeks ways to find Bailey again, whether that be by being with Toby, the other person that Bailey really loved, calling Bailey's phone to hear her voicemail message, or searching Bailey's records for information on their long-absent mother. 

Despite all of the gloom and grief that comes with Bailey's death, Nelson's book still retains quite a bit of love and hope, both in Lennie's gradual realization that she's not alone in mourning Bailey and that it's okay for her to have an identity outside of Bailey. Through beloved books and new relationships, both musical and romantic passions, and the ability to define her life through Bailey and also as an individual, Lennie experiences some serious character development. She doesn't have all the answers at the end (nor should she), yet readers retain some hope for a good future for her. 

Despite my glowing praises of this book, I think it is important to mention how very, very strange it is. The quirkiness manifests itself best in Lennie's family. Her Gram paints portraits of women only using different variations of the color green and is known for her aphrodisiac roses. Her uncle Big has been married and divorced six times and is the talk among the women of their town. He also is obsessed with trying to bring dead bugs to life under replica Egyptian pyramids. Hers and Bailey's mother left when they were young and hasn't communicated with them since. All of Lennie's friends possess their own eccentricities, even Joe, who turns out to be the perfect ailment to Lennie's broken heart. Although they're a bit hard to swallow at first, it is through these multi-faceted and strange characters that Lennie's story really comes alive. 

Reading The Sky is Everywhere is an experience that each reader should have. Heartbreakingly poignant, Nelson presents a haunting exploration of death and its aftermath, although one that is riddled with hope. For it is possible for sadness and happiness to coexist, just as grief and hope can. Nelson is clearly an incredibly talented writer and I eagerly await her future novels.

Rating: 5 stars

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