The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

Plot Synopsis: Sixteen year old Hazel is living with an incurable type of cancer. An experimental treatment has kept it from worsening, but Hazel's quality of life is hampered by requiring special breathing apparatuses and dwelling on the impact her inevitable death will have on her parents. When she attends a cancer support group, she meets newcomer Augustus Waters, a handsome, funny, all-American teenage boy. Together, they begin living each day like it's their last best day. Until it is.

Literary Analysis/Personal Reaction: Goodreads' readers gave this book a whopping 4.55 rating (260,000+ raters!) and this book has received some prestigious awards, too. The novel, written from Hazel's own point of view, is perfect for a teen audience. Correction: it is perfect for a FEMALE teen audience. Once again, I'm suckered into reading another book with a major cheese factor. There are two reasons why this book is so cheesy:

1. Augustus Waters likes to read. And he's sensitive to the feelings of others. Ugh. Really?! I'm tired of these unrealistic teenage boys marketed to teenage girls through popular adolescent literature. Like Four in Divergent or Peeta/Gale in The Hunger Games, we have a strong female lead who bends to the whims of these awkwardly sensitive boys. I'm all for romantic interests, but I expect them to be REALISTIC. A teenage boy like Augustus, who reads bloody, violent books, would NOT read (let alone re-read) Hazel's favorite book ("An Imperial Affliction"...the title alone would make any real boy run in the opposite direction). Secondly, Augustus goes out of his way to impress Hazel, but due to the fact that these actions are related to reading this book, it's unrealistic and....well...cringe-worthy.

2. The Fault in our Stars is another book where an author talks about their love of books vicariously through their protagonist. I don't want to read a book where every fucking protagonist is a bookworm who thinks glorious thoughts about writing and reading. I get it, John Green, you love books and you want some semblance of yourself in your characters. But as a reader, it's sickening, like watching a movie about characters making a movie. It's weird...annoying, even. The fact that half of this book focuses on cancer and the other half focuses on Hazel and Augustus' journey to discover what happens to characters in "An Imperial Affliction" is just ridiculous. Nobody cares about characters of a made-up book within the book they're reading.

My overall feeling about the novel is that it wouldn't have received so many awards and 5/5 star ratings if it weren't for the ending of the novel. I mean, it's a book about teens with cancer. As a reader, you do sympathize with the concerns of the characters: Hazel says she feels like a grenade ready to go off, that her parents live in fear every day and that at some point, she's going to die (BOOM!). Grab a pack of tissues and be prepared to cry as you read this book. You will almost enjoy the cheesy moments since during the other moments, you'll be crying. It's these intensely emotional, insightful sections that give the book its great ratings/awards. After readers have had a good cry at the cathartic, emotional conclusion to the story, I think they forget all about the awkwardness of the book as a whole. However, I look at the novel as a whole and I gotta say - the cheese factor really impacted my overall satisfaction with the story.

Final Rating: 6/10 - Insightful, easy prose, and an interesting subject make it an enjoyable read. However, the cheesy, unrealistic plot points and characters are nauseating and ruin some of the fun of this book.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Plot Synopsis: I did not finish this book. After 2 weeks, I'd only read a quarter of the book because I hated it so much. The plot, from what I read, is as follows: Hiro Protagonist, a pizza delivery man for a mafia-owned pizza company, has a bad day when he receives a pizza that must be delivered in 10 minutes (OR ELSE!). Thankfully, an annoying skateboard kourier (courier) named Y.T. saves the day (sort of). Hiro ends up unemployed and being the hacker he is, spends time in the Metaverse, a virtual reality universe where he is one of the elite. Inside the Metaverse, he is offered a drug called Snow-Crash, but doesn't take it. But his friend does and then things get weird...

Literary Analysis: Is Mr. Stephenson playing with the reader by naming his character Hiro Protagonist? It's quite the symbolic name and there is no way to overlook such a detail. Y.T. also has a strange name, especially considering the importance of race through the part of the novel I managed to read. Hiro is part Nipponese/ part New South African (?). Y.T. is "whitey." Uh huh. [Note: Y.T. is supposed to stand for Yours Truly.]

Stephenson's writing is very stylistic. Most sentences are colloquial and incomplete to give it that futuristic, cool cat vibe. After all, the world in which the novel is set is quite unique with many aspects of our world changed into strange, grotesque corporate entities. The CIA for example is now the CIC (Central Intelligence Corporation). "Burbclaves" is the term Stephenson uses for suburbs, which are owned by corporations, only allowing certain people in and out, having serious landscape regulations, and even hiring their own security contractors...who then turn any apprehended criminals to other corporations (The Clink or the more refined Hooskow).

The plot is woven through two oscillating character focuses. At first, readers glimpse into Hiro's conflicts...then Y.T.'s...then back to Hiro's again. Their stories converge, separate, and eventually converge again, but the conflict is difficult to pinpoint. The author consistently puts out new vocabulary terms, but their definitions are unclear (perhaps on purpose). Other characters are introduced, but are not really developed until pages after their first introduction.

Personal Reaction: This is one of my husband's favorite books. He loves science fiction and thought this book would be great to introduce me to the world of "cyberpunk" novels. But I hated it! I spent at least an hour every day reading this book and I barely made it a quarter of the way through after two weeks. That's an atrocious statistic for a voracious reader like myself! As I skimmed through other reviews on Goodreads, I realized this book is in the "hit or miss" category. There are some people who think it's phenomenal and others, like me, who "don't get it."

So what's wrong with Snow Crash? My husband would ask me, "Where are you in the book?" And I'd respond, "Hiro is delivering a pizza..." And that's the first 10% of the book, which my husband said is NOT the plot. Huh? So why spend so much time on every little detail of Hiro's car, the burbclave, the way he tries to knock Y.T. off? That's what I hated most about this book - whatever conflict there was, it wasn't interesting. Delivering a pizza with some serious consequences about it being late is DUMB. Y.T. attaching her skateboard to a minivan in a burbclave and getting arrested is DUMB. Even the Metaverse and Hiro's sword fight with some Nipponese businessman is just plain DUMB.

And my husband assured me "That's not the plot." Okay, then why doesn't the author just GET ON WITH IT!?

The second problem with this novel is Stephenson's colloquial writing. As a secondary English teacher, I've read my fair share of young adult novels. Snow Crash is a great book for ADHD kids and I mean that in the kindest way! Stephenson bounces around in his writing. Every paragraph is a tangent from the previous one. It's great for those readers who get bored very easily and need distractions every other paragraph. However, don't expect things to line up after reading all of Stephenson's diversions. The tangents are so far out there, you'll forget what the hell is going on (if anything is going on at all).

On top of that, the incomplete sentences are supposed to be cool and trendy. I found them as likable as being in the backseat with someone who'd never driven before, constantly slamming on the brakes whenever the needle on the speedometer went over 10mph. The extremely jolty writing did not move me through the story...whatever story there was to be told. Even Stephenson's lingo - his made-up words and crazy names - stunt the speed at which you can read this book. I mean, really, how do you internalize a name like Da5id? I've seen crazy names before and I personally hate when authors go out of their way to select an unpronounceable name. So when I saw Da5id appear on the page, I cringed. As if I didn't have enough emotional baggage against an author using the name Hiro Protagonist for his...ugh...protagonist.

Final Rating: 2/10. I'll give this book some credit for an interesting interpretation of a futuristic world. But that's it. This book was a slow, painful read and I'm glad I've moved on to a better book.

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Plot Synopsis: Seventeen year old Sky has lived a pretty sheltered life. Her adopted mother does not believe in technology and homeschools Sky until her senior year. After her first day in public school, Sky has a chance encounter at the grocery store with Holder, a handsome boy with a violent reputation. Something about Holder makes the usually composed Sky jittery and yet excited. They slowly become closer with one another and this begins opening an avalanche of truths about Sky's life that she could never have imagined...

Literary Analysis: Colleen Hoover is an over-analyst  The story is told in first person through Sky's eyes and the amount of detail that goes into Sky's thought processes and subtle movements can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, there's something wonderful about that over-analyzing that makes the reader understand why Sky does what she does and it's fun to see her put the pieces together. There are a few ends that are tied a little too easily together, when the reader will react with a, "Really? That's it?! How convenient!" Yet, the story moves forward, particulary 60% in when things get very interesting...

Personal Reaction: I'll be honest - I didn't realize this was an adolescent novel. I'd say it's for 16 year olds and up since there are a few parts of the novel I'd label "soft erotica." There's a cheesy factor in this book that was really hard for me to overlook. There's a lot of neck kissing...too much neck kissing. Too many hands caressing faces. Too many awkward moments that made me cringe for Sky...and even more for Holder, who has to deal with this crazy teenage girl! Too many descriptions of Holder rubbing the back of his neck and running his hands through his hair. It's cheesy! Another part I hate is when authors, who clearly love books, create characters who really love books to the point that they don't even live in the real world. Sky declares, "I need a chapter break," when she wishes life would just stop. UGH. It's like writing a book about writing a book or a movie about making a movie. It's weird. You shouldn't do it. Yet, I read the book in 5 days (at leisure) and I was intrigued by the plotline. The ending is a "happily ever after" despite Sky claiming, "This isn't going to be a happily ever after..." Okay, whatever - everything seems fine to me, so what's the problem?

Final Rating: 6/10. Points were deducted for the cheesy factor, the convenient resolutions to certain plotlines, and a somewhat psychotic narrator.

Catching Fire - 7/10

I suppose Suzanne Collins did something right with The Hunger Games, because I did end up purchasing the second book of the trilogy. I definitely wanted to know what happens next! After all, isn't that a sign of a good book? When you're disappointed that it's over, but lo and behold, there's a sequel to answer all your questions?

Catching Fire, however, is a book that answers questions with more questions. Of course. Suzanne Collins wasn't going to let me just buy 2 out of the 3 books, right? The sequel, like it's predecessor, suffers from too much "fluff." This time, I had to read 60% of the book until finally they're back in the arena. And that 60% is filled with too many characters (did you really expect me to keep 24 characters, plus those on the outskirts, straight? Seriously?) and meaningless action (if you can call tying knots and talking to Cinna "action"). Does the author have some sort of page quota or something to fill? Because the first half of the book was just ridiculous. I agree, there does have to be some character development, but this was overkill.

However, once the Quarter Quell begins, there is some mystery to be had regarding alliances. Again, the story is plagued by characters I needed to look up on the Hunger Games Wiki (website) to recall. Now remember, I read this book RIGHT AFTER The Hunger Games. It's not like I took a hiatus. So, there should be no reason for me to have to look up who's who, but of course, the author brings names back from the dead as if I'm supposed to remember this important character she's only mentioned once before. Like Johanna, who ends up being a semi-main character during the Quarter Quell, but you only meet her once before.

(No spoilers, don't worry)And then, there's the rushed ending. As an English teacher, I always tell my students whenever they need to write creatively, "Don't tell me. SHOW ME." Suzanne Collins didn't get that memo. The ending amounts to 3 lines explaining everything that happened. Oh. Okay. Thanks, Haymitch. Yes, the ending is a bombshell...and YES, I've already purchased Book 3. But why does the ending seem so rushed?! Maybe there is, in fact, a page quota and the author thought, "Whoops! I spent too much time discussing what happens before the Quell. Guess I'll just sum up what's happening really quickly since I only have 10 more pages left!" Surely things could be described better than they were. Of course, I knew this was going to happen. When I was at 93% on my Kindle with seemingly no end in sight, I knew something wasn't going to sit well in my stomach. And I was right.

The above are my criticisms, hence the 7/10 rating. Nonetheless, it was an interesting book to read. I kept reading because the author eloquently ends chapters that force you to keep going, wanting more. Despite the medley of names, it was still an easy read, smooth, simple sentences that push you forward into the plot. And let's face it, the subject and storyline are quite interesting!! Kids fighting to the death, an all-powerful government that tortures its people...it's superbly dystopian!

Well, see you in another month or two when I finish Book 3: Mockingjay.

The Hunger Games - 8/10

My holiday present was a Kindle. How fitting. Now I'll be able to read more books throughout the year without being tethered to the library. Hooray! So, I had to choose some new books to load up on my Kindle. My co-workers have been raving about an adolescent book called The Hunger Games, and so I made it my first purchase.

At first, I wasn't thrilled with the book. The first 30% of the book is nothing but description and Katniss' thoughts. Oh, by the way, have I mentioned that I despise books where characters are given stupid names? This book certainly takes the cake: Primm, Haymitch, Cinna, Peeta...all absolutely dreadful names. Anyway, the reader is taken into Katniss' world, the United States sometime in the future when it's been renamed Panam and things are pretty totalitarian. So far so good. I like dystopian novels. Go on. Nonetheless, Katniss describes everything down to the clothing put on her body, every single emotion and thought that pops into her head, and while that's nice, it's hardly necessary. However, Suzanne Collins does do one good thing--she knows how to end a chapter. Every chapter ends on some weird note that makes you think, "Hmm, what's happening here?" or "Hmm, what's going to happen next?" and you find yourself reading on, even if you thought the last chapter (and the one before it) was boring.

Finally, the Hunger Games begin. I won't summarize the book for you. If you want a summary, look elsewhere online. But once the Hunger Games began, I found myself plowing through the rest of the book. It was exciting, although in truth, there's a lot of sitting around in trees, in caves, just sitting, wondering, thinking, staring at the sky, starving, injured, etc. But the threat of danger just keeps you, the reader, reading on to find out what will happen next.

Another unsettling thing: what's with all the references to Romeo and Juliet? Collins incorporates the phrase "star-crossed lovers" a million times throughout the book. And the two almost commit suicide at one point in the book. It's weird and I'm not sure if I like this "borrowing" from Shakespeare. Since I teach Romeo and Juliet to my high school students, I'm not sure whether to praise it or roll my eyes and say, "Way to be original."

Nonetheless, I found myself purchasing the second book in the trilogy (oh yes, it's a trilogy...isn't every book nowadays?). I rate The Hunger Games 8/10: An easy read, an exciting journey (once it picks up), and an interesting concept.

Push by Sapphire - ABRUPT

So, Push was seemingly building up to something the last time I wrote. Last night, I finished the book and I can tell you that this book builds up to a brick wall. It was one of those books where you think it's going to end well, that things are going to come full circle. In a way, it does...but there's something missing. The end is the stories of all the other girls in Precious' pre-GED class. Her "story" is eerily absent, a poem about little to nothing, and then the entire novel just ENDS. There are no notes on the real Precious (Sapphire). Did she get her GED? What happened to her children? Did she stay in Harlem? This is non-fiction. I'm used to reading non-fiction stories with a clear, almost anticipated ending. But this had no such thing.

Push by Sapphire gets a 7/10.

Push by Sapphire

My latest read is Push by Sapphire. Yes, it was made into a movie called "Precious" and no, I haven't seen it. I'm not sure what compelled me to pick up this book. Like The Help, it's not my type of book. First, it's non-fiction and two, I only knew this book was about a fat black girl (no offense, but seriously - that's all I knew). Nonetheless, I checked it out along with Ayn Rand's Anthem (yes, much more my speed. Love dytopia!).

I'm a little over halfway through Push. I didn't realize how foul it was going to be. The language used is just as bad as what is happening to Precious - a father who rapes her (and of whom she has two children by by time time she is 16 years old), a mother who basically rapes, beats, and forcefeeds her, and a world which systematically doesn't care what happens to her. In fact, maybe that's the issue I have with this book. 12 years old, she's in the hospital after delivering her baby, and she tells the nurse that the father of her baby is HER OWN FATHER and this guy doesn't end up in jail? Seriously?! Yeah, that's a serious plot hole.

But on a teacher level, I love this book. I love Ms. Rain who teaches Precious to read and write. I find it interesting how she uses the idea of a journal to build confidence in her students, who come from horrible, horrible homes (or streets as the case may be). And I wonder if I can somehow utilize this when I'm teaching my students...writing to build confidence, to comment and help students not only write but build character.

My next post will probably be my full review and rating of this novel.

Feed....Part Deux

As it turned out, this book didn't go anywhere. By the time I realized this, I was halfway through the novel and there was no turning back. I reluctantly made it to the end and felt glad to be done with it.

The book had an interesting premise, but was too focused on the two main protagonists and their completely boring teenage ramblings (made worse by the use of teenage slang and lazy dialect). And as I read on, I began to despise both protagonists - Violet for being so damn chatty (and then ridiculously depressed when she wasn't talking) and Titus for being so lame, speaking his mind then taking it back. Violet and Titus were extremely annoying characters.

And because the book is written through Titus' eyes, it makes everything that much more annoying. What's strange is that the author adds little hints about world politics throughout the chapters, things you'd THINK would impact the main characters. But these little glimpses into world politics end up meaning nothing to the plot. That's what's so very disappointing about this book. Why bother telling the reader about "The United States annexation of the moon," and "Global Alliance is pointing weapons at the United States" if it doesn't mean anything? If it has no influence on Violet or Titus or any other characters? It was like a carrot dangling, making me read further, expecting it to have a point, and then realizing the carrot is rotten.

Feed by M.T. Anderson gets a 2/10. Horrible, would not recommend, not even to teenagers.

Feed by M.T. Anderson

I've started a new book...okay, I'm halfway through this new book. It's called Feed by M.T. Anderson. You'll find it in the Young Adult section of your local bookstore/library. I can understand why it's categorized as young adult science fiction - imagine reading a book that's written exactly how teenagers talk. Every other, like, word, has the word "like" in it. You know, like, whatev.... Nonetheless, it could very well get reluctant teenage readers to read, not only due to the "likes" but also because there's so many f***ing curse words in it.

At first, I thought that maybe this book was some high school student's attempt to write a novel...and he was lucky enough to get it published, probably because of the concept of the book (which I'll explain in a second). But no, M.T. Anderson is in his 40's, which makes the writing style even more grotesque.

The concept of the novel is one many science fiction novels have explored: everyone has a chip in their head, mainly used to advertise products and places, but also is good for watching television, movies, listening to music, and chatting. Basically, it's a computer with internet...in your head. Then, one day, the protagonist and his friends go to the moon for Spring Break and at a club, some guy comes around and hacks into their chips. See, not everyone thinks the chips are a good idea... That's as far as I've made it through the book.

I'm not sure where this novel is going, but it's an easy read so...I'm sure I'll be done by Tuesday.