Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - by Philip K. Dick

Plot Synopsis: Set in the future, Earth has become a rather dismal place due to nuclear war and the subsequent nuclear fallout. Most animals are extinct, but those that exist are bought at an exorbitant price and are a sign of status in this new society. While most Earthlings have left the planet to live on Mars and other colonies, those that have stayed cling to Mercerism (a type of religion?) to help them cope with loneliness.The novel follows the lives of two people - Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, who hunts human-like robots known as androids. Androids are banned on Earth, because they are used as slave labor off-planet and have had tendencies to kill their human masters. Then there's John Isidore, a man whose intelligence has been slowly fading due to the fallout. Rick and John's lives converge when Rick begins hunting a list of androids, some of whom take refuge in John's company.

Literary Analysis: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was originally a short story that Philip K. Dick expanded into a novel. It feels that way. Whole chapters are reserved for character development, as if Dick's idea of making a short story into a novel only entails adding more detail without regard to the plot. Some details, such as Mercerism, are left ambiguous to the reader even though they take up considerable space in the span of the story. The plot is one-note. There are no sub-plots. The setting is wildly interesting, yet Dick devotes most of his attention to characters, rather than the more interesting world around them.

Personal Reaction: The old 1982 movie Blade Runner is based off of this book. While the plot concept is interesting, the execution  has something to be desired. The fact that there is only one plot line really makes the reading slow going, particularly chapters that have nothing to do with the plot at all. Buying scarce animals is interesting, but it has no impact on the story. Mercerism infiltrates all parts of the story, but is never fully explained in black and white...or even gray for that matter...and so the end of the novel is disappointing if not confusing. I love dystopian novels. I love nuclear war aftermath type stories, but this one is so caught up in the mundane plot that it sadly doesn't go into more detail about the interesting world that it is supposed to be set in.

Final Rating: 6/10 - A slow read (until the end...), a shallow plot, lack of detail when it comes to the setting, and missing definitions of crucial components in the story all contribute to the 6/10 rating. Again, the story has a great concept, but a poor execution.

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.

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Plot Synopsis: The U.S. and Russia are headed towards nuclear war, only, unlike in real life, the worst did occur--the bombs were dropped. Enter in a host of memorable characters: Sister Creep, a "bag lady" who magically survives the ordeal by sleeping in a subway tunnel; Swan, a little girl with a green thumb and a trailer trash mother; Roland Croninger, a video game, gun enthusiast who just happens to have a survivalist father. There are many more characters and their plight after the nuclear disaster is told in bits and pieces. How do they survive a 7 year nuclear winter? And how will they survive when the greatest evil hasn't even fallen yet?

Literary Analysis: Swan Song is an exceptionally complex novel. Complex in a good way. The way McCammon weaves the stories of a number of characters together is truly a phenomenal feat. Despite the sheer amount of characters being followed chapter after chapter, there's really no need to create a list to keep them all straight. Each character is described memorably enough that it's quite easy to remember who each of them are. The chapters always end with a suspenseful grip that keeps you reading and wanting more.

Personal Reaction: Did I mention that Swan Song is almost 900 pages? I blew through this novel in about a week, because it was just so interesting. One part of the book that caught me off guard was the magical/fantasy elements. I had read the summary and said, "Okay, sounds good." I was expecting something along the lines of The Road, except with a female heroine. But this was not that novel. For example, (don't worry, no spoilers here), Sister Creep finds a circle of glass with jewels inside of it...supposedly a product of the nuclear blast on a glass/jewelry store. Okay, so this glass is pretty and valuable (if money means anything after nuclear armageddon), but then Sister holds the glass and the jewels pulse in color and brightness and she "dreamwalks" to where Swan is at a given moment. This is weird. I understand it's being used as a means to get Sister and Swan to one day meet up,  but it's still quite strange. There are other examples of magic, but that would spoil the plot...really, what I'm trying to get it is that it's unusual for a book that seems to take the effects of nuclear war so seriously.

Final Rating: 8/10 - Subtracting 1 point for using magical elements that really seem rather unnecessary in the grand scheme of things and 1 point for some rather bland chapters which lead to the book's whopping 900 pages.

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.

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Final

So, after 5 weeks of trying to finish The Girl Who Played With FIre....I finally did it! Honestly, the last 200 pages flew by. It was Larsson at his best. Point of view being changed from Salander to Blomkvist and back again. Suspenseful. Full of action. The good stuff, you know?

Overall, I found the book to be a drag until the end. If you're a reader who enjoys details, character development, and can stand an author deviating from the plot for hours at a time to delve into other non-essential information, then this is a good mystery book for you. For me, I found it rather annoying and almost painful to muck through.

The Girl Who Played With Fire receives a 6/10 with 4 points deducted for the 400 pages of BORING I had to endure.

The Girl Who Played With Fire - pg. 560

So for the past 4 weeks, I've been TRYING to finish The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. By this tone, you should be able to guess that I'm not exactly enjoying this book. It's nothing like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a book I adored!

So, let's be clear: The Girl Who Played With Fire is the "sequel" of sorts to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It features the same characters, added some new ones, but it focuses on Blomkvist and Salander as always. These are two interesting characters with a lot to give if done right. And in general, Larsson does a great job of building upon their characters. Except it's too much. Way too much.

The first 400 pages of this 700 page novel is all background! Half of it doesn't have to do with anything regarding the plot of the story. There's not only 100 pages of character building for Salander, but another 100 pages for Blomkvist (who basically doesn't do anything except work and obsess over Salander who has snubbed him after their encounter 2 years ago). Then, once something DOES happen (a murder...or 3), then Larsson decides to give the reader insight into all the detectives involved in the case. BOOOOOOOORING!! Nobody cares! That would have saved another 200 pages of grinding through the book.

So now I'm at pg. 560...pretty much at the end of the novel and NOW things are picking up. I should have just flipped through to pg. 500 because the previous 400-500 pages were WORTHLESS. What I will say is that The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, the sequel to THIS novel, will NOT be on my reading list anytime soon.