Category: Contemporary

‘The Hate U Give’ – Angie Thomas

Where to start?

Yesterday I watched (somewhat perplexed) the unfolding media storm over the Pepsi advert featuring Kendall Jenner. Purportedly sharing a message of love and unity, the company have been accused of generating controversy at the expense of the Black Lives Matter movement. Whatever we may say, the suggestion that a can of soft drink could stop a riot did – quite rightly in my view – rankle. What it highlighted to me, however, was the need for some form of reflection on the events taking place across the world, and the attitudes towards race that we sometimes unconsciously perpetuate.

Thankfully I do not live in a world where the phrase “A hairbrush is not a gun” means much to me. A quick internet search of the phrase threw up many references to the murder in 2007 of Khiel Coppin by police who thought he had a gun which did, indeed, turn out to be a hairbrush. There are too many such stories that could be quoted throughout history…call me naive but when will we learn to look to our common bond of humanity to shape the way we interact with one another?

Touted as a must read YA book of 2017 already, there’s no doubt that The Hate U Give is a hard-hitting, intensely painful yet moving attempt to try and articulate some of the concerns and thoughts people around the world have about race. Whatever your personal experience, I feel this is a book in which everyone can find something to love.

We follow sixteen year old Starr through what, for many, is an unimaginable series of events but which, sadly for too many, is a stark reality.

Starr comes from a close and loving family, but not everything is so clear-cut. Her father has walked away from the gang culture that pervades their neighbourhood, and she is caught between two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she lives and the suburban prep school she attends where she is one of two black students. These two worlds clash in a way I cannot even begin to fathom when we watch Starr witness the shooting of her best friend by a police officer.

The story quickly becomes national news, and through this main story we are given a compelling narrative exploring Starr’s experiences and the lives of those around her. I was touched by the view of Starr’s mother who said “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” This mantra is a hard one to abide by when the consequences are, potentially, so damaging. Yet we watch Starr gain the confidence to find her voice and start to articulate some of her feelings in an attempt to ensure that people look beyond the stereotype of Khalil the drug-dealing thug. While the events surrounding Khalil’s murder are depressingly portrayed, it was interesting to see how this event affected the lives of everyone caught up in it.

While this book does focus predominantly on attitudes to race, there was a highly developed focus on the development of Starr as a person. Watching her try to reconcile her very different experiences, and come to find her voice was compelling. During the novel Starr is asked what the point is of having a voice if, when it’s needed, you keep quiet. Nobody wants to encourage violent agitation of the type described regularly here, but seeing these characters find their voices and try to articulate their frustrations sends a powerful message.

Thank you to edelweiss for the advance copy in exchange for my thoughts. I can’t wait to see what’s made of this by other readers.

‘Windfall’ – Jennifer E. Smith

Windfall

Alice has, by anyone’s standards, had a pretty tough life with both her parents dying close together. But she has a loving cousin, aunt and uncle, and a good friend. In this story those bonds are tested…by an unexpected windfall.

When Alice buys her best friend, Teddy, a lottery ticket for his birthday she never expected anything to come of it. But he becomes the youngest ever winner and is suddenly responsible for over 140million dollars.

If you ignore the improbability of this story you will definitely enjoy this story. The fun Teddy has squandering this money is probably everyone’s fantasy, but he soon comes to realise money is fairly meaningless. It’s the people around us who matter, and this fortune helps him make a difference to so many people.

What follows is, I think, rather obvious but this is a heart-warming story about love and what it means to people (with the money forming a nice backdrop).

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this.

‘History Is All You Left Me’ – Adam Silvera

History is all you left me

One of the things I love about being part of an on-line reading community is hearing from other readers about books that I might not have otherwise picked up. Adam Silvera’s novel – published in January 2017 – is my first read by this author and, based on my feelings after reading this, it won’t be the last!

Our story focuses on seventeen year-old Griffin, and how he feels after the death of his ex-boyfriend and first love, Theo. Griffin is definitely finding it hard to accept the loss of someone so important to him, and we see him being torn apart by his obsessions as he tries to adjust to life without the person who remained so important to him.

This was one of those books that snuck up on me and has left me more than a little stunned…in a great way…and there were a number of reasons for this.
First, let’s deal with the fact that Griffin is gay and celebrate that this book doesn’t treat it like anything other than part of who he is. Yes, he has relationship difficulties. Sometimes he acts like a jerk. His relationships have touching moments that I felt privileged to be allowed to witness. Sometimes it’s painful. Whatever we’re witnessing, it’s part of him.

Second, the structuring of the story was something that I found immensely satisfying in revealing the characters we were introduced to. Splitting between History and Today to show the memories Griffin has and how he’s dealing with the aftermath of Theo’s accident was, initially, rather confusing but it makes perfect sense as we draw closer to Griffin and see just what he’s living with.

There are so many things I liked about this story. It explores a painful event in anyone’s life, but learning to live with loss and first love will be relevant in some way to most readers. The closing pages – as we see Griffin finally coming to accept, in part, what he needs to do to forgive himself – were emotionally hard to read.

The final line really intrigued me as it suggested Griffin might not be quite as reliable a narrator as we were led to believe. Who can judge whether you have a shared history wrong? I’ll be puzzling this over for some time.

‘My Ladybird Story’ – Magus Tor

 

My Ladybird Story

In this novel Tor focuses on the story of John, a young teenage boy who feels different but can’t identify why. We follow him through school as he becomes friends with the new girl, Aureus, a force to be reckoned with.

As soon as these two become friends it’s clear they have found their own support network. Together, John and Aureus find ways to cope with the demands and stresses of high school. Yet John remains quiet, prone to periods of intense depression and nobody can work out why.

The novel takes us on John’s journey as he comes to terms with his identity, eventually recognizing that he has gender dysphoria and undergoing therapy/counseling as part of his gender reassignment.

Novels exploring identity and transgenderism do seem to be becoming rather popular at the moment. That’s no bad thing – certainly for those who are living the experience and need all the support they can get. However, though this novel was positive in its affirmation I couldn’t help but feel there was a sense of earnestness about this that made it feel a little less effective.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance.

‘The Future of Us’ – Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

The Future of Us

Published in 2011, this is a romance that is unashamedly set in the past while trying to explore attitudes to what – in our contemporary world – has become the norm. What I felt throughout was that something always felt slightly off-kilter.

Emma and Josh are next-door neighbours, who have been friends forever. Naturally (this is a romance) Josh has made a move and Emma has panicked…so they’ve not really spoken for a while. This would be awkward enough, but throughout the novel we can see that the whole focus is on them trying to work out they are meant to be together.

While this might seem infuriating, the cast of friends surrounding them are interesting enough to stop it all getting too much. What irritated me was the premise used to get them to see the true state of their feelings for each other. Set in the past – way back in 1996 when teenagers had to do things like page each other if they wanted to speak or, heaven forbid, actually meet up – we are led to believe that when Emma is given a free AOL CD she finds a mysterious page called Facebook that seems to tell her the future.

Part of me really wanted to stop reading. Emma and Josh acted more like olden day peasants facing witchcraft rather than savvy teens on the cutting edge of their world. Still, it was mildly entertaining but more than a little unforgettable.

‘Coming Up For Air’ – Miranda Kenneally

Coming Up For Air

Due for publication in July 2017 I think this is a novel that will strike a chord with its intended audience.

Maggie is determined to be a professional swimmer. She trains hard, and doesn’t have time for much else in her life. As she draws closer to leaving for college, Maggie can’t help but feel she’s missing out on something-the opportunity to have a relationship.

What follows is, let’s be honest, all rather transparent. Maggie and her best friend, Levi, spend the novel trying to work out what we assume will be obvious from the start. However, in spite of its obviousness, this is still an entertaining read.

No major dramas, nothing that will offend anyone and it all ends as we expect. Safe, but it left me feeling a little flat. Thanks, though, to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

‘Two Boys Kissing’ – David Levithan

Two Boys Kissing

The Valentines Reading Challenge seemed the perfect opportunity to get round to reading this novel by Levithan.

Inspired by a misremembered Walt Whitman quote, a real-life attempt to break a Guinness World Record and a need to chart some of the ways in which the attitudes to homosexuality have/haven’t developed over time this is a novel that gets under your skin.

The story is narrated, in the main, by a Greek style chorus representing the voices of gay men of the past. The idea of older men – whose lives have been affected in every different ways by their sexuality – narrating the tales of the younger gay men in this novel is an interesting one. There is a real sense of history here – putting certain events in context and showing just things have changed. Sometimes for the better; but, often, nowhere near far enough.

The central characters – Harry and Craig – are ex-partners who have remained close friends. Their attempt to kiss non-stop for over 32 hours becomes the focal point for many younger boys who are coming to terms with their identity and how it will impact on their lives/relationships.

There’s a lot of characters here, and we get little more than a superficial insight into their lives, but it’s enough. I’d urge you to read this if you haven’t already.

‘A List of Cages’ – Robin Roe

A List of Cages

An incredibly moving – though somewhat hard to read – story of friendship and its power to heal.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers Disney-Hyperion for granting me access to an advance copy of this hard-hitting book that focuses on the friendship between Adam, a popular senior, and Julian, a younger boy who does everything he can to keep himself apart from his peers.

The story is told from both Julian and Adam’s perspective, and I’ll admit that at first I found the book rather slow. We are gradually slipped details about how the two boys are linked, and little by little Roe reveals the extent of the abuse that Julian faces at the hands of his uncle Russell.

Throughout there was a real sense of discomfort as I read Julian’s narrative. Rightly so, as the level of abuse Julian experiences seemed so serious that I was amazed alarm bells hadn’t started ringing. It takes the reappearance of Adam – the foster brother he hasn’t seen for five years – to notice the changes in Julian and, as the boys’ friendship develops, Adam has to make some difficult decisions.

Sometimes we don’t make the right decisions. There was a point in the narrative when Adam allows his judgement to be swayed by the views of his friends. What follows does, sadly, seem inevitable but it leads to a dramatic climax to the story.

It was what came afterwards that interested me more. Learning to live with the events of this story – and coming to terms with the consequences of your actions – is a hard lesson to learn, and I liked the fact that Roe gave us a faint glimmer of hope that the friendship between Adam and Julian was strong enough to overcome the events they had survived.

‘A Quiet Kind of Thunder’ – Sara Barnard

A Quiet Kind of Thunder

An intriguing title, and the cover unashamedly sells itself as a romance. It’s not brash or showy – but it will leave a rather warm feeling in you.

Steffi has, since she was young, been selectively mute and she suffers with social anxiety. Rhys is the new boy to her school and, because she knows some BSL, Steffi is asked to show him around. Initially, Steffi is acutely conscious of the fact that what she calls the two oddballs are thrown together. As she gets to know Rhys, she realises that it doesn’t matter. In each other, they find their voice.

Perhaps the focus on their developing relationship will be more appealing to the target audience. Following them from their first talk, through their texting to the inevitable boyfriend/girlfriend conversation and then onto their developing sexual relationship felt a little earnest to me. However, it does seem churlish to criticise a romance for focusing on the romance!

On the whole, this was a well-writer read – it just didn’t strike quite the same chord with me as Barnard’s ‘Beautiful Broken Things’.

 

‘The Pants Project’ – Cat Clarke

The Pants Project

Due for release in March 2017, I have to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Cat Clarke’s first journey into middle-grade writing prior to publication. A heartfelt, entertaining and thoroughly recommended read.

Liv (Olivia) is Transgender and has always known that, at heart, he is meant to be a boy. He hasn’t told anyone of his thoughts, and his voice immediately grabs our attention and has us rooting for him to come through what life throws at him unscathed.

Our novel begins with Liv about to start middle school. This is daunting enough, but Liv is horrified by the strict dress code that his new school enforces as it means he has to wear a skirt. His best friend – who suddenly isn’t as keen to be seen with him as she tries to ‘get in’ with the popular girls – is increasingly distant and, once his new classmates learn he has two mums, Liv becomes a target for bullying.

As I read I have to say that I could predict some of the incidents that took place. Perhaps this is inevitable given the target audience for the novel. In spite of this, ‘The Pants Project’ reminded me of novels such as ‘Wonder’ – full of charm, earnest in their message but ultimately uplifting.

I cannot wait to see what students make of this.