book reviews
Quick review: THE DUST OF 100 DOGS
03/25/09 19:24
Full
disclosure: I have corresponded with A.S. King, and I
really, really like her. Very cool. Made of awesome
(I stole her phrase). We are also imprint buddies.
That aside, a YA lover MUST read this book. MUST. It’s unlike any other YA I’ve ever read. I read a lot in my subgenre of YA (realistic), and not so much in other subgenres. But this one . . . it’s its own subgenre, really: historic magic realism. I love magic realism. History, not as much--but by the time I was done with this book, I wanted to know tons more about Cromwell’s conquest for Ireland (look it up!).
So, the basics: Saffron is a teenager in the 80s. Not such a great family. Really smart. Really smart-ass. However--here’s the wild part--she is the first human incarnation of Emir Morrisey, totally (so totally!) bad-ass girl pirate who escaped Ireland not long after Cromwell invaded. Emir was cursed to live as 100 dogs back when she was a pirate, and Saffron remembers Emir’s life as well as the lives of the 100 dogs Emir became. Imagine what happens when you combine a pirate’s memories with dog memories and a teenage brain. It makes for a wicked good story.
The characters in this book are incredibly rich---Saffron and Emir are amazing. But wait until you meet Fred. I’ve never seen the likes of him in a YA novel---he could have walked out of the pages of King’s JUST AFTER SUNSET. Creepy. But his role in Saffron’s/Emir’s life is significant. Then there’s Seanie. Nothing like loving someone for 300 years, through 100 lives as a dog, to keep a girl’s heart stoked for romance! But whose heart---Emir’s or Saffron’s? You’ll just have to find out.
This book wrestles with important stuff: do souls continue after the body gives out? How does a person react in the face of complete adversity? When is it OK to kill someone (or pop their eyes out)? What will we do for safety and security? What is beauty? What should we do with other people’s expectations of us? But the issues don’t jump out at you--the story jumps all over you, and I was hanging on every single bit of it, ignoring the rest of my life to finish it, then being sorry I was finished with it.
I just realized, this very moment, that I didn’t include links for the other authors I reviewed (my apologies to Heather Brewer and Meagan Brothers). If you want to know more about A.S. King, check out her website here. AND READ HER BOOK!
That aside, a YA lover MUST read this book. MUST. It’s unlike any other YA I’ve ever read. I read a lot in my subgenre of YA (realistic), and not so much in other subgenres. But this one . . . it’s its own subgenre, really: historic magic realism. I love magic realism. History, not as much--but by the time I was done with this book, I wanted to know tons more about Cromwell’s conquest for Ireland (look it up!).
So, the basics: Saffron is a teenager in the 80s. Not such a great family. Really smart. Really smart-ass. However--here’s the wild part--she is the first human incarnation of Emir Morrisey, totally (so totally!) bad-ass girl pirate who escaped Ireland not long after Cromwell invaded. Emir was cursed to live as 100 dogs back when she was a pirate, and Saffron remembers Emir’s life as well as the lives of the 100 dogs Emir became. Imagine what happens when you combine a pirate’s memories with dog memories and a teenage brain. It makes for a wicked good story.
The characters in this book are incredibly rich---Saffron and Emir are amazing. But wait until you meet Fred. I’ve never seen the likes of him in a YA novel---he could have walked out of the pages of King’s JUST AFTER SUNSET. Creepy. But his role in Saffron’s/Emir’s life is significant. Then there’s Seanie. Nothing like loving someone for 300 years, through 100 lives as a dog, to keep a girl’s heart stoked for romance! But whose heart---Emir’s or Saffron’s? You’ll just have to find out.
This book wrestles with important stuff: do souls continue after the body gives out? How does a person react in the face of complete adversity? When is it OK to kill someone (or pop their eyes out)? What will we do for safety and security? What is beauty? What should we do with other people’s expectations of us? But the issues don’t jump out at you--the story jumps all over you, and I was hanging on every single bit of it, ignoring the rest of my life to finish it, then being sorry I was finished with it.
I just realized, this very moment, that I didn’t include links for the other authors I reviewed (my apologies to Heather Brewer and Meagan Brothers). If you want to know more about A.S. King, check out her website here. AND READ HER BOOK!
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Quote for the ages
03/12/09 17:25
I haven’t
blogged at all about my Harry Potter self---that’s
probably OK. I’m not an expert or a fangirl, just a
literature geek, though I play both of the other
roles in my HP class. I think the HP series is one of
the best in the history of literature. I can’t
articulate why. Lots of reasons, I guess.
I’m doing some academic writing about Harry these days, and I ran across the quote below (again). The first time I read it, I realized it was the PERFECT description of what fiction should do for us. Today I was reading interviews with JK Rowling, and she mentioned she’d been waiting 17 years to get to use those words. They’re well done, Jo.
So, from DEATHLY HALLOWS, p. 723:
“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
Rock on, Dumbledore.
And, if you’d like a bound galley of HP AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, signed by JKR, it will cost you $242, 485.43 from Abebooks.com. Send me three!
I’m doing some academic writing about Harry these days, and I ran across the quote below (again). The first time I read it, I realized it was the PERFECT description of what fiction should do for us. Today I was reading interviews with JK Rowling, and she mentioned she’d been waiting 17 years to get to use those words. They’re well done, Jo.
So, from DEATHLY HALLOWS, p. 723:
“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
Rock on, Dumbledore.
And, if you’d like a bound galley of HP AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, signed by JKR, it will cost you $242, 485.43 from Abebooks.com. Send me three!
Quick review: DEBBIE HARRY SINGS IN FRENCH
08/05/08 09:46
Meagan
Brothers has tackled a topic I've not seen in YA
before. Here's the general set-up: John's got a
complicated family situation. His dad is dead and his
mother sends him to live with his Uncle Sam. He meets
Maria, who thinks he's cool because he likes vinyl,
and those two have a relationship. No stress, right?
There's a complication: Johnny's in love with Debbie
Harry, and he decides to dress like her. Not all the
time, just sometimes. He does a drag show and wins an
audience award. He gets felt up by someone at the
drag show, and thinks "does this guy know I'm a guy?"
It's no biggie, ever--Johnny wears a dress sometimes,
and Maria has to teach him to walk in heels.
Brothers uses Blondie song titles as chapter names, which I love, and which I didn't get (I don't like Blondie) until I ran across "Youth Nabbed as Sniper," a Blondie song I *do* know. I am also a sucker for books about teens and music, since I'm a music freak myself, so the angle of falling in love with a musician makes perfect sense to me, since I'm currently in love with Elvis. There are some implications in the book about cross-dressing that I'm not sure about (I don't know much about the topic), but I think Johnny's character is well drawn, and the subject of cross-dressing is handled with ease.
My editor, Andrew, describes books like Brothers' as "gay 2.0": characters have some kind of alternate sexual or gender identity, but it's not the main complication of the book, it's just part of the book. Sounds like a good idea to me--gender and sexual identity isn't usually the sum total of a person. Why should it be that way in a YA novel?
We've all seen Eddie Izzard cross-dress, right? Big whoop--and some of his outfits are BAD. But this seems large to me, having a YA protagonist do it. Good for you, Meagan.
Brothers uses Blondie song titles as chapter names, which I love, and which I didn't get (I don't like Blondie) until I ran across "Youth Nabbed as Sniper," a Blondie song I *do* know. I am also a sucker for books about teens and music, since I'm a music freak myself, so the angle of falling in love with a musician makes perfect sense to me, since I'm currently in love with Elvis. There are some implications in the book about cross-dressing that I'm not sure about (I don't know much about the topic), but I think Johnny's character is well drawn, and the subject of cross-dressing is handled with ease.
My editor, Andrew, describes books like Brothers' as "gay 2.0": characters have some kind of alternate sexual or gender identity, but it's not the main complication of the book, it's just part of the book. Sounds like a good idea to me--gender and sexual identity isn't usually the sum total of a person. Why should it be that way in a YA novel?
We've all seen Eddie Izzard cross-dress, right? Big whoop--and some of his outfits are BAD. But this seems large to me, having a YA protagonist do it. Good for you, Meagan.