July 2013 Books that 'Did Not 'Make the Grade’

I read four amazing books and could not get through three; I think the odds were in my favor this month! Here are the three books that sadly ‘did not make the grade’:

The Quiet Girl by Peter Høeg: The plot was interesting but his choice of 3^rd person pronouns were always ‘he’ and ‘she,’ never the character’s names, making it difficult to following the dialogue.  The pace was very slow and to top it off, his transitions between the present and the past are rough. (Whether this is due to the translation or the author’s style, I am not sure.) Either way, it did not help make the story more appealing.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult: Although there was a fantastic introduction, there were too many characters crammed into the beginning, making me feel overwhelmed. Even more so than the amount of characters was the way they spoke and how difficult it was to take them seriously; they spoke in an unnatural manner and made me unable to connect with them.

Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins: The introduction and the pace were extremely slow and although I loved his writing style, I found myself zoning out and unable to follow the story.

Thank you again for reading and please leave a comment below! I'd love to hear what you have to say or suggest!

~Shelly-Beans

The Killing Room by John Manning

Genre: Murder Mystery/Drama

Date of Publication: May 1, 2010

Memorable Quotation: “Mr. Young,” she said, “Where is the secret?” “Here,” he said plainly. “I don’t understand.” “You will.” They stood in silence a moment. And then she saw it. The words on the wall. They were not there when they first came in. She knew that much. The words on the wall had just suddenly appeared. ABANDON HOPE. And no matter how dim the light, Carolyn could see they were written in blood. It was still wet and dripping down the wall.” (pgs. 34-35)

Lasting Impression: I read this book in one day! I just couldn't put it down!

Storyline: A+

Pace of Story: A+

Characters: A+

Ending: A+

Overall Grade: A+

Before I go into how remarkable this story was, I have to say that the description on the back of the book is honestly The Killing Room’s worst, and only, downfall. The summary on the back is very dramatic, a little too much so, reminding me of those old movies with the dramatic taglines that were supposed to draw their audiences in. Some of these phrases included, “Old houses have their secrets…but the secrets here are different. They can kill…” and “One by one, members of the Young family are chosen to die…old and young, weak and strong, no one is safe…”

Here is a better summary of The Killing Room: the Young family curse has haunted the family for 80 years.  At the beginning of each new decade, the family must congregate at the Young Mansion in Maine to partake in a ‘lottery’ in which the oldest member of the family, Howard Young, hosts to see who will be the unfortunate chosen one to go into the basement and never return.  Even though Howard hires private investigator Carolyn Cartwright to help find the cause and solution to the curse, one of the Young family members already knows how to stop it but both their pride and shame holds them back from exposing the secret, jeopardizing everyone’s lives as a result.

One of my best friends recommended The Killing Room to me, saying it was amazing and that I would love it.  Let me just say that she was absolutely right because I could not put this book down! (The only reason why I didn’t finish it in one day was because I had to sleep.) The pace is incredible, not letting up for a moment, the characters and their relationships are so personable, and the ending is well-thought out (even if a bit gruesome), closing the story and the mystery of the ‘killing room’ nicely.

The initial feel of the book reminds me of Stephen King’s The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red and 1408 because of the haunted nature of the house and the room caused by spirits.  The Killing Room is more than a haunted room, though; it is about a past that has not been reconciled. It is about the battle between the value of money vs. love. Above all, and most importantly, it is about a family that the reader sees, hears, and feels the pain of as they continue to fall apart after each death, yet somehow, under the direst of circumstances, even the most conflicting of personalities come together for a greater cause. 

~Shelly-Beans

Every Day by David Levithan

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Date of Publication: August 28^th, 2003

Memorable Quotation: “We all want everything to be okay.  We don’t wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough.” (pg. 6)

Lasting Impression: ‘A’ is a brave soul, literally.  As A embodies various teenagers for a day before taking on someone else’s life at the stroke of midnight, A learns more about life and love than anyone with a normal existence ever could imagine.

Storyline: A+

Pace of Story: B+

Characters: A+

Ending: A

Overall: A

David Levithan’s novel, Every Day, is astounding.  His idea of love going beyond our physical exterior that we unknowingly put on each other and ourselves is a very deep and personal issue he highlights so well throughout his story.

A, a soul that is not given a definite gender, goes through life waking up in a different body each day, never having a body of ‘its’ own. The novel opens with A waking up in the body of a neglectful, uncaring teenager named Justin. A winds up falling for Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon, who Justin does not treat very nicely. After giving Rhiannon the best day of her life, A continuously tries to keep in contact with her, especially after he tells her about his secret.  Things get out of control when some people begin to catch on to beings like A and A’s relationship with Rhiannon is tested by many unusual circumstances but there are solutions to be found, even if they are not the most desirable ones.

I really love and appreciate the way Levithan has A not have a specific gender so the reader must play a part in the story by giving A a gender and an overall identity.  What is also amazing about Every Day is the amount of characters Levithan uses for A to be and each teenager has such a story to tell, even if they each only get a page or two of notice before it is midnight and A goes onto the next unknown life.  The idea of A itself is incredible! The backstory to A and how it gets used to the life it must live is one of the most creative ideas I have ever heard.

Even though the characters are beautiful and the story itself is amazing, it does have a few flaws, starting with the beginning and the ending.  There is a short one paragraph introduction to A then BAM. The main scene comes up and you do not feel prepared for it.  The same thing unfortunately happens with the ending; the ending is breathtaking (I cried at the end) but it is SO SHORT, making the ending feel rushed and taking away how important this scene is to the entire story. What I frustrated me more was right after this beautiful scene, A basically says the 'world must go on' and the story ends there, leaving me saying, “That’s it?”  (Don’t worry, that wasn’t a spoiler.  You won’t understand that until you reach the ending for yourself.)

The only other facet that I wish had been paid better attention to was the pace.  I gave the pace of the story a high mark because it moved at such great speed and kept my eyes glued to the pages, continuously wanting to know what happens next. This was a bittersweet sensation because when a story slows down, as this one did, I feel out of breath and had to stop reading for a while before I could catch my breath and continue.

All in all, the small critiques I have about the structure and pace are squished by the triumph of creativity this novel gives. As we go through our daily lives, every day almost exactly the same, we are blind to what A sees and feels.  Being able to see and be so many individuals gives A an unbiased view of everyone and reminds us that love is love, and to let our souls do the talking.

~Shelly-Beans

The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson

Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Date of Publication: October 4^th, 2004

Memorable Quotation: “A parish priest had tried to explain an eternity in hell to Benjamin’s sixth grade class. ‘Picture a river with a mountain on the other side,’ the priest had said. ‘Now imagine that every thousand years, the tiniest sparrow transports what it can carry in its beak across the river from the mountain. When the tiny sparrow has transported the entire mountain to this side of the river, that, boys and girls, would just be the beginning of eternity.” (pg. 155)

Lasting Impression: The plot was great and I was definitely afraid of the Big Bad Wolf but with small climaxes throughout the story and an unresolved ending, the novel left me feeling robbed of what should have been a complete finale.

Storyline: A

Pace of Story: A-

Characters: B-

Ending: D-

Overall: C-

“Who is afraid?” the inside jacket of Patterson’s novel The Big Bad Wolf asks and then answers, “You are,” and they were right.  For most of the novel, I really was scared of the big bad wolf, and with his identity still being unknown by the end of the novel, he kept his mystery and his fear he instilled into others, even if it was frustrating to never find out who he really was.  The Big Bad Wolf centers around one of, if not the most, famous James Patterson character, Alex Cross. He is training to be an FBI agent when all hell breaks loose; a federal judge’s wife has been kidnapped and upon further investigation shows that she isn’t the first. Men and women over the past few years have been abducted and sold as slaves to men who desire them the most by the Russian mobster only known as The Wolf.

The novel is reminiscent of the 2008 film Taken, with its plot around the same disturbing subjects of modern day slavery and prostitution and a pace that leaves you breathless and wanting more.  Unfortunately, unlike Taken, the novel’s ending is a huge disappointment.  It ends on a cliffhanger with no sign of resolution as far as Cross’ personal life is concerned and as mentioned previously, Wolf’s identity is not discovered. However, upon doing further research, you can learn the Wolf’s identity in a completely unrelated novel, London Bridges, that involves his character and is published exactly a year after The Big Bad Wolf.

I loved and hated the character development.  With some characters, I loved how Patterson inserted the smallest of details about them and gave them a specific way of speaking, helping me really get to know who they were (although I never wanted to learn about some of the perverts involved with The Wolf). On the other hand, others were given brief descriptions and just appeared to be there, just a body with a voice so to speak.

In retrospect, the best aspects to the novel were when the kidnappings happened, were reported to the FBI, and then solved.  The politics of the Russian government and the constant searching of The Wolf’s identity really took away from the main storyline, even if it was an unsettling subject. 

I am sad to say that, overall, I have read better James Patterson novels than this one, as far as delivery and endings go. The James Patterson I am familiar with delivers such a punch at the end of his novels you feel the impact and satisfaction of the twist that you never see coming.  Patterson is one of the greatest suspense writers to have ever lived, and to have published a novel that had a great plot but was brought down by poor execution makes me want to ask the question R. Shaff posted on his Amazon.com review, “Will the real James Patterson please stand up?”

~Shelly-Beans

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Fantasy

Date of Publication: June 18^th, 2013

Memorable Quotation: “Memories were waiting at the edge of things, beckoning to me.” (pg. 7)

Lasting Impression: Neil Gaiman’s latest work is a beautifully written novel that soared in its message of childhood and what we see as reality but fell short in terms of holes in the storyline and an underwhelming ending.

Storyline: B+

Pace of Story: A

Characters: B+

Ending: C

Overall: B

Neil Gaiman is another of my favorite authors, with 2 of his best sellers, Coraline and American Gods, being in my top 10. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a lovely book but honestly, it did not enrapture me in the same way that his previously mentioned novels had.  The story is about a man from England, reflecting on a life-changing memory from his childhood by ‘the ocean at the end of the lane’ that has made him feel eternal regret. (The story is mostly told by his 7-year old self experiencing the memory, with only a few chapters in his adult voice.)

From the beginning, Gaiman’s storytelling gives you a great sense of comfort and familiarity, something that stays with you throughout the book.  The story starts off with a normality most fiction readers expect but when the boy meets the Hempstock women, everything changes.  They possess a magic that does not initially fit with the rest of the story, and yet it is needed to make this book unforgettable. (This is Neil Gaiman, after all, and what fun would his stories be without a hint of wonder and fantasy?)

There were two aspects of this story that frustrated me, though.  I wished he would have focused more on the Hempstocks and not so much on the boy (not to say he wasn’t important) because the brief snippets of history I was given about the Hempstocks as well a glimpse of their powers made me yearn for more, but was disappointed there was not.  The 2nd aspect was the ending.  It was not bad as it was not as strong as it could have been, bringing no closure to what happens to 2 of the 3 Hempstocks and the boy (now an adult), after the crazy events associated with the Ocean.

Overall I liked the story, especially when Gaiman revealed his twists on what his characters viewed as reality and when I was able to see the inner strength of each character but I felt there were many potholes throughout the story, fragmented things that could have been woven together to not leave me with so many unanswered questions.  If you are a fan of Neil Gaiman and/or like adult fairytales, I highly recommend The Ocean at the End of the Lane because who knows, maybe you too will be curious as to what secrets this ocean holds.

~Shelly-Beans