Calling You by Otsuichi

Genre: Short Stories/Japanese Fiction

Date of Publication: May 31, 2001

Memorable Quotation: “Hello?” “Please don’t hang up. I swear this isn’t a prank call…” For some reason, the idea of a prank call on an imaginary phone amused me.” (pg.20)

If you liked these, you’ll like this: Twentieth Century Ghosts by Joe Hill.

Lasting Impression: The three stories story in this wonderful collection are touching in their own way; each exploring the power of human relationships and what it means to feel love in its purest form.

Storyline: A+

Pace: A

Characters: A

Ending: A

Overall: A

Unlike Otsuichi’s other short story collections that include more gruesome, graphic detail, the three stories in Calling You are more lighthearted, although death is a reoccurring theme in them too. When you think about the title of this collection (which is also the title of the 1^st short story), I not only think of Celine Dion’s Song “Calling You” but also the image and emotions I feel.  I can imagine someone calling  to a lover or a friend either in happiness or in shock, the syllables of the name never sounding like poetry until that moment, and to have a title make me emotionally invested into the book before reading it is pretty good reason to think this will be a home run.

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The first short story is Calling You, which was my favorite one.  Ryo is a quiet girl who is so lonely that she creates a cell phone in her mind, wishing she had friends to call. After a while, she can see the phone clearly in her mind, as if it is real.  One day, she hears a phone ringing, and it turns out it is her imaginary one.  The caller is a boy around her age, Shinya, who doesn’t have any friends and made an imaginary phone too. 

The way they find each other and help each other cope in a world that initially rejected them is beautiful, and although the ending is heartbreaking, the twists that come out of such a short story is incredible.

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The second short story is Kiz/Kids.  The narrator, who we never learn the name of, belongs to the “special” class in school because of violent outbursts and while there, he meets a boy names Asato who has a very special gift; he takes scars, bruises, burns, and injuries from people and puts them on his so they won’t feel pain.  He is used for his gift, unfortunately, and it nearly kills him. As this happens, the young narrator gets a first hand look at why it is rare that the pure do not stay that way forever.

At first I thought it was just a “cute” story but as the characters develop and back stories come to light, I realized this was a much deeper, more painful, plot than I had first realized. I was very impressed with the story overall, especially with the ending, and how the two boys learned that with love comes sacrifice and with sacrifice comes a bond that is unbreakable.

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The final story is called The Flower Song.  The story centers around a man who was in a horrible train accident (which is only mentioned) and how he is in a hospital, recovering from emotional scarring from losing his lover in the crash.  As he wanders the hospital grounds, he comes across a clearing and sees a giant tree has fallen. Underneath it is a flower that appears to be humming.  The rest of the story centers around the narrator and his relationship to the flower.  What the narrator learns about family and reincarnation is extremely profound, and the imagery Otsuichi gives the reader when it came to the flower is amazing.

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All of Otsuichi’s stories in this collection are based around family, love, and the pain that comes when we open our hearts to love.  What makes his stories so exceptional is that he takes the pain that love can bring and transforms it into personal growth through his characters.

~Shelly-Beans

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Genre: Inspirational/Non Fiction

Date of Publication: 1997 (No specific date could be found.)

Memorable Quotation: “I don’t want to leave the world in a state of fright. I want to know what’s happening, accept it, get to a peaceful place, and let go. Do you understand?”  I nodded. Don’t let go yet, I added quickly.  Morrie forced a smile. “No. Not yet. We still have work to do.” (pg. 107)

If you liked these, you’ll like this: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Lasting Impression: Flavia Weedn once said, “The world knows little of it’s greatest heroes,” and in the case of Mitch Albom’s college professor/friend Morrie Schwartz, that’s exactly what he is: a hero; a man with a message about life, love, and death that should be required reading to fully understand the human experience.

Subject: A+

Delivery: A+

Pace: A+

Ending: A+

Overall: A+

NOTE:  I just realized this is the first Non-Fiction book I will be reviewing! (I’m not talking about a guide or a collection of work; I mean a true story.)  SO, my rating system will be different.  Here are the explanations for the two new rating criteria:

Subject: Was the person or event the book is about interesting?

Delivery: Was it written in a conversational tone? Was the author/subject relatable?

Thank you and enjoy the review!

If everyone could be so lucky to have such a beautiful memoir written about them, the world may be a different place.  Fortunately, Best-Selling Author/Sports Journalist Mitch Albom was able to record the legacy of Morrie, a man who continues to inspire hope even after his death.  Morrie was diagnosed with ALS in his late seventies and through his strong spirit and high hopes against the merciless disease, Mitch wind up learning about Morrie’s condition and began visiting every Tuesday; where the two talked about some of life’s most important subjects, including marriage, emotions, death, etc.

I have always been a fan of Mitch Albom but this book made me love him and his work even more because on every page, I could feel the love and admiration he had for his old professor; describing Morrie in such a way that everyone feels they had known him as long as Albom did. 

The more I read about Morrie, the more I wished I could have hugged him, thanked him for such inspirational words, told him that I wanted to be a better person because of him.  

I can almost guarantee that I will read this book again and again; when I need my faith restored in humanity or just a little hope about life, and when that time comes, Morrie will come back to life for a little longer and he will repeat to Mitch, to me, the lessons that will help us create better tomorrow for ourselves.

~Shelly-Beans

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox

Genre: Business/Fiction

Date of Publication: 1984 (No specific date could be found.)

Memorable quotation:  “If I were to just tell you the answers I know, all you would get is an earful of advice.  But if you discover the answers for yourself, then you own those answers.  They’ll be yours to keep, and you’ll believe in them so much more because you found them yourself.” (pg. 269)                                

If you liked these, you’ll like this: Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson and The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield                                          

Lasting Impression:  This is a must read for anyone interested in/involved with economics, business, or management for the business strategies that are discussed. For everyone else, the growth and problems of Al Rogo are things that anyone can relate to.

Storyline: A

Pace of Story: B+

Characters: A

Ending: A+

Overall Grade: A

   

I recently changed careers and started a new job, in advertising (Hooray!) so my new boss recommended I read this novel to understand more about the business and how to succeed, so although this wouldn’t have been my first choice of a novel, I definitely gained perspective from it.

Here’s the premise: What would you do if your manager told you one morning that your division of a manufacturing plant has not been making money for so long time that if things didn’t pick up in three months time, your division will be shut down?  This is the situation Al Rogo is faced with, and if that isn’t hard enough to deal with, his marriage is crumbling as well.  With the help of his old physics teacher, Jonah, Rogo begins a journey of not only a re-evaluation of everything he thought he knew about business but also how to manage his time better with his family.

The book focuses on the ideas of throughput, bottlenecks, and ROI (just to name a few) and for those who feel daunted by those terms (like I did), Goldratt writes in a way that is easy to understand, even though at times I was bored by the amount of business terminology used in certain scenarios.

What annoyed me the most about the novel was how it was described on the jacket. It was stated that this would be a “thriller” and it was a “compulsive” read. For a reader like me, these words made me think of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (maybe for business people, this is a thriller) but when I read it, I had to push myself at times to get through the sections that went deep into the ethics of business.

When I was done with the book, my boss asked me what I got out of it, and I told him some of the terms I remembered and how the goal of The Goal is to make money. He nodded in agreement with everything I said but stated when I was done, “Einstein.  Albert Einstein said a very important quotation that Rogo followed unknowingly and I want you to remember it. If you do, you will be successful here.  The quote is, ‘I don’t need to know everything; I just to know where to find it when I need it.’ ” 

That's exactly what Rogo did; when he didn’t know the answer, he went to Jonah for help and soon realized that the goal of any business is what the book said, to make money, but it really is more than that. The goal is to admit you can't know everything so it is important to have the resources that can lead you to the answer.

N0S4A2 by Joe Hill

Genre: Horror/Fiction

Date of Publication: October 15, 2013

Memorable Quotation: “You look at birds all of your life without ever knowing what was a Sparrow and what was a Blackbird, but we all know a Swan when we see it. So it was with cars. Maybe you could not tell a Firebird from a Fiero but when you saw a Rolls- Royce, you knew it.” (pg.52)

If you liked these, you’ll like this: The film 'Wanted', Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Lasting Impression: As Vic McQueen takes you on a wild ride in this fast-paced story, full of secret bridges, unique characters, and the illusive Christmasland, N0S4A2 may have you look at the holiday season differently for a long, long time!

Storyline: A+

Pace of Story: A-

Characters: A+

Ending: A

Overall Grade: A

*NOTE* I am adding a new section to my reviews, “If you liked these, you’ll like this.” I say in my reviews (or at least, I write a lot in my notes) how this book reminds me of this film, that book, etc. SO, to help peak your interest more, I will be putting in a section of what the book reminds me of (if anything). Give me your feedback! In the meantime, enjoy N0S4A2’s review!

This is probably one of the most visually-stimulating books I have read in a LONG time. What I mean by that is throughout the entire book, I could see everything that was happening, like a movie in my head. Although some aspects were a bit disturbing (which is expected from Hill) and other parts heartbreaking, the story overall packs a great punch and kept me glued to the pages as I rode along with Victoria McQueen through her journey.

The story centers around Vic “The Brat” McQueen and her Raleigh Tuff Burner bicycle (later on, her Triumph) and how she can cross the “Shorter Bridge” to find lost objects.  Eventually, she meets a warm-hearted junkie/librarian/champion scrabble player, Margaret Leigh, who warns her of Charles Manx, a child kidnapper and creator of Christmasland, and his 1938 Rolls Royce through the help of her scrabble pieces that can predict various things.

Eventually, as Leigh’s scrabble pieces predicted, fate leads Vic to Manx and the trouble only begins there.  Following the travels of Vic, Leigh, Manx, and other unforgettable characters, Vic is lead to Christmasland on a rescue mission. To become victorious, Vic will need the help of those who love her most, and only then will she find the strength to face Manx directly and give him what he deserves.

Hill does a great job with this novel on so many levels. The pace was good, although it is became too fast at times, reminding me of Vic on her bikes; at times going too fast, making things feel out of control, but once they slowed down, everything evened out.  I was also very impressed by the subtle, clever elements Hill integrated into the novel, especially the title (which I won’t spoil for you, you’ll have to read the book to understand, unless you wanted to say the title quickly *cough cough*).

Everything really fell into place with this novel. There were some structural and grammatical issues that bothered me and at first, I thought the ending was going to be a disappointment but after giving the ending more time to develop, it flourished and really tied everything up nicely, like a newly wrapped gift for Christmas.  

~Shelly-Beans

October Books That "Did Not Make the Grade"

As this month comes to a close, I am sad that I was not able to review as many books as I would have liked, but I am reading one now that is sure to please for next month!

In the mean time, here are the two novels that unfortunately "did not make the grade:"

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight: I liked the concept and how the character's could easily be seen with individual personalities, but there were a few problems that left me uninterested in continuing to read.  The biggest problem was that the storyline did not hold my interest; it reminded me of the film, "Mean Girls"  but with a sadder twist.  I was hoping my mind would be changed but some of the characters irritated me and I didn't care to learn more about what really happened.

The Translator by Nina Schuyler:  To be honest, I fell out of reading this novel because I wasn't sure where the plot was going, although it was written very well.  I can definately say that I would try reading this book again, maybe when I have a little more patience in finding out where the plot leads us.

Happy Halloween (for tomorrow) and I look forward to writing more next month!

~Shelly-Beans