Pure by Julianna Baggott

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Grand Central Publishing, New York, 2012

From my library hold list.  This is the first book in a trilogy.

I read about this one early last year and, being a fan of apocalyptic fiction, was intrigued by the setting and the unusual features of the main characters.  As a young adult novel Pure has some of the draws of The Hunger Games, struggle for survival, adventure, evil adults and budding romance.  What helps it rise above other modern, young adult, post-apocalyptic novels is the strength of Baggott’s world building and her writing.

Pressia lives in a land destroyed by the Detonations.  Like those around her, these deadly explosions have fused her body with other material, in her case, a doll.  Something has allowed these fusions to live and, in many ways, thrive.  There are areas where people, melded with glass, engine parts and animals, struggle to survive.  There are areas where only Beasts survive, beings more animal than human, and places where Dust threatens everything, soil and bits of matter that have taken on a violent life of their own.  And there is the Dome, where the Pure live, and wait to reunited with their brethren.

We know you are there, our brothers and sisters,
We will, one day, emerge from the Dome
to join you in peace.
For now, we watch from afar, benevolently.

But are the Pure truly benevolent?  A young man, Partridge, the son of one of the original designers of the Dome, escapes to the outside.  When he meets  Pressia the two of them find a vital connection and, along with others,  determine to discover the truth buried in their shared past.

Baggott has created a frightening, nightmarish world containing some of the most bizarre beings in fiction,  at least for me.  Living Dust, humans fused with engines, animals, each other..

Our Good Mother speaks only to Pressia now.  “The Detonations hit and many of us were here, alone, in our houses or trapped in our cars. Some were drawn to our yards to see the sky or, like me, to the windows.  We grabbed our children to our chests.  The children we could gather.  And there were those of us who were imprisoned, dying.  We were all left to die.  We were the ones who tended the dying.  We wrapped the dead…”  She sits again in her chair.  “They left us to die and we are forced to carry our children, our children who will never outgrow us, and we will do this forever.  Our burden is our love.”  From pages 286/287.

In her afterword the author states that research for this novel lead her to accounts on the  aftereffects of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Having read many of those accounts I can see their influence.  I look forward to the next book in this series, Fuse.

The Graveyard Book – Week Three

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Dave McKean

HarperCollins, New York, 2008

From my book shelves.  Organized by Carl V, Week 3 of our read-along covers chapters 7 and 8 of Neil Gaiman’s Newbury, Carnegie, Hugo and Locus award-winning novel.   It has been a joy reading along with others and seeing their thoughts.  Please visit Carl’s blog for links to other posts about this deeply felt, wonderfully written book.

In Chapter 8 Silas is drawn away from The Graveyard but refuses to tell Bod where he is going or what he is doing.  Bod’s friend, Scarlett, returns from Glasgow and finds herself in a place that seems awfully familiar.  She is befriended by a nice man, Mr Frost, who takes rubbings of gravestones.   With his encouragement she  eventually discovers Bod’s family history, but this discovery has unintended results.

Bod finally learns about his past, about The Man Jack and his organization, and is faced with a difficult decision.  The choice he makes puts Scarlett in extreme danger and she cannot understand it and cannot forgive him for it.  He looses his friend, and is at a loss understanding why.

In Chapter 9 Bod enters young adulthood and begins to change, finding it harder and harder to see his friends and loved ones.  Eventually he must leave The Graveyard and journey into the wider world.

The Graveyard Book is all about growing up, be it in a normal family or a ghostly one.  We make choices, face the consequences and hopefully grow wiser with each of these steps.  If we are lucky we live in a circle of love, amid friends and family who support us, even when we make bad decisions.

Neil Gaiman states in his acknowledgements that he read Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book over and over as a child and as an adult.  This is a book I love and read-aloud to elementary-aged children.  I can see the resemblance, but Gaiman has created a world of his own, filled with wonderful, caring, sometimes strict beings who surround and support Bod as he grows and finally leaves his home.  Maybe someday we will learn about his adventures in the world of the living.

There is a balance between gentleness and horror in this book.  A balance Neil Gaiman holds brilliantly.

Thanks to Carl V and all the folks who took part in this read-along.

The Graveyard Book – Week 2

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Dave McKean

HarperCollins, New York, 2008

Organized by Carl V, Week 2 of our read-along covers Chapters 4 thru 6 and includes an Interlude.  Please visit Carl’s blog for links to other posts about this magical book.

One of the best things about The Graveyard Book is that it is made up of many stories, stories of Nobody Owen, growing up, protected and loved by ghosts and other beings that pass between worlds.

We learn a bit more about his guardian Silas, and Bod learns a bit more about the place where he lives. He meets the ghost of a lovely young witch and tries to do something kind for her.  Leaving the Graveyard for the first time since his arrival he runs into trouble.  Maybe the world of the living, outside of the Graveyard fence, is not the best place for a live boy with a kind heart.  But on rare occasions ghosts visit there, and sometimes the living dance with the dead.

     They took hands, the living with the dead, and they began to dance.  Bod saw Mother Slaughter dancing with the man in the turban, while the businessman was dancing with Louisa Bartleby.  Mistress Owens smiled at Bod as she took the hand of the old newspaper seller, and Mr. Owens reached out and took the hand of a small girl as if she had been waiting to dance with him her whole life.  Then Bod stopped looking because someone’s hand closed around his, and the dance began.
Liza Hempstock grinned at him.  “This is fine,” she said, as they began to tread the steps of the dance together.
Then she sand, to the tune of the dance,
“Step and turn, and walk and stay,
  Now we dance the Macabray.”  From page 159.

During the interlude we discover that the Man Jack needs to finish what he started.

Bod learns to fade and to haunt.  And craving knowledge of the world of the living, he goes to school.

Gaiman has a way about him.  A way of mixing life and death and giving grace to both.  Bod’s story is lovely and sad and joyful all at the same time, and oh so gentle, even at it’s most horrific.    I don’t know how this author does it.  It is a mystery, eerie and beautiful.

The Graveyard Book – Week One

 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Dave McKean

HarperCollins, New York, 2008

From my shelves.  I am reading this book along with others in celebration of R.I.P. VII.   Carl V  suggested that we read The Graveyard Book in three sections, and post our thoughts on consecutive Sundays.  The first section covers Chapters One through Three.

This book has an extremely creepy opening.  The Man Jack goes about his business in a completely ordinary way and the horror builds so quietly from paragraph to paragraph that it is like a dream.  How can a story be frightening and calming at the same time?

A toddler finds his way to a graveyard and is taken in by a community unlike any other I have ever met.  There is so much love here.   I find warmth and comfort among the grave stones, in a place where those feelings are totally unexpected.  The toddler, Nobody Owens, has found a home.

How do the dead take care of the living?  Luckily, there is one who lives in-between and he sees to Bod’s earthly and intellectual needs.  Bod makes a friend, learns his lessons and has adventures.  When his protector, Silas, is forced to take  a journey Bod meets a new teacher.   She is strict in her discipline and who holds a great secret.

It is hard to write about this book without giving much of the story away.  It is layered with horror, mystery, romance and mythology.  I am so glad to be rereading it, going deeper.

A Banned Book – Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Perigee Books, New York, 2006

I own this one.

For Banned Books Week I decided to read a young adult classic that has been repeatedly challenged and banned in the US and Canada.  I am also including this one in my books for the R.I.P. VI challenge.

This novel was required reading for me in high school.  I read it again in college and, after several decades, have chosen to read it one more time.

This story of a group of boys who survive a plane crash on a small island is probably familiar to many people.  It is, on the surface, a tale of adventure.   On their own, with no adults, the boys can do what they want.  At first there is a sense of order and camaraderie as  Ralph, and his friend Piggy attempt to organize the group.  The boys gather food, plan to build shelters and organize the keeping of a signal fire.  Soon another boy, Jack, gathers a group and takes off to hunt the wild pigs that roam the island.  Jack wants to lead,  invites dissension and eventually something like war.  A tale of adventure turns to a story of horror and madness.

According to Golding,  Lord of The Flies is not simply an adventure story.  When asked he stated, “The theme is an attempt to trace the defect of society back to the defects of human nature.  The moral is that society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.”*

I found it to be a narrative on personality, the place of individuals in human society and on group mind, mob mentality.  Of course these are children, would adults behave the same way?

Lord of the Flies wonderfully written, filled with beautiful evocative scenes and nightmarish horror. I read it deeper this time.  It is one of those “required” reading books that I found best read as an adult.

The first rhythm that they became used to was the slow swing from dawn to dusk.  They accepted the pleasures of the morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and the sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.  Toward noon, as the floods of light fell more nearly to the perpendicular, the stark colors of the morning were smoothed to pearl and opalescence; and the heat – as though the impending sun’s height gave it momentum – became a blow that they ducked, running to the shade and lying there, prehaps even sleeping.  From page 58.

Toward midnight the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away, so that the sky was scattered once more with the incredible lamps of stars. Then the breeze died too and there was no noise save the drip and trickle of water that ran out of clefts and spilled down, leaf by leaf, to the brown earth of the island.  The air was cool, moist and still.  The beast lay huddled on the pale beach, and the stains spread, inch by inch.  From page 153.

*This quote is from Notes on Lord of the Flies by E.L. Epstein from my copy of the book.

Y.A. for R.I.P VI

Quick reviews for two young adult novels I read for the R.I.P. challenge.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ramson Riggs

Quirk Books, Philadelphia, 2011

An interesting book built around an intriguing idea.  Old and unusual photographs inspired Ransom Riggs to write this  novel featuring “peculiar” children stuck in time and filled with stories that turn out to be very real.  And there are monsters.

Jacob Portman is an ordinary sixteen-year-old  whose life suddenly takes a surprising turn.  After many years of telling Jacob stories about some unusual photographs kept in an old cigar box, Abe Portman, Jacob’s grandfather dies under mysterious circumstances.  The stress of that terrible night is almost too much.  After sliding in and out of depression Jacob decides to visit Cairnholm Island, where many of his Grandfather’s wild stories took place, hoping to find some connection to the old man.  At Cairnholm he discovers  more than he bargained for.

Fast paced and well written, this scary fantasy moves from the present into the past and back again.  The novel ends with the possibility that there are more adventures to come.

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2011

Because of something in her past Rebecca is forced to move to the small town of Winterfold.    Ferelith has lived in Winterfold all her life.  Winterfold is slowly falling into the sea.

These two young women form a strange team, build a love-hate relationship, and through their dares and forfeits, unravel a mystery that has been hidden for over two centuries.

This gothic tale is a mix of present day and the past.  Sedgwick tells the story from three points of view.  Rebecca’s, Ferelith’s and a church pastor from 1798.  It is a story filled with questions of life and life after death, of God and the Devil, and finally of love and faith in those we love.

I really liked this young adult horror tale.  Several bloggers I trust have raved about Sedgwick’s writing and I can see why.  I will be reading more of his work.

Both of these books were borrowed from my local library.  If you have read either of them please leave a comment and I will link your reviews.

Other reviews:

MPHFPC:

Tip of the Iceberg – Text – Vlog

Among Others by Jo Walton

Among Others by Jo Walton

Tor Books, New York, 2010

Borrowed from my library.  I have to thank Nymeth for bringing this one to my attention.

Jo Walton’s epigraph for Among Others:

This is for all the libraries in the world, and the librarians who sit there day after day lending books to people.

Among Others is story of Morwenna, a girl caught between the everyday world and the world of magic.  Having lost her twin sister, suffering multiple injuries in an accident running away from her half-crazed mother, and meeting her father and his family for the first time, Mori finds herself in a private school, an outsider with no desire to be anything else.

Told in a series of diary entries, this is one of the best presentations of a certain time in adolescence, of feeling “alien” amidst “normality”, and of learning to navigate peer-pressure, relationships and social connection that I have read.  

I don’t think I’m like other people.  I mean on some deep fundamental level.  It’s not just being half  a twin and reading a lot and seeing fairies.  It’s not just being outside when their all inside.  I used to be inside.  I think there’s a way I stand aside and look backwards at things when they are happening which isn’t normal.  It’s a thing you need to do for doing magic.  From page 169.

One of the most interesting things about Among Others is the understated part that magic plays.  The reader can choose to believe that magic occurs in Mori’s life or that Mori uses the idea of magic to explain all the chaos and sadness in her life, to protect herself from ugly reality.  Walton pulls this off very subtly.  I was left a bit unbalanced, as if shifting from on foot to the other, not an unpleasant experience.

This novel is a love letter to the outsider, to books,  reading,  science fiction and fantasy.   All I can say is read it.

Other reviews:

Jenny’s Books

Rhapsody in Books

Stainless Steel Droppings

things mean a lot

Mercury by Hope Larson

Mercury by Hope Larson

Antheneum Books, New York, 2010

Borrowed from the library.

An interesting mix of fantasy,  history and contemporary fiction, this is a graphic novel about two young women in a small town in Nova Scotia.  Switching  between the 1850’s and 2009, we find that Josey and Tara are connected through family and that each as been given a strange locket, a locket that seems to be attracted to gold.

Both girls struggle with familiar issues that include familial tensions, relationships and the struggle for independence.

Larson, an Eisner Award winner, has inked Mercury in black on white and white on black.  It is a book dense and rich in story and artwork.

Other reviews:

Buried In Print

Regular Rumination

Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

The Boston Bibliophile

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Chaos Walking: Book Three

Candlewick Press, Somerville, 2010

603 pages. Borrowed from the library.

“War” says Mayor Prentiss, his eyes glinting . “At last.”

That is the opening line of the third book in the Chaos Walking series.   Monsters of Men starts just were The Ask and The Answer left off.  The first pages throw the reader into a violent battle and it is upsetting and exhausting enough that I almost had to put the book down.  It went on and on and on.   Fast and furious.  Thinking about it now, I can only imagine that it is just a hint of what being in war is like.

Patrick Ness has, for me, lived up to the expectations created by The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer.  He delves into the darkest parts of the human spirit, into the lust for power and control, the desire to annihilate the enemy, never really even bothering to find out who the enemy is.  What is this murderous quality that lives inside our souls?

We find our two main characters, Todd and Viola, separated from each other, almost seeming to be fighting on different sides, but always struggling to make the right choices.  They are bound by their own beliefs, learning as they go, trying to find each other.  Viola’s fellow travelers have reached her, adding multiple layers of intrigue and technology to the battle.  And we are finally introduced to the Spackle. What an amazing culture they turn out to be.  I am amazed at how Ness allows us into each of his characters thoughts.  We are in their heads,  following the stressful and manic thoughts in this violent world of war.

I am afraid to write any more about the story or about the characters for fear of giving too much away, the way I felt about  The Ask and The Answer.   Just know that this is an exceptional series for young adults and that it deals with big issues, terrorism, racism, love, war and the impact of making  choices.  I highly recommend the entire Chaos Walking series.

Patrick Ness has a wonderful website that can be found here.

Other reviews:

Jenny’s Books

Regular Rumination

Stuff As Dreams Is Made On

Things mean a lot

Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

Viking, New York, 2010

Borrowed from the library.

Winner of the World Fantasy Award.

A wonderful fantasy novel by one of my favorite authors.  Maddy and Rogan are first cousins, members of a large group of extended families living in Yonkers in the 1960’s.  There is theater in their background, struggles within their families, and an opportunity to try out for parts in their school production of  Twelfth Night.

Maddy and Rogan are also very much in love. Illyria is a finely wrought tale of first love and blossoming sexuality between two young people in a “taboo” relationship.  Beneath it  are subtle layers of mystery and magic.

Elizabeth Hand is brilliant at creating atmosphere and tension using very direct, simple language and dialogue.  She evokes the dark side without the reader knowing it.  Suddenly you’re there, in a place so fey it is as if you stepped into a fairy ring, fallen down a rabbit hole or walked through that wardrobe into a land of snow and ice.   But Hand’s world is not Narnia.  There is no magic remedy for these two young people.

Illyria is a great introduction to a fine author.  If you would like to dig deeper I would suggest her short stories Saffron and Brimstone or the dark mystery/fantasy Generation Loss.

Other reviews:

Adventures In Reading

things mean a lot

and a brief interview and playlist from

Largehearted Boy