BOOK REVIEW: Native Son by Richard Wright

Native Son by Richard Wright

(Goodreads)

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.

This is definitely a classic book. Think Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. They're books you'll probably encounter (or have encountered) at one point or another in public school (at least in the US) and that have their own SparkNotes pages that can help you with essays and not actually having to read the book. Assigned books are tricky, I definitely didn't appreciate To Kill a Mockingbird until I was in college but I loved The Outsiders and The Watsons Go to Birmingham. 

However, despite feeling daunted by the thought of 400+ pages, I decided to tackle this book (but I'll admit I left it at my desk for a few days with the definite thought of returning it). We meet Bigger Thomas. And the thing about Bigger Thomas is he's not a good person, he's not likable, he's not nice to his family or friends, and he doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities. So why did I keep reading a character I almost hated?

That's where Richard Wright's character building comes in. Despite all these negative aspects associated with Bigger, I still sympathized with him. He's a real person, feeling these terrible feelings brought on by years of oppression to his race that make him lead such a crappy lifestyle. His options for his future are limited, none of them which lead to anything he truly wants to do. The brief moments in which he acts out on instinct liberate him from these rules and unfortunately land him in irreversible trouble. (And now I'm starting to sound like I'm writing an essay, right? Bare with me here!)

Hopelessness is a major theme in this novel and it's presented extremely well by Wright. There are tons of pages that touch on careful and slow epiphanies (some that don't even seem logical at times). However, at the same time, pages on pages on the same subject could easily push a reader away. (There was a speech that was about 25 pages long, yes, only one person speaking, and I'll admit to skimming through the last 10 pages of it). The book is split up into three different sections: Book One: Fear, Book Two: Flight, and Book Three: Fate. None of them have chapters and they rarely have breaks, so sometimes it can be hard to keep going with no space to pause.

Nonetheless, this book is truly a powerful piece. It's both sad and incredible to realize how little has changed since this book was published in 1940.

Memorable Quotes

"There was no day for him now, and there was no night; there was but a long stretch of time, a long stretch of time that was very short; and then–the end. Toward no one in the world did he feel any fear now, for he knew that fear was useless; and toward no one in the world did he feel any hate now, for he knew that hate would not help him." (273) 

"An organic wish to cease to be, to stop living, seized him. Either he was too weak, or the world was too strong; he did not know which." (345)

Book Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

(Goodreads)

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?” 

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly! 

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

You know how sometimes you come across people who are funny, loud, and talk a lot but you can never see yourself being friends with them because they're too much to handle?

Yes? No?

Maybe it's just me being an introvert and generally quiet person BUT the person I'm describing is Mindy Kaling for me (I'd definitely be intimidated being in the same room as her). It's not everyday that I pick up a non-fiction novel (honestly besides Anne Frank's diary, other unmemorable school books, and Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis I don't think I've had much exposure to non-fiction). But I love to laugh (one of my favorite things to do) and had been looking forward to reading this book for a long time.

Mindy's strong personality definitely comes through in her memoir. At times I would even say it felt like listening to an audio book because her voice is so engaging and unforgettable (I was an avid The Office viewer years ago). Mindy is definitely funny but I wouldn't say I was clutching my stomach or rolling on the floor from her observations. I think there was only one moment that actually made me burst out laughing even though I was at work.

The chapters in this memoir are short, usually no more than five or six pages and involve a lot of lists, pictures (which I loved), and random topics ranging from a bad experience at a cupcake shop to being almost fired from her Office job. In the entire book there was only one section that I glossed over (a short chapter titled "Married People Need to Step it Up").

I think the best comparison I can make for this novel is like reading a women's interest magazine while relaxing in bed or waiting for your nails to dry. It's funny, friendly, and entertaining but won't exactly change your life's perspective.

Memorable Quote(s) 

"One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about." (43)

On her writing process (which I totally relate to): 

"I've found my productive-writing-to-screwing-around ration to be one to seven. So, for every eight-hour day of writing, there is only one good productive hour of work being done. The other seven hours are preparing for writing: pacing around the house, collapsing cardboard boxes for recycling, reading the DVD extras pamphlet form the BBC Pride & Prejudice, getting snacks lined up for writing, and YouTubing toddlers who learned the "Single Ladies" dance. I know. Isn't that horrible? So, basically, writing this piece took me the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Enjoy it accordingly." (143)

Book Review: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

(Goodreads)

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them.  

But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life.  

The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

Sometimes it's hard to gather my thoughts when I feel like I've been thrown into a hurricane, spun around a couple thousand times, and spat out in the span of three seconds. That's more or less the equivalent of reading this ~400 page book in three days.

I seem to be on a roll reading books that alternate chapters between either characters or time periods (Beside Myself, Finding Amelia, Hide). I'll Give You the Sun actually gave me both! Noah tells the past and Jude tells the present and in every chapter you find out a little bit of what happens in between. One thing that I loved and hated at the same time was how long each chapter was. I could feel myself getting so immersed into the story when the chapter would end at what seemed like the best part. I definitely had a lot of urges to skip the next chapter (mostly Jude's) so I could peek at what was next.

Jude and Noah are some of the best siblings I've read in a while. And it's not because they're perfect, or anywhere near that at all. Jude and Noah show the ugly side of sibling jealousy; the backstabbing, the lies, the ugly tendencies you can't hide. Their luggage of flaws definitely made them feel real and relatable.

Noah, without a doubt, made me feel like I was in high school, falling in love for the first time. Jandy Nelson did an amazing job at capturing those fluttering feelings that honestly, made my heart skip a couple of beats. His unique way of seeing the world definitely captured the mind of a young artist who can't stop thinking about what to create next.

Jude took a while to grow on me. Like Noah, she's artistic but in a non-obvious way. And to be quite honest, she's a bit of a mess when we first meet her. It was hard to not to groan at how much of a teenager she was being and it isn't until later that I could really understand why she was being like that. However, it's incredibly beautiful to see her unique way of coping with her circumstances (spoiler alert: her mother's death).

Without a doubt, I'd read this book again (and I'm looking forward to the film adaptation, can they please get Antonio Banderas to play G?). There's nothing extraordinary that happens, but the writing magnifies it in a way that makes you feel like you're reading something remarkable.

Memorable Quotes 

Noah

"It's like being kissed by a feather, no, smoother, a petal. Too soft. We're petal people. I think about the earthquake kiss in the alcove and want to cry again. This time because I am sad. And scared. And because my skin has never fit this badly before." (134) 

Jude

"I kept thinking, it's okay, I can handle this. I can. It's okay, okay, okay. But it wasn't and I couldn't. I didn't know you could get buried in your own silence." (47)

Book Review: Reconstructing Amelia

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

(Goodreads)

Litigation lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is shocked when her daughter's exclusive Brooklyn private school calls to tell her that Amelia—her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old—has been caught cheating. But when Kate arrives at Grace Hall, she's blindsided by far more devastating news: Amelia is dead. Despondent, she's jumped form the school's roof. At leas that's what Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. It's what she believes, too, until she gets the anonymous text: Amelia didn't jump. Now, Kate is going to find the truth—no matter where it leads. Sifting through Amelia's e-mails, text messages, and Facebook posts, Kate reconstructs the pieces of her daughter's life and the people in it, uncovering why she was on Grace Hall's roof that day—and how she died. 

I raced through the last 100 pages or so. So fast that sometimes I had to tell myself to calm down and reread sections that I skimmed through because I wanted to know everything at once!

Reconstructing Amelia has a very pleasing format in that it alternates chapters between Amelia and her mother, Kate. Nothing new, right? A lot of books do this flip flop format, much like Beside Myself by Ann Morgan. However, in between those flip flop chapters (is there an appropriate term for this? alternating chapters?) are a variety of texts, Facebook updates, and blog posts. I honestly really enjoyed that aspect of this novel. It was like being handed pieces of evidence and clues. The only thing that could have possibly made it better was to see a more mobile-like format on those pages.

We meet Amelia at the start of the school year, about two months before her death (all the chapters are time stamped). She's honestly just another teenager: smart, confused, with unique quirks to her (she LOVED Virginia Woolf). When the novel began, I sometimes wanted to skip through Kate's sections because I wanted to know so badly what happened to Amelia, what led to her death. However, as the novel went on it became the opposite, where I wanted to skip through Amelia's sections and catch up with what information Kate had found.

This novel definitely becomes a page-turner and I was not disappointed with the ending. My only complaint is that there were conversations I looked forward to that never happened. Or if they did, they happened 'off-screen', perhaps to cut down on the novel length (380 pages, my weak wrist will remind you). Reconstructing Amelia never felt slow, because there was always information to find, clues to seek out, moments to dissect.

Memorable Quote 

"But the tour did remind me that my life had been bigger than just that one moment. One girl. One set of words on paper. That I had gone through other things before - good and terrible, funny and awful - and I had survived." (368)

Book Review: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

(Goodreads)

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.  

So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. 

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

It's hard not to rave about this book when I've known my best friend for a bit over 10 years; in a couple of years I'll even be able to say that I've known her longer than I haven't! Needless to say, Firefly Lane reminded me of myself and my best friend in about a hundred different ways.

I don't usually get to read about someone's life in such a way that I feel like I'm growing up with them. Usually I get a glimpse, a one to five year span of someone's life put together in 500 pages or less. Firefly Lane gave me so much more than that put together in such a beautiful way. It didn't feel like there were any time skips yet everything happened so fast that I was at the end of 500 pages before I knew it!

Firefly Lane is divided into four different sections:

Part One: The Seventies Dancing Queen (young and sweet only seventeen) 

Part Two: The Eighties Love Is a Battlefield (heartache to heartache, we stand) 

Part Three: The Nineties I'm Every Woman (it's all in me) 

Part Four: The New Millennium A Moment Like This (some people wait a lifetime)

I found Kate and Tully to be realistic characters in that their personalities, while very distinct from each other's, included fatal flaws. Not everyone is perfect, and sometimes even your best friend will disappoint you and hurt you (many times over). I think that Kristin Hannah accurately portrayed the aches and pains of a long-term friendship along with the liberation of having someone to depend on and know you for who you truly are.

Did I cry? Yea-sort of! If I hadn't been at work I'm sure I would have ugly cried. I see myself and my best friend(s) reflected on these pages, and like any other relationship it can be painful and beautiful at the same time. I highly recommend this novel, especially those who have a close friend, mother/mother-figure, or are looking for good women's fiction.

Memorable Quote(s) 

"That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hour." (273) 

"What good did it do to light the world on fire if she had to watch the glow alone?" (321)

Book Review: Push by Sapphire

Push by Sapphire 

(Goodreads)

Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old, has up until now been invisible: invisible to the father who rapes her and the mother who batters her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just one more of Harlem's casualties. But when Precious, pregnant with a second child by her father, meets a determined and highly radical teacher, we follow her on a journey of education and enlightenment as Precious learns not only how to write about her life, but how to make it her own for the first time.

Let me start with a warning. This book's contents are not for the lighthearted and contain triggering and disturbing themes including: rape, incest, and abuse.

Push is a raw. It's horrific. It's detailed and descriptive in ways that could leave your skin crawling for days. When discussing this book with a friend, she told me she felt like she was being raped as she read Precious' retelling. Having seen the movie years ago, I had a pretty good feeling of what I was getting into. I wasn't sure if the movie was true to the novel (much like Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, which in my opinion, is the novel reflected on the screen word by word), or if it was more of loose adaptation. I can't remember too much of the film, but what I do remember feels true to the novel.

With that in mind, this novel wasn't hard to get through despite the themes. Precious' voice leaps from the pages, I could hear her clearly and I loved being able to get inside her head. Her voice is honest, funny, and realistic. Underneath the pain from all her abuse I could see the mind of a young and naive girl, which I think Sapphire should be commended for being able to portray. Above all, I enjoyed being able to see Precious' progress through the pages, you can literally see it in her writing. You can watch her as she heals through the poetry she develops and I think placing those poems within the novel really strengthens Precious' journey.

I'm definitely recommending this book to anyone that feels up for it because it's strong, extraordinary, and important. However, I will add a second warning and say that this novel may be too much for someone young and/or not mature enough, so I'd advice some parental guidance if possible.

Memorable Quote

"Sometimes I wish I was not alive. But I don't know how to die. Ain' no plug to pull out. 'N no matter how bad I feel my heart don't stop beating and my eyes open in the morning." (32)

Book Review: Drown by Junot Diaz

Drown by Junot Diaz 

(Goodreads)

So I read this hours after I finished Diaz' This Is How You Lose Her. I'm not entirely sure if it was a good idea to read them back to back but my best friends had my other books from my BooksFree.com order (I changed my subscription to four books a month!) and I was eager to dive into a new world. 

But new world? Not so much. Drown is another collection of short stories similar to This Is How You Lose Her. I would even go as far as calling it a prequel (or sequel, depending in which order you read them). We meet Yunior again, this time at a younger age before all the girls, all the cheating, and all the pain associated with love. 

However, after some extensive talks with my best friends/roommates, I'm not entirely sure that all the stories connect to Yunior, and that's both confusing and exciting. It makes me wonder if I'm reading alternate versions of someone's life or if I'm reading about someone who simply happens to share the same name as a previous narrator. 

Drown is beautifully written and it's not hard to see why it's a national bestseller. It captures snapshots of immigrant life in such a lyrical and innocent way that it's hard to forget about it. 

Memorable Quote

"At the end of the month she got her hair cut short. No more straighteners, no more science fiction combs.
     I like that, I told her. I was coming back from the liquor store and she was on her way out with a woman friend.
     Makes you look fierce.
     She smiled. That's exactly what I wanted." 

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

(Goodreads)

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through.

First of all...how dare?? These are the words I thought to myself as I wiped the tears from my cheeks after I read the last page. I was on the bus home. I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I think it's the pessimistic side of me that keeps thinking that every time I pick up a book.

The Art of Racing in the Rain was the second book that I got alongside The Wasp Factory from my first month's BooksFree.com subscription. My mind honestly felt exhausted after The Wasp Factory and I thought I would give it a couple of days before I tackled Garth Stein's 2008 novel. Still, I was curious so I thought 'hm, just the first page!' a few minutes before I got off work. And I ended up reading the first 60 by the time I got home. YES, it's a long commute, but I risked getting car sick (bus sick?) to keep reading, and I think that says a lot.

If you didn't know already, The Art of Racing in the Rain (TAORITR?) is told from the first person point of view of a dog named Enzo. First, let me say that the cover is very deceiving because I imagined Enzo as a golden retriever throughout the novel despite him stating his breed as otherwise. Although I didn't feel an immediate connection with Enzo, I can't pinpoint the moment when I started having an emotional connection with him. It definitely creeped up on me, to the point where I thought of Enzo as a good friend of mine instead of a dog telling me a story about the lives around him.

I personally connected with Enzo's inability to elaborately communicate with those around him. Obviously, he's a dog and can't speak but Garth Stein made his frustrations very relatable. Enzo finds himself in many situations where things could have changed had he been able to speak up and even to this day I find myself in those kinds of situations.

The only time my eyes would gloss over were during the elaborate descriptions of racing. Now, this wasn't 100% of the time, because I did find it interesting to learn about racing techniques and rules and Ferrari's but...unless it's presented to me in Disney version and Lightning McQueen, it's very hard for me to feel a connection or feel passionate about the racing world.

I would recommend this book to anyone even if they have no interest in dogs or racing. It grabs you unexpectedly and you find yourself in Enzo's place, rooting for the underdog.

Memorable Quote, Enzo on loneliness:

"Did he despair? Did he silently berate himself for allowing himself to be in that situation? Or did he finally realize what it is like to be me, to be a dog? Did he understand, as those interminable minutes ticked by, that being alone is not the same as being lonely? That being alone is a neutral state; it is like a blind fish at the bottom of the ocean: without eyes, and therefore without judgement. Is it possible? That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me. Is it true? Could Denny have possibly appreciated the subjective nature of loneliness, which is something that exists only in the mind, not in the world, and , like a virus, is unable to survive without a willing host?" (198)