Holding up the Universe - Jennifer Niven

"Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone.

Until he meets Libby. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours."


This book isn't about bullying, or fat-shaming, or living with mental illness, it's about high school love.

Jack is popular dude at the school and he has prosopagnosia.

PROSOPAGNOSIA: 1. An inability to recognize the faces of familiar people, typically as a result of damage to the brain.  

He has a stellar quote "People are shitty for a lot of reasons. Sometimes they're just shitty people. Sometimes people have been shitty to them and, even though they don't realize it, they take that shitty upbringing and go out into the world and treat others the same way. Sometimes they're shitty because they're afraid. Sometimes they choose to be shitty to others before others can be shitty to them. So it's like self-defensive shittiness..."

Libby is a force of nature. She doesn't take much shit from anyone! She ignores it or in the case of boys, she just knocks them on their arse! I really loved her.

I'm sure some readers will see the decision to have such different protagonists as an indication of depth, but I truly feel like this is a very shallow book. Stereotypes and cliches abound. Dress it up however you want, but this book is about an unpopular girl who sees herself as unattractive, and a popular good-looking guy who comes to see how said girl is so much better than all those hot, evil cheerleaders he's been dating. His hot, evil girlfriend constantly fat-shames and bullies Libby, obviously, because we all know pretty popular girls are mean, shallow and have no feelings.

Also Libby's journey to self-love seems to be almost entirely revolve around finding a guy who will actually like her. I was hoping this would be addressed as the novel wore on, but the small rushed steps toward it at the end were dissatisfying.

The pace also slows down as the story moves forward. I remember feeling at one point like the book should be coming to an end, and yet there were almost another hundred pages to go.

Then there's my disbelief that Jack has managed to hide face-blindness from his family for years. That seems impossible to me. I guess this book never was about the reality of the issues it offered up. Also that Jack can only see Libby, just, just no. The power of love doesn't defeat a cognitive disorder.

Age Rating 13+. Typical high school parties so drinking, making out and one main character takes one pull of marijuana. 

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

"Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead and subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed."

I have read Jane Eyre a million times, but I never tire of the story. I know Jane almost as well as myself. I love how Jane never backs down on her morals or views but always stand strong against things she believes wrong and immoral. She is a true role model.

One of my favourite passages:

“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”

Jane Eyre is the quintessential Victorian novel. It literally has everything that was typical of the period, but, unlike other novels, it has all the elements in one story. At the centre is the romance between Jane and Rochester, which is enhanced by gothic elements such as the uncanniness and the spectre like qualities of Bertha. In addition, it is also a governess novel; these were an incredibly popular type of storytelling in the age and for it to be combined with gothic elements, which are interposed with a dualistic relationship between realism and romance, is really quite unique. The correct term for this is a hybrid, in which no genre voice is dominant; they exist alongside each other creating one rather special book.

This is so, so, special; it’s an excellent piece of literature. Jane’s journey is gut wrenching and emotional. Through her life she experiences real sorrow, the kind that would make a lesser person give up. She also experiences real friendship, the type that comes across perhaps once in a lifetime. But, most significantly, she experiences true love and the development of independence to form he own ending. I really do love this book. Bronte utilises the first person narrative, which creates a high degree of intimacy with her character; it makes me feel like I know Jane as well as she comes to know her own self.

 

Passing for White - Tanya Landman

"It's 1848 in the Deep South of America. Rosa is a slave but her owner is also her father and her fair skin means she can 'pass for white'. With the help of her husband Benjamin, she disguises herself as a young southern gentleman - and Benjamin's master. In this guise, the couple flee the South, explaining away their lack of literacy, avoiding those they have encountered before and holding their nerve over a thousand miles to freedom.Inspired by the amazing true story of Ellen Craft who escaped a life of slavery through a daring disguise and won freedom for herself and her husband."

 How do you review a book that shows the very best of human resilience and bravery while at the same time showing the very worst of what we are? With fiction, especially dystopia and fantasy there is an element of detachment. Historical Fiction doesn’t give readers the allowance of shifting what inspired the story.

A gentle story about a terrible part of history. You really feel for Rosa and Benjamin. In passing herself off as a white gentleman, Rosa gives us a stark view of the attitudes to slavery and what they meant personally to those enslaved. Not always violently hurt but seen as household pets and kept aggressively in their place, not seen as fully human despite being equally deserving of rights and respect. Told in a clear, simple and concise way that should not hide from children what it must have been like, but also shouldn't overly frighten them.

I love this book for Rosa’s story. Her narration is amazing, all her emotions feed into the reader and in a short space of time you learn a lot. I appreciate that Tanya Landman did not censor the language; I feel that this is important.

Passing For White is special and inspiring. It’s also draining and important. I would love this book to be in schools and also in book clubs because I think there is so much for discussion.
Age Rating Mature 12+.

Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

"Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything."

If you are into plots consisting 70% of soppy love stories, little to no character development, unrealistic/convenient plot twists and blurry writing…more
Ugh, another overhyped paranormal YA creation. When will I learn not to buy into hype? Just like so many readers, I gave into the favourable internet buzz and opened the book with an expectation of it to be something special. Unfortunately, "Beautiful Creatures" was just another painfully boring overlong dud.

Having finally finished this book with a high level of irritation and disappointment, I decided to check out the favourable reviews to see what people liked about the story. Turns out the most appreciated aspects of the book were: an original love story told from a male POV (compare it to those other romances told from whiny girls' POVs), truly original paranormal lore, and small town Southern setting. I personally found none of it particularly striking. Allow me to elaborate:

The story follows same old dead-beat formula: a paranormal/human pairing, uncovering of the "mysterious" partner's true nature, teens drawn to each other for some unknown reason (even my hope for some kind of reincarnation "twist" didn't quite work out), constant i-can't-be-with-you-cause-it's-dangerous back and forth, the inability to "be together" physically...

Male POV is also not successful. I think the book would have been better if told in 3rd person, at least the writers' inability to channel a voice of a 16-year old boy would have been somewhat concealed.

As for Southern small town feel, In "Beautiful Creatures" it never rings true and is based on old tired cliches of narrow-mindedness and drawl. I don't know what it's like to live in the South, nor do I have any particular desire to find out - but I'm pretty sure it's nothing like this. The setting in Beautiful Creatures is one big, fat stereotype and basically, it makes all Southern Americans seem like petty, bitchy, closed-minded, bigoted lumps of waste - and what an insult that is. If you need any evidence just check out Ethan when he says that he doesn't have an accent because he was raised by educated people. What the heck? He practically spells it out that all Southerners are STUPID, and spends about 90% of the time lamenting about how he's too good for the town and all the people in it, and how predictable everyone is, and for God's sake, it gets really annoying after a while.


But even all these issues aside, the book is simply a too long, often pointless concoction. Yes, the world of Casters (witches) is fairly new, but it is never too interesting or believable and can't justify the book's 600-page length.

I am still willing to give the writers some credit for their apparent effort to write a better book than the majority of YA writers, with a more intricate back story and better developed characters, but for me personally this book was just an excruciatingly long and boring read. The chances of me ever reading the sequel are non-existent.
If you are into plots consisting 70% of soppy love stories, little to no character development, unrealistic/convenient plot twists and blurry writing then yes, go for it. I didn't like it at all.
And I tend to like a lot of YA novels who are not perfectly written.
But I have to admit that there are some really good aspects in the book. I liked the different caster powers a lot and some of the side characters are quite cool.

Age Rating 13+. Nothing gory and light kissing. There are Incubi however they are not the traditional type but if you don't like the suggestion of demons then don't read.