Alice I Have Been

Melanie Benjamin's Alice I Have Been was a bit befuddling, but not in a frustrating way. Hence, I've put off writing about, and now feel even more directionless.

It is historical fiction. The real Alice, that is, the young girl who inspired Alice in Wonderland, was in a somewhat sketchy relationship with the man who would become Lewis Carroll. Alice narrates the story as an old woman and takes us through her life up to her present.

It is a slowly unfolding story with details of clothing and mores of mid-19th-century Oxford. It is somewhat unsettling but not as creepy as it might sound. It's subtle and the writing is lush.

One thing I can do for this book is identify a readalike--a nonfiction one, no less! Michael Holroyd's A Strange Eventful History is an epic biography of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving, who became stage famous in England around the same time period as Benjamin's novel. There is a large cast of strange characters and artists, and the details well evoke the time period.

RAview: Wintergirls

In short, Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls is a YA novel about an 18-year-old girl with anorexia who is relapsing for the third time after the death of her childhood best friend, who had bulimia. In short, not a pretty story.

I would think Readers' Advisory librarians would want to subtly make clear that this book could be a trigger for someone suffering from these disorders or very difficult to read for loved ones. To me, this is not a fault of the book, but just an extra layer one should be aware of when recommending it. But, if you're concerned about that, here's Jezebel and the Times on this book as a trigger.

From my perspective, telling a prospective reader it is a raw, emotional, terrifying, and realistic exploration of the actions and thoughts of a young girl suffering from anorexia and other psychological disorders would suffice.

The pacing is fast, characteristic of a YA novel. The language is carefully crafted to mimic the main character Lia's thought processes. Anderson uses strike throughs, repetition, paragraph breaks, and ellipses to evoke Lia's confusion and fear. (these tactics could also fall into the story line appeal element of RA--not sure here.)

Characterization is great. The book is a very intimate look at Lia; and her friend who died, Cassie, is evoked via Lia's detailed, episodic memories and hallucinations. The tone is dark, scary, horrific, touching at times. But Lia is witty, and, although it's typically in the form of barbs directed at her parents, she can be funny. The setting is winter in New Hampshire, and Lia is always cold--it is effective to think of her skin-and-bones body in this harsh climate.

I've heard on panels and read in blogs that "YA" is not a genre, so, if I have to stick this in another one, I'll call it psychological suspense. Seems strange, but read the Wikipedia definition, and you'll be convinced. Also, now I can use it toward the "Thriller & Suspense Challenge"!

Notes on The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

I didn't like Alan Bradley's The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag nearly as much as the first book in the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Although Readers' Advisors are supposed to look for what in a book will be appealing to readers, all I can do now is take the opposite approach and try to identify what I didn't like about it.

I just felt detached from the book. There's no suspense in it; the first was by no means suspenseful, but the second didn't thrill me in the least. I read for characters, and I already know Flavia de Luce, the young detective girl. She didn't develop in a significant way, and her character as an anomalous curiosity has worn off.

Much of the story line was relayed via storytelling from characters' mouths. This is not to say there is not description, but the writing did not feel as lush and evocative to me as the first book. Details relate to World War II, puppeteering, chemistry, the vicarage. The pace is leisurely. The language is fun and witty, and the tone would be quite dark were it not for Flavia's childhood perspective.

RAview: Lisa Gardner's Hide

Finally, a thriller I really liked! Lisa Gardner's Hide is narrated from two perspectives--Annabelle, a potential victim who's case may be related to a discovery of six girls' bodies, tells her side in the first person, while Det. Bobby Dodge's perspective is told in third person.

This book is part of a series featuring female detective D.D. Warren, but I didn't know it was part of a series until I finished the book and looked it up online. Background is smoothly woven in, and Annabelle is a character unique to this book, and she was really the draw for me.

The pacing is fast, and readers are sympathetic with the characters of Annabelle and Bobby, although a sense of "Who can you trust?" niggles throughout the book. The story line features short chapters often left on cliffhangers that slowly reveal bits of the mystery of Annabelle's past as well as everyone's understanding of the current case.

The book is set in Boston, and it does have an urban feel. It is marked by details of detective work, sewing and fabric (Annabelle has a curtain-making business), dog ownership, self defense, changing identities, a psych ward. The tone ranges among paranoia, sadness, fear, and longing but also survival and pride.

Also, props to the publisher for selling this ebook at the Sony store for $1.99. I'd never read Gardner before, and I plan to read more of her.

Dave Cullen's Columbine

I stopped reading Brenda Jackson's Irresistible Forces forces because there was just too much sex. (WTF, Anna? I know.) The thing is, the only conflict in the book was that maybe the couple was falling in love even though that wasn't their intention, and conflict is what makes romance great. There was no anticipation, no coyness, nothing held back.

Totally a bizarre way to start a post about a hard-core journalistic nonfiction book about a school shooting,

I know, but after quitting that book, I wanted the other extreme--a serious book. Dave Cullen's Columbine is of course sad, terrifying, and gruesome. But it is also a fascinating psychological study of the killers and a detailed look at what the media got wrong and how the media affected witness testimony and public perception even to today.

My turn from one book to the other was all based on tone. I was over the sensuous, light, romantic, escapist tone of the sexy romance and wanted something gritty and grounding. Cullen's book has good characterization, as he follows some of the most famous survivors of the tragedy as well as the victims, killers, and their families. It's a fast-paced read, despite details of the plan, Harris and Klebold's journaling and emotional lives, and other students' relationships with and perspectives on them. For nonfiction, the language is descriptive, and Cullen writes at times to echo the thought patterns of angry young men or the devoted principal.

RAview: Lisa Scottoline's Think Twice

Lisa Scottoline's Think Twice is a thriller about twin sisters--one mostly good, one mostly bad. The bad one tries to kill the good one and temporarily take over her life as a rich lawyer. The pace feels fast, as short chapters are narrated by 3 characters (the twins, and a colleague and friend who is being duped) and typically end on cliffhangers. This is a plot-driven story, but the characters are complex and well developed.

Details relate to Italian families, relationships in which the woman is more financially successful than the man, working in a law firm, and police rules and politics. Story line themes consist of supernatural elements related to Italian heritage and religion, revenge, good vs. evil and the fine line between them, characters' psyches, friendship, trust, and romance. The tone is not too dark but there are fearful moments as well as touching, happy, and sad ones relating to the relationships among characters.

Of what I've read recently, this shares the most appeal elements with J.A. Jance's Desert Heat.

RAview: Heat Wave

Richard Castle’s Heat Wave is, in a way, the perfect thriller for me. I’ve complained before that the thrillers I’ve read haven’t had enough character development for me, but, being the spin-off of the TV show Castle, I already had a sense of the characters (the book is “written” by the main the character of the show, and the novel’s protagonist is based on the show’s other main character). The two sidekick detectives weren’t fleshed out at all, but I simply pictured the two from the show.

The book gave a greater sense of New York City than the TV show, and the comparatively slow-motion action scenes allowed for a lot more detail about police stances, tactics, etc.

There was a mystery whodunit aspect to the story, made enjoyable with the smart twist that the detectives were teasing the main character (a journalist riding along with them for background for an article) about not having figured out the killer. I hadn’t either.

Witty dialog and romance are also big selling points for this book. The crime feels somewhat small and domestic to me after reading part of Andrew Gross’s The Dark Tide, and I liked the less complex scope.