Book Review #10: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

From Indigo: Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town-and the family-Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

If this is a book you haven't yet read, prepare to be angered. Several times during reading, I would stop and express my distaste of the book to Sean. Don't get me wrong, this book is.... amazing. The anger is towards the parents, Rex and Rose Mary Walls. My heart broke several times while reading this book, and it was absolutely astonishing to read Jeannette's caring and kind words of her parents. In the beginning of the book, she tells a story of how she burned herself, badly I might add, at the age of 3 while trying to cook a hot dog without any adult supervision. I immediately understood that these parents were no good. While continuing through the story, I didn't know how to feel. Rex and Rose Mary clearly have very good intentions for their children, they are trying to teach them the important values of life, it's just how they go about it that is baffling.

Reading about the Walls' children's horrible upbringing and poverty conditions, I have nothing left to complain about in my whole life. While people are aware that things could always be worse, some of the details in this book made me so angry, sad, heartbroken, disgusted, yet hopeful at the same time. It's amazing how these kids were stomped down so low, and still didn't complain. They still loved their parents, and while they may have been put off for a short period and seemed to completely give up, they always some how found the courage to start over again. Jeannette's stories of maggots in their meat that they had no choice but to eat anyways, rats in their kitchen, no indoor plumbing, sleeping on cardboard, bathing once a month in used and dirty water, it really put things into perspective. They would go days without eating, nearly always having literally no food in the house. Her father stealing money to go gambling, or drinking, while his children sat at home to starve was infuriating. Learning of the children's plan to escape and move far away gave me so much hope that they would be able to have a life of their own, and no longer have to live under their parents dysfunctional life views. Without sounding too cliche, this story is truly hopeful and inspirational. You feel so much for these poor children and are so proud of their high hopes that sometimes feel like a pipe dream. I would say this book is honestly a must read for everyone, if not to read a story of redemption, but simply to be so thankful for the minor luxuries you have.

Book Review #9 - Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

From Indigo: "Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They're told by people who have answered an ad for a writer's retreat and unwittingly joined a "Survivor"-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you'll ever read, one that could only come from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk"

I've read a few Palahniuk novels in the past, and he never disappoints. I do however find that I have wildly different opinions on the books I have read, and the amount of great things I've heard of his books, I figured I better read a few more of them.

As stated in a couple other posts, I find I'm more interested when the chapters go back and forth between multiple characters. Haunted does a great job of this. The book is about a group of people going to what they think is a 3 month writers retreat, but soon find out they are basically being held hostage to write their best and most creative work. The book switches back and forth between our main story, a short poem about a character, followed by a short story written by that character.

These stories are what keeps me going, the main story is great as well, but I find most times, I just keep going to get to the next short story. The very first one you read in the book is "Guts". A short story Palahniuk wrote that was printed in Playboy in 2004. I won't even go into what this story is about. You can read it here. Isn't that disturbing. I consider myself to have a fairly strong stomach, but while reading this, I found myself squirming, a lot. But I knew I had to bear through it. After getting a chunk of the book done, I read the back which says "As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight." More extreme? Considering "Guts" is the first one you read, I was very excited to see how much more extreme this book could get. And Chuck didn't let me down. We're taken through the stories of each character, as we follow them while living together, continually trying to upstage each other, for that when their story becomes a movie or TV show, they themselves can be the biggest victim of the story.

The short stories in the book are excellent. Some are disturbing, some are hilarious, some are just plain weird, and some actually are haunting. While reading through the main story of the book, you are left wondering a lot of things. What is wrong with all of these people, specifically those involved in the set up of this "retreat"? Will they ever get out of this place, and what will happen when/if they do? Chuck has always done a good job of keeping me reading though his books to finish in record time. There is never a dull moment in his stories -- so far, at least the ones I've read.

And I'm not sure who's idea this was, but it worked out brilliantly. I was reading this book before bed one night. I finished a really haunting story, I put my book on my bedside table, turned my light off to lay down, only to discover the cover of this book glows in the dark!

Imagine how creepy that would be to discover. I had no idea it glowed, until I stumbled upon it myself. Bravo Mr. Palahniuk, you've Haunted me.

Book Review #8

Review #8: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

From Indigo: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

Believe it or not, I did not have to read this book in high-school. In fact, I didn't know it was even part of the curriculum until recently when people started saying "didn't we all have to read that in high-school?" I'm not sure what took me so long to finally read this book, I think it may have something to do with the fact that I'm not a fan of classic literature, although I should be. Even when I heard they were re-making a movie, I only thought "ya, maybe I'll read that." It wasn't until I saw the preview for it on TV that I actually got really excited. Forgive my ignorance for being such a late comer to this tale. It was great. I loved it. I'm now SUPER excited to see the movie. It was a short, quick read, and it definitely flew by. While not having read any of his other books, in this one at least, Fitzgerald does a great job of keeping the reader interested and wanting more. The tangled love web was interesting to say the least, and without spoiling anything for the few people who may not have read this yet, the climax blew me away. It was just one of those scenarios that to me, was just too funny, yet tragic and a tad bit revengeful without meaning to do so. All in all, I will be putting this book near the top of my favourites so far, and I can see it being a book I read over and over.

Book Review #7

Review #7: Tweak by Nic Sheff

From Indigo: Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. As we watch Nic plunge the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, he paints a picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It's a harrowing portrait-but not one without hope.

As I've stated before, I have a strong fascination with drug addiction. This book has been on my to-read list for quite some time now, but I never managed to buy a copy. I have a kobo and download a lot of books online, but this one I was unable to find for free through any torrents, and they way I see it is, if I'm going to spend money on something, I'd prefer it to be a tangible object. I'm not a big fan of paying for digital files of any sort. So, like I've mentioned, my manager at work wanted all of us to pick a couple of teen titles for our staff picks, my first pick was 13 Reasons Why, and this was my second.

I really liked this book. If drug addiction is a topic you are interested in, or is in any way personal to you, this is a must read. This book is classified as a Teen Non-Fiction, but I was a little confused, as the story takes place while Nic is in the age range of 20-23. Although he does talk about things that started when he was young, most of the content is him at a more mature age, and even though this books is classified as teen, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of 16 or 17. It deals with very heavy topics, and mature subject matter, besides the bulk of the story being about his drug addiction, he does talk a great deal about sex as well, things even those with a strong stomach would become squeamish at.

This book definitely takes you on a roller coaster ride through addiction. Nic does a very good job of making you feel the same things he does while he is dealing with such trying issues. You grow with him very quickly and it is as if you are right next to him on this ride. You get a sense of hope when you can feel he has hope and is trying to turn things around, you also feel beaten down when he talks about going back to the drugs he's been clean of for so long, you can feel him giving up on himself, and though part of you wants to scream through the book "NO NIC BE STRONG!" another part of you can feel where he is coming from. It is not hard to imagine yourself in his shoes, and to think about the things you might do in the same situations as him. While it is easy for anyone who has never dealt with a strong addiction to sit back and throw advice at someone who is dealing with it, being put in the same situations as him, I can't imagine myself doing things much differently at all. Nic gets in the grittiness of an addiction, the moral dilemmas one faces while dealing with these issues, but you can't help but feel for our character and wish for him to pull through it all even in the midst of his psychological traumas coming to the surface. Well worth the read!

Book Review #5&6.

Well, it has been a while! The weather has been so beautiful here, that I've somewhat forgotten about my computer. My time has consisted of work, trying to be outside as much as I can, and reading. And boy have I read. It's been about a month and a half since my last post, and now I have 4 more books to review. I'm also quickly on my way to finishing my current 9th book of my challenge, so that review will be popping up in the next week or so as well. So let's get started:

Review # 5: just wait.....
I have a bit of a back story to this one. When I was a teenager, I read Go Ask Alice for an English essay. I wasn't much of a reader believe it or not, and my best friend chose to do this book and told me about it after the guy at the book store had recommended it. Somehow, our teacher let us both cover the same book, so I bought myself a copy as well. At this point I had already had a strange fascination with drug addiction, and this book took me even further. I then tried to soak up as much as I could on the subject, and after some research, came across Junky by William S. Burroughs. After finishing his book, I became enthralled. I wanted more, I needed to know all about his life and anyone he knew. I came across Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe and that looked really exciting, but I never ended up finding a copy and sort of forgot about my search. A couple of years back when I started dating my boyfriend, one of the things that first captivated me about him was that not only did he love to read (with the guys I meet, this is rare) but he also loved the same type of books as me. He told me all about Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and how it revolved around Ken Kesey (the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and his band of Merry Pranksters as they go on a journey across the country in their school bus named Further, while doing LSD and other psychedelic drugs. Kesey and his Pranksters were "too young to be beatniks, and too old to be a hippies" in Kesey's own words, but they definitely looked up to the beatniks. William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and none other then the famous Neal Cassady.  Cassady actually travels with the Prankster's, driving the bus Further across country from L.A. to New York, where they meet up with Kerouac and Ginsberg. My boyfriend at the end of his high-school career, was so inspired by this story, that he actually went out and bought his own school bus to drive from Ontario to BC. That's a story I may talk about another time, we'll see. But the point is, this era captured him. I decided before I should get too into this world, I should go back a little in time and read On The Road. And if you've been paying attention, I did mention my next book review had a movie coming out, toward the end of May, which now I am really excited about.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac
I would definitely say this is my boyfriends favourite book. On a side note, I actually found this really cool site Out of Print Clothing, which is exactly what it sounds like. They sell t-shirts, tote bags, notebooks, coasters, greeting cards, iPhone cases, e-reader cases - all with out of print book covers printed on them. They are SO cool. Every time you buy, they donate a book to a community in need in Africa, which makes me even more excited. So through browsing, I found a t-shirt of On The Road, with a cover I have NEVER seen, obviously - it's out of print. But it was also the coolest thing I have seen. I had to buy it for Sean. His birthday was a few days ago and he LOVED it. He shows everyone and is so proud of his neat gift.
So figuring not only was this my boyfriends favourite book, but that I had for quite some time now, wanted to get back into these books like Junky, which I loved so much, and that there is a movie coming out, how could I go wrong?

^^This is the book cover shirt they sell on Out of Print.

From Indigo:On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty," the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance.
Kerouac's classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be "Beat" and has inspired every generation since its initial publication more than forty years ago.

A quote I've always loved is, “It's not the destination, but the journey, that matters”. This describes On The Road perfectly. While we know Sal's destination is to make it to San Fransisco, the stuff that really matters is the journey. At first I didn't much care for our character, and when first being introduced to Dean, he seems very all over the place. I learned quickly to love Sal, but at times felt like the protective older sister I am, when he seems to get in trouble with Dean, just out of simple carelessness. He lets Dean lead the way too much, and you definitely get the feeling that not many people care for him either. Sal is very much a go with the flow person, and Dean takes advantage of that. This book covers so much, that it's hard to even begin to talk about it. You must read it for yourself. His journey is well worth the ride and I can not wait for the movie. Although...... they put Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams and Kirsten Dunst in it. I've never heard of any of the men, but that's because I'm out of touch with pop culture. I was hoping for no name actors, I guess I can deal with Amy Adams, and Kirsten Dunst in a role like this probably won't be that annoying, but Kristen Stewart? Really?! Jack would be rolling in his grave.....

Review #6: The Dinner by Herman Koch

I've tried to not mention the name of my employer, but as this blog is about mostly my reviews on books, and not work itself, I don't see the harm. So I work for Indigo. Indigo has started this new feature a bit over a year ago called Indigo Spotlight. I hadn't read any of the titles on the list, but my boss said that I should. She mentioned that she had read The Dinner, and that it REALLY disturbed her. Perfect! I love disturbing! So I gave it a shot.

From Indigo:
It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse -- the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
     Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
     Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

As mentioned, this book takes place over the course of one night, with 4 adults out to dinner, whom we learn quickly are two brothers, and their wives. The two 15 year old boys being cousins.  My first thought was, how could one write an entire book only taking place over the course of one meal? Once you get into this book, the answer to that question is the least of your worries. It is very intense. Of course the author wanders on his thoughts to other times, and the main focus of the story. It seems at times that he is rambling for filler, but every line is as interesting as the last. I flew through this book, reading half of it in one sitting. It was SO good. It's not often that I am so interested that I literally will not put it down. It's hard to even get into talking about this book without giving anything away. I'll just say this: it definitely keeps you reading. Especially if you know something disturbing is coming and you just want to get there to find out what it is. I will also be completely honest: the disturbing thing that happened, in my opinion, wasn't all that disturbing. Clearly my boss and myself have very different opinions on what disturbing is. As if disturbing to her would be a little boy pulling the legs off of a spider, and disturbing to me is any of the Saw movies. To me, it was just sort of messed up. But still good. That was a bit of a disappointment, and the only other thing that bothered me was the unanswered questions. They weren't that important to the story line, but I don't like closing a book and not knowing small details, which the author obviously left out. Let's just say this: one or more of the characters has some sort of psychological disorder, but the author doesn't tell you what they are. Putting a name on something like that isn't really all that important to me, but if there were a name put on it, it would be a lot easier to understand all the ins and outs. You leave the story knowing some people are messed up in the head, but that is all. You don't know why they are messed up, or how messed up. I've never closed a book so frustrated. At first I thought it was just something small I was obsessing over for no reason. I then thought maybe I missed it at some point. I then spoke to other people who had read it, and they agreed that it was annoying not to know. So I didn't miss it, and I wasn't obsessing over something small, it bothered them too. Unless it was something subtle that I just didn't pick up on, prepare to be a bit irked if you decided to pick this one up. Other then the small annoyances, it is WELL worth the read.