Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

I have seen some of my writerly friends complaining about not having a book that grabs them lately. It is a perennial problem that happens with every reader. You go through ups and downs of reading quality.

"Thirteen Reasons Why," by Jay Asher cured that ill for me for about a week. This book grabbed me and demanded all of my free time.

The book starts out with good guy Clay receiving a set of tapes from post-suicidal classmate Hannah Baker. It seems Hannah has arranged a list of people who get these tapes, and they are instructed to then pass them along to the next person. The details of this arrangement are sketchy and sometimes test the limits of what kids would actually do, but the compelling desire to understand why Hannah chose to take her life, and how this all snowballed together overrides.

Details are handed out like treats, with associations coming together and the interconnection of people and events mimicking the "snowball" event Hannah speaks of in her narrative. Although we all know how it ends for Hannah, Asher manages a satisfactorily hopeful leave to this novel.

Spring!

Nothing makes a Wisconsinite happier than 

sunshine, blue skies, and melting snowbanks 

at the end of another long, dark winter.

Hello Spring. 

It's about time you got here. 

Book Review: Crossover

Crossover, by Kwame Alexander is the winner of the 2015 Newbery Book Award. Like last year’s winner, it is written in verse. It seems kids like reading books in verse these days. I think they like reading short chapters and few words….like text messages.

It isn’t true poetry, or verse, but the text is definitely interesting. The reader is engaged in real time with what is happening, sometimes in staccato during basketball games. I love this book for its energy and its diversity. The main character, Josh, is black, the son of a famous basketball player.

The story is about competition between the twins (seems to be a theme with this year’s ALA award winners. The Printz Award was given to a book about twins being divided by life.) One twin gets a girlfriend and becomes distracted. The other is jealous. There are also serious health problems going on with the father.

This is heavy stuff for middle school readers, but it is handled with finesse, with words bouncing like a basketball on the court. This was an enjoyable read for me, and one I think my reluctant middle school reader would embrace. 

Book Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Bree Tanner has a brief role as one member of a newborn vampire army in Eclipse, the third installment in Stephenie Meyer's runaway hit Twilight series. "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" is a novella that fleshes out the makings of this newborn army and gives this character dimension.

While the novella lacks the compelling readability of the series, it shows another side of the story and humanizes a handful of the vampires created to kill. It is a brief read at around 175 pages and the end is understandably disappointing as the reader knows what is coming whether or not Eclipse was read beforehand, which is likely as this novella's audience are Twilight fans who want to read more.

Meyer has skill in creating interesting characters that stick with the reader, and she does not fail in doing so in the novella. Unfortunately, it isn't the ill fated Bree that leaves an impression. It is the curiously talented Fred, also a newborn vampire, and the only character to leave the story with a sense of hope. People and vampire alike can't stand to look at Fred, but I enjoyed reading about him.

A Feeling of Accomplishment and Loss

Yesterday, I finished another revision on a novel in progress for the last year or three. I lost count at which revision this is, perhaps the sixth, or probably the twelfth. Whichever it is, I think it is the one that makes the novel complete and ready for the market. This is huge.

There are many markers in the process of writing a novel. Finishing the first draft is a big one, and one to celebrate, but the writer knows there is work to do in revisions. It can be hard to understand what those changes are in the flush of giving birth to this new novel, or the flaws may be glaringly apparent or even overwhelming.

Then there is the hard work of revisions. It can be a rocky trail that makes one doubt the entire idea. For me, there is a point in revisions where I start to fall in love with the novel. It starts to resemble what I envisioned at the concept point.

Finishing a novel, in that I polished it and feel it is ready for readers, is one of the big milestones. It is one that fills me with elation, relief, and a feeling that the world is not quite right. At this point, I have spent months, probably years thinking about these characters. I have carefully built a world filled with vivid scenes and tangible emotions. I have delved into the depths of character consciousness, thinking about why each one did this and that, putting words in their mouths, sometimes destroying their worlds. Plot has been executed.

And then I am done. I write, "the end." I will not be digging into the character's head or motivations tonight.  It feels like a loss, like being exiled from the world that no longer needs my hand. I am not sure how to spend my time anymore. I am not sure about my own reality, having spent so much time with my head in two worlds, and suddenly missing the one of my own creation.

I haven't written enough novels to know how long this feeling lasts, but read of plenty of authors who deal with it by reading a lot. I can get down with that. I have been neglecting my "to read" piles of late.

The Best Parts of Life Involve Other People

I work from home, I don’t like the phone, and I generally do not have a lot of people in my life. As an introvert, being around other people isn’t something I crave.

Yet getting to know other people is so interesting and relationships are the core to the human existence. It is one of the best parts of life.

Art by DeviantArt. 

I was talking to a friend about college classes. She is considering classes in sociology and psychology. I remarked that the only thing I remember about my sociology course was the personal life of the student who sat next to me. There was no reason why we sat together. It was a pit class, with at least a hundred students, probably many more. I don’t even know her name, and never saw her outside that class, yet she told me the most intimate of things at a very trying time in her life. I got an A in the class, but what I learned was her story, and I carried that with me. Perhaps that is fitting for a sociology course.

As I drove home from coffee and ruminating my college courses, I listened to NPR. Garden Talk was on. I am a certified master gardener, and my instructor was on the radio. Instantly, I felt important because I know her. I liked the familiarity of her voice and her advice was the same as what I gave my mom about pruning this week (I DID learn something!) She tells a joke about “revenge spraying” bugs and notes it is a Phil Peliterri joke. And I get it. I know Phil too, because he taught one or two of those Master Gardener classes and I listen to him on NPR. I heard him make that joke, in class and on the radio. I felt even cooler....and like a geek at the same time.

It is people who inspire my novels. Each story starts with a character, their problems, and eventually, I figure out how they are going to solve it. I wouldn’t have those characters if there weren’t people in my life telling me stories….friends, acquaintances, random people with generous souls.

I applaud the souls who leave their hearts open, for they are inspiring. I enjoy the colorful characters for making life more interesting. I tip my hat to the teachers among us, for their knowledge and ability to repeat their lessons and jokes again and again. Eventually, we get it!

Five Great Things About Being a Writer

1. When talking about what you are doing this weekend, this evening or in your free time, saying, "I am writing a novel," often wins.

2. You can ask inane hypothetical questions. If people know you are a writer, they assume it is for some book you are writing, even when it is not.

3. It gives you an excuse to read a lot. It is research. You have to study the craft.

4. You get to spend a lot of time in an imaginary world of your own making....and you call the time spent there productive.

5. Having the opportunity to meet other writers and if you are lucky, readers!