Christmas Reading Book Reviews: Part I

Over Christmas Break, I chose to read A Prayer for Owen Meany and I decided to get a head start on the required reading for my Books for Young Adults class. Here is Part I of my reviews of those books. (Part II will follow shortly)

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa. (Required Book)

I hated this and do not recommend this book. At the beginning of the book, there is a photo of the author. Because of the author’s long grey hair, I mistakenly thought that the author was an older woman who just didn’t wear make-up. As I read this graphic novel, I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe a woman would write this.” It seemed instead that I had found myself inside the mind of a sex-obsessed 12-year-old boy. When I finished the book, I was still so puzzled that I decided to read more about the author, and it was only then that I discovered that the author is indeed a man. Ironically, on GoodReads this is what is said about him, “He is best known for his tender stories and uncanny ability to write from a profoundly feminine perspective.” Let’s just say that I was not fooled and could not disagree more about his writing ability. The “tender story” in this book to me is more like an introduction to erotica for kids and/or a poorly written sex education book about girls’ and boys’ sexual anatomy and changing bodies all the while trying to disguise itself as poetic and profound. To me, it hints of pedophilia on the part of the author (yes, I said it!) and is full of scenes like this: The main character’s mother hugs her and then says, “Oh my! Look at you! Your breasts are bigger than mine now.” Does dialogue get any worse than that?

Midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedgwick (Required Book)

The author starts the book in 2073 as Eric, a journalist, lands on a mysterious island to investigate rumors of island inhabitants who never die. From there, the book travels back in time to that same island with each section. For instance, readers get a glimpse of the island and its inhabitants during World War II, and again, during the Viking era. The book continues back in time until the last section is labeled “Time Unknown”. In each section, you see the same two main characters, Eric and Meryl; sometimes they are married to each other, sometimes they are mother/son, father/daughter, or no relation to each other. Much like the movie, “The Sixth Sense”, you don’t really know what’s going on until the end of the book and then you feel the need to re-read the entire book to better understand the nuances and clues provided. I was definitely intrigued and curious throughout the book. However, I have to be honest: when I finally understood what was happening, I was a bit disappointed because I feel the author could have explored many other plot options within his creative concept. Overall, this book is a great reading experience even if the end is a bit anti-climatic.

I could not help myself: after finishing the book, I found Carl Larrson’s painting online to see if I could find Meryl’s little hand holding an apple, but I could never get a high enough quality resolution online to definitely say yes or no. If you read this and are able to see better than I did, please let me know!

Labels: love story, futuristic sci-fi, fairytale, fantasy, vampires, ghosts, historical fiction, Norse Mythology

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This is the fictional story of Junior, a Native American growing up on a reservation who decides after the first day of his freshman year in high school that he must transfer from the high school on the reservation to the “white” high school several miles away. It is a funny, witty, and poignant story about race, human dignity, poverty, alcoholism within the Native American community, first love, real friendships -- I just loved it and I think this character’s story needed to be told and the world needs to really hear what Junior has to say. Disclaimer: Like a great song that has a bad word in it, I can’t unequivocally recommend this book because there is one chapter where Junior proudly discusses how “good” he is at masturbating to porn. Because I believe that porn is harmful to ALL involved (creators, consumers, family of consumers, etc -- See This Video), I have a real problem with literature that tells kids that porn consumption is harmless and normal. I really wish the author had omitted that chapter! In spite of this, I still want my kids to read this book but I think it requires a discussion before and/or after they read it. FYI: It is definitely for high school teens.