I am the Messenger ~ Markus Zusak

I am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak

I have a confession… I enjoy Young Adult Literature.  I don’t think people should eschew books simply because they are “labeled” for a younger reading group.  There are beautiful picture books, incredibly funny books for middle graders and amazing books written for young adults.  YA writers are often willing to take risks, present harsh realities and ask hard questions about life.  I have always found that YA writers create some of the most engaging and intricate stories but more people are starting to catch on.  J.K. Rowling’s success with Harry Potter was followed by Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and now The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collin’s.  This is not everyone’s cup of tea, and they are not representative of all that YA Literature has to offer.  YA books cover the gamut but many are quick, engaging reads that hook the reader immediately.  They can be fluffy light reads or intense reads dealing with harsh social issues.  I am the Messenger has both the humor and the harsh issues.

Meet Ed Kennedy.  He’s a nineteen year old taxi driver.  He lives in a shack with a seventeen year old dog named Doorman who has a rarified stink.  He plays cards with his friends Ritchie, Marv and Audrey regularly.  He loves, and lusts after, his friend Audrey.  He also just managed to catch a bank robber, without really meaning to.  It just sort of happened.  After the robbery, he receives an Ace of Diamonds in the mail.  It has three addresses and three times on it.  It takes some time to work up the courage, but finally he goes to the first address.  This isn’t an easy case he’s facing.  It is hard, harsh reality and he has to figure out how to help.  He steps back and walks away, scared.  He’ll be back.  The second address offers something completely different, a lonely old lady who seems very kind.  The third one is a fifteen year old shy girl who likes to run.  It’s all a bit of a mystery.  Ed will help them though and, when he’s done, there will be another card.  

To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure whether this was a Young Adult title that appeals to adults or an Adult title with appeal for Young Adults.  What I can tell you, is that it’s a fascinating story which received the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  Part of the appeal to me is that Markus Zusak is an Australian author and I think you get a bit of a unique flavor there.  Writers from different countries tend to have a slightly different way of looking at things.  I have compared the humor in American sitcoms to Canadian sitcoms to British sitcoms and it is a little bit different for each.  I suspect the author would be a talented writer whatever country he came from.  It’s not that he’s writing about Australia, but maybe the landscape, the nature of the air, somehow changes how the words sound.

My verdict is simple, I really like this book and many other people have too.  Give it a try.

The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings ~ Amy Tan

The Opposite of Fate
by Amy Tan

Most people would recognize Amy Tan as the author of The Joy Luck Club which was turned into a movie in 1993.  There have been other books, including The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and Saving Fish from Drowning, as well as two children’s stories and a memoir titled, The Opposite of Fate. 

The last is my favorite.  There is something special when a writer tells their personal story.  The writing skills are all there - pacing, plot, characterization, but with the immediacy of first person knowledge.    We get to see what they consider to have been important to their development as a writer and what they really meant when they wrote something.  In Amy Tan’s perspective, not nearly as much as has been ascribed to her writing.

Her sense of humor is evident.  She writes about the annoyance and yet the odd pride in finding that there are Cliff Notes for her book, The Joy Luck Club, which make several wild claims.  She finds they question “Which daughter in the book is most like Amy Tan?” and turns the page to finally find out the answer, as it has been asked of her so many times in interviews.  But there is no answer, it’s just a question.  She is “left to ponder my existential angst in the usual fashion.”

Tan offers deep truths that we feel in our bones, “It’s your belief in yourself that enables you to do what you wish” and “…if I did not like what was before me, I had only to look at my shoes, then look up and walk ahead toward a fresher, more pleasant scene.”

She has wondered how she can write about things she doesn’t know.  Is she “downloading stories from the Nirvana Wide Web?”  Or are they simply memories from her childhood, things she overheard and took in but didn’t remember doing so?  She deems her childhood too implausible to make for good fiction, but capable of being mined for fiction. 

She’s had a lot of fun in her life, like playing with the Rockbottom Remainders, a group of writers who perform to raise money for children’s literacy.  She’s also had some harrowing experiences.  She has faced down gang thugs, been in a car accident and had a roommate, and good friend, murdered by thieves who broke into his new apartment.

Her essay on living with chronic Lyme Disease will be particularly poignant, and heartening, for anyone who lives with a chronic disease.  Tan concludes, “Yes, the world to me is still a scary place, but no more than it is for most people.  I am no longer governed by fate and fear.  I have hope and, with that, a determination to change what is not right.  As a storyteller, I know that if I don’t like the ending, I can write a better one.”

As a writer I found this book very inspirational and, as a reader, a fascinating collection of stories.  I would recommend it to anyone. 

Ghost Story ~ Jim Butcher

Ghost Story
by Jim Butcher

Hell’s bells, it’s the return of my favorite smart ass wizard.  Okay, he’s dead, but that’s not going to stop Harry Dresden.  This is urban fantasy at its best.  

A quote comes to mind from The Princess Bride.  This book has it all – “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.”  Okay, maybe not giants, but if not, it’s got everything else.  I think it even has a quote from The Princess Bride.

Harry Dresden is a wise-cracking detective, a wizard in modern day Chicago.  Now, he’s also a ghost.  As such, Harry has a huge disadvantage in this book, no magic.  So many action adventures follow a typical pattern and give you little new to consider.  Though the last book was titled Changes, this book continues the changes and growth of characters.  This is definitely different from the others, but it just keeps getting better. 

Like a phoenix, Harry rises from the ashes, but he also evolves.  As one who can generally guess what is coming next in a plot, the unexpected is always a joy and Butcher does not disappoint.  This is not a regurgitation of past plots. The conclusions that Harry reaches, the truths found, and the realizations make for a very satisfying read.  What’s been done can’t be undone and Harry has to face the consequences.  As in real life, everything is not going to be okay, but life goes on and people have to deal with it.  There are still some people prepared to help Harry though. 

This is the 13^th book in the Harry Dresden series.  These don’t stand alone particularly well.  I definitely recommend starting at the beginning.  Relationships change and grow, people come and go, and events referred to in future books are crucial for understanding Harry and his world.

Harry Dresden is a hero for all times, with or without his magic, because he cares.  I will be eagerly anticipating the next book in the Harry Dresden series.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake ~ Aimee Bender

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
by Aimee Bender

I’ve always been fascinated by books which bring magical elements into our everyday world.  Following in the footsteps of such well known authors as Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende, authors like Sarah Addison Allen and Aimee Bender offer us fresh insight into the human soul through riveting stories that bring fairy tales and fables to modern life.

Aimee Bender offers a lyrical story in The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.  Rose Edelstein is an average little girl, overshadowed by her somewhat brilliant older brother and outside the special relationship he seems to have with their mother.  Then, when her mother bakes her a trial run birthday cake for Rose’s ninth birthday, Rose discovers an unusual gift.  She can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake, the “absence, hunger, spiraling, hollows.”  Though it is sweet and delicious, the cake tastes empty.    

From then on, Rose can taste her mother’s deep dissatisfaction with her life in every bite of food her mother prepares.  It is a painful awareness.  When her mother starts an affair, Rose can taste it.  As time goes on, Rose finds she can trace where a food came from and who was involved in its preparation, right back to the farm where the ingredients were grown. 

Rose slowly realizes that her brother has a special gift, a very disturbing gift, that takes him further and further away from their family.  She wonders where these gifts came from.  Neither of her parents have gifts, or do they?

One oddity is that even with her dialogue, Bender uses no quotes.  I can see where that would consternate some readers.  It gives the book the feel of a flashback, more of an internal quality, a storybook quality. 

This is not a “happy” book.  Everything is not going to be “okay,” and yet it is.  Rose finds a niche for herself in the world, finds her way.  That, to me, is real life.  At the end of the book I felt I had experienced something; that I had taken in a new way of looking at the world.  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is an unusual book.  The author leads you down a path but in the end you do have to take a fairly large leap.  I enjoyed this book deeply, but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you do.