Back to School September 27, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Randomness.add a comment
As you may have noticed from my severe gap between posts, I am back to PA school getting my tush kicked. So it may be a while before my next review. I have read some more books though, so look forward to reviews of:
Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
The Serpent’s Tale by Ariana Franklin
The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Twisted by Andrea Kane
Thanks for your patience!
The Girls September 7, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Conjoined Twins, Crainopagus Twins, Fiction, Lori Lansens, The Girls
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—4—
I bought The Girls by Lori Lansens a long way back; I found the hardcover super cheap at Borders one day. Well, I finally got around to reading it, and I wish I hadn’t waited so long!
The Girls is written from the perspectives of Rose and Ruby Darlen, two sisters who are incredibly different. Rose loves to write, and to read, and watch sports. Ruby is more practical in a way. She is always sick, and often embarrassed by her sister. Both work at the local library, Rose sorting and shelving books, Ruby reads to the children’s classes. This story of sisters wouldn’t be unusual, except that Rose and Ruby are conjoined at the head. Rose decides to write the story of her life, and realizes that Ruby must play a role in that story as well. They are approaching their 30 birthday, at which time they will become the oldest surviving craniopagus twins. Rose has an authors’ heart, she tells her story in sweeping words and grand events. Ruby, however, is reluctant to write her chapters. She cannot see how anyone would be interested in their story. Ruby becomes the narrator that tells us the details of the girls’ lives, and of the everyday struggle that they must lead. Soon, Ruby realizes that writing is cathartic to her as well.
The story is wonderful just for the way it makes the reader think about how life would be different if you could never be physically separated from another person. You’d never take a trip on your own, you couldn’t even use the bathroom on your own! Others would stare and ask questions. But, you would never be without someone who loved you. Rose and Ruby long for many things in their life, but they both agree that they would never wish to be separated, and even though joined, they are their own women.
4/5
Coraline September 7, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction, Young-Adult Fiction.Tags: Best Sellers, Children's Fiction, Coraline, Fiction, Neil Gaiman, Stardust
3 comments
—4.5—
I saw that the children’s book Coraline by Neil Gaiman was being made into a movie and decided that it was time to pick it up and read it before the film was released. I read the standard book, but there is a graphic novel version that recently came out that some may be interested in.
Coraline lives in a big house that has been divided into smaller apartments. She has several entertaining neighbors. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are former actresses, who are now rather round, and they love to regale Coraline with the stories of their past glory. Stranger still is the old man who lives above Coraline who tells her that he is teaching his mice to play instruments. But, Coraline is bored. She loves to explore, but on a rainy day she is trapped inside. She counts all the doors, and finds that one is locked. When her mother unlocks it, the doorway is blocked up with bricks. One day however, the bricks are gone, and there is another world on the other side of the door. A world that mirrors her own, with an other-mother, and an other-father, who have button eyes, and don’t want Coraline to leave.
Yes, it is as ominous as it sounds. But I think Coraline works as a children’s book because kids will see it as a fantasy, dark as it may be. Adults, however, will understand how creepy this book is. I really enjoyed the simplicity of this book, and the strength and wit of little Coraline. The story plus the excellent drawings accompanying it remind a lot of Tim Burton or The Nightmare Before Christmas. I would recommend this short read for older children and adults alike!
4.5/5
Read my review of Neverwhere and Stardust by Neil Gaiman too!
New York Times Bestsellers 9.7.08 September 7, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Randomness.add a comment
Top 5
1. DEVIL BONES, by Kathy Reichs
2. THE GYPSY MORPH, by Terry Brooks
3. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
4. SILKS, by Dick Francis and Felix Francis
5. THE HOST, by Stephenie Meyer
Top 5
1. STORI TELLING, by Tori Spelling with Hilary Liftin
2. THE OBAMA NATION, by Jerome R. Corsi
3. ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA, by Chelsea Handler
4. WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, by David Sedaris
5. THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA, by David Freddo
Plain Truth September 3, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Amish, Fiction, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, Plain Truth
3 comments
—4—
Well I really enjoyed Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper so I borrowed Plain Truth (thanks Lyndsie!). It was really good too! Katie Fisher is 18 and Amish. When a dead neonate is found on her family’s farm, she not only denies the murder, but also the pregnancy and birth, despite all the medical evidence saying otherwise. Ellie Hathway, a distant relation who is becoming a well-respected Philadelphia lawyer, takes on the case as a family favor. Ellie has come to the farm to reevaluate some aspects of her life, including the cases in which she helps guilty men walk free, and the fact that she is 39 and wishes for a child. When bail is set, Ellie is required to go live on the farm and keep track of Katie. And so Ellie is forced to adjust to an Amish lifestyle. She is the outsider in the community, and is trying hard to defend a client who she feels is not honest with her. To help her defend Katie, she calls an old friend, Dr. John Cooper, who is a clinical psychiatrist. Cooper tries to evaluate what exactly Katie is repressing, and helps Ellie figure out what really happened to the dead infant. In the process, he and Ellie must work out long unresolved issues between them.
Learning about the Amish culture and way of life was really enlightening to me. I enjoyed watching Ellie’s transformation from resentment and frustration towards this way of life to a quiet respect for the people and the practices. While not as powerful as My Sister’s Keeper, Plain Truth is a very well-written, fascinating look into another culture within our own society, and a courtroom drama to boot! I thought the beginning of the book had a bit more spark, but I wasn’t disappointed in the end.
4/5
Check out my review of My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
My Sister’s Keeper September 3, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Best Sellers, Fiction, Jodi Picoult, Medical Ethics, My Sister's Keeper, Plain Truth
1 comment so far
—4—
Anna Fitzgerald knows that she was created in order to donate her cord blood to her sister with a rare form of leukemia. However, as years have progressed, the donations from Anna have become more and more invasive. Now at 13, the next procedure on the list is a kidney donation, and she decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation. The doctors have said that her sister, Kate, probably wont survive the transplant, and there are risks to Anna as well, and if Kate did survive, this pattern would just continue.
Kate and Anna have an older brother who has adjusted even worse to Kate’s chronic illness. From lack of attention and a guilt over his inability to help Kate, Jesse has turned into a rebellious, criminal teen. The kids’ dad, Brian, is a comforting and understanding player in their lives, but is still pushing to do anything to save Kate. Finally there is Sara, the children’s mother, who loves all her children but is furious with Anna for condemning her older daughter to death and splitting the family. Sara becomes the opposing lawyer for the case, and Anna turns to Cambell Alexander, a completely narcissistic lawyer who sees Anna as a way to get some media attention. Anna also receives a guardian appointed by the court, Julia, who’s role is to look out for Anna, since she happens to live with opposing counsel.
I found My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult very moving and powerful. I love a good medical ethics conundrum. Each chapter is told by a different narrator, so you can see how this incredibly messy and emotional situation arose. My favorite character was Julia, she seemed so level headed and kind, and the dynamic that arose between her and Cambell was very entertaining. My least favorite chapters were told by Sara. Picoult attempts to make her sympathetic and show that she really does love Anna, but I never found it convincing. The anger she exhibited towards Anna, when Anna’s whole life she’d given all that was needed from her, never seemed justified. And while I don’t have experience with this type of illness in a family member, I couldn’t believe how she could just neglect everyone but Kate. My only other problem with this novel was the ending, it was such a punch in the gut! I can’t give anything away here, but I felt a little peeved when this twist came along.
My Sister’s Keeper confronts an issue that I think will be huge in the near future – genetic planning. I have heard of families conceiving another child in the hopes that they would be a donor match for an already existing child; but this goes beyond – to the point of picking out specifically the genes and the proteins that will make a perfect match. It will be possible I’m sure, and it will be a major ethics battle. Where do you draw the line when trying to save someone you love?
4/5
Shakespeare: The World as Stage September 2, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, Nonfiction.Tags: Bill Bryson, Shakespeare, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
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—3.5—
Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: World as Stage is a deviation from Bryson’s norm. Here, he contributes to the Eminent Lives series, which uses well-known authors to biography famous figures . As we quickly find in this work, there is not much known about William Shakespeare, and much of what we thought we knew is unconfirmed or down-right fabricated. We don’t even know what he truly looked like, because the portraits we have have either been retouched or were painted well after his death. The authorities on Shakespeare know barely more than the average man, and much “information” is conjecture from analysis of his work. Bryson does a magnificent job sticking to the facts, and illuminating the controversial arguments as to who this Shakespeare fellow really was. I especially enjoyed when Bryson pointed out the absurd things scholars do to try and learn more about Shakespeare, including counting every word he wrote (that we have), or how many times a certain word appears in his plays. Shakespeare: World as Stage is brief, but it has to be considering how little we know about the most famous author of all time. As always, Bryson is quite charming, but if you want a true taste of Bryson’s work, I wouldn’t recommend this as the first to pick up by the author.
3.5/5
Check out my review of Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
