tiny pink books

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Random House 2006

In their first co-written novel, YA veterans Rachel Cohn (Gingerbread, Shrimp) and David Levithan (Boy Meets Boy) take a unique approach and take turns writing chapters of the book from their respective character voices ( Cohn as Norah and Levithan as Nick).

The book begins in a New York city club where Nick’s queercore band is playing a show.  His ex-girlfriend, Tris, walks into the club with a new guy and Nick can’t handle it.  As she approaches him at the bar after the show, he turns to the closest girl he can find, Norah, and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes, so as to avoid talking to Tris.  Thus, our characters begin an intense and interesting night in the city as they both attempt to get over the heartbreaks of their pasts and get to know each other.

The plot, as you can see from my five sentence summary, isn’t all that complicated.  The relationships and the characters that make up the plot, however, are very much complicated.  The conflicts in this book are purely internal and the emotions are very well written.  Cohn and Levithan do a good job of writing the pasts of their characters and it’s easy to like them and understand their emotions.  Music, also, is a central theme to the book (as if you couldn’t tell by the “playlist” reference in the title!).  Nick and Norah are not just into punk, the genre of choice for our characters, they simply love music and its is central to both of their characters.

What I liked about this book was the punk rock fairy tale feel to it.  The book reads a lot like Francesca Lia Bloc.  The downside is that Nick and Norah’s is not quite as whimsical, and therefore charming, as Block’s works.  Some of the constant references to the punk scene in Nick and Norah’s feel a little forced at times.  I’ve had the same issue when I tried to read some of Coen’s other books in the past.  Overall though, I’d recommend this book to teen readers who are looking for an “edgy” teen romance or a music theme.  Fans of Block and fans of Coen’s will feel right at home with this one as well.

The Running Man by Stephen King/Richard Bachman

So after The Long Walk, I thought I’d try giving another book by Stephen King, once again written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman (I’ve got an old, falling apart paperback with them both included).  The Running Man is another science fiction novel set in a bleak, but not too distant, future in the US where Ben Richards enters a deadly game show contest to try and make money to care for his sick daughter.  “The Running Man” is a televised game show where the contestant, Ben Richards, is proclaimed to be a deadly enemy of the government and the public.  He is given a lump of money and is sent running.  His goal is to evade capture and execution by the law enforcement, civilians, and a team of professional hunters.  He also must produce and mail in two video clips of himself every 24 hours.  Every night, his clips are broadcast to the public, where he is slandered as a murderer and scoundrel to incite the public into killing or turning him in for monetary reward.  Basically, he doesn’t stand a chance.  For every hour that he survives, he wins a certain amount of money (which is to go to his family in the inevitable event that he is caught and killed).  If he is caught, he will be killed.  Basically, King has created another live or die game that focuses on the human fascination on the spectacle of violence.

The world in The Running Man echos the same dystopian US that King wrote in The Long Walk, except the world of The Running Man is somehow a little more bleakly hopeless and more divided between rich and poor.  I don’t know why, because The Long Walk was certainly desperately hopeless, but there is absolutely no glimmer of happiness or hope in The Running Man.  From the very first chapter of the book, it’s somehow evident that Ben Richards, his family, and the entire human race is doomed to failure.  The pace of The Running Man is much faster, but there’s something about the hopelessness that nullifies the exciting race of the game.  As the number of pages left in the book dwindled and the plot grew ever more dire, I became annoyed with the book.  As exciting and intriguing as the concept is, The Running Man just doesn’t go anywhere.  Although parts of it are fun and, on a whole, the book is very much readable, I found the book to be a little disappointing.  I’d recommend it to die hard Stephen King fans or to readers needing more after the more interesting and faster page turning Long Walk…

The Long Walk
by Stephen King/Richard Bachman

Brutal is the word for this book.  Written by Stephen King under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, The Long Walk is a quick read about a violent and horrific walking contest in an alternate reality United States.  In The Long Walk, one hundred teenager boys are chosen to participate in the annual contest.  The rules of the contest are simple; you walk or you die.  When a walker fails to keep up with the walking pace of 4 miles per hour, they are given three, thirty second warnings before they are shot dead by the military troops who referee the contest.  The boys walk with no rest until there is only one survivor.  If a walker tries to leave the road or quit the contest, they are shot.  Walkers are given water and tubes of concentrated food, but they are never allowed to rest.  The march to the death spans hundreds of miles and several days of brutality and death.
The characters of The Long Walk are an interesting bunch, though they sort of blend together (even the main character, Ray Garraty, fails to stand out much as an individual).  It’s hard to understand why anyone would want to participate in such a challenge (despite the fabled prize–anything the winner wants for the rest of their life).  King’s use of teenage boys seems to help alleviate this issue.  The boys, at first, seem to lack a real understanding of the fragile position of their mortality.  Entered into the contest for a variety of reasons, but mostly for the glory that comes along with being a walker, the boys have an almost immature attitude of the fate that awaits 99 of them in this walk.  As the walk moves forward and the body count rises, the boys confront death in their own ways.

Also interesting is the fascination that the general population in King’s US have with death and the walk itself.  Crowds line the roads, growing more and more dense as the walk grows more and more bloody, cheering on walkers and celebrating the spectacle and entertainment of their deaths.  In some ways, this was a tough book to read.  It peaked my curiosity and, although the plot lagged at points (it’s a fairly simple concept), it read quickly.  The characters sort of blur together throughout the book, but the battling forces of antagonism and friendship makes for interesting, though dated, dialog and a pretty gripping concept.  I’d recommend this to teenagers, especially boys, who are looking for a fast and gripping read.  I warn readers though, this is a brutal concept and, if you’re at all squeamish about the concept, it can be quite sickening.  You can probably guess from the concept, but this book has a fair share of gore, violence, and more violence.

The Queen of Babble
by Meg Cabot
What is up with me and Meg Cabot?  I know, I know.  I recently read The Boy Next Door and was disappointed by the inane plot and the ridiculous characters.  Well, yeah…I was disappointed, but I was also secretly pleased with the refreshing hibernation that was given to my mind each morning on my commute as I read.  So onward, I delved, into the work of Meg Cabot.
The Queen of Babble is about Lizzie, a recent college graduate (or non-graduate, due to technicalities) who is off to England for the summer to visit her suave British boyfriend, Andrew.  Only, things don’t go so well with Andrew, who turns out to be not-so-suave, and Lizzie finds herself traveling alone by train to France to meet up with her best friends who are spending the summer at a fairytale chateau.  On the way to France, Lizzie meets a handsome young stranger to whom she babbles her story to, embarrassing details and all.  Except…it turns out that the handsome stranger is a friend of a friend and it staying at the very same chateau.  It goes on.  There’s romance, complete with simple, formulaic obstacles, and drama ahead.
The story of Queen of Babble is silly and fluffy, without much dramatic (or intellectual!) substance.  And yet…the book is fun to read, the characters are likable enough, and I finished the book with no regrets.  My only issues are that the story is extremely formulaic and that this book suffers, though not as badly, the same issue as many of Cabot’s other books in that it struggles to find a place between a teenager’s and young adult woman’s perspective.  I don’t want to give too much away, but in the first page or two of the book, Lizzie is babbling with much ado about her boyfriend Andrew and how *gasp* his tongue has been in her mouth.  Later, however, she has sex without even a trace of the giggly, ohmigod fanfare.  Aside from those issues, however, Cabot has managed to create a likable set of characters to pull this one off…for chicklit readers anyway.  I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone seeking a deep of thoughtful read though.  Cleary, this is a sumertime beach book if there ever was one.

High Fidelity
Nick Hornby
If you’ve seen the movie with John Cussack first (like I had), there’s not much to be gained by reading the book.  It’s no loss and it’s a thoroughly entertaining  book, but it’s not that different than the movie–which is surprising since the movie is set in Chicago and the book is set in London.  Despite that, I still thought that High Fidelity was an excellent book.

Record store owner Rob Flemming has jumped from relationship to relationship since he was 14.  After his girlfriend Laura leaves him, he revisits his relationships, trying to figure out why he seems doomed to fail in ever relationship he enters.  It’s a simple plot, but it’s very effective because of the characters and the voice of Rob.  Worth a read for those readers seeking books about relationships or a different take on chicklit.

The Boy Next Door
by Meg Cabot

This book has earned its place as my new most embarrassing book to read in public to date.  I made a special point to fold the pages of this book over, hiding the cheesy cover which seemed to scream the announcement “Yes I read mindless, fluffy chicklit!”  I guess I wouldn’t have been so embarrassed to be reading this book if it had not been for the general low quality of the entire concept. The Boy Next Door is a romantic story Mel, young gossip columnist for a New York newspaper, who ends up falling in love with John, a crime reporter and all around cool guy from a wealthy family…only get this, due to totally pointless and silly circumstances, John is forced to conceal his real identity from Mel, resulting in a web of lies.  Oh yeah and did I mention that the entire novel is told through emails to and from the main characters and their friends?  Yup.  Are you starting to understand my embarrassment in reading this book?

So there’s several problems with this book, most of which can be summed up by the statement that another reader scrawled on the title page of the copy I read from the public library:  “This book is stupid.”  Meg Cabot has written many young adult novels, some of which I’ve enjoyed in the same fluffy, don’t make me think kind of way that I had hoped to enjoy this one.  Only, The Boy Next Door is not a YA novel.  It’s sort of awkwardly in the middle.  The characters are in their mid to late twenties and appear to have grown up careers, apartments, etc.   They are supposed to be adults…albeit young ones.  The real problem with The Boy Next Door (aside from the obvious fact that it is written in the whole email format!) is that the characters behave like teenagers.  It makes little sense why grown ups, with real problems, real jobs, and real life experience, would act so silly.  Even teenagers would have more sense than the characters in this book!  The main problem of the book (the mistaken identity thing) isn’t the least bit plausible because any grown man like John would have cleared up the whole silly thing immediately.  Almost all of the problems in this book stem from that.  The characters feel very one dimensional and are either extremely stupid or extremely immature, neither of which works out to an enjoyable novel.  At the same time, I did read this cover to cover, perhaps because it was the only book in my bag while I was riding the train last week or perhaps because, even though I felt insulted as a reader by this book, I ended up getting a tiny bit sucked into the inane story…just to see where it went.

Breaking Dawn
by Stephenie Meyer

I feel like it’s quite unnecessary to review Breaking Dawn, as most of us have already made up out our minds about the Twilight series by now.  Breaking Dawn is just what you’d expect from the 4th installment of this hugely popular YA/Vampire/Romance series.  It’s thick (over 700 pages!), it’s melodramatic, and, if you’re into the whole Bella Edward chronicles, you can’t put it down!  There are some key elements delivered by Breaking Dawn that stand out of from the series.  For one thing, there isn’t really a cliffhanger ending (in fact, some might complain about the neatly tied up ending) and for another, Edward and Bella finally move forward through the stages of intense teenage longing and into a more active stage in their relationship (if you get what I’m implying here).  For those unfamiliar with the series (seriously, you need to go visit your bookstore of library!), the Twilight saga is about Bella Swan, a perfectly normal, kind of awkward, teen in Forks, Oregon with just one special problem–the love of her life, Edward Cullen, is a vampire. 
Breaking Dawn was a satisfying read.  There’s actually much more shifts in the dynamics between characters than one comes to expect from Stephanie Meyer and the book leaves with a feeling of closure.  Perhaps Meyer will stick to her guns and this really will stand as the conclusion to the Twilight  saga (though fear not fans, she’s already busy writing another book, Midnight Sun, which will tell the events of the Twiligjht saga as we know it through another character’s point of view.