Category: Senior Literary

when thinking of books that have resonated with me – really, truly resonated with me – this book often heads the top of the list. this story by stephen chbosky has been in my life in many different forms, each one hitting me in a different way than the last.

the first experience i ever had with this story was in seventh grade, around the time its film adaptation came out. from the get-go, knowing nothing more about it than what i saw from trailers on tv, i despised it. absolutely wholeheartedly detested it, based solely on the idea that it was just some boring tumblr-cliche, hipster-y, coming-of-age junk. this was a time in my life where i very aggressively prided myself on the notion that i was “not like other girls” and utterly loathed anything that would categorize me as either a “basic white girl” or a pretentious hipster.

come eighth grade, however, things became a little different. i Totally Legally watched the film on my phone one night in bed and proceeded to cry my eyes out. truth be told, i think it’s the first film that’s ever drawn out completely gut-wrenching sobs from my body. this was a time in my life were i was – to put it lightly – having a really horrible time. it had become so easy for me to isolate myself and convince myself that things would never get any better. then i got curious, and i watched that film i had claimed to hate just a few months prior, and everything was new.

finally getting around to reading the book hit me even harder, although in a different way. it was interesting to see all of the details that felt so big and important while reading the book that didn’t make their way into the film, as well as to see little things that came up in their own subtle ways.

really, i was more enamored with how the book was able to capture something the film couldn’t quite get. i saw so much of myself in the main character, charlie – not in his experiences, but how he experiences. as i get older and find myself going back to this book, i find newer parts of myself that i didn’t have the last time i read the book. as i keep my own journal, just as charlie does, i begin to notice new parallels, and even lines that run together as one.

i feel that seldom do readers ever find a book that they can truly and wholeheartedly find themselves within. it’s not really a matter of connecting with the characters, but more so an act of seeing so much of oneself reflected through paper and ink. chbosky’s book is able to capture mature themes such as adolescence, mental illness, and sexual abuse in an innocent candor that i’ve yet to find match for. there’s something incredibly endearing about the sheer vulnerability of the story being told, as well as the fact that such mature themes never once take away from the innocence of how the story is being told. it’s something that has stuck with me not only as a reader, but as a writer who wants – more than anything – to share vulnerability with my own readers. the influence of this book’s storytelling on my own is unmatched by any book i’ve ever read, and i’m sure any book i ever will.

Everyone is aware of The Godfather.  If they’re not aware of Mario Puzo’s 1969 book, they are most likely aware of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film of the same name and probably even of its two sequels.  Even if they haven’t seen these films, they have likely seen parodies of the classic work of fiction that have been done by everyone from Rodney Dangerfield to The Rugrats.  The franchise’s imagery is universally recognizable, from the puppet master’s hand gracing the cover of the book and movie posters to that of Marlon Brando stroking a cat and wearing a tuxedo with cotton balls stuffed in his cheeks.

This book and its better known films did not invent their genre, but they perfected it.  The Godfather is to the crime genre as Star Wars is to science fiction.  It has inspired generations of artists to create classic works from GoodFellas to The Sopranos.  The Godfather put lines like “I’ll give him an offer he can’t refuse,” and “Leave the gun; take the cannoli,” into our collective awareness and shaped our very views of gangsters and the mafia.  Maybe this is why Book II has been so criminally (pun intended) overlooked.

The Godfather Book II is a two chapter chunk of Mario Puzo’s gangster epic centers around the fictional character of Johnny Fontane, a character that Puzo based on Frank Sinatra.  The character goes far deeper than a Sinatra impression however.  As of the start of the book, we have already been introduced Johnny in Book I.  (Perhaps you’re aware of a certain scene with a hacked-off horse head?)  A bit of a tragic character to begin with, Johnny is a famous singer in Hollywood who has lost his voice to drinking, smoking, and partying.  He is left only able to sing for a short time before needing nearly a month to recover.  This character description alone highlights a major theme of the book, that of the corruption of that which is pure by Hollywood.

Puzo does not hold any punches in his critique of the soulless machine that is Tinseltown.  When the book begins, Johnny is sharing dinner with Sharon Moore, a new girl in Hollywood, in his apartment.  By this time in his career, Johnny is something of a has-been, praying that what F. Scott Fitzgerald said about “no second acts” isn’t a reality.  The description of how this evening plays out is almost alien.  It seems that Johnny, inching ever closer to going to bed with the girl, is acting more out of habit than honest desire.  Still, he tries to get to know the girl and makes it clear that he is not purely interested in an emotionless quickie.  By the end of this evening, when the girl ultimately turns him down, Johnny isn’t so much disappointed as he is understanding.  He understands her motivations in refusing to sleep with the great Johnny Fontane.  Even so, he is clearly somewhat bothered by this, enough to slyly make sure she knows that he hadn’t truly tried his hardest to spend the night with her.

He does feel sorry for this almost immediately, not wanting to belittle her, even offering for her to call her if she ever need someone to talk to.  This endears the reader to Johnny and allows them to empathize with him.  He is our window into the heartless beast of Hollywood, but he is not Hollywood.  He is a human, and he is a victim of the town.  We are given hints of his inner humanity that are contrasted with his familiarity with the vices of the town, but we are not fully convinced of his goodness yet.  For that, Puzo carries us directly to Ginny, Johnny’s first wife.

Johnny calls Ginny after Sharon leaves and asks if he can come over just to talk.  He does so, and they discuss the date as well as Johnny’s new film.  Their interaction is caring but wholly unromantic.  As you read, you feel glad for Johnny that despite no longer being married to her, he has Ginny in his life as a sort of emotional stability.  This is something that Johnny needs since, as was clearly demonstrated on his date, it is not something that he can find from anyone else in Hollywood.

As they talk about his movie, Johnny remains comical, but it is clear to Ginny that he is not well.  Though the success of the movie is imperative to the continuation of his career, it is not clear if this is what Johnny truly needs in his life right now.

Johnny ends up spending the night at Ginny’s house in her guest bedroom and wakes up to a breakfast in bed and his two daughters running to him with hugs.  It feels almost as though we are seeing a perfect, happy, American family.  (Though it is not explicitly stated, it is nearly impossible for one to read this section and not envision a white picket fence outside the house.)

This scene is a stark contrast to the one that follows in which Johnny picks up Tom Hagen, Don Corleone’s lawyer, from the airport.  The Don helped to land Johnny the big role in the movie to begin with, and now Hagen has come to tell him that his chances of winning the Academy Award currently seem to be slim to none.  Johnny is enraged by this, nearly driven to tears.  Hagen doesn’t take long to correct himself, saying that the Don is capable of changing the current circumstances through his influence.   This calms Johnny, but doesn’t change that we have seen a new side of him, one that was grown of a seed planted in him by Hollywood.

A condition that the Don gives Johnny is that he must start along the road toward producing his own movies as he feels that this will help Johnny to support himself in the future if Hollywood big shots turn on him as they have before.  The Don offers to support him along the way, and it is incredible to see how, with the Don’s support, Johnny is easily able to hit the ground running and already be in pre-production of a new film with just a few phone calls.

It is here that the narrative takes a break to reflect on what has brought Johnny to this point in his life.  It discusses his second wife, Margot Ashton, for whom he left Ginny.  She is a personification of the evils of Hollywood, a gorgeous but cold and uncaring starlet who laughs in Johnny’s face in his lowest moment which she is the reason for.  She is the perfect contrast to Ginny, a kind, Italian woman, beautiful but not in the unobtainable way that the women of Hollywood are.

After making the phone calls to begin the turning of gears of his next film, Johnny Fontane makes another phone call, one to Nino Valenti.  Nino Valenti was Johnny’s close friend and singing partner growing up in New York whom he had always promised he would find work for should he make it big in Hollywood.  This, of course, never occurred though Johnny had been a successful movie star.  Now, as the sun rises on a new set of opportunities for Johnny, he calls his old friend to invite him to come to Hollywood in order to correct his past transgressions and please the Don.  This sets up Nino, a character being newly introduced to the alternate dimension of Hollywood as the perfect contrast Johnny, a character with a similar background to Nino but who has been almost entirely appropriated by the town’s twisted ideologies.  Having set up this interaction, Puzo ends the chapter here.

This chapter is a great work of literature.  It is one that both makes the reader empathize with its protagonist and worry for him.  It is also, perhaps, more relevant today than ever before with more and more of Hollywood’s underbelly being exposed to us with every passing day.  As this chapter is only one half of Book II of The Godfather, these themes are further dealt with in the second half where Puzo further ups the scale.  I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in reading this fascinating character study.

*Spoiler warning*

This weeks book review I am doing the one and only story of Artemis Fowl. This, in particular, is a series but I am going to be talking about book one. The title, in general, is called Artemis Fowl because, naturally, that’s all you really need for this book. After you start the ride there really is nothing else to capture your attention but a name. A name that you surely will not forget for years to come as you take the journey with this twelve-year-old boy.

Artemis Fowl is a book by Eoin Colfer. The opening pages are almost a warning. It goes on and says that the book was a record kept by someone over the years about Artemis. It continues to say that all of the stories in here were true to some extent and that this is their very first instance where they are face to face with Artemis and will, later on, take many more journeys with the boy. Of course, if you’re young that already peaks your curiosity. How can a little boy, age 12, be so powerful and feared and have a record at such a young innocent age? That’s when the book really begins and with the “warning” under your belt, you dive head first into the life of Artemis Fowl. 

It opens up with a chase of sorts, Young Artemis is with his “Butler” a big man with years of special training, sworn to protect Artemis with his life. They are looking for something. we later find out that something is a faerie book. Now already this book is noted to be fantasy. But the way Colfer sets up the world I wouldn’t be surprised if we did see faeries and trolls flying around. Each character in this is crafted meticulous and all of them are stereotypical but also unique in the best ways. Now back tot he story. when Artemis receives this book we finally get a clue into his personality. Artemis is the villain. Which already took me for a spin. We would be following the villain around. But could we sympathize with him in the story? The answer is YES! Through all the horrible terrible things he has done, you constantly see the little things that he is, young, alone, and desperate. We find out that his mother is terribly ill, and that his father is missing (presumably dead) . Those two things are big plot points in later books but for this one, not really. Even as he meets Holly, his captive in the story you still have to side with the villain on some points. Artemis is not truly looking to hurt anyone he only does what is necessary to reach his goal, and what is his goal? Money, the whole plot is to capture a leprechaun to get the gold to restore his family fortune. Of course, he still is rich but why not get a little more? So to not spoil too much. This is a story about a boy getting ready to take the journey of his life. This book is almost a giant exposition leading up to the later ones. The plot is strong but really it is to look at his character and make your assumption about everyone else as well. It’s honestly a great read and if you love fantasy and adventure the rest of the series would be right up your alley. 

Cell is a novel written by Stephen King, published in early 2006. The book is set inside of an apocalyptic world and follows a New England artist named Clayton Riddell in an attempt to reunite with his son and soon-to-be-ex-wife. At the beginning of the novel, a mysterious signal broadcast is aired over the global cell phone network and turns the majority of humankind into mindless, vicious animals.

Within the first part of the book, titled “The Pulse,” Clay stands behind three women (which he calls Pixie Light, Pixie Dark, and “the woman in the power suit”)  in line at an ice cream truck and sees them spiral out of control, as well as a man with his dog in the park near where he stands. Pixie Light holds a peppermint-colored cell phone, and Pixie Dark listens to the conversation going on as her friend holds the phone so they can both hear. The woman in the power suit is holding her phone to her ear and attempting to speak to a woman on the other end when suddenly, she pounces on the man inside of the truck and kills him. Then, Pixie Dark kills her, neither of them using a thing but their bare hands to do the deed. The friend, Pixie Dark, only catches a small portion of the broadcast and begins wandering the sidewalk, asking, “Who am I, who are you?” repeatedly running into a light post.

Clayton soon meets a man named Tom McCourt, who helps him with one of what they take to calling the “phone crazies” or “phoners” that comes after the two of them with a steak knife. The men soon make their way to the hotel Clay is staying in, where they find a young girl, named Alice Maxwell, hiding. Eventually, Clay convince Alice and Tom to let him venture on his trip to find his son, and they decide to go with him. The three catch disturbing hints about the activities of the phoners, who still attack non-phoners on sight.

They arrive at an academy with only one remaining teacher and just as many students. Jordan, the 12-year-old computer geek, and the teacher, Charles Ardai show the small group where the local phoner flock goes at night: they pack themselves into the Academy’s soccer field and “switch off” until morning. Together, they all assume that the phoners have become a hive mind and are developing psychic abilities and soon decide they must destroy the flock, and, using two propane tankers, they succeed in doing so.

That night, all of the survivors share the same horrific dream: each sees him- or herself in a stadium, surrounded by phoners, as a disheveled man wearing a Harvard University sweatshirt approaches, bringing their death. Waking, the heroes share their frightening dream experiences, dub him “the Raggedy Man,” and soon learn that he is the metaphorical spokesman of the flock.

(to be continued…)

“I’ll Give You the Sun” by Jandy Nelson is one of my all-time favorite books. It is set in an upstate California town, narrated by two siblings, Noah and Jude. They are twins who see the world the same way at the beginning of the book, but as the book goes on, and they fall away from each other, their differences become more apparent. They both struggle with the same internal struggle of wanting to be their own independent people, despite being twins, and their story follows them through their stages of grief after losing their mom in a car accident. 

Noah, the ‘younger’ of the twins is narrating their younger years, and we follow him in his efforts to get into the local art high school. His narration is very close to being unreliable due to his exaggerated accounts of his surroundings. It is often hard to tell what is really happening and what is actually real. His narration was the polar opposite of his sister’s in his accounts of growing up. He made it very obvious that he had lost his mother, distanced himself from his father, and barely talked to his sister. As the book goes on, he uncovers his most prevalent internal and external struggles, revealing him being gay, and how he has to reevaluate who he hangs out with and how he has to act. While his mother is alive, he is somewhat comfortable in being the artsy, weird gay kid, but after she dies, he takes time completely rearrange how he lives. After Jude, his sister, sabotages his portfolio for the art school, and his mother dies,  he becomes the popular, athletic kid. It’s a very interesting way to see how different grief and self-loathing can affect characters. 

Jude, polar opposite of her brother, begins the book being a sunny and cool character. She is the typical rendition of surfer-popular-girl. She has the most friends and distances herself from her weird brother unless they’re hidden away at home. She hangs out with guys older than her and goes to too many parties. She grew up being closer to her father, but striving to gain her mom’s approval. Her narration starts as soon as her mother dies, and the total shift in her character is even more extreme than her brother’s. She begins to totally isolate herself, wearing baggy clothes in hopes that boys will not notice her, and talking to her dead grandmother’s ghost. Because of Noah meddling with her portfolio, she gets into the art school, but is close to flunking out because she thinks her mother’s angry spirit is breaking her sculptures. Through much personal growth and revealing secrets about her mother and herself, she eventually realizes that she is not cursed and the whole family finally reunite again. 

I love this book for so many reasons, but the main one is the beautiful way Nelson captures the process of grief. I was recommended this book in a very hard time after I lost a loved one, and reading it was very refreshing. I stand by it being my favorite book, telling anyone I see that they should definitely give it a read. 

The Ancient Magus’ Bride is a 10 volume manga series written by Kore Yamazaki. The series follows the adventures of Chise Hatori, an orphan sleigh buggy, and her fiance and mentor, Elias Ainsworth.

Volume 1 is jam-packed with content. But the most significant portions in my opinion would include Chise’s run in with the fairies, the couple’s visit with Angelica, and the ending scenes that ultimately lead to the next volume.

Of course, there are many things that happen in this volume that are significant to the story as a whole, like her visit with Lindel and his dragons (more specifially Nevin). But I find these scenes to be more filler content and explanatory than anything else.

From the start, everything is fast paced and it gives very little direct information about how it is Chise was sold into slavery. Of course, there are bits and pieces we get from her memory that give us slight hints as to how her home life negatively affected her.

The first we really hear of Chise’s family starts with the fairies. Ultimately, we learn that after he mother’s death, she was passed around from family member to family member until she willingly gave herself up for auction. This lack of family and love makes her susceptible to the fairies’ somewhat sinister plans. However, it is this same sentiment that makes her deny the fairies.

After this encounter, Elias takes Chise into the city where they meet with an old friend of his. In true manga form, Angelica, an artificer mage, has a small breakdown upon learning of the couple’s engagement. She throws Elias out of her shop and begins to shed light upon the more magical aspects of the world Chise has found herself thrust into.

Here we learn about difference in Alchemy and Magic. Angelica, not knowing of Chise’s sleigh buggy status, has Chise try out some magic. This of course goes wrong and Elias has to step in before the entire shop is turned into a crystal poppy field. This is where we learn what a sleigh buggy is.

Skip to the end of Chapter 5, we find Chise at the beginning of a purification spell. This of course seems dumb considering how inexperienced she is. If you think back to her first try at magic by which she almost destroyed Angelica’s shop, you’d agree that she should not be performing magic at this time.

Elias says that his powers are more aligned with the darker side of nature. Personally, I feel this excuse was not worth the problems that would have definitely arrived with Chise doing somewhat complicated spell work.

But of course, right as she is separated from Elias and beginning her spell, Renfred and apprentice capture her. Now, this being the first volume of the series, there was no way we could have expected Yamazaki to not leave us hanging.

Overall, if you like fantasical magic, inhuman creatures, narcissistic alchemist, and cliff hangers, this is most definitely the manga for you.

Tune in next month for The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol. 2.

the very first words readers ever see in this book are, “my name is mary iris malone, and i am not okay.” that’s it; that’s the first chapter. all you really know about the main character is her name, and you’re left wondering why she isn’t okay. of course, author david arnold is quick to provide the background and leap straight into the beef of her adventure. mary iris malone (mim) is not okay, and she’s trekking herself from jackson, mississippi back to her hometown in ohio to find her mom.

from the get-go, 16-year-old mim is sure of herself and her convictions. she despises her stepmother and father for hiding her birth mother’s illness from her and making her family move away, and she’s convinced that running away and going back to her mother will make everything okay again. her confidence makes readers trust her, because what does she have to lose? why would mim fabricate a story for herself just to ride a greyhound bus from mississippi to ohio?

readers receive real-time, first-person accounts of her journey to her mother. this is where her convictions start to become a little… fishy. it becomes very easy to get enveloped in the world of mim, which makes it difficult to pull away from it and ask, “why?” the extravagance of her tale and the strength of her emotions almost make mim’s story feel unbelievable. but she’s our protagonist, our heroine, so we want to believe mim. we want to understand her truth as nothing less than the truth.she’s weird and she’s endearing and we can’t help but love her, despite the little red flags telling us to proceed with caution.

as we learn more and more about mim, we also learned that she knows less and less of what she’s doing. readers experience her world and her plans completely unravel around her; everything she thought she knew was a lie, and we want to stick by her as she grapples with this new reality. and by the end of it all, we learn that mim’s convictions weren’t all she led readers to believe – or even what she herself believed. but we feel for her, and we want her story to end happily.

life throws mim curveball after curveball, and she deals with them by manipulating them into something manageable until making them easier to swallow isn’t possible anymore. they solidify into her reality with the grounding words: “a thing’s not a thing until you say it out loud.” she learns that in order to recognize the truths of her life and change her life for the better, she must first acknowledge the existence of such truths. this is of course an important lesson for all of us, the acknowledgement that it really is okay not to be okay.

david arnold’s mosquitoland is definitely a book to remember, from the idiosyncratic characterization its protagonist to the absolutely whirlwind plot to the lessons on humanity that never quite leave you. mary iris malone is not okay, and she doesn’t have to be. she just has to say it out loud.