Untouchable by Scott O'Connor

It is the autumn of 1999. A year has passed since Lucy Darby's sudden and unexpected death, leaving her husband David and son Whitley to mend the gaping hole in their lives. David, a trauma-site cleanup technician, spends his nights expunging the violent remains of strangers, helping their families to move on, though he is unable to do the same. Whitley an 11 year-old social pariah known simply as The Kid hasn't spoken since his mother's death. Instead, he communicates through a growing collection of notebooks, living in a safer world of his own silent imagining.

This was a slow, sad and depressing book.

Darby and his son, "The Kid", are still reeling from the death of their wife/mother a year later. Darby is haunted by her death and deals by blocking things out. The Kid deals by not speaking since his mothers death.

This book made me mad. It had the story line of a great book but the way it was laid out and written ruined it for me.

The writing wasn't terrible. O'Connor is a good writer. His descriptions are very detailed but, in most cases in this book, the long, detailed descriptions weren't needed where they were put. There were times where O'Connor went so in depth in a scene, down to minute details, about things that weren't necessary to write that much about. Then, there were scenes that seemed incredibly important that were just grazed over. They were just tossed to the side.

The character development was good. I especially liked once it got farther into the story with the father. I was confused and intrigued.

The biggest flaw of the entire book is it's layout. It is horrible and confusing. There are chapters in it but I'm not quite sure why. The story goes between Darby, The Kid and flashbacks without any distinction. One paragraph is The Kid in school dealing with bullies and the next is him sitting with his mom. There were no transitions into anything. It was a jumbled mess. I almost didn't finish it just because of this.

The last 60 pages or so were really good, though. This is when you finally find out what really happened to Mrs. Darby and get to crack into the mind of Darby. It was the best part of the whole book.

Oh, and if you like endings tied into neat little packages, you will be very disappointed with this one.

2.5 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:Untouchable

No One by Gwenaelle Aubry

Cleaning up her father’s home after his death, Gwenaëlle Aubry discovered a handwritten, autobiographical manuscript with a note on the cover: “to novelize.” The title was The Melancholic Black Sheep, but the subtitle An Inconvenient Specter had been crossed out. The specter? Her father’s disabling bipolar disorder. Aubry had long known that she wanted to write about her father; his death, and his words, gave her the opportunity to explain his many absences—even while he was physically present—and to sculpt her memory of him.

I received an advanced copy of this book. It is a translation of her book Personne. The book comes out February 2012.

Aubry's father was never a regular father. He struggled with mental disorders her entire life. After he dies, she finds a manuscript in his home. This story is her tells her fathers story while, also, trying to make sense of his disorder, of all mental illness.

First, this is a 'fictional memoir'. I've never been a big fan of these types of books. I feel like I am being told a lie and it's being sold as the truth. I don't like them in general. Especially if I know some background of the person(s) it's about. Thankfully I know nothing of Aubry or her father.

The book goes back and forth between Aubry's memories and thoughts to parts of her fathers own memoirs. It gave some good insight into the life of someone struggling with mental illness and, also, into the life of their family members, also struggling to deal with it. The chapters are named by the letters of the alphabet, each one corresponds to a word that reminds her of her father. I liked how they were broken up in such a personal way.

Aubry's writing is very simple but beautiful. The simplicity of it really adds emotion to the narrators voice. In it you can feel her love, hate and confusion for her father. I enjoyed that aspect of it. The fathers voice is unique, too. You could see how intelligent he was during his lucid times and how confusing it was for him during his 'mad' times. It was very interesting.

The story can be dull at times. It didn't keep my attention the entire way. There were parts where I really struggled.

Also, the layout of the writing drove me crazy. The lack of punctuation and capitalization, in places, made it confusing and hard to get through. I'm not sure if it was supposed to add to the insight of mental illness or if it is the result of poor editing. Though, it may not be like this in the finished, published, book.

It was an interesting read and beautifully written. I think it's worth a read if it sounds like something that would interest you.

3 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:No One

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever....

This was definitely a page turner.

Jeannette Walls grew up with unconventional parents. They pushed their kids to live outside the "norm" and experience life in a different way. While this sounds great, when you add in alcohol, selfishness and, what most likely was, mental illness, it turns out horribly wrong in most cases.

Jeannette, along with her two sisters and brother, are left to their own devices at a very young age, searching through trash to find things to eat, struggling to keep warm in the dead of winter in a house with no heat or electricity and finding a place to just wash up on occasion. Not to mention the countless times their parents made them pack up with a seconds notice and move on to the next city.

At times it can be very difficult to read this book. I cannot fathom some of the things these children had to go through. There are times where I love their mothers thoughts on life and society, she was incredibly open-minded. Most of the time, though, I hated her guts. As a mother myself, it made me sick to my stomach to read how much she neglected her children, how selfish she was. To hoard a candy bar while your children haven't eaten in days or refusing to sell a ring to pay your bills for a few days, it is sickening. I would give up everything for my children.

Jeannette is very good writer. She takes you on the journey through her life without self pity and whining. My problem with this book was, while trying to be matter of fact with her writing, I felt she closed herself out, emotionally. There was no emotion in her story telling. Often times a subject would drop and you are left wanting to know how she felt, how she got through it. I wish there would have been a little more personal emotions put in.

The Glass Castle is a great book. It proves that, no matter how your childhood was, how bad your parents were, you can overcome and make a good life for yourself, if you choose to.

It is worth the read.

4 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:The Glass Castle: A Memoir

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn't have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn't have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn't have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her "Chief." She'd know about her mom's new family. She'd know about her dad's fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn't have wanted to kiss him back.
 
But Naomi picked heads.
 After her remarkable debut, Gabrielle Zevin has crafted an imaginative second novel all about love and second chances.

I really thought I was going to love this one. In the end, it was just another okay book.

Naomi Porter doesn't remember the simple things in life. She doesn't remember her best friend, or her boyfriend or how to drive a car. Because of a coin toss she hit her head on cement steps and wakes up with amnesia. Now she has to learn the last 4 years all over again.

I liked the book in the beginning. It had so much potential and I was interested in Naomi as a character. It just went down hill from there.

The writing was good. Zevin did a great job giving the teenage girl a voice. It wasn't that long ago that I was there and I can remember thinking many of the things Naomi did. There was no climax though. She loses her memory, re-learns things, changes who she doesn't remember being, remembers and changes again. That is it. Most of the characters didn't sit well with me either.

I liked the subject of James' mental health. Zevin took that on and handled it well. I had a couple of  'been there' moments. Also, Will, Naomi's best friend, he was the best character of the entire book. I was happy when he was in the story. He is funny, quirky, adorable and confident. I loved him.

My biggest problem with the book was that it was too cliché. A teenage girl struggling to find her identity, the endless string of boys, it got tiring.

I didn't hate the book, there were a few redeeming qualities but not enough to completely win me over.

3 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon

While parked at a gas station, Rhonda sees something so incongruously surreal that at first she hardly recognizes it as a crime in progress. She watches, unmoving, as someone dressed in a rabbit costume kidnaps a young girl. Devastated over having done nothing, Rhonda joins the investigation. But the closer she comes to identifying the abductor, the nearer she gets to the troubling truth about another missing child: her best friend, Lizzy, who vanished years before.

I read another book by McMahon, 'Promise Not to Tell' and from what I remember, as it was quite some years ago, I enjoyed it. So I thought I would give this one a try too. I wish I hadn't.

Rhonda is sitting at a gas station, waiting for her car to fill up, when she sees a 6' tall, white rabbit abduct a little girl from the back of a car. She doesn't realize what really happened in front of her until it is too late. Now ridden with guilt, she dedicates her time to helping find this little girl, all while remembering her childhood.

The story goes back and forth between the present, 2006, where Rhonda witnesses an abduction to 1993, when she recalls a difficult time in her childhood. It also throws in some scenes from the rabbits point of view.

There were several things wrong with this book. First, the main character, Rhonda, is annoying. She is so naive and blind to reality that I couldn't connect with her at all. I got frustrated on so many occasions because of her ignorance. The rest of the characters weren't interesting either.

Second, the main story, the kidnapping, was pushed into the background a lot by the 'back story'. I actually enjoyed the back story more. It was more interesting and I liked the younger versions of the characters much more than their adult versions.

The writing was bad, too. McMahon switched from first person to third person randomly in the middle of the story. No reason for it at all. Maybe she just forgot? The way the story is laid out is confusing too. Trying to remember who is who is really hard to do, especially in the beginning. Other things didn't add up either, I won't go into details so I don't spoil it for those who may want to read the book, but I was angry and confused at several parts of the plot. Not to mention there was no real climax. The mysteries were all wrapped up quickly in the simplest way possible, someone just confessed.

And if I never hear the word rabbit again, I will die happy. It was so redundant!

The only positive thing I can say about this book is that it does bring you into it. I was reading, all while annoyed, and when I looked down I was 100 pages in. Oh, and there are small periods of suspense.

In the end, I found myself scanning through most of it just to find out if I had the myseteries solved, which, for the most part, I did.

It's not worth the time, in my opinion.

1.5 out of 5 stars.

Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly

AS INDIVIDUALS, CONGRESSWOMAN GABRIELLE GIFFORDS and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, showed Americans how optimism, an adventurous spirit, and a call to service can help change the world. As a couple, they became a national example of the healing power to be found in deeply shared love and courage. Their arrival in the world spotlight came under the worst of circumstances. On January 8, 2011, while meeting with her constituents in Tucson, Arizona, Gabby was the victim of an assassination attempt that left six people dead and thirteen wounded. Gabby was shot in the head; doctors called her survival “miraculous.”...





This was an emotional book.

I, like many others, hadn't heard of Gabrielle Giffords until January 8, 2011. Since the shooting that day in Arizona, I have been following her story very closely. That is why I was happy to receive this book.

The book is written by Gabby's husband, Mark Kelly, with help from Jeffrey Zaslow. He tells the story from his point of view, which is interesting and emotional at times. The book covers more than just the day of the shooting and Gabby's recovery afterward. Kelly recounts both his and her childhoods, her political career and even his career as a pilot for both the Navy and NASA. Gabrielle, while giving the okay to everything in the book, didn't contribute to the writing except for the end chapter. This is, obviously, because it was written during her recovery.

I liked hearing the story from Kelly. It gave it a very personal touch and really brought you into what happened.

Kelly has a very interesting writing style. He shifts, back and forth, between subjects. Most of the time this would make a story feel jumbled but in this case it gave it more character, makes it more interesting.
My one problem with the book is that I wasn't a huge fan of everything he talked about in the book. I understand wanting to give details into their lives before the tragedy, but sometimes it felt like he was just writing these things to fill the book.

I admire both Giffords and Kelly. They are two very caring people. The book shows this, as does the 7 page acknowledgments in the back. I admire both of them for everything they have accomplished in their lives and for how dedicated they both are to Giffords's recovery. You can tell how much they love each other while reading this book.

I teared up on several occasions while reading this. It is about, just what the title says, hope and courage. I look up to Giffords for not only the person she was before the shooting but the person she continues to be despite the shooting. She is an amazingly strong person.

I recommend reading it and learning a little more about the two great people. Their story really makes you appreciate what you have and makes you want to hold the people you love a little tighter.

4.5 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the "milk sickness." Only later did he learn that his mother's deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe's father's unfortunate debts.

When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal: henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things—a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose."

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever understood his valiant fight for what it really was. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

This book was great. Mixing a factual biography of Lincoln with fun fictional "facts" about vampires, it is highly entertaining.

Imagine, if you will, everything you ever learned in school about Abraham Lincoln. Now, insert vampires into every tragic event and major decision that ever happened in his life. That is what this is.

The book is divided into three parts; Boy, Vampire Hunter and President. The second of the three being the most fictionalized. It tells the story of Lincoln's life with entries from Lincoln's secret, and fictional, journals as well as some very well Photoshopped photographs, interspersed throughout. I think it could have done without the pictures, though they were amusing.

It is, actually, a pretty accurate biography, except, you know, all the bits with vampires in it. I learned a few things I had not, previously. I even scoured the internet afterward to find out if some of the events were real, which, most were.

Grahame-Smith's writing is good, though there are a few redundancies in the story. It was a lot better than his writing in Pride and Prejudice and  Zombies, which I did love. Vampire Hunter gave him more creative control and it shows!

My only issue with the story was that it did take away some of the "nice guy, Honest Abe" qualities that the actual Abraham Lincoln had. But once I pushed that aside, I got into the "alternate reality" of his life, that much more.

This is one of the most inventive books I have read in a while. Not only that, but it had depth.
I will warn, there are quite a few gory parts and if you get squeamish skip over those parts, if you choose to read this. Which I recommend you do.

4.5 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining fertility, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

Offred, is a Handmaid. She is sent to different homes for only one purpose, to produce a baby. This time she is with a Commander and his wife. Always doing as she is told she glides through this life while secretly hoping this will all end one day and things will go back to normal. With flashes of her previous life we get to see just how much her world has changed in a short span of time.

This book raises a lot of issues. Whether it be the oppression of women, or the strength of men or even the harm religious extremists can do to the world we live in, it made for a very interesting read.

I have heard a lot of people say this book was scary because of how close we are as a society to becoming this way. Maybe I am naive, but I, in no way, saw this. I know in some countries this happens or isn't far from the truth but I had a very hard time believing that it could happen here. Then again, this book was written in the 80's just after the whole '1984 panic'.

I had a hard time getting used to Atwood's writing style. I know the narrative was written in a way to sound like a persons own thoughts, but some of the sentence structures threw me off. There were many occasions I had to go back and re-read a paragraph because I didn't understand it. It is hard to tell who is talking about what when the author doesn't use quotation marks. After a few chapters, you do get used to it.

Atwood does have a talent for language. Her writing is beautiful and descriptive. The details were extraordinary. I wanted to keep reading, not just to see where the story goes but to, also, get the images she paints into my head. She did especially well with the voice of Ofred. I felt like I was walking in her soft, flat red shoes down the faded pink runner in the hallway.

I liked Ofred too. Even with everything that happened and was still happening to her, she held out hope. She is a survivor.

As for the ending, I was slightly disappointed. Once I thought about it, though, I liked that Atwood didn't go for the obvious happy ending.

This book would make for great discussions. Feminists would have a field day with it.

It is definitely worth the read.

4 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library)

The Domino Effect by Andrew Cotto

The Domino Effect is the story of Danny Rorro, a charismatic kid from Queens poisoned by the past. A series of painful defeats have left him scarred and isolated from his neighborhood, his parents, and, most significantly, the benevolent ways of his childhood when he was known as “Domino.” With great insight, imagery and wit, Danny recalls his past in Queens and his coming-of-age at Hamden Academy. This fastpaced and powerful story is rich with conflict, humor, tenderness and music—just like life, especially when coming-of-age.

I received this book from the author due to a contest I won.

I liked it, but it was just okay.

Daniel "Domino" Rosso is a pretty normal teenager during the early 90's but one incident occurs that sends him off to boarding school. There he meets a variety of friends, his first love and makes a few enemies. The story follows his years in high school, focusing mainly on his junior and senior year.

I want to start off by saying, the writing in this book is very good. The story wasn't great but Cotto's writing was. The only part I did not like, was the little blips of foreshadowing. They would just be thrown in at the end of a chapter, a short sentence, but they drove me crazy. There are much better ways to foreshadow and make the story better.

Danny was a pretty believable character. I saw his charm and wit perfectly. His choices baffled me at times and I don't know if they were quite realistic but Danny, himself, was. I didn't really feel pity for him because he made some pretty dumb decisions but that didn't change the fact that I liked him.

It wasn't a great story. Like I said, Danny's decisions are odd and there didn't really seem to be a big climax. The story just went along and events took place, then it ended. The ending was very heart warming and I found myself smiling as I read it, though.

So the story was just okay but nicely written. I would like to see what other books come from this author.

3 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:The Domino Effect