A Plague Year Review

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A Plague Year ReviewIt is late summer of 2001 when Tom starts to hear about this new drug called crystal meth. He lives in a small mining town in Pennsylvania, where meth and mining are the main things to do. When September 11 hits, people in town have a hard time coping with the state of the world, and more and more turn to drugs as a way to cope. The town becomes frightening as meth zombies are sighted more and more often, and crime reaches a new high. What happens over this course of this year will change Tom's life forever.
I was so incredibly moved by this book. First of all, it was written in a way that is real, and honest, and young readers will easily relate. When meth gained popularity in the late 90's and early into the 2000's, these are the exact kinds of places that were hit, so I think the book is brilliantly set. These are the stories that rarely get told, and I am happy this one was. I am especially happy it is told from a young adult's frame of reference.
I thought that Tom's character was well developed, as well as most of the supporting characters. However, I did have an issue with the development and realism of the drug counseling group Tom attends. First off, the leader of the group is a Master's level therapist, yet she has never heard of pica, and then just levels a guess at what type of disorder it may be. This would NEVER happen; any Masters program has an abnormal psych class, and every abnormal psych class covers this disorder. And no therapist worth their merit would simply level a guess about a disorder they knew nothing about. But I digress. Some of the minor supporting characters seemed a little flat, but in some ways, that served a purpose. We were never supposed to get close to them, since this was Tom's story.
All in all, I think this was a good young adult book, appropriate for high school readers. It serves as a cautionary tale of how drugs can affect and entire town, and sadly is based in too much reality.
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Stick Review

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Stick ReviewA while ago, I received an email, asking to be apart of the cover reveal for STICK. And now, the book is here and published and in stores and being read. Time flies.
About a year ago, I got my first taste of Andrew Smith. His novel THE MARBURY LENS was sorta crazy--I think in my review I said something along the lines of, "Andrew Smith writes about rape and dismemberment, and he doesn't make you feel awkward AT ALL." I was totally being honest. I was talking about Andrew's level of awesome with one of my friends, and he said something like, "He stands out among cookie cutter writers." And that's true, too. Andrew Smith's books are all these different things, and I absolutely love them.
In STICK, Stark McClellan is missing some things. He does not have a girlfriend, he does not have a loving family, and he does not have a left ear (or was it right?). What he does have is a gay brother, Bosten, and a gut feeling that he needs to escape from the tight clutches of his abusive father before he finds out.
Bosten leaves, and rightly so, but he left Stark ("Stick") behind. STICK is about a boy who wants something so bad, more than anything in the universe.
So, this book? Was written in this cool little way. Because Stick is missing one ear, he hears things different. Words travel slower. And Andrew Smith shows the reader this on the page, through funky formatting. I wouldn't call it verse or prose, it's just... different. Much like the story itself.
Second to the writing, the characters and their relationships with each other are probably the best thing about STICK. Andrew Smith can write about brotherhood dynamics better than anyone I know, and I got so immersed in the story I felt like they were my brothers and I was on this epic journey with them.
STICK really just blew my mind.
It's different. It's unlike anything you've ever read before. It's Andrew Smith.Stick Overview

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Recovery Road Review

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Recovery Road ReviewI won this book from the first-reads program on Goodreads, and I am so happy I did.
I read this book in one afternoon. I just couldn't put it down. It is the story of Madeline, or Maddie, a 16 year old girl who goes to rehab for drinking and a plethora of drugs, as well as anger issues. While there, she falls in love with 19 year old Stewart. She leaves rehab before him, and they promise to meet up afterward. The rest of the story is about her struggle to really connect with Stewart, finish high school, get into college, and face the pressures of everyday life in a world where most teens at least drink.
I definitely don't want to spoil this book at all by saying what happens, but I will tell you what some of my fears were. I was terrified that she would end up right back in rehab or at least back to partying all of the time. I was sure she was going to end up pregnant with Stewart's baby, and Stewart was going to either die or just abandon her. I was sure her friend from rehab, Trish, was going to die (she was too obsessed with wanting people to love her). After her guidance councilor told her there was no way she would get into any kind of good college, I was sure she was going to give up. I was also worried that every character would end up 100% turned around, no bad repercussions from the horrible choices they had made. That last fear was because I know, in reality, life doesn't work that way, so I didn't want the author to make it that way.
I wanted the author to show a person who really wanted to get better and succeeded while still having to deal with the choices she made and not ending up with life absolutely perfect. That would show readers that drugs and drinking and other addictive issues really mess up your life, but if you are in that situation, you can do something to make life better in the end.
I am not going to tell you if any or all of my predictions and fears were right. That would ruin the point of reading this story. Also, there is a lot more going on in this story, including another young girl who has taken over Maddie's role of party girl, Maddie's new formed friendships with seemingly random people, and characters hitting rock bottom and either overcoming or succumbing (both things happen, not going to say to which characters).
So in the end, I absolutely recommend this to almost any teen. This is for teens who wonder what partying might be like, teens who wonder what goes through the head of other teens that take things a little too far, teens who feel stuck in their party lifestyles, teens who are dealing with addictions, and teens who might not be too addicted yet. And of course I recommend this to people like me, people who are definitely no longer teens.(lessRecovery Road Overview

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How to Save a Life Review

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How to Save a Life ReviewWell, yeah -- it's a little embarrassing. Writing a positive review for a book about a pregnant teen, I mean. It's a first for me, and the rap is that "PT" books are overwrought... melodramatic... maudlin... corny. But somehow Zarr pulls it off. Giving it some thought, I realize the book's genius is in its construction and its characterization. In HOW TO SAVE A LIFE, Zarr uses the alternating chapter/ alternating point of view technique. On the one hand we have the pregnant girl, Mandy. On the other, we have the chief combatant in the family Mandy is joining, Jill. Both are curious characters and (blessed be!) neither exactly warms the heart of the reader. Not at first, anyway. And therein lies one of its strengths. Both characters have murky corners to their souls and neither is one you'd call a close friend. Making these girls gray instead of black and white, good and bad, does wonders for the novel's possibilities. It keeps you reading.
The premise? It's a bit weak. Jill's dad has died in a car accident and her mom has decided to adopt. What's odd is that she doesn't just adopt a baby after it is born, she invites the teenaged mother-to-be (Mandy) to her home for the final weeks of pregnancy. Is that done? If so, it's news to me. OK. So once we cross this suspension bridge of disbelief, we're ready to get caught up in the back and forth between a naive yet hardened Mandy, the product of a lower class upbringing, and snarky, yet self-loathing Jill, the daughter of privilege who is experiencing pain (Dad's death) and confusion for the first time in her heretofore cushy life. Watching the two girls circle each other, with Jill's mom as the beleaguered character in the middle, is, well, fun. And interesting because the characters are. Also, there's a bit of suspense as Mandy's due date approaches. What exactly will this unpredictable kid (who is about to have a kid) do?
So that's it. Confession over. Kudos to Zarr. She got me to admit something I thought I never would. A story of teenage pregnancy can actually deliver (if you'll pardon the pun). Girls will love it. Hopefully, too, they'll learn from it. Little babies make can make for big headaches.How to Save a Life Overview

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