Not That Kind of Girl - Lena Dunham

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 265

Published: 2014

Blurb:

From the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO's Girls comes a hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays that establishes Lena Dunham as one of the most original young talents writing today.

In Not that Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one's way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and, most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.
Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not that Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. "I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you," Dunham writes. "But if I can take what I've learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile."

Review:

This will not be a very long review, because I don’t feel like a can do the usual slapdash literary breakdown that I usually do on this humorous-yet-serious memoir.

That being said I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, Dunham’s writing flows and I flew through the book in two sittings. Her sense of humour really appealed to me, and the tone yoyoed between farcical loonacy and solemnity. The humour in this book is quite similar to GIRLS, Dunham will be making a joke about a funny hat she used to wear and then drop an almighty truth bomb, so if you’re not a fan of the tv show, don’t read this. Dunham does have a really striking voice, and it is unlike any narrator of any novel I’ve ever read.

On a similar note, if you’re one of those people who shouts “Oh my God TMI” when your friend says “Last night I had this weird sex dream”, don’t read this book. However if you are the sort of person who will raise a quizzical eyebrow and say “Go on”, then this book is for you. Maybe there is too much information in this book, or maybe it’s just interesting to step inside someone else’s mind, to live a little bit of someone else’s life.

As far as I’ve heard there are two major criticisms of this book.

1. Dunham is profoundly narcissistic. Yes, she is , but she is aware of it( she admits to being selfish and self-involved many times throughout the book) and this is a memoir so she’s hardly going to talk about someone other than herself is she?
2. There are no major revelations, no major lessons taught in this book. Fair point, but you’ll notice that “learned” is in inverted commas in the sub-title, so you should have known that from the get-go.

This is a hilarious yet poignant book. It will not change your life, but it will keep you occupied for around four hours. The only major beef I have with this book is that it is too short to justify spending €16 on a hardback copy, so thank you to my local library for stocking it. May you continue to be a fine establishment.

Four Stars

Crow Moon - Anna McKerrow

Published: March 2015
Publisher: Quercus
Pages: 384

Blurb: Danny is a fun-loving 16-year-old looking for a father figure and falling in love with a different girl every day. He certainly doesn't want to follow in his mum's witchy footsteps.

Just as his community is being threatened by gangs intent on finding a lucrative power source to sell to the world, Danny discovers he is stunningly powerful. And when he falls for Saba, a gorgeous but capricious girl sorceress, he thinks maybe the witch thing might not be such a bad idea...
But what cost will Danny pay as, with his community on the brink of war, he finds that love and sorcery are more dangerous than he ever imagined?
Wickedness and passion combine in this coming-of-age adventure.

Review: 

Firstly, thanks a million to Quercus for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Although it took me longer to read this book than I would have liked, due to coursework for college, I really enjoyed it. The narrative is fast paced, action packed and really held my attention, the characters are unusual and varied. McKerrow has found a really solid balance between action, magic and romance which works really effectively.

My favourite aspect of this book is the world and magic system that McKerrow has built. As far as I know, the magic system is based on the old witchcraft and pagan practices and beliefs that have existed on Cornwall for hundreds of years. McKerrow blends these practices seamlessly with the idea of living off the land, and surviving in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic type land experiencing a fuel crises that has caused society as we know it to cease. Of course the fuel crises is a hot topic at the moment, and I found it both frightening and fascinating to explore

the idea of how we might live if the worst came to the worst. Danny and his family and friends live in the Greenworld, a place distanced from what is left of the old society , the Redworld, which is filled with violence and chaos. In Crow Moon we explore the Greenworld, it’s villages and no man's lands and it’s isolation from the rest of society in the beautiful Cornish countryside.

The society Danny lives in is definitely a matriarchal one, the witches seem to run the show, they are in charge of protecting and guiding their villages. Most of the characters are strong, well-rounded women, except for the protagonist and the antagonist and I’m not sure how this made me feel. There was so much scope to have a female protagonist or antagonist ( who are in short supply in these sort of books), but McKerrow went the other way. The only reason I can find for her doing this is that both Danny and Roach may feel alienated as male witches in a predominantly female environment, and this may lead them to make different choices that someone who doesn’t feel like part of a minority would make. I loved that McKerrow uses ‘witch’ as an ungendered title, with both male and female witches using it.

Danny is a very different character to any other protagonist I have come in contact with recently. He is a sixteen year old boy in every sense of the word. He is sweary, irreverent and disrespectful, he makes rash, stupid decisions not concerned with consequences, and is well obsessed with sex. For all these reasons I found Danny a little hard to stomach to begin with. He is a well rounded character, he is flawed and makes some serious mistakes, but throughout the novel we see him grow and develop into a strong young man, and I grew to have a respect for him. Parts of the book, especially Danny , his introduction to the work of the witches, and his relationship with Roach, reminded me of Harry Potter. And that is one of the highest compliments I can give a book.

I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series, which I think is out this time next year ( so long to wait …..). This one has a fantastic ending and really left me wanting more! I would really like to see more of the Redworld in the next book, and obviously the whole Danny/Saba will-they-won’t-they……..

Two conflicting aspects of this book make it difficult for me to recommend this book to a specific age group. The language in this book is simple, clear and effective, so I feel like teens as young as twelve would have no problem with this, but some of the subject matter might be a bit tough for young teens. However, if you’re used to reading this sort of thing go on ahead. This is a really promising series and now is the perfect time to dive in!

Four Stars

Here's a link to an interview with Anna McKerrow about the book done by the wonderful Adventures of a Teenage Bookworm!

Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

Published: 2014

Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK

Pages: 449

Blurb:

It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just...disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Review:

Unfortunately, it has been quite a while since I read this book ( seven weeks…), so this review might be a bit of a trainwreck, but I’ll do my very best. This was an impulse buy I picked up in Hodges Figgus in Dublin because I had a book voucher. I had read Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Matson a few years ago and adored it so I knew I’d like this one.

The most important aspect of the book, and my favourite aspect, are the relationships Matson presents us in it. Now as this is a contemporary romance novel, these relationships aren’t exactly realistic, but they are wonderfully adorable. The main one is obviously Emily and Sloane’s relationship. Though Sloane leaves Emily at the beginning of the narrative, there are plenty of flashbacks as Emily reminisces about their time together to get to know her. The thing that struck me most about the girls friendship was, though there was genuine and equal affection between them, Emily relied far more on Sloane for social interaction and confidence than Sloane did on her. This made me feel kind of uncomfortable, that it gave Sloane a little too much power in the relationship, but it also explained why Sloane leaving a list of tasks for Emily to do without her is such a big deal, because without her best friend to lean on these tasks are actually quite difficult for Emily.

Emily and her love interest ( left unnamed to avoid spoilers ), are undeniably delightful, but a little problematic. Some of the twists and turns that led them together are morally dubious, let’s just say that Emily and her beau don’t really give a good example.Sam and Sloane have the most troubling relationship. Through them Matson deals quite well with emotionally abusive teenage relationships that are normally overlooked. While I was worried about them to begin with but I was happy with how it worked out.

The contrast in the relationships between Emily, Sloane and their parents are fascinating as well. While Emily’s parents are ditsy and detached, they have their children’s best interests at heart, and Sloane’s parents should probably revisit their parenting priorities.

This is without a doubt a coming of age story as throughout the narrative we see Emily growing and gaining confidence and independence. I’ve read reviews that describe the list of tasks Sloane leaves Emily as a bit tame an innocent, but I feel like she wouldn’t have been able to deal with a list any wilder than this.

There are a few gems in this book that I really enjoyed and added a bit of an individualistic spark. The play that Emily’s parents are writing sounds like an absolute farce and if there was any way that I could see it performed, or if there is a script lying around that could be published in the internet Matson should just go for it. I loved the playlists included, and while I didn’t listen to them all, sticking on a few tracks while listening did add to the reading experience. Frank’s favourite quote, “In a well ordered universe….” by a comedian whose name I’ve forgotten to write down is my favourite of these gems. I love the sentiment,and it is used as a sort of running in-joke between Emily and Frank, and it grows and develops with their friendship.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s gorgeous and fluffy, but also has a little bite to it. This is the best of contemporary romance, so if you’re into that you should definitely check this out.

Four Stars ****

Cinder - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #1)

Published: January 2012

Publisher: Puffin

Pages: 387

Blurb:

Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.

Review:

Cinder has intrigued me for a while now, so when I saw a copy of it in the library I snapped it up. Is was equal parts excited and frightened of this book, because it sounded amazing, but there are so many awful Cinderella adaptations that it could have been truly terrible. But it wasn’t, it was fantastic, and I can’t believe I left it so long to read the thing.

Obviously Cinder is a twist on the classic fairy tale, but what a twist! Cinder is a cyborg living in futuristic New Beijing, the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth. With a devastating plague sweeping the globe, and Queen Levana of the moon threatening war on the earth, this is not like the Cinderella we know and love. But I nearly love it more it’s so good. This book is more inspired by, rather than based on the fairy tale, the main plot points remain, but it’s a really refreshing. I suspect there are also nods to Rapunzel and Snow White, which makes me very excited for the sequels. The plot is fantastic, and even though I had a fair idea where the story was going, I was still hooked and couldn’t wait to see where it ended up. As the narrative progresses, it just got more and more bizarre, but in a really good way! However, I did see the twist coming, and you probably will too, but that did not spoil the story at all. I was completely captivated by this book, so much so that I before I was finished I ordered the next two books because I couldn’t bear the idea of too much time passing before I could continue the story. I have this wonderful feeling that it’s just going to get more complex and brilliant as it goes on.

The world building in this book was fantastic. The story is set in New Beijing, and while it is a sci-fi, futuristic setting there is a sense of the current Chinese culture, which I really enjoyed. Meyer presents the technology in a really interesting way and I was never left wondering how any of it worked, and there wasn’t a surplus of technology. The lunar ability (aka glamour) while completely weird, was really clear and understandable, even though I’m pretty sure the science behind it is essentially just magic. My favourite aspect of the world building was the political structure. The earth seems to be divided up into several large countries, composed of the continents, and humans have colonised the moon. Some of the states are monarchies , and some are democracies, and I hope we find out more about the politics of the earth in Meyer’s world in the next  few books. A really interesting cultural aspect is the idea that the cyborgs are second class citizens. We see that Cinder is shunned by her family and wider society because of this, because cyborgs are considered lucky to be alive, and that the owe society their lives. I’m interested to see if this attitude changes as the narrative progresses, or if the cyborgs will continue to be persecuted.

Cinder is a fabulous protagonist. She is equal parts strong and feisty, under confident and scared, kind and compassionate. I know she’s a cyborg, but I really connected with her character.  I couldn’t help but root for Cinder, and she’s probably my favourite Cinderella based heroine ( and there has been a lot). It would be very easy to hate Prince Kai, the mysterious, handsome, privileged royal heir who has had everything handed to him on a plate , but I loved him! He was surprisingly intelligent and cunning, and really did seem to care about politics and his people despite being so young. I feel Kai is a worthy romantic lead for this clever book.

I loved this book, it was perfect and the only complaint I would have is that it is too short! I’d recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi, fairytale re-tellings, or maybe dystopian fiction.

4.5 Stars

A Song For Ella Grey - David Almond

Published: October 2014
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Pages: 272

Blurb:

"I'm the one who's left behind. I'm the one to tell the tale. I knew them both...knew how they lived and how they died."

Claire is Ella Grey's best friend. She's there when the whirlwind arrives on the scene: catapulted into a North East landscape of gutted shipyards; of high arched bridges and ancient collapsed mines. She witnesses a love so dramatic it is as if her best friend has been captured and taken from her. But the loss of her friend to the arms of Orpheus is nothing compared to the loss she feels when Ella is taken from the world. This is her story - as she bears witness to a love so complete; so sure, that not even death can prove final. 

Review:

I’m in two minds about A Song for Ella Grey. On one hand, I really dislike it, on the other hand I can see how someone would really like this book. So I’ll try to keep an open mind as I write this.

Firstly, A Song for Ella Grey is a modern retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Now I wasn’t aware of this until about halfway through the book, and when I did find out, it didn’t really help much because I’d never heard of the original myth. I would advise that you read it before hand if you aren’t familiar with the story, because it made a lot more sense once I understood where Almond was going with it. I couldn’t believe the characters as real teenagers. They were ridiculous and nonsensical even compared to other contemporary YA teens in love, but if you consider them as characters from an epic greek poem, they actually make a lot more sense. The book is pervaded by a fairytale-like atmosphere, which is quite disorienting and confusing, but very powerful when contrasted with the gritty, contemporary setting.

In fact the language of the whole book made me feel like I was reading a really long poem. I see why the author wrote it this way, harking back to the old greek poems, but it didn’t really do anything for me. This is a completely subjective critique, if you’re into that kind of poetic, flowery, overwritten kind of language go for it , this book is for you.

The narrative of the book, stays pretty true to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the added character of Claire, which is where the story begins to differ. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Claire considers Ella more than a friend. She’s definitely in love with her , right? Almond never actually states this, but if he didn’t intend it, I’m not sure if he understands platonic female friendship. By the end if the story I felt really sorry for Claire, because Ella clearly didn’t reciprocate these feelings and had no idea.Ella is a kind of manic-pixie-dream girl, and seems to be vibrant and full of life compared to her dull parents, the Greys. They have a lot of hopes and dreams for her, which Ella doesn’t completely agree with, because she considers herself a bit of a fairy-child.

My favourite aspect of the book was the beautiful descriptions of the Northumberland countryside and seaside. They reminded me so much of the place I grew up in, the beautiful yet cold and harsh sea and landscape, and brought back so many good memories. The plot was also fantastic, and I couldn’t put it down it was so captivating.

While I didn’t love this book, I recognise that it is really good for what it is. It’s a quick read with an excellent plot. And if you’re into poetry, this is definitely for you.

Four Stars ****

Friday Brown - Vikki Wakefield

Published: July 2013

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Pages: 320

Blurb:

I am Friday Brown. I buried my mother. My grandfather buried a swimming pool. A boy who can’t speak has adopted me. A girl kissed me. I broke and entered. Now I’m fantasizing about a guy who’s a victim of crime and I am the criminal. I’m going nowhere and every minute I’m not moving, I’m being tail-gated by a curse that may or may not be real. They call me Friday. It has been foretold that on a Saturday I will drown…

Friday, 17, flees memories of her mother, granddad, and the family curse. She joins Silence in a street gang led by beautiful charismatic Arden, and escapes to a ghost town in the outback. In Murungal Creek, the town of never leaving, Friday faces the ghosts of her past. Sometimes you have to stay to finish what you started, and before you can find out who you are, you have to become someone you never meant to be.

Review:

I will shamelessly tell you that I binge-read Friday Brown. I sat down in the morning, I read half the book. I sat down in the afternoon I finished the book. It was a perfect way to spend the day. I loved this book, it’s  beautiful little gem of a novel that gave me all the feels.

The plot of this book is completely captivating, it sucked me in from the very first page and I couldn’t stop reading. The action-based plot kind of trundles along at a pretty solid pace, and then towards the end it shifts into fifth gear all of a sudden and I couldn’t wait to see how it would end. This was definitely a plot driven book, as well as having fantastic characters, themes and a beautiful setting.

Speaking of characters , there is such an interesting mix of characters. The group of homeless teenagers kind of reminded me of that joke “oh they looked like a Benetton commercial”, but in a really good way. There is so much diversity in the group, and they are all really accepting of each other, and I especially loved the way they treated Joe. The two characters I would contrast against each other are Friday and Arden. I adore Friday, she is strong and complex and intelligent and independent. And the same can be said for Arden, except that Friday is compassionate, kind and selfless and Arden is not. Friday is a runner, she has been raised by her mother Vivienne , who dies shortly before the narrative begins. Throughout her childhood Vivienne and Friday roam around Australia running from something, until they cannot run any longer. Vivienne is definitely an unusual character, who we never really figure out. I still have a lot of questions about Vivienne, even know days after reading this book I’m still wondering about one or two things. Vivienne and her way of life both have a huge influence on her daughter, and as Friday journeys through life alone we see her mother’s life and death influence her and her decisions. Parents have a huge influence on their children, which is something I feel that is overlooked a lot in YA, but Wakefield really addresses this is Friday Brown. This book, and specifically this mother-daughter relationship, really reminded me of Red Ink, by Julie Mayhew, which is a good thing because that is a phenomenal book. Through Friday, Wakefield explores the idea of grief, how losing such an influential figure can affect a young person, and how we deal with loss.

Silence is without a doubt my favourite character, he is wonderful and mysterious. He has a heartbreaking backstory, and seems to be the personification of how young/homeless people can be overlooked when it is convenient for us, and only noticed when they cause trouble. Wish, on the other hand, is my least favourite character. I felt like he was an unnecessary addition, one of my biggest pet peeves is unnecessary characters and irrelevant romance.

The setting of this book is beautiful. Half set in an unnamed Australian city, and half set in the outback, the setting of this book had a huge effect on me. This is actually only the second book set in Australia I’ve ever read (a problem I plan to rectify as soon as possible), and for a really long time I couldn’t figure out where it was set. The descriptions of the Australian outback are so beautiful, they were unlike any other setting I have ever read about, and they really blew me away. And I loved the way Friday’s character changes with her surroundings. We can see how Friday seems more lost and dependent in the city, but really comes into her own when she travels to the outback.

The final aspect I’d like to talk about is destiny, or fate, whichever you prefer. Before she dies Vivienne tells Friday that all the Brown women are cursed to die in some way related to water,on a Saturday. Friday wrestles with this idea, and throughout the book we see her run from and embrace her destiny, trying to come to terms with whether or not the curse will strike her too. There is a tinge of magical realism in the way Wakefield deals with this curse. In this way, Wakefield carefully explores the influence we have over our lives, and how we can influence our own destiny, if we dive in or run away. This book is also really friendship oriented, which is a nice change from all the romance in YA contemporary novels.

Overall a pretty stellar book. I knew nothing about this book before reading it, and I’ll confess the only reason I picked it up was because of the pretty cover and the intriguing line “It has been foretold on a Saturday I will drown”. This is a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes well written, thought provoking high quality YA contemporary fiction.

Four and half Stars  

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein

Published: February 2012

Publisher: Electric Monkey

Pages: 353

Blurb:

Two young women become unlikely best friends during WWII, until one is captured by the Gestapo. Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a special operations executive. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted to each other.

But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in “Verity’s” own words, as she writes her account for her captors. Truth or lies? Honour or betrayal? Everything they’ve ever believed in is put to the test…

Review:

I feel I may be in the minority of people who don’t adore this book. That being said, I did like this book. Maybe because my expectations were so high that the actual book couldn’t live up to them, because on paper everything about this book was perfect, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

I found the story slow to begin with. Unlike other readers, I wasn’t gripped from the first page. I found it difficult to connect to the characters and the story for the first hundred pages at least, even though I can’t put my finger on why. I found the format confusing as well. The first part is told in the past and present tense, and Verity refers to herself in the first and third person which I found really confusing for a while before I got used to it. The second part of the novel, I found much easier to read, because of it’s format (it was all in first person, past tense). While Wein’s writing is technically good the majority of the time, I found it difficult to read sometimes because of all the technical language surrounding the different types of planes. I’m not interested in any of this at all, so I skimmed over it all. However, if you are interested in planes then this is perfect for you. You can almost tell the author is a pilot, there is so much information in the book.

Now for the positives. This is primarily a story of friendship , which I found undeniable refreshing. Verity has a wonderful line along the lines of “It’s a bit like falling in love, finding your best friend.” I feel like there is a huge hole in YA literature ( Is this YA, it could easily also be adult) where female friendships should be. YA lit spends way too much time on romantic relationships, when friendships are just as important. Maddie and Verity are also fantastic characters. I know that the term ‘strong female character’ is thrown around a lot, but I feel that if it should ever be applied, it would be applied to these two girls, primarily because of their independence, strong will, and their refusal to be defined by the men around them. One of the main things I loved about them was though they are badass, they are still women. They don’t sacrifice their femininity, but they don’t use it either. They are thoroughly admirable characters.

Plotwise this book is pretty excellent. It is suspenseful, captivating and keeps up momentum the whole way through, especially in the second part. I would have loved to have heard more about Verity’s missions, they were skimmed over and only the vaguest details were supplied, which kind of annoyed me, but maybe it just wasn’t the authors area of expertise. That ending though, I did not see that coming. It was well worth hanging on for that ending, I didn't think it would make me as emotional as it did, but it was like a punch to the gut. There were some upsetting scenes which I had to skim over because I just don’t have the constitution for that kind of thing, so if you’re super sensitive to violence, you should be wary of this going in.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction, especially anyone, who like me, is a sucker for WW2. I hate to say that I didn’t like this as much as everyone else seemed to, but if I did that would be a lie. I did really enjoy it though, and was glad I stuck with it.

Three Stars ***