Picture this: A kid lives in a geodesic dome with his grandmother. He's raised there under her tutelage until her illness coaxes him to expand his horizons. His experiences outside of his dome world bring him to realizations that his grandmother never intended for him to have.
Wow! Sounds strange--and it is! The main character, Sebastian Prendergast, is an interesting subject, to be sure. He's been educated, after all, on the philosophy of one R. Buckminster Fuller, an American architect, author, designer, and inventor.
Jared Whitcomb is Sebastian's introduction to all things new in the "real world." Jared is a chain-smoking teenager who has a dream to start his own punk-rock band, but little does he realize that his dream will soon come true, though not exactly as he planned.
This book held my attention throughout. The characters, believe it or not, were rather convincing. Bognanni does a great job to portray modern life for today's teen without souring the story in the process. 30 years ago I would have balked at some of the language and actions of these characters, but having experienced today's frayed American society, none of this was unbelievable. As I read about a kid smoking in his own home, at the age of 16, it didn't really shock me. And on the other end of the spectrum, a home-schooled kid kept far from the average societal norm isn't at all unbelievable either. The way the two meet is even more possible.
In most books there is a message, be it hidden, muffled, buried, or right out there in your face. With this book, I haven't quite determined what the message is nor how deeply buried. And yet the author still does a great job of keeping the reader reading.
In the end, though I was satisfied that I'd experienced the story, I wondered where the feelings got lost. Sebastian develops a bit of a relationship with a girl in the story, but we're left wondering what happens next. And even Sebastian's relationship with his grandmother sort of hangs out there in the end.
I would certainly recommend this book. You may find something, in the conclusion, that I didn't.
7/10
Reading leaves you thinking,
Steve
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich
In this book, Erdrich portrays a middle-aged couple who struggle through a marital relationship that is anything but ordinary. Irene, the main character, is the wife of Gil, a famous painter who's made his fortune, almost exclusively, on paintings of his naked wife in various positions. Irene informs the reader in chapter one that her husband made a huge mistake by sneakily reading her diary. Irene decides to start a new diary, one in which she continues to reveal her thoughts, but the old diary takes on a new objective: to cause Gil to believe things that are not true--affairs, etc.
Irene and Gil have three children ranging from primary to teenaged. The first half of the book describes the history of the children, and the second half, through the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the children, reveals the deeper side of them, and it, at times, is rather disturbing.
Though the characters developed rather clearly, the believeability of the relationships was shaky, at best. The clearest example of this was seen in the relationship between Irene and Gil. Their communication reminded me of a poorly written script for a high school play. It was as if Irene and Gil knew that they were characters in a book who were supposed to say things that would get a reaction from Sophomore girls.
Irene and Gil's daughter has quite the hatred for her father, and she makes plans for preparation for a terrible thing to come. We come to know quite a bit about her plans, but this part of the story stops. It just...stops. It's almost as if the writer didn't quite know where to go with it. Yes, after reading the book, we know that things significantly change within the family, but the author spent so much time on the plans of the daugher, the reader just figured that something might come of it.
This book moved a bit slowly for me. It's not that the descriptive writing wasn't good, but I found myself wondering, throughout the story, when I was going to be surprised. I also found myself, too many times, in the position of wondering about the relationships' plausibility. It kept my attention throughout, but I felt a bit cheated in the end.
6/10
Keep your reading expectations high,
Steve
Irene and Gil have three children ranging from primary to teenaged. The first half of the book describes the history of the children, and the second half, through the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the children, reveals the deeper side of them, and it, at times, is rather disturbing.
Though the characters developed rather clearly, the believeability of the relationships was shaky, at best. The clearest example of this was seen in the relationship between Irene and Gil. Their communication reminded me of a poorly written script for a high school play. It was as if Irene and Gil knew that they were characters in a book who were supposed to say things that would get a reaction from Sophomore girls.
Irene and Gil's daughter has quite the hatred for her father, and she makes plans for preparation for a terrible thing to come. We come to know quite a bit about her plans, but this part of the story stops. It just...stops. It's almost as if the writer didn't quite know where to go with it. Yes, after reading the book, we know that things significantly change within the family, but the author spent so much time on the plans of the daugher, the reader just figured that something might come of it.
This book moved a bit slowly for me. It's not that the descriptive writing wasn't good, but I found myself wondering, throughout the story, when I was going to be surprised. I also found myself, too many times, in the position of wondering about the relationships' plausibility. It kept my attention throughout, but I felt a bit cheated in the end.
6/10
Keep your reading expectations high,
Steve
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