Tag Archives: coming of age

May 14, 2013 · 6:00 am

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

 

You have a sick mind, John Connolly. But somehow you totally made it work.

David is a young boy in WWII England who slowly, painfully watches his mother die (of what I’m thinking is cancer). Very obviously distraught by her death, things get worse for David when his father remarries and announces that David has a sibling on the way. David has always taken refuge in reading books, but now those books are speaking to him and as his family life becomes more stressful, the lines between reality and imagination start to blend. Suddenly David finds himself in a strange, dangerous world and has to find his way home again. His only hope is to make it to the King, an old, dying man whose legendary “Book of Lost Things” might be the key to David’s return to his world.

I really liked this book when I started it. The writing is simple but also kind of lyrical and I was a bit enchanted by it. Also, David was a weird kid that I totally felt for. He’s a book lover so obviously I connected on that level with him instantly, but he does start to go a little crazy with grief. It’s SO RARE that I connect with a 12-year old character, but I instantly felt for David.

Once he crosses over into that weird realm, things took a definitely darker twist. He’s in danger, and there are hints of fairy tales in this land but they’ve been warped from the stories he knew. Honestly, some things were so twisted and disturbing and gruesome that I was a little put off by it. It was weird. And then by page 200, I felt like the book was slowing down a bit and wasn’t convinced that I’d end up liking it as a whole. When I posted on Instagram that I was reading The Book of Lost Things, I got a lot of “That’s a great book!” type of comments, and I was starting to worry that I would have to disagree.

BUT THEN THE ENDING HAPPENED. By page 250 things had picked back up and some huge things were revealed. Well, they were huge to me because I never see these things coming. But yeah, I was in for a total shock in some aspects and things were happening and I was biting my nails and yeah… I finished the book surprised but glad. And a little blind-sided. I went online immediately to look up more info and about the book and whatnot, and Wikipedia described this as a “coming-of-age” novel. I’ve come to mistrust and hate books labeled “coming-of-age” (I’m looking at you, A Visit From the Goon Squad) and usually avoid them, but I think that I’ve finally found a book deserving of that label. David grows a whole lot as a kid and as a character, through the trials and obstacles that he has to overcome.

The Book of Lost Things examined a whole lot of issues in one book – OCD, death, grief, maturity, bravery, the after life, etc. My mind feels shaken up with it all, and I feel like I’ll be thinking about this book for a good long while. And when I’m done musing on this book, I’ll probably seek out some of John Connolly’s other novels.

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars (with .5 star missing because the middle dragged just a bit)

 

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January 14, 2013 · 10:59 am

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

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This one was a let down for me.

One morning pre-teen Julia and the rest of the world wake up to some alarming news – the Earth’s rotation has slowed by 56 minutes, and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping. They don’t know how long it will go on, or what’s causing it, but the days are getting longer. Julia and her family try to adjust to this new Earth.

There’s one key phrase in the blurb on the book jacket that should have told me I wasn’t going to particularly enjoy this book – “coming of age”. Coming of age novels hardly ever work out well for me. Julia is about 11 and just coming into those teenage years, so this book focuses a lot more on her being lonely and friendless, her first crush on the stereotypical skater boy with a tragic story, on her family dynamics, and so on. The huge effects of the Earth’s rotation slowing were kind of going on in the background, so if that’s what makes this book sound interesting to you, I’d skip it.

I guess my problem with this book is just that it was slow-paced and there wasn’t a whole lot happening. I’m sure this was intentional, to match the gradual slowing of the Earth’s spin, but it made for kind of a boring read. And while the focus on Julia and her life make this seem like a YA book, it’s not quite written as one – the language and prose is a lot more mature, because Julia is actually telling the story as an adult later on, looking back at that time in her life.

Once again, an interesting premise that just could have been done better, I think.

Sarah Says: 2.5 stars

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Filed under 3-star, Fiction, YA

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January 12, 2012 · 10:07 am

Thinking on Thursday… COMING-OF-AGE NOVELS.

Hey ya’ll. Okay so numero 1 – sorry about my disappearing act this week. My little sister and baby nephew came into town Sunday night and just left yesterday afternoon, so I had very little time for tweeting, reading blogs, and commenting. Hoping to do a lot of catch-up today.

Soooo this is my topic for today – I think I’m going to start avoiding any novel that’s described as “coming of age”.

A coming-of-age (COA) story or novel is supposed to be about the main character’s moral and psychological growth, usually some sort of change or events that cause that character to grow up a little. I won’t necessarily say that it has to be a change during a period from adolescence to adulthood, because I think people can change at anytime, especially if it’s due to some big life-changing event. A fifty year old man could almost die and all of the sudden have a big epiphany about life that causes him to live the rest of his years differently. But a COA story should definitely be about one character’s change for the better, when they really start to come into their own.

When I think of COA books, I think of books like To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is changed as a result of the events going on in her town – for the first time, she really sees how ugly and horrible racism is and the effect it can have on people. The book marks a big change in her life – she loses that blissful ignorance that children have and starts to see the world around her with new eyes. It marks the beginning of the end of her childhood, and the beginning of becoming a young adult. The Giver is another good one – kid sees how flawed his society is and makes a big, life-changing decision as a result of it.

I also think of The Kite Runner – Amir, through being a coward, destroys his friendship with his best friend. The guilt and shame over these events follows him into adulthood, until he finally decides to attempt to make things right and earn some sort of redemption for himself. His COA story spans a much longer time period, but he still eventually takes actions that change who he is as a person, and he learns from the mistakes that he’s made.

I’ve noticed lately that the COA term (fun fact - the official term for a COA novel is “bildungsroman”) seems to be flying around a lot lately, and not in a good way. A recent novel that I’ve seen described as COA is A Visit From the Goon Squad, and I definitely don’t think it fits into that category. Besides the fact that it’s short stories about a crapload of characters, most of those characters don’t change for the better – they whine and complain about how their lives ended up so crappy. They make mistakes as kids and young adults and continue to make those mistakes as they grow older. Needless to say, I had BIG issues with this book, and the fact that the COA label has been attached to it bothers me.

I’ve also heard The Catcher in the Rye described as a COA book. It’s not. Holden is definitely a young character with issues, and the book tells his story of all these experiences he has as a stupid kid – but from the way the book ends, it appears he didn’t change as a result of those events. he continues down this path of depression and angst and by the time the book is over, y0u’re wondering what the hell the point of his story was.

Anyways, all this thinking about the term COA has come about because of the book I’m reading this month for a readalong, Norwegian Wood. In all fairness, I’m only 4 chapters into it and who knows, by the end of the book I may have just fallen in love with it. But so far, I’m not so hot on it and the blurbs on the back of the book describe it as a story about one man’s romantic coming of age, or something like that (I don’t have the book in front of me). Since it’s described specificly as a “romantic” COA story, I’m assuming that’s supposed to mean that by the end of the novel he’ll have learned some overarching theme about love and relationships. Not quite sure how that’s going to work out with the women he’s involved with now, but I guess we’ll see. I don’t have high expectations.

The COA label lately seems to be attached to any literary fiction that focuses on a character from the ages of about 13-ish to late 20′s. Ideally, everybody would have some big moral ephiphany or growth as they’re growing up, but a lot don’t. Some kids just never have those big moments where they see things in a new light. Some people just aren’t that introspective, or pay little attention to the world around them. Some have epiphanies that only cement their already misguided beliefs – teenagers prone to prejudices see or experience events that only make them feel justified in their bigotry and makes it a permanent part of their personality. Not everybody has a coming of age story, and it bugs me that publishers and editorialists keep slapping the term on books just because it’s about the lives of young adults.

So yeah. I might start avoiding any novel that’s described as COA, especially if it’s newer, like written in the last decade or so. I just don’t seem to like books that the term has been applied to lately. I feel like there’s a bigger chance of the COA label being accurate if it’s more of a classic book – authors back in the day seemed more aware of the lessons and morals they were trying to impart and make clear in their books.

Sooo, what are your thoughts?

What do you think the term “coming-of-age” means?

Does COA always have to be a character’s change for the better, or does any change or growth count, even if makes them a worse person?

What are some of your favorite COA books? What about books that you don’t think should count as COA?

Let’s get this discussion rollin! I’ll be able to reply to comments and such throughout the day, thanks to my phone.

~Sarah

 

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November 10, 2011 · 9:03 am

A Visit From the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan

Dude, this book sucks.

I know, harsh way to start off a review. But this is why I relish being a book blogger that doesn’t receive books from publishers to review – I don’t feel the need to be nice about a book that I want to complain about all day long.

Soooo… This is basically a book of loosely-connected short stories about a bunch of people who grew up in the age of punk and rock music, so I guess back in the 70′s to 80′s. The general theme of the book is supposed to be “How did I get from where was I was to where I am now?”, which could be an interesting theme in any other book. Unfortunately, the answer for almost all of the characters featured in this book is “Because I’m a self-centered dumbass who did hard drugs and acted like a little asshole for the entirety of my young adulthood.”

The very first chapter was the most interesting – it focuses on Sasha, who’s in therapy to deal with her kleptomania (that’s a compulsive urge to steal stuff). I’ve never really ever seen kleptomania mentioned in a novel before, so I was definitely hooked and wanted to know more – but this is the only chapter that really focuses on Sasha, and she isn’t even a great character – she’s one of those emo young kids who is depressed and unhappy for no real reason. But still, it was a promising start. And then it IMMEDIATELY took a nose-dive in chapter two, where were meet Bennie – an aging man in the music industry in drinks actual flakes of gold in his coffee and for some reason can’t stop reliving every embarassing moment that’s ever happened to him. From there we meet a ton of other random characters who are all screwed up in similar ways and it got really old, really fast.

I read some reviews online that claimed this was such a heart-breakingly beautiful book about growing up and coming-of-age – no it’s not. Books like that are relatable to a wide audience. There is nothing relatable to the general public about watching your best friend blow some guy while he has his arm around you at a concert. That’s something only drug addicts and weirdos can relate to. How the hell did this get a Pulitzer prize?

Oh, and the big “Powerpoint chapter” was 50+ pages of boring slides, and to me definitely seemed like the author was just trying to be edgy. Which she tried to do throughout the whole book. But on the upside, those 50+ pages went really fast and hence I was able to finish this book quicker, thank goodness.

So yeah, I’m sorry to the people who voted for this book as November’s read, but this book is a huge ball of suck. And the fact that it’s so popular makes me think that maybe I’m just not intellectual or thinking deeply enough or something. Or maybe everyone else really likes to read about cocaine and whiny bums more than I do. It was like Holden Caufield in Catcher in the Rye, except like 20 Holdens and way more annoying.

And because I do feel bad about bashing this book so much because I know a lot of you liked it, here’s a far more positive review over at What Red Read. I’m trying to be all fair and balanced. (Barely succeeding there, I know.)

Sarah Says: 0 stars.

~Sarah

6 Comments

Filed under 1-star, Contemp. Lit, Fiction, Poll Winner Reads

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