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September Book
Reading Suggestions?
Children's Lit Sites
Books We've Read Already
- The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
- Absolutely, Positively Not - David LaRochelle
- Zap - Paul Fleischman
- Stay with Me - Garret Freymann-Weyr
- Blow Out the Moon - Libby Koponen
- The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
- American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
- Kalpana's Dream - Judith Clarke
- The Body of Christpher Creed - Carol Plum-Ucci
- The Canning Season - Polly Horvath
- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
- Wrecked - E. R. Frank
- Burning City - Ariel & Joaquin Dorfman
- Stuck in Neutral - Terry Trueman
- Criss Cross - Lynne Rae Perkins
- Sandpiper - Ellen Wittlinger
- Looking for Alaska - John Green
- Full Service - Will Weaver
- Black Hole - Charles Burns
- Autobiography of My Dead Brother - Walter Dean Myers
- Geography Club - Brent Hartinger
- So B. It - Sarah Weeks
- A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
- Bound - Donna Jo Napoli
- Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem - Marilyn Nelson
- The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place - E. L. Konigsburg
- Chasing Vermeer - Blue Balliett
- The Gravedigger's Cottage - Chris Lynch
- House of Stairs - William Sleator
- HOOT - Carl Hiaasen
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Contributors
4 comments:
I'm not going to start a full-blown discussion on this book because I don't feel qualified (despite honest efforts -- the book was waiting for me at my local library branch -- I did not reread it, so I haven't read the book in more than a year), but I'll say a few things.
Here's what I liked: Leila was a strong female character. I liked that she had a learning disability, so she didn't just fit into the mold that we see way too often in YA novels -- smart, witty kids who are way beyond their classmates. She was, but her character was a little more complex, a little more dynamic. I liked how the sisters had real, complicated lives.
Here's what I didn't like: Leila was too self-aware for me. I have this problem with a lot of books (Nick and Norah, most recently), because I just wasn't that perceptive and aware when I was that age and I couldn't articule and express my feelings the way some YA protagonists do. And therefore, sometimes I find them hard to believe. It's easy to self-analyze after the fact, but some YA protags seem way too advanced for their age, analyzing in a very adult way while they're going through whatever. I found Leila to be this way.
I also didn't like her relationship with Eamon. Say what you want about it being a healthy, sexual, emotional relationship, but I was grossed out. Such an age difference -- that's just way too big a gap when she is still a teenager (and still in high school). I thought it was inappropriate. Sure, Eamon treated her fine, but yuck. He shouldn't be messing around with a high schooler. I didn't trust him for crossing that line, no matter his intentions not to get involved at the beginning (which I don't even believe).
I proofread this book for Houghton way back when, and in that stage, I get to see author's comments about the copyediting and the stuff she changed/stetted/deleted. I was a little resentful of some of her comments and stets, and I found that influencing how I felt about the book. Totally unfair, I know, but it's true. I get that an author is protective of her work and can get defensive, but she needs to let the copyeditor do her job. I can't even remember any specifics, and it was probably really minor, but I do remember not liking her comments and letting it influence my opinion about the book.
I'm curious to hear everyone else's opinions. I thought I would be outvoted in my negative outlook (and thinking Leila and Eamon were not a good match), but it looks like Arahsae didn't like it either. If I had to guess, I'd say Meera would love this book (you liked Nick and Norah, right? and we tend to have opposite tastes!). Dawn Emerman (I'm too lazy to link to her blog) loved it. Me, not so much. Sarah, tell us more, and others, please weigh in if you read it!
Eunice, you are more than qualified to pass judgement. Judge on!
Strong Leila (Leeeeela) (?): good.
Dyslexic Leila: good.
Complicated sisters: good.
Continuous self-psychotherapy: bad. Annoying. But I could not look away.
Hot damn; the girl was her own therapist. Such painful, tedious self-awareness! Leila records everything happening around her, what she knows, and what she is unsure of. (I'm unsure what this book was about--a chronicle of loss? Grief? Coming to terms with her place in the family?)
Yes, Eunice, this aligns with Nick and Norah as far as the self-awareness factor goes. Good call.
Leila talks about her family: "Work is where they all go to be who they are." Who the hell is Leila? She knows she isn't like the rest of her family but what comes across most strongly is she's a passive observer acted-upon by others. If the book is a search for self, I don't feel like Leila came to any conclusions.
By the way, I'm really tired of all the random 9/11 lip service that pops up in ANY (not just YA) book set in NY.
The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. It didn't take long to realize this was not going to be a "solve the mystery" plot; Leila's goal was futile from the beginning. I thought the relationships were interesting, but they were not enough to carry the whole story for me (being that I was not entirely happy with the main character).
What with Leila being so much younger than her sisters, I was surprised how she was always in their shadow; wouldn't she be more of an only child? At least that's what I remember from my child development classes in college... or are her parents too busy in their work, being the people they are.
Eamon, argh. I had issues with him as well. What a character to love and hate! Yes, he was fantastic (by many definitions of the word), but he was also very very ick. I can't figure out why he still went after her after hinting that his father had some issues in the young-lady department.
This may be more of a poor reader-author match. Stay with Me left me with the same opinion that Freymann-Weyr's My Heartbeat did years ago: what a spacey story. Her writing style and my reading preferences don't mesh.
Overall, I did enjoy this book, but I wouldn't say that it is one that I would passionately defend. So thanks, Sarah and Eunice, for the interesting posts, as they gave me a lot more insight.
At first, the book was rather depressing and intense, so I could only read it in spurts in order to digest it. But after Leila got the job at the coffee shop and began her "investigation" I found myself wanting to find out more, mostly because I was genuinely interested in Leila and Claire and the cousin who wasn't a cousin (I've returned the book already, so I don't remember all the names). The author seemed to do a really good job at showing how Leila's dislexia didn't impede her ability to do something, like finding the man in the window or presenting her independent study to her teacher. Leila may have been quite aware, but there were many descriptions that the author presented quite simply, so the reader really had to pay attention. What I'm trying to say was that, yes, Leila thought a lot, but to me it was written in such a way that it seemed relatively natural--she knew she had a learning disability so she tried even harder at noticing things than perhaps the average student would have--rather than as the author beating us over the head with the point. Personally, the author's writing style and my reading style were a good match. However, I do understand what you mean about young adult protagonists knowing everything. I agree that that doesn't always work, but here I felt it did.
I admit, though, that like Sarah I was disappointed by the ending. I didn't think that the ending was obvious, but I thought that the story, just like Leila's accusation of her sister, "gave up." In other words, that was the obvious answer that should have come to her first if it was going to come at all--although perhaps this was the author playing with the Leila's non-linear thought process? If so, the intention seems right, but I don't think it quite worked, probably because we do expect more from an ending.
As for her relationship with Eamon, I, ahem, am not going to comment on how many years apart is too many, but I liked what Sarah said about "a character to love and hate." Underage dating is obviously not appropriate, but it seemed complicated, in a way, in this book primarily because I didn't see Leila as 16--and Eunice and Sarah helped me realize it is because she is so self-aware and she does analyze everything. So their relationship didn't have quite as much of an "ick factor" for me because Leila's age seemed artificially young. That said, I clearly remember thinking that I would not want my teenager reading this book and thinking that this was romantic, exciting, and acceptable behavior.
In fact, because Leila was so "old" and aware and essentially the only young adult character in the book except for Ben (who was not developed enough to count), it didn't even feel like young adults were necessarily the intended audience (although I suppose the author would say so). Actually, I felt similarly about The Book of Lost Things--which was actually filed under regular fiction at our bookstore. Surely, having a YA for a protagonist does not automatically make it a YA book? Thoughts on this?
Just a couple of random observations that build on what you both said: Leila did seem quite alone in the world. I found it odd that she always referred to "Julian and Janie" (I think those were the names of her father and his first wife), but very rarely mentioned her mother's name. It was almost as if she was accidental, her purpose only to comment on her sisters and their first family. But she didn't seem jealous or resentful about it.
Also, she is not blonde, at least not in my mind. Why would the author make such a point about Egypt and then have them all be blondes. Now to me, that was annoying, and the story bumped every time she brought it up.
By the way, Eunice, interesting information about stets (I didn't even know that was a word until just now) for the book, so please keep including that info on other books if relevant!
Er, I went to Singapore and couldn't get hold of the book before I left, so you'll have to wait to see whether you're right, Susan. :-) I think we're more likely to agree on disliking a book than liking one, though, because my default mode tends to be overly critical.
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