My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout

Strout, Elizabeth. My Name is Lucy Barton. New York: Random House, 2016.

 

I want to be more elegant to review this title.  Yesterday and unexpected snow day allowed me the privilege of reading an adult book that I have been eager to get at since it arrived at my public library. I read it quickly, and to review it more elegantly and intellectually, I would need to read it again. I am not anticipating another snow day, so I am just going to talk about what I loved.

I love that Strout returned to the short story style that I loved so much in Olive Kitteredge.  She masterfully weaves together a series of stories that could potentially stand individually to create a beautiful novel. I love the glimpses into the lives of the folks from Lucy’s hometown, told primarily through the lense of her mother, perhaps a fractured lense. And through these individual stories, Strout explores what is universal in our experiences.

I love that Strout frames the novel from the point of view of a novelist.  The pieces with the published novelist workshopping Lucy Barton’s work are intriguing.  I love that she helps Lucy to envision that which she cannot quite see on her own in terms of her life and her writing.  But I also feel a little like Strout is instructing me...here is what you might take away from THIS part of the novel.  I felt more of a nudge than a slap, and on a snow day the nudge was lovely.

I love the slow burn to the reveal of Lucy Barton’s childhood. The hints and suggestions that work together much like the stories mentioned earlier. And then...and then...in the ends, I was still left just a little uncomfortable wondering just exactly what happened to Lucy Barton as she grew up in her dysfunctional home - one that didn’t break her.  Her gratitude at having her mother by her side in the hospital is real as is her grief when her mother leaves.  Her mother is not bowed by Lucy’s adult self.  She maintains her attitude throughout (oh how she reminds me of Olive).

I love that I could read this novel in an afternoon, but that I want to read it again this summer and savor it word by word, story by story, and chapter by chapter. I hope to mine some short story gold for my AP Literature class.

I wish I could elevate my writing in this review to the level of Strout’s in My Name is Lucy Barton. I'd love to pull out all of my AP Literature chops and formally analyze the novel like a champ. Hopefully, my love of the title will stand on its  own for now. Read the book.

 

A Farewell to Arms (I have the BEST job)

So...after 30 years of teaching English, many of them in Advanced Placement, and 8 years of librarianship and book talking, I have finally completed a Hemingway - beyond The Old Man and the Sea (which I read because it was part of the curriculum I was teaching). I am not entirely sure where my slight aversion to Hemingway originated.  Each year I teach “A Clean Well Lighted Place” in AP Lit.  And I kind of like it.  But I always talk about how I haven’t read his novels.  Somewhere along the line, I became upset over his portrayal of women.  After I read  The Paris Wife, I became a bit more intrigued with Hemingway the author.  McLain does such a lovely job of illustrating ho Hemingway struggled to make each word in his work the perfect one. I recognized the preciseness of the language in the short story. Further, I have been making an effort at book talking more classic authors. My assistant principal was a “guest talker” and took over the Hemingway slide for me in the fall, and I felt duty bound to have one read before a banned and censored book talk presentation.  

Any way - A Farewell to Arms it was. I may have picked the title because it looked the shortest, and I had about 24 hours to knock it out.  I may have read it a bit too quickly.  But, most definitely, I surprised myself with how much I liked the novel.  I am in awe of Hemingway’s command of the language.  His sentences while precise and spare are surprisingly poetic. His characters, while I didn’t necessarily like them, engaged me with their frank honesty and real brokenness. Honestly, I didn’t just love his portrayal of Catherine, but that’s OK, I was drawn to her nonetheless. I don’t think I need to actually review the book here.  Those reviews, by much more talented critics than I, are all over the internet.  I’m just reporting that I read the book.  

True story.  One of our tenth grade boys had also chosen Farewell to Arms after my first book.  Largely on the recommendation of the principal.  He was so pleased that I, too, had read the book.  “That ending,” he said, “I didn’t expect it. I couldn’t believe it; wasn’t that something?”  That, my friends, was something.  I read Hemingway and had a moment with a tenth grade as a result.  I have the BEST job.

 

Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

Yoon, Nicola. Everything, Everything. New York, Delacorte, 2015.

Good heavens! I don’t know which hat to put on to review this book.  I know that I certainly should be wearing my librarian glasses and talking that way. So for young adult librarians; your readers are going to love this book. Madeline Whittier has an unbelievable life. An immune disease has her living her young life in a bubble.  She lives in an air controlled home.  Her company is limited to her mom and her nurse Carla. Most of her living consists of reading and what she can see through her window. And then...she sees Ollie in her window. Forever her life is different.  Through electronic media, and the view through the window, Ollie and Maddy fall in love, causing them to dare fate and be together whatever the cost.  My romantic girls will LOVE this story.  Yoon creates the kind of relationship that dreams are made of.  She explores the lives of one ill and one abused teen and creates a beautiful new reality for them.   And certainly, I can encourage the read.  Maddy and Ollie come of age. They become brave, take chances, and defy the world around them.

Which (here comes a different hat…) was what also drove this grown woman and mother crazy! At some level, I’ll want to say, “Here, read this beautiful love story, but don’t ever, ever defy your parents in such a dangerous way!”  I’m not sure the ending made the middle OK for me. I understand the idea of young adult literature, and that for the most part I need to remove my parent lense, and I don’t know why this one was so rough for me, but it was, indeed.

So...great fiction.  Really neat characters - fully developed.  They are intellectual and tough.  The approach the world (kind of) with thoughtfulness, and don’t take beautiful days or moments lightly.  The ending is the kind of happy that my endless stream of Hallmark movies provides for me. The illustrations by David Yoon are such a cool touch.  I love how they accentuate the development of Madeline’s personality.  This mixed media of text and art is so appealing to my readers today.  Like with Challenger Deep, I love how the two work together to tell the story. Ultimately, is will suspend my disbelief, take a deep breath, and offer this book to my girls.  Certainly I will promise them a great story; likely I will encourage them to listen carefully to their parents. I don’t think I will be able to help myself.   The good news is that they will laugh at me and read a great new book!



 

                      


Velvet Undercover - Teri Brown

Brown, Teri. Velvet Undercover. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2015.

For a teenager living in Europe in the midst of World War I, life can be a series of suspenses.  Samantha’s father has disappeared. Her mother is lost without him. She comes in a sad second in her Girl Guides’ competition. Enter La Dame Blanche and the offer to serve her country as a spy. While challenged and intrigued, she feels she dares not leave her mother, but then the ultimate card is played.  If she spies, she gets information about her father.  She feels she must.  What follows is a true spy adventure.  She is trained and placed into undercover among royalty in Germany.  She is quickly thrust into the intrigue of double agents and chemical weapons.

While this title didn’t rock my world, I will be pleased to share it with my students.  Samantha is incredibly smart and stunningly capable.  She learns over the course of her adventure to heed the voice within her and recognize her own strengths. These are the kinds of heroines I love to give my girls.  Also, the glimpse into the intrigues of World War I and the life of spies is a solid one.  Our junior readers are looking for world history books for independent reading for social studies. I’m excited to add this one.  I am selling Elizabeth Wein’s protagonists everywhere.  While I am not quite as enamored of this title as those, I am indeed excited to have another title to offer.



Printz Win (For me!)

I have a love/hate relationship with the ALA YMA awards day. I look forward to seeing the winners - an exciting time for YA Lit.  But I sweat it some.  I wonder if I will have any of the titles in my collection - if I don't, does it call into question my chops as a librarian and literature teacher?  This year, I celebrate the small victories. I have read, liked, and blogged about all three Printz titles: Bone Gap, Out of Darkness, and The Ghosts of Heaven.  Today, for just a moment, I forgot about test scores, common core, SLO's, and all of the things that stress me out about teaching and felt like a winner!