perfect

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction/fiction
Review: This is one of those books that just wow you.  Based on a true story, Whitehead tells us the story of a Elwood's experience in a Florida reform school in the 1960s.  Segregated and violent, Nickel Academy marks every boy who passes through.  As an adult, having made his way to New York City, he's created a good life for himself, but when the school is closed and archeologist's start discovering bodies of dead boys where they shouldn't be, he knows that it's time to confront his past.

It would be easy for this book to get weighed down with the brutality of the school and of the Jim Crow south in general, but Elwood's courage and dreams, and Whitehead's writing, lift the story above the mud.  The writing is very plain, but descriptive, allowing the actions, thoughts, and feelings of the characters to speak for themselves, making them that much more resonant with the reader.

As I read this book, I kept wishing it was longer, if only because it was so good that the ending was bound to be disappointing.  I can only say that I needn't have worried, as the ending was absolutely perfect.  Kudos to Mr. Whitehead.  This is a book that deserves to be read, and re-read, by everyone.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

a girl and her dog

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: children's fiction
Challenges: 100 Book Challenge 2011, 2011 Page to Screen Reading Challenge
Review: Writing a review of a children's book as an adult can be a tricky thing because you have to remember that you're not really the intended audience the author was writing for.  Some children's books speak to everyone, regardless of age.  Others really are meant to appeal only to children, and that's not a bad thing at all.  It just makes a reviewer's life a little more difficult!

I think this book is one of those that really appeal more to children.  Personally, I found it saccharine.  Certainly others must find more of value in this book, since it's been made into a fairly successful movie.  There are lessons about confidence and kindness and not being judgmental that go down faily easy.  And I suppose any book that has a dog who smiles so big he sneezes is bound to have fans.

major melodrama

A Call from Jersey by P.F. Kluge

Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: The entire time I was reading this book, I felt like I was missing something, like it was the sequel to a book I hadn't read. Relationships were written as though there was a lot of tension between characters, but nothing was developed enough (either in the backstory or the present story) for me to really care about where the tension came from, or whether it got resolved. Most of the characters seemed to just drift through the story, occasionally colliding with each other in encounters that were evidently supposed to be very weighty, but really just seemed like random plot devices. I think Kluge was aiming for high drama, but only managed to give us melodrama.

FTC disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.