why all the buzz?

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Challenges: 100 Book Challenge 2011, 2011 Page to Screen Reading Challenge
Review: Occasionally, a book lives up to the hype.  I'm not completely sure that this one does, but it comes close.  I can certainly see where all the hype comes from.  The characters (for the most part) are well-drawn and realistic, the plot is compelling, the tension believable, and the premise interesting.  So, I definitely enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure it deserves all the buzz.  I can't quite put my finger on why.

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.

the wild, wild west

Doc by Mary Doria Russell

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Challenge: 100 Book Challenge 2011

Review: I don't think I've ever actually read a Western, so I can't say for sure if this book qualifies as belonging to that genre, or if it's just plain old historical fiction.  Whatever it is, it's another example of Mary Doria Russell's mastery of her craft.  We already know that Russell writes great historical fiction and science fiction, but here she has chosen yet another period and setting vastly different from what she's given her readers before, and again with the meticulous research that her fans will by now take for granted.

If this book has a flaw, it's that it can be a little jumpy.  We are occasionally yanked back in time for some backstory, which always helps flesh out a character or plot point, but some way of distinguishing these short flashbacks from the rest of the narrative would have made the transition less jarring.  This small flaw is easily overlooked, though, as it doesn't take more than a sentence or two to adjust to the new setting.

And it's well worth overlooking.  Historical figures that many of us have heard of but probably don't know much about beyond the legend will come to life through Russell's writing.  Those who are more familiar with these figures will appreciate the research that Russell has done to go beyond that legend.  Everyone will enjoy a good story well told.

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

sensationalized details

The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld by Herbert Asbury
Rating: 1 star (out of 5)
Genre: non-fiction
Challenge: 100 Book Challenge 2011, 2011 Page to Screen Reading Challenge
Review:  When reading a book written some time ago, it's important to remember that standards and tastes may have been different back then.  Such is the case here.  It's entirely possible (in this case, likely) that this book was considered eminently readable when it was published in 1927, but today's readers might find it somewhat more difficult.

Asbury presents us with a dizzying array of names of people (real names, pseudonyms, and nicknames) and places (modern and historical), barely pausing for breath, let alone meaningful distinction among them (I lost count of the number of gangsters described as "huge").  A map would have been nice, and a cast of characters even better.

Anecdotes are piled one on top of another, with little or no explanation as to why any of them are important or how any of them are connected.  And each one is more sensationalistic than the last, making me wonder where Asbury got his information from.  A bibliography is appended at the end of the book, but it's impossible to tell which stories he got from which sources (and, indeed, which came from "personal interviews" with criminals and police officers).  So, as hard a time as I had just wading through the mass of details, I almost had an even harder time believing them.

emasculating feminism

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Challenge: 100 Book Challenge 2011
Review: The ancient Greek play Lysistrata tells a powerful story about war and feminism.  This book, in which a school production of Lysistrata has a surprising effect on the community, removes every shred of meaning from the play.

Rather than being organized into a sex strike to put an end to a long-running war, the women in this book are individually struck by a spell that makes them just not interested in sex or intimacy any more.  Not only is there no larger purpose to their sudden refusals, but for the most part none of the women is aware that what's suddenly struck them is anything other than a personal change.  One of the girls undertakes a personal strike to stay in bed, alone, until the end of the war in Afghanistan, but this, too, just fizzles out, much like the desire of the women in town, and much like the plot of this book.

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

I hope the movie is better

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction, YA
Challenge: 100 Book Challenge 2011, 2011 Page to Screen Reading Challenge
Review: I don't generally find that the movie is better than the book. I don't think I've ever suspected that the movie will be better than the book based only on reading the book and before the movie has even been released. But I think (hope) that that's the case here.

The premise of this book is really interesting (which is why I picked it up in the first place), but the execution left something to be desired. The language can be a little stilted, and some of the scenes seemed virtually scripted for a movie. Also, the author's name is clearly a conceit (Pittacus Lore is actually named in the book as a Lorien elder), which is especially annoying because there was no pay-off to it. Maybe that'll come in the rest of the series.

So, I'll probably see this movie when it comes out, and I probably will read the rest of the books in the series as they come out. But I'll do it only out of curiosity to see whether a good story can be made out of this good premise, because it surely hasn't been done yet.

loses focus

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Challenge: 100 Book Challenge 2011
Review: It gives away nothing about this book to say that it's about two sisters whose father kills their mother. One of the sisters is also stabbed, but survives, and the other sister runs for help and returns to a very bloody scene. The remainder of the book is the next 30+ years of the sisters' lives, showing us snapshots of how this traumatic event and its aftermath effect the rest of their lives.

This is an excellent premise for a book (one that is loosely based in the author's own life, as it turns out). The father's impending release (either earlier on parole or later when is sentence is up) is supposed to create a lot of tension for the sisters, but very few changes are evident in their lives or relationships as this date grows closer. An improbable and weakly fleshed out encounter shortly before the father's release causes some temporary changes in their thinking, but things soon go back to "normal" and the reader is forced to wonder what the point of it all was.

This book got off to a strong and vivid start, as we live through the sisters' trauma, but as they grow into adults it becomes disorganized. Meyers could have either kept a tight focus on the immediate aftermath of the event (that part of the book was quite good) or given the reader more to chew on as the sisters grew up. She did neither, but instead takes the reader on a ramble through 30 years of the sisters not dealing with what happens. But then it seems she suddenly realizes that the story needs some closure, so Meyers gives them a breakthrough for an ending that neither she nor her characters have earned.

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