Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Review copy provided by Netgalley

The story of Bridge and her friends is one that is sure to resonate with readers long after they finish. The primary theme is peer pressure and the evolution of friendships, and boy, does it hit that topic hard. Told from multiple points of view in a non-linear style, the story can be a little hard to follow at first, much like Rebecca Stead's other writing, but in much the same way as other work, if you persevere through your initial confusion, you are richly rewarded for your efforts. This is a book about the experience that all children go through as they enter junior high or middle school. Friendships are tested as children evolve and drawn in different directions. In some cases, friendships can't withstand that change. In others, they can and do.

Also up for discussion in this book is the effect of social media on the young. This book deals with a middle school student sharing inappropriate pictures with one another and the fallout that that sharing creates. It is a very uncomfortable topic, and I believe it is presented in a way to allow for that discomfort while also dealing with what a child might go through as a result. Really, it's powerfully presented and will make readers reflective. Even reading this as an adult, I was forced to reflect on how I might handle the situation myself. If I was a teacher and I had to deal with a student in this situation, how would I react? Would I contribute to the problem by reacting poorly, as much of the staff in the school does, or would I be more understanding? I hope for the latter.

Lastly, there is the other story being shared throughout the book. It is the story of a mystery character, one that you slowly come to realize is somehow connected to the central plot of the story, though you have to put it together piece by piece. It's another of story of friendships evolving and changing as a girl finds that her old friends are less and less relatable and maybe aren't the friends that they once were.

Ultimately, this is a story about the pressures of growing up. It's a story about the inevitable loss of innocence that teens undergo and how the relationships that they maintain help and hinder them in that process. Each character has their own life and questions that they must face, but their bonds, both good and bad, with other characters impact how they go about their individual lives.

Readers will be in for quite a journey when they read this. It's exhausting at times, but well worth the effort as all readers are sure to see themselves and others in the lives of the characters. This is not a story with good and bad guys, but people that making choices and dealing with the consequences of their actions. Beautifully presented, and memorably resolved. Great book.



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It Ain't So Awful Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas

It Ain't So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review copy provided by Netgalley

If this isn't in contention for something from the ALA this winter, I will be seriously disappointed. It has Newbery or Printz written all over it. I've never read any of this author's other work, and this is probably the first children's book I've ever read about an Iranian American character. If there was ever a book that deserved promotion from We Need Diverse Books, this is it. I loved this.

I'd call this book historical fiction, though it's not exactly ancient history. Still, the Iranian Hostage Crisis is something from before most of this book's readers' lifetimes. This book deals with a topic that most readers will know nothing about fairly and honestly. More than simply learning about the historical period, readers will find that they can empathize with the characters. The mistreatment of this family is hard to take. I found myself questioning the motives of every friend and acquaintance she had, and every character gave me a momentary reason to wonder about their allegiances and intent. Still, all in all, it was the kindness of her neighbors and friends that I found most endearing in this book. I really loved this book and I hope that many other readers will feel the same. Given the chance, this could be a book that people will still be reading and talking about years from now. Well worth the time it would take to read. Amazing.

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Boy Heaven by Laura Kasischke

Boy Heaven by Laura Kasischke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is hardly a typical book selection for me. It had been sitting on my shelf for a year already by the time I gave it a try, and even then it was just the book I grabbed blindly on my way to bed for the night. To its credit, I read the entire book in a couple of days. I'm not normally a fan of this kind of literature. It's the kind that they call young adult in some bookstores only because the main characters are teenagers. The thing is, I've read quite a few books targeted at adults that broach fewer "taboos" than this book did and they do it with a greater sensibility in their approach. This one was a bit over the top.


It was a pretty good ghost story. Or maybe it's wrong to call it a ghost story. Is a ghost only a ghost if the person they are born out of is already dead? Maybe I'm just mincing the details too much. Anyway, the thing that this book does best is take the reader along on the psychological train wreck of being haunted or stalked by something creepy. It follows three teenage cheerleaders, Kristy, Kristi, and Desiree, at cheerleading camp (yes, I almost put the book down for that alone). They are your typical self-absorbed, petty, contradictory messes that you have to anticipate a writer creating as filler in most high school dramas, basically three overfilled barges of mental baggage. Top it off with the story being written in the first-person view of one of those aforementioned messes, Kristy Sweetland, and you've got a world-class narcissist on your hands.


It opens with an unplanned afternoon excursion to go skinny dipping at a local lake that goes terribly wrong thanks to a few relatively creepy local boys playing stalker after crossing paths with the girls at the local gas station. Okay, so the beginning reads like just about a thousand movies I've consistently avoided like the plague of American cinema that they are. There's the predictable chase through the backroads of nowheresville, the narrow escape, and the triumphant taunting of their pursuers wherein they decide to give them a taste of what they missed by baring all from the waist up as they cruise past the gawking hormonal creeps. Yes, I even suffered through the nauseating descriptions of each girl's chest as compared to that of insecure Kristy. Where it all picks up is in the aftermath of that ill-fated trip.


Back at camp, their victory is short lived. Of course, the stalkers somehow aren't through with the girls yet, not after getting a look at the three of them topless. The girls try to return to business as usual, Kristi going back to sulking, Desiree angling her way into the pants of the attractive male camp counselor, and Kristy standing by to envy her loose friend for her carefree and vivacious ways and, of course, obsessing over how every other girl at camp views her. The author does a pretty thorough job of making you want to root for the stalkers or perhaps an oversized alligator from the lake with an overdeveloped appetite for self-obsessed teenage girls. That last part was just a suggestion, but I think it would have been worth a closer look.


Anyway, the boys begin turning up in the woods outside the cabins to stare and generally creep the girls out and one by one the three of them begin to unravel in their own little ways. This was the real fun of the story, comparing their different descents into paranoia and the measures they went to to protect themselves, none of which really helped. If they were even remotely likable people, I suppose at one point I might have started feeling bad for them, especially the sulky Kristi who seemed fit for a straight jacket pretty early on, but that never was the case here so it kept the fun simple for me. I could have done without the chronicles of Desiree and her boy toy, but I suppose it was a necessary piece of the whole unfortunate puzzle. You can't have a sex-crazed supporting character sit around eating ham sandwiches for the entire book…unless of course she's waiting to get her groove back or something.


Overall, if this book were made into a movie that stayed true to the original text, it would be rated R for sure, and not just because of the flashing scene toward the beginning. There is enough sex in this otherwise to make sure of that. But it's a good psychological thrill ride. There are some pretty tense moments. The writer has an absolute mastery of metaphor and the descriptions of everything from the scenery to the characters' expressions are chock full of vivid imagery. The plot is a mixture of clichés and overdone twists, but the end scene and the final plot twist are both fairly alarming. Bottom line is while I wouldn't make the mistake of suggesting this to any random teenager, I wouldn't call it a bad book for the rest of us. Give it a try when you're after a fast, mindless summer read and I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.


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Deadline by Chris Crutcher

I don't read many books like this one. In fact, after reading the first few pages of this book I'm a bit surprised that I didn't put it down. And yet, it's not that difficult for me to see why I kept reading. This book was absolutely addictive, pure and simple. Most books with terminally ill lead characters get bogged down with seemingly endless descriptions of the characters thinking. It becomes an obsessive journey into the inner workings of every decision they make. This wasn't the case here.

While Ben certainly has to come to terms with his own imminent demise, he does it with a sense of urgency and intelligence that makes someone want to persist despite what they know is coming. This story doesn't pull any punches. It doesn't pander, give false hope, or pretend that things are going to work out because of some hokey moment of enlightenment when everyone comes to terms with their shortcomings and is better for it. It doesn't end clean for everyone, and there aren't a lot of alternatives to that end that would have come off so honest. The conversations with Hey-Soos that Ben has every so often are really about as deep as it gets here, and they are as laced with sarcasm and humor as they are with real insights.

This book is worth the read, whether or not it leaves you feeling down for a day or so afterwards. I won't deny that the issue of someone who only recently legally qualified as an adult deciding to keep his terminal illness to himself doesn't raise some objections in my mind, but I'm not sure if he didn't make the right decision under the circumstances. It certainly blew up in his face with Dallas Suzuki, as it did with his brother Cody in some regard. On the flip side, hiding his illness was what allowed him to play football, to not be treated with kid gloves by his teachers, and to not go down coddled and miserable.

While I came to this book with a pretty set notion of what's the right approach to an issue like this, I left with a lot more to think about. I think my ultimate conclusion is that this is an something I have no business pressing my judgements about unless it applies to me personally. This book will probably make you think about this too, though whether you come to the same conclusion as I do is on your head.

Throughout the book, Ben recommends reading Lies My Teacher Told Me, and yes, I took that recommendation and I'm glad I did. Now I'm going to recommend that you read Deadline. Crutcher knew what he was doing when he created Ben Wolf and he did it without apologizing for the rough parts. That makes it a worthwhile read.