Review: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: August 13, 2013
Pages: 288
Source: For Review from Hachette Book Group Canada
Rating: 4 Stars

In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them and I'm sorry I couldn't be more than I was—that I couldn't stick around—and that what's going to happen today isn't their fault.
Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather's P-38 pistol.
But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school's class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.

In short: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick may not be an easy or pleasant read, but it’s an important one with a vital message.

Look, I read another contemporary book! Like, the fifth one I’ve read so far this year, which may not sound so impressive, but I’m at least pleased with myself because this genre isn’t my forte. It’s also of a subject matter that is much darker than I’m used to. Leonard Peacock is tired of feeling so helpless and irrelevant and so ready to be done with life that he plans to kill himself - and his ex-best friend who ruined his life - on his birthday. For him, it is the best birthday present ever.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock was not an easy read, nor was it very pleasant to read at all. I found it at times to be disturbingly relatable, which made me a bit uncomfortable (not that I ever have or would consider the steps Leonard plans to take to off himself and his ex-best friend). But even though it wasn’t a pleasant read, I can fully acknowledge that it is absolutely an important one with a vital message.

I alternated between feeling frustrated with Leonard that he feels this is the only way out for him and feeling truly empathetic for his feelings of loneliness and alienation as a result of bullying. I’ve been there and it’s the worst, but a murder-suicide is not the way to go obviously and it was frustrating to me that he couldn’t understand that, despite having an amazing mentor. Overall though, I honestly liked him; I thought he was an interesting, intelligent, and thoughtful person and I would love to be his friend.

The only thing that I wasn’t too keen on was the lack of closure in the ending. I’m someone who likes very complete and exact endings, so I really wanted to see how the stories for each of the characters ended, but found it lacking. This shouldn’t bother people who are okay with more open endings though. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock was my first book by Matthew Quick and I was incredibly impressed with his intelligent and unique writing style, as well as his genuine characterization.

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Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: September 15, 2011
Pages: 206
Source: For Review from Candlewick Press
Rating: 5 Stars

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...
This monster, though, is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth.

In short: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is simultaneously one of the most devastatingly heartbreaking and rousingly beautiful books I have ever read.

A Monster Calls tells the story of thirteen-year-old Conor who has a recurring nightmare in which a monster comes to visit him at 12:07 every night. The monster tells him three stories and in return, Conor must tell the monster the story of his truth. But A Monster Calls isn't a story about a monster who visits a boy in his dreams. It's a story about dealing with the devastating impacts of cancer. It's a story that cuts you to the core and leaves you breathless and emotionally drained. But it is also painfully beautiful and completely worthwhile.

Patrick Ness relays in a stark and brutal way the emotions and grief that one endures when having to deal with the influence of cancer in a loved one. And who among us hasn't been affected by the destructive effects of cancer at some point in our lives? Siobhan Dowd, the author who conceived the idea behind A Monster Calls, herself had the disease. And, in a most tragic turn of events, Siobhan Dowd succumbed to her illness before she could write this novel. Patrick Ness stepped in to write it and see her masterpiece to publication.

A Monster Calls is simultaneously one of the most devastatingly heartbreaking and rousingly beautiful books I have ever read. I have said it already in my reviews of Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking Trilogy, but Patrick Ness is simply a genius with words. I would read anything he writes and will be guaranteed to love it, purely based off his ability to craft emotional prose, complex characters, and deeply moving themes. You are missing out if you haven't read his books yet!

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Review: When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: June 4, 2013
Pages: 272
Source: For Review from Hachette Book Group Canada
Rating: 4 Stars

Filled with humor, raw emotion, a strong voice, and a brilliant dog named Sandy Koufax, When You Were Here explores the two most powerful forces known to man-death and love. Daisy Whitney brings her characters to life with a deft touch and resonating authenticity.
Danny's mother lost her five-year battle with cancer three weeks before his graduation-the one day that she was hanging on to see.
Now Danny is left alone, with only his memories, his dog, and his heart-breaking ex-girlfriend for company. He doesn't know how to figure out what to do with her estate, what to say for his Valedictorian speech, let alone how to live or be happy anymore.
When he gets a letter from his mom's property manager in Tokyo, where she had been going for treatment, it shows a side of his mother he never knew. So, with no other sense of direction, Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother's memory and make sense of her final months, which seemed filled with more joy than Danny ever knew. There, among the cherry blossoms, temples, and crowds, and with the help of an almost-but-definitely-not Harajuku girl, he begins to see how it may not have been ancient magic or mystical treatment that kept his mother going. Perhaps, the secret of how to live lies in how she died.

In short: When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney was a wonderfully moving read with a fantastic cast of dynamic characters.

When You Were Here is a novel about death, but it's also about moving forward after dealing with so much grief and reconnecting with life. Danny is three weeks away from graduation when his mother dies after a long battle with cancer. As he has already lost his father years previously and has broken up with the love of his life, he is left alone, despondent in his grief. With nothing left, Danny decides to take a trip to Tokyo where his mother spent much of her last few months to try to come to terms with his grief and the secrets his mother was keeping from him. When You Were Here is a novel that will strip you down with grief and then rebuild your spirit whole again in a beautifully effective way.

When You Were Here gave me an urge to see Tokyo in a BIG, BAD way. I've always wanted to visit Japan, but never before with quite the same fervour as this book made me feel. Tokyo's mix of flashy sites and more traditional Japanese culture was described so well and presented so vividly by author Daisy Whitney. The setting was like a character unto itself, which is my favourite kind of setting.

The characters were great and dynamic, as well. I've never personally had to deal with the death of a parent - thankfully - but I still found it easy to relate with Danny. It was so inspiring to see Danny regain his spirit after so much grief. I also love how a few of the characters remained something of an enigma for much of the novel, only to have their stories finally come together in a moment of true enlightenment at the end. Standout characters include Danny's dog, Sandy Koufax, - because dogs are THE BEST - and Danny's new Japanese BFF, Kana, - who, okay, was a bit of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG), but I still liked her a lot and I think she had a lot more depth than your standard MPDG.

The only thing that stops When You Were Here from being a 5 Star read for me is that I don't believe I felt the full emotional impact that I could have felt from the story. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a lovely read, definitely a poignant story. But I wanted MORE. I wanted to feel more emotional investment with the characters and storyline. I wanted to be hit hard by THE FEELS. But this is a relatively small complaint because When You Were Here was still definitely a wonderful and moving story. This was my first Daisy Whitney read, but it won't be my last.

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Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Publisher: Atria Books
Published: November 13, 2012
Pages: 448
Source: For Review from Simon & Schuster
Rating: 5 Stars

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.
Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.
Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

In short: Though The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay is an emotionally draining novel, it is also one that will leave you breathless from the outstanding beauty of the characters and the writing.

This book is angst-central. Nastya and Josh, the novel's alternating narrators, are two terribly defeated and depressed characters. They are both subject to some pretty appalling situations, which they deal with over the course of the novel. I usually find myself becoming annoyed with characters that are so angsty, but for some reason I found it didn't bother me in The Sea of Tranquility. Perhaps because debut author Katja Millay does such a brilliant job at showcasing her characters and their circumstances with such genuine and raw emotional depth that you can't help but truly FEEL what they are going through with painful clarity.

Alright, so that doesn't sound like so much fun, so let me clarify: The Sea of Tranquility is about a lot of pain, but through all that hardship, there is HOPE. There is no way I could have enjoyed this novel otherwise. Nastya and Josh can be fairly depressing - though still expertly written - but they do have an excellent support system in the form of some equally well written secondary characters who provide a much needed lightness to contrast all the despair. Plus, while the journey is hard, the ending is beautiful.

I think some people will probably find The Sea of Tranquility to be a bit slow in the beginning and hard to get into. For me, however, I feel that slow start was needed to ease myself into this incredibly draining story. And I urge anyone who is having a difficult time getting into the story to keep reading as what you will find in the end is a beautiful and heartfelt story that will stay with you long after you close the book.

In other news, I am becoming something of a contemporary-issues genre fan! Well... it has really just been The Sea of Tranquility and one other book a few months ago, but dammit if they weren't both truly amazing reads that left a profound effect on me. I am just impressed that someone like me - Miss Speculative Fiction Addict - could be finding new loves in realistic fiction, especially ones with such serious subject matter. Shows that it pays to go outside your comfort zone every once in a while! I HIGHLY recommend The Sea of Tranquility to both contemporary and non-contemporary fans.

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Review: What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: October 9, 2012
Pages: 320
Source: For Review from Hachette Book Group Canada
Rating: 5 Stars

How can you talk about something you can’t remember?
Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader (at the bottom of the pyramid, but still...), a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends. When she ends up on a ski lift next to handsome local college boy, Dax Windsor, she’s thrilled; but Dax takes everything from Sid—including a lock of her perfect red curls—and she can’t remember any of it.
Back home and unable to relate to her old friends, Sid drops her college prep classes and takes up residence in the A/V room with only Corey “The Living Stoner” Livingston for company. But as she gets to know Corey (slacker, baker, total dreamboat), Sid finds someone who truly makes her happy. Now, if she can just shake the nightmares and those few extra pounds, everything will be perfect... or so she thinks.

In short: What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton was an authentic and emotional read that really challenged my perception of the way I view the issues the novel dealt with.

What Happens Next was not my usual reading fare; those who know me know I only seldom stray into contemporary reads, choosing instead make-believe speculative fiction. And I RARELY make visits into the area of issue books, often scared away by the serious subject matter. But I can't say how utterly happy I am that I took the plunge and read What Happens Next, a story about a girl who gets date-raped while on a school ski-trip and the repercussions following the event. What a completely real and piercing read this was. As it turns out, I actually really love books that tackle serious subject matters - when they are done WELL, that is. I was definitely affected by the story and was given a lot to think about.

Sid is an instantly likeable and relatable protagonist, which makes her journey following the event all the more emotional. It's hard not to feel sympathy for a girl who loses everything in one night - her reputation, her friends, her self image, and her virginity - and yet somehow also feel proud of her that she wasn't completely beaten down. I loved how snarky and bold she was. And though I haven't personally ever gone through any experiences exactly the same to hers, I was still able to identify with the little things - her insecurities and doubts. Her authentic personality and appearance really made her stand out among a sea of cookie-cutter YA protagonists.

And I loved Sid's excellent support system in the form of her two best friends, her caring mother, her adorable brother, and her reliable pet Irish Wolfhound. And her love interest, Corey. Corey!! Corey is basically my idea of the perfect book boyfriend. Through it all, Corey is there to support Sid and it was such a relief to me that she always had him even when she felt she had no one else. He is thoughtful and caring, but also has his own insecurities and problems. The romance between Sid and Corey was pretty dang swoon-worthy, full of awkward and butterfly-inducing moments. And did I mention Corey bakes?! BAKES, people!!

Possibly the most notable part of What Happens Next is that it really challenged my perception of things and made me rethink how I view certain issues. And I am truly grateful to Colleen Clayton for that. I really appreciated her authentic approach to such serious issues. I was honestly shocked to learn that Colleen Clayton is a debut author because What Happens Next read like it was written by an experienced writer. I very much look forward to reading all her subsequent novels!

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