Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Review: When She Woke

a book review when she woke
When She Woke is a dystopian retelling of a Scarlet Letter. In this world criminals are chromed (their skin turned a different color) according to their crimes. Hannah the main character in this book is charged with murder, because she had an abortion, and is chromed red. Life as a chrome is not easy and Hannah must navigate difficulties she never encountered before.
What impressed me most about this book is how strong Hannah is. Even though it added years to her sentence as a chrome she refused to name the person who performed her abortion. She also refused to name the father of her child to protect his job as he is famous and influential. You do not find many woman of this strength in books. She poses a good role model for doing what is right for you and having the strength and backbone to follow up on it. This book does not descend into preachy moral tones but instead present things as they happen as the logical next step in the life of Hannah.
This book if full of tension. I had to stop reading a few times because I was so afraid of what would happen to Hannah. I really felt connected to her and cared about her and what happened to her. The author did I good job at ratcheting up the tension. This book is horrifying in a way because it shows what can happen if political climate goes to far to the right. It shows a world where choice is taken away. Where people must live how other people say you must. While I was reading I kept thinking this could really happen. That made it all the more horrifying.
Every word seems to be crafted to mean something in this book. The prose was beautiful. It was like Hannah was your friend and she was telling you, the reader, what had happened to her. This book comes highly recommended.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Library Loot

It is winter break so I went to the library and picked up

100_0716

 

When She Woke- I heard rave reviews on this one so I decided I had to read it.

How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend- I liked the premise of the book so I thought I would get it.

Why We Read what We Read- Again the book summary caught my attention

AshFall- I heard this was on the best of 2011 lists for Young Adults

The Iron Knight- I heard rave reviews

Wither- Again I heard rave reviews

The Unbecoming of Myra Dyer- I also saw this on a lot of blogs so wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

Monday, December 19, 2011

Review: How I stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend

A book Review for how i stole Johnny Depp's Girlfriend
This has to be one of the weirdest books I have read recently. I mean this in a good way.
It starts with Zelda who claims to be 325 years old and an alien. She is under treatment with David’s dad who is a psychologist. He prefers to treat people in his home because he fells that a home setting is more beneficial for them. She makes a few escape attempts and then when David finds out that she is looking for her one true love who happens to be Johnny Depp he agrees to help her find him. Off they go on an adventure that includes police chase arson and more.
I saw this in the library and thought it looked interesting so I picked it up. The story is a fast paced and easy read. It is plot driven with not much character growth. About halfway through the book you do learn about Zelda and her home planet. I thought what world building there was was good. I would have liked more but as this book is geared toward a young teen audience I can see why it keeps the focus on the action. This would be a good book for teens who might not like to read heavier books and young teens that like action novels with a bit of sci-fi thrown in.
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