Dead Ends - Erin Lange

Dead Ends by Erin Lange

 

Review by M

 

Dead Ends is a story that is as much about bullying, friendship and family as it is an unusual teen road trip adventure with plot threads and themes aplenty.

An unusual and forced relationship is at the heart of the story. Dane (the violent bully with a single mum who frames winning Lottery cards), is wisely chosen by Billy D (the new kid on the block who also has Down syndrome) to be his protector in school. As Billy D holds all the cards, a heartwarming (and frequently comic) friendship develops as he reels Dane in on a journey to find both their dads.

The novel cleverly intertwines an exploration of different relationships (and power). The obvious relationship is that of bully and bullied but teenage friendship and being a good and ‘real’ parent are also prominent. Both Billy D and Dane live with their mothers but their fathers are curiously absent. Another character, however, has two fathers who are gay - and neither one is her biological father.

While Dane is a bully and a very violent one, the novel’s tone is fiercely warm. Lange manages to paint Dane as a sympathetic and believable character - but she doesn’t let him entirely off the hook. She paints a very interesting view of bullying.

While friendship and family are at this novel’s heart, Dead Ends will also likely appeal to clue-finding road trip fans. These elements add charm and action but neither of them dominate the novel. What could have become a ludicrous storyline actually works out to be enjoyable, believable, and quite moving.

Publication details: 6 January 2014, Faber and Faber, London, hardback

This copy: uncorrected proof from the publisher

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - M's review

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Reviewed by M

It’s Leonard Peacock’s eighteenth birthday. He’s on his own, he’s wrapped four gifts in pink paper as parting presents for four people, he’s quite distraught about his life, and he’s planning on taking a gun to school. Tough stuff and the gun business put me off at first. If you feel similarly to me on that, persevere like I did: it could go either way for you.

This novel reminded me of two things: The Catcher in the Rye (novel) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (film adaptation since I haven’t read the novel – but Little M has). Despite the miserable and uncomfortably controversial subject matter, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is a very thought-provoking, quick and compelling read – and remarkably, its tone is light (Warm? That really depends on you!).

The narrative structure is slightly unusual. Leonard’s first person narrative takes us inside his head as he tells us his thoughts as his eighteenth birthday progresses. This is enhanced (perhaps?) by footnotes at the bottom of the pages. These do provide background information and some deeper digressions into something he has said or thought. I skipped a fair amount of them – the type was small and I’m not a footnote fan.  These first person accounts of Leonard’s eighteenth birthday are interspersed with some letters from people who’re operating a lighthouse in the future. These letters are interesting and intriguing at first, then their raison d’être becomes clearer and finally they add an extra touch of ambiguity to the novel. For me then, they worked well and add a bright spark of debate to the novel’s end.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock bears many similarities to The Catcher in the Rye, which I reread recently. Both novels deal with identity, alienation and mental health issues for ‘gifted’ teenage boys and character comparisons between Leonard Peacock and Holden Caulfield (the main character in Catcher) are easy to make. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is an extra-ordinary day-in-my-life novel and similarly, Catcher is an extra-ordinary weekend-in-my-life novel. Other elements of the plot (hotels, girls, suicidal thoughts, absent parents) and some caring adult characters (an elderly man and a male teacher) also share parallels with Catcher (Herr Silvermann, Leonard’s holocaust teacher, is a great character with an interesting story of his own).

Like Salinger, Matthew Quick has deployed contemporary speech usage to denote similar things nad these bounced out at me. For example, Leonard is surrounded at school by ‘ubermorons’ while Holden was burdened with ‘phonies’. As a reader, if you weren’t sympathetic to Holden, you’re probably not going to be overly sympathetic to Leonard either (although his story provides more ‘justifications’ for his actions than Holden who was arguably just a lot more selfish).

A significant difference between the two novels is in the plot details and sub-plots. To me, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is much more about suicide, bullying and sexual abuse whereas, The Catcher in the Rye is more about grief and social class. For me, Forgive Me. Leonard Peacock also stresses the need for tolerance of difference much more – and maybe even forgiveness.

I think I preferred The Catcher in the Rye (partly because of it's lighter subject matter, it's clean monologue and it's my classic read from my teen years) but mature teen readers today may prefer Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. It addresses contemporary issues in a hardhitting way but at the same time it is also funnier and softened by what I think is occasional and well-placed sentimentality: nothing ubergooey, mind you, and it is definitely not a soft novel.

 

Publication details: Headline, London, 15 August 2013, hardback

This copy: uncorrected proof received for review from the publisher

Paper Aeroplanes - M's review

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter

Paper Aeroplanes is a story about friendship and being a teenage girl. Renee and Flo are finishing their GCSEs at an independent, all-girls school on the small island of Guernsey. Their families have suffered break-ups and deaths, and they’re not coping very well. Both girls are desperately lonely and struggling with awfully bullying friendships, overbearingly sexist brothers, difficult parents and carers, boyfriends and puberty.

The novel’s appeal is in its depiction of schoolgirl friendships, the highs and the lows, and the really nasty bits too. A warm, frank tone, with a few funny and emotionally teary moments, is mixed in with crudely graphic yet honest representations of puberty and sex. Many of the characters make choices that impact on both themselves and other people, and have long term consequences.

Paper Aeroplanes has been viewed as brutally honest - it is definitely mortification highway! (Thankfully), Renee and Flo’s experiences were more embarrassing than anything I ever experienced at school and the novel may present some extremes.  The narration from both Renee and Flo’s perspectives was interesting although the two voices were not very distinctive . I frequently got lost as to what was happening to whom.

Inspiration for the novel came from the author’s teenage diary and there is a nostalgic and self-indulgent element to the novel that offers a strong appeal to readers who were teenage girls in the 1990s. I’d say it was aimed at these readers as well as young adults. If you're younger and haven't read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, I'd probably start there first.

Paper Aeroplanes Hot Key Ring (by Hot Key Books)

 

Reviewed by M

Publication details: Hot Key Books, May 2013, London, paperback

This copy: uncorrected proof received for review from the publisher

 

The Weight of Water - M's review

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

 

The Weight of Water has been nominated for the 2013 Carnegie medal. It is a quick and enchanting read, and I really can’t recommend it highly enough. I read it a few weeks back, made some notes and now....I actually can't fault it. Amazing.

The Weight of Water tells a contemporary tale about twelve year old Kasienka. She travels with her mother from Poland to England. They are in search of her father and have little money. The unwinding story is a familiar bildungsroman of a twelve year old immigrant who is the new girl in school trying to understand and form her own identity. Within this story, the main plot with its heavy themes of bullying, loss and immigration are lightly buoyed  by the sweet-and-scary joys of pursuing  interests, love and the prospects of newfound  happiness.

What makes this story truly beautiful though, is the way it is told. The Weight of Water consists of a set of poems. Its form takes a poetic shape but uses narrative prose to great effect. At first, I was alarmed when I saw the unfamiliar shape of poetry lines in the pages of this novel rather than the familiar chunks of paragraphs. But, the writing has a beguiling rhythm which adds a simple but beautiful flow to what is an easy story to follow. It is an engrossing story that you’ll read easily in a single sitting. Or in little bits if that’s what you prefer.

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

Here are some of my further thoughts about the book in relation to the Carnegie shadowing criteria that we're using:

My first impression of Kasienka was that she was a good girl who felt loved and loved her family – although she felt terrible that her dad had left them. She seemed like a pleasant child who tried hard and was content. The descriptions of Kasienka’s thoughts, looks, behaviour are all very plausible and aspects of them are likely to be familiar to most people, especially twelve year old but nearly thirteen year olds girls.

Many of the main characters change as the novel progresses. While the plot is important and strong, the main focus is on how the main characters in this novel, Kasienka and her mother, adapt to their changing environment and relationships in England.

Kasienka has important relationships with a number of adults and students at school. Some of these relationships are positive and supportive, others are more negative. Many of these relationships change.

Despite the poetry, the language (vocabulary and syntax) is straightforward. The story dives straight in with Kasienka and her mother leaving Poland with just an old suitcase and a laundry bag. From the first page, you know already that this change in their life is not going to be easy.

The Weight of Water is told from Kasienka’s point of view. There is very little dialogue with other characters but there is a lot of internal dialogue. There is also a lot of description which helps to fill in the details of the story and to create an atmosphere of passing time and change. However, Crossan does not linger on irrelevant detail and the story moves swiftly, flitting past that which is not integral to the main developments of the character and plot.

The main plot about Kasienka and her mother's move to England in search of her father is well-supported and enhanced by the interweaved sub-plots. For me, it is the sub-plot around developing personal identity which are the highlight of this story.

 

This book definitely stays with you after you have finished it. You know where you finish the last page and just sit staring......and wondering what happens next in the characters' lives? And then wish you could quickly find someone else who has read it so you can talk about it with them? Yes, it was like that for me.

This book would probably fit into a contemporary genre because it is set in current times and is realistic (but you might also find it on the poetry shelves).

I would recommend this novel to readers approximately 11+ and think that it could have a broad appeal to a variety of readers.

 

 

Publication details:

Bloomsbury, January 2012, London, hardback

 

This copy: received for Carnegie reviewing from the publisher

 

Hold On - M's review

Hold On by Alan Gibbons

 

Because of the issues Hold On explores, this review has been written in support of Anti-Bullying Week.

John Sorrel is dead and Annie knows who his killers are and she wants them to pay. She’s been away in Canada but now she’s back and she knows what happened because John had been e-mailing her. She’s found his diary too and she’s so sure that she knows what happened and why – but is she right? And what is she going to do about it? Will that make things any better for anyone?

Hold On - Alan Gibbons

Hold On explores the complex issues surrounding teen suicide, bullying, portioning blame, seeking answers and loyal friendship. It tackles these issues from the perspectives of the person being bullied, John, the school bullies and the people who John left behind – especially Annie.

Any novel about teen suicide is always going to be chilling and this one is no different. However, Hold On also conveys messages of hope for a different outcome for people who are involved in bullying either as the victim, the bully, or an onlooker. The loudest one is ‘speak out’. Don’t bottle things up, don’t try to be the tough guy on your own, and don’t shy away from the truth because you’re afraid. Also, don’t be afraid to change. I imagine most people will identify with some aspects of this story and may find that either comforting or a wake-up call.

Small quibble, but I occasionally got a bit muddled about the timeframes in the story – but it does all come together and you can figure it out easily enough. Also, the eight year olds in this novel sounded years older than any eight year olds I’ve met.

While it is an issues novel, Hold On is also a quick read with a compelling storyline and a couple of twists and turns. It deals with heavy issues in a forthright but sensitive way. The interest level might be more suited to secondary school readers but the writing is accessible to younger readers too.

  

Publication details:

This novel was originally published in 2005.

This edition: Indigo, 2012 edition, London, paperback

This copy: received for review from the publisher

Pigeon English - M's review

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Due to the themes and content of this novel, this review has been deliberately selected by me to run during Anti-Bullying Week.

 

Previously shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, Pigeon English really is not a heavy, wade-through-me novel.  It’s pacy and simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking.  

Harri is in Year 7 and has recently moved from Ghana with his mother and sister. They are living on a rough council estate in London. Harri tells a story about what happens when a boy from their area is found stabbed to death and he and his friend decide to become ‘detectives’.  Through Harri’s ‘whodunit’ detective story, Pigeon English explores what life is like for children trying to make a life for themselves in the London ganglands.

At first, I thought the title Pigeon English was mainly going to be a play on words, pidgin English, seeing as Harri is from Ghana.  In one way it is, as throughout the story Harri explains what he thinks the new words, rules and slang he’s picked up mean. Many of these will make you chuckle and many will elicit other emotions too.  Some of it is a bit of a pidgin mix up. Harri got me too – for a long while, when Harri said ‘Asweh,’ I thought Asweh was some kind of ancestral god (I swear, I’m such a sucker)! And his sister, Lydia, was funny by always reprimanding Harri and reminding him to ‘advise yourself”!

But there is also an actual pigeon in the novel. This pigeon flies into Harri’s London flat one day, and also acts as his guardian. For me, the pigeon as guardian provides a foreboding warning to the reader about where the plot is going. You might be chuckling away at Harri’s innocence but the pigeon reminds you that this story is really about violent bullying.



Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Harri is a delightful narrator and character. Deep down he’s a really good boy and for most readers, he’s likely to melt your hearts.  It’s the little things he does. Like he thinks people should tell the estate gangs the secret that gangs can also do good, helpful missions, not just harmful ones. And his hand-drawn lines on his plain trainers to make them look like the cool brand ones.

As with most child narrators, Harri’s observations, thoughts and recounts, shed light on the many different prejudices that people carry around in their heads and throw about in their words and sometimes actions too.

Pigeon English is also a murder mystery, a whodunit story and in this way joins some other wonderful novels for teens like The CuriousIncident of the Dog In the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and The Night Sky In MyHead by Sarah Hammond.

 

Harri’s story is a chilling one. While it was not written or first published as a YA novel, in comparison to some other YA novels that take on gritty urban issues, for me, Pigeon English sings and soars above them. There are some nasty characters in this novel but the author, through Harri, softens them and makes them more palatable to read about than some other novels achieve, such as This Is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees or Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses sequence. Shocking as the story in Pigeon English is, it doesn’t aim for a ‘shock factor’. I’d even go so far as to say that while it dishes dirt, it takes the grit out. For me, that’s what gives it wings.

This new edition is published for the YA market and has guidance on the back: Parental Advisory: Explicit Content. Yes, there is some explicit content in this novel mostly involving knives, tongues and fingers - all told from eleven year old Harri’s perspective. Definitely one for the older teens (and obviously adults) but I think a lot of young teens could (and maybe should) get their heads around it too. Strong hearts needed. Perhaps tissues too.  This is a novel worth keeping.

 

Publication details:

Bloomsbury, October 2012 edition, London, paperback
 
This copy: received for review from the publisher

 

Bullies, Wonder & A Giveaway

Today is the start of Anti-Bullying Week which runs in the UK from 19-23 November 2012. We Sat Down will be supporting the week with reviews of books where bullying is a central theme in the stories.

First up, is Wonder by RJ Palacio, our contribution to the new anti-bullying book club launched by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) and Random House Children’s Publishers.  Plus, there's a chance to win a copy of Wonder by RJ Palacio (see end of post). Wonder has been nominated for the Carnegie medal 2013.

 

Our reviews of Wonder:

Alice (12) was our nominated reader to review Wonder for the Anti-Bullying Alliance book club. Here are her overall thoughts:

About:
The book is about a boy named August who has a deformed face, and what it feels like to be him. The book is told by different people in his life at different points in the story.

Favourite character

Summer because she made friends with August and was one of the first to do it.

Rating

10/10- an excellent read but it can get emotional in places.

Age rating

All ages!


Little M's thoughts:

About:
Wonder is about a boy named August who has a mis-shaped face and is partly deaf. He starts high school without his astronaut helmet and without his mum. August got home-schooled after he was bullied in primary school.

Thoughts:
I would recommend this book to everybody because it shows bullying in school and out of school but there are some kind people too. I think it is an easy read. I found that one of the chapters was different to all the others and I still wonder (wonder - ha!) why. This book is in We Sat Down's Top 20.


Here is a link to M's review of Wonder which was posted earlier this year.

Wonder - UK Giveaway

 

To win a copy of Wonder by RJ Palacio:

 

Leave a comment on this post

 

OR

 

E-mail us: wesatdown2  @  gmail  .  com

with the subject line WONDER

Rules:
1. This giveaway will close at 5pm on Friday 23 November 2012.
2. If you are younger than 13, please get your parent's/guardian's permission to enter.
3. A winner will be selected at random.
4. Winners will be contacted by e-mail for their UK postal address. Please make sure that your entry enables us to contact you.
5. This giveaway is sponsored by ABA and Random House Children's Publishers.

 

A Monster Calls - M's Review

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

 

A Monster Calls is about thirteen year old Conor whose divorced mother has terminal cancer. He has to sort a lot of things out for himself, there are bullies at school, and he has a controlling grandmother. On top of all this, Conor has a recurring nightmare but one night this is replaced by a new (but slightly less awful) nightmare. In this nightmare, a huge monster comes to him in the guise of a walking tree. The ‘Monster’ says there are four stories to be told before he can go away. 



A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Despite all the rave reviews, A Monster Calls didn’t appeal to either of us. We didn’t like the cover and we didn’t like the premise. And then it won the 2012 Carnegie medal. It still didn’t appeal to us but then Walker republished it with a different cover (the one pictured) and I thought we should give it a go.

I’m glad I did. I bought it and read it in one go. It was beautifully and cleverly written. From pretty much the start right through to the finish, this is a poignant read with quite a few chokers in it (however, the premise  does lend itself to tears so perhaps there is some borderline sentimentalism and some readers may find it a bit cloying). For me, I think that one of the charms of good middle grade fiction is that there are multiple layers so that the stories usually offer an innocence that is almost light-hearted but offers older readers poignant depth.

While this novel is very much about a young teenager having to deal with the implicit issues of living with a single mother who is battling with terminal cancer, the little issues about making mistakes, true friends, living with family and facing up to fears also come into play. Conor is a wonderful character from the very first pages. The ‘Monster’ and the telling of Four Stories provide a fairytale structure for the novel which didn’t appeal to me at first but might appeal to young readers or fantasy fans. And it does work quite well (some people will say it works beautifully). My two favourite paragraphs in the book are: an early one about what a grandmother should look like and how she should behave, and a later one featuring a note that Conor’s friend Lily sends to him.

I can see why this novel won the Carnegie. Like RJ Palacio's Wonder, this novel will appeal to young and old alike.

 

Publication details:

2012 edition, Walker, London, paperback

 

This copy: our own

Review - Wonder

Wonder by RJ Palacio

Wonder - RJ Palacio

My goodness, Wonder is RJ Palacio’s debut novel and it rocks!  But somehow this book has ended up on Little M’s bookshelf.  I wonder if she’ll miss it if I move it to a prominent position on my bookshelf??!!! Wonder is simply beautiful and it deserves a special spot on a bookshelf so that when someone comes into the house I can casually say, “Oh yeah, that’s a really good book for anyone to read”.

Auggie is 10 years old and suffers from a horrible face defect that makes him look beastly. People shy away when they see his face. It is a miracle that he survived birth, he has had numerous surgeries, and he has never attended a school. Contrary to the jacket image, he does have two eyes but he doesn’t really have ears, he has a snouty mouth like a tortoise, and eating and hearing are difficult for him. He has had a really, really rough start to life and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier just yet. But now, his mother thinks it’s a good idea for him to start middle school. Just great.

The story begins with Auggie narrating and you heart just wants to break for him.You can probably imagine how awful it must be for him with everyone staring, whispering, avoiding him; and you think things couldn’t get worse. But then on page 77, about a quarter of the way through, they do.  I’m sure my heart stopped for a very long second.  It was as if time froze and all the life in me dropped right down to my toes and everything went cold. Oh Auggie….

And with your heart in your toes, the story continues…. but from the perspective of other characters – Via, Summer, Jack, Justin, Miranda. It occasionally returns to Auggie’s perspective and it ends with his voice, a voice that is so different from the moment you first met him at the beginning of the story. Interestingly, none of these narrators are adults so the whole book is from children’s points of view.

Wonder brings two other recent reads to mind. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon which has a much older central character. But he too has a disability which causes problems with social interactions. There are also echoes of Annabel Pitcher’s My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece which come through in the main characters' voices. For me, what stands out in Wonder particularly in comparison to these two novels is the portrayal of the adult characters.  None of these novels include an adult narrator but most of the adult characters in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and in My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece are portrayed as quite vile. In contrast, most of the adults in Wonder are kind, loving and supportive. And what is remarkable about this is how it affects the overall tone of the novel.  There are no magic fixes but Wonder is honest, it is humbling and incredibly uplifting. 

What is so special about Wonder too, is that it is a book for every reader.  Anyone who has the technical ability to read it could enjoy it immensely. Wonder is definitely on my list of best books ever.  It’s sitting there snugly next to Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (which I definitely would not recommend to younger readers!).

Wonder will make you do a double take about the way you look at the world and treat people.  Wonder is simply wonderful.

Publication details:

2012, Bodley Head, London, hardback

This copy: Bought by us