Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry

An amazing book. I thought I’d read it already in the sixth grade and had hated it, but in fact I’d read The Wish Giver and was too scared to pick this book up because of the frightening old man on the cover. Now I wish I’d had the courage to read it because I wonder what sixth grader me would have thought.

The story is about a young boy named Jonas who lives in a very orderly world filled with numerous rules for living. As you would expect, the book emphasizes the importance of individuality and choice, but even though this was a bit obviously done (the “Giver” explicitly talks about these things), I was surprised to find that I wasn’t annoyed by this all. Actually, Lowry gives her dystopic world some redeeming qualities, which makes you understand why the characters would choose to live in such a way. Of course, the society holds a secret which ends up being pretty horrible, so Jonas can’t be happy, but still.

I also really loved the whole idea of the “Giver” which I feel like I can’t talk about without spoiling the book, but the “giving” becomes a method of showing Jonas the flaws in the world which turn out to be pretty surprising.

My biggest issue with the book was the ending. I’ve read many reviews saying that the end of the book is too quick, and I do agree that there are some pacing issues. But the thing that bothered me more was that I didn’t really understand what happened. Now in some ways, this isn’t a bad thing–you should be left thinking about a book once it’s done–but I kind of wished she had spelled things out just slightly more. (Am I allowed to say that? Or does that make me look dumb?)

Now I’m interested to read Gathering Blue, which, thankfully, does not have a scary old man on the cover. On a side note, Lowry’s other Newbery-award winning book, Number the Stars also has a cover that scared me off. What gives?

Disclaimer: I got this book from the library.

#bookreview #numberthestars #thegiver #newberyaward #dystopia #loislowry

Book review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (spoiler free)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games was one of my favorite books and this last book in the trilogy did not disappoint. Full of the exciting characters and sudden plot twists we have come to expect from Suzanne Collins, I literally did not want to put this book down. Of course, I had to since I was reading it out loud with my husband and we do have to go to bed at a decent time these days. Sigh.

While it may be common knowledge that books with girl main characters will not appeal to boys (some blog posts about this), The Hunger Games series is an exception to this rule.

Book Signing at the Wellesley Free Library (author obscured by fans)

Here’s my proof: I recently attended a book signing at the beautiful Wellesley Free Library (with Wellesley Booksmith) and was amazed to see hundreds of boys and girls (and men and women) excited to meet Suzanne Collins. I took a photo with my cell phone while I was there, but unfortunately kids tend to be short so they don’t show up so well in a crowd…it’s a better photo of the many parents who were in attendance.

In the interest of trying to make this a real review rather than a “go buy this now” post, I feel I should mention a few of the book’s flaws. First of all, this book is not for those who haven’t read the previous two books. You probably won’t need to re-read those books if it’s been a while, but if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, this isn’t the book to start with. And squeamish readers beware: while the other books were violent, this one takes the cake. I’m not sure if it’s because I am farther along into motherhood than I was when I read the first two, but there were a few gory scenes that were a bit much for me. If they were to make this one into a movie, they would have to do some fancy editing to keep parents from throwing a fit. That said, there is a *point* to the violence in the book–Collins wants to show that war is gruesome and bloody. So you don’t have to worry about her glamorizing war. Of course the violence probably adds to the boy appeal of the book…

Even though I love her, Katniss can be a little irrational and irritating at times (though I do still like her better than Bella). If you have ever scratched your head over some of the things Katniss has said and done in the previous books, you’ll probably have a bald spot after reading this one.

But all in all, this was a terrific book and I would urge you to go out and read the entire series.

Disclaimers: I have not been paid by anyone to write this post and have not received any free books.

#bookreview #hungergames #suzannecollins #boybooks #mockingjay

The Great Balancing Act: Part-time Writer, Full-Time Mom

I miss the good old days before the baby (writing-wise, at least). I’d roll out of bed, eat breakfast, and then write until I was finished for the day. I was pretty good at setting goals and getting work done, until I became pregnant. Then writing was very difficult. I had trouble thinking and forming sentences. My creative brain was gone. Thankfully it came back when the baby was born!

To say it’s been tricky getting work done while watching my 7 month old is a bit of an understatement. I don’t really have any great tips for doing this, all I can say is thank goodness my mother-in-law likes to babysit for me. She babysits regularly, twice a week, and because of that, I actually get to leave the house to write (and leaving the house to write is such a good thing!).

But because my time is much more limited now, I’ve found that I’m becoming a little more efficient with my writing. Whenever I find myself saying, “Hmm, I don’t feel like fixing this scene right now. I’ll do it later,” I stop. I think about the fact that there really is no “later”. If I put things off, it’ll take me months to write a scene that should have taken a few weeks. And then, I just do it. Or at least I do most of the time. :)

Not only am I trying to balance writing time with baby time, I’m also trying to juggle two works-in-progress at once:

1) Cloudreader, the MG fantasy I’m writing with my sister is mostly done…except for the ending. The ending is kind of in sketch form, with notes and badly written sentences. I’m slowly going chapter by chapter, incorporating suggestions from writing group and then working on the next chapter. There isn’t much left though. I should be done with this round of revisions in a few months. Then will be time to revise the manuscript as a whole.

2)Landwalker, my YA post-apocalyptic/sci fi novel is just getting going. I’m working on my characters, figuring out backstory, figuring out where the plot is heading, doing some background research. I have a few chapters written, maybe about 30 pages in total. I’m using Scrivener for this one, so some of my time has been spent playing around with a new organizing scheme and things.

My strategy for working on these two projects has been to basically work on Cloudreader one week (the week that submissions for my writing group are due) and then Landwalker the following week (the week that I have writing group). This also keeps me from working on Cloudreader immediately after group meetings–I’ve found it’s best to let feedback settle for a bit and see which comments actually resonate with me before changing things.

(As you can tell, I also do some blogging as well, but that’s usually my last priority and gets done during baby’s naps.)

I have no idea how well this strategy is going to work in the long term, and I may end up changing things around, but so far, so good.

Writer-Moms (and Dads): How do you balance writing and parenting?

#writing #parenting #cloudreader #scrivener #postapocalyptic #landwalker #scifi