YA Book Club – ALLEGIANT

This month the YA Book Club, hosted by Tracey Neithercott, read Allegiant by Veronica Roth. While I’m definitely feeling some dystopian fatigue, this book ripped me out of any feelings of complacency. I really loved being in this Chicago and in the head of Tris, overall. I really love Four. Okay, I mostly just love Four.

There are major spoilers riddled throughout this post, so read no further if you don’t want spoilers!

Let me start by saying I knew bad things would happen because I had seen psuedo spoilers like “Chapter 50—OH MY GOD” on Twitter so I knew something big was coming. Most people seem only mildly happier that what happened was with Tris because, with spoilers, everyone seemed to think that Four was going to be the one on the chopping block. I just thought maybe they’d be broken up because I’m brilliant like that. 😉

My initial reaction: I was mildly traumatized. There were definitely tears. I couldn’t believe the fate of the characters, but I didn’t hate it like everyone else in the world seems to. I don’t know that I felt it was the poetic justice that was intended, but, I didn’t hate it. What made that ending somewhat okay for me was what I felt was poignant moments from Four. I died a little more inside when he has the flashbacks–gosh, my stomach just did flippy flops thinking about him remembering her from her jump. Of course I wanted them to have their HEA.

The love: I’m glad Tris and Four were more loving toward each other in this book. The last YA Book Club that I participated in was for INSURGENT and I started off saying that I was fangirling all over it, which I don’t think is true, now. I think I was just really happy to have another piece of the Divergent puzzle once I’d finished it. Upon reflection, I think Tris was childish and pushed Four away a lot in that book. With ALLEGIANT, I think she showed those shades of immaturity again in this book, but after the early missteps from Four I really thought they were connected again, and I loved that.

Four: What I was more unnerved by was Four’s sort of emasculating behavior in this book: going against Tris and along with what’s her name in a rather flippant way, being so concerned about being “damaged,”–hell, he’s not divergent like his dad (Or mom? Or both? can’t remember), he should be happy, right? I know he needs a character arc and growth but I think I would have been perfectly fine with Four being static. 😉 I did struggle at times with the dual narration. Sometimes I found Four’s and Tris’ voices too similar. No matter what, I still love him and I’m excited to see him portrayed (what I think will be) well in the movies.

I feel that the whole “allegiant” uprising or that title is actually pretty trivial, as was the idea of having damaged genes versus pure genes. Who cares? Or, is it just easy for people like Tris not to care because she’s not damaged? I think that it just felt–to me–like there was some cult-like science club that had a god complex or something. I thought there would be a bigger deal about what was going on outside the fence.

I thought Tris was borderline shrill when she was right all the time and just expected Four to trust/follow/respect her when she had made pretty big errors in the past. I wanted to just think yes, she’s strong, she’s a martyr, she’s selfless and loving and that’s why she dies but mostly I was just sad she made the choice to go in over Caleb. I don’t know that a sibling could be THAT selfless, even in love. A parent, yes. Sibling, not sure. And I LOVE my brother! 😉

Still can’t get over Four. I just want the guy to be content and happy and I think he mostly is at the end, but, I wish it was with Tris. 🙂

Friday Five

The Olympics – They’re HERE! I will be watching. I’m particularly a fan of women’s gymnastics, swimming, and women’s beach volleyball. In case you missed it, I’ve been listening to Survival by Muse, which is the official song of the London 2012 Olympics. 🙂

The Music – Speaking of songs that are on repeat on my iPod, I’ve been listening to Cher Lloyd’s Want U Back and No Doubt’s Settle Down. I am a shameless listener of bubble gum pop and I do not apologize for songs like Want U Back and Call Me, Maybe being on my iPod. 😉 As for No Doubt, I want to BE Gwen Stefani (her body after two kids = insane) and the song is just fun.

The Poll – NPR is hosting their annual literature-based poll, this year asking readers what the best YA reads might be. Check out the list and vote here. You can also just use NPR’s compilation of the 100 titles to build your TBR list (like I did). I *think* I voted for:
– Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
– Chaos Walking series, by Patrick Ness
– Divergent series, by Veronica Roth
– Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
– The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
– Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
– The Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins
– Jessica Darling series, by Megan McCafferty
– Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins
– Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Reading – So I’ve been doing a lot of reading. I’m fortunate to fill my Kindle with e-galleys from Edelweiss and Net Galley, so I’ve been reading great books before they’re released! This week I finished The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (I gave 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads) and Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (3.5 of 5 on Goodreads). Earlier in the month I also finally jumped on the Jessica Darling bandwagon and read Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty, which I adored (4 of 5 stars)! Gotta love being a teacher: seriously, most publishers offer e-galleys to teachers if they follow the rules and have a review outlet, and of course I have summer vacation to do a lot of reading.

The anniversary – This is important, people. No, not my wedding anniversary that occurred on July 7th (5 years, baby!), but the one year anniversary where I began my books/publishing adventure! I’ve been on Goodreads one whole year this month, and my Twitter anniversary is next month. I just have to say that following all the authors, agents, publishers and editors on Twitter has been a lot of fun. The literary community is smart, entertaining, and informative. Informative on so many levels, too. I’ve adopted new shows on TV and added great books to my TBR pile, read interesting breaking news, I’ve won books and book swag from blog and Twitter contests, discovered what ARC and all kinds of other publishing and writing lingo means, got my internship with Entangled, and most importantly have made some new friends. YAY, social media!

You all might appreciate that the building in the back is the Puyallup Public Library. 🙂

And hey, here’s some pictures from the blessed event five years ago. The first two pictures are “day afters” taken in Seattle two days after the wedding. Credit to Fred Calma, a wonderful Seattle-Tacoma area photographer!

YA Book Club – Insurgent

This month the YA Book Club, hosted by Tracey Neithercott, read Insurgent by Veronica Roth. I am a huge dystopian YA fan, so while many may think dystopian is over or is a saturated market or genre, I’m all for it! Last year about this same time my friend Katy Upperman recommended Divergent to me after my Hunger Games and Chaos Walking series hangovers. 🙂 Thanks, Katy!

Much like my The Fault in Our Stars book club post, I don’t totally know how to write about this book without coming off as a fangirl. There are spoilers riddled throughout this post, so read no further if you don’t want spoilers!

I couldn’t wait to read this book. I’d intended to buy a hard copy the day it was released but didn’t make that happen. A day or two later I just downloaded it to my Kindle because I could.not.wait. And, the great thing about having it electronically is that I can annotate and highlight and not damage the pretty pages. 🙂 Divergent and Insurgent are on my list as books I will invest in on my next trip to Powells, where they’ll likely still have hardcovers for both. I adore these books that much that I’ll pay for them twice! Small disclaimer: I read the book a month ago and am relying on my notes for talking points. Also, page numbers are according to my Kindle (I don’t think they’re the same as the actual book).

I’m not going to lie, a lot of what’s compelled me with this story is reading about Tris and Tobias. I want them to fall madly in love and I want there to be a better resolution to their relationship than what Suzanne Collins left me with after Mockingjay. Their chemistry was lacking in this installment, which was appropriate to the story with the action and dissonance between the factions. I missed their truly warm moments and when I felt that there was a bright future ahead. I think Tobias/Four is at the top of my list of YA boys that I LOVE. Is that weird? It doesn’t matter, because I’m okay with it. He is smart and complex and believes in this woman in his life and can BREAK YOU if he needs to. 🙂

Around page 96 when Tris and Four meet Evelyn I commented on how I love that Roth has sprinkled many powerful women throughout the series so far. This includes Tris, Christina, Tori, the crazy lady who’s leading the Erudite and Johanna, who is leading the Amity.

“They each have an equal role in government; they each feel equally responsible. And it makes them care; it makes them kind. I think that’s beautiful” (Roth 20). Like Susan and Tobias (who made the previous comment), I really like the peaceful demeanor of the Amity and the assumption that everything would work out all right while they were with the Amity. No doubt I am Amity myself, so although I believe that there’s a little of every faction that is great (and I wish I could be Dauntless or Divergent!) I thought that Tris could have been making her comment “And I can’t help but marvel at Susan’s assumption that whatever they were doing was wonderful…” about me.

I was excited to read about how Tris and Caleb work together as siblings. After seeing a teaser on Facebook, I saw that they interact more and I was excited about it. I have a brother that’s very close in age to me and I was thinking Caleb and Tris would team up and conquer the world. In fact, when that wasn’t happening I wrote I wonder if Roth has siblings. (She does; two older siblings. The beauty of Twitter!) I suppose this is what’s great about Roth’s writing. She builds a fantastic world where these factions are the be all-end all, and where siblings can work against each other. I loved this interaction between the two: “‘Be careful, though.’ ‘Aren’t I always?’ ‘No, I think the word for how you usually are is ‘reckless’ ” (118).

Other favorite quotes:
–> “Sometimes I feel like I am collecting the lessons each faction has to teach me, and storing them in my mind like a guidebook for moving through the world. There is always something to learn, always something that is important to understand” (269).
–> “I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity. Because inside me is a beast that snarls, and growls, and strains toward freedom, toward Tobias, and above all, toward life. And as hard as I try, I cannot kill it” (341).
–> “Anyway. You don’t have to forgive her, but you should try to understand that what she did was not out malice; it was out of panic” (233).
–> And perhaps a wonderful piece of foreshadowing and an example of why the society is about to crumble: “‘Do remember, though, that sometimes the people you oppress become mightier than you would like'” (518).

Overall, I liked the book equally or a smidge less than Divergent and can’t wait until fall 2013 (it won’t be May, we know that). I am bummed the third book is going to take longer, but I am always grateful for an author who takes more time to make it right. 🙂 I think the world-building is always thorough and detailed (I love!) and I think that the characters are still growing–we’re still getting to know them–even in a second book. And I love that.

What post of mine isn’t complete without a Simini Blocker drawing? She uses Photoshop to create these illustrations, which I find even more amazing about her talent! This was her interpretation of Tris after Divergent:

Friday Five

The reading – I had this week off from school so I did some reading! I finally finished Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls, and finished The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Click on the respective titles to see my Goodreads reviews.

The bunny eggs – It’s that time of year and the Cadbury Bunny eggs are a problem! I am trying to stay away, but right now they are definitely my kryptonite. I have a similar problem during Christmas with mint M&Ms!

The Fault in Our Stars – Check out my YA Book Club review here. If you haven’t read the book yet you won’t want to visit that link. 🙂 I gave the book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads and adored the whole novel. John Green has a gift for writing compelling, interesting, intelligent young adults. This book was not predictable and required (for me) probably a half a box of tissue. But, its beautiful and not just sad, I promise.

The shopping – I usually only shop online, but at least this time once a year, after my birthday, my mom and I get together, brave the mall, do lunch and get me a new purse. I seriously do only one purse a year. 🙂 I did also get a fun new zip-up sweatshirt, as part of my ongoing quest to acquire sweatshirts not emblazoned with WSU or my junior high school. For those of you that know me, you’ll be happy to know the purse has sparkle and the sweatshirt is ruffly. 🙂

The Hunger Games – My wonderful, amazing husband got me the Colours from the Capitol nail polish from China Glaze for Valentines Day. So excited. I’ve finally conceded that I will not see the movie until the first night it’s released… and I didn’t buy tickets this Thursday at midnight so I might even have to wait until SATURDAY the 24th of March. 😉 I’ve been reading a lot of lists that say “If you liked The Hunger Games, you might like…” so I thought I’d finally create my own.

I might need a couple of these for my desk to join my Marcus Trufant and Bill Shakespeare action figures. 🙂

If you liked The Hunger Games, I recommend:

• Divergent by Veronica Roth – An unhealthy obsession toward these books may be growing within, as well! Tris is a strong, fierce female main character set in a dystopic Chicago of the future. What would you choose of the Dauntless, Amity, Abnegation, Candor, Erudite factions if you had to live in one society that defined you and your personality? Insurgent, the second book of the trilogy, is released on May 1st and you can read an excerpt here! Check out these awesome drawings of characters from talented artist Simini Blocker.
  
• The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness – So good. Sooooo good! I am a huge fan of Ness’ writing. He is wonderfully descriptive (I could picture this futuristic, yet almost pastoral setting). Imagine a society of only men, and where you can see/hear everyone’s thoughts, including those of the animals. I just can’t write anymore… and I’m thinking I want to reread these books next!
  
• Matched by Ally Condie – This is just the first book of a trilogy. Crossed came out in November (pretty good follow-up) and the third book is set to be released in November 2012.
  
• I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore – (More sci fi, but it is still YA and still awesome.) There’s some social commentary and superhero-like powers and I loved it. Pittacus Lore is actually a character mentioned in the book and this is the first of a series of five. I also read The Power of Six, the next book in the series, which was an effective follow up but not as strong. P.S. the movie was horrible, in my humble opinion, compared to the book. This is not me being a book snob, this is REAL, people!
• Recommendations from Twitter/other friends: Maze Runner trilogy, Uglies series (recommended by a student!) by Scott Westerfeld, Legend by Marie Lu, Across the Universe (series) by Beth Revis