bookshelves of doom

Today @KirkusReviews...

...since Spring is officially here (even though we're supposed to get snow on Wednesday, SIGHHHHH), I talked about some books about gardens and gardeners and gardening!

The Savages -- Matt Whyman

I wanted to like The Savages so much more than I did.

Because cannibalism!

And also Jason Chan cover art!

But, alas.

At dinner one night, fifteen-year-old Sasha Savage drops a bombshell on her parents: her new not-quite-a-boyfriend-but-more-than-a-friend-friend, Jack, is a vegetarian. Which, considering their family history—during the siege of Leningrad, Titus Savage's parents saved themselves from starving to death by preying on their neighbors—is a Very Big Deal. Food is life to the Savages: eating together, sharing their secret together, keeps the family together.

So, to Titus, Sasha's first boyfriend represents not just the loss of his little girl, but the possible destruction of THEIR ENTIRE WAY OF LIFE.

Pros:

• As I said above, CANNIBALISM. In spite of the many YA IS SO DARK WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN-ers, there aren't all that many YA books that are joyfully, unrepentantly macabre. And this book very definitely falls into that category.
• There are moments of hilarity, mostly involving Jack, who is a supremely self-absorbed, narcissistic jackass.
• Whyman gets in some good digs at the militant ends of the animal rights debate while also providing a more reasonable perspective. (And by reasonable, I mean that some of the characters give voice to the crazy idea that one's diet is one's own personal business. Within reason, obvs.)

Cons:

• It's repetitive. Titus' bald head is described as a 'dome' twice in the first fifteen pages, and then again a couple of other times, and Angelica's—I don't know if her name was a nod to Anjelica Huston, though it seems likely, no?—issues with money are not only mentioned, but fully explained over and over and over again. 
• Lots of telling, not much showing: "appeared disappointed", "shrugged as if to suggest that she was none the wiser", etc.
• All of the characters speak in the same voice: stilted, and semi-formal—if it had just been the Savages, I'd have given it a pass because they're such an insular unit, but the secondary characters and other outsiders do, too.
• That mostly-consistent formality ("Grandpa, is Katya supposed to be in your care?") makes the occasional slang ("Now, Jack certainly isn't perfect, but he does manage to resist an urge to murder for the lols!") sound forced and dissonant.
• This ties into the tell/show issue, but it's a large enough issue that it deserves its own bullet point: Sasha is so profoundly aware of her own psychological make-up that it's pretty hard to believe. For example, this is the bit where she explains to her friends why she hasn't had the sex with Jack: 'Had I just given in and gone for it,' she said, 'then right now I wouldn't be feeling good about myself. Jack is my chance to prove that when it comes to my life I call all the shots. My dad has already marked him down as someone who could lead me astray. The last thing I want to do is make things difficult by acting like a sheep.' Actually, that's a great example of the ongoing formality, too.

Overall: Overall, it's very much style over substance, but the high interest storyline isn't enough to counteract the weak character development and the mediocre prose. Not a good fit for me, though fans will be happy to here that there's an upcoming sequel. Others might want to re-read The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs instead.

______________________________________________

Book source: Purchased.

A clarification about the Independent's new review policy.

From the Independent:

We have also been sent messages by concerned authors asking whether their pink-covered children’s books will now be disqualified from a review slot. I’d just like to lay that fear to rest. I always judge the books I’m sent on a case by case basis and, besides, great stories are great stories, whatever cover they are presented in. So if you send me a well-written book with a strong protagonist, a cracking plot and universally-appealing themes, then of course I will consider it for review – even if your publisher has chosen to stick it in a ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’-looking jacket.

Previously.

Barry Lyga has MORE TO SAY.

From his blog:

I appreciate the concern for me and my brethren, but… I’m a middle-class, straight white dude living in the U.S. Don’t worry too much about me: I think I’m gonna be okay.

The conundrum I face regarding the presumption of male guilt is nothing compared to what women and people of color and the LGBT community go through every day, so rather than rail against it, I acknowledge it and plan my life accordingly. Given the advantages my DNA and the geography of my birth afford me, it would seem churlish to complain overmuch about such things, when there are deeper injustices in the world.

That said: No, I don’t like that I feel uncomfortable hugging fans. But there it is.

Previously.

Timewaster of the day.

I lost hours to this game over the weekend. 

HOURS.

(So far, my top score is 6212. BUT I WILL IMPROVE IT, BY GEORGE.)

Kindle Daily Deal: Blood Red Road.

Yes, my beloved Blood Red Road is a mere $1.99 today.

Relatedly: It was mentioned briefly in a recent Atlantic article entitled, "Must Every YA Action Heroine Be Petite?" (While there were a lot of broad generalizations made, and the examples used didn't suggest that the author had a broad knowledge of YA, I was SO happy to see that she mentioned the FAT = EVIL unpleasantness in Divergent. Because that was so, so glaring.)

The comments section, as you might expect, gets ugly super-fast: lots of FEMALE ACTION HEROES MAKE NO SENSE BECAUSE GIRLS DON'T HAVE MUSCLES and OF COURSE THEY'RE THIN, THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ATTRACTIVE and the ever-popular FEMINISTS ARE DUMB AND WOMEN'S ISSUES ARE NON-EXISTENT and BODY IMAGE ISSUES ARE ALL IN YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD AND IF YOU "ALLOW" THE MEDIA TO AFFECT YOUR PERCEPTION OF WHAT "NORMAL" GIRLS LOOK LIKE, THEN YOU'RE STUPID AND WEAK and also, FORGET THE LADIES, WHERE ARE ALL THE MALE ACTION HEROES???

And my personal favorite, DISCUSSION = ENABLING, or IF YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING, THEN JUST IGNORE IT AND DON'T TALK ABOUT IT OR TAKE STEPS TO COMBAT IT, AND IT WILL MAGICALLY GO AWAY. You know, like racism. Or chlamydia.

I'm being hyperbolic here, but only slightly. 

Cheap read: The Girl of Fire & Thorns.

It's only $1.99!

AND IT IS TOTALLY WORTH WAAAAAAAAAAAAY MORE THAN THAT!