Tag Archives: 2-stars

Review: Patricia McCormick – Cut

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Cut
Patricia McCormick
Callie doesn’t talk about what she does. In fact, Callie doesn’t talk at all. At Sea Pines she is expected to reveal all about what she does. What she does should be obvious to you! The book title says it all.

So this is yet another angsty teen novel I have read lately. And sadly, I found it lacking in a couple of ways. The storyline was very predictable, thin and unsatisfying. There wasn’t enough fleshing out even of the environment. I couldn’t imagine anything except the laundry and the bathroom, and even then there wasn’t enough detail to satisfy me.

In a way, I found it pathetic. Each of the characters, although they tried to support each other, I just found it a bit lacking. Especially Amanda. Her character is so much in opposition to everything that is trying to be achieved by Callie and the other girls. I wanted to know more behind each of them! Just giving them problems and names wasn’t enough.Yes, this book did touch me. I felt some shivers. It did disturb me a little. For a book written by someone who has never cut, it’s not bad. I guess I’m comparing this book to Scars (Cheryl Rainfield) and The Burn Journals (Brent Runyon). Those books are built on true stories, and the sincerity really shines through to make a well-rounded and developed character.

Some things I find absurd, such as the therapist visits. I find it hard to believe that the therapist could lie so blatantly to Callie about Becca. Also, the whole thing about her scars fading – that’s something that Callie could have worked out for herself – no they won’t fade completely, but there is makeup! I guess for a 13 year old girl willing to believe anything she is told, it’s ok.

This book is very female biased. There are no men, except Callie’s brother, Sam, who is very sick and so understandably sympathetically portrayed. In contrast is Callie’s father, who she doesn’t talk about. It seems like there is a deeper issue there – I was hanging out for it to be rape, or something serious – but it was simply something else. Callie did a great job with the situation she found herself. I can’t give too much away, or I’ll ruin the little suspense the book had.

There is something about the show Rescue 911. I’ve never watched it. But apparently everybody loves it! And of course it has relevance to Callie’s situation. It’s not a subtle reference, and I guess that ruined it for me. This book is going to be dated within a couple of years for sure, and it doesn’t even make any attempt to be universal (not that it necessarily should, just an observation).

I was particularly dissatisfied with the ending. Arg! Would it have killed McCormick to give Callie a decent ending? Sorry, but I know how cutting works, and a on eoff idea that you’re going to stop isn’t necessarily going to carry on. And I didn’t have much faith in talk therapy like that (with no cognitive behvioural therapy) fixing a problem. No wonder some of the girls were still sick.
The bonus of this book was that it was short and cheap! So I don’t feel like I wasted too much on it. I’ve ripped it apart, but surely there are other people that like it. The cover is surprisingly attractive to my mind.

I’d recommend this book for teens. It’s not a great insight into how Callie’s mind works (and certainly not how all cutters’ minds work), and I think maybe it could be negative for some other people who have never thought of the idea of cutting before. The idea of a residential facility fixing all mental problems is absurd, and out of reach of most people anyway – they’ll never be able to relate.

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Review Update: 22nd December 2021 – Wow. I didn’t remember that I only gave this two stars. A reread mostly cemented this for me though, it doesn’t deserve a place on my shelf. I still hold true to a residential mental facility being unnecessary and not helpful. Also, that cutting is not necessarily a problem in itself, it is more the trauma that needs to be dealt with responsibly by a trained psychologist to do any good.

Review: Jay Asher – 13 Reasons Why

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13 Reasons Why
Jay Asher
Hannah Baker committed suicide. That’s not the end of her though – she has made a map and audiotape a bunch of reasons why she has killed herself. Poor Clay is on her list, and he feels compelled to keep listening.
1217100I didn’t actually like Hannah very much. I felt that she could have avoided the trouble she got herself into – it wasn’t fair to blame her year level. She should have known better! She gave up.

I liked Clay, good boy Clay, and felt he was really short changed by Hannah. He’s so nice! And she put him through this after her death. It was so unfair.

I found the first chapter of this book confusing more than anything. Initially I thought it was the person who’s chapter it was with the interspersed comments, but it wasn’t. I checked the blurb of the book multiple times to make sure I wasn’t confused.
The book was compelling in a weird way. Asher did suck me in and I wanted to know what Clay had done. And then I was disappointed there too. I can’t say I found it comfortable to read – but then it wasn’t supposed to be comfortable. I ended up skimming the end. I just wasn’t into it enough to accept it.
I felt let down by this book. I expected so much more, maybe unrealistically hoping that Hannah had bigger problems than just being labelled a slut. Yes, it’s bad, but there are other things you can do rather than killing yourself. There is help available! She didn’t really try very hard, and although people didn’t help her, it was unfair to blame everyone else for a choice that ultimately only she could make. I guess I was looking for depth, but I didn’t find it.The discussion question type things at the end are ok. I guess this could make a good school book, which would be ever so relevant, particularly to American teens. Sorry, perhaps Australians are a little less wimpy. I’d recommend this book for teens. I really didn’t love it enough to properly recommend it – maybe other people will enjoy it more than me. I know there are a number of people out there who love this book. But it’s not me. I feel like I have wasted 10 reviews on ‘earning’ this book, and I could have picked something with more substance.

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Review: Lili Wilkinson – Scatterheart

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Scatterheart
Lili Wilkinson
Hannah is Quality. She is one of the born aristocrats of London, but her father leaves her behind. A series of misunderstandings later and Hannah finds herself on a ship to Australia. Hannah has always been selfish, but the long trip and the factories afterwards open her eyes to enjoying what she actually has.
4706044Hannah develops beautifully as a character, and it is obvious that lots of research has gone into this book. Wilkinson has a gift for bringing history to life. The majority of tortures written into the book actually occurred, and that is what makes this a historical fiction, as far as I am concerned.
I felt driven to finish this book, even though I knew what the outcome would be. It wasn’t a badly written book, like some others I have read recently, but it just wasn’t my style. For a book that says it is ‘fantasy’, it doesn’t cut it for me. The only fantasy element that I could see were the short fairytale sections put in as hallucinations or flashbacks, as well as the chapter verses.
I really want to blame disliking this book on it being written by an Australian author. But at the same time, some of my other favourite authors are Australian (think Isobelle Carmody). Maybe it is just the Australian content. I will probably try more books by this author, just not from this pseudo-fantasy genre.
This book has been long listed for a number of awards, and has glowing reviews elsewhere, if historical fiction is your thing and you think you want a more unbiased opinion. There is an underlying romance in this book that also might appeal to others – again, it’s not really my thing, and I couldn’t tell you if it is representative of its kind.
I picked up this book by mistake at the library. It was right next to another set of books by Carole Wilkinson which I really enjoyed, and the spines of the covers looked very similar. Both sets of books are published by Black Dog Books.
The level of gross in this book is pretty high. There’s torture, sex, theft; a whole range of fantastic bad things! I’d recommend this book for teenagers, not children by any means.

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Review: Peter Carey – The True History of the Kelly Gang

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The True History of the Kelly Gang
Peter Carey

This novel is metafictional – Carey has taken the facts and then changed them to suit the story if it had really happened. Instead of Ned Kelly being an unforgivable highway robber, he is a painted more as a lovable modern day Robin Hood in a way. He is set on the pathway to criminality by his mother, trying to support a huge family of Irish children with no support from Ned’s father.
110090The language of this book is hard to get into, as Carey attempts to capture the language of Ned Kelly back in the early days of Australian history. The novel is sectioned according to where Ned’s correspondence comes from. As always, Carey’s writing challenges conventions.

This book is relevant to anyone who has an interest in Ned Kelly. Sure, you aren’t going to get historical facts out of it, but if you have someone who hates Australian literature (and for good reason!) or don’t know very much about our ‘national icon’, then this is a great book to introduce them to it.

This isn’t a novel I would read of my own volition, this was yet another literature text. It was one of the more enjoyable ones to read, surprisingly since it was Australian literature! However, the language usage, although ‘authentic’, was very offputting for me.

If you had to pick a Peter Carey to read out of this and Collected Stories, I’d pick this one over it. Collected Stories gives you a nice variety, but it’s all very deep and meaningful. The Kelly Gang is slightly more lighthearted, and infinitely easier reading.

It is very sensitively written, and doesn’t contain any swearing, though of course Ned comes up with his own adjectival curses! It’s likely suitable for teens, and certainly for adults.

As with many books for my literature classes, I didn’t purchase this book, rather I borrowed it from my local library. I don’t think I would reread for pleasure, although others may feel differently.

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Review: Honoré de Balzac – Pere Goriot

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Pere Goriot
Honoré de Balzac

‘Pere Goriot’, or Old Father Goriot, is a realist text which is difficult initially to understand and read. There are a number of characters, including Goriot himself and the irredeemable Rastignac, who focalize the novel. This novel is translated from French. If you want an in-depth experience of ‘real’ Paris, this will be good for you. Hit the jump for more details…

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The first 100 or so pages of the novel are impossible to get into. It is all just setting the scene for the ‘action’. If you persevere, you will find some more satisfying plot developments, but nothing that really shouts at you to read on. In the end, I found myself reading just to see what would happen to poor old Goriot, who got the death I expected.

If you do suddenly find yourself attached to any of the characters, this novel is part of a set ‘The Human Comedy’. Balzac made it his mission to catalog the entirety of Parisian society, and most of this is contained within his published works. Balzac died before he completed it, but this is a project that I feel he probably never would have been satisfied with .

This novel is a great example of realism! There is a heavy focus on detailed settings, as if you are really walking the streets of Paris. A number of the characters seem like placeholders, while others are fully fleshed out. I don’t think anyone feels real emotion for the characters, for everything is already set out for them. They seem to not try escape their sorry lot, and Rastignac in particular is quite a repugnant person.

This is not something I would enjoy reading for pleasure. As a text in a literature degree, it was a good one to study though, as it was filled with details that I could use for analysis. My version has a set of essays in the second half of the book, which was interesting and useful reading. It is good to know some historical background before setting out into the book.

Keep in mind that this is translated from French, so each translator may potentially put a different spin on things. Also, if you’re going to buy it online, make sure to get the English version!

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Review: Christopher Lee – Turning the Century – Writing of the 1890s

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Turning the Century – Writing of the 1890s
Christopher Lee (editor)

‘Turning the Century’ is a relatively comprehensive collection of Australian authors and poets that were writing, surprisingly enough, in the 1890s. This period of time was rich in Australian literature, and played a huge part in the development of Australia. Hit the jump for more details…

4658255This is another book in keeping with my literature major, and it’s not something I would normally read. I haven’t read all the stories and poems in the collection, and I probably never will. That being said, some of the things I have read are great examples of their type. If you want to read a really good compendium of works from this timeperiod, concerning the imminent Federation of Australia, go for it!

Christopher Lee has left out some great short stories according to my study guide, as these were included in a reader associated with the unit. However, if you suddenly discover you love one of the authors of this collection in particular, you will find that many of the works are free online. I found this somewhat irritating once I had bought the book (it was a little expensive compared to my usual mass market paperback purchases).

Poetry is not normally my type of thing, and the works contained in this book are no exception to that. I have written an essay on ‘The Man from Snowy River’ and ‘The Women of the West’, and analysing those two works was quite easy, compared to some of the more obtuse poetry in the book.

This probably fits a niche market – those who love Australian literature, and those that have to study it for a major! Also, some of the poems have great rhythm, so if you’re looking to become a poet, I’d suggest perhaps looking at some of these, particularly ‘The Man from Snowy River’, if you haven’t before for some inspiration and a great example of style.

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Review: Peter Carey – Collected Stories

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Collected Stories
Peter Carey
‘Collected Stories’ by Peter Carey is a set text for one of my literature classes, as it is a good example of Post-Modernism. As such, I was not very interested in reading it, but my other alternatives were Feminism and Constructions of Gender! The short stories are clearly critiquing society, and so are not particularly comfortable to read.
177473These collected stories are numerous in both theme and setting. Some, such as ‘Exotic Pleasures’ are set in our world, but in a future time. Others are in a complete fantasy world, such as ‘Do You Love Me?’. Possibly the most famous two short stories are ‘War Crimes’ and ‘The Fat Man in History’, so if you don’t read any other stories from this collection, read those.
Carey aims to shock and appall at all times. Why else would he have someone eat a dog turd, or consume the flesh of a fellow human? Other elements include vivid imagery, such as the snakes of ‘The Uses of Williamson Wood’, and interesting characterization ‘Life and Death in the South Side Pavillion’. He makes his reader think, and doesn’t encourage compassion for his characters.
Because I had to analyse these stories, and I’m not that fond of short stories to begin with, I could almost say I hated this book! Sure, the stories were interesting in an abstract way, but it certainly required a lot of thought. I like to have cohesion between short stories, some central theme, but there wasn’t anything. People who enjoy post-modernism and metafiction (exposing the constructs of fiction) will probably like this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

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