It's been two weeks, and I have finished two books. Bad. Bad.
Why did nobody warn me about the perils of real life? That instead of reading on the bus home from work I'd be sleeping, missing my stop and having to take buses home from the shopping center very late at night because I happened to wake up there? Seriously, the colleges should be handing out flyers or something.
Pffft. The two books I did read were pretty good. The first was The Night She Disappeared by April Henry and the second was Girl Stolen, also by April Henry.
Both really awesome books on their own-I just made the cardinal error of reading them consecutively and I SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT, NOT AT ALL.
I apologize for the caps lock and all. I've accepted that most writers have a theme in mind for their books, and April Henry is no exception. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but...sigh. I'll try to explain.
April Henry definitely likes girls who fight. Both of these books feature girls who are taken captive against their will. In Girl Stolen, Cheyenne is kidnapped during a carjacking while she waits for her step-mom to come out of the drugstore. Bad enough. Worse? Cheyenne is blind and suffering from pneumonia. Not a situation I'd want to be in, just saying. Then, in The Night She Disappeared Kayla is attacked and kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity while she delivers pizzas. Also not a contender in my top ten ways to spend an evening. But I digress. Individually, these books are great. Well written, tense, compulsive...but if you read them back to back you start to notice all the similarities. Teenage girl with victim written all over her who has a penchant for fashioning homemade weapons? Check. Boy love interest from the wrong side of the track? Check. At least one girl with rich disinterested parents? Check. Written from numerous points of view? Check.
I'm not denying that, individually, these books are great. They are both quick, enjoyable and compulsive reads/ Just give yourself a good long break between books. Read them, just not together.
I need a nap now. I am very, very cranky.
Dear Kitty,
ReplyDeleteI'm an author with a new collection of YA short stories, Ugly To Start With (West Virginia University Press).
Will you please consider reviewing it?
I've been writing and publishing for twenty years--more than one hundred stories and two novels--and Ugly To Start With is my best work.
My first novel, The Night I Freed John Brown (Penguin), won The Paterson Prize for Fiction and was recommended by USA Today.
My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. "The Scratchboard Project" received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.
If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I’ll send you a PDF of my collection for your consideration.
At this point, my small publisher is out of available review copies, so I hope and politely ask that you consider the PDF.
I would be very grateful.
Thank you so much.
John Michael Cummings