Ailee

• Rated 3 stars

“When you get to the second to the last book in a series, there is always a heightened sense of awareness as you search for clues as to how the whole thing's going to end. This anticipation can either work for or against the book, and in the case of The Battle of the Labyrinth, it was more of the former than the latter, although it did leave me wondering how Rick Riordan is going to create a clean conclusion in Book Five, seeing the many loose ends he left dangling by the final page of Book Four. Hero Percy Jackson goes on yet another quest, but this time the quest is not his. His friend/is-she-or-isn't-she love interest Annabeth is chosen to lead the new mission, and he goes along for the ride, along with best bud Grover the satyr and half-brother Tyson the cyclops. Their gang of four enter the Labyrinth to find Daedalus' workshop and stop the impending invasion of Camp Half-blood by Kronos' army, and in the process run into old friends and enemies, and make some new ones as well.

This book is more action-packed than its 3 predecessors, but perhaps precisely because of that, it came off as more chaotic. Too many ingredients were being thrown into the pot of boiling soup, and as the plot reached its boiling point, I feared it was going to be a recipe for disaster. Then again, my interest in Greek mythology and the likeability of Riordan's characters are sufficient to keep me hooked, and since this is the penultimate volume in the Percy Jackson series, I can't have come this far and not see it through to the end, no matter if it turns out bitter or sweet. Here's looking forward to Book Five and hoping for a big finish.”

Ailee wrote this review Saturday, November 28, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“
Shortly after I finished reading The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman won the Newbery Medal for it, and I was really pleased he did. Not only has Gaiman penned some of my favorite books (Neverwhere among my top picks), it's refreshing to see a science fiction/fantasy author get recognized with an award for outstanding young adult literature. Indeed, The Graveyard Book is the kind of stuff kids should be reading, and not all that Twilight crap. As its title suggests, the story takes place primarily in a graveyard, where young Nobody Owens is raised and protected by its otherworldly inhabitants. Gaiman has written an intelligent, sensitive novel filled with striking and haunting imagery (pun intended), and bravely-- and beautifully-- taking on the themes of death, which is usually reserved for less young adults, and life, which is usually far scarier than death.

What I like best about what Gaiman has done with The Graveyard Book is what in my opinion all good young adult lit authors should do: trust their audience. They should never insult their intelligence by spelling everything out for them, and leave some, if not a lot, of room for their imagination to get some exercise. Gaiman achieves that here, if not because his genre does always require more stretching from said imagination, then due to his skillful subtlety as a writer. He elaborates rather than explains, explores rather than elucidates, and most importantly, engages rather than exhorts. There is no preachy moral, no clever catch-- simply a story with substance brilliantly told.”

Ailee wrote this review Saturday, November 28, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“After having read 2 of her novels, I am counting young author Zadie Smith as one of my favorite writers, if only because she deftly brings together 2 elements I would love to also write about someday: family and ethnicity. In White Teeth, Smith throws together an Englishman with a Jamaican wife and daughter, a Bangladeshi with twin sons, and a Jewish-Catholic married couple all living in England. In On Beauty, she puts a white Englishman with an African-American wife and their 3 kids in a college town in America, where their already complicated internal conflicts are worsened and/or worsen external issues involving white intellectuals, black "brothers", Haitian immigrants, and a Trinidadian family from England who become entangled with the protagonists in an almost Romeo and Juliet way. Indeed, there is something almost Shakespearean in the way things unfold for the Belseys, and something tragic about each character, from the father's failings to the mother's heartaches to the children's personal odysseys of self-discovery.

The dynamics and drama of a mixed race family seem to be Smith's specialty, and she captures all the nuances perfectly. What I especially liked about On Beauty was how it trained the spotlight on every member of the family, showing 5 different points of view and revealing the thoughts and emotions of each. I also enjoyed the subplot highlighting the battle between liberals and conservatives in an academic setting, which provided a tension that was both thought-provoking and entertaining, as well as an apt backdrop against which the characters' differences were set. Smith truly is a remarkable writer, and I appreciated On Beauty so much, after I was done reading it I immediately picked up a copy of her Autograph Man.”

Ailee wrote this review Saturday, November 28, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Thankfully, Book 3 of the Percy Jackson series was an improvement over Book 2. A lot of new characters are introduced in The Titan's Curse, and some are interesting enough to make one forget about Riordan's unpolished writing style. Percy Jackson is on yet another quest, this time aided by Annabeth, Grover, and a half-blood named Thalia, a tough, street-smart Goth girl (I prefer to picture her as Goth rather than Riordan's choice of "punk", which is just so 90s). After they help rescue half-blood siblings Bianca and Nico Di Angelo, Percy and his posse join forces with the Hunters, a group of immortal Amazonian-like warriors serving the virgin goddess Artemis, to uncover and foil a plot that could lead to the undoing of Olympus. There is more action in this book, more humor, and generally more enterainment, and there were moments that reminded me why I actually like the series enough to keep reading it. There may not be the same emotional attachment to the characters as there was with the cast of the Harry Potter series, but they are sufficiently likeable, and while I don't really care about what happens to them, I am curious.”

Ailee wrote this review Thursday, July 23, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 2 stars

“The sea in the title refers to the same body of water sailed by my man Odysseus on his way home to Ithaca in Homer's immortal Odyssey. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase set out on a nautical mission to rescue their satyr friend Grover from the clutches of the cyclops Polyphemus, as well as to retrieve the Golden Fleece to help cure the poisoned tree protecting the borders of Camp Half-Blood. I enjoyed the many Odyssey references sprinkled throughout this 2nd volume in the Percy Jackson series, but I still couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I was reading a Harry Potter ripoff. Worse, I could no longer convince myself that Rick Riordan's writing is good-- he may be better than J.K. Rowling, but his writing still comes off as flimsy and frivolous. I realize it IS a book for children, but I prefer my children's lit with better style and more substance.

Minus the novelty of The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters is definitely the inferior book. Not only is the writing weaker, but a key character introduced, a young Cyclops named Tyson, is made to sound uncomfortably like a lumbering retard. Every time he appeared on a page I'd skim over his lines as quickly as I could just to avoid cringing. Again, perhaps I should be more forgiving of a book meant for younger readers, but I found myself getting disenchanted with the PJ series.”

Ailee wrote this review Thursday, July 23, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“While I enjoyed the first installment in the Percy Jackson series, I did find it too Harry Potteresque for comfort. Young hero going through a rough childhood discovers he's special in a mythical way (magical in Harry's case), gets put in a summer camp for children the gods of Olympus sired with mortals (like a Grecian Hogwarts), and learns of a prophecy that may be singling him out as the chosen one who could either spell the doom or salvation of Olympus (just as "The Boy Who Lived" would bring down He Who Must Not Be Named). Fans of the HP series will either resent or appreciate the many parallels, and in my case I was constantly vacillating between the two.

Where PJ veers away from HP though is the smart and playful use of figures from Greek mythology, which I really liked. The gods and goddesses of Olympus are given fresh, funky makeovers, along with other mythological figures and monsters from ancient Greek lore. The teenaged protagonists, Percy and his sidekicks Annabeth (a fellow half-blood) and Grover (a satyr), unlike the Rowling trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron, are just that, teenagers, speaking and behaving like normal 14-year-old kids would (as normal as offspring of immortals can be), with none of the unrealistic precociousness or artificial maturity young heroes in these kinds of books tend to possess.

In The Lightning Thief, Percy embarks on his first quest as a "hero" (in the tradition of Hercules, Jason, his namesake Perseus, et al), hurdles the usual and some unusual challenges along the way, faces enemies expected and unexpected, and comes to terms with his being the son of an Olympian. Again, there's a Potter flavor to it all, but discounting that, it is a fun, engaging literary romp, with memorable and genuinely likeable characters. As a bonus, Rick Riordan's writing style is better than J.K. Rowling's in that it's less stuffy (less British?), more consistent, and generally friendlier (more American?), and because of that I think it will appeal to younger, hipper readers. Book One of the PJ series was good enough to make me look forward to Book Two.”

Ailee wrote this review Thursday, July 23, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“
I fell in love with this teenage love story just as a teenager would: hard, fast, and with all the kilig my jaded 28-year-old self is still capable of feeling. Told from the alternating points of view of the eponymous characters, the account of one night of crazy kismet kicks off with a kiss, and what follows is a wild ride through Manhattan filled with music, madness, making out, and moving on. I really enjoyed this book, primarily because of the authors' terrific writing styles. Rachel Cohn and David Levithan make Nick and Norah come alive using a language that is very now, very honest, and very real. It's intelligent writing, but in a slick, almost subversive way. These are not your pretentiously profound or insubstantially inane high schoolers; they're just a couple of kids with the usual hang-ups and the usual heartaches. Nick and Norah's "voices" are thoroughly believable as teenagers confused and scared by the awesome/awful concept of falling in love, and they remind the reader (at least this reader) that love is always confusing and scary at any age, but also very, very cool.”

Ailee wrote this review Friday, July 17, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“There's something about the way Indian authors write that lends their words a lyrical, almost rhythmical quality. Their manipulation and mastery of the English language are uniquely beautiful, and it's why I enjoy reading novels by Indian writers even if, quite frankly, I'm not really all that interested in their culture. Kiran Desai is one such author. I liked her novel The Inheritance of Loss primarily for her distinctly Indian writing style, which effectively immersed me in the atmosphere and lifestyle of the small town at the foot of the Himalayas. Desai also had me seeing her characters with a clarity both natural and startling: the stubborn old judge who shuts out everyone, including the ghosts from his past; his young orphaned granddaughter, who in the process of discovering love discovers herself; their cranky cook, whose devotion to his master, mistress and above all his own son, is both comic and tragic; and the cook's son, who struggles to forge a new life for himself in America, even as his heart pines for home.

I may not have been able to fully appreciate the socio-cultural and socio-political underpinnings of Desai's story (set against a Gorkha uprising in northern India in the 80s), but as a tale about family and home and the ties that bind, I did find it engaging and moving. I particularly liked how Desai depicts the life of illegal immigrants in the US, which, while possibly exaggerated for maximum effect, struck me as very poignant and real, even more so than the descriptions of squalid living conditions in India. I'm just not sure if I would consider this novel worthy of the Man Booker Prize in terms of content, and even stylistically Desai is no Arundathi Roy (author of The God of Small Things, one of my favorite books of all time). However, I'd still call The Inheritance of Loss a good read, and certainly deserving of a place on this bookworm's shelf.”

Ailee wrote this review Wednesday, June 17, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“There's something comforting about reading a favorite author, a familiarity with her style and language that makes the reading experience richer somehow. Whenever I pick up an E.L. Konigsburg book, I know I'm headed home. I love how I seem to get an intimate knowledge of even her new characters right from the get-go, how I recognize Konigsburg's "voice" in the narration of the story, how I get that bittersweet feeling of writer's awe/envy as I think to myself, "Now THIS is young adult literature!" In Konigsburg's latest, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World, she tackles multiple themes of friendship, family, art, the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the meaning of true heroism. 2 boys helping a retired opera singer pack up the belongings in her mansion stumble upon something that unspools an interwoven history marked by much sadness, but also tinged with beauty, and touched by love.

Konigsburg is excellent at creating young protagonists who are wise beyond their years, and Heroic World's Amedeo and William are no exception. The friendship that unfolds between the 2 is developed wonderfully, as only Konigsburg can: subtly, serenely, with a sense of wonder and warmth that makes it almost magical (and isn't friendship magical indeed?). In turn, the larger-than-life personality of Mrs. Zender, the diva formerly known as Aida Lily Tull, plays off the boys nicely, as she becomes a source of amusement and affection, and quirky commonality for them. But the best part about Heroic World lies in the secrets the boys unearth, and without giving anything away, there is more than one potential tear-jerker part in this book. Closet sap that I am, I came dangerously close to tears myself.

I might be just totally biased in favor of Konigsburg, but I really enjoyed Heroic World, more than I did The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, which I read 2 years ago (incidentally, some characters from the latter were also in the former, following Konigsburg's penchant for overlapping storylines). Konigsburg's best work is still by far The View From Saturday (my favorite book of all time), but Heroic World has a lot of the soul that made Saturday so brilliantly beautiful. Not Newbery Medal material, this one, but it comes pretty darn close.”

Ailee wrote this review Wednesday, June 17, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Set in 1870s New York, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is a refined tale of romance restrained by the pressure to conform to norms set by a straight-laced, high-brow society. Young lawyer Newland Archer is engaged to lovely, sweet-natured May Welland, a match that brings together 2 of New York's most prominent families. Then May's scandalous cousin, the independent and strong-willed Countess Ellen Olenska, returns from Europe, and Newland's world-- and all of upper-crust New York-- is turned topsy-turvy. With his emotions waging battle against his ingrained sense of moral obligation, Newland finds himself both observer and subject, critic and victim of the wagging tongues and hypocrisy of the elite circles he runs in.

The Age of Innocence is as much social commentary as it is a love story: one gets the impression that the author is mildly critical of the overly prim and proper New York standards depicted in her book. However, that criticism is tempered with a familiarity with, if not fondness for, the very customs and courtesies she seems to be panning. This novel reminds me of a delicate glass vase, with painstaking details exquisitely etched by Wharton... details barely concealing the thorny stems of the roses within the vessel.

I don't quite get why this particular work won Wharton the Pulitzer when it doesn't strike me as being substantial enough, but I suppose there is beauty in all that is left unsaid in the story, and in that the true depth of the characters lies in what is not spoken. It is perhaps this subtlely, and how it masks so much more, that lend The Age of Innocence its magic. Beneath the veneer of sophistication, gentility and manners simmer passion, intrigue, and conspiracy, and as I reached the last few pages of the book, I was glad Wharton never fully strips off that veneer. She doesn't have to.”

Ailee wrote this review Wednesday, April 22, 2009. ( reply | permalink )