Book Review: Tricks

Title: Tricks
Author: Ellen Hopkins
# of Pages: 627
Published: 2009
Rating: 5/5
From the Publisher:

"When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival."

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"

Review:
From the moment I opened Tricks' pages, I was hooked. The story focuses on five teenagers: Eden, a preacher's daughter; Seth, a farm-boy dealing with the death of his mother and the discovery of his homosexuality; Whitney, who has always been second-best; Ginger, whose 'working mom' betrays her time and again, and finally, Cody, who does anything to make ends meet.

When I first began to read, I was a little worried that having five characters, five different stories, might be confusing. It turns out there was no need to worry; Hopkins distinguishes every character and story perfectly. She brings life and history to each trouble teenager, splattering their pain onto each page.

I don't want to give too much away because when I began the novel, I had no idea where it would end up and it had a great impact. I would have lost this impact had I know what was coming for each character. Tricks made me cry, and had me sick to my stomach; the stories were raw, painful and honest. What's scarier though, is that these stories are someone's reality.

Art Attack: Dark Princesses

After Kiera posted those interesting photos of Disney Princesses, I couldn't help but share this collection of "Dark Princesses" by deviantART's ClaireBeauchamp. For the whole collection, check this out.

Art Attack: Paintings by Leonid Afremov

I've been surfing deviantART today, and I've found some absolutely stunning paintings by Leonid Afremov. His use of colours are phenomenal and I wish so much I could have one of these paintings in my home.

Here are a few of my favourites of his work:


"She Left"


"Flaming Dance"


"Night Life"


"Friends Under The Rain"


"In The Ballet Class"


"Paris Tower"


"Angel Flight"


"Three Red Umbrellas"


"The Fog of Dreams"


"The Twirl"

To find all of his work, please visit Leonid Afremov's deviantART


(* cross posted from Vie's personal blog The Great Perhaps)

Stunning Finds: Zhang Jingna

After browsing deviantART for a couple hours, I found these beautiful photographs taken by Zhang Jingna, also known as zemotion on deviantart.com. Here are a few of my favourites of her work. To find all of her work, visit http://zemotion.deviantart.com.


Redemption


Prelude


Luna


Behind the Mask


Dreamer


Shirotsuki


Remembrance

(* cross posted from Vie's personal blog The Great Perhaps)

Art Attack: Audrey Kawasaki

I stumbled upon Audrey Kawasaki's work on Tumblr, and I fell in love. Here are some of my favourites of her paintings and doodles.

From her biography:
The themes in Audrey Kawasaki's work are contradictions within themselves. Her work is both innocent and erotic. Each subject is attractive yet disturbing. Audrey's precise technical style is at once influenced by both manga comics and Art Nouveau. Her sharp graphic imagery is combined with the natural grain of the wood panels she paints on, bringing an unexpected warmth to enigmatic subject matter.

The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually esoteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them. These mysterious young women captivate with the direct stare of their bedroom eyes.














To see all of her work, go to: http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/index.php

Book Review: Go Ask Alice

Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Anonymous
# of Pages: 212
Published: 1971
Rating: 2/5

Summary:

From Wikipedia:
Go Ask Alice is a controversial 1971 book about the life of a troubled teenage girl. The book purports to be the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in the late 1960s and is therefore presented as a testimony against drug use. Alice is not the protagonist's name; the actual diarist's name is never given in the book.

From Chapters.ca:
She doesn't want to get hooked on drugs. Every time after she uses, she feels guilty and low and vows to stay away. But she just can't resist the way the drugs make her feel - beautiful and popular and connected to the world around her. And since nobody understands how alone and miserable she is without the drugs, how can they possibly understand how much she needs them? We may not know her name, but we can imagine how she feels as her diary records a descent into drug-induced madness.

Review:

This review may contain some spoilers.
I had high expectations of this novel after hearing many good reviews and hearing that many high schools had read this book in their literature courses. Sadly, I was disappointed. I expected a detailed account of her drug use, her addiction, and the terrible consequences such as living on the street, starving, prostitution, rape, etc. I expected something that would really reach out to me, and make me feel emotionally involved with the speaker.

But no. Personally, I found the speaker way too immature to connect with. She would move back and forth incredibly often from loving drugs and saying they made her feel alive and that parents just couldn't understand to hating drugs and feeling extremely guilty. There was enough description about the way drugs affected her, but very little time spent on the consequences. In one entry, she states that she and her friend were raped and then she simply moves on. I didn't find it very believable for a 15 year-old girl to "move on" so quickly from being physically violated. It did not feel like I was reading a real diary, but in fact a novel pieced together in the form of a "diary". Certainly she spoke of personal matters, but her emotions felt fake - I couldn't connect with her at all.

Go Ask Alice has been published under the pretense that it was an actual diary of a 15 year-old girl who fell into the cruel world of drugs. However, Beatrice Sparks, the editor, claimed that Go Ask Alice had been based on the diary of one of her patients, but that she had added various fictional incidents based on her experiences working with other troubled teens. She said the real girl had not died of a drug overdose, but in a way that could have been either an accident or suicide. She also stated that she could not produce the original diary, because she had destroyed part of it after transcribing it and the rest was locked away in the publisher's vault. (Wikipedia - Go Ask Alice)

Personally, this sounds like a lie. After reading Go Ask Alice, I don't believe at all that this was diary of a teenage girl. I believe this was a novel intended to try and scare teenagers to stay away from drugs. Although an admirable cause, stating that this novel was a work of non-fiction when it isn't, takes away its best quality: its impact on young readers. If a reader felt they were reading the real, original diary of a addicted teenager, they may feel a much stronger connection and the story may have a much stronger impact.

Overall, I give Go Ask Alice a 2/5 for its false pretenses, its lack of description and its unconvincing account of a teenage drug addict.

Tune In To: Heroes

The first season as a seemingly ordinary group of people gradually become aware that they have special abilities. Events illustrate their reactions to these powers, and how the discovery affects their personal and professional lives. At the same time, several ordinary individuals are investigating the origins and extent of these abilities. Mohinder Suresh, a geneticist, continues his late father's research into the biological source of the change, while Noah Bennett represents a secret organization known only as "The Company". While coping with these new abilities, each of the characters is drawn, willingly or unwillingly, into the Company's conspiracy to control super-powered people and into a race to stop an explosion from
destroying New York City.

I'll admit, I originally started watching this show because I'm a little bit obsessed with the new Star Trek movie, and I knew that Zachary Quinto played a character in Heroes. I usually like watching tv at all, and tend to get bored very quickly, but needless to say Heroes was a pleasant surprise. I know a friend on mine was turned off by how many characters there are, but I loved that about the show - I found that I never got bored because there was always something interesting happening to someone. The show itself if extremely character driven, with the plot (which, I will admit, is nothing special) taking a back seat to seeing these characters grow and change as they become accustomed to their new powers. Mohinder and Peter are probably my two favourites, though a part of me really wants to love Sylar as well, despite the fact that he's ridiculously creepy. Anyways, it's an awesome show and I would highly recommend watching it!

Currently Reading: Go Ask Alice

Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Anonymous
# of Pages: 224
Published: 1971

Reverse Cover:

January 24th

After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs...

It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life.

Read her diary.

Enter her world.

You will never forget her.

For thirty-five years, the acclaimed, bestselling first-person account of a teenage girl's harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. As powerful - and as timely - today as ever, Go Ask Alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction.

Book Review: The Lovely Bones

Title: The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
# of Pages: 325
Published: April 20, 2004
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

This 2002 debut novel by Alice Sebold tells the story of a teenage girl who, after being murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends go on with their lives, while she herself comes to terms with her own death.

I first heard of this novel at the beginning of the year when I stumble upon a review online. I was intrigued by the idea of a murdered girl as the narrator, and I finally picked up the novel a week ago. Once I began reading, I couldn't stop. When the novel begins, we understand how her killer tricked her and how her murder unfolded.

Susie narrates her family's reaction to her disappearance and later, the news of her murder. The characters Sebold created are amazing but not unbelievable. The father who drowns in Susie's death; too focused on his loss to work or be a proper father and husband. The mother, numb and empty, who wants to escape haunted memories. The sister, who deals with being 'the sister of the dead girl' and the baby brother who can't understand why his oldest sister isn't home.

From the moment Susie's murder is announced, I wanted to know if her murderer would be caught, if her family would become closer or fall apart from the tragic loss, and if Susie would pass from the 'in-between' to a final place of rest. This novel kept me reading till the wee hours of the morning, wondering just how Sebold would end the story.

I don't want to spoil anything for potential future readers (and there's a lot I could spoil), so I'll end by saying that although this novel wasn't perfect and I had hoped certain things would turn out differently, it was well-written and had my full attention from the first page.

The Very Secret Diaries

As I am a good, hard working university student I was diligently working on an essay when something was brought to my attention. Apparently some people (Caitlin, I'm looking at you) have been living under very large rocks, and have never experienced the awesomeness that is the Very Secret Diaries of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Excerpts:

Legolas

Day Ten: Gandalf fell into shadow. In other news, I think I am developing a spot on my nose. V. serious situation, as Elven spots likely to last for 500 years or more.

Still prettiest, despite blasted spot.


Legolas pt. II

Day One: Whee!

Day Two: I like to run!

Day Three: I look good when I run!

Day Four: I also look good standing still. Running across Riddermark v. good excercise. I swear my butt has just gotten firmer. Is that even possible?

Day Six: Is Gimli staring at my butt?

Day Seven: No wonder he's always lagging behind.

Aragorn

Day One: Ringwraiths killed: 4. V. good.
Met up with Hobbits. Walked forty miles. Skinned a squirrel and ate it.
Still not King.

Face Up: Burberry's New Face, Part Two

I know they've been circulating for a little while now, but I can't help myself but to post these anyway. Ladies and gentleman, Emma Watson for Burberry 2010. As always, credit to EmmaWatsonWeb.com for the photographs.

Currently Reading: Secret Society

Title: Secret Society (ARC edition)
Author: Tom Dolby
# of Pages: 352
Published: September 21, 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

From Amazon.ca
Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone...

An eccentric new girl. A brooding socialite. The scion of one of New York's wealthiest families. A promising filmmaker. As students at the exclusive Chadwick School, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch already live in a world most teenagers only dream about.

They didn't ask to be Society members. But when three of them receive a mysterious text message promising success and fame beyond belief, they say yes to everything—even to the harrowing initiation ceremony in a gritty warehouse downtown and to the ankh-shaped tattoo they're forced to get on the nape of their necks. Once they're part of the Society, things begin falling into place for them. Week after week, their ambitions are fulfilled. It's all perfect—until a body is found in Central Park with no distinguishing marks except for an ankh-shaped tattoo.

Tom Dolby makes his teen fiction debut with this riveting novel about a dangerous society so secret that once you get in, you can never get out.

Currently Reading: The Lovely Bones

Title: The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
# of Pages: 328
Published: April 20, 2004

Reverse Cover:
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her - her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killing trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.

From the Publisher
When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief, her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant novelist, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful and touching story about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.

Book Review: Sharknife

Title: Sharknife

Author: Corey Lewis

Artist: Corey Lewis

Genre: Action, Comedy

Summary: (from back of the book) The Guandong Factory isn't like other restaurants. It's five stories tall, for one. For two, it produces more peach dumplings per day than most eateries do in a decade. For three, it's the home of Sharknife -- a mystical protector charged with protecting the establishment from those who would do it harm! Once just a simple busboy, now Caesar Halleluja is something more -- a crazy red rocket hero destined for greatness! But can Caesar juggle both lives? Nabbing both the girl (the supersexy Chieko Momuza) *and* stopping the baddies?

Review: My first graphic novel read of the year! Boy, what a great way to start off. Sharknife is one of the most fun reads I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

The story's nuts. It's absolutely crazy and whimsical but oh so much fun. There's action galore as Sharknife AKA Caesar protects the Guandong Factory. Character development was a little lacking as far as the two leads (Caesar and Chieko) go, but it's not like this is meant to be any kind of deep read. Despite the lack of development, Chieko and Caesar are both really quirky characters you grow to kind of love.

The art in this work is absolutely fantastic. Lewis has taken up the anime style and tweaked it to make it something wholly original and totally his own. The action scenes are drawn really well and are easy to follow and still look awesome and there's really great character designs. I just absolutely love it.

Rating: Worth Buying/Owning

If you're looking for something totally new and different and you're not intimidated by reads that are totally zany and off the walls, then this is definitely for you! It's a lot of fun and I'm ridiculously excited for the second volume to come out (though it's kind of been on hiatus for the past.. five years I think.. D:) A really great little graphic novel.