bookminimalith

[bookminimalith]

Book Rant: Unbearable Main Characters

(repost from my Wordpress)

Fictional characters, like real people, are not perfect. Characters have their own flaws and weaknesses that play a vital role in developing their character in the story. Oftentimes a character's shortcomings are more exciting to read about than their successes as they not only make the character more relatable but also give the readers something to look forward to: that is, the character overcoming their flaws and learning from their mistakes. That, I believe, is a testament to what makes a good main character - their ability to grow as a person.

A protagonist can be unlikable yet still make an excellent character so long as their flaws are, in one way or another, addressed and eventually worked on. A protagonist who is unlikable and whose flaws are largely unacknowledged or denied (particularly by the character in question) leading to no character progression, are unbearable.

Unbearable main characters can ruin a story completely.

Readers, meet fifteen-year-old Lana Spiggs of Dyan Sheldon's And Baby Makes Two. Lana is the youngest daughter of single mother Hilary Spiggs. According to Lana, she is severely oppressed by her mother's tyrannical ways. Why, her mother doesn't allow her to wear adult clothes and make-up and nags her to do household chores. Her problem basically is that everyone around her treats her like a child despite the fact that she is already fifteen years old. Clearly, she is a victim of a great injustice. The only person in the world who understands her is her adult boyfriend Les who is the epitome of maturity and sophistication. When Lana accidentally gets pregnant with Les's child, she is ecstatic. Obviously the best way to prove to everyone - especially her mother - that she is an adult is to have a child. At fifteen. Ingenious!

(prepare for spoilers at this point)

All kidding aside, Lana truly is a terrible main character. Her personality is horrendous. Her goals and dreams are almost pitifully ridiculous. Lana is even extremely delusional, so much so that it made me wonder if she was suffering from an actual medical condition. The extent of which she believes her fantasies is quite disturbing. Her baby's name, for instance. She named the baby Shinola because she believed that it's an African word for beautiful or something. There was no basis for her claim and she legitimately just came up with the name on the spot yet she insists that Shinola meant beautiful in another language. The name turned out to be a brand of shoe polish.

Her only redeeming quality, and I'm using that term quite loosely here, is that she's quite witty and her internal monologues, although dripping with malice almost all the time, are sometimes entertaining to read.

What convinced me that Lana was an awful character, however, was her little, almost minuscule, character growth. I was quite shocked because, honestly, Lana had a lot to learn and I thought her youth and her situation were the perfect avenue for such growth. Case in point, in the first chapter, Lana tells us that she absolutely hates her mother. In the last chapter, after everything she's been through, after all her mother has done for her, she still hates her mother. You'd have thought that suddenly being a mother would make Lana more sympathetic or even more appreciative of her own mother but somehow that little obvious lesson whizzed right past Lana's ear. In fact, the last chapter still showed Lana as a petulant, immature child who should not be legally allowed to take care of a baby.

Lana is, for all intents and purposes, a brat. Now, I've met brats before, the best example being Amir from The Kite Runner. Considering how Amir was not only a brat but a rich and envious brat who literally betrayed his best friend who adored him, Lana should be a relatively better character than him, right? Wrong. See, the difference with Lana and Amir was that the latter was actually quite aware of his sudden bouts of cruelty and felt guilty about it. Amir was simply a misguided child who couldn't understand complex emotions and who made a stupid decision based on his ignorance and selfishness. Additionally, Amir paid for his mistakes and went through great lengths to be forgiven.

Lana, on the other hand, had no self-awareness whatsoever. Not once in the narrative does she express guilt or shame for her actions (like yelling at her mother for no good reason and failing to take proper care of her child). Even while she suffered the repercussions of her decision to keep the child, she still only had shallow thoughts and zero awareness. She vehemently refuses to listen to reason despite just how much her stupidity has made her suffer. In fact, she stubbornly maintained - to a group of experienced mothers, no less - that you could get what you want if you don't give up. A pretty solid message if only Lana had half a mind to understand that there's a difference between optimism and idealism (not to mention Lana seemed to be unable to tell fantasy from reality).

It was like Lana was in an inexplicable vacuum of immaturity and hate and no matter what anyone said, no matter what happened to her, logic just couldn't get through to her. Lana showed no depth of character at all. At the beginning, there was a brief mention that Lana's mother might have suggested (to someone else) that she didn't plan to have Lana (which could have been the reason for Lana's never ending vitriol against her mother?) but that was never expounded or even mentioned ever again. Somehow, that possible subplot was just thrown right out seconds after it was introduced. It's unnerving just how shallow Lana's character is and how easily that could have been remedied if the writer would have just expounded on them more rather than written about Lana's fantasies and criticisms ad nauseum.

I honestly couldn't root for Lana or even sympathize with her because she was just too unbearable to really care about. Towards the very end, she realizes (finally) that Les has been lying to her all along and that he isn't the perfect guy she had thought him to be but by then everything was too late. There was no point, really, because Les's true character was just too obvious. Besides that, Les was never really around much to make that much of an impact in the story.

At the final scene, Lana also realized the truth, that being an adult wasn't going to be a fairy-tale-come-true. You'd think her finally learning that would be the pay off that we, the readers, needed but honestly it came too late. It was also written too rushed, like the book knew that it only had three pages left to resolve everything, making Lana's spiel about 'never going back to the way things were (before the baby)' pretty uninspired. It came across as a petulant child just wallowing in her own misery. If she had learned the cold hard truth of being an adult a few chapters earlier, the book wouldn't have been so bad. Perhaps Lana would even show some character development instead of more whining and complaining.

(Also can I just say how terrible the ending was? Lana actually attempted to suffocate her own baby so she could return to her old life. If that attempted infanticide isn't testament enough of how terrible of a character Lana is, then I don't know what is. Sure, she stopped herself before the baby died but judging from Lana's descriptions of Shinola ('...purple and gasping.'), she came way too close to succeeding. And that's literally how the book ends, with Lana deciding not to kill her baby. Then, at least. Because the book ended so abruptly, I doubt Lana wouldn't attempt it again. There wasn't really anything in the book that could convince me that Lana wouldn't resort to such measures, especially considering how easy it is for her to get caught up in her fantasies.)

It's almost uncanny how one-dimensional Lana was, especially for someone who went through as many hardships as she did. A main character with a terrible personality and immature ideals is fine if their character is well written and explained properly. Lana was just shallow. Her rationalizations were weak and unconvincing. You never really understand why she was the way she was, making it impossible (at least for me) to sympathize with her even a little.

Teenage pregnancy is a real problem nowadays and I'm sure this book had good intentions. If it did anything, at least And Baby Makes Two portrayed the trials and tribulations of a teenage mother pretty realistically. It was Lana's lack of development that ruined it. It was like she couldn't understand the overlying lesson of her own story, which made her out to be astoundingly dull. Dull and unbearable.

[bookminimalith]

*high-pitched fangirling intensifies* 

Leigh Bardugo is MY QUEEN. I honestly really regret not reading her books sooner and, even more so, not going to her book signing event months and months ago. I just couldn’t seem to find the time to read Shadow and Bone until my university library got a copy of it. And by then it was too late. Leigh Bardugo’s book signing event was done and over with. 

Well, I refuse to make that same mistake with her latest duology. I bought both books as soon as I could and I cannot wait to read them. The blurb at the back of Six of Crows makes me imagine that this series might be like a fantasy version of Leverage, a TV series about a group of master criminals working together to do some good. I can’t wait!

[bookminimalith]

I haven't posted anything here in a long time and, truth be told, I even forgot I had a book blog. You can blame last semester's workload for that. I knew that my final year in college wasn't going to be a cake walk but I clearly underestimated the amount and intensity of the torture that was the first semester.

Moving on. Today I want to talk about something that I've been thinking about for a while now. I want to talk about my love for talking about and reading about books. I will also probably touch on my brief and disappointing experience in a local book club and why I couldn't get invested in the club as much as the others did. I can't seem to talk about my love for books without mentioning that short episode in my life. So, yeah... this post is going to be a doozy.

First I'll start off with this: love for books can be manifested in a multitude of ways. How one bookworm shows their love for books may not be the same for others. For instance, you (like me) can prove your love for books by taking pristine care of your books, not a bent spine or folded page in sight, so that they'll look perfect and will last longer. Or you can authenticate your love by withholding any restraints when it comes to handling your books, spines akimbo and pages visibly thumbed through hundreds of times, so that the books will truly look like they had been read and re-read a hundred times over. There is no one true way of showing your love (for books or otherwise) and what's really important is the emotions and good will behind the actions. This took me a while to realize but I firmly believe that this is true.

As for me, I like to show my love for books by talking about a book that I love as much as I can so I could encourage people to read it as well. I also talk about books that I find really problematic or just plain unenjoyable so I could give possible readers the heads up (but I'll get to the in a moment).

However, because I'm a lazy procrastinating dweeb, I rarely have the energy to write a book review nowadays. I rarely have the time and energy to even read a book too. So, to fill the void, I spend my days reading other people's book reviews and, just as it is more enjoyable (and easier) to read stories than it is to write them, I almost prefer just reading reviews than writing my own. The way book reviewers describe a book's strengths and weaknesses, pointing out reasons why a certain plot point or character trait just brilliantly worked and doling out writing advice on the side, I'm always just left in awe. For me, readers who really took the time to detail the positive (and negative) points of a book are truly something. It shows that they were really paying attention and honestly cared about the story and its possible impact to the readers.

Sadly, there's this thing that I've noticed in the book community, particularly in book reviews. Somehow a reader's love for books can be questioned when the said reader writes an honest negative review. The review can be written in the most respectful, most objective, most detailed way possible with several reminders throughout the text that the review is entirely the reader's own personal opinion but there'd still be caps lock-wielding diehards jumping in and trying to negate whatever the reviewer had said. It wouldn't be so bad if the comments actually addressed the issues the reviewer pointed out and discuss where the reviewer went wrong (or at least misinterpreted the narrative) but most of the time the comments would be all flame and not a single coherent rebuttal in the mix. Most would go on to say that the reviewer "just didn't understand the complexity of the story and/or characters" or "don't relate to the intended hip and young audience" or " respect the great beauty of books and fiction in general" and would even hate on the reviewer for spreading so much unnecessary hate on that particular book (the hypocrisy never dawns on the zealot, however).

The worst comments in my opinion are the ones that condemn and demean the reviewer for "overthinking" something as simple as a work of fiction. I despise those type of "turn your brain off" arguments primarily because it insults the authors, the readers, and the history of literature as a whole. I won't dig into this too much but I will say this: books are consumed for thinking and imagining. Readers are as free to dive into the fictional worlds as they are to analyze the structure of the worlds in question. It's basic human tendency to think and question the world. Also, pointing out plot holes and ineffective writing hardly counts as overthinking.

From what I can tell, it would seem as if "all praise and worship" is the only type of book reviews that are acceptable for bookworms. If you hate a book, you must be either wrong or not a book-lover at all. Honestly, I understand how much it stings whenever you encounter a rather negative review on a book or book series that you love. Heck, I still can't bring myself to read Whitley's chapter-by-chapter snark of The Hunger Games trilogy... and I absolutely LIVE for Whitley's book snarking. The numerous times Whitley mentions THG, it's pretty clear why she didn't like the book, particularly Katniss's character and the logistics of the whole setting, and I pretty much agree with her. However, THG is my baby. It's the first YA series that really moved me and I don't think my heart can take a THG-trashing. So, as curious as I am, I haven't read and have no plans of reading Whitley's review on my baby THG.

The thing is though, despite knowing that one of my favorite book reviewers didn't like one of my favorite book series, I still respect Whitley and love THG. Yes, you can still like a person even if their opinion is different from yours. And yes, you can like a book that someone else hates. It happens. The contrary also happens; you can hate a book that someone else loves. You don't need to organize an attack to defend a book's or an author's honor. You don't need to challenge a person's opinion to try to get them to take back their words. You don't need to go off the handle whenever someone admits to not enjoying a book because of certain reasons. There is literally no right or wrong way of reading a book.

Personally, I prefer really honest reviews, even if they point out the book's flaws. Reviews also really help me in deciding whether or not to buy a book. As much as I'd like to buy a book without needing to meditate upon it for like a few days, I don't have the budget for it. Unlike some people (by which I mean the founders of the book club I quit about two years ago... I'll get to that in a moment), I don't have the luxury of getting the latest books. I need to know from credible sources that a book is worth it, that I won't rue the couple of hundreds that I spent on that book. Though there are times when I do go with my gut instincts and buy a book without researching about it or buy a book that wasn't exactly praised by my favorite reviewers. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. The warnings of my trusted reviewers have proven true for most cases so I often rely on them especially for a hefty purchase.

Take for instance Throne of Glass. I had been seriously considering that book for months despite its fairly pricey offer. People had been raving about it for so long that I felt like I practically had to get into the series. However, something kind of kept stopping me. Sure lots of people liked it but that didn't necessarily mean that I'd like it. Also something about the series seemed a bit off to me but I couldn't tell what it was. So I read Whitley's really in depth review and was astounded... at how horrible it is. I won't go into detail but I will say that the main character, supposedly the best assassin in the land, was the least assassin-like person ever. I (and one or two of my not-as-yet-existing characters) felt personally offended at her glaring lack of any realistic assassin abilities. Had I took the plunge and bought the book without at least skimming what my favorite and trusted reviewers had to say, I'd have a book that I'm sure I'd throw against the wall at some point.

Ironically, if I had stayed in that local book club and asked for their two cents regarding the series, I probably wouldn't get a substantial answer. See, the thing about that book club was that it wasn’t exactly the place where people talked about books. They never discuss a particular book even when someone would post a particular status asking for opinions about a book. People there expressed their love for a book but, from what I noticed, never really explained why it was so good. Granted, I may have wanted detailed reviews similar to what I find online and people generally aren’t as prolific even on a subject they supposedly love. But still, I was kind of disappointed that the book club’s book discussion aspect was so superficial. Honestly, I would have been ok with that if that was the only problem I had with the club. Unfortunately, it was the least problematic thing about the group.

Let me start from the beginning. I found out about that book club on an online news article about an American author visiting our city for a book signing event. Back then, the book club was small and barely made a name for itself. I managed to track down the book club’s Facebook group and joined. At the time I had just left my old university mid-semester and was pretty much a full-time hermit. I needed to socialize and I wanted to meet more bookworms which was why the book club was a godsend. There aren’t really any other book clubs in our area. Book clubs just aren’t a thing here so when I found out that there was an active book club that wasn’t just online, I was more than ecstatic.

Honestly, I managed to write nearly 500 words chronicling my not-so-good experience with the club when I realized that I wasn’t anywhere near close to explaining why I just couldn’t connect. More than that, I realized, mid-sentence, that the things that I had written weren’t the type of things that I’d want on my blog. The content was too personal and although I’m confident that, with the right ambiance and enough coffee, I’d manage to fully explain my side of the story, it wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t be enough because it was just that, my side. This is probably the journalist in me but I can’t bear to publish something as one-sided as that, especially since the text that I had written was getting really bitter and mean. I’m not saying that what I felt wasn’t justified or what I did wasn’t for my own well-being, I just really don’t want to share a personal story that’s probably really just distorted from my intense emotions at the time. It would be unfair of me to myself, the book club, and to you readers (if anyone even reads this).

I’ll give you a brief overview of what happened though without going into the nitty-gritty. Basically, the book club felt too exclusive to me. There wasn’t enough promotion for reading and the group focused too much on owning and buying a lot of books. There wasn’t a culture of book discussion either and differing opinions weren’t too welcomed. There was even a particular founder that kind of lashed out on a group member online after the latter casually commented that she didn’t really like a particular book. It was disheartening.

That’s enough for now, I think. I’ve already written more than two thousand words and I ought to stop before I really ramble.

[bookminimalith]

True story: I saw this book just casually sitting at the far end of the Fiction Section and nearly died. I felt my soul being dragged further into purgatory when I realized that, because I had borrowed some books for Lyssa, and have yet to return them, I couldn’t borrow Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone with my library account. So I ran down to the office and begged one of my friends to let me use his library account. Thankfully, he agreed. I ran back up, grabbed the book, and, with a pounding heart, sneakily borrowed it. Unfortunately, my friend’s library account wasn’t verified for the semester yet, something he forgot to tell me. I dejectedly went back to the Fiction Section, stealthily hid the book somewhere and went back down to the office. I asked everyone in the office if their library accounts were open but none of them ever got around to do it. Finally(!), one of the newbies came in and, without even hesitating, I asked if I could use her account. She agreed and, thank god, her account worked. Oh! And because of my persistence to borrow this book, I was late for Research class by fifteen minutes. Oop.

Anyway! My efforts were not in vain because this book IS AWESOME. I finished it in less than a day. I haven’t done that in a long time! Though, to be fair, me and my fellow interns (and seniors) were stranded in the newsroom yesterday because of the severe flooding in the streets so I had a lot of time. 

Maybe I'll try writing a review for this book. Emphasis on try since I kind of just realized I actually have a lot of things to write and their deadlines are coming. 😢

[bookminimalith]

“It's the good things that hurt when you're missing them.”

I finished Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On last week and I’m still not over it. Rowell really nailed the world building in this book, I think. The magic was reminiscent of Harry Potter (I literally had to watch like one Harry Potter movie after reading Carry On) but the story was nothing at all like Rowling’s fantasy masterpiece. Sure, some elements were clearly inspired by/ borrowed from the Harry Potter series (magical school, wands, the Chosen One prophecy) but it had more than enough original aspects that made it stand out. 

I could see why Cath and Wren were so hooked to Simon Snow.  If the Simon Snow series was an actual series, I’d have devoured them long ago.

[bookminimalith]

My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins Book type: short story anthology Genres: Humor, Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult, Fantasy, Holiday Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Despite not being enrolled in the summer term, I managed to borrow this Yuletide gem from our university’s library last month. I even got to bring it with me to Korea! I have my easily-swayed-by-food friend to thank for that. He let me use his library account for this book. Hooray for friendship!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the short stories in this anthology, even if it is still some seven months away from the Christmas season. The unromantic in me had some initial qualms about reading a book about Christmas romances but I’m glad I ignored that steely voice for a change. I may have an ice cold black heart when it comes to romantic love but, wow, the stories in this book were just too adorable. And so unproblematic! 

To be honest, the thing that really caught my eye was Rainbow Rowell’s name on the cover. I just love her so much. Holly Black, David Levithan, Kiersten White, and Stephanie Perkins were awesome bonuses as well.

If I were to choose my favorite story, I’d have to pick Stephanie Perkins’s Its a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown. The story was just too sweet. Plus, I too have this thing for voices so I can totally see why Marigold found North so attractive. My second favorite was Midnights by Rainbow Rowell. Rowell did not disappoint. I was giddy, I tell you. Third was Krampuslauf by Holly Black. I do love me a good ol’ Christmas revenge story with Santa’s lesser appreciated and darker cousin, Krampus, thrown in the mix. Fourth was Laini Taylor’s The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer, which really made me want to read Taylor’s other fantasy books. Fifth was Kiersten White’s Welcome to Christmas, Ca, because who can resist a handsome (probably) magical chef? 

I gave this anthology 5 stars on Goodreads but in truth I meant to give it 4.6 stars. Goodreads has no such rating so... 5 stars just because I really loved almost half of the short stories. The other half - like Kelly Link’s The Lady and the Fox (which was sluggish and mostly boring despite its magical backdrop), Jenny Han’s Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me (the ending wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the premise promised), and Ally Carter’s Star of Bethlehem (which was so, so, so cliche... and ridiculously predictable) - weren’t as enjoyable to read. They kind of slowed me down even. 

Overall, I loved this book and can’t wait for Christmas to come. Only 230 days to go. Yay! 

[bookminimalith]

With the next Trese book still pending, I’ve really been craving to read more books about Filipino folklore. This beauty right here has a list of the creatures as well as creepily awesome illustrations of them. What’s more, Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo are two of the co-authors! 

This is like required reading for the Filipino Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Now all I need is a bolo, that buntot pagi, and… a tuob? I have much to learn.

[bookminimalith]

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Book type: book series Genres: Humor, Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  Summary: When American-born Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to provide a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace. Two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars. Three, that he just happens to be the country's most eligible bachelor.On Nick's arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.

My Thoughts: I’ll be honest. The cover for this book wasn’t all that enticing when I first saw it. In fact, I initially thought it was one of those get-rich-quick how-to books that have been exploding in bookstores for the past decade. The color and the title font just seems too stark and simplistic in comparison to the actual story, y’know?

Cover prejudice aside, this is one seriously awesome book. The designer labels and celebrity/artist/socialite names were lost on me though because I’m completely ignorant to that type of lifestyle. Still, the way Kwan described the crazy rich lifestyles of the characters in the book were bizarre and ridiculous... but I don’t doubt for a second that there really are people like that somewhere in the world. I even recognized the prejudices the Singaporean Chinese have towards the “mainland Chinese.” Heck, a similar kind of discrimination can be found in our country. Though we’re not a Chinese country, there are a lot of Chinese families living here and most of them are known to be well-off. My friend, who had been in two Chinese schools, actually experienced being ostracized for not being Chinese enough. And my friend actually looks Chinese! Her last name, though, wasn’t. 

This book was pretty insightful. I had no idea that some people actually live like that. Though I too would want to live comfortably, I don’t think I’d ever want to enter that kind of society. The number of social norms you have you keep up, the polite facade you have to maintain, the things you just can’t do without first consulting your entire family, the people you’re surrounded by - it’s just not worth it. The pressure would be enough to drive anyone insane.  At least that’s what I think.

Anyway, if you want a nice, funny read that will also give you a glimpse of what life is like for the modern Asian royalty, I highly recommend this book. It’s a long read but, trust me, you won’t even notice the pages fly by once you get started.

[bookminimalith]

Bite-Sized Book Reviews!

As much as I love reading and occasionally writing about the books I read, I can’t seem to find the time or energy to do a full-on book review these days. I want to go back to book-reviewing though so I’ll just post a few of my thoughts regarding the three books I read last year that I never got around to reviewing but have been meaning to review.

The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black Book type: short story anthalogy Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I loved everything about this book. This was my first Holly Black book so I honestly had no idea what to expect from it. There was a sort of dark magical charm in this book that had me smitten by the first short story alone, which was The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (not to be confused with Black’s full length novel of the same name). Coldtown was my favorite story in the book actually. I now want/need to read the novel, though I’m sure the characters and overall story is different from the one I read. Though I was a bit disappointed that the second to the last story spoiled me of Black’s novel Tithe, which I have a copy of but have yet to pick up. The short story was kind of a sequel-ish to the urban fantasy novel and now, well, I’m bummed to know what happens to the characters after the story even without having read the book. Sigh. There should have been a warning sign or something. Also! I loved how The Night Market was set in the Philippines. Damn those enkantos.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore Book type: book series (Graceling Realm #1) Genres: High Fantasy, Magic, Young Adult Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I knew this book would steal my heart and I wasn’t disappointed. Katsa is one of the most interesting characters I’ve had the pleasure of encountering this year. There was a sprinkle of romance in this book that didn’t put me off. The world of Graceling was one of the book’s major boons, I think. I particularly liked how those with a Grace are physically marked differently (the heterochromia). I’d like to be Graced myself, if only to have cool different colored eyes. 

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven Book type: standalone  Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Oh, this book. I honestly felt so much while reading All The Bright Places. Now, I knew that the book wasn’t going to be all sunshine and daisies (the blurb alone made it obvious), but I still didn’t expect to feel such a wide range of emotions. This book was just so brutally honest, never sanitizing or glamorizing the dark aspects of mental illness, which was really awesome of the author. The depth of the story really took my breath away. I also adored Finch and Violet - they had such similar yet contrasting stories. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a nice, poignant read. 

[bookminimalith]

Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson Book type: standalone novel Genres: Young Adult, Slice of Life, Drama, Coming of Age My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  Summary: Meet Kate Malone-straight-A science and math geek, minister’s daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell “Early Decision Harvard” Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all-or so she thinks. Then, things change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones’ neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri’s little brother. The days are ticking down and she’s still waiting to hear from the only college she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control-and then, something happens that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

My thoughts:

L.H Anderson has been my queen since I read Speak some odd years ago. My love and adoration for Anderson grew more after reading her other books (Wintergirls and The Impossible Knife of Memory). So when I saw another of her works hiding in plain sight in Booksale a couple of months ago, I jumped for joy. I got even more ecstatic when I found out that Catalyst is a bit of a companion novel of Speak. Melinda Sorino (the main protagonist of Speak) doesn’t play a vital role in Catalyst but she did make a cameo appearance that made my heart swell. The same way Stan Lee’s cameos make me feel, only much, much better because Melinda was actually herself in the cameo while Stan’s cameos are different characters each time.

A quick skim in Goodreads showed me that not a lot of readers enjoyed Catalyst. They mostly didn’t like the way the story flowed and how it ended. Kate’s attitude also seemed to put them off. Every reader is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but I found it strangely funny how most of their problems with Catalyst were the reasons why I loved it. I was able to relate to Kate’s college problem a lot deeper so maybe that’s the main reason I enjoyed the book. See, I was kind of one of the “smart ones” back in high school. You know, the ones specially picked out by teachers, the ones constantly asked for homework answers by classmates, the ones vaguely believed to be the ones to not have any trouble getting into and surviving college. A lot like Kate, really. But applying for college was still a terrifying experience, regardless (or because) of the confidence of my family and my peers. The college I applied to wasn’t all that strict in requirements and their entrance exam was mostly for posterity’s sake but I was still nervous. There was a chance I wouldn’t get in, after all, and that slim chance terrified me all throughout the summer. It would have been disastrously painful if that were to happen too because then my and everyone’s assumption that I’m “smart” would be proven wrong. Everything I’d come to believe in would fall apart, starting with my already flimsy self-esteem. So reading about Kate and her anxieties, it reminded me of those days.

Possible spoilers ahead…

Reactants (the Characters)

Anderson is mind-blowingly great at creating and developing her characters. Kate was smart, witty, sarcastic, and realistic. Her Good Kate and Bad Kate personas were quite interesting to read and easy to relate to. With the way she works and studies, it’s little wonder why she’s so high-strung. Pretty much like most overachieving seniors. It was also refreshing to read about a main character who doesn’t like literature and writing. Most MC’s live for words and/or the arts. Seeing Kate struggle in English class and admit that her writing desperately needed improvement, it was nice for a change.

The other characters were also quite fleshed out. Kate’s friends were pretty much the basic misfit squad though but it wasn’t too cringey. I rather liked Sara. Mitch - Kate’s boyfriend - I didn’t like so much. Teri, on the other hand, I’m quite torn. To say that her personality was “rough around the edges” would be an understatement. She was gruff, often hateful, brutally honest, and mostly just really messed up. A tough cookie she was, that Teri Litch, but I admit that there were times when I liked her. Considering all she went through, she’s pretty strong. Though sometimes she could be too strong, but that also made sense.

I particularly loved how Teri wasn’t just the token “broken character” that the MC/Kate had to fix so that Kate could realize her own problems and fix them. Teri was the catalyst but also her own person, which was great.

Atomic structure (the Writing)

Like in Speak, this book was narrated by the main character. In this case, it was Kate’s voice that narrated the story. You could really tell Kate’s personality in the text. I adored the chemistry metaphors and references, even though I had quite a time trying to remember what this or that particular jargon meant. Anderson killed it in terms of writing in Catalyst. It was so easy just losing myself in the story because the writing just carried me away.

 The pacing was also great, not so fast that you’d lose track of the story and the characters, and not so slow that you end up getting frustrated at the story and the characters. 

Chemical reaction (the story)

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I loved every page of it. There was a sense of realism in the way the plot unfolded. I really appreciated how almost none of Kate’s problems were resolved in the end. Some readers may have preferred Anderson to tie the lose ends of the plot (like maybe give Kate the satisfaction of getting into MIT after all) but the openness of the last page fit the story better. Sometimes things just won’t work out for you. Sometimes things can seem hopeless and bleak no matter how you look at it. Sometimes you just need to sit down for a while and let yourself feel and remember, even if it’s painful. That’s just how it is with life. At least that’s what I got from the ending.

However, it was perfect how Kate and Teri resolved to fix Teri’s house, with Kate even promising to put college on hold until the job (and her promise) is finished. That was really sweet. And so metaphorical. Fix the house = help Teri fix her life and get Kate back on track. 

This book is definitely a must read.

[bookminimalith]

L.H. Anderson’s Catalyst was insanely good. Though I guess it was to be expected from Anderson herself. I literally squealed when Melinda (from Anderson’s Speak) showed up for a few pages. It was nice seeing her again, even if it was only for a little while. 

Full review to come... I hope.