Note to Self by Aline Simone

Title: Note to Self
Author: Alina Simone (website)
Pub. Date: June 4, 2013
Source: e-ARC via netgalley (Thank you, Faber & Faber!!)
Summary: Anna Krestler is adrift. The Internet has draped itself, kudzu-like, over her brain, which makes it even more difficult to confront the question of what to do when she is dismissed from her job as a cubicle serf at a midtown law firm. Despite the exhortations of Leslie, her friend and volunteer life coach, Anna seeks refuge in the back alleys of Craigslist, where she connects with Taj, an adherent of a nebulous movement known as Nowism that occupies the most self-absorbed fringes of the art world.

Art, Anna decides, is what will provide the meaningful life she’s been searching for and knows she deserves. She joins Taj’s “crew” and is drawn into his grand experimental film project. But making art is hard and microwaving pouch foods is easy. Soon enough Anna finds herself distracted by myriad other quests: remembering to ask Leslie “How are you?,” reducing her intake of caloric drinks, and parrying her mother’s insistence that she attend hairdressing school.

But when Anna’s twenty-seven-year-old roommate—a terminal intern named Brie—announces her pregnancy, it forces Anna to confront reality, setting off a chain of events that lead to a horrifying climax of betrayal.
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Rating:

The undiscussed surgeries lay like a weapon on the table before them. Her mother knew, despite the jabs about Anna’s weight and the pointed comments about her unemployment, that as someone who wandered the plasticized wilderness somewhere between Joan Rivers and Michael Jackson, she should only go so far.

37-year-old Anna has just found herself out of a job. With a (much younger) roommate in a perpetual state of unpaid internship, Anna’s world revolves around refreshing Gawker and Huffington Post and waiting for e-mails that never arrive. While the rest of her friends are happily settled down with a child or two, Anna gives in to Internet rumors and the latest fads.

After discovering a super underground director and his films, Anna decides being a filmmaker is her calling and promptly throws away $3500 on a video camera. Weeks later, the box still remains unopened and Anna’s funds are rapidly shrinking. She takes to Craigslist and responds to a post. Shortly after she meets up with Taj, a filmmaker in his own right and becomes a member of his crew.

Between ignoring her mother and her friends-turned-life-coach, living with a newly-pregnant roommate, and bills that won’t go away, Anna finds herself thrown into the chaotic world of film festivals.

“Know what people really find comforting?” Taj continued, “Failure. Humiliation. Defeat. That’s what makes people feel better.”
“You think so?” she said.
“Think about it. Nothing brings people together like a good scandal. Nothing makes them happier than to see something fall from a great height.”

I had such high hopes for Note to Self, guys! It sounded like a really fun, quick novel. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it half as much as I had hoped and a good deal lies with the way the blurb set it up.

Hailed as “A witty, keenly observant look at our Internet-obsessed culture”, I was totally on board. Much to my dismay, however, Note to Self was neither witty, nor Internet-related. At all. Oh, sure, Anna talks about refreshing tabs and always checking her e-mail, but I was expecting, you know, a story. Instead, Anna – at times I COMPLETELY forgot Anna was pushing 40, she acted twenty years younger – was completely irresponsible with her extremely limited funds, bought an outrageously expensive camera, and pretended she knew about art.

The entire time I was reading I kept waiting for something to happen, that pivotal moment when the ball got rolling. I was shocked when I realized I was halfway into the book and Anna was still puttering around her apartment! Eventually Anna meets Taj through a Craigslist ad and goes to ‘work’ for him – basically doing menial tasks for his assistant for little or no pay. …and that’s it.

Look. I’m all for character-driven stories with super slow plots or no action. But unlike Note to Self, those stories actually feature interesting – for good or bad reasons – characters. There wasn’t a single character in Note to Self I liked. Anna was more a teenager than a nearly-40-year old woman. Taj was simply a jerk. His film buddies were so interchangeable they melded together to form one entity in my mind.

At the very end of the book, Anna announces she has an Internet addiction and Taj flies her out to a city in order to ‘cure’ her. By this point I had lost all interest whatsoever and Taj’s eventual betrayal did little to shock or surprise me.

It was with a very hearty FINALLY! that I finished this book. Perhaps I just didn’t get it, but Note to Self was a disappointment and let me wanting so much more.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe

illustration by Arthur Rackham

If you missed it, yesterday I flailed over the reopening of the Poe House!!

Last year for his birthday I reviewed Poe’s Some Words with a Mummy, a relatively unknown and very silly short story. Believe it or not, Poe was a funny guy!

This time time around I wanted to review Hop Frog – a movie adaptation is in the works with PETER DINKLAGE in the starring role!!

Hop-Frog; Or, the Eight Chained Ourangoutangs was one of Edgar Allan Poe’s last stories. Published in March 1949 – just seven months before his death – Hop-Frog tells the tale of a court jester seeking revenge. Given the moniker by the king’s council who were amused by the crippled dwarf, Hop-Frog finally saw his chance at freedom when the king announced there would be a masquerade ball.

‘I now see distinctly,’ he said, ‘what manner of people these maskers are. They are a great king and his seven privy-councillors, – a king who does not scruple to strike a defenceless girl, and his seven councillors who abet him in the outrage. As for myself, I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester – and this is my last jest.’

In just six pages, Hop-Frog serves up a gruesome act of revenge. The king and his court all love a good prank and Hop-Frog uses this knowledge to talk them into the trap he had set. First covering the eight men in tar, then coating them in flax, Hop-Frog declares them orangutans. He then chains them together and waits until the ball is well underway before parading them into the room.

Naturally the guests are shocked – some of the ladies fainted! – and attempt to flee. Unfortunately, the king had requested all the doors locked beforehand and only Hop-Frog has the key. As the men make their way into the center of the room, Hop-Frog hooks their chain onto the chandelier’s chain and proceeds to hoist them off the ground. Throughout this ordeal, the king and council still believe it’s all a prank. It’s not until the very last moment do they realize it’s no longer just a harmless joke.

Poe does revenge stories really well. He can also be EXTREMELY graphic and gruesome and the descriptions in Hop-Frog are not for the faint of heart. The story moves a bit too fast for my liking, but with only six pages, I suppose I couldn’t have expected lots of backstory and characterization.

I took the story at face-value, but there are some people who feel Hop-Frog is autobiographical. Hop-Frog was taken from his home and given a new name. Poe was adopted when he was a toddler and given the name Allan. References to alcohol and personal vendettas also seem to be taken from Poe’s life. Whether he intended for the story to hint at his own life or not, I think it’s still pretty interesting.

Hop-Frog is one of Poe’s more well-known stories and at just six pages, there’s no reason not to read it. Especially with the upcoming movie!

Edgar Allan Poe House to be reopened!

If you’re a regular reader of The Pretty Good Gatsby, you know I kind of like Poe. Truth-be-told, I first discovered him when I was 7 & nearly 20 years later he remains one of my all-time favorite writers.

If I was just a tad more narcissistic I’d say I’m something of an armchair scholar (!!) when it came to Poe. I’ve spent the majority of my life completely immersed in his and one of the best birthday presents I ever received was a 1840s edition of Marginalia.

Luckily for me, Baltimore is just a few hours drive from Pittsburgh (Gettysburg is just a few hours away too! This makes for one happy Leah & some SUPER FUN roadtrips) so I’ve had the chance to visit the Poe House on multiple occasions.

Last year it was announced that, due to a lack of funding, the Poe House would be closing. Naturally I was more than a little upset and made one final trip.

Last week, however, articles began reporting Poe Baltimore would be taking over. The group plans on reopening October 4 (just in time for the 164th anniversary of his death. Unfortunately, it will only be open weekends until spring 2014 when it will full reopen. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, there were be new additions made to the collection of Poe’s belongings, including a lock of his hair!! THIS IS SERIOUSLY EXCITING GUYS.

If you haven’t visited the house before, I definitely recommend it! It’s extremely tiny, but absolutely fascinating!

In addition to my collection of Poe-related books, I have a copy of The Poe Log, a painstakingly-researched book that provides an account of nearly every day of Poe’s life. Letters, conversations, sightings, lecture notes, his romance woes, you name it it’s in this book. This passage comes from a young Charles William Hubner (he later went on to become a poet in his own right) and it has always resonated with me:

While on my way to art school, when about fourteen years old, I passed a hospital, a plain coffin was being taken to a hearse standing at the curb, two gentlemen stood, with bared heads, while the attendants placed the caskets into the hearse. With boyish curiosity I asked of one of the men:
“Please sir, who are they going to bury?”
He replied: “My son, that is the body of a great poet, Edgar Allan Poe, you will learn all about him some day.”
The two men entered the only carriage which followed the hearse. I watched them as long as they were in sight.

Tell me: Are you a Poe fan? Have you visited the Poe House? Would you like to?

:) & be sure to check back tomorrow for a review of one of his short stories!

You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle

Title: You Look Different in Real Life
Author: Jennifer Castle (website ★ twitter)
Pub. Date: June 4, 2013
Source: e-ARC via edelweiss (Thank you, HarperTeen!)
Summary: For the rest of the world, the movies are entertainment. For Justine, they’re real life.

The premise was simple: five kids, just living their lives. There’d be a new movie about them every five years, starting in kindergarten. But no one could have predicted what the cameras would capture. And no one could have predicted that Justine would be the star.

Now sixteen, Justine doesn’t feel like a star anymore. In fact, when she hears the crew has gotten the green light to film Five at Sixteen, all she feels is dread. The kids who shared the same table in kindergarten have become teenagers who hardly know one another. And Justine, who was so funny and edgy in the first two movies, feels like a disappointment.

But these teens have a bond that goes deeper than what’s on film. They’ve all shared the painful details of their lives with countless viewers. They all know how it feels to have fans as well as friends. So when this latest movie gives them the chance to reunite, Justine and her costars are going to take it. Because sometimes, the only way to see yourself is through someone else’s eyes.
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating:

This is not a soap opera, folks. This is my life.
And it is absolutely, positively as unamazing as you can get.

When they were six, a group of five children were filmed for the world. At eleven, those same children – now a little older – were placed in the spotlight once more. Now they’re sixteen, teenagers, each with a different group of friends and interests. They receive a call for another documentary and, after some initial hesitation, they accept.

In the two previous films, each child had a distinct role. For Justine, it was the edgy rebel. The girl who always had a witty comeback. That five-year old girl is decidedly not the same as the 16-year old and Justine worries that she might be a letdown. Without her offhand remarks and crazy antics, who is she? Why would anyone be interested in watching her?

The other four are dealing with issues of their own, some more public than others. The world got to witness Keira’s mother walk out on her. She’s now the queen bee at school and certainly isn’t interested in reopening old wounds. Rory still feels the sting of Justine’s betrayal; how could they possibly work together on another film?

You Look Different in Real Life has a cast of stereotypical characters – you’ve got a jock, an outcast, the most popular girl in the school – but it works. While reading, I saw the characters for who they were, not the mold they were cast from. After the second film ended, the children drifted apart. Once the cameras were turned off, they went their separate ways; Felix remained best friends with Justine, but the others practically became strangers. Being forced together at lunch and intentionally paired off for projects isn’t what they had in mind, but the producers know how to pull in the ratings.

Obviously I couldn’t quite put myself in their shoes – sadly, I’m not known worldwide – but I definitely felt the awkwardness and unease that comes with meeting up with a once-close friend. Each one of these teens has a secret or unvoiced fear and the more they need to work together, the more they talk. They know they aren’t the same people they were at five, but in realizing that, they’re able to focus on who they are now and they just might not be as different from each other as they thought.

The character growth was expertly done and the tiny hint of romance was a nice bonus. Although in the end I felt this was simply an okay – and enjoyable! – read, I can see this easily appealing far more to others.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

stacking the shelves 5/18: two-week edition!

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews where we show off all the goodies we received throughout the week!

FOR REVIEW
Merlin’s Blade (The Merlin Spiral #1) by Robert Treskillard
Captives (The Safe Lands #1) by Jill Williamson
Back Before Dark (Code of Silence #2) by Tim Shoemaker
The House of Journalists by Tim Finch
Outcast by Adrienne Kress
Magic Marks the Spot (The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #1) by Caroline Carlson
How to Love by Katie Cotugno
The Whatnot (The Peculiar #2) by Stefan Bachmann

(HUGE thanks to BALZER + BRAY, DIVERSION BOOKS, FARRAR, STRAUS, & GIROUX, GREENWILLOW, HARPERCOLLINS, ZONDERKIDZ, & ZONDERVAN!!)

FROM THE LIBRARY
Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce
A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #1) by Ursula K. Le Guin

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The End Games by T. Michael Martin 4 stars

That’s the work of a fantastic writing, Mr. Martin: making me so deeply engrossed that I feel as though I’m the one being chased. I loved it.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau 2 stars

In my eyes, The Testing is The Hunger Games meets Divergent meets Battle Royale. In the worst way possible.

Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer 4.5 stars

It’s no secret that I love this series. And by love, I mean flaily arms, keysmashes, and more exclamation points than WordPress can handle.

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin 4 stars

Every character felt raw and open and real.

Rebel Spirits by Lois Ruby 3.5 stars

Allow me to fly my bias flag: if a book deals with any of the battles (particularly Gettysburg), you can bet I’ll be reading it.

Rebel Spirits by Lois Ruby

Title: Rebel Spirits
Author: Lois Ruby (website)
Pub. Date: June 1, 2013
Source: e-ARC via netgalley (Thank you, Scholastic!!)
Summary: Lori Chase doesn’t know what to think about ghosts. She may have seen a few in the past, but those were just childish imaginings…right? Only now that she is living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, spirits seem to be on everyone’s mind. The town is obsessed with its bloody Civil War history, and the old inn that Lori’s parents run is supposedly haunted by the souls of dead soldiers.

Then Lori meets one such soldier–the devastatingly handsome Nathaniel Pierce. Nathaniel’s soul cannot rest, and he desperately needs Lori’s help. Because Nathaniel was not killed in the famous battle. He was murdered. Lori begins to investigate the age-old mystery, stumbling upon shocking clues and secrets.

At the same time, she can’t help falling for Nathaniel, just as he is falling for her.
Genre: YA, Mystery
Rating:

Sixteen-year old (almost seventeen, thank you very much) Lori Chase has just made the move from a swanky hotel in Philadelphia to history-obsessed Gettsyburg, PA. Her brother is stationed in Ghana and her parents thought it would be fun to renovate a Bed & Breakfast. Once July rolls around, business is booming: spectators and reenactors alike flock to the town for the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. For three days 1863 is alive and well: the townsfolk are decked out in giant hoop-skirts and Union blues and replica rifles send the scent of gunpowder into the air.

Lori is less than enthused with her new home – until the night she captures a ghost on film. A Skype session with her brother must have been all-too tempting for the young soldier, for an image appeared on the screen. Lori wasn’t alone in her bedroom. After a few more encounters with the boy, Lori learns his name is Nathaniel Pierce. He grew up in Punxsutawney and enlisted as a member of the 93rd Pennsylvania regiment when he was nineteen. He shocks Lori by sharing with her the true nature of his death: it wasn’t the battle that killed him. He’s convinced he was murdered and needs her help solving the mystery. Unfortunately, he only has three days – once July 3 comes, the reenactors will pack their things and Nathaniel will depart as well.

Okay, guys. It’s SO not a secret that the Civil War holds a special place in my heart. I’ve gone to Gettysburg multiple times – yay for only living a few hours away! – so right off the bat this book and I got along well. Allow me to fly my bias flag: if a book deals with any of the battles (particularly Gettysburg), you can bet I’ll be reading it. It’s one of my things. A YA dealing with a Civil War soldier and his suspicious death? SIGN ME UP!

When I read, I’m constantly doing research or googling certain figures/events/paintings/what have you. In Rebel Spirits a great deal of the novel was devoted to the Kalunga Line, something I had never heard of before! Basically, it comes from certain religions in the Congo and refers to a ‘line’ stretching across the Atlantic Ocean that was the path between the world of the living and that of the dead. I’m all about stuff like this and absolutely loved its inclusion in the book.

As for the characters, there were quite a few, but they were fun and well-developed. Lori’s parents are ever present and that was a refreshing change from the usual absentee parenting typically found in YA. Nathaniel was a sweetheart, but I just couldn’t get into the romance aspect. Over the course of three days the two only met a handful of times for a few minutes at most. Yet somehow they fell in love. Sorry, but no. It was cute when Lori tried to explain modern technology and I easily could have accepted a friendship, but more…? I’ll admit I delighted in Lori’s dad calling her out on her insta-love!

Any reader of historical fiction knows research can make or break a novel. There were a few things Nathaniel didn’t know about that would have existed during his day. Punxsutawney Phil/Groundhog Day as we know it didn’t officially begin until the 1880s, yet it’s origins go back to Celtic tribes and Germany’s Candlemas Day. I suppose that could be splitting hairs, since Groundhog Day wasn’t a part of American tradition until German settlers came over in the 1880s, but it’s certainly been around for quite some time. Anything thing unknown to Nathaniel was the word cahoots. Unfortunately, a quick google search shows this word first entered the English language in the 1820s – 40 years before Nathaniel’s death.

Apart from a few tiny issues, I had a lot of fun with Rebel Spirits. I’d say the mystery was more Middle Grade in nature – it’s pretty obvious from the start who the bad guys were – but I was able to overlook it and go with the story. If you enjoy Civil War settings, or want a fun story to entertain you for an afternoon, pick up a copy of Rebel Spirits.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

Title: Golden Boy
Author: Abigail Tarttelin (website ★ twitter)
Pub. Date: May 21, 2013
Source: e-ARC via netgalley (Thank you, Atria!!)
Summary: Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he’s the perfect son, the perfect friend, and a perfect crush for the girls in his school. He’s even really nice to his little brother, Daniel, a decidedly imperfect ten-year-old. Karen Walker is a beautiful, highly successful criminal lawyer, who works hard to maintain the facade of effortless excellence she has constructed over the years. Now that the boys are getting older, now that she won’t have as much control, she worries that the facade might soon begin to crumble. Steve Walker is also a successful prosecutor, so much so that he is running for election to Parliament. The spotlight of the media is about to encircle their lives.

But the Walkers have a secret. Max was born with forty-six XX chromosomes and forty-six XY chromosomes, which makes him intersex. He identifies as a boy and so has been raised lovingly that way. When an enigmatic childhood friend named Hunter steps out of Max’s past and abuses his trust in the worst possible way, Max is forced to consider the nature of his well-kept secret. Why won’t his parents talk about it? Will his friends accept him if he is no longer the Golden Boy? Who is Max and who will he be in the years ahead?
Genre: Contemporary, Adult
Rating:

When I was little the doctors called me a hermaphrodite. It’s got a lot of stigma, but as a word on its own I like it better. It’s a thing. It’s not between things. It’s an ancient Greek word. It makes me sound old, like we were always around. I like that.

The Walkers are a perfect family. Steve and Karen are both highly successful in their fields, 15-year old Max is a straight-A student who would never dream of talking back to his parents or getting into fights, and 10-year old Daniel is perfect in that he isn’t perfect. On the outside, the Walkers have it all; they’re media darlings and everyone in town knows their names. Behind closed doors, however, the Walkers are hiding a secret.

Max Walker is the star of the football team. All the girls flock to him and he’s just a few tests away from the top schools. No one would assume Max is anything other than a normal teenage boy. Sure he’s a bit smaller than the other boys in his class, but his two best friends only just recently started shaving, and football has done wonders for Max’s muscles. He goes on dates with girls and leads a normal life.

Max’s secret never bothered him; it was who he was. After one of his closest friends does the unthinkable, however, Max suddenly becomes well aware of just how different he is. Max isn’t like the other boys – Max is intersex. He has both male and female organs. Until now, he’s managed to keep it hidden from the world; his dates with girls never went farther than kissing and while it’s not what Max wants, it’s worked so far. He’s earned a reputation at school as being a Love-Them-And-Leave-Them type and he does nothing to refute the claims.

With Hunter’s betrayal, Max is left in a whirlwind of questions, confusion, and anger. His father’s recent campaign announcement only adds to his distress. The Walkers are supposed to be the perfect family; how could they possibly explain their son’s pregnancy?

You hear about things going wrong during a birth, but when you’re pregnant and in labor, you never think it will happen to you. No one thinks theirs will be the baby with the problem. And then it was my baby, and it made me worry all the more acutely for the rest of his life, because I had been right to worry at the birth, because when it had been time to give birth, to do the most important thing I could do for Max, something had gone wrong.

Oh, wow. WOW. Guys, I was so not prepared for Golden Boy. I’m always up for a good – and tough! – read, but I wasn’t expecting this. That’s definitely not a bad thing though; the author tackled an extremely sensitive subject and I thought she did a fantastic job. Also: SHE’S ONLY A YEAR OLDER THAN ME WHAT.

I don’t get squeamish while reading and I rarely cringe at descriptions, so be warned: within the first few pages there is a VERY graphic rape scene. That alone could be enough to turn away many readers. Other triggers of note: attempted suicide, drug abuse, and abortions. So, yes, decidedly not a sunny day, sitting-on-the-porch kind of read. Despite this, however, I found myself absolutely captivated.

Hunter’s betrayal was one I had not seen coming. I took the summary to mean he leaked information to the media, not that he would rape Max and get him pregnant! Max and Hunter grew up together, their parents were best friends. The boys considered themselves cousins in a way. For Hunter to do such a horrible thing to Max was appalling. He took advantage of Max and his trust and left Max a shell of a boy. This happens very early on in Golden Boy and the novel is spent with Max – and his family – dealing with the repercussions.

Golden Boy alternates between a number of perspectives. We see the events through the eyes of Max, his parents, his brother, his doctor, and his girlfriend. Each one had a distinct voice and felt authentic. Max is understandably terrified and ashamed, his brother is worried and angry. Sylvie doesn’t know why Max’s moods have changed so abruptly or why he’s avoiding her. Karen blames herself for her son’s ‘illness’ and tries to make it go away. Every character felt raw and open and real.

Golden Boy is definitely not a book for everyone, but I greatly enjoyed it. It was tough and thought-provoking and powerful. I have a feeling both the characters and issues the story raised will stick with me for months to come. If you’re looking to step outside your comfort zone, Golden Boy is worth a read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.