Wild Child
Read my review
Mike Wells, author of Wild Child, kindly agreed to do an author interview, and a video interview at that. Thank you so much, Mike, for a great interview!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Author interview: Mike Wells
Wild Child
Read my review
Mike Wells, author of Wild Child, kindly agreed to do an author interview, and a video interview at that. Thank you so much, Mike, for a great interview!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Review: Wild Child
Publisher: Mike Wells
Pages: 106
Release date: March 12, 2011 (Kindle edition); February 1998 (paperback)
Website
Summary (from Amazon): Briana Fox is the wildest girl in school. She and Kyle have been friends for a long time..., almost lovers. When Briana challenges Kyle to a swim across the lake, she's injured in a terrible accident, but also discovers a mysterious substance in an underwater cave. What seems to be a magical yet harmless "power drug" turns out to have unexpected properties. Briana soon becomes dependent on it for her very survival. When two government agents get wind of their discovery, they will stop at nothing to force Kyle and Briana to reveal its source.
-----
Wild Child is a fun, plot-driven story that kept me reading once I got started, even though I had only planned to read a few chapters, work on some writing of my own, and finish the book later on in a second sitting. I wound up finishing it one sitting, because I wanted to know what was going to happen.
I didn't think the characters were fully developed in the story, but I also didn't care, because to me, that was completely beside the point. I liked Kyle and Briana and their loyalty to each other. I liked the dynamic between Kyle and his father, even though I didn't always understand how in one moment, Kyle's father was defending him and in other moments yelling at him--it seemed like he had crazy mood swings. I think there's probably a lot back story with Kyle and his father and Kyle and Briana that we got glimpses of (for example, Kyle and Briana were almost lovers; Kyle's mother died when he was younger), and though I didn't think it was necessary to fully explore that back story in Wild Child, I would love to see it explored in its own novel.
I thought the plot of Wild Child was awesome. It was different. It was interesting. It was well-paced. Every moment in the story was important. Nothing was out of place. I love that kind of writing, because I think that some novels tend to have scenes, or descriptions, or back story that isn't necessarily important to the story being told, and that wasn't the case in Wild Child. Every scene was necessary. Every piece of dialog, every exchange between characters, helped move the story along.
I'm not going to give away the ending, but I do have to mention it, because it took me by surprise, partly because the story ended before I thought it was going to (it's not a long novel), and partly because I really didn't see it coming. There was slight foreshadowing to how it could end, but my idea of what might happen at the end was different than what actually happened. At first, I couldn't believe it ended the way it did. I liked it, though. It left an image in my mind that I like thinking about, and that I think could lead to another book about what happens to the characters after this story, although at the same time, I think that type of book would probably take away from Wild Child--just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. I really like the last images I was left with, and letting my imagination run wild with what happens after the story ends.
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Cover rating: 4/5
Overall rating:
Friday, April 15, 2011
Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser
April is National Poetry Month!
Yes, I realize April is halfway over. But, I am a poet. I love poetry, and I wish I had posted about April being National Poetry Month sooner. If I had, I would have shared more poems on here than I'm going to (not the ones I've written, but the ones I love the most).
So, in honor of National Poetry Month, here is one of my favorite poems, Abandoned Farmhouse, by Ted Kooser.
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, says the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm--a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.
Abandoned Farmhouse was published in Kooser's book Sure Signs, by the University of Pittsburgh Press, in 1980.
Yes, I realize April is halfway over. But, I am a poet. I love poetry, and I wish I had posted about April being National Poetry Month sooner. If I had, I would have shared more poems on here than I'm going to (not the ones I've written, but the ones I love the most).
So, in honor of National Poetry Month, here is one of my favorite poems, Abandoned Farmhouse, by Ted Kooser.
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, says the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm--a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.
Review: Unearthly
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 448
Release date: January 4, 2011
Website
Summary (from Good Reads): In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees....
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.
Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place--and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.
As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make--between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?
Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.
-----
I love angels. I love them in Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush series, and I love them in the Unearthly series. I've read novels about vampires, werewolves, pixies, whatever, some that were awesome and some that weren't, and so far, angels interest me more than any of the other creatures. I think a big part of it is because the existence of angels is more plausible to me than the existence of vampires, werewolves, pixies, and so on. Before I started reading Unearthly, I expected to love it, and I did.
For me, the best part of Unearthly is that for once, it's the narrator who is something other than human. It's not a human girl falling in love with a vampire/werewolf/pixie/whatever. It's a girl who's part-angel and falls in love with a human. I really liked that, because it was different and a nice change from all those other novels where the human falls in love with the mythical creature. I really don't think I would have liked Unearthly nearly as much if Clara had been human and fallen in love with an angel.
I love the idea of there being different kinds of angels, some good and some evil, and I like it that every angel has a different purpose. By the time I was done reading, I actually wanted to go research angels more, partly to see how much of what Cynthia Hand wrote stems from actual myths, but mostly just because now I'm curious. Angels might be a new fascination/obsession for me now.
Of course, I loved the story and the characters and the setting--especially the setting, which was completely awesome. I love small town stuff. I've been to Wyoming a couple of times, and it's beautiful there. I don't think any other setting would have worked for this novel. Aside from the obvious part about the wildfire, no other small town would have worked for this novel. Unearthly is the kind of novel that makes me want to go to Wyoming and see all the places Hand wrote about.
I am completely in love with this series. I can't wait for the second book to come out.
Overall rating: 5/5
Cover rating: 5/5
Sunday, April 3, 2011
In My Mailbox: 23
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.
The summaries for the books I received are from the book covers/jackets and Good Reads. Links are for Amazon.
For review
The Family That Wasn't by Gene Twaronite
Publisher: iUniverse.com
The Family That Wasn't is a humorous fable of how our families live inside us. It will appeal to both teen and adult readers. The 13-year-old narrator, John Boggle (whose real name is John Bazukas-O'Reilly-Geronimo-Giovanni-Li Choy-Echeverria), finds his family so impossibly crazy that he cannot stand living with them another moment. He invents a new perfect family so convincing that he suddenly finds himself living inside this imaginary world.
But John finds that he too has changed. He sees his too perfect image in the mirror and begins to wonder if it is all some kind of mistake. Only trouble is, now he can't remember who he is. He only knows that he must leave this family at once. His sole clue is the name, John Boggle.
To find his true family he embarks on a cross country quest. Along the way he encounters other characters who have also lost touch with their families. Together they must find a way to reconstruct the connections to
bring back the family that once was.
When Corrrinne's father is laid off, her world suddenly falls apart. Instead of heading to boarding school, she's stripped of her credit cards and shipped off to the boonies of Texas to live with her grandparents. On her own in a big public school and forced to take a a job in shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the life she's supposed to be living. She doesn't care who she stomps on in the process. But when Corrinne makes an unlikely friend and discovers a total hottie at work, she begins to wonder if her life B.R.--before the recession--was as perfect as it seemed.
The summaries for the books I received are from the book covers/jackets and Good Reads. Links are for Amazon.
For review
Publisher: iUniverse.com
The Family That Wasn't is a humorous fable of how our families live inside us. It will appeal to both teen and adult readers. The 13-year-old narrator, John Boggle (whose real name is John Bazukas-O'Reilly-Geronimo-Giovanni-Li Choy-Echeverria), finds his family so impossibly crazy that he cannot stand living with them another moment. He invents a new perfect family so convincing that he suddenly finds himself living inside this imaginary world.
But John finds that he too has changed. He sees his too perfect image in the mirror and begins to wonder if it is all some kind of mistake. Only trouble is, now he can't remember who he is. He only knows that he must leave this family at once. His sole clue is the name, John Boggle.
To find his true family he embarks on a cross country quest. Along the way he encounters other characters who have also lost touch with their families. Together they must find a way to reconstruct the connections to
bring back the family that once was.
From the library
Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley
Publisher: HarperTeen
Meet Corrinne. She's living every girl's dream in New York City--shopping sprees at Barneys, open access to the best clubs and parties, and her own horse at the country club. Her perfect life is perfectly on track. At least it was. . . .
When Corrrinne's father is laid off, her world suddenly falls apart. Instead of heading to boarding school, she's stripped of her credit cards and shipped off to the boonies of Texas to live with her grandparents. On her own in a big public school and forced to take a a job in shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the life she's supposed to be living. She doesn't care who she stomps on in the process. But when Corrinne makes an unlikely friend and discovers a total hottie at work, she begins to wonder if her life B.R.--before the recession--was as perfect as it seemed.
Read my review
You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Seventeen-year-old Dalton Rev has transferred to the mean hallways of Salt River High with only one thought on his mind: Who killed Wesley Payne? Yes, this hard-boiled PI is about to take on the toughest case of his life. The question isn't whether Dalton's going to get paid.He always gets paid. Or whether he's going to get the girl. He always sometimes gets the girl. The real question is whether Dalton Rev can outwit bent cops and killer cliques in time to solve the mystery of The Body before is solves him.
I also got a few other things from the library, mainly several cookbooks and Joan Didion's The White Album.
What did you get this week? Happy reading!
Review: Where I Belong
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 291
Release date: February 8, 2011
Website
Summary (from book cover): Meet Corrinne. She's living every girl's dream in New York City--shopping sprees at Barneys, open access to the best clubs and parties, and her own horse at the country club. Her perfect life is perfectly on track. At least it was. . . .
When Corrrinne's father is laid off, her world suddenly falls apart. Instead of heading to boarding school, she's stripped of her credit cards and shipped off to the boonies of Texas to live with her grandparents. On her own in a big public school and forced to take a a job in shoveling manure, Corrinne is determined to get back to the life she's supposed to be living. She doesn't care who she stomps on in the process. But when Corrinne makes an unlikely friend and discovers a total hottie at work, she begins to wonder if her life B.R.--before the recession--was as perfect as it seemed.
-----
I have mixed feelings about Where I Belong. Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was interesting enough for me to keep reading; I definitely wanted to know what would happen and how the story would end. I really liked the idea of a city girl having to move to the country (even though I live in a city, though not one that is nearly as big as New York City, I'm a country girl at heart--I love small towns, which is why I'm moving to one in the fall).
The problem with this novel for me was in the characters. I didn't hate them, but I felt like there were a lot of stereotypes.Corrinne was the spoiled city girl who couldn't imagine having to wear casual clothes, much less do manual labor. Kitsy was the down to earth country girl who hated life in a small town and couldn't wait to get out, but thought she would be like all the other girls who marry their high school sweethearts, have kids, and stay in Broken Spoke, where the only thing that really matters is high school football. Corrinne's grandparents were the stereotypical grandparents who value hard work, honesty, family, and so on. The only character who didn't really fall into a stereotype for me and who actually did seem genuine was Corrinne's little brother, Tripp. I didn't have a problem with the stereotype of a small Texas town being all about high school football, since that's accurate (if you've seen the movie Friday Night Lights, or read the book, you'll know what I mean). But I wish there had been more than just the stereotypical small town events happening in the book (football games followed by a party in the field, hanging out at Sonic, rodeos). While those things might be realistic, which is why I'm fine with them being in the book in the first place, I wanted to see the characters do something out of the ordinary. With the exception of some events included at a rodeo near the end of the book, nothing out of the ordinary really happened.
I did like Corrinne's transformation throughout the book. I think she was definitely a different, and perhaps better, person at the end of the book. The transformation kind of comes off as cheesy to me, especially considering Corrinne's family has to point out to her how she's the one who has changed, not her old best friend, but you can't move from New York City to a small town in Texas for several months and not change.
Where I Belong is a decent debut, and I look forward to reading Gwendolyn Heasley's next novel.
Overall rating: 3/5
Cover rating: 4/5
Friday, April 1, 2011
Author Interview: Gene Twaronite
Gene Twaronite
The Family That Wasn't
Read my review
The Family That Wasn't is a humorous fable of how our families live inside us. It will appeal to both teen and adult readers. The 13-year-old narrator, John Boggle (whose real name is John Bazukas-O'Reilly-Geronimo-Giovanni-Li Choy-Echeverria), finds his family so impossibly crazy that he cannot stand living with them another moment. He invents a new perfect family so convincing that he suddenly finds himself living inside this imaginary world.
But John finds that he too has changed. He sees his too perfect image in the mirror and begins to wonder if it is all some kind of mistake. Only trouble is, now he can't remember who he is. He only knows that he must leave this family at once. His sole clue is the name, John Boggle.
To find his true family he embarks on a cross country quest. Along the way he encounters other characters who have also lost touch with their families. Together they must find a way to reconstruct the connections to
bring back the family that once was.
In The Family That Wasn't, John Bartlett's mom tells him that writing is 5 percent inspiration and 95 percent relaxation. Where did that concept of writing come from?
As usual, I was going for the gag. It's a take on the general adage that writing is 5% inspiration and 95% application.
John has a special place where he likes to write. Do you have a similar place where you do your writing? What's your writing routine like?
I do most of my writing at a small desk in a cramped office I share with my wife in our little one bedroom cabin. My desk faces the wall rather than the scenic mountain view through the window. I have enough distractions without being tempted to go play outdoors.
While my goal is to write at least two or three hours each day, my track record on this is considerably less than stellar. On the days when I do achieve this goal, even if it involves a failed revision that leads to a dead end and starting over, I feel fulfilled and entirely at peace with myself. On the too frequent days when I give in to other distractions, I have learned not to berate myself too much, but rather to remind myself of those precious and worthwhile hours when I do manage to write and to keep this goal ever in front of me.
Being able to write our families (or maybe even other people) out of existence and write in our ideal families is something that readers will be able to easily relate to. How did you come up with the idea to write about a teen who does just that?
My chief inspiration came from James Thurber and the wacky family stories told in his book, My Life and Hard Times. I was writing a lot of children's and young adult stories at the time (1990) when I first started my novel, and it just felt natural to see things through a teen's eyes. So I began writing a child's version of Thurber's book. In place of Thurber's more sophisticated humor, however, I would go more for a comic, slapstick kind that would focus on weird characters and situations. And I tried to imagine how this teen might think about his crazy family and where his thoughts might take him.
Why did you decide not to give an exact explanation of the magic behind how John was able to write his family out of existence?
When I first started this novel, I was thinking in terms of a fairy tale. The original unwieldy title was How to Get rid of Your Family, and in this version I had my main character seeking the aid of a family fairy to remake his family into one that he could live with. So it was natural that there would be some magic involved. Later, as the novel progressed, I began thinking more in terms of a fable with an implied moral. In the world of fables, as in fair tales, one does not have to worry about whether animals can really talk or whether, for example, one can simply write one's family out of existence. Again, I have Thurber to blame,with his Fables for Our Time and other fable collections. In more general terms, however, there is a certain magic about the writing process itself. There is such power in putting your words down on paper and having them come alive in a reader's imagination. As John says, "...words are powerful stuff. You think that just because you arrange and compose them on the page you still have control over them. But once you set them into motion, words have a life all their own. No telling where they might go to. Sometimes they'll take you to places strange and wonderful. And sometimes they'll take you to places all too real and terrifying."
(Note: The above passage was my favorite passage in the novel. There is so much truth to everything said in that passage, and I fell in love with it as soon as I read it.)
You're writing a sequel to The Family That Wasn't. Can you give us any hints about what we can look forward to with the sequel? Will there be more books in the series, or will it only be a two-book series?
In writing about John, I discovered one of the reasons why he so hated his "Uncle" Vinnie -- the fact that Vinnie had sexually abused him. While I did not choose to make this a major part of the story, I felt that I just couldn't leave John or my readers hanging there with this unresolved issue. Though I have never experienced such abuse, I still tried to imagine some of what John must have felt, including the rage, powerlessness, and self-hatred of abuse victims. And I wondered how he might try to deal with it. The result is a much longer novel, My Vacation in Hell, in which John embarks on yet another journey of the imagination through the hell he has created within himself. I am currently on the third draft and hope to finish it this year. At this time, I do not anticipate a series, but then . . . who knows?
Thank you, Gene, for a wonderful interview!
Read my review
The Family That Wasn't is a humorous fable of how our families live inside us. It will appeal to both teen and adult readers. The 13-year-old narrator, John Boggle (whose real name is John Bazukas-O'Reilly-Geronimo-Giovanni-Li Choy-Echeverria), finds his family so impossibly crazy that he cannot stand living with them another moment. He invents a new perfect family so convincing that he suddenly finds himself living inside this imaginary world.
But John finds that he too has changed. He sees his too perfect image in the mirror and begins to wonder if it is all some kind of mistake. Only trouble is, now he can't remember who he is. He only knows that he must leave this family at once. His sole clue is the name, John Boggle.
To find his true family he embarks on a cross country quest. Along the way he encounters other characters who have also lost touch with their families. Together they must find a way to reconstruct the connections to
bring back the family that once was.
In The Family That Wasn't, John Bartlett's mom tells him that writing is 5 percent inspiration and 95 percent relaxation. Where did that concept of writing come from?
As usual, I was going for the gag. It's a take on the general adage that writing is 5% inspiration and 95% application.
John has a special place where he likes to write. Do you have a similar place where you do your writing? What's your writing routine like?
I do most of my writing at a small desk in a cramped office I share with my wife in our little one bedroom cabin. My desk faces the wall rather than the scenic mountain view through the window. I have enough distractions without being tempted to go play outdoors.
While my goal is to write at least two or three hours each day, my track record on this is considerably less than stellar. On the days when I do achieve this goal, even if it involves a failed revision that leads to a dead end and starting over, I feel fulfilled and entirely at peace with myself. On the too frequent days when I give in to other distractions, I have learned not to berate myself too much, but rather to remind myself of those precious and worthwhile hours when I do manage to write and to keep this goal ever in front of me.
Being able to write our families (or maybe even other people) out of existence and write in our ideal families is something that readers will be able to easily relate to. How did you come up with the idea to write about a teen who does just that?
My chief inspiration came from James Thurber and the wacky family stories told in his book, My Life and Hard Times. I was writing a lot of children's and young adult stories at the time (1990) when I first started my novel, and it just felt natural to see things through a teen's eyes. So I began writing a child's version of Thurber's book. In place of Thurber's more sophisticated humor, however, I would go more for a comic, slapstick kind that would focus on weird characters and situations. And I tried to imagine how this teen might think about his crazy family and where his thoughts might take him.
Why did you decide not to give an exact explanation of the magic behind how John was able to write his family out of existence?
When I first started this novel, I was thinking in terms of a fairy tale. The original unwieldy title was How to Get rid of Your Family, and in this version I had my main character seeking the aid of a family fairy to remake his family into one that he could live with. So it was natural that there would be some magic involved. Later, as the novel progressed, I began thinking more in terms of a fable with an implied moral. In the world of fables, as in fair tales, one does not have to worry about whether animals can really talk or whether, for example, one can simply write one's family out of existence. Again, I have Thurber to blame,with his Fables for Our Time and other fable collections. In more general terms, however, there is a certain magic about the writing process itself. There is such power in putting your words down on paper and having them come alive in a reader's imagination. As John says, "...words are powerful stuff. You think that just because you arrange and compose them on the page you still have control over them. But once you set them into motion, words have a life all their own. No telling where they might go to. Sometimes they'll take you to places strange and wonderful. And sometimes they'll take you to places all too real and terrifying."
(Note: The above passage was my favorite passage in the novel. There is so much truth to everything said in that passage, and I fell in love with it as soon as I read it.)
You're writing a sequel to The Family That Wasn't. Can you give us any hints about what we can look forward to with the sequel? Will there be more books in the series, or will it only be a two-book series?
In writing about John, I discovered one of the reasons why he so hated his "Uncle" Vinnie -- the fact that Vinnie had sexually abused him. While I did not choose to make this a major part of the story, I felt that I just couldn't leave John or my readers hanging there with this unresolved issue. Though I have never experienced such abuse, I still tried to imagine some of what John must have felt, including the rage, powerlessness, and self-hatred of abuse victims. And I wondered how he might try to deal with it. The result is a much longer novel, My Vacation in Hell, in which John embarks on yet another journey of the imagination through the hell he has created within himself. I am currently on the third draft and hope to finish it this year. At this time, I do not anticipate a series, but then . . . who knows?
Thank you, Gene, for a wonderful interview!
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