CBR18 Book 55: "Trust Fall" by Lynn Painter

Page count: 416 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR18 Bingo: Season (this is set in the autumn/fall in New York, the word 'fall' is literally in the title and there is an actual literal 'season' - like in Regency England, for the rich prep school kids in the story)

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book will be released on the 29th of September

Julia Lowell can't believe how much her life changed, almost overnight. One day, she was in her small Nebraska town, heartbroken because her boyfriend Will had found someone else, the next, she's living in a gorgeous building on the Upper West Side in New York City, the beneficiary of a will no one in her family knew about. The reclusive old man her family had been delivering groceries to for years, who occasionally came to their holiday celebrations, left them not only his stunning building in New York, but a fortune of millions of dollars. However, to secure the inheritance, Julia, her twin brother Liam and her parents have to live in New York for at least six months, and Julia and Liam have to enrol in a fancy private high school for the same amount of time. 

Unfortunately, while Julia was never exactly popular back in Nebraska, and her tiny group of friends got even smaller once Will left her for another girl, at Gardenwood, most of the filthy rich student body are like starving hyenas, and Julia is a tasty and wounded gazelle. To make matters worse, her brother Liam seems to instantly settle in, charming everyone and making friends. Julia, on the other hand, has two girls in the entire school not treating her like a pariah, and is barely passing maths. Low test scores could get her expelled from the school, jeopardising one of the clauses in the will instantly. The kindly headmaster promises to discreetly arrange for a tutor to help her.

If Julia wasn't utterly desperate, she would never accept help from Damion Rutledge, the boy whose nose she nearly accidentally broke during their first meeting, before Julia and Liam had even started school. Damion is the great-nephew of the man who left the Lowells a fortune, and he and his parents refuse to believe that the old man wasn't scammed by a bunch of money-grubbing country bumpkins. Damion hates the idea that strangers are living in the house his great-uncle had one day promised him, and wants to figure out how exactly a family of complete strangers inherited the majority of Uncle Remington's wealth. Tutoring Julia in maths allows him to enter the house he so misses, while investigating what the Lowells might have done to scam his uncle. He also gets to tease Julia, which is quickly becoming his favourite thing in the world.

Because it needs to be kept secret that Damion is tutoring Julia in maths, none of the other students at Gardenwood knows exactly why he keeps spending so much time with her. Rumours are flying around school, and sadly, they make the mean girls all the more determined to put Julia in her place. Of course, the more time Damion actually spends with Julia and observing her family, the more he discovers that they are probably much more worthy recipients of his great-uncle's fortune than his already wealthy and status-obsessed parents. He also seems to be falling for Julia, the girl he had declared his enemy...

I have heard a lot of good things about several of Lynn Painter's YA books, and bought some of them in e-book sales these last few years. However, this ARC of her most recent book is the first one I've actually read. This makes me feel more optimistic with regard to the ones I have from her backlist.

Julia is introverted and clearly suffers from social anxiety, something it appears no one in her family really appreciates. They seem to think she exaggerates her discomfort. She is smart and well-read and while she considers herself stupid when it comes to maths, it's also clear from how quickly she improves from Damion's tutoring, that she just needed the subject explained to her in a different way. She is both excited and terrified about the idea of moving to New York, having consumed so much media focused on the city. 

She certainly does not deserve to be treated the way she is by almost everyone at her school, and she is a stronger person than me for putting up with so much harassment for so long. Considering how protective her brother comes off about her in the last quarter or so of this book, I am rather surprised that he doesn't notify anyone about all the crap his twin is subjected to. Yes, it's clearly a condition of them getting the inheritance that the twins attend the fancy school for six months, but there is nothing legal anywhere that says they're not allowed to tell the school's management about all the bullying that Julia is subjected to. That her brother just happily seems to settle in with his little circle of friends, without telling his parents, their legal adviser Bernard or the headmaster about Julia's problems, makes me think less of him. 

Damion is clearly a worthwhile person deep down, although it is hidden under a lot of privilege and snobbery. He initially wants to hate the Lowells because he believes they conned his Uncle Remington somehow, and he believes they have what he had expected would one day be his. Julia becomes the target of most of his focus, since he is asked by the headmaster if he can tutor her to improve her maths skills. While part of him wants her to suffer and fail, he is also fascinated by her, and helping her with her schoolwork will also allow him to spend time in the house he has so many happy memories of. He claims to not care what anyone thinks of him, and since he is rich, handsome and popular, the gossip about him and Julia doesn't negatively impact him in any way, while it makes her social standing even more precarious.

Thankfully, Damion, who comes off as a bit of a spoiled and entitled jerk to begin with, does a lot of growing as a person throughout the book. Julia doesn't really need to change, but Damion comes to see that Julia is right about him, and that while he refuses to join any of the judgemental cliques of the school because he's such "a rebel", he also doesn't condemn their words or behaviour. For the second half of the book, he improves considerably, and he proves himself a master of the grand gesture in the end. 

I think I'm far too Scandinavian and socialist for most of the rich people shenanigans throughout this book. Instead of prom, they have a series of social events, ending in an actual high society ball, complete with elaborate costumes. That sort of nonsense doesn't appeal to me, although as a reader of historical romance, who doesn't like it when the hero sees the heroine in a gorgeous gown and goes weak at the knees because of it? That part was nice. My favourite parts were when Julia goes back to Nebraska, away from the stress and mistreatment in New York, to a much nicer environment in her old hometown. Her cousin and friend seemed lovely and very supportive, and even her ex-boyfriend eventually realised that he had behaved badly towards her (without ever wanting her back - no one wants that). 

I was unsure of where this was going at first, mainly because Damion was a hard character to read, whose constant teasing of Julia seemed more like manipulation than flirting. In a good romance, the characters change because they see that it is necessary, not because they are asked to, or rescued by the love of a good love interest, and that is what happens here too. By the time he and Julie actually kiss, I was absolutely hooked. I'm glad I followed my whim and requested this ARC. It was a delightful autumnal read. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 90: "Sulwe" by Lupita Nyong'o and Vashti Harrison

Page count: 48 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Sulwe is the colour of midnight. Her mama is the colour of dawn, her father the colour of dusk and her little sister is the colour of high noon. Sulwe has darker skin than anyone in her family and pretty much everyone at school. While her little sister is given positive nicknames like 'ray' and 'sunshine', Sulwe is called 'darkie' and 'night'. This is obviously deeply hurtful to the little girl, who remains withdrawn and friendless. 

Sulwe tries a number of things to lighten her skin - she rubs herself with an eraser until her skin hurts, she steals her mother's makeup, she eats only light, pale-coloured foods (hoping to change herself from the inside out) and she prays earnestly to God to perform a miracle and lighten her skin so she'll look more like her sister. Sadly, the next day, Sulwe's skin is still as dark as before.

Sulwe's mother sees her daughter's sadness and reminds her that her name means 'star' and says: "Real beauty comes from your mind and heart, begin with how you see yourself, not how others see you." That night, as Sulwe is trying to sleep, a shooting star comes to her window and takes her on a magical journey. 

Sulwe learns the ancient story of sisters Day and Night, who lived together at the beginning of time. Night became sick of the people calling her unkind names and clearly preferring her sister Day to her, so she left and went away. After an extended period of only daylight, people came to understand just how much they had lost. Day searches for her sister and manages to persuade her to come back. The People rejoice because they now understand how much they need and cherish Night. "Some light can only be seen in the dark."

Sulwe wakes the next morning, happy and confident. She can always remember the lesson she learned from the fable by looking up at the starlit sky.

Lupita Nyong'o wrote this book, which is semi-autobiographical, to show young children that everyone is beautiful, just the way they are. In interviews, she's confessed that she too was called a number of unkind names and made to feel less pretty and beautiful than her lighter-skinned younger sister. Even more appallingly, it wasn't just children that made her feel ugly. At one point, a teacher asked her how she was ever going to find a husband, since the husband's skin is supposed to be darker than his wife, and Lupita's skin was already so very dark. The story of praying to God to have her skin lightened is based directly on her own childhood experiences.

Nyong'o wanted to shed a light on colorism, "the daughter of racism", as she refers to it. Now not only an award-winning actress, as well as a director and producer, but she can also add author to her accomplishments. She's also considered one of the most beautiful women in the world (rightly so), but it took her a long time to feel comfortable in her own skin. She wrote this book so young children can realise their own worth and beauty sooner. She's also mentioned that all the books and stories she read as a child featured light-skinned heroes and heroines with blond hair and blue eyes. "Being able to see yourself reflected in imaginative and aspirational material is so important because, I think as human beings, we see ourselves when we see ourselves in others." In Sulwe, little dark-skinned children can see themselves and hopefully realise they're not worth less because of the colour of their skin than anyone lighter-hued.

The entire book, which is short, moving, and very beautiful, is made even more breath-taking because of the illustrations throughout by Vashti Harrison. Especially the pages where Sulwe sees the story of Day and Night are gorgeous. 

Judging a book by its cover: Seriously, look at that stunning cover! Don't you just want to pick that little girl up and cuddle her and give her anything she wants in the entire world? Her luminous face, big eyes, and the way she's reaching up towards the reader. That the whole story is about how this gorgeous child feels ugly and worthless is heart-breaking. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 9: "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio

Page count: 410 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Official book description:
August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

This book has been on my TBR list for years and years, but this semester, we're teaching the book in 9th grade English, and I can't very well teach the kids a book I haven't read myself. So I spent a pleasant weekend in January reading it, and can see why it's gained such popularity and critical acclaim. It's a book that deals with a lot of important subjects, like living with a deformity, both personally or as a family member, bullying, friendship, loneliness and otherness. While August is the main character of the book and the first POV character we meet, there are also sections where other people who interact with him, his sister Via (Olivia), her boyfriend Justin, Auggie's friends Jack and Summer. We get to see not only how Auggie perceives the world and the way people treat him and interact with him, but also how it affects those around him.

This is a middle-grade book, so it's not like the characterisations of all the various people we meet are terribly deep, nuanced and subtle. While a lot of difficult topics are covered, I find I have to agree with some of the reviews I've seen, that point out that some of the ways in which the book approaches serious matters is a bit simplistic and not necessarily as nuanced as one might have wished. Because the POV characters are children, some of their thoughts and observations are a bit naive.

I watched the movie adaptation of this on a plane a while back now, can't remember exactly when, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Pullman family in the book is a lot more diverse than the movie's casting suggests. Julia Roberts is a good actress, but she doesn't exactly look Brazilian. One thing I really liked about the movie, which I was surprised to discover isn't in the book, is the focus on August's mother, who has put much of her life on hold to take care of her son in between his many surgeries, and homeschooling him until he's old enough to finally start going to a real school. In the movie, she starts working on her degree again and seems to re-visit her old career as a children's book illustrator, while in the book, it's unclear what she does with her time once August goes to school. Apart from worrying about her children (and Via mostly feels ignored by her), she doesn't seem to have much of a role, which is a bit sad.

I always try to read the source material before watching the TV or movie adaptation, but in this case, I watched the movie first. As far as I could tell, the movie (despite its somewhat white-washed casting) does a good job of adapting the book, and as I mentioned before, make some interesting changes that give at least Auggie's mother more of a presence and personality. Once the kids have actually managed to complete their reading, we'll probably watch the movie again. It will be interesting to see what I think about it then.

All in all, I would say this is a good book, and it works very well as something to use in school, as there are so many subjects that are relevant to the pupils' lives that we can discuss. I think it's a good book, if not necessarily great. 

Judging a book by its cover: I'm really not a huge fan of the rather abstract cover for this book. One of the reasons it took me so many years to actually read this book is that I thought the cover looked rather bland and non-descript. There was nothing there to excite me. I get that portraying Auggie's face was going to be almost impossible, but this is one of the rare instances where I almost prefer the movie tie-in cover, which has the little boy playing August wearing the big space helmet and covering up his tragically deformed face.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR10 Book 62: "Love and Other Alien Experiences" by Kerry Winfrey

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Page count: 269 pages
Rating: 4 stars

From Goodreads, as I'm once again reviewing books from over a month ago:

Mallory hasn't left the house in sixty-seven days--since the day her dad left. She attends her classes via webcam, rarely leaves her room (much to her brother's chagrin), and spends most of her time watching The X-Files or chatting with the always obnoxious BeamMeUp on New Mexico's premier alien message board.

But when she's shockingly nominated for homecoming queen, her life takes a surprising turn. She slowly begins to open up to the world outside. And maybe if she can get her popular jock neighbor Brad Kirkpatrick to be her homecoming date, her classmates will stop calling her a freak.

In this heartwarming and humorous debut, Mallory discovers first love and the true meaning of home--just by taking one small step outside her house.

Mallory has developed severe anxiety and agoraphobia after her father left without any explanation. She feels severely ill if she even goes to check the mail. As there's no way for her to get to school, she attends via web cam, and her mother has software on her computer to make sure she doesn't spend too much time on non-school related activities. While her mother and younger brother seem completely unconcerned (and actually rather relieved by her father's absence), Mallory can't get it out of her mind, and wants to find him, so she can discover why he just disappeared like that. Of course, she will need to conquer her anxiety enough to let her leave the house.

Unsurprisingly, since teenagers aren't known to be super empathetic or all that kind, she's pretty much seen as the town freak, and no one is more surprised to discover she's been nominated for homecoming queen than Mallory. While she would love to ignore the whole thing, there's a $500 cash prize for the winner, and Mallory needs that money to sign up for a bird watching trip she's sure her father will be on. So with the help of her best friend Jenni, her brother and the boy next door, Brad Kirkpatrick, she sets out to win the homecoming crown (even though she's still feels sick leaving the house).

Mallory spends most of her spare time watching The X-Files and discussing aliens on "We are Not Alone", an online message board. Recently, she seems to be hitting it off with another user, BeamMeUp, while in her real life, she keeps getting into embarrassing situations or arguments with Brad Kirkpatrick's half-brother, who's also right next door. I don't want to spoil things for anyone, but you haven't really experienced a lot of narratives if you're in any way surprised by the last minute reveal of BeamMeUp's real identity.

This was a sweet book, which as far as I can tell deals pretty realistically with severe anxiety disorder and agoraphobia and features characters that feel like realistic teenagers. The sibling relationship between Mallory and her brother (who came out as gay a year ago, and gets his first boyfriend over the course of the book) is lovely and her friendship with Jenni is also sweet, while there are some complications as the story progresses (stemming in large part from the fact that it would be super difficult if your best friend never actually showed up at school or left her house, and you were stuck defending her to everyone gossipping). The sibling relationship between Brad and his brother (while not dwelt on as much) also seems very supportive. Brad is one of those "most popular guys in school", who also turns out to be genuinely sweet guys, which is always a nice twist.

This is Kerry Winfrey's debut novel. Goodreads tells me she has a new book out this summer, and I am probably going to check that out too, because this was a quick and entertaining read.

Judging a book by its cover: I really don't have a lot to say about this cover. It's not hideous, it's not great. It gives the reader very little idea of what the book is about, but the colours are nice enough, I guess?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR9 Book 74: "This Song Will Save Your Life" by Leila Sales

Page count: 288 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Elise Dembowski has always been painfully uncool at school, and spends an entire summer pretty much studying up on how to become popular, spending much of her savings in the process on a new wardrobe, without any success at all. Things may in fact have gotten even worse for her. In a moment of despair, she cuts herself pretty deeply, and while bleeding, calls a school mate, who naturally freaks out and has paramedics sent to Elise's house. After this event, Elise's divorced parents are extremely protective and worried about her, while Elise is pretty much seen as an even bigger freak at school.

Her life starts changing for the better, when one night, wandering aimlessly near her mother's house, she comes across an underground dance club, where she is taken under the wing of some of the regulars, and seems to hit it off with 'Charm', the DJ (His full DJ name is DJ This Charming Man - I honestly can't be bothered to look up what his given name was, it is eventually revealed). The slightly older girls who come there to dance seem to accept her for exactly who she is and 'Charm' is all too happy showing her some of the technical aspects of DJ-ing. On the dance floor, she is able to let go and finds a lot of release. She manages to convince her musician father to get her some mixing equipment and starts teaching herself to DJ, with helpful assistance from 'Charm'. When she actually gets to try it out herself at the club, she discovers her true passion.

To be able to get to the underground club, she needs to spend more time with her mother and her new family, causing tension and friction with her dad, who's losing out on time with his daughter. She keeps having to lie to her parents, which isn't easy for her. To add to her complications, someone at her high school has started an online journal, pretending to be Elise, writing exaggerated posts about how lonely, angry and depressed she is, apparently counting down towards her eventual suicide. While Elise doesn't exactly have a lot of friends, she does have people who care about her, and this blog is making people concerned about her - especially in light of her cutting incident a few months back.

While my escape from the hardships of life has always been books, I know enough people who find solace in music that there was a lot in this book that rang true to me. While Elise is setting off on her project to become more popular, one of the things she simply cannot do is get into the modern disposable pop that most of her peers seem to like. To her, the music of the 1980s and 90s is the only thing that properly counts, music she's learned to love growing up with a musician father. Her extensive knowledge is one of the things that initially impresses 'Charm' and makes him think she might be interested in DJ-ing.

The first half of the book, with Elise's extreme loneliness and despair is quite hard to read. No amount of patient encouragement from her well-meaning parents about being yourself and staying strong helps when everyone your own age seems to think you're a pathetic loser. It's not like Elise is actually being bullied, she's simply entirely over-looked and ignored, which is an insidious type of bullying in itself. When all the people you see at school every day don't seem to care whether you're there or not, it can be easy to convince yourself that you don't matter and that it may be easier if you just died.

After her somewhat botched self-harm attempt, Elise is forced to get counselling and she does actually find a couple of sort of friends, although it takes her a long time to appreciate them, as they may be even more outcast and oddball than she is. With her newfound passion for DJ-ing and going to the dance club, she finds something to truly care about and no longer really cares what her high school peers think of her.

I was never popular in school, and really didn't want to be. I was always extremely lucky enough to be an outcast in a little group of equal-minded unpopular girls. We hung out in the school library and talked about fantasy novels, TV shows and were frankly shocked and somewhat uncomfortable if we ever got invited to parties (they were so loud and full of tedious people, and I tended to end up in a corner wishing I was at home reading). I know my husband was not as lucky, which is why he can still visibly shudder whenever he has to enter a school. For people who suffered bullying or being ignored in the way of Elise, this book could be hard to read. I think the topic is dealt with in a good way, though, and Elise reads like a very believable teenager, even when she makes some rather poor choices over the course of the book.

Judging a book by its cover: This cover is pretty decent for a young adult novel. There's a slightly geeky looking girl wearing big headphones, which seems appropriate based on Elise's DJ passion. Since the girl's in profile, you don't get that much of an impression of her, and can project your own ideas as to who she is. The red letters in the title, spelling out LOVE is also a nice touch.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR9 Book 57: "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness

Page count: 215 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Pretty much every night, Conor wakes up screaming from the same nightmare. So when the monster shows up in his garden, just after midnight, he's not as scared as you may have thought that he'd be. After all, he deals with some pretty unpleasant things on a daily basis. The bullies who pick on him in school. The fact that he seems to be falling out with his only friend. The teachers either ignoring him or being overly understanding and solicitous. His father, who seems to have forgotten about him and his mother after he moved to America and got a new family. His strict and demanding grandmother. The worry about his mother's deteriorating health and the worry about why the treatments are taking so long to work this time. It's going to take more than some monster to scare Conor.

The monster, which seems to be a walking version of the yew tree over by the church yard, that Conor can see from his window, and which his mother always comments on when gazing at the view. The monster claims it will tell him three stories, and once it's done, it wants something Conor is not ready or willing to give. It wants the truth.

Siobhan Dowd, who came up with the initial idea for this book, died from cancer before she had a chance to tell the story she wanted. Patrick Ness took her initial idea and developed it and turned it into something new, while still honouring Ms. Dowd's memory. This is a dark book, full of sadness, rage and grief. I don't think I'm really spoiling anything for anyone when I say that you probably shouldn't expect a happy ending to this tale, where a woman is slowly wasting away despite countless medical treatments, and her only son is desperately trying to deal with it the best way he knows how.

The stories that the big tree monster tells are allegories, possibly meant to help Conor deal with his anger and grief in some way. The monster claims to have lived a long life, helping many people when they needed it the most. None of its stories turn out entirely the way Conor expects, making him more angry and frustrated, because he wants predictability and solace from his stories, not difficult life lessons.

So many others have already confessed to crying when reading this book, and I was no different. Was it a good idea to read the final quarter of this book in a coffee shop, in full view of a lot of people? Possibly not. Did I do it anyway, and ugly-cry, to the likely embarrassment of many around me? You bet I did. I've heard very many good things about the recent movie adaptation, but I suspect I'm going to wait to see it until I'm in a more stable place emotionally, or it's likely to completely destroy me all over again.

Judging a book by its cover: My edition of this book is an illustrated paperback I was given for Christmas by my husband. The cover, and all the inside illustrations are done by Jim Kay in black and white and are wonderfully atmospheric and adds a lot to the tone and feel of the book. I really like the cover and the other illustrations and don't think the book would work as well without them.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR8 Book 70: "American Born Chinese" by Gene Luen Yang

Page count: 240 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This book alternates between three different story lines. The first, by far my favourite, is about the Monkey King, who teaches himself all the different branches of Kung Fu until he is not only invulnerable and immortal, but also able to fly, make himself huge, shrink down or shapeshift. He wants to become greater than Tze Yo Tzuh, the God of all the gods, and is instead buried under a mountain for five hundred years because he is too stubborn to change his mind.

The second story is about Jin Wang, who moves from San Fransisco to a neighbourhood with barely any Asians, and is ostracised and bullied as a result. He so desperately wants to fit in, even more so when he falls for one of the American girls in school. His only friend is a kid from Taiwan, Wei-Chen, a geeky boy who also struggles to fit in and has to wrestle with speaking correct English on top of everything else.

The third story seems to be a racist sit-com, complete with awful laugh track, about Danny, recently accepted onto the varsity basketball team. He's quite well-liked and popular at school, but then his cousin Chin-Kee, the worst Chinese stereotype character you can possibly imagine, comes to visit and proceeds to make him more and more embarrassed and freaked out.

The three separate and seemingly unconnected storylines eventually converge into one, and the theme of the whole book seems to be acceptance of one's true self, even in the face of adversity. All three characters dealt with feel alienated or different in their society and fight to change this through various means. I absolutely loved the Chinese mythology bits, and learning more about the Monkey King and his journey towards spiritual peace and acceptance. When I was a student, several of my friends would love to stay up late, watching episodes of Monkey (I only barely remember snippets), but as I kept reading, it became obvious that the mythology behind both was the same.

Having only ever read Boxers and Saints by this author (which was very good, but oh so depressing), I really wasn't sure what to expect. I get what he was trying to do with the Chin-Kee parts, but the super racist stereotype of a Chinese character still made me deeply uncomfortable and I therefore really didn't like those bits too much. Jin Wang was a bit of an idiot on occasion, but as someone who works with teenagers, I know all too well that that is a universal trait, no matter the background of the teen in question. All teenagers are idiots, and being a teenager pretty much always sucks. The hoops they will jump through and the ordeals they will put themselves through to fit in, it astounds me. I'm glad Jin Wang eventually started to see that he would be happier if he accepted his true self, even if he had to have a mythological visitation to do so.

I think I would have been happiest if this entire book was just an illustrated story of the Monkey King and continued with his Journey to the West, without any modern age teenagers or horrible stereotypes at all. The art is absolutely amazing throughout, so expressive.

Judging a book by its cover: The cover is almost all yellow, with line drawings of mountains, clouds and the mountain the Monkey King is buried under in the background. The Monkey King, naturally, looks quite annoyed. On the left-hand side, you see half of little Jin Wang's face in the foreground, clutching one of his beloved robot toys (when he is asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he responds "a Transformer"). Jin Wang and the robot are in colours, otherwise the whole thing is yellow. The back cover has the other half of Jin Wang and his robot and up in the left hand corner, there is a small TV screen with picture of Chin Kee grinning. I like the cover, which captures a lot of the graphic novel in three simple images.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR5 Book 50. "Sandor slash Ida" by Sara Kadefors

Page count: 284 pages
Rating: 4 stars

From the blurb, as it sums up the first impression of the characters quite well: She's pretty and popular. He's a nobody. She lives in the middle of Stockholm. He lives in a hole outside Gothenburg. She spends hours in cafes with her friends, he devotes all his time to dance. She's fed up with sex, he's a virgin. She gets called bimbo, he gets called fag. She hates her life. He hates his life. Her name is Ida. His is Sandor.

 Ida's father lives in the US, with his new wife and children. Ida is left, trying to cope as best she can, even though her mother suffers from deep depression (and likely alcoholism, as well). Ida has to be the grown up, making sure that the rent and bills are paid, that groceries are bought and dinner is made. She's very pretty, seemingly a ditzy party girl, who secretly loathes her Mean Girl lifestyle and super popular friends, who she can't really talk to about anything important. She knows that if she tells anyone about her mother's neglect, Social Services are likely to come and put her in a foster home.

Sandor is the middle child of Hungarian immigrants. His mother used to be a top class ballet dancer, and desperately wants her children to follow in her footsteps. Sandor's younger sister has already decided she never wants to dance again, but Sandor loves the ballet, and practises four times a week, enduring the jeers and taunts of most of his classmates. He's in love with Christina, one of the girls in his ballet class, but barely has the courage to say hello to her at practise, let alone confess his feelings. One day, when his mother's sky high expectations towards him feels especially heavy, and the jerks on the bus have been more offencive than usual, he goes online and pours out his frustration in a chat forum. Only Ida, feeling very similarly, is the only one who sends him a serious response. Soon the two strike up a friendship by e-mail, which impacts on their lives in more ways they could have imagined at first.

The story of Sandor and Ida is told in changing perspectives all through the book, we get to see both the teenagers' lives, from their own point of view. A fair bit of the first half is told through the e-mails Sandor and Ida send each other, and show the ways in which they pretend to be someone they're not to the stranger they've met on the internet. Neither is able to keep up the pretence for very long, however. Though from very different backgrounds, they are both teenagers, struggling with doubts, insecurities, hopes and dreams. The book is just as much about the two protagonists discovering who they are, and want to become in the future, as finding friendship, and later possibly something more. It's not a book I'd heard of before, but one of the more enjoyable ones I've read this semester.