Catching Up

I have read a few books since I last posted. I want to share with you three of them today.

• Athena's Choice by Adam Boomstrom
• Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
• Leave the World Behind by Rumaan, Alam

Although when looking at the titles and reading the blurbs one would think these books have nothing in common, especially when you consider the Tomorrow Will Be Better (by the same author as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) was first published in 1948. This new edition was released in early May by Harper Perennial Modern Classics. However, after thinking about the three titles to review here, I realized they all are truly coming of age books but in very different manners and circumstances.

Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a young woman growing up in Brooklyn in the 1920s. We learn of her early years in a small cramped apartment the only child of a hard-working yet stoic father and a mother, his complete opposite. Margy has found new friendships in a recently acquired job she enjoys and yearns for a husband and children of her own. The book begins with a young woman striving for independence and ends with a woman who has found everything she was ever wanted, but realizes it is not what she anticipated. 

I hate to admit it, but I have never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943), but the descriptions I have read seem very similar to Margy's story. I truly enjoyed seeing the development of Margy from a young child playing with a clothespin in the corner of the cramped kitchen, to the good wife she desperately wants to be to her Franky. The setting, New York - specifically the Williamsburg and Bushwich sections of Brooklyn, in the 1920s, provides the reader historical context for which most readers will not have an understanding of the time frame or the area.

Athena's Choice by Adam Boostrom is a stark contrast. This dystopian novel takes place in 2099. All men have been eradicated from society by a virus known as the Y-Factor. The women in the current civilization are divided. One group strongly opposes the return of men because they believe the world to be more civilized without them, and the other (the Lonely Hearts) who are want to have men returned. The book centers around the stolen Lazarus Genome which will save the male species. Athena Vosh, a 19-year old living in the Algonquin Forest Zone of the North American Union, has been summoned to Chicago by the Public Safety Headquarters to assist in the investigation.

I was so intrigued by the manner in which Boostrom shared the history of the Union through Wikipedia entries. It was a very clever way to convey the timeline of the story. I also loved the many innovations he developed in the book. Those who love fashion will want to have the ability to choose the clothing for the next day and it will be designed specifically for them and ready to wear the next day. It can also be recycled so new outfits can be worn every day. Foodies will enjoy the food printer allowing you to select and print the food you want to eat. Although in order to have higher in foods, you must purchase a more expensive model.

I am usually not a fan of dystopian novels, but this one caught my attention and I simply could not wait to find out the ending. The coming of age part of this novel is about Athena and the choices she makes throughout the book which shows her growth from a free-spirited teenager to a young woman who must put her life on the line.

In a previous review of this book, I wrote that this is one of those books that makes you want to go "hmmmm". I am definitely stretching the theme of coming of age for this book, but I think once you finish reading, you will also see the growth, actually of more than one character. This book moves along very innocently and then it takes a very sharp turn and you are on a downhill rollercoaster you might not find stopping any time soon. I felt like I was watching (or listening to) an M. Night Shymalan movie. The characters are well developed and the plot very intriguing. Clay, Amanda, and their children experience the same isolation of those who are facing quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet they are far outside of the city with no contact with the outside world.

All three of these books are VERY different but seem to have an underlying sense of a coming of age story. Again, like I said before, I might be stretching it a little, but I can see a small connection.

I highly recommend all three of these titles. They might not be for all readers, but for those who are open to different times, places, and incidents, I think you will enjoy them just as much. 

*To comply with guidelines set forth by the Federal Trade Commission, HarperCollins Publishing provided me with a complimentary copy of the Tomorrow Will Be Better ebook. Thinker Books provided me with a complimentary copy of the ebook and the audiobook of Athena's Choice. Harper Audio provided me complimentary copies of the audiobooks of Tomorrow Will  Be Better and Leave the World Behind. These reviews are my opinion and are in no way influenced by the authors or publishers.

Boxed In by Bird Box

Close your eyes and think about putting on a blindfold and maneuvering your way through life, especially when you are outside. This is what has become the norm for the people who remain in Josh Malerman's debut novel Bird Box.

Bird Box
by Josh Malerman

I have to say I was intrigued when a friend posted a comment about this book on Goodreads (and subsequently Facebook). Evidently high school students are flocking (pardon the pun) to this book. My guess is because it is darker than other books they have read in this same genre - Dystopia. When I was in high school I loved reading horror novels. I started reading Stephen King when I was a freshman. I would never say Josh Malerman, with his first novel, is the new Stephen King, but to young people this might just fit the bill for them. Me, not so much.

According to the Reader's Bill of Rights, I have "The right to not finish" any book I pick up to read. Well, let it be known I am no quitter (well sometimes I am, simply because I can't stand the direction in which a book is going)! However, I did finish the book. It took me A LOT longer than most books to read because I just couldn't get into the story as much as I desperately wanted. 

The Readers Bill of Rights

To start with, the book is NOT considered a YA (young adult) book. It is an adult book. An adult book written, I believe, based on the popularity of current YA books which have recently been made into movies, for instance the Hunger Games trilogy, the Divergent series, and even The Testing series which was acquired by Paramount Pictures a year ago, but has not been made into a movie as of yet. Ruth Graham's article from The Slate Book Review says "Adults should be embarrassed to read young adult books." Since I am a fence rider, I can see both sides to this argument. When an author writes a book, I believe they have a target audience in mind. Is the book solely for that target audience? No. Should it be? Of course not! Will others want to read the book? Hopefully. Isn't that the point of writing? To have your work be read? I ride the fence here because as Graham says, "There's a special reward in that feeling of stretching yourself beyond the YA mark, akin to the excitement of graduating out of the kiddie pool and the rest of the padded trappings of childhood: It's the thrill of growing up." Yes, I agree with this statement. There is a completely new realization when, as an adult you begin to read all written works in a very different manner than you did as a teen, or young adult. I can see that in myself as a fortysomething. My book choices have changed somewhat over the years. Yes, I still love the mysteries and thrillers, but I have also grown to love biographies, historical fiction, and fantasy. My spectrum has broaden a great deal in my time as a reader. Do I think adults should be embarrassed to read YA novels? HELL NO! My goal as a reader and an advocate of reading is to pair a person with the right book for them. If that book is a YA book, then hand them that book to read. If that book is a picture book ~ give it to them! Reading is reading, no matter what the material may be, or what it may be labeled. Okay, I will now step down from my soapbox and get on with my review of Bird Box. Thank you for my time to rant a little.

Like I said before, I did finish the book. Did I enjoy it? Yes and no (I warned you, I am a fence rider!!).

I was intrigued by the concept of the book. When mysterious "creatures" appear around the world, those who see them turn violent toward others and themselves. Thus the words below the title, "Don't open your eyes". Malorie, the main character sets out with her two young children on an intense river adventure which is even more horrifying when you remember they are blindfolded. With an increased sense of hearing because of the intense training Malorie has put the children through in four years time, the children must help her navigate blindly through the river and all it holds between the only home they have ever known and the safety and security Malorie hopes to find at the end of the twenty mile journey. Mingling the past and present, Malerman provides Malorie's background story (what happened to her family, how she arrived at the home she has lived in for five years, and how she knows to travel on the river to safety) and the incredible

journey she and her children must make in order to get to a safer location.

As I write this review I am beginning to see how this book could capture the imagination of young adults. The fear of the unknown. The darkness, the horror of knowing something is there, but if you open your eyes to see it you will not survive. Horror is what you make of it. What you read into it and how you wrap yourself in the belief that it is real. Fully accepting the circumstances and putting yourself in the place of the character(s). We feel empathy for characters in books filled with sadness and sorrow. We feel the joy of characters who are empowered. We feel the suspense, tension, and angst Malorie must feel as as she sets forth on a journey which may only take her and her children to their untimely deaths.