T List #6

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

This book was ok. It is described as a book about two star crossed lovers, and I guess this is true. They don't die at the end, so it's not like another pair of star crossed lovers we all are familiar with.

Eleanor and Park meet on the school bus. Eleanor is the new girl, and no one wants her to sit in their seat, but in the end, Park lets her into his. Park thinks she is weird, to put it mildly. For weeks, they don't talk, but Park notices that she reads his comic books while he is reading them. They become friends, but soon become much more.

Eleanor's home life sucks. The reason she is a new student is because she is finally home. She has been staying with friends for a year because her asshole stepfather kicked her out. She has four younger siblings, and all five of them have to share a room. The one bathroom in the house doesn't have a door, so there is no privacy for anyone, and her stepfather is abusive to her mother. Everyone has to walk on eggshells.

Eleanor and Park start to become closer. She lies to be able to spend time with Park at his house. Eleanor is tormented at school. Horrible notes are left on Eleanor's school books. Once she figures out who is doing it, she knows she must leave. Park helps her, then all communication is cut off.

My main problem with this book is that Park and Eleanor barely know each other, but, Park especially, act like they are each other's one true love forever. Maybe they are, but they are only sixteen.

T list #5

Scowler by Daniel Kraus

I. Hated. This. Book.

I can do creepy, and I can do weird, but I can't do this book.

First of all, roughly fifty pages in, I had to read about an @$$h0le sewing his wife to a mattress. Very graphic, and it made me physically ill.

Then, the book jumps around from time to time. Typically, this is ok, but it would flashback then come to the present and chronicle every single hour. Aggravating.

At its core, this book is about a teenager named Ry. He lives on a farm with his little sister and his mother. His father is in jail, presumably, for sewing his wife to the mattress and nearly killing Ry. A meteorite his the prison where he is housed, and the dad, Marvin, escapes. He makes his way back to his family's farm just as they are preparing to move away.  Another meteorite hits the farm, and all Marvin can see are dollar signs. He thinks he can make money off of the meteorite, and live in obscurity.

A little about Ry... After his father tried to kill him, he went a little nutzo. He had three toys that were real to him. As in, they talked and had personalities. Ry had been living without them for some time, but with his crazy father coming back and threatening them (and killing at least two men), these toys come back to life. In fact, one attacks the father and tries to kill him.

Again, I hated this book. I forced myself to give it a chance, and it had no redeeming qualities, in my opinion.

T List #4

Reality Boy by A.S. King

I didn't really know what I was getting into when I selected this book this week.  Gerald, the protagonist, was on a reality show, but I assumed that it was something he wanted to do, like Real World. Instead, we find out that he was on a show, the first time, when he was five. It was one of those Supernanny type shows, where someone comes to make the children and parents behave like civilized members of society. Gerald had no choice in this, but his mother made sure that he knew he was the reason they were selected for the show.

They were selected because Gerald was acting out: punching holes in walls, and defecating in various places (in shoes, on the dining room table, etc). It takes a while, but we find out that Gerald acts out because his oldest sister, Tasha, is a psychopath who tries to smother and drown Gerald and his other sister, Lisi, on multiple occasions. Gerald's mother dotes on Tasha, even though Tasha is abusive to her too. Gerald is even put in special education classes because Tasha and his mother think he is "retarded," even though he isn't.

The book takes place right around the time Gerald turns seventeen. Lisi has moved to Scotland to get away from the crazy sister and their mother who does nothing about it. Gerald's father is unhappy because he feels stuck in a marriage with a crazy woman, and in a house with his overly promiscuous oldest daughter. There are some flashbacks where the reader can see what was going on at the time of the filming for the tv show.

Gerald has a job. He works the concession stand at a sports and entertainment arena. This is where he meets Hannah. He has had a crush on her from afar because he believes that no one will ever, can ever love him. Ultimately, Hannah shows him that he is wrong.

There is so much more going on in this book, I can't cover it all here without it becoming a book itself. I enjoyed this one a great deal.