A few weeks ago I finished the coming-of-age tale The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond. I have been sitting on this review ever since because I am very conflicted about the book. But I get ahead of myself.
Almond mines the 1950s and 1960s in post-war northern England for his setting and characters and hits the mother lode. The story of Dominic Hall begins on the bank of the polluted Tyne River near the ship yards where he and his parents live in a hovel. But that hovel is torn down and they move to a better housing situation on the estate, still near the shipyards where his father works. Dominic is a boy torn in half. Half of him is drawn to the lovely and cultivated Holly, who lives just across the street from him and has been his friend since infancy. The other half is drawn to the ne'r-do-well town bully, Vincent. With Vincent Dominic explores his darker self and often wonders if all boys go through this stage of destructive activities. In a lot of ways his parents represent the two halves of his life as well. His mother is kind and gentle and encourages Dominic to do well in school and praises his writing. His father encourages Dominic to explore his boyhood by giving him a knife and allowing him to handle a gun, but, like Vincent, the father is often unpredictable and has a very angry side. Finally an event tips the scales in one direction and Dominic comes into his own identity, Not Holly or Vincent, somewhere he balances his life in between.
What do the book critics have to say?
Almond’s rough, beautiful world of books and ships, sinners and saints is a lyrical reminder of how, when we lose our equilibrium, art can redeem us.—The New York Times
The award-winning Almond poetically plumbs the depths of his 1950s and '60s childhood to explore themes of violence, war, God, creativity, beauty, death, art, the soul, our animal selves, whether we ever grow up or can really know each other…in short, life.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
The novel is Shakespearean in its breadth, earthiness, and emotional pitch... Is the overall mode comedic or tragic? There is much room for discussion in this difficult and brilliant novel. —Horn Book (starred review)
Teens will feel the events most viscerally—the brutishness, the love, the rejections. Adults, meanwhile, will bring their own world-weary self-knowledge, which cuts in its own way. Wild and reckless, heartbreaking and hopeful—this elegy on life is not to be missed.—Booklist (starred review)
Booklist touches on my conflict about the book. Is this book really a book for teens or is a book about teens for adults? I think it is the latter and so does the book's published in the UK. A review in The Guardian, London's big newspaper says, "The Tightrope Walkers is Almond's second book for adults; he has won...award[s] for his many children's novels... Even in writing for adults, though, Almond threads the fantastical and imaginative through the drabness of the mundane, alternating lyricism with rough realism."
So which is it? A young adult book with more starred reviews than just about any books published this year, or a fabulous adult book? As I was reading the book with my reviewer's cap on my head, I kept wondering to myself if teens would like the book, if they would recognize the literary merit behind the prose. I don't know the answer. I am quite conflicted. I guess my advice to you is to read the book and decide for yourself. Most adults enjoy reading young adult fiction occasionally and the reverse goes for teens. But I'm with the School Library Journal reviewer who cautions us to be aware, this is a "book for mature readers."
Weather: Sunny and hot. We are experiencing a temperature record, five days in a row over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It is lovely only because we have air conditioning. As the picture shows it is sunglasses-hat-lavender-berry weather.
Eating our way from the holiday weekend: We just finished a brunch of waffles and fruit compote. Yesterday we gorged ourselves on tri-tip beef roast, fresh boiled beets, corn-on-the-cob, new potato salad, and peach-a-berry cobbler. Everything was so delicious.
Berries: I love living in the Puyallup River valley because we have ready access to lovely berries every summer. Yesterday we dropped by the local berry farm and purchased a half-flat of raspberries to make our last batch of freezer jam, and we picked up a mixed half-flat of boysenberries, blueberries, and kotata blackberries. The boysenberries are especially spectacular this year. If you look carefully at the photo you can tell the difference between the top right berries (boysenberries) and bottom right (blackberries.) Yum.
Lavender: We only have two clumps of lavender in our yard but we are contributing to bee health...our clumps are alive with bees. The flowers are so fragrant right now. The small bunch you see in the photo has been hung the upside-down to facilitate drying.
Recipe of the week: Cous cous (or quinoa) salad. I messed around with some ingredients from the yard and the fridge and came up with this delicious summer salad. Check out the recipe.
Grace: reflecting on the eulogy President Obama gave at Pastor Pinckney's funeral when he delivered these words
"According to the Christian tradition grace is not earned, grace in not merited, it not something we deserve, rather grace is the free, and benevolent favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. Grace. As a nation out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for He has allowed us to see where we have been blind. He has given us the chance where we have been lost to find our best selves. We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor, complacency, and shortsightedness, and fear of each other but we got it all the same. He's given it to us anyway. He's once more given us grace. But it is up to us to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift."
Confederate flag: during the eulogy President Obama spoke about the perils of people continuing to revere the confederate flag. It think that John Fuselsang helps us recognize the problem and has a perfect come-back to folks who think they can't let that flag go. Take a look ( 2 minutes)
Books read this week:
Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar...audiobook. About the 33 Chilean miners who survived for 69 days under ground before being rescued.
March, Part Two by John Lewis...a graphic novel about the extraordinary life of this public servant and his involvement in the the Civil Rights Movement. (Book 2 of 3.)
Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Kaite Coyle...another audiobook. What if the religious folks are right and there is a rapture?
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon...an advanced reader copy of this YA book about disease and first love.
Currently reading, all YA:
Dime by ER Frank...teen prostitution, a difficult book to read.
I am Princess X by Cherie Priest...half comic, have prose; a mystery.
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman...audiobook; an inside the mind view of mental illness
Stay cool (or for my readers in the Southern Hemisphere, stay warm)!
Oddly the song coming from the car as it drove past was I Wish I Were in Dixie...which is not the right song for the occasion.
There were quite a few dogs on the parade route.
We waved flags as the neighborhood kids went by
Some of the bikes stayed with the parade, but, as happens every year, there were a few that races through the course way ahead of others.
And then there was one straggler
Patriotic rose
This photo, taken by our neighbor a few years ago, shows our flag and house. He sat patiently waiting for someone in the neighborhood to send up some fireworks and was rewarded for his patience with this shot. (Photo by Keith Stapley.)
This is a book blog but I just have to share this new salad with my readers. This is a salad that works well with whatever extra ingredients you have in the fridge or garden. I didn't measure a thing, so I am guessing on the amounts of each ingredient.
Cous Cous ( or quinoa) Summer Salad
(I've made it with each grain at different times, but I am just going to explain how to make it with Cous Cous here.)
1/2 cup dry cous cous
1/2 cup boiling water
1 to 2 T olive oil (I used good quality EVOO)
8 mint leaves, cut into small pieces
1 to 2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1/4-to 1/2 tsp salt
Juice of one small lemon
1/2 avocado chopped into bite sized pieces,
1/4 to 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 to 1/2 cup green pepper cut into bite sized pieces OR cucumber pieces
5-8 grape or cherry tomatoes cut in half or quarters
Your favorite vinegar to taste. I used Spicy Honey Serrano (you can order from Marisolio Tasting Bar)
Serves two, full meal portions
Increase ingredients and amount of cous cous if you want to serve more. Cous cous to water proportion is 1 to 1. I used left over quinoa another time I made the salad. I used about 1 1/2 cups of the already cooked quinoa. I added a whole cucumber and no avocado or green peppers. Adjust salt.
My daughter doesn't like vinegar or tomatoes so I leave these off the salad and add them at the table.
Back in May I challenged my readers to join me in a game of book bingo. No one took me up on the offer and frankly, I forgot all about it until today when I checked back and discovered I had indeed scored a book bingo.
I've read all these books some time in 2015:
Written by an author I've met:Fairest by Marissa Meyer (Met again in early May)
Set in Africa: Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein (Ethiopia)
You Think You'll Dislike: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (What can I say? I was wrong. I really liked the book.)
Book Beginningson Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted atFreda's Voice. Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't
select their favorite, coolest, or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. This is the book I'm reading right now:
Book Title: Everything, Everything (ARC) by Nicola Yoon Book Beginnings:
I've read many more books than you. It doesn't matter how many you've read. I've read more. Believe me. I've had the time.
Friday 56: (actually from page 155)
He sends pictures of his locker (#23), his class schedule, the library, and the librarian who looks exactly as I imagine a high school librarian would, which is to say bookish and wonderful.
Comments: Maddy had a condition where she is allergic to just about everything so she has to live her life in a bubble of protection, vicariously living through others and through books. It is a really cute story. I had to break the rules and pull the quote from page 155 because I am a high school librarian and I like thinking that some students think I look bookish and wonderful! :)
In the two years since her father died, sixteen-year-old Eva has found
comfort in reading romance novels—118 of them, to be exact—to dull the pain of
her loss that’s still so present. Her romantic fantasies become a reality when
she meets Will, who seems to truly understand Eva’s grief. Unfortunately, after
Eva falls head-over-heels for him, he picks up and moves to California without
any warning. Not wanting to lose the only person who has been able to pull her
out of sadness—and, perhaps, her shot at real love—Eva and her best friend,
Annie, concoct a plan to travel to the west coast to see Will again. As they
road trip across America, Eva and Annie confront the complex truth about love.---Goodreads
When I was a young teenager, like our heroine Eva, I was obsessed with romance novels. They were very tame by today's standards. For example I recall the description of a passionate kiss as, "the man and woman kissed hard." These books provided a little titillation to my imagination and used to devour them. When I read the above description of Kissing in America by Margo Rabb I immediately thought of my younger self and wanted to read this book. Here, in Eva, is a character I think I'll relate to.
Eva and her friend Annie are not the coolest kids in school but both of them dream of true love and spend a lot of time watching other students around the school. Both are good students, Eva in English and Annie in Math and Science. Eva volunteers as a tutor. This is where she meets Will and they discover that they have something in common---they have both had a close family member die. With this tenuous connection they build a friendship which looks like it is getting ready to turn into something deeper when Will abruptly moves to California. With thoughts of true love in her head, Eva drags Annie across the country on a zany road trip. She is sure once she gets to California her life will end happily, just like the endings in all her romance novels. As you can imagine, all does not go as planned.
I was pretty irritated by Eva by the end of the book...she was such a...teenager. Woops! I get it. I am not a teenager and as an adult I more easily play the role of the crabby mother than the loved-crazed girl. Actually, on reflection, I'm sure my teen readers will like this book and will relate with Eva and Annie and their half-baked schemes to find true love.
You will have to read the story to discover for yourself if Will and Eva eventually did "kiss hard."
Back in 2010 Jillian Tamaki started a webcomic named SuperMutant Magic Academy. The book by the same name is a collection of the best of those webcomics plus a 40 page story at the end to conclude the series. I didn't know about the webcomic until today when I was looking around on the Internet for information about the book and the author/illustrator Jillian Tamaki and I ran into her webpage about it. Here is what I found:
UNREQUITED LOVE, UNDERAGE DRINKING, AND TEEN ANGST RULE AT A HIGH SCHOOL FOR MUTANTS AND WITCHES
New York Times and New Yorker illustrator Jillian Tamaki is best known for co-creating the award-winning young adult graphic novels Skim and This One Summer–moody and atmospheric bestsellers. SuperMutant Magic Academy, which Jillian has been serializing online for the past four years, paints a teenage world filled with just as much ennui and uncertainty, but also with a sharp dose of humor and irreverence. Jillian deftly plays superhero and high school Hollywood tropes against what adolescence is really like: the SuperMutant Magic Academy is a prep-school for mutants and witches but their paranormal abilities take a back seat to everyday teen concerns.---SuperMutant Magic Academy Webpage
Every page is a scene in the day-of-the-life of students from the academy. Some of the scenes are funny, some realistic, some absurd, and while others are poignant. It took me a good fifty pages to "get it" and just settle in to reading the little blurbs and quit looking around for a cohesive story. Just try to imagine for a minute if you took twenty five teenagers (or so) and isolated moments in time and then placed them all together in some format what a mishmash of stories you would uncover. No doubt there would be some recurring themes, but there would also be these random, out-there comments that don't seem to fit. That is what it is like reading SuperMutant Magic Academy.
This comic really made me laugh since I am always running around looking for material for my blog:
And this comic just seemed like a real conversation between two friends, concerned about the future but at the same time willing to put-off thinking about things in the present tense.
It took me ages to complete the book probably because I was going about it all wrong in the beginning by trying to find a cohesive story within, and then because I kept attempting to read it in bed and would fall asleep before much progress was made.
As I neared the end of the book I realized something that I missed in the beginning, too. The book is brilliant. Simply brilliant. Tamaki is spot-on with her observations of teenagers. Don't adults often view teens as if they are mutants from another planet? We stand around and judge them according to our life experiences while they are just trying to figure things out for themselves. Tamaki drew many of her characters as mutants, some with chicken heads, horns, or lizard faces. Do you remember ever feeling like that? Like you were from some other place and every thing about you stuck out or was different---your hair was too frizzy, or your zits too pronounced, or your feet too big? Tamaki understands this about teens by magnifying these characteristics and then making none of the characters aware of the differences in each other. Brilliant.
