JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. The first is Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons—only to later doubt her gifts. The second is Virgil Stanhope, a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.

Holy Jesus. I finished reading this book about ten minutes ago and am furiously writing this review in an attempt to come to terms with it. It’s amazing, evocative, emotional, and just pure genius.

I’ll be honest. Five years ago, I boycotted Jodi Picoult, because I’d read about ten of her books and to me, they all seemed the same. The same, overdramatic storylines with differing points of view and overly emotional, climactic endings. Plus, I’d started studying literature at university and my time was taken up reading Raymond Carver and Ernest Hemingway.

But, when everyone on Twitter can’t stop bragging about how amazing her latest book is, it’s time to renege on your boycott and pick up Leaving Time. And I’m so glad I did. The twist at the end of the book is so left field but amazing, and you feel so stupid that you didn’t see it. And the twist was so subtly revealed, I was like:

It puts the whole book into perspective, and it highlights that Jodi Picoult is such an amazingly talented writer.

Jodi Picoult, like all of her other works, has undergone a lengthy amount of research for this book. Elephants are a major metaphor in the piece, and the setting is an elephant sanctuary. Each tangent about an elephant is relevant to the story and to the character, and Jodi Picoult uses this to develop characterisation and societal relations in the piece.

I do think that Jenna’s ‘age’ is a little misguided. At the start of the novel, she seems a little immature (which makes sense, because she’s 13), but then later in the novel, she seemed to have matured too fast. She comes across as someone who is in their late teens, and although the events in the book would cause her to grow up and mature quite quickly, the change seems a little distracting.

I cannot recommend this book to you enough. It’s amazing, and prepare yourself for that twist at the end. I’m in a comatose state at the moment because I can’t deal with the ending.

My Score: 9/10
Buy HERE

Awful Auntie by David Walliams

A page-turning, rollicking romp of a read, sparkling with Walliams’ most eccentric characters yet and full of the humour and heart that all his readers love, Awful Auntie is simply unmissable!

From larger than life, tiddlywinks obsessed Awful Aunt Alberta to her pet owl, Wagner – this is an adventure with a difference. Aunt Alberta is on a mission to cheat the young Lady Stella Saxby out of her inheritance – Saxby Hall. But with mischievous and irrepressible Soot, the cockney ghost of a chimney sweep, alongside her Stella is determined to fight back… And sometimes a special friend, however different, is all you need to win through.

Sometimes it’s hard to read a novel that’s aimed at an audience much younger than you. I’m pretty much triple the age of someone who would read Awful Auntie (that math only really works if the reader is, like, 8). And although I read a lot of Roald Dahl growing up, it was a little hard to accept that storyline. For example, when the ghost appeared in the story, I was like:

And when the BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS appeared in every second line of the story, I was like:

But perhaps I’m too old to understand the appeal.

David Walliams does know how to enclose the setting so the characters are confined and secluded – and he manages to do it for 300 pages. And the Auntie is an interesting and unique character. There’s dark issues that are briefly explored in the text (death, murder, poison etc), which is more than I can say for most children’s novels.

Stella Saxby doesn’t seem to change at all in the story. And come to think of it, none of the characters do (except perhaps Wagner). In any novel, the characters have to evolve or adapt, even in children’s novels. It’s fine for Stella to stay the same, but someone else needs to change (excluding Wagner, because he’s an animal and he doesn’t count). I was half expecting the ‘Awful Auntie’ to momentarily change her ways, but David Walliams surprised me there (sorry for the spoiler).

My Score: 7/10
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Wild Things by Brigid Delaney

St Anton’s university college is a cradle for privileged young men and women. With its Elysian lush green lawns and buildings of golden sandstone, it seems like a place where nothing bad could ever happen. One weekend, members of the college cricket team go to the mountains for a wild weekend away. Things spiral rapidly out of control, and a young Malaysian student they dragged along with them as part of a cruel prank goes missing. When the boy is found by some bushwalkers on a rock ledge, barely clinging to life, most people think it’s because of a fall, but the St Anton’s men know better. The stress of keeping their collective secret however becomes harder and harder to bear, and even the heavy wrought-iron fences of the college can’t keep out reality… Dark, dangerous, bloody and visceral, this is a story of power, prestige and the pack mentality that forms the underbelly of campus life at a prestigious university. With overtones of The Secret History meets Brett Easton Ellis, this is the debut of a thrilling new Australian writer.

There’s something about a campus novel that just sucks me right in (I should note that I don’t actually know if ‘campus novel’ is the right name for a novel set within a university, but I’m just going to roll with it). I love that the setting of campus novels are reduced and confined. The students all live on university grounds and the story rarely strays from that. It makes the book seem intimate. If you, like me, have a slight obsession with campus novels, you should really pick up The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Actually, if you love campus novels, that should’ve been the first novel you picked up!

Wild Things builds suspense and tension really well. When the cricket team go to the mountains for a weekend away, it doesn’t go well, and the way that each of these characters try and deal with that really shows their character. One character turns to religion, and another turns to alcohol and girls. Brigid has done well to capture the personality of these boys and project them onto the page with authenticity and believability. This book is set in a university where problems are covered up and money can buy you out of those problems. Bullying occurs almost every second, and everyone turns a blind eye. Brigid’s writing is detailed and emotive, and allows the reader to really understand the characters – all of them.

Earlier in the year, I went to a public lecture where Brigid discussed her difficulties when writing this book, and it really helped me better understand the story. Originally, the young Malaysian student who goes missing was of a different nationality, but it didn’t come across as believable and Brigid had to change it. Brigid also talked about how she had to make all of the boys unique from each other because there were a lot of characters in all of the scenes and she needed them to stand out. And I think she did this really well.

Okay, so I must note a negative. Brigid keeps some things a secret for most of the novel. For the most part, we don’t know what happened to the missing student in the mountains. But throughout the novel, little details are revealed about what happened. I think Brigid revealed too much, because at the end of the novel, when it’s described what happened, it’s pretty much what we’ve already been told, so there’s nothing to shock the reader.

My Score: 8/10
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Looking for Alaska by John Green

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter’s whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the “Great Perhaps” (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

 

This novel fits so perfectly into the YA genre and has enough teen angst to attract and engage its young audience. Although Pudge is a boring character (sorry John Green fans), Alaska Young is a fascinating character – and I’m so so glad that she wasn’t the protagonist. I read in a forum somewhere that Alaska is the book version of Cara Delevingne (see below), and that really helped me picture her when reading Looking for Alaska (the title doesn’t really become significant until about three quarters of the way through). She’s crazy, impulsive, fun, and completely sucks Pudge into her world.

The novel is set up into two parts: the Before, and the After. I can’t tell you what separates these two events, because it’s a twist that I’m glad I wasn’t aware of prior to reading the novel. And the novel isn’t at all cheerful and does not leave you feeling happy and positive. The characters have quite a few issues troubling them, and they fail to overcome them.

John Green has managed to weave the three characters (Pudge, Chip, and Alaska) together in a character-driven story that allows for personal growth and philosophical-motivation. Chip is an outspoken prankster who values loyalty and honesty, but is quick to come to the aid of his friends. He is the character mostly seen in YA, and Alaska is the character who is quite unique and refreshing in this story. The three characters complement each other well, and John Green has stylistically created three very different characters who all seem to work together so well (except for the fact that Pudge is really boring – have I mentioned that already?). This was me whenever Pudge spent too long talking about himself:

This novel didn’t really become popular until The Fault in Our Stars did. Actually, John Green didn’t really become popular until that movie was made. But I feel his novels open up a new avenue for YA – the not-so-happy stories of high school and university. They showcase the other (heartbreaking) side to growing up.

My Score: 7/10
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Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift

When Lemuel Gulliver sets off from London on a sea voyage, little does he know the many incredible misadventures awaiting. Shipwrecked at sea, nearly drowned, he washes ashore upon an exotic island called Liliput–where the people are only 6″ tall. Next he visits a land of incredible giants called the Brobdingnagians. They are more than 60′ tall. He travels to Lapauta, a city that floats in the city, & to Glubbdubdrib, the Island of Sorcerers. his final voyage brings him into contact with the Yahoos–a brutish race of subhumans–& an intelligently virtuous race of horse, the Houyhnhnms.

I appreciate how Lemuel Gulliver’s perspective changed from part one to part four. During his first voyage, Gulliver describes the characters and their actions as they unfold before him. He speaks from a distant, purely curious, point of view and doesn’t consider himself to be a citizen of Lilliput. However, after his fourth voyage Gulliver learns to communicate with the Houyhnhnms and strangely begins to refer to himself as one of them.

Gulliver is seen as an individual governing the seas alone. The idea that Gulliver’s wife and children received him with great surprise and joy after his long adventures seems inconsistent with the values of modern society. By rarely mentioning Gulliver’s family, he is seen as an individual casually wandering the seas without any real purpose in life.

An interesting link is developed between the societies that Gulliver meets on his voyages and the human society that he resides in. Gulliver spent years living amongst two flawed communities and when he returns to England, subsequently finds flaws with his family and friends. Swift has written this to ironically illustrate to the reader that England’s political controversies are an indication that all of mankind are flawed. Hence, why Gulliver wishes to live like a horse.

“My wife and family received me with great surprise and joy, because they concluded me certainly dead; but I must freely confess the sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust, and contempt, and the more by reflecting on the near alliance I had to them. For although since my unfortunate exile from the Houyhnhnm country, I had compelled myself to tolerate the sight of Yahoos, and to converse with Don Pedro de Mendez, yet my memory and imagination were perpetually filled with the virtues and ideas of those exalted Houyhnhnms. And when I began to consider that by copulating with one of the Yahoo species I had become parent of more, it struck me with the utmost shame, confusion, and horror.”

This is probably my favourite section of the book, because Gulliver speaks about his family with bitterness and cynicism. His mental state seems to have significantly deteriorated and the reader can’t help but doubt his reliability as a narrator. Gulliver’s decision to buy horses upon returning to England shows this mental deterioration. This highlights a theme of alienation (particularly evident during his fourth voyage), which is emphasised by Gulliver’s return to England because he rejects human society and refers to Don Pedro de Mendez as a Yahoo.

 

My Score: 7/10
Buy HERE