Review: "Kids today" - "Due East", Valerie Sayers and others
Man, I'm so behind on my reviews... I already have a few other books I'm gonna be done with in a few days or something and I still owe you three reviews :S
"Due East" - Valerie Sayers
Rating: *** and a half of *****
See, it's the book to a movie with Kavan Smith. If I can't have the movie... at least I thought I should read the book. So whenmackenziesmomma was so nice as to give it to me when I went to the US over Easter, I seized my chance ;)
Well, then, what's it about? Basically... Mary Faith Rapple, a teenage girl that becomes pregnant in the early 80s (1981, to be precise, which is kind of creepy since I was born 1982) in a small South Carolina (did I remember that correctly? Mh...) town. As if that wasn't enough, she doesn't want to give the name of the father (no people, that would be telling) and has to fight against prejudice from her father, teachers, preachers... basically everyone.
Mh. What I really liked was Mary Faith's voice, even though it was much more mature than you would give a normal 14 or 15 year old credit for. She has a very shrewed view on the world, yet lets show through vulnerability and insecurity. It's amazing how she manages to get through everything - her father's attempts at finding out who the father is, Stephen Dugan's awkward (and frankly illegal) advances, her teachers' tries to keep her out of school - and still appear anything but an arrogant overachiever.
However... there were a lot of things that irked me, Mary Faith's father Jesse Rapple being the first and foremost. There's probably not one thing about that guy I liked. I really, really tried to see his character with the background of the many miscarriages he had to go through with his wife, his wife dying of cancer, him having to raise a daughter on his own... but I just failed to feel any sympathy or understanding. He's got to be one of the most clueless, naive and foolish guys I ever read about. Seriously... how stupid and dense can one guy be? And that man thought he could be the one telling Mary Faith how to make her decisions? Clearly this 15 year old girl was way smarter than him, even though she managed to get herself pregnant at the age of 14.
Another thing that was a bit creepy was how I didn't find everything that happened between Mary Faith and Stephen creepy, or at least not as creepy as I should have. For some reason that irked me (since I think one of the reasons for that was that often enough it was so easy to forget that Mary Faith is just a teenage school girl and Stephen a thirtysomething teacher), as well. I also felt the end was a bit... anti-climatic and indefinite and I like my endings at least with some kind of closure. There's also the matter of the name Mary Faith gives her child which is just all kinds "Why the hell did she do that?"
All in all, I have to say I expected more of it. Some good parts, but... not something really extraordinarily. And I still can't picture Kavan Smith as Stephen Dugan. I simply can't, even though I've seen screen caps of the movie. It just doesn't strike me as a Kavan-Smith-role (will not say "Mainly because Stephen Dugan doesn't die or at least carries a leg holster with a pretty nice Beretta", will not say "Mainly because Stephen Dugan doesn't die or at least carries a leg holster with a pretty nice Beretta", will not say "Mainly because Stephen Dugan doesn't die or at least carries a leg holster with a pretty nice Beretta"...) so I'm not even sure if I really want to watch that movie, should I ever get the chance to.
"The Viscount's Wicked Ways" - Anne Mallory
Rating: **** of *****
Second romance bookkoboldmaki sent me a while back and this time the note inside said something like "I really liked that one. The heroine reminds me a little bit of Hermione Granger." and that's always a good reason to read a book (because seriously, Hermione is definitely the best female protagonist from all the Harry Potter books).
Plot was nice as well: Patience Harrington, after a bumbled London Season, goes to visit Blackfield Castle with her team of historians and archeologists to catalogue the vast collection of the late castle owner for her father. Having had a few unpleasant encounters with the male part of the London ton Patience is happy to be away from London and be able to dedicate her time to scholarly endeavours. However, there's Thomas Ashe, Viscount Blackfield, making her life hard by being unfriendly, unhelpful... and much too attractive.
What I liked most was that Mallory made Patience a rather uncommon romance heroine, being much more interested in dusty old mummies than in social intercourse and the usual pleasures of a London Season. She also heads the team cataloguing the collection, making her a woman with an independent mind, sure of what she knows and what she can do... well, in her field of work, at least.koboldmaki is right, Patience does have traces of Hermione and that makes her likable. Unfortunately, I never could really warm up to Thomas. Sure, he was interesting, darkly handsome, had that kind of brooding side that I like to fall for (regarding fictional men, I mean)... but something kept me from getting really into his character.
The book, however, did have a plot that was interesting and twisted enough to keep me reading and that's always a big plus. It was fun to read and just the right book to read in bed before going to sleep so I'm gladkoboldmaki made the effort to send it to me :)
"Liverpool Street" - Anne C. Voorhoeve
Rating: ***** of *****
After "Einundzwanzigster Juli" and "Lilly unter den Linden" my third Voorhoeve book. Good that she hasn't written more up to now. Seriously, it's like a reflex. Once I see a Voorhoeve book I have to buy it. Or well, make someone else buy it, since it was my mom who did this time.
Anyway, again it's a book about WWII and the Third Reich. This time the protagonist, eleven year old Franziska Mangold, is sent away on a so called "Kindertransport" (children's transport) to Great Britain because she is of Jewish ancestry (although her actual religion is Protestant) and her parents want to save her from the increasing Nazi threat. She manages to catch the last transport to leave Germany unharmed and is sent to a British foster family near London. Or rather... the family and her manage to stumble over each other. Shortly after this, the Second World War is started by Germany and Franziska starts to evolve from German Ziska to British Frances.
As with "Einundzwanzigster Juli" and "Lilly unter den Linden" I was blown away by this book. Like always, Voorhoeve's careful and innovative way of writing about a highly difficult era in German history impressed me. Ziska/Frances is by far her most complicated protagonist (yet, since I hope Voorhoeve will continue writing) and Voorhoeve manages exceedingly well to write her from a girl of eleven to a young woman of eighteen. There are some recurring motives from her other books - complicated relationships between mothers and daughters and the realization that family isn't only about blood, for example - but it certainly doesn't make this book worse than her other two. In fact, it's as unique in plot and protagonists as are the other two and like always it was a delight and both a challenge to read.
"Due East" - Valerie Sayers
Rating: *** and a half of *****
See, it's the book to a movie with Kavan Smith. If I can't have the movie... at least I thought I should read the book. So whenmackenziesmomma was so nice as to give it to me when I went to the US over Easter, I seized my chance ;)
Well, then, what's it about? Basically... Mary Faith Rapple, a teenage girl that becomes pregnant in the early 80s (1981, to be precise, which is kind of creepy since I was born 1982) in a small South Carolina (did I remember that correctly? Mh...) town. As if that wasn't enough, she doesn't want to give the name of the father (no people, that would be telling) and has to fight against prejudice from her father, teachers, preachers... basically everyone.
Mh. What I really liked was Mary Faith's voice, even though it was much more mature than you would give a normal 14 or 15 year old credit for. She has a very shrewed view on the world, yet lets show through vulnerability and insecurity. It's amazing how she manages to get through everything - her father's attempts at finding out who the father is, Stephen Dugan's awkward (and frankly illegal) advances, her teachers' tries to keep her out of school - and still appear anything but an arrogant overachiever.
However... there were a lot of things that irked me, Mary Faith's father Jesse Rapple being the first and foremost. There's probably not one thing about that guy I liked. I really, really tried to see his character with the background of the many miscarriages he had to go through with his wife, his wife dying of cancer, him having to raise a daughter on his own... but I just failed to feel any sympathy or understanding. He's got to be one of the most clueless, naive and foolish guys I ever read about. Seriously... how stupid and dense can one guy be? And that man thought he could be the one telling Mary Faith how to make her decisions? Clearly this 15 year old girl was way smarter than him, even though she managed to get herself pregnant at the age of 14.
Another thing that was a bit creepy was how I didn't find everything that happened between Mary Faith and Stephen creepy, or at least not as creepy as I should have. For some reason that irked me (since I think one of the reasons for that was that often enough it was so easy to forget that Mary Faith is just a teenage school girl and Stephen a thirtysomething teacher), as well. I also felt the end was a bit... anti-climatic and indefinite and I like my endings at least with some kind of closure. There's also the matter of the name Mary Faith gives her child which is just all kinds "Why the hell did she do that?"
All in all, I have to say I expected more of it. Some good parts, but... not something really extraordinarily. And I still can't picture Kavan Smith as Stephen Dugan. I simply can't, even though I've seen screen caps of the movie. It just doesn't strike me as a Kavan-Smith-role (will not say "Mainly because Stephen Dugan doesn't die or at least carries a leg holster with a pretty nice Beretta", will not say "Mainly because Stephen Dugan doesn't die or at least carries a leg holster with a pretty nice Beretta", will not say "Mainly because Stephen Dugan doesn't die or at least carries a leg holster with a pretty nice Beretta"...) so I'm not even sure if I really want to watch that movie, should I ever get the chance to.
"The Viscount's Wicked Ways" - Anne Mallory
Rating: **** of *****
Second romance bookkoboldmaki sent me a while back and this time the note inside said something like "I really liked that one. The heroine reminds me a little bit of Hermione Granger." and that's always a good reason to read a book (because seriously, Hermione is definitely the best female protagonist from all the Harry Potter books).
Plot was nice as well: Patience Harrington, after a bumbled London Season, goes to visit Blackfield Castle with her team of historians and archeologists to catalogue the vast collection of the late castle owner for her father. Having had a few unpleasant encounters with the male part of the London ton Patience is happy to be away from London and be able to dedicate her time to scholarly endeavours. However, there's Thomas Ashe, Viscount Blackfield, making her life hard by being unfriendly, unhelpful... and much too attractive.
What I liked most was that Mallory made Patience a rather uncommon romance heroine, being much more interested in dusty old mummies than in social intercourse and the usual pleasures of a London Season. She also heads the team cataloguing the collection, making her a woman with an independent mind, sure of what she knows and what she can do... well, in her field of work, at least.koboldmaki is right, Patience does have traces of Hermione and that makes her likable. Unfortunately, I never could really warm up to Thomas. Sure, he was interesting, darkly handsome, had that kind of brooding side that I like to fall for (regarding fictional men, I mean)... but something kept me from getting really into his character.
The book, however, did have a plot that was interesting and twisted enough to keep me reading and that's always a big plus. It was fun to read and just the right book to read in bed before going to sleep so I'm gladkoboldmaki made the effort to send it to me :)
"Liverpool Street" - Anne C. Voorhoeve
Rating: ***** of *****
After "Einundzwanzigster Juli" and "Lilly unter den Linden" my third Voorhoeve book. Good that she hasn't written more up to now. Seriously, it's like a reflex. Once I see a Voorhoeve book I have to buy it. Or well, make someone else buy it, since it was my mom who did this time.
Anyway, again it's a book about WWII and the Third Reich. This time the protagonist, eleven year old Franziska Mangold, is sent away on a so called "Kindertransport" (children's transport) to Great Britain because she is of Jewish ancestry (although her actual religion is Protestant) and her parents want to save her from the increasing Nazi threat. She manages to catch the last transport to leave Germany unharmed and is sent to a British foster family near London. Or rather... the family and her manage to stumble over each other. Shortly after this, the Second World War is started by Germany and Franziska starts to evolve from German Ziska to British Frances.
As with "Einundzwanzigster Juli" and "Lilly unter den Linden" I was blown away by this book. Like always, Voorhoeve's careful and innovative way of writing about a highly difficult era in German history impressed me. Ziska/Frances is by far her most complicated protagonist (yet, since I hope Voorhoeve will continue writing) and Voorhoeve manages exceedingly well to write her from a girl of eleven to a young woman of eighteen. There are some recurring motives from her other books - complicated relationships between mothers and daughters and the realization that family isn't only about blood, for example - but it certainly doesn't make this book worse than her other two. In fact, it's as unique in plot and protagonists as are the other two and like always it was a delight and both a challenge to read.