Road Trip Wednesday: Best Book of the Month

YA Highway does a Road Trip Wednesday every week, where they ask a question for readers to answer on their blogs or in the comments of the original post. This week’s question is: “What’s the best book you read in November?”

I had to think about this for a minute, because I read two books this month that I adored. Ultimately, I decided Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me was the best book I read in November. The writing is so fresh, and I don’t mean this in that cliché way reviewers do when they don’t have anything better to say.

The main character, Juliette, has been locked up by the Establishment, an autocratic government who emerged out of the crisis stemming from an extreme food shortage brought on by climate change. She hasn’t spoken in the 264 days she has been confined, and her internal monologue shows she is perpetually on the brink of insanity from her isolation and a childhood of being unloved by anyone, because she can hurt people with her touch without meaning to.

As the story progresses and Juliette finds acceptance in some places, her internal monologue becomes less chaotic, more structured, further from the brink. She develops throughout the entire story, and the Juliette left in the end is by far a different person from the Juliette we meet in the beginning. Amongst her teetering inner monologue, Mafi has also placed highly unusual figures of speech into Juliette’s head, interesting twists from common sayings. Mafi handles Juliette’s development so well, so subtly, that the reader blinks and suddenly realizes something has changed inside her without them noticing.

This masterful development is the primary reason why I love this book, coupled with the sheer depravity of her supposed rescuer, the sincerity of Juliette’s love interest to the point where he is willing to bear violence on the part of the “rescuer”, the wry humour of love interest’s coworker… I could go on. The one criticism I have is the ending tapered off to a bit of a whimper and probably went on a bit long, but that’s forgiveable considering the rest of the book was so phenomenal.

Seriously, guys, go read “Shatter Me”. It’s a Young Adult dystopian crossed with a little paranormal, and an excellent specimen of what Young Adult fiction can offer to all readers, regardless of taste.

Visualising My Novel

I’ve noticed recently that most of my ideas for my novels come in the form of either a still image or a scene acted out as if it was in a movie starring my characters. I can lie in bed for hours doing it, changing around dialogue and facial expressions, experimenting with setting or any number of things. I suppose this is why I find good photography so evocative. The same visual preference seems to apply to my memory as well; I remember images far better than, say, someone’s name, and when I read a book I imagine the characters as if they were standing in front of me, although my idea of how they look often doesn’t match up with the author’s descriptions and I have to make an effort to change what’s in my mind’s eye.

Visualising scenes is my favourite way to generate ideas, which often turns into daydreaming at inopportune times. Even when I’m working with a concept rather than specific characters at the beginning of a project, I tend to imagine what the characters might look like before I even know who the hell they are or what the hell they’re doing in my head. It’d be interesting to see how other writers find their ideas, whether they prefer to write out a logical sequence of events or watch their characters banter away in their heads for hours on end. I’m betting most, if not all, writers see things in their heads which they then try to translate onto the page.

(I think this post counts as word-vomit or rambling.)

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

After reading some positive reviews from Young Adult authors much older and wiser than yours truly, I decided to steal Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief from my brother’s room and give it a go. Since the protagonist, Percy, is a twelve-year-old boy, I’m assuming that the book is largely aimed at the middle-grade audience. Regardless of this, I actually liked the book.

Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old boy diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. He’s been expelled from every single school he’s ever gone to because strange things keep happening that the teachers somehow blame on him. Percy never knew his father growing up, and his mother has remarried…to a vile man who Percy cannot stand. Percy’s latest expulsion comes as a result of bizarre happening on a school field trip to a museum. His mother and friend, Grover, take him to camp half-blood, a camp for the half-human children of the Greek gods. It is during a capture-the-flag battle that his father sends a sign indicating that Percy is the son of Poseidon.

Percy is immediately thrust into a dangerous situation, where Zeus believes he has stolen his lightning bolt. Percy, with Grover and his new friend, Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, have to retrieve it before the summer solstice…otherwise war between the gods will break out.

As a narrator, Percy keeps things interesting with a random quip every so often that stops the story from getting too serious and, at times, depressing. Modernised versions of the Greek gods are revealed all the time, and their interactions with Percy and his friends don’t feel forced like when many other writers do the same thing. I found this interesting, as Greek gods actually play into the series of novels I’m planning. I could use this as an example of how it can be done.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes middle-grade or Young Adult fiction. The language is not too advanced to make a middle-grader cry out in terror, and not too dumbed-down that a teenager would scoff and throw the book aside. Now I have to go see the movie. I probably should have seen that first, since movies rarely, if ever, do the book justice.

“Shiver” by Maggie Stiefvater

I just finished reading “Shiver” for the second time, and was just as impressed as I had been when I first read it. This book is another in the current trend of paranormal romances for teenage girls, yet it stands out with its quality of writing and the characters actually thinking through their predicaments rather than the old “teenage stupidity” idea made popular by “Romeo and Juliet”. I hate “Romeo and Juliet”. Romeo is a weak character, overreacting to everything and Juliet is not any better. Lovers of the story can rail and moan as much as they please, but that doesn’t change the fact that the play is a tragedy because of stupidity, plain and simple. Rushing into things, including the declaration of their love, and getting married incredibly soon after meeting.

“Shiver” has two protagonists: sensible, pragmatic Grace Brisbane and poetic, damaged Sam Roth. The novel puts a clever new twist on the werewolf legend that is unique and interesting. Even without the name of the character on top of the first page of each chapter, it’s clear which character is narrating the story. Both characters have interesting perspectives and predicaments that eventually crash together. ”Shiver” is a must-read for romance-lovers, and has a sequel called “Linger” that comes out later this year.