Readers United Book Reviews | Small Fry and Educated

Caroline Rispoli '20 reviews two incredibly crafted memoirs, Small Fry and Educated

Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs

Reviewed by Caroline Rispoli ’20

Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ memoir, Small Fry, introduces to the world the truth about technology legend and co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, as she details their relationship from child to adulthood. Brennan-Jobs, recounting her double life split between the homes of her mother and father, brings to light the fact that regardless of Steve’s reputation as an internationally recognized genius, he lacked the necessary intelligence, or rather what appears to most as common sense, to appropriately pursue fatherhood. 

Rarely present in Lisa’s early life, Steve later emerges as a more “involved” fatherly figure, although simultaneously unpredictable, critical, and cold in his attitude toward Lisa. As her relationship with her mother is strained during the beginning of high school, Steve demands Lisa move in with him, wife Laurene, and son Reed. Lisa is met with a cold bedroom in which Steve refuses to fix the heating, rejection from family photos, and Steve’s insistence that his first computer, the Lisa, has no relation to his daughter. 

Brennan-Jobs masterfully depicts her life between her parents and the psychological repercussions evident into adulthood, while the memoir unfolds much like a puzzle, in which the reader takes on the same confused role as a young Lisa attempting to understand Steve’s erratic behavior and actions. Lisa’s vivid memory allows for an unparalleled openness regarding Steve’s distinct idiosyncrasies, and a level of truth not often present in memoirs today. 

Verdict: A disturbing, passionate, and mesmerizing recounting, Small Fry, should be read by any and all, Apple fanatic or not, as an insightful analysis into the mind of Steve Jobs through the eyes of his first born daughter. 

Educated by Tara Westover

Reviewed by Caroline Rispoli ’20

School to most may seem like a no-brainer, but Tara Westover didn’t enter a classroom until she was seventeen years old. Born into a devout Mormon family living in the mountain’s of Idaho, Tara’s childhood was characterized by assisting her mother as both midwife and healer, experiencing the often dangerous manual labor in her father’s junkyard, and enduring the constant physical and verbal abuse of her older brother Shawn. It is her family’s distrust of the government, which barred her from schooling and medical care, combined with the psychologically and physically detrimental actions of her brother Shawn, that convinces Tara to find a way out. 

In her disturbing, heartbreaking, and inspiring memoir, Westover details her journey through self education. She studies to gain a score of 28 on the ACT, moves on to attend Brigham Young University, and eventually attends both Cambridge, where she earns her PhD, and Harvard, where she is a visiting fellow. In the midst of her immense success, or rather the evil that has overtaken her in the eyes of her parents, Tara is practically disowned and challenged when she comes forward regarding her brother’s years of abuse. 

Verdict: Tara Westover has written a memoir that reveals the power of an education: the opportunity to gain a new perspective through an understanding of the world around you, and the power to change one’s life. 

Readers United Book Reviews | Popular and Midwinterblood

Sabrina Hsu '20 reviews Popular and Midwinterblood

Popular by Maya Van Wagenen 

“Popularity is more than looks. It’s not clothes, hair, or even possessions. When we let go of these labels, we see how flimsy and relative they actually are. Real popularity is kindness and acceptance. It is about who you are, and how you treat others.”

The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise —meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.”

Maya Van Wagenen (left) practicing tummy-slimming exercises listed in a 50s guide (right).

My thoughts:

If this book were a movie, it would be a typical motivational feel-good low-budget comedy, complete with tropes and hypocritically uplifting messages. Despite the moral of the tale being beauty is irrelevant to social status, the author records the triumphant climax of her experiment as a Cinderella moment, with her unable to recognize the lovely vision in the mirror while preparing for prom. Maya invites all the school pariahs to said prom to supposedly create an inclusive atmosphere, a move that appears more like a superficial bid for popularity among a group of outcasts than a sincere gesture of friendship.

Self-contradictory aspects aside, the tone of the book is heavily sugarcoated, edited to appear unrealistically sweet and positive. This renders it difficult to believe or relate to as a fellow teenager. Divided into nine sections based on the months in a school year, Maya strives to follow the outdated advice of a 50s popularity guide one section per month. She commences by addressing her “figure problems”, then moving on to hair, skin & makeup, and so on. Facing each new challenge with a degree of gusto disproportionate to the amount of, if any, beneficial results produced, her voice (marketed as “refreshing” and “honest”) fails to connect on a profound level.

Strewn with anecdotes regarding border life, her family members, and school going-ons, Popularis padded with the mundane events characteristic of an eighth-grade girl’s diary, adding a distinctively lackluster finish to the book. Attempts to render the story more moving can be discerned from subordinate narrative threads such as the episode involving the death of a favorite teacher; however, they appeared rather unrelated to the author’s main storyline. Ultimately, several facets of Maya’s memoir made it seem fabricated: the bubbly tone, the strategic photographs, the school’s rigid social hierarchy, the prom ending, and the social outcasts’ outpouring of gratitude all suggest a cheesy high school movie-like concoction.

Verdict: Overall, I do not recommend this book. The author’s social experiment doesn’t seem authentic and her voice is too gung-ho to be genuine.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick 

Reviewed by Sabrina Hsu ’20

“He wonders about them all, all the many lives that have been, and that will be, and wonders why they are not all the same, why they are what they are. It cannot be, he thinks, that when our life is run, we are done. There must be more to man than that, surely?

In Marcus Sedgwick’s award-winning novel, seven short stories weave together a poignant tale of love and sacrifice. Proceeding backwards chronologically, the stories stretch from the near future to the distant past, with a revolving cast of characters that encounter each other in the forms of Vikings, vampires, and high priests.

Eric Seven, a young journalist, is sent by his editor to interview the inhabitants of the reclusive Blessed Island, where rumor has it that an elixir of youth has been successfully brewed from the Island’s unique orchid species. He meets and develops an instant attraction to the beautiful Merle, and despite his eerie sense of déjà vu, they bond and fall in love. However, as events take a grim turn, Eric is unwittingly swept up in a tragic saga set in motion more than a thousand years ago. 

Starting with “Midsummer Sun” set in June 2073, the plot travels back in time via the intricately intertwined tales. Connecting details are scattered throughout, and readers begin to glimpse the big picture approximately after reaching the third story. Inspired by the painting Midvinterblot(Swedish for midwinter sacrifice), Marcus Sedgwick writes of a love that transcends space and time, of Eric and Merle’s doomed attempts to find one another in each life.

Midvinterblot by Swedish painter Carl Larsson

As the plot moves back in time, Eric and Merle become Erika and Merle then eventually Eirikr and Melle; Blessed Island is returned to the archaic Blest Isle. The Island, as the constant backdrop of the entire book, almost feels like a solid character in its own right. The mysteries entombed (literally!) on the Island from the orchids to secrets in Viking burial mounds form an interconnected web that tantalizes the reader. 

Sedgwick’s prose is haunting and lyrical, and the novel is unsettling without toeing the line into horror. Masterfully constructed, the seven sections cover distinct genres ranging from a ghost story to a World War Two narrative. An aspect that I particularly enjoyed is the variety among the stories in both thematic content and characterization; Eric and Merle do not make up the typical star-struck couple that changes little from one lifetime to the next. In some incarnations they are lovers, in others they are friends, or siblings, or complete strangers that don’t meet at all. It is a continuous thread of love and self-sacrifice that binds them throughout the centuries.

Verdict: Complex and beautiful, Midwinterblood is a novel that I highly recommend for those who enjoy darker fantasy, as well as anyone seeking an imaginative romance devoid of overused cliché elements.

Readers United Book Reviews | We Regret to Inform You and Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

Siri Palreddy '20 reviews two incredibly interesting reads, We Regret to Inform You and Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan

Reviewed by Siri Palreddy ’20

Mischa Abramavicius seems like the perfect student on paper: straight A’s, Vice President of Student Council, incredibly high SAT scores, a favorite with the teachers at her prep school. By the time Decision Day comes, the time when most Ivy Leagues release acceptance (and rejection) letters, she’s completely sure she’s done everything she can to get into her top schools — and if worst comes to worst (she’s hoping it won’t) she’s a shoo-in at her local safety school, Paul Revere. But when every school she applied to rejects her, even Paul Revere, Mischa is devastated at first, then extremely confused: what’s going on? As Mischa tries to get to the bottom of this entire fiasco with a group of rebel hacker girls and her best friend/crush Nate, she not only discovers some shocking secrets those in her school may be trying to hide, but also finds out more about herself as she faces the possibility of her dream college being only a dream.

Ariel Kaplan’s writing was really relatable as a high school student. She described the college process in a really truthful way, describing both the goods and bads of it, from piling extracurriculars onto your resume to the sincere joy you feel if you are accepted. She also gave us a pretty relatable character — while Mischa may be overly intense at times when it comes to school, she also wants something that most of us also do: college. However, I especially liked that Mischa was a person who was undecided about what she wanted to do in life. It showed that she hasn’t got everything in life figured out and that she’s also confused about her future. Mischa is also presented as a really funny and kind person — most overachievers are depicted as cutthroat and only focused on schoolwork, but Mischa knew how to balance both her personal and academic life.

Kaplan also maintains the mystery well throughout the novel. It wasn’t obvious to me at all who the culprit was and I was kept waiting through every step of the novel. The characters of the Ophelia Syndicate, a tech club of four girls that helps Mischa find out what happened to her applications, were also a nice addition to the book. They not only give a great example of girls being amazing at STEM, but also give advice to Mischa and help her make one especially important decision at the end of the book.

The only things I would criticize about the book are its wording and also some of the more unrealistic aspects of it. For instance, at one point in the book, Mischa says "It was good. It tasted maple-y. I like maple." And there’s also this line: “‘Oof,’ I said, because having a plastic skull under one’s nether regions was not especially pleasant.” It’s not the most sophisticated writing and that distracted me a little at times from the plot.

And as for the unrealistic aspects of the book, while I realize that the entire story is based on something that would most likely happen, the fact that Mischa and her friends were able to do some illegal activities, like easily breaking into a prep school that should have enough money to provide better security, kind of surprised me. I also found it a little unrealistic that Mischa just completely ignored her friends for almost a month during her investigations, but when she finally realized she’d been ignoring them, they all fell back into conversation without a problem.

Verdict: Overall, this is a quick read that provided an intriguing mystery — it’s not the type of book to discuss the value of college and how someone recuperates after rejection. Although the wording in the book isn’t as polished as I’d wanted it to be, this book is interesting enough to read whenever you get a chance, especially if you like a good mystery and don’t mind looking past some unrealistic aspects.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Reviewed by Siri Palreddy ’20

Almost all of us had some sort of made-up friend when we were young. It might have been an on-and-off relationship, and maybe your friend didn’t even have a name, but at some point, we’ve all created ourselves a companion. Eventually though, those friends fade away and we can barely remember them. We think they’re gone because they were never real in the first place.

But what if your imaginary friend was real? This is the premise that Dicks ventures into as he tells the story of Max, a kid who has Asperger’s Syndrome, and his imaginary best friend Budo. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is told through the unique view of Budo, as he explains the many rules that govern the existence of imaginary friends. Firstly, imaginary friends come in all different shapes and sizes — they don’t have to be human, nor do they even have to be a living thing. An imaginary friend has all the limitations and powers that their creator grants them. Budo, for instance, actually looks more human than most other imaginary friends because Max had a very vivid imagination. While Budo can pass through doors like a ghost, he can’t sleep or even pick things up because Max never imagined Budo in that way.

Budo is there for Max at every moment — I especially like that Budo has an individuality not tied to Max. Like when Max doesn’t allow his mother to hug him, Budo feels bad for Mom and tries to encourage Max to open up. But Budo’s also always ready to keep Max away from any school bullies crossing his path. And while Budo wishes he could be there for Max forever, there’s one rule about imaginary friends that shatters that possibility: imaginary friends die when their kids don’t need them anymore.

However, Budo’s tentative future with Max is suddenly interrupted when Max is kidnapped by Ms. Patterson, a Special-Education teacher who forms a peculiar connection with Max and believes she can raise Max better. With Budo being the only witness to the abduction, he’s also Max’s only hope of being saved.

As Budo explores a world without Max on his journey to bring his best friend back, he learns more about what it means to be an imaginary friend and the sacrifices he will make to ensure Max can survive without him.

This book is a heartwarming read and Dicks ties it all together really well. I loved that this entire story was seen through the eyes of an imaginary friend rather than the kid himself. It displayed an entirely different side to how we all experienced childhood. Dicks also created a world that makes sense — all too often, authors make small inconsistencies when introducing a character from a different world. But the rules and origin of imaginary friends made sense and didn’t leave me confused about anything.

This book also has incredible writing — Dicks is actually a fifth-grade teacher and you can see that he knows kids so well. He skillfully incorporates his real-life interactions with kids into his novel.

Verdict: Overall, this is a great novel for just about anybody. It can be a little sad at times (like when Budo’s friends who are also imaginary companions fade away) so be prepared. But it’s also great to see how powerful one person in our life can be, even someone we don’t remember.

Readers United Book Reviews | People Like Us

Betsy Overstrum '20 reviews People Like Us, an intense mystery you won't want to put down

People Like Us by Dana Mele

Reviewed by Betsy Overstrum ’20

Kay Donovan is a student at Bates Academy in the process of reinventing her image as she continues to struggle with her difficult past. She’s one of the popular girls now (a change from her old self) and is on track for a college soccer scholarship (mostly for her parents). 

            

Kay’s world is turned upside down when she finds the body of one of her classmates in the school’s lake. Suicide is a possibility, but an investigation must take place. Days later, Kay receives an email from the dead student. How is that possible? Is it possible? A link to a revenge blog is included in which Kay must complete a series of tasks within a certain amount of time or the secrets of her past and the pasts of her closest friends will be exposed. What did Kay do to deserve this? Not one character walks without flaws, which puts them all on the list of possible murderers with Kay’s name at the top of the list. Along the journey, Kay becomes close (very close) with another student at Bates who is extremely tech savvy and can hopefully destroy the revenge blog. Although, no one is ever who they really seem, so is blog destruction possible? Join Kay and the Bate’s community as they work to uncover the murder mystery. Is all of this work worth it, Kay? You can answer that one, but ask yourself: what would you do to hide your deepest secrets? 

            

Verdict:People Like Us will lead you down a winding road with hundreds of side streets but only one destination. Hop in the car and prepare for a bumpy ride. 

Readers United Book Reviews | Dumplin’ and Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend​

Cecilia Curran ’20 reviews two fun and captivating novels impossible to put down. 

Dumplin’​ By Julie Murphy

In this day and age, how many teenage girls truly love their body? Not many. However, Willowdean “Dumplin’” Dickson is an exception. The protagonist of Dumplin’ take us along on an adventure of love of all sorts.

Willowdean Dickson has never been small. A word many would use to describe her is “fat,” but, to herself, she is beautiful. Growing up in a household with her overweight Aunt taught her to love herself. Willow never saw herself as inferior in any way, but, after the death of her Aunt Lucy, she stuck living with her pageant- running mother. Followed by constant reminders of her weight and how she could be “better,” her life seems to be on the decline, but her home life isn’t the worst of it. 

Outside of the house, Willow is faced with a problem she’s never known before- Bo: The rugged dreamboat from every girls’ dreams, Willow finds herself falling in love, but she can’t bring herself to be in a relationship. Insecurities cloud her decision making in addition to shame from her sexual immaturity. Topped with her mother’s constant berating, she finds herself going insane. 

As pageant season rolls around, things are at their worst, but Willow decides to do something to change everything, something she never thought she would do before: she enters her mother's pageant. Shocking everyone around her, including her former best friend, Willow finds herself risking it all to get Bo and prove to her mother that big is beautiful. 

Verdict: Despite its seemingly cliché plot, as soon as you begin the book you’ll fall in love with Willow’s confident personality. Combined with a love story and a diverse group of misfit friends, Dumplin’ is impossible to put down.

Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend​ by Alan Cumyn 

Last time anyone checked, Pterodactyls went extinct 66 million years ago, and yet here lies the tale of Vista Views High. As bizarre as the title sounds, Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is an insane adventure surrounding the arrival of a Pterodactyl student. 

Sheils had it all. She loved her school, her family, her boyfriends, and her position as student body chair. Not to mention that she was great at being a part of all of them. A bright future lay ahead of her, but everything would change with a moment that would make history in the world, the arrival of Pyke, a pterodactyl student. 

Sheils automatically assumes that Pyke will be hated by the student body but finds that everyone loves him. A musician, athlete, and new boyfriend of the school’s track star- everyone falls in love with him. Soon Sheils comes to the realization that she may love him too, and she doesn’t know why. In addition to facing this new revelation, Sheils deals with many more real problems. A crazy night at a school dance finds her marked by Pyke: a purple nose. As she tries to keep the school and community the same, she finds herself fighting a losing battle. She loses her boyfriend, the respect of her school, and the authority that comes with her position. In addition, with everything going on, she can’t even think about her future. 

From the lowest point in her life, Sheils finds herself lost and all she can think about is a Pterodactyl. 

Verdict: If you’re in the mood for a one of a kind book with a bizarre premise, the twists and turns of Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Readers United Book Reviews | Modern Lovers

Jamie Shin ’20 reviews a thought-provoking novel full of surprises. 

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

To me, Modern Lovers by Emma Straub was about finding new love, looking to recover old love, what it means to be a family, and figuring out the messiest moments in life. From college bandmates, to lovers, to next-door neighbors, Andrew, Elizabeth, Zoe, and Jane have gone through it all together. But now they’re almost fifty, and are clinging on to the things that allow them to feel the last bit of youth they can. 

Andrew Marx, though supported by his trust fund from his rich parents, is job-less, insecure, and is having with trouble in his marriage; he hits his mid-life crisis. Elizabeth Marx can do nothing but watch him figure things out for himself, even if that means standing by him as he accidentally almost joins a cult-like yoga-house… After all, she is busy enough on her own, dealing with her job as a real-estate agent, which gives her the pressure to let no one in her town see her anything but happy all the time. Even when the four find out their son and daughter are sleeping together in the most humiliating way— at the police station. 

Similarly, Zoe and Jane are having a rough patch in their relationship as well. While their daughter, Ruby, is getting into all sorts of trouble, they feel like they have lost the spark in their relationship. But maybe all they needed was an emergency in the family business to bring them all back together and remind them of the passion they hold for each other and in life. 

Simply put, Modern Lovers made me feel confused about how I should feel. Emma Straub’s humor is best put as realistic, rather than dark, but only because she puts things exactly how it is. Straub implies ideas, instead of stating them. By writing in a way in which she was slightly assuming the audience had some knowledge about the characters before getting to know them, she made me figure things out about the character using context. There were countless “ohhh” moments while reading the book, which means it was getting me to think harder. 

I have to admit, the novel is quite a long read; it took me about two weeks worth of on and off reading to finish. Even if I had the time, I don’t think I could’ve finished it in one reading, because of the heavy material. I know the target audience isn’t my age, so I understood what I could and the rest, I didn’t try to force myself to. 

Verdict: In general, I would recommend this book to an older audience, however it is a compelling read full of surprises. 

Readers United Book Reviews | Room and Wonder

Siri Palreddy ’20 reviews two novels that, though with very different subject matter, will both keep you interested and reading until the end. 

Room by Emma Donogue
 

Room by Emma Donoghue Room is told through the eyes of Jack, a five year-old boy who has been confined to an 11 foot by 11 foot room him and his mother have lived in for all his life. 

Since Jack has never been out into the real world, his closest friends besides his mom are the things that surround him, like Rug, Bed, and Wall. The unique way we see Jack’s world is one of the best parts of this book. When Jack learns something, the reader does as well. There is no all-knowing view in this story but instead a carefully crafted plot that strings us along more information as we go. 

This aspect of the novel was what makes this book really stand out. Sometimes, I would read a few pages thinking Jack was observing something that was just an ordinary thing, then I would re-read it and see that Donoghue was actually describing something much more horrifying - such as when we realize that Jack’s mom had been kept in Room because she was abducted by a sexual predator at 19, a man whom Jack calls Old Nick, another name for the devil, after relating this man to what he has heard about Satan on TV. 

There are many more instances like these that will make you think about what was written, trying to understand it again and analyze it. 

Another part of this novel I really enjoyed was getting to experience Jack’s mom, or as he calls her, Ma. Ma is not someone we feel pity for, nor is she a perfect heroine. We admire her because she stays so strong even when she is continuously raped, making sure that whatever she does is for the best of Jack, even if it negatively affects her. However, when Jack and Ma are rescued from Old Nick, we also see how hard it is for her to adapt back to this world she was stolen from.

Verdict: All in all, Room is a great book with dynamic character relationships. It can be a little scary and disturbing at times, so if you’d rather stray away from those things, this book may not be a good choice. But read this book when you can; it’s a really inspiring story by the end. 

Wonder by R.J Palacio 

Recently, I was re-reading Wonder and I realized again how good of a book it is - since a new movie adaptation of it came out, a synopsis of the book might help those trying to understand Wonder. Wonder is about a ten-year old boy named Auggie Pullman who was born with severe facial deformities. He had to get several surgeries after birth, and now he doesn’t have that many friends because of his appearance. 

The book starts with Auggie entering middle-school at Beecher Prep. At first, he is bullied because of his looks, but, by the end of the novel, he makes many new friends and learns that what’s on the outside doesn’t matter. 

Although there’s a stereotypical moral to this story, the plot is anything but that. Almost each character in the book gets their own section where we see the story from their view. We see how Auggie feels at this new school, and how his sister, who loves Auggie but is also overshadowed by his needs, reacts to Auggie being away and her own social life being altered. 

Each part gives us a 3D shape to each character instead of a flat, boring perception that would have been expected from most books with a single narrator. 

Palacio does not make any character perfect - each has flaws and pros, but readers learn to appreciate these all the same. When, in the end, Auggie is supported by those who had previously turned against them, it shows that Auggie is just like any other kid in Beecher Prep. 

Verdict: The message of equality really resonates in this novel, and it’s great for both older and younger people. It’s just such a heart-warming novel that is also really fun to read with others.