Readers United Meeting Minutes | The Opposite of Loneliness

Over the past couple of weeks, Readers United read The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan.

January 30, 2017

Status: Midway through collection of short stories and essays

Introduction: Story of author and her tragic death right after graduating Yale

Discussion: 

Cold Pastoral—short fiction

• What do you think of Lauren? Did you pity her? Was she realistic?
• Was Brian and Claire’s relationship even real? After all, Claire had to get the notes from Lauren.

Stability in Motion—personal essay

• Explores the author’s relationship with her car and the memories she has there.
• Nostalgic tone

February 13, 2017

Status: Finished the collection

Discussion:

Baggage Claim—short fiction

• What was the point of the story? 
• An exploration of one man’s decision; the conflict seems to come from his internal tension.
• What drove the character’s decision to leave and go back for the ring?

Against The Grain—personal essay

• Story on multiple levels, exploring both author’s Celiac disease and relationship with mother.

Challenger Deep—short fiction

• Everyone dies? How were the characters developed?
• This story confused some people—but we all figured it out by the end.

Overall: How does the author’s death affect the way we read her work? Would this work have been published, or would it have been so widely read and acclaimed, if not for the circumstances?

Readers United Book Reviews | Down River and Catch-22

In this installment, Fritz Legaspi '18 returns to share a couple of extremely thought-provoking stories.

Down River by John Hart

John Hart’s Down River dovetails themes of suspicion, rumors, and mob mentality. Five years ago, Adam Chase was just barely acquitted of a murder charge. The case had become so messy, his father had even thrown him out of the house. After his friend Danny Faith convinces Adam to return to the town, the entire county is on alert. Due to his conspicuous past, Adam is attacked, insulted, and harassed within hours of his return.

Soon afterward, dead bodies begin to mysteriously appear. Of course, Adam is the primary suspect, but without any evidence against him, no one can bring him to trial. However, the suspicions of society weigh on Adam immensely. With his former love interest now with the police, Adam’s already over-complicated life becomes that much more complicated. Down River is filled to the brim with characters carrying an enormous amount of secrets, and Adam must struggle to stay afloat.

Throughout the book, many different secrets are revealed, many of them shrouded at the beginning. Hart writes in a clear style while still successfully withholding the truth from the readers. The plot develops in an engaging, attention-grabbing fashion, with several recurring motifs appearing in the novel. Moreover, Hart’s background in criminal defense law provides him with an extremely novel viewpoint to write about the story of our barely-innocent protagonist.

Verdict: I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who feels up to the challenge of a book with many hard to decipher secrets. The novel progresses fairly quickly, ensuring that there’s hardly a dull moment while reading it. Adam’s background as an almost-convicted felon is the main driving point of this book, and is a large and welcome change from the innocent protagonists most series and novels seem to be based upon.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

What do you do if you were given an impossible mission, one which would be suicide to undertake? To get out of their missions, the airmen of the 256th Bombardier Squadron must request to be proven mentally unfit. Yet, per military regulation, to do so would prove one mentally fit. Known as a catch-22, this double bind is the reason so few men were able to leave the military during the second World War.

To go more into depth, Captain Yossarian, the protagonist, explains that those deemed mentally unfit, or simply crazy, would not be required to go on flying missions any longer. However, to apply to stop flying would prove a soldier sane, as doing so would indicate that they cared about their own safety. At first, the men of the 256th are proud to fly for their country, and for the defense of other countries in need. As the novel continues, we learn that similar regulations apply to many other facets of the military, preventing soldiers from leaving.

As Captain Yossarian faces this dilemma, we also learn about the other characters in the book. Through extreme amounts of detail, Heller leaves very few characters without their own background and history. Heller seems to greatly enjoy the irony of certain situations, and he gleefully inserts comic details in his stories of other characters. For example, when he describes a character as “good-natured, generous and likable,” Heller also states that nobody could stand the character.

I was thoroughly captivated as I entered the occasionally extremely deep perspective behind the thought process of military personnel during World War II; these airmen prove for an interesting read. Yossarian and others suffer from many mental afflictions, the foremost of which being post-traumatic stress disorder. Their journey, though fictional, is truly one to enjoy in.

Verdict: If you do not have an elementary understanding of warfare, (knowing about air squadrons in particular would help!) this book picks up extremely quickly. If not, an open mind to the struggles of these soldiers is highly recommended for optimal understanding of the novel. As the plot thickens and events seem to worsen, it is important to stay empathetic and sympathetic to Yossarian and the other characters.

Readers United Book Reviews | Play With Me, Ryan Hunter, and Winger

Even though Valentine's Day happened a few days ago, there are still Hershey Kiss wrappers and red paper hearts in dorm common rooms. So of course, it is the perfect time to indulge in a novel or two about youthful love! Here to share two heartwarming tales of growing up and finding love is Isabelle So '20.

Play With Me and Ryan Hunter by Anna Katmore

Although Play With Me and Ryan Hunter by Anna Katmore are two separate books, they describe the same story from two perspectives. Play With Me is from Lisa Matthews’ eyes, and Ryan Hunter is from Ryan Hunter's.

Everyone in our society has a dream, and Lisa Matthews's is for her best friend Anthony Mitchell (Tony) to fall in love with her. She has already envisioned what a future with him would be like. The two friends have never been apart from each other ever since kindergarten, but Tony is a star soccer player who is going to soccer camp for five straight weeks. When he comes back, he’s different; he’s preoccupied with another girl. A girl that he met at soccer camp, a girl that plays soccer as well. 

Jealousy spurs Lisa to sign up for something she most certainly regrets doing; she decides to try out for co-ed soccer. Tryouts ended up bloody, as the other players played fierce. However, that night, Lisa scores an invitation to team captain Ryan Hunter’s party. This party is considered THE PARTY of the year and is held by the ladies' man, the guy everyone claims is the "hottest boy on campus." At first, Lisa finds Hunter an arrogant playboy and despises him greatly. But when she wakes up sleeping next to Hunter the day after his party, everything changes. As the story unravels, not only does Lisa becomes torn between her feelings for Tony and Hunter, but both of the two boys may or may not feel something for her in return.

The corresponding book, Ryan Hunter, is the definition of surprising. This book incorporates every detail and every thought a guy may have about a girl. This story line is exactly the same as Play With Me except the fact that this is told through Ryan's perspective. Everything you expect is exactly the opposite.

These two books gave me chills the whole time I read them. While I read Play With Me, I personally thought the story line was cliché in a way that made the book adorably magnificent. But, while I read Ryan Hunter, my whole perspective of the guys changed. It definitely made me look at guys a whole different way. It made me want to re-read Play With Me, as what went through Hunter’s head was completely different from Lisa’s.

Verdict: I would recommend this book for someone who is looking for an easy read. A book that is not only gripping and relatable but also irritating (there are parts that will make you anxious but also will make you want to read more) in a way that makes it all adorably interesting.

Winger by Andrew Smith

Winger by Andrew Smith is filled with relatable experiences that strike the reader as not only entertaining but also tragic.

Ryan Dean is an extremely intelligent fourteen year old whom has been accepted into a boarding school meant for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. Being a fourteen year old junior in a boarding school is already tough, but with his sense of humor, rugby skills, and his appetite for comic drawing, he is able to go persevere largely unscathed (okay, perhaps not.) At school, he figures out what is truly important to him and finds love along the way. 

Throughout his journey, he finds himself falling in love with his best friend Annie and one of his teammate’s girlfriend. Even though being a little boy often leads to unwanted attention and other complications, he is able to cope and adapt to his surroundings, whether it’s about friends, girlfriends, or sexuality.

In this book, Ryan is growing to understand what being mature entails, and he realizes that even when the unpredictable happens, he must focus and hold on to what is important to him in life. Even when his parents want to pull him out of school, he convinces them that he has made important connections with the people and things on campus, and that he cannot leave.

Verdict: Winger is a book that is relatable, humorous, and extremely exciting to read. The book as a whole made me think about my own life personally, and it really makes readers think about their own personal journeys and experiences. 

Readers United Book Reviews | Purple Hibiscus

Here with the second part of her book reviews this week is Jamie Shin '20! She shares another story of a teenager struggling through family issues.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Taking place in Enugu, Nigeria, Purple Hibiscus is a novel fifteen-year-old Kambili and her journey to find herself amidst her father’s physical abuse and the strict rules of her religion. Living in a wealthy household with her honored Catholic father dictating every move, she is trapped in a small world with high walls. However, in the story, Kambili's eyes are opened to a new world when she and her brother, Jaja, get to stay with their aunt, an open-minded and intelligent university professor. There, they discover the warmth of a world fueled by familial love.

Since the story is told through the eyes of a teenage girl, I couldn’t help but feel the book was dragging a little bit at the beginning. However, the pace of the novel quickly sped up a few chapters in.

It took me a while to realize child abuse was one of the biggest topics in the book, because it comes up so subtly at first. Adichie does a good job of hinting at it but not revealing it overtly until later. It turns out that the mother has has multiple miscarriages, Jaja has a crippled hand, and Kambili almost dies due to the abuse. Adichie then uses symbolism to represent how the mother and the rest of the family deal with the abuse.

Adichie’s artistic voice paints a vivid picture for the audience. My favorite line in the book is the creative simile on page 25. “It was the same way I felt when he smiled, his face breaking open like a coconut with the brilliant white meat inside." Who knew you could compare a smile to the inside of a coconut?

Verdict: I would recommend this book to someone who would like to explore the fine line between love and hate, between religious faith and extremism, and between childhood and adulthood.

Readers United Book Reviews | Bigger Than a Bread Box

We hope you welcome one of our new writers, Jamie Shin '20! She will be posting her book review posts in two parts; look forward to the second one on Sunday.

Bigger Than a Bread Box by Laurel Snyder

What would you do if you had a magic box that gave you everything that you wished for? Now think of that while answering this question—Would you still do it if you knew that everything that the box gave you was actually stolen from someone else?

In Bigger Than a Bread Box, twelve-year-old Rebecca is resentful because she has to move at a moment’s notice because of her mother. Although Rebecca knows that her parents are fighting and her mom just wants to get away from her dad, she does not want to leave.

Her life in her new town starts out terribly; Rebecca misses her dad and argues with her mother all the time. She becomes a rebel, disagreeing with everything her mother and grandmother say. Homesick and miserable, she wishes for seagulls one day when she is in the dusty attic of her grandmother’s house, since seagulls remind her of her old home. Suddenly, Rebecca finds a breadbox, and when she opens it, seagulls come out!

Slowly, Rebecca realizes the magic of the box, and starts wishing for everything she wants. She tries wishing for her parents to get back together, for her dad to be there with her, and many more wishes that cannot be fulfilled. It doesn’t work, and she thus learns that she needs to find her own way to be happy.

However, things take a turn for the worse when she finds out that every time she uses the magic box, all the things she wishes for are actually taken from someone else. Rebecca’s problems seem larger than life. Will she ever be able to be happy and get out of the trouble she has put herself in?

Verdict: Though Bigger Than a Bread Box is definitely a light read, it covers many heavier themes. I would recommend this book to young audiences that are looking for a good book to sit down and read on a Sunday afternoon. It prompts the reader to question whether or not one’s happiness is worth sacrificing for another’s by taking the reader through a journey of a teenage girl’s mind.

Readers United Book Reviews | 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and Fangirl

Would you ever want to revisit your teenage years? Middle school, high school, college—life is complicated, and confusing, and we're still figuring things out. As we do so, it’s nice to read novels, fiction or otherwise, and realize that we are not alone in grappling with who we are and what we want to do with life. Here to share some refreshing, realistic coming-of-age stories is Skylar Hansen-Raj ’20.

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

In her stunning debut, Mona Awad describes the fictional life of Elizabeth, an overweight woman who wants to find her place in the world. 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl follows Elizabeth's everyday life as she grows from an obese adolescent to a skinny woman. The book illustrates the challenges Elizabeth faces, including her desire to be “dateable” and “beautiful.” However, even when the world seems against her, no matter how hard she falls, Elizabeth is always able to pick herself up and keep going. Overall, this story does not only describe one girl's coming of age, but also society's stigmas against the idea of being overweight. 

Throughout her life, Elizabeth struggles finding where she belongs. Her obese mother clearly has health problems, which she will not talk about; her father is absent from Elizabeth's life. Elizabeth’s only friend is Mel, another overweight girl her age, and later, she makes friends with other girls, though she is plagued with insecurity when she notes that they are much skinnier than she is. Elizabeth is also desperate for attention from men, and even when she lands the man of her dreams, she is insecure and wants to become skinny for him, despite his seeming indifferent to her weight. So Elizabeth loses the pounds through harsh dieting and rigorous exercise, but wonders if this is really what she wants in life. She asks herself if she will ever be anything else but fat.

Overall, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl portrays the challenges Elizabeth encounters beautifully. I was especially impressed with Awad’s style of writing. She was able to make the story a light read, even with all of the more complicated, deeper concepts she was exploring. Her novel really moved me to think about how we as a society create environments as dark and pressuring as the ones in the book. Awad was able to tackle a wide range of topics from love to depression through mundane scenes like dressing rooms and nail salons.

Verdict: I would recommend this book if you want a short but entertaining read, covering a variety of topics, ideas, and realizations about society and the impact it has in creating insecurity.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl blends a world of first loves and tangled familial relationships in a refreshing tale about introvert Cather Avery. Fangirl portrays the lives of two very different twins, their bipolar dad and absent mom, and the relationships each twin forms with the people in their colleges. 

Fangirl is a realistic, witty, and down-to-earth read. The story follows Cather (“Cath”), who is an extreme introvert. Her popular and pretty twin sister, Wren, decides not to room with Cath their freshman year of college, leaving Cath terrified of how the year will go. The only thing she looks forward to, however, is her fiction writing class. Cath is an avid fanfiction writer, specifically about a book series that revolves around characters Simon Snow and his enemy Baz. Her fanfiction has tens of thousands of readers. 

As the year progresses, she begins to bond with her roommate Reagan, Reagan’s “boyfriend” Levi, and classmate Nick. Meanwhile, Wren becomes increasingly distant, and she seems to be having issues with alcohol. Cath also becomes aware of her developing feelings for Levi. And then on top of that, trouble is brewing at home. Cath grows concerned for her father’s health, and things seem to take a turn for the worse when Cath’s mother tries to reach out to her.

Overall, Fangirl did a great job portraying dorm and adolescent life. I was amazed at how spot-on Fangirl’s descriptions of all the students in college; they were refreshingly and startlingly accurate. Watching Cath’s character development was amazing. I also enjoyed the way Rowell included snippets of Cath’s fanfiction and the canon books of Simon Snow into the actual plot. Fangirl is an amazing book, beautifully written with an inspiring plot.

Verdict: I would recommend this book to everyone who loves romance, slice of life, and coming-of-age books. The playful elements and realistic characters are truly amazing. I was completely immersed in the story, and when reading, I was in a completely different world. A page-turner, Fangirl captured my heart—and I won’t get it back anytime soon. 

Readers United Book Reviews | Born a Crime and To End a War

Imad Rizvi '18 shares some more riveting, informational reads in his newest batch of book reviews today.

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

In Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, Noah describes his experiences as a child of mixed race in South Africa in the midst of apartheid, an institutionalized system of racial segregation prominent throughout his country during the late twentieth century. As a comedian, Trevor Noah is able to seamlessly infuse comedy into the book to create the engaging stories he shares with the reader. Overall, the book not only explains Noah’s upbringing and how it led him to where he is today as a world-renowned comedian, but also offers a critique into certain elements of societies, such as racism and poverty.

Trevor Noah was born to a white father and black mother in a time where interracial marriages were illegal in South Africa. He describes some of the difficulties his mother faced in raising a child of mixed race and the strength she showed throughout her life when facing these struggles. Though many of the stories detail high-risk situations in which Noah and his mother feared arrest or violence, Noah alleviates the tension through his comedy. The book is an enjoyable read because each chapter functions as its own story, showing a certain stage in Noah’s life and how it impacted him.

Through the story, though Trevor focuses largely on his childhood and upbringing, he offers perceptive comments on larger societal trends that have impacts around the world. He discusses how illogical the idea of racism is and the role religion plays in people’s lives. He also critiques how society is divided among such arbitrary lines as race, language, and religion when all humans face the same problems and struggles. Overall, not only is Trevor Noah’s book entertaining to read, but it also offers insight into larger trends and problems affecting millions around the world.   

Verdict: I would highly recommend this book to anybody. It is not only an autobiography for fans of Trevor Noah, but it also offers stories and insight that everybody should experience.

To End a War by Richard Holbrooke

Richard Holbrooke, an American diplomat from the 1990s, describes his experiences negotiating during the Bosnia war in his book, To End a War. The conflict among Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians resulted in thousands of deaths and millions of people displaced. Holbrooke examines some of the policy failures of the United States and other countries in the conflict and looks at how the course of the war shifted when the U.S. finally became involved.

Holbrooke crafts an interesting novel by describing the course of the war and U.S. policy through his own experiences negotiating in the region. In the beginning of the conflict, the U.S. and other countries remained on the sidelines, hesitating to make any serious efforts to intervene and stop the violence. However, U.S. policy shifted towards being more involved once it became clear that the war would be a violent and lengthy conflict without intervention, and Holbrooke describes his role in mediating those discussions in the region. 

The book features a blend between thrilling passages where Holbrooke describes escaping gunfire and violence and parts where he explains his mindset through negotiations with foreign diplomats. There is also a balance in terms of his writing style — some passages describe personal experiences, while others give a summary of important contextual events that he was not involved in. Additionally, he creates several profoundly powerful moments in the novel, such as when he describes the massacre that occurred as Bosnians were slaughtered at Srebrenica even though United Nations peacekeepers were supposed to be monitoring the situation. 

Overall, the book highlights the significance of the Bosnia war, which is often overlooked, and it also provides an insightful examination of U.S. policy before and after intervening. Its relevance extends beyond this individual conflict and offers an insightful analysis on when U.S. involvement in foreign countries is justified and how to form an appropriate response to global events.

Verdict: I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in politics or international relations.

Readers United Book Reviews | The Beginning of Everything and Throne of Glass

Aisha Pasha '20 returns with a couple of books that have continued to linger in her mind after reading them.

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider is a refreshing and uniquely written masterpiece about how we define our own identities. This book is anything but the cookie cutter high school romance with a happy ending.

Ezra was a varsity tennis player with a future of competition and victory. But when a tragic car crash leaves him permanently injured, he is unable to continue what he has always found comfort in—tennis. Without tennis, Ezra doesn’t know what to do with himself and his time. Knowing he can’t do anything else, he joins the debate team. There, he reconnects with old friends and befriends the enigmatic Cassidy. He’s on the journey to find out what defines him, but revelations about his accident threaten to shatter the new happiness he just found.

This book was completely different compared to any other high school romance that I have read. Schneider made all of the characters have a great sense of humor and realistic voices. Ezra, the narrator in this book, had a hilarious outlook on life, and his comments made me laugh out loud. His anecdotes about how he grew up moved the story along and made him that much of a better character. In contrast, Cassidy was a mystery from the beginning. Even though Ezra and Cassidy’s relationship was built on secrets, it felt real and genuine. It was interesting to see how they grew throughout the book and see where their separate paths led them. After finding out about her actual past at the end, readers were still left with questions about Cassidy. Nevertheless, the ending was satisfying, and Schneider was able to wrap up everyone’s stories in a realistic way.

The writing style has to be my favorite part of this book. Schneider knew when to write lyrically and when to be direct to really evoke emotions from the readers. Funny, heart-warming parts were complemented by utterly heart-wrenching events.

Verdict: I would definitely recommend this book for those who like books about high school life and want a refreshing and hilarious read. I wasn’t able to pull myself out of the book, becoming completely invested in the story.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas has a spot as one of my favorite books of all time. Celaena Sardothien, the most feared and ruthless assassin in the land of Ardalan, is given a chance at freedom when the Prince of Ardalan gives her the opportunity to be his pick for his father’s assassin competition. If Celaena wins, she will become the King’s personal assassin and get what she wanted after living in the cruelest prison for a year—freedom. After living a life full of tragedy and anger, Celaena feels like she deserves it. She takes the offer and is determined to win for herself and for the others she soon learns to trust. Each round of competition weeds out the weak candidates; however, competitors soon start disappearing, their bodies being found mutilated days later. Celaena is given the task to find out who or what is killing the competitors, but what she finds isn’t what anyone expected, and her life is thrown sharply into danger.

Maas writes her characters in a beautiful way, making them come to life. By the first page, you can tell Celaena is a force to be reckoned. Her mind is sharper than anyone else’s in the book; she is constantly analyzing people’s movements, thinking of escape routes, and determining who she can trust. However, the reader realizes very quickly that Celaena is not simply an unfeeling robot. Celaena allows herself to befriend her companions, Nehemia, Prince Dorian, and Captain Westfall. What I found most interesting about Celaena was that nothing stopped her from making humorous remarks towards her friends to get under their skin, but at the same time she was cautious to not let her real self show on the outside. She underwent major character development throughout the book as she learned to trust people and look back at her past in order to think about her future.

Verdict: I would recommend this book to people who enjoy high fantasy, because the world building throughout this series is amazingly detailed and captivating. I also would recommend it to those who like books with a competition in them and the occasional fight scene here and there. The sixth book in the series is coming out this year, so start the series now and dive into the world Sarah J. Maas has created!