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The final book in Hopkin’s trilogy switches from Kristina’s point of view to that of her three oldest children — Hunter, Autumn, and Summer. The oldest, Hunter, lives with Kristina’s parents while Autumn lives with her paternal grandfather and Summer moves from foster care to living with her father to back to foster care. Kristina’s youngest two children, David and Donald, live with her and their abusive father, Ron. All of her children have a high risk of addiction so their stories are mostly about the legacy of addiction and broken homes their mother has left them.
I spent most of this book angry at Kristina’s mother, Marie, for adopting her eldest grandchild and leaving the others to the wolves. Those of you familiar with the series will know that the series is a fictionalized version of Hopkins’ own life — Kristina is her daughter Cristal, Hunter is her (grand)son Orion, while Autumn and Summer are her grandchildren Jade and Heaven.
I struggled with this knowledge; I wanted to judge Hopkins as a person for the decisions her fictionalized self makes. Hopkins does state at the end of the novel that the Hunter in her life is thirteen not nineteen like the character in the book so this a more fictional tale than the previous two books. With this in mind, I am trying to shift my anger at Marie’s decision from the author to the character. (There are also probably legal reasons as to why Marie/Hopkins would only be able to adopt one child not explained in the book.)
Even so, I thought this was the absolute perfect ending to the series. To continue following Kristina would, I believe, turn very cyclical; the only change would be the addition of another guy and another baby. I loved how Hopkins shows the devastating effects of addiction for more than just the user, an issue missing from her previous two novels. Hopkins still manages to maintain the emotionally raw and painfully realistic aspects of her previous books despite the shifts in narration. I continue to be impressed.
Book Mentioned:
- Hopkins, Ellen. Fallout. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010. Print. 665 pgs. ISBN: 9781416950097. Source: Library.
Subtitled “A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams”, I do not remember where I first heard of Preble’s novel but I have always been intrigued by the story of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov of Russia. Murder with her father, mother, sisters, and bother, the location of her burial along with her family was unknown during decades of Communist rule.
When mass grave near Ekaterinburg was discovered in 1991, rumors of her escape were further enflamed when her body (or that of her elder sister Maria) and her brothers were not discovered there. In August 2007, however, the remains of a girl and boy were found not far from the mass grave and DNA testing showed that all members of the family were accounted for.
But I’m still intrigued by those books centered on the idea that Anastasia escaped. In Preble’s novel, the centerpiece of Russian folklore Baba Yaga snatched the Grand Duchess away from her family during their assassination and has been keeping her hostage for years. Dreams in which she is trapped in a small cabin with a hideous old lady with iron teeth and huge hands plague sixteen-year-old Anne Michaelson. But the appearance of Ethan Kozninsky at her school sends Anne reeling and erodes the line between her dreams and her real life as Ethan tells her she holds the key to Anastasia’s escape.
I seem to be in the minority but I did not enjoy this YA book. I found the story hard to follow especially when the line between dreams and reality was blurred. Even after the “mysteries” were explained, I had a hard time understanding the plot, the characters, and the solution to Anastasia’s disappearance. Plus, the characters were so flat that I did not care about a single one of them including Anastasia. Anastasia’s diary entries used words she never would have – girlfriend, for example. There were also moments when Preble was trying to force the idea that Anne is a teenager so much that it felt like too much. Commenting on the price of a latte while fighting for your life? Really?
Others’ Thoughts:
Book Mentioned:
- Preble, Joy. Dreaming Anastasia. New York: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2009. eBook. 320 pgs. ISBN: 1402218176. Source: Free download.
I read the first book in this series, The Hunger Games, in June 2009 so more than a year ago and it hasn’t stuck with me as much as I thought it would have especially after I wrote about how eagerly I was anticipating the second book. I remembered the basic premise, but the budding romance between Peeta and Katniss and Katniss and Gale wasn’t all that familiar to me nor did I remember the details of how people died in the Games. All of this said, reading the second book in the series was much more difficult than I anticipated it to be. The continued references to the first book did nothing to build anticipation within this novel’s story.
With the Games over, Katniss is expecting to have enough money to save her family from hunger, but her and Peeta’s win has made it Katniss an unwittingly a symbol of revolution against the Capital. President Snow is none too please and Katniss is now trapped in trying to please him in order to save the lives of everyone she loves — her mother, Prim, Gale, Gale’s family. But the pspark has turned into a ragging fire and there is absolutely nothing Katniss can do to stop it. This year also happens to the be the 75th Games meaning that the Gamemakers decide on new rules of how tributes are selected f for the games., and because of President Snow’s displeasure Katniss finds herself back in the arena.
Without going into too much detail, the uprisings were the most intersting part of the book and, for me, the return of Katniss to the arena were not. I’m not that interested in Katniss’ romance problems and, unfortunately, this book spends a lot of time covering who she’s in love with and who she’s not in love with. Eh. I guess you could say over all I though this book was just mediocre. Will I read the third book? Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s just say I’m not in any rush.
Others’ Thoughts:
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Book Mentioned:
- Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic Press, 2009. Print. 391 pgs. ISBN: 9780439023498. Source: PaperBackSwap.
When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends — her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
Recommended to me by my friend Helen, Living Dead Girl, the story of kidnapped, sexual abuse victim “Alice,” begins in a haunting manner:
“Once upon a time I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time I didn’t know how lucky I was.” (pg. 1)
However, for me at least, the stomach gripping and intense need-to-read did not happen. Maybe I’ve watched too much “Law and Order: SVU” because I felt there was too much shock and not enough storyline. The boy Alice has sex with in the park doesn’t make sense, Ray doesn’t make sense, the kidnapping doesn’t make sense. I could not connect with the characters other than Alice, there’s a lot of cliches within Living Dead Girl, and I felt the ending totally fell flat.
I did, though, like Alice. I felt she was very real, and my heart broke for her. However, I just wasn’t 100 percent gripped by this novel like so many have been.
Others’ Thoughts:
Book Mentioned:
- Scott, Elizabeth. Living Dead Girl. New York: Simon Pulse, 2008. Print. 170 pgs. ISBN: 9781416960591. Source: Library.
Apparently being pretty also means you use the words “bubbly” and “bogus.” Seriously? Have we suddenly been transported back to the 1990s? I have to admit, every time Tally or Zane or Shay or anyone used the words “bubbly” and “bogus,” I rolled my eyes. Which means I was rolling my eyes for ninety percent of this book.
I was pretty disappointed with Pretties; there isn’t much plot difference between it and Uglies. In Uglies, Tally want to be pretty, and in Pretties, Tally wants to be a Crim. Tally fights with Shay, escapes to the Smoke, gets lost along the way only be saved by another group she didn’t know existed, reaches the Smoke, and then betrays the Smokies. The only difference is Tally discovers how the cure David’s mother created at the end of Uglies works and the social experiment the doctors in Tally’s world run. And while it was nice to undersand more about Tally’s world, it just isn’t enough to carry Pretties. Oh, and instead of David making Tally’s heart going pitter-patter, it’s Zane, who always felt a little off to me.
I just wasn’t hooked by the second book in this trilogy, and I’m hoping the third book, Specials, redeems this series for me. My friend Helen ranks the series as Specials, Uglies, Extras, and then Pretties, so I know I’m not alone.
Others’ Thoughts:
Book Mentioned:
- Westerfeld, Scott. Pretties. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. Print. 370 pgs. ISBN: 9780689865398. Source: Library.
