Johanna Kelly's Book Review

The Deep End

Chris Crutcher
4.5 stars

Therapist Wilson Corder loves his family more than anyone. However, he takes care of his patients more than his family. Wilson Corder is a therapist of both children and adults. Everything is great, until a little girl goes missing, the sister of one of his patients. A lot of mysteries unfold in the deep end. It is the perfect suspense novel.

This is a wonderful thriller. Chris Crutcher is the best at reaching out to the reader, and making them feel what the characters feel. I gave The Deep End 4.5 stars because it took me so long to read it, it’s harder to understand than Crutcher’s other books. Also, the main character is in his forties, and I’m not. I couldn’t identify with the characters as much as other books. However I thoroughly enjoyed every page.

Ana Stock's Book Review

Sarah’s Key

Reviewed by Ana Stock, 21 February 2010

3 of 5 stars

This captivating, graphic novel is an informative and heart wrenching piece of work. It is primarily set in Paris, the site of the Jewish Round-up in 1942. The novel transitioned between two stories which later interlaced and revealed the importance of Sarah Starzynski in the life of Julia, an American living in Paris with her French husband, and young daughter Zoë. The novel is based around an eleven year old girl, Sarah who locked her little brother in their secret cupboard with his teddy bear. It was early morning when the officers raided the apartment where the Starzynski family was living. Sarah had over heard her mother and father discussing his hiding place if anything were to happen. Jewish people were required to sew gold stars on their clothing to label them as they were slowly stripped of their rights to go to the cinema and, later, even walk the streets. When the officers bombarded the apartment in search of valuables and family members who might be hiding, Sarah’s father had fled to his hiding place and, out of fear, Sarah’s little brother, Michael, snuck into his secret space. Sarah believed that she would be back to get him and locked him in the space where he would stay until her late return. Her father could not bear to see his family be taken away to their slow and painful deaths, so he ran with them to their death. She and her mother and father were split up and sent to separate death camps where they were dehumanized and tortured by officers who obviously had families and children of their own. The young girl’s hair was shaved from her head, her clothes were shredded and her feminism was stripped from her young body. Sarah found her way to freedom and was found hiding in a dog house on a local farm, where she was nursed back to health and raised as until her life took her away. She moved away from Europe, married and had children, but memories of the past continued to haunt her. In the portion of the novel set in the present times (2000), Julia was assigned a story by her boss about the Round-up and in her search for information she made a fascinating discovery which, she felt, connected her with Sarah and her family. Julia’s life spun out of control and she was faced with many decisions, including whether to abort the baby she was carrying. Her marriage turned rocky, but she saw the strength which Sarah possessed and was inspired to fight on. Rosnay’s novel, Sarah’s Key is a great look into the past and a well written novel which her readers will continue to learn from for many years to come. This novel is a bit depressing but definitely a good look at the past. She gives her readers a great look into the events of the Holocaust, by making them more realistic then reading them from a textbook. Anyone interested in the events of the Holocaust would enjoy this book and its depressing, dreary tone. Recommended for a deep read.

Jo Burdett's Book Review

“The Christopher Killer”
By Alane Ferguson
*****
“The Christopher Killer” is the first novel in a series of three books, with a fourth addition on the way. It is set in a small town of Silverton, Colorado that sits in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Silverton is the type of small town where everyone knows everyone. The main character of the novel is Cameryn Mahoney, the daughter of the small town coroner. Cameryn expresses her dream of being a Forensic Pathologist; her father decides to allow her to be his assistant. Together, they don’t expect to see much more than the bodies of those who have died because of sickness or of age, which her father calls “naturals”.

But they were wrong. Cameryn and her father are called to the scene of a murder, one that was foretold by her best friend’s favorite TV psychic. And what’s more gruesome is that the victim is a girl that Cameryn went to school with, and knew very well. And things only get worse when Cameryn discovers her friend was the fourth victim of the elusive Christopher Killer, a murderer who leaves a medal of Saint Christopher on each of his victim’s bodies. Against her grandmother’s wishes and her father’s advice, Cameryn goes to her first autopsy, which isn’t as beautiful as TV makes it out to be. Meanwhile, the buzz around the town of her friend Rachel’s murder, and that the TV psychic, a man named Dr. Jewel, who predicted Rachel’s murder is coming to town to tape a live show, and ‘talk’ with Rachel’s spirit, who also will add that he sees a new murder, and it will happen soon.

With time, a grouchy medical examiner who thinks she won’t amount to anything, and Dr. Jewel against her, Cameryn embarks on an adventure filled with adventure, suspense, and a lot of interesting insight into the world of forensic pathology only to end with an ending that will entice you into reading the next in the series.

Alane Ferguson went through intensive research by interviewing pathologists, and medical examiners to create the world of death that Cameryn lives in. With excruciating detail and disgusting accuracy, she unveils a world that not many see, but that is also filled with mystery and intrigue. Although in some parts the detail can be considered to be ‘too much’, the details of the autopsy of Cameryn’s friend intrigued me, although some may not have the stomach for the gore. But that aside, it was a fantastic book, and I can only hope that Ferguson can keep up with her success in the Sequel “The Angel of Death”.

This book is totally recommended by me to anyone! Come in and get it today!

February Book Club = Books are in!

We've chosen Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher for this month's book club read. Come by the library to obtain your copy today!

From Booklist
"When Clay Jenson plays the casette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah's voice and going to the locations she wants him to visit. The text alternates, sometimes quickly, between Hannah's voice (italicized) and Clay's thoughts as he listens to her words, which illuminate betrayals and secrets that demonstrate the consequences of even small actions. Hannah, herself, is not free from guilt, her own inaction having played a part in an accidental auto death and a rape."

Ana Stock's review of Testimony by Anita Shreve

Review:
Expelled. Expulsion. Rape. Minor. Alcohol. Video.

Anita Shreve’s Testimony sends chills up your spine! Those six words hold a lot of truth and a lot of life in the novel. In the beginning the reader is informed of a floozy girl who seduces boys, getting them into their cars with her so that she can sexually perform with them. The story goes from one scenario to another, all which contain a lot of blame and a lot of horror. Taking place at Avery Academy, the story tells of three boys who were hammered, just looking for a good time. A video is made. The video is confiscated. Three boys are expelled. The press gets involved. Some one dies, and Avery Academy’s basketball team looses its credibility. Dreams become unattainable and families struggle. This novel is a well written life experience. It gives its readers a sense of fear and sorrow for its characters as it deals with everything that could possibly arise regarding relationships and mistakes. I recommend Testimony to adults and children alike, because I feel that no matter the age or gender anyone could learn from its deep message!

Favorite Quote:
“This is real. This is really happening”
This quote, spoken by Ellen, the mother of Robert Leicht, who was one of the boys involved in the sexual assault. For me this summed up the story. At first it is hard to comprehend the situation, even for the reader, and it seems as though we are being set up for a sort of “what-if” situation. The quote basically sums up the feelings of every mother in the novel, as well as every reader of the novel.

Conflict:
Three boys involved in the rape of a fourteen year old girl at Avery Academy. A video was made and clips were posted to the internet. The school administration was informed and they viewed the tape in hopes of identifying the students. EXPELLED.

Johanna Kelly's Book Review

Angry Management
(Three novellas)
by Chris Crutcher

Kyle Maynard and The Craggy Face Of The Moon
** stars
Montana Wild
**** stars
Meet Me At The Gates, Marcus James
***** stars

Mr. Nak, the therapists of all of the main characters and the one who runs the group "angry management" named it so because a boy who was in his group was uneducated and called it angry management instead of anger management. He commited suicide, and Mr Nak named the group in his honor.

Angus Bethune and Sarah Byrnes meet in an Angry Management group, and become friends on a journey to find Sarah’s mother. Sarah has full body burns. Angus has weight control issues; both of their names are synonymous with their conditions. This was too much for me. Sarah Byrnes is from Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes, which was written in 1993. Angry Management was written last year. Crutcher brings a main character back from a book so old and keeps her the same age, adding new technology, and new ideas. He also adds in Angus, whose name is ridiculous. This was the first thing I’ve read from Crutcher that I didn’t like; I read four novels of his, not including this. I was going to give the book back, but I decided to not judge a collection of short stories by the first one, so I read on.

Montana West is a wild girl adopted by two conservative churchgoers. She wears all black, expresses freedom of speech a little too much, and has a strange tattoo. She is trying to get her school newspaper article about medical marijuana published, but once again, to no avail. She is trying to mentor her Tara, her family’s six year old foster daughter, even though her parents want to give her back. The Sledding Hill is where we are first introduced to Montana, where she holds a minor role. I liked that he moved a minor character to a major role instead of what he did for the previous story. The story gives a realistic look on censorship and other teenage issues. And of course, after I read this story I had to read the next.

You’re black and you’re gay in a town of hate. A pink noose is placed on your locker. What do you do? Marcus James wears it. He raises awareness to the whole school that hate is there. Some members of the administration want to sweep this under the rug, and act like this incident never happened. It did, and Mr. Simet wants to find who did it and wants to get them punished. Matt Miller knows who they are calls them out to the whole school. The boys who did it get kicked off of the football team. The End. Or so it should seem. Crutcher, once again, writes very well about serious topics. Meet Me At The Gates, Marcus James couldn’t have been written better.
Skip the first story, read the next two. Another great book (most of it) by Chris Crutcher! Read as much as you can, we get to meet him later this month!

Johanna Kelly's Book Review

The Sledding Hill

Chris Crutcher

**** stars
Eddie’s father dies in a work accident. Not long after, his best friend Billy, dies in a freak accident. The two people who really understood Eddie are gone, or are they? Eddie and Billy still hang out on the sledding hill. Billy is with him through his first year of high school and his problems with Reverend Tarter, who wants a book that is special to Eddie to be banned from the school library.

This book will remind you of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, without the murder. The narrator, Billy, is dead, and is watching his friend from what we assume to be Heaven. This book seems to be aimed to a middle school audience. There are no curse words. There is no sex, drugs, violence, etc. There is a lot of talk about religion; the antagonist is a religious fanatic, however he becomes a sympathetic character. The main issue in the book is censorship, a book assigned in Eddie’s class becomes his friend, and this book is taken away. Overall, a fast, heartwarming read.

Johanna Kelly's Book Review

Whale Talk

Chris Crutcher

***** stars

T.J. Jones has loving parents, along with a smart, beautiful girlfriend. T.J. is good at sports. However, T.J. is one of the few non-white members of his prejudiced town. He is part African American, white, and Japanese. T.J. chooses to have no school spirit. Many people don’t respect him since he won’t go out for sports. When T.J. is a senior, he sees a mentally handicapped friend, Chris, being bullied for wearing his dead brother’s letter jacket. He stars the team so that Chris, and the other outcasts, could win letters.

This just might be the best book I ever read. The way Crutcher writes is so beautiful; you feel as if the main character is talking straight to you. Of course, many issues are dealt with, but the book comes together. These issues happen in real life, and the book portrays them in a realistic way. This book, along with my other favorite Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes, has not been checked out lately in the library. Please read these Chris Crutcher books! You’ll be glad you did, especially since we get to meet him soon!