Tag: coming of age

Holes by Louis Sachar

Again, this is another book that I’ve seen since I was a kid but never got around to reading. My cousin Dianne convinced me to get my own copy after she bought hers, and I decided to read it one afternoon.
It turned out to be a pleasant surprise right from the first page.

Holes is about Stanley Yelnats IV, a kid who has the knack of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, thanks to a family curse cast by Madame Zeroni on his ancestor Elya Yelnats.

Because of the curse, Stanley gets wrongly convicted of a juvenile crime and is sent away to Camp Green Lake for some disciplinary action, except the camp isn’t all that he expected it to be.

Stanley is in for a great adventure that allows him to put the family curse to rest, find buried treasure, survive yellow-spotted lizards, gain wisdom and inner strength, and forge the friendship of a lifetime, along with a chain of coincidences and quirky twists of fate that are delightfully tied in with the story.

The 2003 Walt Disney movie stars Shia Le Beouf and Sigourney Weaver. Let’s hope Disney channel airs this one soon; I think that except for the body type, Shia fits the character perfectly.

Postscript: someone from one of my book clubs read the book recently and commented that it didn’t exactly present something new for the YA genre.

I think that’s exactly why the book is so charming– it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. The best young adult books for me are those that succeed without trying to impress you, dealing with issues its readers can relate to but still making it fun.

***
My copy: trade paperback movie cover, upgraded into hardcover with dustjacket
(I also have the hardcover sequel, plus Stanley Yelnats’ guide to Camp Green Lake in my TBR.)

My rating: 5/5 stars

Photos courtesy of http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk
http://www.tribute.ca

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a short novel about Christopher Boone, a 15-year old autistic boy, who one day finds his neighbor’s dog murdered, with a garden fork sticking out of it.

Because he loves puzzles (he is exceptionally gifted in Math), Christopher decides to solve the mystery of the murder (and write a book about it)… Except that he discovers more than he ever bargained for.

The book is a refreshing read because it’s told from the point of view of an autistic kid, and you get an insight into how Christopher’s mind works, how he deals with people, his emotions, and all his quirks. I actually thought it was a murder mystery, but it was more of a coming-of-age novel, revealing how an autistic boy deals with the different events in his life, and how he makes sense of the chaos using his own logic.

All in all, a very insightful read.

***
My copy: Vintage contemporaries mass market paperback, yet to be upgraded

My rating: 4/5 stars

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Some stories are driven by their plots; Girl with a Pearl Earring is driven by the sensory experience it provides the reader.

16-year old Griet is a Dutch girl who comes to serve as a maid in the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer. Her keen perception and artistic sensibilities allows her access into Vermeer’s inner sanctum: his painting studio, where she eventually becomes the master’s assistant.

On top of her work inside the studio, Griet must contend with household duties and serve Vermeer’s temperamental wife Catharina, his shrewd mother-in-law Maria Thins, the maid Tanneke, as well as Vermeer’s growing brood of children.

Griet is on the brink of becoming a woman, and has to deal with growing attentions of the local butcher’s son and Vermeer’s patron van Ruijven. And as Griet becomes more intimate with the master Vermeer, disruption and jealousy erupt within the household, and ripple in the world beyond.

I was fascinated by the novel because aside from the typical coming-of-age elements (discovery of sensuality, angst, etc), it deals with artistic awakening. Griet was innately artistic, with her predilection for arranging vegetables by color. She had an eye for art, as Vermeer noticed himself. Thus she was promoted from mere studio-cleaner to artistic assistant and eventually to Vermeer’s sitting model. And she learns to see how Vermeer sees, and understands how a real artist doesn’t paint something according to how the rest of the world sees it…

Because Griet has a real eye for detail, the imagery is so rich that you can picture so much in your mind: Griet’s favorite tile, the blood caked between the butcher’s fingers, the scalloped edges of a tortoiseshell comb, Vermeer’s gray eyes, the meat market on a busy day… It’s terrific how a book can transport you to a different world, and make you see it in Griet’s eyes.

She develops an attraction to Vermeer, and I love the way she doesn’t come right out and say it, but you can read through her thoughts and feel it. There’s a part in the novel where he’s teaching her to mix paint, and you can practically reach out and touch the electricity crackling in her…

Sigh, what else can I say? Art is the best romance.

***
There’s a movie version, starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, and it’s every bit as good as the book. Excellent cinematography!

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My copy: originally an old creased trade paperback bought at Book Sale, replaced with a second trade paperback in better condition, then upgraded to a hardcover copy (with dustjacket), mooched from the US

My rating: 5/5 stars

My Father Had A Daughter by Grace Tiffany

My Father Had A Daughter is a wonderfully inventive fictionalized memoir of Judith, William Shakespeare’s daughter.

Since they were young, Judith and her twin brother Hamnet, have been in awe of their father, who told them stories about fairy queens and the playhouses in London. Judith and Hamnet are inseparable, and have a world no one else understands (Hamnet and Judy playing A Midsummer Nights’ dream evoked memories of our 6th grade play in St. Scho)… But tragedy strikes as Hamnet accidentally drowns In a fantastic game Judith creates out of her wild imagination, and Judith is stricken with grief.

One day, Judith uncovers a new play in her father’s wastepapers — Twelfth Night, which to her horror uses her grief as a springboard for the plot. Enraged, Judith decides to storm off to London to sabotage her father’s play, under the guise of street urchin Castor Popworthy, and she rediscovers her theatrical self.

I liked this book because it was charming, and Judith Shakespeare seemed to really come to life. The earlier parts of the book, when Hamnet was still alive, reminds me of The Thirteenth Tale and its concept of “twin-ness,” and how a twin is never the same once “untwinned.”

The highlight of the novel is when the spunky Judith becomes a girl acting as a boy acting as a girl right under her father’s nose — The whole London adventure was hilarious!

It’s also great how Judith’s relationship with her parents evolved, how she gained respect and affection for her mother, and how her relationship with her father evolved from hero worship, to disillusion, to finally, an understanding of her father’s character.

***
My copy: a well-worn trade paperback bought at Book Sale (P70)

My rating: 4/5 stars

photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble (http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/18690000/18696089.JPG)