once more with feeling
May. 23rd, 2010 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandraVarious re-reads, because practically all the new stuff I've finished is in other cities, back at the library or in bookshops...
Robin Klein, Hating Alison Ashley. Erica "Yuk" Yurken's comfortable, self-centred existence at her low decile school is disrupted by the arrival of Alison Ashley, a new girl from a more expensive re-zoned area who is effortlessly better at all the things Erica has prided herself on. Erica is endearingly irritating, and Alison hovers just the right side of believable; the school itself is caricature, but well done and with a very carefully shaped point. Also notable for being one of the few school stories I've read with this particular set-up for the protagonists. The poster for the movie version has apparently aged everyone up and looks atrocious.
Madeleine L'Engle, Meet the Austins. It's the Murry books I love L'Engle for, and I'm never quite satisfied by the Austins, who are really just slightly too smug and certain of themselves. But it's readable, and I still like Vicky's voice even when she annoys me - it's the male characters who bother me more, with their tendency towards comfortable didacticism.
Tim Kennemore, Wall of words. Four sisters (a standard literary family) being raised by their mother after their father leaves to write his great novel; Kim, the oldest, staunchly defends his behaviour, despite the opinions of her friends and other family members. Over the summer holidays Kim also attempts to work out why her sister Kerry hates school so much, while Anna (the youngest) tries to become famous and Francis (second oldest) just wants to be normal. I find it difficult to describe this book, because I really like it and it's hard to analyse; very well written, very clear, does a lot with a small scope of characters and less than two hundred pages.
Tim Kennemore, The middle of the sandwich. Helen's mum goes into hospital for a hysterectomy, and Helen is shipped off to her aunt and a small village school. As opposed to Hating Alison Ashley, this is a much more familiar set-up for a school-based story, and although it's well done - and the changing relationship between Helen and her aunt is particularly nicely portrayed - the story itself is not all that different.
Colson Whitehead, The intuitionist. I still have to write up John Henry Days, but this is definitely still my favourite of Whitehead's books - partly the protagonist, partly the historical/AU setting; partly the sense that things are being built, in this book, rather than being destroyed or merely used as fodder for various social parasites. Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist (re-read, and so not counted for 50 poc). Lila Mae Watson is the first coloured (the book’s term – it’s set in a 1950s-ish AU) female elevator inspector in the history of the department. She is also an Intuitionist, the rival school to the Empiricists in elevator inspection, and devoted to the works of the founder of Intuitionism, James Fulton. When an elevator she has inspected fails – going into total free fall, although fortunately unoccupied – the question is whether this is an attack on her or an attack on Intuitionism and, if so, by whom.
It’s precisely structured, well-paced and well-written, and it works on its own terms as a story while being very, very much about race in America. I’m not sure “satire” is the right term here – it’s like an extended metaphor, integral to the story while being capable of being read separately. I like it a lot. And I like Lila Mae, too, more than the unnamed protagonist of Apex Hides the Hurt.
KM Peyton, The team. Horsey book with Ruth Hollis, from the earlier Fly-by-Night, as the main viewpoint character, forming part of a competitive eventing team. Nice levels of interpersonal tension and conflict, although the problem I have now reading this is knowing what she does later with the same characters - I've never been wild about Ruth ending up with Pennington, and Jonathan develops a bit unexpectedly as well.
Robin Klein, Hating Alison Ashley. Erica "Yuk" Yurken's comfortable, self-centred existence at her low decile school is disrupted by the arrival of Alison Ashley, a new girl from a more expensive re-zoned area who is effortlessly better at all the things Erica has prided herself on. Erica is endearingly irritating, and Alison hovers just the right side of believable; the school itself is caricature, but well done and with a very carefully shaped point. Also notable for being one of the few school stories I've read with this particular set-up for the protagonists. The poster for the movie version has apparently aged everyone up and looks atrocious.
Madeleine L'Engle, Meet the Austins. It's the Murry books I love L'Engle for, and I'm never quite satisfied by the Austins, who are really just slightly too smug and certain of themselves. But it's readable, and I still like Vicky's voice even when she annoys me - it's the male characters who bother me more, with their tendency towards comfortable didacticism.
Tim Kennemore, Wall of words. Four sisters (a standard literary family) being raised by their mother after their father leaves to write his great novel; Kim, the oldest, staunchly defends his behaviour, despite the opinions of her friends and other family members. Over the summer holidays Kim also attempts to work out why her sister Kerry hates school so much, while Anna (the youngest) tries to become famous and Francis (second oldest) just wants to be normal. I find it difficult to describe this book, because I really like it and it's hard to analyse; very well written, very clear, does a lot with a small scope of characters and less than two hundred pages.
Tim Kennemore, The middle of the sandwich. Helen's mum goes into hospital for a hysterectomy, and Helen is shipped off to her aunt and a small village school. As opposed to Hating Alison Ashley, this is a much more familiar set-up for a school-based story, and although it's well done - and the changing relationship between Helen and her aunt is particularly nicely portrayed - the story itself is not all that different.
Colson Whitehead, The intuitionist. I still have to write up John Henry Days, but this is definitely still my favourite of Whitehead's books - partly the protagonist, partly the historical/AU setting; partly the sense that things are being built, in this book, rather than being destroyed or merely used as fodder for various social parasites. Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist (re-read, and so not counted for 50 poc). Lila Mae Watson is the first coloured (the book’s term – it’s set in a 1950s-ish AU) female elevator inspector in the history of the department. She is also an Intuitionist, the rival school to the Empiricists in elevator inspection, and devoted to the works of the founder of Intuitionism, James Fulton. When an elevator she has inspected fails – going into total free fall, although fortunately unoccupied – the question is whether this is an attack on her or an attack on Intuitionism and, if so, by whom.
It’s precisely structured, well-paced and well-written, and it works on its own terms as a story while being very, very much about race in America. I’m not sure “satire” is the right term here – it’s like an extended metaphor, integral to the story while being capable of being read separately. I like it a lot. And I like Lila Mae, too, more than the unnamed protagonist of Apex Hides the Hurt.
KM Peyton, The team. Horsey book with Ruth Hollis, from the earlier Fly-by-Night, as the main viewpoint character, forming part of a competitive eventing team. Nice levels of interpersonal tension and conflict, although the problem I have now reading this is knowing what she does later with the same characters - I've never been wild about Ruth ending up with Pennington, and Jonathan develops a bit unexpectedly as well.
