Station Eleven
by Emily St. John Mandel
Published June 2, 2015
Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Originally published by Alfred Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Read February 2016
333 Pages
Station Eleven came highly recommended from a trusted reading advisor. Two years later, it is still a book that makes me think and causes me to question what the future of humanity might look like. I don’t want to provide too much description because that is the beauty of this book. It unfolds in ways you don’t expect.
This is one of those books that I think EVERYONE should read. Perfect for middle school through adult and certainly one I plan on re-reading. A debut novel, St. John Mandel knocks it out of the park.
One of the things I love about this book is that it is dystopic without a government overthrow or violent war. It makes it seem so real, like the world event that causes a societal collapse could happen today. This is truly a book that shows just how fragile humans are and how incredibly delicate our everyday life experiences are. Showcasing the interconnectedness we take for granted, this book does a soul touching job of making you understand just how outstanding civilizations are and how quickly they can fall.
I think about this book almost daily. Twenty years from now, what foods would still be viable to eat from the abandon homes? How long would it take to re-learn basic medicine that relies on plants and natural remedies? Why does no one raid the library in “end of the world books” post-apocalypse? How long would the power grid last? What about everyone’s pets? Start down the rabbit hole and this book will give you plenty to think about and question your role in the world.
If you are stuck in a reading rut and want something to give you a kick start, Station Eleven is a book perfect for any mood and any time. You are going to want to own this one and re-read it. This book is on my top 10 favorite reads of all time. I hope you will agree.
Selected quotes: “Of all of them at the bar that night, the bartender was the one who survived the longest. He died three weeks later on the road out of the city.” Page 15
“People want what was best about the world.” Page 38
“hell is the absence of the people you long for.” Page 144
“What I mean to say is, the more you remember, the more you’ve lost.” Page 195
“She slipped away from them, walking alone for a hundred miles, whispering French to herself because all the horror in her life had transpired in English and she thought switching languages might save her.” Page 266
Need Reprint edition published April 4, 2017
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
By Joelle Charbonneau
Started March 26, 2018
Finished March 29, 2018
Pages 338
Brief synopsis: Need takes place in the middle of a small Wisconsin town. The local high school students all receive a mysterious invitation to join a new social network called NEED. It is dark web meets real, everyday life. As students are asked to do ever more character changing tasks to receive what they think the need, the small community is struck by tragedy after tragedy. An interpretation of how selfish humans can be and a warning about how fast cyber bullying can take a turn to the unchangeable.
Why this book and why now: My oldest is in middle school. His school librarian posed a challenge to all the students to read a series of six pre-selected books. Need is one of those books. While my son had no interest initially, my friend’s daughter (and my son’s classmate) did. I challenged her to read it with me and the reward would be a special outing to a local ceramics shop. She had already read four of the six, but wasn’t too keen on finishing the challenge. Well, game on! She’s already halfway through after just a couple of days.
I wasn’t too optimistic about a young adult/juvenile fiction book about cyber bullying would keep my interest, but since I had a middle schooler and knew that social media wasn’t going away, I thought this book would be a good conversation starter with both my son and his classmates.
There is plenty of content to start those conversations. From parent/young adult relationships, suicide, taking responsibility for your actions, and the importance of trust, if you have a teenager, it should be easy to find a story line to get your teen talking.
The overall pace and feel of the book had a Maze Runner meets Hunger Games on the internet vibe. Charbonneau introduced a lot of characters one short chapter at a time. There were so many characters and they did not spend much time face to face interacting that it was difficult to remember who was who. More time on developing the social structure and the who’s who at the beginning would have made it easy to understand the nuances that Charbonneau was trying to explain with characters like Jack and Gina . Their perception of self likely is very different then how their classmates viewed them and I think that would have added to the story development.
There were a few trigger topics that I was surprised to come across in the books. Especially for Bryan who had thoughts of suicide and discussed the methods he had considered. I would want any parent to know that this topic is broached in this book so that you can have a conversation with your pre-teen or teen. Having sons, I do worry that heartbreak or not meeting expectations and the resulting emotions will lead them to consider things with irreversible consequences.
Other difficult topics include, death of a parent, death of a classmate, anaphylaxis due to food allergies, adultery, siblings with a potentially terminal disease, murder, deceit and lying.
Recommended reading for: While this book was suggested to middle school students, I would err on the side of 8th graders and older. The book revolves around high school students and the topics discussed are geared more toward a young adult stage of life. The romantic relationships are not physical, surprisingly so considering the number of times the teens are left alone.
If you are looking for a way to have a conversation with your kid about online behavior or just looking for a way to connect, this should be a book they are interested in reading and one that keeps a parent turning the pages without too many eye rolls.
The final word: Needdoes not leave me needing more, but I am optimistic that it will give me a segue into deeper conversations with my son and his peers. Based on the pace and depth of the book, I think Charbonneau absolutely meets her target audience of young teens, giving them just enough to think about without the complication of overdone scene set ups. She takes advantage of their assumptions as to how a high school social structure works and allows them to project their own experiences within the story likely making the characters more relatable to them since they are filling in some of the gaps Charbonneau allowed.
Ready Player One Published August 16, 2011
Broadway Paperbacks an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
By Ernest Cline
Started June 22, 2015
Finished June 26, 2015
Pages 372
Brief synopsis: Ready Player One is a videogamers version of a dystopian society. WADE3 and OAISIS friends Aech and Art3mis are bound together to fight the proverbial “man” in an attempt to save all that is dear to them. Ready Player One is a blast from the past of all the things we loved about the 1980s, and perhaps a few glitchy things we didn’t.
Why this book and why now: Ready Player One has been on my to-be-read list for a little over a year. As I was getting ready for our family fishing trip to Cass Lake, Minnesota, I wanted to pack plenty of fun vacation reads, especially because I wasn’t planning to fish. Quiet cabin in the middle of northern Minnesota sounded like the perfect setting to catch up on my reading. The tone and all that I had heard about this book seemed to fit the bill for this trip.
Ready Player One was strongly recommended to me by a computer programming consultant I was working with last year. She had recommended The Martian (review to come!) which is currently one of the best books I’ve read in 2015. Following her recommendation again seemed like a wise choice. I was not disappointed!
The day I chose to read this book, I had actually had what I believe was a legitimate nervous breakdown while on our vacation trip. I am very much a planner and my in-laws are much, much more a go-with-the-flow type. After five days of playing in the opposite Myers-Briggs category, I was pretty much a mess. Reading always helps me to regain my center, in the midst of joy, grief, boredom, you name it, I have yet to find that reading the right book at the right time doesn’t help me find myself again.
This book was the perfect fit for my situation right out of the gate. The whole premise of the book was being immersed in an alternative reality. Hello! Exactly what I was trying to do! From the beginning, we see Wade3 being surrounded by people, tons of them in the place he lives, in the whole neighborhood of stacks, everywhere, there are people, but he felt so alone and disconnected there. They didn’t share his interest or passion. It was only when he found a secluded place, by himself where he could focus on his passion did he come alive. That’s not to say his alternative reality in the OASIS wasn’t without its downsides. No real life human interaction, no positive human touches, everything was simulated. The further along I read, the more and more I saw how the OASIS is already being built: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Role Playing Games, Xbox. All of these things are distracting us from real human interaction. Myself included.
It has become part of our vernacular to say “my friend on facebook shared…”, but in all honesty, when is the last time you talked to most of the people you reference with that sentence? My husband and I, for a short while, set a curfew for electronic devices. We realized we were spending our limited time together glued to our devices, checking scores of games, checking status updates, pinterest, you know, very important marriage building activities. Those couple of weeks where we really focused on unplugging were markedly different. We felt more in synch, more connected, we were better partners and better parents.
As the adventure in Ready Player One progresses, WADE3 is forced to interact with people in real life to better his chances of winning the easter egg hunt. These moments of introduction were some of my favorite parts of the book. My favorite quote from the book came out of this collection of scenes: “I didn’t know how to connect with the people [in the real world]. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness.” Page 364
My two boys getting on the bus for the first day of school 2015.
I think that’s one of the reasons we cling to some of our alternative reality. We want to capture and remember every moment of true happiness. Today, my facebook newsfeed is flooded with parents capturing the first day of school send offs. It’s so very exciting to watch the kids get on the bus, but it is terrifying and painful to let them go, to entrust them to a world we cannot control or always undo. One of my real life friends said it best “I guess this is what it’s really like to have your heart walk around outside of your body.” Terrifying, but absolutely amazing at the same time.
Recommended reading for: If you’re looking for a realistic dystopian novel, this is not it. If you are looking for a fun, geeky/nerdy dystopian novel, this is the winner! Ready Player One has a heavy emphasis on 1980s pop culture. This book reminded me that I have never seen a Monty Python movie and must remedy that soon. I had a lot of fun talking about this book with my dad, remembering when we played Atari together and so many other videogames.
If you’re looking for a book to connect with when you are feeling lonely, a little adrift, or are up against something seemingly insurmountable, this book might be what you need. It’s also a great story to make you think about how you define what a true friend is and what friendship looks like to you.
This book would be appropriate for an older middle school student or above. I think anyone born before 1990 would benefit more from this book since so many of the pop culture references are very specific to the 1980s. The story line itself does not require a full understanding of this decade, but it greatly enhances the enjoyment of the book if you are able to pick up on the nuances.
The final word: Ready Player One is a well written book that I will often recommend. I look forward to sharing this one with my son in a few years.
What’s your favorite video game, movie, book or song from the 1980s? If you were to create an easter egg hunt to find your fortune, what would the theme be? Let me know in the comments section!
New words learned: If not directly defined in the book, definitions are obtained from Merriam-Webster.com Anorak (Page 119): British slang term for an obsessive geek Impecunious (Page 270): having little or no money
“It was a partnership destined to alter the course of human history.” Page 53
This quote is in reference to James Donovan Halliday and his business partner Ogden Morrow, the futuristic duo intended to emulate Steve Jobs and Wozniak.
“I watch a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing ‘80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn’t part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukeleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.” Page 63
“OASIS had evolved into something horrible. It had become a self-imposed prison for humanity. A pleasant place for the world to hide from its problems while human civilization slowly collapses, primarily due to neglect.” Page 120
“I didn’t know how to connect with the people [in the real world]. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness.” Page 364
Other notes: Agent: Yfat Reiss Gendell
Editor: Julian Pavia
Foundry Literary and Media: Hannah Brown Gordon, Cecilia Campbell-Westline, Stephanie Abou
What was your favorite video or arcade game growing up and why? Let me know in the comments section!
Ape House
Published September 2010
Spiegel & Grau a division of Random House, Inc. by Sara Gruen
Started May 31, 2015
Finished June 18, 2015
306 Pages
Brief synopsis:
John Thigpen meets some extra-ordinary Bonobos apes for a newspaper assignment. Little does he know just how important this assignment will become to the bonobos. After his writing partner, Cat Douglas, steals his story, the ape research facility where he met Bonzi, Lola, Jelani, Makena, Sam, and Mbongo becomes the site of a malicious bombing. What happens to the apes and their dedicated care taker, Isabel Duncan, is a story of betrayal, dedication, and the fight for those without a voice. Ape House is the story of how pure intentions and collaboration often lead to our biggest rewards in life.
Why this book and why now: I picked up Ape House at the same time that I grabbed Counting by 7s. At the time, I was looking for a novel to escape and provide some reprieve from the cycle of grieving my grandmother’s passing. I had very much enjoyed Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants so Ape House seemed an obvious choice while wandering the library bookshelves.
Frankly, this book is not about what I expected it to be. One of the first quotes I captured was, “Bonobos—along with dolphins and humans—are the only animals known to have recreational sex.” Page 10. This fact was new to me and I found it rather interesting. I did not expect the book to spend so much time focused on exploiting the sexuality of the apes. The more I read the book, I was remembered the sexual undertones in Water for Elephants. By no means am I trying to insinuate that I am a prude or am disturbed, embarrassed, or otherwise finger wagging at the topic, but the fact that the apes’ sexuality is such an integral part of the storyline was surprising and took a while to accept and adjust to while reading. I’m curious to know more about why Sara Gruen has chosen sexual experiences to be the lens through which she tells her stories, well at least the two that I have read so far (At the Water’s Edge is on my to-be-read list).
One topic that this book has made me more aware of over the last few weeks is that of animal testing. There is a scene in the book where Isabel Duncan visits a notorious chimp/ape research facility. During her experience on the inside Isabel learns of some of the tests the primates are subjected to including cancer research, mother/child bonding, etc. I am going to assume Gruen has done her research and that the experiments referenced are based on some form of actual tests being conducted on animals. As I’ve mulled this part of the story line over, it has made me wonder just how much harm has been done to animals in the name of medicine, food safety, and psychological understanding. I’ve recently started to cut out “mammal meat” from my diet as I have become more aware of the conditions and methods that cattle and hog farms use to raise these animals. And it also is becoming harder to justify eating something of my own classification. (No, I am not judging you or trying to subversively get you to stop eating your bacon cheeseburger.) I think I am going to save total awareness of animal testing for a little further into my journey to going mostly vegetarian.
One of the sub stories in the book revolved around John Thigpen’s wife, Amanda. Personally, I did not care for the way that Gruen portrayed Amanda. I think she wrote Amanda in a cliché fashion and solved Amanda’s problems with a stereotypical cliché. The last chapter of the book had me rolling my eyes as Gruen wrapped up all the loose ends from her story lines.
Recommended reading for: Ape House is certainly a book for adults. There are some themes that made this book interesting such as that of the way humans treat animals, human fascination and simultaneous embarrassment regarding sex, and the value of unexpected friendships.
The final word: The Author’s Note in Ape House is what redeemed the book for me. When I learned that Sara Gruen actually visited with bonobos apes and spoke with them, much as her main character did, I was suddenly much more interested. I wish Sara would have written more from this perspective and left some of the highly unlikely scenarios out or at least made them a little more believable. Again, I’m thinking of the way Amanda Thigpen was written and also the pizza parlor scene. This is very likely not a book I would look to reread nor is it a book I would think first to recommend.
A final note: While I may not list this book as one of my favorites or even as one I fully enjoyed reading, I have huge amounts of admiration and respect for any author. The discipline, research, persistence, dedication, and crazy amounts of time it takes to get a whole book written and published is admirable! The process of writing these few blog posts have opened my eyes to the huge level of commitment it takes to write something of quality and worth. The risk an author takes in putting their work out for the world to critique is amazing. I am grateful that so many author’s continue to produce new works, I’ve learned so much because of them all!
New words learned: By default, all definitions for new words learned are sourced from Webster.com
Virtuosic (Page 10): a person who does something in a very skillful way Crepitus (Page 22): popping and cracking noises of the joints Soupcon (Page 35): a small amount of something Prurient (Page 97): having or showing too much interest in sex Occlusion (Page 135): the obstruction of the breath passage in the articulations of a speech sound Oeuvre (Page 141): all the works that a writer, an artist, or a composer has created Papadum (Page 227): a thin, crisp disc-shaped Indian and Pakistani food typically based on a seasoned dough made from black gram, fried or cooked with dry heat.
After looking up all of the new words I collected along the way, I question some of Gruen’s word choice. In the places that she used virtuosic (page 10) and papadum (page 227), assuming the webster definitions that I sourced are in alignment with her intention, the words just don’t seem to fit.
Selected quotes: “Bonobos—along with dolphins and humans—are the only animals known to have recreational sex.” Page 10
“We are, all of us, collaborators. We are, in fact family.” Page 10
Wouldn’t it be amazing if more of us thought about the world around us in such a way?
“The business of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Page 34
I wish we could get the majority of the news media back to this in a less sensationalized way. There are many stories and humanitarian issues that could benefit from some compassion and helpful calls to action rather than the repeated reporting with no proffered solutions.
Have you read Ape House? Let me know what you think in the comments section.
Since I started this book journal in the middle of the year, there are about 16 books I’ve already read that won’t get the full morethanabookreview.com treatment. Some of these titles include books by my favorite authors and also one of my new favorite books! Landline is one of those books, written by one of my current favorite authors, Rainbow Rowell. While it may not include all of my first reactions, it stuck with me enough to be able to write this reflection.
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Landline by Rainbow Rowell (Publication July 8, 2014)
Finished reading January 2015
Brief synopsis: Landline is a story about a marriage in trouble. Georgie McCool and her husband, Neale, have been together since college. Georgie puts in long hours writing a sitcom while Neale cares for their two daughters. As the pressure of her career continues to impact her family life, Georgie is faced with some difficult decisions when Neale leaves at Christmas to visit his family and takes the girls along. The plot line is further complicated by the fact that Georgie’s work partner is her long-time college friend, Seth. Much of the story centers on a seemingly magical, bright yellow landline phone that allows Georgia to communicate with the past.
Why this book and why January 2015: Landline was my first book of 2015. I was on a bit of a Rainbow Rowell kick after reading Attachments, Eleanor & Park, and Fangirl. This was the last Rowell book I had to read and I was very eager to do so. Rainbow’s book Attachments is one of the first books I recommend to any of my girlfriends that ask. That book had me laughing so hard I was crying a mere three pages in! As I mentioned in my About Page, Rainbow Rowell is one of my current favorite authors.
The time frame of the story is around Christmas, the fact that I was reading it just after the holidays was entirely coincidental, however being surrounded by snow, family, the looming date of going back to work, did very much help me relate to Georgie in ways that reading this book during the summer would have made different.
At one point in this book, Georgie sees snow for the first time. Growing up in the Midwestern United States, I found it a bit mind boggling that another American had never experienced snow before! I’m sure there are lots of people in the United States that have never touched snow, I just had never even consider the fact. This part of the book was a lot of fun to read as Rainbow Rowell described what her character experienced when she touched snow, leaving an imprint of her hand and being amazed by it. Which makes me wonder, what is something that you, reading this right now, have never experienced that others might be surprised by? Leave a comment using the link at the top of this post to share.
One of the reasons I enjoy Rainbow Rowell’s writing so much, is that her characters are realistic. She lets us inside the minds of these characters and what we find is a “normal” person, not some highly dramatized version of a person facing a difficult life situation. Georgie McCool’s, thoughts and feelings about her family, husband, career, friendships, and marriage are relatable and believable.
Recommended reading for: Landline is a perfect read for young adult or grown adult. If you are looking for a book that provides another perspective on the difficulties of navigating a marriage, this is a book worth reading. The relationships among the female characters in the book remind me of my relationship with my mom and sister in different ways. A great book overall that I don’t think you will be disappointed with reading.
morethanabookreview 