The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
March 1, 2007; Scholastic Inc.

Summary

ORPHAN, CLOCK KEEPER, AND THIEF, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.(courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

Brian Selznick has revolutionized children's literature with The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Traditionally, children leave the world of picture books behind once they begin reading.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret mashes together a story told only in pictures with a traditional mid-level children's novel.

The drawings are simply amazing. They take up half the book. They truly epitomize the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words. Instead of illustrating written words, the drawings themselves furthered the plot. I love how the drawings were often very similar, but just different enough to show movement or a change in emotion. The subtle changes created a smoothly flowing plot. Selznick did a wonderful job in showing happiness, sadness, fear, and every other emotion on the characters' faces. Each drawing was amazingly complex. I would like to take the time to really focus on each page. When I read the book, I flipped through the illustrations quickly, only focusing on what furthered the storyline, but there are so many details in each page spread, that I could easily spend several minutes analyzing every drawing.

The written portion of Hugo is also endearing, but doesn't break any new ground. It follows common themes of many children's stories. Orphan, great adventure, danger, friends. Hugo lives in a train station and makes sure the station's clocks are set to current time. A unique setting if ever there was one. He is trying to fix the automaton (kind of a wind up robot) that his father was working on when he died. Hugo's world changes when he runs into a cranky toyseller and his god-daughter Isabel.

I loved Papa Georges, the toyseller. He had a hard, somewhat mean exterior, but you could see - both through the drawings and the written words - that he had a good heart and was trying to help Hugo. Isabel clearly loved him. Isabel was another fun character. On the surface, she was a bookish, quiet girl, but as we got to know her better, she seemed stubborn, sneaky, and a little arrogant. She might have been annoying in real life, but she functioned perfectly in this story. Hugo is your classic boy character. Kind, hard-working, mischievous, and determined. He had a goal in mind and refused to let his age, parentless status, or lack of resources stop him.

The story had lots of twists and turns that I didn't expect, although the ultimate ending wasn't that surprising. There were also a lot of coincidences. Too many to be even remotely believable. I wish the book - especially the drawings - had taken better advantage of its setting and time period. We got to know a little about the 1920s/1930s through learning about the silent film industry, but otherwise, it didn't feel like the 1930s. Similarly, there was no exploration of the wonders of Paris. It could have been set in New York City, Berlin, London, or any other big city. Paris is necessary for certain plot reasons, but certainly could have been portrayed more richly.

While not a perfect written story, I recommend that everyone pick up The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Despite its large size, you can read this giant book in just a few hours. The story is charming. But it's the drawings you'll remember. They add a richness to the book that words could never convey.

Rating: 4 / 5

Manga Mondays Meme (97): Kimi ni Todoke vol. 2 by Karuho Shiina

New Manga Mondays Meme!

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 18 months ago. It's always been a personal feature, but now I'm going to try turning it into a meme. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme would be a good way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Kimi ni Todoke vol. 2 by Karuho Shiina

Summary

Will the curse of Sadako leave her friendless for life? Sadako's chance to become friends with Yano and Yoshida is about to go down the drain when rumors start flying that Yano's been around the block and Yoshida's a former gang member. And the source of all this tattle? Sadako herself! Will Sadako retreat to her former life as a loner because of a simple misunderstanding?! Sawako Kuronuma is the perfect heroine…for a horror movie. With her jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor, she’s often mistaken for Sadako, the haunting movie character. Unbeknownst to but a few, behind her scary façade is a very misunderstood teenager. Shy and pure of heart, she just wants to make friends. But when Kazehaya, the most popular boy in class, befriends her, she’s sure to make more than just that—she’s about to make some enemies too!(courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

The main reason I chose to read Kimi ni Todoke was that people said it was a great serious contemporary manga, something I haven't read enough of. My wish definitely came back to bite me. Volume 2 of Kimi ni Todoke was so mentally painful that I almost physically ached upon reading Sawako's anguish. I had to put it down for a few days.

At the end of Volume 1, Sawako finally had two great girlfriends, Yano and Yoshida, and a possible boyfriend, Kazehaya. Life was looking up. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when school starts back up. As it says in the summary, some rumors are spread about Yano and Yoshida and Sawako gets blamed. Add to that some things that Sawako says that are easily taken the wrong way, and her friendship in is turmoil.

What makes this book so hard to read is that Sawako's self-esteem is horribly damaged after years of ostracism. She is so honored that these people are being nice to her. She's not worthy of them. She is terrified that her simple presence will hurt them. So she pulls away. I think any teenager - especially anyone who was an introvert and not in the "popular" group - can relate to Sawako's feelings, even if her reactions are on the extreme side. The "there but for the grace of God go I" sense is strong throughout the book.

The romance is not as strong in this volume as I think it will be in future volumes. Friendship is the main focus, but Kazehaya still plays an important role. I love how he encourages Sawako to think more of herself and to stick up for herself. He inspires her to be someone better.

Things work out of course, and you're left feeling happier, but you know that Sawako has a long ways to go before she is healed from her childhood trauma. Despite the reader's anguish, it is great to read a volume of manga that feels so real.

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Feature and Follow Friday #91

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

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Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
May 11th 2010; EgmontUSA

Summary

Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one-night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him and his goody-goody superhero family. Damien gets shipped off to stay with them in their suburban hellhole, and he has only six weeks to prove he's not a hero in any way, or else he's stuck living with them for the rest of his life, or until he turns eighteen, whichever comes first.

To get out of this mess, Damien has to survive his dad's "flying lessons" that involve throwing him off the tallest building in the city--despite his nearly debilitating fear of heights--thwarting the eccentric teen scientist who insists she's his sidekick, and keeping his supervillain girlfriend from finding out the truth. But when Damien uncovers a dastardly plot to turn all the superheroes into mindless zombie slaves, a plan hatched by his own mom, he discovers he cares about his new family more than he thought. Now he has to choose: go back to his life of villainy and let his family become zombies, or stand up to his mom and become a real hero.(courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

First thing first, you need to realize that the premise behind The Rise Of Renegade X is pretty silly - a world made up of super-heroes and super-villains. The super-heroes are out to thwart evil and act as good Samaritans. The super-villains are out for money, power, and to annoy the super-heroes. It reminds me of the farcical nature of The Impossibles. I also immediately thought of White Cat by Holly Black, but I never believed  The Rise Of Renegade X 's world like I did the world of White Cat.

Don't let that you prevent you from picking up  The Rise Of Renegade X . Ignore the urge to occasionally roll your eyes and focus on the real story. Damien is trying to discover who he is. He grew up idolizing super-villains and fully expected to be one himself. He is a snarky, arrogant, brash trouble-maker who has a comment and complaint about everything. Even though he's an irritating boy, I loved his voice. His sarcastic look on everything made me laugh throughout the book.

Damian is forced to question his future and his identity when he discovers that he is half super-hero and half super-villain. His actions will dictate which direction he eventually goes. At first the choice seems easy: super-villain all the way. He is still kinda in love with his super-villain ex-girlfriend Kat. He and his mom are pretty close. His new super-hero dad is goody-two-shoes boring. His new siblings are irritating. But as the book goes on, he has to question everything. His cool mom and super-villain friends make some choices that rub him the wrong way. His super-hero family may not be that bad after all. What life will he choose?

Another large aspect of this book is a love triangle between Damien, his ex-girlfriend Kat, and his sidekick Sarah. This is one of the best depictions of a teenage boy's confusion about girls that I've read in awhile. He and Kat broke up when he caught her cheating. But he can't let go. Does he just want to be friends or does he still love her? He doesn't really know. Then there's Sarah, his new sidekick. There's definitely physical attraction on both sides, and their personalities make them a great pair. Yet Damien still can't stop thinking about Kat. Who will he choose?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Rise Of Renegade X. Yes, it's silly, but it has a great underlying story of self-discovery that feels universal.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

How to Deal with a Reading Slump?

*First off, I want to apologize for my lack of comments the past several days. I've been in and out of town and super busy, so I haven't commented back to many people. If you've commented on any of my posts the past week or so, I'll try to get back to you soon.

For those of us who love reading (and if you don't love reading, I'm not sure why you're looking at a book blog), there are few things more discouraging than a reading slump. These nasty little bugs sneak up when you're least expecting them. They like to attach themselves to books that you're really excited about and then get their claws underneath your skin. Once the slump parasite arrives, it seems like only the strongest medicine can eradicate it.

I fell into a reading slump in January and February. I was disappointed by Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready, Everneath by Brodi Ashton, The Rivals by Daisy Whitney, Insatiable by Meg Cabot, Hallowed by Cynthia Hand, and a few others. It's amazing how this slump affected multiple areas of my life. The blog was the most negatively impacted. I posted a few weeks ago about a blogger slump. I think the reading slump was a major factor that prompted my blogger laziness. When books let me down, all my book related activities feel dull and plodding.

Have you had any memorable reading slumps? How long did they last? What prompted them?

Moving Past a Reading Slump

There's no right or wrong answers here. A few things I've done:

1) Keep Going: Eventually you'll find a book that clicks with you. For me it was Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Once I finished that, I had a slew of exciting, thrilling, high rated books. A single good book reignited my passion for reading. This is, of course, easier said than done. When you're in a reading slump, books you'd otherwise enjoy don't seem as good. Or it's impossible to pick up another book knowing that you're probably going to be disappointed. But you can get lucky!

2) Re-Read: When things in my life don't feel right - whether that's because of disappointing books, stress at work, or personal difficulties - I often pick up an old favorite. One of those books I've read a million times that never disappoint me. For me, these books are Twilight, Harry Potter, and Pride & Prejudice. Or, on a completely different front, an adult biography or book about history. I may not have read these book before, but I know the genres are sure things. Catherine the Great by Robert Massie and Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson have set my mind afire and made me excited about reading again.

3) Stop Reading: Watch a movie, exercise, bake cookies, go on vacation. Do something non-book related. Books will still be there and some distance will hopefully cut off air supply to the slump parasite. This is generally my last option, one I rarely take. Especially because I have a lot of books I have to read now for review. It's hard to take time off. This certainly does make slumps harder for me to get through, because there's a sense of obligation that takes some fun away.


What do you do to get past reading slumps?

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
January 24, 2012; Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray

Summary

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...(courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

My impression of Everneath is mixed. Brodi Ashton creates a unique twist on a well known Greek myth. She turns it into a young adult novel without succumbing to the stereotypical young adult plot arcs. However, I had trouble connecting to the characters. In addition, or perhaps because I couldn't connect to the characters, the story dragged.

Loosely based on the story of Hades and Persephone, Nikki shows up in her hometown after disappearing for 6 months. She looks strung out and everyone assumes she got caught up in drugs and ran away. In reality, she spent 100 years down in the Everneath (6 months in human time). Nikki and her emotions served as food for Cole, her immortal. Once the feeding ends, most humans are effectively soulless. They spend eternity mired away in the tunnels, having shriveled away all their desires, hopes, dreams, and nightmares during the feeding. Not Nikki. She had the strength of character to go back to the real world, if only for a short time. Nikki has 6 months to set everything right and then she has to go back to the Everneath. She has dreamed about seeing her old boyfriend Jack. It's kept her alive. And of course, she misses her father and little brother. But it's much harder to reintegrate back into the real world than Nikki expected.

There are a lot of things I like about Nikki. She has a great amount of inner strength, despite being weak enough to succumb to Cole's promises of eternal emotional relief. She is kind to her friends and her family. She is also amazingly patient. The post-Everneath Nikki realizes she screwed up royally and understands that it is going to take time for people to reaccept her. She quietly plods through in the background, always toeing the line.

I guess my main problem with Nikki was that she was a closed book - both to the other characters in the story and to the reader. As the plot goes on, I understand what happened to make her desire an emotional drain, but I didn't feel it. I understand the surface-level Nikki, but despite seeing the world through her eyes, there were layers of her past and her pain that I never broke through.

Brodi can be congratulated for having two hot guys in this story yet not turning the plot into a love triangle. An almost unheard of feat in YA literature. Unfortunately, I think I would have liked the story better if there had been a love triangle. On the Cole v. Jack front, a big part of me wanted Cole to win. Jack is nice, sweet, and understanding, but too Wonderbread for me. He actually has more facets than many cardboard nice guys that I've seen in novels, but I couldn't connect to him.

On the other hand, haunted, funny, sarcastic Cole totally did it for me. Yet he is clearly the villain. You get hints that Cole has real emotions and really cares for Nikki, but most of the time he is out for his own interests. He seems to want Nikki for what she can do for him, rather than because he likes her. But it's not cut and dry. Since I love Cole, I wish he had a few more redeeming qualities. I would like to see a real love triangle - preferably with Cole winning in the end. I'm pretty sure that Jack is the guy that readers are supposed to root for. I wish Brodi had done a better job of making him endearing. I'm having too much trouble resisting Cole's bad-boy charms.

Everneath is split into Now v. Then time points. The story goes back and forth between Nikki's life before going to the Everneath and after. It takes almost the entire book to understand what drew her to the darkness. The mystery made the book weaker. If I had understood Nikki's past sooner, I would have connected better with her. By the time I learned all the details, I was so emotionally disconnected from the characters that I thought Nikki's heartbreak was superficial.

For all my criticism, Everneath is an interesting and enjoyable story. It was quite slow, but to readers who get sucked in more than me, I'm sure the plot will flow much better. Part of me liked the characters. I just couldn't connect well enough to them to really care about them. I loved the mythology and the concept of immortals and emotional feeding. I'd recommend that you give Everneath a try (if for no other reason than the gorgeous cover), because there's a good chance you'll like it more than me.

Rating: 3 / 5

Manga Mondays Meme (96): Skip Beat vol. 2 by Yoshiki Nakamura

New Manga Mondays Meme!

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 18 months ago. It's always been a personal feature, but now I'm going to try turning it into a meme. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme would be a good way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Skip Beat vol. 2 by Yoshiki Nakamura

Summary

Kyoko Mogami followed her true love Sho to Tokyo to support him while he made it big as an idol. But he's casting her out now that he's famous enough Kyoko won't suffer in silence--she's going to get her sweet revenge by beating Sho in show biz.

After failing her audition, Kyoko has just about given up on her revenge - until Sho shows up at the gas station where she works and doesn't even recognize her! With her desire for vengeance rekindled Kyoko goes back to the talent agency and gets assigned to the new "Love Me Section." There, she can earn points for good behavior, and if she earns enough, the agency will back her debut! The only problem is that she has to do whatever they tell her to! Will her first assignment be her last?(courtesy of Amazon and the back cover)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

At the end of Volume 1, Kyoko's dreams of joining LME talent agency were dashed because she was too focused on revenge and couldn't accept the idea of love. Kyoko hasn't given up. Unlike the average manga female character, Kyoko hasn't decided that her negative attitude is a bad idea and reformed into a cheerful, sweet character. Nope. Kyoko is as focused on revenge as ever. She won't accept no from LME.

Luckily, LME likes persistence. They create a Love Me Section - for people who must work to be loved by others. Kyoko will get points for helping others in the agency. When she has enough points, she can become an LME Talent. Points aren't easy to come by. Kyoko either doesn't do a good enough job or does too good a job. Everything seems to backfire. But she refuses to give up.

At one point, Kyoko becomes the personal slave of mega movie star Ruri. Ruri looks like a princess, but she's really a spoiled brat. She treats Kyoko like dirt...and somehow this turns into an opportunity for Kyoko.

Kyoko is definitely a dark character. She is shown having her angelic and devilish sides fighting each other. The devilish side keeps winning. But there's still a big difference between her and someone like Ruri. While Kyoko may be motivated by anger and revenge, she never acts cruelly towards other people or believes that she is better than anyone else. She certainly wants to be cruel to Sho, but her success is how she will accomplish that, rather than outright meanness.

I'm getting a little more familiar with Skip Beat and am liking what I'm reading. I hope to get to know Ren and Sho better in the next few volumes. I'm liking Ren better, because he seems like a good-hearted guy. I want to see more layers to Sho. All in all, great volume!

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