Book Review: Room Service

Book Review: Room Service
by Maren Stoffels
Pub Date: 29 Jun 2021

read courtesy of http://www.netgalley.com

Room Service is written by Maren Stoffels but translated by Laura Watkinson. I would have liked to have read the original because I somehow feel that the translation caused the sentence structures to be a bit basic; although, I do not think any of the action or suspense suffered as a result of the translation.

If you can get past the fact that this is yet another book where the teens think that they are smarter than the adults, then you'll enjoy this more than I did. The teens are surrounded by adults who are either clueless or kept in the dark by the teens. Both conditions create the need for the suspension of disbelief: the reader has to accept that a dangerous, threatening stalker is not something in which to involve any authority figures.

Beyond that, I did enjoy the suspense and the twist. The author cleverly allowed one character's frequent insistence that he didn't want to be involved in the shenanigans to become a part of the plot. The author also played on the characters' interactions during the story and prior interactions at school to create the necessary relationship tangles that augmented the plot. And I was genuinely, pleasantly surprised by the plot twist.

That the story can only exist because the adults are idiots, however, is the thing keeping me from rating this book higher than ⭐⭐⭐. Some really crafty insights come through the characters during their plight, but the persistence of invisible adults dampened my overall enjoyment.

Book Review: A Night Twice as Long

Book Review: A Night Twice as Long
by Andrew Simonet
Pub Date: 01 Jun 2021

read courtesy of http://netgalley.com

Andrew Simonet represented what it is like to live with a sibling who has autism in a genuinely authentic way. We learn much about the main character, Alex, through her interactions with and thoughts about her non-verbal brother, Georgie, in comparison with how the people around her respond to him. It make her both a likable character and a character with depth. Through Alex we get the perspective of the "Normies," people without disabilities who are strange in their own ways, and of the progression of an autistic child as he grows up and figures out how to "impose his will." 

But that's only part of the story... Alex and her neighbor/best friend/boyfriend, Anthony, and from what they can tell, the entire United States, are in an electrical blackout from an unknown origin. They don't know how long it will last, either. Anthony's mother is in the military, and he hasn't seen her in a while, so when he gets word that someone actually has a working telephone, he jumps at the chance to try to connect with his mom. But without transportation (gas pumps don't work), he'll have to walk to another town to find the person with the phone. He cajoles Alex into taking the trek with him, and what they encounter on their journey makes for great reading. 

Complicating their journey beyond transportation is the fact that Alex's mother told her she couldn't go (she does anyway), and Alex is white, while Anthony is black. On top of that, Alex decided to chop off all of her hair and is often mistaken for a boy.

The author provides vivid descriptions that help the reader picture what's going on; my favorite was a descriptively interesting way of describing hair at one point. Simonet also gives great onomatopoeia.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Review: Things I Learned from Falling

Things I Learned from Falling

by Claire Nelson

Pub Date: 25 May 2021 

read courtesy of http://netgalley.com

I love biographies. I really love well-written autobiographies. This is well-written, which is expected from someone who works as a writer in the field of journalism. Nelson's personal strength jumps off the page in stark contrast to the self-doubts so many of us feel, including Nelson.  To confront face-to-face the "impostor syndrome" in such an extreme situation provides the lucky readers with an innocuous way to encounter their own feelings with having to drink their own urine. 

There was only one section, midway through the story, that felt heavy and arduous to push through. The congruity is that this section described the depression that precipitated Nelson's self-exploration and eventual trek to the desert.

The part I personally related to the most was the thing that Nelson repeatedly said was the thing that made her the happiest, that was what she fought to live for - talking nonsense with friends. I cherish that, too, and can see why that was the thing worth holding onto hope for. It embodies belonging.

Book Review: Violet & Daisy

Violet & Daisy

by Sarah Miller

Pub Date: 27 Apr 2021 

Read courtesy of http:///www.netgalley.com

I think Sarah Miller was successful in telling the story of Violet and Daisy Hilton because she got me to go to Amazon Prime and rent the movie "Freaks." I was interested in how Miller described Violet's and Daisy's participation and reaction to it and had to experience it for myself.

Miller made me interested in the Hilton sisters' world: their environment, their thoughts, their society. I felt like I was being told the truth about the psychology and sociology of the people and the times. 

The exact thing that I appreciated about Miller's honesty with the facts is also the thing Miller could have achieved more honestly. Though she continuously announced the problems with the data and accounts that she used were subject to memory flaws and gaps in documentation, she also used the sensationalist prose like click bait. She pulled readers in by telling them the suppositions and misrepresentations and then revealed that some or all of what she just told you isn't true. If this is truly aimed at a young adult audience, then Miller's prose should help modern readers understand the sources of what they are about to read not provide what is titillating just to shoot it down.

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐