Liar

Micah freely admits that she's a compulsive liar. And that may be the one honest thing she'll ever tell you. Over the years she's duped her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents. But when her boyfriend, Zach, dies under brutal circumstances, the shock might be enough to set her straight. Or maybe not. Especially when lying comes as naturally to her as breathing. Was Micah dating Zach? Or was Sarah his real girlfriend? And are the stories Micah tells about inheriting a "family gene" real or are they something that only exists in her mind?

This review contains spoilers

Started out interestingly, then went a bit down, and then picked up for the last half of the book. Liar was a good read. It wasn't a fantastic book, nothing breath-taking, but good enough to satisfy a majority of teenagers.

So Micah is a liar with a big secret that actually gets revealed in the middle of the book. I was honestly awaiting some sort of deep murder psycho book that would really make me go woah but instead I got a werewolf hiding in the city. I can't say I was displeased, or that the book was bad because of it, but I just went 'oh, another werewolf'. Albeit cliche and overated, the werewolves in this book actually had a pretty cool concept. The change happens because of hormones, during women's menstruation, and its actually a painful shifting because of the bone and body remolding. Nothing to do with taking off your shirt and taking a leap. The werewolves' nature had a lot to do with science, DNA, genes, one thing Micah promises herself to study later, and so I was interested to learn more about them. We do get a lot of information of how they live and all, but we aren't given any final, clear scientific explanation of how the change happens (At least there isn't some kind of crap like imprinting or whatever). But anyway, it's the goal Micah sets herself up with at the end of the book, so we'll just pretend one day she finds the answers to her questions.

Character-wise, Micah was interesting, understandable, relatable to. I can't say the other characters such as Sarah or Tayshawn (I don't know if I spelled his name right) were as developed as her, and I can't say Zack was either. I personally never got to understand why he fell in love with Micah and what were the extents of his love, and so I was a bit annoyed since the story was actually everyone fuzzing over his death.

There wasn't that much action, it didn't really deliver any ultra deepness of doom, it didn't stir too much emotions, but it was agreeable to read. It could have been laid out better, with more mystery and a bit more of plot. There were a lot of twists at the end, a lot of lying and confessions and so I always braced myself for the next big revelation. The ending was good. Sad but good. You truly feel sad for Micah, but then happy that she finally found herself.

Overall, good to pick up in a library, but perhaps not enough to read twice.

-Beryl

Liar by Justine Larbaleister
Rating: 7,4/10

The Lovely Bones

Stones and bones,
Snow and frost,
Seeds and beans and polliwogs,
Paths and twigs, assorted kisses,
We all know who Susie misses...

"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."

Heaven has become Susie's new home, a heaven where all her desires can become true as long as she understands why she wants them, and a heaven where everyone's heaven is different in its own way. And so starts Susie's story, and of how she watches her family back on Earth from her gazebo and of how she's powerless before its deteriorating state. As much as she would want, Susie cannot heal her father's deep wound for his lost child, nor prevent her mother from straying away from her family, nor soothe the pain her sister is locking deep inside her. Neither can she put the police or her father on the track of her murderer, Mr. Harvey, her neighbor, who has become and expert at putting an innocent face and covering his tracks. But Susie can watch. She watches, standing beside the living, how the tragedy of her disappearance and the search for her murderer unravels.

This book had me hooked since the first lines. Alice Sebold's novel is the kind of novel you cannot put down. Literally.

Susie's murder is no mystery, and it is announced and described in a blunt and honest way since the first pages of the book. It makes us realize that those women and girls that are murdered, those people just like us, had a life. Friends. A family. The Lovely Bones is the story of such family who lives through the tragic murder of their daughter/sister/child and told by the ghost of their girl watching from heaven.

It is a deep and heavy story presenting Susie's family who is trying to bring itself back together, not that it is an easy thing to do, mind you. Susie describes how each member of her family tries to live on, and how some, like her father who desperately tries to prove Mr. Harvey is the murderer, just cannot let it go, and how others, like her mother, simply don't want to hear any more and diverge farther away from what matters most.

The Lovely Bones is a very enjoyable book to read with its quick pace, lyrical feel and tragic nature. It's always Susie who narrates, but she turns around everyone so the story doesn't loose its interest. Sebold succeeded in turning the telling of a life that could be qualified as 'mundane' into something amazing and passionate, something so very true.

I felt very heart broken when Susie was watching everyone she knew grow old and go on with their lives. She never stopped watching them, though, and they never stopped thinking about her. I loved her dad. He was the perfect example of a parent who loves his child so deeply he just simply cannot let go. And then we have Mr. Harvey, who is a true murderer; he enjoys what he does.

Working with the after life can turn up to be very difficult. It's a theme that can be manipulated very easily but that has relatively a lot of impact on some readers and can sometimes bring controversy. The description of the 'heaven' in The Lovely Bones was left slightly blurred, unclear, maybe for that matter. The main focus was on earth and on what happened there, and so I didn't get enough of this heaven as much as I would have liked to. I think that it should have been more explored, more described. I wanted to see it impact more on Susie. I was disappointed to see that Holly, a friend Susie meets in heaven, was left very unsubscribed. We don't even get to know how she died.

Another thing that I disliked was Susie's nonchalant attitude right after she died. I mean, she has been raped and murdered and it seemed as if she didn't really stop to realize what had happened. She did mention a few times her remorse about not being able to grow up and live her life, but I felt as if she accepted her fate just a bit too quickly. She's still a very lovable character who, even if able to cope with her short life and sad ending quickly, harvests deep love for her family and friends and becomes a caring watcher.

I found the ending of the book somewhat... shocking. Not in a bad way, actually. It didn't end the way I thought it would, and after having finished the book and sat down, I realized that The Lovely Bones is not the story where we are sunk into the heavy search for a murderer, but the story about how life goes on after someone is gone and how wounds heal with time.

Finishing on that, this novel is a must read for young adults and beyond. It presents murder, blood, rape and lust in their true appalling natures, but also love, struggle, joy, and determination at their strongest. It's a reading most will devour in a few days, heck, even one.

-Beryl

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Rating: 9,5/10

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

1940s, Berlin. World War 2 is raging around Nazi Germany, yet Bruno, 8 years old, sees nothing wrong with it. His parents, especially his father, an important officer who knows Hitler personally, speak very fondly of the war and Germany’s strength. When his father is transferred to a strange place near a large village enclosed by barbed wire , Out-With’s (Auschwitz), Bruno is not too pleased. His luxurious Berlin mansion has been replaced by a smaller sized house. He no longer sees his friends, and his sister seems even meaner than before.

One morning, he decides to go exploring. One of Bruno’s favored activities is to pretend he is a renown explorer, discovering new places. He starts with the garden, then, against his father’s recommendations, continues toward the wire fence. He follows it for some time, seeing no one on its grey, dull grounds. Then, he meets Schmuel, a scrawny, skeleton-like boy on the other side of the fence.

I found the beginning of the book rather slow paced, and it took me some time before getting hooked. Luckily, this period was rather short and once I got into it, I couldn’t set the novel down. I finished it the same evening.

This has to be one of the best, most adorable, yet one of the saddest books I have ever read. The friendship between Bruno and Schmuel is typical of children that age: their friendship isn’t unconditional, and more than once, Bruno selfishly eats the food he had brought for his (starving) friend on the other side of the metal fence. Bruno seems his age: he doesn’t see what is happening on Schmuel’s side of the fence, he idolizes his father, he mocks his older sister. He doesn’t understand the war, and doesn’t understand why his friend was brought to such a dull place on the other side of the fence. Often, his childish, yet insightful remarks made me reflect on the horrible war that devastated Europe, and the legitimacy of the motives behind it.

Bruno’s character, even if he is very wealthy, isn’t the stereotypical rich-kid papa’s boy Nazi youth soldier. In fact, he has no idea about what is going on in his country, or what his father does, or why some people are behind the fence. Schmuel, even if he is as young as Bruno, has lived so much more, and his cautious, saddened nature is very different from his friend’s attitude. The two, even if contrasting, have a unique friendship. As Bruno brings food to his hungered friend, sometimes eating pieces along the way, he discovers he no longer remembers his Berlin friend’s names. Now, his only friend is a boy he shouldn’t even have met in the first place.

Adorable characters in such a ruthless setting, the powerful tale of friendship and the sad, sad, sad ending made this book marvellous. Finally a war story not centered on the war itself, fleeing the war, death of close people! I simply fell in love with it. Bruno and Schmuel will always have a special place in my heart.

Finally, the title is related to the fact that everyone, on the other side of the barbed wire, seems to wear the same clothing: grey and white striped pyjamas.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is a very touching book about friendship and misunderstandings. By the end of the book, I was bawling my eyeballs out. And I’m not even an overly sensitive person.

-Aithen

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Rating : 9/10