Defining Love

"Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life.  No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough."

David Levithan views a relationship in a new way in his novel, The Lover's Dictionary.  The relationship is viewed through a series of dictionary entries, with each entry being no more than a page and a half.  As the entries are in alphabetical order, the relationship is not in chronological order.  The reader gets bits and pieces of the relationship's story through the entries and has to piece together the whole picture as they read.

Levithan does a great job of choosing a variety of words and using them in ways that most wouldn't assume to be part of the story.  He writes with sincerity and depth, and it feels as though he has been in these situations before.  The great thing about this book is that he never names the narrators, or even distinguishes which gender they are.  It's up to the reader to determine which entries belong to which narrator, what their genders are, and, therefore, what type of relationship they have.  Levithan is known for writing stories about same-sex relationships, such as "Boy Meets Boy" and "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", so many readers will pick up this book assuming that it will be about the same topic.  However, the ambiguity of the narrators makes this story applicable to everyone, which is pretty ingenious.

I admit that I did assume that this was another Young Adult novel of his, as that is what he is known for.  His past novels include the two mentioned above, as well as "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist".  But this book is definitely NOT for teens.  Not because of inappropriate material (there is none), but simply because teens most likely could not fully identify with the characters and the story.  The maturity level is that of 20- and 30-somethings in terms of the depth of emotion and issues with which the couple deals.

Overall, this was a satisfying read that will be relatable to all readers in one way or another.  I felt the happiness and sorrow of the couple through their journey, and I felt that it was all very realistic.  Recommended for adult readers.

(Photo from Tower Books)

Young Love and Loss

"Nothing ever really goes away - it just changes into something else.  Something beautiful."

Beautiful is a great word to use to describe this novel, Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler.  Other good words to describe this novel are: devastating, heart-breaking, joyous, and free.

I heard about this novel last year because it was being challenged (people were trying to have it removed from libraries) in some parts of the country.  Adults weren't happy with the sexual activity portrayed in the story, or with the part of the storyline in which two teenage girls agree to try to find twenty boys to hook up with in one summer.

After reading this novel, it's clear to me that those who challenged based on those grounds didn't read it (as is often the case).  If they had read it, they would have seen it for what it actually is.  A beautiful story about two girls who lose one of the most important people in their lives, and try to cope with their loss however they can.

Anna and Frankie are the teenage girls at the center of the story.  They are next-door neighbors and two-thirds of a lifelong best friend trio.  The third member is Frankie's older brother, Matt.  Two years older than the girls, Matt has always been their protector and leader.  At the age of ten, Anna fell in love with him.  On the night of her fifteenth birthday, she finally finds out that Matt is in love with her too.  For the next month, Anna and Matt meet secretly at night, testing out their new relationship and figuring out the best way to tell Frankie.  Matt wants to be the one to tell her and makes Anna promise not to say anything.  He plans on telling Frankie when they take their annual family trip to California.

But then the unthinkable happens.  He dies the day before they are to leave for the trip.

After a grief-filled year, Anna is now the one making the trip with Frankie and her parents to Zanzibar Bay, California.  Frankie has spent the year trying to deal with her brother's death with makeup, boys, and secret cigarettes.  Anna has spent the year trying to fulfill her promise to Matt and take care of Frankie.  In preparation for California, Frankie decides that they should make it their goal to meet one boy per day, twenty in all, so that they can each have one summer fling during what is supposed to be the Absolute Best Summer Ever.  The trip unfolds in ways that neither girl could predict, as emotions are broken open and wounds are made and healed.

I really enjoyed this book and the emotional journey on which it took me.  My heart broke for both girls for different reasons, and I believe readers will be able to associate with either Frankie or Anna.  Even if you've never suffered a loss as they did, the characters are so personable and easily relatable that it's easy to put yourself in their shoes.  Readers will find themselves rooting for these girls, and pulling for them in their struggle to figure out how to live the new post-Matt lives in which they find themselves.

Recommended for readers in high school and above.

Join the "Revolution"!

"It goes on, this world, stupid and brutal.

But I do not.

I do not."

I'm really excited to share this book for my first review on this blog.  It's the latest addition to my favorites list: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly.

This part-realistic, part-historical fiction novel centers around two teenage girls who spend their lives in completely different worlds, centuries apart.  Andi Alpers is a high school senior living in Brooklyn.  A talented musician, Andi lives with her artist mother and attends the prestigious St. Anselm school.  Music is Andi's outlet, her source of expression, and one of the few things that gets her through her pain-filled life.  She's still carrying around immense guilt and trauma from the death of her younger brother, Truman.  When Andi's Nobel Prize-winning geneticist father hears that she is failing out of St. Anselm, and finds that Andi's mother spends her days trying to paint the perfect portrait of Truman, he decides that Andi must go with him to Paris for her holiday break while her mother is hospitalized.  Andi doesn't share his opinion, but is forced to go.

In Paris, Andi and her father stay with friends G and Lili. G is a historian and an expert on the French Revolution.  He has enlisted Andi's father's help in conducting DNA tests on a heart believed to be the heart of Louis-Charles, the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.  G explains that Louis-Charles was imprisoned by the Jacobins following the death of Louis XVI, and there were theories that the young prince may have survived the Revolution and grown up under an alias.  Andi's interest in the story of Louis-Charles deepens when she discovers a diary in a hidden compartment in an 18th century guitar case.  The writer of the diary, Alexandrine, was Louis-Charles' companion and entertainer, hired by Marie Antoinette to keep her young son happy.

Alex's story begins in the early days of the Revolution.  Her family works as puppetteers, putting on shows for money.  But she wants to be more.  She wants to be a star actress on the Paris stage.  When a chance encounter with the royal family gives her a position near to the Queen, she decides to use it to her advantage, believing that if she does her job well, Antoinette will help fulfill her dream.  What Alex doesn't understand is how her life will change over the course of the Revolution, how she will grow to truly love the young prince, and how she will sacrifice herself for him.

As Andi works to complete the outline of her senior thesis on French guitarist and composer Amade Malherbeau, she is simultaneously immersed in Alex's story.  The similarities between Alex's relationship with Louis-Charles and Andi's with Truman are striking.  Alex's diary brings the Revolution to life, and begins to help Andi do the one thing that she couldn't do before: heal.

I never realized how little I knew about the French Revolution until I read this book.  The only thing I really knew was that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined.  I didn't know about the thousands of others who met the same fate, or how the catacombs were filled with stacked bodies with no heads, or how the children of the king and queen were treated after their deaths.  Louis-Charles' story is especially gut-wrenching.  A small boy torn from his parents and put in a tower with no care, only to go insane and die there two years later.  This book has motivated me to learn more about the French Revolution and the people involved.  As a librarian, I really appreciate the research that went into writing it.  Donnelly lists the many resources she used at the end of the book, and I'll be reading a couple of them in the future.

Another thing I loved about this book was the music references.  Donnelly traveled all over the music spectrum: Beethoven and Radiohead, Wagner and The Ramones.  The musical ties are amazing, whether you know the music or not.  It's clear that Donnelly did her homework.  She also provided a complete song list on her website.  It's quite extensive and the choices fit the story perfectly.

But the most amazing thing about this book is watching Andi travel through her struggle with pain and depression.  She tries to medicate it, tries to end it all, but eventually finds her way...her own revolution.  I couldn't help but think about the young people that will be helped by Andi's journey.  Those that will realize that they are not the first and only to feel the way they do.  Being able to follow and relate to a character that is experiencing that kind of pain will be very helpful for many.  Seeing the people around Andi who try to love her, even when she doesn't want them to, is a powerful thing.

Overall, I can't say enough about this book.  I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great historical fiction novel...and to everyone else as well.  There is a reason that it was named to the Best Books of 2010 lists for Amazon.com and School Library Journal.  Revolution is not to be missed!

(Photo from rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com)