Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

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I am halfway through my Pop Culture Homework Assignment!

This book repeatedly punched me in the stomach.

Eleanor and Park meet when Eleanor gets on the bus for her first day at the new school.  Eleanor immediately gets on the wrong side of the cool kids on the bus by almost sitting in someone else’s spot.  Park growls at her to just sit down next to him.  Everything after that awkward and totally real meeting is beautiful and painful and awkward and wonderful.  Eleanor and Park are so fucking cute together I actually just swore at you in a review of a YA novel.  This was a beautiful, painful and real novel about teen romance. It was also a novel about negotiating identity (when you’re not really sure how to be what people think you are.  Are you that thing?  Are you not?  Does it matter?), being there for your loved ones, and dealing with crappy things in your life.
This book was great also great because of the main characters.  Eleanor is a chubby red head and Park is half Korean.  Others have talked about the need for diverse characters in teen novels and I think this is a good example.
Spoiler alert and trigger alert:  This book deals with domestic violence in a very honest and very real way.
More spoilers ahead.
Eleanor and Park’s relationship grows slowly over a few months.  At first, they are just sharing a seat on the bus.  Then, they are sharing comic books.  Then, they were sharing comic books and music.  (I’m actually making a mix tape inspired by the music mentioned in the book.)  It just snowballs from there.  Eleanor loves her time on the bus because she hates being at home with her Mother’s husband, who is an alcoholic and a wife beater.  The story builds until it becomes obvious that the creepiest of the awful things that have been happening to Eleanor aren’t being done by the awful girls in Eleanor’s gym class but are being done by Eleanor’s step dad.
I cried and cried and cried throughout this book.  The relationship between Eleanor and Park was wonderful.  Eleanor’s relationship with DeNice and Beebi was great.  Park’s parents were A+ and their attempts to interact with their son’s first real girlfriend were awkward and beautiful and also very real.  Sabrina, Eleanor’s mom, was heartbreaking.  (At one point she tells Eleanor she’s so lucky and good for staying away from boys and then implies that there are two types of women in the world:  women who are with a man and brave women who aren’t.  I think my heart is still breaking from that interaction between mother and daughter.)  Eleanor’s brothers and sisters were also heartbreaking.
God, this book.  It was so good.  It was so good, I’m still crying over it.

Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

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Featured imageThere was a recent discussion on Twitter about whether or not you avoid reading popular books.  Is the fact that the book is popular and “You just got to read it” a turn on or turn off.  Whether a book is popular is not really a selling point for me but I’m not going to avoid reading it if it is.  Unless it’s an Oprah book. Now bear with me.  Oprah’s Book Club has done so much to get people to read and for that I applaud her.  It has also been a boom for the publishing industry, it has promoted authors that probably would never get exposure or that level of exposure but as a former bookseller, it made my life difficult.  I know, it sounds weird but ask any bookseller.  For years, Oprah wouldn’t announce her new pick until she did it on her show.  People would immediately come into stores asking for the new Oprah book and we wouldn’t have a clue what they were talking about since we were working and not watching Oprah.  And rarely would people who watched the show know the title of the book they must read and would come in with no information.  Now, it’s a little easier.  Oprah works more with publishers to make sure her picks are ready to go with her sticker already on the book when she makes her announcements.  Also, now with the internet, if customers come in for her books and we were left unaware, they could look it up more easily but yeah Oprah.  Also I found that a lot of her picks were the same.  Different authors but all carried the same theme and that didn’t appeal to me.

Why bring this up? Wild was the first book in Oprah’s book club 2.0 and quickly became the “You just have to read” book.  It’s also a memoir and  I think we have established I don’t read much non-fiction.  So I had no interest in reading it.  I still had no interest in reading it when  Kate assigned it to me but I’m glad I did.  I was truly touched by Cheryl’s story.  I was in tears when she was describing the death of her mother.  I don’t even want to think about losing my mom and I think I could understand her downward spiral.  To decide to go on a three month, thousand mile hike by herself is not only crazy to me but unbelievably brave.  To do something like that when you are not really prepared to so is even more crazy and brave.  I laughed through her struggles with “monster” aka her pack.  I was anxious for her when the reservoir was out of water and she hadn’t brought enough.  With every new person she met, I was just as nervous about meeting as she was but most were nice and helpful.  As a woman alone, meeting strangers, particular men can be dangerous but the danger was mostly from the trail itself and Cheryl’s own mistakes not from people she met.  I enjoyed reading her journey and could see as the hike went on how much she grew.  By the time it ended, I knew she would be ok.  Not just because I know that Cheryl has had a successful writing career but because through her hike, she was able to see truths about herself, admit the ugly truths and accept things about herself that are unpleasant but all of that, everything that happened, led her to that moment and made her who she is today.  Maybe we all should take a break from our lives and go wild.

Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

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I ripped through this novel like a knife through tissue paper. it was so good. Better than good. It was a delight.

The book takes in 1999 and early 2000.  Lincoln works for the newspaper in Omaha in the IT department. Most of what he does is monitor the webfence, a program designed to monitor internally for the inappropriate use of email. Everyone at the paper now has email and the higher ups are worried people will abuse it. Mostly what Lincoln does is he checks the folder, sends out warnings, and then does whatever he wants for the rest of his shift.
Beth is a reporter for the newspaper who inappropriately uses her email. Well, she uses it for personal messages and not just for business. Most of the time she emails her friend and coworker Jennifer.  Lincoln sees the messages but decides not to say anything. And, then he just keeps reading them and reading them.
When I figured out the premise of the book, that Lincoln basically falls in love with this woman by snooping on her emails I thought, “Oh. That is so gross.”  Because it is. But, everything we know about Beth we know from her emails that Lincoln reads. That is the only way she’s in the story. And, she’s easy to like. Beth is smart and she is funny and she really cares about her friend Jennifer. Thankfully, the creepiness of snooping through someone’s email is actually discussed in the book. There are moral compass characters (who play d&d!) There are comic relief characters (Justin, Lincoln’s friend, is fantastic. As is Lincoln’s mother. And, Lincoln’s lunch buddy Delores.).
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The subplots about Jennifer’s marriage and complex relationship with having children was wonderful and something that I would like to see more of in literature and media. The decision to have children is really huge and shouldn’t be taken lightly and so to have it discussed at all (and to have a woman’s doubts about having children discussed) was amazing.

And, the subplot about Beth’s partner Chris was infuriating. If someone is “just too much” for you. Break up with them.  Don’t try to make them feel bad about it. Ugh. What a jackass.

This book had everything and I’m so happy that it was part of my pop culture homework assignment!

Adults, Teen Books, Important Conversations, and Our Responsibilities

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I’ve been reading a lot about John Green and the accusations of sexual abuse and since I’m already on record as saying I don’t like John Green (the persona, mind, not his writing) I’m thrilled to itty bitty pieces that the authors of twitter have already stepped up to defend John Green and I dont’ have to. But, the original tumblr poster made non-sexual abuse claims and they need to be addressed.

First, in case you missed it, tumblr user virjn posted on tumblr that they thought John Green was a creep. Then, a bunch of people reblogged it, someone added something about John Green being a pedophile. John Green was tagged in a reblog. And, then John Green responded by saying that he does not sexually abuse children. Which was a libelous claim and I’m willing to believe that he’s telling the truth. And, it’s totally not the thing I want to talk about. I want to talk about the original post, the post that was hijacked by people who are in love with the outrage cycle or are just trolls or are just terrible people. (The hijacking itself is probably its own post but I don’t want to talk about that, either.) I want to talk about how the original poster and their feelings that John Green is creepy. John Green’s online persona squicked this person out enough that they posted about on tumblr. And, it is probably a fair bet that other men, young and old are doing the same thing and don’t understand why women find them off-putting.

Everyone who saw the original post missed an opportunity to explore why John Green sometimes comes off as creepy. And, before you say, “If you don’t like it, just unfollow John Green.” And, you’re right. On the internet, that’s an easy option. If John Green is making you uncomfortable, don’t read what he posts. But, people are going to creep you out and you can’t always ‘unfollow’ them. So, exploring why people creep you out and what other things that can be done about it is invaluable.

Sometimes people make us feel uncomfortable and we should trust those feelings. We might even want to try to figure out why we have those feelings and what can be done about it. Art, literature, and the media we consume give us opportunities to explore situations and life experiences that we might have an interest in. They also give us an opportunity to explore feelings that we might have. An important part of creating and consuming art, literature and media is the need to critique it(and John Green’s internet persona is something that is different from him as a person and so I’m considering it worthy of critique). We need to thoughtfully engage not only in the creation of things but in considering the pros and cons of things after they’ve been created.

As Teresa Jusino of The Mary Sue noted, John Green could have read the comment and said, “right, okay. I didn’t intend for you to feel this way. Your feelings are valid. Let’s talk about this.” John Green, as an adult who writes books for teens, had a tremendous opportunity to start a meaningful conversation about unequal power dynamics, feeling uncomfortable, and how to deal with it. He missed it. The other authors who came to his defense and shamed people for making light of actual rapes and sexual assault missed an opportunity As Camryn Garrett HuffPo noted, we may have just told a young woman not to trust her feelings which might lead to terrible future consequences. (That HuffPo piece is a great read, by the way). This isn’t necessarily on the authors to do this work. They aren’t responsible for always being their to listen and direct their fans. We, as adult readers of teen books, need to make sure that we are not missing these opportunities to have meaningful conversations when they come our way. We might not create the art, but we consume it and our lives create the contexts that the art exists in. As adults who read teen books if we do anything, we should be doing what we can to make space for teens in our conversations so that they can thoughtfully explore art, literature and media and have good examples of how to respond when something is problematic or makes them uncomfortable.

This Month in Reality: Piper Kerman at Outloud!

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So, I haven’t read Orange is the New Black and I haven’t seen more than three episodes of the show. So, it is maybe a little weird that I went to see her speak at Outloud! But, friends of mine wanted to go and I like the library and my friends so I figured it would be worth it. I know so little about our prison system that I figured at the very least I would learn something and that is always good.

I was surprised by how long Kerman spoke. I was expecting that she would talk for an hour about her experiences and about why we need prison reform but she talked for more than an hour. I’m not all that interested in her experiences (which is why I haven’t read the book) but I do believe America is desperate need of prison reform. Since Kerman stuck to her time in prison and used that to illuminate issues facing anyone involved in our criminal justice system I don’t think I really learned anything new. When we look at our prison system, well, when I’ve looked at our prison and criminal justice systems it doesn’t seem like we’re getting a lot of things right. America has had to close prisons because of multiple allegations of rape which is particularly horrifying when women in prison report histories that include violence and trauma (such as intimate partner violence and sexual abuse). We have the largest documented prison population and we send people to prison for nonviolent crimes even when they have no history of violence. And, on top of that there are documented disparities in sentencing based on race. Kerman’s talk was well-structured and it highlighted some of these facts about our prison system. She spoke very clearly and if the only reading you have done about our prison system is her memoir, I can imagine how this talk could have been enlightening.

She did talk about things that we could all do to help with prison reform. Of particular importance for readers in Iowa is to keep in contact with our senior senator Chuck Grassley as he heads the Senate Judiciary committee. Kerman also suggested people become volunteers and consider donating things like books to local jails and prisons. She did not mention any local or national organizations that coordinate volunteers nor were any of those groups present in an official capacity at the talk (at least to my knowledge).

I am happy that I went to hear her speak but at the end of the talk I was left wondering: Why is her voice the only voice I see in the mainstream media talking about prison reform? Kerman answered many questions about her memoir and was quick to point out that hers is only one voice out there on our prison system. I would have liked her to mention some of those authors so that we could read them and get alternative views on the prison system. (It was a library event, after all). Thankfully, I had someone I could ask. My friend Kathrina Litchfield is a PhD student in the University of Iowa’s College of Education’s Language, Literacy and Culture program. She studies the benefits of libraries and literacy programs among incarcerated populations. She co-organized last year’s Incarcerated in Iowa Symposium and she recommended this first book:

Jimmy Santiago Baca spent time in a maximum security prison and his memoir focuses on his life before, during, and immediately after his time in prison. I haven’t yet read this book but I was told it was significantly darker than Kerman’s memoir.

For another opinion about reform I suggest Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis. In this book, Davis lays out the history of our prison system, suggests that the time for prisons might be approaching an end, and suggests that society as a whole might be in need of transformation. In all honesty, I’m still working on this book but so far I can say that it has impacted how I see the prison and criminal justice systems.

Finally, I would like to suggest one organization that might be of interest to you if you are thinking of volunteering. Black and Pink is an LGBTQ organization built around the idea of prison abolition and connecting LGBTQ prisoners and free-world allies. If you are interested in finding a prison penpal, they have a program set up. They may also have a local chapter that you can get involved in.

Review: Adultery by Paulo Coehlo

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So, you could read my spoilery review of this book or you can follow this link to this video of Bill Nye on Inside Amy Schumer and pretend that I am Bill Nye and the book is all of the women in this video.
Bill Nye on Inside Amy Schumer

When I requested this from the library, I thought I knew what I was getting into. I’ve read other Coehlo books before. I know what his writing is like. I expected that something would happen and that it would lead to some kind of inevitable communion with the infinite, the one, God. I wasn’t wrong.

What I did not expect was to so thoroughly loath the main character. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. I’m not married so I certainly haven’t been married for ten years. I don’t have children. Her life is just different from mine, I kept telling myself. Don’t be a hater!
I’m totally a hater.
And, I’m a hater because the main character dismissed people’s attempts to help her. I’m a hater because she assumed that all treatments for depression are just pills and you’re fine. I’m a hater because the main character didn’t talk to her husband about her feelings until way past the point that she should have and then failed to connect with him. I’m a hater because when she sought therapy (finally) she was unhappy that it would take six months for her to make progress that she dismissed them all and looked for a quicker cure (that wasn’t a cure-all pill.  Which no one offered her, by the way).  And, when this Swiss woman finds her “quicker cure” in the words of a Cuban shaman (who tells her to go ahead and have the affair), it still takes her at least six months to have her effing epiphany.

I get there are many paths to God and I get that lots of people are different and I get that sometimes you just got to get something out of your system. But, this book was terrible and the main character is a horrible person. I don’t often finish books that I don’t enjoy but I did finish this one. And now that I have, you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.  Do not read this book.

Review: Losing at Love by Jennifer Iacopelli

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This was a good follow up to Game. Set. Match. With the French Open now behind them, Penny, Indy, and Jasmine look to make the quick turn around of Wimbledon.  Probably the most underrated difficult thing to do in any sport, go from the super slow clay courts of Roland Garros to the lightning fast grass courts of Wimbledon.  True, over the years, The All England Club has slowed down their courts in an attempt to encourage more rallies but it’s still unbelievable achievement to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back.  Borg did it multiple times, Nadal has done it twice and Federer only once.  Ok, so you get the point.

All three girls are in very different places.  Indy had a successful French Open, in more ways than one.  She won the juniors and got Jack. Penny beat the World number 1 again but sprained her ankle in the process.  And poor Jasmine, crashed out the first round of the juniors and now is being pushed to play college instead of going pro.  All of their careers are going in different directions and the stakes are getting higher.  How does one balance friendships when your playing for thousands of dollars in the most prestigious tournament in the world?

Now, there are a few things I do have a problem with from a tennis fan perspective.  Indy and Jasmine have to qualify to make the women’s doubles field but when Indy is given a wildcard, she pulls out.  The reasoning is her coach and agent think that she can’t play qualifying and focus on her singles.  For someone who has followed tennis as long as I have I feel this in inaccurate, for lack of a better word.  Young players are often encouraged to play doubles when they are younger.  It gives them more match play, a chance to get real life experience of playing in tournaments.  It gives young players a chance to compete and learn how to compete on a more consistent basis while their singles game improves.  Winning is winning.  However, I understand from a drama point of view, why Miss Iacopelli would decide to go this way and really, I’m being nit picky here.

I do like the friendships.  I like that they are messy.  I like that for the most part, when they do fight, it’s not about boys but about their games.  They all may have dramatic love lives but for all three of them their tennis comes first.  I think it’s important to show that girls can be ambitious, that they can have drive but also have the love and respect of a man.  I hope that there are more of these because now that Wimbledon is over I can’t wait to see what happens at the US Open.

I got to meet Rainbow Rowell 

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In a perfect set of coincidences, I am visiting my parents in Cedar Rapids, IA. Rainbow Rowell is speaking in Cedar Rapids, IA. Oh and the library’s ebook of Attachments became available. So, I read the first three chapters before heading out.  To start, I wasn’t sure if she would read or give a talk or answer questions.  Rowell did mostly questions and answers and she started by answering a question that she gets a lot: how did you become a novelist.

I knew immediately that I was going to like her because she had on a dress with trees on it (I found out at the signing it was from eShakti) and a large cat face necklace. Normally, I am loath to be the kind of person who judges people by what they’re wearing but plus-size women who have cultivated a sense of style (especially ones that are my age or older and remember a time when all plus-size clothing was hideous) are always cool even if I don’t like them.

Rainbow Rowell chatting with the room


So, Rowell started out by telling us about her life before her books were published as a journalist who for awhile had a gig covering Western Iowa for an Omaha paper. It was great to hear her tales of the hijinx that we get up to in the middle of the nation. (We had a Pork Queen who was a vegetarian.  If that’s not funny to you, you’re either not from here or you’re not from here and you guessed wrong as to what a Pork Queen is.)

Then she took questions from the audience. She gave advice to young authors. She talked about her favorite fandoms (Sherlock). She talked her X- men-Mary Sue-self-insert fan fic she wrote as a teen.  I laughed so much I was so excited to continue reading Attachments.

After Rowell’s talk she signed books. There was a long line and it was great that she signed so many books. I don’t usually fangirl (especially not over an author whose books I’ve not finished) but I stood in that really long line to tell her how much I enjoyed her talk, get my book signed and to get my picture taken.
Yup, I’m that kind of nerd.

Rainbow Rowell and Kate being a total Fangirl.