Review--Wild

   Since human civilization began, people have ventured into the wild to challenge themselves, whether to confront some inner demons, or to prove a point to the world, or simply, as in George Mallory’s famous words about his attempt on Mt. Everest, “because it’s there.” Countless stories have been told of such adventures, many of them dreary documentaries of endless days of monotony and routine.

Occasionally, though, a book comes along that makes the day-to-day trials and tribulations seem worthy of note, and even a chuckle or two. Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, is one such narrative. Self-deprecating and humorous, this Oprah Book Club pick has taken the arm chair adventurer-world by storm. 

What Bill Bryson’s popular travel narrative, A Walk in the Woods, did for the Appalachian Trail, Strayed’s blow-by-blow account does for the longer and higher Pacific Crest Trail. Sitting at home, one can feel the heat, hear the rattlesnakes threatening, feel the dirt and grime of weeks on the trail, and soak up the joys of that unique solitude found only in nature.

What leads this young woman onto the 2,663 mile long trail in the first place, though, is part of the appeal of her story. Barely in her 20’s, Cheryl Strayed is faced with her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis and subsequent death. Blindsided by the suddenness of her grief, and unable to cope with the tragic loss of her anchor and the crumbling of her family, the author’s world spirals into a tailspin, as heavy drugs and promiscuities take hold and her own short marriage dissolves.

Living dangerously comes in many forms, and Cheryl Strayed takes the prize for sheer audacity and variety. From shooting up heroin with her latest fling to setting off, alone and ill-prepared, on an extreme athletic endeavor is the height of contrasts, and therein lies the primary attraction of Wild. Strayed (not her real name, but an aptly suited and prophetic one chosen after her divorce) is an immediately fascinating narrator, as she clearly identifies and calls herself out on her many demons, naming them,  and acknowledging them, not an easy feat for many people.

With plenty of journal-type descriptives, Wild’s allure comes primarily from Strayed’s competent writing, which flows up hill and over dale, as the landscape unfolds beneath her weary feet. Characters met along the journey take on distinct personalities, and the Pacific Crest Trail, itself, becomes the most developed character of them all, cradling the author’s every step, as she sheds her tattered skin, and matures, with every  painful mile logged.

Learning lessons both mundane and profound, Strayed manages to complete her task, healing her damaged soul in the bargain. Nature has an overwhelming tendency to force one to confront priorities, peeling away the the layers of remorse, pride, convention, and foolishness. The “why” of it all had to do, in Strayed’s words, with, “how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt this way to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.” 

Through humor, honesty, and a well-written narrative, Strayed is an endearing guide through her personal journey of discovery, which is made even more enticing because it reflects the overall pilgrimage called life, confirming Henry David Thoreau’s famous words, “Not until we are lost, do we begin to understand ourselves.”

~Karina

Review: Raven's Seal

   Clearly, author Andrei Baltakmens is a fan of Charles Dickens, as his scholarly credentials support, and his writing style exudes, and readers are the better for it. For fans of Victorian and Revolutionary era classics, The Raven's Seal will be right up your alley... as long as it is a dark, seedy, Airenchester alley. Intelligent and richly woven, this novel will bring to mind Hugo, Dumas, and of course, Dickens, as the author drives the narrative deep into the heart of a fictional British city's Victorian underbelly, with its cutpurses, prostitutes, and the fallen upperclass hero, whose fortunes turn when he is wrongfully accused of a ghastly murder. Bellstrom Gaol, which no man, woman, or child ever wants to enter, becomes the backdrop for this vivid portrayal of 18th Century England's urban landscape. 
   This book hits shelves on November 1st, so if well-written period drama is your style, add The Raven's Seal to your list.
~Karina

Review--Under This Unbroken Sky

    Occasionally, a book crosses my path that leaves me breathless with wonderment and awe, as well as filled with deep respect for the author. Under This Unbroken Sky, by Shandi Mitchell is one such book. Heartbreaking and intense, delicately crafted, and stunning in its simplicity, this telling of a Depression-era immigrant family, battling the challenges of their new life upon the vast Canadian prairie, where the sky is immense and unforgiving and the winters are harsh, is unforgettable.
    Mitchell's skills as a screenwriter served her well in this, her first novel. Every word is placed deliberately, with nothing wasted, and the tale she spins is one that pulls you in, as the home-steading family battles the daily challenges of the life of a farmer during the difficult years of the mid-20th century. The story itself is engaging, but what really captivates is the author's word-craft, which has moments of profound beauty.
    Reminiscent of Steinbeck and Hardy, two of my favorite writers, Mitchell left me wanting to know more, as I savored every last word.
    Put this one at the top of your list! Excellent read.
~Karina

Review--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

    Ok, I know I am late coming to the game on this one, and not sure why I never got around to reading it, but now that I have, I don't see what all the fuss is about.... really. Sorry, to all you "Hitchhiker" loyalists, but I found "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" boring, disjointed, and just silly... and not Monty Python/Camelot silly, which is brilliant, but "Airplane" or "Naked Gun" silly, but in book form, which brings in the "boring" aspect.
   Maybe if I had read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as a teenager, I would have chuckled more, or at least I would have been closer in time to the era in which it was written, which possibly might have helped.... but, alas, it was not the book for me... now, or, I expect, even back then.
   So, perhaps I need to attempt the reverse experiment.... instead of delaying on reading a classic, I will try to reread one I really didn't like at a younger age--maybe I'll find it magnificent now. Who knows. That book is "The Great Gatsby", another one that, in my mind, failed to live up to all the fuss. Rereading classics and discovering ones I missed is one of my favorite pastimes. Here's to new discoveries.
~Karina

Review--The Man Who Quit Money

In the modern age, where success is often measured by one’s bank account and financial portfolio, the story of a man who walked away from that version of the American Dream might not resonate fully.... unless that story revolves around Daniel Suelo, whose transition from an average, comfortable existence to a life freed from the restraints of financial burdens reads like a hero’s quest, a quest for redemption, for self-discovery, and ultimately for his own soul. 

Daniel Suelo’s life is eloquently documented in the recent book, The Man Who Quit Money, by Mark Sundeen, whose own fascination with Suelo has spanned 20 years. Daniel resurfaced in Sundeen’s mind shortly after the financial collapse of 2008, when money, and the increasing struggle to manage without it, were on everyone’s minds. In no way a social outcast, Suelo was a presence on the internet, with his own blog, maintained from regular visits to libraries and friends’ homes, and Sundeen found himself captivated once more by this man who had bucked the system in a big way, and  who had come out the other side with a life, in Suelo’s terms, of “abundance”.

Determined to explore this alternative version of abundance, which by any modern measure is the antithesis of the definition of “having plenty”, the author convinced Suelo that the story of his life had resonance in this world of over-consumption and stress. Suelo allowed Sundeen into his world for several months, agreeing to the book project in a manner reflective of his all-or-nothing approach to life...  not a thing would be held back, all the chapters of his life would be wide open, including the painful ones. 

Struggling with faith in a deeply religious family, and reluctantly coming to terms with being gay, Suelo fought the conventional world, always feeling unfulfilled and incomplete, until one day he reached the breaking point, and drove his car off a cliff on the road to Mt. Evans. Having searched throughout the world for his spiritual “center” and failing in his attempt to end his life, Suelo made the very conscious choice to end his dependence on money, meticulously paying off all debts, until, in the ultimate terminal act, he left his final thirty dollars in a phone booth and headed out into the deserts of Moab, Utah.

Like Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, which details Chris McCandless’s own journey of enlightenment, The Man Who Quit Money deftly integrates the before-and-after aspects of Daniel Suelo’s life, clarifying a trajectory that seems inevitable. Living each moment consciously, guided by self-imposed rules of conduct--refusing charity, owning nothing but the clothes on his back and items found while dumpster-diving--Suelo thrives on what the rest of humanity discards. The basic process of living becomes deliberate and meaningful, something many modern people have lost. 

Whether admiring of or critical of Suelo’s chosen lifestyle, one cannot help but be fascinated by the conscious nature of his decision to live without money. The Man Who Quit Money is not just about a life without cash to purchase creature comforts, rather it is a respectful homage to a culture that used to be the norm. Like Chris McCandless before him, Daniel Suelo has managed to live life close to the bone, but unlike the unlucky youth documented in Krakauer’s book, Daniel Suelo continues the experiment, with no signs of giving up. Taking even a page from his well-worn book might just save us all from ourselves in this rat race we call life.

~Karina

Review: Seraphina

           Seraphina, a YA fantasy novel by Rachel Hartman was a book I had been looking forward to for months, one that I might have done anything to get. Of course I bought it the moment it came out. Because of my hype, if Seraphina turned out to be even a hair below expectations... well, the result would not be pretty. Thankfully, Rachel Hartman did not fail me. The book was very, very good, and thank goodness, or I might have broken something.
        Seraphina follows a talented musician named Seraphina Dombegh, a girl with a secret. In a world where dragons take human shape, and live with humans in uneasy truce, Seraphina has a foot in both worlds, and no one can know.
        The world-building in this book is fantastic. The dragons were unique and amazing, the city felt alive and the history was believable. However, what really stuck out about this book was Phina herself. I loved her. I really did. She was smart, brave and talented. But also terribly lonely and distrustful (for good reason!). She was believable and lovable, and I would have followed her to the ends of the earth.
        Wonderful side characters abound, some of my favorites being Orma, Lars and Glisselda, and no one is in the slightest way one dimensional, friend or foe.
        There is an adorable and clean romance between Seraphina and Lucian Kiggs, captain of the guard, which was very believable and sweet. It was also refreshing that the romance was not the only point of the book, merely a wonderful sort of side plot, because so many YA books fall into the sappy romance trap, foregoing all aspects of plot.
       Ultimately, Seraphina is a book that celebrates love. Love for family, a craft, friends, a country, the kind of love that is pure and overpowering. Love is not a disease.
Seraphina was a five star of book for me. Combine awesome world building, wit and humor, powerful characters and concepts and some good old fashioned intrigue, and you have one awesome book on your hands. Thank you, Rachel Hartman.
~Tessa

Review--Violence 101

    What makes some people violent and others not? Is it nature or nurture that determines the tendency to inflict pain on others? Interesting topic, certainly, and one that could form the backbone for a fascinating novel--or NOT--in the case of Violence 101, New Zealand author, Denis Wright's take on the subject of violence in youth.
     Presented as a series of journal entries by rebellious, smart, and yes, violent teen, Hamish Graham, Violence 101 is a shallow attempt to study a youngster who has chosen a path of violence... and in some cases extremely graphic and disturbing violence. With rare moments of complexity, the story revolves around a boy who is completely aware of his violent tendencies, and who revels in them, making the journal entries a narcissistic romp through the kid's self-centered imaginings.
   The boy, Hamish Graham glorifies war, finds everyone else around him to be stupid, and has delusions of grandeur that are lamely destroyed as the story comes to a climax. The resolution of the narrative is flat and uninspiring, and I felt no compulsion to pity or even to understand the boy, which I think was the intended point. I disliked him at the beginning and I disliked him at the end. Final word--I disliked the book!
~Karina