When Jeremy goes out of town, I go into survival mode with the kids. I make a big pot of soup and we eat it for lunch and dinner every day he's gone, until it's gone. Sometimes I supplement with frozen waffles. I make sure there's plenty of ice cream in the freezer, in flavors that I like. And I allow a few things that perhaps I otherwise wouldn't, like me reading a book on the couch while the girls go crazy in the living room. It helps if it's a really good book, so the time passes faster.
Well, Jeremy was in Chicago from Thursday to Sunday, and I managed to snag Graceling from the library (without even placing a hold!) to have at home while he was gone. Here's a quick review of the book that gave me a reason to wake up in the morning and face the world while going solo with my two kids for four days. If only I could have made the reading of it last the whole four days, right?
What I liked:
Fantastic, self-contained story, a strong female character, writing that really draws you in, and a compelling mythology. It's a very readable fantasy book, and I liked how it chose realism over dreaminess. Sometimes people in this book were ugly, or dirty, or had messy hair, or snot frozen on their faces. The plot was full of interesting twists that I rarely saw coming, or if I did, it was in the context of, "ooh, it would be so neat if something like [such-and-such] happened next!"
Fantastic, self-contained story, a strong female character, writing that really draws you in, and a compelling mythology. It's a very readable fantasy book, and I liked how it chose realism over dreaminess. Sometimes people in this book were ugly, or dirty, or had messy hair, or snot frozen on their faces. The plot was full of interesting twists that I rarely saw coming, or if I did, it was in the context of, "ooh, it would be so neat if something like [such-and-such] happened next!"
What I didn't like: Sometimes I felt like people were getting upset at the drop of a hat. Like, someone would go storming off the scene and I'd have to flip back the page to see what huge event I missed, only to see that it was really nothing. A certain major scene between the two main characters was confusing to me, but maybe that was my fault.
Also, the strong female character I mentioned above? She doesn't care for marriage. Call me old-fashioned, but MARRIAGE ISN'T THAT BAD. I promise.
What I didn't expect to see in this book (or any YA fiction book, for that matter), but did: herbal birth control tips.
What I did expect to see in this book, but didn't: pages of descriptions on how beautiful and toned and marble-like Edward's Po's chest was.
Unresolved discussion question that I may or may not want to know the answer to: Is Raffin gay?
Certain bits of the plot reminded me of: City of Bones, Twilight, any Shannon Hale book, The Thief/Queen/King of Attolia, Jane Eyre, and - get this - Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.
So yes, this book gets about 4/5 stars from me. If I did decide to give it five stars, it would be with the reservation I alluded to above: why does a strong female character necessarily have to disdain the institution of marriage? I know it's just a book, but still. Give us a feminist character who is not afraid to have a husband and kids, and still kick butt in her discretionary time.
Also, I continue to be confused about what constitutes YA lit these days. The cover art and story description of Graceling are very 10-year-old and up, but parts of the plot are definitely not. It's nothing an older teenager couldn't handle, but I have to wonder if the book's target audience couldn't be expanded and better served by leaving some of that stuff out. It's still a mystery to me.
Has anyone else read this book, and what did you think?