It's Kind Of A Funny Story

Let's start this off saying that I really do like this character and his representation of a depressed person. Craig is decent, annoying as hell--In some aspects anyway, but he's decent. I definitely do not hate his character and I have a pretty good understanding of what he's going through in the book and the place he's it. So, a lot of the things I'm criticizing are purely me just being picky, and slightly annoyed.

Craigh, the main character of this book reminds me a lot of Holden Caufield from Catcher In The Rye. But Craig, unlike Holden, is a likable person. He understands that he needs help and searches for it, Not to say that Holden didn't search for help in his own way...he just entirely failed at accepting the help at hand. Craig isn't really all that much better in a sense though. He believes that he is all better, goes off of his meds, and is seemingly surprised when he feels like he's getting worse and can no longer fight his depression.
And rather than talk to anyone about this (even his therapist who he says that he likes) he decides to hold it all in and begins planning his suicide.

I like Craig personally, and I get that he is obviously not rational, but I can't help but be annoyed at the whole process he went through. I also can't help but be annoyed with the company he keeps. They're very entertaining characters, but they also annoy me considering that they are freshman in high school that differ entirely from the average freshman, at least the ones I was around anyway.
Almost every time I read a scene with them in it all I could think was "My mom would beat my ass over that" or something along the lines of "I wish I would..." This usually only comes up when Aaron is in a scene. Mainly because he smokes at home to the point where his bedroom smells like weed, and I all can think of is his poor parents. Because not only is his dad mentally unstable but his mother has to take care of his father. They have no control over their son. My parents would never permit any of this ever to happen with their knowledge.

Lockpick Pornography

Ok, so I gave this crazy book a chance after my friend shoved it at me during lunch. I'm still unsure of how I feel about certain events but the book itself was great. Each character seemed to have a fatal flaw in the eyes of society, either their gender identity or sexuality. Which drove the entire story --which was a wild ride from start to finish. Although it left many things unresolved I'm so glad that the book ended where it did because I feared for what could/would happen to the characters in the story if it were to have continued. Especially the main character who went nameless throughout the entire book. He was constantly causing mischief and getting himself into potentially life threatening situations, such as kidnapping a homophobic politicians son, breaking into homes of couples and stealing their TVs or anything else he could find, punching a girl in the stomach in public and directly afterwards flirting with her boyfriend. If I knew this person in real life I would be gravely worried about him.

But I did however admire his drive to make the world more accepting through reaching children and teaching them to be better than their parents. Although breaking into a school at night wearing a Velma mask along with Ernie of Sesame St. is probably not the best plan. It did make the news though, getting coverage was the goal so he and his three friends were successful there. I'm still a little worried about he and his friends where the book left off though.

I'd like to know if Richard and Alex's probably illegal relationship crashed in flames or if they survived (Alex was a senior in high school, 17, while Richard worked for a cable company...I'm assuming he's much older than Alex). Considering that and how none of the characters believed in monogamy and the main character constantly saying that Richard was getting too attached to Alex I don't think that they would have lasted. Especially knowing that Richard and the protagonist had a relationship that teetered along the line of platonic and romantic constantly and gave the impression that the protagonist was a bit jealous of Alex and even a little jealous of them.

Little Bee Pt. 2

Little Bee was overall a great book. It was well written, the characters were all developed with issues that you could read into as much or as little as you wanted (even the minor characters). But I still have an immense issue with the ending of this book. I understand that not everyone gets a happy ending...but this was so much of a stretch that I couldn’t get a handle on it.

Everything was going so smoothly that the ending was just such a shock...but it all had a delayed reaction. Little Bee herself was seeking out the positive despite her situation and almost certain death after being captured. The whole scene shifted focus from the actual conflict to Charlie who Little Bee  basically gave her life to save (I’m assuming that she would have been killed knowing what happened to her sister when they were first captured). With Little Bee focusing on Charlie running free with all of the other children it was hard to even realize that she was being detained at the time.

The distraction itself was so stunning that I was still in the world of the book and what had happened to the character that I had grown so attached to was in the back of my mind. I was so proud of Charlie, taking off his Batman suit that I could hardly be sad for Little Bee until after I closed the book.

Of course much more happened before I got to the end of the book, but I was so rattled by the ending that so many of the steps taken to get to it are a blur. Just as they must have been for Little Bee, Charlie going missing, finding him, being interviewed by the police and attempting to run away, meeting Sarah and Charlie on her plane back to Nigeria. All a blur, important steps but so hard to remember when something so important and motion stopping happens, nothing else seems to matter. Even Little Bee’s imminent death.

Little Bee

I just started Little Bee by Chris Cleave this week and let me tell you... By the end of the very first sentence I was hooked and my heart was broken for the character who was narrating at that point in time. What was this miraculous first sentence that could cause me to have such a reaction you ask? Well here it is, "Most days I wish I was a British Pound coin instead of an African girl".
My first reaction was sadness, because I can relate on some levels.  But then I got to thinking... why a British pound coin? Why not something else more...grand, something sprawling that everyone longs for rather than something fairly attainable? Of course Little Bee answered this in the very next paragraph but it still strikes me that it never even occurred to her to want to be something more, all she wants is to be free to come and go as she pleases.
(Mind you all of this takes place on only the first two pages)

Now halfway through the book, Little Bee's simplicity still astounds me. I understand her more now that I know how and why she had to come to Britain, seeing as shes's just grateful to simply be breathing. But I still am not sure as to how she maintains the likeness of a child while still being wise beyond her years. She is only sixteen, which was just mentioned in passing in some dialogue, yet she seems even more mature than the only leading adult in the book. Maybe it's because she has a morbid understanding of the world being an orphan with no family left to reach out for, or her entire village being killed. Even in the moment of her meeting Sarah (the woman whose perspective the book is shared with) she still seemed to be more mature than the editor/owner of her own publication and mother of a four year old.

I'd say exactly what makes Sarah seem...immature in the moment on the beach where she and Little Bee met. But that would take away from the build up for almost half of the book. I will however give an example of her not being able to handle her own child.

"'Oh god,' she said. 'Poor Charlie, I don't know what to do.'

Now, given her husband had committed suicide just a little over a week before this and her son is crying for his father...well she does have some space to not know how to handle things. Sarah does however know what doesn't work with her son beforehand and her methods of comforting him now were not exactly consistent. However, Little Bee is able to calm Charlie possibly from her own understanding  of loss and still being a child herself. But rather than getting upset too the way Sarah does, she stays calm when she goes to calm Charlie herself.

Little Bee and Sarah could not be anymore different, but they are linked by the day they met on the beach in Nigeria along with the events that followed after it.

Okay, that's all for now.

A Wish and a Prayer

I just started this book and I'm honestly a bit confused by the structure. It started out in the point of Ms. Bernadine's view speaking to a foster child;s birth mother. Of course when she leaves said child is introduced and you learn that Ms. Bernadine scooped him up and brought him back to the town that she owns, giving him to a couple there to raise him. It's then revealed that this is something Bernadine just does, the town is full of foster children and each of them so far has met their birth parents with her working her magic, but it seems that this foster child, Brian/Preston, won't have that opportunity.

Anyways, after learning about what Preston's home life is like with his foster parents the point of view breaks into another character. It leaves from him to a man in the restaurant that Preston had gotten lunch from, it was a smooth transition but still a bit startling. especially because the Author wasted no time to tell exactly who this new character was and his business in the small 'hardship black town'. I'm guessing that he has an important role though along with every character introduced since the town is said to be made up of no more than sixty people. I think it’s especially so for this character because he is a teacher who moved to the town with his teenage son after his wife died, it’s also implied that he is the only white resident in this town too-- aside from his son. So, I’m guessing that he’ll play an important role. But yet again the author threw me through a loop, because the focal point seems to be Preston getting in touch with his birth mother. But the majority of introduction of Jack, the teacher, was focused on his crush on a waitress and a local restaurant. And when the point of view changed yet again to the waitress he had a crush on, her weak points were introduced straight away. Her reasoning for rejecting Jack’s advances were introduced straight away too, it left nothing to think about while reading. Going back I do have some questions but it seems that they’ll be answered very quickly if the pattern continues.

I’m just hoping that the book stays focused on Preston because his issues and faults seem a lot more interesting than that of the other characters I’ve met so far.

The Last Child

At the very beginning of the book Johnny set off to find a bald eagle simply to get a single feather. He ended up with the whole bird, dead in his backpack, with talon punctures deep in his forearm. Later on after he's witnessed a man's murder he leaves his bike with the police officers at the crime scene. One of the officers who is a quarter Cherokee takes notice to the large eagle feathers that Johnny had tied onto his bike, he tells the detective in charge of the case what meaning that the feathers had to his grandfather who actively participated in the culture. He said that the feathers were ones that only a leader would have which seemed very fitting for Johnny.
He is a kid that completely follows his own path ever since his twin sister was kidnapped. And even when told that he shouldn't do something if he feels in his gut that it's the right thing or something he needs to do he does it. Even if he has to do it alone, he at least creates a path for others to follow suit. Specifically the detective who worked on his sister's case, though Alyssa has yet to be found Johnny goes door to door to ask people recounts of the day she was kidnapped as well as anything that they noticed was off in the neighborhood. So, when another kidnapping happens he makes it a point to be on high alert in hopes that he can find his sister again. Which inspires Detective Hunt to keep out a very dim flicker of hope himself.
Johnny keeps Detective Hunt on edge though, entertained but also on edge. After being escorted back to his house Johnny sneaks out, drives his mother's car -mind you, he's thirteen- to her abusive boyfriend's house and throws a rock through his front window. Apparently the third time that month too, but he'd never gotten caught, at least not with Hunt keeping an eye out for him. But hunt states that he's not quite sure what to do with Johnny, or what would happen if he were to get caught. He's already gotten strikes against him since he hardly ever attends school, that and his mother's unstable mental state. Johnny's well being is always a concern of Hunt's thanks to all of these factors along with Johnny's father walking out on them and the unrealistic hope he has that his sister is still alive. Despite what anyone say's, especially Hunt, Johnny keeps at his hope and the little bit that he can defend himself from his mother's abusive boyfriend.

The Last Child

Johnny is thirteen and before his twin sister was kidnapped he seemed to have a pretty normal life.
He lived with both of their parents in a four bedroom home where none of them expected to ever leave. But when Alyssa was grabbed off of the side of the road while walking home everything in ther worlds changed.
Johnny's family fell apart. His father left for Michigan a month later feeling guilty over Alyssa's kidnapping. He blamed himself thinking that ha could have just saved her had he picked her up from school, but he stayed late at work instead. What I thought was interesting after he left was his mother's reaction. It's stated multiple times that Johnny and Alyssa looked exactly alike and that Johnny had not changed at all since they last saw his sister. But it was never mentioned that it was hard for either of his parents to be around him because of this.
That and there is no guild mentioned that his mother harbors. It's only known that she starts going into a depression, dates an abusive guy her husband used to work with, gets into hard drugs, and begins to neglect Johnny. She also allows said boyfriend to abuse Johnny however he pleases to the point when Johnny's only friend is used to seeing new bruises on him whenever they occur. She becomes completely detached to her son and yet he still takes care of her.
He teaches himself how to drive their car in order to stock the house with food, he makes her breakfast each morning, he makes sure that she hasn't overdosed on anything each morning too, despite her neglecting him he still cares about her like she were the mother he had before the incident. It's especially strange to see that he doesn't want to go to his father, he doesn't blame him for leaving but he never even thinks of leaving to go to him. He often refuses help from the police officer working on his sister's case too, simply because he wants to protect his mother. He feels like he is the only person who can keep her safe, especially from her boyfriend. But she is said to have given up on life, she doesn't care what has happened to her or what happens to her.
Johnny's mother is all that he has to cling onto, to at least remind him of the normalcy of their lives before Alyssa was kidnapped. She is painted to be a terrible mother that let grief completely take over her life, but she's also her child's safety blanket.