What Have You Done?: A Review of You by Charles Benoit

Title: You
Author: Charles Benoit
Edition: HarperTeen (Hardcover, 2010)
Pages: 223
How I Came by This Book: The author, Charles Benoit, lives in the Rochester area and came into the bookstore that I work at during Banned Books Week. He mentioned that he'd written a YA novel that had been banned for content in Florida and, me being me, I checked it out of my library.

About the Author: Charles Benoit is a former high school teacher and the Edgar Award-nominated author of three adult mystery novels. You is his first book for young-adult readers. His second young-adult novel, Fall from Grace, is out now. He lives in Rochester, New York. You can visit him online at www.charlesbenoit.com.

Synopsis: This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

You're just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase. This can't be happening to you. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?

There had to have been signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them?

Maybe if you can figure out where it all went wrong, you can still make it right. Or is it already too late?

Think fast, Kyle. Time's running out. How did this happen?

In his stunning young-adult debut, Charles Benoit mixes riveting tension with an insightful--and unsettling--portrait of an ordinary teen in a tale that is taut, powerful, and shattering.

Review: The first thing that I notice about the well-dressed man who has just walked into the bookstore is his hat. I'm a girl who loves hats. Hats are kind of my thing. I wear them all the time. Fedoras. Newsboy caps. If I could get away with a beret, I would wear one. I don't think my face is the right shape.

This hat is small and brimmed and I can't help but wonder where he found it. He's just looking around so I decide not to bother him but as he walks up to the front counter he notices I'm reading. In response to his query as to which novel I'm buried in, I tell him that it's Catcher in the Rye and that I really feel as if I should have read it when I was younger because I can't stand Holden Caulfield. I'm reading it for Banned Books Week, I explain. It's really the only reason why I'm reading it. He mentions that he's an author and that his book, You, was banned in Florida. "Oh boy," I think. "A self-promoting author. If I mention I've never heard of him will he be offended?" All I say is that I'll check it out someday, not sure if I really mean it or not. But curiosity catches hold of me and I end up searching out the title of the book at my library a few weeks later. Lo and behold, there it is. "All right," I say to myself, reaching out to grab it off the shelf. "We'll see how this goes."

Read this book. Seriously. Don't even stop to read this review. Okay, do stop to read this review, but only because I took the time to write it. But then go and read this book.

Charles Benoit's novel of teen angst, smirking boys, and personal responsibility for our actions is taut and well-paced. I see that phrase all the time, but I always thought it was one of those things that book reviewers at big magazines and newspapers threw in to make their reviews a little longer. This book is the definition of both "taut" and "well-paced." And "gripping." And about a dozen other overused adjectives that sometimes actually are necessary to describe a novel.

Kyle Chase is a 15-year-old boy who screwed up in middle school and had to go to Midlands instead of the better high school he could have gone to. He's bitter, angry, rebellious, and lost. Oh, and did I mention? He's you. Or, rather, you are him.

The whole novel is told in second person, which gives it a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure flavor. The problem is that the adventure has already been chosen for you. There's no turning back, no changing what is to come for you. You are hurtled through the first semester of your tenth-grade year at breakneck speed as you make one poor decision after another. In the end you will pay for your actions, learning all too late that your teachers were right: you are responsible for yourself and there are repercussions for behaving badly.

Does anyone else remember these? And the fact that you almost always died horribly? Good times.

The great thing about the second person narrative is that you are just as lost and bitter and alone as Kyle. You don't know anything that he doesn't know. You don't know if Ashley likes you back. You don't know what the deal is with the mysterious new kid, Zack. You're learning things right along with Kyle. You are fully immersed in the story like no other novel has immersed you before. (Unless, of course, you've read a second person POV novel before. I haven't, so this was all new to me.) In the end, you are just as shocked about how things have ended up as he is. Even though you, the reader, knew all along that something was coming, you aren't quite prepared for what it is.

Benoit's characters and dialogue are realistic and well done. Being a high school teacher obviously taught him a lot about teenagers because he nails it. All of it. He grabs you, the reader, and pulls you into the psyche of a teenage boy who feels like he could have been you in high school if things had been different. Hell, maybe he was you in high school. The other characters--Zack, Jake the Jock, Ashley, Kyle's friends, teachers, parents--are both recognizable figures from real life and stock characters like those featured in the latest teen move. There's a little bit of both in each of them, which makes for easier story-telling as well as easier immersion into Kyle's world. His attitudes are also recognizable. Anyone below the age of at least thirty who has gone through the public school system will remember having some of those very same thoughts when they were younger. I know I did.

I think my only real issue with the novel is that the foreshadowing is thick and obvious. And yet, just as the synopsis says, "There had to have been signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them?" While the reader will definitely see them, Kyle does not. And he should have. They were blaring at him from everywhere. In the end, he has to learn a hard lesson because he didn't pay attention on the way there. That's the novel's real message: what you are doing is important and can change life for you in ways you never imagined. There are clues all around you as to how your life is going. Look for them. Listen to them. Don't make the same mistakes.

This is a powerful novel, superbly crafted, and well worth the read. Go. Now. Don't hesitate for a moment. Just pick it up and read it. I promise you won't be sorry.

I'm giving You five out of five Gabriels.

-Gabe

Thou Art God: A Review of Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land

Title: Stranger in a Strange Land
Author: Robert Heinlein
Edition: Ace Books (Paperback, 1991)
Pages: 525
How I Came by This Book: Ben from Dead End Follies suggested that I read this book in a comment on my review of Out of the Silent Planet. I obtained it from my library.

About the Author: Robert Anson Heinlein was an American novelist and science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he is one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard science fiction". He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first writer to break into mainstream, general magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, in the late 1940s, with unvarnished science fiction. He was among the first authors of bestselling, novel-length science fiction in the modern, mass-market era. (from Goodreads)


Synopsis: Stranger in a Strange Land, winner of the 1962 Hugo Award, is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth as a true innocent: he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultures or religions. But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de facto owner of the planet Mars. With the irascible popular author Jubal Harshaw to protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love. He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts the fate reserved for all messiahs. (from Amazon.com)

Review: This novel took me ages to read. And by ages, I mean weeks. It's not that it wasn't an enjoyable read or that it was too difficult or anything like that. I just never found time to read it outside of my job at the bookstore. In fact, I didn't make time to read anything the last few weeks. And for that I apologize.

Anyway, Stranger in a Strange Land was originally released in the 1960s as a much shorter book than the one that I read. As Virginia Heinlein states in her introduction to this edition of the book, "This book was so different from what was being sold to the general public, or to the science fiction reading public in 1961 when it was published, that the editors required some cutting and removal of a few scenes that might then have been offensive to public taste." I've never read the original version that was published, so I don't know which scenes they might be, but I can probably guess.

The story revolves around the Man from Mars, Valentine Michael Smith, born to human parents but raised by Martians and brought back to Earth as a young man. He has to learn how to be human and is helped along the way by newspaper columnist Ben Caxton, nurse Jill Boardman, writer/doctor/lawyer Jubal Harshaw, and a cast of strange and quirky characters who all coalesce around the Man from Mars as he changes from a naive but oddly talented man-Martian to a willing and able but hated Messiah.

There was a lot about this book that I liked: the characters were interesting, the dialogue was fascinating, the philosophical questions that were raised made me think. Heinlein often tells the story rather than showing it, which is a bit of a pet peeve for me, but he is a skilled writer who can spin a good yarn. The character development is mostly smooth and believable and the end result, though predictable, is satisfying. All-in-all, this was a good read and one that I would probably pick up again. HOWEVER...

There is a LOT of sexism, homophobia, and misogyny in this novel. Jill's comment about rape being the woman's fault "nine times out of ten" is just the tip of a very large iceberg. You might think that I'd accept the "He was from a different time" argument, but I won't. One of the things that bothers me about science fiction is that these authors are able to envision a world in which space travel is possible or where people can move things with their minds but not one where women are seen as equal and the LGBT community is accepted. Up until recent science fiction television shows like Caprica and Stargate Universe, there were pretty much no real gay or lesbian characters in sci fi. Heinlein's characters create a worldview in which jealousy doesn't exist and to love one is to love all and yet there is still rampant disdain for homosexuality and women. The followers of Michael's church are living in one big naked commune in the end and yet they still hold onto the prevailing attitudes of the day on some issues. Why challenge some notions and not others?

The book covers such topics as human sexuality, love, religion, human nature, and scores of other things that the world's religions and philosophies argue about. It may offend some in its treatment of religion, but for others it may be inspiring. For some it may have no effect at all. It will definitely make you think, however, about the things that you hold dear, the things that you think that you "grok".

I'm giving Stranger in a Strange Land 4 out of 5 Gabriels. It loses half a Gabriel for the sometimes tedious storytelling that could have been solved by showing not telling and it loses another half of a Gabriel for it's ideas on women and homosexuality. Definitely an interesting book, but sometimes it will make you want to throw it across the room.

-Gabe

Seeking a Great Perhaps: A Review of John Green's Looking for Alaska

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Edition: Paperback (Speak, 2005)
Pages: 221
How I Came by This Book: Beth, one of the students who works at my library, knew that I was looking for books to read for my blog last year. She handed this to me in November along with a few other books (that I didn't end up reading).

About the Author: John Green's favorite last words are those of Oscar Wilde. Dying in a garishly decorated hotel room, Wilde turned to a friend and said, "Either this wallpaper goes--or I do." He is a New York Times best-selling author who has received numerous awards, including both the Printz Medal and a Printz Medal and a Printz Honor. John is also the co-creator [with his brother, Hank] of the popular video blog Brotherhood 2.0, which has been watched more than 80 million times by Nerdfighter fans all over the globe. John Green lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Synopsis: Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

Review: The only other taste I've had of John Green was the co-written (with David Levithan) Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I loved that book and, although I didn't know which bits of the book were written by which author, I was anxious to read this when Beth pushed into into my hands last year because I was curious as to what his writing was like on his own. Looking for Alaska is an absolute gem of a novel, one that tickles your funny bone at the same time that it hits you in the gut.

Pudge, Alaska, and the other students at Culver Creek are teens looking to find themselves within the confines of a boarding school. Much like Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Pudge is a disaffected young man, one who loses himself within famous last words as he pines for something better than life. Unlike Holden, however, Pudge eventually finds that life holds much more than just boredom and little annoyances. It holds joy and love, pain and sorrow. He's also a lot more likeable.

The structure of the novel is interesting. The first part of the book is a countdown to an event that will change everything for Pudge and his friends. The second half is akin to tally marks on a prison wall, counting the days since that event. The novel builds up, explodes, and then moves into a satisfying, albeit sad, ending. The structure of the first half of the novel builds up the tension, while that of the last half helps in the healing process...for both the characters and the reader.

Through all of their ups and downs, Green's characters are realistic, funny, and sympathetic. It's fun to watch them develop and touching to see how they deal with what life throws at them. Although they allow themselves to give into the out-of-control desires and pressures of teen life in order to try to seem mature, in the end they are revealed for what they are: young kids who are unprepared for the real world but who are trying their damnedest to pretend that they are.

Looking for Alaska was featured during this year's Banned Book Week because it was "challenged as required reading for Knox County, Tenn. High Schools' Honors and as Advanced Placement outside readings for English II (2012) because of 'inappropriate language.'" It was also banned in Tennessee for being "pornographic." While some people might see this book as being too "mature" for their children, I see it as a window into teen life. I was a teenager once. We swore. We had sex. Some of us smoked or drank. It's a time of exploration for a lot of us and this exploration of what Pudge and his friends think the "adult world" is stands in stark contrast to what they find out the "adult world" is really like. I think that Green's ability to juxtapose teenage naivete with harsh reality is wonderful.

If you haven't yet, go read this novel. I'm giving Looking for Alaska five out of five Gabriels.

-Gabe