Written by Jonathan Tropper
Goodreads Synopsis: The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family--including Judd's mother, brothers, and sister--have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd's wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd's radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.
Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch's dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.
As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it's a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd's father died: she's pregnant.
My Confession: I was first drawn to this book because of the cover. It's not just colorful--it's textured. I'm all for tactile stimulation (which is perhaps why I'll never warm up completely to ebooks), so the sensation of this book in my hands felt about as authentically literary as you can get. Before I even read the summary on the back, I was sold. And once I cracked the pages, I was hooked. Tropper has one of the most fantastic literary voices I've ever read. He's witty, sardonic, self-deprecating, wry, and intuitive, and because of this, he draws us in to his multi-faceted character and the complicated, tangled mess that is his life. After the first page, I was invested. That kind of writing takes incredible skill.
Sitting Shiva: This book, structurally, takes place over seven days, but we're treated to Judd's romantic, scholastic, and familial history throughout the novel. We're thrown so deeply into his head that we feel his fears, his desires. His betrayals are our betrayals, his depression our own. I don't think this story could have been as moving without the first-person narration. Seeing the other characters through the filter of Judd's memories and experiences paints a fulfilling picture. In other words, I didn't need to know their side of the story; I knew and trusted my narrator enough to take his descriptions at face value. Again, a very difficult feat that Tropper does easily. Judd is such an incredibly flawed character, and his family is positively certifiable. What goes down during those seven days (and the past thirty-something years that lead up to the family sitting Shiva) proves the point that relationships, love, and--most importantly, memories--are imperfect. As Judd tries to work through the quicksand of despair that seems to come at him from all angles, he's forced to confront decades-long resentment and guilt. Most importantly, the reader is left with the notion that silence, and a lack of trust in those closest to you, never bodes well. Silence is not golden.
My Recommendation: Every single character in this novel is flawed. Every single one seems to have a secret, a battle, a cross to bear in some way. The way they're tied together makes for one insanely intricate novel. However, the pieces click together impossibly well, and the reader feels just as connected to those characters as Judd does. In fact, in the middle of this read, I felt like I had to physically pull myself out of Judd's skin when I'd put the book down--and I'm a girl. For the first time, I felt like I could relate to and understand a male narrator who, while a bit more dramatic, had worries, fears and doubts not unlike my own. My family is a lot less dysfunctional, but every family has problems somewhere. This is Where I Leave You doesn't bother to romanticize the kinds of relationships most people simultaneously treasure and long for. And that's precisely what makes it so special.
Rating: 4.8/5
339 pages, published by Dutton Adult (Aug. 6, 2009)
Written by Claudia Gray
Goodreads Synopsis: She's been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerily Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.
Then she meets Lucas. He's not the "Evernight" type either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful--even when it comes to caring about him.
But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart...and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.
[WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW. It's almost impossible to review this book without revealing some of the major plot points. If you don't want to know, please don't read any further.]
My Confession: Sigh. I wanted to like this book. I really, really did. Despite the clear indications of THIS IS A VAMPIRE BOOK, I wanted to give it a fair shot. Maybe I was bored. Maybe I just wanted to read something that made this supernatural craze seem remotely okay. And to give this book credit, there were quite a few unexpected twists and unforseen turns. The problem with these little tidbits? They came out of left field, in the middle of the book, and made me feel like I'd been lied to for a hundred plus pages.
Newsflash: Bianca's the vampire. WOAH, WOAH, WOAH. Have to tell you, I did not see that coming. Probably because for the first half of the book, you get the feeling everyone around Bianca (including Lucas) is a vampire, not her. When she unexpectedly bites Lucas, causing him to black out, I initially thought that she herself didn't know that she was a vampire.
Wrong again.
She knew all along. Her parents were vampires who miraculously conceived Bianca after a couple hundred years together. Apparently, this is an extremely rare occurrence, and because Bianca was born a vampire, instead of being made into one like everyone else, she's not fully a vampire until she kills someone. How lovely.
On top of this, everyone, seemingly, was a vampire. Except Lucas, who is human. And, wait for it--a vampire hunter. Yeah, didn't see that one coming. Oy.
Here's my problem. Why wasn't it obvious that Bianca was a vampire all along? I felt tricked and mislead by her whining of not belonging at Evernight, when she so clearly does. Once the audience is made privy to this information, all of a sudden everyone's drinking blood and revealing their true ages, which of course, number in the hundreds. This could have been subtly hinted at throughout the book, but instead, it hits you like a punch in the gut, and then the rest of the book just never sat quite right with me.
The Romance: Hate to say it, but I was not feeling it. In the beginning, when Bianca and Lucas first met, there was something sweet and genuine about their relationship. It didn't seem forced or weird, and I didn't feel like the author was hastening emotions that would take time to progress. However, right around the time when we find out that Bianca is a vampire, we also see an odd shift in Bianca and Lucas' relationship. Mainly, I stopped beliving it. Completely. It's stated that since Bianca bit Lucas, a part of her remains inside him, and he will be forever drawn to her as a result. Because of this, I couldn't get behind his ridiculous and downright stupid proclamations of love that happened after the incident. He comes across like he's under a spell, and that weakens any genuine romance you hope to pull off. It just stopped feeling real. And that was disappointing.
Besides that, when we're introduced to Bianca, we're told that she's horribly shy and never opens up to anyone; that's one of the reasons her initial comfort around Lucas seems so special. But not once do we see her acting shy. Not in class, not around her roommate, not around anyone. She seemed perfectly normal, maybe even outgoing. It made her character feel inconsistent and added to my distrust of the story and the feeling that I'd been strung along and ultimately played.
Recommendation: Eh. It's the first book in a four-book series, so it may lack cohesiveness for that reason. The fact that, for once, the vampire is female and doesn't totally pull the "I'm dangerous, stay away from me" routine is different and worth checking out if you're a fan of these supernatural romances. Personally, since I don't buy the relationship or chemistry between Lucas and Bianca, I'd have a hard time picking up the second book and investing in a series that has a rocky foundation. I just wish I hadn't been so blindsided by the plot. The idea had potential.
Rating: 2/5
327 pages, published by HarperTeen (May 1, 2008)
