Impressions
These should probably be videos, but I don’t have the time to edit videos currently… so here are some things I’ve read lately!
I’ve decided to leave off ratings of books for this blog. This book wasn’t entirely to my taste, but since I am currently working on a Romeo and Juliet twist on a story, I thought I’d read this. It was interesting to see the different characterizations of characters I’m getting to know in my own draft. One of the things that always ends up confusing me jumping from my versions of the characters to others is that Rosaline is not lesbian and Mercutio is not pansexual. It always creates a confused response internally. In order to write those two characters appropriately, I am extra conscious of how I portray them in scenes. I didn’t like the twist in the story much, to be honest, but I also didn’t like the other story it’s referencing. For spoiler’s sake, let’s just say that Romeo and Juliet is not the only story in the public domain this book pulled from.
I decided to read this book next because of a post about librarians in a book group I’m in. A child wanted to read Stephen King and the librarian lead him to this series instead because it’s more age-appropriate. The name sounded familiar and I realized he’s the co-author of Animorphs, one of my favorite childhood series. Knowing that Animorphs didn’t pull any punches in the narrative or text, I went straight to Libby to see if any libraries had books in stock. Thankfully, one did without a waiting period.
Did I enjoy this book? Somewhat. I enjoyed the beginning mystery and tension. But there were two big, horrible, things that ended up creating a bitter taste in my mouth that couldn’t be cleansed. For the most part, characters are black and white. The good guys side with reluctant leader Sam and the bad guys side with egomaniac Caine. Sam’s best friend, Quinn, makes several racist slurs towards a Latino character, Edilio. Edilio is from Honduras. Characters constantly call him Mexican. There is no narrative pushback to these slurs. After Quinn makes a racial slur, the only thing Sam is upset about is the possible tension that could break up the group. Not that, you know, your best friend is racist? Shortly after, Quinn joins the bad guys faction and that made it a little better, but by the end Quinn is back on team good guys. The way Edilio is described is something that, in hindsight, seems to be an unconscious prejudice by the author: he is smaller than the protagonist, almost girlier looking, but he’s good at manual labor and he knows mechanical things but isn’t too book smart. Marco from Animorphs, a half-Mexican like myself, was described as short and smaller than Jake, almost girly looking. I haven’t read other books by Grant, so I’m not sure if all Latino/Hispanic boys are portrayed the same in his universe, but it’s weird it happened twice, no?
By contrast, the portrayal of the non-verbal autistic character is poor and he is constantly called the r-slur by the bad guys. At least there is narrative pushback to using that particular slur by the good guys. There’s also a few questionable descriptions of black and Chinese characters. Animorphs did not have the same issues, so I wonder if Kathryn Applegate had more responsibility in writing the books, or at least oversaw the final manuscripts.
This is something I am more sensitive to because I feel like Latino and Hispanic characters often get left behind in the progressive sphere of calling out racism. Maybe it’s because we’re not a monolith of culture and color. Maybe it’s because we have a different language associated with us so there’s an eternal barrier.
By the end, the mystery that intrigued me and the tension had mostly left once it became clear that Sam had plot armor. There’s only so much maiming and getting pelted in the head with metal bats that I can withstand my disbelief. I will probably read summaries of the next books to see how the overall mystery is solved but I can’t see myself reading the other books in the series. Hopefully, Edilio, Pete, and the other minority characters get better spotlights in the next books.
This book’s premise screamed Desi: A cozy hole-in-the-wall coffee shop has a special secret: it can send people back in time.
Sadly, it was not for me. After the first story, I dropped the book.
Currently Reading
This is the book I’m currently reading. 🙂 So far, it is well-written with great atmosphere and tension. I hope it will be a good read!
The other book I am currently reading. I do read a lot of YA, partially because I write it and partially because I intend to become a youth services librarian. There are certain stories that can only be told through a youth’s perspective. And, I admit, I do like that most of the YA I read don’t have any adult content. It seems like every book for adults has to have a sex scene that ranges from poorly written to unnecessary.
I am enjoying the world and characters three chapters in. I hope to have a positive impression next post!
And lastly, one more book to spotlight, something that is on my TBR:
A woman in her 60s goes on an epic fantasy adventure? Sounds interesting!
You read quite a few books recently. I also read Before the Coffee Gets Cold. It is a translation from Japanese, and I felt that some of the sentences sounded awkward in English. There’s multiple short stories in the book that add onto each other. Unfortunately, the first one is the worst one. The first few characters were unlikable and I can’t blame you for dropping it. But I did read the rest.
The story continues, characters are more like able, with more themes of family. The story and characters remain simple. I found it to be cute and appreciated that I could easily see the story structure, and it did not need to be bloated or overly complex to tell the story.