Book Review: Chopsticks

This book stood out to me. I was visiting the library and noticed a book that was rather big on the shelf. This book stood twice the size of any other book sitting on the shelf. It was in the fiction section, so it instantly peaked my interest. 

This is a novel for visual people. A story told me photographs, postcards and IM messaging.

When you first look at the cover, what do you think it's going to be about? Well, for me I thought it was going to be your usual girl meets boy, yada, yada, yada. But Chopsticks is so much more than that. You see, depending on how you interpret the novel, it could actually tell two different stories. It could tell the simple contemporary story of sixteen-year-old Gloria "Glory" Fleming, a piano prodigy, who falls in love with Francisco Mendoza, a boy who becomes her escape from her stressful life. Sounds fluffy, right? Well, it can also tell the deep and dark story of a lonely, broken, child star pushed so hard to perform to perfection that she slowly loses her mind, causing you to question everything you see in the book or thought you saw. Do I have your attention yet?

Chopsticks is simply brilliant. The amount of time and skill it took to arrange the photos to tell this mind-bending story is commendable. The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" definitely fits the bill here because there are hardly any narrative text in the book, yet I felt a very strong connection to the characters. This book really doesn't need the extra words. Instead, the reader must follow the pictures of Francisco's drawings, Glory's concert programs, family photos, letters and images of household belongings. Chopsticks is very intimate in that way because it feels like you've been peeping into someone else's life for eighteen months in only 272 pages. It's the kind of book that you could zip through in thirty minutes, but by the ending it'll make you go back and re-read it more slowly. It's that easy to miss something.

There are a few pages that offers playlists of songs that the teens have arranged for each other. I went as far as playing the songs on their lists to really get into the vibe of this book. 

I went out on a limb with Chopsticks and I'm so happy I did. It took me on what I thought would be a simple fun read to an involved story that I couldn't stop thinking about after I finished. I know I could read again and still have a healthy appreciation for the complexity of the story. So, if you are a visual person like myself and you're looking for something totally different from your usual fair, Chopsticks may be the book you've been looking for.

Book Review: Falling Kingdoms

We were cruising down the road the other evening and I told my husband that it is that time of year again -- the candy tax season. The kids are collecting buckets of Halloween candy and I feel I could dive into it and eat it all up.

And that is how I feel about my most recent read: Falling Kingdoms. 

I failed to snap a picture of the book // book cover while I had it -- and sadly, returned it to the library. But I somehow managed to document pictures of my kids returning our library loot. 

Hopefully one day soon, I'll have a really wicked bookshelf to photograph. 

Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1) 

War is coming. In a land divided into three kingdoms, old resentments ignite when a young lord slays a merchant boy of the neighboring and long-oppressed Paelsia. Hungry for justice and power, northernmost kingdom Limeros allies with Paelsia, and both swear to bring the extravagantly wealth southernmost kingdom, Auranos, to its knees.

But feuding kingdoms are only the backdrop for the personal journeys of the young people whose lives are upended by the conflict. Princess Cleo of Auranos struggles to be a perfect princess, but her headstrong will to secure safety and happiness for herself and her loved ones thwarts her efforts. Jonas of Paelsia loses his brother to an arrogant young lord and vows to seek vengeance for him. Princess Lucia of Limeros conceals a dangerous secret from her family. Her brother, Prince Magnus, yearns to prove himself to his formidable father and tries to suppress his love for someone he cannot have.

Falling Kingdoms is told from the alternating perspectives of these four characters. Occasionally, a chapter follows the mysterious spirit Ioannes, who surveys the activities of select humans through the eyes of hawks. His appearances read as setup for the novel’s planned sequels, which are sure to delve more deeply into the mythology established in this volume. Suffice it to say that the world of the three kingdoms used to be one kingdom in which elemental magic was practiced, but a conflict between goddesses led to the scattering of the elementia, gems essential for the mastery of such magic, and the possibility of such power began to fade from the dividing world.

The strength of this book lies in its often morally ambiguous characters and plot twists. It gives the reader plenty of opportunities to pick sides, and the choice is never entirely straightforward. Who will win the war? Who should win the war? Should Cleo fall in love with the arrogant nobleman, the chivalric guard or her loyal best friend? Perhaps even the Paelsian rebel? The surly Prince of Limeros. 

I feel that Falling Kingdoms is compared to George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, more commonly known as “Game of Thrones,” the title of the television series based on the books, because they share similar plot goals. Making me feel Falling Kingdoms is honestly a bit unoriginal. 

While FALLING KINGDOMS has a narrower scope, focuses almost exclusively on teenage protagonists and involves a much heartier helping of romance, the comparisons are not entirely unfounded. Both Rhodes and Martin are unflinching in their willingness to kill even the characters you thought were the safest. Both achieve their shining moments in their portrayals of morally ambiguous characters. (The chapters featuring Magnus, the angry and tortured Prince of Limeros, are consistently the most engrossing because the reader cannot quite decide how to feel about him.) Further, Rhodes’ and Martin’s high fantasy stories include the return of magic, scheming witchy advisors and royal incest. 

Obviously my love for Game of Thrones is stronger here. I feel the Fire and Ice series is untouchable on my favorite list. George R. R. Martin's writing techniques are more serious, adult novels and truly embraces fantasy. It's one of my flaws with Falling Kingdoms. The language of the book sometimes sounds too modern for the Middle Ages-esque setting of most high fantasy novels and occasionally makes reference to cultural touchstones of European origin. In one such moment, a character says, “My kingdom for a handkerchief,” a play on a famous line from Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” which the inhabitants of Auranos have certainly never seen. Regardless, Rhodes also writes her characters with plenty of passion and forces her readers to feel every longing and betrayal. 

Despite feeling like Rhodes often writes more modern -- and feeling like her high fantasy novel isn't as thick in lore -- feeling like her writing is watered down -- I ate it up like candy. I just couldn't get enough of this series. 

I know Rhodes writing in this story fell flat to a lot of readers and after watching plenty of reviews about the first book - I completely understand why. The writing is a slight turn off to me -- as a twenty-six year old woman -- it is geared for a teenage audience. However it didn't stop me from powering through the book within two days. 

In fact, maybe that is why it made this book so easy to read and made it a guilty pleasure read. Unlike most high fantasy novels, this book was direct and to the point. The book wasn't written at a slow pace and didn't stop to drag out descriptions. It wasn't deep into the lore. 

Sure, I would have loved reading a more serious fantasy novel but I have other series for that. I can always switch over and power through Game of Thrones for a deeper adult story. 

Falling Kingdoms is excellent for what it is. An introduction into a teenage high fantasy novel. 

I think the author tried to place her story up there with George R. R. Martin's novels but that is simply a unattainable goal. I don't think people should even honestly compare the two series because this is a YA series and Game of Thrones is an adult high fantasy series. George R. R. Martin owns that adult fantasy level. Falling Kingdoms should be appreciated for what it is. 

And honestly, it reminded me of my guilty pleasure -- the CW's Reign TV show. 

I ate this book up. I have read so many reviews that were so/so about the first book but I found it fun and easy to read. I dived straight into the world and I'm anxious to power through the series. 

So would I recommend this book to my fantasy loving friends? Yes, I would. 

xoxo,

Tiffany

Book Review: Gotham Academy

A graphic novel about the most prestigious school in Gotham City. But of course, this is Gotham City we are talking about so this school is a bit ... special!

In a prestigious yet creepy school, a bickering alliance of oddball pupils investigate secret passages and strange going on's. These kids may be types but they are not stereotypes, and they move and react with manga-influenced charm.   

The buildings loom and creak in just the way Gotham should, and all the adults are subtly bizarre, except for Gotham's most famous resident. I really loved the creepy - dark - shadows and prep school vibe.

It honestly gave me a Harry Potter vibe.

The novels really surprised me. The intrigued of the past and present mysteries and the monster antics. 

Reading so many graphic novels leaves me wishing I could draw...

Book Review: GHOSTS

To say that Raina Telgemeier is the closest thing to a superstar in the comics industry leaves out the cardinal reason for her well-deserved popularity: her beautifully crafted stories touch on issues that affect every aspect of the soul. In her works readers tackle critical matters of inner humanity, from the tribulations of growing up, to understanding the depths of friendship, to sibling rivalry and reconciliation, and now, accepting the mysterious dimensions of love, culture, and death.

Raina’s latest graphic novel is called Ghosts, and it is a bold departure from the types of stories she has chosen to tell in her in previous works. While Smile and its excellent sequel Sisters are about Raina’s early life and family, and Drama is about the travails of schoolyard romance, Ghosts is something different altogether. While still a whimsically drawn and written book, the themes of Ghosts are manifest in a different tenor. Here, Raina has produced an honest comic that offers a substantive mediation of human existence, incorporating elements of magical realism to consider the nature of cultural identity and reconciliation with lost loved ones. 

At the center of the tale are two sisters named Catrina and Maya. Maya, the younger sister, is afflicted by the debilitating chronic disease cystic fibrosis (which primarily affects the lungs), and because of her condition, her family moves from Southern California to the fictional Northern California coastal haunt of Bahía de la Luna, a town that contains many secrets. In Bahía de la Luna, the Day of the Dead is a major celebration and connection to Mexican heritage is suffused throughout the community (even to those who don’t speak Spanish, like Cat and Maya’s mother). Indeed, not even settled into their new home, Maya and Cat are invited by local boy Carlos to explore the cultural heritage of the town (by going on a ghost tour), which centers around the presence of otherworldly spirits. These aren’t pernicious spirits though, but conduits to a world that was. A world that is yet to be.

Raina’s story is particularly crisp and nuanced. The rapport between Cat and Maya is a sweet one, though clouded by a lingering melancholy. To be sure, Cat is forever worried about her sister’s condition (with good reason), which is exacerbated by Maya’s keen sense of adventure. (At one point, Maya candidly states: “I want to know what happens when you die.”) Maya knows that her life is a difficult one, yet she always looking on the bright side of life, trying to find something to live for. In short order, when Maya is incapacitated by her disease by overeager spirits and is waylaid into a breathing tube, Cat’s inner conscience is racked with guilt: she wasn’t there to protect her sister.

Also at play, though more below the surface, is the role of cultural assimilation. In lesser hands, this topic might have been a portrayed melodramatically, but instead Raina is restrained and mature in her approach, capturing the conflict within Cat as both an adolescent in search of independence as well as protector to her vulnerable sister. Maya, on the other hand, is excited to discover what her heritage truly means. Given the backdrop of her coping with the symptoms of her condition, her eagerness to participate in the Day of the Dead celebrations brings an immediate, lasting poignancy to her character.

Visually, Ghosts is a real treat. Raina’s distinctive art style—bold lines and deceptively simple, yet elegant figures—is paired with an untypical cold palette of composed of azures, grays, and purple hues courtesy of Braden Lamb. The color choices are contextually compelling, lending a subtle portentous air to the vicinity of Bahía de la Luna. Likewise, Raina’s restraint and panel choices are tasteful, often choosing to limit dialogue for maximum optical effect. The ability to slow down the pacing to show off the intricacy of the art can be a challenge, but it works so effortlessly here to enhance the main themes of reconciling the notions of loss, personal reflection, and potential sorrow.

With Ghosts, readers are left with a meaningful, searching graphic novel, one that provokes deep thought afterward. What do the people close to me mean? How will we remember them when/after they pass? How will we keep the flame of their memory alive? There are no easy answers, and every culture has its own. Ghosts constrains its focus by using the Day of the Dead as a mechanism to raise these questions without answering them. And the results are profoundly affecting. Those who have lost loved ones will recognize the emotional impact of the climactic scenes, while those who haven’t can still appreciate their muted poise and dignified air. 

Without a doubt, Ghosts is a worthy addition to a body of work that continues to impress and grow with each new addition to the canon. 

p.s - I bought this for my daughter this past week at book fair - and found myself reading it one evening - and fell in love.

xoxo,
Tiffany