Children's Book: Wonder

Today I would like to give the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio center stage in my blog.

                                                     

Wonder is an amazing book about ten year old Auggie Pullman in his first year of public school.

Auggie is like every other ten year old boy: he enjoys Star Wars, Xbox, and playing with his friends. There is only one thing that keeps Auggie from being 'normal,' and that's his severe facial deformity
(similar to Treacher Collins Syndrome).

5th grade is going to be Auggie's first year not being home schooled. As he branches out of his comfort zone, his life yo-yo's between joy and struggle. As Auggie endures the hard times, he grows and learns, and those around him are able to grow and learn as well.

What is so amazing about Wonder is that it it so normal. The actions and reactions, the thoughts and dialog of the characters, are all very real. They don't cheapen the story with unneeded theatrics, or attempt to manipulate our emotions, it is simply written so that we can understand this close family and the good people around them.

Many books that try to deal with issues of this nature tend to become melodramatic and unrealistic. Wonder manages to capture feelings in a way that everyone can relate to. I know that as I read, while I've never had a craniofacial deformity, the things that made Auggie cry were things that have made me cry, and the way he handles life as a ten year old is how I handled life as a ten year old. I have never been in a situation like Auggie's sister Via, but I have felt like Via. I've never been the parent of struggling children, but I could empathize with the strain of the loving parents in this book who are doing their best.

We don't only see from Auggie's eyes in this book. We are able to see through his sister's eyes, and some of his friends' as well. In fact, one of the thing's that I love is how focused on perspective this whole read is. I don't know for certain, but I believe that that's why in all of the pictures, on the jacket and on the inside of the book, everyone only has one eye. To me it symbolizes that everyone only has one part of the whole, one perspective unique to them.

It would be so easy to make a book like this and have it be negative; I was afraid when I picked it up that it would be too sad for me; I was pleasantly surprised. While it did tug on my heartstrings in an empathetic way, it was overall very positive and uplifting. When I was finished I had a whole new understanding of life through another's eyes.

Some quotes from Wonder:

"Your deeds are your monuments."-inscribed on tomb

"Always be kinder than is necessary."-J.M. Barrie

"Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world."-Auggie Pullman

If you want an easy, sweet, sentimental read, I suggest trying Wonder. It left me feeling bot warm inside and thoughtful, which to me is the fruits of a good book.

Young Adult Fiction: 45 Pounds (More or Less)

Ann Galardi is a size 17 teen, and I introduce her this way only because, as far as Ann can tell, it's her size that defines who she is.

It doesn't help that Ann's perfect mother is a perfect size 6, and often says things like, "I'm so fat!" and refers to herself as a cow. Her mom is also a compulsive tag checker. When Ann goes to try on something that is actually her size, her mother's response after seeing its tag is, "You're not a seventeen! That thing is huge!" With comments like that flying around all of the time, it's no wonder that Ann makes sure to always cut off the size tags on all of her clothes; after all, if her mom thinks herself a cow at size 6, what does that make Ann at size 17?

Ann is a classic stress eater, which is a major problem for a teen with lots to be stressed about.

Home is tough for Ann because her parents are split, her brother has moved away, and her dad takes a minimal interest in her. Not to mention, both parents are remarried and have new "better" children with their new "better" spouses. Ann doesn't feel like she even fits into her own family anymore.

School is tough because Ann's best and only friend moved to a new school and hangs with a different crowd now. The rather rough, drinking, dare I say vapid crowd is not one in which Ann fits. As a teenager, it seems that she's doomed to not fit anywhere, except maybe at her grandma's house, but what teen wants to only fit in with grandma? Whenever Ann starts to feel the pain of life she eats, and whenever she feels bad about the amount that she eats, she eats even more in an ever repeating cycle of self-loathing and pizza.

When Ann's Aunt Jackie asks Ann to be her bridesmaid, Ann makes a resolution: She's going to lose 45 pounds (more or less) in time for the wedding.

Ann's done it all before, the infomercial diets, the magazine diets, the crazy mom monitoring her food diets, but she's never been able to stick with it for long. This time she knows she'll do it for real. Ann starts exercising, she monitors her own eating, and she even gets a job to pay for her own food. While everything doesn't go as planned, eventually Ann is able to make new friends, come to understand her family, and learn to control her life. It's very funny and, despite the heavy topics and struggles, pretty positive.

I really liked this book. I expected it to be "meh" because most contemporary troubled teen books I've come across do turn out kind of....well, not worth reading.  but the feelings in this book and the issues it brought up were so real that I couldn't help but like it. And Ann, even though she can be a bit of a downer, is a hilarious narrator (which lightened the tough topics tackled here).For instance, here is a scene when Ann gets stuck in a dress in the changing room at the mall:

What I really want to say is, Call 9-1-1 and have them bring the jaws of life to cut me out of here. 

I imagine the call now:
9-1-1 state your emergency. 

We have a girl here trapped in a dress. 

Excuse me? 

Yes, you heard right. A girl trapped in a dress. A fat girl. Trapped in a Snaps! size 3. 

Really? Whatever compelled her to do that? 

That's what everyone will want to know. The operator. The sales staff. The news crews and anchors. Mom. Me. What was I thinking?

Along with being funny, Ann is also very real. I didn't always agree with what Ann thought, but I completely understood why she thought the way she did. While I often have a hard time relating with teenage emotions in books (they tend to be either too extreme or too shallow all of the time) Ann just read as a real person for me. I love being in Ann's head because it takes me back to my own teenage thoughts. In particular, Ann has a way of reasoning a little like this:

I know what I'm doing wrong, I know what I should do to fix it, but when everyone else points it out- I'm suddenly not motivated to change. 

That was totally me in high school, and still is me now sometimes. Ann wants to make changes, but it's hard for her when she's being told to make changes. When Ann begins to diet and exercise she hides it, even though she knows it's what others (namely her mother) want her to do.  Ann has a very real and relatable self consciousness.

I really thought the conclusion was handled well; there were some surprises at the end that I felt were in very good taste and added true depth to the story (and explained a lot about the characters that really fleshed them out). I was worried initially because I thought that there were only two possible endings, one being that Ann would realize it was fine for her to stress eat and be overweight (which I don't like because what Ann was doing was extremely unhealthy), or two, Ann would succeed in being super thin and would magically have a better body image (doubtful considering the weight wasn't the real problem). Neither of those things happen, and I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'll just say the end was executed very very well. There is a strong feeling of progression for many characters in the closing chapters, and the growth in relationships is really what I liked: Ann's mother, her grandma, her step-siblings, and her friends all wrap into a conclusion that really gets the reader thinking and is, like I said before, progressive.

Content Warnings: Some mild language, underage drinking, eating disorders, homosexuality, dysfunctional family relationships

(None of these things are gratuitous or graphic. I feel the subjects are handled well)

Young Adult Fiction: A Monster Calls

First of all, I would like to say that I went into this book thinking I would hate it.

I don't love horror, I don't love sad, and I don't love angst.

A Monster Calls has all of these things...

 ...and I love it.

I've been sitting on this review for a while, but now that I see a movie has come out, I thought I should get a move on and finish it.

I implore book enthusiasts (and even non-enthusiasts!) everywhere to read A Monster Calls before watching the movie.

I'm sure the movie is going to be great. It has an impressive cast and the trailer gave me goosebumps, but please, read the book first!

Like such franchises as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, many people end up watching the movie first and lose the opportunity of engaging the story and discovering the twists with their minds. I'm not sure how to explain that clearly. Imagine you watched a mystery movie. It was really good, and you found out later that it was actually a book. You may want to read the book because the movie was so great, but some of the book is spoiled because you already know what the answer to the mystery is. The book may be heads and tails better than the movie, but you'll never know because all of the suspense is lost. You can still appreciate the book, but you never get that first time discovery back.

The Story in a Nutshell.....

This book is about a 13 year old boy named Conor. He is trying to deal with his mother's terminal illness, his father's unavailability, his grandmother's strong personality, his bully's torment, his nightmare's torture, and finally, his monster's call.

Every night Conor has a monstrous nightmare. On one such night Conor wakes from his night terrors to find a real life monster at his window. This is not Conor's dream monster, but a frighteningly real Yew Tree Being that has come to tell Conor three stories, and then to hear Conor's story. Well, Conor's not having any of that. He's had a much more terrifying monster haunting him in his dreams, and his daily struggle with his family and school make the Yew Monster nothing but a nuisance. Beside's, the Yew Tree Monster can't be real....right?

In the real world, a world without giant taking Yew Trees, Conor is struggling with his mother's imminent death. As she wastes away from what we can only assume is cancer, he is forced to spend more and more time with his grandmother, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship because of their clashing personalities. One thing they do have in common though is their love for Conor's mom.

Conor also has to struggle with his absentee father, who is far more concerned with his new American family than with his lonely son and dying ex-wife. At school Conor feels simultaneously ignored and pitied. In attempting to shield Conor from pain, people almost pretend he doesn't exist. They act as if everything will be okay, which leaves a problem for Conor who knows deep down that it won't. His bully, Harry, is the only one who pays attention to him, and ironically feeds Conor's need to be acknowledged but not pitied. He's one of the few people that bring Conor's inner pain to the surface where it can be seen (it's easier to see physical scars than emotional ones). He also feeds Conor's need to be punished for not believing his mom will live (and for some other feelings, but I won't spoil that here).

The Yew tree continues to come to Conor even though Conor tells him that he doesn't need or want him around. The Tree's stories are twisted and strange, none ending the way one would expect, each questioning the black and white world that we all assume to be true.

Eventually Conor must confront his own truth in order to heal.

My Reaction

While I enjoyed reading this book, I felt strangely unfulfilled at the end. I felt that there had been resolve for everything, but at the same time like it hadn't been enough. I wanted to understand more about the Monster and I wanted to go further into Conor's healing process. I felt that more was implied in the end than was said, and I would have preferred more being said. I definitely felt more closure when I discussed it with other readers. This book really comes to life when poured over with others. The insights some people had were amazing!

Despite my wish for more, I feel that A Monster Calls teaches some powerful lessons. Conor's pain mirrors the pain of many children, young adults, and not so young adults who carry their hurt inside, who feel as if their suffering is invisible to the outside world, and who as a result isolate themselves in their misery.

In my opinion, the last line of this book is one of the best in the history of literature.

Symbols and a Little History

This book was originally thought up by Siobhan Dowd, an English/Irish writer and activist. Siobhan herself had cancer and passed away in 2007 before she could finish writing A Monster Calls. Her publishing company approached Patrick Ness to write it. In his own words:

"She had the characters, a premise, and a beginning. What she didn't have, unfortunately, was time."  

           —Patrick Ness, in the Author's Note to A Monster Calls

Jim Kay's pictures are beautiful, and very symbolic (I'll explain this in the next section). What's even more amazing is that he drew the pictures without being able to get together with the author to collaborate, and yet the art melds with the story and enhances it.

Throughout the book, stories themselves are given a powerful role in life. They teach, and they don't just teach moral platitudes, they teach living. They help people heal. They help people grow. They help people acknowledge the truth. Stories are a part of human nature, and humanity and nature are really what this book is all about.

The great symbol, at least to me, in the story is the Yew Tree. The words used to describe him throughout the novel are "wild," "untamed,"and "mighty." There are others, but the idea is that the monster is a kind of extension of nature, perhaps even a personification of nature itself. When the monster is first introduced he says,

"I am Herne the Hunter! I am Cernunnos! I am the eternal Green Man!...I am this wild earth, come for you, Conor O'Malley."

If you don't know those names, do some research on them. Nature can be brutal, but it's also beautiful. It can be cruel, but it's also caring. Nature is what it is without apology. Nature is life and death and truth.

Yew trees have long been important symbols of life and death. They have an incredible lifespan, some living for thousands of years. Because of this, and because of their durability, they have long been used by various religions as symbols of life, transformation, and rebirth; however,  they are also extremely poisonous. With the exception of its
berries, the entire tree is toxic: the needles, the bark, even the pollen! And as far as the berries go, while they themselves are not toxic, their seeds are poisonous. Not only this, but yew trees thrive on death. They can often be seen in graveyards both because of this and because of their religious symbolism.

In ancient religions yews were sometimes considered potent protectors against evil or gates to the afterlife. In modern times it has been found that while the tree may be deadly, it can also be used to heal. The needles and bark can both be made into drugs that fight breast and ovarian cancer.

All of these things could just be interesting facts, but they add surprising depth and perspective to the Yew Tree Being of A Monster Calls. Siobhan Dowd didn't choose this tree as her conveyor of truth randomly.

Insights on the Pictures and the End. Read This Only After Reading the Book!

*BEYOND THIS POINT THERE BE SERIOUS SPOILERS*

The pictures of A Monster Calls are as important to the story as the words. They are black and white and beautifully done by artist Jim Kaye, but more than just being beautiful, they are wrought with symbolism. Conor sees life in black and white, and often the colors of each page reflect his own views. At first, the pictures are almost pure black and white. The things Conor believes are good are lighter, while the things Conor believes are bad are darker. The Yew monster starts out a pitch shadow and slowly lightens and develops more human features as the story progresses.


With each story that the monster tells, stories, as I've mentioned before, that question the idea of pure black and white truths, Conor's view of the world changes a little. The pictures begin to grey as the weight of the monster's truths sink in to both Conor and the reader.

For me, I originally believed that the twist in the book was that cancer was the real monster in Conor's life, not the Yew tree, but one of my classmates pointed out something interesting. The book is called A Monster Calls, and the only one who called throughout the book is Conor (as made clear in the scene when the Yew Tree Being tells a confused Conor: "You called me"). While I believed that cancer was the monster in Conor's nightmare, going back I realized that in the nightmare scene, Conor has become the dark shadowy character; Conor is the monster, or at least, that's what he believes. The truth that the Yew Tree was helping Conor to see was that he wasn't a monster for wanting the pain to end for himself and his mother. It was okay to let go of his mom and the guilt that he felt for wanting her to finally die.

*End of Spoilers*

Read this book. It's poignant, it's powerful, and it's beautiful. If any book deserves a movie it's this one, and even if I feel no movie can bring it justice, I'm sure that it will be just as powerful in its own way.


Just for fun, here is a link to the upcoming movie trailor of A Monster Calls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMgm20Di9Wg