Monday 14 March 2016

We Are All Made of Molecules




We Are All Made of Molecules
Stewart, the 13-year old narrator of this tale, is struggling with the death of his mother (and perhaps with his father’s complete acceptance and healing from it). He is socially inept but brilliant in academic ways. He has been in a special school for gifted children where he has excelled, and has a very close relationship with his dad. After his mom died, he still feels her molecules within their home.

Stewart`s one wish was for a sister, and it has finally come true, after his mother’s death, when his father decides to move in with Caroline—a woman he works with (who was acquainted with the recently deceased mother) and has been dating. With all of the tragic changes going on, Stewart has decided that he’d like to attempt regular public school, where he is bumped ahead a grade so that he will be challenged by the material.

Ashley, Stewart`s new stepsister, is also a narrator of this tale. In a he said/she said format similar to Flipped (Wendelin Van Draanen), Ashley tells us of the many problems of her own. Her social status at school is precariously kept in balance by the secrets she holds about her parents’s divorce. (Her father is homosexual, and she isn’t sure that she’s completely okay with that) and, due to the out of whack housing market in Vancouver, BC, he’s forced to live in the lane-way house behind their home.



This is a novel of a blended family and two teens working through school, family, and personal issues. There is content in it that may be disturbing to some, but when you read a book by Susin Nielsen you have to expect controversial issues. We Are All Made of Molecules is no different, beginning the book with a mom dying of cancer, then dead from cancer, next a grieving single dad, and his grieving son. It may be for some that the book suffers from too many issues, and the suspension of disbelief becomes difficult when the dad completely gets over the death of his wife in so little time. However, Stewart and Ashley are characters that easily grab your heartstrings and within a few chapters you`ll find yourself rooting for them.

Susin Nielsen won the Governor General’s Award for the Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen (Tundra Books, 2012), and many may remember her as both a writer for and actress in the Degrassi Junior High TV series of the 80s.We Are All Made of Molecules has been longlisted for the 2016 Carnegie Medal.

Sunday 6 March 2016

Violent Ends: A Novel in Seventeen Points of View


https://yourlibrary.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1199816101_violent_ends




As the jacket description reads, "it took only twenty-two minutes for Kirby Matheson to exit his car, march onto school grounds, enter the gymnasium, and open fire, killing six and injuring five others."

This book is about a school shooting, but it's about much more than that, too.  Each chapter of the book is told from a different viewpoint, written by well-known authors, including Neal Shusterman, Beth Revis, Kenare Blake and Cynthia Leitich.  The shooting, and the person who carried out the shooting, draws the stories together, but this isn't a story about recounting exactly what happened in the shooting, or re-hashing what could've, would've should've after the fact. 

Because the chapters are written by different authors, you really get a sense of the different view points. I found myself wanting to keep reading to see how each of the stories, and the characters within, were connected to Kirby and the other people in the town. 


Wednesday 2 March 2016

Book of the Month: March - The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

By Leslye Walton

In this award winning novel, Ava Lavender’s family has a history of tragic love stories. Her great-grandmother, Maman; grandmother, Emilienne; and mother, Viviane’s stories are all told through this multi-generational saga of love and love lost. A bad track record of foolish love does not forecast a hopeful future for Ava, and is further complicated by that fact that she was inexplicably born with a full-size pair of non-functioning wings. Is she a monster, a bird, or something else entirely? Her twin brother Henry is mute, highly sensitive and suffers from what is likely an undiagnosed form of autism. The siblings have a challenging road ahead of them, to be sure.

Following a childhood of isolation, sixteen-year old Ava is struggling to make sense of her family’s strange history and to find her place in the world. Driven by a desire to fit in, she ventures outside, doing her best to hide the wings she was born with. Her naivety is both her charm and her curse. Some will accept her, some will not…and then there are people like Nathaniel Sorrows. An evangelical preacher new to town, Nathaniel mistakes Ava for an angel and his obsession with her grows quickly and dangerously.

This story is magical realism at its best – disappearing people, ghosts, prophecy and birds are woven together by a magical thread that never feels illogical or out of place. Darker themes such as sexual abuse, depression, murder and betrayal make this better suited to mature readers. It is stunning, strange and certainly beautiful.

Find it here! You may also enjoy: Midwinterblood; Bone Gap; The Walls Around Us