Simply put, I loved this book. Being a history student with an interest in WW2 probably helped but seeing WW2 through the eyes of a Chinese-Australian woman in Melbourne was something i'd never seen. I have to admit this made me realise how little I knew about China during and after the war apart from the Japanese invasion so this book was eye-opening.
Little Paradise is about Mirabel, a Chinese-Australian girl who begins the story as a student and grows to become a woman who will risk her life searching for her lover in war ravaged China. It's a fabulous story and Mirabel, her family, friends and lover JJ are three dimensional characters who have flaws and strengths and their interactions make for compelling reading. All of this made for a book that was nearly impossible to put down.
Considering the main focus of my reading is to find new and differing perspectives this was a great novel that I will be making sure to include in teaching and future classrooms that i'm a part of.
Showing posts with label Young Adult Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Young Adult Fiction. Show all posts
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Hunger Games trilogy
So between uni and work this fell by the wayside over the last 10 months but since Summer is nearly here and i'm down to two subjects plus work over summer I figured I should log back in.
After seeing the trailer for The Hunger Games i've been curious about what the series. It's always looked interesting but I think I wrote it off as too much like Twilight since the hype was similar. But I can happily say that I misjudged the series. It was enjoyable and the plot was interesting. The story begins in a distant dystopian future where there is "The Capitol" who controls all and the 12 districts who are left slaving for The Capitol. Each year to remind the districts of their place they choose a boy and a girl from each district who get entered into "The Hunger Games" wherein they get sent into a special battleground and fight to the death until one person is left standing (and yes it's very Series 7 or Battle Royale). The book follows Katniss Everdeen who becomes the "tribute" from District 12 - the poorest and most pitied district while she fights first in the Hunger Games and then later in a rebellion against The Capitol. And being a Young Adult series there is of course a love triangle with Katniss' childhood friend Gale, and Peeta who goes into the Games with her; two guys who I really see very little difference in. It's the other characters that I really liked though - Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta's mentor for the Games, a previous winner who has spent the last 20 years drinking away his memories of his Games and Cinna, Katniss' stylist who must make her popular to the viewers. The characters may not be all that deep but they are fun and well portrayed and unlike Twilight I didn't want to punch the majority of the characters for a lot of the time.
The series may not be perfect but it was fun and a great adventure story that reminded me of Scott Westerfeld's "Pretties" series.
After seeing the trailer for The Hunger Games i've been curious about what the series. It's always looked interesting but I think I wrote it off as too much like Twilight since the hype was similar. But I can happily say that I misjudged the series. It was enjoyable and the plot was interesting. The story begins in a distant dystopian future where there is "The Capitol" who controls all and the 12 districts who are left slaving for The Capitol. Each year to remind the districts of their place they choose a boy and a girl from each district who get entered into "The Hunger Games" wherein they get sent into a special battleground and fight to the death until one person is left standing (and yes it's very Series 7 or Battle Royale). The book follows Katniss Everdeen who becomes the "tribute" from District 12 - the poorest and most pitied district while she fights first in the Hunger Games and then later in a rebellion against The Capitol. And being a Young Adult series there is of course a love triangle with Katniss' childhood friend Gale, and Peeta who goes into the Games with her; two guys who I really see very little difference in. It's the other characters that I really liked though - Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta's mentor for the Games, a previous winner who has spent the last 20 years drinking away his memories of his Games and Cinna, Katniss' stylist who must make her popular to the viewers. The characters may not be all that deep but they are fun and well portrayed and unlike Twilight I didn't want to punch the majority of the characters for a lot of the time.
The series may not be perfect but it was fun and a great adventure story that reminded me of Scott Westerfeld's "Pretties" series.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
“Once”, “Then” and “Now” vs “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”
This summer i’m going to be helping out at the local library with the young adult reading group so I thought I should read a bunch of young adult novels so that I knew what to recommend. Who am I kidding? I read a heap of young novels anyway it’s just that I know I have a better excuse for it. I saw Boy in the Striped Pyjamas last year at the movies and have been trying to read John Boyne’s book since but i’ve never quite gotten around to it. Then I found out about Morris Gleitzman’s “Once”, “Then” and “Now” trilogy and decided I wanted to read them first.
“Once” is set in 1942. It is the story of Felix a 9 year old Polish Jew. Felix’s parents were booksellers so he tells the story of his life as if it’s one of the tales he knows. His parents left him at the catholic orphanage with the nuns because they needed him to be safe. He begins the story optimistic after finding a whole carrot in his soup which he decides is a sign from his parents that they are coming for him so he leaves the orphanage to meet them. Outside he is confronted by the real world that includes soldiers who shoot at him, a 6 year old orphan named Zelda who he befriends after rescuing her from a burning building, books that are being burnt and not cherished as his parents would like and that Adolf Hitler is not the “great man” that the nuns taught him he was. Felix and Zelda end up in the Warsaw Ghetto where Felix finds people like him who tell stories of “death camps” and trains that go to them.
“Then” is a year later after Felix and Zelda escape the ghetto and the train to the death camp. They escape to the countryside where they find a sympathetic woman who shelters them on her farm. And “Now” is set in modern Australia about Felix’s granddaughter Zelda and shows how Felix grew up to fulfil his promise of “being the best human being he could be”. He is a retired surgeon and Zelda has come to stay for the summer while her parents are in Africa.
These three books are brilliant. Felix and Zelda (both original and junior versions) are vibrant, believable characters who face problems but keep looking for the best in the world. They grow through bad situations and are completely changed by them but the best of them remains. Even as a grandfather Felix tells stories and the little boy who escapes the orphanage is in him he’s just older and wiser now. Morris Gleitzman has stated that these books are fiction and “came from imagination” but his grandfather was a Polish Jew from Krakow who left Poland safely before the war... his extended family didn’t. So there is realism to his writing and a respect for the history and the characters he has created.
On the other hand “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is about Bruno. Like Felix he is 9 unlike Felix he is the son of a German officer who works for “The Fury” and has just been sent to “Out-With”. After Felix who grew and learnt and lost his innocence Bruno is hard to take. He acts far younger than 9 and shows no understanding of the world. I get that kids can be sheltered but for a 9 year old German to not know “The Fuhrer” and not understand why Schmuel the young boy from “out-with” who he speaks to through the fence at the back of his new house isn’t allowed out to play with him just seems too much. At one stage the two boys compare the symbols that Schmuel wears on his arm to the one Bruno’s father wears. Schmuel explains he wears the star because he is a Jew which leads Bruno to wonder if he could be Jewish and why his father wears the spidery symbol instead. I see what John Boyne’s is trying to do and when the book ends it ends powerfully and horribly but it just doesn’t work for me. And i’m not sure if that’s because of reading it so soon after Gleitzman’s trilogy or if it would’ve been the same if I had read it first. Although I do remember Bruno bugging me with his ridiculous questions in the movie as well.
“Once” is set in 1942. It is the story of Felix a 9 year old Polish Jew. Felix’s parents were booksellers so he tells the story of his life as if it’s one of the tales he knows. His parents left him at the catholic orphanage with the nuns because they needed him to be safe. He begins the story optimistic after finding a whole carrot in his soup which he decides is a sign from his parents that they are coming for him so he leaves the orphanage to meet them. Outside he is confronted by the real world that includes soldiers who shoot at him, a 6 year old orphan named Zelda who he befriends after rescuing her from a burning building, books that are being burnt and not cherished as his parents would like and that Adolf Hitler is not the “great man” that the nuns taught him he was. Felix and Zelda end up in the Warsaw Ghetto where Felix finds people like him who tell stories of “death camps” and trains that go to them.
“Then” is a year later after Felix and Zelda escape the ghetto and the train to the death camp. They escape to the countryside where they find a sympathetic woman who shelters them on her farm. And “Now” is set in modern Australia about Felix’s granddaughter Zelda and shows how Felix grew up to fulfil his promise of “being the best human being he could be”. He is a retired surgeon and Zelda has come to stay for the summer while her parents are in Africa.
These three books are brilliant. Felix and Zelda (both original and junior versions) are vibrant, believable characters who face problems but keep looking for the best in the world. They grow through bad situations and are completely changed by them but the best of them remains. Even as a grandfather Felix tells stories and the little boy who escapes the orphanage is in him he’s just older and wiser now. Morris Gleitzman has stated that these books are fiction and “came from imagination” but his grandfather was a Polish Jew from Krakow who left Poland safely before the war... his extended family didn’t. So there is realism to his writing and a respect for the history and the characters he has created.
On the other hand “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is about Bruno. Like Felix he is 9 unlike Felix he is the son of a German officer who works for “The Fury” and has just been sent to “Out-With”. After Felix who grew and learnt and lost his innocence Bruno is hard to take. He acts far younger than 9 and shows no understanding of the world. I get that kids can be sheltered but for a 9 year old German to not know “The Fuhrer” and not understand why Schmuel the young boy from “out-with” who he speaks to through the fence at the back of his new house isn’t allowed out to play with him just seems too much. At one stage the two boys compare the symbols that Schmuel wears on his arm to the one Bruno’s father wears. Schmuel explains he wears the star because he is a Jew which leads Bruno to wonder if he could be Jewish and why his father wears the spidery symbol instead. I see what John Boyne’s is trying to do and when the book ends it ends powerfully and horribly but it just doesn’t work for me. And i’m not sure if that’s because of reading it so soon after Gleitzman’s trilogy or if it would’ve been the same if I had read it first. Although I do remember Bruno bugging me with his ridiculous questions in the movie as well.
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