[Book Rant] Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Wonder is a sweet and powerful read starring 5th grader August (Auggie) Pullman, who was born with facial abnormalities, as he navigates both school and the 5th grade for the first time.

It was a great Wednesday afternoon read that I enjoyed. It was touching and jolting and had a lot of important life lessons to teach/learn, such as not judging a book by its cover, true friendship, and the power of kindness. A triple threat.

The multiple POV's were an interesting way to tell the story, but not well executed. Via's POV I believe was the most touching and poignant and real. Jack and Summer's POV's were also effective and I enjoyed seeing their side. However, can someone please tell me why we needed to hear from the boyfriend, Justin, and the ex-BFF, Miranda? Neither character was connected to Auggie directly. Also, I don't understand why grammar and proper capitalization were suddenly thrown out of the window for Justin's chapters. And, Miranda's spiel about her time at summer camp? Completely uninteresting, irrelevant, and unnecessary--it didn't move the story at all.

I would have loved to hear from Mom or Dad or childhood friend, Chris, or heck, even one of his doctors instead. One of those would have been potentially more powerful and better than Miranda and Justin. Or even Julian's POV could have been intriguing and intense.

Minor Issue: The simplicity of the writing style felt at odds with the complexity of the characters' dialogue. Not sure if this makes perfect sense, but I felt like I was reading a book written by a middle schooler with High school characters. It's hard to explain, but it caused a bit of dissonance for me and lessened the believability of the story and characters. There were also places where the dialogue was incredibly childish for characters who had just been speaking pretty sophisticated.

Slightly less minor issue: Why were 5th graders dating?! Even with transitioning adolescence, puberty, hormones etc, I still cannot see 10-year-olds dating. They're still babies as far as I'm concerned and ten is too young even for the earliest of bloomers. I think as an older reader (my younger sister, who happens to be 10, that brat better NOT be doing anything, LOVES this book) I really couldn't get pass this idea of hormonal 10-year-olds. What happened to the good 'ole days where boys were stupid, ew gross, and had cooties until they were miraculously cured in 8th or 9th grade? Is there a Cootie Vaccination now?

FINAL VERDICT:

The story was really enjoyable. Some characters--Auggie, Summer, Jack, Via, and Dad in particular--really touched my heart (though some more depth and character development would have been appreciated. Then again, this is written for a much younger audience.), while other characters were literacy waste (cough, cough). Also, the writing wasn't as compelling as it could have been,  lessening the "punch in the heart" effect of this novel. But I'm being picky because the effect was there nonetheless as I won't be forgetting Auggie for a few days.

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Princess Reads A Lot LIKES this book a lot!
It made her smile and she's sure glad she read it,
though there were a few things that bugged her highness.

[Book Rant] Bag of Bones by Stephen King

For my first ever Stephen King read I think I chose pretty dang well (even though I simply closed my eyes and grabbed a random title off the shelf).

(See list of favorite quotes from Bag of Bones here.)

Bag of Bones begins with the lulling, soft, authentic voice of Michael Noonan as he tells his incredible story, starting from his wife's sudden death and including the hard to believe events that follow. With a gripping combination of quiet grief and a startling, sometimes blunt, sense of humor, readers quickly find themselves deeply caring for Mike as soon as the end of chapter one. King has a very clear understanding of readers and their needs and gives it to us perfectly wrapped in an astonishing tale of death, vengeance, cruelty, love, and life.

The story is told in the voice of Mike Noonan. It's honest, blunt, and flawed--just like him. The otherworldly aspect of the story are subtly sprinkled in, so that you find yourself believing undoubtedly in everything as Mike does without even realizing it.

The complexity of Bag of Bones is what really drew me in. It's not just anything. Not just a ghost story. Not just about a man who suddenly loses his wife. Not just about ruthless multimillionaires and custody cases. Not just about secrets. Not just about love and survival. It's all of these and more, intertwined and intermingled into one amazing, incredible story. As such, the 700+ pages didn't seem too long, though I think it could have been parred down slightly. There were a couple of long chunks of scenic description that I found myself skimming over because they were just a little too detailed (even as I was deathly afraid--pun intended--of missing some vital or genius line of fiction). Too detailed in that I was bogged down by all of the, well, details and couldn't form a vivid picture in my mind. Sometimes less really is more.

King's characters in Bag of Bones, both the main and supporting characters, were fully fleshed out, real and human--as far from being simple bags of bones as I can imagine. Mike, especially, is a character I fell in love with immediately, warts and all. There's nothing quite like a detail-rich portrayal of a flawed character to get a reader's engine going. Vroom Vroom! It's Mike's honest (or King's honest rendition of Mike's character that enticed me). Mike wasn't the nicest or most "proper" man. He was sometimes a sarcastic ass, lewd, offensive even, but he was real.So in real in fact that I couldn't help doing a little google searching to see if I could find any resemblance to a non-fictional being. And color me surprised when I discovered Irish politician, Michael Noonan, (below) and Australian writer, Michael John Noonan. Just saying. (Though they're both older than our protagonist.)

Despite its long length, I dreaded finishing Bag of Bones because I knew it would feel like losing a best friend. At the same time, Bag of Bones was such an aggressive read, emotionally; I wasn't sure whether or not I could survive all 700 pages without my heart beating clear out of my chest from the stress of incredible suspense, awe, shock, fear (for the characters! Of course, I wasn't frightened, not even one bit), disgust, utter believable-disbelief. Here's my facebook status after I finished reading the climatic chapter 25 (POTTY MOUTH DISCLAIMER):

Holy FUCKING shiiit, King. Chapter 25 was a motherfucking DOOZY! A disclaimer would've been mighty nice, so I wouldn't have found myself on the Metro North gasping audibly, muttering "Da Fuk," and blinking rapidly against sudden tears. My Gawd! I've been through the literary wringer and I LOVE it.

Found on Tumbler or FB somewhere.

Then we came to the end. The gentle calm, silence after the storm. It was satisfying. I was left with the assurance that Mikey Noonan and his little guy, Kyra would be just fine, despite everything. Most loose ends were tied and all questions mostly answered. The slight sense of remaining otherworldlyness was acceptable after a story like this; we didn't need every "T" or "I" crossed and dotted.

King, I think you'd be glad to know that while a first time reader, Bag of Bones gave me not one, but two sleepless nights as I couldn't put it down! (In response to his Letter to the Reader at the end of the novel.) This is a definite must-read for fans of mystery-thrillers and Stephen King.

Princess Reads A Lot RATING:  

She really LIKES this book a whole lot! It made her smile, shiver and shake. She's sure glad she read it and only wishes she had read it sooner.