Month: March 2016

A Young Adult Novel of Love and War

“Well to be fair, there is no way I’m believing any of this, being driven along on the wrong side of the road by this skinny kid dragging on a cigarette and let’s face it who wouldn’t be thinking about what a weird place England is.And then he looked at me again in his funny doggy way, and he said You’ll get used to it. Which was strange too, because I hadn’t said anything out loud.”

Elizabeth who is called Daisy because she’s more Daisy than Elizabeth, is fifteen, awkward, a-plain-Jane and not exactly feeling wanted by her step-mother, Davina the diabolical who got knocked-up by Daisy’s father and who Daisy will name Damian if it ever pops out. D the D (Davina the Diabolical), it is assumed, sends Daisy to England to live with twice removed relatives, her cousins and an aunt.  So, for a girl living amid the concrete boardwalk of Manhattan her entire life, the English countryside is a wonderland and Daisy does indeed feel like she fell down a rabbit hole. And the three boys are near her age and their little sister. Daisy becomes the object of their attention and in one case, devotion.

Not long after her arrival, her aunt goes on a business trip and then the war begins and the aunt is lost in the fog of war. Soon, the power fails and the farm becomes more and more isolated as the children fend for themselves. Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But war is everywhere and horribly intrudes on their wonderland. Heartrending and poignant, this story delves into the human heart and mind and how love survives even the most terrible circumstances.

This is a wonderful book for all ages.

 

Where the Futures End,  by Parker Peevyhouse

 Where the Futures End is five interconnected stories with different characters that are bound by the same choices, though their worlds keep changing  as each story moves bit by bit into future. A future where technology turns everyone’s life into a reality show.

First, the writing, oh the writing!  The words on each page just carried me away. Now, the story. It’s like peaking behind a curtain as each scene moves into another and keeps the reader questioning, what next? Is what Dylan seeing real or imaginary? Is it the product of a troubled teen mind,  or a crushing desire to go back to a place where he felt loved, normal and accepted that causes him to see the things he sees and feels.

Or Brixney, a young woman who is living under dire circumstances and under the deceptive view of cameras where everyone is part of a global feed and where many jostle for attention by providing the masses with exhilarating or shocking feed in order to gain lucrative advertising contracts. That’s when something incredible happens, something that changes everything and gives the reader a clue about the reality of Dylan’s fantasies and what it means for the future. (No Spoilers here, but it is jaw dropping)

But the best part for me was the writing. It is off the chart original, and the story is one to think about as you read and reread just to make sure you didn’t miss anything.