Death in the Post-Death Era: Book Review of Scythe

 

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Neal Shusterman’s Scythe, the world has reached a post-death era. There are no illnesses and nearly any injury can be healed and people brought back to life. Only a scythe, a person chosen for the job, can bring someone death. The scythes of the world are seen as both carrying out a noble and necessary job and as untouchables, estranged from nearly everyone except other scythes.

It happens that Scythe Faraday has decided that he needs to take on an apprentice and he meets two young people who seem as though they may be capable of the job. Though he can only choose one, he believes that healthy competition between them will allow him to choose the best person for the job. Of course, Rowan and Citra, two teenagers with unremarkable backgrounds, while not thrilled about being chosen to apprentice, have enough healthy competition in them to fight it out.

As the two learn more about what it means to be a scythe and all the knowledge that is required that they learn, they seem uncomfortably drawn to the life. That is, until another scythe decides that he does not like the idea of two apprentices and is determined to change the playing field altogether.

Scythe, an option for the dystopian book club I am now teaching, is my favorite of the picks. The world is beautiful and terrible. The people lost a good deal of understanding of what life is when they lost death. And now, the scythes bring back some of the value.

There are elements to the world that are particularly interesting--for example, “turning a corner” which means that after you get so old, you turn back the clock to a younger year, such as twenty or thirty. People can live for virtually ever and therefore can have many families and start over and over again. There is no poverty unless a person chooses it. Everyone is comfortable, though some are more comfortable than others.

Why did I enjoy this book so much? Well, it is very violent, though that is not what I appreciate about it--I am not so fond of violence. I suppose it is the almost whimsical world where many things have lost their traditional value, and simplicity is one of the ways to regain meaning. Perhaps it is because the idea of a person’s job being to murder is so terrible and horrible. Or perhaps it is just the right balance of macabre and magical. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Would I teach this book? Yes. However, it is not the best choice for every student, because it is so dark. For students who find themselves affected by violence, this would not be the book to steer them towards. Perhaps Hunger Games or Maze Runner, which are actually less violent, would be better choices for students who are not drawn to such things. Or even The Giver--though it, too, is dark, as the other novels are. Apparently dystopian novels tend to be dark. Go figure.

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Death Games on Planet Boy: Book Review of Maze Runner

 

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In The Maze Runner, James Dashner’s YA dystopian novel, Thomas wakes with no memory to find himself in a self-sufficient community of boys. The boys have organized themselves and each has a job, from cooking to cleaning to growing crops to raising livestock, each boy has his role—the most dangerous of which is maze running.

The area the boys live in is surrounded by a maze, and the maze runners wake early and return just before sunset, spending their days running through the maze, memorizing turns in order to make maps and look for some kind of escape.

Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Better than slaughtering animals. It would be, if it weren’t for the grievers, mechanical monsters that mostly come out at night, but have also been known to haunt the maze during daylight hours, as well.

Thomas’s arrival is like a slice of pizza from a still hot pie—the cheese pulls and pulls, uncovering the other slices. Any safety the boys thought they had is gone. Any chance of survival relies on solving the maze, and Thomas might be the key the boys need to escape.

As a dystopian novel, the story is very stylized, especially in terms of the all-boy society that has arisen. In many ways, the boys are not stereotypical at all—they get along well and rarely fight. They are totally responsible and no one seems to slack off at their jobs. They are even pretty nice to each other. The Gladers, as they call themselves, are almost the antithesis to Lord of the Flies. As they say, “Sucks to your auntie.”

Would I teach this book? James Dashner does an excellent job of creating a suspenseful and exciting plot that brings up questions such as: Should we sacrifice some for the good of all? What are the limits humans will go to save themselves? What happens when you give children power?

Coincidentally, The Maze Runner is one choice in the dystopian book club based on Units of Study that I am currently teaching. Several of my students are reading the book and seem to be enjoying it so far. I am also enjoying the connections that the Units of Study asks students to make as well as offering students a variety of book choices at different ability levels. So, yes, thumbs up on teaching the book in a middle school class. Keep in mind that there’s a lot of violence, so those who are sensitive might not enjoy it as much. There is also a whole lot of boy, so if you are looking for heroines, you won’t find them here.

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Everyone Has a Cinderella II: Review of Stephen King's Gwendy's Button Box.

 

Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Gwendy’s Button Box , written with Richard Chizmar, is not Stephen King’s finest—in part because it is so short. For a work by Stephen King it feels truncated. Not like a short story—his short stories are generally full and do not feel lacking—but as though someone had said keep this one short, and perhaps they did.

During the summer before middle school, Gwendy is approached by a strange man in a bowler hat who wants to talk. He has no designs on Gwendy, but he does have a proposition for her—take the button box, enjoy its power, but don’t abuse it. Gwendy appreciates what the levers do—one produces silver coins and one produces magical chocolate animals that act like a drug to soothe the body and elevate the mind. The different colored buttons across the top represent areas of the world, and to push one would bring disaster to that place. The black button, the cancer button, as Gwendy thinks of it, will bring a particular kind of violence.

As Gwendy grows older, she finds that the box has a curious affect on her: she becomes a natural winner, seemingly good at everything. Though she tries not to call attention to her new gifts, sometimes they call attention to themselves--and not always in a positive way.

Would I teach this book? Being that it is not my favorite, I doubt it. However, it is an entertaining book and would probably be enjoyable for many high schoolers. I might recommend it as a pleasure read. It is not, however, the substantial read that is the typical Stephen King book. In fact, I might call it King Light.

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Holly Gibney Gets Her Due: Book Review of Holly by Stephen King

 

Holly by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Holly is Stephen King’s homage to Holly Gibney, the meek character introduced in Mr. Mercedes. When we first met Holly, she was a strange bird grieving her aunt and thrown together with ex-cop Bill Hodges and high school kid Jerome to find the sadistic killer who stole her great aunt’s car and used it to plow into a line of people waiting for a job fair. Holly becomes a hero in Mr. Mercedes, and under Bill’s tutelage and throughout the books, she becomes a great detective. She’s also delightfully quirky and easy to cheer on as she grows more comfortable with the outside world.

In Holly, she is now grieving her mother, who even in denying the existence of Covid, died on a ventilator while being treated for Corona.

In Holly’s grief, she is contacted by a mother whose daughter is missing. As the world is still in the thick of Covid and newly vaccinated (at least those who are willing) she decides to take the job, in part to keep herself occupied. The deeper Holly investigates, the more she begins to suspect a serial killer.

In an alternate thread, Emily and Rodney Harris are an older academic couple who have begun to abduct people and then eat them for medicinal purposes. They eat different body parts in the belief that it will relieve them of the many ails of aging.

Holly must catch the killers, but they have on their side the disguise of their advanced age and no motive visible to the outside world.

Barbara, Jerome’s younger sister, plays a big role in this book, too. We follow her story of her budding gifts as a poet.

As with many of King’s books, I enjoyed Holly very much. She is a curious character who keeps returning and who grows in each iteration. King’s ability to create characters shines in this book, where the goodness of Jerome and Barbara lights Holly up, and the lack of humanity of the Harris’s and their diabolical selfishness simmers.

Would I teach this book? Holly is a book that can stand alone or be taught as a study of a minor character developed through a series into a major character. It is also a good study in using current events (Covid and the political discussions that followed) and is plenty creepy. Perhaps the best way to teach Holly would be to study how both plot and characters are developed, without either suffering.

 

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Teach Banned Books, Teach Students How to Deal IRL: Book Review of Ender's Game

 

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game has been on reading lists for years. Why? What’s the appeal of a prepubescent boy leading Earth in a war against an alien enemy? A good question, as more recently we see series such as Hunger Games and Divergent with enormous popularity. Many are disturbed by the violence and have concern for the children who read such books. Isn’t it harmful for adolescents to read about other adolescents committing terrible atrocities against each other? What possible benefit could a thirteen year old receive from reading about six year old Ender brutally beating his bully? Or by his being threatened by the school bully and his cruel older brother, Peter?

Ender’s Game is set in a future world that suffered two wars against aliens that have been named Buggers due to their likeness to Earth insects. During the first war, the aliens took humans by surprise. During the second, the humans barely won. Now, an international alliance wants to beat the aliens once and for all, using a team of specially trained children to do it.

Enter Ender, whose existence as a rare third child was allowed after his older brother and sister showed military promise. Peter was too eager to do violence, their sister Valentine, too kind-hearted, but by allowing Ender’s birth, they hope to find in a comfortable middle—willing to apply necessary force, but not eager to do so. Ender is chosen to go to battle school, which is located in outer space, so that students can learn to fight in lowered gravity.

In some ways, battle school is like a boarding school—children live together, away from their parents, and go to classes and learn. In one very important way, it is different: the games are everything. The games are battles between child armies, made up mostly of boys, in which they fight in simulated outer space to raise their ranks.

Ender is immediately set apart from the other boys, made to be isolated as well as envied. He is moved through the ranks quickly, which helps him to become better at warfare, but does little for his mental health and growth. Interspersed throughout the story are bodiless conversations between the high-ranking officers in charge, who often discuss the impact of their manipulations on Ender.

Most people, especially educators, agree that reading is especially important for brain development and literacy. Therefore, one argument for books like Ender’s Game is that such a book gets kids to read, and the story is intense and exciting and the ending packs a big bang.
Valid, but is that enough to encourage kids to read about children fighting society’s battles?

In Ender, readers recognize the hero, the one who is extra compared to the best. He has more pressure upon him than any other character, and he is given little choice but to train to fight the war that was begun long before his birth. In many ways, is that not an analogy for childhood? Placed in the middle of inherited structures and asked to succeed without all of the right tools.

 

The violence is also part of an internal struggle for Ender—he must protect himself against the violence of others, which often requires him to use significant force, as he seeks not just to prevent one beating but to convince the rest of the bullies to leave him alone. However, Ender feels great guilt and self loathing for hurting others, and yet does not see any other options that would guarantee his safety. It is a decision that many of us have to make in our youth—how will we respond to those who would hurt us? Especially those who seek to cause great harm?

It is not about what our children read, it is more about helping them to process and think about what they have read. If books like Ender’s Game are not pushed past an initial understanding of plot, if children are not asked to consider Ender’s plight, then the violence and all the ideas within the book have been lost. When people connect to a book, usually it is more than an exciting plot—they want to think and feel, as this is part of the entertainment—yes, using your brain is entertaining. People--including young people--like to feel smart when they catch onto subtleties in a book.

Would I teach this book? Ender’s Game has a compelling plot and a lot to dig into. A middle school student can easily handle the writing style and content. Do not underestimate their imagination and depth. Even those who hate the book have a lot to say about it. If anything, the book does not teach students to glorify violence, but to consider the deep personal and social repercussions of it.

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Queer Representation, Knights, and Shapeshifting: Book Review of Nimona

 

Nimona by N.D. Stevenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Nimona, by ND Stevenson, Nimona shows up at Lord Ballister Blackheart’s evil lair unexpected, claiming that she has been sent to be his new sidekick. Ballister at first dismisses the girl, uninterested in her offer, until he learns that she is a shapeshifter. And quite the shapeshifter indeed, as she can be a dragon, a cat, an old lady, whatever she chooses to be. She is also eager to attack The Syndicate and Sir Goldenloin, Ballister’s arch nemesis. Ballister’s backstory shows that he has been forced into villany and that Goldenloin is to blame. He does not wish to destroy human lives without regard, nor does he lack compassion for others. However, as Ballister soon discovers, Nimona does not play by the same rules as Ballister, nor does she live by the same principles.

The world that Nimona and Ballister live in has knights and magic, but also science and modern technology. The juxtaposition adds to the humor and play in the story. Swords and bio weapons in the same volume--yes, please.

Even as Nimona takes a wrong turn, it is clear that we should love this broken-hearted child. She may look and act like a dragon at times, but she is still a vulnerable child who acts out as a result of trauma. Trauma, trust, and power are important conversations in the book.

Would I teach Nimona? Yes. Nimona is darkly hilarious and the main character is charming as well as dangerous. Ballister, as de facto mentor, parent, and boss is also morally complicated. I love graphic novels, and I love that there is a queer plotline. Representation in literature is so important.

 

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Messing with Your Mind: Book Review of ReInception

 

ReInception by Sarena Straus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to StoryGraph and Sarena Straus for the review copy of ReInception by Sarena Straus, which I received with the expectation of a fair and honest review.

ReInception begins with Leandrea’s twentieth birthday, the age when she no longer needs her parents’ consent to modify herself through ReInception, a technique that alters the brain in order to change habits. Originally designed to help addicts rid themselves of the craving for substances, ReInception is now used for everything from snacking too much to altering criminals to avoid incarceration. For Leandrea’s birthday, she has chosen to go to a Prole bar--a place the lower class of society frequents, far different from the places she and her university pals inhabit--and then to a protest against ReInception.

When violence erupts at the protest, Leandrea’s life changes forever and she finds herself needing to decide if she will stay in her naive but relatively safe world or go in search of the truth.

Okay, I am going to be honest. I read a lot of books, for teaching, for pleasure, and for the purpose of reviewing ARCs. When I began reviewing books from Goodreads FirstReads (it is now Goodreads Giveaways), I thought, hey, free books. The way that Goodreads runs the program is that you enter a free raffle on their site, then winners’ names are drawn to receive physical or Kindle copies of the books that the publisher or author has offered. ReInception is the first book I have received from StoryGraph giveaways, a reading website and app that has some important differences from Goodreads, such as more clearly tracking pages read. Many of the books are ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) and many of them are quite good. Astoundingly good, in fact. However, many of them are clunkers. It is not in my nature not to finish a book--once I start, I am committed. There are very few books I have not finished--usually overdue library books I could not renew again. Now that I have more responsibilities--family, etc, etc, and less dispensable time, I find it more important to use my time where I can potentially have an impact. I hope that by reading and reviewing books, I will help other authors by getting the word out about their work.  (Yes, I know that I read a fair number of books that are not ARCs and are written by dead, famous authors who don’t need any help from me. As I said, I read books for other purposes, too.) This is all just to say, I am happy when books surprise me and appeal to my tastes. ReInception is one of those books that was even more enjoyable than I expected.  

Leandrea, the main character, does not come from the most affluent and influential family, but they belong to the upper class and have jobs as political liaisons. They have wisely chosen not to modify their daughter, but by not modifying her, they have effectively made her an outsider. She does, however, have communication implants, which are basically standard for the time, like having a smartphone is today. In part, the book seems to be discussing capitalism, the role of government in an individual’s ability to make their own decisions, and the influence of companies over human behavior and the government. Another discussion, which is in many ways more interesting, is the conversation about privilege. As we struggle in our own society to address the question of racial privilege, part of the question is about what role the privileged should play in righting the wrongs of inequality. Who should be able to make decisions? Who should lead the movement for change? Who, ultimately, should be in charge of the changes made to society and the government?

Would I teach this book? ReInception would be a good fit in a literature or creating writing class focused on science fiction. The novel follows several of the trends in science fiction: technology ruled world, government overreach, and a blurred line between corporations and the government. The female main character, which has become more common, and a learning of the truth that has been hidden from the rest of society are also common themes.

In considering the character of Leandrea, she is the typical outsider/individual who is driven out of society, though in this case, Leandrea seems more driven not towards the truth, but in concern for social equality. Her carelessness in some of her actions, as mentioned earlier, including her assumption that she would be welcomed at a Prole bar and not seen as a tourist, her romanticization of the freedom of the Prole class, and her assumptions about their lives make clear how problematic her interest is. That, and Straus’s incredible world building, are what make this book most stand out.

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