Keix (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
keilexandra) wrote2006-08-10 02:48 pm
keilexandra) wrote2006-08-10 02:48 pm
Entry tags:
Poetry and Book Review
Bored and need to work on my story, forcing myself to stay off Achaea. Plus, a friend has begged me to help her make a background in Photoshop. But first, this. On a whim, I memorized the first 11 lines of "Kubla Khan", a famous poem by Coleridge or something. No punctuation, because it's typed from memory.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree
Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five mlies of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree
And here were forests ancient as the hills
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery
Whee. Dunno why I'm so into poetry right now, but I am. And this poem is so... rhythmical. Anyway, on to the book review. Positive, this time.
It's nice to write a positive book review, instead of a negative one. I think I missed some points, but oh well.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree
Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five mlies of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree
And here were forests ancient as the hills
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery
Whee. Dunno why I'm so into poetry right now, but I am. And this poem is so... rhythmical. Anyway, on to the book review. Positive, this time.
Title: Elsewhere
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: YA fantasy (library says teen sci-fi, which is definitely wrong)
# of Pages: 275 (hardcover)
Rating: A-
Summary: (Taken again from the cover jacket, since I'll summarize in the review section.)
Welcome to Elsewhere. It is usually warm with a breeze, the sun and the stars shine brightly, and hte beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful here. And you can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's pyschiatric practice.
Elsewhere.
It's where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different from it. Here Liz will age backwards from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth.
But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen (again). SHe wants to get her driver's license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. She wants to fall in love. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well.
How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
Review: (contains spoilers)
A great book, amazing compared to what you usually find in the Young Adult section. A unique concept -- I loved the idea of aging backwards and the setting of Elsewhere was well done. Basically, Liz dies in a hit-and-run bicycle accident and is sent to Elsewhere. On the boat there (named the S.S. Nile), she meets a girl named Thandi around her age. Liz has trouble adjusting at first -- she becomes addicted to the Observation Decks, where you can drop in a coin to watch anyone you want on Earth for five minutes. She even makes a dive down to the Well, a forbidden place deep under the ocean where you can communicate with people on Earth through a running water source. She eventually does get her driver's license, finds an "avocation" (welcoming newly deceased pets, at the Department of Acclimation, Division of Domestic Animals), and even falls in love.
The secondary characters -- Thandi, Betty (Liz's grandmother), Curtis Jest, Owen Welles -- are remarkably well characterized. Even the minor characters -- Emily Reilly, Yetta Brown, Esther, Aldous Ghent -- each have their own personality. And you can't forgetThe prose style is straightforward and perfectly mixes humor, tragedy, and contentment. Despite my attempt to keep an emotional distance, I found myself crying while I read this book. Another interesting style element -- the entire novel is written in the present tense.
There are a few ruts, however. The author tends to overuse answer, ask, etc. instead of just sticking to says. But the plotline works well with, even seems to require present tense. Elsewhere is a 2007 Blue Hen Nominee, and it's clearly a YA novel. For example, "acclimation" is explicitly defined. I would still classify this book under "light reading", despite the emotional impact. It doesn't require much analysis or thought on the reader's part, just reading and enjoying.
Overall, a good read and one of the best in the YA genre.
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: YA fantasy (library says teen sci-fi, which is definitely wrong)
# of Pages: 275 (hardcover)
Rating: A-
Summary: (Taken again from the cover jacket, since I'll summarize in the review section.)
Welcome to Elsewhere. It is usually warm with a breeze, the sun and the stars shine brightly, and hte beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful here. And you can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's pyschiatric practice.
Elsewhere.
It's where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different from it. Here Liz will age backwards from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth.
But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen (again). SHe wants to get her driver's license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. She wants to fall in love. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well.
How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
Review: (contains spoilers)
A great book, amazing compared to what you usually find in the Young Adult section. A unique concept -- I loved the idea of aging backwards and the setting of Elsewhere was well done. Basically, Liz dies in a hit-and-run bicycle accident and is sent to Elsewhere. On the boat there (named the S.S. Nile), she meets a girl named Thandi around her age. Liz has trouble adjusting at first -- she becomes addicted to the Observation Decks, where you can drop in a coin to watch anyone you want on Earth for five minutes. She even makes a dive down to the Well, a forbidden place deep under the ocean where you can communicate with people on Earth through a running water source. She eventually does get her driver's license, finds an "avocation" (welcoming newly deceased pets, at the Department of Acclimation, Division of Domestic Animals), and even falls in love.
The secondary characters -- Thandi, Betty (Liz's grandmother), Curtis Jest, Owen Welles -- are remarkably well characterized. Even the minor characters -- Emily Reilly, Yetta Brown, Esther, Aldous Ghent -- each have their own personality. And you can't forgetThe prose style is straightforward and perfectly mixes humor, tragedy, and contentment. Despite my attempt to keep an emotional distance, I found myself crying while I read this book. Another interesting style element -- the entire novel is written in the present tense.
There are a few ruts, however. The author tends to overuse answer, ask, etc. instead of just sticking to says. But the plotline works well with, even seems to require present tense. Elsewhere is a 2007 Blue Hen Nominee, and it's clearly a YA novel. For example, "acclimation" is explicitly defined. I would still classify this book under "light reading", despite the emotional impact. It doesn't require much analysis or thought on the reader's part, just reading and enjoying.
Overall, a good read and one of the best in the YA genre.
It's nice to write a positive book review, instead of a negative one. I think I missed some points, but oh well.