Chronicles of a Book Evangelist

Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: September 11, 2012

Goodreads Description:

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head. 

But all that changes when the Lynburns return. 

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the- Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

Review:

***Initial review written in April 2012.  A few changes were made for this posting.***

The first time I read Sarah Rees Brennan's Unspoken, I began it a little after I put the kids to bed.  I thought I would get in a few chapters before turning in myself.  Instead, I fell right into Sorry-in-the-Vale, only truly emerging as I blearily realized that, indeed, it was 4:00am and yes, in fact, that was the last page.  No matter how many times I flicked the screen to the left, the page stayed stubbornly put.  I had to wait for over a YEAR for the rest?!?!  Deliciously frustrating, agonizingly wonderful torture.  Sarah Rees Brennan, I love/hate/love you.

Since I had so kindly been provided my copy from the publisher, I sat down the next day to write a review (while ignoring the complaints of my disgruntled husband, who had been kept awake the night before by my constant laughing out loud.)  Sadly, all I could really get out was something along the lines of:

OMG!!!THISISTHEBESTBOOKEVER!!!ILOVEYOUSARAH!!!INEEDTHENEXTONENOW!!!IHATE YOUFORTHISSARAH!!!

You know, a very mature reviewer-like response.  I decided the first reading was for me, and a second more thorough reading with notebook in hand was in order.  I started earlier this time with every intention of reading it in segments taking careful notes along the way.  I surfaced at midnight with a freshly sharpened pencil, a blank notebook page, a burning need for the next book, and even more intense fan-girl feelings.  This was not good.  

Sarah Rees Brennan has done something truly amazing with Unspoken -- it is like she carefully crafted one stereotype, cliche, or trope after another (for genres and people alike) and then systematically shattered them.  Nothing is what it seems; it is all much more complex and beautiful than that.  A wonderfully supportive and loving family that still has very real and hurtful flaws.  Dependable, staunchly supportive best friends with deeply held secrets.  I would love to catalogue them all, but what a way to spoil SRB's excellently crafted story.  I love her characters; I love their relationships; I love how real they feel in their confidence and insecurity and bravery and fear.  

However, one of the best parts of Unspoken is what SRB has done for the gothic genre.  I adore reading, with an unapologetic obsession, all things Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, Madeleine Brent, and -- of course -- Mary Stewart.  I have no fewer than two huge under-the-bed plastic tubs full of nothing but paperbacks of these four authors collected from thrift stores and yard sales over the years.  With this unabashed love, however, must also come the honest admission that, whatever strengths each writer possesses, complexity and/or originality of plot is not one of them.  Put plainly, the old gothic romances tend to suffer for being overly formulaic, and one only comes back because one likes the formula.  (After my fourth Victoria Holt I would have been ashamed of myself if I hadn't guessed who was the bad guy and who was the true love by the third or fourth chapter.)  SRB takes on the mantle of these wonderful storytellers before her, inserts the formulas into her book, and then bends or breaks them into something entirely new.*  There is a comfortable, sleepy town with deep dark secrets lurking under the surface.  And, yes, Kami is quick to stumble into trouble and overly curious, but she isn't nearly as helpless or clueless as her predecessors.  Yes, she has two (or more) potential suitors, who are also both potential suspects, one dark and one light.  However, she doesn't fall into insta-love with either, and remains stubbornly and wonderfully self sufficient around both.  There is, of course, the usual cast of sternly disapproving member of the older generation, an affable, avuncular type relative, and a dreamy-eyed, child-like woman -- all of whom are also possible suspects.  Yet SRB brings complexity and nuance to these characters that makes them into something entirely different from their tropes.  

Another delightfully new talent SRB brings to the gothic genre is her humor.  I don't know how she does it, but Unspoken maintains it gothic aesthetic while being truly laugh out loud funny.  Laugh out loud over and over and OVER again funny (no matter how many times I've read it.**)  Kami's friends are a wonderful break from the tradition of isolating the young heroine, and they are each unique takes of young adult stereotypes themselves.

I feel as if I could go on and on for ages about why Unspoken is a perfect book, despite its gut wrenching cliff-hanger ending.  So I'll leave you with this: If you like gothic novels or romantic suspense -- read it.  If you are ready for some paranormal YA that takes you by surprise -- read it.  If you like...what am I saying?  Just read it anyway.  It's that good.

_______________________________________________________________________________

*And I love the shades of Mary Stewart's Touch Not the Cat that are present -- the twins, the name Ash, the boy in her head, but all made entirely new!

**I think it is around six times now.  And I still try to flip to the next phantom page each time!! Untold cannot get here fast enough!***

*** There are a few snippets of Untold on her blog, and they only make it worse! This one breaks my heart but I hate this one.  And January's just makes me sigh.

****You can also get some wonderful prequel short stories about both Jared The Spring Before I Met You (The Lynburn Legacy 0.25) by Sarah Rees Brennan and Kami The Summer Before I Met You (The Lynburn Legacy 0.5) by Sarah Rees Brennan.  They are both excellent looks at the main characters from an entirely outside perspective.  And they manage to be awesome at adding to your understanding of the characters without being at all spoilery.  Very cool.

Review also on Goodreads; review Copy Provided by Random House Books for Young Readers.

 

Top 10 Reads of 2012

I know I'm a little behind on this as well, but I really wanted to revisit my favorite reads of 2012 before moving on to the new year.  I already have reviews posted for most of them, but the few I don't are scheduled to appear this month.  So, without further ado, my top ten favorite reads of 2012:

Middle Grade:

Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway is the beautifully told story of Abby, a completely "ordinary" girl in a magical world.  I loved Rubino-Bradway's world building almost as much as I loved the relationships between her characters.

Young Adult:

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga is one of those books that takes hold of you and doesn't let go.  I devoured it, loved it, and still can't stop thinking about it.  Jaz is such an incredibly creepy, wonderful, complex character, and I can't wait to learn more about him.

 

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman is one of those rare novels that I would almost dare call perfect.  At least perfect for me.  It is an amazing representation of high fantasy with exceptional world building and positive representations of women!!!!  There is math! and logic! and romance! and dragons!

 

 

And All The Stars by Andrea K Höst completely took me by surprise.  Aside from the fact that it is self-published and still knocks the socks off almost everything else I read this year, it is also just an amazingly well done novel.  Höst manages to ask some really big questions while being incredibly entertaining, and I just can't get this book out of my head.

 

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan is another one of those perfect for me books.  It is an exceptional (though cliffhangery) beginning to a gothic series in the style of Mary Stewart, only YA, and modernized.  Again, when I try to talk about this book I turn into a gushy fan-girl.  Just read it.

 

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard is the story of Bria, a young girl who tries to leave herself behind and instead finds herself.  It was full of quotable quotes and insightful bits about travelling and had an adorably believable romance. 

 

Preloved by Shirley Marr is a ghost story.  About a modern girl and a ghost from the 80s.  It's so funny that I choked myself laughing more than once.  It's Australian -- which is the YA equivalent of saying PURE GOLD.  What is not to love?

 

 

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross is part fairytale retelling and part fairytale reinvention.  I love that Cross brings in the dark bits of old Grimm fairytales, incorporates things the Disney generations would be familiar with, and still manages to create a wonderfully fresh world.  

 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is simply stunning.  It is historical fiction, but still completely true in everything that really matters.  It is gut-wrenchingly beautiful and horrible all at once.  I defy you to read it and not cry.

 

Adult Fiction:

Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane is actually just the newest in the Downside Ghosts Series, many of which were published in 2012.  Stacia Kane went from being a completely unknown-to-me author to one of my favorite urban fantasy authors with this series.  It is dark and gritty and I can't stop reading it.  

And that is the short-list for 2012.  What were some of your favorite reads last year?

Review: New Girl by Paige Harbison

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Publication Date: January 31, 2012

Book Description: 

They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend…but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back. 

A contemporary young-adult retelling inspired by the classic 1938 romantic suspense bestseller Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Review:

Retellings are so hit or miss for me; I LOVE them when they are done well, and nothing gets under my skin faster than one poorly executed.   Retellings have to have a certain amount of respect of and appreciation for the original work, but also the ability to bring in something new or different.  If the author of a retelling venerates the original work too much the retelling is incapable of being anything more than a mediocre copy of the original.  If the new author has too little respect for the original it often comes off as an insulting imitation.  (Parodies not included in this assessment; they are something completely different!)  I think that Paige Harbison struck just the perfect note between the two with New Girl.  In fact, I would go so far as to say this retelling is better than the original.

I was pleasantly surprised by much of what Harbison has done in New Girl.  I feel like she played the conventions of the gothic-mystery/romance/suspense genre to a tee while simultaneously subverting them.  New Girl, like Rebecca, has that sort of stiflingly closed setting, and that slightly jumpy, tightly wound, anticipatory tone.  'New Girl', like Mrs. de Winter, remains nameless and placeless to the other characters in the story except in her relationship to Rebecca.  They both, at least on the surface, are easily moved and swayed by the actions and decisions of others.  Max, like Maxim, is bullied by Becca and frustratingly silent on his true feelings for 'new girl' or Becca for entirely too long.  Dana, like Mrs. Danvers, is nutty in her devotion to Becca.  And Becca, like Rebecca, is cruel, manipulative and toxic to everyone around her.  There is a costume ball where the same dress is worn, there is infidelity, there are threats of an impending pregnancy, and there is a boat at the bottom of murky waters.  Here, though, is where the similarities end.

In her 1993 biography of Daphne du Maurier, Margaret Forster said that du Maurier was disappointed that so many people missed what Rebecca was really all about: the relationship between a man who was powerful and a woman who was not.  I guess I missed her point as well, because I never really got that from Rebecca.  Yes, Mrs. de Winter is utterly powerless, but I think she gave up a lot of her power. She tossed it away to others by refusing to communicate in any real way with her husband and by accepting at face value things she ought to have questioned.  I certainly never thought Maxim had any power - that all went to Rebecca or Mrs. Danvers.  Which leads me to what I loved so much about New Girl: the upending of the conventions.  I think that, unlike du Maurier, Harbison makes quite a few excellent points, and does so with complex, nuanced, entertaining characters.

At first New Girl comes across as incredibly passive in her decision to go to Manderly - so much so that the plot is almost unbelievable for a modern girl -  it took the gothic tone to suspend my disbelief.  However, the further I read the more it looked like unreliable narration.  She really wanted out of the rut she was in while in Florida, but was scared to leave her comfort zone.  It was easier to blame it on her parents, taking the choice out of her hands.  She concedes a lot to Dana, but it is out of compassion, not fear.  She does form a romantic attachment to Max, but it doesn't become the center of her life.  By the end of the book, she earns her name by no longer passively ceding her power to others - she is no longer a Mrs. de Winter.

Becca, likewise, is no Rebecca.  She was vile and cruel, manipulative and scary, and sick.  It is, oh, so clear that she is mentally ill and really needs some help.  After being in Becca's head, I understand why she acted the way she did, even if I could not excuse it.  I didn't like her but I believed her.  Dana is even more amazing - I both like and believe her.  The cardboard character of Mrs. Danvers is torn to pieces as Dana's story is revealed.  Max is the only character with whom I was not completely satisfied.  He let Becca just steamroll him, and he really should have done something about it.  I never really found a believable reason for why he didn't stop her.

I had a few minor problems, such as weird pop culture references (Wow, can someone please tell me why Titantic is so popular with YA writers?!?!) and an inconsistent portrayal of a residential high school - sometimes realistic and sometimes inconceivably off.  (Trust me on this, there is NO WAY the kids didn't already know how to sneak out of the building pre-Becca.  Just not possible.)  However, New Girl was just such a strong story overall that they sort of faded away while reading.  I enjoyed it as a retelling of Rebecca, but I enjoyed it even more as its own story.     

Thanks to HarlequinTeen and NetGalley for the ARC.

Review also appears on Goodreads