Book Title/Author: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
Number of House Points awarded (out of 9): 5
First impressions (starting the book): I was not incredibly interested in reading this book. The premise is that a married mother of four becomes best friends with a big time male Hollywood actor and her husband is cool with it. I wasn't sure how I felt about that plus I honestly didn't know how much I wanted to read about a stay-at-home mom with four kids (just for total disclosure, even if that makes me seem like a jerk!). When I first started the book, I cringed with embarrassment at the awkward dialogue. I really struggled to keep going.
Plot (excitement/interest & feasibility): The plot is really loose. The story is very character-driven and I kept reading to see what was going to happen with the characters. Eventually everything is loosely tied together but the story lacks cohesion, continually jumping forwards sometimes years at a time. It wasn't very irritating but I couldn't really call this a plot-strong book. I don't necessarily see myself as the target demographic (married, working, with no children)... It wasn't terribly interesting to me. Whether or not the story was feasible is very negotiable, but the debate over whether married men and women can have friends of the opposite gender is probably the thing that makes this book interesting at all.
Pacing: As I mentioned, the book jumps around a lot. In terms of readability however, there were many parts I practically skimmed because I felt bored and other parts I read closely. The second half of the book is paced much better, IMO.
Characterization (strong or weak characters/readers' connections to MCs, etc): Characterization is the strongest part of this book. Main characters aside (Becky, the housewife and Felix, the actor), the character I loved the most was Mike, Becky's husband. He was solid and absolutely realistic. I appreciated Becky's children as well and thought they were really strong despite being minor characters. The main characters are okay. I'm not sure the author ever convinced me that their rapport was entirely realistic, but individually they are interesting, if not believable. I think Becky's more believe able than Felix. I just couldn't buy his interest in Becky, even by the end of the novel.
Originality (concept/subject/etc): It's original in that most people don't write about married people with children. Also the relationship between the actor and the housewife is very nearly so original as to be fantasy.
Readability (vacation read v. heavy duty stuff): This was a pretty easy read for me; on a scale from Baby Sitter's Club to Moby Dick I'd place this in the middle.
Writing quality (car lot commercial fare or poetic): Shannon Hale's poetic language really shines, even in this setting. She describes commonplace things beautifully--that alone added a great deal to my enjoyment of the novel.
Last impressions (finishing the book): After I made it halfway through the book I started to at least tolerate if not completely enjoy it. The main plot, Becky's relationship with Felix, really never stopped irritating me. However the subplots, especially the story of Becky's family over decades was really beautiful. In particular, the relationship between Becky and Mike was completely touching. At one point, I even cried! I think other people might enjoy this book more--if you don't mind the Becky/Felix thing, if you are more of the target reader (ie, if you're a mom, I guess), then you'll be able to enjoy the best parts of this book without irritation.
Contribution to the YA genre: N/A, this book is for adults.
Book Title/Author: Forest Born Shannon Hale
ReplyDeleteFirst Impressions: I was a little confused when certain characters were introduced so it took me a little while to get into, but once I did I was hooked. I do wish I had either read the previous three or at least read the summaries on the internet before starting this one.
Plot: It kept my interest throughout the story and I found it exciting.
Pacing: For the most part the pace was good, there were a couple of parts toward the end that I found slow and I had to push my way through, but overall good.
Characterization: The characters are all strong, even the secondary ones. I never felt like I had to go back and try to remember who someone was after he/she was already introduced. I felt both pain and joy for Rin and all the situations she was in.
Last Impressions: Overall it was a good story, but I was happy for it to end. I am usually very sad when a book ends because I come to love the characters and see them as my best friends. Although Rin appealed to me, I wasn't a huge fan of her. I felt this same way when I finished Enna Burning-I was ready for it to be done. With Goose Girl and River Secrets I wasn't ready for the story to end.
Book Title/Author: Enna Burning, Shannon Hale
ReplyDeleteNumber of House Points awarded (out of 9): 7
First impressions (starting the book): I like the recurring fire motifs, and Leifer’s struggle really pulled me in. While I sympathized with Enna, I didn’t find her conflict as compelling as Leifer’s in the first part of the book.
Plot (excitement/interest & feasibility): Feasibility in a fantasy? ;) I love the theme of learning to . . . well, “bridle your passions.”
Pacing: I thought the pacing was good. As in many fantasies (and sequels), worldbuilding (and catching up with the story) took some time and slowed it down a little.
Characterization (strong or weak characters/readers' connections to MCs, etc): Like I said before, it was a little while before I really connected with Enna. I couldn’t trust Sileph (but that was probably intentional), though I did find the love triangle part compelling.
Originality (concept/subject/etc): I haven’t read Goose Girl, but I know this is in the same vein (duh). I think the concept might not be 100% original (what is?), but her take on it is fresh.
Readability (vacation read v. heavy duty stuff): I did read this on vacation. It’s a very easy, smooth read, but with deeper themes.
Writing quality (car lot commercial fare or poetic): Excellent. I’m a highly (even hyper-) critical reader, and I found one phrase that didn’t sit right with me in the whole book. I loved the description of the powers especially. (I did find a lot of the backstory from Goose Girl slow, however.)
Last impressions (finishing the book): The ending felt . . . both slow and rushed, oddly enough. I liked how it ended, but it just felt like the story was limping on to an ending. (I guess I'm with Manda on that one for this book.)
Contribution to the YA genre (obviously for some books this will just be n/a): I really wouldn’t know, especially since this is a sequel.
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the "bridle your passions" aspect of Enna Burning. I think that book shows a lot of the pain and struggle it is to control your talents/skills/everything. I guess come to think of it, Forest Born has that same idea. That we might have these "gifts" but the way you use the gift determines what kind of person you become. Burned up or just down right evil. :)
Manda,
I would have to say that I loved the fact that you are sad for a book to end. I don't know if I am ever sad. I usually feel this sense of accomplishment and I am looking forward to the next great book I get to read. However, I would have to say that I did like Goose Girl and River Secrets MUCH better than Enna Burning and Forest Born. Sometimes, I wonder if it is because there is more of this inner struggle/control that those books deal with. Does that make sense?
Anywho...yay for your comments, both of you! You are the best!
When I was reading Enna Burning I thought a lot about drug addicts, although you could insert any addiction I guess. I agree that she wasn't a very sympathetic character.
ReplyDeleteI liked Forest Born better though, even though Rin isn't that sympathetic either.I felt sorry for her, perhaps because I saw her as younger and never really that dangerous.
I appreciated that both Rin and Enna are not your run-of-the-mill "I can do everything AND I'm cute" female fantasy main characters. It's like the normal model of characters is ice cream and these strange, new characters are caviar. You wouldn't want to eat caviar every day, but sometimes you might want to try it.
Clearly I eat ice cream every day.