The Reason I Jump

The Basics:

Title: The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old-Boy With Autism

Author: Naoki Higashida

Translation: David Mitchell and KA Yoshida

Introduction: David Mitchell

Publisher: Random House (2013)

Pages: 176 (Hardcover)

The Overview:

Naoki Higashida was a thirteen-year-old year old boy when he wrote this book. As a Japanese teenager who suffers from Autism, he has severe difficulties expressing himself. However, he and his caretakers developed a system through which Naoki could use letter charts to spell out words. In this way, the young man was able to communicate with unprecedented clarity. He wrote a startling and eye-opening book that frankly looks at the differences between people who fall on the autism spectrum and those who do not. More amazingly, the book is peppered with non-fiction short stories that encapsulate an incredible range of emotion. 

Japanese-born KA Yoshida and English author David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) have an autistic son with communication and behavioral difficulties. When KA stumbled upon The Reason I Jump in its original Japanese, she and her husband were so moved and encouraged by it that they arranged to develop an English translation, which is what I have just read.

Why I Read It:

There was an incredible amount of hype around this book (for good reason), particularly in "parenting" circles. I have also known many autistic children, mostly children and siblings of friends, and I was interested to see what insight this book contained. 

Why You Should Read It:

It is, simply, mind-blowing. Most of the book is arranged in a question-and-answer format, with Naoki posing common questions or misconceptions about autistic children to himself and then proceeding to answer and clarify. Some of his insights are precise; others are vague and theoretical. All of them are fascinating, sad, and eye-opening. 

The parts that blew me away and made me cry constantly were the short stories inserted throughout. We tend to think of autistic people as detached from normal emotional processes and perhaps unaware of others' emotional reactions. Naoki blows this misconception out of the water with his fiction. He is clearly acutely aware of what emotions his words and feelings might unleash, and he is a hell of a writer. It is very difficult for me to describe how amazed I was while I read this book, and all I can do is recommend it is the strongest terms to anyone who is interested in autism or in having their world view altered. 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Basics:

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: HarperCollins (2013)

Pages: 192 (hardcover)

The Overview:

The middle-aged narrator returns to his hometown of Sussex to attend his father's funeral. When his adult responsibilities and heartache become overwhelming, he finds himself drawn to the little village in which he grew up, and ultimately the duck pond at the end of the lane by the Hempstock family farm. 

Sitting beside the pond, our protagonist is drawn back in his memory to a time when he was 7 years old, and a boarder at his family's home committed suicide at the end of the lane. From that point forth, his small town was visited by supernatural nuisances, including one monster who took human form and became his family's nanny, seducing the narrator's father and bringing violence into the home. 

Banding together with the youngest Hempstock, Lettie, who appeared eleven but must have been older than the young man could imagine, he strove to drive out this evil force. The Hempstocks, who he discovered were not human but whose classification he did not know, introduced him to a new world of possibilities. He was exposed to inexplicable wonders and beings, and in the end, everything that was "real" was called into question. 

Why I Read It:

Neil Gaiman wrote it.

Why You Should Read It:

Neil Gaiman wrote it. He wrote it with an abundance of subtlety, suspense, and sweetness. For good measure, he threw in his unique grasp of children's fears and viewpoints that made earlier works like Coraline and The Graveyard Book so captivating. 

I find that, as children, we think that our individual fears are exclusive to us, and when we become adults, we no longer discuss the now-trivial things that terrified us as children. As a result, we never necessarily realize how universal and basic some of these feelings are. 

When I was a kid, my room was in the lower story of my home, half of which was underground, and thus referred to as the basement. When I would have to go down to the dark basement to retrieve something from my room at night, I was always able to walk confidently into the dark. However, when I turned my back on the cavernous, empty basement and headed back towards the stairs, I always felt something creep up behind me at the last second, and I would take off like a bat out of hell up the stairs and to the safety of the well-lit upper story. It took me until college to learn that this was a not a behavior that was specific to me.

Gaiman understands what kids are afraid of. He mentions in this book that the protagonist (who is certainly dredged largely from Gaiman's own childhood) had discovered a wooden knob at his grandfather's home that, looked at a certain way, resembled a man crying out. I couldn't help but be reminded of the nights when I could not sleep because I would endlessly seek out faces in the wrinkles of the curtains in my childhood bedroom. 

The result of the author's effortless expression of childhood terror is a book that I found to be inexplicably frightening. I have read a lot of Gaiman's work, and this is the first to ever keep me up at night. This is not his most complex or lovable novel, but it is a nail-biter. It also happens to include a beautiful supernatural allegory of the natural disconnect between memories of our childhood and our adult view of the world, but I won't go any further into that so as not to be accused of spoiling. 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a quick read, and one that affected me at a very basic level, and it might just do the same to you. Honestly, it's worth reading just for the subtle beauty of the Epilogue. Highly recommend. 

Confessions of a Hater

The Basics:

Title: Confessions of a Hater

Author: Caprice Crane

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (2013)

Pages: 368

The Overview:

Hailey Harper has always felt like an invisible outcast, and every day at high school brings a new embarrassment at the hands of the "cool kids". So, when her father takes a new job in Hollywood, Hailey sees an opportunity to reinvent herself in the image of her ultra-cool, popular older sister, Noel, who has gone away to college. With the help of a journal she discovers in Noel's belongings, entitled "How to be a Hater," Hailey transforms herself into a confident, take-no-nonsense cool girl-- at least on the outside. 

When she arrives at West Hollywood High School, Hailey quickly uses the wisdom she has gleaned from her sister's journal to fall in with the coolest crowd of girls in school, led by the pernicious Skyler Brandt. However, she soon grows tired of the shallow, manipulative Skyler and branches out on her own, embracing her unique neighbor Anya and a crowd of misfits. They label themselves The Invisibles and turn to Noel's journal as a sort of bible instructing them on how to change their social situation. They also go to war with Skyler's crew in a malicious prank battle that reaches "epic" heights. 

Aided by her highly-acclaimed comic strip, which appears in the school paper under the title "Abby Invisible" and lampoons the social structure of the high school, Hailey takes on the established bully culture in West Hollywood. However, she soon finds herself out of control and struggling to solidify an identity, and personal crises begin to pile up. 

Why I Read It:

A pre-release Variety review referred to it as a mix between Mean Girls and Revenge of the Nerds, which are two of the best things. Additionally, an astute reader of this blog may notice that I have been reading exclusively material aimed at or about (or both) young adults in the past couple months (including a few stinkers I didn't even bother posting about).  After this I am moving onto a string of more adult things, so I figured why not go out on the teenagerest of teenager books? 

Why You Should Read It:

Every once and a while, someone makes a movie or a book or a piece of art that is a perfect snapshot of the time in which it was created. This is an example of that phenomenon. From lingo (including online abbreviations --in text--!) to music to TV to movies to twitter to Facebook to fashion, all of the cultural references are here. The girls' outfits are even often described in great detail, including extremely contemporary, hip, young name brands. If you want to know what it was like for a young person in 2012-2013, this is the book to reference. 

Caprice Crane is more than qualified to write this kind of novel. She has worked for MTV productions, written for the CW's new 90210 and Melrose Place, and written on YA films, but she is also an experienced novelist. (Bonus: her mom is Ginger from Gilligan's Island.) So for all its pop culture indulgence, it is an extremely savvy and well-crafted book. Hailey and her friends can be irritating, but teenagers are sometimes irritating people. These characters are completely believable as modern, drama-fueled teens, and even the high school feels real. Hailey herself is one of those characters that you feel like you know completely, even if you don't always love her. 

It is probably necessary to mention that this book likely would not exist without Mean Girls. The plot parallels that film to the extent that it sometimes feels like a novelization of the movie. However, it incorporates some elements that Mean Girls did not have room for, and it goes further in almost every way (language, sex, nastiness, roundness of characters, etc). So, if you are a fan of that film, you probably will not be disappointed by this book. 

You can look at Confessions of a Hater as a book version of that super right-now Lorde song "Royals". Possibly brilliant, but a little bit irksome, interesting, and oh-so current. It won't be relevant soon, but it is horribly relevant right now. So, if you like hyper-contemporary writing, definitely read this book, but do it soon. 

When I Found You

I should preface this edition of the Book Blog by admitting that I started it when I had been drinking. I was torn about making a post about this book because I didn't know exactly how to express why I loved it, and I wasn't sure that anyone else would love it for the same reasons. Then I got a little drunk and a little sad and realized I was looking to a character I had just read for advice, and yeah, he was in this book, so it obviously warrants a spot.

The Basics:

Title: When I found you

Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde 

The Overview:

One fall morning when Nathan MaCann, a middle-aged man in a difficult marriage, goes duck hunting, he stumbles upon an infant left to freeze to death among the leaves. Upon discovering that the baby boy is still alive, Nathan rushes him to the hospital and quickly decides that he wants to keep the child despite the resistance he knows he will meet from his childless wife. Unfortunately for Nathan, when the child pulls through, he is released into the custody of his maternal grandmother. Still, Nathan feels that he needs to be a part of the baby's life, and he ensures the old woman that if ever she needs his help, he will be there.

Years later, the grown child, named Nathan after his savior and nicknamed Nat, discovers the truth about his mother's abandonment and begins a rapid decline into delinquency. With his grandmother at the end of her rope, Nathan the elder finally finds himself called upon for help. For the remainder of his days, Nathan McCann struggles to help guide his charge through adolescence and young adulthood as the younger falls in love, begins a boxing career, and fights the identity and anger issues that he cannot seem to shake. Despite difficult times and set backs, Nathan never abandons the promise he made to the nearly lifeless infant he discovered in the woods.

Why I Read It:

Catherine Ryan Hyde has written something like 20 books and people tell me to read one or another all the time. I didn't choose this one for any particular reason other than that it popped up on my kindle at a low price and at a time when I was looking for a clearly emotional read. When the first sentence of the Amazon description included an abandoned baby, I said, "Here it is!"

Why You Should Read It

First of all, Nathan McCann is the best. A lot of times "wise old man" characters some across as extremely cliche or overwrought, but this character is brilliant in his simplicity and steadfastness. I cannot imagine reading this book and coming away without love for him. Nat is a very interesting character, too. Writing human maturation effectively is not easy, and Hyde handles the task very well in this novel. The cast of supporting characters is well-rounded but simple, keeping this a straight-forward read. 

Secondly, the feelings! You sort of go into this one knowing what to expect (or you will, now that you have read my overview anyway), but it is executed so beautifully and with such simple tenderness that you can't help but be swept up in it. I enjoy books where you end up rooting for all the characters. If you don't need a bad guy to be entertained, this is a good choice for you. 

Finally, if you (like me) read at bed time and can't stop in the middle of chapters, this is a gift. It is organized into several-pages-long vignettes that move quickly through decades of time. Logical stopping points are plentiful, but the plot never feels gapped or rushed. 

In conclusion, if you are looking for a heartfelt, sweet page turner written by a skilled storyteller, check out When I Found You, and bring tissues for the end. 

Flat-Out Love

The Basics:

Title: Flat-Out Love

Author: Jessica Park

Publisher: Initially self-published in 2011, later picked up by Amazon Children's Publishing (I think, based on the acknowledgments and Amazon listing)

Pages: 343

Overview:

Julie is a college freshman from Ohio who has moved to Boston to attend Whitney. Improbably, she has arranged for off-campus housing via Craigslist, and when that inevitably falls through, a local friend of her mother's invites her home until she can get her bearings. What Julie does not know when she accepts is that the family is dealing with a great deal of dysfunction, and she quickly takes it upon herself to help 13-year-old Celeste, who seems to be developmentally delayed and struggling. She also begins an online friendship with absent son Finn, navigates a complicated friendship with not-absent-but-geeky son Matt, and slowly unravels the secrets and pains of her host family. 

Why I Read It:

I was looking for something light after the unfathomable amount of crying brought on by the mid-section of Welcome to Zero City, Baby, so I was drawn to the Young Adult section on my Kindle. Having used my Amazon Prime loan for the month, I also was not discouraged by the Prime $1.99 price tag on Flat-Out Love. Ultimately, I had a bit of trouble putting it down despite some eye-rolling, and I read it in two days.

Why You Should Read It:

You're a bit of a romantic who enjoys YA fiction and isn't devastated by pretty obvious twist endings. You also are not turned off by extremely contemporary writing (facebook statuses, talk of twitter, Justin Bieber), and you can deal with OC-Season-3 levels of banter from basically every character. 

Those possible deterrents aside, I found quite a bit to be charming about this quick read. Julie rings true as a current college student, and Matt is complex and lovable and nerdy in a good way. While some aspects of the plot are beyond improbable, they work in the context of the hopelessly romantic, squishy feelings this kind of writing can evoke. And THAT being said, this is one that makes you feel squishy a few times without being Nicholas Sparks gooey. Also, there are a couple pretty sexy moments.

My favorite part was the 13-year-old character, Celeste. She is a precocious, intelligent young lady (Think a modern version of Salinger's Esme), but she is also damaged, socially inept, and prone to spending her time with a life-sized cardboard version of her brother Finn. Her developments and setbacks are engaging and sweet, and you can't help but love her and want her to succeed. 

There is probably a lot about this novel that a literature purist (/snob) would scoff at, but at the end of the day, I read it in three sittings in two days, stayed up until 2:30 am to finish it, and immediately ordered (for free, but still) the companion novella told from Matt's point of view. Yup, I'm gonna read the same story again. So all in all, I can't seem to complain. There are also many gushing online reviews for this book calling it things like, "the best book I've ever read," so it seems that others may recommend it in stronger terms. 

Welcome To Zero City, Baby

The Basics:

Title: Welcome to Zero City, Baby

Author: David Racine

Publisher: Dufour Editions, 2012

Length: 512 pages

The Overview:

Sixteen-year-old Teri is dragged from her comfortable life in Baltimore, MD to muggy rural Mississippi when her mother accepts an administrative job at a southern college. There, Teri must adjust to life at her new school and navigate social entanglements while making sense of her parents' odd separation, which has caused them to move into two independent sides of the same duplex home. When Teri meets Nother Martin, the son of a local blues legend, he and his large, sprawling family introduce her to a more content way of life. However, she must face more than her fair share of tragedy and heart break and in the process accept the harsh realities and responsibilities of adulthood. 

Why I Read It:

A friend who is an editor for Dufour Editions recommended it. Also, at 18 I moved from Maryland to New Orleans, so Teri's move as a teenager mimicked mine in many ways. 

Why You Should Read It:

Teri is a strongly-written character with a sharp wit and realistic teenage concerns and flaws. The majority of the book is written in first person in her voice, providing the reader a strong narrative. However, third-person vignettes occur throughout the plot, allowing Racine some degree of omnipotence and giving us a glance into other characters' motivations. The format works brilliantly with the plot. Teri's parents are also both robust, enjoyable characters. Her mother is a hard-line, over-achieving academic with lofty goals for her daughter, while Teri's father is a sympathetic, comforting man with more than a little bit of wisdom, in the vein of Atticus Finch. 

The Martin family is perhaps the most inspired aspect of Welcome to Zero City, Baby. Teri's love interest Nother is the son of legendary local musician Crosscut Martin and a roadside Cajun fortune teller named Madame Marie. His slew of siblings, in-laws, nieces, and nephews paint a warm picture of close-knit family life in the Mississippi Delta. Nother himself is a unique, soft-spoken, independent young man who leaves a lasting impression long after you've put the novel down.

Perhaps most importantly, this novel addresses hard lessons that every person must learn in the process of becoming an adult, and it does so without indulging in heavy-handedness or cliche. I believe that the struggle to escape teenage pains and hardships is largely a struggle against oneself, and Teri also must learn this lesson while dealing with legitimate emotional pain. 

Overall, this book progresses nicely and elicits a wide range of strong emotions. I would recommend it to anyone who is comfortable with long novels that do not always move at break-neck speed. If you are willing to put in some real time getting to know and love the characters, this one will not let you down emotionally or intellectually.