April Book Reviews

Link your book reviews here.
This is the format for this month's reviews.

Book Review by Victoria Sherry

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Penguin Group

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Where I got it: It was a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a fan of Sara Dessen.

One Sentence Summary: Scarlett’s boyfriend died in a motorcycle accident, only to find out that she was pregnant; Scarlett, having no idea what to do, turns to her best friend, Halley, for support.

First Sentence of the book: Scarlett Thomas has been my best friend for as long as I can remember.

First Chapter Review: Scarlett calls Halley at her camp to tell her about Michael Sherwood’s (Scarlett’s boyfriend) death. Halley decides to leave the camp early, knowing that she has to be there to support her best friend. Halley is not used to being the one that Scarlett needs, usually it’s the other way around. Now, she must learn to do whatever it takes to be there for Scarlett. You can clearly see a strong bond between the two best friends and that they would do anything for each other.

Verdict: This book is definitely one of my favorites and would read it again and again.

Cover Comments: Shows two people (a boy and a girl; I am assuming its Michael and Scarlett) on the beach. You can tell that it’s around summer time, could be a summer romance that ended in tragedy of Michael’s death.

Memoir

We are in the midst of our memoir study and have read many memoir excerpts in class and during independent reading.  Now you can share your thoughts and recommendations with us all about your memoir selections.


Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller  


"to the dogs," has meant to destruction and ruin. Something can "go to the dogs," meaning that it becomes less and less desirable.  If someone says of someone else that he's "going to the dogs," it may mean that he has let himself go, that he no longer looks after himself properly, doesn't eat well,  or doesn't groom himself well.

This is the memoir of Alexandra Fuller, a white girl growing up in Africa amidst the country's struggle for independence and her family's struggle for survival. It is a delicate weaving of the civil unrest, not just in Rodesia, Malawi,and Zambia, but in her home. 

The lush words and vivid descriptions illuminate her  unbreakable bond with a continent and the people who inhabit it.

The book is told chronologically through a child's perspective using photos at the start of each chapter that seem to serve as an anchor for her memory.

She comes to realize that  much of the family’s interior lives is an expression of their exterior situation, and that her mother’s psychological condition is an internalization of some

instability or madness in the family’s social  and personal circumstances.

I count this as not only one of my favorite memoirs, but one of my all time favorite books. I fell in love with the  big spinning out of control stories and the smaller heartbreaking ones. I relished  her description of  the sights, smells and sounds of a country and continent going through turmoil.

Lines We Love:


 ""What I know about Africa as a child (because I have no memory of any other place) is her smell: hot, sweet, smoky, salty, sharp-soft. It is like black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass.....The other thing I can't know about Africa until after I have left (and heard the sound of other, colder, quieter, more insulated places) is her noise." pg. 130