Algonquin Attempts Growth with YA

I thought it was appropriate to report after our group review of Water for Elephants that the publisher that made its mark with Sara Gruen's books, is now looking to continue growth with a YA list.

Read more at PW.

Trip Sheets, Ellen Hawley

Ellen Hawley’s Trip Sheets initially intrigued me because it was supposed to be a very personal story from the mind of a taxi driver. And, in the beginning of the book, Hawley explains exactly this intrigue mentioning how lonely and long the days of a taxi driver can be. However, the story never seems to appropriately explore this mind. Yes, the story is all told from driver Cath’s point of view, but rather than resting and exploring feelings, Cath seems to plod through the story giving each event equal attention before deciding that one event is the culmination of all the others. Even the last scenes of the story seem to hold little significance for this role.

The story is of a Minnesota taxi driver, Cath, who is working her way through young adulthood and coming out. It is the story of a woman learning to negotiate her romantic relationships personally and eventually with family. However, the book reads more like a resume than emotional or revelatory accounts of this journey. Cath goes from one relationship to the next, and at first her lack of emotion makes sense. But then Cath does find her soul mate, and the reader thinks finally, I will see Cath at her most vulnerable. You won’t. Cath’s soul mate is divorced and a single mother. Her soul mate insists that Cath introduce her to family when Cath’s father is on his death bed. Yet, amidst this obvious recipe for heart wrenching and challenging feelings, Cath continues to tell her story with her unnatural sensibility leaving any reader frustrated and bored.

This was a pretty disappointing story to be on display at the Minneapolis Central Library. 

The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

Jeannette, we appreciate your story, but I guess we were hoping for a bit more from The Glass Castle. Aren’t we tough reviewers? Certainly your story offers more than enough to discuss. However, the clubbin’ friends wanted more of that discussion from you!

Reviews seem to be the same from around the town. When I first started reading, two women stopped me on the bus: “Oh, The Glass Castle? You only need to read the first few chapters, they just keep moving from nothing town to another.” Having finished, I will mention that the two women were wrong. The family stops moving around, but things do not stabilize for Jeannette or her siblings. I think really my bus mates were hinting that the book never adequately highlights conflicting emotions or thoughts from the author. Not that it needs to. If I were Jeannette, I would probably want to write my book similarly. Plop out the story, and I will let you decide how I should feel about this because though I have had a lifetime to figure it out, I still have no idea.

I would never ask Jeannette to write more than what she has, because the story is valid as it is. However, the story still leaves readers without any of the probable and varied emotions and thoughts from the author and her siblings.

Consensus says that this book is a necessary read but maybe not the most satisfying book to challenge preconceived ideas in an exciting or surprising way.