Adam Was Right

I don't know why I like morbid books. I have recently started a book I purchased at the book fair called "Hunt for the Seventh" and it has seriously given me the hebbie jeebies.

The book is about this boy named Jim who has just moved into a super huge castle. His mother has died and his father has decided to take a job at the dilapidated Minerva Estate. His father has recently taken up a job as head gardener, which I think is a little pointless. The owner of the castle doesn't even go outside, let alone appreciate the beauty of his home. So I would just sell it to England as a historical landmark and have gardeners take care of it, but no head gardener. I think that if you are going to work at a place like the Minerva Castle, you should be the best of the best.

Anyways, this kid is seeing these strange things. He saw a ghost write on a chalkboard, a mysterious savant who he has named Einstein who may or may not be alive, and a girl has been seriously bugging him, asking him to "Find the Seventh". By Seventh I guess she means the seventh dead child, because six kids died in the grounds. This girl that has been bugging him died because she got nailed in the head by a weather vane. Ouch!

While this book is very good, I feel out of it. Maybe because this book gives me nightmares and I just don't want to be in it, but character development for the main character has been seriously low. The dad and this boy's younger sister, Sal, are extremely developed, especially the father. But it is a good book.

P.S. I commented on Rose's blog

Everlost: Why Do I Read So Many Books About Death?

Neil Shusterman is a genius. He is wacky, and his writing varies from stories about children being taken apart and having their body parts "recycled" to stories about Barbies coming to life. With his book "Everlost", he continues to use original plots.
One of the first mysteries that a person encounters is "Where do you go when you die?" Whatever you believe in, whether it is hell or heaven, purgatory or Nirvana, or even if you believe that you are reincarnated as a bug and the light at the end of the tunnel is really a bug zapper, we all have ideas. But, what if you don't make it?
That is the question that "Everlost" is all about. If you miss the light, where do you go? You go to Everlost, a land where you don't have to breathe, there are no adults, you can't get hurt, you sink to the center of the Earth if you stand in one place for too long, and an evil monster haunts everyone, waiting to rip out their tongues.
Nick and Allie are both killed in a car crash, and are both thrown into Everlost. They want to get back home, and they believe they can. The boy they meet, who they name Leif, doesn't believe they can. Leif lives in fear of the evil monster and of sinking into the ground. Who is right? I believe that Leif should not live a life surrounded by fear, but by the sound of it, going out into Everlost means that you are doomed. As doomed as a dead person can be.

P.S. I commented on Adam's blog.

Truancy is Awesome III

If you want to read a book full of action, suspense, a little love story, a lot of mystery, and full of amazing writing, skip The Hunger Games and read Truancy by Isamu Fukui.


The Hunger Games is not nearly as good as Truancy and is way way more popular. While certain parts of The Hunger Games bored me to sleep, Truancy had me at the edge of my seat every second I read it.


Truancy is a very good book for many reasons. While the end of The Hunger Games has a very predictable ending, Truancy keeps you guessing. Everything that was good about The Hunger Games is better in Truancy. And Truancy was written by a seventeen year old high school senior. Beat that, Suzanne Collins.

I finished Truancy, and this book really makes me think. Umasi was not part of the Truancy when it started. And guess what? He is Zyid's brother! Those two characters could not be more different! Zyid wants to end the City's cruel educational system with violence, while Umasi wants to end it with peace. And both of them have to intelligence and strength to end it.



This is a great twist. An even greater twist is that Umasi and Zyid are both actually the sons of the Mayor.





Tack has joined Zyid's gang. Why? Umasi, his mentor, has showed taught him of being a pacifist. He joins because his sister is killed by Zyid. He swears to kill Zyid after he shows no concern for killing an innocent student.



I agree with Umasi partially. Umasi is extremely patient, because his way of ending the system is waiting for the current leaders to die of natural causes and let the new ones solve the problems. I don't think I could be that patient. But killing thousands of people is too much. All the people murdered are fathers, husbands, brothers, wives, daughters, mothers, sons, uncles, aunts, all people with real families. And the family of the cruelest Educator doesn't deserve to suffer from the sadness of losing a loved one.



This book is also, I believe, meant to teach a lesson. The lessons here are harsh and very real, which is stunning from a seventeen year old. When Zyid makes a "speech" that the entire City hears, he comes up with some very good points. He talks about how children should deal with their parents, their teachers, and anybody who has considered them inferior. He says "No longer will we beg for their favor. No longer will we fear their displeasure. No longer will we hide from failure". He also realizes violence is not the way to go. He says that the violence can only bring the two sides to "mutual ruin". This speech tells us not to be afraid of our mistakes or ourselves. And it tells us that in the end, the real winner of wars is nobody

Trucany is Awesome II

I have continued to read "Truancy" by Isamu Fukui and I can't put it down. It is just so good!

One thing this book has is action. I've read about two attacks conducted by the Truancy. The rebels are very organized. Their leader, Zyid, is in fact called a "strategical genius" by an Enforcer after he attacks a ceramics lab. They are well supplied with materials to make pipe bombs, smoke bombs, and have guns. These guys are not people you want to meet in a dark alley.

On the other side of the story is Tack, a high schooler just trying to survive life in the City. He meets a boy named Umasi who lives in District 19, the City's abandoned district. Umasi is very smart and can fight very well. He is like a hermit in some Oriental stories, a smart guy that is also a secret ninja warrior person. I don't know. The guy is a mystery.

I also think that Umasi could have been part of the Truancy when it was first starting to attack the City. Zyid comes into District 19 to talk to Umasi. I don't know what about, but I think he might be trying to convince Umasi to rejoin the Truancy. And I don't blame him. If I was Zyid, I would definitley want a guy like Umasi on my side. Who wouldn't want a super smart ninja when they are leading an armed rebellion?

Another thing I like is that this book makes me feel better about school. Things are really bad for Tack in school. The subway he takes is never there at the same time, and it picks up Tack 30 minutes late. Even though it is not his fault, he still gets an automatic F on the quiz.

Also this book is very hard to know what will happen. Over 100 pages in, i'm still wondering what will happen?

P.S. I commented on Sam's blog

Truancy is Awesome!

Ever thought you had a bad day at school? Where you caught talking in class? Eating in class? Did you fail a test and get yelled at? Well, at least you weren't killed.

Killed? For failing a test? Well, if you were Tack or Suzie in the book Truancy by Isamu Fukui, you could be. The education system in the City is a hard ordeal, where kids are branded like animals and treated the same.

The word truancy means "The act or condition of being absent without permission". In the City's cruel educational system, this is a crime taken very severely. The Truancy in this book is also an armed rebellion of students fighting against the educational system.

What I really don't get is why the Mayor keeps doing this. He is obviously a mean guy. A harsh lecture from this man is like winning the lottery. In fact, when a man is given a job that pretty much guarantees his assassination, he is considered "lucky". But he knows that he is mean. He is not surprised that students began an armed rebellion. He knows he treats the students awfully, and that they have an excuse to be angry. But he keeps doing it. This guy is seriously messed up in the head.

Also, another thing I realize is the lying. The Mayor tries to cover up the multiple black outs caused by the Truancy. I can actually relate to this. When terrorist seemed to be winning the fight in Peru and Alberto Fujimori was elected president in 1990, he suspended democracy and showed false images on news stations, making it seem like he was winning the war, and that the human rights violations going on in the mountains and farms weren't happening. The Mayor is lying, I believe, because he believes that everyone in the City is angry and will be willing to fight. If they find out the Truancy is winning, then they might be more likely to join.

Nobody I know likes school. Getting up in the morning early, doing homework, taking tests, nobody I know really thinks this is fun. But this book shows us things could always be worse. I don't think anybody would seriously bring up an armed rebellion. I have barley gotten a glimpse at this system, so I really want to know why students would start an armed rebellion.

P.S. I commented on Andrew's blog

People Don't Say "Intense" Without Meaning It.

When I began "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, a lot of people told me the book was very intense. I thought that I'd read my share of tough books, from the Kite Runner, also by Hosseini to Street Pharm by Allison von Diepen. But nothing could have prepared me for this.

This book has a lot of adult things. Their is a lot of violence. Some language. Some sexual references and some sex. But there is also the mood set throughout the book, created by the hardships occurring in Afghanistan.

The characters in this book suffer from some awful things. Suicide. The death of parents and lovers. Injustice. And an abusive husband.

The book is about two women, named Mariam and Laila. I think these characters are the best characters to show the struggle in Afghanistan through, because women got the bad end of the deal. They are treated inferior because of the beliefs of their leaders, and they definitley had it rougher.

Mariam is forced to marry a 40 something year old man after her mother commits suicide. She moves out of Herat, a city in western Afghanistan, to Kabul with her husband, Rasheed. May I mention that Mariam is only 15 years old? A 15 year old married to a 45 year old man. That doesn't sound right to me.

Rasheed desperately wants a boy, because his son drowned years ago. Yet, after several failed attempts to have a child, it turns out Mariam can't bear children. This happens a lot in Hosseini's books. Two people in "The Kite Runner" were unable to bear children. I think that this makes the story a little more harsh, but leads to some beautiful parts.

Well, Rasheed becomes disappointed in her. He begins to become surely, especially that now, Soviet rule over Afghanistan is not so good. He begins to scorn Mariam, and abuse her. Eventually, he forces her to chew on some pebbles. That's just awful.

The story is not only about Mariam. I like this, because it gives the reader two perspectives of the same struggle. There are definitley two sides to every story.

Laila, the other main character, is a girl who lives a reativley pampered life, compared to Mariams. She is born when Mariam is around 19, so she is quite a bit younger than her. She feels the hardships of the war aswell, because both of her brothers are fighting the Soviets. Her mother, who loves Laila's brothers more than anything in the world, is a wreck. She as the symptoms of bipolar disorder, but not a case as sever as Ben's mom in "Deadline". Laila is friends with a boy named Tariq, a strong boy with only one leg. Then, tragedy strikes. Laila's brothers are killed by Soviets. Her mother falls into a state of complete depression, blaming her husband for her sons death. Then, the Soviets are kicked out and the Mujihadeen take control of Afghanistan. At first, things are good again. Then war destroys Kabul. Rockets rain down, and warlords fight continuously, killing many innocent people. Soon, Laila and Tariq begin to be more open about their feelings from each other. Then, Tariq leaves, but not after giving Laila something to remember from him. Then, Laila's mother finally agrees to leave. As they are bringing out the stuff to the truck, Laila's house is hit by a rocket. Her parents are killed, and she marries Rasheed.

At first, things aren't so bad. But then, Laila realizes that she is pregnant with Tariq's baby. She does her best to fool Rasheed that it is his baby, but Rasheed still has a hunch. Rasheed still wants a boy, but the baby turns out to be a girl, which Laila names Aziza. Rasheed is disappointed, and is mean to Aziza.

Laila was part of a slightly liberal family. While Rasheed believes that women are lower that men, Laila has always been taught that men and women are equal. Rasheed beats her, because he believes that Laila is turning Mariam toward defiance. He beats them so much that they become friends, united against their common enemy. They then decide to run away.

This is extremely brave on their part. Running away to Pakistan is not easy, because Pakistan has already closed its border with Afghanistan. They are caught, and then Rasheed nearly kills them both when he locks them in two seperate places with no water or food. The temperatures are excruciatingly hot.

After that, a man comes to give Laila the news that Tariq was killed by a rocket, along with his parents. This news crushes Laila, but she tries not to show it.

Then the Taliban take control of Afghanistan. This is especially hard on women. The laws restrict women from many things, like showing their face,wearin makeup, or going outside without a man. Also, laughing, singing, television and movies are banned. During this time, Laila gives birth to a boy who is named Zalmai. This makes Rasheed very happy, but he becomes increasingly cruel to Aziza.

Mariam and Laila take Aziza to an orphanage when Taliban raids begin. Rasheed does not want to visit his harami* of a daughter, so Laila goes without a man, often getting caught and beaten.

Then, more beating ensues. Rasheed even threatens to kill Laila with his gun. The war in Kabul has forced Rasheed out of work, so things are tough around the household. Then, Rasheed gets work at a hotel. And guess who shows up one while Rasheed is at work. Tariq!

Tariq isn't really dead. He tells Laila of his time in Afghanistan, where both his parents have died. Noticing wounds from Rasheed's beatings, Tariq begs Laila to join him in Pakistan. She says no, and later, he leaves. Then, Rasheed finds out Tariq was there, and begins to beat his wives. Laila fights back, but is subdued. Then, Mariam finds it in her soul to fight back against her evil husband. As Rasheed attempts to strangle Laila to death, Mariam kills him with a shovel.

Laila goes to Pakistan with Tariq, Aziza and Zalmai. Mariam stays, and is executed. I cried at this part, because it then, where Mariam feels redeemed. She has lived her entire life suffering, being treated like dirt. But then, she feels she has done what is right, but feels awful for taking away Zalmai's right to a father who loved him dearly. And with these feelings of redemption and guilt, she dies at the hands of a Talib in fromt of a crowd of clucking spectators.

So far, this has been an amazing book. At first, I liked it, but wasn't into the story, really feeling the character's emotions. But later in the book, I sobbed when a character died. This book is heart wrenching, showing the suffering of Afghanistan in the eyes of two woman who had their childhoods destroyed by war, and their pride destroyed by an abusive husband. But, as Laila says herself, "Every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimagineable grief. And yet,... people find a way to survive, to go on." This sums up the story. It is not a story of death and sadness though many deaths and many hardships occur. It is a story of the will to survive, told in the beautiful and heart breaking way only Khaled Hosseini can.

Khaled Hosseini Makes Me Sad (With His Books)

I just finished "The Kite Runner". Boy, was that a tough ending.

Where I left of, Amir, the main character in the book, has just found out his half brother is dead, and that his half nephew is in an orphanage in Kabul. Amir goes to Kabul with a driver to the orphanage. The driver ( who I think is named Fayid but I'm not so sure) dislikes Amir because he believes he is just going there to sell his father's land. When he finds out what Amir's real intentions are, he promises to help Amir get Sohrab.

Amir heads to Kabul. But Kabul is not the city that Amir knew. The Taliban and the Soviet Union destroyed the city of Amir's childhood. Well, when they get to the orphanage, they find out that Sohrab, Amir's half nephew, was sold to a Taliban member. The owner of the orphanage needed to sell Sohrab, but this is a big set back for Amir. Things will not be so easy.

Amir and his driver follow the Taliban member from a soccer game where he stoned to people to death. Then, Amir gets into his old house, where the Taliban member now lives. And guess who the Taliban guy is. It's Assef!

For those of you who didn't read my last post, Assef is the boy who raped Hassan when Amir was a kid. Assef swore he would hurt Amir. He already raped Hassan, but he didn't do anything to Amir. So, Assef starts beating the heck out of Amir. Then Sohrab, who has been watching the whole time, tells Assef to stop attacking Amir. When he doesn't, Sohrab shoots a brass ball into Assef's eye. They flee, and Amir has Sohrab.

Then, Amir discovers that the family that he was supposed to give Sohrab to doesn't exist. So, he has to adopt Sohrab. But, adopting his half nephew will not be too easy. In fact, he will half to put him back into an orphanage. Sohrab obviously doesn't have very fond memories of his last orphanage, because he slits his wrist in an attempt to kill himself when he hears the news. He doesn't die, though.

Amir's wife, Soroya, ends up getting a humanitarian visa for Sohrab, so he doesn't have to go to the orphanage.

When they go to America, Sohrab goes mute, upset that he didn't succeed in killing himself. In the end, though, he warms up to Amir and his wife and accepts the fact that his life will never be like it was before his father was killed.

Then, I began "A Thousand Splendid Suns", another book by the same author. So far, it is the story of Mariam, a girl who was never wanted. She is the living form of her father's scandalous mistake, which leads her to lead a bad life. She goes to find her father after he breaks a promise, and her mother, upset that her daughter has left her, hangs herself with a N-O-O-S-E, Jack. And now, she might have to marry a 40 year old at 15. That's just plain ridiculous.

The Kite Runner AKA The Promise I Couldn't Keep

I seriously thought I would stop reading tough books. Well, I'm more than halfway done through my toughest book yet. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.

WARNING!! SPOILER ALERT!

"The Kite Runner" is simply the best book I have ever read. It has everything a book needs. Great characters, characters that can make you believe they are real. The events and plot are heart breaking and depressing, and happy and joy full. There is action, and peace, calm, and turbulence, all combining to make Khaled Hosseini's masterpiece.

This book is told from the point of view of Amir, and follows him through his life. It begins with him as a child, with his best friend, a Hazara servant, Hassan. Hazaras are an ethnic group in Afghanistan, the group that is looked down upon. Amir is a Pashtun, the ethnic group viewed higher in Afghanistan. The book goes from the prejudice that the Hazaras of Afghanistan are forced to deal with to the outcome of Russia's invasion of the country. Amir doesn't realize how far apart in Afghan society he and Hassan are. Until one fateful winter day.

Amir enters a kite tournament as a flyer. Hassan is the best kite runner in town, and is Amir's partner.

Kite fighting is basically a sport in which you try to cut down your opponent's kite with your tar, a part of the string covered in shards of glass.

Amir wins the tournament and Hassan goes after the last kite to fall, which is a spectacular prize. Amir waits for Hassan to return with the kite. And waits. And waits, Finally he encounters Hassan in an alley blocked by a boy named Assef and Assef's two friends.

Assef is a Pashtun who believes that Hazara's should be dealt with the way Hitler dealt with the Jews. Hassan and Amir have encountered him once before. But Hassan was armed. And Amir was there now Hassan is all alone.

Amir watches as his best friend is raped in that alley. He runs away, shaken greatly by what he has just seen.

Amir is ashamed that he stood and watched Hassan get raped. He begins to avoid Hassan and eventually, Hassan and his father Ali join a Hazarajat.

Years later, Russia's leadership has become to much for Amir and his father, Baba. So they decide to flee Afghanistan to head to America.

In America, Amir marries and Baba dies of cancer. A little bit before where I am in the book, Rahim Khan, one of Amir's adult friends when he was a child, calls him and tells him he has fallen ill. When Amir arrives, Rahim Khan tells him of the Taliban's mistreatment of the people, the violence that has swept Kabul and all of Afghanistan, and most importantly, Hassan.

Hassan was killed by a Taliban right outside of Baba's old house. So was his wife. That left their child, a young boy, to a fate Hassan never wanted to see his child face. Hassan's child becomes one of the many orphans in modern day Afghanistan. And one other thing. Hassan was really Amir's brother. Rahim Khan's dying wish is that Amir go to Kabul and save his nephew from an uncertain fate. Amir decides to go, and is just realizing how much Kabul has changed from the city he grew up in. He now has to go and find his nephew, who has been taken by the Taliban.

This book manages to tell the story of Afghans and Afghanistan even though a good majority of it is set in San Francisco. It teaches you how awful things can get, and the importance of friendship and bravery. And it is the book that reminded me why I love to read.

Also, I commented on weismanww.blogspot.com.

I Have Got to Stop Reading Scary Books Before Bed!

I just realized today how many dark books I've been posting about. The first book was about the murder of ten people abandoned on an island. The second was about a boy who was going to die from a terminal disease. The third was about kids who have to kill each other in order to win food, fame, and the right to survive. The fourth was about a boy who got involved with drugs and death. And this one was about a serial killer who murders too close to home for the main character.

"The Christopher Killer" is about the daughter of the coroner of a small town of Silverton, Colorado, named Cameryn. She wants to be a pathologist, despite her grandmother's wishes, and when she is given the chance, she becomes her father's assistant. She thinks that she will love this job, but suddenly, the deaths come a little too close to home.

This book looks at the business of forsenics with two different views. One is the views of the pathologists, who are used to the procedure and look at the person they are working with as no longer human. The other view is Cameryn's. Her view is that the deceased are still very much human. At least they are when one of her friends is murdered by the infamous Christopher Killer.

Cameryn's friend is found strangled in the wilderness at the same place described by Dr. Jewel, a world renowned psychic. Dr. Jewel is famous for finding the bodies of the victims of the Christopher Killer and solving many cases with his special powers. At first, Cameryn is skeptic about Dr. Jewel, believing that he is a fraud like all other psychics. But when he points out things that he shouldn't know about Rachel, like what she was wearing when she was killed, begin to make her think Dr. Jewel is a real psychic. Soon, she begins to listen to Dr. Jewel and draws to the conclusion that the deputy of Silverton, Justin Crowley, is the killer. But then, during a private reading with Dr. Jewel, she finds out he takes DMSO (a drug often used for horses) for his stomach. She then begins to add 2 and 2 to discover who the killer really is. There are many facts that suggest who the killer is all throughout the book. And it isn't Crowley. The Christopher Killer is Dr. Jewel.

While all this murder stuff is undoubedtly the most important part of the book, there are other things in the story. For instance, when the book begins, for some reason, Cameryn's dad hates Deputy Crowley. He hates him because, as we discover later in the book, Deputy Crowley dated Cameryn's mother, who abandoned Cameryn and her father when Cameryn was young. The end of the book reveals, in a letter to Cameryn from her mother, that the death of Cameryn's sister, Jane, drove her mother into a manic state of depression. She left, not wanting to harm Cameryn, and cured herself. I believe she will meet Cameryn in the later books.

"What later books?" you may be asking. Well, this book is the first of a series, and I really want to read the rest. It was a very good book that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. But hopefully, I won't choose such a dark book for my next post.

This book talks about science vs. psychics a lot. Cameryn's best friend, Lyric, and an odd boy named Adam, both are big Dr. Jewel fans (until they find out he killed innocent girls in order to maintain his image.) Cameryn lets psychics lead her to suspect someone else of the murders, even though she knows the tricks of many phsycics. However, even today, police officers use psychics, like in a couple episodes of "Numb3rs". Do you think this is a good choice? Tell me in your comments to this post, or answer in my poll.

Darkness, Death, and Drugs: Welcome to "Jude"

I noticed this book, sitting on the bookshelf of a certain classroom, due to its title. Jude is the German word for Jew, so I thought the book might be about the Holocaust. Boy, was I wrong.
"Jude" is a book about a boy named (any guesses?) Jude, who lives on the wrong side of the tracks. He has lived for fifteen years in West Hartford, Connecticut, a place where you can hear automatic gunfire every night, according to Jude. He has stayed with his abusive, drug dealing father, and tries to make the best of his bad situation. At the beginning of the book, Jude's father is murdered. When the police arrive, they find Jude watching T.V. When Jude gives them an alibi, they immediatly recognize it is a lie. But what does Jude have to hide?
Jude is taken to the police station where he meets the D.A. (district attorney). The D.A. also happens to be his mother. Jude goes to live with his mother and her, boyfriend Harry, in his mother's lavish house. He attends Benton Prep School. And for a while, things go great. Then, Jude meets Nick.
Nick is the most popular boy at Benton, and he has heard of Jude's life in the ghetto. He knows Jude has connections with hustlers (drug dealers) and wants hin to get him some weed. Jude thinks this will be a one time thing, but it soon turns to an every day thing.
Nick is soon selling drugs with Jude's best friend from West Hartford, R.J. R.J. is selling heroine at Benton, a drug which Nick is addicted to. One day, R.J. tells Nick to snort 3 times the regular dose, because the heroine he sells at Benton is not good. However, R.J. made a mistake. A mistake which kills Nick.
Nick's death is more harmful than it seems. Jude's mother has decided to run for mayor, and she is known for his fierce anti-drug policiy. When a boy dies of an overdose and nothing is found out, the Anna's (Anna is Jude's mother's name) opponent accuses the D.A.'s office that they are not working hard enough to find the dealer. These claims begin to take a toll o Anna's campaign.
Harry eventually discovers that Jude was Nick's connection to drugs. Jude convinces Harry that he was not selling drugs, just taking Nick to his old neighborhood. Harry tells him it doesn't metter whether Jude was the dealer or not, it has already done too much damage to Anna's campaign. There is only one thing Jude can do. And that is pretend to be the dealer.
The scheme is crazy, but it works. After Jude is caught, everyone admires Anna for her courage to prosecute her own son for the greater good of the city. I have just reached the end of the trials, and Jude was found guilty of possession with intention to distribute and crimnally negligent homicide. He has been given five years without parol. I am about half way through the book, and I love it. I really want to know what happens in the end.
This book talks not about drugs as the way we usually think of them, which is basically people getting high and acting all stupid. This book talks about the business of drugs, and how much dealing goes undetected.
This books does have a lot of tough things in it. Jude's life is never very good, the kids taking drugs, and the language make this book not for 3rd graders But the lesson is clear. Drugs never do anyone good.