Chime by Franny Billingsley

I will admit that I read the novel Chime less because it was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature than because it was part of this year's controversy surrounding the award. And though I'm sad that its author Franny Billingsley was dragged through an ugly mess that should never have happened, I'm so glad the turmoil put the book on my radar.
This inventive tale about self-perception and memory defies classification, or more accurately, meshes the best elements of many genres seamlessly. It is a coming-of-age story told in first-person by 17-year old Briony Larkin, a self-described witch who believes herself unloveable and controls her awful powers with a combination of strict self-control and self-loathing. It is part historical fiction and magical realism, set in a rural swamp village in England at the height of the Industrial Revolution, where uneducated fishermen, rich businessmen and even the clergy (Briony's father) believe in the Old Ones--the mythical creatures like witches,  pixies, and monsters that control the elements of nature. It is a novel of mystery and suspense as Briony reveals her troubling story: daughter of a distant and oblivious father, twin of a sister whose childlike mentality leaves Briony in the role of constant caretaker, griever of her beloved step-mother whose suspicious death is believed to have been a poisoning. When wild-hearted Eldric arrives in town with his "boy-man" charm and uncomfortable questions, Briony begins to thaw against her will. She finds herself acting like a normal girl when in his company, though always returning to her senses when she remembers how it was her uncontrolled power that caused her sister to fall from a swing and her terrible magic that crippled her step-mother before her death. Briony must ever remind herself she can never have the love story.

While the novel is dense with dialogue and less plot-driven, I was completely riveted by the conflict of Briony vs. Briony and the slowly unraveling mystery of her power and her step-mother's murder. But the true tension comes from the expert use of dramatic irony as I found myself wanting to scream at Briony to realize what was happening at the end...so I suppose the novel is bit horror as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would recommend it highly, especially to those who enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. And do yourself a favor and get this one as an audiobook because actor Susan Duerden is fantastic in this production by Listening Library.

What I Saw and How I Lied

"When Alice fell down the rabbit hole, she fell slow. She had time to notice things on her way down--Oh, there's a teacup! There's a table! So things seemed normal to her while she was falling. Then she bumped down and rolled into Wonderland, and all hell broke loose."

I love this quote from the opening chapter of What I Saw and How I Lied, not only for its imagery but also for the way it tries to prepare you for the story to come. The narrator, 15 year-old Evie Spooner, is looking back, trying to figure out how her life unraveled in just a few short months. She goes back to the beginning, the day it all started, on a warm day in Queens just after World War II has ended. Joe, the step-father she adores, has returned from the fighting to open appliance stores for a country ready to buy "not only what we needed but what we wanted." Evie and her gorgeous mother are trying to make home life the picture of perfection for him, with roast beef and mashed potato dinners and everything neat and tidy, though it is a strain living under Joe's mother's roof.

Joe comes home from work that day with a wild idea to pack up and drive down to Florida for a vacation...that night. He convinces Evie and her mom with his slick sales skills, and in a few days they find themselves in a half-empty Palm Beach resort during the off-season. There Evie meets Peter, a dashing soldier who makes Evie feel like a woman, her mother light-hearted, and Joe strangely moody. As Evie plots to spend more time with Peter, her mother and step-father's relationship grows tense, and Joe becomes increasingly erratic. Soon events spin into a downward spiral of passion, blackmail, and secrets, and Evie finds the adults in her life are not what they seem. Evie must choose her own path and make a decision that will control all their destinies.

Author Judy Blundell won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for this suspense-filled, noirish, dramatic novel. Those who love attention to detail will revel in the vivid depictions of post-war America, from the fashion (Revlon's Fatal Apple lipstick and nail polish and full-skirted evening gowns) to the dialogue ("Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, baby...it's not all polka dots and moonbeams, you know.") Those who love crime dramas and Bogey and Bacall movies will delight in the stylish mystery and suspense. And for those who appreciate album covers as much as albums, check out the cover, which I thought stunning (and an accurate depiction of the story, something becoming more rare in the book world). I loved this book, which brings me to two years in a row where I thought the National Book Award winner was better than the Printz Award winner.

Story of a Girl

Sara Zarr's debut novel is an emotional and realistic book about a girl whose life is not what she planned. In the novel's opening lines, Deanna, the narrator, tells us: "I was thirteen when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy's Buick, parked next to the old Chart House down in Montara at eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night. Tommy was seventeen and the supposed friend of my brother, Darren."

Deanna is now sixteen and regretting the choices she has made. Her father hasn't really spoken to her since that night, and Tommy has ruined her reputation by telling his friends what they did. At school her only protection from the slurs and inuendo are her best friends Jason and Lee, who are now dating because she set them up. This development has left her feeling jealous and even more isolated. Her consolation is her older brother, who still lives at home with his girlfriend and their baby April. When she is with them, Deanna feels needed and loved and she formulates a plan to earn money so they can all move out of their parents' depressing, loveless home. Toward this end, she finds a job, but what she doesn't count on is getting a job where she'll have to see Tommy every day.

Going into this book, I expected it to be sort of a sappy, after-school special kind of story. But I am happy to report this novel is nothing of the sort; it is honest and moving and a compelling look at the effects of physical and emotional abuse on a young girl.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

On a recent road trip to Chicago, I read Sherman Alexie's National Book Award-winning The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian. As my husband can attest, I laughed out loud throughout the book, frequently turning off his book-on-CD to make him listen to particularly funny passages. But this is not the stupid-funny, throw away-funny that rules in our modern culture. Like Alexie's previous books for adults (e.g. Flight, Reservation Blues), this young adult novel's humor is part healing mechanism, part coping mechanism, and part means of looking at the world. The first-person narrator, Arnold Spirit, Jr., is a member of the Welpinit tribe on the Spokane Indian reservation. "Junior" is an outcast with loads of medical issues due to being born hydrocephalic. His scrawny body and love of reading and drawing comics make him "a natural for the black eye of the month club." But in some ways, he is like most of classmates--poor, hungry, a child of alcoholic parents with no chance of escaping this fate if he stays on the reservation. Unlike his friends and parents and most all of the tribe, Junior has hope and ambition and commitment. And with these traits he decides to transfer to the off-rez high school 22 miles away. Doing so makes him the enemy of his best friend and a traitor to his tribe. Doing so means he must be the lone Indian in a school full of affluent white kids. His courage, his faith and his hopes are tested over and over by heartbreaking tragedies. And though some of the book's message is bittersweet, there is a sweet, pure joy in Junior's strength of character and his victories. This is a great book.