February Selection Follow-Up

 

We had an excellent turn-out this month and a new member!  Nothing brings people in like John Green, right?  Here are some of the things we talked about

Story

Well, it was sad.  More than one person talked about sitting at the kitchen table and crying as they read.  A few of us also talked about how we related to Gus and Hazel's parents, as well.  One of everyone's favorite scene's was the kiss in the Anne Frank House, which had a lot of symbolism, yes, but was also just a great scene.  What better place to have a kiss? John was asked about this scene in a recent Twitter chat:

Q: The way you handled Anne Frank's house was really well done. But why did you choose to have that scene there? 

A: I wanted to reclaim that space and make it alive and full of love, as it once was.

Characters

There was a lot of discussion about Augustus verses Gus and the significance of which name he was called.  As it happens, this was addressed in the twitter chat last night.

Q: Why was hazel calling Augustus "Gus" so significant? 

A: Augustus is a name for emperors; Gus is a name for children. So the journey from Augustus to Gus is the journey from strength to weakness, which I would argue is the real hero's journey.

We weren't the only ones who wondered about whether it was hard to write from the perspective of a teen girl.  It seems that John had a lot of input from his wife and other female friends.  It's also interesting that one or two people didn't really view Hazel's gender as being significant.  

Pacing/Flow

I don't think there were any complaints or comments on this front.   

Overall

This is the first book that everyone enjoyed!  I think we all recognized that enjoyment perhaps sounds strange with such sad subject matter, but considering how sad it was, everyone seemed to recognize that the humor paired with the honest story telling made it something special. 

As it happens, The Atlantic sponsored a Q&A Twitter chat with John Green about TFioS and it addressed some of the things we talked about.  If you'd like to read all of the questions and answers, go here.

Book Talk

Kathryn recommended Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  She claims to have made a Venn diagram related to the book.  (We want to see that diagram, Kathryn!)

Venom by Fiona Paul is being passed around the group and is getting a good response.  The sequel, Belladonna, will be released in July.

February 2013

Our selection for February is....

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.  Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.  Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Don't forget to check the extra credit section for some additional reading!

December Book Selection Follow-Up

Story:
I think we all agreed that this book was spooky, if not downright scary in some parts!  The house that was "alive", the mysterious singing and whistling and, of course, Naughty John, were a few of the things that really gave people chills.  

Characters:
Many people in the group were annoyed by Evie.  They felt that she made some really selfish and irresponsible choices, including what she did at the very end.  One member even asked if perhaps her parents sent her away because they just wanted a break from her.  We all agreed that she did show some growth by the end of the book.  The other characters (Memphis, Theta, et al) were everyone's favorites and in many cases, they were more interesting than Evie. 

Pacing/Flow:
This was much longer than the books we normally read and a few members mentioned that there was some repetition that could have been taken out to move the story along.  The switching of story lines (from Evie, to Memphis, to Theta) was enjoyed and gave a well rounded view of what was happening.

Overall:
With the exception of one member, The Diviners got a thumbs up, overall.  The general consensus was that the myriad of unanswered questions was a set-up for book two, which some found frustrating.  There was some discussion about the pros and cons of cliffhangers vs. a more resolved ending. 

December 2012

Because of the craziness that comes with the holiday season, we won't be meeting again until January.  The pick for December/January is The Diviners by Libba Bray!

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."
When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Don't forget to check out the extra credit reading and have a wonderful holiday!

November Book Selection Follow-Up

Overall, Where Things Come Back was enjoyed by the entire group in attendance this month.  There was a lot of discussion about the way time lines were used in the story and while some people found it to be a bit confusing, the overall opinion was that it connected nicely, in the end.  The way that Cullen's family dealt with the grief over Gabriel's disappearance was also a topic of discussion because to many of us, it seemed very realistic.  Our group is a mix of people who grew up in larger cities and those who grew up in small towns.  For those of us small town folks, the way that Lily was described seemed very authentic and relatable.

How about that ending?  A few members wanted to know if the ending in the book was the original ending because many of use were expecting something much darker.  So, we'll be contacting Mr. Whaley to see if we can get an answer to our question!

November 2012

The November selection is a book that won the 2012 Michael L. Printz Award, given to “a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature” and the 2012 William C. Morris YA Award for an outstanding debut.

In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, he is forced to examine everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears.  Meanwhile, the crisis of faith spawned by a young missionary’s disillusion in Africa prompts a frantic search for meaning that has far-reaching consequences. As distant as the two stories initially seem, they are woven together through masterful plotting and merge in a surprising and harrowing climax.

If you finish with Where Things Come Back, check the selections tab for some "extra credit" reading similar to this book.

Enjoy!

October Book Selection Follow-Up

*The questions might contain some spoilers if you haven't read TINAT*.

There was a lot of discussion about the emotion of the book, but there was also a lot of discussion about the practicalities of surviving an event like this, which was pretty entertaining.  I am confident that, as a book club, we could survive a zombie apocalypse if we had to.

Here are the questions that were submitted by the members for this month's book selection:

1. Do you think the squabbling between the teens was realistic to the situation, or did it go overboard?

2. Were the kids right to stay at the school?

3. Why did Lily leave and why did she come back?

4. What do you think occurred between Mr. Baxter and the man outside?

5. What is the significance of Sloane killing her sister?

6. Did Cary make the right call in his plan to sacrifice someone for the group?  Did Cary feel he had to sacrifice himself to make up for what he did?

7. Why did the kids feel the need to make plans to stay together when they got to the survivor camp?  Why couldn't Sloane just go on her own?

8. Were the teens right to throw Baxter out?

9. What did the zombie girl at the end of the book symbolize to Sloan?

A few people made the comment that this book was really about survival rather than zombies, although the zombies did scare some people.  Within the group of survivors, there were questions about who was expendable and who was used as a distraction or a shield.  As one person pointed out, it ended up having  lot of the characteristics of an episode of survivor.  Sloane's determination to die was an interesting aspect of the story and created some really interesting conflicts within the group since her lack of allegiance meant that everyone came to her at one point to another to try to figure out what she wanted to do.  Sloane was not an entirely likable character to some, but it seemed that most of the club felt that she was a product of abuse from her father and her sister.  The dynamic of the teens and how they reacted to their grief and confusion was very realistic and added to the tense feeling of the story.

 More reviews:

You can read Kathryn's review here.
You can read Kate's review here.