This is What I Did is a little out of our age range but it caught my eye as I was perusing the shelves for books. I picked it up and decided I would read it later when I had the time. That didn't go so well...I made the mistake of reading the first few pages just to see what the book was like/about. After I read those pages, I couldn't stop reading. I pretty much read this thing in one sitting. I liked it so much I just had to talk about it. With the opening line: Last week Bruce kicked me in the balls at Scouts and all his buddies were there laughing and I started crying, something about Logan's story keeps you reading. The whole book is written with this heartbreaking honesty, but somehow keeps the limited knowledge of Logan the narrator. He's still just a kid and we don't know any more than he does. But at the same time we know even less than he does because for the majority of the book, he won't tell us what horrible thing happened to him and his best friend Zyler and that's the only reason we're even reading the book. I spent the duration of my reading thinking this book was written by a guy but was totally surprised (and I'm not really sure why) to find out is was written by a woman named Ann Dee Ellis. I liked this book too, besides it totally drawing me in, because Ms. Ellis plays with novel format. All her dialogue is written in transcript form...even the parts where no one says anything, and there are these little, like, shadow pictures that I'm still not sure I totally understand but I think they're clues about the story. I also got to learn a few more palindromes which doesn't hurt. I would say the best thing about this book is that all I was really rooting for was for Logan to begin healing and the author doesn't go any further than she needs to in telling his story. Even through Logan's limited perceptions, we see how "the event" with Zyler has affected everyone left in its aftermath and everyone those people interact with. The novel felt really complete somehow while still preserving the holes of reality.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
i should have known something was going to happen
This is What I Did is a little out of our age range but it caught my eye as I was perusing the shelves for books. I picked it up and decided I would read it later when I had the time. That didn't go so well...I made the mistake of reading the first few pages just to see what the book was like/about. After I read those pages, I couldn't stop reading. I pretty much read this thing in one sitting. I liked it so much I just had to talk about it. With the opening line: Last week Bruce kicked me in the balls at Scouts and all his buddies were there laughing and I started crying, something about Logan's story keeps you reading. The whole book is written with this heartbreaking honesty, but somehow keeps the limited knowledge of Logan the narrator. He's still just a kid and we don't know any more than he does. But at the same time we know even less than he does because for the majority of the book, he won't tell us what horrible thing happened to him and his best friend Zyler and that's the only reason we're even reading the book. I spent the duration of my reading thinking this book was written by a guy but was totally surprised (and I'm not really sure why) to find out is was written by a woman named Ann Dee Ellis. I liked this book too, besides it totally drawing me in, because Ms. Ellis plays with novel format. All her dialogue is written in transcript form...even the parts where no one says anything, and there are these little, like, shadow pictures that I'm still not sure I totally understand but I think they're clues about the story. I also got to learn a few more palindromes which doesn't hurt. I would say the best thing about this book is that all I was really rooting for was for Logan to begin healing and the author doesn't go any further than she needs to in telling his story. Even through Logan's limited perceptions, we see how "the event" with Zyler has affected everyone left in its aftermath and everyone those people interact with. The novel felt really complete somehow while still preserving the holes of reality.
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