And I was wowed when I read it. It was totally plausible. There were no parts that gave me pause. I went with Donoghue where ever she wanted to lead me. She did a spectacular job. I found the voice hard to get into, but I anticipated that going into it. Once I was used to “listening” to a five year old talk to me, I got used to it.

I would recommend this book to a book club. There are people who love it, and people who hated it. It is sure to have any book club group talking, and it might even get them to actually talk about the book:)

I didn’t get to know any of the characters in a way that I would have liked. I didn’t understand their choices or empathize with them. The main character, Julie/Guiletta was scattered and never really got it together. Her sister Janice was worse. The love interest was pretty in my mind. He worked at a bank maybe, or was he a police man? He had guns, and connections with the police. Maybe things are different in Italy? Oh that brings me to Italy. That was one of the things Fortier did do right. I mean, I’ve never been to Italy, but I really want to go now. It sounds beautiful and the setting in this novel made me feel like I was there.

I do have a few more complaints. This book was written in the first person. If the author wanted us to feel unsure of whether or not our Juliet would live, she probably should have written in the third person. I’ve never read a novel written in the first person where the main character dies. And this is not really an avante garde kind of book. Also, Julie/Guiletta is reading a journal in part of the novel and the journal is written in the third person. Who writes their journal in the third person? Clarissa was reading a novel today about Romeo and Juliet, she is starting to think that she should read the play again. Anyway, in my humble opinion, she should have switched them, it would have made more sense and kept us a bit more in the dark.

In Matched, our narrator Cassia is a young seventeen year old  girl who lives in a far-future dystopian society. In her world, there are very few choices for her her make. What to eat, wear, when to sleep, where to live and about any other choice has already been made for her. Her food is brought to her house by a food service personnel. She wears the same clothes as her neighbours and what she does for a living is decided by “the officials.” People in her society have very few possessions, and what they do own is cataloged by “the officials.”

The main theme running through this novel is choice. Cassia is contemplating making one of her first real choices. Does she follow the rules, or her heart? How will the choice she makes affect her family? Fans of Orwellian fiction may be interested in this new young adult series.

My only complaint would be the brief connections between Lisbeth and Mikael, since I was always hoping they would hook up. However, since they never actually hook up it only makes me want it more so I feel that was a well placed plot decision. Questions raised in the first book are answered here which provides a nice sense of continuity. The novels are not super deep thinkers, but they are a great alternative to beach trash if you are looking for a good time. There is language, sex, violence, sexual violence, etc. so enter at your own risk.

I felt the protagonist Jacob was well written and well rounded, but not all the characters received the same careful attention. I was disappointed in the love interest Marlena, and was slightly annoyed at her lack of dimension. Jacob is instantly and completely in love with her, but her descriptions go no deeper than ‘beautiful’ and ‘good with animals’. As my husband so eloquently asked me after watching Twilight for the first time, ‘why are these guys so in love with her’? I don’t quite have the answer to that question, but as the story unfolds it is a great ride with the perfect twist at the climax.

The story is told alternately by Jacob as an old man in an old folks home, and Jacob in the first person as the events unfold. I think this idea has been done before and I’m not really a fan of it, but I liked the way the author portrays his life and thoughts as an older man. I especially liked the ending and thought ‘why the heck not?’ As much as I don’t think the ending is likely, I read books for fun and would have been disappointed by a more realistic ending. This book has some language, a moderate amount of sex, and some violence. Also violence towards animals.

I noticed the author sometimes over explained and spoon fed clues, but that is a common problem in the mystery/suspense genre. I hated Flavia. She is precocious to the point of nausea and in no way reads as an 11 year old girl. She reads like what an adult would love to imagine a precocious 11 year old would be. The ending was trite and disappointing. After constantly being told how bright and exceptional Flavia is, I was surprised when Flavia couldn’t get herself out of trouble and the author had to write in a rescue for her. I was turned off of the book even before I started it by the invitation to join the Flavia de Luce fan club on the dust jacket. I’m ecstatic the author has a deal to write four or five more. I would recommend this book to young adults looking for a clean murder mystery with a victorian feel. The book contains no language, sex or violence.

I thought the timeline was a little bit ambitious. This 1000 page book covers a town that goes from normal to melt down in just under a week. I felt the hoarding would have started much sooner. I also felt the military forces outside waited too long and missed opportunities to influence the town’s events when they realized they could no longer control the municipal government. I had a hard time believing things could go so bad so fast, and I consider myself fairly jaded when it comes to what people are capable of. That being said, the short timeline does mean the book is action packed and the pace remains steady.

I felt the good guys spent a lot of time doing stuff that wasn’t helping the main issue, wich was getting rid of the dome. Even after Barbie is given an order to find out what is generating the dome, he seems to get caught in side plots and putting out proverbial fires that would all be moot if they could get rid of the dome. Wouldn’t that be your first priority? I felt the revelation of the cause of the dome was kind of stupid. I also felt that Julia and Barbie’s pivotal moment stories were sort of incomparable. Really Julia? Your shame is on the same level? Your story is the one that matters most?

All in all this book is well written, exciting, and enjoyable. It felt like a warm hug from an old friend reading Stephen King again after so many years. You know, an old friend that likes to swear a lot and kill people in horrible ways. Read it with caution if you don’t like language, sex or violence.

Likes:
Anything travel related. Immerse me in new places, people, and cultures.
The idea of searching for a greater understanding of spirituality.
Recognizing something about your life you want to change – and changing it.
Putting your mind, heart, and personal ideas out there for other to people to read and judge. Whether you agree with her conclusions or feel she accomplished her goal, putting it all out there takes guts.

Dislikes:
I think Elizabeth Gilbert is a little bit whiny and sort of comes across as an entitled, self absorbed, 30 something looking to ‘find’ herself.
For someone living in these three amazing places, I felt Elizabeth Gilbert spent a lot of time surrounded by other expats and ended up being more of a spectator or tourist.
I’m not sure she did anything in her search for spirituality abroad that she couldn’t have done where she was.
She is openly looking for personal spirituality and a higher power, but only follows the first path she comes across and doesn’t really look anywhere else.
She seeks pleasure in Italy, but follows a preconceived set of rules about what pleasure is.
It ended with a romance. Wow. I don’t mind if she finds love, but to end the book like that feels like the moral of the story is leave your problems behind by taking a huge vacation, try to get right with yourself and god, and start over with a new man. I’m not sure this is what I hoped to take away from this book. I felt slightly disappointed that the promises of personal revelation and spiritual enlightenment were sort of forgotten and discarded in favor of ‘balance’ and an exciting new lover.

To summarize I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked following her thoughts, ideas, and choices as she struggled with some large questions. Even when I felt unfulfilled by the answers in the book, I enjoyed thinking about the questions and appreciate the struggle. In defence of Elizabeth Gilbert, I have heard lots of people refer to her as selfish. I am going to disagree and call her self absorbed. A grown woman with no kids can make her own decisions, and I don’t begrudge anyone who has the funds and inclination to travel for a year doing whatever they want.

I last read this book sometime in the late nineties and thought it was time to revisit it. I enjoyed it, but felt after 10+ years I was seeing it with a different perspective. I still love Anne Rice’s writing. The pacing suffered slightly from a little too much inner dialog and the frequent movement between the present and past, but I find her characters, descriptions and writing style beautiful, expressive, and darkly sensual.

My memories that had remained were of strong characters, a well developed and intricate world, and the struggle between humanity and vampire depravation without conscience. However, this time through I saw it less as a book about vampires, and more as a book about how the questions raised and answered apply to everyone. We all feel loss, we all long for something more, and we all constantly fight to balance our desires and compulsions against who we would like to be. We all have complicated relationships. We all choose the people in our lives, then start, continue and end relationships with them for complicated reasons. Sometimes we know our motivations, and sometimes we struggle to find our own explanations. Placing all these questions and emotions in the context of eternal life with interesting and tragically tortured vampires just makes the journey more fun. (Except when you realize Louis has lived over 200 years and is still struggling. I guess time doesn’t heal all wounds, ha ha.)

I remember enjoying the second book in the series more and will probably get to it soon. I also can’t get enough of her decadent description of New Orleans, they are a real treat. I wouldn’t call this book scary, but there are darker themes, hinted sexuality, and depictions of violence and killing.

What I liked about the book? This is a hard question for me to answer. I think I liked that there was a love story and that that love story didn’t drown the rest of the book like so often happens in YA fiction. I liked Clary’s complex relationship with Simon (her best friend). I liked Clary, especially since my name is Clarissa. It’s not often I get to read a book with my name in it, much less as the main character (my nickname is Lissy though, didn’t love the name Clary). I totally fell for Jace too, so much so that I went on wikipedia and read all the spoilers.

What I didn’t like? Cassandra Clare, was obviously  borrowing from Star Wars and other authors, and I really didn’t like the love story angle she chose. I think she might have been able to leave that part out. Creepy. Unnecessary. I should clarify, this is a CLEAN romance, just read the book.  At times it also felt as though, just as Eric’s  (a character in the book) poetry, she swallowed a dictionary and spewed up words at random.

I am having a hard time figuring that out why I liked it so much. I read it twice. I flew through it both times. I am baffled. But still super excited for the next installment and even the companion novel coming out in August.