par Vercors (Jean Bruller) 1942

Published covertly in Nazi-occupied France, this was a publication for the French people, a sort of “guide for la Resistance” to this country still dazed from the invasion.  There were underground publications of newspapers but Vercors approached a publisher to do this larger project.  It is a short story, only 50 pages, but still very good and with psychological depth.

The story enfolds as two lower soldiers examine the narrator’s house.  Several comings and goings later a soldier tells the man and his niece that there will be an officer staying in their house.  When they meet him he is actually fluent in French and very polite.  Still, neither the niece nor the narrator utter a word or even acknowledge him.  This was the start of an unspoken agreement that they would continue their lives as usual as if he had never came.

One night there is a snowy-rain outside.  The officer does not come in like he usually does, but after a while they hear his uneven steps in the hallway and he enters wearing civilian clothes.  He warms himself by the fire and begins talking to them about himself.  This is the beginning of a long, thoroughly one-sided dialogue that happens every night, where he tells them about his dreams, his loves and his philosophies.  It turns out he is a composer who has loved France from afar for his whole life.  He believes that the invasion will begin a great union between France and Germany and that the war will cause “the sun to rise over Europe.”  He regards the niece as a metaphor for France.  The silence in the house exists always.

After a time, he has the opportunity to go to Paris to witness what he thinks will be the marriage/union between the two countries.  But, when he returns he no longer comes to see them.  Finally he comes, this time in a uniform and utterly changed.  In Paris they laughed at him and his idealism.  They said there was no union between France and Germany; they were going to conquer the beast and suck out its soul like venom.  They planned to destroy everything that the officer loved.  But worst of all, these words came from a fellow artist, a poet who he had studied and traveled with since they were young, someone he saw as a brother.

When he comes to explain this to the narrator and his niece, he is a soldier once more and a broken man.  The reader can see from his involuntary movements how he tries to hold in all of his emotions and grief.  He has asked to be reassigned to Russia, a hell, but one easier than the one he is in now.  As he leaves he says Adieu while looking at the niece and waits in the doorway for her response.  His France breaks the silence and acknowledges him as a human being with a responding Adieu.  He’s gone the next morning and the sun is paler in the sky.

Very excellent book that should be read for its quality and to enjoy in the intricacies of its symbolism and character interactions, as well as for its greater message.

The second [introduction] by Brown, explores the eloquent symbolism of silence, its politics, its aesthetics and the sensory and kinetic codes through which it is constructed, tending though to hint that the key to intelligibility lies in the biography of the author.

Michael Kelly, University of Southampton, French History Journal

(If you want to read this in English, Michael Kelly also recommends Put out the light; a translation by Cyril Connolly, London, Macillan, 1944.)

The film (2004) is very loosely based on the book.  In the film the emphasis is totally on the relationship between the niece and the officer and it has switched narrators from hearing the thoughts of the uncle to following the niece around all day.  It tries to encompass too much of the situation in France, deviating from the story line for long periods of time.

Adele Geras

B/B+

{Summary found on Wikipedia.com} :  The plot focuses on several women of Troy, and they range from powerful rich maidens to the servant girls who live in the town. The women all suffer in emotional ways with the decade long war at the center of their pain. Orphan sisters Xanthe and Marpessa live in Priam’s palace as maids and surrogate daughters to Andromache and Helen, respectively. Andromache is Hectors wife and mother to Astynax whom Xanthe cares for like her own child. Marpessa “sees” the gods meaning when they come to visit only she and a few select others can see them. Marpessa keeps to herself because she knows by telling people she sees the gods they will label her disturbed like Hector’s sister Cassandra.

The story picks up steam when Eros hits Xanthe with a silver-blue arrow, while she is working in the Blood room. The Blood Room is a place where the fallen soldiers are taken to be nursed back to health. Xanthe falls in love with Alastor, who then impregnates Marpessa all because of the desire of Aphrodite, who longs for any entertainment other than the war. Polyxena, a friend of the two sisters , is hopelessly in love with Iason who is hell bent on being with Xanthe. All of these love affairs have one thing in common. They are about to be thrown into a tail loop towards the end of the war.

In another subplots, Andromache rues the day her husband Hector is slain on the battlefield. She blames his younger brother Paris for the war because he is said to have stolen Helen from her husband the Greek king. She convinces herself that not only Helen is a trollop but that her ultimate goal is to bed Hector himself.

Intertwined in these complex love triangles are visits from the gods themselves. Artemis, Mars, Poseidon, Ares, and Pallas Athene appear in visions to reveal their plans to the characters- and to the reader-but each person they visit does not remember the conversation shortly after it happens.

Geras fills in the holes between each of the subplots with gossip from the servants of Priam’s palace. They serve as the Greek chorus and converse among themselves with how lazy Helen is or how estranged from her family Andromache is. Eventually the story winds down with the inevitable wooden horse and sack of Troy.

Geras shines as a storyteller and multi subplot manager. She carefully scripts each plot to tell the inner feelings of the Trojan woman. The reader knows how the story ends (the rape and pillage of Troy) but what keeps him reading is the interest in the characters dreams and ultimate futures. I continued reading because I wanted to see how Aphrodite excused her ill fated attempts at bringing passion to the servants lives. I read because I wanted to find out the how Andromache handles both tragedies that befall her. I kept reading because Geras has scripted a damn fine book.

Ideally everyone should read this book but advances YA readers and Adults themselves will have a better appreciation of the book. The book is told from the viewpoint of the people of Troy, which is something you don’t see very often. Several parts of the book are violent especially the details of the sack of Troy. There are no detailed sexual situations except of course for Paris leering at all of the servants and Marpessa meeting Alastor in the woods. However, there are some situations where its obvious the characters are about to have sex but Geras refrains from glorifying the actual act. Marpessa contemplates having an abortion when she discovers she is pregnant which is something parents may have to decide if that?s an issue they want their kid reading about.

The book is written with so much emotion that’s its easy to get lost in the feelings of the Trojan women and not notice the hours slipping away. Geras major strengths are her character development as several of the characters take a surprising turn at the end of the book. For example I thought I knew how the Helen character was going to be portrayed but Geras surprised me. The realism of the tale is enchanting and I marveled at the way Geras wove raw human emotions of lust, friendship, love, hopes, dreams, and utter despair.

Sorry also for not posting since August 16.  I just started college and it’s a heavy workload.  There are some books I’ve read but never reviewed that might surface, but otherwise I think I will put the blog on hiatus for a while.

Thanks, and Happy Reading!

The giveaway is now closed.  I tallied up all the extra entries and split the entrants into the specific books they requested and used Random.org to pick the following winners…

*drumroll*

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead – Wrighty, Erica, and Kay D.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale – Kate
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson – Kelsey

An email will be whizzing your way!  Thank you so much to everyone who entered the contest (61 comments, whoo hoo!), and a million thanks to the bloggers and tweeters who helped make my first contest so big!  you guys rock!  :D  check back for another giveaway soon.

Woohoo!  For my first-ever giveaway 5 winners will get one of the following:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
3 new paperbacks*

{In Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, two races of vampires walk our world. The Moroi are alive and wield elemental magical, while the Strigoi are undead and evil–feeding on the innocent to survive. Rose Hathaway–a half-vampire with poor impulse control–is training to be a bodyguard for a Moroi princess. Learning to decapitate and stake is hard enough, but Rose’s real danger may lie in an illicit romance with one of her instructors…}

- – - – - -

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
One paperback, read once, wonderful condition!

{She can whisper to horses and communicate with birds, but the crown princess Ani has a difficult time finding her place in the royal family and measuring up to her imperial mother. When she is shipped off to a neighboring kingdom as a bride, her scheming entourage mounts a bloody mutiny to replace her with a jealous lady-in-waiting, Selia, and to allow an inner circle of guards more power in the new land. Barely escaping with her life, Ani disguises herself as a goose girl and wanders on the royal estate. Does she have the pluck to reclaim her rightful place? Get ready for a fine adventure tale full of danger, suspense, surprising twists, and a satisfying conclusion. The engaging plot can certainly carry the tale, but Hale’s likable, introspective heroine makes this also a book about courage and justice in the face of overwhelming odds. The richly rendered, medieval folkloric setting adds to the charm.}

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Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
One paperback, read once, wonderful condition!

{Maximum Ride and her flock–Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel–are the results of a genetic experiment inflicted upon them from birth that made them recombinant DNA life-forms. Grafted with avian DNA, gifted with wings, and enhanced with the ability to fly, they are on the run from the scientists who made them. They are constantly tracked by lupine-human hybrids (Erasers) designed by the scientists to hunt them down with a childhood acquaintance of the flock’s, the newly-turned Eraser Ari, at their head. When Angel is kidnapped by the Erasers, it is up to the flock to rescue her. As they embark on their mission, fleeing from Erasers at every point, they are also faced with the question of their origins. Ultimately, an even larger and more important mission emerges for Max alone to face–saving the world itself.}

* Mucho thanks to Hannah Flynn over at Penguin Group for providing the Vampire Academy books!

All you need to do to enter is comment on this post (please include some way of reaching you if you are the winner).  You can specify which book you want to be entered for.  The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S.

To get multiple entries:
+2 for linking to this contest (sidebar, twitter, etc.)
+3 for posting about this giveaway on your blog

This contest ends August 15 at 11:59 pm (CST), so don’t delay!

by Herbie Brennan

Very good.  Poor Henry, but he handled the circumstances very well.  So did Pyrgus, I was impressed.

{From faeriewars.com: What’s Henry to do when his parent’s marriage starts to fall apart? What can he do except get on with his summer job of cleaning out Mr Fogarty’s shed. But there’s something in that shed that will turn Henry’s whole life inside out and take him into a whole different level of reality…

What’s Pyrgus to do when the animals he loves come under threat? What can he do except rescue those he can … and fall foul of those who threaten the entire Faerie Realm? Soon there’s only one thing for it and that’s to leave the realm completely…

When Henry and Pyrgus get together, an entire world hangs in the balance and those they love face nightmare dangers.

Faerie Wars is an extraordinary, page-turning read full of tension, adventure and the kind of detail that ensures you‘ll be holding your breath as the story unfolds.}

by Victoria Hanley

A big thank you to Reading Rocks for this book!!  You guys rock :)  You can read an interview with the author Victoria Hanley on their site here.

This book is excellent!  I haven’t read a fantasy this good for a long time.  Why, I believe that if parts of it were longer with more description and emotional depth it could brush the title of epic.  I would definitely recommend this book.

{From Victoria Hanley’s website: Two new students arrive at the Keep. One is Dorjan, a mysterious young man and heir to the family of Dreamwens-people who can walk in dreams. The is the Princess Saravelda, daughter of King Landen and Queen Torina. Both Dorjan and Saravelda are hiding secrets of the past, but they must trust each other before they can act to overcome the darkness threatening the Healer’s Keep.

Across the ocean in Sliviia a talented slave girl named Maeve is running from Lord Morlen, a man who inspires terror in all who meet him.  Maeve learns that she, too, is part of the Dreamwen line.  She meets Jasper, a freeman of Sliviia who has survived on his wits and courage, who must decide how much he will risk for love.  The destiny of these four people are intertwined.  Together they must confront the powers that prey upon their world. }

This is a companion book to The Seer and the Sword, which I would advise reading first because it takes place a generation before this one.  But it works well on its own too.

“The Healer’s Keep is an exceptional novel full of fast paced, exciting action. While the plot line is complex, Victoria Hanley expertly weaves all the different stories together and brings them to a smashing conclusion.”(Brigham Young U)  ”Thrillingly exciting and frighteningly dark, the story is filled with hope and love as well as blood and fear and magic. The characters are honestly and sympathetically written and the plot never loses its grip for the reader. “(Aberystwyth) “… a sense of plausibility without being predictable. (The Coloradoan)”

Contest!

This is a treat: an ARC copy of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, brought to you by Alyssa over at http://theshadyglade.blogspot.com (love the name btw!) This is extra special b/c normally the book doesn’t come out until September 1, and if you read The Hunger Games a while back like I did, that’s gonna be a long wait. :)

It ends today but make sure to check out her site for loads of great content and more contests!

What Would MacGyver Do?: True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life

by Brendan Vaughan

Oh how I love MacGyver movies.  This petite book contains anecdotes by laymen and journalists alike about their solutions to diverse problems.  Almost Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul-esque, you can read in short doses about predicaments strange and silly, solutions genius and obvious.  I think my two favorites are the guy who fixed the clutch mechanism with a knitting needle on an 8-hour drive and the guy who forgot his anniversary and pulled a present out of thin air that was better than most guys do with a month and 100 bucks.  Or the handy guy whose name is pronounced… MacGyver.

This is quick read, great to pick up for a laugh.

by Meg Cabot

From Booklist: “Lizzie Nichols, a fashion-history major, wants nothing more than to graduate college and then fly off to London to be with her boyfriend, Andy. But at her graduation party, Lizzie finds out that she can’t graduate until she writes a senior thesis. And when she lands in London, Andy turns out to be a liar, gambler, and a fashion disaster. Lizzie, stuck in London with a nonchangeable ticket home, escapes Andy via the Chunnel in hopes that her friend Shari, who is catering weddings for the summer at a French chateau, can help. On the train, Lizzie meets a stranger, Jean-Luc, and spills everything that has happened, only to find out that he is the son of the chateau’s owner. At the chateau, Lizzie continues to babble when she shouldn’t, ticking off Jean-Luc, shocking his mother, and upsetting a bride. Will she ever learn to keep her mouth shut?”

Warning, this book lives up to its name.  At times Lizzie’s internal babbling was so distracting I would lose the real conversation.  But I’m sure this was intended, just like in real life when we talk to ourselves and get lost in our own thoughts sometimes we look up and the scenery has changed.  One place though that irked me was when she was illusioning that Luke was a kidnapper/murder preying on innocent travelers.  It’s like, come on, even YOU should be able to see that you will end up together!

But, Lizzie does have a very big heart, and her mouth runs amuck with only the best intentions.  It ends splendidly and there are sequels to be had!

This novel is aimed at an older reader base then Cabot’s Princess Diaries.  Character development was so-so, originality was pretty good, overall enjoyment was good, there were plenty of laugh out loud moments, the ending is awesome.  Voice is better than some of Cabot’s novels I’ve read, not spectacular.  Pacing is slow at some points and fast at others, and the setting was great (a beautiful château in the french countryside with a pool, vineyards, and a trove of vintage dresses in the attic?  where’s my plane ticket!)  So I would recommend this book for a light read.