Monday 9 August 2010

Alone #1 Chasers by James Phelan

I'm still not sure about this one. The beginning didn't grab me, but I kept going to see what the disaster was going to be.
I love a good disaster/apocalyptic story and the disaster that occurs in Alone: Chasers is pretty catastrophic and dramatic. 

However the pace throughout was very slow and I struggled to engage with the characters. I found myself skimming through the pages to find the hook or the point to the story.

It didn't happen until the last chapter...it was a long wait, but it was a beauty! I didn't see it coming & there was an elegant simplicity to the twist that I enjoyed. Will it be enough to make me read #2 Survivor? Stay posted...

Saturday 7 August 2010

Once, Then and Now by Morris Gleitzman

Over the June long weekend I decided to read the Morris Gleitzman holocaust trilogy 'Once', 'Then' and 'Now'. 

The first two books in the series were moving, frightening and elegant. The tension gradually built up as the Nazi's arrived, changing everyone's lives. Gleitzman carefully, inevitably prepared us for the heart-breaking conclusion of 'Then'.

I was unsure how 'Now' could move on from this without appearing trite or contrived.
Gleitzman managed to avoid this by jumping ahead to modern day Australia and the tragedy of the recent Victorian bushfires.

I'm glad that Gleitzman wrote 'Now'.

I'm glad that the story didn't end with the sadness and horror of 'Then'.
I'm glad we get to see Felix grow old with dignity and grace.

Kate di Camillo once said that when writing books for children you were duty bound to end with hope. Morris Gleitzman brings this trilogy to a satisfying and hopeful conclusion.

This series would be suitable for mature 10+ readers.
                                                               

Marrying Ameera by Rosanne Hawke

'Marrying Ameera' was my first foray into Muslim chick-lit. It was easy to read, well-written and nicely paced. Ameera is someone you like and you care about what happens to her.                                                                                                  The book has 2 distinct halves - Ameera's life in Australia, at school with her friends, discovering boys and trying to manage her fathers traditional expectations for her with her own more modern ideas. The second half sees Ameera travelling to Pakistan by herself for a family wedding. What she doesn't know is that her father has organised for the wedding to be hers!
Hawke avoids many of the stereotypes and judgements that can surround Muslim women and their treatment by Islamic fundamentalists. She manages to create complex characters who move between various shades-of-grey dramas. Ameera's father is the one character drawn with little sympathy. He comes across as the 'baddie' with very little understanding of his motivation or fears.

There is a sex-scene & the novel contains some mature themes.