Book Review: 'Let's Get Lost' by Adi Alsaid // Summer Book Wrap-Up

I'll start by saying this: Let's Get Lost is a cute, easy read. And that's exactly what I expected it to be. It was just a little too cute at times for my taste, if you feel me.

The book follows the stories of four strangers completely unrelated to each other; Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia, and their encounters with one lone girl who drives into their lives when they need her most: Leila. Honestly, that little description I just came up with on the spot makes the book sound better than it actually is. But like I said, it's a cute book, just a little too cute at times. And when I say too cute, I mean in an unrealistic, picture-perfect, bubblegum pop kind of way. All the stories have a happy ending. And yeah, sometimes reading stories with happy endings is nice and refreshes your outlook on humanity. But Let's Get Lost isn't one of those books. It's one of those books that could use a touch of reality every now and then. We're supposed to believe that Leila just drives up into these people's lives and they accept her immediately into helping them figure out their "problems"? Puh-leaze.

Maybe I'm just too cynical to enjoy Let's Get Lost wholeheartedly. Don't get me wrong, I kind of enjoyed it when I first started. But there's only so much of tired stereotypical teen drama and overused cheesy passages that I can take. The premise is also asking a lot of the reader; we're supposed to read all of these people's stories and their encounters with a girl named Leila, all while having minimal information on Leila herself? I was eager to get to the last 40 pages, where we finally get some insight into her background. Let's just say it was soooo underwhelming. I actually put the book down and stared into the distance, rolling my eyes, because it was just so fitting with the rest of the book: nothing particularly special.

So many critics have compared Let's Get Lost to John Green's Paper Towns, and let me just say that the only thing that the two have in common are maybe their overuse of cheesy phrases. Other than that, Paper Towns at least has elements of mystery. Any elements of mystery in Let's Get Lost, if we want to call them that, are disappointing and, as already said, quite underwhelming. If you're looking for a cute, quick, easy read that's just like a thousand other YA books, this one is for you. 3/5 stars.

And so this concludes my summer of reading! I cannot tell you the last time I read as many books as I read this summer. Last summer I only made it through a measly 2 books. This summer has been the complete opposite. Here's my summer book wrap-up:

1. Paper Towns, by John Green: 5/5 stars.
2. Sister, by Rosamund Lupton: 2/5 stars.
3. Reconstructing Amelia, by Kimberly McCreight: 5/5 stars.
4. To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf: 3/5 stars.
5. It's Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini: 4/5 stars.
6. The BFG, by Roald Dahl (reread): 4/5 stars.
7. The Lake House, by Kate Morton: 2/5 stars.
8. The Lover's Dictionary, by David Levithan: 5/5 stars.
9. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green & David Levithan: 3.5/5 stars.
10. The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, by Jenn Bennett: 5/5 stars.
11. Finding Audrey, by Sophie Kinsella: 3/5 stars.
12. Shine, by Lauren Myracle: 5/5 stars.
13. I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson: 4.5/5 stars.
14. Yes Please (audiobook), by Amy Poehler: 4/5 stars.
15. Naked, by David Sedaris: 2.5/5 stars.
16. Frances and Bernard, by Carlene Bauer: 5/5 stars.
17. Let's Get Lost, by Adi Alsaid: 3/5 stars.

17 books. Wow. Not gonna lie, I'm kind of proud of myself.

Book Review: 'Frances and Bernard' by Carlene Bauer

Let me start by saying this: Frances and Bernard is a beautifully written story and a precious gem of a book. Anyone who likes a good love story should read it. In other words, it gave me ALL THE FEELS.

I came across it on a BuzzFeed list of 49 underrated books you need to read and, having found myself in the throws of a reading slump last week, I decided to give it a try. I did not regret it, and BuzzFeed was right; I did love it.

Frances and Bernard, written entirely in letters spanning from 1957 to 1968, tells the story of Frances Reardon and Bernard Eliot, two writers who meet at an artist's colony and begin writing each other over the course of a few years. Frances eventually makes her way to New York, where she has a book published. Bernard follows soon after, only for their true story to begin. That's all I can really say about the story without spoiling it. I'm not sure if Frances and Bernard falls into the historical fiction genre, but I definitely believe that it should. No other decades in history stick out as so monumental in terms of social norms and the true definition of oneself. Frances, even though she sees herself as different from her younger sister and relatives who got married and thought it unthinkable to have a career of any kind, is very religious in tone and in her values, which to me points out that even though Frances is a modern woman with liberal aspirations and dreams, she was quite conservative. Everyone seemed to be.

I've seen so many publications describe the 1950s as a period of "rampant conservatism". I think that even though Frances defined herself as not like other women, she was still conserving herself, in a sense, to a norm that society had led her to believe was correct. Sure, conservatives in the 50s and 60s didn't think it was right for a woman not to marry and have a career, but at the same time, women who didn't get married and chose a career also limited themselves to only that, much like Frances. She is so dead set against letting herself fall in love because she believes, even though it is never explicitly said, that she can only have one or the other. A job, career and no man, or a man, no job and no career. That's what norms in those decades taught women to believe was right, and it's all the more sad to read a book like Frances and Bernard and see how limited women were led to believe they were when, in all that time, they could have done so much more. That's not to say Frances didn't do anything, she did lots as a writer, which borders on revolutionary in a time like that, but that was her choice. She didn't want to let herself fall in love because she had to uphold her choice, and ultimately, she lost a lot because of it. Frances wasn't the only character to be historically accurate in terms of social norms, either. Even though Bernard is cute, damaged and really loves Frances, he is a bit of an asshole at times, like I presume most men were in those days. At its core, the book is a beautiful piece of historical fiction showing how much social and cultural norms in those decades influenced people's lives.

Frances and Bernard was barely 200 pages yet I felt like I'd read a 400-page novel when I finished it. Carlene Bauer's writing is beautifully done; I felt as if the letters I was reading had actually been written in the 50s and 60s, which is exactly what I assume the author wanted the reader to feel. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction as well as anyone who enjoys a good love story once in awhile, like me. 5/5 stars.

Book Reviews: 'Yes Please' by Amy Poehler and 'Naked' by David Sedaris

1. Yes Please, by Amy Poehler (a.k.a. My First [And Probably Last] Audiobook Experience):
I listened the audiobook of Yes Please, having found it at my library and deciding to finally try listening to one after a long period of curiosity. Here were my 5 stages of listening to an audiobook:

1) Huh, this is kind of interesting. *listens intently*
2) *discretely yawns while trying to stay focused*
3) I'm BORED.
4) I wanna jump ship. LET ME JUMP SHIP.
5) Alright, I'm gonna finish it just to say that I did.

Yeah. So I guess you could say audiobooks aren't for me. It was definitely an interesting experience to have Poehler read her memoir to me through my radio, but after awhile I just had trouble retaining any of the information. It's like that friend who just rambles on and you secretly tune out while nodding along with commonplace comments. The book itself was enjoyable. Poehler talks a lot about her family and her outlook on life, work and how to manage the two without driving a wedge between yourself and the things you care about, which was uplifting to hear. There were parts that I could have taken or left, like where she talks about her experiences with different comedy groups she toured with before joining Saturday Night Live in 2001. I just didn't find them to have anything interesting other than the fact that they happened and now she's telling us about them. There were a few parts that made me laugh out loud, like how her water broke moments before Saturday Night Live went live and she had to be rushed to the hospital, or her descriptions of the shady apartment building where she lived in the East Village in the late 90s. Yes Please is as good a memoir as anyone who has enough of a comedic voice to make us laugh. We see their movies, we stay up on Saturdays to see them be nutty, and we watch their television shows (well, some do, I haven't watched Parks and Recreation so I did feel quite disconnected from the chapters where she talks about the show, but that one's on me). If you like Amy Poehler and her work, there's a high chance you'll enjoy Yes Please. It was just one of those books that I wanted to check out but because I'm not overly in love with Poehler or the premise of her memoir, I knew it would also become one of those books I would never get to. Hence why I checked out the audiobook, so I could kill two birds with one stone. The medium isn't for me, but hey, at least I can say I tried it. 4/5 stars.

2. Naked, by David Sedaris:
I read a personal essay by Sedaris in a few of my college classes which I thoroughly enjoyed; "Go Carolina", from one of his other books. So when I found Naked at a used book sale a few months back, I figured I'd check it out (it was also $1, so I wasn't too worried about spending money on a book I might not like). It has a few interesting stories that I enjoyed more or less, but I failed to feel any emotional investment in them whatsoever, which is rare for me when I'm reading a memoir or collection of essays/stories. However, my issue with Naked is that I fail to see the moral or general point of literally any of Sedaris' stories, You tell a story because it needs to be told for a wide range of possible reasons, right? I finished every story saying, "Okay, cool. Why am I supposed to care again?" I just didn't see a point to any of his stories in this book, but I felt like I was supposed to, which bothers me even more. Sedaris, you are a mystery to me, and I think your work is written in such a way that you want me to think that. 2.5/5 stars.

Book Review: 'I'll Give You the Sun' by Jandy Nelson

This book was recommended to me by several people, and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint. But I can also say it was nothing like I thought it would be, in any regard.

I'll Give You the Sun follows two separate stories told by Noah and Jude, twin brother and sister. Noah's chapters are told when he and Jude were 13 and 14, meanwhile Jude's chapters take place when the twins are 16. Much has happened in the three-ish years between the narratives, and that is immediately evident. Noah and Jude are both artists, but as Jude points out on countless occasions, art was always more of Noah's thing. While they appear to be somewhat of a typical family, I'll Give You the Sun covers several topics you don't typically see in a YA contemporary novel. In this story, we hear the other side of being a family; animosity that grows between siblings, no less twins. In this case, we learn a lot about the Sweetwine family; things we normally wouldn't say out loud. Things like you secretly hate your father. Things like taking actual measures to sabotage the people you love. Things like you secretly resent your sibling because they get more love from one of your parents, even if that parent would never admit it.

I'll Give You the Sun just seems like a really refreshing take on the bonds between brother and sister, as well as our feelings toward our family as we try to figure out who we are during a very formative time of adolescence. I saw a few critics criticize the repeated artistic metaphors used in the narratives, which a lot of times can indeed be perceived as cheesy or cliché, but in this case, they just worked. You know when you read something you know is just so goddamn corny, but you just can't help holding a hand to your heart? That's the best way I can describe the metaphors and relationships in I'll Give You the Sun. In my opinion, there's no way to deny there are many things in this book that are so poignantly used. It's written in a very sophisticated tone, almost above the characters' age brackets.

I don't want to openly criticize this book, because I want to appreciate it for what it is (which is a very touching, remarkable story), but I did have a few issues with it while reading. I found the beginning, which starts with 13-year-old Noah, to be a bit slow. I really couldn't figure out where the story was going to go. There were a lot of things about how it was written that I didn't understand, but I powered through, because I was intrigued to learn about the things in the plot I didn't quite grasp (I think all of them were explained by the end). Also, the chapters were too long. I ended up blowing through the book faster than expected because I kept telling myself to read until the next chapter; then it was 90+ pages later. But the main thing that became a bit of a drag while reading I'll Give You the Sun was the writing style. It was a bit annoying at times. Both Noah and Jude have their own quirks which only their own mind can really comprehend, like Noah's Invisible Museum or the fact that Jude talks to her dead grandmother, who has a bible of strange virtues. It just got to be a bit much, and there were times where I wasn't completely sure what was happening; I don't think I'll Give You the Sun is the type of story that warrants the type of writing style where sometimes we struggle to decipher what's going on, so that's why it was a bit of a bother at times. But like I said, I'm going to appreciate this book for what it is and forgive its trespasses, because, underneath it all, it did have parts that destroyed me emotionally and I believe it to be a story that deserves to be read. 4.5/5 stars.

Book Reviews: 'Finding Audrey' by Sophie Kinsella and 'Shine' by Lauren Myracle

1. Finding Audrey, by Sophie Kinsella:

This started off really well for me, but then went drastically downhill and was a bit of a letdown by the end. Finding Audrey follows 14-year-old Audrey as she learns to deal with a newfound diagnosis with social anxiety disorder. She finds most social situations impossible to maneuver and does not even attend school anymore; she stays home with her quirky family and wears big dark sunglasses even in the house because eye contact has become so unbearable for her. It has some great insight on anxiety and how situations that seem effortless to some are unthinkable to others. Audrey eventually takes a liking to Linus, her older brother Frank's video gaming partner, who makes her feel the most normal she has felt in awhile. However, Finding Audrey's main problem lies within; it doesn't really know what it wants to be about. Does it want to be about Audrey finding herself in the daunting sea of anxiety that is life, like the title suggests, or does it want to be about her, her problems and her incredibly annoying family? I call her family annoying because they take up a large chunk of the book for no good reason at all. A lot of chapters revolve around Audrey and Frank's close-minded mother yelling at him to get off the computer, which started off a little relatable at first but then just became so goddamn annoying I wanted to skip them altogether. Audrey's character also takes a weird turn about halfway through, and I figured it would be resolved by the end, but it wasn't. Audrey also alludes to what gave her this social anxiety; an incident at school that we only learn bits and pieces about, which seemed open-ended and not fully disclosed when the reader had a right to have it fully disclosed. In all honesty, Finding Audrey is good in theory, just not in execution. The story, as a whole, just goes nowhere. The book itself isn't really a story, it's just a series of events that happen with much potential but don't really link to each other whatsoever by the end, which left me feeling a bit like I wasted valuable reading time on it. 3/5 stars.

2. Shine, by Lauren Myracle:
It is difficult for me to formulate words about how much I love Shine. It has been quite a long time since I have suffered such emotional trauma at the hands of a hardcover. I was legitimately sad when it ended. I wanted to finish it, yet I didn't want it to end; the eternal book nerd struggle. Shine follows the story behind a hate-crime against a gay teenager, Patrick, in the backwoods small town of Black Creek, North Carolina. The story is narrated by Cat, once Patrick's best friend, who feels that she owes it to him and to herself to find out who attacked him. The descriptions just paint such a picture; it's so atmospheric, I feel like I know the American South like the back of my hand and I am not Southern nor have I ever even been there. A community riddled with conservatism, conformity and religion, and the intolerant values that go along with it. Underneath that, drugs, alcoholism and domestic violence are explored among the "rednecks" of Black Creek. Cat is just such an amazing character and narrator. Everyone told her to leave it alone and stop asking questions about who attacked Patrick, but she didn't. She powered through, and she learned a helluva lot of life lessons while doing it. Shine is a mystery, but at its core, it's a coming-of-age story. The loss of innocence and the barrier between kid and adult, all while trapped in the devastatingly scary place that is Black Creek. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when I first read the resolution to the mystery; my mind had gone other places, but I think that's because I had begun to think of the storyline as a thriller; Shine is not a thriller. It's a tragic, heart-wrenching, character-driven mystery, and once I considered that, I found a new appreciation for the resolution to the mystery. Honestly, I don't really know what else to say about it other than it's officially one of my all-time favorite books that I will treasure, recommend and maybe even revisit if the opportunity presents itself. Stop what you're doing and go read it; I'll just stay here and cry about it forever. 5/5 stars. (Side note: I went to take Shine out of my library only to be told the book had been discarded and must've been misplaced back on the shelves when it really belonged on the shelf of used books for sale. Short story shorter, I bought the hardcover copy in great condition for a dollar, so now it's mine to gaze at on my shelf for ever and ever.)