The Diveners by Libba Bray

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The Diviners
by Libba Bray

One of the books I read this week was Libba Bray’s The Diviners.  The novel is urban fantasy, borrowing elements of horror, murder mystery, fantasy, teen romance, and historical fiction.  The book is set in New York City during the roaring twenties, and features a cast of characters whose lives intersect as a result of a series of occult murders.  The book rotates between Evie, a young flapper from Ohio who can read objects for their history; her uncle Will, who runs a museum on the paranormal and is a musty academic learned in the history of the supernatural; Memphis, a teenage numbers runner who used to be a faith healer until he lost his powers trying to heal his own mother; Sam, a thief and con man who has the ability to fade from notice when he wants people to not see him; Theta, a Ziegfield dancer with a secret past; Henry, Theta’s roommate, best friend, and piano player; and Jericho, Will’s beefy assistant and ward.  Evie has been sent to stay with her uncle, and on her first week in New York City she and Will are brought into the crime scene of a brutal murder.  Evie accidentally reads a shoe from the victim, and has visions of the poor girl’s last few impressions.  The whole city is enthralled with the mounting bodies, each one mutilated and left with occult notes left from the Pentacle Killer.  Eventually, Evie’s visions from the various murder scenes and Will’s research puts them on an unbelievable trail for a murderer who was hanged 50 years prior.  Somehow, Naughty John, aka John Hobbes, has managed to come back from the dead to fulfill the eschatological prophecies that mark The Brethren’s rituals to summon forth the Beast; their chosen one will herald the end of the world and bring in a new age.

While not a quick read (the book is nearly 600 pages long), it’s a very captivating story, as the book alternates perspectives from many different characters, including certain chapters from the point of view of the murder victims, which makes for a chilling and creepy tone. I think Bray does a remarkable job fleshing out interesting backstories for all her main characters, and their interconnected supernatural abilities and weird prophetic dreams make for an engrossing fictional world.  The novel wraps up the investigation into John’s brutal murders, but ends with enough promise for further adventures for the Diviners.  While the novel is at times pretty dark and the page count somewhat daunting, I’m sure this novel would appeal to teens, especially as most of the story is told from Evie’s perspective.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs

One of the novels I read this week was Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.  The novel follows the adventures of Jacob Portman, as he investigates the strange orphanage where his grandfather, Abraham Portman, grew up in Wales, when he was the only survivor from his Jewish Polish family who died at the hands of the Nazi pogroms.  Jacob has been seeing a therapist, Dr. Golan, ever since he’s had troubling nightmares and general paranoia after discovering his dying grandfather; Jacob could have sworn he saw a monstrous man in the shadow, but no one, not the police, not his parents, nor his therapist seem to think it was anything more than an acute stress reaction to finding his dying grandfather. With the blessing of his therapist, Jacob and his father visit the small island in Wales where Abraham lived as a child.  Jacob then discovers that the strange stories his grandfather told of Miss Peregrine and her orphanage of peculiar children were all true.  Miss Peregrine is a time-traveler, also known as a ymbrynes, and she and her wards live in a time loop, where they are safely reliving Sept. 3, 1940 over and over apart from the rest of the world.  Jacob follows Emma into their world, meets all sorts of peculiar children, such as a boy who is invisible, a boy who has bees living in his body, a girl with a second mouth on the back of her head, a boy who can animate golems, a girl who levitates, and many more. However, it appears that Jacob has endangered them all, because monstrous hallowghasts and wights, who were responsible for Abraham’s murder, have followed Jacob to Miss Peregrines loop. It turns out that Dr. Golan was a wight, who was using Jacob as a way to discover where Abraham’s friends where. Dr. Golan is able to cross the threshold of the loop, and he kidnaps Miss Peregrine and Miss Avocet, transformed into birds.  Some of the children form a rescue party, and while they are unable to recover Miss Avocet, they are able to recover Miss Peregrine, who somehow seems unable to transform back to human form.  The novel ends with the children deciding to leave their ruined orphanage and chase down the hallowghasts. Jacob confronts his father and tells him that he is planning to leave with his new friends.  Some of the peculiar children introduce themselves to Jacob’s dad, and they leave him with a letter and a photograph on Emma and Abraham together, as proof that it wasn’t a strange dream.

The novel follows the definitions of magical realism and urban fantasy, where Riggs has deftly merged the horrors of World War II Axis powers with magical elements, which include a strange form of time travel, supernatural children, and paranormal antagonists, the hallowghasts and wights. As is common in many urban fantasies, the plot follows a teen who is “unexpectedly drawn into paranormal struggles… gains allies, finds romance, and… develops or discovers supernatural abilities of their own”. This novel was very well written, with a compelling story arc, interesting and fleshed out cast of characters, a decent amount of tension and suspense, and wonderful use of found photographs and other non-textual elements.  I think the interaction between Jacob and his father, a failed ornithologist who felt estranged from his own father, was one of the emotional centerpieces of the book.  This has been one of my favorite books I’ve read this semester and I very much look forward to reading its sequel, Hollow City.  I can see how this book would be very appealing to teens who are into slightly dark urban fantasy.  In many ways, it reminded me of pieces of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book, but is very much its own story. The copy of novel I had included a brief interview with Riggs, who credits John Green as both an influence and inspiration, stating “Reading John Green showed me how ambitious and engaging young adult literature could be…”

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

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The Ghost and the Goth
by Stacey Kade

One of the dead narrator novels I read this week was Stacey Kade’s The Ghost and the Goth. It tells the story of newly dead Alona Dare and her spiritual connection to Will Killian, who can see spirits just like his father did before he committed suicide.  Will just wants to survive the last few weeks of his senior year so he can graduate and then move somewhere less populous, this decreasing the number of dead ghosts vying for his attention. His plans to graduate are complicated by his troubled relationship to Principal Brewster and psychiatrist Dr. Miller, both of whom believe Will is just a troubled teen with psych problems; Brewster would like nothing more than to have an excuse to expel him, and Dr. Miller wants to send him to a psych hospital for further treatment. Will and Alona form an uneasy alliance  so that if Alona can help keep the rest of the ghosts at school at bay, Will will do what he can to help her move on to the rest of her afterlife. As the story unfolds, the narration jumps back and forth between chapters narrated by Alona and chapters narrated by Will. We discover that despite her perfectly constructed outward appearance, Alona’s home life was a shambles with divorced parents; mom’s response to the divorce was to become an alcoholic mess. Will is additionally hunted/haunted by an unnamed spirit of negative energy, which Will at first seems to think is what’s left of his father after his suicide. Ultimately, he discovers that it’s the projection of his best friend Joonie, who is riddled with guilt, shame, and anger due to her part in the accident of their mutual friend Lily. Will knows that whatever spirit had been in Lily before the accident is now gone, and there’s no coming back. Lilly is brain dead. But Joonie still hopes that she can somehow summon Lily’s spirit and put it back in her broken body to make her whole. The novel ends with Joonie finally accepting forgiveness for her part in the accident, since Alone writes to her via a Ouija board, Will explaining to his mom that he sees dead ghosts, and Alona forgiving her mother for her part in Alona’s death.

I have to admit, I had a hard time getting through this novel.  Had it not been required reading for class, I think I would have set it down after a few chapters.  In my mind, Kade takes a long time to develop Will and Alona as anything more than just clichés of the troubled goth kid and the self-important cheerleader.  While we eventually learn more about the two characters, I still think they are very flat stereotypes more so than believable teens. Perhaps it might have some teen appeal, but I think there are better books out there that have more compelling story arcs and better fleshed out protagonists.  I was also reminded of our earlier module on alternating narrators.  I think there are books that handle this literary device more adroitly than here.

YA Lit and the Deathly Fellows

Campbell, Patty. “YA Lit and the Deathly Fellows.” Horn Book, May/June 2008. Pp. 357-361. 
 http://www.hbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/may08toc.pdf

Patty Campbell concludes that YA Critic Jonathan Hunt is correct when he explains that “the dead narrator gives the narrative a sense of immediacy that is so characteristic of young adult fiction, but at the same time allows for a degree of reflection and self-awareness that would probably otherwise seem jarring for a young adult narrator (p. 361).” I think they are right on this count in that the idea of having a narrator who is dead gives the novel  a twist that allows us to believe that the narrator, while still a teen, has been through an experience that gives them wisdom and distance to be more reflective.  Death gives new depth to the narrator’s viewpoint, and is perhaps more inwardly self-aware than most living teens.  Campbell also point out that many teens view themselves as immortal and questions “Is it more comfortable for them than for adults to read close-up accounts of death, since they are theoretically further away from having to accept their own mortality (p. 361)? “ I believe that’s part of it.  As teens, the idea of our mortality is often a distanced event in the far off future, not an immediate concern. Vicariously experiencing the death of the protagonist in a novel doesn’t seem as harrowing or frightening as it perhaps does for adults who have seen parents and friends pass on, and who perhaps feel more intimately the specter of our frail mortality. But I think that’s not totally true. Many teens have seen parents and friends die, and while perhaps they still feel somewhat invincible, I think it’s not fair to our teen readers to assume that they don’t have a healthy respect for the frailty of life. In many respects, I think these novels bring forth the immediacy of making the most of the time we have while still alive, and that’s a very teen-like perspective: to live in the moment.

The Devil's Intern by Donna Hosie

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The Devil's Intern
by Donna Hosie

One of the books I read this week was Donna Hosie’s The Devil’s Intern. In it, we are presented an afterlife in Hell where the damned souls who don’t make it to heaven are instead sent to hell to become devils.  The Devil is perhaps the only demon presented that has any major connection to the traditional construct of an adversary to Heaven’s will; the majority of the characters are human souls who have died and who now live in Hell. In this regard, the novel’s version of devils is very different than one presented in most Judeo-Christian versions of fallen angels; here all who die and don’t make it to heaven become devils. 

The story follows the trajectory of Mitchell Johnson and his three closest devil friends, Medusa (aka Melissa Pallister), Alfarin, and Elinore, as they play around with a time-travel device, the Viciseometer.  Mitchell’s plan was originally to steal this time-traveling device, then visit the time of his death and somehow prevent it, thus sparing himself the early death that he suffered.  His friends come along for support and find themselves on the run from Skin-Walkers, horrible demons that track down Unspeakables, truly evil humans who are set to suffer in a different part of Hell.  One by one, the four visit their untimely demises, but instead of stopping their own deaths, their time-travel meddling has consequences that affect their deaths. For example, Alferin’s Viking clan see him after they have sent a longboat with his burning remains out to sea, and take this as an omen that he has made it safely to an honorable death. In Elinore’s case, choosing to save herself would mean choosing to let her two brothers die in a fire, and so she chooses to remain in the fire instead. Alferin and Mitchell attempt to rescue her, but instead can only give her a quick death, rather than the more excruciatingly painful death of dying in flames. Mitchell discovers that his mother had a second son after his death, and he faces the fact that if he had not died, his brother would never have been born. In addition, if he were to prevent his death, Alferin and Elinore would never have had the Viciseometer that allowed them to participate in their deaths in the way they have. In the end, it seems that it was the vision of his other time-traveling self that caused him to step into the oncoming bus that kills him.  Medusa’s encounter is the only one in which the four actually prevent a death. Due to their meddling, they are able to cause the death of Medusa’s stepfather, a truly wicked man who abused little girls before and after Medusa’s death.  The Skin-Walkers that had been hounding them, it turns out, were not after Medusa or any of the other friends but were instead hunting down her stepfather.  Medusa’s efforts mean she doesn’t die on the Golden Gate bridge, and her mother doesn’t blame herself for Medusa’s death.  The consequences of changing the timestream is that the three others, Mitchell, Alferin, and Elinore, have no memories of their friendship with Medusa because she doesn’t become a devil in the same way as before.  However, the book ends with Mitchell interviewing a possible second intern, a young devil named Melissa Pallister. The way the story unfolds, it seems that Mitchell’s boss, Septimus, knew all along what would happen and allowed it to unfold according to his plan.

I will admit that this was not one of my favorite books to read. It wasn’t until I suspected that something was not quite right with Medusa and that the Skin-Walker’s are following her and not any of the other three that the book really got interesting.  The mystery of how she died and why she desires to punish her abusive stepfather are a great complication in the plot and perhaps the most interesting part of the novel, but it really only happens in the last third of the book.  I think the novel might have teen appeal, but I would warn readers that they need to be patient enough to get to the more interesting parts of the book and not give up in the early parts that perhaps don’t work as well.

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

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Rot and Ruin
by Jonathan Maberry

One of the books that I read this week was Jonathan Maberry’s zombie novel, Rot and Ruin. It tells the story of fifteen-year-old Benny Imura and the events that happen in his life after her decides to apprentice with his older brother, Tom.  Tom is a zombie bounty hunter, but he prefers the term closure specialist. Benny has very infantile ideas of what it would be like to kill zoms for a living, and he idolizes bounty hunters like Charlie Matthias and Motor City Hammer, who can often be found at the Lafferty General Store bragging about their exploits. After he turns fifteen, he has to find a job or lose his food ration pay, so he reluctantly agrees to follow his brother into the family business. Going out to the Ruin and actually seeing what Tom does for a living changes Benny, and it’s nearly a week after her returns that he has the ability to talk to his friends, Chong, Morgie, and Nix. The bulk of the novel follows the adventures of the two brothers as they try to figure out what has happened to the Lost Girl, Lilah, and her connection to Gameland, a place in the Ruin where bounty hunters pit children against zombies for sport and gambling. The story is told from the perspective of Benny, who initially resents his older brother but who soon learns to appreciate his courage and compassion. The characters are well rounded, the story is believable in the context of the world of the novel, and the novel unfolds at a quick pace of an adventure story. 

I had been a little hesitate to read a zombie narrative, as this is not my preferred genre, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Maberry had fleshed out a world and society that has survived a zombie apocalypse. It’s through Tom and Benny’s investigation into the whereabouts of Lilah that we realize the difference between zombies, who are dangerous and destructive, but have no will, and ruthless men like Charlie Matthias who are evil and whose intentional actions are far more monstrous than any zombie. I can easily see this book in the hands of readers who enjoy a twist on the zombie narrative, and I’m interested in reading some of the sequels once I have some free time.

Thirsty by M. T. Andersom

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Thirsty
by M. T. Andersom

One of the books I read this week was M. T. Anderson’s Thirsty. Having read his Octavian Nothing novels and Feed, I was interested in seeing what twist Anderson would bring to the supernatural thriller, and I was not disappointed.  Thirsty tells the story of Christopher, a freshman living in Clayton, where each spring the town performs rituals to preserve the binding that keep Tch’muchgar, the Vampire Lord, in perpetual prison on another plane of existence. Christopher has begun to suspect that he may be turning into a vampire himself.  As luck would have it, he is contacted by an otherworldly agent, who goes by the name of Chet and who offers Chris a chance to help the Forces of Light be finally rid of Tch’muchgar and a chance to reverse his vampirism as a reward for service.  As Chris’s thirst grows, he slowly loses his ties to his two best friends, Tom and Jerk, his family, and all the things that make him human.  He agrees to help Chet on the hopes that he can somehow go back to the way things were.  But not everything is as it appears.  The creature Chris thought was a demon on Tch’muchgar’s side might in fact have been a fifth-dimensional guardian of light, and Chet might not be what he claims to be. Chet claims that he’s playing the vampires in order to help smuggle the Arm of Moriator onto Tch’muchgar’s dimension, so that when the warlocks that are helping the vampires disrupt the ceremony of binding attempt to free Tch’muchgar, he will then be unable to free himself. Chris blindly follows along, hoping to find a cure for his ever-growing thirst.  It’s only after he has followed Chet’s instructions that he starts to question whether he has helped the Forces of Light or the Forces of Darkness. As the fateful night of the Sad Festival of Vampires arrives, everything comes to a head.  Chris attempts to disrupt the vampire church’s plans, but he only witnesses how he was played by Chet. It appears that Tch’muchgar was attempting to escape his imprisonment and embrace death, rather than continue to be a captive for eternity. Chet was only using the vampires to further his own agenda and had no plans of ever curing Chris.  Chris, totally defeated and wondering why he was selected to play a part in this greater scheme, gets his answer from Chet ,“Why did I choose you, Christopher? Because you threw the Forces of Light off my trail…They thought that because you were a child, you were innocent, working for them. It took them months to figure out the truth. And by the time they did, you were marked as mine; there was nothing they could do… But do you know the other reason I chose you, Christopher? Because I knew you were an incompetent: self-pitying; self-absorbed; self-centered. The perfect teen. I know you wouldn’t ask the right questions at the right time” (p. 224). The book ends with Tch’muchgar released from his prison and destroyed, Chet (or whatever he really was named) payed in unlimited power, and Chris slowly facing the ever-mounting knowledge that he’ll either succumb to his thirst and slay his family first or be staked as the inhuman creature he has become.

Anderson doesn’t provide a happy ending. I thought this was an interesting take on the vampire mythos, and Anderson explains on the blurb in the book jacket, “I grew up in a suburb much like Chris’s. It seemed to me that there were always a lot of kids struggling with the isolation of wanting to do the right thing when there was no right thing to do”. Anderson’s novel is full of black humor and provides a satirical take on the typical vampire tropes, but ultimately provides a chilling conclusion. I especially love a quote right as Chris faces his bleak prospects, where he writes, “And I realize that the decision to be human is not one single instant, but is a thousand choices made every day. It is choices we make every second and requires constant vigilance. We have to fight to remain human.” Chris must pay for the bad choices he has made along the way, and has given up the right to continue the struggle to be human. His actions, despite their good intentions, have brought him to his monstrous end. I really loved the sucker-punch ending, and I think this book would have tremendous appeal to teens, for whom the struggle to become the person they think they want to be doesn’t always come easily. Anderson perfectly captures the feelings of being trapped by forces beyond your control and betrayed by your body’s hungers and desires.

Fat Angie by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo

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Fat Angie
by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo

One of the books I read this week was Charlton-Trujillo’s novel Fat Angie.  It’s primarily a standard prose novel with occasional interludes of definitions and some song lyrics which Angie and KC sing. It follows the story of freshman Angie, whose older sister gave up a basketball scholarship to serve in the air force, but was captured, tortured, and presumed dead.  Angie’s family has been messed up ever since then, with her parent divorcing, her adopted brother Wang acting out, and her mother completely turning into a cold, emotionally abusive bitch who just cannot be bothered to deal with the two kids she has left.  Angie reacted badly to the news of her sister’s capture and attempted to cut her wrists at school.  The thrust of the novel is Angie’s friendship with the new girl KC.  Eventually, KC come out to Angie as “gay-girl gay” and the two kiss.  Her brother Wang takes a cell phone photo of the two kissing, and sends it to some of his friends, who in turn spread it out throughout the school.  Angie is already very bullied at school, mostly because she’s overweight and because of her public attempted suicide, so she doesn’t handle being outed in the most gracious ways.  But thanks to the influence of KC , Angie has the confidence to try out for the varsity basketball team. She surprises herself and everyone else when her drive wins over the coach, who gives her one of two openings on the team. Unfortunately, Angie’s tormentor Stacy Ann gets the other spot. Both of the girls spend most of the season on the bench, but Angie sinks some very critical, game winning free throws in one game, which she imagines her sisters somewhere else somehow knowing.  Eventually, things come crashing down as KC resorts to cutting herself when her father refuses to accept her as gay.  Angie and her family find out that her sister’s remains have been found and are returned home for a funeral. But oddly enough, Angie finds solace once she come to terms with the loss of her sister.  While she’s deeply sad that her sister is gone, a part of her is relieved to know she’s no longer somewhere suffering and thinking of her family back home. After a reunion with KC, Angie has the courage to mail her sister the letter she had written, even though she knows no one will ever receive it.  The books handles some very serious subjects, such as self-harm, suicide, coming out to your parents, bullying, and an emotionally abusive mother. I thought it was a great book, and I can see why it won a Stonewall Book Award.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kristin Cronn-Mills

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Beautiful Music for Ugly Children
by Kristin Cronn-Mills

One of the books I read this week was Kristin Cronn-Mills’ Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. This novel tells the story of Gabe, a transgender teen to has started DJing at a small community radio station.  The story takes place right around his high school graduation.  The central story line concerns itself with the repercussion Gabe faces in choosing to introduce himself to his listeners as Gabe.  You see, Gabe’s name at birth was Elizabeth, and while Gabe has come out to his best friend Paige and his own family, he is still not ready to do so at school. Gabe decides to come out to his mentor and next door neighbor, John, who got him his spot at 90.3 KZUK and who immediately gets it. John explains that working in his line of business, he’s seen just about everything.  If Liz thinks she’s a guy named Gabe, he’s fine with it; Gabe’s not the first “triangle” he’s ever known. A large part of the complications to the narrative arise as a result of Gabe’s growing fan base with his radio show.  One fan in particular asks him out on a date, and Gabe goes out on his first date as a guy, but she recognizes Gabe from the lunch line at school, reacts negatively, and outs Gabe to the rest of the Ugly Children’s Brigade. Entwined with his growing confidence as a DJ, Gabe becomes more confident as a guy, more confident in expressing his complicated affections for his best friend Paige, and more determined to start a new life once school is done.  Part of Gabe’s dreams involve a DJ contest for The Vibe, where the top contestant will win a guest DJ spot at a larger radio station in the twin cities. A few days before the big contest, some of Gabe’s fans host a party to meet their favorite DJ, but the party is crashed by two bullies from school that have been threatening Gabe.  Kyle and Paul seriously hurt John, leaving him in a coma. Gabe is so concerned about John, he nearly misses the Summer Monday Festival, and he might as well have, for his heart isn’t in it and he puts in a wooden performance. John eventually comes out of his coma and gets released home.  While Gabe lost his shot with The Vibe, he still has his show on KZUK and decides to start classes at the local community college. 

A large part of the story concerns how different characters react to Gabe’s transitioning.  John is supportive from the get go, only now and then forgetting to not call his neighbor Liz instead of Gabe.  Paige is very supportive for most of the novel, although she has some difficulties coming to terms with Gabe’s feelings for her and disappears from Gabe’s life for a few days as she processes her own emotions for her BFF. Gabe’s parents don’t know how to react, and for the most part refuse to acknowledge Gabe’s transitioning.  But eventually, both mom and dad come around. One of the most touching scenes is one where Gabe’s dad introduces him to a client as Gabe, something he had not previously been willing to do. Gabe’s boss at the record store seems perfectly fine with the situation, and they jokingly make a huge batch of name tags to wear including names like Betty and Mr. Snuffalufagus. Some of the other kids in Gabe’s school are pretty transphobic, including his first date Mara, who is hurt and confused; she retaliates by outing Gabe to his fans. Kyle and Paul are incredibly violent in their threats and actions. On the other hand, Heather seems very accepting of Gabe and constantly texts and flirts with him. Several of the Ugly Children Brigade remain loyal fans even after Gabe’s secret is let out.  So the novel pretty well encompasses a wide spectrum of reactions to Gabe.

I really enjoyed this book and think it deserves the accolades it’s received, winning the Stonewall Award for 2014.  This was an intimate, thoughtful, and nuanced book about a transgender teen navigating his transitioning.  It was touching, emotional, and grounded in the experience of what it means when your B-side is so different from your A-side. The book wraps up a little too neatly for my tastes, and the conclusion involves a somewhat unbelievable Elvis artifact going on auction.  But nevertheless, I really enjoyed Gabe’s story.  I think this book should be available in any good library for teens to find. I think this book lends a voice to a segment of our teens that perhaps has not been heard before.