The Fire Between High & Lo by Brittainy C. Cherry

The Fire Between High & Lo by Brittainy C. Cherry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you have to stop 2/3 of the way through a book for a Rhianna/Eminem song and dance break, you know it’s a good book. Intense, angsty, dark, dramatic, painful, and neurotic. But good.

Book 292 read in 2018

Page: 324

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story of Fabiola, who immigrates back to America (Detroit) after living most of her 17 years of life in Haiti, is culturally captivating. I enjoyed every bit of Haitian culture, including the interesting insights into voodoo.

At it's heart, this is a story of family and poverty. Fabiola's extended family is not particularly nice, but they are multifaceted, which I appreciate. Let it be noted that this is a heavy, often depressing read, full of characters who make difficult and often poor decisions.

I do not love the plot, nor do I love anything about the conclusion to the story, and that has nothing to do with the fates of the characters. I guess that I hoped to see more growth in some of the characters than what I got, and that made the conclusion frustrating, unnecessarily tragic, and somewhat lacking, for me.

However, there's a sweet romance, that is both awkward and real, so bonus points for that.

Pages: 336

Did You Ever Have a Family: A Novel by Bill Clegg

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

June Reid is the sole survivor of an unbearable tragedy that grips the entire town of Wells, Connecticut. Shortly before her daughter’s wedding, a gas leak leads to an explosion at June’s house, leaving a bereft June and gossiping townspeople to make sense of it all. Directionless, June leaves Wells to drive across the country. Those she leaves behind whisper about what happened and if Luke, June’s thuggish boyfriend, was really responsible. With poetic language and through multiple perspectives, Clegg slowly reveals the narrative of a town touched by tragedy and the truth about those at its heart.

293 pages   

You Deserve a Drink by Mamrie Hart

You Deserve a Drink: Boozy Misadventures and Tales of Debauchery by Mamrie Hart

Mamrie Hart describes herself as “a drinking star with a YouTube problem,” and this does indeed appear to be true. Hart is the founder of the YouTube series You Deserve a Drink, and she has compiled her best drinking stories into a novel. The book is set up to be a drinking game and a cocktail recipe starts off each chapter. Every time she references an old TV show, mentions a food product that can be found at 7-Eleven, or refers to a reproductive organ by a slang term, the reader is meant to take a swig. With stories ranging from a spring break spent at a gay nudist resort to celebrating Day of the Dead in Mexico with her friend Maegan, where a group of swingers mistake them for a lesbian couple, boozy misadventures abound. As Grace Helbig notes in the forward, “None of what you’re about to read is exaggerated, fabricated, or G-rated.”

288 pages.

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

I had not read a YA novel in quite a long time, so I chose this one because I enjoyed the movie and had heard good things about the book.  Written in epistolary form by high school freshman Charlie to an unknown friend, it chronicles his first year in high school as well as interactions with his family.  Although he is introverted and a bit shy, Charlie becomes good friends with seniors Sam and Patrick, who happen to be step-siblings.  Charlie develops a crush on Sam even though she sees him only as a friend, while Patrick is secretly dating the football team's closeted quarterback.

Charlie has some psychological issues that appear to have been brought on by the suicide of his only friend the previous year and the death of his aunt Helen years earlier, with whom he'd been especially close.  A huge revelation in the epilogue puts Charlie's troubles in perspective for the reader and makes this unusual story even more unforgettable.  This book has been challenged innumerable times since its first publication in 1999 due to the usual reasons, but I would highly recommend it to any teenager.  213 pages.

Pit Bull by Scott Ely

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

A pit bull named Alligator is the hope of Jack Purse to get his family land back. The community pot crops have been swept away by storms, drug dealers and addicts in their community group. They now must bet on a dog named Alligator.

Audio:  6 hrs. 50 min.
Print:  224 pages