Book Review: Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind

 Title:  Spring Awakening (Original German title: Frühlings Erwache)

Author:  Frank Wedekind, translated by Francis J. Ziegler

Series:   N/A

Published:    Feb 2012 by Methuen Drama. Written 1890-1. First performed 1906.

Length:  192 pages

Warnings: rape, suicide, child abuse, and abortion

Source: Project Gutenberg

Summary from Student edition:  Wedekind's notorious play Spring Awakening influenced a whole trend of modern drama and remains relevant to today's society, exploring the oppression and rebellion of adolescents among draconian parents and morals. This seminal work looks at the conflict between repressive adulthood and teenage sexual longings in a provincial German town. Highly controversial and with themes of sexuality, social attitudes and adolescence, the play is a popular and provocative text for study, especially at undergraduate level. 

Review: Late 1800s Germany.  Schoolboys and girls discover sexuality. It really does not go well. Among other things, Wedla Bergmann does not understand how babies are made, Moritz Stiefl is tormented by erotic dreams, and Melchior Gabor, having read about sex, now believes in nothing. In a series of scenes, we follow the teens as they try to navigate growing up.

You may have heard of the rock musical that got adapted from this play. It’s the controversial one that deals with rape, suicide, child abuse, and abortion.  When the play first came out in 1906, it was criticised for sexuality, puberty, and homosexuality as well, but to be honest, that’s the least of everyone’s problems. As someone who quite enjoyed the musical and enjoys reading/seeing source material, I knew I’d have to read it someday.

I felt that some characters were quite underdeveloped. Martha’s story is only mentioned in passing, most girls don’t get any characterisation beyond fancying Melchior, and I didn’t really care for what happened to the boys other than Melchior and Moritz. We do get good characterisation for the three main characters, and we did get to know what some people were thinking in detail (see next paragraph). It could have been better though.

Giant monologues. Ugh.  I know monologues are a standard part of drama, and I don’t mind a couple. But they seem to drag on and on and on, Hanschen’s “have you prayed tonight, Desdemona” one in particular, and if I were seeing this live, I would probably want the actors to just be quiet.

The plot is mostly driven by subtle indications of what’s happening. There are not that many stage directions, and if I didn’t know the story from the musical, I’d have had to reread quite a few scenes to make sure I understood what was going on.

What I really like about this play is that while it was written to criticise the repression of the 1800s, despite 120 years passing, it’s still relevant today:  the young people are unprepared for life due to the inadequacy of adults. There’s a scene after Moritz dies in which the teachers are going to start discussing what to do about his death, but then they spend ages arguing over what window should be opened, which is the clearest example of adults failing to care for young people, a theme also seen when Wedla’s mother does not tell her about conception until it’s too late.  The young people are victims of the society that forces academic knowledge on them (if they’re boys), does not tell them about life (for almost everyone) and leaves them to discover it on their own, which leads to tragedy.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a tragedy that showcases perfectly what happens when sex-ed fails.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | 

Book Review-The S Word by Chelsea Pitcher

Hey, Wendy Davis spent 11 hours on her feet speaking to filibuster the anti-abortion law that they wanted to pass making abortion illegal past 20 weeks, regardless of medical complications, and elsewhere both DOMA and Prop 8 got killed. This news made me very happy. 

Title: The S Word

 Author:  Chelsea Pitcher

Series:  N/A

Published:  7 May 2013 by Gallery Books

Length: 304 pages

Warnings: suicide, rape, quite a few issues

Source: netgalley

Summary : First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker.
But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie's looping scrawl.
Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she's caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living. And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie's own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.

Review: Lizzie  got Slut written all over her locker. After she kills herself, she gets Suicide Slut written on it-in her own handwriting. Although what started it was Lizzie being caught sleeping with her boyfriend, Angie still is upset at how her best friend has been treated and vows to find out who has been spreading Lizzie’s diary entries around. With drama and mystery at every turn, Angie discovers dark secrets from everywhere at her school.

When I saw the idea of this, I was instantly intrigued.  It’s a really heavy thing to label someone, and there’s a lot of ways it can be taken.

Angie, I liked for some of it. Not all of it. But thinking about how she handles the ending, I kind of respect her for what she does, but also dislike her for the fact that she did what she did that meant she had to do it. Jesse is a character I didn’t really like or dislike majorly. Lizzie is a major character in this, despite her being dead-journal entries really get her across and I think she’s my favourite character.

Chelsea has written the horrors of high school and what teenagers can do to each other via words and actions really well. The social politics of being friends and more and what it all means is evident, and Chelsea doesn’t  make high school seem a nice place to be.

The writing is good. I don’t normally pick out quotes from books that I loved, but one of the best things I’ve read this year is “Monsters are made. We make them, and when we don’t like what we’ve created, we play pretend”.

Really big plot twist! Obviously, I won’t tell you what it is, but it made me see a certain major character in a big way.

Issues such as sexuality and a bit of identity and betrayal and trust  feature quite a bit in this book. I liked it, I think it’s relevant to pretty much everyone,  and the discussion questions at the end are really interesting and I’d love to have a discussion about it at some point.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a gritty, real tale that every teen should read.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review-The Hit by Melvin Burgess

Title:  The Hit

 Author: Melvin Burgess

Series:  N/A

Published:  4 April 2013

Length: 303 pages

Warnings: rape, drugs, heavy violence

Source:Publisher

Other info: Melvin has written many other things, including Junk.

Summary : Take it. Live it. F*** it.
A new drug is out. Everyone is talking about it. The Hit. Take it, and you have one amazing week to live. It's the ultimate high. At the ultimate price.
Adam is tempted. Life is rubbish, his girlfriend's over him, his brother's gone. So what's he got to lose? Everything, as it turns out. It's up to his girlfriend, Lizzie, to show him...

Review: There’s a new drug going round. Death. Giving you a week to live, and an eternity to not. Adam’s life is going very badly when he is given the chance to take it. Drawn in to a dangerous gang world, protesters, extreme violence and high stakes, Adam will discover what he has to live for.

I was really excited about this one. I’ve not read Junk or anything by Melvin before, but I feel like I should. The premise of The Hit was instantly eyecatching and exciting, and one that I could see going in any number of directions. Melvin took it in a good way.

Adam is a character that you get very close to, probably because of the intimacy and intensity of the things we go through with him, you know, thinking he’ll die being the major one.  He is immature at times, but also real. Lizzie is the saner girl, even though she is forced into the world of danger that Adam gets involved in. Christian is horrible, and scary in the way that real properly evil horrible people are. The mob network and the opposing group, the Zealots, were well fleshed out.

Plotwise, it works. It’s kept moving at a good pace. Things come round in funny ways. The ending-the outline was predictable, the exact workings of it, not so. The writing-really good.

I was surprised that after the emphasis on Death in the press thing and on the internet and thing, it was plot driven by the gang and action like that. It worked as a story, but with the concept, it wasn’t what I was expecting and I think I would have liked to see a  bit more questions being posed as a larger component of the story.

That said, it did  raise  quite a few. Would you take it? How would you spend your last week? Would you think it was worth it?

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a gritty and real book with a thoughtprovoking look at death and life.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Guest post by Jenny E Miller- YA Novels-What's Not to Write?

Hello! I had a fairly good time in Belgium, but I'll ramble more some other day. Anyway, today, we JENNY E MILLER talking about what's suitable and what's not in YA novels. This is something that has come up a bit in my family, more on the what can I read than what can I write, but this is a really interesting topic. So, yes. Read this great post.

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While writing my young adult novel ASYLUM, I was constantly asking myself what I could and could not write about. Without giving too much away, the book deals with murder (though not gruesomely), teen pregnancy, blossoming relationships and unstable families. Was I pushing the envelope with a sixteen year-old pregnant character? Could I say the f-word? Could a young girl commit murder?

The long and the short of it is, yes, I could. It was and is my book, and I can write about whatever I want. But the subjects I’ve chosen aren’t usually discussed in young adult writing, unless they’re taking place in an alternate universe (and therefore not exactly taboo). Take the TWILIGHT saga, for example. Sex? Yep. Pregnancy? Yep. Teen marriage? Uh huh. But it’s all with a vampire, and not realistic to our world, so it doesn’t exactly push the envelope. The HUNGER GAMES series contains murder by the main character, but it’s in self-defense, and part of a game in a dystopian world. 

My book delves into the paranormal, but it’s a touch more realistic than TWILIGHT and the HUNGER GAMES. But still, the question is, what subjects do authors use and which do they shy away from in teen books?

I think (and I’m generalizing here—I’m sure there are exceptions) that young adult novels that are set in this world, in present time, tend to shy away from sex, violence, drugs, and language. But once they move to an alternate world, everything is fair game. A dystopian or fantasy world lets you break all the rules and create your own.

So what topics should young adult writers cover and which should they steer away from? In all honesty, my answers are everything, and nothing.

I believe that kids today are much smarter and more self-aware than we give them credit for. Bella Swan didn’t spawn a thousand teen marriages, and Katniss Everdeen didn’t cause a band of young girls to pick up bows and arrows and start shooting. I truly think that we can write about whatever we want (as long as it’s intriguing, smart and well-told) and there are very few subjects that should be taboo.  It’s all about how you handle it. As long as you’re not blatantly encouraging murder, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, etc., go for it. Chances are kids have been exposed to these subjects long before they read it in your book.

That being said, parents should always, always pre-screen the books their kids are reading to make sure the content is appropriate for their age and personality. Just because they can read beyond their grade level does not mean they should. Books at higher reading levels are more mature in grammar and in content. And unless you’re prepared to answer questions and discuss the subject matter with them, don’t let them read the book.

Jenny E. Miller is the author of the upcoming novel ASYLUM, debuting on Amazon March 25^th. You can find more of her at JennyEMiller.com, on Facebook and Twitter.

You can buy Asylum in paperback and on kindle. 

Thank you for the excellent post! 

Book Review-Undone by Cat Clarke

Advance warning- the review is 700 words, 250 of which are ranting. 

Title: Undone

 Author:  Cat Clarke

Series:  N/A

Published:  31 January 2013 by Quercus

Length: 502 pages

Warnings: rape, suicide, homophobia, violence.

Source: library

Other info: Cat has also written Entangled and Torn, which I reviewed here and here.

Summary : Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend. Not exactly ideal, but she's learning to live with it.
Then the unspeakable happens. Kai is outed online ... and he kills himself.
Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back. But she wants to know who was responsible. And she wants to take them down. 

Review: Jem loves Kai. Kai doesn’t love her back, because he’s gay. She’s ok with this. Fastforward a few years, when he gets outed via internet video, and he receives a lot of hate mail. And he kills himself. A month later, Jem is ready to do the same, when she receives an envelope. It’s a year’s wotrth of letters from Kai, challenging her to do things and live life to the full. While following them, Jem decides to also find out who drove Kai to his death, and to get her revenge.

I’m going to start by saying that I didn’t cry at this *ducks from people calling me heartless* I got pretty damn close when reading Kai’s letters, which were by far the best thing about Undone. They were so raw and emotional and real and you really get a sense of Kai, even though he’s dead for the majority of the book. you can just imagine him sitting there, and what he’s going through, and how hard it is. The fact that they were handwritten, inconsistent and smudged, makes it all the more intimate and real.

The supporting characters in Undone were all seen in a really negative light to start with, but you started to like them more and more as you got to know them and form opinions of your own of them. They also developed quite nicely. Bugs, I didn’t have good or  bad feelings for, and I think he got off relatively lightly in Jem’s revenge plan.  Lucas wasn’t too bad either. Stu wasn’t that nice, but he is really badly affected by Jem. Sasha was my favourite living character, as she did seem genuinely nice and undeserving of what happened to her. Though to be honest, all the teens in Undone deserve a good slap at some point.

The characters were all well written and real. The social dynamics seemed quite real and full. I can’t say I approve of these people’s views on sex. The girls feel they’re there for the boys, and throw sex at everyone. But hey, it’s their views. Not mine. But it does say something about gender power among teens.

I love Cat. She’s a really nice person, from the one time I met her and her happenings on the interweb. And her style is beautiful, as always. So, realistic characters, beautiful but horrible set up, huge issues tackled and amazing writing. Why doesn’t this get five stars or more?

It’s Jem. To start with, I felt bad for her, what with her terrible month since her best friend killed himself and her being ready to do the same. She was trying to change herself and get on with life, and I respected her for that. She takes the plan to get revenge on whovever did what they did, showing she’s proactive and disabled. And then she changed so much. She wasn’t being true to herself, and she knew it.

I can just about deal with that. What I can’t deal with what she does around the 200 page mark. The three little words. And the spreading rumours, not little ones like with  Bugs, but big ones. And they seriously affect the person they’re about. And the subject matter. These two actions made me lose all empathy,  care and respect for Jem. And shout at her. “YOU DO NOT F**KING JOKE SLASH LIE ABOUT STUFF LIKE THAT. THAT IS DISREPECTFUL AND SERIOUS and if you can throw that around I cannot care for you.” *I'll save my thoughts on rape in culture and YA fiction for another day* 

I do love characters that develop. Jem most certainly did. I like characters that go up and down the morality scale-it did no harm for my love of Dorian Gray. But Jem did not so much slip, she was slightly wobbling and then she  fell at terminal velocity. And she changed beyond recognition. And I just cannot fully enjoy a book with a character that I hate so much. Even with an ending like that.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a beautiful emotional book, that I just couldn’t fully love due to its main character.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- OMG Queer

Title: OMG Queer

 Author: Anthology

Series:  N/A

Published:  14 August 2012 by Bold Strokes Books

Length: 264 pages

Warnings:  graphic sex, homophobia, strong language

Source: Netgalley

Summary : Hope. Fear. Desire. Despair. Promises. Betrayals. Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Questioning. Intersex.
This anthology of short stories gives voice to the rising generation as they define what it means to grow up queer in the twenty-first century. What is it like to grow up in a society that embraces you in certain ways but discriminates against you in others? How do you choose a label from the alphabet soup, and should you even have to? By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, comical and caustic, these stories, imagined and told by youth across America, provide a snapshot of queerness at the dawn of the new millennium.

Review: I find that LGBT fiction tends to be of a high quality. Anthologies tend to be a mix of bad and good fiction of the chosen genre.  This should be quite good then, but...yeah. I like that it’s all done by young people, but sometimes, it’s not amazing. It covers a nice lot of topics, and ACTUALLY INCLUDES THE T OF THE COMMUNITY (It really irritates me when something says it’s LGBT and ends with “gay men and lesbians”.) Unlike with other anthologies, the final tea score isn’t an average of all the stories., but a general impression of the entire book.

Jelson by Breanna Hovey. This deals with being a Swop, which is a little like intersex, but they literally swap sexual characteristics. At last! Something dealing with the non-cis community! (sorry, but it irritates me that we label it LGBT fiction and the T and variants get represented in hardly any way). This story addresses issues, and is also a romance. The idea of a Swop was a little hard to grasp to start with, but this was a good story.         5

The Tea Bowl by Justine F Lane. Girl falls in love with girl. But Girl A is an English teacher and Girl B is a student. Girl A also considers breaking up with her girlfiend to run off with Girl B. And it was like...oh.  Teacher/student relationships squick me out generally, but I like the metaphor running through this.        2

The Piano Player by Thomas Graziano. Will and Wesley meet via piano playing and a funeral. They fall in love. My favourite character in this was Tiffany, the best friend, who is funny and a good friend, from what we see of her. This is a very short and sweet romance.                        4

Cristal Crisis by A J Slater. Ryan recounts her high school experiences, mainly  of bullying, to her new girlfriend. They also meet Cristal, so there’s a nice circle format to this. Lots of horrible issues tackled sensibly.            4

A Tale of Modern Magic by Olivea Dziwak. On World Aids Day, a girl meets a girl. Not much else happens.                2

Indulge Ne by Ashely Bartlett. Two people meet, go home and have sex. This really isn’t my kind of thing. And suddenly having unexpected p4wn on my kindle is all *What???!*  There was a bit of plot in relation to the narrators relationship..but it just wasn't my thing.                1

Ignite the Sky by Julie R Sanchez. Grace and Callie go on a round trip, discovering things about each other and falling in love. I really like the format of this, being told in reverse chronological order.      4

A Round Trip by Warren Smith. Ethan meets Zack on a train and they fall in love. It’s a nice message, but also instalovey, but sweet.   3

Butch Fatale by Kirsty Logan. Bex and Narrator are friends. Narrator goes off with someone else. Six months later, Narrator leaves girlfriend for Bex. Not my kind of thing, but the depiction of clubbing is nicely done.             2

Pool of Sorrow by Sam Sommer.  Narator narrates his summer from many years ago, when he was a reader and when he fell in love with Teddy. Sweet, but not very much happens. 3

My Lips by Joseph Aviv. Seventeen year old Joseph realises he’s gay. I’m not sure of the main line of plot of this, but I like Joseph’s writing style.

Fighting for Love.   Alaina and Billie fall in love  but it doesn't work. There’s a nice element of “finding who you are” and this also was rather emotional.                 4

There Was a Knocking n the Door by Andrew Arslon. Boy comes out and some of the family take it badly. It’s a good look at family dynamics in the LGBT community, and varying attitudes.  I like the different subject matter and the way of handling it.               4

My Aahana .  Unrequited Love between Joe and Aahana. Short plot and not much happens. 2

First Time by Archer Darke.   PWP between Hayden and Grace, but well written PWP. You got to know the characters a little too before they start, which was nice.                 3

Hella Nervous by Rebeckah Weatherspoon  Oskana and Tracy fall in love. Sweet, but not amazing. 2

Closer to Me by Anna Meadows.  Just a little romance.   Different voice interspersed with Spanish was a refreshing change to the writing styles.     3

Graduation by Brighton Bennett  Emmerson and Rachel make up four years after splitting up. A relatively lengthly story.          2.

Overall: Mixed reactions for this.  There’s some rather good stories in this  anthology. And yet there are some stories where I just fail to understand 1. What the plot is and 2. Why I should be interested in someone breaking up/getting together with that person. Strength  2 and a bit,  just about up to 3,  tea to an anthology with a lot of gems but also lot of stories that I didn’t enjoy.

Links: | Goodreads | 

Book Review- Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Title: Sing You Home

 Author: Jodi Picoult

Series:  N/A

Published:  1^st March 2011 by Atria

Length: 446 pages

Warnings: open discussion of sexuality, drink, sex, abortion, self harm, profanity 14+

Source: Library

Other info: Jodi Picoult has written many other books dealing with issues in a courtroom.

Summary : One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds

Review: After ten years trying and failing to get pregnant, Zoe is close, but it still goes wrong. After yet another miscarriage, her husband Max files and gets divorced, and he turns to drink and his brother's religion. Zoe meanwhile is focussing on her work with Vanessa, and soon finds herself in love with her. Then Zoe thinks once again of the embryos that she created with Max, and has found another way of starting a family. But simply asking for his permission to use them soon turns into a legal battle featuring the Church, Gay rights, and a huge question about what makes up a family.

I was already a huge fan of Jodi Piccoult, so this is just another one that I'm reading because I already knew and loved the author. This tackles new moral questions, this time concerning families and homosexuality, and does what Piccoult always does, and shoves it into a courtroom. Despite the fact it follows a similar outline to her other novels (introduce family with big issues, all-for-all in the courtroom, semi-happy ever after), it never gets old and this one is no exception.

The characters, I got very attached to, especially Zoe, Vanessa and Liddy. I never liked the Pastor or Wade, possibly because of their views on Zoe and Vanessa raising a child, or maybe just because of their attitudes to people in general with different opinions. I think Max was the one who underwent the most development from start to finish.

These issues about families and homosexuality were well addressed. Throughout I was very firmly on Zoe and Vanessa's  side for getting the embryos, but I could see where Max's side were coming from, at least on the personal level of wanting the best for what would be his child and so thinking it would be best to give the embryos to his brother and sister-in-law. The other reasons, the ones provided by the church he belongs to, saying that Zoe and Vanessa would make terrible mothers because they're lesbian, are completely terrible, and I don't see how Wade managed to get the Court to see things from that point of view.

The plot unfolded well, with some things we expected and some things we didn't cropping up at various turns. The development in the case towards the end was completely unexpected, but the final ending was predictable on two counts. I won't spoil the suprise.

I love the multiple perspective style of writing. It gives everyone a voice of their own, and gives the characters some real backstory and depth, as well as letting us see the main plot as the opposition sees it.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a well woven book about what a family is by modern standards.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman

Title: Boys Don’t Cry

 Author: Malorie Blackman

Series:  N/A

Published:  28 October 2010 by Doubleday Books

Length; 302 pages

Warnings: teenage pregnancy, violence, homophobia,

Other info: Malorie Blackman has also written a lot of other books like the Naughts and Crosses series, Thief and Pig Heart Boy.

Summary: You're about to receive your A-level results and then a future of university and journalism awaits. But the day they're due to arrive your old girlfriend Melanie turns up unexpectedly ...with a baby ...You assume Melanie's helping a friend, until she nips out to buy some essentials, leaving you literally holding the baby ...

Open For Discussion: YA Saves?

Its been pretty hard not to notice, but the YA part of the Blogosphere has been pretty annoyed at this post on Wall Street Journal, which condemns YA fiction for being too dark.

After seeing everyone angry, I'm going to add my own two pence worth, even though I'm fairly sure that what I'm saying is repeating what others have said. Anyway, here's my opinion. Please add yours at the end, and click to read on...