Review: MARY: THE SUMMONING (Hillary Monahan)

3.70 STARS from 619 GoodReaders

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY," Jess shouted.

The candle on the vanity cast eerie shadows, our forms tall and distorted against the walls. Our hands were clenched together so tightly our fingers trembled.

Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna are a tight group. Best friends forever-- which is how Jess coaxes them into a tiny bathroom in her basement to play at calling Bloody Mary. The only problem is Bloody Mary is real and the girls are totally successful in calling the ghoul.

 [Jess] understood people. If she wanted the four of us to do something, she'd appeal to us in whatever way would get her results.

and famous last words...

"I won't take any risks. I told you I was being safe."

Hillary Monahan tells this creepy tale in two narratives. The first unfolds through Mary's letters to her sister, Constance. They begin playfully in September of 1864, with Mary teasing her sister, saying that she's an 'abysmal sister' to have married the best man in the area and then run off to the big city.

Unfortunately the letters don't stay cheerful for long. A dark presence seems to have moved into their small town and the correspondence begins to foreshadow terrible events that lead to Mary's becoming an evil, restless spirit.

Shauna tells the present day story. We follow her as she and her friends call the murdering ghoul. And it's horrifying how Mary escapes the mirror and nearly drags Shauna into the world beyond. Worse, Mary gets a taste of Shauna's blood and begins to haunt her wherever there is a shiny surface.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: MISTWALKER 
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
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THE SUMMONING is a fun read. The scary-suspenseful parts are well written. Definitely Adult Worthy. Unfortunately for adults the sections of the story that portray the girls at high school or at home are not as well written, and it's likely that adults will end up skimming some of these parts because they seem so immature.  Middle-graders and other teens will no doubt find them more tolerable.

There are definitely things to like about THE SUMMONING. The story is intriguing. The suspenseful parts are well done for a middle-grade/YA book. And I liked how the author portrayed Shauna as a rational person. When there was a problem Shauna didn't let it boil but rather said what needed to be said that so issues didn't get worse.  I also like the mystery about poor Mary. What exactly did happen to her?  (We won't know until book #2)

Some profanity. One sexual reference.

Pam~


THE SUMMONING
(Bloody Mary #1)
by Hillary Monahan

Reading Information:
Page Count: 256
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Mary lingered. She'd shifted positions so she was clear now, her palms against the glass, the pads of her fingers smushed like she'd pressed too hard. She watched us with her sunken eyes, a small stream of yellow pus oozing from her tear ducts.

updated August 2015

Review: GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE by Andrew Smith

3.90 STARS — 1,877 GoodReaders

The GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE was a really interesting read. It has characters that were very well developed and if I had to classify it, I would say that it is a Coming-of-Age/Scifi hybrid.

***Special Note
Consider yourself warned.  I have to say that this will not be a book for everyone. There's a huge focus on sex and the book is rife with profanity. Even the giant bugs have sex-- and they may have said some naughty things too.

The end of the world began at about 2:00 a.m., around three-and-a-half feet away from a discarded floral-print sleeper sofa infested with pubic lice in Ealing, Iowa. 

BACKSTORY
Austin Szerba lives in a small town in Iowa.  He has a best friend .AND. a girlfriend .AND. life is pretty good. That is until Austin and friend accidentally unleash an army of unstoppable giant praying mantises.

The story is told from Austin's point of view.  It's unique in that he considers himself a historian of his own life. And ultimately we readers get to experience two timelines. The first timeline is in the present as Austin maneuvers through school and life in a small town. The other begins with his grandfather's survival of WWII.  It leads to Austin's father's birth and eventually Austin's own arrival into the world. It's a tale of how it took luck and perfect timing to initiate the destruction of the United States of America, and Austin's survival of it.


Three Stars?  Four Stars?  This is one of those difficult books to rate. I enjoyed reading GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE and feel my time wasn't wasted,  BUT I really have no desire to every read it again.

“Everyone on every road that crossed beneath the point of my pen was always going to do the same things over and over and over.
I was confused.
How could I be in love with a girl ‘and’ a boy, at the same time?
I was trapped forever.
You know what I mean.”

THE GOOD

--How the story was constructed. The use of historical perspective was just great.

--Portrayal of teen angst.  You should know that a large portion of this book is character development of teens.  And there's a wonkingly large amount of angst involved; and it is very well done.

--Humor.  Wonderful humor throughout. Some of it is gallows humor but most is just humor involving the human condition. Delicious.

THE LESS GOOD

--There's a lack of drama involving the creatures. They were never scary. And not all that funny either.

--The book's too long. I love quirky books. Especially a quirky book with interesting characters, but the amount of quirky I can appreciate is limited.  This book frequently bored me. It might not be that way for you.

--Repetitive. The main character is so obsessed with his 'manly parts' that it ended up being boringly repetitive.

So why is GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE on MUSTREADYA?  [Yes, GoodBooksforKids is going to become MUSTREAD YA and KIDLIT when I have time.] It's on the blog because the characters, both primary and secondary, are well drawn.  And it's on here because I was glad I read the book, and I think others are going to enjoy it as well.

Pam~


GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE
by Andrew Smith

Reading Information:
Word Count: 100,976
Page Count: 432
Accelerated Reader: 6.2 / points: 16.0
AR quiz: 165472
--sample pages and reviews available

Other resources:
NYTimes review
Washington Post review
Entertainment review
CommonsenseMedia

Review: MISTWALKER by Saundra Mitchell

3.49 STARS from 194 GoodReaders

The Grey Man is here, my thoughts sang. 

The haze sharpened—it gathered. Like milk swirling into coffee, curves formed. Shades and shapes and angles, they became: black eyes, silver hair. A thin mouth, a sharp chin. A hand reached out to take mine. “I thought you would never come,” he said.

BACKSTORY

Willa Dixon's family are fishing folk. They live in a quaint little village where lobsters provide their livelihood. The family struggles to get along but are content until Willa's brother, Levi, is shot and killed.  Then her family slowly falls apart as the tragedy overwhelms them.

With the help of her best friend Willa might have been able to move past Levi's death if it weren't for the criminal trial. She and Levi were on the boat alone when a man came up and shot him. Willa is the only witness, although she isn't the only one who knows why the murder took place. The whole village knows. And the whole village is adamant about keeping the reason a secret.

In her grief and with the pressure of the trial mounting, Willa seeks out the Grey Man, a local ghost who is supposed to be able to grant your wishes. And he will grant her desire but only at a terrible cost.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
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MISTWALKER is a ghost story for middle-graders and young adults.  It is told from the point of view of the Grey Man and Willa, and while it has some very good elements, it is not a book I can whole-heartedly recommend. 

Now part of this book was brilliant. Saundra Mitchell's descriptions were delicious. I could feel/smell/taste the small fishing village, the lobstering, the worming.  And the way that Willa and her boy friend and best friend interacted was so believable. I truly wish that the author had just written about these peoples' efforts to work their ways through and out of this tragedy, rather than pursuing the ghost angle.

Also, the choice to tell the story from both points of view didn't work for me.  It diminished the sense of creepiness, but this wasn't as big a problem as the pacing, which was very slow at times. 

So this is a try-it and see book.  And one of those times where I have to admit that a younger person might enjoy this novel more than I.

Pam~


Mistwalker
by Saundra Mitchell

Reading Information:
Page Count: 320
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available