The Maze Runner

     I have been excited to read The Maze Runner by James Dashner for a while now, despite being a little worn down with an over-saturation of young adult dystopians in the current market. But I suppose that isn't the book's fault. I digress.

     It begins with Thomas being thrown into the midst of a make-shift, enclosed society run and inhabited only by teenage boys like himself. Every day, the walls around them open to reveal the opening of a giant maze that seems impossible to solve. A few of the boys are tasked with being "Maze Runners" and spend the daylight hours desperately trying to find patterns that could lead to a solution. At night, the doors close, the inner walls change, and terrifying monsters fill the maze. That's exciting enough, but Thomas' arrival has sparked changes in nearly everything - pushing the need to solve the maze from a daily job to the urgency of life or death.

Photo from Amazon.com

     My favorite part of the book is the brilliant world Dashner has imagined. It was a wonderful combination of creepy and intriguing. The closing of each chapter made me keep reading. When one question was finally answered, three more were raised. It was quite a gripping read. And I think/hope it will be a great movie as well!

     I also appreciated that even though the arrival of Thomas started a domino effect of rule changes for this strange world, Dashner made sure that the other characters were proactively involved in the conflict. I was really worried that this would be a "waiting for the chosen one to save the day" situation (which I will be honest, sometimes it flirted with) but thankfully the other characters were intelligent and useful too! Yay!

    The few things I struggled with while reading were the writing style and the shallow characters. BUT I don't want to be misunderstood - I think this can be explained by Dashner tailoring his style to his reader's target age group (around middle school, I would think) rather than him being a bad writer. I just found myself sifting through repetition or cliches while wanting to see rather than be told what a character was feeling. By the end of the book I really didn't feel very connected to the characters, but I very badly wanted to know more about them (looking at you, Newt and Minho)!

     If you're looking for a quick read packed with action, I'd say go for it! I really enjoyed the first installment and am currently on the second thrill ride that is The Scorch Trials.


   

We Were Liars

     I had heard great things about We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, but the tricky thing was that I had no idea what those "great things" were. Every review I read or heard was that I should just trust them because there are so few things you actually can say about the plot without spoiling the mystery. In fact, the tipping point for me giving in to the hype was reading the dust jacket flap copy that ended with:

     "Read it.
     And if anyone asks you how it ends,
     just LIE."

     Come on! Hats off to you editors and marketing gurus, cause I had another book bright with promise in my hand that was promptly set back on the shelf. (Sorry Beginning of Everything, I shall return to you someday).

     So here's what I can say without giving anything away. Every summer, Cadence Sinclair lives on a private island off the Massachusetts coast with her grandparents, aunts, and cousins. If I describe them, I'm sure you'll hate them. Blond, athletic, beautiful, smart, rich, privileged, out of touch with reality and hard work. Initially I found the family delightfully disgusting, but thankfully E. Lockhart is awesome and gave them each a depth and complexity that makes them much more human.
 
     All right, that's enough. Get ready for some vague teasers. There's an accident, and secret, and a search for truth amidst liars. I hate to be that person but you really have to read it; and until then try your hardest to stay away from spoilers (which somehow I managed to do?)!

     I read this book in a few days - always a good sign - and I just...what. What.

     After I turned the last page and everything was shockingly explained, I wanted to flip right back to the beginning and read it again to spot all the clues. Because, like every good mystery writer, the clues were right there for us readers, but I didn't guess it. And I loved being along for such a wild ride.

     It's a great summer read with good pacing and an awesome plot. The writing is very poetic and at times abstract, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed something different. Sometimes the first person narration left me wanting deeper glimpses into family interactions or even more emotional depth, but honestly I can't pinpoint exactly how I would change it and really that's a very small critique to a book I very much enjoyed.

Traveling with Pomegranates

     After years of this book sitting on my shelf staring at me with so much promise and a beautiful cover, I finally gave Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor a try. What better airplane reading than a travelogue? From what I had gathered about the book, it was a mother-daughter travel memoir through the sacred places of Greece, Turkey, and France. The mother, Sue is struggling with the acceptance of aging whilst watching her daughter take control of her adult life. Ann, her daughter, is fresh out of college and battling depression after being rejected from the graduate program and career she was hoping for. Oh, and as an extra bonus both are toying around the idea of writing a book - which was icing on the cake for me. Sounds promising, right?

 
     I was excited to read this book for two reasons: the rich settings and a good, heartwarming mother-daughter story. I wish I could say that I got exactly what I was expecting, but unfortunately it wasn't even close. Each chapter focuses on the inward dilemmas of either the mother or the daughter, with brief acknowledgments of the beautiful vacation they are privileged to be on or a split second of wondering what the other family member is thinking. The majority of the book is Sue ferociously trying to find examples of the "divine within" and a desperate attempt to view what she calls "the female essence of God"; and Ann fearing losing her independence to write if she marries or has a "normal" job. Perhaps I found both journeys strange and distracting because they weren't relatable to me?

     I feel almost guilty for not liking this book because these were real experiences, but it was so not as described. Even if it was as advertised, the lack of living in the moment and focusing on the people in your life in the here and now made it come off as, well, selfish. Most people would dream of their lifestyle: writing on your own schedule and taking frequent trips to experience ancient cultures with family, but both Sue and Ann seemed to find only misery within themselves for most of the book.

     Now that I feel bad for being so negative, I will say that they are both talented writers. I enjoyed the way they described their experiences, I really did. I also loved watching the creative process for both women as they nurtured the ideas for their respective books. It was such an intimate thing to share, and anyone who has ever created anything could easily relate to the process. An incomplete idea, self-doubt, the relief and joy that comes from the small victories. I really did enjoy those chapters.

     And it was also neat to see mother and daughter grow closer as they traveled, but I feel like it was such small sub-plot in the grand scheme of this book that I was left a little disappointed.