Review of The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Pub. Date: September 18, 2012
Pages: 592

Short Sweet Synopsis:  Evie, a spunky teenage girl, is exiled from her boring hometown to the bustle streets of New York City where she becomes friends with a Ziegfield girl and meets a rakish pickpocket.  She lives with her uncle in a museum of the occult and uses her secret gift to help investigate a slew of gruesome murders.

I have a new favorite Libba Bray book and it is "The Diviners"!  Speakeasies, flappers, prohibition, anti-immigration, the KKK, eugenics, spunky female characters, and the Occult!!!  What is there not to love about this book?  Some of you may say the length, but as a slow reader and someone who can't stand books that make me feel like I'm watching paint dry, "The Diviners" kept my attention from start to finish.  Usually I am antsy to finish a book so I can start a new one, but this didn't happen with "The Diviners".

I listened to the audio book and the narration was fantastic.  I don't usually listen to audio books from start to finish (I switch between the book and the audio), but I sat for hours staring at the wall engrossed in the audio book.  I did read some of the book; however, I found myself missing the narrator and usually switched back after 20 minutes.

I didn't realize when I started the book that it was part of a series, but realized it towards the end of the book that there was no way Libba Bray would be able to explain all the mysteries and questions I had.  Usually I cringe when I realize a book is part of a series; this was not the case with "The Diveiners", I can't WAIT to get my hands on the next book!  If Libba Bray tried to wrap up "The Diviners" in one book, it would have been TERRIBLE.  The plot and characters are just too rich; the book would have just fallen flat.

You know a book is fantastic when you have a pile of books on your "to-read list", but none of them sound intriguing anymore.

Review of "Beauty Queens"

"Beauty Queens"
Libba Bray


4


Pub. Date: May 24, 2011
Pages: 390
Publisher: Scholastic Press


Synopsis: The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.

I feel like such a weirdo because I didn't love this book.  I did think it was a lot of fun and I liked how it did push the envelope, but it felt almost too heavy handed.  I felt like the story was just too broken up with commercials and footnotes, at the beginning I loved this, but towards the end I was just dying to know what was going to happen next!  There was a beginning of a bookmance... but sadly I fell out of love a bit by the end.

My favorite part about "Beauty Queens" was the characters- they were FANTASTIC!  They were all endearing in their own ways, even if I did want to slap them a couple of times.  I liked how they all had their insecurities, which made them entertaining and relatable.  Some of the characters may have been a bit far fetched, hell most of the book is pretty unbelievable, but Libba Bray is a master at making the ridiculous work in her books.  I think her characters are what bring the readers back to reality when they sometimes feel like they are in a parallel dimension.

The over abundance of romance kind of bothered me a bit in this book.  It just seemed to come a little too easily for everyone, but by the end it came back to reality a bit.  I don't know why this bothered me so much, this book obviously isn't super realistic, but I worry when books create these impossibly perfect romances- love is wonderful, but it is not perfect... nothing is!

I really did like how this book was able to deal with some pretty controversial issues in a way that showed how important they are, but without being depressing or too serious.  I liked how the girls decided they wanted to create basically a girl power convention where there were lectures on subjects from makeovers to self-respect.  I also liked how the book discussed sexuality in every way I could possibly think.

"Beauty Queens" is a great book; it deals with a lot of important issues and I actually really appreciated this.  I just wish there weren't as many fake commercials.  This book probably isn't for all readers; I can see some people being offended by this book.  It is definitely for mature readers.  I feel like readers who enjoyed "Airhead" series by Meg Cabot will probably enjoy this book.

Review of "Going Bovine"

"Going Bovine"
Libba Bray

6


Pub. Date: September 22, 2009
Pages: 480
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers


Synopsis:  All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

I was very skeptical of "Going Bovine", even after hearing rave reviews and it winning the Printz Award.  I read "A Great and Terrible Beauty" and it was good, but didn't live up to the hype.  I am happy to report that "Going Bovine" was AWESOME!  At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the book- the characters treated Carter like crap and it was driving me nuts- but then the book switched gears completely and Carter started his quest to save the world and himself.  This book reminded me of the first time I watched "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", at first I wasn't sure how I felt about the movie, it was kind of strange, but by the time the Time Warp scene was over I was hooked! 

Why is this book awesome?  It has EVERYTHING.  There are memorable characters that include punk angel, a garden gnome who may or may not be a Viking god, and a dwarf who is afraid of life.  The book is hilarious, ridiculous, touching, and shows the difference between being alive and living.  I also thought the uses of "Don Quixote" and Wile E. Coyote vs. Road Runner were really cool (this is one of those statements that you won't understand until you read the book and if I go into details I will spoil part of the book).

This book straddles the line between being completely bizarre and genius, it is brilliant but at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously.  I would highly recommend "Going Bovine", but this book isn't for everyone, it deals with mature situations, including drug use, sex, and coping with a terminal illness.  This is a book I can see becoming a classic for teens with some parents pushing for banning, but isn't that the way great books should be.  "Going Bovine" truly deserves the Printz Award and I hope it continues to be a must have in any library.  I will definitely be reading "Beauty Queens" VERY soon!