The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star
by Maureen Johnson
G.P. Putnam, 2011 
270 pages

Oh my lord, I thought I was never going to read anything again. It has been exactly two months since I finished a book. I've started a few, but can't seem to keep the focus or the interest up long enough to finish anything. The idea of writing a review right now is daunting, I won't lie. (Full disclosure: I am not getting much more than than three hours sleep in a row at night -- three hours if we're lucky.)

And now we come to The Name of the Star, which is an interesting case. I had started this before, quite some time ago. It didn't grab me then, for reasons I can't quite figure out. Because this time around it grabbed me good, and I finished it in two days.

I am a Maureen Johnson fan. I follow her on Twitter, which has been one of my better social media moves ever; she's informative, and endlessly entertaining. I believe I reported that I even purchased Suite Scarlett stone-cold solely based on her social media presence, completely on impulse, and did not regret it one bit. I've been eager for The Name of the Star since she announced it was coming; I wanted to see her take on the supernatural. And who is not a little intruiged by Jack the Ripper?

In brief summary: Rory is from very small-town Louisiana, travelling with her lawyer-professor parents for a year's sabbatical in England. While her parents are off to Bristol, she has been accepted to Wrexford, a residential school in the heart of London. In the heart of Jack the Ripper's territory, to be precise, which turns out to be a bit of a problem when a copycat killer appears the day before Rory arrives. What's worse is that Rory sees the killer -- and discovers that no one else can. 

And I like it. That maybe goes without saying. The thing is, if you like Maureen Johnson's other stuff, you will like this, even if you're not a fantasy fan. Because what makes this book great is not the interesting world-building things she's done (which is all seamlessly integrated, and works quite well) but the things that she does best: characterization and just damn fine writing.

Maureen Johnson makes writing look easy. (It's not, I know -- this Nanowrimo pep talk being one of my favourite bits of writing about writing). The story, from plot to characters to incidental detail, appears effortless, making for an easy read without being a brain-dead one. I don't think I picked out a clumsy exposition or clunky sentence in the lot. I like her style, too; I'm not sure I can point out why, exactly, because that would require more brain power than I have currently. Suffice to say that her turn of phrase is concise and clear, often funny, perfectly descriptive without being purple, and never cliched.

And her characters. In Rory, our main character, we have a sympathetic protagonist, an outsider who is friendly with most but not popular, who is smart but not a genius, who is not preternaturally brave or capable. In other words, she's very ordinary, but with enough flavour that she's not a blank slate. I like her development and her responses to the things -- sometimes very strange, frightening things -- that happen to her; it feels organic and realistic. She doesn't roll with the punches, because that would be unfaithful to the character even if it might have furthered the plot; she is traumatized and Johnson handles that beautifully. I also love Rory's wry, observant inner monologue. The other characters that crop up are necessarily not as well-developed as Rory, since [the lion's share of] the book is from her limited perspective, but they're distinct and interesting and feel like real people.

As I noted for Suite Scarlett, too, Johnson manages to comment quietly on some social and cultural things without being preachy -- here, her target being both the CCTV surveillance culture in London and 24-hour sensational mass media. She never investigates either thing explicitly or deeply, but it's an integrated part of the story, leaving the reader to ponder these things without feeling like she's been delivered a blatant public service message.

The start is slow; we spend a lot of time getting to know Rory and her friends, which works really well -- it makes the increasing threats to Rory and her world that much more alarming. It allows us to get settled into place, with just hints of the tension that absolutely explodes somewhere around the last third of the book. While the trademark MJ humour is still present, it takes a back seat to the suspense as the tension ramps up, never entirely disappearing but the seriousness of the situation is never undercut. I won't lie: this book kept me, a sleep deprived human being, up past my (admittedly fluid) bedtime even after I'd stopped reading for the night, worrying about what was coming next. Perhaps not the smartest choice of reading material for me to make. No regrets, though -- this book was definitely a good ride and a great read.

... Aaand, now to bed, I think, since apparently writing about the book is going to keep me up too. No promises as to when the next review will come up, and I'm really barely online these days to even comment on other blogs. I miss you all, and plan to be back when I can.

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Impulse buys. I do not do them anymore with books. That is what the library is for. Right? Right?

Sigh.

Latest in a long line of books that aren't on the "purchase" list but mysteriously make their way to the checkout is Maureen Johnson's Suite Scarlett. I follow @maureenjohnson on Twitter, and I blame her continually amusing and enlightening tweets in part for this purchase. I like the way her mind works. I've read a couple of shorter things by her before, but this was my first foray into one of her full novels. It was an excellent choice.

Scarlett Martin is a young New Yorker, living in historic Hopewell Hotel with her parents and siblings Marlene, Lola and Spencer. The Martins own the hotel, and on their fifteenth birthday each Martin child gets a key to one of the suites for their very own -- that is, their own to take care of and clean. On her fifteenth birthday, Scarlett gets the Empire Suite, the crown jewel of the hotel. And while living in a hotel in New York might sound like a lot of fun, it's not necessarily the easiest of existences. Scarlett's friends are off all over the world for the summer -- and she's stuck with staying home and helping out at the hotel, for free. And on top of that, Spencer has one last crack at making it in his dream job as an actor before he has to give it up -- and Scarlett's going to do her best to help him (not just because one of the other actors in the cast is really hot, either). Then there's the appearance of a new guest to be staying in Scarlett's Empire Suite for the entire summer. This new guest has plans that are about to make Scarlett's summer a whole lot more interesting.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I really liked Scarlett, especially -- she's picking her way through the drama (literally as well as figuratively) and dealing with a crush, family financial woes, an extremely difficult little sister, and a supremely intense and demanding client. She deals with all of this in a very straightforward manner -- as she says at one point (I'm paraphrasing here), problems only go away if you face them and deal with them, and she abides by that. I am in awe of her ability to deal, being more of a squirm away and avoid confrontation and pain at all costs kind of person...

Her ability to deal, of course, does not prevent her from being hurt or mortified; it doesn't tell her how to deal with things. She doesn't always make the right decisions, and she will occasionally get into trouble. Her instincts are good, though -- she can see trouble coming. She just doesn't usually bother to try to get out of the way.

And that's Scarlett. I was trying to decide whether I thought this was a plot-driven or character-driven novel, and I've come out firmly on the character side, except that the plot is both zany and (surprisingly) believable. The other characters are well-done; none are set in stone, none are particularly boring, none are too over-the-top. Many come very close to too over-the-top. I think this is one of the things that astonishes me most as I reflect on this book: Johnson always manages to stay just this side of too wild to be true, which keeps the book grounded yet supremely entertaining. I don't know how she manages to keep that balance. That, and while being humourous and light-hearted, Johnson manages to deal with some of the pain and the confusion of being a fifteen-year-old, as well as some deeper issues like dealing with a sibling who has had a life-threatening illness, and the cost of medical care in the States. None of this is presented in a terribly noticeable way; this is the story of one girl's extremely eventful summer, and the rest of this runs quietly in the background, integrated completely and realistically.

One last thing to mention is how much I loved the family dynamic in Suite Scarlett. This is another YA novel in which the parents, though not playing a huge role, are supportive, invested, and interested in their kids. The siblings have their squabbles, and some get along better than others, but they're also family, and they clearly love one another. Even, perhaps, Marlene. This is the kind of family I recognize from my own life.

Overall, I recommend this book to fans of YA. It's funny, it's light, it's thoroughly enjoyable, and it's saved from being total camp by characters I could get invested in, and a deeper vein running through the whole thing. A perfect summer read as we're coming up to that season. I'll be reading more Maureen Johnson, and probably soon.

Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle; and a YA question

I am struggling with a question here, and I'd love to hear others' opinions: what makes a good young adult novel? Is it that YAs can connect with it? Is it that they enjoy it? Is it that it's a good book that everyone can enjoy, but that speaks to YAs in particular? Is it something else? Lately I've been reading a fair bit of what is classified as YA FIC at our library. Graceling I adored and will read again and again. Ice I thought missed me as its ideal audience, because rather than sympathizing with the YA main character, I felt like a worried adult when I was reading about her. And the book I'm reviewing here, Let It Snow, was definitely YA but I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it did some weird things to my adult equilibrium. Hence the question: what makes it YA, and what makes it good?

And now... to the review! *gallops off into the snow*

Let It Snow is actually three short holiday romances: "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson, "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green, and "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle. Each are connected by setting and characters, though none of the sets of main characters meet each other more than incidentally until the end of Myracle's story. I love this sort of thing, the little nods to each others' stories throughout. Myracle has the job of tying all these threads together, and I think she does a fabulous job.

If I had to pick a favourite story, I would fuss about it and drag my feet. Then I would probably say Maureen Johnson's was extra-special because I think I clicked with the humour best in that story. And by clicked, I mean laughing out loud, causing fishy to come into the living room (from upstairs, no less) to figure out what the heck was going on. The other two stories did inspire multiple gleeful giggles, though. All three were delightful meditations on broken hearts, new love, old love, friendship, and the meaning of cheerleaders. I mean Christmas. No, wait, I do mean cheerleaders.

Now, as I said above, my adult equilibrium was a bit shaken by this book, and I have come to the conclusion that this means the book was good. After reading Let It Snow, I spent much of the evening and night in a somewhat uncomfortable and occasionally mortifying memory spasm, remembering things that I did in high school and shortly thereafter while still young enough to be considered a young adult myself. I've got some happy memories and I managed to squeeze a few of those in there, but oftentimes I managed to only get the special teenage moments that one looks back at and wonders how one actually survived it all with dignity and heart intact. But what all of this means, to me, that the stories clicked. They connected to some adolescent memory centre and activated it so that not only did I sympathize with the teens in the stories, I empathized with them too. So I wonder what it does for the young adults who read this book?

Overall, a very highly recommended holiday read. It might have been a wee bit uncomfortable remembering those years so vividly for me, but it was totally worth it for the sweet sweet holiday kisses, and the at points absolutely ridiculous, riotous, hilarious ride. I intend to be reading more from all these authors in the new year. Also, though I know this was a popular read last holiday season, I need to thank Nymeth especially because it was her review that first inspired me to pick this one up.

And seriously, comments please: what makes a YA novel YA, and what makes it good?