Book Review: Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian

Book Review: Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian 

Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Release date: February 12th 2013 
Rating: Pretty darn good

"You gotta wonder who the genius was that came up with the plan to put a bunch of Africans in Maine, the coldest, whitest state in America"

This is the story of Tom Bouchard, a soccer team, a small town in Maine, an influx of Somali refugees, and the small choices we make every day.  How do we do what is both right for ourselves and for others?  How do we make that the same thing?

One aspect of this book that I found both interesting and accurate at the same time was the distance that was maintained between Saeed and Tom even after they become friends.  They aren't speaking the same language.  This sis true in a literal sense, a cultural sense, and from a life experience sense.  This doesn't mean that their friendship isn't valid but it does leave a lot of room for misunderstandings. Until they can speak one language together fluently they are always going to find one another slightly puzzling.

The casual racism displayed in this book was infuriating. Realistic, but infuriating. People call the Somali players, "Osama".  Someone jokes that Mecca is over by the mall and the girls wearing hijabs are a constant source of ridicule.  The thing that is so realistic is that no one really thinks that they are being cruel.  They see themselves and being funny and anyone who points that out is seen as a killjoy.  

 Source 

I teach an an international school.  More than 80% of my students are not native English speakers. It takes a certain amount of effort but it does not have to been the train wreck of the school in this book. Yes, strong EAL teachers are needed (and don't seem to be present here) but all teachers and staff have to accept and embrace that face that WE ARE ALL LANGUAGE TEACHERS.  The portrayal of support that the students receive (which is probably very accurate) hurts my heart. The school was obviously trying but also sort of flailing wildly in an attempt to find a "solution". I may have been yelling at the book while reading.

I found that this book balanced plot well with characterization.  Sometimes, after I am done reading a very character focused book I struggle to remember what actually happened in the story.  In this book both the plot and the characters were given due attention.

Bottom line: Thought provoking, entertaining, and well worth reading.

Book Review: A Whole New World By Liz Braswell

A Whole New World By Liz Braswell

Goodreads | Amazon
Series: Twisted Tales #1
Release date: September 1st 2015 
Rating: Just, No

Text to a friend when I found A Whole New World on Goodreads: “FYI: I found a novel called A Whole New World based on Aladdin and approved by Disney.  It is almost 100% guaranteed to be terrible and I MUST read it."

I just counted.  I brought up reading this book six times in ransom conversation in the last week  just so I could complain about how bad this book was. Honestly, it would have been a lot more but I live in China and my linguistic skills are not up to literary criticism. 

Let’s set aside the weak prose for a moment.  Because… I just can’t. 

It felt lazy. Character development was nonexistent.  There seemed to be this assumption that all of the readers had seen the movies and already knew the characters.  Probably not an incorrect assumption but it is still necessary.  The lost opportunity here is staggering.  Seriously.  Jasmine had the potential to be a badass Warrior Princess/ Political Savior and instead I was mentally planning her overthrow.

Why is there no imagery?  Braswell had an entire imaginary Middle East Kingdom that has an animated movie that she could have gone to for reference and I felt as if every scene took place in a bare dark room

http://giphy.com/gifs/aladdin-jNhTiTwyWBOLu

Brace yourself.  I did not ship Jasmine and Aladdin in the book.  I wanted Jasmine to die alone possibly as a result of a revolution on the part of the “Street Rats”.  Aladdin, who I hated less, I vaguely wanted to end up with a random unknown character that was dropped into the story.

This is a book based on Aladdin without a sense of humor.  I have no words for the combination of bafflement and anger that I am feeling about that.

Braswell made a choice to try to make the story grittier.  Which shouldn’t be a problem in theory.  I can handle stuff!  But the blood and death never seemed real.  When familiar character were in peril I was more irritated than concerned. 

http://giphy.com/gifs/aladdin-WMoXQfGLfkhlS

I finished the book only because I was rage reading.

The plan for this weekend it to watch the movie again to cleanse my palate.  Also, I have Once Upon a Dream and it is taunting me with the whole, “it could not possibly be worse” thing.  I may give in a read it.  This is a sickness.