Review: We Should Hang Out Sometime

WARNING: The following blog post contain spoilers for the novel under review, ranging from mild to heart wrenchingly major. If you have yet to read this novel and dislike being spoiled, leave now and return upon completion.

If you HAVE read this novel (or just don't give a crap about spoilers), then continue on.

But don't say I didn't warn you.

~~

HELLO, FRIENDS! I've been considering turning these into weekly reviews, but this is something that has yet to be decided--on the one hand, I have been reading a fair bit lately. (I finished today's reviewed book on April 9th, and I have since read two other books that I will be reviewing on future Wednesdays.) One the other hand, this comes in spurts--I started today's reviewed book on March 23rd. If I did them every week, eventually I'd run out of previously prepared reviews.

Who knows, maybe I'll be able to manage it in the future. We'll see.

In the meantime, enjoy today's review of We Should Hang Out Sometime, a memoir / experiment by Josh Sundquist.

THE PLOT-Y BIT

Josh thought he had a serious girlfriend, until one day: SURPRISE! She's actually dating someone else. What he thought was a serious relatinoship turned out to be...well, whatever you call that awkward period of time between meeting and "officially" dating.

Then Josh realized something: he's never had a serious girlfriend. Plenty of those awkward time periods, sure, but never an exclusive relationship. So where has he been going wrong?

In a series of hilarious flashbacks, somewhat plausible hypotheses and incredibly awkward reunions, Josh sets out to discover why those delightful beginnings of love never really turned into the real thing. From a super awkward, 23-hour relationship in eigth grade to his most sincere attempts for a grand gesture at a Miss America pageant in his 20's, Josh begins looking for a problem to fix--only to discover that, maybe, there isn't really anything wrong with him at all.

THE REVIEW-Y BIT

First off, this story was extremely comforting. As someone who has never been involved in any romantic relationship (I, myself, have never made it past the "we should hang out sometime" stage), I've had those moments, those, "Is there something wrong with me?" questions more times than I can count. The fact that someone else not only feels the same way, but planned a whole investigation around it, is comforting to me. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my feelings and experiences (or lack thereof).

The writing style was a pleasure. Sundquist took no shame in the utter awkwardness that accompanies teenage relationships, instead choosing to put it in the spotlight. Reading it almost felt like he was standing right in front of me and telling me the story himself. The writing was humourous and the storytelling style was super natural.

I liked the way his stories were laid out and told, as though he were actually performing a science experiment. (Which, depending on the way you look at it, he kind of was.) His graphs and pie charts doodled throughout the book were absolutely charming, and only added to the appeal.

That being said, the "Investigation" section of every relationship he revisited was a little disappointing after reading the hilarity of his initial encounters with these girls. I mean, I get that he can't really change what he found out (or didn't find out with each girl), but I wish there had almost been...a little more of a conclusion for each story. It almost felt like he didn't really finish off each investigation--I was just kind of left to wander on to the next section, without really feeling like the last one was properly finished.

Overall, though, while I may be a stranger to the world of nonfiction, I definitely enjoyed reading his story.

THE STAR-Y BIT (previously known as THE RATING-Y BIT)

Four stars. Completely relateable, charmingly awkward, but I'm not 100% sure if there's much reread value in this.

Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: The Other Girl

I watched the prince dance from afar. He moved so gracefully, and why wouldn’t he? He was born into this life, full of balls and princesses and royalty. This was second nature to him.

I shifted my focus to the grandly decorated walls, the marble columns, the high ceilings and brightly lit chandeliers. I grew up within the shadow of the palace, but this was my first time being inside. I suppose I should have considered myself lucky; lucky to be the same age as the prince, lucky to be given this opportunity to attend the annual ball. But maybe I would have been better off not knowing what the inside looked like.

My eyes drifted back down to the prince, my heart filled with the same longing I had felt the first day I saw him. He came to my family’s bakery, once; he made eye contact with me, thanked me sincerely for my pastries. My heart had fluttered, my stomach filled with butterflies, mind filled with dreams of what could be. In another life, maybe, but not this one. I could tell from the way he looked at the girl he danced with.

Days later, guards came from the palace with a proclamation. The girl who could fit the slipper would marry the prince, and my heart fluttered once again, my mind daring to dream a second time. It was a masquerade ball, after all—as long as my feet were small enough, who could possibly tell the difference? This could be the other life I was dreaming of.

But the shoe didn’t fit. Of course it didn’t fit.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

When I Grow Up

When I was little--like six or seven--I wanted to be an artist. While that sounds very broad, I had a specific idea in my head. To seven-year-old me, being an artist meant drawing and making crafts. Do you remember the show Art Attack? Think of the guy who hosted that--he was my inspiration.

That idea was short-lived, though, because one day I came to the realization that I actually wasn't very good at art, period. Which, when you stop to think about it, is a very bleak thing for a seven-year-old to realize. Nevertheless, I gave up my childhood dream of being an artist, and decided that I would have to pick something else--which I did. A couple years later, I discovered my love of writing and storytelling, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Except it really isn't. At least, not the whole history.

Around the time I started high school, I started to re-develop my interest in visual arts. I took inspiration from Japanese comics and from video games and Disney movies. I filled up one sketchbook, then two, then three. I started developping comic concepts and ideas and, suddenly, all of my stories started to take on a visual form. Soon enough, my writing fell to the backburner as I dedicated my time to this new craft.

I didn't doubt my writing. Surprisingly, that's the one thing about my self that I've always been confident about. I just saw a new world that I had never properly explored, a new skill that needed practice and development. I saw a whole new world of stories that I could create and express better through pictures than I could through words alone.

I was still confident about my skills as a writer, sure, but what of my future? Could I do both? Could I write my novels, while creating comics at the same time? Could I make equal content on both sides, or would I have to choose? Already it was looking like I would--I was already struggling to juggle both of them.

And still, my eyes drifted. I noticed the up-and-coming YouTubers, with their vlogs and mini series and comedy sketches. My initial university searches had me looking at film programs, because God, wouldn't that be cool? I started seeing animation in a whole new light; I developed an appreciation for it, and admired people who taught themselves and learned the craft completely on their own.

All at once, I didn't just have one dream, one fantasy of being a novelist; I had dozens. I pictured myself at Disney's studios, slaving away at their next feature film. I pictured myself making YouTube videos, filming and editing them, all by myself. I want to write short stories, collections of micro fiction, children's books. I want to make web comics nad graphic novels and try my hand at writing a movie script. I want to do all of it, and more.

When people ask me what I want to do with my life--or "what I want to be when I grow up"--my answer is, automatically, to write. That's not a lie--I do want to write. But I want to do more than that, too.

I don't just want to write--I want to tell stories, in any media I can. I want to create stuff, all day long, for the rest of my life. I don't want to be defined by just oen thing, one skillset. I want to be able to make all sorts of things, and let my stories reach all sorts of people.

Seven-year-old me had it right all along--I want to be an artist.

For so long, I struggled to find My Thing. I tried to narrow my life down, to find that one skill or passion that I could follow for the rest of my life. But you can't narrow your life down to just one thing. There will always be other shiney hobbies and skills and worlds calling out to you, begging to be explored. That's what I'm doing now; I'm making the things I want to make, right now, in any way I can.

Because that is what I want to be when I grow up.


Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: To Fly

There is a story told among my people, a tale of a girl who fell in love with the land dwellers. Legend says that she sold her voice to the sea gods in exchange for legs, so that she may join them in their cities and villages—but that’s where the story ends. From there, people argue of the outcome; some say she fell in love, and married human royalty. Others insist that her plan backfired, and in her heartbreak her body was turned to sea foam. This debate is one that has been going on for centuries—and one that I have no interest in.

She was foolish, that mermaid girl. The human world is disgusting and horrible, full of greedy mortals who destroy their own land, and the land of others, to advance their own selfish plans. I wouldn’t give up my voice, my fin, or anything to live with the likes of them.

But the sky, on the other hand....the sky is magical. The deep, endless blue that stretches on during the day, and the white lights that twinkle when the sun goes down. I want to brush my fingers against the fluffy white clouds that litter the sky, and replace the coolness of the water with the warmth of the sun against my skin. I want to pluck the moon out of the night and wear it around my neck like a locket, to stretch a new pair of muscles from my back and leave my dull world under the sea behind.

I don’t want to swim anymore.

I want to fly.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Review: The Truth About Forever

HELLO, FRIENDS! I fought with myself a little over whether to review this book, as I was afraid of a sliiiiiiiiight presence of prejudice, what with this being my favourite book and all. (This was my fourteenth time reading this book. FOURTEENTH!)

But in the end, I decided that skipping such an important book would be a tragedy. So with that, I give you my review of The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen.

THE PLOT-Y BIT

Jason has gone off to Brian Camp for the summer. For most people, his absence is of little consequence; but Macy Queen is not most people. Her perfect boyfriend has been her anchor, her distraction and salvation from the grief of her father's passing two years prior. Without him, the months ahead seem endless, with little to occupy her time except her dull library job, and her worries over her mother's stress levels.

Soon, though, her thoughts and time are occupied by other things--namely, her new job at Wish Catering, where everything goes wrong and, somehow, all makes sense in the end. And her older sister's spontaneous new project of renovating the beach house, which puts pressure on their mother that she may not be willing to handle. With the help of her new friends, their truths and their insights on forever, Macy begins to move on. She starts to pick through the pieces of her life, and restart her grief where she paused it two years ago.

But change, it seems isn't always easy...or even welcome. So how can she convince her mother that it's for the best?

THE REVIEW-Y BIT

Like I mentioned earlier, this was my fourteenth--FOURTEENTH--time reading this book. This review isn't coming from the point of view of an outsider--I know this book backwards, forewards, inside out and diagonally. So let me start out by saying this: this story, at its core, is extremely relateable to myself as a human being from at least three very different points of my life. I'm no Macy Queen, but I feel for her and have felt for her on levels that I have yet to reach with any other characters. After eight years, I know Macy very very well.

The characters have always been one of my favourite aspects of this book. Sarah Dessen has a thing for making her side cast very diverse [need a new FUkKING WORD] and quirky and fun, and this story is home to my favourites--namely Kristy and Bert. Kristy's mature and idealistic outlook on life is refreshing, and Bert is just...well, he's Bert. He's unique, to say the least, and it's imposisble not to love him and all of his quirks.

The only problem with her lovable minor characters is that, sometimes, the main character doesn't shine as well in comparison. In this case, especially, I always felt like Macy kind of faded to the background around her new Wish friends--but then again, who wouldn't, when faced with such a rambunctious crowd?

Sarah Dessen is my favourite author, and has been for a long time. But what really made me love this book, in particular, so much more than her others are the themes. The first one, the main one, is one that has been done probably a million times before. Kristy's whole speech that night of the party, about how your forever can end tomorrow or a million years from now, is basically a revamped version of "seize the day" or "you only live once". But even still, I just loved the way it was said. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it?"

That, paired with the themes of second chances and grief and moving on are tied together so eloquently and, more importantly, effortlessly. Dessen has so many plots going on, all at once, but they all wrap together and move the story along so nicely. So much is happening in Macy's life all at once, but it still doesn't seem overwhelming.

Macy's actions--or lack thereof--throughout the book have me...well, torn. Her decisions take a bit of a two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach, which gets extremely frustrating after a certain point. When she's at odds with her mother towards the end of the book and just doesn't have the courage to sya something, it gets me both steaming mad and incredibly heartbroken. But at the same time, I can't help but admit that it's actually quite realistic. Nobody changes all at once--we change slowly over time, bit by bit, until we become the person we want to be. Sometimes we fall back into old habits, because that's what they are--habits. I'm guilty of it, myself. In this way, it's almost reassuring to see a fictional character behave in a fashion similar to myself. It might be the very reason I find the story so relateable.

And fnially: the climax. That scene where Macy takes off after Wes, running for the first time in years...it makes me smile. It makes me smile so much, even after reading it fourteen times. Their entire relationship as a whole, actually, is one of my personal favourites to read about. They bond over grief and chaos, over the truths that come out in a game stretched on for the majority of the book. Their interactions have always been a pleasure for me to read, no matter how much time passes.

THE RATING-Y BIT

Do I even have to say?


Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: The Truth

The mirror was her enemy. It taunted her and mocked her, highlighting every imperfection and insecurity that plagued her mind at night. She tried to bargain with it, tried to compromise, but there was no solution. There could be no way to please both parties. So instead of peace, she settled for tolerance, and her eyes learned to drift away from the reflective surface. She began to accept that what she saw and what she believed in her heart was the truth.

But one day, something strange happened. A person on the street—an acquaintance, a mere stranger—stopped her, and paid her a compliment before continuing on their way. It was this statement, this idea that she had so long believed to be false that stuck in her head, echoing through her mind the following morning. And in that moment, with that one glimmering hint of truth, she smiled, and that mirror was all at once less daunting.

She learned that she was beautiful, and the world became a brighter place because of it.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: Looking Up

When I was younger, I always stared at the ground. I watched every step I took, every spot of pavement that disappeared beneath the shadow of my foot. I took each step with precision, over and around every crack and imperfection in the cement. One two three, one two three…that’s how many strides I could take, in rhythm, within each individual square on the sidewalk. I counted them carefully. They were always exact.

As I grew older, I began looking up. I found shapes in the clouds during the day—a mermaid here, an angel there, a strange creature that resembled something of a cross between a turtle and a dragon. Come night, my gaze met the brightness of the stars, glimmering and twinkling against the blackness of the sky. My mind looked for no shapes, instead taking the stars for what they were, and dreaming of others, like me, who were looking up at the same ones.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Book Review: A Thousand Pieces of You

WARNING: The following blog posts contain spoilers for the novel under review, ranging from mild to heart wrenchingly major. If you have yet to read this novel and dislike being spoiled, leave now and return upon completion.

If you HAVE read this novel (or just don't give a crap about spoilers), then continue on.

But don't say I didn't warn you.

~~

HELLO, FRIENDS! Today we're going to be talking about A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray!

THE PLOT-Y BIT

Marguerite's parenst have changed the world; they've not only proved the theory of the multiverse, but created the Firebird, a device that allows the wearer to jump between the different universes. They are overjoyed, triumphant, and a shoo in for the next nobel prize.

But then Marguerite's father is murdered, the Firebird stolen, and all of the data they've accumulated over the last several years wiped. Gone. Destroyed. And with their trusted grad student assistant Paul missing, it's looking extremely likely that he's the one responsible.

Devastated and betrayed, Marguerite teams up with Theo, her parents' second assistant, and together they leap through the invisible barrier to follow Paul as he jumps through the different universes. From a futuristic London to a Tsarist Russia, Marguerite lives through different versions of her life as she fights to find her father's killer. As the details of her father's murder begin to come to light, however, she starts to doubt whether Paul is truly responsible.

THE REVIEW-Y BIT

THIS BOOK. THIS BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL BOOK. I really liked this book, in case you couldn't already tell.

I was both excited for this book, but also a little wary. The synopsis was intriguing and the cover is absolutely beautiful (seriously though check it out it's gorgeous), but I thought that story itself was going to be handled differently than it actually was, and I was pleasantly surprised.

First of all, I thought that Marguerite lived in the future, or a more futuristic version of our world, which I learned right off the bat wasn't true. She's from our world, in our time, which made it a whole lot easier to relate to her as she jumped to all of these unfamiliar universes. Not only that, but she wasn't some scientific genius--she was an artist, and in fact the only member of her family to not be super involved in the scientific world. The fact that she was just as clueless about how the Firebird worked as we, the readers, are, is not only a relief but also a pleasure as she struggles to understand the workings and thoughts of her peers.

Secondly, I thought that Marguerite and Theo would be jumping from realm to realm a lot faster than they actually did. Have any of you ever read Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn? That is the kind of pacing I was expecting. Although the stories are remarkably different, they follow a similar theme of jumping from lifetime to lifetime. Reincarnation moves at a slightly faster pace, tackling at least a dozen different worlds before the final page. A Thousand Pieces of You, on the other hand, takes the pacing a bit slower, with our main characters only travelling to a grand total of four alternate realities. This gave me a chance to get to know each of these different  worlds and lives of our main character, without feeling too confused or out of the loop every time she jumped to a new one.

That Russian arc. Oh my sweet goodness. In the middle of the book, there was an arc spanning several chapters in which Marguerite breaks her Firebird and finds herself trapped in Tsarist Russia as a Grand Duchess. That entire arc was my favourite, with all of the romance between her and Russian-bodyguard-Paul, and her growing love for all of the new siblings that she had in this Royal life, and the excitement and suspense as someone tries to overthrow her "father" as the Tsar. I never wanted that arc to end, it was too great.

Not gonna lie: Theo's betrayal was kind of expected on my part. He seemed suspicious to me right from the get go, so when he revealed to be behind the conspiracy surrounding everything, I wasn't at all surprised. The reveal with Marguerite's father, on the other hand...that was extremely well done. Fantastically subtle foreshadowing throughout the book leading to that big reveal, so it didn't seem out of the blue while also not being expected or obvious. (Or unrealistic, either.) More than makes up for the slight Theo disappointment, if you ask me.

Finally, the flashbacks littered throughout the book to tell us of Marguerite's own life, and her relationships with both Paul and Theo were very well placed, so by the end I really felt that I knew Marguerite, the real Marguerite, even though she spent the majority of the book pretending to be different versions of herself. The way she was able to relate to each of her different alter egos, as well, was a pleasure--even in the most drastically different of worlds, Marguerite was still Marguerite, and that was just a really cool thing to see.

THE RATING-Y BIT

Five stars. Five stars, five stars, FIVE MILLION STARS to you, Claudia Gray! You did good. You did very very good.

Also would like to note that this book both wrapped up nicely and neatly enough to be a stand alone, but also leaves enough open for a sequel...which is coming. Ten Thousand Skies Above You is coming THIS NOVEMBER, which is much too far away for my liking.


Until later,

- Justyne