Reader In The Rye

This is my second novel by David Levithan from the YA genre. The first I read was Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the one David Levithan co-wrote with John Green. I picked up this book after my trip to New York City. Having paid visit to the remains of the World Trade Centre- the Ground Zero as well as the St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church, I was humbled by the help New Yorkers showed in such heartbreaking and tragic moments.

As you’ve probably already figured out,  this books summarises the events that took place on 9/11 and those that followed. The story is centred around  the lives of three teenagers- Claire, Jasper and Peter. The catastrophic event that happened on the 11th of September 2001 alters and intertwines their lives forever. The ordeal leads to their better understanding and awareness of the world and the people around them. New friendships trigger the importance of moving on and the fact that every cloud has a silver lining.

In my humble opinion, this book is charming on so many levels. Even though at the time of the tragedy I was rather young and wasn’t aware of the events happening around me, but this book has helped me gain insight into people’s minds and their emotional state. To conclude, the writing style is one of the best I ran across in the YA genre. I can’t wait to read more of David Levithan books in the future! 

M.K.

‘The Fault in Our Stars’ has to be one of the most hyped (if not the most hyped) book that hit the shelves in recent years. Truth be told John Green is my favourite writer of all time and I will try to make this review as unbiased as possible.

To begin with, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is beyond dispute my favourite book ever. It is a Young Adult fiction book which was published in January of 2012. John Green decided to sign every pre-ordered copy of TfiOS (total of 150,000 books). He is previously known to the literary world as the author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (co-written with David Levithan) as well as the vlogger on the vlogbrothers’ channel he started with his brother Hank (even before he became such an acknowledged author, I believe).

I’d better get down to writing this review before this turns into a John Green’s biography.

The plot centres on Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, both cancer victims who meet at a Support Group.  The storyline follows their falling in love and trying to live their lives to the fullest. You would certainly  not want me to outline the whole plot since this book is a whole rollercoaster ride of emotions and you’d better go through it all on your own.

The problems this books tackles will leave you contemplating life, its purpose and most importanly the human fear of oblivion. I am quite positive that every one of us asked ourselves once in our lifetime what would happen if we died. How would things look after we are gone and most importantly what would people remember about us after we are gone.

This novel explains the importance or rather the need of having that one book we can always refer to, come back to it and re-read it hundreds of times, and experiencing it differently each time. I believe this quote infallibly highlights the idea:

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” 

Even though the whole concept reminds you of a typical romance/ YA novel, I promise you that this book goes agains convention.

It has been announced recently that the TfiOS will be turned into a movie. I am really not a big fan of movie adaptations but I am pretty sure that John Green has got it all covered.  Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing the movie and plunging into this amazing adventure once again. 

M.K.

To start with, I believe it is important to give an overview of a plot. ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ is a novel by Haruki Murakami, originally written in Japanese. It focuses on Sumire, a young girl who dropped out of college in order to pursue a career as a writer, and is narrated by a character who refers to himself as K. To cut a  long story short, attending a wedding reception Sumire falls in love with a woman called Miu who is 17 years older than her. Sumire’s friend K is in love with her and wonders whether he would make a right choice if he confessed such a thing to her. After some time Sumire becomes Miu’s assistant and starts travelling with her across Europe. During their time in Greece, K being in Japan receives a desperate phone call from Miu who claims that Sumire mysteriously vanished like smoke.

This novel talks about sexual desire, love between the same genders as well as people’s inability to truly get to know themselves and the people they love.

 ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ is the second book written by Haruki Murakami that I’ve picked up. The first one, ‘Norwegian wood’, I liked very much specifically because of a number of characters which made a favourable impression on me even though at times I found them utterly annoying and could not understand neither their behaviour nor their actions.  

So the characters of ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ turned out to be just the same, although in my opinion more humble and easier to process and understand. On the other hand, just as confusing.

What I do not like about Murakami’s novels is the fact that he leaves them deliberately unfinished and unresolved. But, to my way of thiniking, it might as well be his way of telling his readers that all of us have a different point of  perception and in that manner an ending of our own.

All in all, three stars go to ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ since many parts seemed random and not carefully connected. Furthermore, I had a feeling that the writer did not develop this significant relationship with his characters and seemed to be quite shy and distant. In addition, they could be more elaborated.

I will definitely pick up more of Murakami’s books in the future. Maybe even next week you will have a chance to read my review of Murakami’s renowned trilogy ‘1Q84’.

M.K.