About Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy
Marya is a ballet dancer born of privilege; her mother, Sveta, is the most popular ballet dancer in the Soviet Union and its glamorous face to the West.
When Sveta disappears, Marya and her father suspect their own lives are in danger and arrange a harrowing defection. Marya is certain that her father is doomed to be murdered at their new home in Brighton Beach, where his closest friends are unapologetic criminals . . . she’s “seen” him die.
Soon she’s drawn into web of intrigue that ultimately reveals the truth about her gift of foresight, her mother’s disappearance, and a boy she cannot bring herself to trust.
My Review
Things that drew me to this book: the 80s setting, the ballet elements, the Russian characters, and the intrigue/mystery about her mom. Reading about the 80s was super fun. I loved the conversations Marya has with Ben about music and some of the descriptions of fashion. That part of the story was a lot of fun to read. As a former ballet dancer myself, I love reading books that feature ballerina characters. It definitely makes me miss dancing but also gives me a chance to celebrate that part of my life again.
Truthfully, I was a little nervous once I read the author’s note about characters being referred to by multiple names as they would be in Russian culture because I have a harder time keeping track of a lot of names in a novel anyway. But actually, I had no trouble. There are only a few characters with multiple names, and most often it’s Marya who’s referred to by different names, and even those were easy to keep track of.
Solving the mystery of her mother’s disappearance drives Marya’s story forward. Just like Marya, her mother has a supernatural gift that gets her into trouble. In Sveta’s case, it’s the ability to see past events which she has no personal knowledge of. Things like a secret government experiment. While I really enjoyed the mysterious, suspenseful feel of the story, I felt like the supernatural gifts didn’t really fit. It seemed to me like they were really shortcuts so things could happen in the plot without needing realistic explanation. Marya could discover something via her gift rather than uncovering clues leading her to the conclusion.
The plot of the story focused more on the relationships between characters than on the mystery/suspense elements. I didn’t mind this as a reader, but it wasn’t what I was expecting based on the title of the book, which sounded like a reference to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. All in all, I enjoyed reading it. Not sure the series is really for me, though. 80s fans or readers interested in Russian culture will definitely want to get a copy of this one, though.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
Major characters are Russian and several are referred to by more than one name (the author explains this is the way they’d be used in Russian culture.). I thought that would be really confusing, but actually I had no problem keeping the characters straight. The story contains some phrases and words in Russian, too.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Rumors about Sveta and the ballet director, who’s said to be in love with her.
Spiritual Content
Marya and her mother have unusual gifts. Marya’s mother can see the past and has visions of things she has no real way to know. Marya has visions that foretell the future.
Violent Content
Marya worries that her mother may be tortured or killed. She has a vision of a person with a gun preparing to shoot her friends. She sees some members of the Russian mafia and hears some rumors about how they operate. She stumbles into a crime scene in which a man has been shot.
Drug Content
Some scenes show characters drinking alcohol or getting drunk. (Mostly these are adults.) At one point, Marya pours out a bottle of vodka because she doesn’t want her dad and uncle to drink it.
About Behind These Hands Fourteen-year-old Claire Fairchild has always known music would be her life. She enters a prestigious contest pitted against Juan, a close childhood friend. It doesn’t help that her thoughts about him have turned romantic. But nothing compares to the devastating news that both younger brothers have Batten disease.
While attending a conference about this rare neurodegenerative disorder, Claire receives word that she has won the contest. Her musical goals no longer seem relevant. She can’t reconcile the joy and prestige that a classical music career would bring to her life while her brothers are succumbing to an early and ugly death.
When Claire accompanies a friend on a school newspaper assignment, she meets a centenarian with a unique musical past and only one regret in life. Claire knows something in her life has to change before she, too, has regrets. With newfound courage and determination, she finds a new way to express herself musically while celebrating the lives of her dying brothers.
My Review I always forget how much I love a novel in verse. There’s something truly amazing about finding a way to tell an entire story saturated with emotions in so few words. Behind These Hands took me to tears so many times, both with its tragedy and its beauty.
The descriptions of Claire playing the piano and composing her piece for the contest were so vivid I felt like I heard the music. Her heartache watching her brothers and knowing what their future holds hit me hard every time. The characters, especially Claire and her two best friends, felt real and full in every scene.
I didn’t expect to be as blown away by this book as I am. I want to read it a second time. I want to tell so many people about it. I love that it’s a fantastic story but also that it raises awareness of a disorder that affects real kids.
If you liked Solo by Kwame Alexander, the family issues and Claire’s courage may remind you of that story. If you’re a fan of novels in verse or moving contemporary fiction, definitely check Behind These Hands out!Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
Claire is white. Her best friend Juan is Cuban.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used a few times. At one point Claire responds to two bullies with two middle fingers.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief kissing between a boy and girl.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content None.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About Recipe for Hate
The X Gang is a group of punks led by the scarred, silent, and mostly unreadable Christopher X. His best friend, Kurt Blank, is a hulking and talented punk guitarist living in the closet. Sisters Patti and Betty Upchuck form the core of the feminist Punk Rock Virgins band, and are the closest to X and Kurt. Assorted hangers-on and young upstarts fill out the X Gang’s orbit: the Hot Nasties, the Social Blemishes, and even the legendary Joe Strummer of the Clash. Together, they’ve all but taken over Gary’s, an old biker bar. Then over one dark weekend, a bloody crime nearly brings it all to an end.
Based on real events, Warren Kinsella tells the story of the X Gang’s punk lives — the community hall gigs, the antiracism rallies, the fanzines and poetry and art, and what happened after the brutal murders of two of their friends.
My Review
I kind of can’t resist books featuring punk kids or the late 70s era punk scene, and this book is both. It’s raw and gritty and soaked in the passion for personal freedom, disdain for authority, and commitment to indie music which the punk scene is so known for. Reading it felt, to me, much like watching the movie SLC Punk.
While I loved the setting and all the punk culture, the style of the writing was hard to follow at times. The narrator, Kurt, would digress from the present into memories and backstory—all of which were interesting and added some flavor to the story, but made it a little confusing to keep the timeline straight.
Scenes jumped around from one perspective to another, revealing details the narrator, Kurt, wasn’t present to witness. Sometimes he would explain he’d learned the details later. Especially toward the end of the book, as things begin to happen quickly, I found the narrative choppier. Sometimes the story would shift to a different scene or time within the same paragraph. I think it would have helped to have a hard break before each shift to make it easier to follow what’s happening visually.
In terms of plot, Recipe for Hate had some really surprising moments which I didn’t see coming. (I won’t give anything away.) More than once the story took a turn I didn’t expect—in a good way. The plot made sense but wasn’t predictable.
The story contains a lot of profanity and some graphic descriptions of violence, so that may be a barrier to sensitive readers. See the content section for more specifics. If you like murder mystery with a sort of stream-of-consciousness style narration, you will want to check out Recipe for Hate.
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Cultural Elements
Kurt mentions that he’s gay. Some of their friends are Jewish or lesbian. Several members of radical racist groups say really inflammatory things. There’s a general disdain for police in the punk scene.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently. Racial slurs used (by racist characters) infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Brief kissing between a boy and girl. Kurt briefly recalls a friend telling him about two men who raped her. At one point, the boys find a girl whose clothes are roughed up, and she tells them a man planned to rape her but was interrupted.
Spiritual Content The racist extremists have some devotion to a sort of twisted Christian doctrine. The first two boys found murdered have obvious connections to rituals celebrated by this group. (One boy is found in the position of a crucifixion for instance.)
Violent Content The description of the murder scenes, while brief, is pretty brutal. Extremists beat up a young man and woman.
Drug Content
Some references to drinking alcohol.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
From Goodreads One day Carver Briggs had it all—three best friends, a supportive family, and a reputation as a talented writer at his high school, Nashville Academy for the Arts.
The next day he lost it all when he sent a simple text to his friend Mars, right before Mars, Eli, and Blake were killed in a car crash.
Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident, and he’s not the only one. Eli’s twin sister is trying to freeze him out of school with her death-ray stare. And Mars’s father, a powerful judge, is pressuring the district attorney to open a criminal investigation into Carver’s actions.
Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a Goodbye Day with her to share their memories and say a proper goodbye to his friend.
Soon the other families are asking for a Goodbye Day with Carver, but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these Goodbye Days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison?
My Review
I was super nervous about reading this book for two reasons. One is I’ve seen so many great reviews of this book. Which is awesome! Just a little more pressure as a reviewer. I want to bring something to the table that hasn’t already been said a million times and also it can sometimes feel like pressure to really like a book that everyone else finds so moving.
I was also nervous for a really weird reason. My own manuscript features a guitarist named Eli. Okay, that’s not so weird. He’s also dating an adopted Asian girl. And he gets into a serious car accident. Believe it or not, this has kind of happened before. I read a book about two brothers, one named Eli, who get into a car accident, and just like in Goodbye Days, Eli dies. For some reason, that story hit really deep. I had a really hard time reading it, not because the story was bad, but because it snowballed into something like a crisis of confidence for me. Which was not cool. But anyway. None of that has to do with how I felt reading Goodbye Days other than to give you some background.
Goodbye Days is, more than anything else, an emotional journey. There’s not much in terms of big, intense plot. It’s a lot more subtle, gentle movement through a boy’s incredible grief when he suddenly loses all three of his best friends and faces his fear that their deaths might be his fault.
I think often grief doesn’t get enough appreciation in our instant-gratification culture. Grief is hard. It’s unpleasant, uncomfortable—not only to the person experiencing it, but to the people around them. Goodbye Days paid a worthy homage to the difficult journey of suffering and loss while still showing the value of having loved in the first place and the hope that lights the end of the dark tunnel of grief.
There were a couple of plot elements that I struggled to buy into. At one point, local police open an investigation into the accident, warning Carver that he may face charges for his friends’ deaths. I have no idea whether or not this could actually happen, but I had a really hard time going there in the story. Why wasn’t anyone blaming the kid who responded to a text message while driving? No one ever points a finger at him or talks about how he should have passed the phone to a friend to respond or something. Everyone focuses on Carver’s guilt for sending the text message to begin with.
On the other side, I loved how each of his friends had a really different artistic talent, and that they weren’t all conventional talents. One boy is a comic artist. Another is a YouTube sensation who uses videos to challenge social ideas in a humorous way.
Goodbye Days is a thoughtful, emotional story. If you liked Away We Go by Emil Ostrovski or Me Since You by Laura Weiss, you should add Goodbye Days to your list.
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Cultural Elements
Carver’s best friend Mars is from an affluent black family. His father, a local judge, holds Mars to very high standards, and at one point talks about how difficult it is in our country for young black men. One mistake, he explains, can ruin a man’s life. Carver’s best friend Blake is gay, but hasn’t told anyone else before his death.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used liberally. Also some crude language. Blake’s videos often feature some flatulence, and there’s quite a bit of chat about them.
Romance/Sexual Content Carver begins to have feelings for a girl and experiences some arousal. It’s brief, and pretty discreet.
Spiritual Content One of Carver’s friend’s parents are atheists, and after their son’s death, Carver tells them that Eli wondered about the existence of God. There’s some discussion about whether that would make him a theist or agnostic. His parents seem uncomfortable with those ideas.
Violent Content None.
Drug Content
Blake’s mother, whom he does not live with, is a drug addict. Carver learns some snippets about what his life was like when he did live with her. Carver’s sister mentions that and her friends drank vodka in her bedroom.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
When I received an email asking if I’d like to participate in the blog tour for Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos, I knew immediately I had to ask for an interview. Scar Boys by Len Vlahos caught my eye on one of those “Top YA Books You Must Read Like Right Now” lists probably on Buzzfeed or a site like that. I did read and love Scar Boys (yeah, he had me at punk boys in a band– my number one literary weakness.) and eventually got my hands on a review copy of Scar Girl, which was a fantastic follow up. So now, here I am, joined by the wonderful Len Vlahos for some chitchat about his latest novel, Life in a Fishbowl. Yay!
Author Interview with Len Vlahos
Can I sneak in a question about Scar Boys? What made you choose punk as the style of music for the band Harry and Johnny put together? Was it strictly based on your own experience or preferences or is there something more about that genre of music that particularly inspired the story? (Other than the sad truth that there are seriously not enough books about punk kids in bands. What’s up with that?)
I love this question. It was based on both my experience – Woofing Cookies, the band I played in when I was younger, was a punk-pop band – and on knowing first-hand that the punk world is more welcoming to those who don’t conform to standards or norms. It was a perfect fit for Harry.
Yes! Strangely, I hadn’t really thought about the misfit element of the punk scene as it would relate to Harry. But now that you say that, I’m like duh. Yes. Totally fits.
Do you listen to music while you write? Were there songs that most inspired your favorite moments in Life in a Fishbowl?
For the most part, I do not listen to music when I write. My preference is for ambient sound, and anonymity – meaning no family and friends. It’s why I wrote most of Life in a Fishbowl (and Scar Girl) on a commuter train from Connecticut to New York City, and why I do most of my writing now in coffee shops. (We moved to Colorado, so no more commuter train.)
However, I do listen to music when I’m editing, and when I’m writing for blogs. (I’m listening to Bob Marley’s Legend right now. It’s the really cool vinyl in the colors of the Jamaican flag.)
Ha! That’s a fun pick. So all that writing about music on a train with no music. Is there a music element to the story of Life in a Fishbowl?
Deliberately no. So much of The Scar Boys (and Scar Girl) was drawn from personal experience that I really wanted to step outside of my own sphere of knowledge and comfort zone. I wanted to write something cut from whole cloth; to prove to myself that I could really write.
Music won’t play a role in my next book either – can’t share any details about that just yet – but I would like to get back to it someday. (If for no other reason than I get to bring my guitar on book tour.)
A guitar and a book tour sound like a perfect match. I’ve been surprised at how different Life in a Fishbowl is from your other books– not in a bad way! How did the story Life in a Fishbowl come to you? Did the whole idea arrive fully formed, or did one particular element spark the story and gradually it took shape?
It was the latter. I read an online article about a man named Ian Usher who had put his life for sale – his house, his car, even his friends and his cat (if I remember correctly) – after going through a bitter divorce. It made me wonder, what would happen if someone put their actual life for sale on eBay? What would make them do it, and who would bid on it?
At the same time, I had seen a movie when I was younger called Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Not to be confused with Whose Line Is It Anyway?) It was the story a sculptor, who, after an accident and paralyzes him from the neck down, decides to end his life. The film tackles euthanasia head on, and I’ve been fascinated with that topic ever since.
Fishbowl grew out of the clash of those two ideas.
I like how the story explores both those ideas. What do you most hope readers take away from Life in a Fishbowl?
This is a tough question. I guess I hope people take some small amount of inspiration to question the validity and veracity of what we see in media. Just because it’s on a screen does not make it true. We have an obligation to seek and accept the truth when it’s presented.
That said, one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of writing is learning what readers see in your work that you never saw to begin with.
[SPOILER] For example, I had no idea Cheyenne was pregnant at the end of The Scar Boys – which is the set-up for Scar Girl – until a reader told me. Crazy, right?
That’s really awesome. What a cool thing for readers to know they can impact a story so deeply. I love that!
Looking beyond your novels, are there books you’ve read recently deserves a greater spotlight or changed your life in a meaningful way? What makes it so special?
You don’t have enough space for me to really answer this question, but here are a few that have had an impact:
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely – An honest and difficult look at police treatment of African American men. If ever a book was a conversation starter, it was this one.
The Magus, by John Fowles – I hardly remember what this book is about – other than it was really trippy – but I read it in two days when I had the flu in the mid 1980s. It’s the book I credit with changing me from a casual to a voracious reader.
Ready Player One by Ernie Cline and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, because, well, because. (I’ve read and listened to both.)
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf – It’s the book my mom read to me every night when I was five, and I think it did a lot to shape who I am.
As for recently, I just read The Bombs That Brought Us Together by Brian Conaghan and listened to Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas, both of which were brilliant. Brilliant.
This is a great list, and I want to comment on so many of them. I loved Because You’ll Never Meet Me and JUST bought All American Boys with a Christmas gift card. I will have to check out some of the others you mentioned. Thanks so much for your time!
Fifteen-year-old Jackie Stone is a prisoner in her own house. Everything she says and does 24/7 is being taped and broadcast to every television in America. Why? Because her dad is dying of a brain tumor and he has auctioned his life on eBay to the highest bidder: a ruthless TV reality show executive at ATN.
Gone is her mom’s attention and cooking and parent-teacher conferences. Gone is her sister’s trust ever since she’s been dazzled by the cameras and new-found infamy. Gone is her privacy. Gone is the whole family’s dignity as ATN twists their words and makes a public mockery of their lives on Life and Death. But most of all, Jackie fears that one day very soon her father will just be . . . gone. Armed only with her ingenuity and the power of the internet, Jackie is determined to end the show and reclaim all of their lives, even in death.
I dropped out of NYU film school in the mid 80s to play guitar and write songs for Woofing Cookies. We were a punk-pop four piece — think R.E.M. meets the Ramones — that toured up and down the East Coast, and had two singles and one full-length LP on Midnight Records.
The band broke up in 1987 and I followed my other passion, books. I’ve worked in the book industry ever since. And, of course, I write. And I write, And I write, write, write.
My first novel, The Scar Boys — it’s labeled as Young Adult, but I’ve never really liked labels — published January 2014. It is, not surprisingly, a rock and roll coming of age story. No vampires or dystopian future, just a messed up boy and his guitar. (I have nothing against vampires or dystopian futures. I loved The Passage, The Hunger Games, and The Road.)
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is music in books. I think the actual prompt is geared more toward either listing songs that would make great books or identifying a theme song for a particular book. I’m horrible at that sort of thing, and also deep in the revision process of my own project, so all I could think of were songs for my own scenes.
Instead, I’ve put together a list of books in which characters are either in a band or in which the stories feature music as an important theme. For me, music has always been a huge part of my life, so I was surprised that, as I made this list, there weren’t more books that came to mind which feature music as part of the story.
Here are my picks:
Scar Boys by Len Vlahos – Harry finds music and his role in the band to be an outlet and identity, even if it only makes the inequality in his relationship with Johnny more obvious. Read my review.
Scar Girl by Len Vlahos – After the tragic accident that tore them apart, the band struggles to reunite. Told as a series of interviews with band members, each recalls the highs and lows that ultimately led to another loss for the group. Read my review.
If I Stay by Gayle Foreman – Mia’s life hangs in the balance after a car accident that leaves her in a coma. She has to decide whether she will return to her life, even if it means facing life alone.
Where She Went by Gayle Foreman – Adam, Mia’s boyfriend in If I Stay, finds his new stardom to be a pretty empty life and reflects back on the great love he shared with Mia.
Apparently I didn’t review either of these books, though I did read them. I’m pretty sure there’s some sexual content– Mia’s parents are pretty permissive as far as her relationship with Adam goes. I can’t remember whether or not there’s profanity. I’ll have to go back and review these.
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert – I don’t think I can say it better than the description on Goodreads: “Punk rock is in Emily Black’s blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily’s all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find the tune that will bring her mother home.” (I think I read this back before I started doing reviews here. I wish it were a cleaner read.)
Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert – I think I liked this one better than I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, but it’s been so long I’m not sure. Both are really gritty tales with great characters. One has quite a bit of drug content (mostly drinking maybe? I can’t remember.)
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen – I loved that the music in this book became this bond between Annabel and Owen, and really, a path toward healing. I remember that I adored Owen Armstrong. Must keep him handy for the next “book boyfriends” list. He’d be on there for me. (I seriously thought I had reviewed this book. I can’t believe I didn’t! Must add to my review list.)
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell – (Forgive me…. I listed this book on my last TTT. Can’t help it!! It fits both categories.) While the music doesn’t play a ginormous role in this story, either, it’s definitely part of the connection between Eleanor and Park. The story does great justice to the way that music so often becomes a voice or an anthem, putting things into words that we have a hard time speaking on our own. Read my review.
Sold Out by Melody Carlson – A girl unused to fame suddenly finds herself right in the middle of it. As Chloe and her band mates have to navigate the struggles of stardom, they learn that only by putting it all in God’s hands can they succeed.
You Were Here by Cori McCarthy – Five teens connected by a fatal accident sort out their unresolved grief by revisiting places frequented by the boy they knew in hopes of finding messages he left behind. I haven’t reviewed this book yet, because I only finished reading it recently, but I really liked it a lot. Unfortunately, it does have some explicit language, alcohol content and sexual situations. Look for the review soon for more information.
