WHEN EVERYTHING FEELS LIKE THE MOVIES by Raziel Reid Spectacular Spectacular!

 
TITLE: WHEN EVERYTHING FEELS LIKE THE MOVIES

AUTHOR: RAZIEL REID

RELEASE DATE: October 21st, 2014

FORMAT/PAGE COUNT: ebook/176 pages

PUBLISHER: Arsenal Pulp Press

PURCHASED: AMAZON KINDLE

SYNOPSIS: 


School is just like a film set: there's The Crew, who make things happen, The Extras who fill the empty desks, and The Movie Stars, whom everyone wants tagged in their Facebook photos. But Jude doesn't fit in. He's not part of The Crew because he isn't about to do anything unless it's court-appointed; he's not an Extra because nothing about him is anonymous; and he's not a Movie Star because even though everyone know his name like an A-lister, he isn't invited to the cool parties. As the director calls action, Jude is the flamer that lights the set on fire.

Before everything turns to ashes from the resulting inferno, Jude drags his best friend Angela off the casting couch and into enough melodrama to incite the paparazzi, all while trying to fend off the haters and win the heart of his favourite co-star Luke Morris. It's a total train wreck!

But train wrecks always make the front page.(FROM GOODREADS)
 

EXPECTATION: I had high hopes for this book as soon as I heard about it. I kept hearing about the GG and the Canada Reads selection...and it became even more intriguing to me. Then, when I heard about petitions to have the GG revoked and the CR selection rescinded, I knew I had to read it. I knew it would be good.


REVIEW: 

This is an extraordinary book. I loved the YA voice of the narrator. Remarkable. So authentic, perhaps the most authentic YA voice I have ever read. When Everything Feels Like the Movies is a beautiful tragedy filled with hope and longing. I loved this book. I know it's going to stay with me for a very long time. There were so many things I loved about this book, it's impossible to parse into a review. Jude/Judy is a tour-de-force of a character. From page one I wanted her to succeed in the movie of her life. Filled with unrivaled sarcastic wit, the whole thing was just a sheer delight to read. The grit and reality of the narrator's voice was flawless and fearless. A beautiful novel.

"Our principal, Mr. Callagher, was saying through the speaker that the school was throwing a Valentine's dance, and if anyone wanted to help organize it, they should come to the office and lunch and shove their finger up his ass."

"We'd made the back table ours ever since Angela slept with her second cousin and started keeping a list under the table. We always sat there because she always had a new name to add."

I read almost exclusively on my Kindle app on my smartphone now. I love how you can highlight passages and make notes. With this book, however, I stopped highlighting after about 1/4 of the book. Because I was highlighting everything. The two passages above, I believe, are greatly representative of the impeccable voice of the narrator. I try to read every book as a reader, but I have to admit I read this one almost exclusively as a writer. I was blown away by voice. Yes, it had a story too...a fantastic one...and I realize I haven't really touched on that yet. It's just that it's one of those books that makes me want to try harder as a writer, to cross the lines I shy away from.

When Everything Feels Like the Movies is essentially the story of a teen who is larger than the small town that could never truly contain them. What sets it aside from other stories about breaking out of the small and into the limelight is that the character who is struggling to be contained is trans. Jude (Judy) deals with bigotry at every turn...including at home. But she is still able to dream big and have such lofty glamorous goals for herself. Her almost vulgar egoism and arrogance is a delight. Where it should turn a reader off, it endears her to them. We see the raw vulnerability in her swaggering confidence and self-love. True sarcasm comes not from pride, but from the shaky ego that wants to emulate pride. Jude is such a flawlessly written flawed character. He will remain one of my favourite characters for a long time to come.

Highlights for me? The secretive relationship between Jude and his best friend's brother. And the way the reader can feel the scream of love caught in Jude's throat where his little brother is concerned. The author writes with such a subtle pen...never more so than when he paints the picture of Jude's feelings for his half-brother Keefer. Also, Jude's complicated relationship with his father. The longing in that relationship is so painful. With just a few strokes of his pen, Reid impeccably captured a struggling father/son relationship...with the perfect balance of want and need and outrage. I'm beginning to think the whole book was a highlight for me. Reid drew an amazingly accurate villain in Ray, Jude's stepfather, too. Here was a man who seemed afraid Jude's gayness might transfer to his own son simply through touch or proximity. Again, a flawless rendition of a character...and how Jude's mother repeatedly chose Ray over her own son was also amazingly captured.Yep...too many highlights to speak of.

Be careful what you read about this book. I've seen spoilers after having read it that would have ruined the ending for me. If you want to go into it blindly, try not to read up on it prior to cracking the spine. Even the author himself drops plot spoilers in interviews surrounding the origins of the story. Beware!



EXPECTATION:To be honest, the controversy surrounding this book was a big motivating factor in me deciding to read it. Firstly, it sounded like a wonderful story. Secondly, I have no time for writers who think it's their place to petition to have books stripped of awards they absolutely and definitively deserve. In fact, I was quite disgusted that anyone would try to rally and petition against this book. It met and exceeded my expectations. It has made me want to be a better writer. Naysayers should be ashamed of themselves. The green-eyed monster may have much to do with the bitter pills these petitioners are unable to swallow. I hope with everything I have that this book wins CANADA READS!

SIZE:5.5 It's just too big to fit into 5. Je Suis Jude!

Cheryl Rainfield - STAINED - The New Cover! (and a sneak peek!)

I did a cover reveal for STAINED by Cheryl Rainfield a while back. The cover has since changed, so today I thought I would introduce you to the new one. With my schedule full, I missed the cover reveal date on this one...but I'd like to spread the word about STAINED all the same!

Before the cover, though, how about some advance praise for STAINED!

"Powerful. I raced through it, wanting to know if Sarah would find a way to escape both her captor and her self-doubts. A real nail-biter!" ~ April Henry, New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

"A compelling, gutting, and ultimately triumphant read. You won't want to stop turning pages -- Or blink. Or breathe. -- until you reach the very last one." ~ Jennifer Brown, award-winning author of Hate List

"STAINED is dark, tense and gripping; a triumph of one girl's heart, soul and will to survive. Sarah's strength during her descent into terror kept me reading way past bedtime!" ~ Laura Wiess, critically acclaimed author of Such a Pretty Girl

I definitely would have taken STAINED out at Net Galley, if not for my hectic schedule of late. I plan on reading it at its release. Rainfield's work has NOT disappointed yet!

Now, here's the cover. You can look for STAINED in October, 2013. It promises to be a great read.

You can check out ALL of Cheryl Rainfield's books at Amazon on her AUTHOR PAGE.

What the heck! How about a sneak excerpt from STAINED?! I know you want to peek! Here you go:

"Today is the day I’ve been waiting for my entire life—the beginning of normal.

                I reach for the latest Seventeen and flip through its glossy pages until I find the perfect face. The girl is pretty, with wide green eyes, hollow cheekbones, and full, pouty lips. But what I notice most is her smooth, unblemished skin. It’s perfect. I cut the photo out and stick it above my bed, in the last of the space. Now I can’t even see the sunlight yellow of my walls—but the confidence that shines in these faces is even brighter. And today I’m going to get so much closer to that. I don’t care how much the treatments hurt; it’ll be worth it. It can’t hurt as much as the stares and rude comments I get every day.

                I know I shouldn’t let people’s ignorance get to me. Mom’s always telling me I’m beautiful; that it’s what’s inside that counts. But she’s not living in the real world. Sure, whether you’re kind or good matters. But pretty people automatically get better treatment. Ugly people get ignored ... if they’re lucky. And me, I get stares, taunts, or people going out of their way to pretend they don’t see me.

I try to think of it as fuel for my comic scripts. All heroes have to go through personal trauma before they find their true strength—and most of them feel like outsiders even after they do."

STAY TUNED! I will post a couple videos soon about STAINED. (-:

 

Living Underground by RUTH E. WALKER - A Review

TITLE: Living Underground

AUTHOR: Ruth E. Walker

RELEASE DATE: September 2012

FORMAT/PAGE COUNT: ARC/264

PUBLISHER: Seraphim Editions

PURCHASED: Not Purchased. From the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Available at: CHAPTERS/INDIGO, AMAZON.CA, AMAZON.COM, BARNES & NOBLE

A Portrait of the Author as a Little Girl - There are a few places in all the world where a writer becomes giddy with word-love. This is Ms. Walker at home in the tiny nook labelled "Poetry" inside the world-famous bookstore, Shakespeare & Company. 

SYNOPSIS:

“Sheila Martin’s dismal childhood is irrevocably transformed when Sigmund Maier, the family’s enigmatic German tenant, introduces her to opera, music and much more. When he reappears in her ordered and successful adult life, Sigmund asks for her help with an immigration issue. Will she now discover the truth of why he vanished years ago?

Sheila soon discovers that “truth” has no clear definition and memories are nebulous as she is drawn into the turmoil and accusations surrounding his life before and during World War II. As she struggles with her own issues and family conflicts, she is forced to finally confront the secrets she has held for over 30 years.

Moving back and forth in time, this novel explores the ambiguity of human emotion – how our natures can embody both the ideals and delights of love alongside the most base and dispassionate sensibilities.” –Seraphim Editions

On Goodreads


EXPECTATIONS: I am friends with Ruth. I had high expectations for Living Underground, simply because I am familiar with the calibre of her work. I was a fan prior to reading her debut novel. Ms. Walker is also a poet and short story writer. It is HER fault my expectations for Living Underground were through the roof. Her exquisite writing has preceded her debut novel. (-:


MARKET/GENRE: I would say this is a literary work. I believe it to be cross-over in terms of both market and genre. Not sure if I would pigeon-hole it. Is EVERYONE a market?

REVIEW:

(Trigger Warning: Living Underground contains a scene that could potentially trigger CSA survivors.)

Favourite Quotes:

'“There are people who think I am someone I am not. They have been looking for this man for a long time, and they think they have found him. But they are mistaken.”' ~ Sigmund Maier (Living Underground), Ruth E. Walker

'"If you want to see opera, true opera, you must hear it in Europe, go and see it there. Here, they imitate. In Germany they have echoes of all who went before. It is so much richer."' ~ Sigmund Maier (Living Underground), Ruth E. Walker


'Hilda washed her mother's body and dressed her in her second-best tea dress. Her best dress and Hilda's amber brooch were sold to pay for the coffin. Her mother's several pairs of shoes and gloves were bartered for grave diggers.' ~ Living Underground, Ruth E. Walker

'As she struggled with the tension of her guts, her shortness of breath, Sheila continued to stare at the kids on the bridge. Observed them cross over, a bunch of hyper teens, making those large, flung-arm whirls and dashes of kinetic energy, the shoulder-hits of camaraderie, the heads-back and crow calls of those who know they are watched.' ~ Living Underground, Ruth E. Walker

This is a beautiful book. I can't remember the last time a story had such a powerful impact on my day-to-day life. No matter what I was doing throughout my day, I had Sheila and Sigmund on my mind. I felt so emotional for those two weeks, like I was always one step away from tears. I actually had to give myself some time before I could get my thoughts down on paper. Only a handful of times in a reader's life do they come into contact with a book that causes such a rift in their sense of reality. Living Underground is one of those books for me. It left me breathless at every turn.

Sheila Martin's childhood is anything but wondrous. When a new tenant moves into her mother's basement apartment, Sheila is given the maid duties of keeping the apartment clean. Little by little, a communication is created between the tenant, Sigmund Maier, and Sheila. It begins when Sheila loses herself in her radio station one day, while going through her cleaning duties. Soon Sigmund is leaving music out for Sheila to discover and Sheila feels herself opening up to a whole new world she didn't even know existed.

Ms. Walker creates such a vivid picture of this unlikely couple and how they become connected--first as mentor and student, and then as more. The reader will delight in the way Walker seamlessly sews beautiful music into the exquisite and tightly woven fabric of this wondrous story. Sheila's eye-opening to the world of opera and classical music and the finer things she would never have otherwise been exposed to is soul-lifting. The reader is lifted with her, and almost grateful for Sigmund's presence in her young life. And such a proper, well-put-together gentleman is Sigmund...the real key to making this story sing was Walker's ability to make the reader believe in Sigmund Maier and his essential goodness.

Living Underground spans decades. The reader is taken along to Sigmund's childhood in Dresden, Germany, where an even stronger connection to this character is made. We see inside the world in which he grew up--a despicable grandfather, a mother who bends to her father's will and later finds an admirable strength and independence. From there, the reader steps into the adult life of Sheila. She is a wonderful and powerful woman. She is in the midst of building a music store empire (a product of Sigmund's influence on her earlier life), but her personal life seems to be in a state of chaos. Then the reader is taken into the dark world of suspicion and doubt. Could the man who gave the young Sheila a thread of hope when she needed it most...could he possibly be the same man as the monster being accused of heinous war crimes in Nazi Germany?


From the moment you pick up Living Underground, you will be enthralled. It burrows into your heart with a powerful and uncontrollable velocity...and it stays there not just until you reach the end of the story, but long long after you have reluctantly put it down. A book like this comes along every once in a blue moon. I guarantee you, once you get to the end you will want to embrace it. It's that kind of book. In my opinion, Ruth E. Walker has a well-deserved masterpiece on her hands.

EXPECTATION: I could NOT have expected what would happen to me as I read this book. To give you an example--At one point, my wife walked into our family room to find me in pieces. She was a bit skeptical as to how a book could hit somebody so powerfully. I read about 20 pages out loud to her. When I was finished, I looked over at her...and found her in pieces. I'm not exaggerating when I say this story got inside me. Even knowing Walker's ability to write beautiful prose and poetry--even knowing her mastery of the language and the subtlety of her pen--I was not expecting this. You can't expect a book like this one. You can love it, once you find it...but you can't expect it. GET THIS BOOK!


SIZE: 6 (I know this is like turning the amp up to 11, but I had to give it something I gave no other book on this site. I connected with these characters and this story too strongly to give it anything less.)

An Interview with VOICELESS Author - Caroline Wissing

Caroline Wissing, with Canadian author Wayson Choy.

I recently finished reading and reviewing a new Canadian Young Adult novel, VOICELESS, by CAROLINE WISSING (Thistledown Press). I loved it! I thought I would ask the author for an interview, so I could further share her with my TTBOFS readers.

Voiceless was a compelling read for several reasons, but what really drew me to it was the fact that the narrator did not speak. I was eager to see how the author would conquer this challenge. After reading Voiceless, I do believe Wissing nailed it.

Voiceless is a story about overcoming our less than stellar beginnings. Annabel (Ghost), the non-speaking narrator, will leave a solid impression on you. You can check out my review HERE.

Please continue on to read my interview with the author, CAROLINE WISSING.

KC: Whatever made you come up with the idea of having a non-speaking narrator for your debut YA novel VOICELESS?

CW: Wow, that’s a good question. Temporary insanity, maybe? I love quirky characters; normal is boring, and I delight in giving my characters challenges and obstacles to overcome. I don’t recall the exact moment when I decided to make Ghost non-verbal, so I can’t tell you my thought process. Maybe she just came to me that way. Sometimes characters seem to appear fully formed and there isn’t a lot a writer can do about it.

KC: That’s very true! Did you find that narrating through Annabel (Ghost) was challenging? Was there ever a time when you thought to yourself, “What am I doing?”

CW: Yes and yes. My narrative choices for Voiceless were sometimes limiting but, I found, also very rewarding. I fell in love with Ghost’s voice and really enjoyed living inside her head for the duration of the novel. She has a super heart and a lot of courage, and exploring that made for a great journey. I also love how she sees the world and observes the people in it.

KC: Voiceless is, essentially, a story about lost children. I sensed a passion for the underdog in its pages. There are so many lost children in today’s society. I will be including some Kid’s Help info at the end of this post. Did you explore this theme out of a personal empathy for kids in this position? Do you have any words for teens who are suffering right now? Teens who may not be orphaned or homeless, but just having a hard time?

CW: I dislike social injustice in all its forms, and find social injustice crops up as a theme in a lot of my writing. Homelessness is a national shame and should be everyone’s concern. In terms of teens, I was one and I remember how difficult it was to manage my emotions. I’m now parenting a teen and a preteen and I see how much they struggle with the pressures and choices that they have to make. I find teens need a parent, or at least a positive role model, more at this age than they did when they were younger, although they don’t seem to know it.

Without a stable a home, teenagers are terribly vulnerable. I think they want the same thing we all want: to feel safe. I’m not qualified to give advice to struggling teens, but it helps to remind them that these are probably the toughest years of their lives, of anyone’s life. Anyone who tells a teen that these are their best years is doing more harm than good.

KC: Wonderful response. Your passion definitely comes through in the pages of Voiceless. Whenever I discover a new writer, I become quite curious about the things that brought them to the point in their journey in which they happen to be at that moment. So, this question has a few parts to it. I like to know what an author’s favourite things are. Caroline, do you mind answering the following favourites list?

Who are your favourite authors now? And who were your favourite children’s authors when you were growing up?

CW: As an adult, I love writers who inspire me to be a better writer. Miriam Toews’ writing blows me away. I had the character from A Complicated Kindness, 16-year-old Nomi, in my mind a lot as I wrote Voiceless. I enjoy novels that combine humour and pathos. It’s a delicate balance, but when it works, it really works. A Prayer for Own Meany by John Irving is another contemporary favourite of mine.

I was a big reader as a kid. I was shy and introverted and books let me escape into more interesting lives than my own. Not surprisingly (and if you’ve read Voiceless you understand what I mean) I loved horse stories. I read and re-read The Black Stallion series, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka and Man o’War. But the novel that really “got” me was Marian L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I got it from the school library and it completely blew my mind. I’d never read anything like it in my life. I checked it out and read it so many times that I was worried they’d ban me from checking it out again.

KC: What are your favourite movies?

CW: I love movies! I like films with smart writing and quirky characters, so the Coen brothers’ films are big hits with me. Fargo is such a complex study of human strength and human failings, coupled with that wonderful dark humour, it’s definitely a favourite of mine. I also like classics, like To Kill a Mockingbird, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Paper Moon. I could go on and on.

KC: Your favourite quote from a novel?

CW: I love the idea behind Dr. Seuss’s line in Horton Hears a Who: “Don’t give up! I believe in you all. A person’s a person, no matter how small!” Every one of us can make a positive difference to someone, and, no matter how insignificant it might seem, it counts.

KC: Do you have a favourite writing place? A place you escape to, to let the muse run wild?

CW: I write mainly on the computer, only rarely jotting things in notebooks when inspired, so my space is wherever my laptop is. I also like to write in silence, so my home office is the peaceful, dedicated spot I need for my writing.

KC: What 3 books would you take with you to a deserted island?

CW: This is a tough one. So, I’m going to cheat and say the Harry Potter series, the Riverside Shakespeare (complete works), and The Norton Anthology of English Literature. There are so many great books to read out there that I don’t tend to re-read books, even if I love them. My answer serves to maximize the reading material (and provides great reading too!).

KC: Pantser or Plotter? Do you like to outline your novels, or do you just write off the cuff? OR, do you do a bit of both?

CW: I’m definitely a pantser. When I first started writing novels, I’d heard about writers using outlines and thought I was doing it wrong, so I tried to force myself to outline. It was a disaster. For me, everything flows much better when I allow myself to make it all up as I go along (although I always know the ending). Every writer should use the process that works best for her, not what works best for someone else.

KC: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? What is your first memory of actually sitting down and writing?

CW: I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I was a precocious reader (thanks to my diligent stay-at-home mother) and don’t remember ever not being able to read. Reading and writing have always been part of me. I was that weird kid in high school who couldn’t wait to get her essay back from the teacher. One of the stories I wrote in kindergarten ended up getting published in the school yearbook. It was about a pair of kittens and their adventures. I clearly remember writing that story at age 5.

KC: That’s awesome! I think that makes you the youngest published writer I know! Can you walk us through the journey you took from concept to finished book with VOICELESS?

CW: As a pantser, my process is very fluid. I know only where I’m starting and where I want to end up. The general concept for the novel came from a book I read about a woman in the States who rescues abandoned, abused and unwanted horses and gives them a place to live out the end of their lives in peace. Yes, there are generous, big-hearted people out there who do this. I was moved by her stories. And then I thought: what if those rescued horses were teenagers? So I made them human, gave them a past and a personality (and those quirks I love) and put obstacles in their way. The story grew from there.

KC: Do you have any other writing projects in the hopper?

CW: I’ve written five novels to date and am working on number six. Voiceless was the second novel I wrote. I’m hoping to interest my current publisher in at least one of those completed projects. Otherwise, I’m off to pound the pavement wearing a mortarboard advertising my wares!

KC: I, for one, can’t wait to read more! I wish Caroline Wissing the best of success with the rest of her writing journey. In Ghost, she certainly gave me a character I will cherish for a long time to come. Thank you, Caroline!

As promised, here is the contact for Kids Help Phone Canada & Kids Help Line

The Perfect Order of Things - Review

Title: The Perfect Order of Things

Author: David Gilmour

Release Date: August 27, 2011

Format/Page Count: Hard Cover/224 Pages

Publisher: Thomas Allen & Son Ltd

Purchased: From the Publisher, through the Ontario Writers' Conference.

Available at Amazon: The Perfect Order of Things

Synopsis:  Like a tourist visiting his own life, David Gilmour’s narrator journeys in time to re-examine those critical moments that created him. He revisits the terrible hurt of a first love, the shock of a parent’s suicide, the trauma of a best friend’s bizarre dissembling, and the pain and humiliation of unrelenting jealousy, among other rites of passage.

In fact, here is the narrator of David Gilmour’s previous novels writing his own fictional autobiography in a dazzling cavalcade of stories that punctuate a life passionately lived and loved. Set within an episodic narrative arc, here are stories about the profound effect of Tolstoy, of the Beatles, of the cult of celebrity, of the delusion of drugs, and of the literary life on the winding road of the narrator’s progress.

This compelling and deeply interesting picaresque novel is a creative tour de force from the hand of one our master story-tellers. The Perfect Order of Things breaks new fictional ground and is an astonishing story of a life lived fully and with breathtaking passion. (From GOODREADS)

Expectation: I love David Gilmour...plain and simple. I 'get' his words. I have not yet found a Gilmour I didn't like love. My expectation for this title was extremely high. When you adore an author, there is always the fear that you will read one of their works and think, 'what were they thinking!?' So, I went into The Perfect Order of Things with a high expectation...I was excited to be entering Gilmour's head again, and slightly nervous that this would be the book I didn't 'get'.

Market/Genre: Adult/Literary

Review:

As much as this is a work of fiction, David Gilmour can be gleaned in every sentence. This beautiful story is a trail of breadcrumbs that brings us to the author himself.

Gilmour’s first person narrator walks the reader of The Perfect Order of Things through a complex, well-lived life of a man always on the brink of the brink. We are treated to the narrator’s great loves, including Tolstoy and the Beatles, and we learn how these loves altered and enriched his life. We listen in as he walks us through the calamity of errors that go into making up his wondrous life and we wonder at the fact that he is still with us to tell the story.

This is a remarkable look at a man split open and vulnerable. The reader will delight in the way the stories of the narrator’s life are told. He is able to see the humour in each of his falls and he is able to mock himself and give us a clear unbiased look into his most inner thoughts as he maps out the fractured route of destruction taken through his remarkable and ordinary life.

Be prepared for honesty! You will see a small, bitter man being a wallflower at parties of the rich and famous and you’ll be able to listen to his inner thoughts and get a glimpse into just how fragile he is when he points out the flaws of the flawless people around him. He’ll give you glimpses into his parenting skills, his lust for beautiful women, his lust for accolades and fanfare. He’ll show you his broken friendship with a man more on the brink than he himself. And he’ll show you a small pathetic man who tries to recapture the places of his youth with a failure so ripe you can smell it!

David Gilmour’s writing is simply beautiful. For me, nothing comes close to beating it. He may be his generation’s most gorgeous wordsmith. And I constantly feel that he is underrated. Even by myself. I don’t think about Gilmour between his books. When I hear that another book is on the shelves, I think to myself that I must pick it up. And then, maybe six or eight or ten months later I will get it. And then I will read it…and I will die a million deaths from the beauty I discover within its pages.

The Perfect Order of Things is a look into the seedy underbelly of the mindscape of a human being. It’s simply a vulnerable view of a vulnerable man…an honest retelling of a man’s life and a man’s mistakes. And a man’s passions. I would recommend The Perfect Order of Things to anybody.

Expectation: This book is one I closed and held close to my heart when I was finished. Some writers can show us the summation of a life with a beautiful flare that makes us believe in that life. Gilmour is one of those writers.

Size: 5 (1/2)