"Odd Thomas" is a Standard Koontz, but A Good Page Turner

“Odd Thomas”, by Dean Koontz, is another page turner. However, I refuse to dismiss Dean Koontz as a bestseller factory. I often think that while it’s not the best literature, authors like Koontz create memorable characters and are able to speak to a wide readership. That’s a skill, despite what literary snobs say. A lot of people who criticize those who sell a lot of books are often just jealous, or think that it’s somehow undermining literature, when it’s really not. Stephanie Meyer is the best example of that. Having a lot of people read helps literature, even if the book in their hands has the byline “James Patterson.” Another thing I would like to note is that we can’t always read masterpieces. I’m feeling a bit of literary guilt at the moment because I’m reading an old paperback of “Phantoms”, another Dean Koontz thriller instead of the best reviewed book of the year, “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green. I’m sure John Green is a fine writer, but I don’t want to read about kids who have cancer. It’s the summer time and I just want to read something that’s totally not happening in the real world. When someone dies in “Phantoms”, it’s almost like a horror movie instead of a thought provoking exploration of mortality.

So, Odd Thomas lives in the desert town of Pico Mundo, California. He is fry cook. Basically, Pico Mundo is a little nowhere town with a mall. He is a seemly normal twenty year old guy, except for the fact he can see dead people. They talk to him, he sees them all over the place, and even hangs out with Elvis’s ghost occasionally. One of the things Koontz does well is throw in humor. However, with this story, he also throws in a sense of mystery. One day a guy comes into the restaurant, that Odd feels weird about. Oh, I should mention his actual name is Odd. He starts to become concerned that the mystery man is up to something. So, after work, he follows him back home, and sneaks into his house. He finds files on murderers.

He goes to the local police chief, Wyatt Porter, and tells him about what he found. The chief isn’t totally convinced, but he says he’ll keep an eye on the man, because he trusts Odd and they have a father/son relationship. Another thing Koontz does well is mix genres. This is a bit of a supernatural tale, romance and a mystery wrapped into one. The romance is with Stormy, who is the manager of an ice cream shop. One of the things I like about Koontz is his characters are often not people we would consider interesting right away. When you read Stephen King, often his characters are doctors or novelists, and of course, they are going to be interesting. They have cool jobs. Koontz, more often, likes his characters to be fry cooks or work at the mall.

So, we get the usual dose of suspense and action that we expect from a Koontz novel.  There’s a bomb in the mall, suspense and chase scenes. The book, no surprise, opens on a chase scene. Odd chases down a murderer/child molester after the ghost come to him and tell him what the guy did.  One of the things Koontz loves to do is weave in morality into his stories. Koontz said in an interview he never gets on a soap box, but I see plenty of things that are a bit of a morality tale. In real life, Koontz is pretty religious, and it can be seen in his novels. The villain in “Odd Thomas” trashes a church. One of the things Koontz does is throw in sappy stuff. There’s a scene towards the end that was really sappy, but he redeems himself by giving it a twist I didn’t really see coming.


Towards the second half of the book, it gets to be a bit long with a lot of characters showing up like Odd’s crazy mother and immature dad. However, the book isn’t overly long. It only runs about 400 pages, but I felt that some of the people Odd does go to visit towards the end were kind of just filling up back story. Like Koontz figured we needed to know about Odd’s family through more than just detailed dialogue. I’m all for back story, and I actually think it’s useful that Koontz has us visit Odd’s mom and dad, who are crazy. However, it should have been a bit earlier in the book.

As I said earlier, Koontz is good at writing page turners, and there’s really nothing wrong with that. He does tend to repeat himself at times, but a lot of writers do that. I can forgive Koontz for sometimes being a bit sappy and preachy, because the man does know how to write good characters and keep the reader turning pages. That’s a skill any good writer of stories must process, and Koontz is very good at that. Oh, and there’s also a lot of characters in his books. They are all pretty quirky, but I don’t see people complaining about J.K. Rowling have a lot of characters in her books. I read online there’s going to be a movie. My ticket’s already bought.

The Books Are Open

So, I saw this episode of the “Simpsons”, “The Book Job”, and I have to tell you, it was the funniest “Simpsons” episode I’ve seen in years. Man, did they nail the writing life in that episode!  Homer and Bart trying to put together a team of experts to write a young adult novel that will sell a ton of copies while Lisa trying to write only to totally herself distract her from writing at all. We’ve all been there. And Neil Gaiman shows up! Wow! This episode had everything. Ok, I don’t usually write gushing, cliché reviews like this one, but sometimes you need to just enjoy something and I really enjoyed this episode.  However, being a bit more serious, “The Book Job” does bring up some points about publishing. All writers are in a rush to try to come up with something, ever since Harry Potter came on the scene. Before J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer, we would write page turning horror novels, hold our breath and hope for the best. Don’t get me wrong, I really love the pre-young adult era literature as well as young adult literature. I’m a sucker for Dean Koontz. He can make me roll my eyes, and I’ll still sit there turning pages upon pages, and that is a skill.

I laughed at the beginning of the episode where Lisa finds out that the women who wrote her favorite fantasy novel series, a la J.K. Rowling, is made up. I’m not saying J.K. Rowling is made up, but her story is so inspiring, it might of well be. My brother once told me when he’s a millionaire that he will give me a million dollars to write my novel somewhere. I scoffed at him, because I didn’t have my coffee yet, but most of all, I scoffed at him because I want an inspiring story too. I don’t want to say I wrote a novel because money gave me time. I want to say I became rich off the novel. J.K. Rowling had that inspiring single parent story about how she became a millionaire, then billionaire, author after sitting in a coffee shopping writing away. We all want that story. Dean Koontz, as well, survived much. He had a really bad childhood.

I think it’s in the fabric of writing to have a back story of our own that led us to writing. Writing is a curious profession, even though I love the explanation they gave on the Simpsons episode. The idea that the publisher made up the story of the made up author to sell books and the books are really written by a bunch of starving English grad students. However, if the author can tell an inspirational story to go with the book, I guess in a way that does help sell copies. A part of that is due to the internet. I doubt Dean Koontz sold a million copies because people knew about his back story. Actually, his first two books to sell millions of copies where written under pen names, and one of them was actually a novelization of a movie. The movie flopped but the novelization sold a million copies. “The Funhouse” is still republished today, as a straight Dean Koontz novel, with no mention of a movie on the cover.

However, the side effect of the current publishing environment is that with young adult novels being so popular, everyone thinks they can do it. They think to themselves, well, these are novels for a younger set; therefore they should be easier to write for. The Simpsons episode “The Book Job” touches upon by this idea by having Homer setting up a group of experts to put together the novel. Everyone’s a writer now. The only two characters really qualified to write a novel in that episode are Patty, who is well read in the genre, and Lisa, who we know is smart and well read. However, like most people who are smart enough to write, Lisa is her own worst enemy. She spends all her time distracting herself from actually writing the novel she wants. She spends time playing internet games, and changing her settings. Lisa goes to a coffee shop, like J.K. Rowling, but distracts herself by buying a big cup of coffee and sipping at it.

I know what that’s like. I go between a library and a coffee shop, trying to get myself inspired somehow. I have good days and bad days. My current profession is freelance writing, and The Simpsons episode really nails what it’s like. That feeling of wanting to accomplish something, as Homer and his crew represent the part of the writer who wants to be successful and make money. Lisa represents the other part of the writer who is passionate about books and wants to see their name on a book jacket. However, the thing that’s always a problem with any industry that deals with the creative is that there’s a thin line between the business side and the creative side. We watch a TV show someone wrote, then we cut to a commercial break.  The beauty of a book is that it is a more pure form of media. There is no commercial break in a book. We don’t have to wait through a bunch of trailers to get to the book. We just open the cover.

However, in this episode, the publishing industry is also lampooned. While Homer and his new put together staff try to put together a children’s fantasy novel that will sell, they go through all the ingredients of what will sell. They come up with an orphan, a magical school and a vampire. They look around the bookstore and see that vampires are kind of overdone at the moment. “Twilight” knock offs are everything. So, of course, and a lot of writers in real life are currently trying to do this, they try to come up with an alternative. The next big thing that will be knocked off and such, and the premise they come up with actually isn’t half bad. They come up with a teenage troll living under the Brooklyn Bridge. However, they do get it to the publisher, but they need an author. Lisa, desperate to see her name on a book, sells out and takes the deal.

I’m not saying that any of this is exactly true. I’m sure J.K. Rowling is a real person, and wasn’t made up by a marketing guru. In real life, “Harry Potter” was rejected all over the place. However, it’s interesting to know that when something is successful in publishing, than there is kind of a dash among publishing companies to figure out how they can get something similar. It’s a great thing that children’s literature is being read by kids, and adults, and believe me, if I wrote a successful young adult novel, I be thrilled. Going back to the Simpsons episode, though, it’s really a funny episode and a good view at the cultural landscape of publishing today. Oh, and the end where Neil Gaiman cons himself back on the bestseller list, despite the fact he can’t read, is great.

Creative Ways To Get Your Kid To Read

 Once a kid enters the halls of Hogwarts, the cabins of Camp Half-Blood, the doorway to Narnia, meets a boyfriend like Edward or are chosen for The Hunger Games, then they will go to the magical world of reading. However, how do you get them to take that first step? Reading is really important, but how do you get them reading during their formative years? Here are some creative ways to get your kids to read. Before they enter a world, you need to make reading a part of theirs. Here’s how you can do that.

Rent The Movie- Don’t be ashamed to rent the movie first. The movie can act as a commercial for the book. If the book is a movie, and your kids aren’t so eager to read the book, then show them the movie. After watching the movie, the kid might go “Wow!” and grab the book.

Buy a Series- Kids love characters they get to know, and they love to go on adventures with them book after book. They will anticipate the next book coming out in the series, and the celebrations that come with it. Bookstores and libraries often throw parties in honor of each new book in a series. 

Pick a Genre- If you can get a kid into a genre, then they will follow that genre. It’s about getting a kid comfortable with a certain kind of story. Fantasy is often a very popular choice among young readers, because that provides an escape and an adventure.  

Don’t Judge Their Choice of Books- Of course, you don’t want your kids reading “Fifty Shades of Gray”, but there is something that should be known. You shouldn’t be a snob at the first things your kids read. You might be a dad who doesn’t understand the appeal of “Twilight”, and why should you? But your daughter or son might love reading about handsome vampires, and if that keeps her (or him) turning the pages, that’s great.

Encourage Their Writing- J.K. Rowling has said publicly that she loves reading fan fiction of “Harry Potter.” Fan fiction is when people write original stories about characters or place their original characters in the world of the novel. Encourage them to write, and share their fan fiction in groups or online communities like Fanfiction.net. There’s even whole websites dedicated to certain types of fan fictions like Fiction Alley, which is dictated to Harry Potter fan fiction.  Of course, make sure your kids are posting fan fiction on a safe site. The ones I just mentioned have a safe reputation. 

Make It a Group- Kids love to belong, and what better thing for them to bond over then a book?  See if your local library has a reading club for kids. If you can make reading a book into a group activity, then kids will have fun discussing the books together or playing the board game that goes with the book. They will make new friends, and bond over the book. This will be good when the movie comes out, and they go see it together. 

Turn The Book In to A Play- This goes along with the group idea. Maybe the kids could put on a play, acting out chapters and characters from the book or perhaps they make their fan fiction into a play. Once again, kids love entering a world, and this brings that world to life.

Buy Them a Bookshelf- At first; be willing to buy them books instead of simply taking them out from the library. Kids love to collect things, and when the books can become a part of their room, it becomes a part of their world as well. That doesn’t mean you have to spend twenty dollars on brand new books. Check out your library and local bookstores for used books. That being said…

Take Your Kids to the Library- Take them often. Make it the place they want to hang out at.

Those are my suggestions to get your kids to read. A kid who reads will do better later in life. So, don’t just make reading a chore. Make it a celebration. Make it a recreation. Make it theirs.

What Kind of Reader Are You?

Ok, so a lot of people go to the library, and try to figure out what to take out. What people do not know is that there isn’t one type of reader. There are many types of readers, and it helps to figure what kind of reader you are. What kind of reader are you? Well, let me give you examples of readers. 

The Genre Reader- This is the type of reader who picks a genre and dedicates their reading life to it. A genre reader fills their shelves with fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, mystery and sticks with it. Some of the best readers I know are genre readers, because they often read more than all of us. Going to the library or bookstore isn’t a problem for them. They go to the fantasy or science fiction or mystery section of their library or store and stack up on them. They know the authors and the upcoming authors of their respective genres. They already have a path for what they are going to read.

 
          The Picky Reader- This is the type of reader who only reads the best. No Twilight or James Patterson for this reader’s list. They don’t want to turn pages; they want the Pulitzer Prize winning novels, the literary novels and the classics. They don’t want bestsellers, and they don’t want to just turn pages with a good story. They want to be affected, and think deeply about the book. They want strong prose and details. The total opposite of that is…

      The Bestseller Reader- This reader does not want to read a book no one has ever heard of. They want to read a bestseller. Something they can talk to other people about around the water cooler (do they even have water coolers anymore? I don’t know) but the point is they want something that’s popular. Something that’s known and something that won’t look weird when they are reading it. The one catch to the bestseller reader is that just because something’s popular doesn’t mean it’s the best, and they often miss out on some great books.

          The YA Reader- There’s nothing wrong with reading YA novels, even when you are an adult yourself. However, I don’t think an adult should only read YA novels and nothing else. The Harry Potter generation is growing up, and YA novels are still as popular as ever. Some of our most iconic and best written books are YA novels, but don’t be a YA reader who reads one bestselling series after another. Don’t just jump from Potter to Twilight. “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” are great, but also be sure to read new YA novels no one ever heard of because often those are the next “Hunger Games.” It’s important for a YA novel reader to keep up with the new authors coming out there. This brings me to another reader who needs to keep up with the newest information.

          The Writer Reader- Every writer needs to be a reader, and there’s no excuse for you as a writer not to read. For a number of reasons, including you will need influences; you need to like books to write them. It helps to know what’s going on in the writing world. How are you going to be a successful writer if you don’t know what’s going on? A person who doesn’t want to read but wants to be a writer is like a musician who doesn’t like music. 

          The Page Turner Reader- Basically, this isn’t the biggest type of reader. This is a person who reads to be entertained, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is the opposite of the picky reader.  This reader just wants to pass some time. James Patterson will have plenty of books for you.

      The Passionate Reader- This person will read anything, and everything. Reading Twilight and reading James Joyce is not above this person. In my opinion, that’s a really good kind of reader because they are open to enjoy a good story and get serious about an affecting one. Appreciate Edward Cullen and Lizzie Bennett. Stephanie Meyer and Jane Austen all have a place on your shelf. So, I say any of these readers are good, but it’s the passionate reader that keeps the books moving. And finally, the most important reader…

      The Young Reader- Getting a kid to read is important, and that’s where it all starts. Remember to bring your critical judgment down a notch, and let them read “Twilight” or “Harry Potter.” The best children’s books are entertaining and magical ones. Remember, if you can get a kid to be a reader, that’s where it all starts. I remember being at the library and seeing a little girl with a bag of books. A kid who spends a lot of time reading will be better prepared for life. Also, a kid who spends their time reading will probably not get into as much trouble as a kid who doesn’t. With all the outside influences today, a kid with their head in a book will be more likely to ignore them. How much trouble can you get if you spend all your time buried into a book? A library is hardly a place where trouble happens. You want your kid to hang out at the library. That’s the most important reader of all.

How To Write On The Web

We all know the story of Stephen King living in a trailer, and how he finished the manuscript to “Carrie.” He threw it away in the trash, thinking to himself, that he knows nothing about teenage girls. He must be nuts, until his wife fished it out, read it and said “You really got something here!” So, against his own thoughts, he submitted it to publication, and it sold millions. Now, he is Stephen King, one of the great storytellers of our time. However, things are different these days. You don’t need to guess with your manuscript. Take the story of Amanda Hockings, a young woman from Minnesota. She wrote a dozen novels, only to see them get rejected from one publisher after another. Instead of simply giving up, she took them to the web, and now she is a millionaire author. She started by selling them as downloads for ninety nine cents. Now, her books are selling from a major publisher, and she is raking it in. Not bad for a self described “John Hughes mourner, Muppets fanatic.” The point I am trying to make is that if Stephen King had the internet, he might have not thrown away the manuscript to “Carrie” so fast. He would have maybe posted a sample of it online and seen if it had gotten any hits. All the readers are now online, and it’s often the internet that determines what breaks out of its digital box and right onto the page. Traditional media is still the goal. We all want to still be on TV, movie screens, syndicated to newspapers and in a book you can hold. However, that doesn’t always happen right away, so we turn to the internet to see if we can get any reception there. It’s often as a last resort, but none the less. So, here are my tips for people beginning to write online.

1.  Keep a Blog- That’s very simple. You set up a blog on Blogger or Word Press or any of the dozen free servers out there. However, there is a catch.

2. Make Your Blog Quality- No one wants to read about what you had for breakfast or how great your boyfriend or girlfriend is. People want to read about a topic: books, movies, or if you are going to write about your life, make sure it’s interesting or funny or relatable. However, your blog shouldn’t be a place you post everything that pops into your head. Start each blog post like it was an article. Write it on a word document and not automatically on a blog. This is good for two things. First of all, it’s good because it leaves a backup copy on your computer’s local server and second of all, it makes you feel like it’s an article. Don’t think of these as blog posts. Think of these as articles.

3. Stories- If you aren’t doing reviews, columns or articles, and you want to write fiction, I suggest you set up a account on a fiction website, or submit to the dozens of online fiction magazines. Fiction isn’t really in print anymore as far as magazines go, unless you are trying for the Paris Review, which only accepts the most top notch quality. There are great online fiction magazines like Word Riot or 3AM Magazine. However, Figment.com is good too. That’s a bit more for the teenagers out there writing, but I don’t see the harm in it.

4. Decide Your Name- Decide if you want to use your real name or a pen name. A lot of people use pen names on the internet. However, that doesn’t mean you post up something embarrassing online even if it is under a pen name. Remember, the internet doesn’t really go away. It just kind of sits there. Don’t say something online you wouldn’t say in real life.

5. Don't Comment On Stuff That's None of Your Business- A lot of people online comment on stuff they don't know about. If it's something that you aren't a expert on, don't comment on it. It makes you look bad, and know just because you can doesn't mean you should.

6.Keep Your Accounts Separate- Your stories of fiction, your reviews and columns and your Facebook. Don’t mesh them together. It’s easy to mix personal and professional online. Try not to.

7. And finally, Good Luck- May we all be Amanda Hockings.

               

A Girl Scout’s Field Guide to Books

My family and I sat down to watch director Joe Wright’s wonderful adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, and of course my family fell asleep and played with the dogs. However, if they did pay attention, they would of noticed that “Pride and Prejudice”, both the book and the movie, is a wonderful piece that was way ahead of its time. Lizzie Bennet, the main character, out of all her sisters, is the only one who has the crazy notion that a women can be strong enough to marry for love instead of protection or money. I agree with film critic Roger Ebert, when he says in his review of that film that these two people, Lizzie Bennett and the man she loves, Mr. Darcy are good people. Ebert says his heart leaped for joy when they got together. Mine did too. Yes, maybe I would have a girlfriend if I watched football instead of “Pride and Prejudice”. Life is ironic, isn’t it? However, if anything, literature is important because it provides a strong base for female characters. Strong female characters are important and often in young adult literature like Hermione in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” novels to Lyra Belacqua in Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” novels,  they outsmart the boys. Heck, even Bella Sawn in the “Twilight” books is a strong female character. Now we welcome Katniss Everdeen, of Suzanne Collin’s bestselling novels “The Hunger Games.” A strong female character is something literature provides. Going back even to earlier works; we had Miss. Dalloway in Virginia Woolf’s novel “Miss. Dalloway”. Watching the movie, and reading the novel “The Hunger Games”, Katniss often outsmarts her male counterparts and carries a bow and arrow.

I guess it helps that the outcrop of authors of young adult literature are female. J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins and Stephanie Meyer, however, the popular young adult author, John Green, is coming out with a book about a strong female character. “The Fault in Our Stars” is about a teenage girl with cancer, and her strong willed reaction to her situation.  It’s interesting to note before the current crop of young adult novels came out, Japan was already ahead of us. Look at the movies of master animator Hayao Miyazaki. Most of his films are about strong willed women, and a lot of them are based on novels. “Howl’s Moving Castle” is about a strong woman named Sophie, who under the witch’s curse, transforms between an older woman and a younger woman. It’s based on the novel by the beloved fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones. How about “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, which is about a young witch setting out on her own? That is based on the novel by Japanese fantasy author Eliko Kadono. His original films also sparkle with strong females, like “Spirited Away”, “Princess Mononoke”, “Ponyo”, “My Neighbor Tororo”, and his most recent “The Secret World of Arrietty.”

However, this isn’t about film. It’s interesting to note that as I was looking through the young adult section of my library, I stumbled upon an old favorite writer about a witch who goes out on her own. Famed fantasy and science fiction author Terry Pratchett is writing a series about a young witch who sets out on her own after studying at a school for witches. The witch is named Tiffany Aching, and not a surprise for the 65 million copy selling author, his new series has sold well. Drawing from my own reading, I’m a big fan of the father of cyberpunk, William Gibson, and his reoccurring character, the female half android, half human, Molly Millions. She constantly outsmarts her male counterparts in “Necromancer” and its squeals. However, it’s also interesting to note that William Gibson had a strong female character at the center of his novel, “Pattern Recognition”, the first novel to ever address 9/11. Cayce Polland, in “Pattern Recognition” is a strong woman who works as a “cool hunter” for major companies. She has to hunt down the mysterious footage on the internet.

I remember my first encounter with a strong female in literature. That had to be Lyra Belacqua in Philip Pullman’s fantasy series “His Dark Materials.” An orphan living in the halls of Oxford, she sets out to the North Pole after her best friend is kidnapped by a mysterious institution called the Church. Forgetting the unfortunate name, she is a strong girl who can make friends with a polar bear and find her best friend, even when her life is in danger. Later on, she is joined by a boy named Will, in book two. However, that doesn’t take away from her status as the hero of the story. Another example would be Scout, from the Pulitzer Prize winning “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, a strong willed girl who refuses dresses, who stands up to her town, and makes a speech against prejudice.

Even today, when I do pick up a book with the boy as the title character, it has become important for a strong female character to often take the lead. Take the cleaver Harry Potter knock off, “Percy Jackson.” While Percy is the main character, his friend Annabeth Chase is often the smarter one. And while we are on young adult literature, take Hermione from the “Harry Potter” novels. She is, throughout all seven books, smarter and more resourceful than Harry and Ron. As much as Harry is the hero, there is no way that Harry would have survived without Hermione.

And now we have Katiniss Everdeen who volunteers in her sister’s place to meet certain death. We could say this is a golden age for strong females, but as Jane Austen proves, it’s really not. It’s always been there. Lizzie Bennett was a strong female, going back to “Pride and Prejudice.” Pixar, ever the fan of Miyazaki, is coming out with their first female centered story “Brave”. That’s an appropriate title because our fictional heroines reflect what we hope our real life daughters will be. Brave, indeed. And going back to “Pride and Prejudice”, my heart leaps for joy when Lizzie and Mr. Darcy get together. Lizzie is a strong female.  Today, with the debate over women’s health care and having men make judgments about something that isn’t any of their business, it’s more important than ever to have strong female characters.  Strong female characters are important because they help even the playing field and give women role models they can aspire to.

"The Borrower" Is A Little Hard to Buy

I don’t know if ten is old enough to classify someone’s sexual orientation. My personal belief is that being gay isn’t a choice. However, I’m not sure if age ten is really the age where you can tell what the kid is going to be. Kind of seems to be a little early for that. That being said, everyone who works at the library at Hannibal, Missouri, seems to think that ten year old Ian is probably, well, gay. He’s a smart kid, constantly taking out books. His parents however have different ideas. They too see something in him. They too think he’s gay. They happen to be bible thumpers. That’s the predicament the children’s librarian Lucy finds herself in, as she starts to care deeply for the boy. Ian’s mother sees the stuff that Ian is taking out from the library, and hands Lucy a list of books that Ian cannot take out. Harry Potter is out. Anything with what she calls “the breath of God” is in. Lucy starts to become a bit obsessed with Ian, and decides that she needs to save Ian, who has been enrolled in a class to teach him how not to be gay taught by a man named Pastor Bob. That’s the moral problem at the center of Rebecca Makkai’s debut novel, “The Borrower.”

The tone of the novel is mostly light, as it’s narrated by the young librarian, Lucy. She informs us she did really well in college, but she had no desire to really do anything amazing with her life. She thought just being a librarian is a nice profession. So, the book starts out pretty normal. Trying to meet a boyfriend, holding reading groups, reading to the kids and attending fundraisers for the library is some of the normal stuff librarians do in a small town. However, one night she sees’s Ian camping out in the library stacks. She at first is going to take him home to his house. Then he coaxes her into not taking him home, and instead they hit the road. Along the way, they meet up with some characters. The more charming is Lucy’s father in Chicago, who is a Russian immigrant who delights telling us stories about his adventures in the USSR.

The political commentary throughout the novel sometimes works and something makes the reader roll his or her eyes because the tone of the voice in the book is funny, and the novel feels like a light read. So, when the narrator mentions a ton of times her thoughts about America and acceptance, it can be a bit much. The novel tries very hard to be quirky and charming, and it often is. Ian is a charming kid, in that he doesn’t take his kidnapping all that seriously. He seems to see it as a big adventure and constantly says they have to stop to see landmarks and see Canada. Lucy constantly worries throughout the novel she is going to get caught. That’s what makes the novel a little unlikely.

She doesn’t seem to get caught. However, the novel does seem to bring up the question of if parents should be able to raise their kids anyway they want? I don’t think so. If your son is gay, you shouldn’t be allowed to try to somehow make him not gay. I understand Lucy’s concern, and her trip doesn’t end with that big of a bang. The novel is right with the assumption that often the type of kids who turn to books are those who are the ones who are a little quirkier than the rest. Not to say that all kids who pick up a book aren’t fine, but a lot of kids who do pick up the books are looking for escape and validation. I felt bad for both Lucy and Ian in the novel, and they aren’t bad characters. That being said, this is very obviously a first novel. There’s some going back and forth between genres as a road trip novel, a light novel and a novel about bigger issues.

I don’t think Lucy would have gotten away with this in real life. The ending doesn’t quite tie it all together. However, I was happy to accept the ending, because Lucy did the wrong thing for what appears to me to be the right reasons. That being said, you can’t just take a kid because you don’t like their parents. That’s where the novel’s fault lies. So, it becomes a bit hard for the reader to accept that. I don’t think the novel comes off as realistic with that.

She tells us she would like to think books can save. I too would like to believe that. Throughout the novel, Lucy makes references to other books. She references mostly children’s book, including the famous trilogy “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman, towards the end of the book. That’s an interesting choice. If Ian’s mother wanted Harry Potter out of her kid’s life, because she assumes it has some kind of anti-Christian message, than she hasn’t seen anything yet. Here’s hoping Ian sneaks "His Dark Materials" out of the local library sometime.