Under the Mesquite

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall 2011
Lee & Low Books

Rating: 4/5

IQ "I know he wouldn't purposely/hurt me; he's just venting/his frustrations,/So when I feel his anger/blowing my way,/I hold my breath and try to see through it. /But then the smoke burns my eyes/till they start to water,/and I know it's time to move-/find a clear spot/away from the smoldering coals." "What's Gone" Lupita pg. 111

Lupita is the oldest of eight siblings and so she is a huge help to her mother. Her mother tries to hide her cancer diagnosis from her children but Lupita discovers the truth and she is terrified by the very real possibility that she could lose her mother, the thread that holds their large family together. Lupita must take charge as head of the family while her father works and drives her mother to various treatment facilities, but her siblings won't cooperate with her and her class load is hardly manageable. If Lupita falls apart she fears the family will fall apart and she cannot allow that to happen.

Lupita's friends were bizarre. They jarred me so much that I couldn't get them out of my head even after they disappeared for a brief time from the pages. Her friend Mireya makes one horrid comment in the beginning of the book and I expected Lupita to stop being her friend. But she doesn't. Lupita seems to pretty much be a loner anyway so I could not fathom why she still talked to Mireya. It seemed unrealistic to me because I do not think anyone would remain friends with someone who made such an awful comment about their family. I also think that whether because it was free-verse or just short, it was hard to connect with the other characters. This is Lupita's story but when you have eight other siblings I can't help but feel that more notice should be taken of them. I also wanted to know more about her relationship with her father.

This novel is not driven by plot, it is driven by emotions and a series of small events in Lupita's life that affected how she is now. I think this book's strength lies in the fact that it focuses less on Lupita's mother succumbing to the disease and more on how her mother's illness affects Lupita and their strong mother-daughter bond. The mesquite grows in Lupita's mother's rose garden and at first her mother tries to remove it but eventually she gives up. Lupita and her mother are both stubborn and they book strive to see the beauty in pain and in ugly things. Lupita uses her mother's illness to help herself become a better actress, to inspire her writing. But her poems are not angst-ridden, instead they are thoughtful. This thoughtfulness is a theme for the author as more and more now I find myself able to applaud the ease at which an author includes Spanish and English side-by-side without offering the direct translation. Lupita is not babied and neither is the reader. I appreciated the little moments of joy that permeated throughout this novel. Like Lupita I was worried for their family and then something amusing or a border-line miracle would occur and we would both be reassured that maybe everything would be OK.

Under the Mesquite is a fast read filled with sublime poems that will make this book stretch out further because you want to go back and re-read the lines. Lupita's self-direction and courage are admirable qualities and we should only be so lucky to remain as steadfast as she does. She is not a saint, she lashes out at her siblings at times just like anyone else would. I admired her utter selflessness as her college funds and the college funds of her siblings were drained in order to pay for her mother's operations. I would do the same but it might take me a little more time to come around. To be perfectly honest though, while this book is lovely, it did not stay with me. I had trouble writing this review because I could not remember the small details in this book. Since this is a book that is all about the small things, the little details that change during the illness of a loved one, this is problematic. But that's just me.

Disclosure: From the publisher. Thank you so much Lee & Low!

Subway Girl

Subway Girl by P.J. Converse 2011
HarperTeen/Harper Collins

Rating: 1.5/5

IQ "He couldn't believe he was actually speaking English. It was exhilarating, and a little dangerous, like the first time he'd gotten up on a two-wheeler, although back then his problem was speeding out control whereas now the challenge was to go fast enough so that his conversation wouldn't wobble and crash." Simon pg. 27

Simon rides the subway everyday in Hong Kong and he often sees Subway Girl. He doesn't know her name but she has this air of mystery about her. He can't seem to work up the courage to approach her, she's unattainable and always has her headphones in her ears. One day Simon FINALLY approaches her and learns that she is officially out of his reach because she only speaks English and he only speaks Cantonese Chinese. Amy turns out to be a Chinese American girl who did not grow up speaking Cantonese. They both continue to take the same subway and soon they manage to find a connection and bridge the gap a tiny bit. Simon is able to admit (in English) that he is dropping out of school and Amy admits (in English as well) that she is pregnant with her ex's baby. Both of them are lonely because even though they have parents, their parents are only a physical presence, never asking much about the really personal details of Simon and Amy's lives. Amy is reluctant to turn to romance and Simon doesn't want to push her further than she wants to go.

Oh where to start on how sad I was to dislike this book. First the setting of Hong Kong felt extremely vague. I sort-of have an image of how the Hong Kong subway system works and an elementary grasp of the schooling system but that's it. If a book is set entirely in Hong Kong and the summary makes it sound like Hong Kong will play a major role in the story, it should deliver. Another thing I really disliked was the disjointed dual narration of Amy and Simon. It seemed as if the author wrote their stories separately and then combined them without any bother with transitions, smooth or otherwise. Furthermore the story was SO RANDOM. It jumped from subject to subject starting off trivial and then all of sudden Amy was ranting about sexuality and the hypocrisy of her Catholic school. It came out of absolutely nowhere and it was quite annoying. The dialogues were long, it was never clear who was speaking and again, there were no transitions so it all seemed jumbled together. The side characters were ghosts. They were brought into a scene when convenient but I couldn't keep them straight otherwise and their reasons for saying certain things didn't add up (I couldn't understand the character of Katie for the life of me). And the glue of the story, the 'blossoming' relationship between Simon and Amy. What was their connection? They bumped into each other on the subway and through the language barrier they just....fell in love? Became best friends? WHAT?! The ending was a complete groan, open but not with an air of mystery or with enough clues for the reader (or at least not this reader) to figure out what happens next. Honestly it seemed like the author just didn't know where to take the story.

I could absolutely relate to Simon's struggle to learn English. I don't even understand some of our grammar rules sometimes (gerunds????) and I grew up speaking the language. I could also relate to him on learning a second language because I struggle with speaking Spanish. I can understand it fairly well but like Simon my brain and tongue freeze when I need to speak in a language different from my own. Even though Amy blabbered on about nothing in particular, Simon was a decent character. He was like a puppy-dog; vulnerable, sweet, just wanting some good company but at the same time he wasn't pure fluff, he battled with wanting to quit school and learning new job skills. So I should say that I understood why Amy liked him but not why he liked her aside from her being beautiful and just different. Furthermore, Amy didn't learn that much about him. The story is an easy read and moves along.

The premise of Subway Girl filled me with such hope, a romance between two characters who don't speak the same language and have to deal with the girl being pregnant with another guy's child. Alas, the actual story did not live up to its fascinating premise. The secondary characters blended together and there were too many storylines trying to be juggled. The author dropped the ball on all of them ranging from Simon wanting to quit school to Amy being pregnant to Amy's parents having issues. The fact that the author brought up abortion in a non-judgemental way was nice but the delivery fell flat. There was little discussion of Amy's options and how she felt making the decision. The author brings up a lot of issues (too many I think) in this book but it may be a good starting point for a conversation for some readers. Overall the story made too many complex situations seem simple or just glossed over them (it felt as though the author had a page limit or something).

Disclosure: Received as a gift from a book fairy! Thank you T :D

2011 YA/MG Debut Author Challenge

The Story Siren is once again hosting the YA/MG Debut Author Challenge. The goal is to try and read at least 12 books by a debut author (the author can be an adult author making their debut in YA or MG). To participate and learn more sign up here The challenge starts Jan. 1, 2011 and ends Dec. 31, 2011. It should go without saying but I'll say it anyway: I'm focusing on debuts by/about people of color.

Here's my prelimnary list. I will add onto it as I learn about new titles. This page will constantly be updated with my reviews as I check books off this list.

1. The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson (YA)

2. How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba Sized Trophy by Crystal Allen (MG)

3. Illegal by Bertina Restrepo (YA)

4. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang (MG)

5. What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Perez (YA)

6. Luminous by Dawn Metcalf (YA)

7. The Bestest Ramadan Ever by Medeia Shariff (YA)

8. Vanished by Sheela Chari (MG)

9. The Trouble With Half a Moon by Danette Vigilante (MG)

10. Sister Mischief by Laura Goode (YA)

11. Wildefire by Karsten Knight (YA)

12. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (MG)

13. Posses by Gretchen McNeil (YA)

14. The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney (YA)

15. Across the Universe by Beth Revis (YA)