Enter the Body

Enter the Body

by Joy McCullough

Under the stage, beneath the trap door, the women of Shakespeare's plays wait to be called up to die again in yet another retelling of their stories. But on this day, three of the women take the time to tell their stories and maybe even change the narratives.

Cordelia, Ophelia, and Juliet share their sides of the stories for which they are famed, while also showing that they are more than what one man put on the page.

Final thoughts: This is a sometimes glorious and sometimes draining read, but the worst of it is the inaccuracy. This is meant to change the course of the lives of the women that Shakespeare created, and I get that. What I don't get is changing the ages of characters. For a fan of The Bard, getting Hamlet's age so terribly wrong is practically a sin. In the play, Hamlet was approximately 30 when his father died, but he is referred to a boy in this book and written like a teen who couldn't become king because of his age (and totally forgetting that Denmark has an ELECTED monarchy, regardless of age). Ophelia is also portrayed as a teen and both of these ages are not only inaccurate, but those errors affect the story McCullough is trying to tell. Let's also add in that McCullough states Ophelia would never have been able to marry Hamlet even though, in the play, Gertrude specifically mentioned that she had hoped Hamlet would marry her. Confusing Rosaline and forgetting that she is a cousin of the Capulets makes the very ending a little incestuous. This might be an interesting addition to the reading list for an Advanced Placement Literature course, but it relies heavily on knowing the original plays and may not be accessible to those who are unfamiliar with Shakespeare's tragedies.

Rating: 2/5

The Do-Over

The Do-Over

by Lynn Painter

It's February 14th and Emilie is determined to have the absolute best Valentine's Day ever. It's the 3-month anniversary of dating her perfect boyfriend and he's perfect because he literally checks off all the items on her "perfect boyfriend" list. It's time to tell him the L-word.

Things start off a little awkwardly at home, but she won't let it worry her. She drives to school, gets distracted, gets in an accident, and is forced to accept a ride in the truck of the guy she hit.

But she's still going to make this day work.

Then her scholarship is revoked due to a mathematical error. She has to deal with the school mean girls. And her perfect boyfriend kisses his ex in the parking lot. 

Day ruined.

To make it all much worse, she gets home after school to find out that her dad, stepmom, and half-brothers will be moving to Texas and leaving her behind. 

So she goes to her grandma's house to cry and sleep only to wake up in her bed at her dad's house and it's all starting again. It's her own personal Groundhog Day.

Through the many repeated Valentine's Days, Emilie learns more about herself, the people around her and about the boy whose truck she kept crashing into. 

Nick is nothing like she thought and everything that she might need.

Final thoughts: Total cotton-candy book with fluff and strangeness. The only fully built characters are Emilie and Nick; the rest of the characters are one-day only versions of themselves with no real depth. Nick is awesome and there is some chemistry between him and Em. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Big Bad

Big Bad

by Lily Anderson

In an alternate dimension Sunnydale, the skies over the town are permanently dark and the vampires and demons rule the newly named "Demondale". As the Trio work together to try and help Warren ascend, a teen girl appears and Warren ends up in pieces around the room.

The teen girl is Buffy and she's determined to destroy all demons in all dimensions.

It's up to Jonathan, Andrew, Anya, Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla to try and save their dimension and all the demons and vamps who live there. 

With all of the various characters from the Buffyverse making appearances, they must work together to stop the slayer.

Final thoughts: This is mediocre fanfic that's jammed up reference after reference, which takes away from actual storytelling. Pretty much every demon and vamp who Buffy fought over seven seasons are at least mentioned in this novel. The ending doesn't feel like it fits in with the character who we've grown to love over seven seasons. Those who don't know the Buffyverse and/or aren't fans won't get into this and those who are fans may just be distracted by the references without being able to enjoy the plot.

Rating: 2/5

I Speak Boy

I Speak Boy 

by Jessica Brody

After Emmy messes up a "meet cute" setup that she was making for her best friend and a boy at school, she ends up dunked in the dirty water of the "Enchanted Lagoon" at their school's first-ever carnival. Desperate to keep her phone from becoming permanently drowned, she drops it into a bag of expired rice. 

While waiting for her phone to recover, Emmy thinks over the disastrous night and wishes that she could understand the alien language of boys. 

Wish granted.

Once the phone is up an running, Emmy's translator app on her phone suddenly is no longer just "iSpeak" but "iSpeak Boy". Now everything that males of the species say, write, and draw can be translated in this handy little app, making Emmy the "Love Coordinator" of her middle school. She's helping girls figure out the boys they like and she's getting popular as she does it.

But not everyone likes what Emmy is doing and not everyone who likes what she is doing can be trusted.

Final thoughts: Modern day middle school retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. This is written for upper elementary and middle school students so that should be considered, but it really is cute and fun. 

Rating: 4/5

Epic Fail

Epic Fail

by Claire LaZebnik

Elise and the rest of the Benton clan move from Massachusetts to Los Angeles when her parents are hired at a very upscale prep school where it's actually surprising if you're NOT the child of someone famous.

Upon arriving, Elise meets Derek Edwards and is both immediately smitten and completely turned off.  Her sister, Jules, falls for the super-cute, super-nice Chase, who is Derek's best friend.  In order to help her shy sister date Chase, Elise must hang with Derek so they can all go out and do things together.

Derek's the hottest thing at Coral Tree Prep and knows it, but doesn't seem to care.  He also doesn't seem to care about Elise, until she starts hanging out with Webster.  Then, the sparks fly for more than one reason.

Can Elise keep all of her sisters on track, while falling for a guy who she can't even figure out?

Final thoughts:  When I started to read this, I'd forgotten it was a modern Pride and Prejudice, but it didn't take long to figure out.  It's almost a point-by-point recreation, except for the high school updates and the lack of a marriage proposal (it's a date to the semi-formal instead).  It's so very obvious in so many ways.  Elise Benton = Elizabeth Bennet.  Derek = Darcy.  Chase = Charles Bingley.  Webster Grant = George Wickham.  Layla = Lydia.  Georgiana = Georgia.  And more...  It's ok, but not amazing.  The characters are a little flat and Elise's parents are frustrating with their strange rules and odd timing for forgetting and enforcing those rules.  This could have been much better, but it wasn't really bad, either.

Rating: 3/5

Books and Movies

Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver, recently posted a blog asking people to stop sending her headshots and requesting casting information for the movie adaption of her novel.  You can read the whole thing here.

This leads to a few questions:

1) How much say should an author have in the casting of his/her own movie?

2) How much say should the potential audience have in the say of the casting of the movie adaption of their beloved book?

Personally, I think the problem stems from Stephenie Meyer and Twilight.  Yes, there had been plenty of converted books cast before and there had been plenty of speculation about casting choices.  I remember oh-so-long-ago when Daniel Radcliffe was cast as Harry Potter and the fans screamed both in support and anger.  But the real hard push by fans to have a say in casting came when Stephenie Meyer became a regular poster on her own website.  She posted actor headshots early on of people she thought were perfect for the roles.  She commented regularly on Catherine Hardwicke's casting choices.  When Kristen Stewart was cast, people were relatively happy.  But when Robert Pattinson was cast, the fans and fansites became incensed.  Flame wars erupted everywhere.  It was only when Stephenie herself stepped up and posted that she approved of the choice that people calmed down.  (Of course, I personally think that both actors were tremendously mis-cast since I love the books but HATE the actors' choices in their performances.)

Now, as more and more novels are being adapted (Shiver, The Hunger Games, the entire Twilight franchise, etc...) the fans seem to have an expectation that the authors are a part of the movie production.  While Meyer was very hands-on with Twilight and often posted about talking to the directors and the screenwriter, most authors sell the rights and lose control of their work.

So how much say should the original author have in the adapted work?  When does the author have to step back and let changes be made?  And who is the final decider of what works and what doesn't?

These things will bug me for days now.