Review: The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee

Title: The Scandal of the Season
Author: Sophie Gee
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2007
Pages: 368

Rating: 3 out of 10

Lately, quite a few fluffy pieces of historical drivel have been making their way onto my reading lists. It is all due to my well meaning decision to stop judging books by their covers so strictly. This one is unfortunately the latest addition to my accidental and lamentable trend.

It is a "story behind the story" type of book, based on events that supposedly inspire the poet Alexander Pope to write The Rape of the Lock. Here, Alexander is still a struggling writer searching for literary recognition in 1700's London, and longing after the love of his childhood friend Teresa. The future subject of his famous poem is to be Arabella Fermor, a young and stunningly gorgeous debutante. Arabella finds herself drawn to Robert, a rakish man who she knows she would do well to avoid. The two begin a scandalous affair.

What a mess this book was, from start to finish. It was exasperating and annoying. The moment I finished it, I slammed it down onto my 'discard' pile with a smack.

There was not a single character that I ever even mildly liked or wanted to hear more about. Alexander was insufferable, and whenever I glimpsed his name appearing frequently on the pages ahead, I groaned and thought to myself 'please no, please no...' He was a show off and a know it all, very sure of himself in a grating sort of way. Every character in this book seemed to always be trying so desperately to be sharp and witty, Alexander most of all. Rather than dazzle me with his wit, Alexander only inspired utter contempt from me. I hope that this doesn't cloud my opinions when I read some of the real Pope's work one day.

The real main character, Arabella, seemed intriguing at first, when she was still off scene somewhere, but once we get to her part of the story, she quickly loses all this. She is described as "the beauty of her age," and everyone seems captivated by her looks. Few paragraphs were allowed to pass by without the reader being reminded of how gorgeous Arabella is. This pretty much always annoys me, but of course it is possible for a girl to be stunningly beautiful. However, it was also convenient to the plot for her to be viewed as undesirable for not having a huge fortune. There is also a big to-do over her love interest, Robert, probably not being interested. Of course he won't be, he would never be interested in her, the most beautiful girl in London. I mean, who would be? And the author is always woefully pointing out to us that no one really wants Arabella. Why? She's so beautiful it's intimidating. Oh, I see, what a common problem... It seemed like the author wanted both - the ultimate desirable goddess, and the poor reject - in one character. It seemed conflicting to me and didn't work one bit.

The romance story here fell flat. This is probably because it wasn't really a romance plot at all, just sex. I found it annoying that Robert is portrayed as such a gentlemanly hero, when really he is just getting free sex from (in case you forgot) "the most beautiful girl in London."
I also found in annoying and unlikely that Arabella would so willingly and lightly give up her virginity, and thus her entire reputation, on this fling. Even if she had been so carried away by her passions, surely it would have been a bit more difficult for her to sneak out and meet Robert. But she never appears to come across any problems there. At one point she even just shows up randomly at his house in the middle of the night.

All of the parties that took up so much of the book were dull. It was all just a lot of "and she wore this, and he danced with this girl, and that girl said this, and guess which famous author was there...?!" It sounded like a gossip column at times, except about boring people I didn't care about.

The author often switches from character to character, taking us into Alexander's perspective and then to Robert's, who leads us to Arabella's words, and other such arrangements. It would be convenient, except that she was incapable of pulling it off.

Something that especially annoyed me was how Gee made all of her characters try so hard to be sharp and witty. Subtlety is the key to a good, hilarious satire - but Gee instead feels the need to throw satire at us for pages and pages. I just wanted to snap the book shut and read a real satire before my mind was contaminated by faux-satire overload. The characters are always referencing how witty they all are, and Gee is constantly describing her character's personalities or conversations with that very same (overused) word, but I never see any evidence of this. All I saw were stupid people who talk in the most forced, stilted conversation I have ever heard of, and then try to pass it all off as brilliance just by calling it so.

Well, I suppose that by the time anyone has finished reading this they will have assumed that I didn't like it one bit. Normally I try to find at least something I like about a book, but I honestly couldn't come up with anything here.

Review: The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

Title: The Dreamer
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
Illustrator: Peter Sis
Genre: Children's Literature
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: 2010
Pages: 384

Rating: 8 out of 10

A book-related website that I barely ever check sent me something about how I could win a free book if I filled out a survey. I doubted that there were any books, and if there were, of course I wouldn't win one, but for some reason, in my boredom I filled out the survey anyways.
Months passed, and I got a mysterious package in the mail. It was from the website, saying congratulations, you've won a book!
It seemed to be a children's book, and even had drawings in it. Not the type of book I'd ever read, but I decided to read it anyways, in time to trade it in to the bookstore I would be visiting on the weekend.

This one, however, is not going anywhere. It is staying firmly on my shelves for all time.

At once, this book catches the reader almost alarmingly with its gorgeous prose, its simplistic storytelling, its innocent but perceptively childlike analogies, and beautiful, lyrically written style.

Though normally I cannot connect with young children as main characters, I related to Neftali, and will not be forgetting him anytime soon.
His struggles with his family, his love of stories both in his head and on paper, and his outlook on life - hopeful, but also depressingly realistic - were very endearing.

The beauty of this book is a tribute to the poet that our main character would become, the famous Pablo Neruda.
Pam Munoz Ryan and is an author who is known to me, and I have read two of her other books (Esperanza Rising and Riding Freedom). Both were good, especially since I read them when I was younger, but she has truly outdone herself here. I am very much looking forward to what she writes next, because this is unquestionably her masterpiece.

You really just must read this wonderful story to appreciate it. It really is beautiful, and I found myself jotting down a few little phrases here and there, just because they deserve to remembered.
Such as, Neftali wonders about "the color of a minute," hears "the river breathing," watches the sea "bowing" to him and listening to its "thunderous applause," and calls his writing "the remnants of his soul."
All of those, especially the last one, were very striking. I most likely would have remembered them without even making a note of them.

I cannot leave out Peter Sis - the illustrator. His drawings are simple, and very childlike. They suit the book perfectly. Ones that stuck out for me were:
- An ocean with islands contained in a spoon
- A bird made of words rising out of a fire
- A tiny sprout growing from a tree trunk that has been freshly cut

This is just a beautiful book that I would recommend to anyone of any age.

Review: The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

Title: The Blue Flower
Author: Penelope Fitzgerald
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 1997
Pages: 240

Rating: 3 out of 10

I got through The Blue Flower in merely half an hour, thankfully. Believe me, even a short 30 minutes seemed a long while stuck in this terrible book.

It is the story of Fritz von Hardenberg, who will later become known as the poet Novalis, as he falls in love with and becomes inspired by a young teenage girl named Sophie.

I think it is safe to say that I thoroughly disliked every page here. A very prominent feeling I had toward it was the following: "huh...???"

First, there was the theme of "romance," which was ridiculous and strange. Fritz, who is 20, falls in love with Sophie, age 12. I know that back then, 12 was a common age to become a wife, but it still seemed off to me. Sophie was depicted entirely as a little girl, often coming across to the reader as younger than her age, rather than older. Oh and, at least you can take comfort in the fact that it isn't until she is 13 that she actually marries Fritz. And then Erasmus (Fritz's brother) falls in love with Sophie as well, randomly and without explanation. What? How old is he, now?

Another "huh??" aspect to this book were all of the many long, tedious German names and words that crowded every page. Some were long enough to be sentences in and of themselves. I think that if you speak German, or are at least familiar with it, this book would be a lot more relateable. However, to me, it definitely added an extra sense of separation from the setting.

None of the characters here were likable or interesting. In the first few pages, I thought that perhaps Fritz's rambunctious little brother, Bernhard, would grow up to become an engaging character. In the first few chapters, he runs off to the docks, dramatically threatens to drown himself even though everyone knows he swims "like a fish," and then quotes some deep philosophy to Fritz. However, this is the only time any spark of life or imagination showed in any of the characters.
The rest is pure drudgery.

I couldn't understand why Fritz fell in love with Sophie. She is merely a child, so it couldn't be that she seduced him with her womanly charm, or girlish charm for that matter. Sophie remains aloof with Fritz, and relatively uninterested.
There are two or three chapters where we get to read Sophie's diary, which confirms our impression of her as a dull, boring girl. Her diary entries are 2 sentences at the longest, and have nothing to say. Erasmus tells Fritz that Sophie is stupid, her head "empty as a new jug." And it's quite true.
However, Fritz is obsessed with her. I would question that he truly loved her. There was no romance in these pages, but I did get the impression that Fritz had come to depend faithfully on Sophie, wanting to force himself to believe that she was something special. I was disturbed, however, when he says toward the end of the book "I love Sophie more because she is ill."
It comes from nowhere, and is treated casually, justified. Doesn't anyone else think that this sounds wrong?

This book is a maze of long, foreign German words, a not-quite-love-story that we do not care about, and boredom. Not recommended.