YA Contemporary

Review of Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

January 21, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I went into this book knowing pretty much nothing about it and was an amazing read it turned out to be.

Enter Darius

Darius the Great Is Not Okay follows Darius, a friendless, tea-obsessed clinically-depressed, half-Persian, half-American teen who refers to himself as a “Fractional Persian”; that is to say, he isn’t all that connected to his Persian family or culture, he doesn’t feel like a very good Persian; hell, even his little sister speaks better Farsi than he does.

Darius is nerdy and awkward, terrible at sports and feels as though he doesn’t really fit in anywhere. At school, he is the chubby loner who is a prime target for bullies.

Enter the Übermensch

It doesn’t help that Darius also has a super-critical disapproving father who has taken on the task of monitoring and making snide comments about every bite of food Darius puts into his mouth, continually reminding the boy that he needs to lose weight. It’s interesting how Darius always refers to his father by his first and last name: Stephen Kellner said this, Stephen Kellner said that. Another favorite name Darius has for this father is übermensch, given that Stephen Kellner is a handsome blond German who, in Darius’s eyes, seems to be the perfect idealized man.

But overall, Darius feels that he is a huge disappointment to his father and the way he sees it, his father makes no effort to hide that disappointment. The one thing that both Darius and his father have in common, however, is that they both need to take daily medication, so their depression doesn’t get out of hand.

A trip to Iran

Darius’s life changes when he’s told that he’s going to be taking a trip to Iran for the first time with his mom, dad and sister to meet his mother’s family, including grandparents that up to this point, he has only known via Skype. The reason for the trip is that his grandfather, Babou, has a brain tumor and doesn’t have much time left.

I think this was the first book that I’ve read that was set in Iran, so I really appreciated learning about the Persian culture and the vivid descriptions of the food, historical landmarks, and customs. I especially enjoyed the peppering of Farsi throughout the story.

Darius’s first friend

In Iran, Darius meets a boy named Sohrab, a neighbor boy who is quite close to Darius’s grandparents and everything changes. First off, Sohrab convinces Darius to play soccer with him, and his friends and Darius is surprised that he actually likes it — and is even more surprised to discover that he’s quite good at it! Then, they visit various historical landmarks together, and through Sohrab, Darius learns more about his heritage, and he begins to feel like a true Persian for the very first time. Sohrab even calls his Darioush – the original Persian version of his name.

Darius soon discovers that he can not only confide in Sohrab, but Sohrab seems to actually understand him, perhaps being the only person in Darius’s life who does. He also makes Darius feel included, like he belongs. But most importantly, Sohrab helps him to realize his self-worth and helps him to accept who he is.

Darius and Sohrab

I enjoyed the well-written portrayal of the many relationships in this book, but Darius and Sohrab have the most heartwarming friendship that I’ve come across. It was a delight watching them grow closer and as got to know each other. In the beginning, we saw as Darius struggled with body image issues and mental health issues, but as his relationship with Sohrab deepened, we see him begin to embrace his cultural roots and accept himself for who he is.

It was quite an emotional journey that Darius went on and a fun one for the reader to experience.

The Importance of Family and Friends

One of the consistent themes running throughout this book was the importance of family and friends. Family seemed to be especially important, especially since it plays such an essential part of Darius connecting with his Persian heritage. But moreover, it was beautiful to see Darius bond with his Persian grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom he’d never met in person.

But aside from the friendship between Darius and Sohrab, my favorite relationship in the book was the fragile connection between Darius and his father. Even though they both lived with depression, Darius didn’t feel at all that close with his father. In fact, their relationship was frosty, tense and fraught with miscommunication, and the only closeness between the two of them really was when they silently watched Star Trek together every evening.

But then, they both begin to view each other in different ways, and both start to understand that things are not always as we perceive them. I love the fact that being in Iran in Yzad not only brought Darius to self-acceptance but also helped mend the relationship between him and his father and illustrated nicely how our assumptions can often cause us to mistrust and misunderstand others.

Depression Representation

I really liked the representation of clinical depression in this book. We learn early on that Darius and his father both are living with depression, though it isn’t central to the plot. But there are several touching and poignant discussions on mental health, and through these conversations, the characters acknowledge how challenging it can be to manage clinical depression but that it can, ultimately, be controlled.

It was refreshing to see depression discussed so openly between family members and I thought that the mental health elements were handled expertly which isn’t surprising once we learn in the author’s note that this is an #ownvoices representation.

Verdict

Darius the Great Is Not Okay is an emotionally compelling story that deals with many serious topics: clinical depression, feeling like you don’t belong, cultural and personal identity, feeling that you’re not good enough, grief, friendship, our bonds with others and the strained relationship between a father and son who are unable to communicate with each other. But most of all, this was a lovely coming of age book about a boy reconnecting with his Persian heritage and discovering himself in the process — and realizing that in fact, he DOES belong. Darius is such a unique and relatable protagonist, and you couldn’t help fall in love with him.

The other characters in the book were equally amazing and equally complex. I enjoyed delving into this big Persian family as they learn to accept and understand each other and it was refreshing to see that they all had various flaws and imperfections, but loved each other nonetheless.

So all in all, Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a story with memorable and endearing characters that is full of heart and I absolutely loved it.

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Review of Perfect Ten by L. Philips

January 13, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Perfect Ten follows Sam Raines, who after having broken up with boyfriend Landon, two years prior, is lonely. He’s ready to find a new boyfriend, but that’s not an easy task given that there’s only one other gay kid at his school that he knows of. His best friend Meg, who is a Wiccan, offers to perform a love spell for Sam. All he has to do is make a list of the top ten traits that he wasn’t his new boy to have and then petition the Goddess.

Now Sam is not a believer in Meg’s religion but decides to give a go, figuring his love life could use all the help it can get. So in a midnight cemetery ritual involving candles, the elements and a spell recited in Latin, Sam burns his list, thus sending out his intent to the universe. Much to Sam’s surprise, the spell seems to have worked — but not quite in the way he’d hoped. Instead of bringing one perfect guy to his doorstep, the spell brings three of them. There’s Gus, the debonair and swoon-worthy new French exchange student; Travis, the super-sexy and flirtatious bisexual rockstar with a huge heart; and Jamie, the adorable angelic-looking artist whose face lights up every time he sees Sam. Oh, and there’s also Sam’s ex-boyfriend Landon who still seems to hold a special place in Sam’s heart causing Sam much confusion.

As it turns out, all of them make a play for Sam’s heart, and now all Sam has to do is choose.

What I Liked

First off, I love the cover. It was eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing and super-cute, letting us know that we’re in store for a sweet and fluffy read.

I was in the mood for something that wasn’t too heavy, and this book fit the bill. It was a fun blend of teen romance with a tad of magical realism thrown in resulting in a swoony young adult romantic comedy. It was fun journeying along with Sam who, wanting to explore his options, struggled to choose a new boyfriend from several equally charming contenders. But of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds leading to much drama and both romantic and sexual tension, all of which renders the story compelling.

For the most part, I liked Sam’s character though there’s no denying that he is flawed like the rest of us and ends up making some stupid mistakes. But he felt realistic to me. He was so caught up in the idea that he now had romantic options that he felt that is was okay to “date around” a bit until he made his decision. Not surprisingly, Sam learned that not everyone was okay with this. Lesson learned. But still — I found it refreshing and fun to read a story featuring a teen who had multiple suitors.

I liked the secondary cast of characters and also found them relatable. I especially enjoyed the friendship between Sam, Landon, and Meg and felt that the events in their relationship demonstrated the ups and downs of friendship nicely, especially how loyalties become tested from time to time. I felt that Landon and Meg were believable, well-developed characters, both of which I could relate to. I also liked how Meg’s and Sam’s dating life and romantic interests led to several interesting and frank discussions about love and sex.

Additionally, I felt the magical realism aspect of the story really lent a feeling of fun and intrigue to the story. Truth be told, it was the magical realism aspect of the story that caused me to pick it up. I liked the premise of high school kids do a spell, the spell works and they have to deal with the fallout and learn lessons in the process.

That being said, I did like the inclusion of Wicca in the story and thought that the author did an excellent job of representing Meg and her involvement with the Wiccan religion in a respectful way. This was especially evident when Meg, explaining her religion says:

“The great thing about Wicca is that you don’t need to use any fancy spells or words if you don’t want to. You just have to speak from the heart.”*

On that same note, I did enjoy the representation in the book. We had several gay characters and at least one bisexual character. I also loved how much of the story focused on art. Sam was a writer (though I don’t recall him having actually written anything), Travis was a musician, and Jamie was an artist, and it was through their creativity they all connected, which really resonated with me.

I thought the ending was well done and enjoyed how it all turned out, especially given that there was a huge “fake-out” at the end. The conclusion was romantic and satisfying, with a HEA.

What I Didn’t Like

One of the main things that I disliked was how the French foreign exchange student’s dialog was written phonetically. I hate it when authors try to write an accent or a dialect in this way, and it rarely works. It certainly didn’t here, and I found it super annoying. I also felt that the author resorted to negative stereotypes in the portrayal of Gus, portraying him more like a French caricature than a person.

While I did find Sam likable (mostly), there were some things about his character that bothered me. He was at times almost over-the-top shallow and self-centered, and he struck me being oblivious to the feelings of others. He often didn’t treat the people in his life all that well. I recall a couple of scenes in the book in which he shames Meg into not losing her virginity with her boyfriend though he regularly had sex with Landon while they were dating. I felt he could as supported her a little better and at times, he didn’t feel like he was a very good friend.

Okay, maybe it’s just me, but I’m surprised that nobody had an issue with 21-year-old Travis trying to get 17-year-old Sam in bed. In fact, just about every conversation between Travis and Sam revolved around sex. I just found it surprising that none of Sam’s friends took issue with Travis’s age, especially considering that it is illegal in most states for an adult to have sex with someone who’s underage.

Verdict

In spite of our main character being a tad bit too self-centered, I thought that Perfect Ten was a sweet, lighthearted gay romance that I overall enjoyed. In fact, I read the book in a couple of sittings because I couldn’t put it down, so that says something about its strength as a story. I especially enjoyed the heart-warming conclusion that gives you all the right feels so in this way, it was quite an engaging story. I probably would give this one 3.5 stars.

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Review of The Evolution of Jeremy Warsh by Jess Moore

December 29, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Evolution of jeremy warsh book cover The Evolution of Jeremy Warsh takes place in the late 1990s and follows Jeremy Warsh, a high school senior and artist who, ever since his grandpa passed away, has put aside his comic art and not touched it. Because he and his mom are struggling financially, Jeremy doesn’t count on going to college but instead, expects a boring life of drudgery.

Then things begin to slowly change for Jeremy. His best friend Kasey comes out of the closet, he receives an unexpected gift from his father and his other friend Stuart begins dating. Inspired by his friends, Jeremy picks up his pencil and starts drawing again, creating a sassy, wise-cracking, no-nonsense, in-your-face character he named Penny Kind. What’s special about Penny, however, is that she speaks to him — literally — and is not afraid to expect and demand more from him than he’s currently giving. That is to say, she holds him accountable for all of his actions and inactions, causing him to continually reevaluate his life and his decisions.

This is especially true after he kisses a boy at a party and he begins to question everything he thought he knew about himself as new and confusing feelings surface. I really enjoyed how Jeremy’s art not only helps him cope with his problems and insecurities but also shows him ways to overcome them, opening his eyes to the different paths available to him.

It was so much fun journeying along with Jeremy as he experienced the ups and downs of life in high school: dealing with high school bullies, facing an uncertain future, finding his place in the world, feeling like an outsider, supporting his friends, supporting his family and discovering and accepting his emerging sexuality. I found him to be not only a lovable and empathetic character but also a wonderfully relatable and memorable one who revealed more and more of himself as his understanding of the bigger world around him unfolded.

Additionally, the diverse cast of secondary characters in the book is truly delightful. These are characters who not only amuse and entertain us but also touch us, and prompt us to think about who we are and how we want to live our lives. Jess Moore really seems to understand the teenage soul — the doubt, the uncertainty, the longing, the self-awareness, the challenges and the confusion and in so doing ended up creating a believable world with plenty of heart.

I also thought the burgeoning romance in the story between Jeremy and Matt was soft, gentle and well drawn. I liked the fact that it was slow and not at all rushed, resulting in a sweet and heartwarming affection that didn’t take away from the rest of the story. It was fun, however, to see Jeremey move from a place of doubt and confusion to a place of acceptance and certainty.

This feel-good story has everything you need for the perfect high school senior story: a tight group of witty and charming friends, a zombie homecoming dance, a high school senior identity crisis, an ultra-cool mom, a will they/won’t they romance, and that somewhat melancholy high that comes with endings and new beginnings. All in all, a delightful story!

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Review of What If It’s Us by Becky Abertalli and Adam Silvera

November 15, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

What If It’s Us is a collaboration by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, two authors that I’ve enjoyed in the past, especially Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End and Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda.

What If It’s Us follows two boys, Arthur and Ben. Arthur, who is from Georgia, is visiting NYC for the summer and is working as an intern in his mom’s law firm. Ben is recovering from a breakup with his boyfriend Hudson and attending summer school. The two meet one day at the post office, where Ben is mailing back his ex-boyfriend’s things. They chat, and the two immediately hit it off. Unfortunately, chaos erupts inside of the post office, and before Arthur can get Ben’s phone number, he has disappeared.

From there, we follow the two young men as they attempt to find each other, which of course, they do; otherwise, we wouldn’t have much of a novel, now would we? In fact, it almost seemed as though the Universe was conspiring in their favor to bring these two together — and the question of “destiny” comes up many times in conversation.

But it’s not a smooth ride for our two protagonists. The two of them go on a series of bad dates all fraught with drama, hurt feelings and a series of misunderstandings. There are all sorts of awkwardness and complications: strange relationships between their friends, the unusual relationships between each of the boys and their friends, there’s Ben’s ex-boyfriend Hudson who Ben may or may not be over, and both sets of parents.

Arthur and Ben do embark on quite a roller-coaster of a relationship with them both trying to “make it right” before Arthur has to leave at the end of the summer. What I found especially interesting was the friendship dynamics in the books. The authors did such a good job with them that I found them almost more interesting than the central romance. I especially enjoyed Dylan’s character, who was Ben’s best friend. In fact, I would love to see a book featuring him as the main protagonist.

The story is told in alternating points of view, so Arthur gets one chapter, Ben the next, then Arthur and so on. I found this more than a bit challenging at times as it was often difficult to tell the two boys apart. The problem is that I don’t think their characters were different enough and because of that, I often forgot who was speaking. So I had to flip back to the chapter heading to see whose chapter it was which annoyed me and yanked me out of the story on many occasions.

I know that a lot of people hate pop-culture references in their fiction novels so if you’re one of those people, you may want to stay clear of this one. There were numerous references to Hamilton, Dear Evan Hanson and lots of Harry Potter. Though pop-culture references don’t usually bother me, I think they may have overdone it a bit, especially with the Hamilton references. I found myself thinking a few times, “Okay, enough already with Hamilton.” In this way, the book became a tad repetitive in places.

But all in all, “What If It’s Us” is a super-sweet coming of age YA romance about two boys finding love and in so doing discovering themselves. So I ended up liking this story a lot — but not loving it as I had hoped. I don’t know; perhaps I was expecting a little more from these two authors. It was cute with likable characters but not really earth-shattering. I enjoyed the romance between these two boys but outside of the romance, there wasn’t a whole lot going on — there weren’t any additional plot lines.

So though it was an enjoyable story and I am glad I read it, I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped. Now to be fair, I’m not typically a fan of romancey contemporaries so I’m probably not the ideal target reader. But if you enjoy YA contemporary novels that are heavily focused on the romance, then you may very well enjoy this book more than I did.

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Review of Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich

October 10, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This book was a collaboration by four authors: Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul, which was was originally a Broadway play that I unfortunately, didn’t get a chance to see. But from my understanding, it was quite well received.

Introducing Evan and his letters

So the book follows Evan, a high school senior who has horrible social anxiety. Under the direction of his therapist, he writes a letter to himself each day that starts out with:

Dear Evan Hansen,

Today’s going to be an amazing day and here’s why…

A letter ends up in the wrong hands

But things don’t go so well for Evan one day when one of those letters to himself ends up in the wrong hands. And, it just so happens that this particular classmate commits suicide with a copy of Evan’s letter in his pocket.

Now the letter in question was a rather dark letter, a letter detailing Evan’s doubts, depression and his particularly somber view on life at the time it was written.

Evan meets the parents…and tells a lie

What results is a series of misunderstandings due to one simple lie. We then follow Evan along with the deceased student’s parents on a heart-wrenching journey through grief and mental health.

You see, Evan knew that the student’s parents were hurting deeply, so he chose to tell one little white lie because at the time, he felt it was the right thing to do. It was a simple lie — a lie meant to help rather than to hurt.

And the lie grows….and grows….

But this lie grew and grew and grew, spiraling out of control until it became a social media sensation. It turned into a story that Evan couldn’t put away and ignore. It became…almost a mythology that was way past the point of going away on its own — it becomes a story that Evan can no longer escape from.

Because of this and his strong urge not to cause the student’s parents any more pain or take away their hope, Evan tells even more lies to keep the story going, and he gets in deeper and deeper and deeper.

Thrust into the Spotlight

This book also portrayed in a somewhat frightening way, the power that social media plays in our lives and how it has the capacity to cause real harm as well as promote healing.

So because of this misunderstanding and Evan’s lie, Evan, a boy who preferred to move through his day unnoticed and invisible, is suddenly thrust in the spotlight. Now on the positive side, he does find acceptance among his peers and for the first time, is propelled forward with a new purpose.

On the negative side, this new world of Evan’s is about to unravel and come crashing down, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.

My Verdict

I ended up enjoying this book — although I don’t feel “enjoying” is the proper word to use about a book whose subject deals with the aftermath of a suicide. Let’s me just say that it was a compelling read and was very disturbing and heartbreaking at times.

The story dealt with some very tough topics such as suicide, bullying, isolation, mental health, loneliness and lying but it didn’t do so in an After-School-Special hit-you-over-the-head kind of way. Rather, the topics were handled with dignity rather than in a cringy, in-your-face way.

Though…I will say that the situation that Evan found itself in made me cringe on several occasions, but it was a cringe of embarrassment for Evan rather than because the tone of the book was preachy.

All in all, I felt that this was a powerful well-told story that illustrated wonderfully the ups and downs of life in high school and how the course of our life can change from one simple decision, for good or for ill. I ended up giving this book four stars. Recommended!

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Review of Scat by Carl Hiaasen

September 1, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Scat ended up being hilarious and I’m glad I read it. It also takes place in Florida, a state where I used to live and spend a good deal of time so that attracted me as well.

So Scat follows a Florida kid named Nick, whom I guessed to be around 14 or so and whose father is on reserve in Iraq and his friend Marta. So one day Nick and his class are on a field trip when the swamp that they’re visiting catches fire. Mrs. Starch — the feared and unliked biology teacher, vanishes into the fire to retrieve an inhaler that a student had dropped. The bus leaves without Mrs. Starch as she came in her own car.

The next school day, the principal tells the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a “family emergency,” but Nick and Marta aren’t buying it — especially once that discover that Mrs. Starch has no family so they feel that there’s something very fishy about Bunny Starch’s disappearance.

They figure the scary, pencil-eating class delinquent, Smoke, who has a history of starting fires, has something to do with her disappearance, especially once authorities state that the fire was due to arson. But they’re not the only ones who suspect that Smoke started the fire. But there’s more to Smoke than meets the eye.

But there’s also a lot more that goes on in the book: there’s the dodgy oil exploration company run by a shady, nefarious fellow who is scamming the state by installing illegal pipelines in the Everglades, which is a nature preserve, there’s an endangered panther that’s being hunted, the strange eco-avenging wilderness man who seems to be sabotaging the oil company’s efforts, and of course, the mystery of what in the hell happened to Bunny Stark.

This madcap book was quite a wild romp – an edge-of-your-seat gripping thrill ride that had me interested — and laughing until the end, as it was hysterically funny in many places with a great cast of characters. I thought the premise of this book was fascinating, and Carl Hiaasen turns this premise into an exciting, fast-paced eco-thriller that I had a hard time putting down.

Though this was a light-hearted enjoyable romp, the book does touch on some serious issues as well such as war, crime, environment preservation, amputation and neglectful parents but does so in a smooth way so as not to make the novel unnecessarily grim or frightening, as this is a middle-grade book, after all. And as many of us like to see in our Middle-grade reads, the bad guys get it good in the end.

I do believe that is is part of a four-book middle-grade series that I definitely will be checking out. I also want to check out some of his adult fiction as well.

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