Review: All the Crooked Saints

You can hear a miracle a long way after dark

–All the Crooked Saints, Maggie Stiefvater

FORMAT: paperback

RATING: 5/5 stars

SUMMARY: Pilgrims travel to Bicho Raro, a small town in the middle of the desert, to receive miracles from the Soria family. Although the Saint can reveal a pilgrim’s darkness – the first miracle – the second miracle of defeating the darkness must be accomplished all on the pilgrim’s own. The Colorado desert, miracle-hungry owls, the promise of black roses, fraught familial relationships, and young love all come together to provide healing for the entire town of its collective darkness.

THOUGHTS:  I have never read anything by Maggie Stiefvater before, but I absolutely loved her beautiful prose and idiosyncratic characterizations. Although the book characterizes its occurrences with religious language and themes, All the Crooked Saints belongs in the category of magical realism, which is a genre I typically enjoy.

The most appealing aspect of this book is how well the storyline worked out despite the number of characters, many of which whom are fully fleshed out. This novel works as flawlessly as one of those well-performed ensemble pieces, such as The Office or Parks and Recreation or “Come From Away”. I think this book is also appealing due to its subject matter of miracles, which are fascinating exactly because they defy our commonsense notions of reality.

Although the genre is young adult, I believe the draw of this book could attract those who don’t typically read YA. For example, I think fans of Isabel Allende would enjoy All the Crooked Saints. I truly would recommend this to anyone who’d enjoy a bit of magical realism in a story about miracles.

Review: The Sun is Also a Star

“Tragedy is funny.”
“Are we in a tragedy?” he asks, smiling broadly now.
“Of course. Isn’t that what life is? We all die at the end.”

–The Sun is also a Star, Nicola Yoon

FORMAT: audiobook

RATING: 3/5 stars

SUMMARY: Natasha is only a believer of observable facts, of hard science. Love is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions. Love is only temporary, a nonspecial series of catalysts and outcomes. Natasha is also an undocumented immigrant from Jamaica who is facing the threat of deportation, who loves physics, and whose family is rather complicated. Natasha is trying to find a last-minute way to save them from Homeland Security. Daniel is a wannabe poet, a Korean-Amerian boy who struggles with having parents who want him to attend Yale and medical school after. He has an almost-perfect, but completely douchebag-y older brother. He’d rather talk about the stars than study medicine, but also knows how heartbreaking that would be to his parents. These two teens find themselves, within the span of a few hours, barreling towards each other by some coincidence of the universe. But what else the universe may push them to- the brink of adulthood, of a new life, of love…it’s anyone’s guess.

THOUGHTS: This book was so adorable. The characterization is strong- Natasha and Daniel are in many ways the examples of stereotypes in terms of their character tropes and their socioeconomic statuses- however, there are many ways in which they subvert all of the stereotypes that they are privy to as well. I docked off two stars for plot points that seemed too convenient or too cliche; sometimes it was just so obvious that I couldn’t ignore it no matter how much I was enjoying those plot points.

However, if you’re a fan of Young Adult in general, you’re going to fall for this book like I did. The tension and romance between Daniel and Natasha is made of purely heightened emotions- from angst to sadness to love and beyond. They’re perfect together and complement each other so well, and none of their chemistry is forced. They even gave me serious Eleanor and Park vibes.

The discussion of other things- like family expectations/societal expectations concerning biracial relationships, what it might be like to be a family that’s undocumented in America (this is really dope as I am an international migration studies minor), the theories behind slang and multiverses, and looks into the thoughts of minor characters. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, because it really made it feel like Daniel and Natasha were only two cogs of a bigger machine that was completely out of control.

I think the suspense of the book and the great characters kept me grounded into this book. Yoon’s language is also swoon-worthy, and I think she really managed to capture the unique spirit of New York City with her diverse ensemble of characters.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a solid YA rec- go check it out!

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Resolutions / Goals

I am now going to be joining the delightful bookish meme: Top Ten Tuesday! It is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, so go check her and it out! This week’s theme is Bookish Resolutions for the new year.

• Read 50 Books (or more)

Last year, I shot low and easily surpassed reading my initial goal of 25 books by 10. This year, I am aiming towards 50, which I feel like I can achieve easily. That comes to about one book a week, and I already have a great start:

• Read War and Peace

The longest book that I read last year was Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The reason that I decided to read this book was to see if I could get through War and Peace, the logic being that if I can get through and enjoy Karenina, then I will like War and Peace. I’ll probably hold off on this book until the summer though.

• Read more physical books

Because I am a political science major, it can be difficult for me to pick up a book in between classes or for leisure because I am already reading up to 300 pages of text each week for school. I have gotten around this fact by listening to more audiobooks, but I am going to try and incorporate more physical books into my school schedule since I have so many!! But if I can’t, or if my mental health can’t take it, then I’m not going to push it. Reading is enjoyable, and I strive to keep it that way!

• Read more non-fiction!

This is a BIG resolution for me. I only read 9/35 nonfiction books last year, and I would really like to increase the percentage. Fiction is a fun escape, but non-fiction books have so much to offer as well. I recently got a copy of The Art of War and I am still trying to read What Happened, so I definitely have good options for this section.

• Read more diverse authors

This goal is mostly aimed at reading more authors of color. I am guilty of reading in a very Eurocentric manner, and given that I am an Asian-American woman, I especially would like to read more books by people that look like and have had similar experiences to me.

• Finish a series

Hopefully I can finally finish the rest of the Percy Jackson books that I’ve been putting off, or even the Jojo Moyes series, and take those books off my TBR.

• Check off some of those DNF books

We’re all guilty of this, aren’t we? I just want to finish one or two of those DNF books.

• Read over 20,000 pages

I don’t just want to read a certain numerical amount of books, especially as I often read plays, which are significantly shorter than novels. I read around 12,500 pages last year, so I hope reading 20,000 pages across 50+ books is reasonable!

• Get through 20% of my TBR list

Oh, my TBR list. It’s so long, and I have not been great about adhering to it strictly because of the availability of books or the release of new books. I have only read 11/127 of the books on that list, which comes to around 8%. I would really like to read through 20% of that list AT LEAST this year, so that means around 26 books. 26-11 comes to 15, which is pretty reasonable.

• Read more classics

Especially, especailly Jane Austen. and Shakespeare. I especially want to finish all of Jane Austen’s novels.

What are your bookish resolutions?