Book Review: The Turning by Francine Prose

The Turning

Francine Prose

246 Pages

Published September 25th, 2012

A dark house.
An isolated island.
Strange dreams
and even stranger
visions . . .
Jack is spending the summer on a private island far from modern conveniences. No Wi-Fi, no cell service, no one else on the island but a housekeeper and the two very peculiar children in his care. The first time Jack sees the huge black mansion atop a windswept hill, he senses something cold, something more sinister than even the dark house itself.
Soon, he feels terribly isolated and alone. Yet he is not alone. The house has visitors—peering in the windows, staring from across the shore. But why doesn't anyone else see them . . . and what do they want? As secrets are revealed and darker truths surface, Jack desperately struggles to maintain a grip on reality. He knows what he sees, and he isn't crazy. . . . Or is he?
From nationally acclaimed author Francine Prose comes a mind-bending story that will leave you realizing how subtle the lines that separate reality, imagination, and insanity really are.

Have you ever read a book, not quite sure if the main character was crazy or not? I felt like this throughout the entirety of The Turning, a psychological thriller type young adult novel about a boy named Jack, who spends the summer on a pretty creepy little island. A single, very rich family inherits the island, and people around the area who know of the place are very wary of it.

The story starts with Jack boarding a boat to get on this island. Immediately he starts witnessing some pretty disturbing things, and his excitement about his summer away from home quickly turns to a feeling of uneasiness. The story follows his entire summer on the island, keeping watch over two young kids that are far from ordinary. They exchange silent glances, act nothing like regular kids and overall seem.. possessed by some sort of otherworldly spirit.

I felt like the point of this story was to follow along and separate fact from fiction. To see if Jack is crazy, suffering from some mental illness, or if the island really is possessed by two very evil and very real spirits. To be honest the book had be confused at many points, and bored at others. After the ending I still wasn't sure how I felt about it, and I didn't make a solid opinion on how sane our main character was.

Though the story dragged at points, the pacing was fast enough to be pleasurable at others. The creepiness factor is what kept me going, and what ultimately saved the book for me. Though not one of my favorites, The Turning was a good afternoon read.

Book Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Carrie Ryan

310 Pages

Published March 10th, 2009

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Some books give off many vibes, have many intricate strings of plot that make up the composition of the words that are crammed onto the page. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is one such read, leaving me breathless at the end, after turning the very last page I still have so many thoughts racing around in my head. I loved that this book fit in perfectly for Halloween with the zombies and extreme feeling of desolation and despair that blankets the village in which Mary resides in. Another great aspect of the book was the historical vibe that I got, though it seems the book is actually set in the future.

Mary is your average girl, just trying to make it by in life. She lives in a small village in the middle of a large forest, residing in a village among other like-minded individuals. Though her village is unlike ours, surrounding by fences to keep the unconsecrated, otherwise known in my book as zombies, out, she is still a teen girl with regular teen problems. She worries about her mother and spends a lot of time thinking about love, about a boy named Travis she has always fancied, though he tends not to notice her, at least in her eyes. In a split second everything changes as her mother is ripped from her life forever. Eventually she becomes part of the sisterhood, a religious group that controls the ruling of the village.

Character development in The Forest of Hands and Teeth was superb and I enjoyed reading about Mary and the rest of the crew. Though she has her squabbles with her best friend, Cass, their friendship still survived everything they had to go through. Though there was a love triangle, it was obvious who needed to be together from the start.

The plot was fast paced, moving me along at supersonic speeds. Danger abound in every corner and I really felt for Mary who could never truly be safe. All she wanted was to see the ocean, to know there was a life beyond hers, but she experiences so much more. The Forest of Hands and Teeth was a book I won't soon forget - I'm glad I have the rest of the series on my shelves, and I'll be sure to pick it up soon.  

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed In Blood

Kendare Blake

316 Pages

Published August 30th, 2011 by Tor Teen

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

I've been hearing rave reviews for this book for months now, so I finally gave in and bought it. Our story follows the journey of Cas, a ghost-hunter/killer who is following in his father's footsteps. He's onto the biggest and most frightening ghost of his life - a mysterious and exceptionally deadly ghost nicknamed Anna Dressed in Blood. Anna holds a lot of pent up anger, killing everyone who steps foot into her fortress, with the exception of Cas.

Cas was a strong character, foolish at times though. He listens to no one, often putting himself in dangerous situations he doesn't need to be in. He has chosen to shove normal life to the sidelines, instead carrying on the family legacy of banishes ghosts to who knows where. I liked hearing about his adventures, though I did feel sorry for him at times, not being able to lead a normal life and all.

Anna was an interesting character, very unique being a ghost and all! She had no remorse for the things she'd done in the beginning, but as the story progresses she gains some control over her anger, and even tells Cas and the others her story. She goes from being scary killer girl to sweet, but troubled dead woman.

The story wasn't super fast-paced until the end when a lot of things are at stake. The ending was a bit of a cliff-hanger and my next book purchase will likely include the second in the series.