Trust Abby: Book Reviews

Every month I’m going to post mini blurbs/summaries about books I’ve recently read AND I’m going to tell you why you should read them too, all in the most interesting, non-preachy, non-educative way possible. Also, since this we are a music station, not only will you be learning about some amazing literature but you’ll gain music knowledge too. How? Each novel gets its very own soundtrack! So take a look and listen. I recommend you listen to the soundtracks as you read the reviews.

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious picture book illustrated with real Victorian photographs that adds to an already dark and eerie story.

The novel centers around a sixteen year old, angst ridden, unpopular (by choice) teen named Jacob. He is a rich kid from the suburbs who has very little to worry about. He was dealt a rare and fair share of cards: he is an only child and his parents love and coddle him. Not only does Jacob never have to worry about making money (he is the heir to his family's fortune), but he’s also gifted in the smarts department and enrolled in all the honours classes at school. Yet, he feels unfulfilled and bored by his "too easy" life, un-fascinated by wealth and desperate for a change.

It sounds like the beginning of every other young adult book out there, however it’s anything but. This story takes a drastic and unexpected turn when tragedy strikes and radically changes Jacob’s life.

He becomes obsessed with rediscovering his family's past. In search of "the truth," Jacob travels to a European island to visit an abandoned orphanage that his grandfather lived in as a child during the Second World War. This orphanage was the inspiration for many tales and supernatural stories over the course of his childhood. Although Jacob was entertained by his grandfather’s fables, he rarely believed them and thought the old man was a bit off his rocker. The story really makes you question appearances and whether everything is as it seems. Riggs’ writing is a bit reminiscent of J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series, in the sense that there is a magical aspect to the novel. The story gets very dark and I recommend that only those who are interested in death, ageing, immortality, time travel and string theory read it.

Riggs was inspired to write Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children after discovering loads of old Victorian photographs. As a result he created an entire story centered on these images, which he uses to illustrate and detail each captivating chapter.

Click here for the book trailer. There is also a mini YouTube documentary about the author’s travels for the research of this novel here.

Chosen Soundtrack: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by M83

Best Song: "Midnight City"

I find that the dreamy, melancholy beats suit the novel’s subdued loss of innocence theme perfectly. Also, without giving too much away, the music video for this song suits the story so well it’s creepy. The crazy part is I had already chosen this track as the story’s song before even watching the vid! Check it out for yourself here.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

A story filled with family secrets, sibling rivalry, racism, identity and finding one’s true home.

The novel begins with 21-year-old Pearl and her 18 year-old sister, May. The girls are living a frivolous and privileged life In Shanghai, China. However, thanks to the patriarchs gambling streak, unfortunate circumstances befall the family and they lose everything. As a result, both girls are sold into unwanted arranged marriages with men they do not know or love. The story takes place during a time of war (1937) with the onsets of communism in a cosmopolitan city.

The amount of violence and loss in the novel is unbearable and, most disturbingly, a lot of it is true. Lisa See did an insane amount of research and the historical information you learn from reading Shanghai Girls is amazing. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is curious about different cultures and is fascinated with history. See demonstrates through Shanghai Girls the brutality of war and how women and children are rarely spared during times of violence. There are chapters that are so gut wrenchingly shocking that you have to take a break for a drink of water. It is impossible not to feel for the characters in the novel and even more impossible not to compare them to real people in war torn countries. The story makes you appreciate what you do have.

The story is divided into three parts: Fate, Fortune and Destiny. The parts correspond with different periods in the sisters' lives, from teenagers, to young adults, to midlife. It’s a novel that changes your perspective and opens your eyes to the bonds of family, alienation, cultural diversity and racism. The story touches on how tradition can keep families from attaining happiness in a new world. See uses her characters to demonstrate how adopting new customs isn’t necessarily bad and that it is possible to integrate into a different society without losing one’s culture.

Click here for a site that describes the arrival of the first Asian people and how integrated marriages were not allowed and a lot of the Asian cultures were forced to live in their own Chinatowns sealed off from the ‘whites.’

Chosen Soundtrack: Bonobo

Best Song: "Kiara"

This track begins quietly and then changes into something more rhythmic. Kiara gains momentum in beat and speed halfway through the song, and, just like Shanghai Girls, it ends on a strong note. You can listen to it here.

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

An amazing story that questions the idea of survival and how being alive doesn’t necessarily mean you are part of the living. The characters and their story are fictional but the events are based on real occurrences.

De Rosnay captivates us with her non-linear storytelling. Bouncing back and forth from past to present with each chapter, the reader is thrown into the lives of two very different characters: Sarah and Julia. Sarah is a ten-year old French girl residing in France with her Jewish immigrant family. She was born in Paris and is a French citizen, however this does not protect Sarah and her relatives from being arrested by the French police and sent to an extermination camp in Auschwitz. Julia Jarmond is an American journalist living in Paris with her French husband and daughter. She soon becomes enveloped in a family secret that connects her to Sarah, thanks to a story assignment on the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942.

Based on real events, the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup is one of France's best kept and worst secrets. Thousands of Jews, including women and children, were sent to the Velodrome d’Hiver and left there without food, water or bathrooms for three days until being thrown onto busses and sent to their deaths. Women were separated from their husbands and children from their mothers. This all took place in France and the book embarks on an emotional tale that questions humanity and the power of forgiveness.

Sarah is on a quest to save her little brother Michel, who refused to leave the house when the French police came to arrest the family. Instead of leaving with the family, Michel crept into his secret hiding place (a tiny cupboard in their shared bedroom) and refused to come out. Scared and wanting to protect her brother, Sarah locked and shut the door, promising to return for him as soon as she could, key in hand. Sarah’s hope to find her baby brother wills her to live, while Julia’s morals guide her to discover the truth, and ultimately intertwines the two on their path to freedom. Sarah’s Key is a heartbreaking, eye-opening novel that will make you think for days and weeks on end.

Chosen Soundtrack: Gogol Bordello

Song: "Through the Roof 'n' Underground"

-Abby Schachter hosts The Reaktor on Fridays from 2-4pm