Barely Alive

Melissa Nicolas

Alive
By Scott Sigler

Submerged in the shadows and engulfed in the darkness, what would can one do when they wake up on their twelfth birthday, chained down and completely in the dark. A young girl awakens chained in a coffin completely in the dark and has no idea how she came to be like this and has no memory of who her family is or even her name. With all the strength she can muster she breaks free of her casket. To realize she is in a room filled with a dozen casket with bodies waiting to be awoken. The only information she knows is that her name must be M. Savage because it was in her coffin and that she is definitely not twelve years old. Soon she becomes the leader of a whole bunch of other kids who have no idea what's going on either. From what I've read, this book has been completely captivating because it isn't a typical thriller. It isn't thrilling at all. The majority of the beginning is encompassed by an anxious feeling. The characters of the novel are in shock. Something very strange and terrifying has happened to them and their memories have my seriously altered. Everything about the plot of this book is fascinating but I do not believe it would be everyone's cup of tea. I warn readers that the book is very slow paced and events happen slowly. The characters are basically trapped underground there isn't much they can do to change their situation. My recommendation goes to people who are more interested in science-fiction books. Books that often have a bit of mystery and suspense. There is a bit of a romance transpiring between the two main characters in the book but this certainly isn't a romance novel so if that is what you're looking for I highly recommend you find another book.

Yong is the fifth character to be awoken in their chamber of obscurity. The only information the audience knows about him is his race and his last name. That is all the other characters know about each other. I personally really relate to Yong because he was very combative Savage, the protagonist. Savage instantly takes the role of being the leader of the pack but Yong is not so eager to be controlled. I would be the same in this situation. I certainly would be scared but I also wouldn't like to have someone believe they're the boss and have all the answers when they are just as lost as me. Yong is sarcastic and funny but extremely guarded and I find myself having some of the same qualities so I really like this character. " His arms are crossed again, his head is tilted slightly to the right. He is a walking challenge, daring anyone to contradict him. Something about his presence promises pain" (Sigler 41). Another thing about this book that personally affects me is how the idea is to run and survive when you're not entirely sure what you're running from. This makes this book a sort of mystery and I have always been drawn towards mysteries. There is an obvious goal trying to be met by these kids but they're not sure how they're going to accomplish it and how they ended up in this position. These components make this book unpredictable and I thoroughly enjoy a book that isn't predictable." Someone please help me, this is...' my breath catches. I don't know my own name" ( Sigler 4).

Once more I stress readers that love science-fiction and some mystery this book is perfect for you. It will always keep you interested. It is filled with relatable characters. I would gear the audience to be a bit younger than the average adults, teens and young adults would much prefer the content of the book. Adults might find the content trivial and unrelatable since there isn't one adult in the book so far.

Memories Forgotten

Still Alice
By: Lisa Genova

Memories are slowly drifting away from Alice. Will she forget it all? Alice the main character is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. She and her husband John both work at the school together. They are successful and have 3 children, Lydia, Tom, and Anna. Alice has everything figured out in life. She has her routines planned and all her presentations memorized. She slowly starts to forget little things about her routines and forgets words to her presentation. She then realizes that there is something wrong and decides to get checked out. She meets with her doctor a couple time. The last time she visited she was told that she has alzheimer's disease and was struck with fear of what to do now. She has yet to tell her family.

Overall the book is very interesting and keeps you wanting to read more. It is a book with lots of emotions and at moments can be very sad. To some it is seen as uplifting due to seeing that it isn't as bad as you make it out to be. It brings Alice's family together for her. In my opinion I would reccomend this book to other people

Black Flags

When we think about how far word of mouth travels between individuals, we may not know exactly how far an idea or trend socializes itself with society. Inside a small Jordanian Prison, the ideas and beliefs that engulfed those small rooms was where Isis got its start. Mastermind terroist Abu al-Zarqawi was forming a role for himself as the Architect for this Islamist movement based on dominating the Middle East by intimidation. Zarqawi was a man where people respected him and naturally were attracted to his actions and his voice. He had a following in which he would share his ideologies to. Zarqawi was able to manipulate many of these men to accompany him on his villainous and inhuman journey to being known. He wanted to grow strong in numbers, through fear and intimidation Zarqawi would instill fear into the Middle East spreading his radical ideologies. Author Joby Warrick uses his skill of switching from the perspectives of many high ranking officers, spies, general diplomats many of whom foresaw many of the events of a criminal who may have been worse than Al-Qaeda. For a person who seems to be spending more time slipping into the past with history this book does not disappoint as it brings detail after detail from multiple lines of perspectives. This book is a timeline of the birth of Isis and its effects on America and the rest of the world. Black Flags is a fantastic piece of definitive history that reveals the long arc of the world's most dangerous terroist threats.

Leah Duplessis
                                                        The Secret Year                              
         "The Secret Year",  by Jennifer R Hubbard, is a romance novel about a boy named Colt who lost the love of his life. He, a rather poor young man and Julia, a wealthy and beautiful older girl had been secretly hooking up every Friday night for over a year until she was enexpectedly killed in a fatal car accident. The book revolves around Colt's ways of trying to cope with this heartbreak, and faces many personal obstacles when he cannot express how he is feeling due to the fact that she had a boyfriend throughout their relationship, and not a soul knows about their Secret. I think that the book is really unique in the sense that we never are introduced to Julia while she is alive, but as the book continues on you feel like who know her due to Colt's description of her, and his memories which he reminisces on. Eventually Julia's brother comes across a note book which she had written to Colt and gives it to him, and obviously discovers their secret, but leaves it to remain unknown. Colt reads this journal every night and obsesses over it. A lot of the language used in this journal is risky and may make you uncomfortable as a reader. She is very straight forward about sexual scenes. A lot of the book consists of corny concepts that I feel are very unrealistic, and kind of uncomfortable to read. Over all I feel as though the story of the novel is very well thought out, but the details are a bit strange and over analyzed. Overall I would not recommend the book unless you are heavily into romance.

An Unsettling yet Absorbing Murder

Hallie Melville

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

In the early hours of January 3, 1985, it was said that Ben Day murdered his entire family. This excludes his youngest sister, Libby. 

"Bang bang, chop chop, choke choke" (2).

Twenty-five years later, Libby Day is an angry, fiery, red-headed woman who is running out of money. For years she has been receiving sympathy money from those who found pity in her family's murder, however, her story becomes less and less relevant as stories of hot new murders show up in the media. Libby cannot hold a job and continues to panic about finances until she is introduced to Lyle Wirth, who offers her cash to participate and speak at Kill Club meetings. The Kill Club is a group of people who are obsessed with murders without a clear person to blame, particularly the Day family. By attending these meetings, Libby and the reader alike start to question if Ben Day is the real culprit of the murders that took place decades ago.

Throughout the novel, the perspective shifts from Libby in the present day, as well as Ben and Patty Day who describe their lives before the murders occurred. While these different points of view can be confusing at times, they offer important clues that all tie together in the end. I was interested in the viewpoint of Libby's mom, Patty. In the days before her own murder, Patty describes her struggles to make money, hold her family together, and to remain present in Ben's life. Patty fears that Ben is becoming too unlike his family by dyeing his hair jet black and practicing satanic rituals. This makes it very easy to point the finger at Ben for his family's murder, but it is soon found that things are more complicated than that.

Libby describes herself as a liar and a thief, and admits to her own selfishness: "I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ"(1). Although she is depressed, mean, and an overall unlikable character, I was still interested in her story and wanted to read on. In fact, not many of the characters in Dark Places are very likable, yet Flynn manages to make the reader interested in those who are standoffish, solemn, and arrogant.

Overall, I give Dark Places 4 out of 5 stars. For anyone who enjoyed Gone Girl, another novel by Gillian Flynn, I would recommend this book. A story that should not be read before bedtime, Dark Places is a psychological thriller with and ending that you could never have guessed.

Love Triangle

Maxwell Waters

The City and the Pillar

By Gore Vidal

A teenage getaway during one weekend goes for an unexpected turn when Jim realizes he is in love with his teammate Bob. Weeks of awkwardness have gone by and set in this early twentieth-century setting, tensions are high. Soon after in the novel The City and The Pillar by Gore Vidal, accounts a young man’s experience after he meets and loses the love of his life. Jim, the main character meets movie stars, directors, travels to south America, falls in love with a writer, and ends up in the military. Throughout this thrilling fiction, the reader gets an opportunity to read about this adventurous character.

In my opinion, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get lost in a romance book with all sorts of drama, and obstacles both the reader and the character have to go through. According to the novel I can relate to the idea of wanting someone that in return they might not like you back. The author uses awkward situations throughout the book to express the difficulty of finding a partner. For example in the novel one night, one of the Shipyard men and Jim were going to go out one night into town because they docked ahead of time. After weeks of talking to the shipyard man, Jim believed that they could maybe have some form of a relationship. Unfortunately for Jim that was not the case. At the bar, they both get really drunk and rowdy. Once Jim makes some moves with the guy he soon is shut down in front of him, "Ken moved away, cut that out, he said in a clear sober voice" (130). What made this scene so interesting was the fact that although they both were drunk and they seemed to be having a good time, but it is not realistic for a gay relationship to be so easy, especially in such plain view of people.

According to the novel as Jim is trying to make a career as a tennis instructor he encounters Ronald Shaw, a renowned movie actor in Hollywood, who falls in love with Jim. In order for Jim to jump start his life financially, he reasons with Shaw to have a relationship. Their relationship highlights an idea known as, “ for those mainly youth who offered themselves for seduction while proclaiming their heterosexuality, they were known as trade, since they usually wanted money” (164). Labeling in the LGBTQ community is relevant to the novel because the reader can read about the different terms and dynamics. Shaw's and his followers perspective on Jim is false, however they fall for the trap of labeling. Stereotypes are present everywhere it does not matter from what background someone is from. This book is for people who are into adventure and gay fiction. I would not classify the book as romantic because the romance that rarely occurs is not genuine.

Hello, Goodbye, and College

Kayla Hernandez

Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between
By: Jennifer E. Smith

A teen couple going off to college at opposite sides of the country. Clare and Aidan have one night to revisit all the places they have a special connection with. At the end of the night they have to decide whether to stay together and have a long-distance relationship, or break-up now while they can still be friends. Clare and Aidan both have opposing ideas as to what they should do. Clare brings valid points to Aidan as to why they should break-up and Aidan says they can work it out and it's possible to have a long-distance relationship. Along the night they have moments where everything seems just perfect and they wish to just live in the moment, but reality continually strikes and both know at the next sunrise, they'll both be heading for different places across the country. Aidan is very optimistic, "'Trust me,'Aidan says, reaching for her hand. 'A lot can happen in twelve hours."(2) Which brings hope that it doesn't have to be the end.
This book is a connection to the teen couples now in high school which college is around the corner for them. I would recommend reading this book, because it creates such a relatable connection. It is a book of modern day and each character is someone who we may know in reality. It might become very stretching because they don't decide so suddenly, but that's what we readers like.
I connected well with this book, because I'm in a relationship as well. We're both seniors and college is coming up quicker than we think. It might create distance between us, but we want it to work out and we're not going to give up. I guess you could say, "go with the flow", but it's what we both want most. "'That after all this time, we only have twelve hours left. I mean... we're finally here, you know? At the end of the road."(2). It doesn't have to been from the negative perspective and this is the reason Clare and Aidan balance themselves. Optimistic vs. reality.