I hate winter. Let me just put that out there. It's dreary, bone chilling and boring as hell. Every winter my husband and I hibernate. We play computer games and find new shows to watch while drinking tea and cuddling with the cats. Its almost mind numbingly dull at times but what is the alternative? I'm not a winter sport type of gal and I can get pretty mean when I'm cold (or tired or hungry) so that doesn't leave me room for much excitement in January and February. So it is just work, computer games, working out and reading right now. I'm so boring, I might just doze off writing this. Thankfully, I've gotten into the books I'm reading. Last time I wrote, I was really frustrated with the first book in the "Chaos Walking" series but I am now on book number three and I have to say that it has gotten a lot better and the author seems to be tying things together pretty well. The biggest problem for me in this series is the sheer amount of violence and absence of anything good ever happening. It is very, very dark. It reminds me of when I went to see "Precious" in the theater and so many horrible things were going wrong for this girl that at one point during the movie an audience member loudly yelled out, "Oh come on!" I agreed with her then and I'm channeling her now while reading "Monsters of Men." I don't remember young adult novels being so dark and depressing when I was a young adult. When I was in middle school, the edgy book of the 80s was, "Are you there god, its me Margaret?" which made making getting your first period seem like the end of life as we know it on the planet. Now, these books really are talking about life on the planet ending and its making me really depressed for how quickly things have shifted in the time that I was a kid until now.
The books are about war, genocide, terrorism and finding your own voice in a society that is constantly asking us to conform. It is thought provoking and highly disturbing at times. There are many instances where the main characters are forced to make choices they never thought they would ever make; choices that go against their own moral code. The title of the third book, "Monsters of Men" is taken from a line in the book where one of the characters says that war makes monsters our of men and though it is a disturbing thought, it is very true. The book often raises the question of sacrifice. What are we willing to sacrifice for peace? What are we personally willing to give up for the good of all? Its a timeless theme and even if war is not something most of us experience first hand, difficult choices are constantly surrounding us and provoking us to challenge our core beliefs. On a small scale, I can relate to doing things I never thought I would do. Hello, moving to New Jersey??? How many times in the past did I say I would never ever move here and lo and behold here I am. Life is constantly shifting; experiences changing us in irrevocable ways, challenging us to stay true to ourselves despite change. One of the lines most repeated in the book is, "We are the choices we make" and I couldn't agree more. There is a point in book 2, "The Ask and Answer" where the main character, Todd, under threat for his own life is forced to torture the enemy they have enslaved. Even though he hates doing it, he justifies it by telling himself that the slaves are better off with him being more gentle than with someone else who would be ruthless. This exact argument has been repeated over and over throughout history. Who doesn't recall all of those SS Nazi guards saying the same thing as they sent countless Jews to the gas chambers? Todd makes the choice to do it even though he knows it is wrong because he fears the alternative but this choice changes him in ways he comes to regret. Even though the choice he is forced to make feels impossible, it is still a choice. Even though I can't relate to the magnitude of what these characters face, I can relate to impossible choices. I think we all can. It is a provocative book and brings up provocative arguments that feel a little advanced for young adults but relative to the world we live in today.
It is also a book about conformity and society constantly judging people who are different and I am very sensitive to this. I was picked on as a kid and it scarred me for life as it does anyone who goes through that. I dedicated a lot of time teaching my middle school kids tolerance and acceptance regardless of how difficult it is to be different. The author is very clever in the way this is presented throughout the novels. All of the men in the book have "noise" and this means that everyone can hear every uncensored thought that goes through their heads. It is symbolic for the influx of information available in our world today - we have facebook and twitter where people are constantly dumping every little useless thought out into the world and we also have a million and one news channels that are updated every millisecond so that we don't miss even the slightest bit of news no matter how irrelevant or insignificant it is to our own lives. One of my favorite paragraphs in the book is as follows:
"He gestures to the darkening sky above us. 'This world, Todd,' he says. 'This world and how it talks, how loud its voice is.' He drifts a little, his eyes unfocused. 'Sometimes it's all you can hear, as it tries to make you disappear into it, to make you nothing.'"
It's brilliant and eloquent and so true. We have to constantly fight to be unique and true in a world that wants us all to be the same. As someone who is constantly fighting the pull of society's "norms" I relate especially to this. As someone who didn't follow the traditional path, the path that the world yelled for me to go on, I bow to the author who is trying to make us see that the quietness in our own heads is better than the collective loud.
Even though this series has flaws and it was not easy going at times, all three books are worth reading. You may have trouble sleeping at night but you'll get over it. Happy reading!
The books are about war, genocide, terrorism and finding your own voice in a society that is constantly asking us to conform. It is thought provoking and highly disturbing at times. There are many instances where the main characters are forced to make choices they never thought they would ever make; choices that go against their own moral code. The title of the third book, "Monsters of Men" is taken from a line in the book where one of the characters says that war makes monsters our of men and though it is a disturbing thought, it is very true. The book often raises the question of sacrifice. What are we willing to sacrifice for peace? What are we personally willing to give up for the good of all? Its a timeless theme and even if war is not something most of us experience first hand, difficult choices are constantly surrounding us and provoking us to challenge our core beliefs. On a small scale, I can relate to doing things I never thought I would do. Hello, moving to New Jersey??? How many times in the past did I say I would never ever move here and lo and behold here I am. Life is constantly shifting; experiences changing us in irrevocable ways, challenging us to stay true to ourselves despite change. One of the lines most repeated in the book is, "We are the choices we make" and I couldn't agree more. There is a point in book 2, "The Ask and Answer" where the main character, Todd, under threat for his own life is forced to torture the enemy they have enslaved. Even though he hates doing it, he justifies it by telling himself that the slaves are better off with him being more gentle than with someone else who would be ruthless. This exact argument has been repeated over and over throughout history. Who doesn't recall all of those SS Nazi guards saying the same thing as they sent countless Jews to the gas chambers? Todd makes the choice to do it even though he knows it is wrong because he fears the alternative but this choice changes him in ways he comes to regret. Even though the choice he is forced to make feels impossible, it is still a choice. Even though I can't relate to the magnitude of what these characters face, I can relate to impossible choices. I think we all can. It is a provocative book and brings up provocative arguments that feel a little advanced for young adults but relative to the world we live in today.
It is also a book about conformity and society constantly judging people who are different and I am very sensitive to this. I was picked on as a kid and it scarred me for life as it does anyone who goes through that. I dedicated a lot of time teaching my middle school kids tolerance and acceptance regardless of how difficult it is to be different. The author is very clever in the way this is presented throughout the novels. All of the men in the book have "noise" and this means that everyone can hear every uncensored thought that goes through their heads. It is symbolic for the influx of information available in our world today - we have facebook and twitter where people are constantly dumping every little useless thought out into the world and we also have a million and one news channels that are updated every millisecond so that we don't miss even the slightest bit of news no matter how irrelevant or insignificant it is to our own lives. One of my favorite paragraphs in the book is as follows:
"He gestures to the darkening sky above us. 'This world, Todd,' he says. 'This world and how it talks, how loud its voice is.' He drifts a little, his eyes unfocused. 'Sometimes it's all you can hear, as it tries to make you disappear into it, to make you nothing.'"
It's brilliant and eloquent and so true. We have to constantly fight to be unique and true in a world that wants us all to be the same. As someone who is constantly fighting the pull of society's "norms" I relate especially to this. As someone who didn't follow the traditional path, the path that the world yelled for me to go on, I bow to the author who is trying to make us see that the quietness in our own heads is better than the collective loud.
Even though this series has flaws and it was not easy going at times, all three books are worth reading. You may have trouble sleeping at night but you'll get over it. Happy reading!
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