Doesn't that sound like an awesome title? It is and it's the title of the book I just finished by Blythe Woolston. It was definetel one of the more interesting reads that I have had this year. Kind of like The Book Thief (by Markus Zusak). Not content but they both have very different abstract-ish writing styles. So here are some of the passages that made me laugh out loud...or send chills down my spine.
"The first visit [to the psychologist's office] I learned there are some responses to grief that are pretty common: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
It isn't like baking a cake where you follow the recipe and get it done:
- Heat the oven to Denial
- Prepare the pan with a spray of Anger
- Mix in two medium-sized Bargains with The Bony Guy [a.k.a. Death]
- Add 1/3 cup of Depression (tears will do if you want low fat)
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until you can jab a toothpick in your arm and it seems Acceptable."
Pretty intense stuff. Mostly because this girl, Loa, is grappling with the death of her younger disabled sister as well as the car crash death of a friend. Which leads her to have some pretty scary dreams apparently.
"I avoid feeding my brain anything it can turn into nightmares--so the news, horror movies and the weather channel are all out." (81)
What?? The weather channel?? Ah well to each his own but a few chapters later own I got a glimpse into Loa's nightmares...
"Someone is trying to frighten us by tampering with photos of my father's funeral. In some of the photographs, there is blood on the face or neck of the man who is supposed to be my father in the dream. In some of the pictures, he is propped upright in the casket, but not exactly straight. He's leaning to the point where he might fall out and onto the floor.
When I turn the page in the photo album, the pictures just go on and on: pictures of my dead father at his funeral.
Every time I turn a page, the pictures the weirder and weirder. In one of them, my father is encased in a papier-mache cocoon with a lumpy, blotted shape and winglike appendages. There are smears of blood and feathers on the outside of the cocoon. I can't see my father, but I know he is in there, under all that glue and newspaper.
I try to explain to my dream mother. I say, "Someone is trying to hurt us." But I can't find the pictures that have been altered. They are missing from the album.
When I check to make sure that my dream Little Harold [her brother] is OK, I see him outside. He is having a tea party. He is using the bloodstained chopping block for a table.
I am really, really afraid." (149)
Creeeeepy. Especially when you are reading it around 1 in the morning and no one else in the house is awake. Woolston did a fantastic job though of creating those scary nightmares and creating such a genuinely damaged protagonist. Its a good read if you can keep up with the disturbing flashbacks.
On a happier note I finally got my hands on a copy of The Maze Runner by James Dashner. From what I've read on the back of the book it seems a bit like The Hunger Games (by Suzanne Collins) which was really awesome. And speaking of running guess what little critter I saw yesterday morning??
UYL,
Andre
1 comment:
The recipe for grief is really interesting... I like how it added a touch of humor to an otherwise ... grievous topic. It sounds like an interesting book. And like you're reading a lot of good literature this summer (Catcher in the Rye)... keep it up! I wish I was more motivated and would do the same (I am attempting though!).
Post a Comment