Three Contemporaries: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry; Ask the Passengers; Please Ignore Vera Dietz

I had these all written out and ready to edit and post but then, Blogger deleted it. Or I did by mistake somewhere. I have no idea, but it disappeared, so I have rewritten and pieced back together all of these reviews. I'm very frustrated because I liked the originals, and of course you have no idea what the first draft was like, but I really wanted to share these books so I went through with the rewriting. All three of these I read in a week for the purpose that they could decrease my stress level because they were quick (though I wouldn't call them all "light"), and they worked. I definitely recommend them.

Update: I found the old reviews; I had simply just changed the title and saved it that way and thus didn't recognize it. Oh well. I guess it doesn't matter now.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This is a 2014 release, and while I've tended to prefer to "catch up" with the literary world (both canon and popular) lately, this seemed like a quick and fun read and like the others in this post, I couldn't wait so I checked it out from the library. While Zevin has written books in the middle grade and young adult markets before, this one is an adult book. However, it's short and fairly simple and there aren't too many words on a page. Aside from some cursing and sexual references, I wouldn't call this too adult in nature. (I measure all adult books by American Gods now, for the record.) It's more like a "universal" book, which is perfectly fine with me.

It's also a book tailored for book lovers. The titular Fikry owns a bookstore and is very particular about what he reads. Many references to real books are slipped in, often with tongue in cheek, so that may or may not be for you. The plot is one of life, as it takes its time to unfold over many years on a small fictional New England island. A.J. Fikry has recently lost his wife when it begins and he looses a very rare Edgar Allen Poe book that would have been his fortune when he retired. Then he finds a toddler named Maya who had been left in his store with a note from her mother who then committed suicide, and he elects to raise her despite knowing nothing about kids. The banter between them was charming and hilarious. As she grows up, Maya, the local police chief, Fikry's sister-in-law, her husband, and a young salesman from a publishing company all have roles to play in softening Fikry to where he will stock works that may not be particularly literary in his store, among other things.

Overall I found the characters to be understandable and I also appreciate how Zevin slipped in diversity; Fikry is part Indian and Maya is black, and while this does inform and influence their characters, it isn't a substitute for character traits. I also liked how everything came together at the end...it may not be a plot-driven novel, but it was woven together nicely.

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Everybody Sees the Ants was one of my favorite books from earlier in the year, so I was really looking forward to picking up more from A.S. King.  This one follows Astrid, a girl who lives in a very traditional small town that also functions as a rumor mill. She is questioning her sexuality amongst the negative attitude toward gay people from members of the community and the pressures her lesbian best friend and girlfriend instill on her to just "come out" already. Astrid doesn't want to be put in a box--and that's a powerful theme I believe can apply to all socially constructed or otherwise labels, not only sexuality. The arc of the novel may be straightforward, but it's Astrid's inward questioning over what coming out really means that makes it more nuanced.

Ask the Passengers, which came out the year after Everybody Sees the Ants, is written in a similar style and format. As such, reading it for me meant I was always comparing it to the latter, which I overall enjoyed more, even if I think this one was still pretty good. Astrid, sends her love away to passengers on planes that pass overhead. There were snippets of the stories of the random passengers that received her love which, although thematically relevant, never gelled as well for me as the dream sequences in Everybody Sees the Ants. However, I did enjoy the imagined and often humorous Frank Socrates as much as the ants. I also think that Everybody Sees the Ants has a more nuanced portrayal of love because Lucky is self-aware as to the differences between "movie star love" and real love; although it's a bigger part of the novel, I was never quite sure why Astrid decided she loved Dee so much. I understand how she is attracted and feels comfortable with her (except when she goes to far), and they have some cute moments, but what's their deeper bond? That said, it isn't like the novel makes it seem like they are eternally bound, either, and I also appreciated the frank discussions they had about when they were ready for sex.

While maybe I didn't relate to it as much, Ask the Passengers was good, and I look forward to reading King's other novels even though they may be different. Personally in this one I loved the role the philosophy class played; it was especially fun for me because my dad teaches philosophy, so I got a lot of the jokes and enjoyed sharing them with him. I still love the way King writes complex characters; they often may seem to do ill-informed things, but they still can be relatable. The parents may always come off worse, but hey, it is written through the eyes of a teenager and they still have redeeming qualities. Lastly, I just couldn't stop reading this book...even though the general plot arc is inevitable given the not really original concept, there are plenty of turns along the way that raised the stakes and made it much more interesting. 

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

So naturally I also picked up King's Printz award-winning and breakout novel, Please Ignore Vera Dietz. This one took me a little bit longer to get into. It was formatted a little differently and I could not easily relate to Vera. She was someone who worked a full-time job on top of school and for whom school didn't seem to have as much influence in her life. (Also, I dispute the credibility of a high school offering a Vocab class.) I was under the impression that the story of Charlie and Vera's past was simple and I was not entirely sure the direction the novel was going.

That said, I soon began to get really into it. Aspects of the characters were slowly revealed and it all fell into place. There's a palpable sense of guilt and knowledge of the ups and downs of relationships, between friends and parents. Furthermore, I just love how the characters are very flawed and completely messy. What they do may not be the right thing, but they do have some sense and they're learning.  Another thing I like about King: her characters may be a bit messed up, but they always face consequences from both the authorities and their parents. The same happened in Ask the Passengers. (On the other hand, that one also offered a critique of the school discipline system, because the protagonist did something justified but was still punished.)

The magic realism in Please Ignore Vera Dietz is perhaps more overt than Ask the Passengers and Everybody Sees the Ants.  Vera experiences visions of her dead friend, he narrates a little bit from beyond the grave, and he even helps her in spirit. Speaking of narration shifts, there are also brief sections narrated by Vera's father (complete with flow charts), and the inanimate pagoda which watches over the town also has a few sassy things to say. I really enjoyed this unique structure. As a whole the book felt like a compiled file of what happened to Charlie and how Vera currently as she is trying to figure that out. It's a little bit like the structure of Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, actually, which is one of my favorite books.

I realize I've left out a description of a plot, but honestly it's hard to explain. It's a contemporary, but also veers toward a mystery, albeit one where the whodunnit isn't that important in the overall scheme of things. It's about the death of a friend who was once close, yes, and coping with the guilt from that. But it's also about growing up and gaining new responsibilities and using them wisely. It's about the role parents have in their children's lives, whether for good or for bad. It might even be a bit about the impact of alcohol and abuse. What it wasn't was something clear-cut, and I love that.