#bt week

”Vicious” by Victoria Schwab

This book in six words: X-Men with a moral question mark. How is "question mark" two words??

Alice Oseman “Radio Silence”

“A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness

The biggest plus of this novel is the world building and the little details. That is not to say that everything else is bad - just that this is definitely the best part. I love the combination / contrast and sometimes conflict between magic and science, to begin with. And the female scholar protagonist Diana. Also: yay alchemy and research. I also liked Harkness’ vampires. Not to mention: vampire yoga. And a healthy, long term lesbian relationship. AND time travel (though with a bit of a cliff hanger tease). And a true and truly wonderful real witches house.

Ilija Trojanow “Power and Resistance” (published in German only!)

This book is not easy. Trojanow describes the life of Konstantin and Metodi, two men in post-socialist Bulgaria. Konstantin is the “resistance”, suffering from nightmares and betrayal, a victim of the regime and its prisons and torture, melancholic and broken, suffering. Metodi is “power”, a former agent, always and still loyal to the regime and its ideals, proud and arrogant, still interogating everybody. The two of them are rather one-sided and predictable - hate the perpetrator, feel with the victim. To switch it arounf (a former bully suffering from his deeds and a weakend fighter of the resitance) would have been more interesting to read about - but maybe that is my personal opinion. 

These two men stand opposite each other, symbolically and formally in alternating chapters. It is a simple premise, this opposition, but a powerful one. The books sends it strong message without any superflous material. Definitions, descriptions and metaphors are kept simple, but spot on; the sentences are very long, yet simple; explanations are rare. The reader does understand what is meant at all times, but the style is nevertheless peculiar.

Some parts are a bit too modern for my taste - why for example do years have to “tell” chapters? It is also often difficult to read about this “time after” with only sparse information about the time, the socialism, itself. Bulgarian history is something I am widely unfamiliar with, as a lot of readers would be. Another negative aspect was the ending: I felt as if Konstantin did not get enough revenge, enough closure about his past and Metodi. On the other hand - maybe the message was the he is stronger than that and does not need revenge? Personally, I would have expected him to piss on Metodis grave, but that again is personal opinion. A more serious negative point was the overall length of the book: half of it would have been sufficient. It was not boring, but neither did I learn about anything totally new. 

David Lagercrantz “Fall of Man in Wilmslow”

This can be read as a follow-up to the movie “The Imitation Game”. It deals with Alan Turings suicide and the investigation surrounding it. In it, the main focus is on the one hand on his illegal homosexuality and the stereotypes and discrimination around it, and on the other hand on his participation in secrets of the war, which make the investigation difficult. That is topped by a very interesting character - the detective - who develops so much and gradually improves his opinion on homosexuals while also increasing his knowledge of the mathematics Turing was involved with. He also seems to have some gay tendencies or traumatic experiences from boarding school somewhere very deep in the closet. Anyway - a very interesting character, especially for this kind of novel.

Tom Rachman “Rise and Fall of Great Powers”

“City of Fallen Angels” by Cassandra Clare

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" by Jesse Andrews

This book should have been called "Me and Me and Me and Me and a bit about Earl and oh, by the way, there is also this girl that dies". It was really a lot different from what I had expected, in terms of the plot. I thought of it more along the lines of "The Fault in Our Stars" minus the romance, but with a lot of film making and creativity.

Instead, it was a lengthy account of this dudes life. Also, there was a lot of explanation and background. I mean, after he clarifies why he has written this book and what its purpose is, all of that kind of makes sense, but maybe he should have explained the meaning in the beginning and not at the end as a plot twist? I sure would have saved me some disappointment.

Another thing I did not like was the format. I mean, the script-like dialouge I can live with, but at least go all the way. Either do every dialouge in that form, or non at all. As it was, I was just confused why same passages looked liked script and others did not.

But on to the positive things: I thought the portrayal of teenagers was very realistic - their confusion, their struggles, their weird emotions, their thoughts and feelings. I am also a big fan of the messed up and / or unpopular main characters I was presented with. They were relatable and understandable and did not seem like the typical unrealistic teenagers other older authors try to understand and write about.