Review Roundup: The Morris Award Edition

After I've posted my review of one of the titles shortlisted for the Morris Award, I'll present a collection of reviews of the title, so you can get some other perspectives on the book in question. I hope you enjoy this feature--and I'll just be scratching the surface, so if you're looking for more, give Google Blog Search a try.

Absolute Brightness

A Patchwork of Books: Too many problems, too much info, took away from a great story.
BookEnvy: Somehow, knowing in advance that it was going to happen made the anticipation while reading the book even stronger.
Kids Lit: It is writing that makes one pause, sometimes gasp, reread and then think for awhile.
Libarilly Blonde: Absolute Brightness is one of the most hyped YA novels of the year so far, and after reading it, I'm sorry to say that I was not impressed.

Madapple

Two Turtles: I wouldn't recommend this to the masses, but there are certainly a lot of teens who will be fascinated and appreciate something a little different.
Becky's Book Reviews: Weird and sometimes wonderful is how I'd describe Madapple by Christina Meldrum.
Sarah Miller: This is one of those stories that has its own palpable atmosphere, and it feels just like the cover looks: murky, stirring, and intense.
Bookshelves of Doom: It's not an easy-breezy read -- I wouldn't give it to a reluctant reader, for sure -- but teens (and adults) who're interested in exploring the subjects I mentioned shouldn't miss this one.
Stuff As Dreams Are Made On: It was dark and melancholy and philosophical at times and piqued my interests non-stop.

Graceling

Teen Book Review: I’ve heard nothing but raves about Graceling, so I was unsurprised when I found it to be a wonderful book.
Avid Teen Reader: Graceling has a strong heroine who knows what she wants but isn't exactly sure how to get it, and despite her Grace is a very loving and sensitive person.
YAthenaeum: She tells so much in so little, and I want nothing more than to spend more time in these character's lives.
Sarah Miller: I've read my share of tomboy and feisty princess stories, but Katsa's a cut above the stereotype.
Bookends: Kristin Cashore has created an intensely interesting world and peopled it with characters that sparkle with complexity and life.

Me, the Missing, and the Dead

Bookshelves of Doom: It explores the differences between our memories of people who are gone and the reality of what life with them was really like.
What KT Reads: And, the story itself didn't really sit well with me. There's nothing wrong with it really, it just isn't my kind of story.

General Morris Award

Interactive Reader: I like the whole shortlist concept. I wonder if there would be less shock and controversy for the Newbery and Printz if people had a little warning and time to read the books themselves.
Libarilly Blonde: So, um, may the best Madapple win!
A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy: This is one of the good things about the shortlist; it's not just the buzz for these five books, but it's the opportunity to read these titles with a different perspective and to discuss these books and the award.

Morris Shortlist: Madapple

Madapple
Christina Meldrum
2008; Knopf; 978-0-375-85176-6 (hardcover)

Summary: Aslaug didn't kill her mother. She didn't kill her aunt or her cousin, either. Aslaug wasn't born to a virgin. She wasn't a virgin when she gave birth to her own daughter. Yet it's hard for Aslaug to know what is real and not, what is true and not. As she sits in a courtroom, accused of killing her relatives, Aslaug starts from the beginning to reap the truth, the Solomon's seal, from amongst the weeds and lies.


My Humble Thoughts on Why This Book Was Shortlisted for the Morris Award

#1: An impressive use of language.

Christina Meldrum bursts onto the YA lit scene with this atmospheric first novel. With carefully chosen words and finely wrought phrases, Madapple is like a rare, exotic plant in a field of daisies.

"This memory stirs my longing for bloodroot, for the blood of the root, that orange-red sap I've used in secret to dye my belly with the likeness of a spotted touch-me-not, as if somehow that golden flower with its splotches of burnt red could protect me from my mother; from her biting words, the stinging rod; her absence. Touch me not. And yet, I want her touch, and I want to hear her words--words that open small passages into the tunnels of her mind, and often seduce me with wonder. "(pages 16-17)

Long sentences and short, dreamy introspection and fast actions, are all combined. While the pacing is slow, a patient reader is rewarded by the last third of the book, as past and present come closer and closer, and questions begin to have answers revealed.

#2: A collection of intriguing, unknowable characters.

To most of us, the characters in Madapple are all crazy. Aslaug, her mother Maren, her aunt and cousins--they're all a little off. Yet this oddness draws in the reader, compelling you to figure out these people. Is Aslaug more than just a girl? Does her preacher aunt have a God-given gift to save the spirit? Are they really crazy, or do they appear that way because of the intoxicating plants they consume, like the madapple of the title? And through it all, Aslaug is trying to find the same answers as the reader, searching to discover who is her father, who is her mother really, and who or what she is.

#3: Probing into what we see and what we believe.

Questions of nature, science and religion dominate in Madapple. From Sanne's devotion to pre-Christian religions, Rune's disbelief and skepticism, and the preacher's reliance on God and schnapps, Aslaug finds herself unprepared for the questions these people raise in her. Her mother put her faith in nature and science, instructing Aslaug to do the same. Yet Maren still searched for answers in religious writings until her death. And Aslaug, as she becomes more adrift in the world of the Charisma Pentecostal Church, also turns to the books, the writings of prophets and holy ones. By the end of the book, Aslaug has found her true faith, has found the things she can believe in and worship. And they're not found in any book.


Madapple is a book like none other. In tone and language, complexity and characters, this book challenges a reader to think and see. And our eyes are opened and our minds are made aware of the many things that are beyond our comprehension.