Current Mood: hopeful

Current Music: Keen on Boys by The Radio Dept.

Grave-robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It's true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of nineteenth-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a sixteen-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey's life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school.
    
Everything changes when Joey's mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey's father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey's life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating.
    
Daniel Kraus's masterful plotting and unforgettable characters make Rotters a moving, terrifying, and unconventional epic about fathers and sons, complex family ties, taboos, and the ever-present specter of mortality. (summary from GoodReads.com)

*I have always had the utmost respect for authors who choose not to "dumb down" their writing for young adults. This book is an example of an author who made the choice to not sugar coat his story in many ways. The books has graphic and fascinating scientific descriptions of the process of decay and decomposition. It shows that darkest edges of an already creepy lifestyle of the grave-robbers and explains in detail the zombie like survival of a character addicted to drugs. Beyond all of the darkness there is a story about a boy trying to find his way in the world. There are moments of joy and triumph and this is the least predictable story that I've read this year. Some comment that the story doesn't flow enough for them or that they were taken aback by the intensity of the gruesomeness, but if you read Stephen King, you should read this. This is an amazing read for high school kids that are fascinated by the darker side of life and for any adult that appreciates the horror genre.

 
 

Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . .In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone's eating "Lazarus burgers." But as absurd as the town's carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.

While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.

Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances. (summary from GoodReads).

*Within the first page of this book I knew that I was reading something special. The writing is succinct with feeling sparse and colorful without feeling clowny. It leads the reader to question their ideas on love, faith, hope and family and all the while has a non-preachy light hearted soul. This is a phenomenal read and although it is called a "young adult" book, it would make an amazing read for adults as well. I'm anxious to see what lies ahead in John Corey's next book!

-It's also worth noting that Where Things Come Back has won and been nominated for numerous awards:

• it is a 2012 William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist
• Publisher's Weekly Best of 2011 Book.
• John Corey Whaley was chosen as a 5 under 35 National Book Award honoree