Review: The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon

Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 384

Received: Received a copy from Random House of Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: April 8, 2014
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

A dystopian novel for the digital age, The Word Exchange offers an inventive, suspenseful, and decidedly original vision of the dangers of technology and of the enduring power of the printed word.

In the not-so-distant future, the forecasted “death of print” has become a reality. Bookstores, libraries, newspapers, and magazines are things of the past, and we spend our time glued to handheld devices called Memes that not only keep us in constant communication but also have become so intuitive that they hail us cabs before we leave our offices, order takeout at the first growl of a hungry stomach, and even create and sell language itself in a marketplace called the Word Exchange.

Anana Johnson works with her father, Doug, at the North American Dictionary of the English Language (NADEL), where Doug is hard at work on the last edition that will ever be printed. Doug is a staunchly anti-Meme, anti-tech intellectual who fondly remembers the days when people used email (everything now is text or videoconference) to communicate—or even actually spoke to one another, for that matter. One evening, Doug disappears from the NADEL offices, leaving a single written clue: ALICE. It’s a code word he devised to signal if he ever fell into harm’s way. And thus begins Anana’s journey down the proverbial rabbit hole . . .

Joined by Bart, her bookish NADEL colleague, Anana’s search for Doug will take her into dark basements and subterranean passageways; the stacks and reading rooms of the Mercantile Library; and secret meetings of the underground resistance, the Diachronic Society. As Anana penetrates the mystery of her father’s disappearance and a pandemic of decaying language called “word flu” spreads, The Word Exchange becomes a cautionary tale that is at once a technological thriller and a meditation on the high cultural costs of digital technology.

My Review:

Well, this book definitely caught my attention, I absolutely love the cover and the description. I think Alena Graedon has used this story to really show how technology has taken over people's lives and changed language. Though this story goes over the top, it is scary to think that something like this could happen. This book is one that I think as a reader you need to sit down and take you time to get through.

I really loved how the story was written, back and forth from Anana's perspective and Bart's, giving readers two views on this "word flu". There is so much happening in this book, that it's hard to stop reading, I wanted to know more about how things came about, and also what really happened to Anana's father, Doug. The characters are quite eccentric and have such strong personalities which really add to the whole dynamic of the story.

What I really loved about this book was how it made me actually think about my life and how technology has affected it. I am of the generation that grew up with technology, and seeing how younger generations can already do so much really makes me wonder about what the written word will be like in years to come. Don't get me wrong I am not of the belief that print is dying, but there are so many people that rely on technology for everything, I can't even leave my house without my phone, it is an extension of myself. Alena Graedon has such an interesting idea of how technology evolves to think for us and really do everything, even ordering food and taxis for us.

Honestly, this book is one that I think everyone should read just because of the impact the story itself can have on people. It makes me want to sit down and take a break from technology. But adding to the story is the history behind words and language itself, as well as discussing how new words come into fruition. Alena Graedon slowly inserts the "word flu" into her story in a way that she shows the growth of it and how it takes over slowly.

Everything about this book was amazing, and insightful, and I hope to see more from Alena in the future.

Stay tuned in the next couple of days for an interview with Alena. 

Review: Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 452

Received: Received a copy from Harper Collins Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: January 21, 2014
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

The passionate and turbulent story of Robert Louis Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny.

At the age of thirty-five, Fanny van de Grift Osbourne leaves her philandering husband in San Francisco and sets sail for Belgium to study art, with her three children and a nanny in tow. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her brood repair to a quiet artists' colony in France where she can recuperate. There she meets Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who is instantly smitten with the earthy, independent and opinionated belle Americaine.

A woman ahead of her time, Fanny does not immediately take to the young lawyer who longs to devote his life to literature, and who would eventually write such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson's charms. The two begin a fierce love affair, marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness, which spans decades as they travel the world for the sake of his health. Eventually they settled in Samoa, where Robert Louis Stevenson is buried underneath the epitaph:

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

(Requiem, Robert Louis Stevenson)

My Review:

So many books are coming out lately about the private life of many past authors, and I really love learning so much more about the people who wrote so many classic books that are still loved today. Robert Louis Stevenson is a most interesting character to base a story around, but this book is not only about him, but also Fanny van de Grift Osbourne, the woman he falls in love with.

This is quite a long story, there is a lot of information and the story spans over many years. I enjoyed seeing how these two characters met and how their relationship came to be, as well as how they worked together over the years. The chapters switch from Fanny's view to Robert's view, seeing how they both feel really added to the emotion in the story. It was interesting to see how each of them felt about different situations and how certain things affected them differently.

I felt like this story had too much going on, it was long and at times it felt like there was a lot of information that did not seem completely relevant. Horan has a great writing style, but the story was long and sometimes it was difficult to keep reading. I felt myself almost giving up on the story at times, but I am happy to say I kept on until the end.

The relationship between these two characters is strong, but there are a lot of difficulties for them, and readers can see how intense both Fanny and Robert are. The intensity these two have towards their work sometimes sees clashes between them. I loved how Fanny was there for Robert and helped him through some of his most difficult periods. I did want a little bit more about Fanny, rather than seeing how Robert affected her, though I understand a lot of her life revolved around him after they got together.

Both of them go through rough periods and I believe that the way they get through the situations shows how strong the love is between them. Though this was a hard book to get through because of how long and sometimes tedious it could be, it was a good story about someone who has had such a great effect on the literary scene. 

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Publisher: Harper Collins
Series: Dorothy Must Die #1
Pages: 452

Received: Received a copy from Harper Collins Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: April 1, 2014
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero. But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened?
Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.
I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.
I've been trained to fight.
And I have a mission:
Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.
Steal the Scarecrow's brain.
Take the Lion's courage.
Then and only then—Dorothy must die!

My Review:

Oh how excited I was for this book, a story about what happened to Dorothy after what we know to be the end... I couldn't say no to something like this. I do believe that Danielle Paige has an interesting idea with this story, but though I enjoyed parts of the book, I also felt that there was too much going on at times. The story started out well, really getting readers interested in the history of Oz, following the story that we all know. But after some time, the story becomes confusing when everything starts happening at once.

Amy is a great character, she has this sarcastic streak to her which I love and I definitely felt had a great humour to it. I like that Amy has the attitude that gets her in trouble a lot and she is the type to react quickly to certain things, she is a great MC, and I believe that she will have more great adventures in the future of this series. But, I wanted a little more of her to the book though, there were a lot of secondary characters that it seemed took away from Amy and her mission. The characters that we all know and love from The Wizard of Oz come back with a darker streak to them, I thought it was interesting to see how things can change so easily when you get what you want.

Danielle Paige has a great amount of action happening in this first book that I believe will keep readers intrigued. Oz has become a dark place and I do think this series has brought an interesting view on a follow up to the much loved story. The main thing that made this book difficult to love was that there was too much going on in one book (especially with the fact that it is the first one in a series). There are too many aspects that all come out in this book, and not everything is explained in detail.

As much as I wanted to love this book, there were a few issues that I had. I enjoyed the story but I think Danielle Paige put too much in one book, and that some of the issues should have been outlined over the entire series. I am still a little interested to see what will happen next, and see more of the action that Danielle has with these loveable characters. The ending left me confused and wondering exactly what Amy is supposed to do. I hope there are more explanations along the rest of the series.