Tuesday, July 30, 2013

May Read - Tell The Wolves I'm Home





Tell The Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads):  
1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.

S’s Rating:  ❤❤❤ (out of five hearts)

D’s Rating:  ❤❤
(out of five hearts)


S’s Thoughts:

Right, so it’s taken some time for us to get around to reviewing this book… mostly because D had to wait to get it from the library. I have a Kindle so ha ha to that.

TTWIM is one of those books that just takes your breath away with the amount of sadness, grief and loneliness strewn throughout the pages. Like a painting, all of the backstories of each character come together page by page to produce a beautiful end result… a novel that both devastated me and warmed my heart. Very few books leave me sobbing at the end (I don't cry too often over books however commercials are another story) and TTWIM was one of them.
I could see a bit of myself in sisters June and Greta, and even a bit Toby as well—I think it’s a novel that a lot of people, despite their sexual orientation, can identify with. If, in the next ten years, TTWIM doesn’t become required reading for school curriculums I’ll be surprised. It’s just that kind of book and is very topical right now what with the US Supreme Court striking down DOMA and Prop 8.

Standout Quotes:
Tax season always smelled like stew.  Most days my mother left her mustard-yellow crockpot sittig on the kitchen counter, slow-cooking something for our dinner.  It didn't matter what was in the pot--chicken, vegetables, beans--it all smelled like stew once the pot was through with it.

I thought of all the different kinds of love in the world.  I could think of ten without even trying.  The way parents love their kid, the way you love a puppy or a chocolate ice cream or home or your favourite book or your sister.  Or your uncle.  There's those kinds of loves and then there's the other kid.  The falling kind.

Album to listen to while reading this book: I don't know why but Up from Below by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros seemed to work really well with this book.  Though I am biased because it's one of my all time favourite albums.  If you haven't hear it, well, shame on you!



(Only the most addictive, prettiest song ever)

D’s Thoughts:

After having to wait two months for this book, I was certainly hoping that it was going to be worth it. Let me assure you, it is.

There is one odd paradox that runs throughout this book, at least for me: the plot is almost impossible to believe, yet it was so realistic that when the main character, June, was wronged in anyway, I was furious. More than once while reading I had to remind myself that this was just a book, that this was fiction. 


I fell in love with the way Carol Rifka Brunt incorporated beautiful things--art, Mozart, castles, and more--into the story. The consistent of use of Mozart's Requiem was of course thrilling to a music geek like myself, but that wasn't it. This book, despite the narrator being young and unsure of herself, is written with such excellent diction that it mimics poetry in a few places. 

Drifting apart from a sister, feeling out of place in the world, losing a loved one and losing someone far too young...all of these take a strong precedence in this book, and I have personally dealt with all of them at some point. In fact, the day before I began reading the book, I attended the visitation of a person the same age as Finn at his death: my math teacher from this last school year. This book is incredibly relatable while still creating a unique, unparalleled story. And for that, I consider Tell the Wolves I'm Home to be rather excellent. It was certainly worth the wait.

Standout Quotes:
That's what being shy feels like. Like my skin is too thin, the light too bright...someone asks me a question and I stare at them, empty-faced, my brain jammed up with how hard I'm trying to find something interesting to say. And in the end, all I can do is nod or shrug, because the light of their eyes looking at me, waiting for me, is just too much to take. And then it's over and there's one more person in the world who thinks I'm a complete and total waste of space.

Why couldn't people live together, spend their whole lives together, just because they liked each other's company? Just because they liked each other more than they liked anyone else in the whole world? If you found a person like that you wouldn't have to have sex. You could just hold them, couldn't you? You could sit close to them, nestle into them so you could hear the machine of them churning away. You could press your ear against that person's back, listening to the rhythm of them, knowing that you were both made of the same exact stuff. You could do things like that.

Album to listen to while reading this book: While I could have said Mozart's Requiem, I'm taking a less obvious route. Her Majesty The Decemberists by The Decemberists


June’s book is D’s choice and is Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. (Review to come shortly after this one)

See you soon! S & D