Peachy Reads

Love the title, but now having finished the book it's as if the author thought up the almost-too-clever title first and tried to put a story behind it second. There's a touch of the supernatural in this novel with Rose, the protagonist, possessing the rather extraordinary skill of divining people's emotions and psychological well-being through the food they harvest or prepare. Rose first notices her mother's emotion in her rendition of a birthday cake (hence the title of the book), and as she matures it is nearly impossible for Rose to swallow any food that has bitter emotions associated with it, and she survives adolescence by frequenting the school's snack machine with all its industrially-manufactured snacks (and no human hands involved, and thus no poisoned emotion), but what teenager doesn't survive the teen years on twinkies? Well, okay, Rose's unusual talent was an interesting plot device, but it goes to the next level or extraordinary when she become...

If you’re wondering about all the hoopla regarding graphic novels, you might want to pick up Tamara Drewe and give the genre a try. Forget about comics like Scooby Doo or superheroes like Spiderman or Batman that you might remember from your childhood. Tamara Drewe is a very adult drama (okay, it's a soap opera) loosely based on Hardy’s Far from the Maddening Crowd . It was first serialized in the British newspaper The Guardian , was then compiled into this single volume, and has now been made into a feature film with live actors. My brother-in-law recommended this title to me, and I didn’t quite know what to expect. It’s hard to imagine that a “comic strip” can be so compelling, but I think when I look back on it, I will remember it as a novel and not necessarily as a graphic novel, and certainly not as a cartoon! The graphic novel is finding a new readership. Give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Jack and his Ma live within the confines of a room 11-feet square. Their existence is quite extraordinary since this small windowless room and all its contents (Rug, Duvet, meltedy spoon, Remote, the egg snake...) is the only world Jack has ever known. Gradually the true circumstances of their confinement are revealed to the reader as Ma and Jack plan a daring escape. Their lives in the outside world present far more problems than they could have predicated and Jack somewhat disturbingly yearns for the comfort and familiarity of Room and the exclusive relationship he had with his mother. The story, told through Jack's 5-year-old voice, is thought-provoking and gripping. Of course it's fiction, but one can't help making comparisons to real-life stories such as Austrian Natascha Kampusch or another horrifying Austrian case that made headlines not so long ago . An unusual but rewarding read.