I have thus far read Gravity Journal, Mountain Girl River Girl, and Gotcha! and I have to say that I am not impressed with this years selection of books. Gripe #1 - NO FANTASY. I understand that its not a genre that all love, but many do. Pretty please include just one fantasy in the selection? Gripe #2, and this is the major one - the books are so DARK! I dont mean just dark as in death, but I;m talking about the pits of humanity, the lowest of the lows of human existance. In Gravity Journal, you have Anise, who deals with depression, self-mutilation and anorexia; the end holds hope but no promise. In Gotcha! Katie's life goes horribly awry between the banned game of Gotcha, the lengths players will go to, and the whole mess of her family life. Mountain Girl River Girl I simply despise. The writing is choppy, alternating between Pan-pan and Shui-lian's points of view at crucial moments, causing the flow of the story to be hard to hold. In addition, this novel is also incredibly dark; including running away, forced marriage, prostitution, homelessness, gang rape, social stigma and crushed hope. The one chance where it might have been redeemed - the end - I was bitterly disappointed. There is no hope for the future for these two girls. There is no epilogue or note on how their lives turned out ... for all the readers know, they were both beaten, raped, robbed, murdered, and left in a ditch! Can I please, please, PLEASE hear from someone that there is at least one White Pine novel for 2008-2009 that will not depress me? Enough of eating disorders, depression, war, rebellion, rape, strife, and suffering....
~ Capt. Holly Short~
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