The Children Act: Ian McEwan

"Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge who presides over cases in the family court.  She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude, and sensitivity.  Bur her professional success belies private sorrow and domestic strife.  There is the lingering regret of her childlessness, and now her marriage of thirty years is in crisis.

"At the same time, she is called on to try an urgent case:  Adam, a beautiful seventeen-year-old boy, is refusing for religious reasons the medical treatment that could save his life, and his devout parents echo his wishes.  Time is running out.  Should the secular court overrule sincerely expressed faith?  In the course of reaching a decision, Fiona visits Adam in the hospital -- an encounter that stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy.  Her judgement has momentous consequences for them both."

This is the second book I've read by Ian McEwan, Atonement being the first.  Though I read that book back in 2014, I still recall McEwan's lyrical, artistic style -- quintessential modern British literature (and Modern British Literature happened to be the course for which Atonement had been assigned); I knew the possibilities and depth into which I was about to dive with this book.  It's fairly short (there aren't even 250 pages in the hardcover printing), but the amount of emotion indecision McEwan was able to cram into a book of this length was astounding.  I expected to like it, but I didn't expect to find it so easy to read or so moving.

Fiona is a brilliant judge and some of the cases she hears are impossible.  I realize this is fiction, but I'm sure some of those situations do make appearances in real courts from time to time -- maybe even more often than we realize.  It's no wonder her marriage had become so strained.  If I was emotionally drained from reading about her life, I can only imagine what someone in her position would feel like, having lived it.  The strains upon her relationship and her husband's restlessness were written in a remarkably realistic fashion.  He wasn't crucified, but nor was Fiona.  I found myself wanting to hate him for what he did, but Fiona's vacillations muddied the waters brilliantly.

Adam felt alive.  I should have guessed the illness was leukemia from the cover art on the book, but I didn't.  Leukemia has touched my family in a very personal way.  I was not around to experience it first-hand, I found McEwan's descriptions revealing a side of the disease of which I was unaware.  It made me nauseous, but only for its powerful reality; his ability to describe the illness and the side effects of the treatments in a way that was (oddly) both clinical and moving at the same time.  Adam lives in an impossible world.  On the cusp of manhood, he clings to the life he has always known, but he really is still just a boy -- a talented, brilliant, remarkable, boy.  Leukemia turns his world on its ear and calls into question his core beliefs and that of his family.  Any decision Fiona makes will alter his life forever.  The eloquence and rationality with which Adam and his family explain and support their religious beliefs really makes this book readable.  I was worried that there would be screaming matches and religious soapboxes, but I can appreciate their points (even if I do not necessarily agree with them).  This was probably one of the greatest achievements in this book.

The ending of the book felt very true to what I know of McEwan's storytelling.  He gives rays of hope, but mixes them with healthy doses of poignant sadness.

Overall, I found the book to be a moving story very relevant to today's climate (I won't get into debates here, but a quick Google search should assuage your curiosity).  There were moments where I wasn't sure of some of the procedures and/or terminology (the law is different on this side of the pond), but I managed to figure them out.  The pacing was excellent and it flowed extremely well.  This was a very quick read that packed a powerful punch.

The Fault in Our Stars: John Green

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis.  But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten."

I think it's pretty hard to find someone who hasn't read (or at least heard of) this story or seen its film adaptation that came out in theaters fairly recently.  It's created quite the buzz!  (Now I can see why "Okay?  Okay." is posted everywhere online!  Insanely sweet.)  Initially, I'd discovered this title on a list of book-to-film adaptations that would be coming out in 2014 (I found the list late in 2013).  Honestly, I skipped right over this one.  Cancer kids?  Someone's going to die.  I don't need to bawl like a baby while reading a book (though there are several times I can name where that has happened before).  The movie came out and I was a bit tempted to pick up the book, but none more so when my boyfriend shocked my by saying -- out of the blue -- that he wanted to see this movie.  I was flabbergasted.  This was probably the one movie that I didn't even attempt to ask him to accompany me to.  (Backstory:  His father passed away from cancer a few years before I met my boyfriend.  I never knew his dad, but the two of them were extremely close.)  I didn't think asking him to see a cancer movie was the kind thing to do.  I will add, however, that the movie only came up because my boyfriend told me he might want to go to the $5 movie night at our local theater alone.  I asked why and what movie.  He responded with this film and that he wanted to go alone because he might cry (because a twenty-something man sitting alone in a theater, crying, is a lot less sad than a guy doing it sitting next to his girlfriend?).  I told him that I would love to go with him and that I'd never thought to ask him because of the subject matter.  We still haven't gone, but I was kind of waiting to read the book before I saw the film.  Now that that has been accomplished, I suppose we're going to the movie soon!

I borrowed this book from a coworker who had to read it for her book club.  I had no idea when I'd get to it.  I'm so swamped with work and school.  It feels like forever since I've read a book for pleasure (looking back on the amount of book reviews I've done since this blog started, there's a very interesting trend of a decrease in the amount of reading as college started and I got more absorbed with my studies).  She said I could have the book as long as it took me to read it, which, I thought, would take months, if I didn't get to read it on my upcoming girls' trip to NOLA.  However, we happened to have NO plans for the 4th of July this year (yesterday), and I was able to sit on the deck and read (thanks to my awesome Walmart find:  Bistro patio set for $25!).  The dogs chilled on the deck with me and I got to soak up some sun while enjoying the first book-for-pleasure I'd enjoyed in a really long time.  Needless to say, the last thing I expected to do was FINISH THE BOOK!  Even with endless interruptions (i.e. I had a sick puppy, preparing our shish kabobs and grilling them for lunch/dinner, etc.) I still managed to finish the book in about 12 hours!  I cannot tell you how awesome it felt to do a reading marathon.  That's not something I've done in years!  I think this book was a perfect one to do that with.  I loved the characters.  They were witty and wry and cynical (not to the point of annoying, though).  It was difficult not to fall for Augustus (Gus) and the literary nerd in me really enjoyed his obsession with metaphors.  Hazel was intelligent and interesting as well.  I thought I might not like her at first -- she's portrayed almost abrasively in the first chapter or so -- but she definitely grew on me.  I have to say that I predicted the plot twist even a few chapters into reading about Gus and Hazel's budding romance.  This, however, didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.  This really is a true love story and I have not read as good a romance as this in a very long time.  (I will say that I didn't bawl like so many other readers have.  The story was beautiful and so lovingly, eloquently written, but I just didn't sob.  I did tear up a bit, but nothing drastic.  Maybe I have become a bit too jaded!)

As far as readability goes, the words flowed extremely well and the dialogue was interesting.  There's quite a bit of vocabulary that I think will be over the heads of most of this book's intended teen audience, but I appreciated it.  I can see why it's appealed to such a broad range of readers.  Now, as far as the maturity level of the audience, I think this book is definitely for a high school audience.  My friend is a middle school teacher and I'm fairly certain this was one of the books she saw her students reading.  Also, my cousin just turned 12 in May and she read this book around that time.  While she loved it (she said she cried at the end of their end-of-year tests while she finished the book) and she is an excellent reader with a broad vocabulary for her age, I think some of this material is just not something she should have been exposed to just yet.  There's sex (implied, but they do mention a condom and getting naked), and a lot of very deep discussion about death and dying.  While I feel like today's kids are a lot more exposed to all of this than even I was in the '90s, a line should be drawn.  Yes, it's a very good book, but there's a reason that so many people sob while reading it -- there's a reason it's so tragically touching.  I'm not yet a parent of a pre-teen so don't think I'm trying to tell you what to do, I'm just trying to be honest when I say, "If you have a pre-teen who wants to read this book, be prepared for one of several things.  Either tell them 'no' and wait a few years until they're in high school (they'll be better able to understand the vocabulary used and they probably would have already had 'the talk' and be a bit more mature and better able to handle such subject matter), or read it with them/before they do (which will help you decide whether or not it's appropriate for your child) and then at least you'll know exactly what they're reading and can prepare some answers for some questions I'm sure they'll have."  I know I fully intend on being the kind of parent who will pre-read books for her kids -- not to censure them, but to prepare myself to answer questions they might have.

I recommend this book for adults and (appropriately prepared and mature) young-adults alike.  Green's writing is vivid and alive.  I've not had to live with cancer (knock on wood), but from having my own serious medical issues, I can say that Green's descriptions of who chronic patients feel are spot on.  I highly recommend this book (for the right readers).  Now I suppose I've got to see the movie -- maybe my boyfriend and I can cry together!