The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

The School for Good and Evil 
by Soman Chainani

Published by: HarperCollins Publishers 
Publication Date: May 14, 2013

Format: ebook
Copyright: 2014
Pages: 512
Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction - Fairytale retelling
Source: own book

From Amazon:
At the School for Good and Evil, failing your fairy tale is not an option. 

Welcome to the School for Good and Evil, where best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. 
Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. 

The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed—Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are . . . ? The School for Good and Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.


All I can say is good grief what a load of dingo's kidneys.

Fair warning, this might get a bit spoilery because this book just ticked me off so much. I am going to try and avoid giving away too much but I might let some things slip.

I have had this book shoved to my attention for what feels like ages, so when I saw it on sale at Amazon for $1.99, I finally decided to give it a go. I like fairy tale retellings and the premise sounded somewhat promising.

Turns out I should have given it a pass. Ugh what a wet mess.  The idea that the "ugly" girl is the good one and the "beautiful" girl is the evil one is not exactly groundbreaking here but has been treated as something amazingly subversive and trope upending by lots of reviewers out there. Okay - I was willing to give it a chance, considering much of the stuff that gets published, this sounded like it was at least going to be a chance of pace.

Turns out to be a throughly shallow treatment though because as the story progresses, 'good' girls get prettier and 'evil' girls get uglier - so much for that subversive idea. And for some reason the whole Evil School is populated by the unwashed, unkempt and imperfect, because clearly that all equals evil, right? Excuse me?  Some of the best fairy tale villains were quite beautiful or handsome. What the heck does lack of traditional beauty or inability to blend in with peers have to do with evil?

Someone failed Shakespeare - That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain 
                                                            — Hamlet Act 1, scene 5

The book gives lip service to the idea that actions speak louder than appearances, but doesn't actually make that happen in the plot. Not to mention the fact that the whole 'I want to be an evil villain just because!' thing has never made sense to me. There are some stabs at explaining motivations but they mostly fall flat because the worldbuilding is so nonsensical.

More Shakespeare !

I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace,

and it better fits my blood to be disdained of all than to

fashion a carriage to rob love from any. In this, though I

cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be

denied but I am a plain-dealing villain. I am trusted with a

muzzle and enfranchised with a clog; therefore I have

decreed not to sing in my cage. If I had my mouth, I would

bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking. In the

meantime, let me be that I am, and seek not to alter me.

                                    — Much Ado About Nothing Act 1, scene 3


I completely hated the whole your soul is either all evil or all good - you were born that way - and there isn't anything you can do about it.  I managed to swallow it down and hope that this was going to be blown apart in the course of the story.

Speaking of inexplicable - apparently murder is common, right since it is common in fairy tales, but only the truly evil can be murders, so really murdering someone is too evil, except at the beginning of the book, and multiple times throughout actually, her roommates threaten, plan, attempt to murder Sophie. Then later in the book they act all shocked about the idea of murder. And someone does actually commit a murder but the only consequences are occasional feelings of nausea. Wait, what ?

And this kind of thing is true throughout the book. Every characters actions and motivations are whatever they need to be at that point in the narrative, never mind the fact that they were completely different just a few pages or even paragraphs ago.

The book starts out promisingly, laying out threads that could have gone somewhere - like perhaps the critical idea that the world isn't totally black and white, and really following through with the ugly does not equal evil. There were lots of ways that this could have been a really good book. It bailed on every single one of them. Sigh.

And the ending! ARGH! Mass slaughter but hey, everything is okay for 'our hero' so that equals 'happy ending' (such as it ended - it was pretty abrupt for such a long, wordy and repetitive book.)

However - at the very end of the book the way that the internal fairy tale ended, the trigger, I really liked that idea. Too bad it was tied up with the extremely harmful idea that good is always required to forgive - no matter how badly someone else has treated them or others - no matter how terrible someone else is. That is a recipe for abuse right there. 

And the writing was occasionally a bit of a train wreck. There were several places where I re-read sections of text that jumped from point A to point B like something critical and revealing had happened, but there was nothing connecting them. Either the ebook version is missing chunks of text or this book needed a much better editor.

Stuff like this (there are worse examples but they are all spoilers) ...

"The west doors flew open to sixty gorgeous boys in swordfight. 

Sun-kissed skin peeked through light blue sleeves and stiff collars; tall navy boots matched high-cut waistcoats and knotted slim ties, each embroidered with a single gold initial."

I flipped back and forth several times trying to find the rest of that first sentence. Just huh?

Sigh. No fun. No fun at all. I certainly am not interested in the second book and don't get why this one was so popular at all.

Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair - mini whatever

Games of Command 
by Linnea Sinclair

Publisher:  Bantam Spectra Book

Format: ebook  

Copyright: 2007

Pages: 560

Genre: Science fiction romance
Source: purchased ebook 
Summary from Goodreads:
The universe isn’t what it used to be. With the new Alliance between the Triad and the United Coalition, Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian finds herself serving under her former nemesis, biocybe Admiral Branden Kel-Paten–and doing her best to hide a deadly past. But when an injured mercenary winds up in their ship’s sick bay–and in the hands of her best friend, Dr. Eden Fynn–Sass’s efforts may be wasted.

Wanted rebel Jace Serafino has information that could expose all of Sass’s secrets, tear the fragile Alliance apart–and end Sass’s career if Kel-Paten discovers them. But the biocybe has something to hide as well, something once thought impossible for his kind to possess: feelings . . . for Sass. Soon it’s clear that their prisoner could bring down everything they once believed was worth dying for–and everything they now have to live for.

This book was recommended to me so in the midst of a surfeit of children's books, I thought a grownup book would be a nice change of pace.  Unfortunately, um, not the kind of chance of pace for which I was looking. For the first half of the book, I was quite enjoying it.  I liked the friendship between Sass and Eden, I like some of the world building - though it was a little too dependent on overuse of made up jargon. I am totally on-board for a good space opera with a side dose of romance.

Things were going really well, then at what I think was roughly the midway point, the story took a left turn and stopped both making sense and being interesting to me. We had this lovely cast of characters, lots of things going on - intrigue, suspense, who to trust ... then bam - down to two pairs - all eyes on overcoming obstacles for love. Sigh. I did read the whole thing, but really - not for me. 

So - if romance novels with a science fiction theme are your thing - this book will totally float your boat. I now know it was nominated for a Rita. However, for me - this was a two and a half claw experience (the first half was three and a half; the second half a two or less).

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

Under the Egg 
by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

Publisher:  Dial  

Format: Hardback   

Copyright: 2014

Pages: 265

Genre: Children's contemporary fiction
Source: library book

From the authors website (http://www.lauramarxfitzgerald.com/):

Only two people know about the masterpiece hidden in the Tenpenny home—

and one of them is dead.

The other is Theodora Tenpenny. Theo is responsible for tending the family's two-hundred-year-old town house, caring for a flock of unwieldy chickens, and supporting her fragile mother, all on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. So, when Theo discovers a painting in the house that looks like a priceless masterpiece, she should be happy about it. But Theo’s late grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if the painting is as valuable as she thinks it is, then her grandfather wasn't who she thought he was.

With the help of some unusual new friends, Theo's search for answers takes her all over Manhattan and introduces her to a side of the city—and her grandfather—that she never knew. To solve the mystery, she'll have to abandon her hard-won self-reliance and build a community, one serendipitous friendship at a time.

I wanted to love this book.  I really, really did. From all of the descriptions, this was totally my sort of story nirvana - art, mystery, history! However, once again I find myself completely out of step with all the people raving about how great it was.  Sigh. The description of the plot from the blub pretty much outlines where the story starts, but the details - the logic - that is where things go totally off the rails for me.

Theo is 13-years old and has been living as if it were still the great depression. From the descriptions in the book she has spent most of her life dangerously undernourished and her growth has probably been stunted (this isn't even taking into account Lyndon referring to Theo as a ten-year-old not once but twice - it wasn't clear if he was trying to annoy her or if he honestly thought she looked ten). I get the whole showing that the character is poor but resilient and creative, but has the author seriously never heard of thrift stores?  I would also assume the author has never heard of child protective services either - no teacher in their right mind would let a child in that condition and dressed like a bag lady just wander through their classrooms with no comment. 

Right - so I was willing to suspend disbelief on this point - except that Theo never really sounded like a 13 year old. Mostly she sounded at least 16, especially when you factor in all the work she does around the house. I totally get that children growing up under adverse circumstances mature more quickly (been there, done that, have the scars) but there are still limits to that, especially given that Theo talks about her life as being lonely and basically friendless - the corollary to such a state is that her social development would be also be skewed. This should have shown up in her interactions with others.  ...  Right so I can gloss over the age thing more suspension. 

But something that I really couldn't gloss over is that the mother is clearly mentally ill and in need of help. Getting the parents/authority figures out of the way so that a child can have their adventure is a common trope - but really, this one was disturbing. Angelika (I think I misspelled that) had clearly been in need of help for years and her father and daughter's response was to ignore her outside of making sure she was fed, supplied with exotic tea and didn't wander out of the house in her bathrobe? Seriously?  Let's see - NYU gave up waiting for her dissertation 15 years ago, i.e. before Theo was even born? So they have basically left this woman "living in her own head" for Theo's entire life? I find this amazingly disturbing! And no - I absolutely do not accept this as an example of "absent minded genius" - that is an amazingly bogus trope. I am an absent minded professor and I work with colleagues who are on the spectrum - guess what? If any of us, or our students, started acting like this for a prolonged period of time (a week or so), there would have been an intervention. I see that several of the reviewers out there call the mother "scatterbrained" or "reclusive" - what on earth?  I am baffled.

Also - I know this is supposed to be an ensemble cast but other than Bodhi, none of the characters seemed to be more than a catch phrase like tattooed librarian. They were all deus ex machina - there to provide Theo with information or to keep the plot moving forward. I even have the feeling that Bodhi was there just to make sure the story moved to fruition. 

And all of that is a really shame because the discussion of the art history and the Holocaust were fantastic. Those parts were well done and informative. The book could totally spark the interest of a young reader in those topics.

Actually one thing that bugged me - the characters discuss the online and database resources for tracking down Holocaust victims and survivors (which somehow Jack never learn about ?!?!?) but they never once mention any of the online resources for stolen art (like http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Works-of-art/Works-of-art) or the online database created by the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that uses the Nazi's own records and photographs of the looting (http://www.lootedart.com/OIFBKA381031) ? They should have at least used the database to see if their painting was listed (and if it was one of the painting seized from Hitler's main stash it sure should have been). 

Sorry - two more rants then I will stop - I had real problems with how the mystery was resolved and how the book ended. The resolution to the mystery was absurd - so absurd that the book hung a lampshade on it trying to talk it's way out of being perceived as absurd. This seems to have worked because again, some reviewers are all "oh, well okay that makes it make sense." Bull pucky!  It is still absurd - it was as if the book had now lost interest and wanted to wrap things up quickly.  And, the way the book ended was a combination of urgh and angry. It made me want to hunt down a fictional character and get him arrested for child endangerment. Logic fail !

So - how to rate it.  For me the book was a two and a half claws - there were some things I really liked - the mystery, the history, etc., but life of the characters and illogical structure - argh! - killed my enjoyment. In my mind it does not compare with From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? (Which at least one reviewer said was more contrived then this story!) For kids - who could suspend their disbelief over some of the things that made me so upset - it would probably rate much higher. 

The problem I have is that the messages sent in the book about poverty and mental illness are not ones that I want kids to take away. This is a real deal-breaker for me. In the end, I think I will show it to my son (11) to see if he is interested (but I won't 'recommend' it to him) and if he reads it I will be interested in seeing what he thinks. I will also want to have several discussions with him about what is going on in the book - which I suppose is a somewhat successful thing for a book.  Still frustrated though - I will be disappointed if it wins awards at the end of the year. The only people who are going to buy this as a realistic and informed portrayal of the challenges of poverty are people who haven't experienced it. Sigh. Gosh - now that I think about it, this book really did follow the children's awards checklist for elements.  That makes me even grumpier !!!