Tag Archives: YA Contemporary

Book Review: Where The Streets Have A Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

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0-545-17292-6Book: Where The Streets Have A Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Published January 2008 by Scholastic|313 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Thirteen year old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother’s ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab’s life. The only problem is that Hayaat and her family live behind the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, and they’re on the wrong side of check points, curfews, and the travel permit system. Plus, Hayaat’s best friend Samy always manages to attract trouble. But luck is on the pair’s side as they undertake the journey to Jerusalem from the Palestinian Territories when Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel.

But while their journey may only be a few kilometers long, it could take a lifetime to complete…

Humorous and heartfelt, Where The Streets Had A Name deals with the Israel-Palestinian conflict with sensitivity and grace and will open a window on this timely subject.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I liked Where The Streets Had A Name!  Not as much as the other books I’ve read from her, but I still really liked it!

Unfortunately, the conflict we see in the book is something that I know nothing about, but I really am glad that Abdel-Fattah wrote such a great book.  I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to live in Hayaat’s world, and it definitely made me realize how little I pay attention to what’s going on in the world.

I think there may be an assumption that the reader knows at least a little bit about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and I think an author’s note would have been nice.  Not that I, or other reader’s, can’t learn more about it on their own, but…it still would have been nice.  It didn’t take away from the novel at all, and it’s a story I think everyone needs to read.  And even though I’m not at all familiar with the conflict we see in the book, I think this book is so important because I think it’s about a side that probably doesn’t get the coverage that the other side does.

You still get a clear picture of what life is like for Hayaat and her family, especially with some of the flashbacks/stories we see in the book.  I really felt for them, and Abdel-Fattah does such a wonderful job at showing several different perspectives, and how everyone…they’re just people.  It would have been so easy for her to write one side as…bad…but she doesn’t.  She’s very neutral, but it’s also clear that it was important to her that this story be told.  While it’s very different than her other books, I am glad I read it because it’s about hope and courage and how important family is, even when things have changed so much.

I also really liked the glossary at the end of the book, and I did find myself flipping back and forth when I came across a word I didn’t know.  It was really helpful to have!

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  I really liked it, but I didn’t love it.  I still recommend it, though!

Book Review: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

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The Distance Between Us CoverBook: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Published July 2013 by HarperCollins|218 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Contempoary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Money can’t buy a good first impression.

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers learned early that the rich are not to be trusted. And after years of studying them from behind the cash register of her mom’s porcelain-doll shop, she has seen nothing to prove otherwise. Enter Xander Spence—he’s tall, handsome, and oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and the fact that he seems to be one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But just when Xander’s loyalty and attentiveness are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. With so many obstacles standing in their way, can she close the distance between them?

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I thought I’d like The Distance Between Us a lot more than I actually did.  I loved On The Fence, and thought I’d be reading something sort of similar, but it was something I didn’t like as much as I thought because it left me feeling like I was reading something really different than what I thought I was getting.

I did like the humor in the book, and I think that’s something West does well.  But I think, of the books I’ve read by West so far, this one is my least favorite.

I didn’t care about the romance and it was a bit too much on the Cinderella-side.  It’s not that a guy like Xander couldn’t be interested in Caymen, because he could, but something about it felt a little too fake.  It’s a little hard to believe that a guy with Xander’s social status would be interested in Caymen.  It seemed a little too cliche, and it wasn’t done in a way that made me not care how cliche it was.  I just felt like there was no chemistry between them, but I did like that they were both trying to find their place in the world.  It felt more platonic than romantic.

I also felt like their financial situation and why Caymen never knew her grandparents was a little bit forced.  The grandparents showing up seemed really abrupt, and things were perfectly fine, even though they weren’t part of her life until that point.  Even though I can understand why her mom had issues with wealthy people, it also seemed a little fake, like it was there just as a random obstacle coming between Xander and Caymen.

I also wish we saw more of the relationship between Caymen and her mom, because while Caymen talked about how good of a relationship, I also wish we saw it instead of having it be told to us.

Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of the elements of the book reminded me of Gilmore Girls…but as a book, and not as good.  I just felt like some of the issues that we see in the book weren’t given a lot of attention, and even though I really like the premise, this book just didn’t work for me.  Adult me wasn’t a fan, but I think maybe teenage me would have loved the book.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

2 stars.  The Distance Between Us was just okay.  I liked how Caymen was really sarcastic, and her dry sense of humor, but the romance felt forced and cliche.