You ever just look at a book, just the cover. You haven’t read anything about it, not reviews or the blurb on the back, you look at the cover and say “Yes.” The first book I read by Robyn Scheider was: The Beginning of Everything. I saw the cover and I knew it would probably be full of stereotypes about teens and how we live or act. When I first saw Extraordinary Means and the phrase above the title “Life goes on until it doesn’t” I was intrigued.

 

Extraordinary Means is exactly what I was promised in every review I read after finding it. I was promised pain and loss and adventure. The main character Lane has an incurable strain of TB (Tuberculosis) and is forced to go to Lanthium (a sanitorium) and sees a girl Sadie he met a few years before at a summer camp. Sadie and her friends are described as the center of the cafeteria, the group everyone wants to be a part of.  Throughout the story, we watch Lane become a newer and more carefree person.

one of my favorite things about this book is also one of my favorite things about The Begining of  Everything. Most YA books these days in someone “having nothing” or who has a more reserved or shy personality become popular through a boyfriend or girlfriend. Robyn Schneider writes the opposite. Schneider shows how fragile people’s lives are, how an illness or car accident can change everything. In Extraordinary Means, Lane does follow the typical pattern of being a more reserved person, and he is sort of pushed into popularity at Lanthium he also seemed to have a lot of friends at his old school.  Another reason I really loved this book: Puns. I just really love puns, like I don’t know how anyone can hate a pun. Schneider uses puns and dark humor to show how the characters cope with their situation.

In case you haven’t noticed, I really loved this book. That being said, I did not love all the characters. For example Nick. I found Nick to be rude, jealous, and a bad influence on almost every character. When he was first introduced I thought he was funny, I assumed he would become good friends with Lane (which he kinda did), and I assumed his character would grow and that he would be a better person then he turned out to be. In addition to characters I found unlikable, I really hated the way this ended. I expected the outcome because of reviews but it felt impersonal and distance. I was told this was like Looking for Alaska or  Fault in Our Stars, and in a way it was. It had an incurable disease and a  tragic ending, but it failed to show the characters grieve.

 

Hey, you should totally check out Robyn Schnieders website here or buy the book at Barnes and Noble

Side note: I kinda have a problem. I need to stop choosing books I know will end badly, but at the same time, I really love them.

As you can probably tell based on my previous literary choices, non-fiction/memoirs are not typically what I go after. I’m drawn towards fiction because of the “space” I have with it. When reading a non-fiction text everything is set in stone, everything is real. I like tragic fiction (and fiction in general) because it’s fiction, what happens in the book hasn’t actually happened in real life, and you have space for imagination and interpretation. Despite my dislike of non-fiction, I decided it was time to spice things up a bit.

Derailed on the Bipolar Express is about Joie Edson and her two sons with bipolar disorder. Edson tells stories about her sons, their manic episodes, and how their mental state and physical actions affect her life, her son’s life, and other people that she and her sons have met along the way.

One of my favorite things in this book was after Edson shared an example of one of her son’s manic episodes. Edson asks you as a reader to keep an open mind, she asks that you not judge her or her sons, she reminds you that they are people, real people, they have lives, and flaws, and good days, and bad days. This small portion of the book is what kept me going, it made me feel something in my gut or my heart or my brain that just screamed “Keep going! Keep reading!” Something else I really love about this book is how honest Edson is talking about the different hospitals and mental health centers and state facilities that she has gone through with her children. Edson describes horrific events and sights she has seen through her journey dealing with her son’s mental health, and the loop-holes she has had to jump through.

Although I loved that Edson shared her story, I dislike the lack of variety in her writing, she constantly repeats sentences or phrases words in a way that made her writing less enjoyable and more “slow”. The repetition and lack of variety in her sentences wouldn’t have been an issue but, the way Edson’s words flow, they are thoughtful and precise, she tells her story calmly and slowly so you can absorb all the information (which I really loved because I find it difficult to process information sometimes), but by moving so “slow,” mixed with the repetition and lack of variety you can tell Edson’s main purpose in life was not being a writer. Another part of the book that pushed me away was when Edson would to skip/skim over parts of her life, or mention events before giving backstory. For example, “Birdman”. Birdman was something that one of her sons made up, Edson began a story mentioning Birdman without telling readers who Birdman was, at first I thought I had missed a page or skipped a line or two but, a page or two after she explains who birdman is and how Birdman helped her son through a difficult time.

In the end, I really did love this book, I think it was both personal and impersonal,  and for the most part easy to follow. This was a good story to hear, and I would recommend this to anyone who thinks they would be able to handle listening to/about the manic episodes of Edson’s son and the effect they had on her and her life.

 

If you are interested in purchasing this book you can buy it at Barns and Noble or Amazon

 

My sister and I are not best friends, we never have been. We never spent much time together growing up so, every memory I have of us on the couch playing sims or watching TV means a lot. I picked out this book because of the show Parks and Recreation. Amy stars in the show as Leslie Knope, a crazy and stubborn government employ. Yes Please by Amy Poehler caught my eye because it reminded me of my sister, and the time we spent watching Parks and Rec.

Yes Please tells the story of Amy Poehler’s life, she writes about her adolescent years, how she got into theater and improve, the jobs she took to help her career, skits she did on SNL, and both of her pregnancies.

When I opened this book I was excited.  I loved how it felt like she was reading it to me. I loved how through the words on the pages, I could hear her. Not only could I hear Amy, but I could also hear Leasly through the pages. I could hear their stubbornness and immaturity and energetic personalities. another thing I enjoyed about this book was honest she was. Most celebrities hide from their problems or wait for the next scandal to happen so everyone forgets. Amy was honest about the things she had done wrong and how she has used those experiences to become a better and more aware person.

I’m disappointed. Before reading this book I loved Amy, or at least I loved her work in Parks and Rec. The first few chapters I was reminded of why I loved Amy Poehler, but then she began talking about some things she has done during her career. No one is perfect, that’s just part of life. We act like celebrities are gods, we shine a light on them and act like they can do no wrong until the day they do, and then someone else screws up and we forget. My problem is not with her making mistakes, my problem is how she was too stubborn to apologize for what she had done. I loved her honesty and transparency, but I wish some things had remained buried.

I don’t plan on recommending this book, it tainted some fond memories I had made with my sister, and to quote one of my friends: “seemed to say a whole lot of nothing.” I’m disappointed in Amy, and I’m sad this book made me dislike her.

 

If you would like to purchase this book, you can look at  Barnes&Noble