By Tracy Chevalier
Read: January ‘10
Rating: Illuminating
For the Feminist Review
I’m a huge fan of Tracy Chevalier. Like a lot of people, I began with Girl with a Pearl Earring, and have since made my way through all but one of her other books. So of course I leapt at the chance to sample her newest offering.
Like all [...]

Marni Bates comes from a dysfunctional home. Her parents are estranged long before they divorced, and her sister is her rival. Young Marni wants to be loved, so she plays into the manipulative games her father contrives. The shocking realization that her father sees her as a tool, rather than a daughter to love, is the first of many sledgehammers to Marni’s self-esteem.

I am a compulsive reader. I think about it all the time. When I’m on the subway, when I’m doing math homework. When I’m supposed to be sleeping, when my body is busy but my mind is not. I always have a book with me. When I don’t, I feel a fluttering of panic. How am I supposed to get through the next five minutes—two hours—fifteen seconds without something to read? Hell, a menu will do. I’ll even take a phone book, especially if it has ads. I could reread Joe’s Crab Shack and Shrimp ten times over before realizing that there was nothing really interesting about it. License plates are more generous fodder than an empty room.

Six part interview with Chris Papasadero of design firm Fwis. In November 2009, Papasadero is setting himself a challenge alongside the annual NaNoWriMo event–to design 30 book covers in 30 days. The interview is conducted in one week intervals, and will run through the first week of December at Snap2Objects.com.

Racing the Dark is unique among fantasy books. The world draws upon Pacific Island and East Asian cultures to create a rich blend very different from fantasy canon—an island nation with an animist religion centering on sacrifice and binding. Though a young adult novel, Johnson is unafraid to tackle harsh topics, and readers will love her for it.

The first time that she wore pink,

Nobody recognized her.

She was the tough girl,

The rough girl,

The badass, Do Not Touch Me girl.

There’s a whole room full of kids. There’s a whole school full of ‘em. They’re all kinda different, and they’ve all got stuff in common. Each is a unique individual, and all together, they make up this complicated whole termed a high school. These are their stories, better than even they could tell them. Because they don’t know how; Underneath it all, they’re still just kids.

Peggy and Luke meet in Vegas where inhibitions go to die. Aunt Abigail, clearly having her priorities straight, says she will allow Luke to sell the house if he and Peggy remain married for one year. Needing her share of the house’s selling price, Peggy starts leading a double life. During the week she lives and works in the city and on weekends she rents a car, drives to Connecticut, and pretends to be the happily married wife of a genuine, full-blooded WASP.

The majority of the book focuses on Norman alone. He is seventeen, and turning into quite the Hebrew scholar, yet he doesn’t feel a strong spiritual connection with his studies. His student is impossible—she wants nothing to do with this Bat Mitzvah stuff. Rather than fight her, Norman sits back passively and lets Bayla waste their time. He observes the goings-on at Bayla’s, contrasts their rich lifestyle with his family’s poverty, and feels shame. Still, he does very little.

Participated as editor in the Fall 2007 selection period.

Solicited submissions
Selected submissions for publication
Edited selections
Uploaded edits for final publication