Listen Up - The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

 

 

Published: January 2013

Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Cassandra Campbell (Narrator), Julia Whelan (Narrator), Danny Campbell (Narrator)

A gripping novel set in Belle Époque Paris and inspired by the real-life model for Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen and a notorious criminal trial of the era.

Paris. 1878. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventy francs a month, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work—and the love of a dangerous
young man—as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modelling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her
image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Antoinette, meanwhile, descends lower and lower in society, and must make the choice between a life of honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde—that is, unless her love affair derails her completely.

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.

For the month of October my book club decided to read The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.  This was definitely not a book that I would have voluntarily have taken off the shelf - which is one of the big reasons I like book club - so I decided that since I've been so busy, I would try listening to it instead.  What a surprise I got.  This is an amazing book, that was incredibly well narrated.  Cassandra Campbell and Julia Whelan became Marie and Antoinette in my mind.  Their voices were different enough that there was never any doubt which sister was narrating and I became completely immersed in the story. It was completely fascinating to be 'inside' Antoinette's head as she falls for Emile, and to observe her from Marie's standpoint. 

Ms. Buchanan took two true but unconnected facts from history and has melded them into a moving and mesmerising story that will capture your heart.  Each character comes alive as they are read and I found it almost impossible not to become emotionally involved in the lives of the characters.  Compared to nowadays, there were some strange ideas running around in 1880's Paris and there is some real food for thought in the pages of this book.  The main characters are both in their teens - Marie 13 and Antoinette 17 - when the story starts  and I am sure that this would make a perfect novel for an ISU study.  There is just so much going in inside people's heads.  Perfect for discussion and essays.  We had some great discussions at book club. 

If you want to read something a little different and step out of your box, try The Painted Girls and let me know what you think.  Also if you read and enjoyed 'The Girl With The Pearl Earring I think you'll enjoy this one too.

Let's Hear It For the Boys - Variant by Robison Wells

Published: October 2011

Publisher:

Running Time:

Audio copy: Overdrive

Summary: Goodreads

Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.


Variant, starts out as a fairly regular boarding school story, but within a very few pages, the reader realises that something is very wrong.  It was interesting for me to see how the 'herd mentality' surfaces - how we accept things at face value and don't question as long as we are comfortable.

All it takes is Benson to question the morality behind the school and the problems start.  Natural leaders surface and finally people act together and try to escape.  I loved the big question that no-one seemed to be able to answer as to why the school was set up in the first place.  There is a major twist in the story, that ratchets up the tension as the story progresses which was very well done.  Then just as you think everything is going to be ok, there is an OMG ending that made me want to scream. Perhaps it was because I was listening, rather than reading, but I certainly was surprised where the story ended. 

This was a great audio version of a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I am looking forward to seeing where  Mr. Wells takes the story.  This would also be a good title for those who enjoyed Maze Runner or Gone, or Lord of the Flies (yes I know there has to be someone out there who enjoyed that book, besides me).

Listen Up! - Need Series by Carrie Jones

Published: Aug 2009, Jan 2010, Dec 2010

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Copies: Overdrive through library

Summaries: Overdrive

Need:

Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane . . . but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now. She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right, not human, in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara. In this creepy, compelling breakout novel, Carrie Jones delivers romance, suspense, and a creature you never thought you'd have to fear.

Captivate:

Zara and her friends thought they'd solved the pixie problem. And they did -- sort of. The pixies are all locked away, deep in the woods. But the king's needs grow stronger each day that he is in captivity, while his control over his people weakens. And it's enough to draw a new king into town. Astley claims he is different. He claims there are pixies who can live peacefully with humans, that it doesn't have to be all violence and nastiness all the time. Zara wants to believe him . . . until Astley also claims that she is fated to be his queen.There is no way Zara would ever turn pixie. And she's got good friends who will make sure of that. Besides, she and Nick are so in love they're practically inseparable. But when the very thing Zara wants to protect most is exactly what's at risk, she is forced to make choices she never imagined. . . .

Entice:

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla? And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't just turned... She's Astley's queen.

As many of you are aware, I like to listen to audio book when I'm driving to work. Since I only have a 15 min drive it takes me a while to listen to some books. I started the need series about 6 weeks ago. It took me 3 weeks for Need, another 3 weeks for Captivate, and then one day - yesterday to be precise- to listen to Entice. Yep, I sat down in my sewing room at about 10:00 am yesterday, and by 10:00 pm it was all finished. That's when I discovered there is a 4th book!!!!! (due out in 2012) Now don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about that fact, but I was really looking forward to finding out how this story ended, and I STILL DON'T KNOW.

These three books were so much fun to listen to. Julia Whelan did an amazing job vocalizing the characters and giving each of them a separate identity. Zara, the main protagonist has a lovely southern accent, while most of the other characters had strong Maine accents which she managed to pull off beautifully. The only sour note was Astley - I could never quite work out whether he was supposed to be Scottish or Irish, and being a Scot myself, that's an important distinction. However, it did not put me off too much, and in fact Astley turns out to be my favourite character by far. (He's my new heartthrob)

Nick, Issy, Devon, Gram, Mrs Nix - so many different characters, each with their own secrets. Secrets I can't talk about or I will give away more spoilers than the summaries at the top of this post :P In it's own way, the story covers prejudice and acceptance, death and life, romance and heartbreak and so much more. There are twists and turns and surprises galore and as Ms Jones tells us in the books, these pixies are no 'Tinkerbells'. They are mean and nasty and pretty ugly to boot - inside and out. Well, most of them anyway. Thank goodness for glamours1

Altho' the characters are 17 for the most part, this series is perfectly suitable for younger teens. There is little or no sex or language, although Zara does have a tendency to say 'fricking' a lot, and it does get a little violent in places. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the series and I'm sure it's just as much fun to read. If you haven't tried it out - go ahead and have some fun.