Book Blog #309: The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler

 

Title: The Basic Eight

Author: Daniel Handler

# of Pages: 329 (paperback)

Genre: YA, Mystery, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Meet Flannery Culp, a world-weary high-school senior. She is primed to take on the few remaining obstacles that stand between her and the rest of her life: the SAT, college applications, the fall semester....Mercifully, there are a few distractions: 1) her friends, the Basic Eight; 2) Adam State, the object of her affections. If only things hadn't gotten out of control. If only Flan had stayed away from the absinthe. Then she wouldn't be a topic on daytime talk shows, or incarcerated, or have time to edit her journals....

Review: This lands somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.

I was really struggling through most of this book (I'd say the first 2/3rds were really tough to get through). There's only so much entitled, angsty teen protagonist POV I can stand reading in one sitting - it took me a LONG time to get through it just because I kept putting it down. I even took a break to read Project Hail Mary instead try to mitigate the reader's block that was setting in.

The most interesting aspects of The Basic Eight are that it's told by an unreliable narrator (this part of the mystery of the story - is Flannery telling the truth? Are there hints that indicate otherwise?) and the ending (finally, some mysteries are solved!). The ending was actually what helped me decide on 3 stars - I was actually gripped by the story and wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Additionally, since this book is actually pretty old now, it was interesting to compare with how teenagers were portrayed in YA written 22-23 years ago vs how they are portrayed today. 

That being said, this still does not excuse the earlier parts of the book and how Flannery is just not a very likable protagonist (not even in the love-to-hate type of way). Since this book is her "diary," it's written in her voice (first person), which makes for a somewhat unpleasant read. There's a lot of build up that is unnecessary - a lot of fluff I didn't need to read. 

I really liked the ending, but I don't think it was worth reading (there are better books out there to read that might have the same affect!). I've yet to read a mystery that beats Silent Patient, and after reading this book, that DEFINITELY remains true to this day. 

Book Blog #308: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

Title: Project Hail Mary

Author: Andy Weir

# of Pages: 476 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, Adventure

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Review: I loved The Martian, so I was really looking forward to this book! 

The story is told in first person - I've come to realize this is the perfect POV for Weir's books because it's the only way for the protagonists humorous internal thoughts to shine through. The only aspect of this that I didn't like was the time skipping that happened throughout the entire book. The time skips worked out a little better in this book than others since the reader gets to truly experience Grace's POV and his experience of recalling his lost memories. However, the classic problem still stands where I want to learn more about the main plot but end up having to trudge through pages of a flashback.

This leads to the second problem; the first 100-150 pages were really hard for me to get through. I started reading this book a while ago, but it ended up sitting around untouched for long stretches of time just because the beginning part of the book wasn't interesting enough for me to really get into the book. If anyone else has the same problem, I encourage you to push through because the rest of the book went REALLY fast. It's a very gripping story that has a good mix of suspense, despair, humor, and camaraderie.

A lot of the science went over my head; I'm not sure if it's just because this book is longer, but it seemed like there were more scientific explanations in Project Hail Mary than The Martian. I have to admit there was a lot I ended up skimming over (some parts I just wanted to know what happens next, with less interest on the exact science behind how it's happening). 

Highly recommend giving this book a read. Although it's not my favorite book, I definitely enjoyed it.