Friday, April 22, 2011

Winner, Review, Giveaway

The winner of last week's craft package giveaway

of a copy of WRITING FOR DUMMIES

and a copy of WRITING & SELLING THE YA NOVEL is...

Natasha M. Heck!!!

Congrats Natasha! Email me - muchlanguage (at) gmail (dot) com, with your address.

Today's review:


I started this book at 7.30 am, while waiting on the bus to Tiny School. I went to school, taught, got a cold, took medicine, slept, went to movie night with my friends, and still, the book was such a page-turner that I was wrapping it up at midnight.

In an attempt for the review not to be a total fan-girl gush, I'm going to review it in music!

One of the coolest things about the story is that it takes place over one night only. (Jennifer Hudson)


Another thing is the representation of gays in the novel. I am not a champion for a gay rights by any stretch of the imagination, but I hate feeling like every "issue" person in novels has to be struggling with that issue. All Blacks are in turmoil over the fact that they're black. All Asians are struggling with being Asian. Gays are fighting not to be gay or to be accepted. You can't just be Black/Asian/Gay and cool with it. You can't just be like, "This is who I am!" (Jessica Andrews)


Music is so interwoven with this story that it's a theme, a setting, almost a character. The two main characters meet on account of music, and they have music in common. (Rihanna)


Both Nick and Norah's ex's have roles to play in the tale. And both their previous relationships were dysfunctional for different reasons. And both Nick and Norah struggle to come to terms with that.


A personal pet peeve of mine is the prevalence of books which deal with topics through the same lens as the topic. The language of a love story must be beautiful. If a story is about death, it has to be a tearjerker. But this novel is set in the punk-rock/queer core NYC music scene- not exactly a setting that makes you think of wedding marches and honeymoons. I love the juxtaposition of these two things, because you don't have to be a sappy, romantic (like me- lol) to fall in love. Sad stories happen in happy places and vice versa. It's like Singing in the Rain. (Gene Kelly.)


This weeks rules:
Open til 11.59 EST
Open internationally
To win, tell me, what single night (or day) most changed your life?

Good luck!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hmmm, that's a hard question, and I've already read Nick & Norah's, so I'm not going to try to hard to rack my brain for an answer. I read Coln/Levithan's latest book "Dash and Lily's Book of Dares" last week and loved it just as much as Nick & Norah and Naomi & Ely. Really I don't think Rachel Coln and David Levithan can make anything less than perfect when they work together.

Sidrah said...

The day that changed my life would probably be the one when my brother was born. Before his birth it was all about me =P then he came and TADA my life was upside down. All of a sudden I was a big sis who had to share her toys and be nice to him. It ended well, though. I grew to love him. Then another baby came, lol. Now I cannot imagine my life without them.

Oh I love Jessica Andrew's Who I Am. Old memories =)

xx

Judit said...

It's going to sound cheesy, but the day that changed my life is the day I met my boyfriend. And I don't mean it completely in a romantic way. It's because I know, that without him I'd be somewhere else entirely. It's just a fact. Having another person in your life which you must consider when making important decision definitely changes the way your life is heading.

Congrats to Natasha and thank you, Claire, for another amazing giveaway!

Triss said...

Thank you, Judit, for spreading the word about this giveaway.
So the question - the night, that changed my life. It was about a week ago, we had teambuilding in my company. And I met this awesome guy, with whom I spent the whole weekend. But it all stated at friday night with a couple of vodka shots :) What will come? Who knows? But wish me the best :) (he's really cute!)