White Pine: The Silent Summer PART 3 -David Wu

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley

David Wu

Third post. Characters and voice.

Part 3: Characters

A few of this year’s White Pine books have the idea of the imperfect protagonist, and this is one of the primary examples. Many books in the teen romance area that is so commonly explored have an idea of a perfect character, seemingly flawless and always superior. However, this book has none of that.

Kyle McGinley is a curious person to put as a story’s man protagonist as he has a fair share of psychological problems following him and a queer attitude. Kyle has been rejected from so many foster homes that he has decided to never talk anymore. Because of this, his mind has constructed separate personalities to keep himself occupied. The first of his alternate personalities you meet is his father. Like in real life, his dad acts very rudely, throwing out insults and swearing every chance he’s got. He also has the Scientist, later on named The Lord of Ingenuity, or simply Ingen. Ingen serves as a father figure Kyle never had, giving him moral support, amusement, and a careful analysis of his choices. Kyle himself has a rather pessimistic attitude and quite cold to other people. However, later on you do get to see his more caring side as he helps an injured crow to regain its health and strength.

However, despite his rather unusual personality and the fact he has ot 2 other people in his head, this does not mean he is a bad main character, just one less commonly explored by teen book authors. Jan Andrews does a wonderful job of putting real depth into Kyle, giving him a rich backstory and a personality and mindset you can easily understand. She really does elaborate upon how Kyle came to be the way he is. The only flaw I found in Kyle is not in the character itself, but in the text. It can get confusing about who is talking, particularly when Kyle is talking with his foster parents (I say talking with, but more like being talked to). The font for each person talking was different, but it still can get a bit baffling. Kyle has a very prominent voice in this story, as the story is told in third person from his perspective. He is quite a likable character with his unusual quirks and is very realistic in his actions.

However, Kyle is not the only character that gets such deep development; that would be boring. Both of Kyle’s current foster parents Scott and Jill, and even the injured crow get well developed characters. Each of them is given a distinct personality and a backstory, Scott is the typical caring husband, and is very compassionate and very caring for his wife and Kyle. Jill is a sort of perfectionist, aiming for Scot and herself to try to be the perfect parents for Kyle after her past of being thrown away by her dad. Even the crow, Lady C, has a very distinct personality and prominent role in the story. After a brutal past of being caught and abused, it is afraid of people and avoids practically everything. The crow is almost like a representation of Kyle himself, secluded and alone, and by helping the crow overcome its fears he overcomes his own weaknesses as well.

In all, the characters were very well done and incredibly well developed, even some of the more minor characters getting great detail. The protagonists and antagonists of the book both get complex and intricate designs for characters, preventing any boring or predictable characters from forming. Brilliant job, Jan Andrews!

9 out of 10 stars

White Pine: The Silent Summer PART 2 -David Wu

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley

David Wu

I am back with my second post! Here it is.

Part 2: Plot

Kyle McGinley is a teenage boy that has altogether given up on talked after having a lifetime of being moved from one foster home to another after being rejected multiple times.

This story is about his summer in his latest foster home, with Scott and Jill Wardman, and how through a series of unexpected events and welcoming warmth Kyle’s dedication to never speaking again slowly breaks away.

The plot was for me quite original, as I have not read a book with a similar storyline ever before. Current books often fit into the teen romance genera, and after reading a considerable amount of them, they have growth quite boring. It is great to have a change of theme and pace. Instead of the common theme of fighting and romance, “The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley” instead focuses on psychological conflicts, acceptance, and family bonds. The plot is quite creative and heartwarming, giving this book one of the best plots I’ve read yet in this year’s selection of White Pine books.

However, the plot can be a bit slow when compared to some other books. Because this book is not about the action but about the heart and mind, the story progresses a lot slower and can be a bit boring at times if the progression gets really bogged down, but is never to point the point where it becomes stale. I believe the relatively slow plot progression was good for this particular story as a fast moving action-based progression of a storyline would not be appropriate for a book regarding internal conflicts. I also found that a fair amount of the events in the story were predictable given what the story was about and how the characters were. This reduced amount of surprise in the story, but it was still quite good of a book.

Another flaw in the story was the common use of repeating words. Very often in the story, the author would repeat a word or thought 3 to 4 times to emphasize upon it, which I have no problem with. However, if it’s happening almost every other page, then it gets annoying and very repetitive. Luckily, this repeating thing more or less disappears past half of the book. 

I congratulate the author on writing a storyline that was quite original and interesting to follow.

8 out of 10 stars

White Pine: The Silent Summer PART 1 -David Wu

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley

David Wu

Part 1: Preview

Hello everyone! “The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley” is a one of the novels in the 2015 selection of White Pine novels for Grades 9 and 10, and was of these books that I read.

This story is about Kyle McGinley, a teenage boy whose father abandoned him a long time ago. He has given up on talking after being fed up with his repeated rejections from various foster homes he has been placed in. Quoting from the book, “When no one listens, what’s the point of talking?” However, when he gets moved to the home Scott and Jill Wardman, how will he change? This is a story of psychological conflicts, comfort, and opening the heart.

I will begin to make a detailed analysis of various elements of the book beginning with the next posts, such as setting, theme, and characters. Stay tuned for more information.

The Rule of Three- Diary entry #3-DIARY TRAILER

#3

 Days have passed since the blackout, I am really not sure how many though. Things have gotten so busy and chaotic out here. There is 4 police officers patrolling our neighborhood right at this moment, Mom re-assigned them here for them to be close to their family and keep the neighborhood safe.

 Just like Herb has predicted, water has become sacred especially the drinkable once. We have secured our perimeter just outside the plaza and hopefully there is enough food to last us for a few month. However, things aren't looking too good.

  We did a census around the neighborhood to help keep the neighborhood safe and health, so far we have all the emergency covered like doctors, nurses, fireman and police. However, I find out the other day that Herb was planning to move about a hundred people to Lori’s family farm. I confronted him the next day and he said that sometimes you just can’t save everyone. I guess he’s right somehow, but we’re not just abandon the neighborhood and leave everyone to fend for themselves! Plus, knowing Herb, he’s probably going to do a sweep of the grocery store before leaving too.

   I just can’t bare the thought of leaving around 1500 people just for the survival of 150. I guess I understand where the “You can’t save everyone idea” from. Herb was just being logical and thinking about our survival. Somehow, I still want to believe that something humane is within us. Although the frequent report of violence and murder from the city seems to be against my view. I know Herb will put the fact of the amount of water, food and other resource down and I know I have to think what’s the best for my family. I mean, the twins are only in fourth grade!

   What am I going to do?


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The Rule of Three-Diary Entry #2- Diary TRAILER

Diary Entry #2

Day 2

  It’s weird how mind can play tricks on you, like how your first thought upon waking up was, We have electricity again! I woke up to the smell of coffee and bacon. Voices, more like whispers drifted from the kitchen to the Living Room. I crashed on the couch in the living room after the late night check up on Herb, more likely to feel safer after what I had seen last night.

   I stepped into the kitchen and Mom with Brett, the twins and Herb were sitting around the kitchen table. A thin cord extended from the outside, through the small crack in the sliding door and onto the coffee machine and stove. Most likely a chord from Herb’s generator, just as he promised.

   So far, there has been improvement on the situation whatsoever. According to a very weary  Mom, she has a short-staff problem at hand as many police lives in the city with no way of transportation and the need to protect their family. After a heated-discussion during breakfast, I offered to go around the neighbourhood collecting any sort of bicycle, lawnmower and transportation to help with the patrol.

    An earlier conversation has spiked my interest, Herb was having an argument with Mom of re-assigning the other 3 officers with families in the neighbourhood to come and patrol the area. Mom refused, as other area will be less out of control. It’s just the way Herb thinks sometimes make me feel like the world is ending.

   Since my vehicle was the only functional and available one, Mom, Brett, Herb and I took a trip down to the police station. Anyhow, we did not make it to the station. A angry mob has formed outside of the grocery store, the crowd pushed the store window until it crashed under pressure and the mob flooded in. Mom and Brett flew out off the car and fired their bullets high up into the air until the crowd calmed down.

    The manager was in a state of despair. Herb set out a system with IOU strips because credit card are unusable. All perishable was given out that day to desperate families who needed the food. Not much to say on that. Bakeries, Ice cream store are giving away all the food and closing down the shop. Things look pretty serious to me, Herb did not look surprised at all. He probably knew what was going to happen long before we did. An air of unknown and fear settled down on the neighbourhood, people carry weapon of any sort with them all day and no one walks up and down the street any more. It’s as if the world is going to end.

     

The Rule of Three-Diary Entry #1-DIARY TRAILER

The Rule of Three

Diary Entry #1-Adam

Day 1

 For the first time in years, I saw stars. I guess some things just disappeared with our use of technology. The air smelled strongly of barbecue with a hint of Cigar, Herb’s cigar. It would’ve been a  peaceful night with no honking of cars. The typical Adam would be sitting in front of the TV instead of out on the street in complete darkness with a baseball bat, however it’s not a typical day so far.

 Even though I hate to admit it, but I am scared. Dad is thousands of miles away in Chicago and Mom hasn't come back yet from the station, like I predicted. The first night in years to be spent without electricity or any technology bound to keep her in the station until the morning. I don’t see any point in staying, so far all technology that associate with a computer has broken down and with the computer the emergency department also collapsed with no function phones. Some kind of virus has invaded our computer system and made all cars and phones or any modern technology  unusable.

 The blackout had started in our third period, our study hall. I was helping Todd not to flunk another assignment and Todd as always was ranting on and on, attracting the eyes and giggles of girls across the computer lab. Suddenly, the entire lab went blank, lights were off and computers all displayed a blank black screen. Electricity shortages happens all the time, but this time something was different.

  Due to the fact that there is no lighting and electricity, we’re were dismissed early from school, of course Todd being Todd was beyond excited of the fact that his assignment wasn't due today. I was just planning on how I will have to pick up the twins from their school as Mom will probably be at the station dealing with this little problem, when I saw Her walking with Chad. Again Lori is walking with that IDIOT, of Todd just couldn't pass up the chance of embarrassing me. I mean, What does she even saw in him? Tons of stinking’ money and a snobby attitude? I mean, Come on! After, finally Todd away from Lori, we headed for the parking lot. Then, a miracle happened, while all the newer cars at school was hacked by the virus since they have a computer system in the car, every car in the school except for my ‘70-something Omega is dead. As if I am in a strike of luck, Todd waved Lori over to give her a ride home.

     I picked the twins up from their elementary school, Danny and Rachel were buzzing with excitement on our new situation. I manoeuvred through the sea of dead cars through the street, a few older trucks and cars drove by, giving me a slight nod as we’re in some secret club. Lori’s house is all the way out of our town, she lives out there in a farm with both of her parents and If I could get any luckier, Lori invited us back for a ride on her horses.

      As we get closer to the house, Herb, our next door neighbour was standing in the driveway waiting for me. Although in his senior years, I always suspected that he was a spy who was stationed around the world. Oddly enough, he told us that he has a generator in the basement and the twins could go get a bowl of Ice cream and some DVD. Mr. Herb pulled me aside and asked for a favour, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised with Mr. Herb acting all secretive. However, I never thought that the favour was a ride to the little plaza just outside of our neighbourhood.

      We pulled up to the pool store, it’s sign is flipped to Closed. Mr. Herb got off and banged at the door until the manager came running and unlocking the door. Apparently, we came all the way here for Chlorine. He took out a wad of cash consisting at least $2000 dollars. Everybody looked surprised, even myself. Although, after years of living as a close neighbour with Herb, I ought to have known that he is a man of miracles. By then, it occurred to me that he might be going crazy. The manager looked at me as if questioning his sanity, however I have no doubt that Mr.Herb knows what he is doing. It also occurred to be that Mr.Herb does not have a pool of any sort, unless he decides to drop chlorine in his bath, there is no reason why he would need $2000 worth of chlorine. He told me later on that, apparently with our electricity all gone, no water will come from the pump and there is a limited supply of drinking water. Chlorine prevents water-borne disease and makes water drinkable. His answer seems to indicate that this shortage will last longer than expected. I admit, the situation did look a bit hopeless, people were milling around with no shoes around the street and abandoned vehicle inhabit most of the streets.

      I was surprised when 42 bucket of chlorine and other assortment of tablet, crystal and stick chlorine fitted into the old Omega. As the lid went down with a grudging sound, which made me question whether the lid of the trunk will fall or not. It was frightening as you look up from your trunk and saw 6 man twice our size in crumple suits cornering you and the elder. They taunted and threatened us to take the Omega as it was the only car in sight that was running. As if 6 grown man in crumpled suit cornering wasn't frightening enough, Herb zipped down his jacket and revealed a gun. With a somewhat bored and confident voice, he told them to back off. I've never seen 6 grown man ran away like a embarrassed puppy. However, the incidents still causes goosebumps to rise from my arms, as if for a brief moment I saw what is truly behind human nature and all the niceness.

      Mom sent word later on that everything was fine and she was to return later that day. Brett, a rookie police officer was assigned to our neighbourhood to patrol. Herb insisted to guard the entrance to the neighbourhood and soon after midnight I decided to check up on him. With a baseball bat in hand for protection, I headed out to the post. According to Herb, he has been handing out water to those who walked their way back home from the city. In exchange for the small act of kindness, gossip, rumour and new from the outside world was brought to him. There has been murder, mob and act of terrorism. Everyone seemed terrified, as if a serial killer could jump right out and stab them in the back.

The real question is, Is this what we have come to? One night without electricity and the world seems to turn into a nightmare. Except in nightmares, you wake up.

The Comic Book War (dununun)

My Review!

     Overview

             The Comic Book War by Jacqueline Guest is a story about how a young boy lives at his home in Canada while his three brothers fight in World War II to defeat that Hitler (this is how Hitler is referred to throughout the story). This young man, named Robert Tourond, is worried sick about his brothers. Coincidentally, Robert is taking a walk when he sees a large flash a distance ahead of him. Instead of running away, Robert feels an internal urge to actually go into the area of danger. He finds out that the flash came from a falling meteorite. He picks up a piece of the meteorite and keeps walking.

         A few days later, he gets a letter from his brother saying that he saw a pretty shooting star a couple weeks ago. Robert thinks that this is some sort of cosmic connection between his brother, and that things will be fine. He also notices that the comic books he loves to read almost completely correspond with what his brothers tell him in their letters back home. Robert is convinced that the comic books and a sliver of meteorite can tell him the future (in my opinion, this is a little bit weak and unoriginal). Of course, things are working great for Robert. His cosmic connection seems to be in check and he knows what his brothers are up to. This is the case until he gets a telegram. The telegram says that his brother is dead. He decides, of course, that his "cosmic connection" is utterly wrong and finds it stupid. That's basically the end of the book.

   

   My Opinions:

         Setting: In my opinion, the setting here wasn't terribly well thought out. it's the obvious choice for the time period it was written in (1943). Canada being a peaceful place, it's a perfect area for brothers to be overseas in Italy fighting to defeat Hitler (sorry, that Hitler). The distance causes tension, fear and chaos among the family, presumably what Jacqueline Guest was aiming for. Even so, relatively weak. I think it would have been better for the brothers to be fighting on their home turf. This would make things a heck of a lot more chaotic. 

         Characters: The characters in this book were actually developed quite well. The character of Robert Tourond was made fairly well, with a distinctive personality and constant traits and thought patterns. All other characters were relatively distant, however, so there's not much to elaborate on other than this; maybe every other character in the book shouldn't have been completely distant.

       

         Plot: A creative, outside-of-the-box plot with a cliche, uninteresting feel to it. The plot is pretty creative; I myself have never seen a plot based on life-or-death situations via comic books and rocks, but nevertheless, it feels like Jacqueline Guest needed a couple cups of coffee to get her going before writing this. I was predominantly uninterested and bored while reading this book.

         

         Voice: The voice in this novel, the voice of Robert Tourond, was conveyed properly and very nicely. I don't have much to say about this because it was in fact very well done. It's not written in any sort of confusing ways, and every scene was consistent and concise. The flow of voice was articulate and easy to read, heightening my experience. Kudos to Jacqueline Guest for being able to portray the voice of a teenage boy (or any teenager, for that matter) so well.

         Theme: The theme of this book was of course the gigantic strain everyone in the world went through to defeat Hitler (oops, that Hitler) in World War II. The theme was nicely thought out, worked, and was very obvious, a quality I find pretty well essential in any book I read (it's good to know what the entire darn thing's about). The war efforts portrayed in the book completely followed the theme, and I couldn't ask for more.

         Overall: I'm going to base this off of what I've reviewed before this. The rating system will be an average of these ratings:

1. Setting: Meh. 6/10. Very mediocre and not particularly creative.
2. Characters: Nicely done, but only one was developed. 8/10.
3. Plot: Creativity turned boring and anticlimactic. 5/10.
4. Theme: Very nice! A flowing, sensible theme with thought put in. 9/10.
5. Voice: Again, great. A very nice job. 10/10.

         FINAL MARK (drumroll please)

7/10:

   

         Yes. I'm giving this book a 7/10, 70%, Level 3, whatever you want to call it. It was a nice book with a fantastic voice if I do say so myself, a great theme and a good character base. The pitfalls that lost this book three of my marks are the plot and the setting. Both of these were relatively sloppy and just not great. It's a shame, because if not for that, this book would have had my support in spades. There are some things I adore and admire about this book, and others that just make me shake my head. Overall, a slightly above average book that certainly caught my eye. I'd recommend this to a friend any day.

So concludes my blog post about The Comic Book War, hope you enjoyed and see you next time!