My Sister, My Love (2008)

I only read reviews about this book by Joyce Carol Oates after I had read it and then found out it was meant to be a satire about middle class America. Not being a good literature student I missed all of the clues. One of which was the names of the characters and their neighbors which were all mean and violent (Rampike, O'Styker). Another was the over-the-top psychiatric diagnoses of the children and the unbelievable number of drugs prescribed.

"Bix! Darling! God help us - Bliss is missing."

Loosely based on the murder of child beauty pageant princess, JonBenet Ramsey, six-year-old Bliss was found murdered in the basement of her family's house. Even though a neighboring sex offender admitted to the murder and subsequently hung himself in his jail cell, suspicion never completely came off of her nine-year-old brother, Skyler, who writes this memoir in the hopes that a memory would return to tell him who the real murderer was.

Skyler went from psychiatric facility to one boarding school to another, anywhere but home with his parents fueling the guilt that he must have somehow been responsible for Bliss' death. At the age of nineteen Skyler writes this book and shares with us every agonizing memory of his youth.

"...an adolescent Skyler the reader would be startled to behold: not a runt any longer, nor was Skyler's soul a runt-soul, for Skyler had learned at last the advantages of being a professionally afflicted kid of affluent background; amid the walking wounded of the Academy at Basking Ridge..."

It was very hard for me to finish this book. If I had know or realized it was a satire, it might have been less painful but I was determined to stick with this story to the end to see if there was any hope of Skyler finding any normalcy for himself. I'll let you read the book to learn if he was successful.

I think the only readers who would appreciate this book are Oates fans.

My rating for this book: +++

Glass (2007)

This book is a sequel to Crank, the story of a meth addict loosely based on the life of Ellen Hopkins' daughter. Methamphetamine in a very pure form is called glass, ice, crystal, or "the monster" by Katrina, an 18-year old girl who has already danced with the devil, kicked the habit, and had a baby conceived during a rape. We join her in this book living with her mother, stepfather, and brother, taking care of her son and trying to get her life back on track. Unfortunately, the drug calls to her again.

I have my out.
I have my high.
I have more stash
waiting.
I have a job.
Almost have an income.
It is almost time
for an outstanding
eighteenth birthday.
I have earned my wings,
can't wait for my
test flight to freedom.
My head buzzes,
my body rushes,
electric, anxious.
I want a taste
of flight, a taste
of adulthood, another
small taste of ice
before afternoon dwindles.
The last thing on my
mind is Hunter, waiting
for his mommy.

Every promise she makes herself, she breaks. Every stopping point, she passes. We watch her inevitable downward spiral and we are appalled at how seductive this drug is. It gives the user such a rush of feelings in the beginning but the rush fades and it becomes harder to exist without using until it is impossible to quit. She is kicked out of her house and moves in with her dealer who needs a nanny for his two children. How convenient.

Have you Ever Tried

To quit
a bad habit, one
that has come to
define you?
To cease
using a substance-
any substance-
that you not only
need but enjoy?
To stop
yourself from
lighting up that
cigarette? It's going
to kill you, but hey,
you're going
to die
someday anyway,
why not die happy,
why not die buzzed,
why not die
satisfied? Why not
die sooner, with
fewer regrets, than
later?

Will she ever get over the drugs and enjoy a normal life? To recommend this book, please allow me to use free verse.

Read
this
book.
Now.

My rating for this book: ++++