Review: Frat Girl

Frat Girl by Kiley Roache
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Dates Read: December 30-31

Melissa's Musings

The sociologist in me loved this book. It features Cassie Davis, a high school student from Indiana, who comes up with an interesting way to earn the first year of a scholarship to a prestigious college. Conduct a social experiment in order to conduct research on culture inside a frat house, social norms within Greek organizations, and potentially disband the frat. What she doesn't anticipate is the far reaching effects, both on her personal life, and the lives of the fraternity brothers.

My own college experience was far removed from Cassie's. I didn't go to any frat parties, I only had a few friends. But I could definitely still relate on some levels. I lived in coed dorms all four years, so there was the general banter between all of us, that's similar to the banter between Cassie and her "brothers".

My sophmore year of college I had a roomate much like Leighton. Complete with Louis Vuitton luggage, and the haughty attitude that said she felt she was much too good to be sharing a room with the likes of me. I endured the riduculous screeching of her sorority sisters when they stopped by our room and I happened to be there. Frat boys sleeping over, and the ridiculous drama that came with too much drinking, (Hers, not mine) Needless to say, I had a single room for the remainder of my college life because the experiences with this roomate were not ones I wanted to suffer through again.

Cassie as a character is probably not too much like me personally, other than studying sociology and gender issues. I'm not a girly girl, and she seems to be one, at least on some level. But I do like her edginess. She stands up for what she feels is right, and doesn't give a fuck about it.

So much so that at one point she almost blows her entire experiment when she bursts out of an interview room to talk to one of the subjects after the recount a painful experience. The researcher in me was thinking "Oh no, what are you doing?!?! The other part was thinking "I probably would have done the same thing.

The author does a nice job of intermixing formal writing, for the research parts of the story, and the parts that deal with some of the heavier subject matter when the characters are discussing feminism, and keeping it real, and genuine. Although I really could have done without the use of the word "fuckbois". That's just an annoying textspeak term to me, but I see why she used it.

As Cassie gets more involved both with pledging, and with her project, you can tell that its going to be difficult to see how this all will turn out. She gets personally involved, which I know would be hard not to do, social experiment or not. But, because of the experiment, her experiences and friendships are based on mistruths.

The "relationship" she has with Connor is stereotypical. He only wants one thing, and turns into an ass when she says no. Her relationship with Jordan is sweeter. Though I didn't find it overly ridiculous, like it could have been. It felt just right.

I also really liked Duncan's character. He's the perfect mixture of a macho football player but someone who also cares about people. Cassie really seems to have an impact on him, as is apparent in one of his last scenes in the book.

The serious subjects of the book are important, and dealt with well. This also gave me some serious laughs. Since this is an ARC, I can't quote directly, because I can't compare with the finished book, but lets just say there is a scene where the frat brothers talk about "laying eggs" that had me laughing pretty hard.

The twist from Peter at the end isn't really one I had expected, but I definitely appreciated it. On the level of the impact of Cassie's influence, and on a personal level, I agreed with what he had to say.

Given that Cassie has to propose a new project each year to maintain her scholarship, I think there's room for Roache to continue with these characters and I wouldn't be disappointed to see more of them, but I imagine it'd be difficult to maintain the quality and keep it fresh like this was.

Does anyone have any college stories they'd like to share? Do you think you might consider reading Frat Girl?

*I won a copy of this via Goodreads Giveaways*

Review: My Year As A Clown

Hello everyone! Welcome to my tour stop for My Year As A Clown which includes my review.

Title: My Year As A Clown

Author: Robert Steven Williams

Publisher: Against The Grain Press

Published: December 20, 2012

Pages: 272

Format: E-book

Source: Received in Exchange for an Honest Review

My Rating: 3 Stars

Synopsis: 

Silver Medal Winner for Popular Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

With My Year as a Clown, Williams introduces us to Chuck Morgan, a new kind of male hero—imperfect and uncertain—fumbling his way forward in the aftermath of the abrupt collapse his 20-year marriage.

Initially, Chuck worries he’ll never have a relationship again, that he could stand in the lobby of a brothel with a hundred dollar bill plastered to his forehead and still not get lucky. But as his emotionally raw, 365-day odyssey unfolds, Chuck gradually relearns to live on his own, navigating the minefield of issues faced by the suddenly single—new routines, awkward dates, and even more awkward sex.

Edited by Joy Johannessen (Alice Sebold, Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom), My Year As a Clown will attract fans of the new breed of novelists that includes Nick Hornby, Jonathan Tropper and Tom Perrotta. Like others in that distinguished group, Robert Steven Williams delivers a painfully honest glimpses into the modern male psyche while writing about both sexes with equal ease and grace in a way that’s both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.

Melissa's Musings:

I have very mixed feelings about this book. What initially drew me to the story was the fact that this was divorce told from the male perspective. So often, we read stories that are centered on women and their heartbreak and pain after divorce, rarely do we see the same situation told from a male perspective. The story itself is interesting, and the writing flows really well. It's written in a journalistic style, chronicling the first year after Chuck's wife leaves him. Sometimes the style can be clunky or awkward, but this is executed well.

There were things I liked about Chuck, and things that annoyed me. I liked the fact that he actually acknowledged his emotions instead of always trying to bury them. He did a lot of that too, with drugs and alcohol, but there were times when he tried to work through his feelings and actually worked on his own self improvement. It may have been with alterior motives involving women, but there was a genuine edge to it as well.

One of the more frustrating aspects of his character was that many of the major life events that he recalls are hinged on the football season. Maybe this was the author's way of making it more palatable, but I found it irritating. He and his wife's honeymoon was pushed back a day due to a football game. Another time, Claudia proposes that they move to England, and again, it's declined on his part in majority (I felt) due to football playoffs.

Claudia was just as frustrating as Chuck's character, but in a different way. We don't really see much of her, mostly just Chuck's recollections. And there's not really a buildup leading up to her departure. Although if I were her and married to someone who pushed back important life events due to sports, I'd probably be peeved too. There is a lot more to the reasons they split than that, but that's a sore point throughout the novel.

Both of them come out to be jerks, (although Chuck does redeem himself by the end.) and there were times where I just wanted to smack both of them because they couldn't get it together.

I wish that the music aspect had been explored more thoroughly. I felt kind of smothered by Chuck's writing material. I also didn't care for some of the religious/spiritual aspects of the book. I understand that it was Chuck exploring his heritage and his connection to that, but I feel that the whole drama with the rabbi and especially the twist on that were completely unneccessary. I was more interested in hearing about past endeavors with musicians, and really liked the interactions between him and Sally.

Overall,  I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I liked the writing a lot, but some of the plot points were unneccesary. I'd be mildly curious to see what happens further with Chuck. All in all, the book was okay. Not bad, not great, just middle of the road for me.

That being said, if you're looking for a unique perspective on divorce, I'd recommend giving this a try.

Sparks Off You by Anita Felicelli

Title:  Sparks Off You

Author: Anita Felicelli

Publisher: Henflower Press

Published: July 11 2012

Format: Paperback 

Pages: 300

Source: Received from author 

in exchange for an honest review

Read: September 17-19 2012

In A Few Words: Dark and Twisty

My Rating:  4 Stars

Goodreads: Add This Book to Your TBR shelf

Goodreads Synopsis:

Alienated and full of fire, two sisters navigate a chaotic world of sex, drugs, and dissolving identities after the loss of their mother. The younger sister, Julie Randeria, discovers that her assimilation into the world of Silicon Valley’s teenagers only works when she lets go of her personality. But where does personality end and madness begin?

When the mythology that barely holds her family together unravels, Julie is driven to the edge of unreality. Meanwhile, the limits of her sister and father's empathy are tested. Beautiful,unusual language sweeps readers into the consciousness and experiences of ordinary people struggling with what it means to be perceived as "normal" today and the consequences of cultural alienation.

Lyrical and provocative, "Sparks Off You" is a coming of age novel that follows an Indian-American girl trying to find herself as an artist in the Bay Area at the dawn of the tech boom.

Melissa's Musings:

This book holds up very well, and is very well written. It is dark, and twisty, full of pain, sorrow, searching, experimenting, and madness. That being said, it is slightly predictable at times, which is why it didn't get the full five stars from me. Nonetheless, it is a very good book. 

The story explores the lives of Julie and Maya, two very bright, if somewhat troubled girls. Their mother has passed away, and their father is distant, more focused on his work than he is on them. Both Julie and Maya are very smart, Julie has skipped a few grades in school, so she is a bit younger than her classmates, and this shows through in her personality and the way that she interacts with them. 

Julie is a very complex character, she's innocent, in a way, but there's something different about her. She knows it, and so do the people around her. She seems to feel things a lot more intensely than others do and it shows.  There's one scene in particular where she is upset because she thinks that a  boy she likes is more interested in her friend, and she wants him to be interested in her. She starts kicking a graveyard wall and keeps kicking until her feet start to bleed. It's a very powerful scene and you can tell that there's something really dark about Julie, even though she seems innocent.

It's actually quite interesting to look at the progression of the two sisters over the course of the book. At first Maya is the reckless and rowdy one, smoking pot, having sex with her boyfriends, driving crazily, and Julie is the meek, timid, "good girl. Then as the book goes on, they flip positions. Julie descends into drugs and sex, and Maya takes the more straightforward path. One thing I didn't like about all this is that Maya has no compassion for what happens to Julie. (I can't expand on what happens because it gives too much away, but lets just say that it's intense.) Maya plays the victim and the poor me card talking about how she had to take care of Julie all those years and this is what happens and on and on. Then she tells Julie to just get over what's happened to her and stop pretending that she's sick, basically. It's obvious that she has a real problem, but Maya refuses to acknowledge that. 

It's similar to how her father feels about what happens to Julie. He doesn't want to believe there's anything wrong. But, once he does realize that there's something there that needs to be dealt with, he is supportive in his own way and doesn't brush her off in the same way that Maya does. I liked Maya a lot less after the things she said and her actions toward Julie being sick.

There is a lot of great imagery in this book. It's mainly explored through Julie's paintings, and some strange drug trips, too. The colors are bright and vivid, and the descriptions take you right to the pictures in your mind's eye. I also  appreciated the part where Ram tries his hand at painting in an effort to understand Julie and as a way of welcoming her back.

I don't often talk about covers of books, but I have to mention that I don't feel the connection of this cover to the story. Maybe there was a line, or a subtle hint that I missed somewhere in the story, but it just doesn't quite seem to fit. Neither does the title, for me anyway. But, that's just my thought on it. I've read some great books with titles and covers I didn't really feel a connection to, and that just seems to be the case here.

It's definitely an adventure through the teenage  mind, filled with longing, experimentation, searching, rebellion, struggle, and a bit of madness. 

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.*