Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Alice In Wonderland, 
The Chronicles of Narnia, 
Peter Pan, 
and Every Heart a Doorway... 

All follow a similar vein in which the characters are transported to another realm full of fairy tales and make believe.  Eventually, they are returned back to their homes wondering if they will ever find their way back to these mystery worlds.  In "Every Heart a Doorway," the children falling through these portals prefer the alternate world to their real-life home.  When they are returned back to reality, they are struggling to find people who understand what they have been through.  An even bigger issue is dealing with the disappointment and frustration of not being able to find their doorways again.  Their time spent on the other side of their doorway has changed them.  They will never stop looking for a way back.  Their confused parents, who mainly think their child is having a mental breakdown or suffering some traumatic incident, decide to send their children to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.  Eleanor tells the parents she can fix the children.  In reality, she herself has experience with her own doorway, and she has since opened a school to bring support and community to other children who are suffering.

The book falls under the category of a novella.  The difference between a novella and a novel is the size.  The typical novel is around 80,000-100,000 words while a novella is closer to 30,000-60,000.  Although it is significantly shorter than the average book, it is full of world building, character development, and even includes a murder mystery.  To be honest, I didn't think the murder mystery was even necessary to the story.  The characters and the concept of these various fantasy lands is fascinating enough to carry the story.  The author gives you glimpses into different character's experiences, and you find yourself wanting to know and understand more as you read.  The murder mystery just creates movement for the plot line.

From the beginning, I loved the resemblance of the wayward children to people who read books.  There are a few individuals out there who stick to strictly non-fiction, but most of us enjoy a good story that transports us to another place.  I could be at Hogwarts with Harry Potter or on a boat at sea with Pi and the tiger.  When you finish a fabulous book, there is a part of you that feels disappointment that you won't be able to experience that world again.  I couldn't imagine a life where I read one book that truly spoke to my soul, finishing the book, and then realizing that I may never be able to read another one every again.  How devastating would that be!

Seanan McGuire currently has two other books out in the Wayward Children series.  The second books is called "Down Among the Sticks and Bones" and the third is "Beneath the Sugar Sky."  The fourth book is already in the works, and it sounds like she may have as many as seven by the end.  I finished book number two shortly after finishing the first.  I'm wait-listed for the third one with my library, but I can't wait to read that one!  I'm hooked.

Rating: 5 out of 5
* Positives: Fascinating story; love the characters and enjoyed their diverse representation
* Negatives: Too short!!  I want more!

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

What a rollercoaster...

I came across Donna Tartt while watching a BookTuber -- a YouTuber who makes book specific videos -- named BooksandLala.  She had read Donna's book “The Secret History” and raved about how fantastic it was.  When I pulled up all of Donna Tartt’s books, I noticed that “The Goldfinch” had just started filming in New York and is due for release in 2019.  I’m a sucker for book to film adaptations.  You know the book must be good if they want to make a movie out of it.  An extra bonus was my timing.  They already have most of the casting in place for the movie.  While reading about a new character, I would pull up the cast list pictures to help visualize what they might look like.

The book opens with Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old, and his mother preparing to have a conference at his New York prep school due to some behavioral issues.  On the way, they stop at an art museum to see one of his mother’s favorite art pieces, Carel Fabritius’s The Goldfinch.  While casually walking through the art gallery, Theo notices a red-headed girl and a grandfatherly figure with her.  He continually catches her eye but never works up the courage to talk to her.  As they prepare to leave the museum, a bomb explodes knocking him unconscious.  Theo comes to, covered in rubble and dust, and sees the grandfather of the red-head close to him. In the old man’s last moments, he hands Theo the ring he is wearing and seems to signal to The Goldfinch, which has been blown out of it’s frame, and tells him to take the ring to a specific location.  In his altered and concussed state, Theo grabs the painting and the dying man’s ring and exits the museum out a side door with no idea where his mother is.  He then returns to his apartment to wait for his mom, hoping that she will meet him there.  Sadly, she never comes home.  The rest of the book follows Theo as he battles grief, post-traumatic stress disorder, and hiding The Goldfinch painting. 

I decided to read this book on my e-reader versus the physical book.  I seem to be drawn towards larger 400+ page books, if you haven't noticed from the majority of my previous reads.  This one is no exception.  The e-reader had it listed as 515 pages.  It was reserved from my library, so I only had two weeks to finish it before I would need to renew it.  I buckled down and tried to fly through it.  Luckily, the plot was drama-filled enough to keep me entertained and kept me flipping quite easily.  I finished the book with mere hours to spare before a renewal was needed.  Mind you, I would stay up until 2AM many a night, but what book-lover doesn't do that to begin with?

Bathing in my glory of finishing the book, I glanced at a few other reviews to see if my thoughts fell into the general consensus.  I saw a lot of reviews saying that it was "too long" or that it dragged in sections.  I was confused as to how people believed that entire chunks of the book could have been edited out, when I saw that the physical book is actually 800+ pages...... You mean to tell me that I just flew through an 800 page book in 2 weeks?  I was baffled by the page difference between my e-reader and the physical copy.  It made me wonder if it would have been a more difficult read if I knew there were an extra 300 pages to get through.  It can be daunting looking at the size of a book or seeing the never-ending numbers flipping in the corner of the page.  Perhaps some people just lost interest due to the size alone and less their connection with the story line.

In conclusion, this book is a chore to take on.  I wouldn't consider it a casual beach read by any means.  But I think it will make a fabulous movie and is well worth the time spent.  The plot is thick with twists and turns and never lets the characters settle into comfort.  I'm very interested in Donna Tartt's other books now.

Rating: 5 out of 5
* Positives: Exciting plot; author's investment to research and attention to detail when writing about specific subjects (ex: art history, grief, substance abuse); and it is so well written!

* Negatives: Size of the book and the number of snacks consumed while reading this behemoth