In Which Trai Reviews 'One Tree Hill: The Beginning'

The Book: One Tree Hill: The Beginning

The Author: Jenny Markas

How I Found It: We've been through the whole "I love One Tree Hill as a guilty pleasure thing" already, yes? Good. Stop laughing.

The Review: All right, all right, so every once in a while I need a Brain Drain to clear my head. Midterms have passed and I just read the terribly upsetting Proof. This was short, quick, and fun, and after spending a bit exploring Babysitters Club Snark Fest, reading something way below my age level seemed like an appealing way to kill a few hours.

The last time I read a book based on a TV show would probably have to be tenth grade-ish. I loved Roswell and, before and after watching all three seasons, read both the books the TV show was based on and a large part of the ones written after (the three in the Loose Ends series, and five out of the eight books in the post-series ones). I freely admit that being a freshman in college makes me pathetic for reading books like this one, but whatever.

Okay. So. Rule #1 of TV novelizations is that they can be great, they can be out-of-character when it comes to the show, or the writer could just have no idea what the show's about in the first place. I think this one has a little bit of everything. Let me count the ways.

Part One of the book takes place in the summer between sophomore and junior years for the core five-- Nathan, golden boy son of Dan Scott, a former basketball player who also has another son Lucas, had illegitimately by his high school girlfriend Karen, who's crushed on by Dan's older brother Keith. Lucas' best friend is Haley, the one whose nickname I stole and who waitresses at Karen's cafe; Nathan's girlfriend is Peyton, an artist who lost her mom at an early age and as a result is Dark and Twisty; and Peyton's best friend since childhood is the ditzy (at first) Brooke, a rich girl who's pretty much the town bicycle at the show's start. Part Two is a prose version of the show's pilot, not the original content of the first half.

I'll summarize the original content half-- Lucas and Nathan both play basketball, Lucas by himself on the river court and Nathan whilst exercising in the off-season. Nathan and Peyton are together, at first in their more romantic phase and then where the show picks up, when they're having issues. (The more romantic phase part was actually cute to see, as Nathan does show Peyton in season four that there was a point where he really was into her.) Haley is working a minimum wage job at a local hot dog stand, and Brooke is involved with a college guy named Rusty.

There were definitely some parts of the book that made it clear the author hadn't seen enough of the show to really know the characters, and parts that made it obvious that OTH canon has been established over a long, long time (since 2003). Some things, like the whole subplot of Skills having an abusive stepdad and coming to live with Lucas, are invalidated by the fourth-season episodes that show Skills as having two very happily married parents. However, this novelization was written during the show's second season, so none of that was established yet.

However, some parts had glaringly obvious out-of-character errors. First off, Jake is mentioned twice-- once during the basketball game and once as part of the little bus joyride from the pilot. Where he's the one pouring the beers. Okay, I can deal with him not being mentioned much-- he didn't really become part of the show until mid-season one, and this is supposed to be the first episode. But mid-season one, which had already passed when this was written, establishes Jake as a responsible single teenage father who does not participate in this behavior! They even say in maybe the first five minutes of the pilot that he wasn't part of the bus thing, and it wasn't because his parents paid the cops off or anything! *steps down off soapbox*

Second, I had some issues with the way Brooke was portrayed. Brooke's a polarizing character-- you either love her or hate her. It's a little bit of both for me, depending on which season we're in. Anyway, I could deal with the author portraying her as drunk most of the time, as Brooke was supposed to be a huge party girl, at least in the beginning. But boy crazy as Brooke was, I don't think there's any way she would have gotten involved with an abusive boyfriend (Rusty). Brooke is the one who gave the otherwise-responsible Haley a lecture in season three when Haley and Nathan very unwisely had unprotected sex (that in all likelihood led to the conception of their son). I know some people paint her in an unflattering light, but I'd at least give the girl credit enough that she'd know when to get out of something like that. (Though Peyton attacking the guy after the hitting was definitely true to form.) Also, the part where Mouth held her after Rusty hit her at the carnival? Mouth was supposed to have a crush on her, but I don't think that would've happened.

Third, the party scene definitely showed the writer hadn't paid much attention. A couple reviewers have pointed out that Lucas and Haley only see Nathan's place at a party for the first time in early season one, specifically 1x06. So them going to a party at Nathan's house was wrong, as was Lucas (allegedly) talking to/getting near Peyton at the party. But the least believable part was Dan calling Keith and Whitey to break up the party before the cops came-- no way in hell would Whitey hide the evidence of underage drinking, he who condemns the players for the bus incident later on. And no way in hell would Keith help!

Okay, this is becoming a tiny bit of a rant. Anyway, parts of it were good, but some parts were glaring instances of Did Not Do The Research. Also, the way the characters were portrayed in the original half was at odds sometimes with the way they acted in the half taken from the pilot. (Also, Brooke wasn't even in the pilot, so the couple parts where they mentioned her as part of the action were inaccurate.)

It was good, but it could have been better had one of the actual writers of the show taken the reigns. Parts were cutesy, parts were "... ummm..." Recommended to fans of the show who don't mind a couple inaccuracies here and there (I did enjoy it despite the flaws, and it only took me about two hours or so to read). It's good for those of us who sorta miss the old days now that Lucas and Peyton were Put On a Bus (or, more specifically, Put In The Comet).

In Which Trai Reviews 'Proof: A Play'

The Book: Proof: A Play

The Author: David Auburn

How I Found It: Knew vaguely of the movie, but was assigned a scene to perform in acting class as the character Catherine that made me cry when I acted it in front of the class.

The Review: To start off: I am not good with math. Numbers bug me, math escapes me, and this inability to do math makes me suck at science. The closest I will ever get to being a math or science geek is watching The Big Bang Theory every Monday.

I think that was what initially drove me away from the movie of the play-- all I knew was that the main character was a daughter of a famous mathematician and no siree Bob was I spending more time with math than I had to.

However, I'm glad I shied away from seeing the movie when I was fourteen or so-- I don't know if I would have liked it then, and that would have deprived me of the beautiful, beautiful experience of reading this play.

The play has only four characters and a very minimal set: the entirety of the action takes place on the back porch of an old house at varying times. The four characters are Robert, a brilliant but bipolar mathematician who passes away before the play begins; Catherine, his youngest daughter everyone believes may have inherited his disorder; Claire, her older sister who wants Catherine to come live with her just in case she is unstable; and Hal, a former student of Robert's who wishes to look through the 103 notebooks Robert left behind.

When the play starts, Catherine is shaken by what could be a dream or hallucination of her dead father, something the hallucination Robert warns could be a sign of bipolar disorder. Hal wakes her to tell her he's done looking through Robert's workspace, but that he believes there could be something important in the notebooks. Catherine accuses him of wishing to pass off her father's work as his own, but Hal vehemently denies the claims and even tries hitting on her. Things escalate until Catherine finds that Hal did take a notebook-- but the one in which Robert wrote about her during a lucid period. (Trust me, this is only the first scene in the play that made me cry.)

The play is so much more than the first scene, but I don't want to give anything away. I haven't read very many plays, but I think that this one has become my favorite-- even surpassing The Laramie Project, a beautiful work I still believe everyone should read. Laramie drew me to tears three times; Proof did at least five. The two flashback scenes in particular are absolutely heartbreaking. My mother felt worst for Catherine throughout the movie, but for me it was Robert, who wants desperately to believe he is lucid and working in the flashbacks, but instead learns the opposite.

This play had me at hello; from the moment I read the scene in acting class, I was dying to read the rest. I read it this afternoon in probably less than an hour or so; I know I'm going to read it many times after this. Don't let the math scare you; it's not as much a part of the play as you'd think. I agree with a reviewer who said that this play is for anybody who has ever been passionate about something-- for me, it's my writing, and I could perfectly understand the emotions of the characters. This is not a play about math; it is a play about human interactions, and it is a play about love.

I recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who wants to read a gorgeous, perfectly done play (it even won the Pulitzer). And to anyone who needs a good cry.

In Which Trai Reviews 'On the Origin of PCs'

The Book: On the Origin of PCs

The Author (And Illustrator): Rich Burlew

How I Found It: Carrie Vaughn plugged the online strip in a blog entry. I spent the entire weekend glued to the archives. I've been caught up since the summer and ordered this book-exclusive prequel.

The Review: I don't play Dungeons and Dragons, but I do enjoy epic fantasy stories a whole lot, and I'm game for parodies of the things I love. I started reading the comic as a way to kill time, but I soon found myself absorbed in how it took on the cliches of epic stories and roleplaying games.

The basics of OOTS is that it follows the exploits of six adventurers, The Order of the Stick, on their quest to defeat Xykon, a "lich". The Order consists of Roy, a Fighter with an MBA, whose father's Blood Oath is what leads to the quest to destroy Xykon in the first place; Haley, a Rogue who acts as the second-in-command; Elan, an annoyingly peppy and slightly dimwitted Bard; Durkon, a Dwarf Cleric who's been with Roy the longest of all and is convinced trees are out to destroy us all; Vaarsuvius, an androgynous Elf obsessed with arcane power; and Belkar, a Halfling Ranger who's pretty much psychotic.

They're a ragtag bunch, but they're wildly funny. Burlew made this book to explain their backstory, and though it's short, he does a great job of keeping the backstory true to the characters. We learn how Haley abandoned the thieves' guild, how Roy came to take his father's challenge of defeating Xykon, why Durkon left the Dwarven lands, just why Belkar joined the Order, how dense Elan could truly be, and how Vaarsuvius was still ranting away prior to joining the Order.

My only complaints about the book are that I wish it was longer, and that I'm STILL waiting on an explanation of why Haley and Vaarsuvius are so close.

Anyway, if you're a fan of the series, it's definitely worth a read, even though I'm late to the OOTS bandwagon and most have read it already. But if you've never read the comic, I have to agree with Mr. Burlew and say read the online strip first-- Origin of PCs will be so much funnier when you know the little jokes, such as an ink blot covering Vaarsuvius' answer about his gender. ('He' is just an arbitrarily assigned pronoun-- what I believe V is. Word of God states that just like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world will never know.)

In Which Trai Reviews 'Joy in the Morning'

The Book: Joy in the Morning

The Author: Betty Smith

How I Found It: Probably through looking up A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and seeing it was one of the author's other works.

The Review: A lot of the time, I like stories about the little things. I like books a lot of people would consider boring. Stories about people just living their lives are of great interest to me, and I believe I've already stated I'm kind of a romantic.

I read that Joy in the Morning was a cute story about a couple's first year of marriage in the 1920s, and thought it sounded interesting. I've read that it is usually found lacking when read after A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so I decided to read it first. After doing so, I'm really eager to read Tree.

The story follows Carl and Annie Brown. They are both from Brooklyn; Carl is about two years older. They have been dating for a few years when Annie decides to travel from Brooklyn to the Midwest, where Carl attends law school, to marry him on her eighteenth birthday. This impulsive decision is not looked upon kindly: Carl's mother cuts him off; Annie's mother constantly rubs it in how Annie has hurt her. Both imply that Carl has been forced into the situation by a possible pregnancy, an insinuation which hurts Annie.

But Annie is indomitable, determined not to let anyone get her down, and so she and Carl embark on married life with their love and little money to support them. Carl struggles through school and work; Annie finds that her large amounts of reading make her well-suited to be a writer, especially a playwright. They face many hardships and unexpected obstacles, but they always manage to stay strong and together in the face of these conflicts.

I loved, loved, loved this little story. It put a smile on my face through a very long bus ride, and I laughed a good couple times. I could definitely relate to Annie's love of books and her desire to be a writer. What I liked most was that this story really was about getting married young. It didn't fall into the normal pitfalls-- Carl was not an abusive jerk; they do stay together; and even if Carl is smarter than Annie, he is very patient with her and helps her understand things she does not. He treated her just the way a good husband should have, and I was pleased to see the author did not just throw in cheap drama the way many young-married-couple stories do today.

I will have to read Tree Grows in Brooklyn just to see if the author can capture my heart a second time; I'm pretty sure Joy has become a favorite of mine. To anyone who likes stories about life, or about enduring love, this is a great one.

In Which Trai Reviews 'The Awakening'

Second review I meant to post... This book not to be confused with Kate Chopin's The Awakening (also a very good book).

The Book: The Awakening (Book #2 in the DARKEST POWERS series)

The Author: Kelley Armstrong, author of the dark fantasy series WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD

How I Found It: Read the first novel, The Summoning, to which this is a sequel. Before that, I've been a fan of her work since I was fourteen (eighteen now).

The Review: As mentioned above, I started reading Kelley Armstrong's books when I was fourteen years old-- perhaps a little young for the content, but in my defense, I started with Haunted, the least sexually explicit of the Otherworld books. (Yes, my mother knew what I was reading and gave me permission... she apparently read worse at that age.)

Since around 2007, I became a lapsed fan of the Otherworld series; with the advent of the seventh book, No Humans Involved, the series went hardcover. Besides my adversity to hardcovers (I just don't like them), they're very expensive, so I waited for the paperbacks. I got NHI when it came out in paperback, but didn't get around to reading it. On the eve of my departure for college, I noticed Kelley's first YA effort, The Summoning, on a Border's display table and bought it on impulse, bringing that and NHI with me to college.

Earlier this month, I pulled a NHI/Summoning double feature, reading them back-to-back. I wasn't sure how Armstrong's universe would translate to YA, but I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know how many people who read her YA are familiar with the Otherworld books, but for me, it was slightly suspense-killing since I knew the "surprise" of what each person was.

Regardless, I got pretty sucked into the story, and I was very glad to read The Awakening to see where it went. Armstrong writes YA just as convincingly as she writes adult books, and Chloe is a very likeable narrator.

Chloe is also a budding filmmaker, meaning she is what TV Tropes would call genre savvy. That is, she knows all the pitfalls of the normal heroine in movies and books, lampshades them, and avoids them as much as she can. This makes her a smart and fun narrator to stick with-- since she avoids the normal conventions, it's great to see what she'll do next.

Granted, the plot and characters of the first two books of the trilogy aren't too original. I figured out a good many things before the characters did; certain tropes are pretty old hat. But at the same time, cliche as some characters may have been, they were characterized very well, and I enjoyed spending time with them. I thought Armstrong's use of Simon's drawings as coded messages was particularly original-- a ghost, a Terminator, and a lightning bolt translates to "Chloe, I'll be back, Simon." It was a cute touch I really enjoyed.

The first book was about the secrets of Lyle House, what the characters were, and how to get out. This second book was mostly about the search for Simon and Derek's dad and the setbacks along the way. Again, not terribly original, but it is Armstrong's gift that she can make even the most unoriginal plot great fun to read about.

Otherworld fans might miss the familiar faces-- I'm waiting for Jaime to pop up and mentor Chloe-- but once you get past that, these are quick, engaging YA reads that are much, much better than the Twilight junk floating around. Want your kid/friend/partner to read good fantasy? Tell them to read this.

In Which Trai Reviews 'Agnes Grey'

Trai is a complete loser who doesn't update even when she has the time. Belatedly, the first review I neglected to give!

The Book: Agnes Grey

The Author: Anne Bronte

How I Found It: Read about Anne being the forgotten/ignored Bronte sister and decided to read her books (Tenant of Wildfell Hall is on the TBR pile).

The Review: Poor, poor Anne Bronte. I feel like she's gotten an unfair reputation as the forgotten sister, which leads to conclusions that she's not as good a writer as her sisters Charlotte and Emily. I refute this unfortunate preconception. In fact, now having read a book by each Bronte sister, Anne has earned my respect more fully than Charlotte or Emily.

Agnes Grey is based partially on Anne's experiences as a governess. Allegedly, her charges were so unruly that she tied them to a table leg for the space to write, which led to her firing. Being a governess was an awkward position-- above a servant, but below the people being served.

It is this awkwardness that is depicted in Agnes Grey. Agnes' family's financial difficulties lead to Agnes telling her family she will seek work as a governess. Her family, believing she was almost too delicate for the outside world, has sheltered her all her life, and try actively to dissuade her from becoming a governess. But Anne is determined, and obtains a job working with the Bloomfields.

With the Bloomfields and later the Murrays, Agnes is treated terribly. She is reprimanded for being unable to control her impossible charges, for not being able to teach those unwilling to learn. Through it all, the only thing that gets Agnes through is her sense of (rightly) being above her employers spiritually and mentally.

As with Jane Eyre, there is romance involved in the story, but it is not as big a figure as it is in Jane Eyre. If I recall, my copy of Eyre was around 565 pages; Agnes Grey came in at 198. It was a simpler story, but that does not diminish its quality. Agnes Grey was a sort of 19th-century Nanny Diaries (yes, I like it, shut up). The romance is secondary to Agnes' daily life as a governess struggling to cope with the indignities of her work. But never fear, a happy ending is in store.

Though Anne was the most religious of the sisters and religion certainly played a part here, I felt it really wasn't as overt as it was in Jane Eyre, where it sometimes became tedious. Agnes Grey is also definitely more realistic than, say, Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. There's no "hey, my wife burned down my manor and I'm blind so let's get married!" or "marry your first cousin and all will be well" resolution to this one. A simple resolution to a simple, well-drawn story.

Highly recommended to those who wish to read the work of the less-famous sister of Charlotte and Emily, or anyone who just wants to read a good, lesser-known classic.

In Which Trai Reviews 'The Guensey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'

The Book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Authors: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

How I Found It: My high school librarian mentioned it during a book club meeting and it stuck in my mind.

The Review: I will start off by saying that PaperbackSwap is one of the best inventions ever, ever known to man. In short, you trade your books with club members in order to obtain their books and have them sent to you.

I've been a member for two years and have mainly sent off books from my childhood that, while I enjoyed, I could no longer get use out of. I really liked seeing where my books were going-- I've even sent some to Alaska and Hawaii. And I've really enjoyed the thanks I get from the people who get them, especially when I'm told their daughter will love the book, etc.

I suppose it is appropriate that I obtained my copy of Guernsey through PaperbackSwap, as the plot of the novel begins in 1946 when a Guernsey man writes to a woman whose used book he owns. His name is Dawsey and hers is Juliet; the book is by Charles Lamb. Dawsey does not know Juliet, but on finding her address in the front of her book, he writes to her asking if she can direct him to Charles Lamb's other writings. He also (tantalizingly, to Juliet and the reader) mentions the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Juliet marvels at how her beloved copy of the book wound up in just the right hands, something I have often done when I send out my own books to their new homes. I love sending books I loved out to people who will enjoy them, too. For me, the journey usually ends with a thanks from the recipient. For Juliet, she is brought into the lives of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

They are a very distinct bunch of characters and I am delighted that Shaffer (the primary writer of the book; her niece, Barrows, took over when Shaffer became ill and passed away) could create characters with such unique voices. I've read many a book where each character sounds exactly the same. But no, these characters are like old friends whose personalities you know as well as your own. I was a little bit in love with every character.

I laughed a lot and also cried. The subject matter, often dealing with World War II and the German occupation of Guernsey, is not an easy one to write about, never mind in a book that has so much levity. But it was pulled off well and I was very pleased with its portraits of strong women. Though Juliet is the narrator, the heart of the book is the story of Elizabeth, the woman who came up with the lie that eventually became the Society.

I enjoyed how each author connected to a character (Isola and her Bronte fascination was funniest). I was surprised Austen didn't get mentioned until late in the game, but when she did, it was funny enough that it paid off. A book about reading is hard to do, I think-- after all, what if the reader doesn't like yours?-- but this one came off so well. If ever the Jane Austen Book Club and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society were to fight over me for membership, I'm not sure which I would join.

Very highly recommended to anyone who loves to read. A quick, funny, but also sad read about some fascinating characters and the books they love.