Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Audiobook Review

This post was written as a Master's course assignment for Texas Woman's University.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lin, Grace. 2010. WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON. Read by Janet Song. Listening Library (Audio) Unabridged Edition. ISBN 9780307746047.

2. PLOT SUMMARY

A young girl named Minli lives simply with her parents, Ma and Ba, in a town nestled in the valley of Fruitless Mountain. With a cast of characters that includes The Old Man of the Moon, Dragon, Magistrate Tiger, The Buffalo Boy, and many others, Minli sets off on a journey to Never-Ending Mountain, with the hopes of improving her family's fortune. Her discoveries and lessons along the way, peppered by numerous vignette short stories, teach the young girl, and the reader, the most important lesson of all.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Janet Song's excellent reading of WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON is at once delightful and engaging. The listener becomes instantly enthralled by the characters, the beautiful color imagery, the nuances of personalities, and the plot of the story. Song's seamless transition between character "voices" illustrates a clear picture of each individual character, and there are quite a number of them throughout the story. The pacing of the storytelling is done perfectly, and the reader experiences the emotions right along with the characters.

Grace Lin's choice to organize the book into small chapters, each featuring smaller, story-within-a-story sections, adds to the excitement, learning, and history that weaves together the entire larger story. The smaller stories are lessons in themselves, with morals that may apply to situations outside of this story, each with a descriptive title: "The Story of Jade Dragon," "The Story of the Goldfish Man," "The Story of the Old Man of the Moon."

The characters are imminently familiar, offering the reader a glimpse into the variety of accolades and flaws that exist within humankind. Though the setting is fantastic, with talking goldfish, mysterious magical mountains, and dragons, Lin's descriptive language keeps the reader interested and involved.

The language is lovely, colorful, emotional, and magical in itself, especially these particular phrases: "a joyful fire twirling in the water" (about the goldfish), "the water was clear as glass. Minli could see her feet and all of the stones and leaves at the bottom of the stream," and "It was brilliant red, the color of a lucky lantern, with emerald green whiskers" (about the dragon). 

Numerous themes run throughout the book: good vs. evil, wealth/poverty and happiness, the pleasures of simplicity, thankfulness and appreciation for what we have, the influence of parents' wishes upon their children. Lin elegantly carries all of these themes, as well as others, through Minli's journey up to Never-Ending Mountain, where she herself learns the greatest lesson.

The only thing lacking from the audiobook is access to the lovely illustrations in the print book, which is all the more reason to seek it out for future enjoyment.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

*Newbery Honor Book

*Starred Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "Interwoven with Minli's quest are tales told by her father and by those she meets on the way. While these tales are original to Lin, many characters, settings, and themes are taken from traditional Chinese folklore. The author's writing is elegant, and her full-color illustrations are stunning."

*Starred Review from BOOKLIST: "With beautiful language, Lin creates a strong, memorable heroine and a mystical land."

5. CONNECTIONS
Readers may also enjoy other audiobooks by Grace Lin, such as STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY, read by Kim Mai Guest, ISBN 9781619691469.

Children may also enjoy other tales from classic Chinese folklore, such as TALES OF A CHINESE GRANDMOTHER: 30 TRADITIONAL TALES FROM CHINA, ISBN 9780804834094.

The Fault in Our Stars - Book and Audiobook Review

This post was written as a Master's course assignment for Texas Woman's University.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Green, John. 2012. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. New York, NY: Dutton Books, a Member of Penguin Group, Inc. ISBN 9780525478812.

AND

The unabridged Audiobook, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, by John Green, CD (7 discs, 2013), read by Kate Rudd, ISBN 9781455869916.

2. PLOT SUMMARY

According to Hazel Grace Lancaster, "depression is a side effect of dying." As a 16 year old terminal cancer patient, suffering from thyroid and lung cancer, she would know. Though she does not live a normal teenage life, Hazel experiences normal teenage moments, and even craves the ability to "slam the door" on her parents once in a while. Constantly tethering to one of her oxygen tanks, attending support group meetings, and waking up in the hospital; all are ordinary experiences for Hazel. One day, Augustus Waters strolls into support group, expressing an intense and obvious interest in Hazel, and so begins the true, aching, tragic reality of teenage love in a fleeting lifetime.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Audio book:

For the first half of this book, I listened to the audiobook. The listening experience was engaging at first, and mostly absorbing. As I continued, however, I found that the different voices used to highlight each character seemed a bit strange, a little forced, and almost hokey, a trait that removed me from the excitement of the book and was distracting to the story. The "men" in the book received a husky, not-quite-believable voice treatment, while Hazel's and her mother's voices were normal and more believable. 

The character of Hazel also seemed to take on a condescending, snarky, and ironic tone, which did not feel quite right either (even though she is a girl suffering from immense challenges at a young age), so I chose to change to the print book, where I could form the mental picture of all of the characters on my own. The emotional element of the text was also being influenced by the audiobook narrator, and I did not experience the equivalent of what I should be feeling by listening to someone else's interpretation of the action. I could allow myself to move at a faster, more natural pace through the print book. For this book, I preferred the book to the audiobook.

Print Book:

Once we meet most of the characters in this book, they have already weathered some extreme circumstances in their short lifetimes, either being children with cancer, or the parents of those children. The dialogue style is mostly fresh and authentic, with the exception of several cases of the author choosing to use "these" and "this," instead of "a" or "some" or "the," as in "these kids" instead of "some kids" or "this tunnel" instead of "a tunnel." While some teenagers probably speak this way, and it seems that this inclusion in the speech pattern was supposed to feel authentic from the mouth of a sixteen-year-old girl, it seems, at times, to be trying too hard. The story would not be lacking with a few less of "these."

The plot in THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is fabulous, taking the reader through the day-to-day experience of a teenager living in Indiana with terminal cancer. There are references to art and books, one book in particular that Hazel is obsessed with, a fictional book called AN IMPERIAL AFFLICTION, by Peter Van Houten, which is also a book about a girl with terminal cancer. With unexpected turns and surprises, the reader soars along with Hazel on her journey to experience a semi-normal teen life, including watching reruns of America's Next Top Model, comforting a friend going through a break-up, and going to the mall.

The ever-present theme of mortality/death is a constant, but as necessity compels, Augustus shows Hazel how to laugh in the face of imminent death; he carries an unlit cigarette in his mouth, explaining: "it's a metaphor... you put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing" (since he never lights it). Hazel also battles with the choice of whether or not to become romantically involved, since she characterizes herself as a "grenade," a death bomb ready to go off and leave the other party hanging at any moment. Most people crave a loving relationship, especially teenagers experiencing it for the first time, but Hazel's medical hangups give her pause to consider the consequences of becoming involved.

Green's choice of language and use of descriptive language is excellent, especially such phrases as: Hazel's dad's "hiccuping cry," "a clunky gray Fiat with an engine that sounded like an excited four-year-old girl," and "It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." There is great depth of thought throughout the dialogue, internal to Hazel, and external, from the other characters. One such recurring theme originated from Hazel's father: "Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed."

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

*Starred review from BOOKLIST: "Writing about kids with cancer is an invitation to sentimentality and pathos- or worse, in unskilled hands, bathos. Happily, Green is able to transcend such pitfalls in his best and most ambitious novel to date. Beautifully conceived and executed, this story artfully examines the largest possible considerations- life, love, and death- with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity."

5. CONNECTIONS

*Readers may also enjoy other angst-ridden books about teenagers who must weigh the consequences of romantic relationships, such as THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, by Stephen Chbosky, ISBN 9781451696196.