Happy As Larry

Scot Gardner © 2010

‘My neighbours. I heard them shouting in the yard. They were always shouting. I ran to my hiding place where I could see through a hole in the metal fence. They were shouting and one man was crying and the other man pulled out a pistol. Shot my neighbour straight through his head. It was the middle of the day and I saw all his blood spray onto the back door of the house.’

… 

‘Every hell is different,’ he said. ‘It’s what we do with our hell that defines us. Do we take drugs and pretend hell doesn’t exist? Do we wear hell like a badge? Do we curl up and sulk in the corner somewhere? Do we swallow it and die slowly as it eats us from the inside? Do we build a fortress and make it a private hell? Do we paint smiles on our faces and pretend hell doesn’t exist? Do we drag everyone down with us?’                                       (pp.212-3)

I struggled to get into this novel. Now that I’ve finished reading it I think I have worked out why. The cover. I blame the cover, and the fact that it is classified as Youth Fiction. This is only acceptable to my mind if that ‘youth’ is turning 19 this year.

Happy As Larry  is a deeply philosophical book. I was confronted by it on several levels. The protagonist is a bit ASD, a pure soul who is often misunderstood. He is, sadly, the butt of several misdemeanours. A neighbourhood child is the embodiment of pure evil; his actions are heart-stopping, breath-holding chilling. And for me, the unravelling of Larry’s parents’ marriage is deeply moving (I won’t spoil the ending).

The thought provoking extract is one of many; I could have flipped to virtually any page and found meat for the mind. No wonder it took some getting into.

But I am glad I persisted. I feel richer for reading it, and surely that’s the highest accolade of any writer.

STRICTLY OLDER READERS please :)

NEVER FALL DOWN

By Patricia McCormick c2012

I spotted this shiny red and black hard back in the new book section of Taminmin Community Library (which is also the school library), flicked to the back cover and was immediately aghast by the comment, 'This book contains graphic scenes of a distressing nature, and is not suitable for younger readers.' It was, however, labelled as Youth Fiction. I had to find out what it was about.

A few pages in and I desperately wanted to return the novel to its tidy shelf. 'Graphic scenes' is an understatement. But what is more graphic than graphic? Graphic times two?

The story is told by Arn, a young Cambodian boy whose life is torn apart when the Khmer Rouge take over his village. Pardon my ignorance but I knew very little about this brutal chapter in history. It is utterly horrendous, too vile to be believed. I am almost physically sick as I read but I'm on a mission now to reach the end:

   This soldier he grab me and Siv, he take us to the temple. The temple, the place where the torture happen. In there other soldier, they have the prisoner tied up. Hand behind, head down. Quick I look for Sombo. But these prisoners all old people.
   "These people, they no good," says one Khmer Rouge. "They old; they don't work so hard. They gonna die soon anyway." Then, very quick, he take the ax and hit them in the back of the head. Blood fly everywhere. The wall of the temple, beautiful tile, beautiful painting, now all dripping with blood.
   Then the Khmer Rouge says to us, "It's time for your job. You pee on them. You pee on their head."
   I think: I will not do this terrible thing, I will not do this.
   But then I look down, and I see urine coming out of me. (p.101)

I don't want to write any more. At some point we stop protecting 'youth' and start immersing them in the reality of history - we reveal the darkness of the human heart. Strictly for older readers, this story must be read.

The Wrong Boy by Suzy Zail

Can there ever be too many books about the holocaust? This reader says 'no', not when they are so simply delivered and poignantly written.  Through this bleak chapter in history, Zail shares the stark, heart-stopping story about a 15 year old girl, a survivor who endures the horrors of Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. As we are all aware, there is no happy ending even for the survivors but there is a rich vein of hope which sustains the narrative and reminds us that all people have a responsibility to ensure that this mass slaughter and dehumanisation of people will never again happen in our lifetime or beyond.

Hanna's stubborn nature and natural prowess with playing classical piano form part of her survival testimony. A simple lie about her age in the opening pages ensures that she narrowly misses being sent to the gas chamber. From that point her luck continues as she manages to impress a German commander with her musical ability to 'secure' a place as his 'entertainer', a mere commodity to amuse his guests:

I'd always performed best in front of an audience. It was easier to play warmed by the smiles, buoyed by the audience's expectations, jolted by the extra electricity an audience provides. But not this time, not here. I wasn't on stage. There were no draped curtains, no chandeliers. I was wearing a dead girl's dress and no matter how well I played there'd be no applause. (p.97)

There is nothing pleasant in talking about the holocaust, but talk about it we must. Zail bases her story on what she learnt about it from her father who was 13 when he was captured and taken to Auschwitz. The Wrong Boy  should rightly take its place with the other classics in literature on this historical event including The Hiding Place,   The Diary of Anne Frank and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

'The Debt - Catch the Zolt' - Phillip Gwynne

Quality fiction for teenage boys is no longer a thing of the past. Three cheers for Mr Gwynne who, being a lad himself at one stage of his life, knows exactly what boys want to read. It's all here - seriously.

There's competition, sexy cars, money, power, punch-ups, shootings, intrigue and excitement. This might seem an unfair thing to say, but I don't think the girls will get this book. I persisted so I could rally the lads.

Oh, forgot to mention plane crashes:
     As if to emphasise his point we hit a patch of turbulence and the plane shuddered violently, the chairs we were sitting in moving all over the place. My guts, too, now seemed to have no fixed position.
   As the ground came up to meet us, Otto talked to himself.
   ...'Keep the nose level,'  he kept saying. 'Keep the nose level.'
   I remembered the photo on the net of one of the planes he'd crashed, its nose buried in the earth.
   How he had walked away from that mess unharmed I wasn't sure. (p.265)

The first in a series, The Debt will not disappoint. Cheers Phil :)

Miss ^__^

Deadly Unna

Another year rolls by and yet again I had the privilege of teaching this novel to a class of year niners - all boys this time round. I never tire of returning to The Port and engaging with the array of colourful and realistic characters.
I'm not going to give away the plot. Suffice to say, the book is set in a small beachy community where nothing ever happens - until now. The Port's footy team has stumbled into the grand final and their star player Blacky is not really a star at all, being there by default. If it wasn't for the efforts of the lads from the mission the story would be over before it began. They do have a star player called Dumby Red. It's not over til it's over...
Thank You Phillip Gwynne! My class was captivated - and the essays are trickling in.

Gripping Conclusion!

Oh my! This book did not go where I thought it was headed, which is good. I highly recommend it peoples. I think the boys in particular will enjoy the story.
As I wrote earlier, Marty did suffer a massive trauma in his childhood, the effects of which keep rearing their ugly heads. It is fascinating watching the impacts of this. It's a bit of a psychological thriller cos Marty, at times, can't tell what is real or what is a part of his living nightmare.
It is simply written, largish font, and only a couple of hundred pages. Perfect.
C'mon guys. Give it a shot and let's talk about it. Does Marty pull through? Has he a hope in hell of recovering from his past to live a successful future? What do you think????
Miss ^__^

Nightmares and Trees

Almost half way through now and I can't predict how the story is going to end - which is keeping me on the edge of my seat. In recent chapters Marty has been having flashbacks to something that happened in his childhood. From the few fragments written it seems that there may have been an accidental killing of (maybe) a sibling. Marty recalls a late night car trip to a sinkhole where his mum was crying hysterically as something was dragged and dropped into the hole...
On the other hand, Marty has a passion for trees. He is supporting an Iranian family by replanting the saplings that have been decimated by local racist teens. Of course, this brings him into closer contact with the lovely Nariah. Sigh.