things to muse about

NaNoWriMo has taught me a couple of things. I know, I know. You’re like, ALREADY?! It’s been…nine days. But these are pretty basic, so I’m going to get them off my chest.

First, I only have a certain number of non-academic words in me per day. In my hey-day, I could pull off a fifteen-page paper in one sitting, if the occasion arose (and I’d been that bad about procrastinating, which was almost always, truth to tell). But as I’ve been blogging over the last six months and writing fiction for the last nine days, I’ve come to the conclusion that I now only have about 2,500 words in me at any given time. After that threshold I get irritable and unhappy and start taking coffee breaks (even if it’s just to stand in front of the coffeemaker, and not actually refill my cup) every five minutes or so. Very Maddening Behavior. So I’m behind on NaNo, and I’m behind on my blog, and I don’t really know that I can do both well at the same time. This is sort of an apology/excuse in advance, in case you weren’t picking up the hints. I may be around a little less for a couple of weeks while I try to salvage my word count.

Second, it’s almost Christmas. I know, I know. Not really a revelation. But it hit me when I came downstairs and Ginny was crafting and listening to Christmas music. NaNoWriMo is a November thing. Followed by a December thing. December = holidays. So we put in Love Actually, a fun and modern holiday film, and had a little bit of Christmas cheer. I can’t imagine what my word count will look like in a couple of weeks when Thanksgiving rolls around and all the attendant merry-making, food-preparing and house-cleaning. Erm…maybe I’d better get going now…

Photos are of Ginny’s (best sister ever) work space & latest project. Guess the theme?

color me skinned

For Teen Dystopia Week and the YA Dystopian Reading Challenge, I’ve been doing a lot of dystopia in a little time. And here’s the downside: I wouldn’t recommend it as a reading program to anyone. For the generally happy (yes, that means YOU), I say space out these reads – they’re heavy emotional fare, and more than a little mood-altering. If I hadn’t made a commitment to get a certain number done during the week, you can bet your right hand (or whatever body part you like to bet…maybe your left eyelid, for instance?) that I’d be interspersing them with lots of romance and high fantasy.

It’s not that they’re not awesome. Because for the most part they are. It’s just that I find equilibrium in my real life AND my reading life when I go by that old proverb ‘everything in moderation.’ Actually, I’m pretty sure humanity could avoid the apocalypse and a dystopian future if they stuck to that rule. Not to get all philosophical or, you know, serious.

So back to the topic at hand: Robin Wasserman’s novel Skinned. I have to get this off my chest. I’ve been spoiled for life. Spoiled by The Hunger Games, 1984, The Giver, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and even Unwind and Uglies in their own way. All of these are examples of truly magnificent (or at least entertaining and heart-stopping) dystopian literature. Books to make you agonize, and think, and question the rules of the world, and at the end sit back and acknowledge that the author has brought characters to life, made you care about them, made you feel their pain, and made you INVEST in the horrible reality of their worlds.

With Skinned I couldn’t quite take the leap. I was impressed by the premise – when I read the description I could imagine many disturbing, wonderful ways to take the story. What I ended up feeling was incomprehension and disconnection.

Lia Kahn was perfect: rich, beautiful, popular -- until the accident that nearly killed her. Now she has been downloaded into a new body that only looks human. Lia will never feel pain again, she will never age, and she can't ever truly die. But she is also rejected by her friends, betrayed by her boyfriend, and alienated from her old life.

Forced to the fringes of society, Lia joins others like her. But they are looked at as freaks. They are hated...and feared. They are everything but human, and according to most people, this is the ultimate crime -- for which they must pay the ultimate price.

Part of the problem is that the description seems misleading. If I had to try the reading experience over, I’d go in completely blind, without expecting anything – and certainly not a dystopian tale or a society turns against the machines story like the blurb suggests. Because this is a character-driven novel, lived mostly inside one girl’s head. Naturally, it’s rather self-absorbed (ha ha). And partly because I expect what I’m offered in a book jacket description, I had a dissatisfying reading experience.

I could probably write another couple thousand words on why I’m not happy and why I want my time back. But I’m not going to. First of all, those words belong to NaNoWriMo (come find me – I’m ‘celialarsen’). And second of all, I gather that this is the first in the series. You know what? Skinned’s description probably (hopefully) fits the overall story arc to a T. And third of all, different strokes for different folks. I know that somewhere out there, this is someone’s favorite book of all time. It fell flat for me, but it might change someone else’s world. I can respect that.

NOTE: For an in-depth look at the issues in Skinned, with emphasis on series potential, check out The Book Smugglers' review.

If you’ve read Skinned (and especially if you had a strong reaction to it – love or hate), please hit me up in the comments. I’d love to know your thoughts!