The Diviners, OR, why Libba Bray is awesome

Libba Bray is astonishing. With the exception of her Gemma Doyle trilogy, her other books have been standalones that span all genres. Going Bovine, the only book I know of that combines mad cow disease and Don Quixote, won the Printz Award several years ago. And now, she writes her latest novel The Diviners.


It's the era of Prohibition and flappers, Ziegfeld girls and speakeasys. After a faux pas at home in Ohio, bubbly, "everything's jake" Evie O'Neill has arrived in New York to stay with her uncle Will. Will curates the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. When a peculiar murder with apparent occult ties occurs, the police call upon Will to help solve the crime. And that's where the easy explanation ends.

Evie helps her uncle untangle the complicated threads of a story tying together religion, the occult, and a sacred covenant made years before. At the same time, we learn about other characters on the fringes of Evie's story: Memphis, a numbers runner; Jericho, Will's assistant at the museum; Theta, a Ziegfeld girl; and Sam, a petty thief. As Evie's story continues, it is clear that all these characters have ties with something bigger than themselves. The something is a looming thing of nightmares and evil

I can't even elaborate on this story anymore without serious spoilers, and I can't fully explain the "something." The ARC that I got at BookExpo is 578 pages, and this is the first in a four-part series that I can only assume covers the stories of the other characters in Evie's story. The film rights have already been snapped up by Paramount (wise move!) via Fake Empire and this promises to be an epic, Roaring-Twenties adventure with layers of darkness and occultism.

I stayed up way too late as I got deeper and deeper into this story. The world building and historical imagery are impeccable. After watching Ken Burns' documentary Prohibition earlier this year, I was totally onboard with the time period. At first I didn't like Evie's "pos-i-tute-ly" flapper slang, but as the story built into this maelstrom of intrigue and horror, it became so secondary that I just sat up turning page after page. The story reads like a movie, and I can't wait to see how it translates into film. It's one book-to-film that I'm not dreading!

I do wonder how this book will be received by teens. There's plenty of plot and lots of characters to keep the story going (and Evie is seventeen in the story), but I wonder how the (grisly!) murders and the time period will resonate. The connection I draw is that each time period has an expected "apocalypse" and this story is what apocalypse looked like in the Twenties. The fact that it is a time before a lot of modern technology makes it all the more scary. Beyond the family, there isn't a global community with whom to share common experiences. Local papers are the time period's Facebook status, if you will, and not knowing is a fear in and of itself.

The Diviners will be published in September by Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers. Libba, thank you for being amazing and signing my ARC at BookExpo. Paramount and Fake Empire, thank you for seeing the amazing movie opportunity in this book.

Ex libris and everything's jake,

Marissa

B-E-A is R-A-D

I went to BookExpo America (BEA) for the first time today. It was amazing. So many people and authors and booooks. Highlights: author breakfast with John Green, Chris Colfer, Lois Lowry, and Khadir Nelson. John Green being totally sweet and signing 2 copies of TFiOS for me, one for me and one for the library. Maureen Johnson who is just as awesome and funny as I expected if not more so. Chris Colfer who was hilarious at the author breakfast and looked so overwhelmed at the signing-- we're not at McKinley anymore! And the epic Libba Bray, who is sweet and charming and rad.

People and books I missed go on the TO READ list. Also just signed up with Netgalley. Very tired but...

I totally love what I do.

Ex libris,

Marissa

In which I profusely apologize for blog neglect and name some MUST READS.

Dear blog, I am sorry for neglecting you. I will not make excuses for my behavior. Just know that I am sorry.

I read 76 books in 2009, and now, almost halfway through 2010, I'm up to around 30. Here's the best so far, January through May.

1. Going Bovine by Libba Bray. This book won the Printz award this year, and rightfully so! I laughed, cried, sang Man of La Mancha, and gained new respect for yard gnomes. Libba talks about the book here.
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Teens fight to the death in a gigantic arena. Dystopia, scifi, romance all in one, plus it's a trilogy, so the amazingness is not confined to one book! The third in the trilogy, Mockingjay, comes out in August. Kudos to Suzanne for not drawing this series out longer than it needs to be.
3. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Another YA dystopia novel. Actually, this whole list is YA because that's one of the courses I took this past semester, and YA literature is AMAZING right now. In this one, there is a terrorist attack and San Francisco becomes a police state. Marcus, a tech-saavy teenager, has to bring down the Department of Homeland Security. There is a lot of tech-speak in here, but it is fascinating. Cory Doctorow allows his book to be downloaded for free and this guy Bill Clementson has created a hyperlinked version of the bibliography which you will appreciate once you finish the book!
4. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. Two of the greatest YA authors + two boys named Will Grayson + a chance meeting = GOLD. I so don't want to give anything away, so I won't, but go read this nownownow.
5. Gentlemen by Michael Northrop. I feel that this book has flown a bit under the radar, but it's definitely one of the best I've read so far this year. What would you do if you thought your teacher had murdered your best friend? The three protagonists of this book suspect their English teacher of kidnapping their friend and stuffing his body in a barrel after the teacher starts acting strangely toward them. The power of suggestion looms large in this mystery. A great read.