The Wake Trilogy (Wake #1, Fade #2, Gone #3)

Guess who acquired and read a book trilogy the other day! Yes, me. You guessed it. Go ahead and grab a cookie, sweetie. I never had the chance to read the last book in this trilogy (despite having been deeply intrigued about it when they first came out). Anyhow, let's get on with it.

The Wake Trilogy

Genre: Paranormal Young Adult fiction

Pages: 225 (Wake #1), 248 (Fade #2), 214 (Gone #3)

Favourite Quotes: Wake: "Once you read something, you can't erase it from your brain." "Carrie doesn't seem to want to talk about anything with sharp edges. Maybe she's afraid they might poke her and then she'd burst." "Get me outta here. Fuckin' creepy cheerleaders."

Fade: "There is something about a guy who admits he's a jerk that makes him forgivable." "Janie always hated Bashful. Stupidest. Dwarf. Ever."

Gone: "You wanna go get Jimmy a raincoat and we'll take care of you?"

Janie Hannagan gets sucked into other people's dreams. It's an ability she always kept secret—until she met Cabel, and found herself with the best (secret) boyfriend ever. But Janie and Cabel are about to find out just how dark Janie's future as a Dream Catcher is... and whether Cabel will be a part of it.

I feel that it is necessary for me to talk about the individual books first before I sum up the trilogy, mostly due to how differently I responded to the three books and my own change in perception regarding the characters.

Wake: I'm going to say it upfront: I loved this book. I was intrigued by the concept of dream catchers, of Janie as a character and the whole mystery surrounding her existence, her abilities and the town itself. I saw endless possibilities with this story and was extremely eager to see what sort of path the author would shove these characters through. The characters were well-fleshed out, no two the same, and had valid reasons for their actions. I liked seeing the relationships between the characters - both their strengths and flaws. If there is anything that I particularly loved about this book, it would be Lisa McMann's authentic ability to portray the characters hardships and choices in a believable, realistic and valid manner. Janie was a character in the story that I found myself respecting - and not because of her narration. The author does not state her qualities, does not give her any defining features besides the dream catching. Her character is build from her actions, which are all impossibly (in a good way) upright and human. McMann does not simply throw a ready made character at you - she let's you figure out who Janie - and the other characters at that - is alone.

Fade: Of all the books, I would have to say that I enjoyed Fade the least. Despite the promising and intriguing story that I followed in Wake, I couldn't find myself pulled in into this story at all. While the writing was still perfect to the story, and the characters themselves are still amazingly constructed, I did not enjoy the actual plot of this book. From the countless of things that I imagined it to be, this was definitely not it. I didn't feel like there was an actual specific plot that was being followed - in fact, I thought that this book could have easily been integrated into Gone or omitted completely. Other than the progress and further insight into Janie and her life, this book did not add much to the story at hand - dream catchers. Why is she so caught up on school and her boyfriend? Sure, they are important things for the average teenager, but she is a dream catcher. I mean, this concept is unique. The characters are fabulous. What the hell happened to the plot? Come on guys, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. She's so focused on everything but the nature of her dreams - aside from her teaching herself to control them better - which defeats the point of reading this series. While her life intrigued me, I wanted to know more about the dream catchers. It left me reeling - what is the cause, why is it necessary, how does it work? How many others? Yes, I wanted to see some kick-ass Janie, but the dream catchers dammit. 

Now, I'm not saying that I hated the book. It still left me wanting to continue the series and was overall an alright read, but it could have been much better. If anything, I think I'm just disappointed because I anticipated it to be even better than Wake (see what expectations do to you? Tragic.) Still, I can't help but me annoyed that the series now appears to be focusing on how her ability conflicts with normality instead of the mystery and wonder of the ability. The limitations. Anything, but this plot, really, just please give my questions some answers.

Gone: I'm all winded up now that I have been thinking about Fade's inability to meet my expectations (they were not unreasonably high, right?). Alright. By the time I read the first couple of pages of this book, I resigned myself to the fact that this series was not going anywhere close to where I wanted it to go. Not that that was a bad thing necessarily - I really enjoyed these books, despite their unrelenting nature to disregard my wants (needs even; you know how emotional I get over books). I just wanted some closure to my questions. Now, the good thing about Gone is that it focuses on Janie's abilities and the choices she has to make because of them. With some surprising (I personally expected something like this to happen from the moment her mother's dream appeared hint hint nudge nudge) appearances in the book that lead to - finally - the right questions and answers (well, to an extent at least, ugh). I really liked how Janie focused on her own needs in this book - she approached her situation the way it should be approached in real life: by considering herself and whether, though she wants it, she is truly willing to pay the costs of her decisions. I've seen plenty of books that don't regard this issue at all, where the characters simply hold a person above everything else (not that I mind, if it is written well) so it's quite refreshing to encounter this different type of book. I have to say though, I found that the part where she actually makes her decision far too rushed - it was built up beautifully and the ending just didn't deliver (again, tragic.)

Overall: I loved the concept, there is no denying that. The idea was original and unique, a very interesting story to think and read about. While I'm disappointed with how it was integrated with Janie's life, the books were still great reads. The writing style that the author pursued was well chosen - any other writing format would not have offered the same feel and effect of the story. All the characters were excellently used. They were well fleshed out and realistic. The secondary characters weren't flat or blended together and I found myself genuinely interested in every one of them, especially their interactions. I liked Janie's personality in particularly, and her approach to who she is - not depended on others, but on herself. I also liked that, despite the character development, her essence stayed the same. Her relationship with Caleb, for instance, taught her many things. Yet, she still remained Janie. As I stated earlier, I am quite disappointed in the progression of the story - I kept waiting for something to happen, but I felt that the last two books consisted of several sub-plots thrown together rather than an actual main plot. I don't believe that there was an actual plot in the books, and that brought the whole series down a lot. In conclusion, I think these books are definitely a good read, and I recommend Wake in particularly, but I advice you all to not get your hopes up when it comes to the sequels. At. All.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

I have a very large TBR pile, and while I don't exactly have a list on what to read next, if I did, the following book would not have been on it. Given the amount of books I'm dying to read (*cough* lunar chronicles *cough*), I have absolutely no clue how I suddenly found myself engrossed in this one. Do I regret it? Nopseys. Nopsey Nope. It was le good thingé.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Humour
Pages: 295
Favourite Quotes: This book is absolutely hilarious. I can't even pick one out properly. Let me just give you a chapter ending that I particularly liked:
"Also, what the hell does 'weird' even mean? I've just written it like five times and all of a sudden I'm staring at it and it doesn't even mean anything anymore. I just murdered the word 'weird'. Now it's just a bunch of letters. It's like there's all these dead bodies all over the page now.
I'm sort of close to having a freak-out about this. I have to eat some snacks or leftovers or something.
Ok, I'm back.
Although, let's just do a new chapter, because this chapter got really fucked up somehow and I'm afraid of what will happen if I continue with it."

Me: My name is Greg Gaines. I am seventeen. I am the one who wrote this book. My physical appearance is unsatisfactory, and there is probably a fungus eating my brain. I'm not even sure I'm human.
Earl: Earl Jackson is the only person who is even sort of my friend. We make mediocre films together. Werner Herzog is our biggest influence. Earl is generally filled with violent rage.
Dying Girl: During my senior year, my mom forced me to become friends with a girl who had cancer. This brought about the destruction of my entire life.

Let me just start with saying that this book is brilliantly written. Everything, from the unconventional format (getting to that later) to the breaking the fourth wall to insult the writing and the humour and lack of, as Greg put it, "This book contains precisely zero Important Life Lessons, or Little-Known Facts About Love, or sappy tear-jerking Moments When We Knew We Had Left Our Childhood Behind for Good, or whatever." And he wasn't kidding. There is basically no plot - but you don't figure that out until half way through said book, after some particularly vulgar jokes when you briefly wonder where the book is going, but decide not to care because you're too invested in it already. In summary: this is the only book you'll ever read that you'll love despite it not having a plot, character development or a point in general. In fact, the main character, Greg, who is doubling as the author of the book, is an ass. Earl is insane, and the Dying Girl, Rachel, is not really focused on like you thought she would be and by no means hero-fied. In fact, Greg makes a point of including the way she snorts when she laughs.

When you read the blurb of the book, you'd think it's a cancer book, right? Wrong. It has about the least amount of anything to do with cancer that you could possibly have in a cancer book without it being a not-cancer book, if that makes sense. So why would you want to read this book? With all I've said in the past two paragraphs, it sounds pretty crappy, except for the humour and unconventional writing that I haven't divulged to you yet. But you should read it. The reason I recommend this book isn't because what is in the book, but what isn't. Greg's blunt and unapologetic honesty allows you to grasp a perception that no other book I have read accurately dealt with. Greg knows from the very beginning that Rachel will die. And that sucks. But, in his words, 'I knew I was going to make it.' My point is, he doesn't glorify her death. She dies, that sucks, he cries a bit, and he moves on.

That's it.

As he stated, there's no important life lesson learned, though you could argue that one is given to you in form of Earl. Keep in mind that this is the closest this book ever came to having a profound moment, and that it was followed up with a discussion of whether or not there was a Goat nutsack floating around their soup. "... This is the first negative thing that happened to your life. And you can't be overreacting to it and making big-ass expensive decisions based on it. I'm just saying. People die. Other people do stupid shit. I'm surrounded by family members doing stupid shit. I used a think I had to do shit for them. I still wanna do shit for them. But you gotta live your own life. You gotta take care a your own shit before you get started doing things for errybody else."

I suppose, what I'm trying to say is that Greg's jerk tendencies and Earl's roughness leave this gap where you can find this whole new angle on terminal illnesses that is loosely protected by a series of vulgar jokes and tons of swearing (in fact, you could probably read the book just for the jokes). And let's not forget the format. It's absolutely perfect for the book. Jesse Andrews did a brilliant thing when he decided to ignore conventional writing by replacing his role with Greg, allowing his character to do basically anything. For instance, one part of the book was completely written in point form before Greg literally states that he was getting tired of it and just randomly changes back. It's written like you would expect it to be written from a character like Greg. The way the book is written, in fact, showed you a lot more about the character than Greg himself with his self-degrading statements. And let's not forget that the dialogue is written in film script:

The writing is just so random and you turn the page and start each chapter with absolutely no clue what is going to happen next, how Greg is going to show you, and what jokes will follow. Really the only thing you know for certain is that Rachel will die. It's a lot less morbid than it sounds, I swear.

Of course, the book is not absolutely mega brilliant. It's not amazing and it didn't completely turn my life on its head. It was a very good read, though I quickly got irritated with Greg on several occasions, which I believe was the author's intention anyway. I think he created this exaggerated annoying and unlikable character so that you can shape the way you think about what's happening and get you to where he wants you to go. And that's a very difficult thing to do; to make a reader who dislikes a character and his actions understand and appreciate what that character is doing. So, Kudos to you Jesse Andrews. You did a very difficult thing very well.