Foxfire: Confessions of a girl gang (My Reading #4)

Author: Joyce Carol Oates

Published first on: 1993

Edition I read: 2014

Read in: Translation to Spanish

ISBN: 978-84-663-2852-4

The time is the 1950s. The place is a blue-collar town in upstate New York, where five high school girls are joined in a gang dedicated to pride, power, and vengeance in a world they never made – a world that seems made to denigrate and destroy them.

It is the story of Maddy Monkey, who writes it…of Goldie, whose womanly body masks a fierce, explosive temper…of Lana, with her Marylin Monroe hair and packs of Chesterfields…of timid Rita, whose humiliation leads to the first act of Foxfire revenge. Above all, it is the story of Legs Sadovsky, with her lean, on-the-edge, icy beauty,  whose nerve,  muscle, hate, and hurt make her the spark of Foxfire, its guiding spirit, its burning core. At once brutal and lyrical, this is a careening joyride of a novel – charged with outlaw energy and lit by intense emotion.

(fragment of Goodreads description)

I’ll start by saying that the GR description in English is far better from the one in my Spanish paperback edition. That one leads to a totally different story; however, the one mentioned above feels right to me. I think the only good thing about the book I bought is that its cover is made from a poster of the 2012 film adaptation so it’s all the girls looking at you with fierce yet calm expressions. I found it beautiful and better than the old Spanish one, all ‘girly’ pink instead of wary red – the one Foxfire deserves.

Apart from that, it’s hard to start talking about this book. It’s been a real rollercoaster of emotions that I’m not sure if I’ll be able to express correctly.

I read a review from a blogger that I enjoy a lot reading. Her passion about it left me all intrigued and eager to jump right into it. I added it to my huge ‘to read’ list on Goodreads and there I left it, too focused on what I was reading at that moment.
Until one day I went to the closest thing to a mall we have in my little town (more like a big supermarket) to get a simple soda, but passing by the book section as I always do. There it was. I may have been daydreaming because it shone bright among the other books like a flame of its fire, the Foxfire. Even if it’s a pocket edition, small, simple, and almost buried between some other small simple books that no one pays attention to because they’re not ‘famous’. The title was furious red in the style of typical US theaters and the girls stood there like ready to fight. It made me run to see the price and as I had the money I got it with a somewhat stupid smile on my face.

Despite all that, I was afraid I might have grown too great expectations of it. Luckily, it wasn’t a disappointment. It was everything I expected and then more.

What can I say about Foxfire without spoiling the surprise? The description on the back of my book did it well with that (but seriously, one of the worst I’ve ever encountered): it lead to violent gang like the ones we always see with boys: savage, primitive sometimes, mostly senseless.  «They have guns», the description says, like they were some sort of Al Capone faction. Sigh.

Foxfire, the word that names the book and also this girl gang, describe quite accurately this group of friends that becomes a sisterhood and a refuge. Their cunning spirit represented in the fox, the burning energy represented in the fire. Their relationship is like a normal one of a group in their teens. They only want a group to belong to, a shield to protect them of the bad things that exist in the real world where they’re jumping in, leaving the childhood where everything is possible and you think you’re invincible. I mean, it’s like urban tribes now. I know it was more serious than that, but it was the usual in the time and place the characters live in. It was the time when the traditional family started to be something from the past, and teenagers were left mostly on their own.

The so-called gang starts with a ritual that at first seems barely a typical drunk night but it turns into something else when faced with the troubles that a teenage girl has to deal with everyday. Especially problematic when you have no one to help you but yourself and your friends. Foxfire is a secret because secrets mean power, power over Them, the adults, the corrupted society that is blind to the grave issues, and that they decide to fight against with all their will.

If you’re a girl/woman, the unpleasant situations that the girls in Foxfire get involved in will probably look familiar. You might be even surprised by the amount of things socially accepted or at least blindly denied that should be properly punished instead. If you’re a boy/man, you might see the world from a new perspective after reading the book. I’d like to think that everyone that reads this book can finish it somehow renewed, that it could change those toxic behaviours that inflict more damage than people usually think. My optimism seems preposterous, I know. And don’t think even for a second that these kind of things are something from the past just because this book is set on the 50s. It’s happening right now, maybe even under your noses.

It’s a tough book, of course. The trigger warnings I should put are a long list to enumerate. If you’re sensitive you’re going to have it hard. There were parts where I was glad my stomach was empty. It’s not as bloody, violent, etc. as it may look though.

A negative thing about it in my opinion was the narration by Maddy-Monkey. It’s supposed to be done by an adult Maddy but it’s written like a early teenager would: too quick, too messy, too excited. And the repetitions that sometimes makes you think about a possible OCD. I don’t know if it’s due to the translation into Spanish but it’s a little annoying. However, it’s not a big issue when it comes to enjoy the reading.

What did I love apart from the feminist essence which goes all over the book and which leads the Foxfire gang to do anything for the achievement of a peaceful existence far away from the general disgusting sexism?

The romance.

The word romance goes on italics because it’s atypical. It’s that kind of love that gets classified and labelled as something that it’s not, or it’s completely denied as what it really is. Unfortunately, society has a lot of things to learn, and I include myself on that. On Foxfire you are witness of a romantic love away from conventional which, if you don’t pay attention, you’ll probably miss.

Legs is one of the most intriguing characters I’ve found during my journey along works of fiction, and one of the most true and genuine. She is who she is and everything she does seems deep, transcendental. Maybe this is because of Maddy’s narration, who really looks up to her.

I don’t know what else I can say. The ending is perfect. I hate endings, they never leave me satisfied enough, but I don’t think the author could have given Foxfire a better ending. Just the right dose of everything to have in a good closure.

I will watch the 2012 film as soon as I can.

My rating is a 9’5/10 or a 5/5 stars.

Are  you now interested in reading it? Do you have another opinion about it? Don’t be shy and leave a comment! 🙂

-E.

Fifty Shades of Mr Darcy: A Parody (My Reading #3)

Author: William Codpiece Thackery

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good riding crop must be in want of a pair of bare buttocks to thrash.

This book, as its own title gives away, is a parody. Also a mash-up of two successful, best-selling books: the great Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) and the poorly written but still famous Fifty Shades of Gray (E.L. James).

I say ‘poorly written’ referring to Fifty Shades and I don’t just say it but after starting to read the first book of the trilogy and, having gone through as much pages as I could stand, wondering “why is this a best-seller?”. I read it in English, because people who told me the book was embarrassingly bad had mostly read it translated to Spanish, and I know what translations can do to some books. I thought it was best to have an accurate reading in its original version. I was horrified. It was awfully written, and I didn’t want to spend more time in it.

On the other hand, I love Pride and Prejudice. I have read it enough to recognise some parts that are written literally (or almost, with changes for the sake of the parody) in this book. I love Elizabeth’s wit and independent spirit and I sigh because of Mr Darcy like any average girl. I also see its influence in Bridget Jones’ Diary, to the point of reaching plagiarism. There are also references to Bridget Jones in this parody, which I found pretty amusing, and you might get a little lost in some parts if you haven’t read Fielding’s book or watched the film.

Mother to five virgins! It was a torment almost too great to be borne!

In general, this parody means great laughs. It’s embarrassingly funny, even, because the dirty puns and innuendos are EVERYWHERE and some are quite senseless. Elizabeth is as irritating as Anastasia and Darcy is as annoying as Gray. Jane and Bingley are surprisingly similar to the originals. And the characters I hate the most of P&P here are the ones I found the funniest: Ms Bennet (here a loosening-tongue, sex-obsessed mother whose aim is to get her daughters laid), Lydia (very surprising at the end!), and Mr Wickham, known here as Mr Whackem.

I think I laughed the most at the appearance of Mr Collins, played here by that famous singer (who I must say I also find almost as creepy as the original Austen’s character) who speaks referencing a lot of his songs making me snort very unladylikely —if you read this book you’ll understand this. I couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of Lady Catherine as a dominatrix, too.

For people who are not used to British English I’d recommend to have a dictionary around as it has a lot of Brit terms and expressions.

The use of metaphors, so bad that they make you cry —out of laughter— is clearly a parody of the poor writing style of E.L. James that I mentioned before. I loved this and I would hug the so-called Mr Codpiece (if that’s the real name, it sounds so weird that I’m thinking of a pseudonym) for it.

Elizabeth was astounded, and immediately coloured.

‘Put down those damn crayons and look at me!’ Darcy commanded.

It’s a great book. A masterpiece? No, but nobody expects that from a parody. It’s aimed to make the reader laugh, and that purpose was highly achieved with me. I had to stop reading several times because I was laughing so hard that I nearly choked.

I give:

Four Patricks. I enjoyed it very much.

Also a 8’5/10. I think the author could do it better at some parts, but even so I think it’s better written than more ‘serious’ works.

-E

Ghostgirl: Homecoming(My Reading #2)

Author: Tonya Hurley
Series: Ghostgirl (Book 2)

It’s been a while. You know, summertime. And above all, work. Work means that I can read when I get home to get distracted, but I usually have not enough mental strength to write about it.

But enough of my boring life. I’m here to talk about Homecoming, the second part in the trilogy Ghostgirl.

I read the first book recommended by a friend —especially because of the quotes and references to Poe, an author we both like. I enjoyed it a lot because not only there were quotes and references to great writers, but also to music I loved. Despite its lack of originality (except for the fact that the main character is a ghost girl, for example), I loved how this book could lead teen girls —since it’s the main audience for this kind of book— to wonderful literature like Edgar Allan Poe’s.

Since I enjoyed the first book and I can’t have a series unfinished (it has to be really bad to keep me from reading every book), I started this one, Homecoming, expecting great moments fangirling because of the quotes and references, which I had, but in general it wasn’t as good as the first. It was kinda funny because in the first book I hated Charlotte’s attitude and loved Scarlet’s, and within this one I hated Scarlet’s and quite liked Charlotte’s. It’s like the author had just reversed the roles, in such an obvious way that it made me dislike it.

This book is also about Petula, the character that everyone hates in the first book —the popular girl, of course. Here Petula is forced to learn a lesson about life and, well —death. We learn some things about her that make us see her through different perspective. At the end I even ended up loving her as a character, because at least she was the most honest about who she truly is, not like Charlotte or Scarlet who seem to change from this to that at every second.

The book continues on its basic hollow essence —everything seems to be about what others think of you in the end—, but it’s ‘saved’ in my point of view by a couple of life lessons and the fantastic quotes and references. However, it’s not a book I’d recommend to adults (I’m still quite connected with my teen self so it’s okay), and it’s definitely not for every teenage girl either. Without some knowledge and a little maturity, its real meaning could be misinterpreted and twisted to the point of being a little dangerous to young girls.

Since I didn’t want to talk much about the plot for those who haven’t read the first book so I didn’t spoil anything, this review can be confusing and look incomplete, but I hope you don’t mind.

I give it:

Two Patricks.

Also a 3’5/10.

One great thing about the book: you can create an awesome playlist and read it with a soundtrack with the chapter titles, which correspond to songs by various artists:

1. Slender Thread of Hope – Steppenwolf
2. Pushing In The Pin – The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
3. Bad Connection – Yazoo
4. Epitaph For The Heart – The Magnetic Fields
5. Dead Sound – The Raveonettes
6. Girlfriend In A Coma – The Smiths
7. Imitation Of Life – REM
8. Back In Your Head – Tegan and Sarah
9. Bird On A Wire – Leonard Cohen
10. This Is How I Disappear – My Chemical Romance
11. She Sells Sanctuary – The Cult
12. Die Young, Stay Pretty – Blondie
13. Shadow Of Doubt – Sonic Youth
14. Magic Thought
15. Pretty Vacant – Sex Pistols
16. Bizarre Love Triangle – New Order
17. Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles
18. Alone Again Or – Love
19. The Supernatural & The Superficial
20. Divine Comedy
21. We Will Become Silhouettes – The Postal Service
22. Everybody Say I Love You
(Epilogue) This Must Be The Place – Talking Heads

-E

Currently reading: my crowded shelf

Yeah. It’s true. In my “currently-reading” shelf on Goodreads there’s room for little now. Oh well there’s only six. It’s not so much. I’ve had twelve.

The thing is, sometimes I start reading books and then leave them again because of many reasons: I get bored, I’m not in the mood for that kind of fiction, I start another one that keeps more hooked…

So as of now, here’s some things I’m reading:

City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6), by Cassandra Clare

The cover says “Prepare to be hooked” and oh I’m SO hooked by this fucking saga I can’t even begin to explain. To sum it up, I’ve read the first five books in barely two weeks. I think that says it all.

Over The Tracks (The Heart Rate of a Mouse #1), by Anna Green

This is serious business. It’s a piece of fanfiction but it’s a hella awesome book too. In fact, there’s three books. An entire saga. You can easily forget it’s fanfiction, and if you don’t even know the band is based on (Panic! At The Disco), you can easily read it as an original and great book of a boy/boy couple involving music and everything that usually comes with rockstars: sex, drugs, perdition.
I didn’t even ship this ship (Ryden) before I started reading it. And now it’s so real to me that it’s confusing to see the real people (Ryan Ross, Brendon Urie) as they really are but as their THROAM characters.

Homecoming (Ghostgirl #2), by Tonya Hurley

The first one, I loved it a lot. Dark topics and cultural references to authors/books and music that made me jumped on the seat fangirling as the crazy thing I am. But this one didn’t hook me. Not that I dislike it, but it was getting me bored. So it’s there and it will probably stay there for a long time.

Marauders!Crack, by Irati

This is another fanfiction. And it’s in Spanish. And I don’t know if there’s an English translation so sorry if you who’s reading this feel the urge to read it.
The ship here is the so-called wolfstar, that is, the couple of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. As it happened with THROAM mentioned above, I didn’t ship it. I even hated this ship. I couldn’t even think of such a thing, and I found the Remus/Tonks so adorable that nothing else could exist.
But oh. It does.
The story sets in the last years at Hogwarts of the Marauders, and I’ve only read like four chapters, but it’s written so beautifully that I fell for it.

La Mécanique du Coeur, by Mathias Malzieu

This one…we just didn’t connect. I don’t know when or if I’ll get to it again.

The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Cronicle #2), by Patrick Rothfuss

I’m love with this saga. In love. I hadn’t been this excited for a fantasy saga, and probably a saga in general, for ages. I mean, I’m quite enjoying The Mortal Instruments but these ones are GOLD. MAGIC. UNICORNS AND ALL THAT PRETTY STUFF. So that’s the reason why finishing this book is taking me so long. Not that I dislike it. Not that it gets boring (for Elodin’s sake, no way!). NOTHING OF THAT. It’s just that the third one isn’t out yet and I will get so sad when this one is finished and I’m not freaking ready for that no no no I want more and more. So I’m tasting it slowly. Every page is a delicatessen piece.

So this is all. And you? What books (or book, I might be the only one crazy enough for this) are you reading right now? Have you read any of the above? Let me read your thoughts.

Until next time! :3

-E

The “book-eater”

This was my nickname, given by my family since I learned to read and I was always with a book in my hands.

I remember they were always somewhere between concern and pride. Concern because while the other children were socializing and playing on the streets, I was just reading. Pride because while the other children behaved like savages (and this was the word used by them, not me), I was reading…as a peaceful little girl without bothering anyone.

Ah, those were the days.

Lately I haven’t been as deserving of that nickname as I was before. Life got on the way, as they say. I read plenty other formats (tweets, blogs, articles on the internet and other stuff), but I don’t spend as much time as before with a good book.

But that is going to change.

I have an account on Goodreads, I bought an e-reader recently (e-books, lots of e-books for me!). I’m ready for the challenge of earning my nickname again, and I’m pretty confident about my success.

As a way to complete this challenge, I made this blog. Here I’ll share my reviews about what I read, and other stuff that can come. I’m by no means professional so my reviews will be just my babbling of feels and thoughts about the books, whether positive or negative.

Just pure and simple fun.

Hope that if you get here, I’ll be able to keep you around reading my nonsensical and probably too emotional stuff, and maybe even get you to share your own thoughts about it.

Geronimo!

-E