M. T. Anderson (1)Reseñas

A Young Adult futuristic-dystopic science fiction novel featuring a society where large corporations hold the power, and the majority of citizens get implanted as babies with devices that provide Internet like audio-visual interaction with their thoughts. Have a question about how something works? It’s answered almost before it’s asked. Thinking about what it’d be like to own an “up-car” (they fly and can be put on auto-pilot) here comes the barrage of commercials for all the options. Then too, there’s no need for phones, because this implant allows you to “chat”, speaking to whoever you please mentally, no matter where they are, but one can put themselves on busy, and refuse the chat. The book takes some getting used to, with new slang—but it’s easy enough to figure out, and some things never change, as apparently the F**** word is still around in a couple of hundred years. 😊

I got this free from my YA free book audio-book provider, and, not really looking at the picture or the subtitle; ridiculously, I put off listening to it because "City of the Dead" made me think it was going to be some silly Zombie thing. Noooo. This is a very interesting and moving historical account about the Russian Composer, Dmitri Shostakovich. The author is a talented writer as well as a fine narrator.

One of the best books I have read recently. The author writes in a way that conveys emotions through the words rather than explicitly stating them. The mood of the writing changes, which makes the book dynamic. Best line: "I gave them their Devil's Trill..."

made me laugh quite a bit.

4 stars

Turns out the main character already gave this book a movie rating, "Rated PG-13. For language and mild s*xual situations."

The writing of this book was so wacky and it took forever to understand (and I believe it is good that I did not understand all of it if you know what I mean).

Content: loads of language (multiple f-bombs per page), lots of s*xual references, I would personally rate this higher than PG-13 on the movie rating scale.

From ALSC: "This humorous and wondrous adventure of a boy and his magical dog is a timeless coming-of-age story marked by masterful world-building." From Kirkus: "A hilarious, heartfelt triumph."

To be honest, there's very little chance I would normally pick up a biography of Dmitri Shostakovich, even though such a topic does sound interesting in a hypothetical sense; I simply just don't read a ton of nonfiction. But tell me about a biography of Dmitri Shostakovich written by the best YA author currently working, M. T. Anderson, and of course I'm all over it.

This takes in Shostakovich's whole life, but mostly focuses on the siege of Leningrad, when the Nazi army cut the city off from any supply lines; it chronicles Shostakovich's life up until that point but also provides a lot of historical information about the history of the Soviet Union for context. Even though it's for a YA audience, I found it totally successful for an adult audience, and even ended up recommending it to my father, a WWII buff but definitely not a YA reader, who enjoyed it so much that a couple months later he was citing facts he learned from it back to me, having forgotten I was the one who recommended it to him to begin with. Anderson even does some original research here; poking around on Google Scholar, it seems that academics are citing his work in peer-reviewed journals already.

The book is pretty horrifying. WWII-era Soviet Russia was a pretty awful place to live even before the Nazis showed up. Anderson does a great job exploring the intersection of politics and art, how art is shaped by politics and works to defy it. Anderson writes about music beautifully (no easy feat!) and really gets us into the head of Shostakovich in particular and the world of Russia in general; I learned a lot about Stalin from this, actually. Overall, excellent work, and a good example of why M. T. Anderson is one of my favorite authors full stop, not just one of my favorite YA authors.

Fantasy

The style in which this was written lent itself strongly to an audiobook reading. I probably enjoyed it more by listening to the excellent narrator than I would have had I tried to plow through the futuristic Valley-speak. The ending, though, was so-o-o-o depressing.

Terrific story, vividly brought to life in Anderson's clear, effective style. Rich with history, conversation, poetry, and music, always music. A page-turner.

I started out enjoying the rich language and description in this book. The premise was unique, as we the characters, but this book has some flaws. It spends to long setting the stage and then after an exciting bit, goes to a series of letters written in a provincial style that is infuriating to try to follow, and also, I didn't care enough to. I unashamedly skipped most of that part and skimmed to the end. I set out ready to really love this book, and I did enjoy the first 150 pages, but then it got so heavy and dark and philosophical and gruesome that I decided I didn't have to love it anyway.

An Arthurian legend I haven't read yet in graphic novel form? YES!

My favorite part of this book is that a goblin's love language is insults.

Honestly, I admired this, but it was not my favorite book of the year. Maybe I guessed the ending/twist too early, but it felt too long. I hope there aren't too many kids who fail to finish the story, because the pay-off at the end is worth it.

This is an excellent exploration of prejudice and politics. Annoyingly, my library has put it in our Teen section, but I think it will work best for ages 10-12 (and it's sophisticated enough for adult readers). I also think it will work best if the child reader has the opportunity to discuss it. It's complicated and surprising and definitely begs to be discussed and dissected.

I'm not a big fan of LOTR myself, but I got the feeling that this would appeal to Tolkienists.

Finally, you can add this to a relatively small number of children's books that don't have child main characters. (THE TWENTY-ONE BALLOONS is another.)

Satie was a French composer kooky enough to seem totally made up (but I checked and he's real). This is a great light biography that might interest K-3 graders who are a little whacky themselves, particularly if they're into music and/or able to appreciate really great writing.

I have a serious book crush on M.T. Anderson. This goes right up there with What Is the What.

What amazed me about this book was not the writing itself but MT Anderon's versatility. I mean, between this and [book: Feed] and [book: Thirsty], not to mention that Octavian Nothing book (which I haven't read yet), I'm really impressed. I knew he could do sophisticated, it's great to see he can do crazy silly, too.

And I agree with other reviewers that Lemony Snicket fans might enjoy this. It's funny and unusual.

Can I say how much I enjoy M.T. Anderson's writing? Soooo much. His books are sophisticated and intelligent, and very refreshing after reading a lot of exciting but cliche-ridden YA bestsellers.

Thirsty does not romanticize vampires. It starts off pretty funny and you think this is going to be some camp novel that makes fun of anything that takes itself too seriously. But then the story gets darker and darker and pretty soon you realize that Anderson has a lot more going on than you thought.

This is the kind of YA novel that could be taught in a 10th grade English class.

I thought this book was pretty cool. First of all, it's teen sci-fi with a conscience that isn't terribly preachy. That alone makes it a find. The other excellent thing about this book is that Anderson created a future that's both really crazy and not too crazy, i.e. I was impressed by how real his imagined world seemed in light of the fact that it was also entertaining.

If you'll excuse me, I have to get mal now. I'm feeling so null.

This book has an amazingly authentic feel. It reminds me of children's books like _Kidnapped_ in its narrative and use of language. It is a fresh take on history told in a primary sources style. The pages of the edition I read were rough edged like pages that had to be cut to read the book. I almost wished the double S's were F's.

An inspired comics retelling of a surrealistic and wonderful medieval writer. Chretien de Troyes, you are the trippiest.

Full disclosure: I know the author.

If Salvador Dali and H.G. Wells birthed a novella together, this is what I imagine it might look like. It is a model of crafting dystopia, wherein humankind seemingly has welcomed our vuvv overlords, and "creativity" becomes the currency of survival--at least for a time. Seemingly very few stones are left unturned as the book takes aim at the climate crisis, capitalistic inequity, voyeurism of social media...just to name a few.

While marketed as a book for young adults, I think anyone who enjoys satirical dystopian fiction would enjoy this. My only issue was that it seemed too short--I didn't get to invest deeply in any of the characters, but as they are stand-ins for you, me, and possibility, I guess that makes sense.

Found on Kirkus Reviews. Looks good.

Part of the Candlewick Biographies series, this book begins with Handel's smuggling a harpischord into his family home so he could learn to play besides his father's protests and ends with the outstanding success of his most famous work, "The Messiah." The illustrations by Kevin Hawkes are delightful, and the author adds a touch of humor throughout, especially when it comes to Handel's wig. Vocabulary words and other explanatory notes appear at the bottom of pages--resembling a footnote. Although Handel grew up on Germany and studied there and in Italy, he spent most of his adult life in England where he became a naturalized citizen. Handel loved Italian opera and wanted to make the people of England who really didn't like it that much, especially when it was not in their own language, come to enjoy it. He enjoyed a measure of success for a time because the royal family enjoyed it, but that support eventually waned. He'd almost given up when "The Messiah" met with resounding success.

My son recommended this book. I'm reading it for a paper in New Literacies & Technologies and the Culture of Reading. Stunning view of youth culture in the media saturated/materialistic future.

Sweet story full of fantastical adventures and love of family, friends and a super special dog. The owl head people were really weird and interesting!