Easily Amused by Karen McQuestion

 I have a Kindle Unlimited account, and I often find free books to read through KU. This is one of those books, which also had free audio and whispersync, so I could listen to it on my way to and from work. Not that would have given this book any extra brownie points in my mind, but it made my consumption a little easier. Easily Amused, by Karen McQuestion, had a lot of potential for me.  Some parts were really funny, other parts made absolutely no sense to the plot. But I'll get to that in a second. Mcquestion has a very unique writing style. She gives each character a distinct voice, and while listening to it, I enjoyed it. I think that had more to do with the voice actor than than the actual writing. 

  It started off with anti-social Lola leaving the house her Great Aunt left her to meet her friend Piper for drinks,and interacting with her noisy neighbors. And the first foray into the most annoying thing an author can do, constantly remind the readers about the protagonist disdain for something. Half-way through the book, if I had to read About Lola's dislike for her neighbors one more time...But here's the thing, her neighbors didn't do anything that I would consider too out there. Brother Jeffrey, whose only bad habit I saw was his nightly cigarette, seemed like a genuinely nice older man, looking out for a single woman living on the street. Not creepy, but maybe that's just a cultural connection I couldn't make. Crazy Myra talked to herself, but she wasn't constantly in Lola's business. Mrs. Cho offered to make food for her every so often, And then there was a woman with a lot of dogs, again, didn't seem to out of the ordinary to me. Lola seemed to complain about everything with her neighbors. And I got it, she was anti-social, but in all reality, her neighbors are the kind of neighbors I'd love to have (and do have in my neighborhood actually). They were friends, and wanted to include her in their activities Lola could have said no, choose not too, complained about it constantly. Strike 1. 

   Then we might Lola's sister, Mandy/Mindy (not really important). She is the most self-centered and obnoxious character I have ever met. She is constantly trying to make her sister look bad. Get your sister a cake at your wedding, just to show how you're younger and getting married, and she's older and still single. That's really shallow. And while Lola (eventually) stood up to her, their interactions were predictable. If you think about it, Lola is equally self-centered. She is constantly complaining about how everyone else treats her. One of her friends had a baby, everything she does or says about said baby is a nuisance to Lola. EVEN THOUGH LOLA WORKS AT A PARENTING MAGAZINE! Friend is constantly showing off baby pictures, Lola's internal monologue about how she doesn't care about the different faces of the baby, because they all look the same. Next page, Oh we're running a baby picture contest, but it's so hard because all baby pictures are cute. Inconsistencies! Strike 2!

   The thing I love about books, is how the main character always grows and changes in some way, and you can see that progression. You feel like your growing with them. I did not feel this way about Lola. I wanted to slap her for being so woe-is-me, the world is working against me, my life is so hard. This story couldn't even be saved by her friend Herbert. Whose name in-and-of itself is distracting. Herbert seemed genuinely nice, and maybe a little ADD. Which probably works well for a 4th grade teacher. Their interactions are the only thing I enjoyed about this book. Two opposite personalities being forced to live with each other. That is where the book really took shape. The addition of a mystery neighbor did nothing for the plot. And the ending was rushed and left more questions than it did answers. Strike 3!

     I can't say that I enjoyed this book. There wasn't too much to like about the protagonist, and that really detracted form a story that could have worked. I felt that McQuestion was trying too hard to give the story conflicts, so that the conflicts became distracting. I read the book, so you don't have to. 

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Have you ever started a book, and are immediately sucked in that you don't want to live real life anymore? That is exactly how I felt while reading The Testing. I had so many emotions reading this book, I even connected it to my real life job of teaching actual teenagers. Then I realized it's a series! *MANIACAL LAUGHTER* There is so much to love about this book, I don't even know where to begin. 

     Yeah, right. I'll start at the beginning. The Testing takes place in a post-apocalyptic America that has been destroyed by a 7 stage war. The first 4 stages were men destroying each other, bombs dropped all over the place, and millions of people dying, or mutating. The last three stages were the Earth fighting back. The land is so barren because of all of the radiation that the new goal is to get things to grow. America is back to colonies, not states, and Malencia (Cia) Vale is a 16 year old girl in the Five Lakes Colony. A small colony of only a few thousand people, where everyone seems to know everyone. Cia is unique, she is graduating, becoming an adult, and hopes to become part of the Testing. She wants to go to University, and continue her education like her father, but no one has been chosen from Five Lakes in a very long time. When she does end up being chosen, her family is less than thrilled. Jealousy from her older brothers, and worry from her parents sets her on edge. When her father finally tells her about his experience in the Testing, she realizes it might not be all that she thought. Her dad has had nightmares, of people dying, body parts, lifeless eyes,  and he doesn't know if they are actually memories, but he has his suspicions. With the warning to trust no one, Cia goes into this experience being wary of everyone. 

    As a teacher, this book asks a really interesting question about the high stakes of testing. Last year, my students (and I teach English Language Learners) took the ACT/Aspire test, the WIDA (ELL) test, and 3 sections of state testing. This doesn't include the AP tests, ACT, and SAT tests many student take. So what happens if they only way you can get into college is to go into the testing environment where you could not only die because of your mistakes, but you could be murdered by your competition. That's right, there is a phase of testing where other candidates choose to kill others to ensure their position in getting into University. They don't have to kill, they choose to. What does this say about our societies view

s towards testing. Does it really need to be that cut throat? Are we setting up our students for a lifetime of ruin because of the importance we place on testing. Does how well they score on a standardized test really determine the type of learner, or leader they can be? I can tell you, without hesitation, NO! But, sadly the majority of our country disagrees.

The pacing of this book is really well done as well. The beginning of the book, I was nervous that the story was going to end to quickly. You are sucked into the story and it seems like everything is happening really fast. I didn't know how Cia was going to have all these experiences you expect as a reader before the story ended. Then she gets to the fourth phase of testing, and not only does the story slow down, but the action picks up. It is the craziest dynamic, but it works.

The only part of the story I didn't care for was the inevitable teenage love story. Must everyone facing death and destruction fall in love? Katniss fell in love with Peeta AND Gale, Tris fell in love with Four, Harry fell in love with Ginny. But did was the love between Cia and Tomas completely necessary? I don't think so. I can see where Charbonneau was going by adding the love story, could Cia really trust him? Should she trust him? How would a relationship effect her performance in the test and her confidence in her choices? But after so many dystopian novels with so many tragic loves, I'm over it. But maybe that's just me getting older. I mean, I do agree with King Triton every time Ariel yells "I'm not a little girl anymore" in The Little Mermaid. Child...yes you are!

That being said, the love story doesn't take away from how awesome this novel is! This book is amazing, and you should definitely read it! Like...right MEOW!