Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Thomas wakes up in the total dark in a small room. He can't remember any details of his life--no last name, no parents, no mental image of his hometown. He senses that the room is moving up, like an elevator. When it finally stops and the doors are thrown open, he finds himself surrounded by strangers and in a strange land. All around him are teenage boys--no girls, no adults. How did he get there? What kind of place is it? Who are these boys? Why can't he remember?

James Dashner's The Maze Runner is the first book in a young adult dystopian trilogy. The reader knows only what Thomas knows and thus explores the dangerous and mysterious world of the Glade and Maze along with him.

Thomas quickly finds out that each boy in the Glade has the same type of amnesia and also arrived via the dark elevator. Each month on the same day at the same time, a new boy is introduced to the group. Outside the Glade is the Maze, which changes each night and is inhabited by deadly creatures. No one has yet solved the Maze or figured out its purpose.

Although there is quite a bit of action (squabbles among the boys, fights to death with the creatures) and a sense of mystery (what is the purpose of the Maze, who sent the boys there), the novel isn't very captivating. There are a few problems that stand out. First, the entire story takes place in a very short time, making Thomas's mastery of new skills and quick adjustment seem unrealistic. Second, the characters remained vague and were not vividly portrayed. I was unable to develop a clear picture of Thomas or any other character. Third, the solution to the mystery of the Maze seemed somewhat contrived, and it was unrealistic that no one had discovered any of the clues before Thomas showed up.

Most annoying, however, was despite the fact that Thomas had no memories, he was constantly sure that he'd never felt or done [fill in the blank] before. How could he be sure, when he doesn't remember anything specific about his life before the Glade?

I'm not sure why the The Maze Runner was a miss for me because it has been the recipient of a number of awards and honors. The novel was a 2009 winner from both Kirkus Reviews and the Kid's Indie Next List, was nominated in 2011 for the Tennessee Volunteer State Book Master List, was a 2011 winner of a Kentucky Bluegrass award, and was nominated for the 2012 Connecticut Nutmeg Children's Book Master List. Before taking my word for it, check out some other other reviews.

I listened to the unabridged audio edition (Listening Library, 10 hr, 50 min) read by Mark Deakins. Deakins is veteran narrator (although new to me) who was able to keep my attention throughout the book. I'm sure I would have abandoned The Maze Runner had I read it in print. Deakins's accents helped me keep the characters straight, and he brought a spark to the action scenes.

To learn more about the trilogy, visit the Maze Runner website. More about author James Dashner can be found on his blog. This review will be linked to Kid Konnection, hosted by Julie at Booking Mama.

The Maze Runner at an Indie

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Published by Random House / Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780385737951Source: Bought (see review policy)
Rating: C
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Weekend Cooking: Pressure Cooker (film) & C-CAP

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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Last week I introduced you to Richard Grausman's French Classics Made Easy, and I assured you that Grausman was capable of simplifying recipes without sacrificing flavor. What I didn't tell you is that Grausman is the founder of an incredible program, C-CAP, whose mission is "to promote and provide career opportunities in the foodservice industry for underserved youth through culinary arts education and employment" (from the mission statement).

The Careers through Culinary Arts Program is available in a handful of cities in the United States and provides much, much more than just cooking classes.

The Philadelphia program was the subject of the moving and inspirational documentary Pressure Cooker, which I first heard about on Beth Kephart's blog. High school teacher Mrs. Stephenson of Frankford High School in inner-city Philly is a force to be reckoned with. She tells it like it is, and students better be ready to hear the unvarnished truth. Stephenson's toughness, however, is mixed with incredible compassion and generosity.

Thanks to Grausman, teachers like Stephenson, and the support of donors, hardworking teens throughout the country have an opportunity to see a bright future. For many of these kids, C-CAP is the only way they'll get an education, helping not only themselves but their families see a better life.

One of the amazing things about the Philadelphia program is the diversity of students, including a recent immigrant from Africa, a cheerleader, and a football player. Some have family support, some don't, but all make sacrifices to stay in the program and practice to pass the rigorous competition for the chance to win a college scholarship.

Be inspired and have some tissues nearby. And don't miss Grausman's French Cooking Made Easy, which--in earlier renditions--"has served as an inspirational text for" C-CAP teachers and students. If inner-city teens can create awesome meals from this book, so can you.

Now please take a moment and check out the C-CAP website: read about the program and read the success stories of twenty former students.

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Imprint Friday: The Beekeeper's Lament by Hannah Nordhaus

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Harper Perennial. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

Without honey bees we wouldn't be alive. And without people like John Miller—the star of Hannah Nordhaus's The Beekeeper's Lament—honey bees would be struggling more than they are now. Humans and bees are intimately entangled.

I went to college with a daughter of a south Georgia beekeeper, and thanks to her, I've been fascinated with bees for almost four decades. After you read The Beekeepers Lament, you will be too.

The honey bee is a willing conscript, a working wonder, an unseen and crucial link in America's agricultural industry. But never before has its survival been so unclear—and the future of our food supply so acutely challenged.

Enter beekeeper John Miller, who trucks his hives around the country, bringing millions of bees to farmers otherwise bereft of natural pollinators. Even as the mysterious and deadly epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder devastates bee populations across the globe, Miller forges ahead with the determination and wry humor of a true homespun hero. The Beekeeper's Lament tells his story and that of his bees, making for a complex, moving, and unforgettable portrait of man in the new natural world.

That I would read The Beekeeper's Lament was a no-brainer. As I mentioned, I learned about bees and honey from a college friend. After her father died, her mother married a well-known and prosperous honey producer, and his stories of bees and beekeeping around the globe only intensified my interest. If I weren't allergic to bee stings, I probably would have tried my hand at beekeeping by now.

The other attraction is author Nordhaus's connection to Outside magazine, a surprisingly literary publication that has also published the likes of Jon Krakauer and Sebastian Junger. An Outside credit is often all it takes for me to give an author a try.

So what about Beekeeper's Lament? It's a gripping true account of the history of modern beekeeping and the myriad diseases and problems beekeepers face on a daily basis. Nordhaus has an approachable style that lets you get a feel for the personalities, lifestyles, and landscapes of people who tend bees. It will change your perspective of food—whether you're buying fruits and vegetables at the local farmers' market or at the supermarket. Next time you see a honey bee, you'll be inclined to say thanks.

BTW: I was pleased to see that my friend's step-father is mentioned in the book. Also, if you read the book, you'll know why I rarely wear black.

Instead of sharing snippets from other reviews, I'd like to share this video of John Miller talking about the book.

The Beekeeper's Lament was an Indie Next pick for June 2011. To learn more about Hannah Nordhaus, visit her website or Facebook page or follow her on Twitter.

Harper Perennial is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For information about the imprint, please read Erica Barmash's welcome note posted here on June 18, 2010. I encourage you to add your reviews of Harper Perennial books to the review link-up page; it's a great way to discover Good Books for Cool People. And don't miss the The Olive Reader, the Harper Perennial blog.

The Beekeeper's Lament at an Indie

The Beekeeper's Lament at Powell's

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Published by Harper Perennial, 2011
ISBN-13: 9780061873256

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Guest Post: Peter Geye (Safe from the Sea) on Character Development

Last fall I reviewed the brilliant novel Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye, calling it "an exquisitely written story" and "a beautiful, emotionally pitch perfect debut." It was one of my top ten reads for 2010, and it garnered a number of awards:

An Indie Next pick for October 2010
A Publishers Weekly Indie Sleeper pick
A Women's National Book Association National Reading Group Month pick
A Midwest Connections Pick for October 2010
The 2010 Indie Lit Award winner for Best Literary Fiction

If you somehow missed Safe from the Sea, one of my favorite novels, you now have the chance to pick it up in paperback. To celebrate the release of the new edition, I've asked author Peter Geye to stop by and give us some insight into how he develops such believable and sympathetic characters.

Getting to Know You

One of the things I sometimes do if I’m stuck on a character is ask the other characters about their relationship with them. Literally I interview the other characters. Write up questions I’d want answered if I were writing a biography of the stuck character. It gives me a chance to think about them from new perspectives, in ways I might never have considered. It also gives me a chance to think about the dynamics between characters.

There were times when I was writing Safe from the Sea that I felt disconnected from Olaf. Mainly, this was because I didn’t (and don’t) know a lot of men like him. I mean men whose whole life was changed by a single event. Men who suffered such an enormous lot and became something entirely new. So I asked Olaf’s wife about it.

Though she became a smaller and smaller character in the novel during the writing and revising of it, her perspective and observations informed me quite a lot. I always viewed her as the link between Olaf and Noah, as the conscience both men shared.

What follows is an excerpt of one of the interviews I conducted with her, culled from my old notebooks. I hope it sheds a little extra light on the novel.

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Can you describe Olaf?

Olaf was the best man I ever knew. Better than I ever expected to find. Of course, any wife would probably say that about their husband, but I really believed it. Those first ten years of our life together, the way he loved me, the way he loved our children, my goodness it was something to behold. He worked hard. He was a good provider. The children adore him. Or did. There was the wreck, you know? Of his ore boat? The Rag? A terrible story, and not just for how it changed my man.

How did it change him?

The easy answer—the cheap answer—would be to say simply that after that night he started drinking. He was never a teetotaler—we’d have cocktails at restaurants, he’d keep a few bottles of beer in the fridge—but he became a proper drunk after his boat went down. And no doubt that was a big part of what changed in him, but it’s not the whole of it. No.

You’ve heard of those folks who find religion, right? One minute they’re raising Cain and the next they’re bent over in prayer every minute of the day? Well, Olaf went through something like the reverse of that. Not that he was a religious man to begin with, but he saw the world as doomed after the Rag went down. It was almost as if he carried the weight of the tragedy in his eyes. Of course, this made it just about impossible to live with him. For me and the children.

How did the children bear it?

Poor Noah, he was such sensitive boy. Always looking for his father’s approval. Olaf used to say that Noah wore his heart on his sleeve, and he was right. Well, that part of the boy didn’t sit well with his father after the wreck. It was almost as if Olaf couldn’t stand it. But then, what could he stand? It was so unfair for Noah, who was his father’s son if ever a boy was. Solveig fared better, I guess. She was so even-tempered, even as a toddler. So unemotional. I think that quality of personality sat better with Olaf, and so he went easier on her.

And what about you?

What about me?

How did he treat you after the wreck?

It’s hard for me to say this, hard because I loved him so dearly for so long, but by the time the children were both in high school—ten years or so after the wreck—I could hardly look at Olaf. As much as I still loved him, as often as I recalled our better years, I could not stand the hard man he became. I could not stand the foolish things he said to me when he deigned to speak at all. He was ugly. He was drunk. He was mean. He was happiest when he was farthest away from us all.

That doesn’t sound easy.

The only thing easy in life is loving your children. I contented myself with that.

What about the fellow across the street? The insurance salesman?

Isn’t it ironic? An insurance salesman? It would be something to laugh about if it wasn’t so tragic. But Phil. What can I say about him that would matter at all? He was a decent enough man. He was very decent. But his whole body and soul would have fit into Olaf’s thumb. Phil meant that I didn’t have to eat alone every night. Phil listened when the only alternative would have meant talking to myself. Even I knew enough to not want to go crazy. Phil kept me from crazy.

Could you ever forgive Olaf?

Could I? Of course I could. I already have.

Then why have you remained apart?

Because he hasn’t ever forgiven himself.

Thanks so much, Peter. You have left me almost speechless (not an easy thing to do); even your writing notes carry an emotional power. The interview reveals the more hidden side of Olaf and explains why, despite his hardness and his distance, we care so much about him. I am fascinated by your interview process, and the transcript drew me immediately back into Olaf and Noah's world. I may need to reread your novel soon.

Congratulations on this week's paperback birthday of Safe from the Sea.

For more information about the novel, check out my review or visit the Unbridled Books website. To learn more about Peter Geye, be sure to stop by his website, his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter.

Safe from the Sea at an Indie

Safe from the Sea at Powell's

Safe from the Sea at Book Depository
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Published by Unbridled Books, 2011 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781609530570
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Wordless Wednesday 146

Chickadee, 2011

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