Repossessed review by Edgy

ORIGINAL POST AT BOOKS ARE KING

Repossessed
by A. M. Jenkins
YA fiction. 218 pp.
HarperTeen. 2007.

from the flap copy:

Don't call me a demon. I prefer the term Fallen Angel.

Everybody deserves a vacation, right? Especially if you have a pointless job like tormenting the damned. So who could blame me for blowing off my duties and taking a small, unauthorized break?

Besides, I've always wanted to see what physical existence is like. That's why I "borrowed" the slightly used body of a slacker teen. Believe me, he wasn't going to be using it anymore anyway.

I have never understood why humans do the things they do. Like sin—if it's so terrible, why do they keep doing it?

I'm going to have a lot of fun finding out!

This is a book I read ages ago (March 8). Consequently, I'm now left with fading impressions. I remember that it read fairly well. It wasn't my favorite book I've read. To be honest, I'm not even sure why it won an award as it didn't stand out to me as something phenomenal.

I like the idea behind the plot in that a Fallen Angel decides to hijack the body of a kid who was stepping out in front of a car and about to die anyway. He then gets to finally have a human experience. I like that this "devil" character actually ends up doing a lot of good in the lives he touches, albeit that wasn't his intention. Yes, he was a bit obsessed with sex (which is the great criticism that I recall coming across from other reviews I had read), but I didn't think it was as bad as the other reviewers made it out be. Besides, so few teenage boys aren't obsessed with sex.

Anyway, it's not my favorite Printz book I've read. It does have one of the sharper covers, but that's not necessarily a reason to recommend it.

Other reviews:
The Book Muncher

2008 Printz books

It seems that the ALA chose this year's 2008 Printz award winner in January, and I somehow missed it. Maybe this is old news to the rest of you, but I thought I'd post a list of the winner and honor books this year for those of you who may want to add more to your lists or make changes in your lists.

Winner: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean: "Fourteen-year-old Symone's exciting vacation to Antarctica turns into a desperate struggle for survival when her uncle's obsessive quest leads them across the frozen wilderness into danger."

Honor books:

Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

The White Darkness review by Edgy

ORIGINAL POST AT BOOKS ARE KING

The White Darkness
by Geraldine McCaughrean
YA fiction. 363 pp.
HarperTempest. 2007.

the flap copy:

Sym is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. In fact, Oates is the secret confidant to whom she spills all her hopes and fears.

But Sym's uncle Victor is even more obsessed—and when he takes her on a dream trip into the bleak Antarctic wilderness, it turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival that will challenge everything she knows and loves.

I read this book because it won the Printz this year and because I added it to my Printz Award Challenge. It took me a bit of time to get into it, but I'm glad I continued to work through it, even if I did interrupt the reading with other books along the way.

I had initial difficulty getting into it because I just didn't like Sym. Fortunately, one thing she had going for her was that I could tell that I would more than likely end up liking her. I had to work at this, because she adores her uncle, who I could tell was a very bad seed from the get-go. And she's very passive, which I find to be an amazingly taxing trait to tolerate. She was also a bit slow on figuring out what was going on. I've noticed that I can handle this in third-person narratives, but I don't take it quite as well in first-person narratives.

Perhaps the oddest bit about this book is Sym's relationship with Captain Oates. In fact, it's the second British YA I've read in the last couple months where the protagonist has a real person as an imaginary friend. Whereas in Slam the imaginary friend only speaks in sentences lifted from his autobiography, in this one, Sym actually converses with Oates. On the one hand, that was weird. On the other hand, it brought Oates to life for me in a way that makes him rather intriguing.

After my experience with the beginning of the book, I was having difficulties understanding why it had won the Printz. By the end of the book, when I was actually liking the protagonist, I was able to notice the excellent use of language, and that is where I think the beauty of The White Darkness lies.