{ARC Review} Rumble: Ellen Hopkins

Rating: 67%
Series: None
Genre: LGBTQ, Religion, Poetry, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult,
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: August 26, 2014
Page Count: 542
Format: Physical ARC
Source: Margaret K. McElderry Books via Once Upon a Time Children's Bookstore

Barnes & Nobles ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon

Goodreads Synopsis: Can an atheist be saved? The New York Times bestselling author of Crank and Tricks explores the highly charged landscapes of faith and forgiveness with brilliant sensitivity and emotional resonance.

“There is no God, no benevolent ruler of the earth, no omnipotent grand poobah of countless universes. Because if there was...my little brother would still be fishing or playing basketball instead of fertilizing cemetery vegetation.”

Matthew Turner doesn’t have faith in anything.

Not in family—his is a shambles after his younger brother was bullied into suicide. Not in so-called friends who turn their backs when things get tough. Not in some all-powerful creator who lets too much bad stuff happen. And certainly not in some “It Gets Better” psychobabble.

No matter what his girlfriend Hayden says about faith and forgiveness, there’s no way Matt’s letting go of blame. He’s decided to “live large and go out with a huge bang,” and whatever happens happens. But when a horrific event plunges Matt into a dark, silent place, he hears a rumble…a rumble that wakes him up, calling everything he’s ever disbelieved into question.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Margaret K. McElderry Books via Once Upon a Time Bookstore in Montrose, California in exchange for an honest review. 

Who Would I Recommend This Book To?

Fans of books in free verse such as Audacious (Gabrielle Prendergrast) & Kiss of Broken Glass (Madeline Kuderick)
People who would like a different, strong perspective of atheism told from the perspective of an articulate, somewhat forceful teenage boy

Would I Buy It?

20%
While this book was highly anticipated by myself, I will have to admit that I was disappointed with what this story actually ended up being. I don't think I would buy it, unless I felt the urge to look at a pretty finished copy on my bookshelves.

Background & Backstory

The backstory with how I obtained RUMBLE is the same backstory as I had with Anatomy of a Misfit (Andrea Portes) and Falling Into Place (Amy Zhang). I am friends with the owner -Maureen Palacios- and she so generously let me pick out a few ARCs to read and review. 

What Was My Reaction After I Finished This Book?

You're kidding me, right? You're kidding me.

So I finished RUMBLE last Sunday, but waited to review it until I watched the #ReadytoRumble liveshow which is put on by the people over at Booksplosion which is a group of four BookTubers -Katytastic, PolandBananasBooks, Jesse The Reader & Ariel Bissett- every month where they (and the rest of the bookish community that chooses to participate) reads a book and then comes together at the end of the month to discuss it.

I wanted to wait so that I would be able to have more incite and other people's opinions in regards to RUMBLE and the Booksplosion people all had different, extremely interesting perspectives. This particular liveshow covered the topics of cheating, religion, mismarketing, gun control, excessive alcohol consumption, and a lot of other topics that, even a few years ago, were taboo.

Cool, I'm going to read this book because of its interesting premise. I hope it delivers what I  expect from it.

The majority of the readers of RUMBLE and myself went into the book expecting quite a different story than what we got. I don't know if this was intentional misguiding to draw people in or just a misinterpretation. We all went into RUMBLE thinking that we would be getting a book about an atheist who has heard this rumble which sends him down a deep, spiritual journey of self-discovery and enlightenment about faith.

Okay then book, give me an entirely different plot than what I signed up for.... I get it. I'll sit over hear and cry.

While I have never been into super-religious books, the aspect RUMBLE of that I was most anticipating  was the spiritual aspect because I read the BURNED Duology, also by Ellen Hopkins, which shed a new light on Mormonism, which made me extremely intrigued to see how she would take on Christianity and Atheism. Without spoiling anything, I will say that Matthew hears a rumble at the END of the novel and the events in this book depict his spiral into a dark place that build UP to him hearing it.

Fine.... I'll just read this book instead, but I'm still confused

This automatically brought down other reader's and my own rating of RUMBLE because we had to account for the time when we still thought this book would tell the story the synopsis told, then the time where we had to reboot our brains to go along with the actual synopsis, and then finally accept what the story actually was. And it's certainly not to say that I'm not able to adapt to changes in a story, but personally, the story that I got out of RUMBLE just wasn't as satisfying as I expected it to be compared to Hopkin's other works.

If you have never read an Ellen Hopkins book before this one, I would suggest that you start off with a different one. BURNED, IDENTICAL, and TRICKS are all books of hers that are excellent introductions to her unique style. While I'm talking about Hopkin's writing style, I should mention that her writing is in free verse, which means that the book is formatted like poetry and is extremely lyrical. She also deals with taboo and generally controversial subjects such as drugs (CRANK), depression (IMPULSE), schizophrenia (IDENTICAL), mormons (BURNED), and prostitution (TRICKS). If you needed to visually represent the phrase "say it like you mean it," all you would need to do is hold up any of her books.

I actually like this protagonist?

Generally, I have issues with Ellen Hopkins because they are so mentally messed up to a point where it seems unlikely and certainly not as easy to connect and relate with them. Matt.... was a different story. He was strong, and the essay that was the catalyst for where this story began was extremely articulate and opinionated, which I couldn't help but relate to because I would probably have written the same things he did if I were in his situation.

I didn't agree with all of his decisions and thoughts, far from it actually, but when it came to his strong feelings against religion, I had to agree with a lot of them. People always say that things in life need to be had in moderation, and I believe this applies to religion. There are extremists on EVERY spectrum, there's no question about it. Matt's girlfriend -Hayden- was a super-Christian and utterly dedicated to Jesus. So when Matt questioned her beliefs and she couldn't back them up.... I had to agree with some of his opinions.

*Disclaimer: I am still a teenager, I haven't solidified my personal beliefs and don't believe I will ever get to a point where I am 100% certain of my feelings. I am also not Atheist, and I am perfectly accepting of other people's religions and beliefs*

I have Snape to say it for me

Like a lot of Hopkin's novels, cheating takes place, and personally, I am against cheating.... especially with the situation in this book. Kat provided some incite on this topic, saying that Matt didn't break up with Hayden because so much in his life had changed, that he didn't want to let her go as well. Yet, I disagreed because it was CLEAR as day the two of them were a bad match, and he had to go behind her back (even if she was a horrible person) and sleep with another girl.

Lastly, I would like to say that the free-verse didn't work for RUMBLE. Unlike her other novels, the text was 95% in verses, which could have easily been converted into regular sentences. This book was dense, physically and content-wise, and I'm sorry to say, but the free-verse didn't add anything I couldn't have already gotten.

How Likely Is It That I Will Read Other Books By This Author?

80%

RUMBLE is by Ellen Hopkins, who is one of my auto-read authors. I don't necessarily agree with what she says in her books and even if I don't connect with the characters, I always feel the urge to read whatever she publishes. She provides so much perspective and reading her books is like looking through a different magnifying glass than the one I use for everyday life.

Conclusion: While RUMBLE did not deliver what I expected it to, it was definitely another thought-provoking  Ellen Hopkins book that brought up interesting food for thought.

Spring 2014 Challenges

LGBT Month is a wonderful challenge/event (I don't know what category it falls under) hosted by the lovely Laura @ LauraPlusBooks and Cayce @ Fighting Dreamer where the participants will celegrate the LGBT + community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender). For more information, check out the original post. I respect your opinions but if you're against LGBT+ people in any way, please click out of this so that no feelings or opinions are harmed. 

All you have to do is read and share LGBT+ books. At least one book or one post! Try to spread the acceptance of LGBT+. You don’t need to have ablog. You can have a YouTube channel, you can review books on Goodreads and/or you can use the hashtag #LGBTApril on Twitter!

Throughout April, the two of them will post are reviews, giveaways, guest posts, discussions, everything! We really hope you can too! There will also be Twitter parties! At the beginning of each week, we’ll post a Linky. There, you can link-up all your different posts. You can read all the things other people are posting too.

Also, there will be a READ-ALONG! It’s not compulsory for you to read it but it’ll be a lot more fun if you do. There are no set rules on how you have to read it, as long as you read it April with us. And… you get to vote on which book you want to read! If it’s too hard for you to vote for 1, you can for for 2 but don’t go crazy and vote for all of them.

The Requirements:

- Link up to your blog/channel/Goodreads/Twitter below.  Your Name @ Blog/Channel or Goodreads/Twitter 

- Then, write a sign up post! Include the description and the banner if you have a blog. If you’re just doing it on Goodreads/Twitter, just spread the message! 
- You don’t have to straight away. Feel free to sign up now and talk about it later.  - Grab the button if you’d like.

I already own three books that fall under the LGBT+ Category (and hope to obtain more from the library) which I will definitely be reading and posting about as well as review Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith for this as well.
-Everyday: David Leviathan
-Keeping You a Secret: Julie Ann Peters
-Will Grayson, Will Grayson: John Green

Kimba @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Angie @ Angela’s Anxious Life are hosting the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge that lasts from the first to the last of May. For more information, check out the original post.

The Rules:

Rules

• Link-up and add button to your blog
• Arc must be read between May 1st and May 31st, 2014
• Challenge starts and ends at midnight in your local time zone
• All ARCS/finished copies that were provided by publisher/author are eligible. They can be in any format (eBook, physical, audio)
• Post start up post with goals.(can be posted during event)
• Tweet using hashtag #CleanSweepARC
• You do not have to post review on blog during the month of May. Just provide a link to Goodreads showing read May 1 to 31st with a two sentence review.
• Twitter Party Wednesday May 14th 7pm (EST) #CleanSweepARC
• Participate in challenges
• The Participant Giveaway will include entries for each linked book read, posting about challenge, start up/results post (can be combined), having button on your sidebar, participation in Twitter party, entering challenges and for following hosts.
• Grand Prize- One winner will receive a new release of their choice (can be audible credit, novel or gift card) valued at up to 20.00 US dollars. Open internationally.
• Challenge Schedule and entry form will post on May 1st and participant giveaway will close on June 3 at 11:59 (CST)

Sequel Spring is a challenge hosted by Words in a Tea Cup that runs from March 20 to June 20.....so pretty much all of Spring if you catch my drift. It is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on all the sequels of the series I have started. I have read so many series starters, and hardly any of the other books so this challenge is perfect for me to help me clear out some books that have been on my TBR for a while. For more information, check out the original post.

The rules

• This challenge will run from the beginning to the end of spring: March 20th to June 20th 2014.
• The goal is to read as many sequels as possible.
• You can join whenever you want and you can read as many (or as few) sequels as you want.
• A “sequel” is any book that is part of a series, apart from the first one. So prequels and midquels would also count. Anything goes, the only restriction is no standalone novels and no first books in a series.
• If you start a new series during the challenge period, the second (and third, and fourth…) book in that series will count for Sequel Spring.
• (NEW) You can read multiple sequels from the same series.For example if you read all 7 Harry Potter books this spring, you can count 6 of them for Sequel Spring (all books minus the first one).
• (NEW) Books should be at least 50 pages long to count. If you’re reading ebooks, you can check the page count on bookseller sites like Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, etc. Short stories are okay, as long as they’re not too short!
• Books read for other challenges also count. Audiobooks also count.
• (NEW) You don’t have to review all the books you read — you can write no reviews at all if you like, this challenge is all about reading. But if you do write reviews of your Sequel Spring books, there will be a linky to collect all reviews in the progress posts.
• You don’t need a blog to participate. If you’re not a blogger you can link to your Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Tumblr, Facebook… anything!
• If you have a blog, it’d be cool if you created a challenge page, or grab a button and link back.

The Sequels: I'm hoping to read at least 10, and the remaining titles are forthcoming
-The Art of Keeping Faith (Uni Files #2): Anna Bloom
-Final Stand (The Transhuman Chronicles #2): Rose Garcia
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{ARC Review} Moon at Nine: Deborah Ellis

Rating:Series: Standalone Genre: Historical Fiction, LGBT, Young Adult Publication Date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Pajama Press Page Count: 240 Format: Digital ARC from Netgalley

 

Goodreads Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Farrin has many secrets. Although she goes to a school for gifted girls in Tehran, as the daughter of an aristocratic mother and wealthy father, Farrin must keep a low profile. It is 1988; ever since the Shah was overthrown, the deeply conservative and religious government controls every facet of life in Iran. If the Revolutionary Guard finds out about her mother’s Bring Back the Shah activities, her family could be thrown in jail, or worse.

The day she meets Sadira, Farrin’s life changes forever. Sadira is funny, wise, and outgoing; the two girls become inseparable. But as their friendship deepens into romance, the relationship takes a dangerous turn. It is against the law to be gay in Iran; the punishment is death. Despite their efforts to keep their love secret, the girls are discovered and arrested. Separated from Sadira, Farrin can only pray as she awaits execution. Will her family find a way to save them both?

Based on real-life events, multi-award winning author Deborah Ellis’s new book is a tense and riveting story about a world where homosexuality is considered so abhorrent that it is punishable by death.

*It is perfectly fine if you have your own personal beliefs, thoughts, or comments about the LGBTQ community, but I would appreciate it very much if you didn't state them if they're negative, and if this offends you in any way, I invite you to exit this review* 

*I received this book as a digital ARC which does not in the slightest affect my honest review of this book*

*All opinions are my own, and I am not trying to criticize the Middle East, their culture, their religion, or the LGBTQ community. These are my personal thoughts. I truly hope I do not offend anyone with any statements in this review* 

In the 'End of the Year Book Survey' for 2014, Moon at Nine will be the book I am most conflicted about (if there's such a category). I swear I don't  know if I should give this book two stars or five. There was so much involved and going on with this book. 

On one hand it was one of the most thought-provoking I have ever read. 

At the same time, it didn't feel like I, as the reader, was truly in Iran, like I should have been, and that the romance was to cliché and ordinary. 

I have this belief that there are four books an author wants to read. (discussion post coming soon) The first, is one that everyone wants to read, the second, is one no one wants to read, the third, is one that people are scared to read, and the last is one that creates controversy. 

Deborah Ellis walks a precarious line with her passion writing books centered in the Middle East. I still remember reading The Breadwinner for the first time in 2009. I've read a lot of books since then (that's a given statement), but not many have resonated and stayed in my memory like The Breadwinner has. I believe that was the book that everyone wants to read.

Moon at Nine is the book that was written for controversy.

There are two pretty obvious elements that drive the story:

The first is the setting, 1988 in Iran.  

The second is the romance, Moon at Nine is LGBTQ fiction.

What I loved about this story is that those two plot elements aren't the story. They are the launching pad, they are the base of the pyramid, but they are not the core. If someone said this was purely a historical fiction novel set in the Middle East about two lesbian girls. I would probably smack them because that is not what this story is about.

Even though those elements aren't the soul of the story, they are what attracted me to it. I believe that people should be able to love who they love (Katy Perry/John Mayer reference!) regardless of any factors like race, gender, age, etc. There isn't that much LGBTQ young adult fiction, or much at all in the book community about it because just five years ago, this was a taboo subject. I find reading about this is very interesting, eye-opening, and teaches people how anyone that is queer isn't any different. In history, people have been divided. Whether it's because of skin color, race, religion, social status, and a wide manner of other subjects. As Americans, for the most part, we have overcome those barriers and lines. I believe this subject is just another one that people have to accept, and jump over this particular hurdle. I believe that sexual orientation and identity should not be the defining factor for prosecuting or excluding anyone. In the book, Farrin and Sadira are normal girls -- their love doesn't make them much different than any other human.

On top of that, I had recently read The Tyrant's Daughter, and wanted a chance to learn more about the Middle East. 

What I loved about Moon at Nine was how it described the setting, as well as all of the wonderful quotes that I can't post because this is an ARC review. I had the cliche "it felt just like I was there, experiencing everything along with the characters" thoughts on the setting, especially the 'world building' although this isn't something Ellis made up. The quotes in this book were so thought-provoking, mind blowing, and it's killing me that I can't post any of them. 

What I disliked about Moon at Nine was how the romance seemed so love-at-first-sight, and a little cliche. Which either proves how little difference there is between having a female and female love each other versus a male and a female. The afternoon Farrin met Sadira for the first time, she was already thinking about her. She hadn't even had the choice to know who Sadira was as a person before she was longing for Sadira to be by her side. My only thought in defense is that Farrin had never felt or thought about a girl like that (I sound like a fourth grader right?) before, which is why it was so sudden. At the same time, I think it was way too sudden and fast.

I was also very questioning (my ELA teacher would call it 'reading suspiciously') of Farrin's narration. It's not as if I was expecting her to sound nothing like a modern American teenager, but I was expecting some distinct difference. Of course no one can actually know what it was like in her head (unless you're reading Peaceful Genocide), so Ellis wouldn't know for sure, but I think there should have been some distinction between Farrin's voice and an ordinary teenager like Mia from If I Stay.

There weren't any characters that stood out to me and blew my mind. That is one area Moon at Nine didn't reach my expectations. It might be that I didn't right this review right after I finished the book (shameful, I know), but I don't remember feeling like they blew me away. I didn't have the best connection with Farrin, like I felt I should have, except in one aspect. Farrin was a writer, and even though she was timid, and afraid of having her voice heard, she still had the ability to express herself through writing. She may not have been able to openly express her opinions and thoughts, but when she wrote paragraphs, volumes were spoken. This is where I wish I could quote this so badly because of how wonderful the language was. My ELA teacher would call it figurative, I would call if perfectly crafted.

The ending was something that crushed me. There were some aspects of the ending that were cliche. I didn't expect an OMG moment, and I got one, even though it wasn't needed. It is a tearjerker, and while it is somewhat cliche, and almost the easy way out, it definitely one that will stay with you. 

Conclusion: This could be one of the best, most confusing, and most controversial young adult books of 2014, that could pave the way for something new.

This is the rating I settled on, but when I go through and update reviews, this might change.