Perfect Fifths - Megan McCafferty

I just finished reading Megan McCafferty's Perfect Fifths, the final book in her series starring the ever-abrasive and thoroughly relatable Jessica Darling.

Oh my.

I’ll begin at the beginning and try not to give too much away.
I first came across Jessica Darling in the introductory novel Sloppy Firsts in 2002. While the cover (which, I know, I know, we should not judge our books by) made me want to put the book right back where I'd found it, I really liked the title. And am I ever glad I opened the book.

The series starts with Jessica at 16, a self-appointed observer at a small, clique-y high school in New Jersey who tries to relegate her acid commentary to her journals (though rarely succeeds). While she’s not exactly queen bee, she’s not unpopular, either. While she knows the other kids at school (since she’s been in school with them for years), she’s feeling displaced because her closest friend just moved across the country. Into this teen angst walks Marcus Flutie (sigh), the clever and sweet bad boy to end all bad boys. And the rest needs to be read for yourself.

It’s true that, having now read all five books, this is somewhat of a love story, and while that element is actually pretty awesome, the books are mostly great because of McCafferty’s character development: Jessica is witty and clever and we get to know all her witty clever bits because we’re inside her brain. Marcus is the boy that all of our mothers warned us about and none of us listened to the warnings `cause he’s just too goldanged cool. And even though these descriptors sound clichéd, McCafferty provides a bunch of nice unexpected twists to keep her characters from becoming too caricaturish (like the queen bee mean girl who becomes a radical feminist pseudo-lesbian in one of the later books).

This is chicklit for the disaffected and slightly cynical – for the well-read, somewhat abashed romantic “highbrownnosers” I know are out there.

Book of the month - Galore

Reading Galore by Michael Crummey took me to another place and time---literally! The novel is written like an old folktale, just as the stories of the people living in this book are like long-ago legends or myths being weaved from one generation to the next. There are many characters to focus on, so I really appreciated the family tree diagram at the beginning of the book! I felt like I got to know each character intimately, although others had a stronger presence such as Mary Tryphena, Judah, and Devine’s widow (who everyone believes is a witch).

It is one of those novels that play out like a weird dream, yet you want to know what happens to all the personalities and you are reminded of the way the book begins when you reach the end. It was quite fascinating how the lives of the Seller and Devine families intertwine and cope with each other, not to mention trying to survive on the Rock known as Newfoundland. The hardships of everyday (sickness, food shortage, cold and brutal weather) really gets you thinking about how we should never take our bare necessities for granted. The book gets you laughing when the mummers come around during the holidays and Horse Chops tries to figure out the love lives of everyone in the village. Truly, there are strange love affairs and forbidden loves, which keep the story entertaining.

Whether the book is believable is not the point. It’s a book that makes you want to believe. There is definitely a sense of some kind of subtle magic working here, and I don’t mean the kind with spells. When you read this, you smile to yourself and wonder if you really could imagine someone being cut out of a whale’s belly, or if ghosts really walk around the village waiting to be forgiven. If you love novels that take you back in time and shower you with poetic descriptions of the harsh realities from land and sea, then this book will make a believer out of you. I’d love to know if you agree with me!