Elizabeth Moon:Remnant Population
- Paperback 2012, ISBN: 9780671877705
Ember. Very Good. 5.56 x 0.72 x 8.22 inches. Paperback. 2012. 336 pages. <br>Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years… More...
Ember. Very Good. 5.56 x 0.72 x 8.22 inches. Paperback. 2012. 336 pages. <br>Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she's kept a lo t of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruine d everything. So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera k nows a lot more than anyone--the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to? Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unfo rgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising. Editorial Reviews Review Kirkus Reviews, starred review, Septemb er 15, 2010: A harrowing but ultimately redemptive tale of adoles cent angst gone awry. Vera and Charlie are lifelong buddies whose relationship is sundered by high school and hormones; by the sta rt of their senior year, the once-inseparable pair is estranged. In the aftermath of Charlie's sudden death, Vera is set adrift by grief, guilt and the uncomfortable realization that the people c losest to her are still, in crucial ways, strangers. As with King 's first novel, The Dust of 100 Dogs (2009), this is chilling and challenging stuff, but her prose here is richly detailed and wry ly observant. The story unfolds through authentic dialogue and a nonlinear narrative that shifts fluidly among Vera's present pers pective, flashbacks that illuminate the tragedies she's endured, brief and often humorous interpolations from the dead kid, Vera's father and even the hilltop pagoda that overlooks their dead-end Pennsylvania town. The author depicts the journey to overcome a legacy of poverty, violence, addiction and ignorance as an arduou s one, but Vera's path glimmers with grace and hope. (Fiction. 14 & up) Publishers Weekly, starred review, October 11, 2010: Begi nning with the funeral of Charlie Kahn, high school senior Vera's neighbor and former best friend, this chilling and darkly comedi c novel offers a gradual unfolding of secrets about the troubled teenagers, their families, and their town. Though Charlie's death hangs heavily over Vera, she has the road ahead mapped out: pay her way through community college with her job delivering pizza w hile living cheap in her father's house. But first she has to fac e her fractured relationship with her father, a recovering alcoho lic who worries about her drinking; the absence of her mother, wh o left six years earlier; and the knowledge that she could clear Charlie's suspected guilt in a crime. Vera is the primary narrato r, though her father, Charlie (posthumously), and even the town's landmark pagoda contribute interludes as King (The Dust of 100 D ogs) shows how shame and silence can have risky--sometimes deadly --consequences. The book is deeply suspenseful and profoundly hum an as Vera, haunted by memories of Charlie and how their friendsh ip disintegrated, struggles to find the courage to combat destruc tive forces, save herself, and bring justice to light. Ages 13-up . (Oct.) Booklist, starred review, November 15, 2010: High-schoo l senior Vera never expects her ex-best friend, Charlie, to haunt her after he dies, begging her to clear his name of a horrible a ccusation surrounding his death. But does Vera want to help him a fter what he did to her? Charlie's risky, compulsive behavior and brand-new bad-news pals proved to be his undoing, while Vera's m antra was always Please Ignore Vera Dietz, as she strives, with C harlie's help, to keep a secret about her family private. But whe n Charlie betrays her, it is impossible to fend off her classmate s' cruel attacks or isolate herself any longer. Vera's struggle t o put Charlie and his besmirched name behind her are at the crux of this witty, thought-provoking novel, but nothing compares to t he gorgeous unfurling of Vera's relationship with her father. Cha pters titled A Brief Word from Ken Dietz (Vera's Dad) are surpris ing, heartfelt, and tragic; it's through Ken that readers see how quickly alcohol and compromised decision-making are destroying V era's carefully constructed existence. Father and daughter wade g ingerly through long-concealed emotions about Vera's mother's lea ving the family, which proves to be the most powerful redemption story of the many found in King's arresting tale. Watching charac ters turn into the people they've long fought to avoid becoming i s painful, but seeing them rise above it, reflect, and move on ma kes this title a worthy addition to any YA collection. The Bulle tin of the Center for Childrens Books, review, November 2010: The death of a best friend is hard enough, but for high-school senio r Vera Dietz, her reaction to the death of Charlie Kahn is compli cated by the fact that in the last few months he'd dumped her for the druggie pack at school, especially tough-girl Jenny. Flashba cks and compact commentary from Charlie himself, from Vera's stra itlaced dad, and from an omniscient local landmark interweave wit h Vera's current narration, painting the picture of Vera and Char lie's close friendship and its recent souring and revealing that Vera is the guilty and troubled possessor of many secrets about h er late friend. King offers a perceptive exploration of a particu lar kind of friendship, one where one friend is undergoing agonie s beyond the power of the other to help. Vera's own troubles--her abandonment by her mother, the strictness and emotional evasion of her recovering-alcoholic father--get sympathetic treatment, bu t it's clear that Vera is loved and cared for in a way that Charl ie, stuck in a poisonous, abusive home, simply wasn't. Yet it's V era's life even more than Charlie's that's under scrutiny here, e specially since Vera still has the possibility of making changes, both in her dealing with Charlie's memory and in her ongoing rel ationships. The writing is emotional yet unfussy, and Vera's tend ency to see and perceive Charlie in every place and every thing i s both effective and affecting. It's not uncommon for the dysfunc tion in one friend's life to start sowing seeds of doom for a fri endship, and Vera's poignant take on her double loss will resonat e with many readers. VOYA, review, November 2010: It is hard to describe how deeply affecting this story is. Vera and Charlie are both the victims of extremely bad parenting, but that only scrat ches the surface of the novel. The writing is phenomenal, the cha racters unforgettable. The narrative weaves through the past and present, mostly from Vera's viewpoint but with telling asides fro m other characters. There is so much in here for young people to think about, presented authentically and without filters: drinkin g and its consequences; the social hierarchy of high school; civi c responsibilities; and teens' decisions to accept or reject what their parents pass down to them. It is a gut-wrenching tale abou t family, friendship, destiny, the meaning of words, and self-dis covery. It will glow in the reader for a long time after the read ing, just like the neon red pagoda that watches over Vera and her world. About the Author A.S. King is the award-winning author o f young adult books including Reality Boy, Ask the Passengers, Ev erybody Sees the Ants, and The Dust of 100 Dogs. She has visited hundreds of schools to talk about empowerment, self-reliance and self-awareness. Find more at www.as-king com. Excerpt. ® Reprint ed by permission. All rights reserved. THE FUNERAL The pastor is saying something about how Charlie was a free spirit. He was and he wasn't. He was free because on the inside he was tied up in k nots. He lived hard because inside he was dying. Charlie made inn er conflict look delicious. The pastor is saying something about Charlie's vivacious and intense personality. I picture Charlie in side the white coffin, McDonald's napkin in one hand, felt-tipped pen in the other, scribbling, Tell that guy to kiss my white viv acious ass. He nevermet me. I picture him crumpling the note and eating it. I picture him reaching for his Zippo lighter and setti ng it alight, right there in the box. I see the congregation, tea ry-eyed, suddenly distracted by the rising smoke seeping through the seams. Is it okay to hate a dead kid? Even if I loved him onc e? Even if he was my best friend? Is it okay to hate him for bein g dead? Dad doesn't want me to see the burying part, but I make h im walk to the cemetery with me, and he holds my hand for the fir st time since I was twelve. The pastor says something about how w e return to the earth the way we came from the earth and I feel t hegrass under my feet grab my ankles and pull me down. I picture Charlie in his coffin, nodding, certain that the Great Hunter mea nt for everything to unfold as it has. I picture him laughing in there as the winch lowers him into the hole. I hear him saying,He y, Veer--it's not every day you get lowered into a hole by a guy with a wart on his nose, right? I look at the guy manning the win ch. I look at the grass gripping my feet. I hear a handful of dir t hit the hollow-sounding coffin, and I bury my face in Dad'sside and cry quietly. I still can't really believe Charlie is dead. T he reception is divided into four factions. First, you have Charl ie's family. Mr. and Mrs. Kahn and their parents (Charlie's grand parents), and Charlie's aunts and uncles and seven cousins. Old f riends of the family and close neighbors are included here,too, s o that's where Dad and I end up. Dad, still awkward at social eve nts without Mom, asks me forty-seven times between the church and the banquet hall if I'm okay. But really, he's worse off than I am. Especially when talking to the Kahns. They know we knowtheir secrets because we live next door. And they know we know they kno w. I'm so sorry, Dad says. Thanks, Ken, Mrs. Kahn answers. It's h ot outside--first day of September--and Mrs. Kahn is wearing long sleeves. They both look at me and I open my mouth to say somethi ng, but nothing comes out. I am so mixed up about what I should b e feeling, I throw myself into Mrs. Kahn's arms and sob for a few seconds. Then I compose myself and wipe my wet cheeks with the b ackof my hands. Dad gives me a tissue from his blazer pocket. Sor ry, I say. It's fine, Vera. You were his best friend. This must b e awful hard on you, Mrs. Kahn says. She has no idea how hard. I haven't been Charlie's best friend since April, when he totally s crewed me over and started hanging out full-time with Jenny Flick and the Detentionhead losers. Let me tell you--if you think your best friend dying is a bitch,try your best friend dying after he screws you over. It's a bitch like no other. To the right of the family corner, there's the community corner. A mix of neighbors, teachers, and kids that had a study hall or two with him. A few kids from his fifth-grade Little League baseball team. Our childh ood babysitter, who Charlie had an endlesscrush on, is here with her new husband. Beyond the community corner is the official-peop le area. Everyone there is in a black suit of some sort. The past or is talking with the school principal, Charlie's family doctor, and two guys I never saw before. After the initial reception stu ff is over,one of the pastor's helpers asks Mrs. Kahn if she need s anything. Mr. Kahn steps in and answers for her, sternly, and t he helper then informs people that the buffet is open. It's a slo w process, but eventually, people find their way to the food. You want anything? Dad asks. I shake my head. You sure? I nod yes. H e gets a plate and slops on some salad and cottage cheese. Across the room is the Detentionhead crowd--Charlie's new best friends. They stay close to the door and go out in groups to smoke. The s toop is littered with butts, even though there's one of those hou rglass-shaped smokeless ashtrays there. For a whilethey were bloc king the door, until the banquet hall manager asked them to move. So they did, and now they're circled around Jenny Flick as if sh e's Charlie's hopeless widow rather than the reason he's dead. An hour later, Dad and I are driving home and he asks, Do you know anything about what happened Sunday night? Nope. A lie. I do. Bec ause if you do, you need to say something. Yeah. I would if I did , but I don't. A lie. I do. I wouldn't if I could. I haven't. I w on't. I can't yet. I take a shower when I get home because I can' t think of anything else to do. I put on my pajamas, even though it's only seven-thirty, and I sit down in the den with Dad, who i s reading the newspaper. But I can't sit still, so I walk to the kitchen andslide the glass door open and close it behind me once I'm on the deck. There are a bunch of catbirds in the yard, squaw king the way they do at dusk. I look into the woods, toward Charl ie's house, and walk back inside again. You going to be okay with school tomorrow? Dad asks. No, I say. But I guess it's the best thing to do, you know? Probably true, he says. But he wasn't ther e last Monday, in the parking lot, when Jenny and the Detentionhe ads, all dressed in black, gathered around her car and smoked. He wasn't there when she wailed. She wailed so loud, I hated her mo re than I alreadyhated her. Charlie's own mother wasn't wailing t hat much. Yeah. It's the first week. It's all review anyway. You know, you could pick up a few more hours at work. That would prob ably keep your mind off things. I think the number one thing to r emember about my dad is that no matter the ailment, he will sugge st working as a possible cure. THREE AND A HALF MONTHS LATER-- A THURSDAY IN DECEMBER I turned eighteen in October and I went f rom pizza maker to pizza deliverer. I also went from twenty hours a week to forty, on top of my schoolwork. Though the only classe s worth studying for are Modern Social Thought and Vocabulary. MS T is easy homework--everyday we discuss a different newspaper art icle. Vocab is ten words a week (with bonus points for additional words students find in their everyday reading), using each in a sentence. Here's me using parsimonious in a sentence. My parsimon ious father doesn't understand that a senior in high school shoul dn't have a full-time job. He doesn't listen when I explain that working as a pizza delivery girl from four until midnight every s chool night isn't very good for my grades. Instead,my parsimoniou s father launches into a ten-minute-long lecture about how workin g for a living is hard and kids today don't get it b, Ember, 2012, 3, Baen Books. Very Good. 107.95 x 177.8 x 25.4mm. Paperback. 1997. 368 pages.<br>For forty years, Colony 3245.12 has been Ofelia's h ome. On this planet far away in space and time from the world of her youth, she has lived and loved, weathered the death of her hu sband, raised her one surviving child, lovingly tended her garden , and grown placidly old. And it is here that she fully expects t o finish out her days-until the shifting corporate fortunes of th e Sims Bancorp Company dictates that Colony 3245.12 is to be disb anded, its residents shipped off, deep in cryo-sleep, to somewher e new and strange and not of their choosing. But while her fellow colonists grudgingly anticipate a difficult readjustment on some distant world, Ofelia savors the promise of a golden opportunity . Not starting over in the hurly-burly of a new community . . . b ut closing out her life in blissful solitude, in the place she ha s no intention of leaving. A population of one. With everything s he needs to sustain her, and her independent spirit to buoy her, Ofelia actually does start life over-for the first time on her ow n terms: free of the demands, the judgments, and the petty tyrann ies of others. But when a reconnaissance ship returns to her idyl lic domain, and its crew is mysteriously slaughtered, Ofelia real izes she is not the sole inhabitant of her paradise after all. An d, when the inevitable time of first contact finally arrives, she will find her life changed yet again-in ways she could never hav e imagined. . . . From the Trade Paperback edition. ., Baen Books, 1997, 3<
