This Gorgeous Game

This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas
4/5 stars
Frances Foster Books, 2010
208 pages
YA Contemporary

Source: Library

I had seen this book around including that it had earned several rave reviews from fellow bloggers. But I really hated the cover. Then I read The Survival Kit and enjoyed it so when I was looking for a short book to read from the library, I picked up this one interested in learning what it is about.

Main character seventeen-year old Olivia is just so lucky because she won a writing contest that allows her to attend a summer seminar at a nearby university taught by the famous and respected novelist priest Father Mark Brendan. They meet beforehand with him praising her talent and assuring her she could go far. He invites her to fancy events and pours attention on her. Everyone says how lucky she is to have his focus on her but why does Olivia feel so uncomfortable? Why do Father Mark's phone calls start to seem sinister and why does his presence make her skin crawl? Why can't she eat anymore?

The book is divided into three parts and the first part shows how Father Mark comes to dominate Olivia's life. At first for me, it seemed fairly innocuous. I'm used to books only showing the parts of life that are relevant to a story and filling in blanks (for example people rarely use the bathroom in books and sleep is often barely mentioned but I know that as humans, it is happening). It was only as the section progressed that I realized just how much time she was spending with him and how very wrong it was. He demands her full attention, as if he is grooming her to be his protege and as if other people are interfering. Father Mark doesn't respect her time with her family, her friends, a potential boyfriend. He wants it all and will go so far as to stalk her.

Olivia starts to realize this relationship is unhealthy and that Father Mark is not behaving properly. At first she copes by ducking him, ignoring phone calls, emails, letters, and trying to put other people between them as a buffer. But since no one else knows the situation, the people in her life are confused by her behavior. They see respected Father Mark, generous with his time and money. It is not until Olivia reads his latest work, titled This Gorgeous Game, that she realizes the full derangement of Father Mark and which spurs her to go for aid from her very loyal family and friends.

I really tried to emphasize that Mark is a priest above because that plays a large role. Olivia attends Catholic school and both her mother and sister are devoted Catholics while Olivia's faith ends up a bit shaken by this experience, to say the least. His position is the main reason why people are so excited about him and trust him. As a man of the cloth, Olivia should have been able to have a mentor to guide her writing, not a predator who destroys her well-being. Happily when she goes for help, she gets it and Father Mark is removed from her life and punished.

Overall: A book that just pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages to see how Olivia is drawn into and then escapes Father Mark's web. Especially interesting for people who like to read about religion in YA-I would not describe this book as preachy at all.

Cover: After reading the book, I understand how the cover applies and I really do love the purple. Still I find it to be a turn-off and not the kind of cover that would entice me to pick up the book without the outside encouragements.

The Survival Kit

The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011
351 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

This book wasn't initially on my radar until I saw another blogger rave about it (sadly I did not bookmark that page; if I can find it, I will link) and I'm so glad that I gave it a chance as it was a very strong contemporary.

Rose Madison is devastated from the loss of her mother, pushing everyone away, her friends, her boyfriend, anything that reminds her of the past. She cannot imagine moving forward. The title comes from an idea of her mother's, a schoolteacher who gave survival kits to the parents of her students, who sometimes struggled sending them off to school for the first time. Rose discovers one for herself shortly after her mother's funeral and the book follows her attempts to survive.

This book features several things I like. First hockey, a sport I am growing to appreciate, starting with last year's Stanley Cup. It's so exciting and I love all the violence. Second, Rose is lucky enough to have some great friends, who don't let her collapse even when she seems bent on doing so. And thirdly Rose's love interest is named Will. I love YA book boys named Will (see Firelight and Perfect You). I was a little worried as it seemed at first that Will would be the person to lead Rose out of her depression, making him the one to save her. That would have been tremendously unsatisfying as the MC ought to save herself. There are more complications to come though.

I do have to mention in my review, something that hopefully doesn't make me sound heartless but instead reflects my (very fortunate) experiences of not losing any one close to me. I understand that Rose is broken and wanting to push away her boyfriend, her friends, anything that makes her think of her mother.  Still she sometimes frustrated me with her self-centeredness-I know, a teenager who only thinks about herself! A first-person narrative which focuses on the main character! Who would have ever guessed it?! But it's a fine line to tread, keeping the reader's sympathy and sometimes I felt imposed upon to care about Rose no matter how she acted. I especially hated the portrait of her father as a man descending into alcoholism to cope with his grief despite the fact that he still has two children who are very much alive and in need of parental guidance. Sometimes the reader just wants the characters to be pulled back from the brink of despair.

Overall: A strong contemporary; recommended.