jesse vilinsky | Lost in a Good Book

Find Layla by Meg Elison

Published: 01 September 2020 (print)/01 September 2020 (audio)
Publisher: Skyscape/Brilliance Audio
Pages: 188/6 hrs and 32 mins
Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Contemporary
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

A neglected girl’s chaotic coming-of-age becomes a trending new hashtag in a novel about growing up and getting away by an award-winning author.

Underprivileged and keenly self-aware, SoCal fourteen-year-old Layla Bailey isn’t used to being noticed. Except by mean girls who tweet about her ragged appearance. All she wants to do is indulge in her love of science, protect her vulnerable younger brother, and steer clear of her unstable mother.

Then a school competition calls for a biome. Layla chooses her own home, a hostile ecosystem of indoor fungi and secret shame. With a borrowed video camera, she captures it all. The mushrooms growing in her brother’s dresser. The black mold blooming up the apartment walls. The unmentionable things living in the dead fridge. All the inevitable exotic toxins that are Layla’s life. Then the video goes viral.

When Child Protective Services comes to call, Layla loses her family and her home. Defiant, she must face her bullies and friends alike, on her own. Unafraid at last of being seen, Layla accepts the mortifying reality of visibility. Now she has to figure out how to stay whole and stand behind the truth she has shown the world.

One thing I adored about this book was how imperfect it was. Being only fourteen is a prime age for Elison to work with. Layla is grown up enough and seen enough that she knows how the system works, knows how to care for herself and her brother, while still having the inability to act too grown up or understand everything completely. She is strong but is lacking a lot of critical thinking, impulse control, and her development has been shaped by her mother’s actions.

I was impressed at the topic being addressed. Neglect is important and having it so boldly portrayed in this story was fantastic. Showing how easily it goes unnoticed, especially how Layla could cover some of it up but not all of it due to her age and maturity, despite her intellect, felt real. It was a great decision not to have Layla be a slightly older competent teen, someone who could navigate their situation better, but also not have her be a self-assured competent twelve or thirteen year old either. Not that there couldn’t be a capable twelve year old who can care for herself and her brother, but I think having Layla struggle but also succeed as best she did is important. This is the balance of not being able to clean the house for fear or wrath and not having the skills to try, especially with events too big like water damage.

I enjoyed and was intrigued by a lot of the book but I really started to love it more towards the end. This was no doubt because of the work put in at the start. The slow build up and establishment of Layla and her brother is ideal given the wrap up and rollercoaster at the end.

Something I find interesting is how misleading the blurb is. It’s not that that doesn’t happen, but it isn’t exactly right in how it plays out in the book and is certainly not the main focus of the book.

I’m not going to say I could write a better one, given it does actually describe events in the novel, but the lead up to these events are important and it implies Layla is passive and a victim in the outcome when her resourcefulness and her determination make things happen. She is a driver of her situation, however misguided, and that strength form someone in her situation was amazing to read about.

Vilinsky was a great narrator and brought Layla to life. Each character felt unique and I felt emotionally connected the Layla, her whole self and emotional journey coming through remarkably well.

The bittersweet ending is amazing and I’m surprised such a choice was made but I love that it doesn’t shy away from realities and that there can sometimes be no perfect endings, just different. It was the best ending for the story we’d experienced and it made the book even better for it.

You can purchase Find Layla via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

Published: 29 January 2019 (print)/29 January 2019 (audio)
Publisher: Harlequin Australia/Harlequin Audio
Pages: 440/10 hrs and 52 mins
Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

What do a future ambassador, an overly ambitious Francophile, a hospital-volunteering Girl Scout, the new girl from Cleveland, the junior cheer captain, and the vice president of the debate club have in common? It sounds like the ridiculously long lead-up to an astoundingly absurd punchline, right? Except it’s not. Well, unless my life is the joke, which is kind of starting to look like a possibility given how beyond soap opera it’s been since I moved to Lancaster. But anyway, here’s your answer: we’ve all had the questionable privilege of going out with Lancaster High School’s de facto king. Otherwise known as my best friend. Otherwise known as the reason I’ve already helped steal a car, a jet ski, and one hundred spray-painted water bottles when it’s not even Christmas break yet. Otherwise known as Henry. Jersey number 8.

Meet Cleves. Girlfriend number four and the narrator of The Dead Queens Club, a young adult retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. Cleves is the only girlfriend to come out of her relationship with Henry unscathed—but most breakups are messy, right? And sometimes tragic accidents happen…twice…

This is a fantastic story if you know the history of Henry VIII and his wives and even if you don’t it is an amazing, complicated drama about high school politics which can only be told in the setting of an American school. Even if you don’t understand the entirety of the Tudor history Capin still tells an engrossing story and provides enough clues without ever breaking from the present day reality.

Not only is the premise brilliant, but Capin is a master with her metaphors. She doesn’t throw them in your face right from that start but when they come out they are the ideal representations of who these character were and the roles they played in history. The comparisons are not exact for obvious reasons, but Capin is incredibly close with her high school student equivalents and the more I thought about the historical events and the events and characters in the narrative I was even more in awe.

Our narrator Cleeves is a budding journalist and the use of journalistic chapters is a clever touch and while it does put everyone in their high school boxes, it works as an additional storytelling tool from Cleeves’ perspective. I love Cleeves because she has a journalistic mind but she is also passionate about what she wants and while she is a “good” character, she isn’t afraid to step outside the lines for a bit of fun either. She is a feminist and a fighter and the amount of girl power in this book is so fulfilling. Capin via Cleeves isn’t afraid to point this out and I loved how Cleeves isn’t afraid to speak out.

I loved everything about Cleeves, she isn’t pure but she is malicious either. Her friendship to Henry is solid and seeing her react to the things around her and the events that unfold is marvellous. Capin draws you in and once you are in deep to this stunning tale of drama she starts to plant her seeds and despite knowing the history you still aren’t entirely sure about what will happen. It’s an incredible journey to go on.

There is a strong chance I love this book more because of the ties to history. I got quite excited when I realised who characters were representing and what roles they were playing as the story unfolded. I can see how this might be too dramatic and convoluted for some people and overly dramatic, but if you read it as a modern Henry VIII then it becomes just as dramatic as history has always made it out his life and relationships to be, perhaps compressed into a few months rather than over years.

What makes this a strong story I found was that it wasn’t even much of a stretch. When I thought about Henry VII and his relationships, it easily translated into high school drama. While some of the historical events have been excluded, there is still enough to see the events of Henry and his court unfold in the modern day. Capin includes key aspects of Henry’s life and the lives of his wives, and while not everything is translatable, the references that are there are creative and true to her characters.

As I say, so much comes back to metaphors and Capin’s ingenious weaving of history into a modern setting which works so ridiculously well. I never even thought I needed a retelling of Tudor history but now that I have it I’ve realised what magic I have been missing out on.

You can purchase The Dead Queens Club via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible