review : dash and lily's book of dares

dash and lily's book of dares, rachel cohn & david levithan (a&u in australia)

on the eve of christmas eve it is probably the perfect time for this one. given that i work in retail my emotions are rawther like dash's at the present - 'might as well have gift-wrapped my face and pumped carbon dioxide in.' (p27 - when dash is faced with a christmas time visit to macy's) but i also love singing christmas carols, like lily, so not all is lost.

dash and lily are another pair of quirky and smart nyc post-punk, mostly straight-edge, literary hipsters from the figurative moleskine notebooks of noo yawkers rachel cohn and david levithan, them what brought you nick and norah's infinite playlist and naomi and ely's no kiss list. in this installment our protagonists are lonely teens at christmas time in the big apple - dash by choice and lily by circumstance. they come together via a red moleskine notebook of clues left at the strand bookstore by lily's brother langston (well, lily leaves it there, but langston kinda forced her to) in an effort to force lily to make friends so he is free to spend christmas in blissful lust with his new boyfriend benny. and it's dash who finds the notebook, completes the initial dares and builds on it - this is quite a hilarious caper story which takes our protagonists to the aforementioned macy's in the mad christmas rush, to madame tussauds, to bad christmas movies, fao schwartz for secret muppet-building projects and even out to brooklyn to see impressive christmas lights.

this was me with jo horniman's mahalia at the strand.--->

levithan and cohn have such a delightful energy to their books. they write kooky characters extremely well and have peopled dash and lily with a wonderful support cast that revolve around the main characters to perfection. though it did feel like the story had one too many false endings/climaxes the energy kept up throughout and it's a very satisfying read. sweet and funny, about books and book nerds complete with salinger-love, gay characters and old people (love old people) and did i mention it's set in motherflipping N.Y.C.?

a few little quibbly things, though: dash and lily are both so painfully selfaware and a little sickeningly overly indie-quirk (ie. lily says she's not an ironic hipster wearing her black rim glasses, but a true nerd - except THIS IS SOMETHING ONLY AN IRONIC HIPSTER WOULD SAY) and these kids being too hip to drink (dash) and swear (lily) makes me feel like i'm being judged a bit (it was the teeny downside to nick and norah as well, while i'm being honest) and dash's page 29 diatribe to the woman buying the mittens at macy's made me kind of hate him for a minute. what if she was buying them in an ironic way? but indeed, what the fuck does it matter if she's buying something he hates? fuck off indeed, dashmeister. plus there was one wee plot goof (anyone else pick it up?) and a couple of odd typographical glitches (which didn't really bother me, but given that i learned proofreading this year i'm feeling a little smug i picked up).

but i do just have to add that lily was the most hilarious character, absolutely off-the-wall crazy! even though i did wonder what she might have rated on the asberger's spectrum i absolutely loved her enthusiasm and charm and am particularly fond of her alter-ego, shrilly. i also loved her boots and the way she says "hello puppy" to all dogs (because that is what i do too). the way she dressed reminded me of teen fashion blogger tavi.* dash was a little snarly for me, i think.

dash and lily's book of dares has great heart and mucho humour. i did really, really like it and would recommend it to all those who like their books smart; your too-cool-for-school teenager will embrace it, so long as you don't force them to read it. let them discover it for themselves...

it made me laugh a lot and feel all christmassy inside.

*i stole this photo - let me know if i ought to take it down, tavi!

review : love is the higher law

love is the higher law, david levithan (knopf)
this one came out in australia a year ago, apparently, as a hardback. i completely missed it, but now it's back and in paperback and only $14.95.

love is the higher law has one of the most spectacular first chapters of any book i have read in recent times. what comes after is also excellent, classic levithan and very, very moving. but the first chapter is magnificent and if i could give it a prize, i would. the story begins on september 11, 2001 and spans the entire year that follows. claire, jasper and peter are the protagonists and reveal the story in alternating chapters; the three characters all have a mutual acquaintance but before now have not been friends, really - jasper and peter were supposed to go on a date the night of september 11, peter and claire go to school together.

claire starts this story, with the planes hitting the world trade centre as she sits in homeroom. claire's thoughts are on her mother - what if she had headed home to their apartment ten blocks from the towers instead of going uptown to work? she is also thinking about her little brother sammy; and so, with another girl from her class, goes across the road to the primary school to collect him.

people are arriving from downtown by this stage, people covered in chalky dust, ragged from their escapes; the towers are burning above the city. levithan's descriptions are understated but still somehow loaded with imagery. it's clear that claire's life has changed when she realises that she can't take sammy back to their apartment. she says: "i've never in my life said those words before. there's nowhere for us to go. I feel it." there's the craziness of not knowing what's going on, and trying to keep calm for the little kids in the classroom, waiting for their parents to come and pick them up. shop keepers are handing out free water and free shoes; people are pulling together and respecting one another in a way that claire has never experienced before.

these descriptions are the descriptions of one who was there, most definitely. the scene where jasper goes to give blood is another highlight. claire's vigil in union square is moving, but is one of the times when i think it was laid on a little thick for me (though i admit to crying) and i felt less like i was part of the story and more like a voyeur, exploiting the grief of these new yorkers from afar. the strongest thing about this book is the authenticity of the experiences of this event and its aftermath. so often i read books about calamitous events, serious and awful happenings and while they are good, they don't have the impact that this had - i think due to the author's own experience of 9/11, as well as his brilliant prose here which is (mostly) so careful and restrained. it would appear he took chekhov's "be cold" advice.

love is the higher law is a story full of hope and sadness and kindness...and some regret. as claire says: "i thought we were going to be better...after what happened. as a country."

dash and lily's book of dares

i know a girl and she gets to read lots of awesome books before they are released and she also gets hugged by certain authors i would like to be hugged by. yesterday she showed me what she's currently reading. i am enormously jealous.

this is how the blurb goes:

'Imagine this: you're in your favourite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You reach the section where your favourite author's books reside. And there, nestled between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook. So what do you do? The choice, I think, is obvious: you take down the notebook and open it. And you do whatever it tells you to do.'
It's Christmas-time in New York, and world-weary Dash has managed to persuade each of his parents that he is staying with the other, thus sending them both off with their new 'paramours' and leaving him happily shuffling back and forth between their empty apartments. Meanwhile, Christmas-loving Lily is bereft at the thought of spending Christmas without her full complement of family, and has been consoling herself with cookie-baking and carols-singing. When Lily's brother plants a red moleskin notebook in Dash's favourite store, leaving instructions that lead him not only around the bookstore but eventually out into the Christmas-sozzled city, the scene is set for a back-and-forth series of clues, coincidences and missed rendezvous.
Will sarcastic, intriguing Dash finally meet up with nerdy but loveable Lily? Only time will tell as the two teenagers try to outwit each other for as long as possible in this charming twist on the classic game of cat and mouse.

you know it! you do! and we are excited, no? even though we were a bit disappointed with naomi and ely? we sure are! there isn't even cover art for me to show you yet (although the book she had in her hot little hands did have a two-tone picture on its purple and black cardboard mockup cover).

let's all keep our eyes on this page at allen & unwin.