More YA (Secret Society Mysteries Part 3)

The following books all are set at a boarding school and follow a group of young people, but are not necessarily about “secret societies” nor is the central mystery always a murder (but sometimes it is). Two are YA books. All are books I enjoyed reading. Without further ado….

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (YA) (First in a trilogy)

This one is set in 1895 and has a supernatural element to it. There is no secret society but rather a group of young women dabbling with power they do not understand. My inclusion of this book in my made up sub-genre is questionable, but hey I am making the rules so I can also break them.

As far as I am concerned, this is a middle grade book, not YA…it feels younger than YA to me. Given the target age range, it is an easy, fast read, and I think a good book for that generation. I wasn’t bored by it, despite being long past the teenage years, but I couldn’t relate directly to some of the angst the way a teenage or preteen girl would. What I DID like was the historical element of this novel. The basic premise is 4 teenage girls at a boarding school in 1895 England, where they are supposed to be learning how to be ladies, and eventually, wives. Instead they get caught up in a supernatural other world which changes them in ways both good and bad.

What I liked the most was how the author focuses on how desperate and trapped these girls feel due to their circumstances in that era. Over and over again Bray reminds us how few choices women had in that time, and that often none of the choices were pleasant ones.

In the supernatural world the girls are free and can do what they wish….who can blame them for being sucked in and refusing to examine the consequences? There are some parts of the story that do not hang together quite as well and the character development is thin, but this is an enjoyable book. Just bear in mind the age range it is aimed at if you read it. (I completed the trilogy and felt the first book was the best).

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (YA, first in a series of 4)

This is a strange series with a lot of ideas, firmly in the supernatural category. It’s definitely a unique story line and there were many surprises. The best part of all the books are the characters – in this case, our crew are all people we love and root for. The boys are all students at an elite prep school, and a local girl, Blue, becomes part of their clique in the first book. They definitely have that overly intelligent, precocious vibe common to the sub-genre, and they are all obsessed with studying ley lines and the supernatural, just as The Secret History students were into Classic mythology. What I liked is that in The Raven Boys, they are all wonderful characters – even when they are behaving badly I loved them.

The problem with the series is that there are too many ideas. The books become increasingly complex and convoluted, and the final book doesn’t wrap things up nicely at all. It felt very much that the author was overly ambitious. However – she’s an excellent writer of prose and character studies. I’d still recommend the first book as very enjoyable, and I also note that many, many readers on Goodreads strongly disagree with me and loved all four books. I may be in the minority in my views and I definitely feel there is plenty here that is worthwhile, so I would still recommend.

She Was the Quiet One by Michele Campbell (Not YA)

I’ve read several books by this author, and this one is my favorite. It is a fast-read whodunit that was such great fun. Set at an expensive boarding school in the east, the story revolves around a murder of one of a set of twins…but which one? And who killed the twin? The story skillfully moves back and forth between events leading to the murder and interviews by the police. Both twins have POVs as does a teacher and head of the dorm where the girls live. This book has drama, romance, seduction, scandal, and characters that you root for even when they frustrate you. Everything just works, and the ending was a fun surprise.

There is no secret society and “elite clique” is also a stretch – the group of kids in question is probably better described as a “rough crowd.” However, it’s set at an elite boarding school and has a murder, so I am keeping it in my sub-genre.

Happy reading!

Swallows/Strangers (Secret Society Mysteries Part 2)

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth (YA)

Okay first of all – THAT COVER. I am obsessed with covers that have water on them, admittedly.  But I digress…this is one is firmly in the vein of The Secret History/Special Topics but is actually billed as a YA book. Elite boarding school, secret society, characters of questionable morals, a mystery to unravel. It’s a slow pace, and takes its time developing the story. The story goes back and forth in time from the present where heroine Charlie is navigating a new school and the clique the “A’s” while grappling with the disappearance 10 years ago of her mother and the secrets around that event. The story goes back and forth between Charlie and her mother 10 years earlier. Although YA there is the usual excess of sex, drugs, and adult behavior among the teenagers. I didn’t necessarily feel it was YA while I was reading it. Not everything works in the story but I found it hard to put down. Definite points for a dreamy atmosphere that envelops you while you are reading and really makes you feel immersed in the story.

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz

I enjoyed this private boarding school story that revolves around a young instructor and her unusual approach to her students and their affairs. The teachers at this school are all a bit of a mess, intrigue abounds, and of course there is an elite student clique known as The Ten and a dangerous game being played by the students. The POV shifted around from teachers to students, but the definite protagonist here is the instructor, a bit of a change from the usual secret society/elite school/mystery set-up where the focus is more on the students or one student.

An interesting take on the genre, with characters who are easier to like than we often find in books of this nature. The plot is not entirely believable, yet not completely shocking either, which perhaps is a sad commentary. The adults all behave badly and overlook the students’ game, which is somewhat unbelievable also. I think I would have liked this more had the focus been more purely on Gemma (student) and Ms. Witt. The POVs from some of the other characters were not necessary.

Plenty of reviews place this book in the #metoo era category. True, but I’m not sure this story succeeds in showing the best way to combat “boys will be boys” stereotypes; the women are portrayed as behaving just as badly – probably accurate though. I think this book might have been better with more humor injected into it. It felt like it wasn’t sure if it wanted to be one of those dark secret society intrigue stories, or if it was a more fun take on a female revenge type story, or a commentary on sexism and gender stereotypes. It works, but I think could have worked even better by going more in the fun direction and really pushing a girl power vibe. Instead, the girls are frustrating and part of the problem. Still – it does make you think…

I enjoyed it, ultimately, and that’s the primary way I rate books. Worth picking up!

Happy reading!

The Furies (Secret Society Mysteries – Part 1)

I love a good boarding school/college secret society/elite clique murder mystery, and I have actively sought out books in this sub-genre. If I ever got a PhD in literature, my dissertation would either be on horror in children’s books, or on secret society mysteries!

The first book I read in this vein was Special Topics in Calamity Physics. The snotty writing annoyed me, but the atmosphere created and the elite clique gone wrong intrigued me. I read SO many reviews of that book which compared it to The Secret History, so I went and read Donna Tartt’s cult classic. I did not fall in love with it as so many have, but the book stayed with me and my interest in the general subject matter grew.

I have now read many books in this sub-genre, and I am currently making my way through Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, which has prompted me to research the secret societies at Yale, and also given me inspiration for some blog posts. Starting with the most recent books I have read and working my way backwards, here are some of my favorites (some spoilers follow).

The Furies by Katie Lowe channels both Special Topics and Secret History, along with The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (a gem), and also the 90’s movie The Craft. Lowe’s story is set at an elite girl’s school in England. I’m not 100% clear on the educational path in England, but the school is for 16-18 year old girls – not quite college age, but they drink, use drugs, and party like college age students. And, their parental supervision is pretty much nonexistent (a common theme in this sub-genre).

As is also common in these stories, the elite clique has an adult mentor who doesn’t discourage their poor behavior, all in the name of art. Drug and alcohol use is extremely heavy, as noted. Again common, none of the characters are particularly likable, with a lot of highly questionable morals and poor choices. Typical for the plot, we know from one of the first pages that a murder was committed, and the rest of the book is a path showing us how it (and other atrocities) happened.

A few things set The Furies apart from other books in this genre (is “secret society/elite clique murder mystery” actually a genre to anyone but me? I am sticking with calling it a sub-genre). One is the symbolism in the writing. Lowe truly hits the reader over the head with images of decay. The town is a crumbling and dirty tourist trap, always written about in the worst possible terms. The school is meant to be beautiful but everything is spoiled and rotten underneath – with the wych elm being only the most obvious of these symbols, and the clock tower another.

Violet, our main character , who is relating the story from the future, lives in a house where her family is being destroyed bit by bit. Grace has a dark family life of a different nature. Violet’s near constant use of drugs and alcohol and her hangovers and state of dishevelment and even dirt are also symbolic. I was reminded, with the heavy-handed symbolism, of the decay that is ever present in the Jeffrey Eugenides novel The Virgin Suicides. The decay in that novel, and the suicides, were symbols of a larger issue of the hypocrisy of suburban Americana in the 50’s.

The author makes it very clear that decay is the main theme of this novel, and that brings me to the other way in which this book deviates from others I have read. These books are usually coming of age stories, of a sort, but Violet’s actions at the end of the novel indicate that she hasn’t come of age at all or learned anything positive from her experiences. I believe that is where the decay comes in – Violet’s moral character is ultimately ruined by the clique, and the vicious cycle continues.

The final difference in this book was that this really highlights how toxic female friendships – especially young ones – can be. The other books in this genre that I have read all had both genders within the secret clique. This one really hammers home the ways in which young female friendships can be all-consuming, can make the girls feel invincible, and can also make the girls feel insecure, needy, and that the desire to belong can ultimately push them to make poor choices and become people they don’t want to be.

I would have liked to see more about female empowerment here, which the book hints at, but this never really goes anywhere. I understand it doesn’t fit in with the overall theme of decay and loss though, and this is just not a happy ending sort of book. I need to read the book again more slowly and thoughtfully to understand more how art plays a role in this. It’s definitely a book that makes the reader think, albeit not one where the reader roots for any of the characters.

My final critique of the novel is that at times it gets slightly confusing as Violet jumps around in her narrative and melds moments from different points in time together into one train of thought. However, I also felt that this is a lot how a person WOULD review memories from the past – with gaps, jumps, and not always with all the information. The fact that Violet was always stoned or drunk also contributes to the overall sense in the novel of a lack of coherence.

Ultimately, I think this is a very successful addition to the secret society/elite clique murder mystery sub-genre, with a lot of symbolism happening and likely more to discover with additional readings of the novel.