WAKE

      

 

    

           Jamie Hannagan is an seventeen year old girl who lives in Fieldridge Michigan. Her mom stays drunk  all the time so Jamie primarily takes care of herself. She buys her own clothes and food. She is not popular with the girls at Fieldridge High. She has been made fun of, by one girl named Malinda. When Jamie was young she did not have nice clothes. Now that she works at Heather Nursing Home she wares better clothes. Jamie has a best friend named Carrie who lives next door to her. They are really close but Jamie has a secret that she can not even tell her best friend or anyone else. 

         Jamie's secret is that she enters peoples dreams, she has no control over  entering  there dreams. When she is pulled into a dream, Jamie mind enters there dream. She can talk to the person who is dreaming and see herself walk around in there dreams. Peoples dreams that she enters rarely remember her in there dreams. If she would to tell someone what she could do they would not believe her or even worse they would think that she is a freak. The most common dreams are, falling dreams, naked but nobody notice dreams, and sex crazy dreams. One day after she leaves work at Heather Nursing Home, Jamie enters a dream while she is driving her car. She enters the dream and tries to stop her car with no success. Entering the most disturbing dream she has ever had. A young monster-man with knives for fingers approaches her in the dream. Her car goes into a ditch and she slowly comes back into her own mind in her car.

          When I first began reading the novel I thought I was not going to enjoy it., I felt that the author  kept repeating herself at the beginning of the book. I finally got sucked into the story  30 pages in and could not put the book down until I was finished.. I like Jamie's character, she is strong and she is very determined. She  does not let her home life or her secret stop her for getting what she wants in life. The novel is written in modern times , so I found it very easy to read. I look forward to reading Lisa McMann's  next two books: FADE and GONE.

PREVIEW TO WAKE

Last Night I Sang to the Monster

Zach is an eighteen year old senior who lives in a dysfunctional home. His mom is a manic depressant who hits him for no reason. A father that is an alcoholic who never spends time with him and a brother that beats on him when ever he sees him. Zack wakes up one morning in rehab. He can not remember how he got there and he can not remember his past. Zack does not want to remember because to remember is to feel and to feel hurts.

                When Zack wakes up his roommate is a fifty –three year old man named Rafael. Zack and Rafael become real good friends. Rafael tries to help Zack face is monster. Rafael has a theory, if he could help Zack remember it would help Zack face his monsters and in turn would help him face his monsters.  Zack does not believe that he will ever be happy. Zack had a theory also. His theory was that everyone was born with a blank heart and God writes what you are on your heart. On Zack’s heart God wrote sad. He feels it very hard to feel alive.

                Benjamin Alire Sanenz had my attention from beginning to end. I even cried and felt joy at different parts of the novel. Saenz takes us in the past and present of Zack’ life, dealing with being addicted to alcoholic and cocaine. This novel lets you into the mind of an addict and how Zack is coping to try and recover from his addiction.