The Weight of a Human Heart: Stories

Simon Van Booy labeled this collection of short stories "Inventive, witty and profoundly human." I can absolutely attest to that. The Independent, a UK publication that I assume is a magazine, said of The Weight of a Human Heart, "O'Neill is... joyfully original with format... [in] this collection." Also very true. However, I do not agree entirely with Wiley Cash's comment on the book: "If someone asked me to name my ideal collection of contemporary short fiction, I'd point to The Weight of the Human Heart and say, 'This is it.'" While I certainly enjoyed Ryan O'Neill's stories, they got to be mildly irritating in their redundancy toward the last several pieces. 

How can I summarize twenty-one (somewhat) different stories in only a few sentences? That's a difficult task to carry out. But the summary given on the jacket gives one sentence on just a few of the stories, so I'll do the same here: In the one story that was more amusing than depressing, a gay man's wife confesses to loving his brother, a criminal, as she dies. A boy living in his comic books drives his mother to suicide by his choice to live with his cruel, emotionally abusive father rather than her. The wife of one of the multiple English teachers in the book has an affair with his top student. The neglected daughter of a drug addict and heartless writer of a mother cares for her dying parent in the story that gives the book its name. And now, an elaboration of my opinion.

In beginning this collection, I was amazed by the convincing humanity of O'Neill's characters, his brilliant feats of format and his touching plots. However, while each of the stories was a work of art in its own right, I was disappointed in the compilation as a whole as I continued to read and found that many of his main characters are roughly the same; fourteen of the twenty-one main characters are white, Australian men like their creator. Two of those teach English to foreign people as a profession (as does a female character in "The Saved"), three are aging, and five are writers of one genre or another, as are some of their wives. There are also three stories having to do with the genocide in Rwanda, and one member of nearly every couple whose relationship plays a significant role in its respective piece is unfaithful. Again, despite the fact that the individual stories are some of the best you'll ever read, the O'Neill's repetitiousness is... well, tiresome.

I should warn potential readers that several of the pieces in The Weight of a Human Heart include the following: highly offensive language (as in enough to make a movie rated R), affairs, references of the kind you probably want to avoid, substance abuse, and extremely dismal and distressing content. In O'Neill's defense, these kinds of things help a lot in writing something "profoundly human," but I'll admit that it does make for a rather uncomfortable read at times. On that happy note, allow me to close with a statement by Megan Mayhew Bergman: "The Weight of a Human Heart is refreshing, funny, devastating. Ryan O'Neill's stories break rules to great effect; they're adventurous, textured, full of heart. His prose is active and vivid; his characters are imperfectly real, out in the world and under pressure. ... [O'Neill's] stories are... deeply satisfying and offer glimpses into worlds readers need to see, worlds that are vile, beautiful, and utterly human." B

  While recently scrolling through the D- reviews, I came across a book I thoroughly enjoyed, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I decided that I would defend this book because I really liked it.
The book is about a teenager named Bella Swan, who moves from hot, Phoenix, Arizona to the small town Forks, Washington. Once she gets to the school, she meets Edward Cullen, a mysterious boy she immediately takes an interest in (although liking him would not be the right word for this situation... yet.). Edward immediately seems to dislike Bella, for reasons she can't understand. Then, Edward is gone for a week from school. Bella, suspecting it is because of her, becomes fed up and decides to confront him, and he surprises her by being nice to her.
  One night, Bella is told a story by her good friend Jacob Black. He tells her legends from his tribe say that Edward's family, The Cullen's, are vampires. Bella decides to investigate this, to which she begins to believe the legend. After a while of prodding, Edward finally fesses up. His family are vampires, but they are "good" vampires. They don't drink human blood, instead, they feed on animals. That is why Edward resented Bella the first day, because he was thirsty and she smelled very good to him. He left for that whole week to hunt. He tells her a few other things the vampires can do, including that he can read minds. Well, except Bella's.
  Soon, Edward and Bella begin (quickly I might add) to fall in love. They are nearly inseparable, and Edward eventually takes Bella to meet his vampire family. They go and play vampire baseball later, which leads to some not-so-nice vampires to begins tracking her, and it becomes a life or death situation for Bella.
  I LOVE this book. I think Stephanie Meyer is a phenomenal author, and she words things so beautifully. To those who judge this book by it's movie: The Edward Cullen in the movie and in the book are very different. In the movie, I think he is almost... weak. I'm not sure why I feel that way, but the book he is well developed. His character believes in good, he is a hero in many situations, yet he still believes himself to be a monster. It breaks my heart (yes, I have a fictional crush on Edward.).
Overall, I am head over heels for Twilight! The person who wrote the D- review was reading the book just to prove it was as bad as she thought it was. I can see why it is a bestseller. I, on the other hand, give Twilight an A+.
If you have a bad opinion on this book, Isuggest you actually read it haven't already. You might actually like it.
Also, #teamedward. Haha.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Rating: PG (mild language and brief VERY mild discussion of sexuality)

Grade: C+

I am a sucker for a YA book with a pretty dress on the cover. Can't help it. I like pretty things. So, even though I picked up the book, read the jacket, and thought it might not be for me-I read it anyway. 

With that introduction, answer this riddle--What famous YA novel includes a lottery, choosing one person from each state to go and compete until there is one person left? All the contestants have their own design team, who sew outfits especially for them; they all are interviewed by a famous interviewer, are filmed and watched by everyone in the country, and the main character just can't seem to be what everyone expects her to be? Hmmm...sound like The Hunger Games? Well, its not.  The Selection feels all too familiar to this reader. Swap out the killing and the arena and replace it with a prince/princess version of The Bachelor competition and you have The Selection. I could not get past the similarities of the books--it was highly annoying. That is not to say The Selection wasn't a fun read. It was just SO predictable. I found myself saying, "Oh, now I bet. . .will happen." Then it did.

America Singer lives in the (post-apocalyptic?) country of Illea, formerly America. She is chosen to be one of the "selected" young women to battle it out in order to marry the prince and someday become queen. America doesn't want to put her name in the lottery, but does so at the urging of her secret boyfriend, Aspen (insert love triangle here).

The girls all show up at the castle and will be whittled down to ten girls (called the Elite), and will eventually be narrowed to the one true love of the prince, Maxon. This is first and foremost a romance--with the possibility for a political turn of events. Rebels within the country strongly oppose the government and especially the Selection. Said rebels attack the castle, sometimes violently and sometimes just to ransack it. America's resentment at being chosen for the Selection begins to dissipate as she gets to know Maxon...and her resentment turns to the typical YA female character feeling of confusion ("Oh, who do I choose? My impoverished secret boyfriend who broke my heart or the prince of the country?")

All the romance aside-one aspect that I really enjoyed was that the author, Kiera Cass, has resurrected the caste system for her country. Her characters have opportunity, wealth (or lack of), and career choices directed by their caste. The castes are numbered 1-8, ones being the royal family, and eights being, essentially, homeless beggars. America is a five, which means her caste allows her to be an artist and only an artist. As such, America's family makes little money and food is hard to come by (ah, another allusion to The Hunger Games). America's caste is considered poor and are often not regarded as much by the higher castes. I found this part of the book so interesting and unique that I wish it would have been the basis of the novel rather than a component to the characterization. However, the political potential I mentioned earlier could very well incorporate this incredibly unfair system later in the trilogy. Yes, I will probably read the rest of the books.

The read is fast and simple--and like I said, fun. This isn't a life changing book, but if you want to have some entertainment, The Selection will do wonders.