Shine

When I first found this book a few days ago, I immediately had to drop some cash and buy a copy. Real-life, heartbreaking fiction about an impoverish community, a hate crime, and a girl trying to figure herself out? Music to my ears.Sadly, this book did not live entirely up to expectations. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great book and I would buy it again! It simply did not reach out and tug on my heartstrings like I had hoped.The story itself has some really nice foreshadowing that shows the experience of the author who wrote it, and was well paced. The main characters in the book are not super easy to relate to, despite the fact that they're set in much of the same environment as what I grew up in. This might have done the book in for me, had it not been that each character had something very real about them. There was no hiding of the ugly traits, no undesirable thing that the author covered up. Many of the topics covered are aggressive, painful, and absolutely hideous. But they've all happened, some of them still happen. Shine is not a pretty book. But it's a beautiful book. It won't draw tears unless you're a bit fragile of heart and the constant gay-bashing tears you up.On that note, if you can't handle a TON of foul, derogatory language, don't read this book.But Shine is still worth the read. I myself enjoyed it. It's a good book to pick up and read on a rainy day.If nothing else, buy a copy because part of proceed go towards the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

I find this so funny because I'm not the Lauren Myracle reader in my house. That would be my daughter, Emma, and she is the main reason I picked this book up at all. You see, Lauren Myracle is one of those authors that writes both MG and YA novels, and not all of her books are appropriate for my (almost) 10 year old (this one is NOT, but I'll get to that later). When Emma found out she had a new book coming out, she begged me to buy it for her and I told her I would read it and let her know, so I guess I can thank her for one of my best reads so far this year, and possibly ever. I won't do that yet though. That would make her only want to read it more, and that would be torture for her over the next 4-5 years..."So why do you feel the NEED to get the word out?", you ask. Well, for starters, it's a total page turner. It's one of those books that no matter what is going on around you, you cannot put it down. I got so sucked into this book I found myself thinking about it even when I had to put it down for basic human functionalities like going pee, making/eating meals, brushing my teeth, and showering. I actually took it to my six year old daughter's softball game and pretty much missed a nail-biting win to read... It's a mystery that keeps you guessing from the first page, but it is SO much more. Lauren Myracle manages to take a horrible event and make it a cathartic growing experience, not just for the protagonist, but also for the reader. When a book makes you look within yourself, you know it's a winner. The story is so heartbreaking, yet so beautiful. Honestly, it's beautiful cover (which is one that even my husband noticed and commented on) really does a great job capturing the essence of the story. The person responsible for the cover design at Amulet Books must have read this book and connected with it like I did, and so many other people will do. It's a book that will stay with me forever, much like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Outsiders.This book is about a horrible hate crime against a gay teenage boy, Patrick, in a small backwoods NC mountain town. When I say horrible, it really is just awful. It still brings the taste of bile to my mouth when I think about it. The story isn't really about him though. It's about his childhood best friend, Cat, a 16 year old girl who had been struggling with her own demons for several years. Over the years, she had dropped all of her friends and isolated herself from everyone who loved her. When this happens to Patrick, she knows there's more to it than meets the eye and decides that maybe she needs to take matters into her own hands; find out the truth... Cat is a smart girl and she notices details most people would miss. She notices that her old group of friends, the same group that Patrick continued to be a part of when she dropped him, is acting funny and she feels an inescapable desire to get to the bottom of it. The problem is that everyone in the group either does not want to talk or seems to be scared to. This doesn't deter her. In fact, it just makes the fire in her burn hotter. While on her quest to find the truth and bring justice to Patrick's attackers, she realizes many truths about herself; truths she really doesn't want to face, but must in order to find the facts she needs. She also finds out that her small town harbors serious meth addiction issues and that many of her friends are involved. She is surprised to find out how wrong she is about some of her assumptions, while being dead on about others.This book is such a detour from the books I'm used to reading by Lauren Myracle. I know her for her Winnie Years and Luv Ya Bunches MG series, and her Internet Girls YA series. All light, funny books, filled with humor and the anguish of being a girl. This book is not light, funny, or humorous. It's gritty, truthful, painful, beautiful, emotional, and raw. I found myself invested in the characters, feeling their pain and helplessness. I felt Cat's desperate wanting to have hope, while second guessing her right to have it. I felt the anguish of the people around her. The ones that helplessly had to stand by, watching those they loved spiraling down into the black hole of meth addiction, and those drowning in the black hole, feeling that meth was the only way to ever feel joy again.I think that this is one of the rare YA books that adults would also love. In fact, I think that as an adult, I got so much more out of this book than I would have as a teenager. That's not to say that teens should not read this book. There are several important lessons in this book and I think it would make a great discussion book for a HS or college literature class.My Rating: '5 stars++++Grade Level Recommendation: This is definitely a high school and up book (I would say ages 15+). I told my daughter she had to wait 5 years. There is graphic description of a violent hate crime against a gay teen, which I'm sure you can only imagine. There is also sexual assault (also rather graphic in it's description if it's read by a younger reader), rampant drug use, drinking, and violence beyond the assaults described before. This is not the type of "what if" violence in dystopian or fantasy fiction, but real violence, much of it domestic, of the ugly and violating sort- the type I wouldn't want a child to read about.

Shine is the first book I have read by Lauren Myracle, who has authored many young adult books. It is a contemporary realistic story that is also a who-done-it mystery. I was wary at first to read this due to the dark nature of the story. In fact it took me awhile to get past the beginning of the book that describes the disturbing details of the attack. I'm glad I stuck with it, though. Shine is an engrossing book with compelling characters and a rich and satisfying story.The main character of the book is Cat. She used to be childhood best friends with Patrick, who happens to be gay. They have a falling out after Cat goes through a traumatic event. She withdraws from everyone, including her oldest friend. When Patrick is viciously attacked in a hate crime, Cat decides she needs to take action and conduct her own crime investigation. Guilt leads Cat to interview friends from Patrick's social circle to find clues to solve the crime. The stakes are high for Cat to succeed since the local police have not come up with anything.The backdrop of the story is a small-impoverished town in the South called Black Creek, which is plagued with meth users and drug dealers. Cat has an alcoholic father nearby, but their aunt raises her and her brother. Cat has been isolated from her peers for a long time, so it takes some persuasion to get her former friends to open up to her about the events that led up to his attack. All of the characters interviewed are realistic with a raw quality. The awkward and complex relationships Cat shares with them come through completely. Interspersed with the interviews are flashbacks about Patrick and Cat's friendship. The mystery takes Cat to unexpected places as she tries to solve the murder.Cat's investigation takes her on a healing journey as she faces her fears and the skeletons in her closet. Cat is a likeable character that has some personal obstacles to overcome. Her story is empowering, and she is someone I think many readers may be able to relate to.Shine is a powerful and haunting story that I think fans of contemporary, realistic young adult stories will enjoy. I was completely immersed in the story and had a hard time putting it down. The story is paced well and builds to a suspenseful conclusion. Shine is a book I won't soon forget. I look forward to reading more of Lauren Myracle's books.

I bought this book in the wake of the National Book Awards mix-up, and loved it. A difficult subject is dealt with sensitively and the character's flaws are well-written. It would have been easy I think to have made this a very moral and preachy tale but Myracle avoids this slightly saccharine approach opting instead for a credible and sometimes unpleasant narrative on man's inhumanity to man. A book which manages to include sexual assault, small-town bigotry, homophobia and rampant drug abuse without resorting to out and out gore and has meaningful characters is a great achievement.