Mundie Moms

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Book Review- Some Rivers End on The Day of the Dead

By Eileen Clemens Granfors
Publisher: Self
Source: Author

Synopsis (from Createspace): Fourteen-year old Marisol and her mother are on the run. Her father has been murdered.

But Marisol’s new home is a riverbed camp. When a wildfire separates Marisol from her mother and her school, she challenges herself to to celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico for her father's memory.

Some Rivers End is a sweet quick read about Marisol’s struggles to get used to the United States life and way of life. After living in Mexico for most of her life Marisol and her mother return to The United States fleeing from what they believe to be drug gangs that killed her father, a journalist that was not afraid to expose the truth behind the drug wars in Mexico.

Poor Marisol’s life gets turned upside down, her mother changes their last name they don’t have a home to live in so they are forced to camp under a tree next to a dried up old river. It seems frightening and shocking just thinking about the situation that Marisol and her mother have to go through. The big change of moving to a new country where they have to learn the American way. Marisol finds it hard fitting in at her new high school, and even though she is fluent in English she can’t quite understand or make sense of the slang language and takes some things a little too personal or offensive.

I really felt sad for Marisol and what she has to go through in this novel, the long journey and struggles to reunite with her mother. I liked that Marisol was good hearted and traditional in her Mexican culture but also very determined to succeed and finding a solution to her problems. There were a few things about the novel that really bothered me and distracted me from getting into the story and liking it more. There were some typos and grammar errors, a few of the sentences in Spanish weren’t written correctly and didn’t make a lot of sense. This might not bother everybody, unless you can read and write Spanish but it definitely distracted me enough that I had to go back over and read some of the parts all over again, I just found it a bit frustrating. The thing is that Marisol is suppose to be fluent in English and also in Spanish, she pretty much lived her whole life in Mexico so reading the things that she says in Spanish and finding big flaws made the story a bit less realistic to me. Some Rivers End of The Day of the Dead was a light-hearted read with a lot of cultural aspects and traditions, and a character full of innocence going through a journey that ends up opening her eyes about the real world and life.

Author Interview with Heather Dixon, author of Entwined

Today have debut author, Heather Dixon to talk to us a little bit about her recent release, Entwined. If you haven't picked up I highly recommend it. You can read my 4.5 star review for it here.

"Azalea and her younger sisters dance in the mysterious silver forever every night, escaping from the sadness of the palace and their father's grief. What they don't understand-although as time passes they being to get an inkling of the danger they are in- is that the mysterious and dashing Keeper is tightening his snare with deadly purpose. Lush, romantic, and compelling, this debut novel by Heather Dixon will thrill fans." (quoted from the back of the ARC).

Congratulations on your debut release! I absolutely love Entwined. I love how you added something unique to this classic fairy tale. What inspired you to choose The Twelve Dancing Princesses to re-tell?

Thank you so much! ^_^ I started Entwined the same time I was taking both Latin and Ballroom dance classes in college, so I had a lot of dancing on my brain. Dancing is a really great medium to tell a story. As a child, too, I was really influenced by the beautiful Twelve Dancing Princesses picture books—all those beautiful dresses, the silver and jeweled forests! Like the princesses, I had a lot of sisters growing up, and knew what it was like to be buried—and loved—in the middle of a large family. So when the story sparked in my head, it wouldn’t let go. I had to write it.

Which of the 12 princesses/sister do you feel you related to the most?
Bramble! She’s such a turkey.

How did you decide on the characterizations (in making the characters your own)?
That was tricky. There were like a billion characters. The most important thing, I realized early in development, was that each character supported the story’s theme. The King, very regal, militant, and strict, doesn’t understand dancing. Azalea’s temper and protectiveness of her sisters, and her love for dance, made both of these characters at odds with each other. And, the supporting characters needed to have developments that strengthened the story as well (Keeper thriving on his hate for the captain general, Mr. Bradford’s love for Azalea overriding his fears). And so on. The Victorian backdrop made for marvelous whippish, unique characters. Dancing princesses? Definitely not tomboys. These’re corset-lovin’ girly girls.
This answer was kind of boring, sorry about that.

We are big fans of this time period and I loved how you brought Entwined to life with your vivid descriptions of the setting. Was there a certain castle that inspired your castle for the story?
Oh yes! I did a lot of research on palaces, looking at all the different rooms for staging and reference. The Ballroom I wrote looked similar to the Castle of Charlottenburg’s Golden Gallery:

The gardens, similar to Buckingham Palace:

But the look of the palace itself, I’m surprised to say, hit a little closer to home—

My city’s county building! In fact I remember driving past it for the first time, and being completely stunned. That Victorian gothic (Richardsonian Romanesque) look, with the clock tower, was exactly how I imagined the palace to be.

What authors inspired you to be a writer?
Wow, so many. I really love authors like Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, Charles Dickens, and JK Rowling (of course!). I also love lyricist Robert Sherman, and screenwriters Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, who wrote “Mary Poppins,” along with other classics. But my most influential and favorite would have to be Terry Pratchett. He’s so funny! He breaks the rules and his stuff makes the air turn to sparkles.

Have you read any books lately you'd recommend we go pick up?
I loved the Larklight series, by Phillip Reeve, and thought “The Red Necklace” by Sally Gardner had such beautiful prose. And of course I’m always going to recommend my favorite, “Going Postal” by Terry Pratchett.
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Thank you so much Heather for being with us today! You can visit Heather on her site here. You can read more about Entwined on Harper Teen's site here. You can watch the book trailer here

Thoughtful Thursday- Help Write Now

We've all been moved, touched or some how effected by the recent record breaking tornado outbreak that came barreling through the South last week. It's been confirmed that 178 tornados touched down in one day, killing over 300, displacing thousands and virtually wiping towns off the map. There's been record flooding, and horrific fires that have also taken lives, livelihoods and everything families have owned.

I don't know about you guys, but as I sit in my home, surrounded by my family and personal things, I can't help but think what can I do to help those who have lost loved ones, their home and everything they own. I want to help! I can not imagine what it's like to experience this in person. I can't even look at the pictures without getting all emotional over it, knowing the pictures aren't even showing what it's really like for those who are left to pick up the pieces. There are many charities you can donate to, like The Red Cross, who are there helping communities and the people who's lives have forever been changed by this horrible natural disasters. Like with the TN floods last year when a few fabulous authors got together and created "Do The Write Thing For Nashville", there's a group of fabulous authors who got together to create "HELP WRITE NOW". The founders behind this awesome cause have also personally been effected by these natural disasters.

Help Write Now is a writing community auction to benefit southern storm relief. If you took part in Do The Write Thing for Nashville, you'll notice some of the same authors are helping out again and the auction is run similarly. It's SO easy to not only bid on books, signed books from authors, writing critiques & more, but you can also DONATE items to the auction!

Be here to visit Help Write Now to bid, learn about who they're helping, or to donate to this awesome cause. You can also follow them on twitter. Go here to donate directly to the charities who are helping, like The Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Corporation for National & Community Service & AmeriCares. You can also "Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10". I see the pictures, but I can't imagine what it's like to be living this in person. Having your whole neighborhood gone, your home, family, friends, everything. Every little thing is needed, shoes, shelter, clothes, food, daily necessities etc. Every little bit donated counts.

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