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Danny's mother lost her five-year battle with cancer three weeks before his graduation-the one day that she was hanging on to see.
Now Danny is left alone, with only his memories, his dog, and his heart-breaking ex-girlfriend for company. He doesn't know how to figure out what to do with her estate, what to say for his Valedictorian speech, let alone how to live or be happy anymore.
When he gets a letter from his mom's property manager in Tokyo, where she had been going for treatment, it shows a side of a side of his mother he never knew. So, with no other sense of direction, Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother's memory and make sense of her final months, which seemed filled with more joy than Danny ever knew. There, among the cherry blossoms, temples, and crowds, and with the help of an almost-but-definitely-not Harajuku girl, he begins to see how it may not have been ancient magic or mystical treatment that kept his mother going. Perhaps, the secret of how to live lies in how she died.
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
This is a really hard one to rate. I absolutely loved most parts of this story and these characters, and it's definitely an emotional read. But at the same time there were some small things that really didn't work, and they bothered me so much that I focused more on those than on the actual story at times. It's the kind of book where I could write either a 2-star or a 5-star review and justify it without being untruthful.
So let's talk about the good first. Most of the characters in When You Were Here are really good. Danny is an authentic male narrator with a strong voice, and I really enjoyed reading from his perspective. The whole family dynamic is original and really well-done. I loved the relationship between Danny and his mother, which really drove the whole story. (Even though I found parts of it to be a bit melodramatic, which I'll talk about later.) I also really enjoyed the character of Liani, Danny's estranged sister - the dynamics and the history of that relationship were really interesting to read about. And my favorite character would have to be Kana, the eccentric Japanese girl showing Danny around. I was totally expecting her to be another manic pixie dream girl, which would have killed it for me, but she isn't. She definitely has MPDGesque qualities, but she also has her own motivations and backstory that make her a real person. What really made me love her is how Kana's and Danny's relationship is entirely platonic; I was expecting this to be yet another love triangle, but I'm so glad Daisy Whitney didn't go down that route because I think it's really important that a YA book, for once, explores a platonic friendship between a male and a female character. I really loved the characters and the directions this story went in, especially in how many emotions this story conveys.
But then there were these little things that kept preventing me from really loving this book. One thing that bothered me is how much money all of these characters seem to have. Danny's mom retired early to become a full-time cancer treatment patient, and she flies from LA to Tokyo once a month for her treatment. They have a mansion in LA and an apartment that comes with its own manager in Tokyo. Danny, and Holland too, have the money to hop on intercontinental flights at a moment's notice, and he even has his dog flown to Tokyo on a private jet. Both Danny's mom and Kate have ridiculous amounts of money from really random-sounding jobs. Of course the fact that the characters have money doesn't make this a bad book, but it bothered me how this privilege is never acknowledged - how Danny's mom's struggle with cancer could have been very different if they didn't have these sorts of money, and how everyone they interact with seems to have more than enough money. How this is never even addressed just kind of bugged me.
I also found some of Danny's experiences in Japan kind of unrealistic. Everyone there seems to speak perfect English - not a single mistake or even mentioning of an accent. If this were only true for Kana, I could see that because it fits her character (even though she would still be making some mistakes), but every single random person Danny talks to speaks this perfect English. The only person who doesn't speak perfect English is Kana's mom, who has Kana handle the communications part of her real estate business because she speaks better English. But really, Kana's mom's English is really good, and she would probably be considered to be among the people with above-average English skills, so the fact that she has her daughter speak to her clients for her seemed sort of constructed just to create Kana's character.
Even though I liked most of the characters, it bothered me how much some of them were idealized. I get that, to some extent, it makes sense for Danny and those around him to idealize the memory of his mother, but it seemed a bit overdone. Every person whose store she shopped at or restaurant she ate at seems to remember her perfectly and talks about how much they loved her, which just seemed like too much to me. Holland, too, is described as way too perfect; again, it kind of makes sense because it's Danny's perspective, but I wish she had some kind of flaw to make her more realistic. (I don't count her secret as a flaw because that whole storyline seemed kind of contrived to me, too.) And to a lesser extent, this also applies to Sandy Koufax, Danny's dog - I know a lot of people thought he was the cutest (because he was described to be the perfect dog), but it felt kind of forced to me; I'm just not a huge fan of authors using pets for automatic cuteness points. And to go along with this idealization, I also didn't like the whole pain killer storyline: at the beginning of the novel, Danny is popping pain killers like nothing in order to cope with what's going on in his life. Once he's happy at the end of the novel, he simply throws them all away and is done with them, with no mention of addiction or any following complications. I just wasn't a fan of how this novel idealized some of the characters and storylines and brushes over the complexities of these storylines and relationships.
I feel like this review is going to sound a lot more negative than positive, but that's just because I'm better at complaining than I am at explaining what I liked. Yes, the little things bothered me, and I couldn't write this review without mentioning them, but I did still really enjoy this novel. Regardless of the little stuff, I really enjoyed the message and the emotions this novel conveys; I mean, I cried, and I don't think a crappy book can really make you cry. So I do recommend When You Were Here for its central storyline and emotions; just don't expect too much from the logic or from how well the complexities of some smaller storylines are explored.
When Alex Patrick was assaulted by another student last year, her elite boarding school wouldn't do anything about it. This year Alex is head of the Mockingbirds, a secret society of students who police and protect the student body. While she desperately wants to live up to the legacy that's been given to her, she's now dealing with a case unlike any the Mockingbirds have seen before.
It isn't rape. It isn't bullying. It isn't hate speech. A far-reaching prescription drug ring has sprung up, and students are using the drugs to cheat. But how do you try a case with no obvious victim? Especially when the facts don't add up, and each new clue drives a wedge between Alex and the people she loves most: her friends, her boyfriend, and her fellow Mockingbirds.
As Alex unravels the layers of deceit within the school, the administration, and even the student body the Mockingbirds protect, her struggle to navigate the murky waters of vigilante justice may reveal more about herself than she ever expected.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
It's been a while since I read The Mockingbirds, but I still remember absolutely loving it. To be honest, I wasn't sure that kind of story needed a sequel - I didn't know if Daisy Whitney could come up with another plot concerning the Mockingbirds as strong as the one in the first novel. And while I do think that The Rivals is lacking a bit of the driving force that Alex's struggle for justice after her rape provided for The Mockingbirds, I did really enjoy this sequel!
The whole cheating/drug ring plot seemed kind of strange to me at first. I'm still not sure I entirely get the premise - the debate team is using ADHD medication to win their debates? How is that supposed to work? When people abuse Adderall - or Annie, as it's called in The Rivals - it's to help them focus on getting work done, and I don't really see how that helps the debate team. But even if the premise didn't make all that much sense to me, I did really enjoy the mystery that evolves around it. There are various plot twists in The Rivals that will keep you on your toes - I didn't see half of them coming!
I especially loved the way The Rivals changed the way you think about everything we learned in The Mockingbirds, how it challenges what you thought was right and wrong. Just like Alex, you ask yourself how far you're allowed to go in the name of (what you consider) justice, whether it's more important to trust the people close to you or to do your "job" of questioning everything, and so on. The lines between right and wrong are a lot more blurred in The Rivals than they were in The Mockingbirds, and I loved reading about Alex trying to figure out what would be the right thing to do.
Within the context of this case, it was interesting to see how Alex's relationships with those around her evolved. I still loved Alex's character, and the cast of secondary characters is fully developed and complex, just like in the first book. I especially liked Alex's relationship with Martin - too often, sequels create too much unnecessary drama between the couples that are established in the first book, so I'm glad that Alex's relationship with Martin progresses in such a natural way in The Rivals.
Part of what makes these two books so powerful together, I think, is how in The Rivals, we get to see Alex still struggling to come to terms with her rape from The Mockingbirds. Daisy Whitney handled the issue of rape with as much grace and delicacy as she did in the first book; the scenes where Alex sees her rapist on campus and the scenes where she and Martin are trying to figure out how to have a "normal" relationship after what happened to Alex are some of the most powerful scenes in the novel, for me. The only thing that bothered me about this topic is how Alex's rape is continuously referred to as date-rape, just because I don't like how that term makes acquaintance-rape seem somehow less than the dark-alley rape many people still associate with the term.
The Rivals is everything a good sequel should be, and more. It's a complex and layered story that complicates everything we learned in The Mockingbirds. With fully developed characters, a captivating writing style, and a complex and fascinating plot, I can't recommend this series enough! I can't wait to read more from Daisy Whitney!
Title: The Mockingbirds
Author: Daisy Whitney
Publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers
Release date: November 2nd 2010
Pages: 332
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads
Goodreads description:
Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers. In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it.
First sentence:
Three things I know this second: I have morning breath, I'm naked, and I'm waking up next to a boy I don't know.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Why did I wait so long to read this book? It's been on my wishlist forever. I'd heard so, so many great things about The Mockingbirds, so I knew I was going to love it. And I did!
Everything about this book is just right. I loved Daisy Whitney's writing style! It gives such a great voice to our main character Alex. I just love Alex - her way of thinking is so unique! I can't explain it, I just love how her character sucked me right in. Her emotions are well-written. I liked being there alongside Alex on her emotional journey; how one minute, everything is fine, and the next something reminds her of what happened and she breaks down. The suspense of Alex not immediately remembering is great - I loved finding out what happened in bits and pieces. Sometimes she's angry, and sometimes she's questioning whether what she's doing is right. Her emotionas are portrayed really well and realistically - probably because Daisy Whitney was date-raped herself, as it says in the author's note. It's impressive how she found the courage to speak out and write an entire book on the issue!
The secondary characters are amazing. I loved the friendship dynamic between Alex, T.S. and Maia, and I like how each of them has a distinct personality. And then there's Martin. I loved Martin! He's just so sweet, and Alex and Martin together are adorable. I really liked the romance but appreciated that it wasn't turned into the main storyline. Mel, who I don't want to say too much about, is a great character, too. I love how each character has a passion - reading about Alex's piano playing, Casey and T.S.'s soccer, Maia's debate, Martin's bird research added a lot to the characters and the story, too.
The idea for the Mockingbirds is so great. I loved reading about how the whole organization works, and it has reminded me that I really, really need to read To Kill a Mockingbird. One thing I didn't get, though, is why Alex knows so little about the Mockingbirds. The role the Mockingbirds play for the average student isn't exactly clear. At times, for example during the vote, it seems like every student knows about the Mockingbirds, but at the same time, Alex knew almost nothing about them before she decided to ask the Mockingbirds for help, which I thought was strange, especially since her sister created the group.
I love when books take place at boarding schools. I know I often complain about how family isn't present enough in YA, but for some reason, I don't mind if it's at boarding school - I just love the whole atmosphere of boarding schools. I thought the descriptions of how the school doesn't do anything to protect their students were a little overdone, though. I get that the teachers at Themis believe their perfect students could never do anything wrong, but I just thought that was repeated and emphasized a little too much. With something like bullying, sure, I can see a school ignoring an issue like that, but rape? I can't imagine how, if Alex had gone to the administration, they wouldn't have done anything. I wish there would have been some development in the school's position in all of this. But maybe that will happen in The Rivals.
I have to say I'm not that big a fan of the new covers. I really liked the old cover for The Mockingbirds - it's simple, and I like how the bird relates to the story. I don't really like the cover for the paperback, but I decided to buy this one instead of the hardcover one because it'll match the cover for The Rivals.
With a lovable main character you can't help but feel for, a great writing style, and unique secondary charcters, The Mockingbirds is a powerful story of learning to stand up for yourself; it realistically and honestly addresses a difficult topic. I have to get my hands on a copy of The Rivals as soon as possible!
If you've read this book, what did you think?
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