Notable Contemporaries I've Read Recently
- Chynna Williams
- Aug 21, 2021
- 8 min read
Hello, and welcome back to another edition of The CW Torch! I hope you all are doing well, and I first want to apologize for being so inconsistent with this blog. A lot has been going on with the move and I've been focusing on writing other things such as my current novel "work in progress" as well as some tv scripts that I've been working on. So I haven't really had a whole lot of time to focus on my blog, so I do apologize about that. But, I also want to say with grad school starting soon I'm not sure how I am going to manage this blog along with everything else, so posting might be a bit more sporadic in the future.
However, recently, I've been reading a lot of contemporary novels that have really caught my attention. As you all know, I don't really read a lot of contemporary novels, as I'm mainly a fantasy reader. But, whenever I feel like I need a break from fantasy I gravitate towards contemporary rather than science-fiction, because generally I'll need something easy or less intense to pick up after reading a bunch of fantasies. Over the Summer, I read quite a few contemporaries that I thoroughly enjoyed and were rather highly rated for me, which doesn't happen all too often. But, recently I find that I'm finally figuring out the types of contemporary books I actually enjoy.
I seem to enjoy contemporaries that are more hard-hitting and deal with actual real-life contemporary events or incidents that are happening around the world. I am not one who will pick up a romance contemporary, because I generally don't like romance in books. I've also come to realize that I enjoy coming of age contemporaries, but ones that mainly deal with the main character's overcoming or figuring out their identity in the world. I also, appreciate contemporaries that have a strong friend group or found family, as well as ones that heavily involve the main characters family. I think the one reason why I didn't enjoy contemporaries all that much in the past is because even though they generally have a younger character going through high school or going into college. The families are rather absent, which I find hard to believe as families should be somewhat involved in their children's life.
So I try to find contemporaries that have those elements and that seems to work with regards to my enjoyment of them. So, without further ado, here are some of the YA contemporaries that I've read recently that I can definitely recommend to you all.
*I will link the synopsis from goodreads to each book, since I know a lot of people don't like to read the synopsis before going into the books. So you can have the choice of whether or not you want to read the synopsis of each of these books.
The Geography of Lost Things by Jessica Brody
Final Rating: 5/5 Stars
What I liked:
There were quite a few things that I enjoyed about this book. It was a book that I felt really connected to from the very start. Our main character is given a 1968 Firebird convertible, which was written in her father's will, and is his only prized possession. However, it only reminds her of her father's absence and empty promises throughout most of her childhood. I felt instantly connected to the character in this aspect because for most of my life my biological father has been absent in my life. The main character, Ali, and her side-kick, Nico, throughout most of the book, travel up the Pacific Northwest Coast to sell the car. But, Nico tries to convince her to keep it and sell other things that were a part of the car, to try to get monetary gains to help pay for school. During this trip, Nico tries to convince her to not sell the car, and along the way she learns more things about her father and why he was absent for most of her life. I really enjoyed the relationship between Nico and Ali, and how it developed and grew. While there was a romance as they were exes, it wasn't at the forefront of the story more so until the end of the story. As we focused on her discoveries of her father and why he gave her this car. To me the relationship made sense and was written really well with the main storyline, it didn't seem forced which I find happens a lot in YA contemporaries. Another added element of this story that I felt extremely connected to was Nico and Ali's love for 80s movies, specifically The Goonies. They made a pit-stop at the filming location of The Goonies because they were in Oregon throughout most of the book. The Goonies is one of my all-time favorite movies, so the references to this movie only added to my enjoyment and connection to the story. With all of those elements I ended giving it a 5/5 stars, mainly because I felt extremely connected to Ali's journey. Which is generally hard for me to find in a novel.
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Final Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
What I liked:
Much like the fantasies I read, I seem to enjoy contemporaries with a bit of a darker element to them. Or one that focuses on mental health or grief, because they are real things that people deal with every single day. This book definitely deals with those topics, as our main character Leigh recently loses her mother to suicide. So, this novel deals with our main character trying to figure out why her mother killed herself, and also deals with Survivor's guilt in a way. Wondering if there was anything she could've done to prevent her mother from killing herself, were there any signs that she could've paid attention to more? But, eventually realizing that in this case whenever someone choses to commit suicide, it's always up to the person doing the action. Whether they were dealing with mental health issues or anything else that may have caused them to do this, and that it was in no way her fault. But, obviously, it takes some time for Leigh to discover this, when she see's a sign from a bird (which she thinks is a reincarnation of her mother), who tells her to go to Taiwan, which is where her mother is from. She uncovers a lot of family secrets while in Taiwan that reveal why her mother chose to commit suicide.
This was such a beautifully written, riveting novel that deals with heavy topics such as suicide and mental health which may be triggers to a lot of people. I myself deal with anxiety so I had to read this book at the right time, when I was in a good headspace to read it. So, I felt when I read it, it was definitely the right time because I learned a lot from this novel. It was also an interesting take on these topics, as there was a bit of magical realism. Which I don't find a whole lot in contemporaries but did find that I enjoyed it in this particular setting.
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender and The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
Final Rating: 4/5 Stars
Final Rating: 5/5 Stars
What I liked:
I am putting these two books together because I find that they have a lot in common and I enjoyed both of them for a lot of the same reasons. They both deal with gender identity at the forefront and the two main characters trying to figure out their identity within the world. Felix Ever After also reminded me a lot of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, because in Felix Ever After, Felix's deadname is publicly posted along with pictures before he transitioned. Before reading this book I didn't know a lot about the transgender community and what being deadnamed meant. So with Felix Ever After I learned a lot, which added to my enjoyment to this book. While I read books for escapism, I also find it important for books to teach me something and these two books definitely did. While there is so much about gender identity and the LGBTQ+ community that I don't know, I am always open to learning more about it. So, I appreciate books that come from own voices author's to write about these topics, because it makes it seems more real. Felix Ever After also deals with the relationship of Felix and his father, who paid for his transition surgery but still calls him his daughter. This aspect of the novel was both hard to read but I think very important in the development and growth of Felix and his relationship with his dad. I appreciated that the author added this element to the book.
With The Black Flamingo there were similar aspects to Felix Ever After, such as the main character discovering their identity, being a mixed-race gay teen. Which only adds to more difficulty and hardships growing up, in both novels. The Black Flamingo was set up a little bit differently as it's a book written in prose. I found it to be more hard-hitting and emotional written in that format, and I still learned a lot even though the book was relatively short. As the author managed to write about all stages of the character's life up until college where the main character discovers his own identity. These were both beautifully written coming of age novels that I feel are very important to read in this day and age.
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Final Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
What I liked:
For one, Elizabeth Acevedo is quickly becoming a favorite author and auto-buy author for me. While I didn't really connect with The Poet X as much, I certainly connected with Clap When You Land. Both of which were novels written in prose. Her poetry is stunning and really makes you think, and it's really making me pick up more books written in prose. She also is an author who writes what she knows, as she herself is an afro-latina, and most of her characters are mixed race as well. It makes it easier to connect with the books in that way, because you know she is writing from experience or knowledge of her own culture. I didn't know what Clap When You Land was about and when I listened to the audiobook of it, I was genuinely surprised throughout the entirety of the novel. I felt I was discovering many new things while the main character was discovering new things about her family, herself. I also felt extremely connected to this book because I have been to New York, and recently watched In The Heights. So a lot of the areas Elizabeth Acevedo mentioned, I was very familiar with which added to my experience, because it made me feel like I was actually in New York. Elizabeth Acevedo really knows how to suck you into the novel with her beautiful story telling. Throughout the novel, I didn't know which direction she was going in and what the little Easer Eggs were leading to. Which only kept me more enticed with the plot of this novel, despite it being a relatively short audiobook as it was written in poetry.
There you have it folks, those are some of the contemporaries that I've read recently, that I would highly recommend. I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know if you pick up any of these books!
Thanks for reading!
XOXO,
Chynna @THECWTORCH
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