Smell Is Too Nice to Glean, but . . . Scythe Moves On

If the biggest challenge in the early stages of the Smackdown is so frequently being asked to make decisions about books that are fundamentally different, at this stage of the tournament we often have the good problem of deciding between two really good books. This is problematic for me, because part of my blogging shtick is to get all up in some book’s face about it’s real or imagined flaws. I just don't think I can do it here, though.The Smell of Other People’s House’s may not be a perfect book, and as with any book, it wouldn’t be for everyone, but there is a kindness at its heart that makes me wish that everyone would spend a little time with it. I’ve noticed that both in our discussions here at the school, and in some of the previous comments on the blog, there was a sense that some of the characters could have been developed in greater depth and I think that’s fair, but it also speaks to the fact that these were characters that, by and large, we wanted to spend more time with. There was a sparseness to the text that at times seemed very lyrical and poetic, but at other times I found myself really wanting to read a really great, meaty short story about each of these characters. That’s probably not fair and, ultimately, the novel is successful and I think it would actually speak to a lot of students and would be an interesting book to teach, both for structure and content.

As strong as The Smell of Other People’s Houses was, however, it was Scythe that really took hold of us. The Hunger Games vibes loomed large for me in the first part of the book, but I - and I know this may be sacrilege to some, including my own daughter - enjoyed it more than that novel. I wouldn’t say the characters we’re all that much more fully fleshed out than those in Smell - which may be rectified as we move forward in the series - but in a novel that is driven by large concept and then realized through a cascading series of ideas stemming from that concept, I don’t think we necessarily need depth of character in order to fully engage with this book. At least we didn’t. In saying that, I don't want to diminish the characters - who were generally interesting, and at times, nuanced - and Shusterman has done a good job of constructing the narrative to make space for sometimes dynamic drama, as well as more reflective moments. As one of our groups noted, the journal entries embedded within worked surprisingly well. Of the books that we’ve read this year in the Smackdown, this is the one that I read the most compulsively, and not in that “I have to finish a whole novel tonight to make the deadline” way, that is my norm. It is also the book that I likely though the most about, not only because of the interesting premise of a world without natural death, but because of some of the parallels that exist in our own world that has also grappled with almost incomprehensible social change in the recent past. Is adjusting to a world without death on a different level than adjusting to a world where a push of a button can effectively end humanity, or a world where the internet has fundamentally changed what it means to connect? I’m not so sure, and while I’m not suggesting that the author intended this as an allegory, I think the novel offers us something profound as we see these intriguing young characters grappling with both the internal and external changes that they have to deal with in their brave, new world. I could really see this as a book that a very diverse readership could connect with in a number of ways. It would draw in kids who already like sci-fi and fantasy, but there is also meditative quality to the novel - even with the gory violence -that may speak to kids and adults that may not, at first glance, think this may be their thing. I can think of a lot of different people I’d like to discuss this book with.

As for Zombie picks, I think most of our previous round winners were still kicking last time we checked. We’re going to hedge our bets a bit. One of our group really would like to bring back Holding Up the Universe if that goes out and while I was initially leaning towards bringing back The Smell . . . if it, indeed does get gleaned here by the larger group, The Girl in the Blue Coat is, perhaps surprisingly, a book that keeps resonating with me and I think I’d like to see it come back. So, we’re not very firmly on the side of whoever loses over in the other bracket.