The 57 bus rolls on...

Smackdown the 9th - Third Round

Debbie Piasetsky - Alberta Ed

Norma Johnson - Sweet Grass

Vanessa LeCaine - Sweet Grass

The 57 Bus                 Far From the Tree

vs

   

Vanessa : Ok folks - it’s round three.  This is where the best of the best move forward. t’s funny though how the random draw at the beginning can really mess with that.  In Round 2, I really struggled to pick a “better book”. This round, not so much.

Although Far From the Tree was an interesting book, I had to go back to when I’d read it earlier this year and remind myself exactly what is was about.  Was it good? Yes. Was it so awesome I am recommending it to others, no.  And then came The 57 Bus. The true telling of an event that happened on a bus in Oakland - a possible hate crime.  The book explores the justice system, sheds some light on gender identity and looks at how empathy can come out of something so horrible.  For me, these books are light years apart - I’m on the 57 bus.

Norma.  The 57 Bus  Loved this book.  I enjoy reading true stories.  This one though was well balanced and well written.  The characters were developed well and the story stayed with me.  I had a hard time putting down the book because I couldn’t wait to see how everything turned out.  Far From the Tree has a hard act to follow.

Finished reading Far From the Tree. It was a good book, an o.k. read, but when put up against The 57 Bus it falls short.  I thought that the book tried to cover a number of issues and resolved them too quickly to wrap up the story.

The winner by a landslide for me is The 57 Bus .

Debbie

This one isn’t even close for me. I loved “The 57 Bus”. Have recommended it to many people of all ages already. Vanessa and Norma pretty much summed it up perfectly.