Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Completion Date: June 23, 2011

Reason for Reading: The Great Reading Swap of 2011 - Marg's List

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

Jennifer Donnelly, author of the award-winning novel A Northern Light, artfully weaves two girls’ stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love. Revolution spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart.

The Great Reading Swap is such a fun idea. It is too bad that I can't seem to get anything read of my lists! Even if I never finish the challenge, it would still be nice to read a few more of the books. I actually told Marg to include this because I wanted to buy it and I figured if I had to read it, that justified the purchase. I have read A Northern Light by Donnelly, but still haven't read her adult trilogy. I have had the first book on my TBR pile for years and it is also on my list from Marg. Right, so moving on to this book now.

I loved this book! Andi, a girl from the present time, stumbles across a diary hidden for generations unexpectedly. When she reads it she is connected with the life of Alexandrine Paradis and the struggles that she went through to save the life of a young prince. She was a very brave young woman. The little boy was the son of Marie Antoinette, and he loved fireworks. Alexandrine made sure that the entire time he was imprisoned, he saw them. She went to a lot of risk for a boy she only looked after for gain and not for any affection. She records everything in the diary that Andi finds and hopes that someone will find it and make a difference in the world when she is no longer able to.

Andi is having some troubles of her own. She is in Paris with her father. Her mother has admitted into a hospital because she is having a hard time dealing with the loss of her son. Then, her husband left and remarried. Andi has been looking after her mother and feeling guilty about the loss of her brother. She is on a path of self-destruction that her father thinks a change of scenery will cure. Her passion is music and she is expected to be working on her schools major paper that has a music connection. When she wants to go home and take care of her mother instead, her father says she can only if she finishes the outline. What happens is that her paper and Alexandrine's world connect in ways that Andi can never even possibly imagine.

One night Andi finds herself in the Catacombs with some friends. When the police arrive to break it up she becomes separated from the group and finds herself transported back in time to a very different Paris. Suddenly it is her that has to finish Alexandrine's work and take on all the dangers associated with that. Donnelly writes a wonderful blend of the history and the present. The characters come alive, the story in engaging, and who can complain about a book set in Paris. When Andi travels back in time it is done very believably and finishes the novel on an exciting note. In the beginning Andi was just reading about this girls adventures, but now she is living them. It made for great reading all around.

I am so happy that I read this book. I strongly recommend it and look forward to more from Donnelly in the future.

This book counts for the Great Reading Swap of 2011.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Completion Date: May 2007
Pages: 408
Publication Year: 2004
Owned Prior to 2007

Reason for Reading: I have heard good things about Jennifer Donnelly. I have adult books to read by her, I just have not got to them yet.

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace's drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder.Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Jennifer Donnelly's astonishing debut novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.I have consistently heard good things about Jennifer Donnelly, but it has taken me forever to just read this young adult attempt from her. I seemed to be in a theme during the month of June, even if it was not intentional, but a lot of the books I read were about a female figuring out who she is and making a place for herself in the world. Often the women in these books were unconventional in the sense that they wanted more for themselves that was available to women during this time.

Mattie's life is told during this novel. Her mother has died, and she is being raised by her father. Her brother has left, leaving a house full of girls and with her in charge. She wants more from her life, though. She gets good grades in school, and wants to go to university, but even when her teacher comes to say good things about her, her father refuses. Farming life was hard, especially when he had no son. He needed someone to help him out, and that responsibility fell on Mattie. Then, their donkey died and life changes very drastically for Mattie.

Mattie wanted to go away to university, and in an attempt to raise money she wanted to work at one of the establishments for guests during the summer. Her father refused, but then he needed to buy a new donkey and suddenly Mattie is working to help him pay for it. The summer opens up a very new world for a girl that had been relatively sheltered during her young life. While working, she stumbles upon a woman who gives her a package of letters to do away with. When that woman ends up dead, Mattie knows that she has more in her hands than she originally thought. She keeps trying to do what the now deceased woman asked of her, but she is drawn to these letters. It is these letters and the life that this woman lead that helps Mattie get her own life figured out.

In the meantime, she meets a boy who she thinks she loves and agrees to marry him. He may not be all that he seems, but she seems to believe that he is her future. She finds out a deep secret about her beloved teacher, and ends up finding a person that she will cherish forever because she believed in her. Mattie struggles through her mother's death, being raised by her father, running the domestic side of the farm, math exams, and other things to build her life up to the one that we see at the end of the book. Mattie breaks away from convention in a most interesting way, making for a very good ending.

Parting Thoughts: Donnelly has my attention now, hopefully I will find the time during the rest of the year to read The Tea Rose, which I own but have not read yet. She writes in a manner that really interests you as a reader, and she gives women a chance in a period where their chances were very few.