Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Battle Royale is often referred to as the inspiration for The Hunger Games, and it is easy to see the similarities. A class of 42 high school freshman (apparently in Japan 9th graders are still considered Jr. High) are heading for a class trip when they are diverted to participate in the years Program. The Program is a contest held among many 9th grade classes each year where the class is deposited in a remote location and provided all of the materials and motivation they will need to kill one another. Last one standing gets to retire in comfort. Sound familiar?
The book is filled with non-stop action and a variety of characters. Some stick with us throughout while others are killed off in the same chapter they are introduced. This book is a translation, and in some cases that means the dialogue is a bit stilted. I had the most trouble with keeping the names straight of all 42 students and remembering which events went with each name. Even so, this is a story worth reading.
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Review: Battle Royale
Review: Sh*t My Dad Says
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you wasted time on the internet at all over the last decade, it's likely that you ran into a few of Justin Halpern's tweets, repeating his father's coarse, yet sage wisdom. I had my doubts about how this would translate into a long-form book. I'm happy to say that, while it does contain 140 character or less bursts of brassyness, it also delivers vignettes of Justin's life as he grew up with "the world's least passive-aggressive father." I listened to the audiobook version of this in my car during my commute, and I think that was the perfect way to enjoy it. The narrator does a great job of lending different voices to each of the Halpern family. By the end we learn that Justin's dad loves his family fiercely and shows it in his own, unique way.
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