April 23rd just came and went. Now, for me that didn’t mean a whole lot – soccer practice for one kid, baseball for the other, baked haddock for dinner in-between.
For Prenna James, however, April 23rd is a very special anniversary. It marks the date she and her Postremo community traveled back from the year 2098 to 2010 in an effort to fix whatever it is that goes wrong in the time between that unleashes plagues unto the future.
The Here and Nowbegins in 2014, with Prenna having had 4 years to adjust to her new time. And adjust and learn to blend, she has, heavily incentivized by the knowledge of the fate that will befall her at the hand of her groups’ leaders if she does not. We learn their strict code of conduct as recited by Prenna’s peers at the annual “anniversary ceremony,” which is not only a quite un-joyous occasion, but it’s not even followed by a celebratory meal! Prenna and her friends are on their own to grab dinner from a nearby Chipotle – again, normalcy by necessity.
But Prenna does remember a different sort of normal – she even describes this solemn anniversary as kind of like our Thanksgiving, but without the turkey and pumpkin pie. So we do know that some holiday foods remain traditional in the future from which she has escaped. Can we then assume all food in 2098 is essentially the same as we know it now? Because this story is told in Prenna’s current present, we know that take-out fried chicken with coleslaw is a common dinner for her and her mother. What we do not know is if that’s the result of the 4-year adjustment, or if such a period was never required culinary-wise.
So the scene I most want to see, of course, is Prenna’s first food experience on the 2010 side of the time-travel path, but chronologically that time has already passed. Or has it?
This is when Brashares shouts, “But wait!”* Because she’s found a way to show me what I crave. JBy shuffling in short letters from Prenna to her deceased future brother that date back to that April 23rd arrival, Brashares is indeed able to share glimpses of that 4-year gap, including a first taste:
Dear Julius,
I ate a mango. It’s a sticky orange fruit, sweet and sour, and it comes apart in threads, with a hard little skull in the middle of it. It is so good. Even better than pineapple. I think I would eat it even if you told me it was deadly poisonous.
Now I know one vital (to me, anyway) fact – there are pineapples in 2098, but not mangoes. And why is that? Is there something inherently different in the two plants? Or in the climes in which each grows? Does it have anything to do with our current era’s mass canning of pineapples but not mangoes? So that, in the bleak future that Prenna has seen, the only surviving fruits are preserved ones?
One short paragraph – one bite of fruit – leads to so many questions; imagine what the other 200+ pages stir up!
But before you start reading, you might want to go pick up some mango…while you still can. ;)
* Or But WATE, if you will. ;)
Alloy Entertainment plans to create a film adaptation of Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Ken Kwapis, the director behind the first Sisterhood movie, will helm this project.
Liz Garcia has been hired to pen the script. Thus far, no casting decisions have been announced so it is unclear whether or not Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Amber Tamblyn will return to reprise their roles as Bridget, Lena, Carmen, and Tibby.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Prenna James has a secret. She's from the future, part of a group that traveled back in time to escape a deadly plague. When Prenna falls in love with Ethan, her carefully constructed life quickly unravels into a gripping adventure. Books mentioned in this post The Here and Now Ann Brashares New Hardcover $18.99
Writer Ann Brashares sat down with Saturday Night Live alum Ana Gasteyer to discuss her new young adult novel, The Here and Now.
Throughout the interview, the comedic actress insists that the new book is the latest installment of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. In the video embedded above, Brashares explains that “pants” do not play a significant role in this “forbidden romance.”
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
I split this into 2 posts, because I had so much tagging to do, Blogger couldn't handle it. Ah well.
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
In this sequel to
The Goose Girl and
Enna Burning, we return to Bayern. Just because the war is over, doesn't mean there is peace between Bayern and Tira. Isi's going to the Tiran capital on a peace mission and Enna is as well.
But really, this is Razo's book. He's always considered himself rather useless because of his small size, so he's more than surprised when he's asked to be part of the elite band of soldiers accompanying them. He's going to be a spy.
Once in Tira, someone is burning people and Enna is being blamed. It's up to Razo to figure out who's framing his friend and trying to restart the war.
I am always surprised by Hale's amazing skill to paint an entire landscape, people and culture perfectly in a mere few sentences. Her lyrical language and voice is back and this latest installment, while shorter, is just as strong as her earlier works.
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood Ann Brashares
The girls are apart this summer, each spread to her far corner of the globe. The plot is less compelling than the previous volumes, but Brashares really hits some truths right on the head. The girls changed in college. I have big problem with books that follow their characters to college and they stay exactly the same. College changes you. You lose yourself and find yourself and that's a big part of it! Also, the way Tibby reacts to her pregnancy scare was more true and real than anything I've seen in print. I think she's milked all she can out of this series, but this final volume, where it won't be the favorite of younger fans, just might be the favorite of the grown-ups who like the series, for it's unflinching realism.
Adrian Mole And the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend
(full disclosure: I just found out this existed.)
Adrian is a poxy, neurotic, and hilarious as ever. Glenn's in the army. William's in Nigeria with JoJo and Adrian's back living with his parents and working at a used book store. He buys a loft apartment with a convenience check from his credit card that sends him into a debt spiral that only Adrian could ignore. Somehow (this is Adrian) he's been talked into marrying a manipulative hypochondriac, even though he's in love with her sister.
Oh, and there's a war going on! Could Blair be mistaken about the weapons? And if so, how will Adrian get his Cypriot holiday deposit back.
Oh Adrian, we missed you. Glad to have you back.
Review of Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants)
