Reviews: What Happened to Goodbye; 1984; The Devil in the White City

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (2011)
Summary: Since her parents’ bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother’s new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. (from Goodreads)

Sarah Dessen has been my favorite YA author for a long, long time. However, when comparing What Happened to Goodbye to her other novels, I was pretty disappointed. Aside from Mclean and her parents, the characters in this book all ran together in my head, particularly the girls that Mclean went to school with. Dave is also a weaker character than his role as Mclean’s love interest requires him to be. Both of these things surprised me; Dessen is usually excellent at creating vivid supporting characters that are more interesting than the main character. Dessen’s strengths as a storyteller are most apparent when the complicated relationship dynamics of Mclean and her divorced parents come into play; her weaknesses evident in the too-heavy metaphors found in the closing pages of nearly every chapter. Dessen’s talked about the struggles she had with this book, down to rewriting the second half completely, and unfortunately, it’s apparent. The whole novel follows the Dessen formula down to a T and falls short of her other, far superior novels. What Happened to Goodbye is decent, but it’s definitely not Dessen’s best work.

1984 by George Orwell (1949)
Summary: Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time. (from Goodreads)

Having lived and traveled extensively in countries that have used (or are using) practices that I could draw extensive parallels with George Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian future chilled me to the bone. As a novel, it’s a little dry. But when viewed as an essay, the sociology, politics, and psychology of 1984 really jump off the page and grab you. More than anything, it demonstrated the true power of the propaganda machine. 1984 is a cultural point of reference for a reason and is definitely worth a read.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (1991)
Summary: Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book’s categorization to be sure that ‘The Devil in the White City’ is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair’s construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham’s challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous “White City” around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair’s incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World’s Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. (from Goodreads)

It was hard to remember that this meticulously researched novel was fact and not fiction. Erik Larson makes this clear from the beginning, where he stipulates that everything in quotations are, in fact, what people actually said at the time. The parallel stories of Burnham and Holmes run smoothly throughout the novel, although Larson tries a little too hard at making both stories seem like a suspenseful thriller. Holmes, with the horror-invoking details of his crimes, and the story of his actions during the World’s Fair is definitely material for a suspenseful thriller. But Burnham and his struggles to complete the fair in time? Not so much. Larson’s insistence on trying to carry Burnham’s story as an equally suspenseful/thrilling one to that of Holmes is a weakness of the book, although Larson gives great attention and detail to the architectural history of both America and Chicago.