34. We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Majia

listened on Audible - borrowed from CCPL
read by Kyla Garcia
Unabridged audio (9:54)
2019 Katherine Tegen Books
384 pgs.
YA Dystopia
Finished 3/31/19
Goodreads rating:  3.78 - 982 ratings
My rating: 1
Setting: Dystopian Mexico, seemingly

First line/s:  "Daniela Vargas woke at the first whisper of footsteps coming up the road."

My comments:  Yuck.  I'm so glad this endless book is over.  It took a zillion pages to tell a story that could've been told in 100.  So incredibly repetitious that I went cross-eyed every time Dani thought the same thoughts over and over...and over...again.  I don't care about any of the characters.  At all.  I hve no idea why it's gotten so many good reviews...I do love the premise, but not much else.

Goodreads synopsis:  At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children, but both are promised a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her bright future depends upon no one discovering her darkest secret—that her pedigree is a lie. Her parents sacrificed everything to obtain forged identification papers so Dani could rise above her station. Now that her marriage to an important politico’s son is fast approaching, she must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society, where famine and poverty rule supreme.
          On her graduation night, Dani seems to be in the clear, despite the surprises that unfold. But nothing prepares her for all the difficult choices she must make, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio. Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or to give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?

MOVIE - Disobedience

R (1:54)

Limited release 4/27/2018

Viewed Thursday, June 21, 2018 at Majestic in Gettysburg
IMBd:  6.8/10

T Critic:  84  Audience: 80
Critic's Consensus:  Disobedience explores a variety of thought-provoking themes, bolstered by gripping work from leads Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola.

Cag: 5 It was really wonderful

Directed by Sebastian Lelio

Bleecker Street

Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola

My comments:  Another powerful movie with exceptional performances.  Whoa, being gay in an Orthodox Jewish community!  Totally impossible, "Disobedience" showed a depth of humanity and love in the Orthodox Jewish community which, as much as I'd love to believe might happen, truly can't imagine that it would.  For most of the movie you get "typical" reactions from people.  Yes, my heart broke for a young woman of faith who was definitely not heterosexual, choosing to follow the beliefs she was raised with and marry a man she did care about but was not attracted to.  My heart broke even more for her husband, who ended up being an incredibly honest, loving, spiritual man.  The kind of spiritual leader that I could definitely believe in myself, and would help to heal our world.  Oh yes, I shed some tears, and I walked out of the theater thinking, "what could possible be the next step in a story like this one?"  Well done, well done.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  From Sebastián Lelio, the director of the Academy Award-winning A Fantastic Woman, the film follows a woman as she returns to the community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a childhood friend. Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality. Written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz and based on Naomi Alderman's book, the film stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola.

67. Consider by Kristy Acevedo

Holo #1
read on my iPhone
2016, Jolly Fish Press
288 pgs.
YA Dystopia
Finished 12/3/2017
Goodreads rating:  4.17 - 621 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Boston suburb

First line/s:  "When the Boston outbound T screeches to a stop, I lose my grip on the silver pole and slam into Dominick."

My comments:  What an interesting story, and one, I think, worth reading.  It presented a few problems to me, personally, but I'll look past them after a quick mention.  The protagonist and her brother, Benji, are always at odds with each other for some reason.  Although she explains it a bit, she never says anything about how or where it started.  Or why.  It's disconcerting, unless I didn't read carefully enough to pick it up, and that's not like me (I'm a fairly slow reader).  And I never fully understand her overwhelming need to protect her father, her thoughts and actions about and toward him show that she dislikes him.  Maybe she's more like him than she realizes?  Otherwise, the characters are fully relate-able.  The scenario is one that makes you think....and think...and think some more.  What would you do if there was insistence that the world would end and you had the opportunity to escape to another world, with no facts to base your decisions on?  No actual facts.  Whew!  I've got to read the next book!

Goodreads synopsis: As if Alexandra Lucas’ anxiety disorder isn’t enough, mysterious holograms suddenly appear from the sky, heralding the end of the world. They bring an ultimatum: heed the warning and step through a portal-like vertex to safety, or stay and be destroyed by a comet they say is on a collision course with earth. How’s that for senior year stress?
          The holograms, claiming to be humans from the future, bring the promise of safety. But without the ability to verify their story, Alex is forced to consider what is best for her friends, her family, and herself.
          To stay or to go. A decision must be made.
          With the deadline of the holograms’ prophecy fast approaching, Alex feels as though she is living on a ticking time bomb, until she discovers it is much, much worse.

8. I Am J - Cris Beam

2011, Little Brown &  Co.
340 pgs.
Written for YA
Excellent/4

Setting:  Contemporary NYC
OSS:  Being born male in a female body and dealing with that, silently, for your whole life....that's where we meet J at the beginning of his senior year. 
1st sentence/s:  "I could smell the hostility, the pretense, the utter fakeness of it all before they even climbed the last set of stairs."

What an intriguing, informative read!  J, born Jenifer to a Puerto Rican mom and a Jewish dad, has always known that he was a boy, born with the wrong body.  Now in his senior year, and never having discussed this with anyone, he is ready to become the person he feels he has always been.  Dressing in layers of clothing to hide body parts that he feels shouldn't be there, speaking very little, so that his soft voice is not detected, have to be changed.  But he has to figure out a way to tell his parents, and he's afraid of their reaction.  Even though they've always seen the boy, they still consider him their daughter.  He loves them.  He so badly wants and needs their understanding. 

His only friend is Melissa, who seems to understand him, but who he's never discussed his predicament with.  Other than that he has no friends, and no one to talk to. Until now.  He's studied up.  He's learned about testosterone injections. And then he discovers a school that is FOR kids like him.  He makes a friend, reluctantly talks to a counselor, joins a support group.....and finally makes friends.  Friends that understand him, friends that he can talk. 

This was an intriguing, thoughtful read.  Cris Beam adds a wonderful afterward and a list of sites and books and information that would be helpful to any transgender teen.  She's volunteered at a school similar to J's, she is foster mom to a transgender teen.  She knows what she's talking about, which makes this even better.