[115] Books Reviewed
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Showing posts with label julia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label julia. Show all posts

Monday, December 29, 2008

Imaginary Enemy by Julia Gonzalez

() The main character is a 'lazy', sarcastic girl named Jane. The story follows her throughout her life and examines her interaction with her family and friends.

The worst problems Jane faces, she creates an imaginary enemy to blame them on, named Bubba. She writes letters to Bubba and keeps them in a folder she's shown to no one. Most problems are all typical of her age and have to do with her own actions.

One day, Jane receives a letter in the mail from Bubba. How can an imaginary entity write back? And he wants to meet! Too weird.

Overall, this book explores some of the typical troubles associated with growing up and finding ones' identity. It's cute but a bit young and typical.

Dirty Work by Julia Bell

() This story explores the horrendous underground practice of sex trafficking. It brings together two girls from completely different worlds as they find themselves stuck and enslaved to the brutal men running the show.

Hope is a girl from a very wealthy, prominent family. Oksana is from a very poor section of Russia, and her mother is dead. Oksana is tricked into and then trapped in the prostitution trade. During 'business' travels, Hope tries to help Oksana escape, but only manages to get herself kidnapped by the trade men too.

The author avoids getting too much into the details of the horrible activities that go on in trafficking, but she does spread awareness and shed truth about its horrific nature. The narrative itself is a little unrealistic because Hope is eventually able to get back to her family with nothing more than mental trauma and some scratches, but I suppose that's typical of a young adult book.
All books reviewed can be obtained at the
Santa Clara County Library
Many of these reviews can also be found at Amazon.com