Pa`nop´ti`con ( noun). A
circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be
observed at all times. [Greek panoptos 'seen by all'] Anais Hendricks,
fifteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for the Panopticon, a
home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led
her here, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and there is
blood on Anais's school uniform. Smart, funny and fierce, Anais is a
counter-culture outlaw, a bohemian philosopher in sailor shorts and a
pillbox hat. She is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by
just about every adult she has ever met. The residents of the Panopticon
form intense bonds, heightened by their place on the periphery, and
Anais finds herself part of an ad hoc family there. Much more suspicious
are the social workers, especially Helen, who is about to leave her job
for an elephant sanctuary in India but is determined to force Anais to
confront the circumstances of her birth before she goes. Looking up at
the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais knows her fate: she
is part of an experiment, she always was, it's a given, a liberty - a
fact. And the experiment is closing in. In language dazzling, energetic
and pure, The Panopticon introduces us to a heartbreaking young heroine and an incredibly assured and outstanding new voice in fiction.
Best Bits: This one was very hard for me to rate. I'm very picky about the books I accept, because I have a hard time accepting books I don't think I'll like (since I know that author's blood/sweat/tears/potential papercuts go into their books). Unfortunately, my expectations for this one weren't what I received. I will say this: there are going to be people who will laude this book. The writing is gritty and doesn't shy away from profanity, or really sharing what the world can be like for those who get the short end of the stick. Fagan creates real characters, too. They're so real, that I know some people are going to be a bit uncomfortable with what they do and say. That's the sign that Fagan has captured something that most fiction doesn't have.
Nit Picks: When I received this book, I thought there was going to be a paranormal twist to it. When I accept adult fiction, I am always looking for crossover appeal, and somehow I think I totally missed what this book was really about. On one hand, I appreciated the mental health aspect, but on the other I felt like I kept turning pages waiting for something big/paranormal to occur. For me, this book wasn't what I was looking for so it's getting a lower rating for me. I do admit, however, that if you like gritty, realistic adult fiction, this one might be the perfect thing to kick off fall with!
The Panopticon
By Jenni Fagan
Published by Hogarth
282 Pages
Received for an honest review
Rating: D
What is teaser tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.
"I should be playing the birthday game, but I cannae, not while there's witnesses around. The birthday game has to be played in secret--or the experiment will find out."
-The Panopticon, Page 1, by Jenni Fagan
Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews! It's a way to highlight the books that everyone got throughout the week.
For Review:
Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky
With Judy Blume-like honesty and insight, this sequel to Anatomy of a Boyfriend is about life after first love--romance, sex, friendship, family, and the ups and downs of life as a single girl.
After
everything that happened—my first boyfriend, my first time, my first
breakup—jumping back into the dating game seemed like the least healthy
thing I could do. It’s not that I didn’t want to fall in love again,
since that’s about the best feeling ever. But as a busy college premed
still raw from heartbreak, which is the worst feeling ever, I figured
I’d lie low for a while. Of course, as soon as I stopped looking for
someone, an impossibly amazing—and devastatingly cute—guy came along,
and I learned that having a new boyfriend is the quickest way to recover
from losing your old one.
The moment we got together, all my
preconceptions about romance and sex were turned upside down. I
discovered physical and emotional firsts I never knew existed. I learned
to let go of my past by living in the present. It was thrilling. It was
hot. It was just what the doctor ordered.
But I couldn’t avoid my future forever.
In Daria Snadowsky’s daring follow-up to Anatomy of a Boyfriend, eighteen-year-old Dominique explores the relationship between love and lust, and the friendships that see us through.
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan
Anais Hendricks,
fifteen, is in the back of a police car. She is headed for the
Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember
what’s happened, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and
Anais’s school uniform is covered in blood.
Raised in foster care
from birth and moved through twenty-three placements before she even
turned seven, Anais has been let down by just about every adult she has
ever met. Now a counter-culture outlaw, she knows that she can only rely
on herself. And yet despite the parade of horrors visited upon her
early life, she greets the world with the witty, fierce insight of a
survivor.
Anais finds a sense of belonging among the residents of
the Panopticon – they form intense bonds, and she soon becomes part of
an ad hoc family. Together, they struggle against the adults that keep
them confined. When she looks up at the watchtower that looms over the
residents though, Anais knows her fate: she is an anonymous part of an
experiment, and she always was. Now it seems that the experiment is
closing in.
Named one of the best books of the year by the Times
Literary Supplement and the Scotsman, The Panopticon is an astonishingly
haunting, remarkable debut novel. In language dazzling, energetic and
pure, it introduces us to a heartbreaking young heroine and an
incredibly assured and outstanding new voice in fiction.
The Circle by Sara B. Elfgren & Mats Strandberg
On a night after the
apparent suicide of high school student Elias Malmgren, a blood-red moon
fills the night sky. Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her
pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park
on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates--Vanessa, Linnea,
Anna-Karin, Rebecka and Ida--arrive, compelled the same force. A
mystical being takes over Ida's body and tells them they are fated to
fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. The park is a safe haven;
the school, a place of danger. The six are wildly different and
definitely not friends…but they are the Chosen Ones.
As the weeks
pass, each girl discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin
exploring their powers, but they are not all firmly committed to their
mission--to discover the truth about Elias's death. Then a horrible
tragedy strikes within the circle. Newly determined to fight the evil
forces, they begin to learn magic from The Book of Patterns, an ancient
work with a will of its own that reveals different things to different
witches.
In this gripping first installment of the Engelsfors
Trilogy, a parallel world emerges in which teenage dreams, insanely
annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love collide with flirtation,
dangerous forces, and ancient magic. An international sensation with
rights sold in 24 countries, The Circle is razor-sharp and remarkable
from start to finish.
Purchased:
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The Once and
Future King is T.H. White’s masterful retelling of the saga of King
Arthur, a fantasy classic as legendary as Excalibur and Camelot, and a
poignant story of adventure, romance and magic that has enchanted
readers for generations.
Once upon a time, a young boy
called “Wart” was tutored by a magician named Merlyn in preparation for a
future he couldn’t possibly imagine. A future in which he would ally
himself with the greatest knights, love a legendary queen and unite a
country dedicated to chivalrous values. A future that would see him
crowned and known for all time as Arthur, King of the Britons.
During
Arthur’s reign, the kingdom of Camelot was founded to cast
enlightenment on the Dark Ages, while the knights of the Round Table
embarked on many a noble quest. But Merlyn foresaw the treachery that
awaited his liege: the forbidden love between Queen Guinevere and
Lancelot, the wicked plots of Arthur’s half-sister Morgause, and the
hatred she fostered in Mordred that would bring an end to the king’s
dreams for Britain—and to the king himself.
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