Sparky by Jenny Offill

I love sloths. They’re cute, sleepy, and pretty much harmless. I read Sparky and it seems to me that the moral of the story is that sloths aren’t good pets, or sometimes you just have to make do with what you can get…

The mom is obviously not paying much attention to her poor lonely child, and instead of suggesting a fish or something practical, tells the kid that she can get something that doesn’t require any care. She is dismissive. A good point in the book then comes when she gets help from a librarian. But her information hunt leads to her getting a sloth in the mail who looks depressed most of the book because he just wants to sleep. The girl is disappointed in Sparky and gets made fun of and in the end she even takes his cookie away! The sloth looks disappointed because he is supposed to be fulfilling this little girl’s dreams and is falling short. He knows this because he gets poked with a stick and is made to do strange activities. He never even gets to go in the house or get a hug. This book could have gone a different route and explained the traits of sloths or where they’re from. It could have said that they deal with deforestation and sometimes people have to rescue them. Instead it is a disheartening story about a girl and her disappointing pet that we don’t really know anything about except that he’s lazy. I thought the story and illustrations were sad and I’d be much more likely to give a child a nonfiction book about sloths or at least something that won’t make them cry.

Relentless

Relentless is a book written by an athletic/life trainer who trained greats such as Michael Jordon, Charles Barkley, and Kobe Bryant. As the title states, the book is about how to go from “good to great to unstoppable” by being relentless in your pursuits. The good thing about the book is that it helps to put in perspective the process of achieving a goal with a no-nonsense attitude; figure out what you want and work as hard as possible to attain it. Grover states that there is no talent in working hard, but you will have an advantage if you do because most people do not out of fear, laziness, apathy, arrogance, etc.

Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood has proven herself as a writer with a gift for storytelling and the art of subtlety. Oryx and Crake offers a ‘what if’ scenario that doesn’t overplay science fiction clichés or atmosphere, but places the reader in a world similar to our own. Genetic engineering and experimentation has already happened in our lifetimes with cloning, stem cell research, and genetically modified organisms by large corporations. Bioethics is still an issue on our horizon, but in Jimmy’s world, the Monsantos of the world have won out and are splicing animal DNA to create new organisms better suited to human needs. Simulacrums are engineered in labs, barely resembling their original counterparts. Society is driven by consumption, pharmaceuticals, and an apathetic perspective.  

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

This was a cute book that really held my interest from the beginning to the end. Penny farthing is a girl whose family has a history of genetic heart failure. After almost dying, Penny receives a second chance by getting a mechanical wind-up heart. That doesn’t slow her down much though. 

Amusing Ourselves to Death

The author begins with a comparison of Orwellian Marshall law and Brave New World’s apathetic utopia. He makes the argument that the apathetic utopia is becoming more of a reality as people are consumed by distraction, pleasure, and apathy. I always thought the Brave New World reality sounded pretty good, other than the fact that the the will to progress and overcome situational circumstance is taken away with test tube babies predestined for a life that lacks fundamental choices based on genetics.