Marcy Collier
School is back in session. For those in the Route 19 group who took time off over the summer holiday, the beginning of a new school year means getting back to a
normal writing routine. For our readers, Marcy and I have another book to add to your
fall reading list.
Welcome to September’s version of - First Friday - Five Favorite Things - Debut
Novel Day. In this monthly series, we ask five simple questions about a
debut novel that will hopefully entice anyone reading this post to pick up the
novel and read it themselves, and/or give them at a glance some insight into
the author's writing style and voice as well as how some of the characters might
think or act. We do this by presenting, first, answers to our Five Favorite Things, followed by the
author's answers in a follow-up post.
This month we're pleased to highlight debut YA novelist,
Lindsay Smith and her novel, Sekret.
Set in 1960's Communist Russia, the main character, Yulia,
must disguise her thoughts and keep her emotions and special abilities in check
in order to survive. The KGB wants her to use her power for covert operations, but since she’s against using her abilities to harm others she has to play the
game in order to keep her mother and brother alive.
1) What is your favorite line or paragraph from the novel as it relates to
the main character's development and/or growth?
Dave – At this point in the
novel, Yulia, the main character, has accepted her ability to read other’s
thoughts. Here, she decides she will now become more powerful than,
Rostov, the KGB agent in charge of the program she has been forced to
participate in.
Someday, I promised myself that I will be strong enough that
Rostov can’t pull my strings. I can no longer despise myself for this power. I
must make it my own.
Marcy – At this point in the story, Yulia discovers a
truth that shocks her after touching a document as she watches memories unfold.
She doesn’t want to believe what she sees in these memories.
But I can’t control it. The memories are a hand reaching from
the water, pulling me down. I’m screaming, I’m pulling away, but their dead
eyes are locked onto mine and I won’t let go until I’m drowning with them.
I won’t reveal what Yulia sees, but she won’t report to Major
Kruzenko the truth she discovers. When Kruzenko presses her for information, Yulia lies.
“It’s – it’s nothing. A secretary
preparing documents.”
2) What is your favorite chapter ending or cliffhanger?
Dave - There were a lot of
cliffhangers I liked, and two I particularly loved, one of which I couldn’t use
without giving away the story. So I chose this one. For information purposes, a
“scrubber” is an individual who has the power to change and to erase your
thoughts, (or as in the scene below, multiple people) and to make you believe
and do the things he or she wishes.
I charge up the hill. Valentin doesn’t even stare. I glimpse
Rostov in the trees, but he, too, is lost in a daydream. The crowd shifts
around me; no one complains when I push to the front of the line for the Ferris
wheel. I press some kopecks into the operator’s palm. He opens the door to help
me in - - and as I jolt out of my reverie, the scrubber climbs into the car with
me, and the metal door slams shut.
Marcy – I turned the page so fast reading this
cliffhanger at the end of chapter two, I would have ripped the page if I were
reading a paper book instead of an electronic one.
They yank me from the doorway. If I were stronger, perhaps I could
break free, but I’m weak from too few rations and too many years of unfocused
fear. They press a rag against my mouth, and the last thing I see is our old
family photo with Mama and Papa smiling right at me before I’m lost in endless
black.
3) Who is your favorite secondary character and why?
Dave – My favorite secondary
character is Valentin. He, like Yulia, has a burning desire to be free from the
iron hand of the KGB and does not feel comfortable using his powers to harm or
manipulate others. Following, or a few examples:
“They have more than just the scrubbers,” Valentin says, to his
plate of Chicken Kiev. “They know what we’re doing, and their blocking us. It’s
another useless game, another useless race. Space, weapons, psychics. Arms
races, all of them, going nowhere.”
This quote follows a brief
conversation between he and Yulia about music from the west, Elvis Presley and
the Beatles, that he has been allowed to listen to because of his cooperation
with the KGB.
“Not all of it.” He props one hand on his forehead, and his
fingertips touch my hair. “But this is music, music when restraints have been
lifted. It’s the difference between plants growing in a fenced-and garden, in
the same plants left to conquer an entire field.”
Marcy – It is hard to choose, but I suppose that I
would pick Valentin with his intensity and concern for Yulia. In this
paragraph, the two are communicating through thoughts. Typically they block
their thoughts with music.
Valentin’s fidgeting brings his knee to rest against mine. I start
to pull away – but his frantic jazz music ebbs and two words slip off of him
onto me, like a drop of sweat.
Let’s talk.
Our eyes meet. His are a burned shade of brown, smoldering like
the last winter log. I’m thankful he wears glasses because I feel like I need
shielding from his intense stare. I drop my gaze and slowly peel the thrumming
bass of Shostakovich away from my thoughts. What do you want to talk about? We
aren’t making physical contact now, but if he’s capable of what Kruzenko
claims…
I know you’re scared – hurting, perhaps. You have good reason for
it. I can’t blame you for wanting to run.
Great. Does everyone know about my plan? I bury my head between my
knees.
4) What is your favorite line or paragraph of description?
Dave – I picked two. I had to, one from early
in the novel and one from later. Both are so visual and both give you an idea
of the world in which Yulia lives.
The covered truck bed smells like rotted
cabbage and wilted lettuce. The soldier on the bench across from me holds an
AK-47 across his lap, casually, like it is no more threatening than a walking
cane; but his eyes are unlit matches, and his arms, his steady fingers, are
full of energy waiting to be unleashed. He is potential; he is a threat. But
when our knees bang together, I get a whiff of his thoughts - the kielbassi
sandwich awaiting him for lunch and the nightclub dancer awaiting him for
dinner. He isn’t plotting my execution just yet, and I mean to keep it that
way.
East Berlin is a concrete crypt. Everywhere I
look, stark, flat buildings rise out of the shell-shocked rubble and watch us
with broken windows for eyes. The streets hold no cars. The old buildings -
from before Stalin seized this land for his own - look safe from one side, but
when we pass them, the rest is crumpled by artillery fire, the wreckage blocked
off by barbed-wire fences. The few people we pass fix their stares on their
feet and hurry past us. Coal smoke and sulfur linger around every corner as we
wade through half-melted black slush.
Marcy –These two sentences were powerful and foreshadowed the story
nicely.
That girl dared to ask me what I am? I am the weed growing
through the sidewalk’s cracks, resilient, but knowing I’ll someday be ripped
out by the root.
5) What is your favorite line of dialogue? This particular line comes
from earlier in the novel. Yulia is reliving the scene (by handling a stuffed
animal) of a former team member, Anastasia, who committed suicide. She asks her
commander how Anastasia got to be this way. If knowing this information from Kruzenko doesn’t
get Yulia to conform, what will?
Dave – “She thought she could cultivate her
powers on her own, without our assistance. She hungered for more and more, when
she wasn’t ready. This is the fate of all of those who do not learn control.
She did not listen to our rules.” Kruzenko holds her hand out to usher me out
the door. “She fought against our teachings, and it drove her mad.”
Marcy
– Larissa’s gift is to see the future.
Although most of us do not know our futures, I thought Larrisa’s comment about
her ability was both wise and insightful and showed me a lot about her
character.
“I don’t see
everything,” she says. “I see all the possible everythings.”
To read
more about Lindsay Smith’s debut YA novel Sekret please go to:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindsaySmithDC
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