A weekly meme on the books on the top of my list to read and books recently acquired, borrowed, or bought. Inspired by the Story Siren’s In My Mailbox.
Top of the Shelf / Currently Reading
What’s next on my to-read list for the upcoming week.
Bought
Basically all the books I’ve bought this week with the exception of Scrivener’s Moon, I decided to leave at home. The Marbury Lens is currently with my friend Alex. 
I really enjoyed both Rotters and The Marbury Lens so much that I just had to get copies for my personal library.
Gifted
I received a Random Act of Kindness from Briana at The Book Pixie. She sent me a copy of Two-Way Street! I was also a gifted a copy of The Accidental Hero from internship. 
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Memes, Top of the Shelf - Author: Andrew Smith, Author: Daniel Kraus, Author: Lauren Barnholdt, Author: Philip Reeve, Book: Rotters, Book: Scrivener's Moon, Book: The Accidental Hero, Book: The Marbury Lens, Book: Two-Way Street, Series: Hungry City Prequels | 
304 words
ROTTERS by Daniel Kraus
Publication Date: April 5th 2011 by Delacorte Press
Rating: 
Summary: Grave-robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It’s true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of nineteenth-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a sixteen-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey’s life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school.
Everything changes when Joey’s mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey’s father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey’s life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating.
Daniel Kraus’s masterful plotting and unforgettable characters make Rotters a moving, terrifying, and unconventional epic about fathers and sons, complex family ties, taboos, and the ever-present specter of mortality
Review Overview:
- Gritty, graphic, violent, and gut-wrenching; a great read that pushes you out of your comfort zone
- Complex novel full of realistic characters and relationships with vivid descriptions
- Similar in grit to THE MARBURY LENS, so it is definitely not for everyone
Read at your own risk. Daniel Kraus’s ROTTERS is far from a beautiful book. It is gritty, graphic, violent, gut-wrenching, and so, so addicting. Don’t be afraid to read outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes, the most unlikely books end up being one of the best you’ve read in a while.
ROTTERS is just one of those books in which the summary cannot do it justice. A few paragraphs and a handful of sentences cannot capture the essence of the novel. A son finds out his dad robs graves. Ok, so what? That is what the novel is essentially about, but it is also so much more. It’s about the history of their trade, a teen who lost his mom and just met his dad, the relationship with his dad, bullying, morals, growing up, and so much more. It’s complex on so many levels; a few sentences can’t cover what it’s about.
What I love most about ROTTERS is the development of the father/son relationship between Harnett and Joey. Their relationship is far from conventional which is the beauty of it. But Kraus has written it so wonderfully. The beginning is rocky and the progression is gradual. Changes didn’t happen overnight. Kraus is a master at character and relationship development.
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Book Review, Five Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: Daniel Kraus, Book: Rotters, Genre: Contemporary, Genre: Horror, Poetic Prose, Publisher: Delacorte Press | 584 words
- Action Packed
- Borrow It
- Hahaha Funny
- Keeps You Guessing
- Heartwarmer
- Makes You Think
- Masterful World-Building
- Must Buy
- Page-Turner
- Poetic Prose
- Romantic Read
- Tear-Jerker
