[JFF]⋙ PDF Free Conversion Katherine Howe 9780399167775 Books

Conversion Katherine Howe 9780399167775 Books

Download As PDF : Conversion Katherine Howe 9780399167775 Books

Conversion Katherine Howe 9780399167775 Books

First, I'd like to say good job to Katherine Howe for writing a YA novel that doesn't make teenagers and young adults look like degenerate hooligans. Lately, some of the YA books I've read could curl your hair. This is from someone who would sneak a peek at Harold Robbins as a teen, and now it seems for that type of entertainment, most teens can just pop any new book off the shelf and dive in. This is a good book in that respect, it's appropriate and well done without relying on shock treatment and overkill.

Second, if you read and enjoyed The Physick Book Of Deliverance Dane as I did, this doesn't really compare. Conversion is about a group of girls at a private Catholic school who suddenly, in the midst of their stressful senior year, develop an odd sickness that changes symptoms with each girl. One girl stutters and spits, another's hair falls out, another throws up. It's all very strange and many girls in the senior class get sick. Flashback to the 1700's where a young girl talks to a reverend about her part in a horrible occurrence in her village. The novel goes back and forth from St. Joan's school in Danvers, to Salem where Arthur Miller delved when he wrote The Crucible.

There is a lot to like about this book. It was interesting to go back to Salem for a bird's eye view of what occurred there so long ago, and to visit the present where the mystery illness has the same town crying foul regarding the school so much so that it gets national attention. Is the illness caused from pollution, is it from a vaccine or a virus? The hype the situation creates is a story in itself.

This is a great summer read for a teen who likes to read. I learned quite a bit and the tie in to The Crucible is very well done and interesting.


Tags : Conversion [Katherine Howe] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>From the New York Times</i> bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane</i> comes a chilling mystery— Prep</i> meets The Crucible</i>. </b>   It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy,Katherine Howe,Conversion,G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers,0399167773,Mysteries & Detective Stories,School & Education - General,Social Themes - Friendship,Epidemics,Epidemics;Fiction.,Friendship,JUVENILE FICTION Horror & Ghost Stories,JUVENILE FICTION School & Education,JUVENILE FICTION Social Issues Friendship,Massachusetts,Preparatory schools,Preparatory schools;Fiction.,Schools,Schools;Fiction.,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Fiction,Fiction-Suspense,Horror,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Grades 7-9 Ages 12-14,Mysteries (Young Adult),School & Education,School stories (Children's Teenage),TEEN'S FICTION MYSTERY & DETECTIVE,TEEN'S FICTION SUSPENSE,United States,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,YOUNG ADULT FICTION School & Education General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Friendship,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Mental Illness,Young Adult FictionSocial Themes - Friendship,Young Adult FictionSocial Themes - Mental Illness,Horror,School & Education,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,YOUNG ADULT FICTION School & Education General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Friendship,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Mental Illness,Young Adult FictionSocial Themes - Friendship,Young Adult FictionSocial Themes - Mental Illness,Fiction,Mysteries (Young Adult),YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),School stories (Children's Teenage)

Conversion Katherine Howe 9780399167775 Books Reviews

The Salem Witch Trials, as fictionalized by Arthur Miller in "The Crucible", was an object lesson in the twisting and denial of the life energy of young girls by an entire society. Revisiting of the power of the psyche on mass hysteria events have been popular. Sometimes this is induced by society itself as in the mass orgies of "Brave New World" or in the preternatural crowd events of Hitler. Still the true conversion reaction has been relatively scarce among adolescent girls. We think them free in many ways and thus immune to the need for hysteria. The term conversion itself, once a huge message in Freud's theory, is rarely invoked but almost always a diagnosis of the individual in the far more popular diagnosis post traumatic stress disorder.

In New York, a group of girls displayed the symptoms noted in this novel. An event of altered perception of reality and physical palsies draws into question the very ability of the society to protect its girls. In this narrative, the speaker is invoked as a close friend of the afflicted girls. In a literate move, she is assigned to study "The Crucible" and slips further into the observer stance. Alternately, we read the confession of Ann Putnam who did in fact admit to her conscious part in the hysteria of Salem.

This book ably and simply puts forth the conflict of the microcosms of afflicted girls. It brings into question the strictures of privilege and expectation. In a world of mystery illness such as autoimmune spectrums and the publishing of other syndromes by pharma intent of selling us the cure, this book reminds us of the steel bound link of body and mind. While doing so, the story of Colleen is clear and beguiling. The author resists the temptation to take the incidents to causes of undue pathos or unneeded drama leaving Colleen's observations to shine in unity with Ann Putnam from years ago.
Until I sat down to write this review, I didn't realize how annoyed I was with this book. I'm very disappointed because it had so much potential and it fell completely flat for me. From the beginning I found it hard to like with Colleen and I really struggled to stay invested. While I don't want to sound overly critical, I had a lot of problems with this story.

Colleen's behavior ranged from annoying to infuriating. Throughout the book I thought of her more as Cher from Clueless rather than a girl fighting for the top spot in a private school. While we are reminded over and over again that Colleen is very intelligent, she isn't written that way. There are many things Colleen ignores or is oblivious to, and while the reader puts the pieces together, Colleen takes much longer. This makes the story drag!

For me the biggest problem in this book was I didn't believe any of it. I didn't believe Colleen would be oblivious to all the things she was. I do not see how it was possible the student body didn't have any real sympathy for their classmates and instead viewed each other only as rivals for college admissions. Colleen was entirely focused getting into Harvard while her classmates were dropping to this illness like flies. I understand Howe was trying to create a competitive atmosphere between the students. However, it felt like she was writing down to her audience the whole time and didn't believe they could figure anything out.

Throughout the book I was much more interested in the Mystery Illness and the focus didn't shift to that until much later in the book. This didn't track for me. I thought this was going to be the main plot line of the whole book and Mystery Illness never became the sole focus of the story. I was compelled to keep reading, but only to find out what the Mystery Illness was. That explanation didn't give me many answers though so I was just frustrated overall by this book.

Am I the only one though? I haven't heard many people talk about this and I feel like I'm picking apart this book. I was this frustrated while reading, but am I the only one who had issues with this book?

Quick Thoughts Though this book was based on true events, I didn't find the characters very believable. The budding romance in this book was cute, but even puppy love couldn't offset the other problems I had with this book. By the end of the story I was annoyed with everyone and the ending did not give me any answers.
First, I'd like to say good job to Katherine Howe for writing a YA novel that doesn't make teenagers and young adults look like degenerate hooligans. Lately, some of the YA books I've read could curl your hair. This is from someone who would sneak a peek at Harold Robbins as a teen, and now it seems for that type of entertainment, most teens can just pop any new book off the shelf and dive in. This is a good book in that respect, it's appropriate and well done without relying on shock treatment and overkill.

Second, if you read and enjoyed The Physick Book Of Deliverance Dane as I did, this doesn't really compare. Conversion is about a group of girls at a private Catholic school who suddenly, in the midst of their stressful senior year, develop an odd sickness that changes symptoms with each girl. One girl stutters and spits, another's hair falls out, another throws up. It's all very strange and many girls in the senior class get sick. Flashback to the 1700's where a young girl talks to a reverend about her part in a horrible occurrence in her village. The novel goes back and forth from St. Joan's school in Danvers, to Salem where Arthur Miller delved when he wrote The Crucible.

There is a lot to like about this book. It was interesting to go back to Salem for a bird's eye view of what occurred there so long ago, and to visit the present where the mystery illness has the same town crying foul regarding the school so much so that it gets national attention. Is the illness caused from pollution, is it from a vaccine or a virus? The hype the situation creates is a story in itself.

This is a great summer read for a teen who likes to read. I learned quite a bit and the tie in to The Crucible is very well done and interesting.