Review: The Lens and the Looker by Lory S. Kaufman

Book Details:
The Lens and the Looker: Book #1 of the Verona Series (History Camp: the Verona Trilogy)
By Lory S. Kaufman
Genre: Young Adult
Published 2011, The Fiction Studio
Paperback, 322 pages
ISBN: 9781936558025


Synopsis:

          It's the 24th century and humans, with the help of artificial intelligences, (A.I.s) have finally created the perfect society. To make equally perfect citizens for this world, the elders have created History Camps, full-sized recreations of cities from Earth’s distant pasts. Here teens live the way their ancestors did, doing the same dirty jobs and experiences the same degradations. History Camps teach youths not to repeat the mistakes that almost caused the planet to die. But not everything goes to plan.Like in all groups of youth, there are those who rebel, “hard cases” who just don’t get it. In this first installment of a trilogy, three spoiled teens from the year 2347 are kidnapped back in time to 1347 Verona, Italy. There they are abandoned and left with only two choices: adapt to the harsh medieval ways, or die. Hansum, almost 17, is good looking, athletic and, as his A.I. teacher says, he can charm the fuzz off a peach. Shamira is 15. She has green eyes, auburn hair, and a Caucasian complexion. That's something people don't see that much of in the 24th century. She's sassy, independent and has an artistic genius for drawing. Lincoln, 14, is the smart-aleck. But you don't have to scratch too far beneath the surface to find his insecurities.There are two types of artificial intelligences (A.I.s) in the 24th-century. The first are authorized by society and very conservative. Then there are ‘genies’. Made by black-market hackers, or blackers, these rascals are the bi-polar opposite of their unadventurous cousins. A genie’s aim in life is to help rebellious youth make mischief. Pan, is a very mischievous genie. A curious mix of past and future, he’s an eccentric, all-knowing, holographic artificial intelligence in the cartoon shape of the vaunted Greek god. Pan's antics and insights get the kids both into and out of trouble.Our three teen protagonists meet at a History Camp where everything and everybody must act like it is 14th-century Verona, Italy. Society’s plan is to put trouble-making kids into situations where they are “scared straight”. But Hansum knows better. He’s aware that behind the scenes there are armies of humans and A.I.’s making sure they are safe. Using Pan, the teens devise a plan to drive the History Camp enactors crazy, and they succeed. But what they’re not prepared for is that a History Camp elder from the 31st century, (where time-travel is possible) kidnaps them back to the real medieval Verona. Here they are indentured to an alcoholic lens maker. Now, unquestionably, the dangers are real.All of this is hardly the ideal environment to fall in love – but, for Hansum, that’s exactly what happens. Guilietta is the beautiful daughter of the master the teens are working for. She becomes the star-crossed and time-crossed lover of our story’s Romeo - Hansum. In fact, the novel is peppered with lots of fun allusions to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In an attempt to survive the teenage trio, with Pan’s help, risks introducing technology from the future. It could save them – or it could change history.

The premise of this book was quite intriguing, so I had high hopes to see how this concept of "History Camps" played out using the city of Verona in the year 1347. What I did not really understand was why Hansum and Lincoln were specifically cast as lens-maker apprentices. Kaufman goes into extreme detail regarding the intricacies of making lenses for eye glasses with rudimentary tools of that time period, and quite a bit of the book is devoted to the education of the process and the modernization of the tools used. Seeing the lens-making business in practice in the "real" Verona showed that the "lenses for the eyes" contributed as more of a novelty for the wealthy and educated than a wide-spread tool used by the masses. In contrast, Shamira's role as kitchen girl made much more sense to me, as that is a generic role that would not necessarily impede the progression of plot.
Backing up, I was very interested in the present-day time period of 2347 and the few details that Kaufman spared regarding this society. Unfortunately, not much is explained about how this society came to be. A brief explanation is given for the planetary population of 300 million, along with other random details interspersed throughout the book, such as every child born is paired with an A.I., people are implanted with a device that keeps disease and infection at bay, and parents are only allowed to have one child with a lottery sometimes allowing for a second child. The purpose of the History Camps are explained through the rebellious attitudes of the three main characters and how they can easily manipulate the system for their own entertainment. As a parent, the word that continually echoed through my head regarding these children in the Hard-Time History Camp is "Spoiled!" Though they are supposed to be learning about how the rebellion of the human populations of the past caused everything from war, to disease, to poverty and famine, the way the children are coddled and protected from any sort of real pain or hardship makes me wonder how these History Camps ever accomplished anything of lasting value in any child.
Once the children are brought to the real Verona and abandoned as orphans, they finally begin to get a taste of real difficulty and hardship, but this is where the believability ends for me. The children had a single day in the History Camp Verona to get acquainted with their roles, and they show up in the real Verona as near-experts, maneuvering the details of their jobs to accommodate for comfort and ease of use that the family they work for is not familiar with, of course all with the help and direction of a very convenient genie. On top of all of this, the three children become agreeable, cooperative, and hard-working practically overnight, with little sign of the rebellious tendencies that put them in a History Camp in the first place. These transitions in character development felt forced to me.
Another aspect that really bugged me from the beginning of the book was the awkwardness of the dialog throughout the book, specifically regarding the children's speech. It felt stilted and over-simplified, and slowed down my reading because I consistently felt that children today did not speak like this. Some of the speech of the people native to the real Verona also seemed strange, but I attributed that to the speech of the time period.
Many of the characters took on unique facets that made them rather memorable to me, such as Ugilino's looks and arrogance, Signora della Cappa's madness, and Shamira's artistic inclinations. The budding romance between Hansum, or "Romero", and Guilietta copies the Shakespearean play, "Romeo and Juliet", in many ways, down to the presence of a Father Lurenzano, and I have to wonder about Kaufman's motivations for working this tale into the plot. And again, their romance also felt forced and over-the-top, missing the reality-warping conviction that is obvious in the original Shakespeare story.
I also have to wonder how these advancements that the three children are introducing to 1347 Verona are actually affecting the progression of time, since this is a much harped-upon concern regarding time travel. The only thing that is apparent to both the children and the reader is the quaint changes made to the appearance of the genie. Something else that is also mentioned early on is that this is also the same time period as the Black Plague, which has yet to make an appearance. Hopefully, the next book in the trilogy will address these things, The Bronze and the Brimstone: The Verona Trilogy, Book 2.
This book seemed geared to appeal to pre-teens and young teens in many ways, but as an adult reader, it left much to be desired for me.

The Cover: This cover felt sort of amateurish to me, from the freakish expression of the boy's face, to the random (female?) hand sticking out of the golden bubbles, to the telescope, or "looker", on the cover that I know is out-of-place from reading the book. The one-sentence description also felt awkward, and I badly wanted to reword it.

First Line: "One of Hansum's earliest memories was of his mother telling him he was just like his name sounded in the old English, handsome."
While this explains the strange name of Hansum, this does not really tell me anything about the book itself, nor does it really entice me to keep reading.

Read For: Off the Shelf Challenge

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher for review purposes.*

Best Overlooked Book Battle 2011: Round 2

I am participating in The Shady Glade's Best Overlooked Book Battle 2011. The Shady Glade ran a similar book battle last year, and I enjoyed judging in it so much that I decided to do it again this year.

My judging partner this year is Chloe from YA Booklover Blog. Together we are judging between two books:

Kathleen's Story (Angels in Pink)

by Lurlene McDaniel

          It’s the summer after sophomore year and Raina has convinced her best friends since the sixth grade, Kathleen and Holly, to spend their summer as “pink angels” in Parker-Sloan General Hospital’s summer volunteer program. Kathleen is reluctant to do it—she has enough responsibility at home caring for her sick mother. But when she meets Carson, a cute and flirty fellow volunteer, she is happy that she joined the program. Or, at least, she thinks she is. Carson’s “old friend” Stephanie keeps showing up at all the wrong times. And Kathleen’s mother keeps complaining that she needs Kathleen at home. But with friends Raina and Holly by her side and her Pink Angel t-shirt on her back, Kathleen is able to realize that helping others also allows you to help yourself.

Out of My Mind
by Sharon M. Draper

         Melody has a photographic memory. She remembers everything that has ever happened to her in precise, exact detail—from the words to a song she once heard when she was little to what she ate for a typical mundane breakfast. She also knows thousands and thousands of facts. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always—and there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school—but, NO ONE knows because she has virtually no way of communicating. Melody has cerebral palsy. All most people see is a special needs kid--never suspecting that trapped inside this eleven-year old girl is more information and insight than they ever imagined.
Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is until she discovers a computerized talking device that will allow her communicate for the first time ever. A dream come true! At last, she's able to talk, to be in a regular classroom, and have regular conversations! Melody even joins the Whiz Kids Quiz Team—and becomes one of their most valuable members. She’s showing everyone what she is really capable of and surprising even herself with the power of her computerized voice. But, what if people—teachers, classmates, friends—don’t want Melody to succeed? And what if Melody’s new voice isn’t loud enough to be heard over all her difficulties?
From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Melody is learning to communicate with the world…and teaching the world how to communicate with her. If you are brave enough, strong enough, if you can bear to listen, hers is a story you need to hear.

What book are you rooting for?

A Bad Opinion of Young Adult Fiction

Recently, the Wall Street Journal had an article that attacked the darker themes that tend to over-saturate contemporary Young Adult fiction. The article is quite biased against any kind of YA literature that does not fall into the (non-existing) category of happy-happy goody-two-shoes plotting. With a grand total of one mother, one librarian, and one bookseller quoted, I really do not see how this is anything but a poorly-researched opinion piece, favoring those who would happily ban 95% of all literature ever produced - and no, I'm not exaggerating. Once a person crosses that invisible line of wanting to ban a book, nothing is too sacred to be censored, not even the holy books.
Gayle Forman wrote an excellent rebuttal to the article that explores the journalistic relativism of the whole mess, so I won't explore that territory. I did compile a list of the titles that the original article cites as examples of the lurid and risqué topics found in YA literature:


The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic by Robin S. Wagner
I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
Forever by Judy Blume
Shine by Lauren Myracle
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Only 14 titles, really? And since only half of these are current releases, it's pretty pathetic support for such an over-generalization of YA literature. I have always been a bookworm, and the YA genre has continued to appeal to me even now, in my late 20's. Since I prefer variations of fantasy and romance themes, I can only remember reading one of these books in my life, but never have I had a problem with finding YA literature to fill my reading obsession. That tells me that there is plenty to go around to fill anyone's taste in that genre alone, not even including all the other books that don't fall under the YA heading, but can still be appealing to young adults.
As for the dark themes, when have these themes NOT been present in literature, especially the "classic" stuff that young adults are usually required to read in school? Look no further than the works of Shakespeare for proof.
As for my opinion as a parent, I know darn well that children have an ingrained thirst for knowledge, especially when their desire for independence gets stronger in their teens. If they perceive something as forbidden or wrong, well that hunger to KNOW gets kicked up a notch. If there is anything that school teaches, it's that anything you want to know can be found in a book. A good parent reads the same stuff his child reads and makes a point of using this literature to further instruct the child in right and wrong, as well as encouraging the child to KEEP READING. A bad parent takes the book, refuses to talk to the poor child about it, and then turns it into a lawsuit to force their control on everyone else's children. And the child of the bad parent? He reads the book at a friend's place, feeling combinations of guilt, rebellion, shame, and anger, and misses out on a constructive, mature discussion of a possibly sensitive topic. That's if he even bothers to read anything ever again.
Yes, there have been books that I have hated beyond all reason, books that I have thrown across the room, hours wasted on books that I will never get back, but I will never support banning books for any reason. Even if you can't understand why an author would choose to write a certain book, address a specific topic in a certain fashion, does not mean that author should not have written it. Books are as common and varied as opinions, and everyone has the right to write a book as much as everyone has the right to speak his mind. Banning books was never about solving problems, only about controlling minds and stifling freedom.

Not to mention, in today's digital age banned books tend to hit bestseller lists post-banning. Ineffective, to put it mildly.