Tedha
Baby of mine

Does Sarah Zarr’s latest live up to her previous
award-winning novels?

By Livia Turnbull

like to read Young Adult fiction; there’s something about
[= way it’s written that differentiates it from other

classifications of its type. It allows for a variety of books out
there to have that multiple-demographic appeal you can’t always
find in strict adult or children’s books. As I found on a trip to a
bookstore over Thanksgiving weekend, Sara Zarr’s How to Save
a Life tries just so to be one of those books.

How to Save a Life focuses largely on two girls: Jill
MacSweeny and Mandy Kalinowski. Jill has recently lost her
father, and her mother is adopting a baby as a means of coping
with loss. Mandy, on the other hand, is a pregnant teenager
heading oyer to Denver, wishing to participate in an open
adoption. This open adoption is going to affect everybody: Jill
believes you cannot replace one death with another’s life so soon
and Mandy wants her baby to grow up in a good family. Over
the course of the novel these two girls must learn to accept their
new lives, and find ways to handle the changes that are taking
place.

I’ve never read any of Zarr’s previous works, but to me this
book felt rather harmless. In a different time and place, subjects
like death, adoption, and teen pregnancy might have been
considered controversial to write about, but in 2011 it just seems
so ordinary. I suppose it could be considered controversial for an
Evangelical Christian—like Zarr—to write about such subjects,
but this book makes barely any effort to stand out from other
Young Adult books of its kind.

The characters are realistic, albeit somewhat predictable, in
the ways they deal with their trials. Still, I can tell that Zarr is
trying to send a message—even though it too is predictable—
about being yourself and not shutting out the world around you.
This message is handled well, but at some points it seems to be a
little over the top in its delivery.

This book might be a good choice for people who want
something to read whilst unwinding from midterms —that is, if
they aren’t sick of books already. For the most part though, How
to Save a Life desperately yearns to be a classic, yet won’t reach
past shelf-filler status.

 

 

We got our kicks to a hell of a beat

Foster the People pump up the kicks at the Commodore Ballroom
By Allie Davison, Staff Writer

ast Monday, I was a little
; apprehensive about attending
Foster the People’s second
show of the same night (the first sold-
out show had been at 7:30 p.m.), but
luckily they did not disappoint, as
the crowd belted out lyrics from their
opening song, “Houdini,” to their set

experience; theirs was the smallest,
most overcrowded show of the festival;
the sound kept cutting out, and Foster’s
attempt at awkward audience banter .
was just awful. However, that was back
in May, and they have clearly come

a long way since. Fresh from their
appearance on Saturday Night Live
(where Kenny G performed sax for
“Houdini”) just two days before, Foster

“All of my favourites—“I Miss You,” “I Would Do Anything,” and “Call
It What You Want”—were clearly recognizable, and | was able to dance
up a storm with the other fans on the packed dance floor.”

     

after, the group ran back on stage and

to perform their biggest hit, the song of

the summer, “Pumped Up Kicks.”
Overall, the show was excellent.

It was at my favourite venue, the

bands didn’t take unbelievably long in

between sets, and, most importantly,

Thankfully, Foster the People
didn’t have that issue. All of my
favourites—“I Miss You,” “I Would
Do Anything,” and “Call It What You
Want” — were clearly recognizable, and
I was able to dance up a storm with the

other fans on the packed dance floor.

ender, “Helena Beat.”

Front man Mark Foster (vocals,
keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitar,
percussion) and his People, Mark
Pontius (drums and extra percussion)
and Cubbie Fink (bass and backing
vocals), have finally neared the end of

the People was full of mad energy and
slick dance moves Monday night.

The relatively unheard of band
The Cults opened for Foster at the
Commodore. Although I had just
been listening to The Cults earlier that

a year-long tour that, if anything, has
only made them better.

When I saw Foster the People
earlier this year at the Sasquatch
Music Fest, it was a rather painful

evening, I found them extremely hard
to recognize live— possibly due to their
poor sound system. Although their hit
song “Go Outside” is currently one

of my favourites, I nearly missed it
altogether.

As Foster the People left the
stage—after playing through the
majority of their album Torches—a
cheer of “Pumped Up Kicks” started
filling the room, getting louder and
louder as the minutes passed. Not long

the music was spectacular. It was

one of those concerts that truly make
you believe music can fix all of your
problems, because when you’re there
listening to them, problems don’t exist;

definitely a night to remember.
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