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Pen Pal
Em is a twelve-year-old girl in a floating community off the Gulf Coast. Kaya is a political activist in a terrifying prison. They are pen pals.Em’s wistful message in a bottle finds its way to Kaya, imprisoned above the molten lava of the Ruby Lake. Both are living precarious lives, at the mercy of societal, natural, and perhaps supernatural forces beyond their control. Kaya’s letters inspire Em, and Em’s comfort Kaya—but soon this correspondence becomes more than personal. Individual lives, communities, and even the fate of an entire nation will be changed by this exchange of letters. Pen Pal is a story of friendship and bravery across age, distance, and culture, at the intersection of the natural and supernatural world.
352 pages, Paperback
First published December 2, 2013
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March 31, 2023Reread, 3/30. Still a favorite. This book has such heart.
Em Baptiste, twelve years old, throws a bottled letter into the Gulf Sea. It ends up at an island on the western edge of the Pacific rim, in the hands of a woman suspended over a volcano as a political prisoner. Kaya, lonely and desperately worried, writes back, and so begins an unlikely correspondence that has consequences rippling outward.
Em lives in Mermaid’s Hands, a small community of floating houseboats rising and falling on the gulf tide. The people exist on the margin, regarding sea detritus as harvest as they constantly repair their weather-battered houses. They regard themselves as sea folk, protected by the Seafather beneath the waves. They have their own history and traditions as well as a rich mythology.
Kaya, well educated (including years of botanical research at an American university) is more skeptical about the mountain people’s own deity, the fierce Lady of the Lake, a volcano goddess; her island’s more numerous lowland population controls the government, which has forbidden the mountain folk’s language and customs. Kaya, apolitical, tried to arrange the traditional celebration of the Lady to show the mountain children what it had been like when she was small, sparking a furious purge by the government who sees her action as insurgency.
Em, with a brother in prison, is instantly sympathetic; there are strains in her family before a hurricane hits, nearly wiping out the community, and Kaya, helpless to do anything in aid of deteriorating relations between the mountain and lowland folk, takes an intense interest in Em’s life, leading to unexpected consequences for both.
Told through letters, journal entries, news articles, and secret government memos, the story unfolds with inexorably rising stakes. The layers of liminality in this novel begin right with its appearance; it’s difficult to ascribe a convenient marketing niche. It is not a kid’s story, though there is a kid central, but it could be read by kids, especially the smart ones with unquenched curiosity about the world. But among the many layers there exists a poignant love story that might sail over a child reader's head; it will take an adult reader to perceive the many types of faith represented here: in lovers, in friends, in family, in community.
Em exists just this side of adulthood, dealing with questions larger than she is; Kaya, suspended between lava and sky, exists as a symbol between two peoples, one of whom the government is doing its best to force into conformity. Mermaid’s Hands is liminal in every possible way, and it, too, hovers on the end of extinction.
Then there is the question of reality. How is reality defined? After seeing a vision, Em writes, I know it sounds like it must of been a dream, but I don’t think so. It was extra real. It felt more real than lots of regular days have felt.
Kaya’s steadily worsening situation jacks the tension high, but it is indefatigable, generous-hearted Em who really carries the book. Her faith in the Seafather, her family, her community, in the goodness of nature and humanity, and the doubts she struggles with as each is threatened, is expressed in the metaphor of sea and shore, boat and bird.
Helped by her practical, good-natured best bud Small Bill, her asthmatic sister Tammy, her family and friends and one sympathetic teacher, Em moves through life wrestling with change, and in turn, effects everyone whose life touches hers.
There is humor and wonder, high tension and profound grief--altogether a vivid, memorable book that is one of my favorite picks for 2013.
Em Baptiste, twelve years old, throws a bottled letter into the Gulf Sea. It ends up at an island on the western edge of the Pacific rim, in the hands of a woman suspended over a volcano as a political prisoner. Kaya, lonely and desperately worried, writes back, and so begins an unlikely correspondence that has consequences rippling outward.
Em lives in Mermaid’s Hands, a small community of floating houseboats rising and falling on the gulf tide. The people exist on the margin, regarding sea detritus as harvest as they constantly repair their weather-battered houses. They regard themselves as sea folk, protected by the Seafather beneath the waves. They have their own history and traditions as well as a rich mythology.
Kaya, well educated (including years of botanical research at an American university) is more skeptical about the mountain people’s own deity, the fierce Lady of the Lake, a volcano goddess; her island’s more numerous lowland population controls the government, which has forbidden the mountain folk’s language and customs. Kaya, apolitical, tried to arrange the traditional celebration of the Lady to show the mountain children what it had been like when she was small, sparking a furious purge by the government who sees her action as insurgency.
Em, with a brother in prison, is instantly sympathetic; there are strains in her family before a hurricane hits, nearly wiping out the community, and Kaya, helpless to do anything in aid of deteriorating relations between the mountain and lowland folk, takes an intense interest in Em’s life, leading to unexpected consequences for both.
Told through letters, journal entries, news articles, and secret government memos, the story unfolds with inexorably rising stakes. The layers of liminality in this novel begin right with its appearance; it’s difficult to ascribe a convenient marketing niche. It is not a kid’s story, though there is a kid central, but it could be read by kids, especially the smart ones with unquenched curiosity about the world. But among the many layers there exists a poignant love story that might sail over a child reader's head; it will take an adult reader to perceive the many types of faith represented here: in lovers, in friends, in family, in community.
Em exists just this side of adulthood, dealing with questions larger than she is; Kaya, suspended between lava and sky, exists as a symbol between two peoples, one of whom the government is doing its best to force into conformity. Mermaid’s Hands is liminal in every possible way, and it, too, hovers on the end of extinction.
Then there is the question of reality. How is reality defined? After seeing a vision, Em writes, I know it sounds like it must of been a dream, but I don’t think so. It was extra real. It felt more real than lots of regular days have felt.
Kaya’s steadily worsening situation jacks the tension high, but it is indefatigable, generous-hearted Em who really carries the book. Her faith in the Seafather, her family, her community, in the goodness of nature and humanity, and the doubts she struggles with as each is threatened, is expressed in the metaphor of sea and shore, boat and bird.
Helped by her practical, good-natured best bud Small Bill, her asthmatic sister Tammy, her family and friends and one sympathetic teacher, Em moves through life wrestling with change, and in turn, effects everyone whose life touches hers.
There is humor and wonder, high tension and profound grief--altogether a vivid, memorable book that is one of my favorite picks for 2013.
March 29, 2015
Pen Pal is the sort of book that people say “defies categorization”. Its settings are just this side of fantastical, its tone almost magical; it certainly doesn’t feel out of place in the Indie Fantasy Bundle where I encountered it. And yet, it takes place firmly within a world very much like our own, with the Internet and global news and international tensions, where those who live outside the mainstream are viewed with suspicion, and where most of the magics are the fleeting, everyday sorts we create for ourselves. Even its intended audience is uncertain - the story is simple enough to read to a middle-grade audience, but its themes and questions complex enough to keep an adult book club in conversation long past the first glass of wine.
12-year-old Em lives in the tiny community of Mermaid’s Hands, a group of houses built on floating rafts that bob about during high tide, only to settle on the mud flats when it goes back out. Through a particularly fortunate message in a bottle, she becomes pen pals with Kaya, a political prisoner and reluctant activist kept in a platform suspended over a lake of molten lava.
As they discuss the complexities of their respective situations, and the complications both natural and political that occur, they raise questions that are all too pertinent to our world. How do members of a small minority maintain their autonomy when they are dependent upon a majority culture? When faced with a clearly stronger force determined to maintain control, is it better to fight to the death, or to spare the lives of your people at the cost of your cultural identity? How do you maintain your integrity when isolated from your community and betrayed by your friends? And what responsibility do we bear to the traditions, perhaps even to the deities, with which we were raised?
With its constant multicultural background tension, and the way Em and Kaya’s deities wander in and out of the story, at times Pen Pal reminded me of Sherman Alexie’s stories of growing up on an Indian reservation. But where Alexie’s stories are angry and frustrated, Forrest’s tale is kindhearted and innocent. Occasionally that innocence makes it feel a touch naive, or incomplete - a couple of themes about the harmfulness of expressing uninformed opinions, or the way some groups exploit minority cultures under the guise of “saving” them, are touched on but not really explored. But as a plea to treat each other with compassion, and even a warning of what can happen when we’re careless, it’s a necessary sort of story; and as a paean to the quiet, everyday joys that are easy to overlook in our busy lives, it’s a sheer delight.
12-year-old Em lives in the tiny community of Mermaid’s Hands, a group of houses built on floating rafts that bob about during high tide, only to settle on the mud flats when it goes back out. Through a particularly fortunate message in a bottle, she becomes pen pals with Kaya, a political prisoner and reluctant activist kept in a platform suspended over a lake of molten lava.
As they discuss the complexities of their respective situations, and the complications both natural and political that occur, they raise questions that are all too pertinent to our world. How do members of a small minority maintain their autonomy when they are dependent upon a majority culture? When faced with a clearly stronger force determined to maintain control, is it better to fight to the death, or to spare the lives of your people at the cost of your cultural identity? How do you maintain your integrity when isolated from your community and betrayed by your friends? And what responsibility do we bear to the traditions, perhaps even to the deities, with which we were raised?
With its constant multicultural background tension, and the way Em and Kaya’s deities wander in and out of the story, at times Pen Pal reminded me of Sherman Alexie’s stories of growing up on an Indian reservation. But where Alexie’s stories are angry and frustrated, Forrest’s tale is kindhearted and innocent. Occasionally that innocence makes it feel a touch naive, or incomplete - a couple of themes about the harmfulness of expressing uninformed opinions, or the way some groups exploit minority cultures under the guise of “saving” them, are touched on but not really explored. But as a plea to treat each other with compassion, and even a warning of what can happen when we’re careless, it’s a necessary sort of story; and as a paean to the quiet, everyday joys that are easy to overlook in our busy lives, it’s a sheer delight.
December 1, 2020
Reading this book was such a fantastic experience. There were themes such as activism, political dissimilarities and prejudice. All written in a fierce, yet gentle and captivating manner.
We’re given Em’s eyes, thoughts and heart, and it’s just not easy to read the last page and accept it’s time to give them to someone else. However, it’s only fair giving someone else the joy to know and feel Em and Kaya’s adventure.
We’re given Em’s eyes, thoughts and heart, and it’s just not easy to read the last page and accept it’s time to give them to someone else. However, it’s only fair giving someone else the joy to know and feel Em and Kaya’s adventure.
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June 23, 2017An utterly engrossing read, I tore through it in one day because I couldn't bear to put it down. The ending felt abrupt to me, but I think that was intentional: life doesn't wrap up with a neat, tidy bow, and the way this story ends keeps me pondering it and mulling it over in my mind and heart, whereas otherwise I might have closed the book in satisfaction and moved on.
I love the way mythology and magic is woven so naturally into the story, never overt or blatant, but shimmering in the background of everything. I have been lamenting the lack of a cohesive US mythology of late (why yes, I have been reading Joseph Campbell), and this story includes it in the best possible way: under the surface, and so much a part of everyday life that it never has to be explained or brought to the top.
Loved the characters as well: Em with her fierce brightness and seaheart; Kaya with her deep capacity for love and compassion. The supporting characters as well, and how none of them (aside from perhaps certain government agents and teachers) are one-dimensional, even the unsympathetic ones are rounded out and given motivations and glimpses of their humanity.
Wonderful book, and one I will not soon forget.
I love the way mythology and magic is woven so naturally into the story, never overt or blatant, but shimmering in the background of everything. I have been lamenting the lack of a cohesive US mythology of late (why yes, I have been reading Joseph Campbell), and this story includes it in the best possible way: under the surface, and so much a part of everyday life that it never has to be explained or brought to the top.
Loved the characters as well: Em with her fierce brightness and seaheart; Kaya with her deep capacity for love and compassion. The supporting characters as well, and how none of them (aside from perhaps certain government agents and teachers) are one-dimensional, even the unsympathetic ones are rounded out and given motivations and glimpses of their humanity.
Wonderful book, and one I will not soon forget.
January 17, 2023
This book blew me away. It's a very slow burn of a story about a twelve-year-old girl in a small community somewhere along the Gulf of Mexico, USA, and her pen pal, a political prisoner imprisoned literally above a volcano. Told in epistolary format, the letters, diary entries, news articles, and emails provide a multi-faceted voice. An amazing tale of friendship, community, and justice with lots to consider about colonialism, classism, and racism.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
October 28, 2014
I received this book from GoodReads' FirstReads program.
A casual exchange between Em, a 12 yr-old girl residing in a floating community off the Gulf Coast and Kaya, a political activist who is imprisoned over a volcano, that turned into something big, grand even- a friendship that is bound by loyalty and faith- Pen Pal is definitely a read that’s going to stay with me for a long time.
Em sends a message in a bottle that the universe so intricately orchestrated to end up at the hands of Kaya. Being a prisoner, Kaya becomes hopeful to welcome a friend and so, she writes back. There started a connection that, surprisingly, will soon be each other’s miracle.
Though revolving around a kid’s life, this is not your ordinary bedtime story. At some points, I got really doubtful but then it amazed me how a 12 year-old girl has a broad mind and understanding, how her questions are bigger than her community, how her love soars through the sky, how her dreams dive 36,000 ft deep, how her faith is on the mountain top, how her loyalty is as vast as the distance between her and her pen pal. Em Baptiste is someone who is really worth looking up to, especially for those little girls who, already at this moment, believe there is something bigger inside of them than just their sweet round eyes and innocence. At first glance the story may just seem to be about a simple connection but as it unfolds, it takes you to deeper themes and emotions. It was soon justified, that faith and loyalty exist in so many levels and can be found at the other side of the horizon. They may be present in the complex and abstract ideas like, belief in deities and supreme powers, to the simple structures of family and friendship, to the belief in humanity, to the hope of capturing starlight in a bottle, and to the undying love of a seed towards Earth.
Kaya’s existence is what brings the readers to the next notch- politics and government and its people. These mosaic affairs were handled so simply but with enough profoundness that even young audiences, I think, will have no problem understanding. The mountain people and other small communities must be given enough attention. Their rituals, traditions, and culture must not be sacrificed just because of how much we love the idea of modernization. Our negligence to acknowledge and respect these small communities, our failure to understand them, leads to us doing harsh actions which then gives way to the manifestation of separatists. That’s when people demand better governance. Aside from this, Pen Pal tells people that just like Kaya and Em, no matter how differently we view the world, no matter how huge the difference in years is, no matter how unsure we are of what’s behind the curtain, no matter how diverse our languages are, we will always find affinity, we will always find ways to connect to other people and there will always be a chance for unity, understanding and compromise.
Loyalty, faith and bravery don’t sail so far from one another. It is so often that people show acts of bravery out of pure belief and devotion, out of loyalty in his friend or lover, out of faith in God just like Em’s in Seafather and Kaya’s in the Lady. And sometimes, our faith is just too colossal that we stand firmly by what we believe in, even if it is, at times, far-fetched. That is the power of faith and bravery combined. It ripples outward inducing power up to the shores. It is fierce and bold like the heart of a volcano. And it is just so beautiful how Em and Kaya were able to bring each other miracle out of this power.
Lastly, I have to praise, and even thank, Ms. Francesca Forrest for the rich characterization. It was impossible for me not to connect with the characters.
All in all, Pen Pal is one vivid sea that I will always be glad to dive in.
A casual exchange between Em, a 12 yr-old girl residing in a floating community off the Gulf Coast and Kaya, a political activist who is imprisoned over a volcano, that turned into something big, grand even- a friendship that is bound by loyalty and faith- Pen Pal is definitely a read that’s going to stay with me for a long time.
Em sends a message in a bottle that the universe so intricately orchestrated to end up at the hands of Kaya. Being a prisoner, Kaya becomes hopeful to welcome a friend and so, she writes back. There started a connection that, surprisingly, will soon be each other’s miracle.
Though revolving around a kid’s life, this is not your ordinary bedtime story. At some points, I got really doubtful but then it amazed me how a 12 year-old girl has a broad mind and understanding, how her questions are bigger than her community, how her love soars through the sky, how her dreams dive 36,000 ft deep, how her faith is on the mountain top, how her loyalty is as vast as the distance between her and her pen pal. Em Baptiste is someone who is really worth looking up to, especially for those little girls who, already at this moment, believe there is something bigger inside of them than just their sweet round eyes and innocence. At first glance the story may just seem to be about a simple connection but as it unfolds, it takes you to deeper themes and emotions. It was soon justified, that faith and loyalty exist in so many levels and can be found at the other side of the horizon. They may be present in the complex and abstract ideas like, belief in deities and supreme powers, to the simple structures of family and friendship, to the belief in humanity, to the hope of capturing starlight in a bottle, and to the undying love of a seed towards Earth.
Kaya’s existence is what brings the readers to the next notch- politics and government and its people. These mosaic affairs were handled so simply but with enough profoundness that even young audiences, I think, will have no problem understanding. The mountain people and other small communities must be given enough attention. Their rituals, traditions, and culture must not be sacrificed just because of how much we love the idea of modernization. Our negligence to acknowledge and respect these small communities, our failure to understand them, leads to us doing harsh actions which then gives way to the manifestation of separatists. That’s when people demand better governance. Aside from this, Pen Pal tells people that just like Kaya and Em, no matter how differently we view the world, no matter how huge the difference in years is, no matter how unsure we are of what’s behind the curtain, no matter how diverse our languages are, we will always find affinity, we will always find ways to connect to other people and there will always be a chance for unity, understanding and compromise.
Loyalty, faith and bravery don’t sail so far from one another. It is so often that people show acts of bravery out of pure belief and devotion, out of loyalty in his friend or lover, out of faith in God just like Em’s in Seafather and Kaya’s in the Lady. And sometimes, our faith is just too colossal that we stand firmly by what we believe in, even if it is, at times, far-fetched. That is the power of faith and bravery combined. It ripples outward inducing power up to the shores. It is fierce and bold like the heart of a volcano. And it is just so beautiful how Em and Kaya were able to bring each other miracle out of this power.
Lastly, I have to praise, and even thank, Ms. Francesca Forrest for the rich characterization. It was impossible for me not to connect with the characters.
All in all, Pen Pal is one vivid sea that I will always be glad to dive in.
January 19, 2019
At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with it: I couldn’t relate to Em’s situation, and Kaya’s was just beyond the bounds of possibility, wasn’t it?
But the stories each told about her life, and the exchange of letters began to hook me in, and I needed to read on, especially when Kaya’s situation began to get truly desperate.
Full marks to the author for a brave and imaginative take on minority issues and political turmoil.
I think it fits into YA rather than MG, but it’s good for any adult with a limited grasp of what it might be like to be a minority ethnic group with more right to be there than the government. The politicking surrounding Kaya is brilliantly tied up in knots.
An excellent mix of myths, legends, geology and worldliness.
But the stories each told about her life, and the exchange of letters began to hook me in, and I needed to read on, especially when Kaya’s situation began to get truly desperate.
Full marks to the author for a brave and imaginative take on minority issues and political turmoil.
I think it fits into YA rather than MG, but it’s good for any adult with a limited grasp of what it might be like to be a minority ethnic group with more right to be there than the government. The politicking surrounding Kaya is brilliantly tied up in knots.
An excellent mix of myths, legends, geology and worldliness.
April 19, 2014
A young girl in a floating community off the Gulf Coast throws a message in a bottle into the ocean, and it makes its way across the world, to a political prisoner in solitary confinement on a platform suspended over a lake of fire.
Letters travel back and forth, through the ocean and the post office and fishing boats, through mass media and tied to the leg of a crow. Em, the girl, confides in Kaya her worries about her older brother, who’s in jail for theft. Kaya, the activist, tries to explain her complex political situation in terms a child can understand. They tell each other about the folklore and culture of their communities, which are both under threat, Kaya’s from the government which has banned her language and religion, Em’s from a hurricane and an uncaring larger community.
Em tries to reach her brother and hold her family together; Kaya comes under increasing pressure to stop— or enable— a revolution. Worlds apart, each of them looks for the power to help the other, even if neither can help themselves.
Water and fire, ocean currents and rivers of lava, the Seafather who watches over those who live on the ocean and the Ruby Lady of the volcano, creatures of air and earth and sea, two communities in danger of losing their culture, all come together in this intricate and compelling story, like a pair of hands reaching out toward each other from ten thousand miles away.
The author is a friend of mine, but this unique, moving, sophisticated novel would be up my alley regardless. It’s not quite sui generis; its setting, magical realism, and one of its two heroines reminded me of the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild, and its melding of political themes with an edge-of-fantasy quality reminded me of Sherman Alexie and Banana Yoshimoto and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. But it was sufficiently difficult to classify that it could not find a publisher, and so became one of the increasingly large number of self-published gems.
Letters travel back and forth, through the ocean and the post office and fishing boats, through mass media and tied to the leg of a crow. Em, the girl, confides in Kaya her worries about her older brother, who’s in jail for theft. Kaya, the activist, tries to explain her complex political situation in terms a child can understand. They tell each other about the folklore and culture of their communities, which are both under threat, Kaya’s from the government which has banned her language and religion, Em’s from a hurricane and an uncaring larger community.
Em tries to reach her brother and hold her family together; Kaya comes under increasing pressure to stop— or enable— a revolution. Worlds apart, each of them looks for the power to help the other, even if neither can help themselves.
Water and fire, ocean currents and rivers of lava, the Seafather who watches over those who live on the ocean and the Ruby Lady of the volcano, creatures of air and earth and sea, two communities in danger of losing their culture, all come together in this intricate and compelling story, like a pair of hands reaching out toward each other from ten thousand miles away.
The author is a friend of mine, but this unique, moving, sophisticated novel would be up my alley regardless. It’s not quite sui generis; its setting, magical realism, and one of its two heroines reminded me of the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild, and its melding of political themes with an edge-of-fantasy quality reminded me of Sherman Alexie and Banana Yoshimoto and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. But it was sufficiently difficult to classify that it could not find a publisher, and so became one of the increasingly large number of self-published gems.
June 9, 2014
I had the great privilege of reading Pen Pal in manuscript form and fell in love with it. I don't know when last I read a book that moved me across such a range of emotions.*
Because of my strong initial response to Pen Pal, I was actually afraid to read it in book form. I was afraid I wouldn't be as wowed the second time around, knowing the denouement.
I needn't have worried. The book had just as much charm the second and third times that I read it. The beauty and power of Pen Pal lies not so much in "what happens" (though the plot is great and well-handled, both intimate and grandiose in scale) as it does in "who it happens to/who makes things happen." Perhaps my favorite part of the story is that all of the characters are complex people. They learn and grow and come to their own truths about their existences and their places as individuals as well as members of society at large and smaller communities. I could talk about specific examples, but I don't want to write anything spoilery.
Basically, to sum up, you know that famous line from the movie "As Good as it Gets" where Nicholson's character tells Hunt's character: "You make me want to be a better man"? That's how I feel about Pen Pal; it makes me want to be a better person.
_______________
* Grapes of Wrath, which I recently red, moved me, yes, but it evoked the same end of the emotional spectrum over and over.
Because of my strong initial response to Pen Pal, I was actually afraid to read it in book form. I was afraid I wouldn't be as wowed the second time around, knowing the denouement.
I needn't have worried. The book had just as much charm the second and third times that I read it. The beauty and power of Pen Pal lies not so much in "what happens" (though the plot is great and well-handled, both intimate and grandiose in scale) as it does in "who it happens to/who makes things happen." Perhaps my favorite part of the story is that all of the characters are complex people. They learn and grow and come to their own truths about their existences and their places as individuals as well as members of society at large and smaller communities. I could talk about specific examples, but I don't want to write anything spoilery.
Basically, to sum up, you know that famous line from the movie "As Good as it Gets" where Nicholson's character tells Hunt's character: "You make me want to be a better man"? That's how I feel about Pen Pal; it makes me want to be a better person.
_______________
* Grapes of Wrath, which I recently red, moved me, yes, but it evoked the same end of the emotional spectrum over and over.
March 1, 2014
Endearing, magical and endlessly imaginative- a perfect example of the compassion we should all strive to emulate.
'Pen Pal' is the story of two girls from less than ordinary situations who are brought together by a massage in a bottle. Is there a more fantastic way to make a friend? I certainly can't think of one.
I am a huge fan of anything that paints women/girls in a strong and positive light- where they can be seen as capable of changing the world. To my immeasurable delight, this novel encompasses those ideals. It revolves around two powerful, passionate girls who are so easy to root for and impossible not to fall in love with.
My boyfriend gave this book to me after receiving an advanced readers copy through First Reads and I am so thankful! I enjoyed it very much and would certainly reccommend it- it is especially perfect for (but not limited to) young girls. Pen Pal's resounding message- that we must fight for those we love and what we believe in- will stay with me for a long time.
'Pen Pal' is the story of two girls from less than ordinary situations who are brought together by a massage in a bottle. Is there a more fantastic way to make a friend? I certainly can't think of one.
I am a huge fan of anything that paints women/girls in a strong and positive light- where they can be seen as capable of changing the world. To my immeasurable delight, this novel encompasses those ideals. It revolves around two powerful, passionate girls who are so easy to root for and impossible not to fall in love with.
My boyfriend gave this book to me after receiving an advanced readers copy through First Reads and I am so thankful! I enjoyed it very much and would certainly reccommend it- it is especially perfect for (but not limited to) young girls. Pen Pal's resounding message- that we must fight for those we love and what we believe in- will stay with me for a long time.
Read
January 21, 2014Em is a child of water, living in a floating community on the Gulf coast. Kaya is a child of fire, imprisoned half a world away above a volcano.
They need each other, though they don't at first know it.
Em believes in the Seafather who watches over her people. Kaya isn't sure whether she believes in the Ruby Lady, but she was arrested for holding a ceremony for her, just the same.
When Em's wistful message in a bottle reaches Kaya, their two stories become entwined, and the result is a numinous story about stories and how they wind their way through lives and through communities.
This book isn't a fantasy, not really. But it hits a particular immersive mythic-y button for me that I don't know how to describe--I only know it when I see it, and know as well that it's hard to find.
And it gave me exactly the right sort of happy sigh when I turned the last page, as well.
They need each other, though they don't at first know it.
Em believes in the Seafather who watches over her people. Kaya isn't sure whether she believes in the Ruby Lady, but she was arrested for holding a ceremony for her, just the same.
When Em's wistful message in a bottle reaches Kaya, their two stories become entwined, and the result is a numinous story about stories and how they wind their way through lives and through communities.
This book isn't a fantasy, not really. But it hits a particular immersive mythic-y button for me that I don't know how to describe--I only know it when I see it, and know as well that it's hard to find.
And it gave me exactly the right sort of happy sigh when I turned the last page, as well.
November 11, 2015
Magical demirealism at its finest, this story is a delight to the animistically inclined. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I have a particular wistfulness towards Mermaid's Hands... I would have loved for there to be such a place near my coast. (So much more magical than what we did have! But I still appreciated the nod to local traditions that were there.) As a child, I too tried the message-in-a-bottle thing, and I did get a reply, but with less spectacular results. But I think my favorite thing about this story was the connection between both protagonists. It's a story about the dawning of political consciousness and the nuances that can come about through people who just wanted to live their lives having to learn more about how the larger world sees them and wants to interact with them, but though those threads are there, the aspect of the story that presented itself most to me was about how our desire for connection can be transformative.
April 24, 2015
I enjoyed the plot of this book. There was just enough drama to keep things going.
Unfortunately, the style of this book didn't work. There are letters and journal entries from various characters. While each character did have a unique voice, I did not appreciate all the deliberate grammar and spelling mistakes (at least I assume them to be deliberate). Also this style took away from the drama and got in the way of the story. I wanted to quit reading so many times.
One other thing about the style of the letters and journal entries was that they read to much like regular story telling. The whole novel needed to be like this. If the letters were cleaned up and the journal entries turned into regular third person narrative, I bet I would rate this at least 4 stars. 5 stars if some of unneeded backstory was taken out.
Unfortunately, the style of this book didn't work. There are letters and journal entries from various characters. While each character did have a unique voice, I did not appreciate all the deliberate grammar and spelling mistakes (at least I assume them to be deliberate). Also this style took away from the drama and got in the way of the story. I wanted to quit reading so many times.
One other thing about the style of the letters and journal entries was that they read to much like regular story telling. The whole novel needed to be like this. If the letters were cleaned up and the journal entries turned into regular third person narrative, I bet I would rate this at least 4 stars. 5 stars if some of unneeded backstory was taken out.
January 9, 2014
Pen Pal, by Francesca Forrest, is YA in the way The Book Thief is YA, in the way The Giver is YA. It is YA of the best kind. It crosses genre, and it crosses age boundaries. It's a book anyone will pick up and be changed by. The characters are fully realized, the story never wobbles. The writing walks that so-difficult-to-find line of invisibility, in that the reader never feels the author poking her nose into the story. It belongs to the characters. And while the prose are pristine, they are never flashy in that, "Look at me! I'm the author! I wrote this! Look how pretty my words are!" THAT is what allows it to be YA when the subject matter is more than fluff, the accessibility, the intimacy of words and reader and nothing in between. Just amazing.
July 22, 2014
This book works on so many levels. The characterizations are multi-faceted and believable--most especially in the main characters, Em and Kaya, but also in the supporting ones--and their circumstances are at once unusual and engaging. The two cultures Francesca Forrest constructs here, both besieged by the modern world, each with its own unique mythology, have commonalities that help bind Em and Kaya in friendship. Yet, despite the way the narrative switches back and forth between the two, it's never confusing. The fantastical elements are understated, but add to the richness of the story. It gives me great pleasure to recommend my friend Francesca's book to you all.
March 2, 2014
Pen Pal..By Francesca Forrest...I won this book through Goodreads. .A young girl living on the sea, wanted a pen pal. Her only option was find a bottle and put a message inside, which she did. She got a much anticipated letter a month later from Kaya a political prisioner in her country, high above the Ruby lake. She was accused of an illegal demonistration. Em's and Kaya's letter was a comfort and encouragement to each other. Kay is true to her convictions. The author did a great job separating the chapters and a good format.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2015
Melancholy, powerful story told in a surprisingly vivid epistolary style.
February 10, 2016
This review is reposted from http://booksandtea.ca/2016/02/pen-pal-francesca-forrest-stunning-self-published-novel/
Sometimes, a book comes along that satisfies you completely — its characters make your heart happy, its themes make your soul happy, and its prose makes your head happy.
These books are rare. Pen Pal is one of them.
The central conceit is simple: Em is a young girl living in Mermaid’s Hands, a squatter’s community on the Gulf Coast, who sets a message in a bottle adrift hoping to find a pen pal. But Em’s bottle ends up in the hands of the most unlikely person imaginable: Kaya, an imprisoned political activist in Southeast Asia.
Kaya is a member of an oppressed minority on the island of W— off the coast of Indonesia. Worship of one of her community’s central religious figures, the Lady of the Ruby Lake, has been suppressed in an attempt to “modernize the natives” and “bring progress to the region.” When Kaya tries to resurrect a banned celebration on the Lady’s behalf, she gets thrown into prison. What’s more, her prison is built as a mockery of her religious practices: the government forces her to inhabit an ersatz temple built over the Ruby Lake itself, which is really the lava lake of an active volcano.
Em’s sweet, wistful letter brings a spark of hope to Kaya’s life, and the two correspond, with Kaya using her tamed crow Sumi as a link to the outside world. Gradually, it becomes clear that Em’s and Kaya’s situations are similar. Both of them are part of communities who are actively ignored or denigrated by the dominant culture surrounding them. Both of them believe in deities who represent forces of nature; Kaya has the Lady of the Ruby Lake, while Em has the Seafather. Both of them dream of their respective religious figures. And both of them are strong — strong like volcanoes, strong like hurricanes.
Pen Pal is written in a mostly epistolary format, with Kaya and Em writing letters to each other, letters to their respective families, and journals to themselves. There are also messages written by secondary characters to each other providing additional context on various plots and subplots.
One such subplot is that Em’s older brother Jiminy is in jail, and that her family refuses to visit him out of shame. Jiminy’s actions just serve as proof to the outside world that the folks of Mermaid’s Hands aren’t to be trusted, aren’t worth helping. But if Kaya’s in jail for standing up for her beliefs, and Em likes writing to her, does that mean she’s a bad sister if she doesn’t write to Jiminy? If Kaya’s in jail for doing something good, what does that say about her brother, who was just in a bad place at a bad time, and loyal to the wrong people?
Em’s guilt over losing contact with Jiminy spurs her to try and run away to meet him. At one point, Em tries to sneak onto a truck to cross state lines, but she’s discovered by Cody, a fellow resident of Mermaid’s Hands. Here, her keen sense of morals over how she should support her family clashes with society’s perception of who she is and what she’s allowed to do. Cody attempts to defuse this situation by making it look as if it’s really Em’s younger, more socially accepted sister Tammy who wants to run away:
Cody’s name is apropos: he’s a master of code-switching. And here is where perceptive readers will pick up on other scattered clues throughout the novel and realize that Em’s family faces not only class oppression (for having their own off-the-grid, ad-hoc community) but race oppression as well. Unlike Em, Tammy is welcomed by the side of the family that lives normal suburban lives on dry land. Unlike Em, Tammy has “good hair and big eyes and freckles.”
In other words, unlike Em, Tammy can pass.
What makes Pen Pal such a strong and moving experience is Em’s journey — she’s the emotional centre of the novel to me. She’s stronger than she knows, and she’s facing powerful intersecting forces of class and race that she can feel, but can’t articulate. Her voice is sweet and innocent, both knowing and unknowing, without sounding overly twee or cutesy. You really get the sense that this is a real 12-year-old talking. It’s amazing to see Francesca Forrest tread such a fine balance between the innocence of Em’s voice and the brutal social truths that underlie her observations.
Kaya’s situation is a bit more straightforward — it’s hard to find much nuance in a government that would imprison its political dissidents within a volcano. But her correspondence with Em allows her to learn more about Em’s community, and Kaya takes advantage of a key public announcement to show her solidarity with her friend. In doing so, she attracts the attention of an Amnesty-International-like group, and it’s this political contact that allows the plot to reach its fullest resolution as Em and Kaya save each other from the outside forces that seek to silence each of them.
This is a self-published novel, and that I bought it upon the recommendation of Toronto-area author (and personal acquaintance) Leah Bobet. Leah works at Bakka Phoenix, one of the best independent bookstores in the city, and she’s done a lot of work to raise the profile of this book. When I first heard her talk about Pen Pal, she said one of the reasons she liked it so much was that you could read it as a work of fantasy or as a completely non-fantastic piece of literary fiction. Are the Lady of the Ruby Lake and the Seafather figments of the protagonists’ imaginations or are they real figures with their own forms of agency? You could make a compelling argument either way — which is another one of the book’s many strengths.
Sometimes, a book comes along that satisfies you completely — its characters make your heart happy, its themes make your soul happy, and its prose makes your head happy.
These books are rare. Pen Pal is one of them.
The central conceit is simple: Em is a young girl living in Mermaid’s Hands, a squatter’s community on the Gulf Coast, who sets a message in a bottle adrift hoping to find a pen pal. But Em’s bottle ends up in the hands of the most unlikely person imaginable: Kaya, an imprisoned political activist in Southeast Asia.
Kaya is a member of an oppressed minority on the island of W— off the coast of Indonesia. Worship of one of her community’s central religious figures, the Lady of the Ruby Lake, has been suppressed in an attempt to “modernize the natives” and “bring progress to the region.” When Kaya tries to resurrect a banned celebration on the Lady’s behalf, she gets thrown into prison. What’s more, her prison is built as a mockery of her religious practices: the government forces her to inhabit an ersatz temple built over the Ruby Lake itself, which is really the lava lake of an active volcano.
Em’s sweet, wistful letter brings a spark of hope to Kaya’s life, and the two correspond, with Kaya using her tamed crow Sumi as a link to the outside world. Gradually, it becomes clear that Em’s and Kaya’s situations are similar. Both of them are part of communities who are actively ignored or denigrated by the dominant culture surrounding them. Both of them believe in deities who represent forces of nature; Kaya has the Lady of the Ruby Lake, while Em has the Seafather. Both of them dream of their respective religious figures. And both of them are strong — strong like volcanoes, strong like hurricanes.
Pen Pal is written in a mostly epistolary format, with Kaya and Em writing letters to each other, letters to their respective families, and journals to themselves. There are also messages written by secondary characters to each other providing additional context on various plots and subplots.
One such subplot is that Em’s older brother Jiminy is in jail, and that her family refuses to visit him out of shame. Jiminy’s actions just serve as proof to the outside world that the folks of Mermaid’s Hands aren’t to be trusted, aren’t worth helping. But if Kaya’s in jail for standing up for her beliefs, and Em likes writing to her, does that mean she’s a bad sister if she doesn’t write to Jiminy? If Kaya’s in jail for doing something good, what does that say about her brother, who was just in a bad place at a bad time, and loyal to the wrong people?
Em’s guilt over losing contact with Jiminy spurs her to try and run away to meet him. At one point, Em tries to sneak onto a truck to cross state lines, but she’s discovered by Cody, a fellow resident of Mermaid’s Hands. Here, her keen sense of morals over how she should support her family clashes with society’s perception of who she is and what she’s allowed to do. Cody attempts to defuse this situation by making it look as if it’s really Em’s younger, more socially accepted sister Tammy who wants to run away:
“You making mischief again?” he said, smiling, like the two of them had a secret joke. Tammy looked confused. She never makes mischief. Her lips were trembling: I could tell she was about to say No it wasn’t me, but—Cody’s smile. It was begging a return smile from her.
“I apologize for all this, sir,” said Cody, “but I’m sure my little neighbor here just got some wild idea in her head about exploring, and then the bigger two went along with it. Nobody can say no to that face!”
To Tammy he said, “You planning a stowaway adventure? Think how worried your parents would be! And Mr. Coca-Cola here would’ve had a heart attack next time he opened up the doors of his truck.”
Tammy looked at him in wonder. She’s used to being delicate Tammy, and Tammy-who-needs-to-rest, and remember-to-wait-for-Tammy, and sometimes Tammy-the-mermaid, but Cody was giving her a whole different kind of story. Small Bill’s mouth was quirking upward at the thought of Tammy the mastermind. Even the delivery man was smiling a little.
That Cody’s pretty smart. Once he got Mr. Coca-Cola looking at tiny, cute Tammy, with her good hair and big eyes and freckles, how could the man stay mad? Cody talked to him a few more minutes, asking about where he was from and if he had any kids, and got him telling stories about his four-year-old son, and by the end him and Cody were practically best buddies.
Cody’s name is apropos: he’s a master of code-switching. And here is where perceptive readers will pick up on other scattered clues throughout the novel and realize that Em’s family faces not only class oppression (for having their own off-the-grid, ad-hoc community) but race oppression as well. Unlike Em, Tammy is welcomed by the side of the family that lives normal suburban lives on dry land. Unlike Em, Tammy has “good hair and big eyes and freckles.”
In other words, unlike Em, Tammy can pass.
What makes Pen Pal such a strong and moving experience is Em’s journey — she’s the emotional centre of the novel to me. She’s stronger than she knows, and she’s facing powerful intersecting forces of class and race that she can feel, but can’t articulate. Her voice is sweet and innocent, both knowing and unknowing, without sounding overly twee or cutesy. You really get the sense that this is a real 12-year-old talking. It’s amazing to see Francesca Forrest tread such a fine balance between the innocence of Em’s voice and the brutal social truths that underlie her observations.
Kaya’s situation is a bit more straightforward — it’s hard to find much nuance in a government that would imprison its political dissidents within a volcano. But her correspondence with Em allows her to learn more about Em’s community, and Kaya takes advantage of a key public announcement to show her solidarity with her friend. In doing so, she attracts the attention of an Amnesty-International-like group, and it’s this political contact that allows the plot to reach its fullest resolution as Em and Kaya save each other from the outside forces that seek to silence each of them.
This is a self-published novel, and that I bought it upon the recommendation of Toronto-area author (and personal acquaintance) Leah Bobet. Leah works at Bakka Phoenix, one of the best independent bookstores in the city, and she’s done a lot of work to raise the profile of this book. When I first heard her talk about Pen Pal, she said one of the reasons she liked it so much was that you could read it as a work of fantasy or as a completely non-fantastic piece of literary fiction. Are the Lady of the Ruby Lake and the Seafather figments of the protagonists’ imaginations or are they real figures with their own forms of agency? You could make a compelling argument either way — which is another one of the book’s many strengths.
July 27, 2019
This book stays with me still, even today. One girl free in the flood, one girl imprisoned above a volcano. Their beautiful letters. The way words can change the world.
November 17, 2020
The story is told through letters, diaries, and news reports. This gives a more balanced view of the characters and their lives. I very much enjoyed "visiting with" Em and Kaya.
March 10, 2017
Pen Pal is part of a boxed set, "Light in the Darkness". Let me just say I haven't been disappointed in any of the books in this set so far and I am over hallway through. This is a great alternate reality/distopian-ish story. I really liked the writing style. The story is told in letters and diary entrees. I give it five stars. There is no swearing or sexual content. I can recommend for teens and up.
August 8, 2016
One of the best books I've ever read.
These are the first lines:
Dear person who finds my message,
I live in a place called Mermaid's Hands. All our houses rest on the mud when the tide is out, but when it comes in, they rise right up and float.
They're all roped together, so we don't lose anyone. I like Mermaid's Hands, but sometimes I wish I could unrope our house and see where it might float to. . .
Em is the child who places this letter into a bottle and tosses it into the sea. Mermaid's Hands is an imaginary village somewhere on the Gulf Coast of the United States. Em and her people are a fictional cultural minority in the U.S. with their own sea-based religion, traditions, and identity. They are also a marginalized group with a precarious existence, treated with suspicion and disdain by their neighbors on the mainland.
Em's message-in-a-bottle finds its way to a brave young woman on the other side of the world: Kaya, a political activist fighting for the rights of her own cultural and ethnic minority group. When Kaya receives Em's letter, it is brought to her by her pet crow, for Kaya herself is unable to go to the sea. She is trapped in a prison-house suspended over a live volcano.
The novel that unfolds is told in letters exchanged between Em and Kaya, as well as in entries from their journals and excerpts of news reports and other outside documents which flesh out their world. This is a beautiful novel of arresting images—Kaya's volcano, Em's floating village—and it flirts on the border between "realism" and "magical realism." Both Em and Kaya's story lines are absorbing and moving, and ultimately intersect. It's a book that tackles complex, real-world issues of culture and marginalized ethnic communities, of identity and assimilation, but it never feels preachy and it always feels honest. As Kaya's political storyline picked up danger and speed, I started to feel impatience when reverting back to Em's point of view. . . but then Em would suck me in with her own intimate, family drama. This is a novel that works on multiple levels. I think it's a novel that would work for multiple audiences. The story is accessible enough for middle-grade readers (who would be Em's age), but complex and resonant enough for adults as well. I keep marveling over how the author was able to pull off everything that she does—how she was able, for instance, to create vivid secondary characters and a delicate, heart-tugging love story in so few words. This book made me cry. This is a book that stays with you.
September 14, 2016
Pen Pal defies classification. If pressed, I'd call it literary young adult, but it's more than that. There are some fantasy elements, mostly in the form of folk magic, but the whole book has a slightly dreamlike quality, in spite of the urgency of the story. Em is a thirteen-year-old girl living in Mermaids Hands, a floating village off the gulf coast. She sends out a message in a bottle, which eventually reaches Kaya, a young political prisoner being held in a hut on a platform suspended over an active volcano, in an unnamed country in the Indonesian archipelago. They become pen pals, assisted by Kaya's mother and pet crow, forming a fast friendship. When Em's village is threatened, Kaya is able to help in a surprising way, and by the end of the book, Em has returned the favor in an even more unexpected fashion. Told strictly in the form of letters and diary entries, Pen Pal is a beautifully written ode to friendship and family.
July 14, 2018
Pen Pal by Francesca Forrest caught my eye in Toronto in 2015. The idea of pen pals connecting and inspiring each other to achieve great things sounded promising, but in the end it didn’t quite deliver.
Since the story is told in via the journals Em and Kaya write as well as the letters they exchange it was hard to gain a true outside perspective regarding the causes they were fighting for. I understood why each girl individually was fighting, but I didn’t understand how their fights connected to the outside world and to me personally. As a result, I had difficulty identifying with and feeling connected to Em and Kaya.
The most puzzling thing about this book is it genre. I found it in a bookshop that specializes in science fiction and fantasy novels. There is some mysticism in Pen Pal, but it seems firmly rooted in a somewhat present time with contemporary political and natural weather events. Not that the book needs a clear genre, I read plenty of cross-genre books. However, I went in expecting more of a fantasy bent based on what the bookseller told me and the type of bookstore I purchased the book in. I struggled when the tiny bits of mysticism and fantasy crept in because it didn’t quite mesh with the over all contemporary fiction bent of the novel. As a reader, I felt required to accept the otherworldly elements with no explanation.
Pen Pal might be a good fit for young readers who won’t necessarily question the seemingly random fantasy elements that caused me a great deal of confusion. This novel might also inspire younger reader to be activists and fight for noble causes. As an older reader, I’m not sure this book was a good fit as I spend most of my time puzzling out what type of book this was and finding a way to connect with the young characters and see the world from their point of view.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews
Since the story is told in via the journals Em and Kaya write as well as the letters they exchange it was hard to gain a true outside perspective regarding the causes they were fighting for. I understood why each girl individually was fighting, but I didn’t understand how their fights connected to the outside world and to me personally. As a result, I had difficulty identifying with and feeling connected to Em and Kaya.
The most puzzling thing about this book is it genre. I found it in a bookshop that specializes in science fiction and fantasy novels. There is some mysticism in Pen Pal, but it seems firmly rooted in a somewhat present time with contemporary political and natural weather events. Not that the book needs a clear genre, I read plenty of cross-genre books. However, I went in expecting more of a fantasy bent based on what the bookseller told me and the type of bookstore I purchased the book in. I struggled when the tiny bits of mysticism and fantasy crept in because it didn’t quite mesh with the over all contemporary fiction bent of the novel. As a reader, I felt required to accept the otherworldly elements with no explanation.
Pen Pal might be a good fit for young readers who won’t necessarily question the seemingly random fantasy elements that caused me a great deal of confusion. This novel might also inspire younger reader to be activists and fight for noble causes. As an older reader, I’m not sure this book was a good fit as I spend most of my time puzzling out what type of book this was and finding a way to connect with the young characters and see the world from their point of view.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews
January 17, 2016
What a charming book! My first exposure to Forrest was through her poetry (here's one!), and I half-count her blog as poetry too: she has a knack not just for finding the tiny magics in everyday things, but also for finding just the right phrasing to make you feel like you were there too, and itch to pass it along to your own circle - look! look what I found today! isn't it neat?
Which is to say: I had no idea that Forrest wrote fiction, but it feels like a natural extension of her other writing, and I love it for all the same reasons. Pen Pal is not exactly a full story as much as it is a brief snapshot of a few months in two lives, with some musings on place and culture and politics and nature thrown in for good measure. Structure is everything here: technically this is a story about pen pals, but what's fascinating is that it isn't one of those spill-all-your-guts-on-paper relationships. Em and Kaya don't even actually exchange that many letters - but as the supplementary journal entries show, that friendship formed fast, and stuck: even when not directly corresponding, they're still thinking about each other, turning the words and ideas around like puzzle pieces, trying to see their daily life through the other's eyes.
If I'm vague on specifics in this review, it's because this isn't a book that plot summaries would do justice to - it's not about what happens nearly as much as how the characters react to it, and what they think about along the way. But if you like character studies and creative worldbuilding, give this one a try: I think you'll find something special here.
Which is to say: I had no idea that Forrest wrote fiction, but it feels like a natural extension of her other writing, and I love it for all the same reasons. Pen Pal is not exactly a full story as much as it is a brief snapshot of a few months in two lives, with some musings on place and culture and politics and nature thrown in for good measure. Structure is everything here: technically this is a story about pen pals, but what's fascinating is that it isn't one of those spill-all-your-guts-on-paper relationships. Em and Kaya don't even actually exchange that many letters - but as the supplementary journal entries show, that friendship formed fast, and stuck: even when not directly corresponding, they're still thinking about each other, turning the words and ideas around like puzzle pieces, trying to see their daily life through the other's eyes.
If I'm vague on specifics in this review, it's because this isn't a book that plot summaries would do justice to - it's not about what happens nearly as much as how the characters react to it, and what they think about along the way. But if you like character studies and creative worldbuilding, give this one a try: I think you'll find something special here.
October 1, 2015
Emlee Baptiste is a 12-year old girl living in Mermaid's Hand, a floating community steeped in tradition, off of the Gulf Coast. The people of Mermaid's Hand consider themselves sea people, protected by the Seafather, who lives under the sea. People in Em's community believe that the Seafather provides everything they need and what they need will come to them, brought in by the tide. Emlee loves her heritage but she longs to visit the seapeople under the waves or explore life on dry land. Em places a letter in a bottle, hoping to receive a response.
Kayamanira Matarayi is a political prisoner on a small island near Indonesia. Kaya is accused of being a separatist leader and sparking an uprising in her small mountain community. The government has placed her in a floating prison known as "Lotus on the Ruby Lake". Ruby Lake is a volcanic crater and the mountain people believe that it is guarded and protected by the Lady of the Ruby Lake. Kaya has a pet crow named Sumi and it is Sumi that delivers Em's letter to Kaya, suspended high above the fire-y lake. Kaya wonders if the Lady of the Ruby Lake is responsible for the strange circumstances in which she received the bottled letter.
Pen Pal is told through the written letters of Em and Kaya, journal entries of both girls, and various government emails. As the story progresses, the relationship between Kaya and Em takes a perilous turn and brings Emlee Baptiste far from the safety of Mermaid's Hands.
I received an autographed copy of Pen Pal in exchange for an honest review.
Kayamanira Matarayi is a political prisoner on a small island near Indonesia. Kaya is accused of being a separatist leader and sparking an uprising in her small mountain community. The government has placed her in a floating prison known as "Lotus on the Ruby Lake". Ruby Lake is a volcanic crater and the mountain people believe that it is guarded and protected by the Lady of the Ruby Lake. Kaya has a pet crow named Sumi and it is Sumi that delivers Em's letter to Kaya, suspended high above the fire-y lake. Kaya wonders if the Lady of the Ruby Lake is responsible for the strange circumstances in which she received the bottled letter.
Pen Pal is told through the written letters of Em and Kaya, journal entries of both girls, and various government emails. As the story progresses, the relationship between Kaya and Em takes a perilous turn and brings Emlee Baptiste far from the safety of Mermaid's Hands.
I received an autographed copy of Pen Pal in exchange for an honest review.
November 16, 2016
4.5 stars - and I hope I can re-read with a book club one day.
Normally I'm not a fan of stories told as a series of letters and diary entries, as this one is, but I think it absolutely works here. The voices are distinct and the differences between what is in the letters and what's in the more personal diary entries just echo the overarching themes. These themes include the interpretation of others' actions, making decisions based on your own beliefs vs what others think, and learning how to trust when you know you're not getting the full story. Seeing these themes unfold through the eyes of the mature - yet still naive in many ways - 12 year old Em, just makes them all the more powerful, as she questions things that I've learned to take for granted as an adult.
I don't even know what genre tag to put this under, as I never read contemporary fiction and haven't yet created 'good-indie-fiction' which is what this is. Set in what could absolutely be present day, dealing with themes that are frighteningly relevant, it's not quite YA or fantasy or children's - it's just good.
My one complaint is that Em constantly writes "should of" instead of "should have" and I'm sure it's to create her character and at least it's consistent but AHHHHH. /endrant
Highly recommended, for all ages.
Normally I'm not a fan of stories told as a series of letters and diary entries, as this one is, but I think it absolutely works here. The voices are distinct and the differences between what is in the letters and what's in the more personal diary entries just echo the overarching themes. These themes include the interpretation of others' actions, making decisions based on your own beliefs vs what others think, and learning how to trust when you know you're not getting the full story. Seeing these themes unfold through the eyes of the mature - yet still naive in many ways - 12 year old Em, just makes them all the more powerful, as she questions things that I've learned to take for granted as an adult.
I don't even know what genre tag to put this under, as I never read contemporary fiction and haven't yet created 'good-indie-fiction' which is what this is. Set in what could absolutely be present day, dealing with themes that are frighteningly relevant, it's not quite YA or fantasy or children's - it's just good.
My one complaint is that Em constantly writes "should of" instead of "should have" and I'm sure it's to create her character and at least it's consistent but AHHHHH. /endrant
Highly recommended, for all ages.
December 8, 2013
I can’t recommend the book highly enough. It’s the story of two unlikely pen pals who turn out to have a lot in common and, though living a world apart, actually end up helping each other in times of crisis.
Em is a girl in a marginalized community on the southern U.S. coast (think “Beasts of the Southern Wild”) who puts a message in a bottle. The message is ultimately received by Kaya, a young woman in a place that is an amalgam of Asian countries where minorities have struggled to preserve their language and culture. Kaya is a political prisoner because of her advocacy.
It’s an amazingly enjoyable and compelling story. Sensitive, insightful, fun.
Here is the message in the bottle starts it all off:
“Dear Person Who Finds My Message,
“I live in a place called Mermaid’s Hands. All our houses here rest on the mud when the tide is out, but when it comes in, they rise right up and float.
“They’re all roped together, so we don’t lose anyone. I like Mermaid’s Hands, but sometimes I wish I could unrope our house and see where it might float to. But I would get in trouble if I did that, so instead I’m sticking this message in a bottle. If you find it, please write back to me at this address. Tell me what the world is like where you are.
“Yours truly,
“Em”
Em is a girl in a marginalized community on the southern U.S. coast (think “Beasts of the Southern Wild”) who puts a message in a bottle. The message is ultimately received by Kaya, a young woman in a place that is an amalgam of Asian countries where minorities have struggled to preserve their language and culture. Kaya is a political prisoner because of her advocacy.
It’s an amazingly enjoyable and compelling story. Sensitive, insightful, fun.
Here is the message in the bottle starts it all off:
“Dear Person Who Finds My Message,
“I live in a place called Mermaid’s Hands. All our houses here rest on the mud when the tide is out, but when it comes in, they rise right up and float.
“They’re all roped together, so we don’t lose anyone. I like Mermaid’s Hands, but sometimes I wish I could unrope our house and see where it might float to. But I would get in trouble if I did that, so instead I’m sticking this message in a bottle. If you find it, please write back to me at this address. Tell me what the world is like where you are.
“Yours truly,
“Em”
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January 22, 2015This book was part of an Indie Fantasy Bundle from https://storybundle.com/ The narrative has the form of an epistolary book, interspersed with journal entries, and follows the points of views of twelve-years-old Em, living in a seabound small community on the Mexican Gulf and an adult woman, Kaya, imprisoned on a Asian isle volcano for her political views. Through a fateful message in a bottle, they start corresponding. I had a little hard time accepting how the message in a bottle reached a person detained on a prison suspended on a volcano, but then all the landscapes presented and the straits shown are both real-like and fantastic.
I lost interest somewhere in the middle of a Kaya's journal entry around page 40. The premises are nice, and this is not the kind of fantasy book I usually read, but I wanted to give it a try. Probably all the local lore and circumstances described in first person just didn't manage to catch my attention, and the beginning was like being dropped in medias res, to see both the main characters' lives and struggles in snippets just didn't do it for me, even though this is not the first book I've read with this narrative scheme. No rating, I didn't finish the book, nor I read enough to comment on the writing style or plot/character development.
I lost interest somewhere in the middle of a Kaya's journal entry around page 40. The premises are nice, and this is not the kind of fantasy book I usually read, but I wanted to give it a try. Probably all the local lore and circumstances described in first person just didn't manage to catch my attention, and the beginning was like being dropped in medias res, to see both the main characters' lives and struggles in snippets just didn't do it for me, even though this is not the first book I've read with this narrative scheme. No rating, I didn't finish the book, nor I read enough to comment on the writing style or plot/character development.
June 1, 2015
Review copy: final copy from author
There are several appealing things about this novel. First, the storyline is interesting. A young girl from a small community has sent out a message in a bottle. The community she lives is one that floats on the sea and has a close relationship with the water. The message ends up with a young woman in a unique prison. She is hanging above a volcano. This is a part that was a bit hard to swallow at first. Over time that was more and more believable, but initially, it was difficult to believe.
Second, this features diverse characters. They live far from each other in two distinct cultures. They are both trying to hold onto their culture. One is deliberately being erased by the government and the other is less deliberate, but is still at risk. They both have an internal struggle with how to fit in with the larger society while holding onto family culture.
The settings were well drawn and I felt like I was right there with the characters.
The format was not always helpful for the story. A mix of letters along with narrative may have moved the story along a little more smoothly, but overall it worked.
I enjoyed the story and would recommend it for people interested in political activism and the issues of cultural preservation.
There are several appealing things about this novel. First, the storyline is interesting. A young girl from a small community has sent out a message in a bottle. The community she lives is one that floats on the sea and has a close relationship with the water. The message ends up with a young woman in a unique prison. She is hanging above a volcano. This is a part that was a bit hard to swallow at first. Over time that was more and more believable, but initially, it was difficult to believe.
Second, this features diverse characters. They live far from each other in two distinct cultures. They are both trying to hold onto their culture. One is deliberately being erased by the government and the other is less deliberate, but is still at risk. They both have an internal struggle with how to fit in with the larger society while holding onto family culture.
The settings were well drawn and I felt like I was right there with the characters.
The format was not always helpful for the story. A mix of letters along with narrative may have moved the story along a little more smoothly, but overall it worked.
I enjoyed the story and would recommend it for people interested in political activism and the issues of cultural preservation.
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