The Society of S

Hubbard, S. (2007). The Society of S. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
ISBN-13: 9781416534570

•Plot Summary
Ari Montero has always had a different life than kids her own age. For one thing, her mother disappeared only a few days after she was born, and no one seems to know why. She's been home schooled due to her health, which borders on anemia, and her father has lupus. Still, for all that, Ari has always been happy with her father, and he's given her the best classical education available. She does not truly miss not having a television, jeans or the other things that most teens covet, at least not until she begins making friends with the housekeeper's children, especially Kathleen. The two girls become fast friends, both able to offer the other a piece of an existence never had before, and Ari becomes romantically linked to Kathleen's older brother, Michael. Everything goes smoothly, until Kathleen is murdered, and there aren't any likely suspects. The FBI has become involved in the investigation, because Kathleen had begun dressing differently, and was a participant in a live action role playing game with vampires and werewolves, and with young people that the authorities might be part of a cult. As a result, Ari and Michael can no longer speak freely, and Ari has a new need to understand her background. Her father, Raphael, is a vampire. Tales of coffins, shapeshifting, and stakes through the heart are nonsense. Being capable of invisibility is due to physics, not the supernatural, vampires simply having more control over their molecular composition than humans have. Their forgetting to lessen the effect results in their often being blurry, or absent, from mirrors or photographs. Vampires are each drawn to certain types of patterns, like paisley or stripes, some encountering a form of dyslexia around patterns to which they aren't attuned. They eat food, usually meats, and colors have individual scents. Shortly after his wedding, Ari's mother had encouraged him to go to England for his work, and he'd been turned by Malcolm, one of his colleagues. His own colleague, Dennis, had been with the family for years. Ari had believed him to only be her father's research assistant, working to create medical cures for blood diseases, but in fact helps her father keep his own condition a secret. Ari's mother, Sara, had had a difficult pregnancy, and Raphael had refused to make her a vampire. She would have been the only mortal, because she already knew Ari had inherited her father's condition. Excited by her new knowledge, Ari tracks her mother to Homossasa, FL, able to do so because her mother believes the letter "S" to be lucky-she always looked for the letter in her daily life as a sign. Sara has become a vampire, and explains that Malcolm made her into one, for agreeing to stay away from Raphael and Ari. She is a horse breeder and bee keeper, living in a town primarily composed of other vampires who live off commercial blood substitutes and food additives. News arrives that Ari's father is dead, which she does believe, and the two trace Raphael to Saratoga Springs. He has entered into new dealings with Malcolm, because Raphael (now known as Arthur Gordon Pym) wants to keep an eye on his maker, while Dennis pleads with Ari to make him a vampire too. Malcolm and Dennis had been the ones to smuggle Sara away, and for it, Raphael tells them both to leave. It's established that Malcolm murdered Kathleen, and he also tries to burn down the condo where Raphael and Ari are staying, despite being in love with Raphael. Sara returns to her regular home in order to retrieve her possessions, before the arrival of Hurricane Barry. The hurricane does wipe out much of the area, but Ari is reunited with her parents, whether or not they choose to become a couple once more. The FBI investigator on the case makes a visit, and Ari accomplishes throwing him off course, and embarks on keeping a journal of what it means to be a vampire.

•Critical Evaluation
Hard to make an objective evaluation of this novel. So much of what was written in it, spoke to me. I rarely read fiction, but when I do, it's almost always a novel of mystery or about vampires. The affinity for Poe, especially Annabelle Lee (which I used to construct my daughter's name), and several other of Raphael and Ari's favorites authors, is here. The fondness for the letter "S" is one I share, and use often in my own role playing game (online), due to my character's name. The loss of a mother at an early age, and not truly understanding the "whys" of the situation, especially knowing she is still alive-just not coming back. The attachment to bees, because my own name means "honeybee".

Still, the references to literature in this novel are many, and therefore make it more readable for younger teens of advanced learning, and older teens. The plot line is tight, and Ari is a smart girl, with good sense of self. The ethics of the family are sound, and this novel is the first in a series called "The Ethical Vampires" series.

•Reader’s Annotation
Suitable for readers that possess a solid background in literature, because many of the references that are used as plot ties, simply won't make sense without an understanding of the individual bodies of work.

•Information about the author
Susan Hubbard was born in New York, but currently lives in Florida with her husband. She is now a professor of creative writing at the University of Central Florida, and in 1999, won a Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for best prose book by an American woman. In addition to her position at UCF, she had been given teaching awards from Syracuse and Cornell universities.

The sequel to The Society of S, The Year of Disappearances, was released in May 2008. A third volume in the series, entitled The Season of Risks, is scheduled to be released this year. Susan is part of the Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat, and will be teaching classes in Ireland this year as well.

•Genre
Fantasy

•Curriculum Ties
Biology
Folktales
Literature

•Booktalking Ideas
Vampires, literary references in teen fiction, physic's role in folklore

•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-12/Ages 15-19

•Challenge Issues
N/A

•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
This was one of the first books I picked up for this course, but one of the last I read. I think it's because I knew, somehow, that this one was going to be special (maybe with a capital "S"). The idea of a coming-of-age vampire story intrigued me. As someone who was appalled by the lack of real content (particularly literary or historical) in the "other teen vampire series", I was glad to see it present here.