CANR
WORK TITLE: 5 to 1
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1972?
WEBSITE: http://hollybodger.com/
CITY: Ottawa
STATE: ON
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-bodger-193229114/?ppe=1 * https://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-story/5597256-manotick-author-emerges-as-new-voice-in-teen-fiction/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1972.
EDUCATION:University of Ottawa, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Scientific and technical publishing.
MEMBER:Romance Writers of America.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
A long-time resident of Ottawa, Canada, Holly Bodger writes young adult fiction. She holds a degree in English from the University of Ottawa and works in scientific and technical publishing. In 2015, Bodger published the futuristic young adult novel, 5 to 1. In the year 2054 in India, decades of a one-child law has created gender selection for babies that has favored sons so much that there are now five boys for every one girl. In an ironic twist, daughters are now highly valuable and sons are not wanted. The region of Koyanagar has walled itself off and has instituted its own laws about marriage. Women are now in charge and men are treated like second class citizens. Young men must pass a special test to be worthy enough to marry, and all young women must marry to produce children. Despite her influential grandmother, Nani, who is a matriarch, seventeen-year-old Sudasa does not want to get married, and neither does Kiran want to be a husband. The two fight the system until they each realize they might be able to get what they want.
In alternating points of view, Sudasa’s story is told in verse, while Kiran’s is told in prose. “The characters each have clear, strong voices. The poetic nature of Sudasa’s chapters adds greatly to the story,” according to Heather Pittman in Voice of Youth Advocates. In an interview on the Unbound Worlds website, Bodger explained to Matt Staggs how she approached the different views of life between a rich and sheltered Sudasa and poor boy Kiran: “I felt like they had to approach the same situation with very different perspectives on things. I do believe there are general differences between the way men and women express themselves, however I also believe there will always be people who defy these generalities. I personally try to focus more on how the specific character would act or speak, rather than how they would adhere to gender biases.”
Praising the South Asian cultural themes in the book, Gail Bush noted in Booklist: “This accessible dystopian novel builds readers’ belief in the driving message: to be fair to oneself.” On the other hand, Valerie Zhang on The Young Folks Website commented on the simplistic themes of gender selection and arranged marriage, which are not the only issues of Indian culture, however, “5 to 1 is still a groundbreaking novel in its focus on India and its confrontation of current issues in the country.” This engaging dystopia describes “the possibilities of giving too much power to one gender or the other, and the negative impact that inequality can have on young people,” said School Library Journal contributor Eden Grey.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 1, 2015, Gail Bush, review of 5 to 1, p. 64.
School Library Journal, February 2015, Eden Grey, review of 5 to 1, p. 97.
Voice of Youth Advocates, June 2015, Heather Pittman, review of 5 to 1, p. 71.
ONLINE
Holly Bodger Website, http://hollybodger.com/ (October 1, 2017), author profile.
Unbound Worlds, http://www.unboundworlds.com/ (May 13, 2015), Matt Staggs, author interview.
Young Folks, https://www.theyoungfolks.com/ (May 15, 2015), Valerie Zhang, review of 5 to 1.*
A long-time resident of Ottawa, Canada, Holly has been working in publishing since she graduated with an English degree from the University of Ottawa. 5 TO 1 is her debut novel.
For 5 TO 1 extras including an Educator's Guides, glossary, coloring pages, glossary, and interviews, see Holly's Website at http://hollybodger.com
AVAILABLE NOW: A free 5 TO 1 novella, told from Surina's perspective. To download it, visit http://hollybodger.com/the-other-one/
Holly Bodger has a BA in English literature and has spent her entire career in publishing. She is an active member of Romance Writers of America and is a 2013 Golden Heart finalist in the Young Adult category. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.
A long-time resident of Ottawa, Canada, I have been working in scientific and technical publishing since I graduated with an English degree from the University of Ottawa.
My debut novel, 5 TO 1, was released on May 12, 2015 from Knopf Books for Young Readers (Penguin Random House).
I am also the author of TEN which was a finalist for the 2013 RWA Golden Heart (YA Category).
CURRENT GIVEAWAY CONTESTS
Here are my current Giveaway Contests
MASK OF SHADOWS through September 30th
Danielle Burby Query Critique through October 7th
MARKED BEAUTY through October 21st
Upcoming Agent Spotlights and Query Critique Giveaways
Molly O'Neill Agent Spotlight Interview on 10/23/17
Quressa Robinson Agent Spotlight Interview on 10/30/17
AGENT LAUREN MACLEOD AND HOLLY BODGER GUEST POST AND QUERY CRITIQUE AND 5 TO 1 GIVEAWAY
Happy Monday Everyone!
I have a few winners to announce.
The winner of THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING is Joanne Fritz!
The winner of JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD is Liz Brooks!
The winner of Brent Taylor's Query Critique is Jenny C.!
And the winner of the May I Suggest Giveaway Hop is Anne May who picked the Amazon Gift Card!
Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book. Please e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.
Today I'm thrilled to have debut author Holly Bodger and her agent Lauren MacLeod from The Strothman Agency to share about raising your stakes in your novel.
Holly's novel is a YA multicultural, futuristic story that sounds fantastic. I just reserved it at the library for my summer fun reading. And it just came in. Yay!
Here's a blurb from Goodreads:
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.
Sudasa, though, doesn't want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.
This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view-Sudasa's in verse and Kiran's in prose-allowing readers to experience both characters' pain and their brave struggle for hope.
So here's Holly and Lauren!
Stake it Up
HB: One of the things Lauren often reminds me is to increase the stakes in my novel. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a character’s stakes are what he has to lose if he doesn’t meet his goal. For example, if Harry Potter doesn’t defeat Voldemort, he will die, so his stakes are death. In the case of my own book, 5 TO 1, Sudasa’s stakes are a life of misery married to a boy she hates. Kiran’s are death.
LM: I just searched through my sent email for the phrase “the stakes” and it does, indeed, seem to be one of those things I’m constantly talking about with you guys. But without high stakes, what is the point? Why should a reader invest themselves in this story or character?
HB: You are so right, Lauren. The stakes are what keeps the reader reading. In fact, according to James a character’s stakes must always be death. Don’t get too excited. He defines death in three ways: 1) actual physical death, 2) professional death (in YA this might be called death in stature, ie, a place on the basketball team), and 3) emotional death. This last one can be hard to pull off as it requires that you convince the reader that it will really occur. When I used this this last one for Sudasa, I had to make sure that it was REALLY clear that a life married to a boy she hates would be emotional death.
Scott Bell,
LM: That is such an interesting way of framing that! I feel like there should be some sort of category for interpersonal relationship death (not necessarily romantic, but frequently), but maybe that all falls under the umbrella of emotional death? (For some reason ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS popped into my head and I was trying to figure out where I’d slot those stakes.) Holly?
HB: Yes, I think loss of love/friendship would be an emotional death as long as the relationship is important to the main character. That’s what stakes must be personal. The main character must be facing his or her own death (or in this case, loss). If the stakes belong to another character, then they must relate back to the main character through an emotional death. For example, Katniss risks her life initially to save her sister and while she wants to win the games so she can continue to support her mother and sister, the stakes (of actual death) are hers because she is the one who might die. Had the games been different and Katniss had been playing for Prim’s life, we would have believed Katniss was facing emotional death only if we also believed Prim was so important to Katniss that she could not possibly go on living without her.
LM: Sort of like the emotional death Katniss would be facing re: Peeta Mellark? (Oh Peeta!) Katniss is facing her own death, but the reader also thinks she may be facing an emotional death if she loses Peeta. So she has personal stakes on two sides and, thanks to the winner takes all nature of the Hunger Games, she is put in this really fascinating place where it seems like she can’t win. The more stakes you can raise, and the more you can set those in conflict with each other, the higher the tension, the more I care as a reader.
HB: Yeah, Hunger Games was full of stakes. Katniss was facing the loss of her sister and Peeta, in addition to her own life. This really helped build engagement with Katniss because the stakes were specific. This is really important. I have lost count of the number of loglines I’ve seen where the only stakes are the end of the world . How does a reader know what this means? Will the Earth actually implode if the main character does not succeed or is this just an exaggeration?
LM: Oh I agree with your requirement, but I think there is a place for *dramatic music* THE END OF THE WORLD, as long as there are some personal stakes tied up in there, too. I think there is some pretty fertile ground here, especially when you set it up so the stakes for the world conflict [am I beginning to sound like a broken record? I clearly like my stakes with a side of major conflict] with the main characters personal stakes. It demands a sacrifice or some sort of moral reckoning, which is also inherently interesting.
HB: So Lauren likes her stakes with a side of more stakes. Do you see a pattern here?
The final thing to remember with stakes is that they must be believable. This touches on a whole other topic about powerful antagonists, but the point here is that we must believe the stakes will absolutely come true if the main character loses. We rooted for Katniss because we actually believed she would die in the Hunger Games. If she’d gone into the arena to fight to the death and her opponents were all toothless gerbils, we would not have believed the stakes.
LM: Agreed. I’d add that the best books also really build the case for it being unlikely for the main character to get what they want. In the case of escaping physical death, for example, most writers (especially of YA) probably aren’t really going to George R. R. Martin a character and readers know that, so the burden falls on the writer to really make us fear/worry for our characters.
I think this is probably easiest in something like the Hunger Games and hardest in YA or MG when your stakes are more of the “professional death” variety. We see “so-and-so will die” or “the world will end” so frequently because those stakes register on a visceral human level.
Thanks for sharing all your great advice, Lauren and Holly.
You can find Lauren at @Lauren_MacLeod.
You can find Holly at www.hollybodger.com.
Lauren has generously offered a query critique and Holly is offering a copy of 5 TO 1for a giveaway.
To enter, you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through May 30. I’ll announce the winner on June 8th. If you are interested in the query critique, please let me know in the comments. You must let me know this to enter. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. This is an International giveaway.
Here's what's coming up:
I'll be off next Monday for Memorial Day. Have a great holiday!
Next Wednesday I have a guest post by Elizabeth Varden and a giveaway of her new MG mystery IMOGENE AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PEARLS.
I'll be off on Monday June 1st to get ready for my daughter's graduation and will be offline all week because I'm having family visiting to help celebrate our happy event.
Monday, June 8th, I'll have an interview with debut author Sarah McGuire and a giveaway of her MG fantasy VALIANT.
Hope to see you next Wednesday!
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Interview with Holly Bodger author of 5 to 1!!!
Hello guys!!
The blog is currently on hiatus, but I still have a few posts scheduled here and there because no matter how busy, crazy, crazy busy or totally exhausted that I might be this month with the paperwork, the cleaning, the furniture buying & assembling and the move... I want and NEED to share some things with you all!!
And one of the things that I REALLY NEED to share with you is my love for 5 to 1 and its author, Holly Bodger! I do hope to get to meet her at BEA with some luck! She was fantastic on assuring I got an ARC from NG and she was so nice to agree on coming over here for an interview!
Welcome and thank you so much for visiting my blog, Holly! Feel free to grab a cupcake and sit anywhere except where the two mini-dragons are!
Mmmm, cake.
- First off, I want to start asking you how did you end up writing a dystopian novel set in the Indian subcontinent? We don't get as much fiction written about India by a non-Indian author and even less a dystopian!
The story was inspired by a journal article I read about the effects of son preference and gender selection in countries such as India and China. Once I started to think about what is going to happen in these countries in the future, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I initially put the idea aside because I didn’t think the world needed another dystopian novel (even though I don’t really consider this book dystopian but I knew others would). When I realized I would not get the idea out of my head until I wrote it, I decided to just go for it. The rest is history!
- As someone that has been part of an Indian family for a few years and spent time in India and living the society from the inside, I love all the lil touches that make the book so realistic, like the different names for the family members and the like, how much reseach did you do? Anything very interesting or curious that you learnt but didn't end up using?
I did an insane amount of research and probably used only 5% of it in the book. I would have loved to go on and on about all the beauty and the ugly of India, but I needed to stay true to what Sudasa and Kiran would notice and so I had to leave a lot of that out. I also had to keep reminding myself that this Koyanagar had separated from India because they wanted to fix things, and so it would not have made sense for them to keep all the laws and customs of India.
- I love how your story was told in dual POV and how we get to see the two sides of the story and how the main characters see each other. Was that always part of the plan for the story or did it happen later as you were writing or editing? If so, who was the sole POV you started with?
I wrote the book entirely as verse from Sudasa’s point of view first. It was only when I was told that something was missing that I realized I needed to add Kiran, too. At the time, it had never occurred to me to write a half-verse, half-prose book, but now that I’ve done it, I can’t imagine it any way else!
- Your descriptions of Indian food and clothes and jewelry are fantastic! Have you worn a saree yet or do plan to? Your favourite Indian food? I do hope you'll get to try cheese naan soon!
I have not yet worn a sari, although I have a friend who says she’s going to put me in one soon! I do own a salwar kameez, a kurta, several dupattas, several pairs of juttis, and tons of Indian jewellery. I eat curry probably once a week (more often after Christmas and Thanksgiving since I love TURKEY CURRY!) My lack of cheese naan really deserves some kind of attention from a national foundation. J But don’t worry, I am going to be in New York several times this summer and I’m sure I’ll find it there!
- I love how your book uses a dystopian setting to explore big and important issues as feminism and gender equality. It seems like this world started as a way to protect the women from the horrible treatment that girls still get to this day in India, but those good intentions go awry pretty soon and oppression of the other gender is not a better option. I wonder how did you decide to turn the tables to make us see how wrong gender inequality is?
I did this for two reasons. The first was because the reality of gender selection is that countries such as India and China will soon find themselves without enough girls of marriageable age. As of 2011, India had 7 million more boys than girls under the age of 6. Fifteen years from now, that means there will be 7 million boys who can’t find a wife or partner. The girls who marry will have their pick of boys which is why I imagined them all ending up with the rich ones, thus gaining more riches and power for themselves.
The second reason I did this was because I felt like there were already enough people yelling about gender inequality from the rooftops and yet their words have been falling on deaf ears. I wanted to show the situation in a different way; in a way that shows that this will hurt boys too. That is the real crux of the situation: gender equality helps everyone while gender inequality hurts everyone.
- I'm a big fan of mehendi/mendhi and when I saw your cover I was in insta-love! How was the process of the cover? Were you involved at all or was it a stunning surprise for you too? Is there a particular meaning on the fishes drawn in the palms?
I am going to be interviewing my cover designer as part of my book launch blog tour and plan to ask her these same questions. I really had no idea what to expect and was extremely surprised when I saw the first comp of the cover. I’m guessing that she used the fish because of Kiran’s poem at the end, although I like to imagine that she knew I was a Pisces and wanted to incorporate that. J
- The ending of the book was quite open and although I'm sure it could stay as a standalone, I must confess to hope and wish for a sequel to see what else is there in this world! Might we be getting lucky? If so, will it be a proper sequel, a companion novel?
I would love to publish a sequel to this book. I always imagined it as a two-parter: one part in Sudasa’s world and the other in Kiran’s. I have also been thinking about the idea of a companion, however those thoughts are mostly still inside my head!
Thank you so very much for all your answers, Holly! Be sure to check your pockets and bag so neither dragons or sheep try to smuggle out! Take another cupcake for the way!
Mmmm, cake. You know the way to a girl’s heart!
5 TO 1 by Holly Badger
Publishing date: May 12th 2015
Knof Books for Young Readers
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.
Sudasa, though, doesn't want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.
This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view-Sudasa's in verse and Kiran's in prose-allowing readers to experience both characters' pain and their brave struggle for hope.
About Holly Bodger:
HOLLY BODGER has a BA in English Literature and has spent her entire career in publishing. She is an active member of RWA and is a 2013 Golden Heart finalist in the Young Adult category. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.
Interview & Giveaway: 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
8 September, 2015 Steph Sinclair Giveaways, Guest Spotlight, Interviews 12 comments
I’m always fascinated by cover designs and its process. And as a huge supporter of diverse books, I have a special interest in their cover treatment. 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger is a book I’ve had my eye on for a long time now (it’s sitting on my shelf now, just waiting to be read!) because I love novels in verse and the synopsis intrigued me as it reminded me of the documentary It’s a Girl (super powerful and I encourage you all to check it out). Plus, the cover is so creative! If you’re just as curious as me about how the cover designer, Jen Heuer, came up with this work of art, check out the interview with Holly and Jen and enter for a chance to win a copy!
Welcome, Holly and Jen!
Interview with Jen Heuer, the cover designer for 5 TO 1
There’s really no way to explain how it feels to see your book’s cover design for the first time. Some authors jump up and down and squee. Some rage. Some cry. Some stare at the screen for hours letting drool puddle onto their laps.
When asked how I felt when I saw the cover for 5 TO 1 for the first time, I described it as feeling as though someone else had crawled inside my head and harvested the thoughts that were scattered about. The design was beyond what I could have imagined, and yet it was so perfect, I really did wonder why I hadn’t imagined it.
Since that first reveal, I have been dying to ask the cover designer, Jen Heuer, how she came up with the concept. And so, without further ado, here are my questions for Jen!
Holly: How did you first start off the cover design for this project? Did you know that you didn’t want to work with stock imagery?
Jen: This had such a unique style in writing that I felt as though a stock image would just water it down. I’d been looking for something that could both convey the human element as well as the setting and began searching for decorative elements at the New York Public Library’s image library (seriously some of the oddest people chill there all day). It dawned on me that if I want the human element to it, henna style body art would give me that chance.
Holly: Where did the idea to add the double fish come from? As the author, I’ve always assumed it came from Kiran’s poem (although I like to joke it had something to do with me being a Pisces which I doubt you even know!)
Jen: The double fish was honestly, a very, very lucky find. Once I saw that image in a collection of henna designs, I knew it was perfect for the book based on the poem Kiran gave Sudasa. Or perhaps it was the universe coming together, since I’m also Pisces, but probably just luck.
Holly: The creepy eyes really make a huge difference in making this cover look dystopian. Did you know you wanted these from the start or were they added afterwards? Was that what you were going for when you added them?
Jen: In the start, I had a cover that was just the design, on a solid colored background. It almost felt ‘cute’ rather than this sense of a dystopian society. The eyes, based on hindu paintings, had the overbearing weight that Sudan’s grandmother fills. It also gives this bright punch of color to represent the spectacle of the Tests.
About Holly Bodger
HOLLY BODGER has a BA in English Literature and has spent her entire career in publishing. She is an active member of RWA and is a 2013 Golden Heart finalist in the Young Adult category. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
About 5 to 1
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
Series: Standalone
Published by Knopf on May 12th 2015
Pages: 244
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover
Amazon・ Good Books・Book Depository
Goodreads
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.
Sudasa doesn’t want to be a wife, and Contestant Five, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. Sudasa’s family wants nothing more than for their daughter to do the right thing and pick a husband who will keep her comfortable—and caged. Five’s family wants him to escape by failing the tests. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Five thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.
This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view—Sudasa’s in verse and Contestant Five’s in prose—allowing readers to experience both characters’ pain and their brave struggle for hope.
Giveaway
Random House is giving away one finished copy of 5 to 1 to a Cuddlebuggery reader. Enter below to win!
Giveaway Rules:
To enter, please fill out the Raffelcopter form below.
All entrants be at least 13 years or older to enter.
The giveaway is open to US only.
When the winners are chosen, it will be announced here and the winners will be emailed.
Please enter your email address in the Rafflecopter form and not the comments.
Five Questions and One Statement from ‘5 TO 1’ Author Holly Bodger
By Matt Staggs
May 13, 2015
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Holly Bodger is the author of 5 To 1, a new work of fiction set in the near future where, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys to one girl. Tired of wedding their daughters to the highest bidder, the women who formed the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.
In the spirit of the novel, I asked Bodger to answer five questions about the book and then offer one statement.
5 To 1 is on sale now.
I woke up today and saw the following headline “The Age of the Designer Baby is Here!” While overstated (the “design” referred to correcting mutations linked to cystic fibrosis), it did remind me that we aren’t terribly far off from a time in which we will be able to select the sex of our offspring. This is, of course, what occurs in your book. Briefly, how does that work out for society, and do you think we’re in any danger of having a similar situation occur here in the real world?
In 5 TO 1, the selection of a specific gender (boys) in present day backfires when the country finds itself lacking in the opposite gender (girls) in the future. This imbalance has a negative impact on boys, which is ironic since they were the ones preferred in the first place.
While I don’t think there is a great chance the boy-to-girl ratios will rise to 5 to 1, I do think society has moved towards the idea of “screening” future children. Technologies such as ultrasounds have allowed future parents to screen a fetus for medical problems or deformities. I don’t think a lot of people have an ethical problem with these tests since they are trying to determine if the fetus is healthy. Of course, during the course of these screenings, future parents can often find out the gender of the fetus. This is where the ethics start to blur. If the parents ask for the gender so they can start debating names or so they can pick a paint color for the nursery, most people do not object to the practice; however, if they do so with the intention of aborting the fetus if the gender is not as desired, I suspect a lot more people would object.
When we approach more advanced technologies, the slope gets slippery. Amniocenteses already enables physicians to perform genetic testing on a fetus (again, with the intention of identifying medical problems.) Would said testing be wrong if it could be used to ascertain intelligence or athletic prowess? Would we want a world filler with only perfect people? If so, who would define perfect?
The truth of the matter is that there are sometimes things that are medically possible but not ethically acceptable. Mary Shelley made this point when she wrote Frankenstein almost two hundred years ago and it is as true then as it is now. I am very happy that I’m not the person who has to decide what is ethical and what is not as I suspect it would probably be like drawing a line in the sand with a live snake.
Your book features two perspectives: one male, one female. One prose, the other verse. I’ve noticed that people often talk of men and women speaking “different languages”, and was wondering if this stylistic choice was in any way reflective of this.
I chose to give them distinct styles because they are very different characters. Sudasa is a rich, sheltered girl who doesn’t really understand how the real world works. Kiran, on the other hand, is a poor boy who has been living and breathing reality since he was a child. Because of this, I felt like they had to approach the same situation with very different perspectives on things.
I do believe there are general differences between the way men and women express themselves, however I also believe there will always be people who defy these generalities. I personally try to focus more on how the specific character would act or speak, rather than how they would adhere to gender biases.
The book is set in India, and involves a high tech version of an arranged marriage. While I know that arranged marriages has been a part of Indian culture in the past, are they still a part of life now?
According to a recent study by UNICEF, arranged marriages still make up 90% of marriages in India, so yes, they are very much part of life today. In some instances, arranged marriage means forced marriage, often with a bride who is under 18 (which is illegal.) But in many others, the bride and groom choose to have their parents select a partner and then choose to go forward (or not go forward) with the ceremony once they have met. While this may seem unusual to North Americans, India boasts a divorce rate of just over 1% (rather than America’s 50%.) This is partially due to the fact that divorce is not as acceptable in India as it is in America, but one does have to wonder if there is more to it than that.
When I heard of your book, I was immediately reminded of works like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Do you see your novel as a work of feminist literature?
It’s funny that you mention The Handmaid’s Tale because that’s the book that made me decide I wanted to be a novelist. Atwood was, and still is, a role model to me both because she is a fantastic Canadian author who is willing to take chances, and because she is a proud feminist.
Much like The Handmaid’s Tale, I do believe 5 TO 1 is a work of feminism. Feminism by definition seeks equality between the genders and my novel is about what happens when you don’t have it. The fact of the matter is that an absence of equality hurts everyone, which was a key message I wanted to convey in my book.
Is the competitive testing of men who desire a wife in any way an inversion of the male gaze? In essence, are the men being treated as an objective commodity in the same way women are objectified?
The boys are competing to win a wife which, in a way, objectifies the girl by making her a prize. But at the same time, the girls are treating the boys like they are nothing unless they win, which essentially objectifies the boys, too. Both genders resent the system and yet they are fueling it by continuing these beliefs about the opposite sex. It’s a vicious circle. The only way to stop it is to break it.
Author Statement: We can see with only those eyes that are our own.
5 to 1 Blog Tour Interview w/ Holly Bodger
8
Posted 05/05/2015 by alicemarvels in Author Interview
Today we are excited to share an interview with Holly Bodger, author of the wonderful 5 to 1. Scroll down for the chance to win a copy!
Interview:
Was it hard to switch between Sudasa’s and Kiran’s voices? Did you set out to write in alternating verse and prose?
My early drafts of this book were only in Sudasa’s point of view (so verse only). When I decided to add Kiran’s point of view, I wrote that in a separate document and then inserted it into Sudasa’s book. Aside from when I needed to do a full read-through of the novel, I always edited each character’s point of view separately. I don’t think I could have stayed in voice otherwise. This is partially because of the verse and prose, but also because they are such different characters.
How did you incorporate elements of present-day Indian culture into your futuristic society?
The first thing I did was a ton of research on the reasons behind gender selection in this specific area. In India, these choices are made for many reasons. There are biases toward girls, but there are also religious reasons (i.e., customs performed at death) and financial reasons (both dowries and property inheritance laws). Once I understood these, I was able to decide which parts of the Indian culture the new country would disregard in an effort to fix the problem.
When it came to incorporating clothing, I mostly kept that the same. I did buy quite a few pieces of clothing, shoes, and jewelry from India so I could understand the feel. I still remember the day I bought this stack of bangles that I’d said Sudasa’s grandmother always wore. Had I not actually worn these around, I wouldn’t have understood how much they jingle around when you motion with your hands!
For food, I looked up specific recipes and analyzed ingredients and preparation instructions. This part got considerably more complicated when I decided to incorporate the idea that women would eat certain foods in order to try to get pregnant with a girl.
For everything else—weather, landscape, history . . . basically, the things that would not change—I did a lot of research, most of which involved books, the Internet, and a million emails to my friend Sonali.
In your book, the characters, both male and female, are in many ways slaves to their gender. Do you think our choices are limited by our gender today? Do you see a society like Koyanagar developing in the future?
I don’t think our choices are ever limited by our gender, but I do think they are limited by those labels we place on people, many of which are attached to gender. There are still people out there who tell boys not to cry or play with dolls or wear pink, and there are still people who tell girls not to be too tough or too aggressive. Society can tell people to ignore these gender-based rules, but if they’ve been ingrained in someone’s psyche, it is not an easy task.
Outside of Western society, I do believe a Koyanagar of sorts already exists (in the reverse, of course!). There are many countries around the world where women have no value. They aren’t allowed to speak for themselves or make decisions for themselves. They can be bought and sold, and if they become the victim of sexual assault, they can be legally murdered. In some ways, the reality of some parts of the world today is much worse than anything I created in Koyanagar.
Do you think you might continue Sudasa’s story in a sequel?
I would love to do this! I always imagined this to be a two-part story: one part with Kiran living in Sudasa’s world and one part with Sudasa living in Kiran’s. I’d also like to explore life for Sudasa’s grandmother when she was a teen in current day.
You’re a big proponent of diverse books, and 5 to 1 is a wonderful diverse read. What are some books you’ve loved that you would recommend to readers who enjoyed 5 to 1 and are looking for more diverse voices?
There are so many facets to diversity (and so many books I love in each), but I’ll focus on diverse cultures for this list:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Caminar
Chained
Homeless Bird
The Kite Runner*
Shantaram*
Memoirs of a Geisha*
A Bollywood Affair*
The Joy Luck Club*
*adult
Thanks so much for stopping by Holly!
ABOUT 5 TO 1:
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.
Sudasa, though, doesn’t want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.
This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view-Sudasa’s in verse and Kiran’s in prose-allowing readers to experience both characters’ pain and their brave struggle for hope.
Available May 12th: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Indiebound | iBooks | Google Play
ABOUT HOLLY BODGER:
HOLLY BODGER has a BA in English Literature and has spent her entire career in publishing. She is an active member of RWA and is a 2013 Golden Heart finalist in the Young Adult category. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.
The Debut Club: An interview with Holly Bodger, author of 5 TO 1
Posted in 2015 Debuts, Dystopian, Interviews, Novel in Verse, The Debut Club, Young Adult Authors by Marisa
Sweet Sixteener Darcy Woods recently spoke to Fearless Fifteener Holly Bodger about her YA Dystopian half-verse novel, 5 TO 1 (May 12, 2016 from Knopf Books for Young Readers).
About the Author:
A long-time resident of Ottawa, Canada, Holly has been working in publishing since she graduated with an English degree from the University of Ottawa. 5 TO 1 is her debut novel.
Find Holly on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, and Goodreads.
About 5 TO 1:
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife. Sudasa, though, doesn’t want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.
5 TO 1 is available for purchase at Amazon, Powell’s, Books A Million, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound.
Darcy: One of the (many, many!) things I loved about 5 to 1 is the unique way you handle the alternating POV. We have Kiran’s chapters told in prose, while Sudasa’s are told in verse. Did you know from the story’s inception you’d want to structure it this way? Or did your characters bosstalk you into it?
Holly: The original version of this novel was actually only from Sudasa’s POV. It wasn’t until I received feedback that the world building was not working in verse that I got the idea to add a second POV. Of course now I can’t even imagine the book without Kiran! It is as much his story as Sudasa’s and I really feel like we need both in order to see the whole picture.
Darcy: What was the most difficult part of writing this book (aka: your black moment) and how did you overcome it?
Holly: Hmmm. I’d probably have to go with the setting on this one. I originally thought I could set this book in a fictional country that sounded like India, but wasn’t actually India, but as time went on, it became more difficult to be vague. When I sold the book, my editor said she wanted more of India and I knew I had to bite the proverbial bullet and spend the next few months on research. Of course, that’s when I totally fell in love with India and had to almost stop myself from putting in too much.
Darcy: Okay, the publishing learning curve. As debuts, I think we’ve all learned a thing or sixty about the process. But if you could go back in time–from sale to now–what would you tell your newbie self?
Holly: I would tell my newbie self to do every possible thing I could think of MONTHS before release because SO MANY THINGS will come up in the weeks before, plus your brain will turn to overripe banana making almost all coherent thought impossible. Did that make sense? Wait, who am I again?
Darcy: What has been the most valuable tool(s) for you as an author that has taken your writing to the next level? CPs? Writing organizations? Fresh, oven-baked cookies?
While I have been known to overload on writing books, conferences and organizations, the thing that has taken me forward has definitely been my writing partners. It’s very hard to find ones you mesh with, but once you do, you honestly cannot live without them. I have a melange of partners who all help with very different things. They are seriously invaluable.
Lightning Round Questions:
Oddest job you’ve ever had?
I used to sell “tip sheets” for horse races.
Favorite writing snack?
Cookies.
What were you reading when you were sixteen?
Probably Cosmo, Glamour and Vogue. And a lot of Margaret Atwood.
Homebody or gypsy–what’s your favorite pocket of the world?
Homebody although I do adore Britain.
Music to write by? Or is silence sublime?
Usually, it’s absolute silence, however I do spend a large amount of time writing during my daughter’s dance classes so bagpipes would be the backup choice.
How many fascinators do you own?
Um… four? But I do have around twenty hats. Or more. I’ve lost count.
Bodger, Holly. 5 to 1
Heather Pittman
38.2 (June 2015): p71.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
4Q * 4P * J Bodger, Holly. 5 to 1. Knopf/Random House, 2015. 256p. $17.99. 978-0-385-39153-5.
In India in the year 2052, the ratio of boys to girls is five to one. After years of gender selection favoring boys, society is doomed because there simply are not enough girls. Now girls are in demand, and boys are unwanted. One section of the country has walled itself off and restructured government, putting women in charge and making men second-class citizens. All boys are "tested," each getting the chance to compete for a wife, regardless of his station in life. Sudasa is not eager to choose a stranger to marry, but she must, particularly because of her powerful grandmother. Karan has plans of his own, and they do not include marriage. When the system forces Kiran to compete for Sudasa, their lives collide, forcing them both to reexamine everything they think they know about the world in which they live. Sudasa tells her tale in verse, while Kiran's narration is in prose form.
The alternating points of view are handled beautifully. The characters each have clear, strong voices. The poetic nature of Sudasa's chapters adds greatly to the story. This is an interesting twist on the dystopian scenario, bringing a new element to a subgenre that is stretched thin. The setting is well developed but does not overwhelm the plot or characters. It is refreshing to have non-Caucasian main characters, particularly when race is not a theme of the novel. This is a fast, fascinating story that will appeal to many readers.--Heather Pittman.
Pittman, Heather
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Pittman, Heather. "Bodger, Holly. 5 to 1." Voice of Youth Advocates, June 2015, p. 71. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA418844983&it=r&asid=6b910a57759ede278d94e281c28bb935. Accessed 5 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A418844983
5 to 1
Gail Bush
111.15 (Apr. 1, 2015): p64.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
5 to 1. By Holly Bodger. May 2015.256p. Knopf, $17.99 (9780385391535); lib. ed., $20.99 (9780385391542); e-book (9780385391559). Gr. 7-10.
In the year 2052, after a twisted outcome of the one-child laws in Koyanagar, India, boys outnumber girls five to one. The annual marriage "tests" of Sudasa--granddaughter of Nani, a renowned matriarch of the system--and her five suitors span three days and are witnessed by thousands. Bodger writes in verse narrative for Sudasa and in prose for Kiran (aka Contestant Five). While Sudasa's name translates to "obedience," that is certainly not the case--at 17, she is anything but obedient. She knows that Nani has stacked the deck in favor of her cousin, Contestant One, and Sudasa is not about to let that marriage happen. Test after test, from football to cooking to poetry, Kiran shows himself to be her true choice. However, Contestant Five has his own reasons for not wanting to be the chosen one, even if it means lifelong penance. Flavored by a South Asian cultural essence, this accessible dystopian novel builds readers' belief in the driving message: to be fair to oneself.--Gail Bush
Bush, Gail
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bush, Gail. "5 to 1." Booklist, 1 Apr. 2015, p. 64. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA410769740&it=r&asid=d6c8eafa5f35fb25af70e30945d87dac. Accessed 5 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A410769740
Bodger, Holly. 5 to 1
Eden Grey
61.2 (Feb. 2015): p97.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
BODGER, Holly. 5 to 1. 256p. Knopf. May 2015. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780385391535; lib. ed. $20.99. ISBN 9780385391542; ebk. ISBN 9780385391559.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Gr 7 Up--In this debut novel told in alternating points of view, one in poetry and one in prose, Bodger explores a future in which gender selection in India has led to there being five boys for every girl. The prose is captivating in its authenticity, portraying Kiran's point of view very well. The poetry is appropriately jarring and nuanced, showing many aspects of Sudasa's culture and lifestyle. Sudasa is about to come of age, meaning that she, along with many other girls just like her, will watch eight boys compete for her hand in marriage. Kiran is one of those boys, but he has a plan to escape the tests, his inevitable military assignment, and the oppression of his country. Sudasa struggles against her grandmother's strong and repressive influence, while Kiran battles pressures from the other boys in his testing group. Over days of trials and judging, Sudasa comes to realize that Kiran may have another agenda besides winning her hand in marriage. Meanwhile, Kiran comes to see that Sudasa is not just a power-hungry woman looking for a male companion to obey her every wish. What these two discover puts them on the cusp of changing their worlds forever. In a not-so-distant future, readers see the possibilities of giving too much power to one gender or the other, and the negative impact that inequality can have on young people and an entire country. VERDICT An engaging dystopian novel set in India that poignantly explores gender politics.--Eden Grey, Kenton County Public Library, KY
Grey, Eden
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Grey, Eden. "Bodger, Holly. 5 to 1." School Library Journal, Feb. 2015, p. 97+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA399887041&it=r&asid=3cbc81832d36497cd3be32561efb2fbb. Accessed 5 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A399887041
Book Review: ‘5 to 1’ by Holly Bodger
Valerie Zhang
May 15, 2015
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(goodreads.com)
It’s 2054, and after decades of gender selection, India’s boy to girl ratio is now five to one. In other words, women are now even more valuable commodities than before. Tired of marry their daughters off, some women form the country of Koyanagar. They’ve also instituted a series of tests so that every boy has a chance to “win” a wife. Sudasa doesn’t want to be a wife though, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete to become her husband, has ulterior motives as well. However, as the tests progress, Sudasa and Kiran slowly realize that they just might want the same thing. This novel is told from alternating points of view ― Sudasa’s in verse and Kiran’s in prose ― rendering readers speechless by painting a story of pain, beauty, bravery, and ultimately, hope.
I read this novel over spring break while I was on the car. That was a bad decision; I had to explain to my entire family the tears streaming down my face while we were driving through Ohio. Mom, I’m just crying because I’m reading the most beautiful book since I read A Tale of Two Cities two years ago. No big deal. Yet 5 to 1 is truly a big deal; Holly Bodger depicts India’s gender inequality through a futuristic lens. She makes what seem so distant grounded in the present, in reality. The way Bodger explores such a paradox is commendable. Her message is strong, her prose and verse compelling and beautiful.
Plot-wise though, 5 to 1 is too simplistic for my taste. Though I understand gender selection and arranged marriage are major issues in India, I know that those aspects are not the only components of Indian identity. Holly Bodger, by portraying women turning the tables on men by forming their own country just to marry their daughters off differently – through tests – misses the nuances of Indian culture. This being said, 5 to 1 is still a groundbreaking novel in its focus on India and its confrontation of current issues in the country.
My English teacher this year emphasized critiquing a book by its ending. Basically, I need to rant about the ending of 5 to 1, which, simply put, was epic. Rarely do standalone books have a somewhat unresolved ending, where many aspects are open-ended. I personally love these endings because they’re real; humanity is messy and far from the clean-cut way it’s described in many YA books. Basically, 5 to 1 is real, especially at the end of the book.
And you’ve really got to read it. (My puns are getting worse, as you can tell.)
Rating: 9 out of 10
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (May 12th, 2015)
ISBN #: 9780385391535
Length: 224 pages (Hardcover)
Source: Netgalley
Apr 26, 2015
ARC Review: 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
Title: 5 to 1
Author: Holly Bodger
Genre: Dystopia
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 12th 2015
Summary:
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife. Sudasa, though, doesn't want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing. This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view-Sudasa's in verse and Kiran's in prose-allowing readers to experience both characters' pain and their brave struggle for hope
Review:
I am honestly disappointed. I had really high hopes for this book, and it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I am more disappointed in myself for requesting a book because the cover caught my eye. I didn't dislike like this book as a whole though. I liked the feminist theme, the idea, the world built (somewhat) but there were many things that I disliked as well.
I didn't connect with either main character. There was just nothing there. I struggled with the verse, it was beautifully written but I wasn't getting a clear picture of anything. The world building came mainly from Kiran's point of view, and that was very limited. I honestly disliked almost all the characters in this book. Sudasa's family was a huge thorn in my side for more then half of this book, it was quite irritating.
As I mentioned the writing was beautiful, and I do plan on reading more by Holly in the future. Maybe I'll even give this one another go. But as beautiful as the writing was 5 to 1 lacked on certain aspects. I did how ever like the idea behind 5 to 1: Woman taking the upper hand and forming their own country to avoid prosecution of their gender. The feminism message is something that I thoroughly enjoyed, and that was enough to pull me to finish through instead of putting it down and starting something else. I also enjoyed the Indian culture, but is was hard to get a grip because nothing was explained and I don't know much about the culture to begin with.
Overall I thought this book was a disappointment, I wasn't impressed. If anything I was frustrated. 5 to 1 does have an interesting concept and may work for some people. But for me, this one was meh.
Rating: