Sorry about not updating as often as I should. As Steve said, the end of the semester is approaching with the speed (and metaphorical mass) of a freight train. Still, I'd hate for it to be said that I was too busy with schoolwork to blog--I know that you all wait breathlessly to read my posts. So, without further ado:
The Monk by Matthew Lewis, reviewed by N. Vivian on December 11, 2008
So, I read this for my thesis--which, by the way, may just possibly be the coolest thesis ever. Anyway...The Monk. This is the grandaddy of all (masculine) Gothic novels (the grandmommy of the feminine ones is Anne Radcliffe's The Mystery of Udolpho which I have not read but it's on my to-read list). It's incredibly melodramatic, with rape, murder, and incest; the language is overblown, with random capitalizations everywhere; and it really showcases England's hate-on for the Continent, particularly the Catholic church. That being said, it is a wonderful book, even (in the words of a good friend of mine) if all the problems could be solved by masturbation--although, technically, Ambrosio does masturbate in the beginning--to a picture of the Virgin, no less! Of course, that is heavily encoded in the text, since to come right out and say it would have been oh! so scandalous. (Cause the rest of the text wasn't, y'know?)
So The Monk focuses on a man named Ambrosio (guess his profession!) who is famed for his holiness. Except his holiness comes from growing up in the monastery, where he is free from temptation, (*gasp* Abandoned there by Persons Unknown! Could this possibly be plot relevant?! Indeed it Can!) and his pride in his reputation--though, Lewis does go out of his way to point out Ambrosio would have been a hero if he hadn't been raised Catholic and had the monks suppress all his virtues (intellectual curiosity and bravery being the two most important) and highlight all his flaws (pride, again). Anyway, he's got this weird subtextually-homoerotic relationship with a young novice names Rosario who turns out to be a woman, Matilda, who's been masquerading as a young man to get close to Ambrosio. She loves him, but it is a pure, intellectual love. She reveals herself to him, he demands she leave the monastery, she cries, but agrees, only begging him to give her a flower before she goes. He complies, but is Bitten by a Serpent in the Garden rosebush (here there be symbolism, yo) and falls ill. Later, he recovers to find out that 'Rosario' has healed him, somehow, but now lies dying by the same venom. He goes to 'Rosario's' room, and finds out that Matilda can heal herself, but won't since she is a danger to him. She has Discovered, during her illness, that her Love is not Pure, but indeed is Carnal, and she wishes to Die so as not to tempt him into Sin. Cause, if she were to survive, she'd want to have the mad sexings. Caught between guilt, gratitude, and raging hormones, Ambrosio agrees, and his downfall is basically sealed. He spirals down the path of destruction, leading to said rape, murder, and incest.
There are several other subplots, including a nun who has been walled up and is found clutching the rotting remains of her Dead Babe, but I can't tell you everything. You should all go read it yourselves anyway.
This reading through, I was focusing on Matilda's aspect of the Vice figure. Y'see, she is not actually a woman. She is an instrument of Satan's, who, upon seeing that Ambrosio's holiness is based solely in his pride and not in any real virtue, decides that he will claim Ambrosio's soul for his own. So he sends Matilda, and it is her hand that guides Ambrosio ever-down the path of damnation. She introduces him to sex, she convinces him that raping Antonia is okay (at first, Ambrosio respects Antonia's innocence and refuses to harm her, but he gets over that pretty damn quickly), and, in the end, she is the one who leads to him selling his soul to Lucifer. She's one industrious girl! It's really funny to read the book and watch her play him over and over and over again. Also, Lewis does a good job of showing how, though Matilda provides him the temptations and the methods, it is Ambrosio's will which guides each footfall down the dark path. Matilda is also one of the few female Vices we ever see, and, unsurprisingly, the most potent weapon in her arsenal is sex. man, I kinda can't wait to write my thesis!
Anyway, the ending of the book is awesome. I'm gonna tell it now cause it's just too great. After murdering Antonia's mother, Ambrosio gives Antonia the same poison Juliet takes (there must be an apothecary that specializes in giving this drug to random men of the cloth), and she 'dies.' He has her body brought to the sepulcher, and waits for her to wake up. When she does, he rapes her, and, due to other events, ends up killing her. He and Matilda are caught, turned over to the Inquisition, and are going to be burned in the auto-de-fe. However, the night before their burning, Matilda breaks into his room, gowned and coiffed to the nines, and is all like, "I'm outta here. See ya, sucka!" He demands to know how she's escaping and she says, "I've sold my soul to Satan--and you can, too!" and tosses him the Idiot's Guide to Selling Your Soul and leaves. Ambrosio hems and haws, but when he hears the Inquisition coming down the hall to his room, he summons Satan, who swears that, in exchange for Ambrosio's soul, he'll get him out of the cell. Ambrosio agrees as the doorknob to his room rattles, and he and Satan are whisked away. Ambrosio's kind of waiting for the wealth and luxury Matilda had received, but he and Satan arrive on the side of this cliff, where Satan then says "Ha ha! The Inquisition was actually on their way to pardon you! I got your soul cause you're dumb! Now you're mine forever!" He reveals a few other choice secrets, then throws Ambrosio off the cliff, where he lives in broken misery for a few days, and then drowns in a flood.
The End.
Seriously, this may be one of the best books ever. It caused quite a scandal in its time, and, even by today's standards, is still a bit racy. The sex is 'explicit' not the same way sex is explicit in books nowadays, where every thrust is cataloged, but it does take place on-screen, just in euphemism. Still, I think even people who aren't 19th century literature buffs will enjoy it. The language is modern, save for some odd spellings and the Bizarre Capitalization, and there's more melodrama than an entire afternoon of soap operas. An absolute must for anyone who likes laughing at other people.
5 stars
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
The End of the Semester Workload EXPLOSION
Well, that time of the year has come again, and very soon I shall be buried under hundreds of pages of student essays. I imagine that this is true for most of you who are in academia as well. I will have approximately 350 pages of papers to grade and then I will have to calculate the semester grade for 35 students, and it looks as though I will have to do this by the end of December.
So please, bear with me if the blog does not get updated as frequently as it has been. And for those of you who also have to finalize your grades--"Good luck!"
Cheers,
Steve
So please, bear with me if the blog does not get updated as frequently as it has been. And for those of you who also have to finalize your grades--"Good luck!"
Cheers,
Steve
Friday, November 28, 2008
Re-Imagining American Mythology
American Gods by Neil Gaiman, reviewed by Steve on November 28 2008.
Neil Gaiman's novel takes place during the present day in the Midwest. The main premise is that gods do not cease to exist unless people stop believing in them. Likewise, new gods can be born from a prevailing belief that takes root. However, this causes a degree of tension between the old gods, who do not want to fade away, and the new gods, who wish to dominate and/or eliminate the old gods.
The story starts with a man named Shadow, who had been incarcerated for aggravated assault three years before. Shadow is released early because his wife, Laura, had been killed in a car accident. Likewise, Shadow's best friend, who had promised that Shadow would have his position back at the gym, dies in a car accident. Shadow later discovers that Laura and his best friend died in the same car accident, and that the two were having an affair.
As Shadow's plans to resume his old life come to a screeching halt--his wife is now dead and he has no job--an odd, old man sitting next to him in an airplane offers to employ him as his right-hand man. Despite Shadow's reluctance and his attempts to refuse, he finds himself wholly unable to say no.
It turns out that the odd, old man is none other than Odin, who is on a quest to unite the old gods and confront the new. These new gods--gods of freeways, the internet, electricity, mass media, and instant gratification--do not wish to relinquish their hegemonic power, and actively pursue Odin and Shadow throughout their quest.
Along the way, Shadow meets the other old gods--Anubis, Horus, Czernobog, Anansi, Loki, Thor, and others--as Odin tries to explain their plight as old gods and requests their aid. He largely meets with resistance from the old gods, who seem to have become lazy and complacent in their waning existence. However, Odin's shocking murder serves as a call to arms for the old gods, who have only just realized the danger that the new gods pose to them. With Shadow acting more or less as their leader, the old gods set out to confront the new gods and prevent their own extinction.
Neil Gaiman's narrative cleverly integrates and re-imagines world mythologies in the American landscape. Odin seems to serve as his mouthpiece when he says that, "When the people came to America, they brought us with them...They brought me, and Loki and Thor, Anansi and the Lion-God, Leprechauns and Kobolds and Banshees, Kubera and Fraue Holle and Ashtaroth ..." America is therefore not just a a melting pot of people and cultures, but also of beliefs, cultural myths, stories, legends, and religions.
In the same way, Neil Gaiman re-imagines the myths of the American landscape. He steers clear of iconic locales such as New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., and the like, which have already carved out their iconic and mythological existence. Instead, he allows the Midwest its own voice to describe its own mythology.
Despite the critical acclaim for this novel, American Gods does have some serious drawbacks. The story is told by an omnicient, but rather distant, narrator, and as such, the reader often feels distant and disengaged from the story. Likewise, Shadow seems to bumble through the narrative without much willpower of his own. He seems to act more as a lackey than a hero, simply doing what he is told and traveling place to place without any sense of purpose. It is not until the last third of the novel where he finally begins to take the initiative and act on his own, and this seems to be mostly because he has no one to tell him what to do, since Odin is dead by this point in the story.
Likewise, while Gaiman has a thematic reason for naming his characters the way that he does, the names read like those of an immature writer. For instance, Odin introduces himself as Wednesday, which makes sense and has meaning to it
(Odin-->Woden-->Woden's day-->Wednesday), but it feels simplistic. The same applies to Shadow and others, who do have a deeper meaning behind their name, but nonetheless it seems lazy, trite, and simplistic.
In all, I would have to rate this novel as a 2.5 out of 5. While the novel is rich and complex for meaning under the surface, it does not read well as an entertaining piece. There are sections that are wonderfully entertaining, but more often than not, I did not feel any connection to the characters, nor did I feel compelled to keep reading. I only finished the novel because I wanted to see if it would get any better, which unfortunately did not happen.
Neil Gaiman's novel takes place during the present day in the Midwest. The main premise is that gods do not cease to exist unless people stop believing in them. Likewise, new gods can be born from a prevailing belief that takes root. However, this causes a degree of tension between the old gods, who do not want to fade away, and the new gods, who wish to dominate and/or eliminate the old gods.
The story starts with a man named Shadow, who had been incarcerated for aggravated assault three years before. Shadow is released early because his wife, Laura, had been killed in a car accident. Likewise, Shadow's best friend, who had promised that Shadow would have his position back at the gym, dies in a car accident. Shadow later discovers that Laura and his best friend died in the same car accident, and that the two were having an affair.
As Shadow's plans to resume his old life come to a screeching halt--his wife is now dead and he has no job--an odd, old man sitting next to him in an airplane offers to employ him as his right-hand man. Despite Shadow's reluctance and his attempts to refuse, he finds himself wholly unable to say no.
It turns out that the odd, old man is none other than Odin, who is on a quest to unite the old gods and confront the new. These new gods--gods of freeways, the internet, electricity, mass media, and instant gratification--do not wish to relinquish their hegemonic power, and actively pursue Odin and Shadow throughout their quest.
Along the way, Shadow meets the other old gods--Anubis, Horus, Czernobog, Anansi, Loki, Thor, and others--as Odin tries to explain their plight as old gods and requests their aid. He largely meets with resistance from the old gods, who seem to have become lazy and complacent in their waning existence. However, Odin's shocking murder serves as a call to arms for the old gods, who have only just realized the danger that the new gods pose to them. With Shadow acting more or less as their leader, the old gods set out to confront the new gods and prevent their own extinction.
Neil Gaiman's narrative cleverly integrates and re-imagines world mythologies in the American landscape. Odin seems to serve as his mouthpiece when he says that, "When the people came to America, they brought us with them...They brought me, and Loki and Thor, Anansi and the Lion-God, Leprechauns and Kobolds and Banshees, Kubera and Fraue Holle and Ashtaroth ..." America is therefore not just a a melting pot of people and cultures, but also of beliefs, cultural myths, stories, legends, and religions.
In the same way, Neil Gaiman re-imagines the myths of the American landscape. He steers clear of iconic locales such as New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., and the like, which have already carved out their iconic and mythological existence. Instead, he allows the Midwest its own voice to describe its own mythology.
Despite the critical acclaim for this novel, American Gods does have some serious drawbacks. The story is told by an omnicient, but rather distant, narrator, and as such, the reader often feels distant and disengaged from the story. Likewise, Shadow seems to bumble through the narrative without much willpower of his own. He seems to act more as a lackey than a hero, simply doing what he is told and traveling place to place without any sense of purpose. It is not until the last third of the novel where he finally begins to take the initiative and act on his own, and this seems to be mostly because he has no one to tell him what to do, since Odin is dead by this point in the story.
Likewise, while Gaiman has a thematic reason for naming his characters the way that he does, the names read like those of an immature writer. For instance, Odin introduces himself as Wednesday, which makes sense and has meaning to it
(Odin-->Woden-->Woden's day-->Wednesday), but it feels simplistic. The same applies to Shadow and others, who do have a deeper meaning behind their name, but nonetheless it seems lazy, trite, and simplistic.
In all, I would have to rate this novel as a 2.5 out of 5. While the novel is rich and complex for meaning under the surface, it does not read well as an entertaining piece. There are sections that are wonderfully entertaining, but more often than not, I did not feel any connection to the characters, nor did I feel compelled to keep reading. I only finished the novel because I wanted to see if it would get any better, which unfortunately did not happen.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Hello Everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope that you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Here's to friends, family, the written word, books, literature, education, and the human soul!
Cheers!
Steve
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope that you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Here's to friends, family, the written word, books, literature, education, and the human soul!
Cheers!
Steve
Monday, November 17, 2008
Elves in Elizabethan England
And Less Than Kind, by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis. Reviewed by N. Vivian on November 17th, 2008.
I have a friend who is obsessed with all things Star Wars. This often brings her heartbreak, as she will fork over money for a movie just to be slapped in the face by George Lucas and his incompetence over and over and over again. It is a very unhealthy relationship, and one I understand completely. You see, I find myself going back to Mercedes Lackey, thinking "Surely--surely this time she means it when she says she's sorry and she loves me." Fortunately, when she collaborates with other authors, she is more inclined to behave herself. I don't know if she doesn't like to hit me in public, or the other person keeps her on her toes, but, for the most part, I can trust that books she's written with others are going to be decent (even fun!) reads.
I was not terribly disappointed by this book. Faint praise, but praise nonetheless.
Kind of a grim way to start, but if you've ever talked to me about her works, you'll see that this often isn't the case. Often, I am quite disappointed, hence the unpolitic comparison to domestic violence above. This is the fourth and last book in the "Elves in Elizabethan England" series. There is the Bright Court and the Dark Court, and both of them are dependent on humans for magic. The Bright Court gets its power from creativity, happiness, and love, while the Dark Court feeds on fear, despair, and hatred. Seers from both courts have been watching the possible futures of England, and they see one girl who will bring in a time of abundance for the Bright, and another who will bring in one for the Dark--Elizabeth and Mary, respectively. The series revolves around a few chosen heroes of the Bright Court who are tasked with protecting Elizabeth as she grows from both the agents of the Dark Court and the dangerous waters of politics. Their goal is to put her on the throne, while the Dark Court is trying to keep her off of it at any cost.
This book starts with Edward's death, and is mostly a chronicle of Mary's reign as queen, while Elizabeth impatiently waits..well, waits for Mary to die. The book talks a lot about how England was quite displeased with Mary's marriage to Philip and the reintroduction of Catholicism; there are many chapters that discuss the history of England interspersed with chapters of Elizabeth visiting Underhill and hanging out with the Sidhe.
The book is about 600 pages long, and yet, nothing happens. The whole plot is pretty much "wait for Mary to die." Elizabeth is a consummate politician and knows that she can't display even the least hint of how much she wants to become queen. She knows that England is failing under Mary's rule, and the populace is becoming more and more bitter as the burnings for heresy increase, but the only place she can discuss that is Underhill. Many, many pages are devoted to Elizabeth being frustrated at her inability to do anything to help England, and a bit torn up about her desire to be queen. She wants it so badly she can taste it, but that means she's really hoping her sister dies. Kind of an awkward place to be, emotionally. Of course, Mary makes it easier by being fairly horrid--although, in her defense (and this is mentioned in the books), the husband she adores barely tolerates her, her childhood was fairly cruel and bleak and much of that was because of Elizabeth's mother, and she truly believes she's doing the right thing for England. But, that aside, much of the book is Elizabeth on Earth marking time till she is queen and trying to elude all the plots against her, and the rest is her Underhill, making love to Denoriel and generally having a good time.
That's not to say the book doesn't have its fair share of darkness, too. There are the burnings of heretics, several murders, an elf who is kidnapping mortal children for slaves, and an "Evil" (always captialized) that attaches itself to Mary's womb and basically has to be aborted by the good guys. That was a pretty interesting narrative choice. Of course, the elf who ended up doing the actual abortion is all broken up about it, but in her defense she loves children and it messed her up to know that an innocent fetus had to be sacrificed to save the world from the Evil. Fortunately, at the end of the book, Oberon waves his hand at her and she gets over it.
For all the there really isn't a plot, I still enjoyed the book. It's one part historical fiction, one part fantasy novel, and one part romance. I like Elizabeth and that time of England's history, so reading about Bess wandering around Hatfield, trying to keep herself untouched by the treason everyone else is determined to drag her into is fun. Add the layer of "said treason is part of a scheme hatched by Dark Sidhe" and it just gets better. It's purely flufftastic; there's no underlying theme or message, nothing to really make someone pause and think. It's just bouncy and happy.
3 stars
In books I trust,
N. Vivian
P.S. Go to Borders either today, 11/17 or tomorrow 11/18 and take advantage of their "Buy one book, get a second book 1/2 off!"
I have a friend who is obsessed with all things Star Wars. This often brings her heartbreak, as she will fork over money for a movie just to be slapped in the face by George Lucas and his incompetence over and over and over again. It is a very unhealthy relationship, and one I understand completely. You see, I find myself going back to Mercedes Lackey, thinking "Surely--surely this time she means it when she says she's sorry and she loves me." Fortunately, when she collaborates with other authors, she is more inclined to behave herself. I don't know if she doesn't like to hit me in public, or the other person keeps her on her toes, but, for the most part, I can trust that books she's written with others are going to be decent (even fun!) reads.
I was not terribly disappointed by this book. Faint praise, but praise nonetheless.
Kind of a grim way to start, but if you've ever talked to me about her works, you'll see that this often isn't the case. Often, I am quite disappointed, hence the unpolitic comparison to domestic violence above. This is the fourth and last book in the "Elves in Elizabethan England" series. There is the Bright Court and the Dark Court, and both of them are dependent on humans for magic. The Bright Court gets its power from creativity, happiness, and love, while the Dark Court feeds on fear, despair, and hatred. Seers from both courts have been watching the possible futures of England, and they see one girl who will bring in a time of abundance for the Bright, and another who will bring in one for the Dark--Elizabeth and Mary, respectively. The series revolves around a few chosen heroes of the Bright Court who are tasked with protecting Elizabeth as she grows from both the agents of the Dark Court and the dangerous waters of politics. Their goal is to put her on the throne, while the Dark Court is trying to keep her off of it at any cost.
This book starts with Edward's death, and is mostly a chronicle of Mary's reign as queen, while Elizabeth impatiently waits..well, waits for Mary to die. The book talks a lot about how England was quite displeased with Mary's marriage to Philip and the reintroduction of Catholicism; there are many chapters that discuss the history of England interspersed with chapters of Elizabeth visiting Underhill and hanging out with the Sidhe.
The book is about 600 pages long, and yet, nothing happens. The whole plot is pretty much "wait for Mary to die." Elizabeth is a consummate politician and knows that she can't display even the least hint of how much she wants to become queen. She knows that England is failing under Mary's rule, and the populace is becoming more and more bitter as the burnings for heresy increase, but the only place she can discuss that is Underhill. Many, many pages are devoted to Elizabeth being frustrated at her inability to do anything to help England, and a bit torn up about her desire to be queen. She wants it so badly she can taste it, but that means she's really hoping her sister dies. Kind of an awkward place to be, emotionally. Of course, Mary makes it easier by being fairly horrid--although, in her defense (and this is mentioned in the books), the husband she adores barely tolerates her, her childhood was fairly cruel and bleak and much of that was because of Elizabeth's mother, and she truly believes she's doing the right thing for England. But, that aside, much of the book is Elizabeth on Earth marking time till she is queen and trying to elude all the plots against her, and the rest is her Underhill, making love to Denoriel and generally having a good time.
That's not to say the book doesn't have its fair share of darkness, too. There are the burnings of heretics, several murders, an elf who is kidnapping mortal children for slaves, and an "Evil" (always captialized) that attaches itself to Mary's womb and basically has to be aborted by the good guys. That was a pretty interesting narrative choice. Of course, the elf who ended up doing the actual abortion is all broken up about it, but in her defense she loves children and it messed her up to know that an innocent fetus had to be sacrificed to save the world from the Evil. Fortunately, at the end of the book, Oberon waves his hand at her and she gets over it.
For all the there really isn't a plot, I still enjoyed the book. It's one part historical fiction, one part fantasy novel, and one part romance. I like Elizabeth and that time of England's history, so reading about Bess wandering around Hatfield, trying to keep herself untouched by the treason everyone else is determined to drag her into is fun. Add the layer of "said treason is part of a scheme hatched by Dark Sidhe" and it just gets better. It's purely flufftastic; there's no underlying theme or message, nothing to really make someone pause and think. It's just bouncy and happy.
3 stars
In books I trust,
N. Vivian
P.S. Go to Borders either today, 11/17 or tomorrow 11/18 and take advantage of their "Buy one book, get a second book 1/2 off!"
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Reader Frustrations
Many of us, I am sure, have our favorite authors and follow their work with veneration and adoration. Ever since I was young, I had a "core" set of authors that I followed. Some of these are Terry Brooks, Dennis L McKiernan, David Eddings, and more recently, George R. R. Martin.
As a reader, I find myself wholly immersed in these fantastic tales, and I come to feel as though I knew the characters and had shared in their adventures. It is no surprise that when some new work comes out, I hastily snatch up a copy and proceed to vigorously devour it whole.
That being said, I find it gallingly frustrating when my beloved authors fail to deliver! There is nothing worse than a novel that fails to live up to its maker's abilities. I have felt this several times recently, in particular with Terry Brooks' new Shannara series, which fuses his Void/Word series with the world of Shannara. As his work has progressed, I found that it became more and more of a "modern" fantasy and less of an epic, classical fantasy in the vein of Tolkien. As such, I have stopped reading his new work altogether, I am sad to say. It is almost as if Mr. Brooks has "normalized" his fantasy world, making it more mundane and accidental rather than mysterious and fantastical.
For those of you who are not familiar with his work, Shannara was a world that always felt real and there were vague allusions to its being Earth in the far, far distant future. The Word/Void series took place in modern day America with magic and mythical creatures, but these fantasy elements were few and far between. Magic existed and so too did the mythical creatures, but they were largely hidden. What Mr. Brooks has recently done in fusing the two worlds together is to confirm and therefore normalize the Shannara world, which for me always seemed so wonderful in its mystery. It is revealed that modern day Earth suffers a nuclear holocaust, which destroys almost all life and magic is born as a mutation.
Isn't it funny how we can have such fierce loyalty to a particular author, or even to a specific sample of that author's work? As readers, we know, of course, that writing a novel takes a great deal of work. We try to be patient and understanding, but I must confess, my patience is at its near end with another one of my favorite authors, George R. R. Martin. The last book he wrote was A Feast for Crows, back in November of 2005. The book is part of his fantastic Song of Ice and Fire series and it ended on such a cliffhanger. It is now November 2008, and he has yet to finish the next book, A Dance of Dragons. No release date has been leaked, and Martin himself has said on his blog that he would post the minute he was finished. On Borders.com, if you search for A Dance of Dragons, the book pops up and a release date of December 2009 is listed. I am not certain whether this is definite or if it is an arbitrary date assigned by the publication company to indicate that the book has a completion deadline. Anyone have any ideas about this? I'm hoping Jay will read this post. If I remember correctly, he has a few friends who are published authors and he might be able to shed some light on this...
Nevertheless, despite my compassion for authors and their craft, I am particularly frustrated with Mr. Martin because it seems as though he is taking on FAR too much, leading, perhaps, to the current circumstances. Three years have passed since Feast for Crows was published, and the author had stated that Feast for Crows and Dance of Dragons were initially going to be one book, but that the story got too large and he had to split it up. It would seem, then, that a large portion of Dance of Dragons had been completed, and many of us fans waited for the next book to come out, thinking that it would follow soon afterwards. We were, and still are, disappointed that the sequel has not yet come out. Mr. Martin has assured his readers that he has been diligently working on his novel, but I suspect he has not been able to direct as much attention to it as he could/should. I say this because in the past three years, Mr. Martin has been EXTRAORDINARILY busy and his attention has been spread quite thin over many projects. He has served as an editor for several fantasy compilations, published a couple other novels (these ones are not part of the Song of Ice and Fire series), attended many fantasy con's all over the world...there is only so much a man can do. I do applaud him for being so involved in the field, but at the same time, he should not spread himself out so thin. I can only speculate, but I imagine this must be VERY tiring.
Mr. Martin--we, your loyal fans, adore you. We love your work, and while we understand that writing a novel is a tremendous amount of work (you, after all, are the published author, not us), this particular fan would ask that you leave more time for yourself in your busy life. Please don't spread your efforts out so thin and take on more than one project at a time. We eagerly await your next Song of Ice and Fire novel, and we are very excited about the prospects of an HBO Song of Ice and Fire mini-series.
Cheers,
Steve
As a reader, I find myself wholly immersed in these fantastic tales, and I come to feel as though I knew the characters and had shared in their adventures. It is no surprise that when some new work comes out, I hastily snatch up a copy and proceed to vigorously devour it whole.
That being said, I find it gallingly frustrating when my beloved authors fail to deliver! There is nothing worse than a novel that fails to live up to its maker's abilities. I have felt this several times recently, in particular with Terry Brooks' new Shannara series, which fuses his Void/Word series with the world of Shannara. As his work has progressed, I found that it became more and more of a "modern" fantasy and less of an epic, classical fantasy in the vein of Tolkien. As such, I have stopped reading his new work altogether, I am sad to say. It is almost as if Mr. Brooks has "normalized" his fantasy world, making it more mundane and accidental rather than mysterious and fantastical.
For those of you who are not familiar with his work, Shannara was a world that always felt real and there were vague allusions to its being Earth in the far, far distant future. The Word/Void series took place in modern day America with magic and mythical creatures, but these fantasy elements were few and far between. Magic existed and so too did the mythical creatures, but they were largely hidden. What Mr. Brooks has recently done in fusing the two worlds together is to confirm and therefore normalize the Shannara world, which for me always seemed so wonderful in its mystery. It is revealed that modern day Earth suffers a nuclear holocaust, which destroys almost all life and magic is born as a mutation.
Isn't it funny how we can have such fierce loyalty to a particular author, or even to a specific sample of that author's work? As readers, we know, of course, that writing a novel takes a great deal of work. We try to be patient and understanding, but I must confess, my patience is at its near end with another one of my favorite authors, George R. R. Martin. The last book he wrote was A Feast for Crows, back in November of 2005. The book is part of his fantastic Song of Ice and Fire series and it ended on such a cliffhanger. It is now November 2008, and he has yet to finish the next book, A Dance of Dragons. No release date has been leaked, and Martin himself has said on his blog that he would post the minute he was finished. On Borders.com, if you search for A Dance of Dragons, the book pops up and a release date of December 2009 is listed. I am not certain whether this is definite or if it is an arbitrary date assigned by the publication company to indicate that the book has a completion deadline. Anyone have any ideas about this? I'm hoping Jay will read this post. If I remember correctly, he has a few friends who are published authors and he might be able to shed some light on this...
Nevertheless, despite my compassion for authors and their craft, I am particularly frustrated with Mr. Martin because it seems as though he is taking on FAR too much, leading, perhaps, to the current circumstances. Three years have passed since Feast for Crows was published, and the author had stated that Feast for Crows and Dance of Dragons were initially going to be one book, but that the story got too large and he had to split it up. It would seem, then, that a large portion of Dance of Dragons had been completed, and many of us fans waited for the next book to come out, thinking that it would follow soon afterwards. We were, and still are, disappointed that the sequel has not yet come out. Mr. Martin has assured his readers that he has been diligently working on his novel, but I suspect he has not been able to direct as much attention to it as he could/should. I say this because in the past three years, Mr. Martin has been EXTRAORDINARILY busy and his attention has been spread quite thin over many projects. He has served as an editor for several fantasy compilations, published a couple other novels (these ones are not part of the Song of Ice and Fire series), attended many fantasy con's all over the world...there is only so much a man can do. I do applaud him for being so involved in the field, but at the same time, he should not spread himself out so thin. I can only speculate, but I imagine this must be VERY tiring.
Mr. Martin--we, your loyal fans, adore you. We love your work, and while we understand that writing a novel is a tremendous amount of work (you, after all, are the published author, not us), this particular fan would ask that you leave more time for yourself in your busy life. Please don't spread your efforts out so thin and take on more than one project at a time. We eagerly await your next Song of Ice and Fire novel, and we are very excited about the prospects of an HBO Song of Ice and Fire mini-series.
Cheers,
Steve
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Radio Silence
Hey all,
Sorry about being incommunicado recently; I know how you all wait breathlessly for my next review to be posted. But for the past week, I've been enjoying (ha!) the not-so-luxurious accomdations at Umass Memorial Hospital. Good times. Well...except for the good part. Still I'm out, feeling better, and hoping to stay that way for a bit.
Nobody ever says they wanna be a junkie when they grow up...but I do. A BLOOD JUNKIE, that is! While at the hospital, I ended up getting a blood transfusion, and I cannot express the myriad ways it made me feel better. Did you know it was possible to have warm fingers and toes without putting them on the belly of a loved one? Or that, as a mammal, you're supposed to be able to regulate your own body temperature? Or that it was possible to go a day without needing a nap? Me neither!
One of the reasons for my extended stay in the hospital is that I am very, veyr anemic, due to a multiplicity of reasons. The average person has a hematocrit level of 37. I checked in with a 23. But the difference is amazing! I guess the body does need all that oxygen after all.
Anyway, I wouldn't mind keeping this feeling of health and energy forever. Don't be surprised if you see headlines about me sneaking into blood banks with a bucket and an IV. Or I show up at your door with a tourniquet, slapping the inside of my elbow and whining, "C'mon, man, I neeeeeed it."
On a completely different note, one of the ways I'm preparing for the Zombacalypse is by collecting the bloodtypes of all my friends, so in case of severe injury, we know what type to get you. Just leave me a comment with your blood type (complete with Rh factor) and I'll mark it down for you.
I do this because I care. Truly.
I did get out of the hospital in time to vote and watch the election at my home. I am not ashamed to admit I cried. I really wish my grandfather had lived to see this. And my Uncle Jon. And Uncle Tad. And Uncle Craig. Not (just) because they're black, but because they lived through times of turbulance and struggle and strife, and they were part of the generation(s) that made this possible.
And, out of spite, I wish Strom Thurmond was, too. Heh.
However, even in the midst of all this joy, we mustn't forget a few things. First of all, Obama's presidency doesn't mean racism has magically ended. It may not be as deep and hateful as during our parents' generation, but it still exists. It is our job to remain vigilant and make sure the generations who come after us inherit a country where electing a black man (or Hispanic man, or female, or athiest, or...) is no longer a thing to be marvelled at. I didn't think I'd ever live to see this possibility, but now that I have, I'd like to get to the point where such an even merits no remark at all. THEN, we will truly have gotten somewhere as a country.
Oh, and let's not be too smug, okay? Yes, this is a momentus occasion, and yes, it deserves recognition and cheering. But we're not all that amazing on the world stage; the UN was lead by Kofi Annan, from Ghana, for almost ten years, and Pakistan elected Benazir Bhutto to be their Prime Minister back in 1998.
The second thing we must not forget is that other forms of prejudice are alive and thriving in this country. I am, of course, referring to the same-sex marriage bans that were voted into existence in Arizona, Florida, and California. I am especially disappointed in California. For one, how much of their state revenue comes from the gays? I mean, really! Can a state in that much debt really afford to spit on the wedding revenue Hollywood and San Fran were about to provide? I certainly hope they're not depending on the funds pumped into the state by the Knights of Columbus and the Mormons--do you really think they'll continue doing so now that their agenda has been met? For another, more serious reason, California actually voted to strip away rights to their citizens. Not just deny rights, but actually strip them away. That's so, incredibly wrong, I cannot even begin to describe it. What's next? Are they going to reverse Loving v Virginia? Decide marriage belongs to one blond man and one brunette woman?
Pundits are saying "The people have spoken. It's the will of the people." However, our government is NOT actually supposed to cater to the whims of the majority. It's supposed to protect the rights of minorities from those majority whims. And California did a really lousy job of that, proving that once again, America still has second-class citizenship. I'm grievously disappointed. There is no good, civil reason to deny marriage to any segment of our population. Do not legislate your religion on me. Keep this up, and I'm gonna legislate that we all have to keep kosher. Enjoy that bacon cheeseburger now, asshat.
Okay, I think I've ranted my fair share. Let's be clear, Obama's winning is a major victory for our country, both on a racial front and a political one. I really hope that he'll be able to steer us back into the forefront of the global economy, make us a force of peace, and restore our respect in ourselves, bith here and abroad. For the first time in eight years, I think that might almost be possible.
Regards,
N. Vivian
Sorry about being incommunicado recently; I know how you all wait breathlessly for my next review to be posted. But for the past week, I've been enjoying (ha!) the not-so-luxurious accomdations at Umass Memorial Hospital. Good times. Well...except for the good part. Still I'm out, feeling better, and hoping to stay that way for a bit.
Nobody ever says they wanna be a junkie when they grow up...but I do. A BLOOD JUNKIE, that is! While at the hospital, I ended up getting a blood transfusion, and I cannot express the myriad ways it made me feel better. Did you know it was possible to have warm fingers and toes without putting them on the belly of a loved one? Or that, as a mammal, you're supposed to be able to regulate your own body temperature? Or that it was possible to go a day without needing a nap? Me neither!
One of the reasons for my extended stay in the hospital is that I am very, veyr anemic, due to a multiplicity of reasons. The average person has a hematocrit level of 37. I checked in with a 23. But the difference is amazing! I guess the body does need all that oxygen after all.
Anyway, I wouldn't mind keeping this feeling of health and energy forever. Don't be surprised if you see headlines about me sneaking into blood banks with a bucket and an IV. Or I show up at your door with a tourniquet, slapping the inside of my elbow and whining, "C'mon, man, I neeeeeed it."
On a completely different note, one of the ways I'm preparing for the Zombacalypse is by collecting the bloodtypes of all my friends, so in case of severe injury, we know what type to get you. Just leave me a comment with your blood type (complete with Rh factor) and I'll mark it down for you.
I do this because I care. Truly.
I did get out of the hospital in time to vote and watch the election at my home. I am not ashamed to admit I cried. I really wish my grandfather had lived to see this. And my Uncle Jon. And Uncle Tad. And Uncle Craig. Not (just) because they're black, but because they lived through times of turbulance and struggle and strife, and they were part of the generation(s) that made this possible.
And, out of spite, I wish Strom Thurmond was, too. Heh.
However, even in the midst of all this joy, we mustn't forget a few things. First of all, Obama's presidency doesn't mean racism has magically ended. It may not be as deep and hateful as during our parents' generation, but it still exists. It is our job to remain vigilant and make sure the generations who come after us inherit a country where electing a black man (or Hispanic man, or female, or athiest, or...) is no longer a thing to be marvelled at. I didn't think I'd ever live to see this possibility, but now that I have, I'd like to get to the point where such an even merits no remark at all. THEN, we will truly have gotten somewhere as a country.
Oh, and let's not be too smug, okay? Yes, this is a momentus occasion, and yes, it deserves recognition and cheering. But we're not all that amazing on the world stage; the UN was lead by Kofi Annan, from Ghana, for almost ten years, and Pakistan elected Benazir Bhutto to be their Prime Minister back in 1998.
The second thing we must not forget is that other forms of prejudice are alive and thriving in this country. I am, of course, referring to the same-sex marriage bans that were voted into existence in Arizona, Florida, and California. I am especially disappointed in California. For one, how much of their state revenue comes from the gays? I mean, really! Can a state in that much debt really afford to spit on the wedding revenue Hollywood and San Fran were about to provide? I certainly hope they're not depending on the funds pumped into the state by the Knights of Columbus and the Mormons--do you really think they'll continue doing so now that their agenda has been met? For another, more serious reason, California actually voted to strip away rights to their citizens. Not just deny rights, but actually strip them away. That's so, incredibly wrong, I cannot even begin to describe it. What's next? Are they going to reverse Loving v Virginia? Decide marriage belongs to one blond man and one brunette woman?
Pundits are saying "The people have spoken. It's the will of the people." However, our government is NOT actually supposed to cater to the whims of the majority. It's supposed to protect the rights of minorities from those majority whims. And California did a really lousy job of that, proving that once again, America still has second-class citizenship. I'm grievously disappointed. There is no good, civil reason to deny marriage to any segment of our population. Do not legislate your religion on me. Keep this up, and I'm gonna legislate that we all have to keep kosher. Enjoy that bacon cheeseburger now, asshat.
Okay, I think I've ranted my fair share. Let's be clear, Obama's winning is a major victory for our country, both on a racial front and a political one. I really hope that he'll be able to steer us back into the forefront of the global economy, make us a force of peace, and restore our respect in ourselves, bith here and abroad. For the first time in eight years, I think that might almost be possible.
Regards,
N. Vivian
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Future Prospects
Today is a wonderful day. The presidency (more like tyranny) of George W. Bush is finally over, and with Barack Obama in the White House, the United States can get back on track and redeem herself in the world's eyes. Perhaps now the useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be ended, the tired young troops can be brought back home to their families, and the billions of dollars that was being spent for those wars can be directed towards our economy instead. Let us pray that this can be so. The majority of the citizens in this country made their voices heard, and widespread ideological change can finally begin. For that reason, I am glad that I live in this country.
If only we could oust Bush NOW so that the better man can take his place...
If only we could oust Bush NOW so that the better man can take his place...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wizards and demons and London, oh my
The Amulet of Samarkand , by Jonathan Stroud. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 23rd, 2008.
This is a great book. I picked it up, started laughing, and didn't really stop until I was done. The basic premise of the story is that in magical London, there are two basic social strata: magicians and everyone else. Magicians are The Guys In Charge; they run the government, have all the money, and can bully regular folks at will. They get their power by summoning various ranks of demons (afrits, djinnis, marids, etc), binding them, and them sending them out to do stuff. In his years, Bartimaeus (the djinni that gives his name to the trilogy) has built the walls of Prague, Karnak, and Jericho, the Parthenon, the Stone Bridge, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa (which would have stayed straight if the architects had only listened to him). These demons can do lots of other things, too. They're your basic magical slaves; the greater demon you can summon and bind, the better the stuff you can make him do.
Though the book is about a young Magician's apprentice named Nathaniel, Bartimaeus is the narrator. Thank God, because Nathaniel is completely unlikeable (deliberately so), and Bartimaeus is funny, arrogant, witty, and a delightful braggart. His sections of the book generally have amusing footnotes, where he further explains how awesome he is or makes snide remarks about magicians:
"1 Doubtless, [behind Shields] was where the British magicians were skulking, at a safe distance from the action. My Czech masters were just the same. In war, magicians always like to reserve the most dangerous jobs for themselves, such as fearlessly guarding large quantities of food and drink a few miles behind the lines." (This is actually from the second book, because the first is downstairs and I don't feel like going to get it).
For all that their magic comes from demons, magicians are giant assholes to them. Basically, Bartimaeus and his ilk are their slaves, and the magicians treat them as such: nasty punishments, peremptory demands, general disdain for the demons' thoughts, feelings, or anything else. This is much the same way that they treat the common folk, except they generally don't bother talking to the commoners. After all, other than provide the wizards with food, clothing, service, and all that stuff, the commoners can't actually do anything important for them. Important is defined as magical, by the way.
Magicians are not allowed to have children (leads to dynasties and nasty things like that), so children who are born with magic are taken from their families and given to another magician to raise. Nathaniel is given to Mr. Underwood, an assistant minister of Internal Affairs.. Nathaniel ends up resenting his master for a variety of reasons, and takes to learning advanced magic by himself, up in his room where no one knows what he's doing. Underwood, a mediocre magician himself, is under the impression that Nathaniel's barely passable, which Nathaniel uses to his advantage. Anywho, the book opens with Nathaniel summoning Bartimaeus and sending him to fetch the Amulet of Samarkand from another magician, Simon Lovelace, who humiliated Nathaniel the year before. Simon had received the amulet under highly suspicious circumstances, and Nathaniel wants it so he can claim vengeance on Simon.
Nathaniel, as I said above, is an unpleasant character. He has absorbed a lot of the traits that the magicians have, including contempt for commoners, contempt for his demons, a tendency to favor the "If I double cross you first, you can't double cross me at all" approach to dealing with Bartimaeus, and all the arrogance that a privileged, genius child develops when he knows he can run rings around his keepers. Balancing that out, he does have a loyal streak, he's brave (and by brave, I pretty much mean foolhardy), and he is really smart. I'm hoping that he's such a jerk in the first book so we can see some real character growth from him down the line. He learns in this book that not all magicians are good guys (the climax of the novel comes when he and Bartimaeus have to stop Lovelace from unleashing some nasty demon-thing that'll eat all the other magicians in Britain), and I'm hoping in the next one, he'll learn that people without magic are really people, too.
So, yes, it was a book I enjoyed immensely. I immediately went out and picked up the second book, which I've barely begun. Bartimaeus is snarky and has a dim view of humanity (and rightly so) that he shares with the reader at every given opportunity. Nathaniel is unlikable and does stupid things, but I can forgive him this because it is clearly setting him up for character growth later. And since he's not the actually narrator for most of the book, I don't get frustrated with his stupidity the way I normally would--it just gave me an extra reason to like Bartimaeus, who also thinks the kid is an asshat.
I'm also really looking forward to the movie release. Religious groups are going to explode. This is a boy who summons demons to get magic. And they thought Harry Potter's mangled Latin was bad...
4.5 stars
In books I trust,
N. Vivian
This is a great book. I picked it up, started laughing, and didn't really stop until I was done. The basic premise of the story is that in magical London, there are two basic social strata: magicians and everyone else. Magicians are The Guys In Charge; they run the government, have all the money, and can bully regular folks at will. They get their power by summoning various ranks of demons (afrits, djinnis, marids, etc), binding them, and them sending them out to do stuff. In his years, Bartimaeus (the djinni that gives his name to the trilogy) has built the walls of Prague, Karnak, and Jericho, the Parthenon, the Stone Bridge, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa (which would have stayed straight if the architects had only listened to him). These demons can do lots of other things, too. They're your basic magical slaves; the greater demon you can summon and bind, the better the stuff you can make him do.
Though the book is about a young Magician's apprentice named Nathaniel, Bartimaeus is the narrator. Thank God, because Nathaniel is completely unlikeable (deliberately so), and Bartimaeus is funny, arrogant, witty, and a delightful braggart. His sections of the book generally have amusing footnotes, where he further explains how awesome he is or makes snide remarks about magicians:
"1 Doubtless, [behind Shields] was where the British magicians were skulking, at a safe distance from the action. My Czech masters were just the same. In war, magicians always like to reserve the most dangerous jobs for themselves, such as fearlessly guarding large quantities of food and drink a few miles behind the lines." (This is actually from the second book, because the first is downstairs and I don't feel like going to get it).
For all that their magic comes from demons, magicians are giant assholes to them. Basically, Bartimaeus and his ilk are their slaves, and the magicians treat them as such: nasty punishments, peremptory demands, general disdain for the demons' thoughts, feelings, or anything else. This is much the same way that they treat the common folk, except they generally don't bother talking to the commoners. After all, other than provide the wizards with food, clothing, service, and all that stuff, the commoners can't actually do anything important for them. Important is defined as magical, by the way.
Magicians are not allowed to have children (leads to dynasties and nasty things like that), so children who are born with magic are taken from their families and given to another magician to raise. Nathaniel is given to Mr. Underwood, an assistant minister of Internal Affairs.. Nathaniel ends up resenting his master for a variety of reasons, and takes to learning advanced magic by himself, up in his room where no one knows what he's doing. Underwood, a mediocre magician himself, is under the impression that Nathaniel's barely passable, which Nathaniel uses to his advantage. Anywho, the book opens with Nathaniel summoning Bartimaeus and sending him to fetch the Amulet of Samarkand from another magician, Simon Lovelace, who humiliated Nathaniel the year before. Simon had received the amulet under highly suspicious circumstances, and Nathaniel wants it so he can claim vengeance on Simon.
Nathaniel, as I said above, is an unpleasant character. He has absorbed a lot of the traits that the magicians have, including contempt for commoners, contempt for his demons, a tendency to favor the "If I double cross you first, you can't double cross me at all" approach to dealing with Bartimaeus, and all the arrogance that a privileged, genius child develops when he knows he can run rings around his keepers. Balancing that out, he does have a loyal streak, he's brave (and by brave, I pretty much mean foolhardy), and he is really smart. I'm hoping that he's such a jerk in the first book so we can see some real character growth from him down the line. He learns in this book that not all magicians are good guys (the climax of the novel comes when he and Bartimaeus have to stop Lovelace from unleashing some nasty demon-thing that'll eat all the other magicians in Britain), and I'm hoping in the next one, he'll learn that people without magic are really people, too.
So, yes, it was a book I enjoyed immensely. I immediately went out and picked up the second book, which I've barely begun. Bartimaeus is snarky and has a dim view of humanity (and rightly so) that he shares with the reader at every given opportunity. Nathaniel is unlikable and does stupid things, but I can forgive him this because it is clearly setting him up for character growth later. And since he's not the actually narrator for most of the book, I don't get frustrated with his stupidity the way I normally would--it just gave me an extra reason to like Bartimaeus, who also thinks the kid is an asshat.
I'm also really looking forward to the movie release. Religious groups are going to explode. This is a boy who summons demons to get magic. And they thought Harry Potter's mangled Latin was bad...
4.5 stars
In books I trust,
N. Vivian
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A Bleak World
The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed by Steve on October 14th, 2008.
Cormac McCarthy's novel tells the haunting and tragic story of a father and a son, who walk through a landscape of post-Apocalyptic earth as they try to survive. They do not have names. They do not have anyone else. They are utterly alone.
The characters in this story, who have no real names and are referred to only as father and child or son, are hoping to find peace and salvation on the West Coast, which the father had heard was the only place left in the U.S. where they might find....something. Anything. The child yearns to see the ocean and the father indulges him, while at the same time hoping that there might be something left in what was California. During their journey, they find waypoints scattered along their trail; old houses with bomb shelters, buried foodstuffs, and deserted homes. Suddenly, canned peaches and cans of Coca-Cola take on a much more significant meaning--they are relics of civilization, luxuries of a time long gone. As they travel, the father makes certain that the son tastes these culinary relics and slakes his appetite while he himself forgoes such delicacies. For the father, all that matters is that the son survives and continues on, long after the father has crossed the threshold of death.
Despite receiving worldwide acclaim from the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, and others, I found this book to be very disappointing. With its pared-back style and bare prose, the story is remarkably un-entertaining to read. It feels much the same as reading a phone-book, though it takes far less time.
Additionally, the story could be difficult to read because of an annoying thematic decision made by Mr. McCarthy; namely, to completely do away with the quotation mark in order to offset spoken words and paring back the indicators of who is speaking (i.e. George said, George exclaimed). At times, one can ignore this when it is clear who is speaking to whom, usually in a short dialogue. However, in longer conversations, it could be confusing as to who was doing the talking.
Likewise, the story seemed to have no purpose. I felt as aimless and lost as the characters. On one hand, this is a good thing and stands testament to the thematic component of the narrative. Well done, Mr. McCarthy! But on the other hand, it was dull and boring for me as a reader to feel aimless, lost, and that the story was not going anywhere.
When I read a book, I want to be entertained! I want to go on the journey with the characters, but I want to feel something. Whether it is sadness, passion, frustration, rage, glory, or bliss, the reader should feel as though they have developed alongside the protagonist(s). The reader should also, perhaps, feel as though they knew the characters of the tale. But unfortunately with The Road, I felt.....nothing. No attachment. No development. No emotions. Just. Nothing.
In all, I would have to rate this novel with an abysmal 2 stars. McCarthy earns points for creatively using the grammatical framework of the narrative to relate a theme, but loses more than he earns because the story itself lacks depth or significance.
Cormac McCarthy's novel tells the haunting and tragic story of a father and a son, who walk through a landscape of post-Apocalyptic earth as they try to survive. They do not have names. They do not have anyone else. They are utterly alone.
The characters in this story, who have no real names and are referred to only as father and child or son, are hoping to find peace and salvation on the West Coast, which the father had heard was the only place left in the U.S. where they might find....something. Anything. The child yearns to see the ocean and the father indulges him, while at the same time hoping that there might be something left in what was California. During their journey, they find waypoints scattered along their trail; old houses with bomb shelters, buried foodstuffs, and deserted homes. Suddenly, canned peaches and cans of Coca-Cola take on a much more significant meaning--they are relics of civilization, luxuries of a time long gone. As they travel, the father makes certain that the son tastes these culinary relics and slakes his appetite while he himself forgoes such delicacies. For the father, all that matters is that the son survives and continues on, long after the father has crossed the threshold of death.
Despite receiving worldwide acclaim from the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, and others, I found this book to be very disappointing. With its pared-back style and bare prose, the story is remarkably un-entertaining to read. It feels much the same as reading a phone-book, though it takes far less time.
Additionally, the story could be difficult to read because of an annoying thematic decision made by Mr. McCarthy; namely, to completely do away with the quotation mark in order to offset spoken words and paring back the indicators of who is speaking (i.e. George said, George exclaimed). At times, one can ignore this when it is clear who is speaking to whom, usually in a short dialogue. However, in longer conversations, it could be confusing as to who was doing the talking.
Likewise, the story seemed to have no purpose. I felt as aimless and lost as the characters. On one hand, this is a good thing and stands testament to the thematic component of the narrative. Well done, Mr. McCarthy! But on the other hand, it was dull and boring for me as a reader to feel aimless, lost, and that the story was not going anywhere.
When I read a book, I want to be entertained! I want to go on the journey with the characters, but I want to feel something. Whether it is sadness, passion, frustration, rage, glory, or bliss, the reader should feel as though they have developed alongside the protagonist(s). The reader should also, perhaps, feel as though they knew the characters of the tale. But unfortunately with The Road, I felt.....nothing. No attachment. No development. No emotions. Just. Nothing.
In all, I would have to rate this novel with an abysmal 2 stars. McCarthy earns points for creatively using the grammatical framework of the narrative to relate a theme, but loses more than he earns because the story itself lacks depth or significance.
Autumn Reflection
Thanks to N. Vivian for saying on top of things this past couple of weeks! Myself, I seem to have left the blog by the wayside, so to speak. Thousands of apologies, oh Reader!
Where to begin?
Well, the semester at Clark has taken off rather quickly, as they often tend to do, and we are now at the middle of the term. I have received my first round of essays to grade and while the process is time-consuming, I am finding that, all in all, I'm enjoying it. Who would have thought that reading and grading 35 essays would be enjoyable?
Ahh, It is hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago we were enjoying summer. Although with the weather behaving as it has been, who would have thought that the summer had actually ended? This is the time of year when I find myself thinking of all the things I would like to do outdoors, but never end up doing them. I think of riding my bike down the various trails in central Massachusetts, going for a hike, paddling a canoe down one of the many rivers nearby, and sitting outside by the lake in the early morning with a cup of coffee in hand. It's odd, but when I think of relaxation, I think of autumn, not summer. I've always associated summer with free-time and vacation, and therefore being active and busy. Fall, on the other hand, seems to me to be the time for reflection, introspection, and relaxation. I'd like nothing more than to have ample time to sit and relax with a good book in hand. And a coffee, of course.
But what about you? What is your favorite part about fall? What do you do to relax, while the chaos of the business world and daily life rages around you?
Where to begin?
Well, the semester at Clark has taken off rather quickly, as they often tend to do, and we are now at the middle of the term. I have received my first round of essays to grade and while the process is time-consuming, I am finding that, all in all, I'm enjoying it. Who would have thought that reading and grading 35 essays would be enjoyable?
Ahh, It is hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago we were enjoying summer. Although with the weather behaving as it has been, who would have thought that the summer had actually ended? This is the time of year when I find myself thinking of all the things I would like to do outdoors, but never end up doing them. I think of riding my bike down the various trails in central Massachusetts, going for a hike, paddling a canoe down one of the many rivers nearby, and sitting outside by the lake in the early morning with a cup of coffee in hand. It's odd, but when I think of relaxation, I think of autumn, not summer. I've always associated summer with free-time and vacation, and therefore being active and busy. Fall, on the other hand, seems to me to be the time for reflection, introspection, and relaxation. I'd like nothing more than to have ample time to sit and relax with a good book in hand. And a coffee, of course.
But what about you? What is your favorite part about fall? What do you do to relax, while the chaos of the business world and daily life rages around you?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Two reviews for the price of one!
Two books up for review since the first review is so short, and because I missed a review last week.
The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How To Solve The Mysteries Of Weak Writingby Bonnie Trenga. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 13th, 2008.
Cute is really the best word for this book. Each chapter opens with a 'case write-up' that uses a ton of whatever grammatical error the chapter itself is covering. They cover the usual suspects (ha ha, I am witty, no?): passive voice, misplaced modifiers, unclear pronoun usage, excessively long sentences, etc etc. The book does a decent job explaining what each error is, and giving some generic ways to fix it. Then the chapter ends with a basic recap, and tell you to go back and read the original write-up to find and fix all of the mistakes. Nothing amazing or particularly insightful, but still pretty useful. What I felt was lacking from the book was an explanation of why someone would make that mistake. I mean,the passive voice is used I use the passive voice a lot. Why? I'm not entirely certain. Giving some insight into the 'why's' of the mistake would mean that I could potentially stop myself from making that mistake by recognizing the danger signs.
2.5 Stars
Aerie by Mercedes Lackey. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 13th, 2008.
Oy. First, let me tell you, Misty was my favorite author for years. From sixth grade till at least partway through high school, she was heads and shoulders above any other author I could name. It's true that I didn't go to the extreme of buying each book as soon as it was published, but hardcovers are expensive and I was just a kid. Still, the minute one came out in paperback, they were clutched in my hot little hand. Staying up till four in the morning, eating Sweet Tarts, reading the newest Valdemar book, and reveling in the early morning silence of my house...that was the closest approximation to heaven I could fathom for a long time.
That being said, Aerie was a disappointment in a long string of disappointments. It is still better than that fiasco she calls One Good Knight, but that's pretty much the textbook definition of "damning with faint praise". This book actually had the climactic battle scene. It is the last novel in the Jouster series, following the further adventures of Kiron and his fellow Dragon Jousters as they try to integrate themselves into society and keep the newly formed borders of Altia safe from their outside neighbors.
Kiron is having trouble with his girlfriend, who wants girls to have equal rights to dragon eggs as guys do. Kiron is resisting and blah blah blah romantic 'tension' that goes through the first three-quarters of the book. Putting an additional strain on their relationship is this other chick who is falling in love with him. Why does she love him, you ask? Why, only because she's been the loyal friend and companion to Kiron's mother, and his mother has decided that her son's future is best served by marrying her son off to Chick and have them live on the old family farm--once Kiron finds a way to take it back.
Kiron knows none of this, and when he finds out, doesn't really care. He's too busy being friends with the High King and Queen, the leader of the Dragon Jousters and trying to save the world. There's plenty of interpersonal wangst as Kiron deals with his girlfriend, Chick deals with her feelings for Kiron, Kiron deals with his mother, and the elite group of female Dragon Jousters deal with each other. As has been very much a hallmark of Misty's recent books, nothing is really explained or described very deeply. There's no real character growth, motivations are shallow, and even the big scary enemy seems added as an afterthought--we get no real detail about them.
I really miss the days of Magic's Pawn and The Lark and the Wren. Back when characterization, continuity, and craft actually mattered to her.
When all is said and done though, the book itself is fairly fun. It isn't deep, thought-provoking, or narratively complex, but it's still a good way to kill a few hours without really exerting yourself. This is the perfect "break from studying for finals" book. Flufftastic. And there's lots of Egyptian mythology window-dressing, which is always fun to have. Just don't expect to get much in the way of plot development, and brace yourself for the deus ex machina OF DOOM that IS the climax of the book, and you'll be fine.
2.5 stars
In books I trust,
N. Vivian
The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How To Solve The Mysteries Of Weak Writingby Bonnie Trenga. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 13th, 2008.
Cute is really the best word for this book. Each chapter opens with a 'case write-up' that uses a ton of whatever grammatical error the chapter itself is covering. They cover the usual suspects (ha ha, I am witty, no?): passive voice, misplaced modifiers, unclear pronoun usage, excessively long sentences, etc etc. The book does a decent job explaining what each error is, and giving some generic ways to fix it. Then the chapter ends with a basic recap, and tell you to go back and read the original write-up to find and fix all of the mistakes. Nothing amazing or particularly insightful, but still pretty useful. What I felt was lacking from the book was an explanation of why someone would make that mistake. I mean,
2.5 Stars
Aerie by Mercedes Lackey. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 13th, 2008.
Oy. First, let me tell you, Misty was my favorite author for years. From sixth grade till at least partway through high school, she was heads and shoulders above any other author I could name. It's true that I didn't go to the extreme of buying each book as soon as it was published, but hardcovers are expensive and I was just a kid. Still, the minute one came out in paperback, they were clutched in my hot little hand. Staying up till four in the morning, eating Sweet Tarts, reading the newest Valdemar book, and reveling in the early morning silence of my house...that was the closest approximation to heaven I could fathom for a long time.
That being said, Aerie was a disappointment in a long string of disappointments. It is still better than that fiasco she calls One Good Knight, but that's pretty much the textbook definition of "damning with faint praise". This book actually had the climactic battle scene. It is the last novel in the Jouster series, following the further adventures of Kiron and his fellow Dragon Jousters as they try to integrate themselves into society and keep the newly formed borders of Altia safe from their outside neighbors.
Kiron is having trouble with his girlfriend, who wants girls to have equal rights to dragon eggs as guys do. Kiron is resisting and blah blah blah romantic 'tension' that goes through the first three-quarters of the book. Putting an additional strain on their relationship is this other chick who is falling in love with him. Why does she love him, you ask? Why, only because she's been the loyal friend and companion to Kiron's mother, and his mother has decided that her son's future is best served by marrying her son off to Chick and have them live on the old family farm--once Kiron finds a way to take it back.
Kiron knows none of this, and when he finds out, doesn't really care. He's too busy being friends with the High King and Queen, the leader of the Dragon Jousters and trying to save the world. There's plenty of interpersonal wangst as Kiron deals with his girlfriend, Chick deals with her feelings for Kiron, Kiron deals with his mother, and the elite group of female Dragon Jousters deal with each other. As has been very much a hallmark of Misty's recent books, nothing is really explained or described very deeply. There's no real character growth, motivations are shallow, and even the big scary enemy seems added as an afterthought--we get no real detail about them.
I really miss the days of Magic's Pawn and The Lark and the Wren. Back when characterization, continuity, and craft actually mattered to her.
When all is said and done though, the book itself is fairly fun. It isn't deep, thought-provoking, or narratively complex, but it's still a good way to kill a few hours without really exerting yourself. This is the perfect "break from studying for finals" book. Flufftastic. And there's lots of Egyptian mythology window-dressing, which is always fun to have. Just don't expect to get much in the way of plot development, and brace yourself for the deus ex machina OF DOOM that IS the climax of the book, and you'll be fine.
2.5 stars
In books I trust,
N. Vivian
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A Political Post
I hope no one minds this. If it decided that this isn't in keeping with the blog, we can delete it, but since this argument is both well-researched and well-delivered, I think it should reach the widest audience possible.
Dear Gov. Palin,
How DARE you?
How DARE you stand on that stage, on the shoulders of generations of women who have struggled and sacrificed to allow a woman to achieve what you have, and spit in their faces the way you have done over the past few weeks? For a serious candidate for vice president to turn in such a poor performance in interview after interview that the fact that you managed not to pee on the stage meant that you exceeded many people's expectations is a crying shame. In the month since you were named as candidate for VP, you have embodied every single negative stereotype ever put forward as a 'reason' why women are not fit to lead a nation. You have been shallow, superficial, disorganized, and clearly uninformed on a wide range of issues that the president MUST understand. That is absolutely disgraceful. You are no longer Miss Wasilla - this is not a beauty contest that you can win by chirping "World peace!" into a microphone and waiting for someone to show up with your tiara and sash - it is deadly serious. How do you propose to take over the presidency, should that be necessary, when it takes you weeks of preparation and drilling and rehearsal in seclusion to get through a 90 minute debate? You are so afraid of the press after your three disastrous interviews that you have decided to avoid them completely - don't think that we can't see through your attempt to spin the situation to cast yourself as a victim of the evil, mean, press corps. Do you seriously believe that that would be an option for you, should you ever become president? What will you do then?
The open letter doesn't stop there. Please visit her blog to read the rest. Trust me, it's worth the visit.
Regards,
N. Vivian
Dear Gov. Palin,
How DARE you?
How DARE you stand on that stage, on the shoulders of generations of women who have struggled and sacrificed to allow a woman to achieve what you have, and spit in their faces the way you have done over the past few weeks? For a serious candidate for vice president to turn in such a poor performance in interview after interview that the fact that you managed not to pee on the stage meant that you exceeded many people's expectations is a crying shame. In the month since you were named as candidate for VP, you have embodied every single negative stereotype ever put forward as a 'reason' why women are not fit to lead a nation. You have been shallow, superficial, disorganized, and clearly uninformed on a wide range of issues that the president MUST understand. That is absolutely disgraceful. You are no longer Miss Wasilla - this is not a beauty contest that you can win by chirping "World peace!" into a microphone and waiting for someone to show up with your tiara and sash - it is deadly serious. How do you propose to take over the presidency, should that be necessary, when it takes you weeks of preparation and drilling and rehearsal in seclusion to get through a 90 minute debate? You are so afraid of the press after your three disastrous interviews that you have decided to avoid them completely - don't think that we can't see through your attempt to spin the situation to cast yourself as a victim of the evil, mean, press corps. Do you seriously believe that that would be an option for you, should you ever become president? What will you do then?
The open letter doesn't stop there. Please visit her blog to read the rest. Trust me, it's worth the visit.
Regards,
N. Vivian
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Mr. Spock, MacGuyver, and Sara Connor walk into a bar...
The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes, Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders. Reviewed by N. Vivian on October 1st, 2008
Let's kick off the new month with another review, shall we?
My biggest argument with this book is that it is filled with cliches. I'm not referring to the archetypes, of course (anyone who picks up a book about archetypes and expects something new and fancy is an idjit), but the way they used archetypes in their descriptions. The way everything was described, I felt like I was reading a romance novel primer, even though they took examples from all genres. They used a lot of 'cutesy' terminology, which I found tedious. For example, when describing interactions between the BOSS and the BEST FRIEND archetypes they use:
The BEST FRIEND says the BOSS:
* is rude
* a tyrant and (they did not include and 'is' here, so the BOSS a tyrant)
* a captivating dictator
The BOSS says the BEST FRIEND:
* is small potatoes
* weak, and
* true blue
...oookay.
The book is broken down into 4 sections: male archetypes, female archetypes, using the archetypes to create new characters, and interactions between archetypes. Each section is set up much like a textbook, with little notes in the margin. I'd've preferred if the notes in the first two sections contained useful information, instead of reiterating which characters from literature and film embody said archetype, which is also included in the text, but I can live. The first two sections gave the archetype title (BOSS or BEST FRIEND), a brief description, qualities, virtues, flaws, background, possible careers, and two different ways the archetype could develop. The BOSS, for example, could be a princess-type character, or a trailblazer, or something else entirely. Nothing incredibly groundbreaking here, but still interesting information to have.
Section three explains using the archetypes to create characters. There are: core archetypes, where the character is 'just' one archetype (Mr. Spock is the PROFESSOR, Ellen Ripley is a CRUSADER); evolving archetypes, where the character starts at one archetype and evolves into another (Sara Connor goes from being a WAIF to a CRUSADER); and layered archetypes, where a character has a smattering of two or more archetypes (MacGyver is both a WARRIOR and a PROFESSOR). I did have fun using this section to assign archetypes to the characters in all of my role-playing games. The last section described the way the archetypes interacted with one another. The first part described the female archetypes interacting with other females, the second was males with other males, and the last was describing mixed-gender interaction (where I got my BOSS/BEST FRIEND example above.)
One great thing they did in this section was explain how the two clash, mesh, and change. The side notes in this section then give examples of how two characters from media embody these. But they don't only choose examples that go through all three steps: American Beauty's BOSS (Carolyn) interacts with the BEST FRIEND (Lester), and only clash. I appreciated them using a variety of examples, instead of staying within the strict 'Clash-Mesh-Change' pattern. I felt some of their examples were a bit dated, but it did come out in 2000.
Overall, The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes is fairly useful, if only as a jumping off point. People who feel like they have a good grasp on characterization already will probably find this tiresome in the same way the first few weeks of English class is, while the teacher ascertains that, yes, everyone here can use a period correctly. Still, it's a good jumping off point, and afforded me lots of fun as I figured out other characters from books, movies, and games that aligned with which archetype, though the archetype selection was fairly limited (I've got another book here with 45 archetypes. Fancy, no?) The book might have gotten a higher score, but I hated how they felt they had to completely capitalize every archetype every time they used it. I'm sure it was annoying in the above four paragraphs...now imagine reading the whole book like that.
3 stars
Let's kick off the new month with another review, shall we?
My biggest argument with this book is that it is filled with cliches. I'm not referring to the archetypes, of course (anyone who picks up a book about archetypes and expects something new and fancy is an idjit), but the way they used archetypes in their descriptions. The way everything was described, I felt like I was reading a romance novel primer, even though they took examples from all genres. They used a lot of 'cutesy' terminology, which I found tedious. For example, when describing interactions between the BOSS and the BEST FRIEND archetypes they use:
The BEST FRIEND says the BOSS:
* is rude
* a tyrant and (they did not include and 'is' here, so the BOSS a tyrant)
* a captivating dictator
The BOSS says the BEST FRIEND:
* is small potatoes
* weak, and
* true blue
...oookay.
The book is broken down into 4 sections: male archetypes, female archetypes, using the archetypes to create new characters, and interactions between archetypes. Each section is set up much like a textbook, with little notes in the margin. I'd've preferred if the notes in the first two sections contained useful information, instead of reiterating which characters from literature and film embody said archetype, which is also included in the text, but I can live. The first two sections gave the archetype title (BOSS or BEST FRIEND), a brief description, qualities, virtues, flaws, background, possible careers, and two different ways the archetype could develop. The BOSS, for example, could be a princess-type character, or a trailblazer, or something else entirely. Nothing incredibly groundbreaking here, but still interesting information to have.
Section three explains using the archetypes to create characters. There are: core archetypes, where the character is 'just' one archetype (Mr. Spock is the PROFESSOR, Ellen Ripley is a CRUSADER); evolving archetypes, where the character starts at one archetype and evolves into another (Sara Connor goes from being a WAIF to a CRUSADER); and layered archetypes, where a character has a smattering of two or more archetypes (MacGyver is both a WARRIOR and a PROFESSOR). I did have fun using this section to assign archetypes to the characters in all of my role-playing games. The last section described the way the archetypes interacted with one another. The first part described the female archetypes interacting with other females, the second was males with other males, and the last was describing mixed-gender interaction (where I got my BOSS/BEST FRIEND example above.)
One great thing they did in this section was explain how the two clash, mesh, and change. The side notes in this section then give examples of how two characters from media embody these. But they don't only choose examples that go through all three steps: American Beauty's BOSS (Carolyn) interacts with the BEST FRIEND (Lester), and only clash. I appreciated them using a variety of examples, instead of staying within the strict 'Clash-Mesh-Change' pattern. I felt some of their examples were a bit dated, but it did come out in 2000.
Overall, The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes is fairly useful, if only as a jumping off point. People who feel like they have a good grasp on characterization already will probably find this tiresome in the same way the first few weeks of English class is, while the teacher ascertains that, yes, everyone here can use a period correctly. Still, it's a good jumping off point, and afforded me lots of fun as I figured out other characters from books, movies, and games that aligned with which archetype, though the archetype selection was fairly limited (I've got another book here with 45 archetypes. Fancy, no?) The book might have gotten a higher score, but I hated how they felt they had to completely capitalize every archetype every time they used it. I'm sure it was annoying in the above four paragraphs...now imagine reading the whole book like that.
3 stars
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Burned Pride
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, reviewed by Steve on September 23rd, 2008.
Andrew Davidson's debut novel tells the story of an unnamed narrator, whose career as a male-pornstar has filled him with selfish pride and cynicism. Our narrator gets behind the wheel while high on cocaine and drunk on bourbon and swerves off a cliff, thinking he was dodging a flight of flaming arrows.
As the car crashes to the bottom of the ravine, a fire starts and rapidly spreads throughout the car, immolating the narrator, who is trapped in his seat. Somehow, help arrives, and the narrator awakens in a hospital burn unit, where he undergoes various burn treatments. While there, a mysterious former psych-ward patient visits him and talks with him. Her name is Marianne Engel, and she claims that she and the narrator were lovers once in medieval Germany.
Slowly, as the narrator begins the healing process, he finds himself at once believing and questioning the validity of Marianne's stories. Nonetheless, there is both an attraction and a sense of impotence, as the narrator questions how a woman could possibly love one such as he. His sense of self is effectively shattered: pride, ego, and vanity no longer have a place. But just as the narrator starts to come to love someone other than himself, Marianne tells him that her time is near and she will soon have to leave.
For a debut novel, this work is stunning. Not in the "will impact your life forevermore" sense, but nonetheless, the novel leaves you wanting more. Part Chuck Palahniuk, part Catcher in the Rye, Davidson's style is feverishly lucid and flirts with dark humor. His analogies and metaphors do not necessarily score many points on the literary scale, but they are clever and poignant all the same. One example is where the narrator observes, "A cheese strand dangled from her mouth to the edge of her nipple, and I wanted to rappel it like a mozzarella commando to storm her lovely breasts." Not exactly a touching, sentimental, or "high-literary" metaphor, but it's appeal is in its in-your-face grittiness; a sort of literary nod to punkdom.
In regards to characterization, Andrew Davidson nicely wraps the readers interest around his main characters: namely, the narrator, and Marianne Engel, but also the doctors, physical therapist, and Marianne's agent, all of whom seem very authentic and real. Our narrator is credible--sort of. He does not lie perhaps as outright as Holden Caulfield, but what he says must be taken with a grain of salt. He is, after all, a self-admitted addict and a selfish chauvinist to boot.
Another admirable trait to this novel is that we experience the story through the eyes of the narrator, who cannot confirm Marianne's story, but cannot deny it or discredit it either. As such, the reader is more or less invited to interpret as he/she will. There is ample evidence to suggest that what Marianne says is true, and just as much to say that she is delusional. What matters, though, is what the narrator came away with. Regardless as to whether or not he believes Marianne, he was touched; he was reformed; he did fall in love.
Like the other debut novel I've read this summer (The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski) I do have some quibbles about the ending to this novel. I shall not give anything away, but the end felt rather flat and anticlimactic. I think more could have been done with the ending than what Andrew Davidson chose to do. I was disappointed that I had ventured through this tumultuous rollercoaster ride with the narrator only to find that there was no grand finale. The ride simply stopped.
All told, I very much enjoyed the novel. The pacing was fast, intense, and Davidson held my interest all the way through. The characters interested me, the themes and motifs intrigued me, and I would highly recommend the novel. I would rate this a 4 out of 5 stars.
Cheers,
Steve
Andrew Davidson's debut novel tells the story of an unnamed narrator, whose career as a male-pornstar has filled him with selfish pride and cynicism. Our narrator gets behind the wheel while high on cocaine and drunk on bourbon and swerves off a cliff, thinking he was dodging a flight of flaming arrows.
As the car crashes to the bottom of the ravine, a fire starts and rapidly spreads throughout the car, immolating the narrator, who is trapped in his seat. Somehow, help arrives, and the narrator awakens in a hospital burn unit, where he undergoes various burn treatments. While there, a mysterious former psych-ward patient visits him and talks with him. Her name is Marianne Engel, and she claims that she and the narrator were lovers once in medieval Germany.
Slowly, as the narrator begins the healing process, he finds himself at once believing and questioning the validity of Marianne's stories. Nonetheless, there is both an attraction and a sense of impotence, as the narrator questions how a woman could possibly love one such as he. His sense of self is effectively shattered: pride, ego, and vanity no longer have a place. But just as the narrator starts to come to love someone other than himself, Marianne tells him that her time is near and she will soon have to leave.
For a debut novel, this work is stunning. Not in the "will impact your life forevermore" sense, but nonetheless, the novel leaves you wanting more. Part Chuck Palahniuk, part Catcher in the Rye, Davidson's style is feverishly lucid and flirts with dark humor. His analogies and metaphors do not necessarily score many points on the literary scale, but they are clever and poignant all the same. One example is where the narrator observes, "A cheese strand dangled from her mouth to the edge of her nipple, and I wanted to rappel it like a mozzarella commando to storm her lovely breasts." Not exactly a touching, sentimental, or "high-literary" metaphor, but it's appeal is in its in-your-face grittiness; a sort of literary nod to punkdom.
In regards to characterization, Andrew Davidson nicely wraps the readers interest around his main characters: namely, the narrator, and Marianne Engel, but also the doctors, physical therapist, and Marianne's agent, all of whom seem very authentic and real. Our narrator is credible--sort of. He does not lie perhaps as outright as Holden Caulfield, but what he says must be taken with a grain of salt. He is, after all, a self-admitted addict and a selfish chauvinist to boot.
Another admirable trait to this novel is that we experience the story through the eyes of the narrator, who cannot confirm Marianne's story, but cannot deny it or discredit it either. As such, the reader is more or less invited to interpret as he/she will. There is ample evidence to suggest that what Marianne says is true, and just as much to say that she is delusional. What matters, though, is what the narrator came away with. Regardless as to whether or not he believes Marianne, he was touched; he was reformed; he did fall in love.
Like the other debut novel I've read this summer (The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski) I do have some quibbles about the ending to this novel. I shall not give anything away, but the end felt rather flat and anticlimactic. I think more could have been done with the ending than what Andrew Davidson chose to do. I was disappointed that I had ventured through this tumultuous rollercoaster ride with the narrator only to find that there was no grand finale. The ride simply stopped.
All told, I very much enjoyed the novel. The pacing was fast, intense, and Davidson held my interest all the way through. The characters interested me, the themes and motifs intrigued me, and I would highly recommend the novel. I would rate this a 4 out of 5 stars.
Cheers,
Steve
Rejected Much?
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman. Reviewed by N. Vivian 09/22/08
Received, read, and finished the book within a day. It is excellent; not only is it helpful and informative, I even found it mildly entertaining. It's divided into 19 chapters, and each chapter focuses on problems that catch an agent's or an editor's eye and cause them to toss the manuscript, generally before having read much more than the first five pages. The chapters are arranged in order of likelihood of getting your manuscript rejected, and so, it starts off with very concrete ideas and rules, and as each chapter goes on, the ideas and advice get more theoretical. Chapter One is about presentation; granted, the kind of paper your manuscript on has no bearing on the quality of the work itself, but a lot of editors won't look at it anyway. As Lukeman says, editors (and their overworked assistants) have to plow through thousands of manuscripts, and are just looking for reasons to toss yours out of the window. Refusing to comply with industry standards is a quick and easy way for them to justify it. Also in the first chapter, he mentions the idea of researching the agents and editors you're sending your manuscript to, and sending it only to people who work with titles like yours--sure, you might lose out because the editor just picked up a book similar to yours, but sending a horror manuscript to a horror editor still gives you a higher chance getting accepted than sending a horror novel to a romance editor. Chapter 2 is about the abuse of adjectives and adverbs, 3 about the way your manuscript 'sounds', and on and on until Chapter 19, which discusses progression and pace. If your book hasn't been rejected by any of the reasons outlined in the first 18 chapters, then you're probably golden.
Lukeman gives examples about all the issues he discusses, so you can see exactly what is wrong with the problem under discussion, though he doesn't go very deep into fixing those issues (especially as he gets more metaphysical). Sure, Chapter 1 explains exactly what your margins should be (an easy fix), but it's much harder to give specific advice on appropriate story hooks (Chapter 14) or subtlety (Chapter 15). Still, he points out the problems, making them easy to spot in your manuscript, and he admits up front in his book that this is a "Don't Do" rather than a "How To" book. If you can see that you have a specific problem, you can go out an buy a ton of books related to that issue. He does give exercises to do at the end of each chapter, most of which involve sitting down with your manuscript and going over it with a fine tooth comb. I've tried a few with my Nanowrimo project, and they did seem to help.
In all, a good book. It won't tell you how to write your novel, or give you the magic best-seller formula, or even be able to fix a manuscript that's just hopeless, but it does give you a lot of tools to make it better. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get published. I found it so helpful, I went out and bought another one of his "how to get published" books.
5 stars
In books I trust,
Nu
Received, read, and finished the book within a day. It is excellent; not only is it helpful and informative, I even found it mildly entertaining. It's divided into 19 chapters, and each chapter focuses on problems that catch an agent's or an editor's eye and cause them to toss the manuscript, generally before having read much more than the first five pages. The chapters are arranged in order of likelihood of getting your manuscript rejected, and so, it starts off with very concrete ideas and rules, and as each chapter goes on, the ideas and advice get more theoretical. Chapter One is about presentation; granted, the kind of paper your manuscript on has no bearing on the quality of the work itself, but a lot of editors won't look at it anyway. As Lukeman says, editors (and their overworked assistants) have to plow through thousands of manuscripts, and are just looking for reasons to toss yours out of the window. Refusing to comply with industry standards is a quick and easy way for them to justify it. Also in the first chapter, he mentions the idea of researching the agents and editors you're sending your manuscript to, and sending it only to people who work with titles like yours--sure, you might lose out because the editor just picked up a book similar to yours, but sending a horror manuscript to a horror editor still gives you a higher chance getting accepted than sending a horror novel to a romance editor. Chapter 2 is about the abuse of adjectives and adverbs, 3 about the way your manuscript 'sounds', and on and on until Chapter 19, which discusses progression and pace. If your book hasn't been rejected by any of the reasons outlined in the first 18 chapters, then you're probably golden.
Lukeman gives examples about all the issues he discusses, so you can see exactly what is wrong with the problem under discussion, though he doesn't go very deep into fixing those issues (especially as he gets more metaphysical). Sure, Chapter 1 explains exactly what your margins should be (an easy fix), but it's much harder to give specific advice on appropriate story hooks (Chapter 14) or subtlety (Chapter 15). Still, he points out the problems, making them easy to spot in your manuscript, and he admits up front in his book that this is a "Don't Do" rather than a "How To" book. If you can see that you have a specific problem, you can go out an buy a ton of books related to that issue. He does give exercises to do at the end of each chapter, most of which involve sitting down with your manuscript and going over it with a fine tooth comb. I've tried a few with my Nanowrimo project, and they did seem to help.
In all, a good book. It won't tell you how to write your novel, or give you the magic best-seller formula, or even be able to fix a manuscript that's just hopeless, but it does give you a lot of tools to make it better. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get published. I found it so helpful, I went out and bought another one of his "how to get published" books.
5 stars
In books I trust,
Nu
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Lassie + Hamlet= The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobleski, reviewed by Steve on 9/7/2008
David Wrobleski's debut novel has received much literary attention, and has been touted by some, such as O Magazine, as being a modern-day classic.
The novel tells the tale of a boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born a mute in 1970's Wisconsin. His family is renowned for their legendary breed of dogs, known only as Sawtelle Dogs, which they have been breeding for generations. Edgar's parents, Gar and Trudy, have continued the Sawtelle Dog program and raise Edgar to do the same. Though Edgar cannot speak, a unique sign language develops between himself, his parents, and the dogs, all of whom understand Edgar remarkably well.
As the story progresses with Edgar's upbringing and dog-training, the idyllic setting is usurped by Edgar's uncle, Claude. A former Navy man, Claude has never been part of Edgar's life until he shows up to the Sawtelle farm looking for work and Gar reluctantly acquiesces. It gradually becomes clear to Edgar that there is an underlying tension between Gar and his brother Claude, and this begins to manifest itself ever more clearly and violently, until it comes to a head with a murder.
Edgar is forced to flee the once tranquil farm and plunge into the Wisconsin wilderness with three of the Sawtelle dogs. Edgar's escape is troubled by more than just the police pursuit, and he finds himself alternating between hunting, gathering, and stealing to survive. Though he manages to elude his pursuers and sever his ties from home, a sense of homesickness pervades Edgar and he longs to return to his old life back on the farm. After months away from the Sawtelle farm, Edgar ventures homeward with a renewed sense of purpose and retribution, which can only bring devastation, but is nonetheless irresistible.
David Wrobleski's novel is perhaps best described as being elaborate. Elements from Shakespeare merge with Sophocles with a healthy dose of Lassie and Old Yeller thrown into the mix, and the narrative is articulated with poetic precision and infused with both a Romantic awe for the natural world and the desire to explore it, a la James Fenimore Cooper.
Of particular strength is Wrobleski's description and characterization of the Sawtelle dogs, who seem to have a deep spiritual and philosophical understanding of humanity. One of the most memorable characters of the novel is Almodine, Edgar's first dog, who raised him just as much as his human mother, Trudy. Almodine, always loyal, ever graceful, serves Edgar with the same sense of selflessness and dedication as Samwise Gamgee does for Frodo in The Lord of the Rings.
As a novel, I would rate this at a 3 on the 1-5 scale. I did enjoy reading it, but there are large sections of the narrative that get bogged down and do not seem to serve any real purpose for the story. Additionally, I felt that while Wrobleski suggested a sort of higher spirituality for the Sawtelle dogs, he did not go as far with that idea as I thought he would. This aspect is largely a matter of opinion, but I thought that much more could have been done with the dogs and their role within the story.
What was most disappointing to me was the end of the novel, which seemed far too cold and tragic. I suppose that if the author was modelling his plot upon Hamlet or Oedipus Rex, the conclusion cannot be anything other than tragic. Yet in doing this, the richness and spirituality as evoked by the Sawtelle Dogs is largely sacrificed, and I was left uncertain what the meaning of this sign now meant. Was it that the human condition is inevitably tragic? Are humans doomed to cause harm, having only momentary blips of benevolence? In the same way that Huck Finn's ending is both troubling and ambiguous, so too is the conclusion to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
Regardless, it was a good read overall; I did enjoy reading the novel and I would recommend it to others, especially those who love dogs.
Cheers,
Steve
David Wrobleski's debut novel has received much literary attention, and has been touted by some, such as O Magazine, as being a modern-day classic.
The novel tells the tale of a boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born a mute in 1970's Wisconsin. His family is renowned for their legendary breed of dogs, known only as Sawtelle Dogs, which they have been breeding for generations. Edgar's parents, Gar and Trudy, have continued the Sawtelle Dog program and raise Edgar to do the same. Though Edgar cannot speak, a unique sign language develops between himself, his parents, and the dogs, all of whom understand Edgar remarkably well.
As the story progresses with Edgar's upbringing and dog-training, the idyllic setting is usurped by Edgar's uncle, Claude. A former Navy man, Claude has never been part of Edgar's life until he shows up to the Sawtelle farm looking for work and Gar reluctantly acquiesces. It gradually becomes clear to Edgar that there is an underlying tension between Gar and his brother Claude, and this begins to manifest itself ever more clearly and violently, until it comes to a head with a murder.
Edgar is forced to flee the once tranquil farm and plunge into the Wisconsin wilderness with three of the Sawtelle dogs. Edgar's escape is troubled by more than just the police pursuit, and he finds himself alternating between hunting, gathering, and stealing to survive. Though he manages to elude his pursuers and sever his ties from home, a sense of homesickness pervades Edgar and he longs to return to his old life back on the farm. After months away from the Sawtelle farm, Edgar ventures homeward with a renewed sense of purpose and retribution, which can only bring devastation, but is nonetheless irresistible.
David Wrobleski's novel is perhaps best described as being elaborate. Elements from Shakespeare merge with Sophocles with a healthy dose of Lassie and Old Yeller thrown into the mix, and the narrative is articulated with poetic precision and infused with both a Romantic awe for the natural world and the desire to explore it, a la James Fenimore Cooper.
Of particular strength is Wrobleski's description and characterization of the Sawtelle dogs, who seem to have a deep spiritual and philosophical understanding of humanity. One of the most memorable characters of the novel is Almodine, Edgar's first dog, who raised him just as much as his human mother, Trudy. Almodine, always loyal, ever graceful, serves Edgar with the same sense of selflessness and dedication as Samwise Gamgee does for Frodo in The Lord of the Rings.
As a novel, I would rate this at a 3 on the 1-5 scale. I did enjoy reading it, but there are large sections of the narrative that get bogged down and do not seem to serve any real purpose for the story. Additionally, I felt that while Wrobleski suggested a sort of higher spirituality for the Sawtelle dogs, he did not go as far with that idea as I thought he would. This aspect is largely a matter of opinion, but I thought that much more could have been done with the dogs and their role within the story.
What was most disappointing to me was the end of the novel, which seemed far too cold and tragic. I suppose that if the author was modelling his plot upon Hamlet or Oedipus Rex, the conclusion cannot be anything other than tragic. Yet in doing this, the richness and spirituality as evoked by the Sawtelle Dogs is largely sacrificed, and I was left uncertain what the meaning of this sign now meant. Was it that the human condition is inevitably tragic? Are humans doomed to cause harm, having only momentary blips of benevolence? In the same way that Huck Finn's ending is both troubling and ambiguous, so too is the conclusion to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
Regardless, it was a good read overall; I did enjoy reading the novel and I would recommend it to others, especially those who love dogs.
Cheers,
Steve
Saturday, August 30, 2008
End of Summer
Hello everyone,
Well, that wonderful season known as summer is coming to a close. The academic year has begun for many students already, and soon the beautiful fall foliage will be in full swing.
With the close of summer comes a very exciting milestone in my life--I have completed my Master's Thesis and have successfully defended it! The revision process was grueling at times, but I feel that I am better prepared for my future as a Ph.D candidate because of it. Though my Master's is completed for the most part, the remaining tasks left to me are more or less formalities. I have to ensure that the margin format for the thesis complies with the requirements for the graduate school, have it printed, and then the administration can approve the awarding of the Master's degree to me (I think the earliest that the degree can officially be conferred to me will be in October). But for all intents and purposes, I am done!
It is at this point I would like to turn to the scope of this blog. I apologize for not being able to post as many reviews as I would have liked to in the past couple weeks, but more reviews are on their way. Here are a few you can expect to see soon: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobleski, Dune by Frank Herbert, Snuff and Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, and Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.
If you've read something great recently, please feel free to post your review of it on the blog. I'm looking forward to seeing all your recommendations and hoping to find something new to read.
By the way, Matty P, I am adding The Watchmen by Alan Moore to my list as per your recommendation :)
Well, that wonderful season known as summer is coming to a close. The academic year has begun for many students already, and soon the beautiful fall foliage will be in full swing.
With the close of summer comes a very exciting milestone in my life--I have completed my Master's Thesis and have successfully defended it! The revision process was grueling at times, but I feel that I am better prepared for my future as a Ph.D candidate because of it. Though my Master's is completed for the most part, the remaining tasks left to me are more or less formalities. I have to ensure that the margin format for the thesis complies with the requirements for the graduate school, have it printed, and then the administration can approve the awarding of the Master's degree to me (I think the earliest that the degree can officially be conferred to me will be in October). But for all intents and purposes, I am done!
It is at this point I would like to turn to the scope of this blog. I apologize for not being able to post as many reviews as I would have liked to in the past couple weeks, but more reviews are on their way. Here are a few you can expect to see soon: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobleski, Dune by Frank Herbert, Snuff and Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, and Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.
If you've read something great recently, please feel free to post your review of it on the blog. I'm looking forward to seeing all your recommendations and hoping to find something new to read.
By the way, Matty P, I am adding The Watchmen by Alan Moore to my list as per your recommendation :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
My Debut Post!
Steve twisted my arm, as well, so I've decided to write a little update on the blog. I'm doing it during a very quiet hour on my register shift at my bookstore, so I can't promise it will be lucid or well organized.
Instead of writing a single review, I think I'm going to borrow from previous entries and do my own little musing on summer reading, and what books I've been burrowing my nose in over the course of this dreary, rainy, humid Maine summer.
I've spent much of my summer this far delving into a genre that I have tended to neglect, or at the very least, only skim over in the past. That genre is graphic novels, which is surprisingly distinguished and fascinating with many of its offerings. There are, of course, an extensive number of titles which feature superheroes or other epically powered individuals, of course, but I've been pleasantly surprised with some of the works I've picked up. The first was one of the essentials, Watchmen by Alan Moore. I suppose I was pushed to pick it up because of the hype for the movie, but I found it to be really sophisticated and clever. Moore's got real talent, and it's impressive that something written so long ago, and with such a dated art style is still considered so relevant and fascinating to new readers. I also have checked out much of Greg Rucka's non-superhero stuff, specifically his Queen & Country and Whiteout graphic novels. Both are a bit gritty and violent, drawn in black and white, and lacking some of the artistic polish that other graphic novels seem to boast. However, I found myself really drawn into the two - Whiteout especially. U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko is a really intriguing, ballsy, and realistic individual. This is made even more fascinating how Greg Rucka conveys her so fully despite the Whiteout graphic novels being rather slim and skimpy on length. I really don't know how to put her into words, but I really recommend anyone interested in checking her out. The books take place in Antarctica, and the sort of sparse and bleak setting makes itself known in the almost-dirty, messy style in which they are drawn. Really top-knotch stuff, comes highly recommended from me.
I've had a few other graphic novels make their ways onto my shelf over the course of the summer, but Rucka's and Moore's are the two which impressed me the most. The rest of my reading this summer has been a bit eclectic. I started my summer off with Atwood's The Blind Assassin. The woman is a genius when it comes to storytelling - the nuanced, highly structured (and still surprising) means of revealing information and furthering the plot of the novel are really top of the line. And to be honest, Irish Chase might be the most interesting and enjoyable narrator I've ever read in a story. Despite all this, though, the novel definitely isn't one of my all time favorites. Definitely a good one, but not my favorite. I enjoyed Alias Grace more. Still a great read, though.
I moved on to one of the most ambitious and epic reads I'd ever partaken in after that. This was Gone With the Wind, which I knew very little about. I've never seen the movie and only knew that Scarlet O'Hara was a bith of a spoiled brat. Sure enough, I had an accurate idea of what she was like. But the sheer scope of Mitchell's novel was almost suffocating. No matter how much I read, no matter how many pages I got through in one sitting, I still felt like I'd started some futile task, that the book would never end. I did get through it, but it took about a full month of reading casually. Much longer than other books.
And even though the length was positively staggering, this was one of the richest, most fascinating books I'd ever read. A totally different view of the south, during and after the Civil War. Soem of the language was a bit disturbing to read as a liberal-minded, 21st century reader with black friends, but I managed to keep it in perspective and realize that Mitchell herself came from a family of plantation owners with their own views on slavery and the fall of the south. Definitely interesting, though, to get a distinctly southern point of view during Reconstruction. Epic in scale, that's for sure - and finishing it was one of the most rewarding experiences to me as a reader - very rarely do I find such a rewarding end to a book.
Alright, that's it for now. I have a couple other books I read and can discuss. Hopefully I can do a little bit more analysis about those when I come to them. I realize this was a verbal vomit session that didn't really dig into anything in particular.
Cheers, folks.
Instead of writing a single review, I think I'm going to borrow from previous entries and do my own little musing on summer reading, and what books I've been burrowing my nose in over the course of this dreary, rainy, humid Maine summer.
I've spent much of my summer this far delving into a genre that I have tended to neglect, or at the very least, only skim over in the past. That genre is graphic novels, which is surprisingly distinguished and fascinating with many of its offerings. There are, of course, an extensive number of titles which feature superheroes or other epically powered individuals, of course, but I've been pleasantly surprised with some of the works I've picked up. The first was one of the essentials, Watchmen by Alan Moore. I suppose I was pushed to pick it up because of the hype for the movie, but I found it to be really sophisticated and clever. Moore's got real talent, and it's impressive that something written so long ago, and with such a dated art style is still considered so relevant and fascinating to new readers. I also have checked out much of Greg Rucka's non-superhero stuff, specifically his Queen & Country and Whiteout graphic novels. Both are a bit gritty and violent, drawn in black and white, and lacking some of the artistic polish that other graphic novels seem to boast. However, I found myself really drawn into the two - Whiteout especially. U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko is a really intriguing, ballsy, and realistic individual. This is made even more fascinating how Greg Rucka conveys her so fully despite the Whiteout graphic novels being rather slim and skimpy on length. I really don't know how to put her into words, but I really recommend anyone interested in checking her out. The books take place in Antarctica, and the sort of sparse and bleak setting makes itself known in the almost-dirty, messy style in which they are drawn. Really top-knotch stuff, comes highly recommended from me.
I've had a few other graphic novels make their ways onto my shelf over the course of the summer, but Rucka's and Moore's are the two which impressed me the most. The rest of my reading this summer has been a bit eclectic. I started my summer off with Atwood's The Blind Assassin. The woman is a genius when it comes to storytelling - the nuanced, highly structured (and still surprising) means of revealing information and furthering the plot of the novel are really top of the line. And to be honest, Irish Chase might be the most interesting and enjoyable narrator I've ever read in a story. Despite all this, though, the novel definitely isn't one of my all time favorites. Definitely a good one, but not my favorite. I enjoyed Alias Grace more. Still a great read, though.
I moved on to one of the most ambitious and epic reads I'd ever partaken in after that. This was Gone With the Wind, which I knew very little about. I've never seen the movie and only knew that Scarlet O'Hara was a bith of a spoiled brat. Sure enough, I had an accurate idea of what she was like. But the sheer scope of Mitchell's novel was almost suffocating. No matter how much I read, no matter how many pages I got through in one sitting, I still felt like I'd started some futile task, that the book would never end. I did get through it, but it took about a full month of reading casually. Much longer than other books.
And even though the length was positively staggering, this was one of the richest, most fascinating books I'd ever read. A totally different view of the south, during and after the Civil War. Soem of the language was a bit disturbing to read as a liberal-minded, 21st century reader with black friends, but I managed to keep it in perspective and realize that Mitchell herself came from a family of plantation owners with their own views on slavery and the fall of the south. Definitely interesting, though, to get a distinctly southern point of view during Reconstruction. Epic in scale, that's for sure - and finishing it was one of the most rewarding experiences to me as a reader - very rarely do I find such a rewarding end to a book.
Alright, that's it for now. I have a couple other books I read and can discuss. Hopefully I can do a little bit more analysis about those when I come to them. I realize this was a verbal vomit session that didn't really dig into anything in particular.
Cheers, folks.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Habitual Media Retail Stalker
Thanks Steve for twisting my arm on this...
...and, yes, it is the middle of summer, and yes I am socially dysfunctional because, as usual, I'm reading five books in a quasi concurrent fashion, and I am an habitual media retail stalker as I constantly purchase more books than I need, but with my reading habits in a state of perpetual flux, it's become a necessity. People always ask me how I find the time, not to read five books, but to read at least one, and are always surprised at my response, that it's easy. The answer is simple: I don't watch appointment controlled programmed television;the more mindless garbage, that passes for TV these days (or has it always been that way, and we don't see it because we look at the past with rose colored glasses), you eliminate from daily viewing, the longer hours you have to use to indulge the comfort of text. It's not to say I don't watch shows, I do, I happen to view them at my own leisure through my DVR, or Netflix. I also limit my time on the phone, and don't spend useless hours hanging out in bars. It's mind boggling the amount of hours an average person spends in a week, and are used up on these aforementioned activities. Think of it...
Anyway, sorry for the digression, and back to this summers reading menu. Right now, I'm invested in "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins, "Freethinkers," by Susan Jacoby, "The Fabric of the Cosmos," by Brian Green, "The Murder of Ivan Vavilov," by Pete Pringle, and just finishing up 'A Nation of Wimps," by Hara Marano. Fun and exiting, eh? Well, I guess the letters of my DNA are GEEK instead of GTAC...
The weakest of the quintet, and one I thought would be richer is A Nation of Wimps. The premise appears solid: today's youth lack a strong backbone because of over-parenting by mom and dad, but although Ms. Estroff presents strong examples, she seems to meander and stray, spending too much time on administrative and co-ed collegiate problems, from the theme she sets forth at the begininng. All in all, the book gave me some insight into various social problems faced by one segment of society, but I expected more.
In contrast, Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers offers an illumination on the history of American secularism, how it shaped the birth of this country, and the battles that have been fought against attacks by a variety of fundamentalist religious groups. It never ceases to amaze me how many people believe that our government was founded on the basis of religion, when the driving forces belonged to free state government without influence from the tyranny of any church, and a capitalist market that allowed any man, no matter of social standing at birth, to ascend the societal ladder. It's a must read, for anyone interested in history, or looking for interesting commentary on human reason. Plus, if it piques your interest, Ms. Jacoby's "An Age of American Unreason," a New York Times best seller is more than worth the time.
More insights forthcoming...
- J. Rinaldo
...and, yes, it is the middle of summer, and yes I am socially dysfunctional because, as usual, I'm reading five books in a quasi concurrent fashion, and I am an habitual media retail stalker as I constantly purchase more books than I need, but with my reading habits in a state of perpetual flux, it's become a necessity. People always ask me how I find the time, not to read five books, but to read at least one, and are always surprised at my response, that it's easy. The answer is simple: I don't watch appointment controlled programmed television;the more mindless garbage, that passes for TV these days (or has it always been that way, and we don't see it because we look at the past with rose colored glasses), you eliminate from daily viewing, the longer hours you have to use to indulge the comfort of text. It's not to say I don't watch shows, I do, I happen to view them at my own leisure through my DVR, or Netflix. I also limit my time on the phone, and don't spend useless hours hanging out in bars. It's mind boggling the amount of hours an average person spends in a week, and are used up on these aforementioned activities. Think of it...
Anyway, sorry for the digression, and back to this summers reading menu. Right now, I'm invested in "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins, "Freethinkers," by Susan Jacoby, "The Fabric of the Cosmos," by Brian Green, "The Murder of Ivan Vavilov," by Pete Pringle, and just finishing up 'A Nation of Wimps," by Hara Marano. Fun and exiting, eh? Well, I guess the letters of my DNA are GEEK instead of GTAC...
The weakest of the quintet, and one I thought would be richer is A Nation of Wimps. The premise appears solid: today's youth lack a strong backbone because of over-parenting by mom and dad, but although Ms. Estroff presents strong examples, she seems to meander and stray, spending too much time on administrative and co-ed collegiate problems, from the theme she sets forth at the begininng. All in all, the book gave me some insight into various social problems faced by one segment of society, but I expected more.
In contrast, Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers offers an illumination on the history of American secularism, how it shaped the birth of this country, and the battles that have been fought against attacks by a variety of fundamentalist religious groups. It never ceases to amaze me how many people believe that our government was founded on the basis of religion, when the driving forces belonged to free state government without influence from the tyranny of any church, and a capitalist market that allowed any man, no matter of social standing at birth, to ascend the societal ladder. It's a must read, for anyone interested in history, or looking for interesting commentary on human reason. Plus, if it piques your interest, Ms. Jacoby's "An Age of American Unreason," a New York Times best seller is more than worth the time.
More insights forthcoming...
- J. Rinaldo
Monday, August 4, 2008
Summer Reads
Since the middle of summer has officially passed, I was wondering what everyone has been reading while they were enjoying the beach, the sunshine, vacation, etc. You can also include what you have on your reading list that you'd like to have finished reading by the end of summer, if you'd like.
I'll start with what I've read so far. For those of you that don't already know, most of my summer has been spent revising and re-writing my thesis, so I have not been able to get as much pleasure reading in as I would have liked.
What I'm reading: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
What I've read (and will post reviews of soon!): Rant and Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett, Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
What I Want to Read: Dune by Frank Herbert, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevski, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (consisting of: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, Sword Song), and The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman.
What are all of you reading? Even if you aren't a contributing author to this blog, I invite you to share your post with us.
I'll start with what I've read so far. For those of you that don't already know, most of my summer has been spent revising and re-writing my thesis, so I have not been able to get as much pleasure reading in as I would have liked.
What I'm reading: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
What I've read (and will post reviews of soon!): Rant and Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett, Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
What I Want to Read: Dune by Frank Herbert, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevski, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (consisting of: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, Sword Song), and The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman.
What are all of you reading? Even if you aren't a contributing author to this blog, I invite you to share your post with us.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A Touching, Heartfelt Read for the Human Soul
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, reviewed by Steve on 7/30/2008
Khaled Hosseini's debut novel, published in 2003, received worldwide fanfare and remains one of the best-selling novels to date. It was voted the Reading Group Book of the year in 2006, and since then, it has also been included on many schools' summer reading lists.
The novel tells the story of a boy named Amir, who is born into a wealthy and prosperous family in Kabul, Afghanistan, and his friendship with Hassan, the son of Ali, who is the servant for Amir's family. The two boys spend most of their days playing outside, whether they are kite fighting, pelting neighbors with seeds fired from slingshots, or telling stories by the pomegranate tree on the hill behind Amir's house.
But their friendship is complicated by Amir's growing awareness of Hassan's ethnicity. As a Pushtun, Amir is from the upper echelon of Afghanistan society, while Hassan, a Hazara, is from the lower class. A local thug named Assef, whose role model is apparently Adolf Hitler, taunts Amir for being friends with a lowly Hazara; an ethnic group he says are socially inferior.
The words of Assef seem to haunt Amir, who cannot shake off their influence, culminating in a traumatic encounter, where Hassan bravely stands up for Amir and is brutalized while Amir watches as he hides in terror. The event plagues Amir, who begins to feel as though his father's sentiments about his "unmanliness" are well-deserved. Hassan's heroic and at the same time, saint-like behavior makes Amir feel inadequate. To rid himself of Hassan and his own feelings of disappointment, Amir frames Hassan and his father, Ali, with the theft of Amir's birthday presents. Baba, Amir's father, is loathed to see them go, but Ali and Hassan are determined to leave, and Amir is certain that they know he framed them.
After moving to America and finding success in marriage and his budding career as an author, Amir cannot seem to forget Hassan and his last interaction with him, even after fifteen years of separation. Amir receives word from Baba's friend, Rahim Khan, who asks Amir to come to Pakistan, offering Amir a way to redemption for his actions.
Khaled Hosseini's novel can be described as being superbly human, among other things. Amir's disappointments at being unable to be what his father desires can translate seamlessly into every person's life where they have felt a similar kind of frustration. Additionally, Amir's inability to act the part of the hero when his friend needed him to separates this novel from the conventional stories and myths, where the reluctant protagonist is able to act with courage, bravery, and dignity. And yet despite this, we find ourselves similarly unable to judge Amir harshly. His actions seem to earn our pity more than our scorn. Furthermore, throughout the novel, and especially in the last third, Khaled Hosseini brings to life the horrors of civil war and the Taliban ideology through the shocked and terrified eyes of Amir, who serves to bridge the American-Afghan gap, as he finds "home" in both locations.
As a novel, The Kite Runner earns a rating of 4 from me on the 1-5 scale. It is both beautifully and expertly written and superbly moving. While it was a fast read for me, and I did thoroughly enjoy it, this book is more somber in tone than uplifting. There is hope and happiness, but the novel is above all, tragic and human. As such, I highly recommend this book if you want to be moved, but it does not make for light reading.
Khaled Hosseini's debut novel, published in 2003, received worldwide fanfare and remains one of the best-selling novels to date. It was voted the Reading Group Book of the year in 2006, and since then, it has also been included on many schools' summer reading lists.
The novel tells the story of a boy named Amir, who is born into a wealthy and prosperous family in Kabul, Afghanistan, and his friendship with Hassan, the son of Ali, who is the servant for Amir's family. The two boys spend most of their days playing outside, whether they are kite fighting, pelting neighbors with seeds fired from slingshots, or telling stories by the pomegranate tree on the hill behind Amir's house.
But their friendship is complicated by Amir's growing awareness of Hassan's ethnicity. As a Pushtun, Amir is from the upper echelon of Afghanistan society, while Hassan, a Hazara, is from the lower class. A local thug named Assef, whose role model is apparently Adolf Hitler, taunts Amir for being friends with a lowly Hazara; an ethnic group he says are socially inferior.
The words of Assef seem to haunt Amir, who cannot shake off their influence, culminating in a traumatic encounter, where Hassan bravely stands up for Amir and is brutalized while Amir watches as he hides in terror. The event plagues Amir, who begins to feel as though his father's sentiments about his "unmanliness" are well-deserved. Hassan's heroic and at the same time, saint-like behavior makes Amir feel inadequate. To rid himself of Hassan and his own feelings of disappointment, Amir frames Hassan and his father, Ali, with the theft of Amir's birthday presents. Baba, Amir's father, is loathed to see them go, but Ali and Hassan are determined to leave, and Amir is certain that they know he framed them.
After moving to America and finding success in marriage and his budding career as an author, Amir cannot seem to forget Hassan and his last interaction with him, even after fifteen years of separation. Amir receives word from Baba's friend, Rahim Khan, who asks Amir to come to Pakistan, offering Amir a way to redemption for his actions.
Khaled Hosseini's novel can be described as being superbly human, among other things. Amir's disappointments at being unable to be what his father desires can translate seamlessly into every person's life where they have felt a similar kind of frustration. Additionally, Amir's inability to act the part of the hero when his friend needed him to separates this novel from the conventional stories and myths, where the reluctant protagonist is able to act with courage, bravery, and dignity. And yet despite this, we find ourselves similarly unable to judge Amir harshly. His actions seem to earn our pity more than our scorn. Furthermore, throughout the novel, and especially in the last third, Khaled Hosseini brings to life the horrors of civil war and the Taliban ideology through the shocked and terrified eyes of Amir, who serves to bridge the American-Afghan gap, as he finds "home" in both locations.
As a novel, The Kite Runner earns a rating of 4 from me on the 1-5 scale. It is both beautifully and expertly written and superbly moving. While it was a fast read for me, and I did thoroughly enjoy it, this book is more somber in tone than uplifting. There is hope and happiness, but the novel is above all, tragic and human. As such, I highly recommend this book if you want to be moved, but it does not make for light reading.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Welcome!
Hello!
Welcome to my blog, Reading Enthusiasts. That works on two levels, doesn't it?
I've always found it to be wonderfully helpful when someone I know suggests a book for me to read. In part, this is usually because the person doing the recommending knows my interests and can sincerely suggest a title. But the added benefit is that this person is not getting paid for his/her opinion on the book! Don't get me wrong; New York Times book reviews and other published reviews are great, but the reviewer does not know you or your interests, and I find myself less inclined to consider reading their reviewed book for that reason. It seems less genuine.
After reading through book after book of my favorite authors, and moving on to the favorites recommended by my friends, I decided to start a blog where we can all share our thoughts on some of our favorite novels, write reviews, and recommend new titles to each other. I'm hoping that this blog will help us to create new friendships, foster a community of readers, and share our passion with likeminded individuals.
Cheers!
Welcome to my blog, Reading Enthusiasts. That works on two levels, doesn't it?
I've always found it to be wonderfully helpful when someone I know suggests a book for me to read. In part, this is usually because the person doing the recommending knows my interests and can sincerely suggest a title. But the added benefit is that this person is not getting paid for his/her opinion on the book! Don't get me wrong; New York Times book reviews and other published reviews are great, but the reviewer does not know you or your interests, and I find myself less inclined to consider reading their reviewed book for that reason. It seems less genuine.
After reading through book after book of my favorite authors, and moving on to the favorites recommended by my friends, I decided to start a blog where we can all share our thoughts on some of our favorite novels, write reviews, and recommend new titles to each other. I'm hoping that this blog will help us to create new friendships, foster a community of readers, and share our passion with likeminded individuals.
Cheers!
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