Boxer Beetle
by Ned Beauman
(4/5 stars)
There are quite a few times when I complain about a book's length. Usually I'll say it's too long and thus drags at parts. "Boxer Beetle" is one of those that's the opposite. At roughly 250 pages, it's really too short for its interconnected plots.
The framing device for the story begins with a London man named Kevin who has a rare medical condition that causes him to smell really bad. (There's a medical term for it I won't attempt to spell.) Kevin is also a collector of Nazi artifacts. Not because he is a Nazi or like Nazis. Like the professor of Hitler Studies in DeLillo's "White Noise", Kevin just sees an opportunity to take advantage of a niche market.
Then one night his employer asks him to check on a private investigator who's looking into the whereabouts of the remains of Seth "Sinner" Roach, a dwarf Jewish boxer back in the '30s. There's also something about a rare beetle bred by Dr. Philip Erskine, a fascist doctor in the '30s interested in beetles and eugenics. But like in many mysteries, when Kevin gets to the PI's office, he finds the investigator dead and is soon visited by a Welsh hitman, who enlists Kevin's help in searching for the boxer and the beetle.
The framing story is then interwoven with those of Roach and Erskine. I'm not sure how much I should mention about that. Suffice it to say that Roach and Erskine's stories overlap in surprising ways.
As I said though, the story is too short. Kevin and the hitman find clues much too easily, with no real obstacles in their path. Their story proves to be less interesting than that of Roach and Erskine and really never contributes anything more than the framing device for the narrative. The relationship between Roach and Erskine is interesting and could have used more exploration. Roach himself is especially interesting and I wish there could be a whole book about just him.
The writing is good, though not great. I found this one passage especially awkward: "Although Sinner tried to be nearly as gentle with Erskine as he'd been with his sister, Erskine soon found himself biting into his own forearm through his shirtsleeve." There's a lot of pronouns and it seems the author switches point of view in mid-sentence. It's the kind of thing I would have pointed out in any critique group for the author to change. Not sure why professional editors don't notice these things.
Anyway, this is an interesting book and a quick read. In terms of historical mysteries it doesn't rise to the level of Byatt's "Possession" but it's not bad either.
That is all.
PS: If you do read this, look for a cameo by the author as one of Kevin's Internet "friends."
Friday, September 9, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Nightwoods
Nightwoods
by Charles Frazier
(4/5 stars)
I read Frazier's "Cold Mountain" and while I enjoyed it, I think "Nightwoods" is a far more accessible book for more casual readers. After a slow start it becomes a thriller not unlike a Dean Koontz book I once read, though Frazier is a better writer by far.
This takes place in the 1960s in the Appalachians somewhere, a little lake town that isn't really named. Luce lives up there in an old lodge as the caretaker. She's alone since the old man who owned the place died. But then the state brings her slain sister Lily's two kids. You have to suspend a little disbelief that even in the '60s they'd give Luce custody of two small children--especially two small children with psychological problems--when she has no income to speak of and no home of her own. But I digress.
The children are named Dolores and Frank. They're a couple of little pyromaniacs who never speak. Whether they're autistic or something similar or just traumatized isn't entirely answered.
The next fifty pages or so are as dull as Maryanne Robinson's "Housekeeping" only with nature walks and lighting fires instead of braiding hair and making cookies. Things begin to pick up when the children's stepfather Bud is introduced. He of course murdered Lily and perhaps traumatized the kids. Though it's not intentional, he of course winds up in the lake town in search of thousands of dollars he stole and that Lily hid somewhere.
Also arriving on the scene is the beach bum Stubblefield. His grandfather was the one who owned the lodge where Luce and the children are staying. When he was 17, Stubblefield had a crush on Luce that was not reciprocated. But now Stubblefield sees a second chance.
Those are all the pieces of the puzzle. You might be able to figure out how they all go together. Much of it is predictable, though Frazier is a good enough writer that it never seems hackneyed. While it doesn't have the epic grandeur of "Cold Mountain" there's still a lot of rural, American Gothic flavor to be had. It isn't as good as Faulkner, but it's not as bad as Dean Koontz either.
Although something troubling to me is that the book slips from past tense to present tense in the last part. I'm not sure why that happened. It's always odd when authors do that stuff.
That is all.
by Charles Frazier
(4/5 stars)
I read Frazier's "Cold Mountain" and while I enjoyed it, I think "Nightwoods" is a far more accessible book for more casual readers. After a slow start it becomes a thriller not unlike a Dean Koontz book I once read, though Frazier is a better writer by far.
This takes place in the 1960s in the Appalachians somewhere, a little lake town that isn't really named. Luce lives up there in an old lodge as the caretaker. She's alone since the old man who owned the place died. But then the state brings her slain sister Lily's two kids. You have to suspend a little disbelief that even in the '60s they'd give Luce custody of two small children--especially two small children with psychological problems--when she has no income to speak of and no home of her own. But I digress.
The children are named Dolores and Frank. They're a couple of little pyromaniacs who never speak. Whether they're autistic or something similar or just traumatized isn't entirely answered.
The next fifty pages or so are as dull as Maryanne Robinson's "Housekeeping" only with nature walks and lighting fires instead of braiding hair and making cookies. Things begin to pick up when the children's stepfather Bud is introduced. He of course murdered Lily and perhaps traumatized the kids. Though it's not intentional, he of course winds up in the lake town in search of thousands of dollars he stole and that Lily hid somewhere.
Also arriving on the scene is the beach bum Stubblefield. His grandfather was the one who owned the lodge where Luce and the children are staying. When he was 17, Stubblefield had a crush on Luce that was not reciprocated. But now Stubblefield sees a second chance.
Those are all the pieces of the puzzle. You might be able to figure out how they all go together. Much of it is predictable, though Frazier is a good enough writer that it never seems hackneyed. While it doesn't have the epic grandeur of "Cold Mountain" there's still a lot of rural, American Gothic flavor to be had. It isn't as good as Faulkner, but it's not as bad as Dean Koontz either.
Although something troubling to me is that the book slips from past tense to present tense in the last part. I'm not sure why that happened. It's always odd when authors do that stuff.
That is all.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Life of Pi
This was one of those books I heard people talking about seven or eight years ago and I kept meaning to get around to it. Though after I read Martel's first novel "Self" I was less inclined to read this because that novel was so boring that it routinely put me to sleep. But eventually I found a copy of this for a really low price so I figured I might as well do it.
I started to regret that decision during the first 150 pages. Like "Self" these pages are so dull. Mostly they concern Pi Patel as he tries different religions like an Indian version of "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret." This might have been interesting if you haven't read any fiction about India before but I've read Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" and John Irving's "Son of the Circus" which were both far more interesting in terms of Indian culture. Then too there was also the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" that also dealt with India and its religious divisions.
So all of that made those first 150 pages a chore to plow through. I kept wondering, "When are we getting to the shipwreck with the tiger?" That's the hook for this novel isn't it? Boy in a lifeboat with a tiger?
Well it finally happened once Pi's father decides to move his family to Canada to escape the Idira Gandhi regime. The ship they're on with most of the animals from their little zoo in India--to be sold to American/Canadian zoos--sinks shortly after leaving the Philippines.
The crew throws Pi into a lifeboat, where soon he finds that he's sharing space with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger! That's a lot of animals to cram into what's described as one hundred square feet. Actually I have serious doubts that you could hide a tiger under a tarp in that small amount of space.
Anyway (spoiler alert!) it eventually ends up with just Pi and the tiger as they cross the Pacific Ocean. The book at this point deals mostly with Pi's struggle to survive. Not only to find food and water, but also to deal with his boatmate, the tiger named Richard Parker. It's a constant struggle, one that forces Pi to compromise many of his religious beliefs, such as his aversion to eating meat.
This was where the book came to life and became much more interesting. Though the problem with being on a lifeboat is that there's a limit to just how much you can do. With "Robinson Crusoe" or "Lord of the Flies" or even "Gilligan's Island" where the main character(s) is marooned on an island, there's far more you can do because you have a whole island to explore. That makes far more potential for adventure than a boat floating on the water, where essentially everything has to come to you.
For the most part Martel manages to make this interesting with the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. Then there are strange incidents like meeting another lifeboat or the mysterious island they come upon.
Although what I think is missing is more about his spiritual state. A couple of times he says it brings him closer to God, though which one? Since he believes in the Christian God, Allah, and all the Hindu gods, which one(s) is he getting closer to? Or maybe there's just one ubergod?
The ending is also a little disappointing and mildly offensive with the vaudevillian act between Pi and a pair of Japanese shipping company officers. So basically everything off the lifeboat is far less interesting than everything on the lifeboat. Maybe they should have stayed on the boat.
That is all.
I started to regret that decision during the first 150 pages. Like "Self" these pages are so dull. Mostly they concern Pi Patel as he tries different religions like an Indian version of "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret." This might have been interesting if you haven't read any fiction about India before but I've read Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" and John Irving's "Son of the Circus" which were both far more interesting in terms of Indian culture. Then too there was also the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" that also dealt with India and its religious divisions.
So all of that made those first 150 pages a chore to plow through. I kept wondering, "When are we getting to the shipwreck with the tiger?" That's the hook for this novel isn't it? Boy in a lifeboat with a tiger?
Well it finally happened once Pi's father decides to move his family to Canada to escape the Idira Gandhi regime. The ship they're on with most of the animals from their little zoo in India--to be sold to American/Canadian zoos--sinks shortly after leaving the Philippines.
The crew throws Pi into a lifeboat, where soon he finds that he's sharing space with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger! That's a lot of animals to cram into what's described as one hundred square feet. Actually I have serious doubts that you could hide a tiger under a tarp in that small amount of space.
Anyway (spoiler alert!) it eventually ends up with just Pi and the tiger as they cross the Pacific Ocean. The book at this point deals mostly with Pi's struggle to survive. Not only to find food and water, but also to deal with his boatmate, the tiger named Richard Parker. It's a constant struggle, one that forces Pi to compromise many of his religious beliefs, such as his aversion to eating meat.
This was where the book came to life and became much more interesting. Though the problem with being on a lifeboat is that there's a limit to just how much you can do. With "Robinson Crusoe" or "Lord of the Flies" or even "Gilligan's Island" where the main character(s) is marooned on an island, there's far more you can do because you have a whole island to explore. That makes far more potential for adventure than a boat floating on the water, where essentially everything has to come to you.
For the most part Martel manages to make this interesting with the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. Then there are strange incidents like meeting another lifeboat or the mysterious island they come upon.
Although what I think is missing is more about his spiritual state. A couple of times he says it brings him closer to God, though which one? Since he believes in the Christian God, Allah, and all the Hindu gods, which one(s) is he getting closer to? Or maybe there's just one ubergod?
The ending is also a little disappointing and mildly offensive with the vaudevillian act between Pi and a pair of Japanese shipping company officers. So basically everything off the lifeboat is far less interesting than everything on the lifeboat. Maybe they should have stayed on the boat.
That is all.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Way Life Should Be
The Way Life Should Be
by Terry Shaw
(3/5 stars)
I vaguely remember hearing about the First Chapters contest on the Gather website back in 2007. I'm sure I probably read about this book as it advanced through the contest and finally won. But I'd pretty much forgotten about it until I saw this at the Bargain Books on clearance and then just for the irony decided to buy and read it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the author watched a lot of "Murder She Wrote" back in the '80s. The book takes place in the small town of Stone Harbor, Maine, similar to Murder She Wrote that frequently took place in the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine. The main detective is John Quinn, an editor and writer for the Stone Harbor Pilot newspaper. Of course in Murder She Wrote the "she" was mystery writer Jessica Fletcher. In both there's also a bumbling sheriff decrying the mystery solver's big city ways, although Alvah Sears is a bit meaner than the Tom Bosley character in "Murder She Wrote."
Like most episodes of Murder She Wrote, we start out with the murder. In the case of this book it's Paul Stanwood. He's at a local park late one night, presumably to check out reports of gay sex going on. Someone beats him to death with a flashlight.
John Quinn comes onto the case as both reporter/editor and Paul's childhood best friend. He bumps heads with Sheriff Sears (sometimes about literally) and other local figures, including his own cousin Seth as he investigates the murder. Quinn faces danger a few times, notably during a hike in the wood where he and his son are shot at by a red herring.
I found most of the book to be underwhelming, probably in large part because I've read a lot of Raymond Chandler in the last few months; now there's someone who knew how to write a real mystery! The writing is pretty amateur in that there's a lot of "head-hopping" in scenes and using adverbs, things that real agents and publishers say are no-nos. The characters are pretty much stock, most probably familiar to "Murder She Wrote" viewers. But I will credit the author in that I did not solve the mystery before it was revealed, so he's got that going for him.
Basically if you like cozy mysteries or "Murder She Wrote" then this is an OK book, but just an OK book. And I have to wonder if this was the best of the 2,600 contest entries how bad the other 2,599 were.
That is all.
by Terry Shaw
(3/5 stars)
I vaguely remember hearing about the First Chapters contest on the Gather website back in 2007. I'm sure I probably read about this book as it advanced through the contest and finally won. But I'd pretty much forgotten about it until I saw this at the Bargain Books on clearance and then just for the irony decided to buy and read it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the author watched a lot of "Murder She Wrote" back in the '80s. The book takes place in the small town of Stone Harbor, Maine, similar to Murder She Wrote that frequently took place in the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine. The main detective is John Quinn, an editor and writer for the Stone Harbor Pilot newspaper. Of course in Murder She Wrote the "she" was mystery writer Jessica Fletcher. In both there's also a bumbling sheriff decrying the mystery solver's big city ways, although Alvah Sears is a bit meaner than the Tom Bosley character in "Murder She Wrote."
Like most episodes of Murder She Wrote, we start out with the murder. In the case of this book it's Paul Stanwood. He's at a local park late one night, presumably to check out reports of gay sex going on. Someone beats him to death with a flashlight.
John Quinn comes onto the case as both reporter/editor and Paul's childhood best friend. He bumps heads with Sheriff Sears (sometimes about literally) and other local figures, including his own cousin Seth as he investigates the murder. Quinn faces danger a few times, notably during a hike in the wood where he and his son are shot at by a red herring.
I found most of the book to be underwhelming, probably in large part because I've read a lot of Raymond Chandler in the last few months; now there's someone who knew how to write a real mystery! The writing is pretty amateur in that there's a lot of "head-hopping" in scenes and using adverbs, things that real agents and publishers say are no-nos. The characters are pretty much stock, most probably familiar to "Murder She Wrote" viewers. But I will credit the author in that I did not solve the mystery before it was revealed, so he's got that going for him.
Basically if you like cozy mysteries or "Murder She Wrote" then this is an OK book, but just an OK book. And I have to wonder if this was the best of the 2,600 contest entries how bad the other 2,599 were.
That is all.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Great American Novel
The Great American Novel
By Philip Roth
4/5 stars
"The Great American Novel" is a baseball story but it's as far from "Field of Dreams" as one can get. There's no schmaltzy father-son bonding or any patriotic nonsense about how important baseball is to America. While Roth's novel does insinuate that baseball is a part of American life, what it shows is that baseball is largely a reflection of how foolish America can be.
Most of the book takes place in 1943, when the Port Ruppert, New Jersey Mundys are forced out of their home stadium to make room for soldier barracks. Instead of finding a new park, like at a local high school or college, the Mundys are forced to play every single game on the road.
Making things worse the Mundys are a terrible team. Not even terrible like "The Bad News Bears" or lovable losers like the Chicago Cubs. No, the Mundys are irredeemably awful. Their lineup features a French-Canadian who doesn't speak any English, a 50-year-old third baseman, a 14-year-old second baseman, a one-legged catcher, a first baseman who only plays well if he's drunk, and the only good player, an 18-year-old whose father pays the Mundys to take him to teach his arrogant son some humility. Their pitching staff is even worse, featuring mostly elderly men, including a Mexican who rolls his pitches to home plate to save himself some pain. When they do make a trade, they trade a one-armed outfielder for a dwarf pitcher.
Needless to say the Mundys do terribly. So terribly their manager can't stand to look at them and instead goes to local churches to pray. The only time when they do well is when one player spikes their food, which considering this book is from 1973 was rather prophetic about the steroids era 25-30 years later.
But the Mundys are undone, as is the Patriot League they play in, not by their terrible play on the field. Rather they are done in by misplaced patriotism that creates a Red Scare years before McCarthy.
The Mundys and their league are a reflection of all of America's faults: the fear, the greed, the arrogance, and the downright stupidity are just as much a part of American life as baseball and apple pie.
While most of the book is entertaining, the beginning and end are not all that good. The lengthy prologue especially will prove daunting to readers. Most of that entails the narrator (Word "Smitty" Smith, who used to be a beat reporter for the Mundys) trying to get baseball to remember the Mundys and Patriot League and discussing the concept of "The Great American Novel" with Ernest Hemingway. But especially the first two pages of Smitty discussing the importance of alliteration might have the casual reader putting the book away. As for the end, the Red Scare idea gets to be a little bit overdone and really makes you question how dumb some people can be.
Another word of warning is that like other Roth novels, it features some sexual humor that some readers might find offensive. In particular is a scene where two Mundy players visit a very unique brothel. Which again makes this a far cry from some other baseball novels.
Overall, despite its faults, I really enjoyed this very different take on baseball and America. For another baseball book that isn't all happy or schmaltzy, check out "Battle Creek" by Scott Lassiter.
That is all.
By Philip Roth
4/5 stars
"The Great American Novel" is a baseball story but it's as far from "Field of Dreams" as one can get. There's no schmaltzy father-son bonding or any patriotic nonsense about how important baseball is to America. While Roth's novel does insinuate that baseball is a part of American life, what it shows is that baseball is largely a reflection of how foolish America can be.
Most of the book takes place in 1943, when the Port Ruppert, New Jersey Mundys are forced out of their home stadium to make room for soldier barracks. Instead of finding a new park, like at a local high school or college, the Mundys are forced to play every single game on the road.
Making things worse the Mundys are a terrible team. Not even terrible like "The Bad News Bears" or lovable losers like the Chicago Cubs. No, the Mundys are irredeemably awful. Their lineup features a French-Canadian who doesn't speak any English, a 50-year-old third baseman, a 14-year-old second baseman, a one-legged catcher, a first baseman who only plays well if he's drunk, and the only good player, an 18-year-old whose father pays the Mundys to take him to teach his arrogant son some humility. Their pitching staff is even worse, featuring mostly elderly men, including a Mexican who rolls his pitches to home plate to save himself some pain. When they do make a trade, they trade a one-armed outfielder for a dwarf pitcher.
Needless to say the Mundys do terribly. So terribly their manager can't stand to look at them and instead goes to local churches to pray. The only time when they do well is when one player spikes their food, which considering this book is from 1973 was rather prophetic about the steroids era 25-30 years later.
But the Mundys are undone, as is the Patriot League they play in, not by their terrible play on the field. Rather they are done in by misplaced patriotism that creates a Red Scare years before McCarthy.
The Mundys and their league are a reflection of all of America's faults: the fear, the greed, the arrogance, and the downright stupidity are just as much a part of American life as baseball and apple pie.
While most of the book is entertaining, the beginning and end are not all that good. The lengthy prologue especially will prove daunting to readers. Most of that entails the narrator (Word "Smitty" Smith, who used to be a beat reporter for the Mundys) trying to get baseball to remember the Mundys and Patriot League and discussing the concept of "The Great American Novel" with Ernest Hemingway. But especially the first two pages of Smitty discussing the importance of alliteration might have the casual reader putting the book away. As for the end, the Red Scare idea gets to be a little bit overdone and really makes you question how dumb some people can be.
Another word of warning is that like other Roth novels, it features some sexual humor that some readers might find offensive. In particular is a scene where two Mundy players visit a very unique brothel. Which again makes this a far cry from some other baseball novels.
Overall, despite its faults, I really enjoyed this very different take on baseball and America. For another baseball book that isn't all happy or schmaltzy, check out "Battle Creek" by Scott Lassiter.
That is all.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Bright's Passage
Bright's Passage
by Josh Ritter
(3/5 stars)
I own a couple of Josh Ritter's folk-pop (or whatever you call it) albums, so when I saw on the Vine newsletter that he had written a novel I thought I'd see how good it was. My final verdict is that Ritter is a better songwriter. In time he could become a decent novelist, but this is an amateur effort. If not for the fact he's somewhat well known already, I doubt it would have been published, so it's up there with those books by the likes of celebrities like Snooki and Pam Anderson.
That's not to say the book is terrible either. It's a serviceable book, but nothing that will make you forget about Cormac McCarthy either.
The basic premise is like "Cold Mountain" with a veteran taking a journey after a war. Except it's World War I and the war's been over for a couple years. Also, Henry Bright doesn't go nearly as far in his journey.
He also has along with him a newborn baby, his son, who is born at the start of the book. The first moment you have to suspend disbelief is to accept the idea Henry can take a baby who was just born that day on an extended road trip by foot. The second and bigger moment is that Henry talks to his horse and the horse talks back.
Henry believes the horse to be inhabited by an angel who protected him from harm in World War I. The angel persuades Henry to abduct his cousin Rachel and "marry" her (though it's not a real wedding) and get her knocked up to breed the Future King of Heaven. If Henry knew anything about the Bible he might be more skeptical about exactly what kind of an "angel" this really is.
But he doesn't, so he abducts Rachel and they're happy and have the baby. She unfortunately dies in childbirth and Henry takes off to escape her vengeful father "the Colonel" and his two sons Corwin and Duncan. The angel also tells Henry to burn down his cabin, which unfortunately leads to a wildfire that threatens to burn down a large chunk of West Virginia.
With his baby, the horse, and a goat, Henry tries to stay ahead of the fire and winds up in a coal-mining company town where he finds refuge at a hotel, but the the Colonel and sons are close on his trail!
Sprinkled in throughout are Henry's memories of World War I, which was pretty unpleasant with the trenches, mustard gas, and so forth. This of course leads to Henry's first encounter with "the angel."
There's not much to fault in Ritter's writing style. For a songwriter he does a pretty good job with the novel format, except for a bit of head-hopping here and there, something publishers frown on--unless you're a celebrity. What brings the novel down are a couple of poor strategic decisions.
First is that Henry's journey isn't very long. Equivalently it's like going from New York City to New Jersey. Or at least it feels that way. There's not the epicness of the soldier's odyssey in "Cold Mountain" or of course Odysseus in "The Odyssey." Which is too bad because an epic journey lets you work in more interesting characters and situations.
The second problem are the villains. The Colonel and his two bumbling idiot sons feel straight out of central casting. It really brings the whole novel down a notch. There was a good opportunity to write something thoughtful about faith, religion, and heroism and so forth but the stereotypical villains ruin all of that.
Those are the kind of mistakes I wouldn't expect a more experienced novelist to make, though they do from time to time. Still, while it's not as bad as I'm sure Snooki and Pam Anderson's probably largely ghost-written novels are, Ritter still has a lot to learn about the book writing biz.
In the meantime I hope he gets back to songwriting.
That is all.
(PS: I know it's an ARC, but this seems like it had far more errors than any of the previous ones I've read. The editor has his/her work cut out for him/her.)
by Josh Ritter
(3/5 stars)
I own a couple of Josh Ritter's folk-pop (or whatever you call it) albums, so when I saw on the Vine newsletter that he had written a novel I thought I'd see how good it was. My final verdict is that Ritter is a better songwriter. In time he could become a decent novelist, but this is an amateur effort. If not for the fact he's somewhat well known already, I doubt it would have been published, so it's up there with those books by the likes of celebrities like Snooki and Pam Anderson.
That's not to say the book is terrible either. It's a serviceable book, but nothing that will make you forget about Cormac McCarthy either.
The basic premise is like "Cold Mountain" with a veteran taking a journey after a war. Except it's World War I and the war's been over for a couple years. Also, Henry Bright doesn't go nearly as far in his journey.
He also has along with him a newborn baby, his son, who is born at the start of the book. The first moment you have to suspend disbelief is to accept the idea Henry can take a baby who was just born that day on an extended road trip by foot. The second and bigger moment is that Henry talks to his horse and the horse talks back.
Henry believes the horse to be inhabited by an angel who protected him from harm in World War I. The angel persuades Henry to abduct his cousin Rachel and "marry" her (though it's not a real wedding) and get her knocked up to breed the Future King of Heaven. If Henry knew anything about the Bible he might be more skeptical about exactly what kind of an "angel" this really is.
But he doesn't, so he abducts Rachel and they're happy and have the baby. She unfortunately dies in childbirth and Henry takes off to escape her vengeful father "the Colonel" and his two sons Corwin and Duncan. The angel also tells Henry to burn down his cabin, which unfortunately leads to a wildfire that threatens to burn down a large chunk of West Virginia.
With his baby, the horse, and a goat, Henry tries to stay ahead of the fire and winds up in a coal-mining company town where he finds refuge at a hotel, but the the Colonel and sons are close on his trail!
Sprinkled in throughout are Henry's memories of World War I, which was pretty unpleasant with the trenches, mustard gas, and so forth. This of course leads to Henry's first encounter with "the angel."
There's not much to fault in Ritter's writing style. For a songwriter he does a pretty good job with the novel format, except for a bit of head-hopping here and there, something publishers frown on--unless you're a celebrity. What brings the novel down are a couple of poor strategic decisions.
First is that Henry's journey isn't very long. Equivalently it's like going from New York City to New Jersey. Or at least it feels that way. There's not the epicness of the soldier's odyssey in "Cold Mountain" or of course Odysseus in "The Odyssey." Which is too bad because an epic journey lets you work in more interesting characters and situations.
The second problem are the villains. The Colonel and his two bumbling idiot sons feel straight out of central casting. It really brings the whole novel down a notch. There was a good opportunity to write something thoughtful about faith, religion, and heroism and so forth but the stereotypical villains ruin all of that.
Those are the kind of mistakes I wouldn't expect a more experienced novelist to make, though they do from time to time. Still, while it's not as bad as I'm sure Snooki and Pam Anderson's probably largely ghost-written novels are, Ritter still has a lot to learn about the book writing biz.
In the meantime I hope he gets back to songwriting.
That is all.
(PS: I know it's an ARC, but this seems like it had far more errors than any of the previous ones I've read. The editor has his/her work cut out for him/her.)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Marbury Lens
The Marbury Lens
by Andrew Smith
(3/5 stars)
On the whole, I didn't find this a very satisfying read. Of course I'm not into dystopian fiction, so I wasn't primed to like this in the first place, so feel free to take what I say with a grain of salt. But for the most part I left this with far more questions than answers, which maybe was the point to set up sequels. Though as I said in another book review, you have to hook me in the first book to make me read more and this did not succeed.
The plot involves 16-year-old Jack, who one night after a drunken party is abducted by a man named Freddie for a few days until he escapes. With the help of his friend Conner, they kill Freddie but don't bother telling the police about any of it. Instead they go off alone to England. After another night drinking (because he didn't learn the first time) Jack receives some mysterious glasses.
These glasses transport him to the mysterious world of Marbury. Though unlike Narnia, it's not a nice place with talking animals and centaurs and stuff. Instead it's a dried-up husk populated by violent cannibals who at one time were maybe human. Jack and two boys named Ben and Griffin seem to be the only normal humans around. They struggle to survive and maybe find more people.
With the glasses and the help of a ghost, Jack keeps going back and forth from the "real" world to Marbury. But what is real?
It's too bad the story doesn't provide an answer to that or my other questions. (My first question, why is it called Marbury? That sounds like the name for a brand of marmalade.) Like I said, maybe Smith is hoping to answer the questions in a future sequel. But also as I said, I wouldn't have much interest in reading it. Unlike Narnia or Middle Earth or other fantasy worlds, I don't see Marbury as one worth revisiting. Maybe if you like "The Road" or "Mad Max" or "The Postman" you'd find it worthwhile.
Also, as a backhanded compliment, Smith does a good job of making Jack a realistic teenage boy. Unfortunately that means he's usually sullen and whiny. I have no idea what the beautiful Nickie sees in him. Well, hormones and all that maybe.
On a final note, if you're a parent, this isn't something you want younger children reading. There's a lot of swearing, violence, and gore. It's pretty R-rated for a YA novel. I don't think I'd want my niece reading it until she's at least 17, if at all. Though I have a long time to worry about that.
That is all.
by Andrew Smith
(3/5 stars)
On the whole, I didn't find this a very satisfying read. Of course I'm not into dystopian fiction, so I wasn't primed to like this in the first place, so feel free to take what I say with a grain of salt. But for the most part I left this with far more questions than answers, which maybe was the point to set up sequels. Though as I said in another book review, you have to hook me in the first book to make me read more and this did not succeed.
The plot involves 16-year-old Jack, who one night after a drunken party is abducted by a man named Freddie for a few days until he escapes. With the help of his friend Conner, they kill Freddie but don't bother telling the police about any of it. Instead they go off alone to England. After another night drinking (because he didn't learn the first time) Jack receives some mysterious glasses.
These glasses transport him to the mysterious world of Marbury. Though unlike Narnia, it's not a nice place with talking animals and centaurs and stuff. Instead it's a dried-up husk populated by violent cannibals who at one time were maybe human. Jack and two boys named Ben and Griffin seem to be the only normal humans around. They struggle to survive and maybe find more people.
With the glasses and the help of a ghost, Jack keeps going back and forth from the "real" world to Marbury. But what is real?
It's too bad the story doesn't provide an answer to that or my other questions. (My first question, why is it called Marbury? That sounds like the name for a brand of marmalade.) Like I said, maybe Smith is hoping to answer the questions in a future sequel. But also as I said, I wouldn't have much interest in reading it. Unlike Narnia or Middle Earth or other fantasy worlds, I don't see Marbury as one worth revisiting. Maybe if you like "The Road" or "Mad Max" or "The Postman" you'd find it worthwhile.
Also, as a backhanded compliment, Smith does a good job of making Jack a realistic teenage boy. Unfortunately that means he's usually sullen and whiny. I have no idea what the beautiful Nickie sees in him. Well, hormones and all that maybe.
On a final note, if you're a parent, this isn't something you want younger children reading. There's a lot of swearing, violence, and gore. It's pretty R-rated for a YA novel. I don't think I'd want my niece reading it until she's at least 17, if at all. Though I have a long time to worry about that.
That is all.
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