Canada
by Richard Ford
(3/5 stars)
This is one of those literary novels that mostly makes you think the author's done better work in the past. Like some of the later John Irving novels I've read it's not completely awful, but there isn't much impact to it. It certainly doesn't surpass Ford's Pulitzer-winning "Independence Day."
Basically in 1960 Dell Parson's parents rob a bank in North Dakota to pay off some Native Americans. The most implausible part is that no one takes the kids when the parents are arrested; they're just left there to fend for themselves even though they're 15. I don't think that would happen even in 1960 in a small Montana town. Most likely they'd have gone to the police station until a social worker could take them to an orphanage. But anyway, the book is called Canada because Dell ends up in Saskatchewan, in an even worse town than the one in Montana.
The idea of fleeing to Canada to start a new life would have had a lot more impact back in 1968 or so with the Vietnam War in full swing and people going to Canada to avoid the draft. In 2013 it comes off as quaint.
It's one of those novels too where the author uses a narrator who is probably the least interesting character in the book. This only works when the characters around that character are far more interesting, which is just not the case here. (It's the case in Where You Belong by me.)
Anyway, for what it is the book is well written, but it really felt to me like a book out of time. I suspect the only reason the book takes place so long in the past is that's the time period the author is familiar with as a teenager. I think we're about at the point where a book taking place in 1960 would be considered "historical fiction" akin to a book about Henry VIII. Sorry, septuagenarian authors but your golden days of yore are ancient history.
That is all.
Showing posts with label 3 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3 stars. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Passion Blue
Passion Blue
by Victoria Strauss
(3/5 stars)
I think the biggest problem with this book is that the author sets up a no-win scenario. Our main character can either give up all semblance of a "normal" life to stay in the convent where she can at least paint or she can give up painting to have a "normal" life with a guy we soon realize is a jerk. So when it gets to the end, neither option could really have been satisfying.
Which didn't bother me extremely much because she doesn't really deserve a happy ending. This is someone so dumb she spends her life savings to buy a "magic" talisman she thinks is guaranteed to find her a man to take care of her. And then even when it should be obvious the guy is a jerk, she still convinces herself he's not right up until the end.
As for the convent it seems more like summer camp or boarding school than an actual convent. The end also takes too long after we get to the foregone unsatisfying conclusion.
Overall it was competent but unsatisfying.
That is all.
by Victoria Strauss
(3/5 stars)
I think the biggest problem with this book is that the author sets up a no-win scenario. Our main character can either give up all semblance of a "normal" life to stay in the convent where she can at least paint or she can give up painting to have a "normal" life with a guy we soon realize is a jerk. So when it gets to the end, neither option could really have been satisfying.
Which didn't bother me extremely much because she doesn't really deserve a happy ending. This is someone so dumb she spends her life savings to buy a "magic" talisman she thinks is guaranteed to find her a man to take care of her. And then even when it should be obvious the guy is a jerk, she still convinces herself he's not right up until the end.
As for the convent it seems more like summer camp or boarding school than an actual convent. The end also takes too long after we get to the foregone unsatisfying conclusion.
Overall it was competent but unsatisfying.
That is all.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Cobra Gamble
Cobra Gamble (Cobra War #3)
by Timothy Zahn
(3/5 stars)
Before I read this I wanted to go and read the first two books in the series. This was much easier said than done, since apparently the first two are not in print, nor are they available in ereader format. I eventually had to buy one used and the other I lucked out and found at a discount store. An even bigger problem is that this trilogy--or what right now is a trilogy--is the sequel to a previous trilogy that went out of print about 20 years ago. I only read the last two books of that series a few years ago.
Unfortunately if you aren't familiar with all those previous, out-of-print books then you're kind of luck. You really won't have much idea what the Cobras are or the Cobra Worlds or the Trofts or Qasama, let alone know what happened on Qasama in those books from over 20 years ago. Maybe you can look on Wikipedia for a plot summary or something.
Anyway, this book picks up where the two before it left off. The Trofts have invaded the Cobra Worlds and Qasama to conquer the humans on those planets. The heroic Moreau-Broom clan has taken some equipment to Qasama to help the rival Qasamans train Cobras of their own. They believe that the Trofts have abandoned the place only to get there and find out the Trofts have returned in even greater numbers.
From there it's a battle to rid Qasama of the Trofts once and for all. The end promises that there could be at least one more book, if not another trilogy or so.
Anyway, I've read a lot of Zahns books and found all three of these Cobra War books to be disappointing. They definitely aren't as good as his original Star Wars books or even the Conqueror's trilogy that shares some similarities with this in the Cobra War books in that both feature a family caught in the middle of everything.
I think what bothered me the most was most of the characters seemed interchangeable. If the names had been blacked out I couldn't have told you which one was Lorne or Merrick or Paul or even Jasmine and Jody. They're all the same bland, capable characters. And strangely they all figure only minorly in the ending. I really expected more of a contribution from them since they were the focal point of the series.
Maybe it was just with all the effort it took to get these I expected a little more. At any rate I was disappointed. They are OK light sci-fi but the author has a lot better to read.
That is all.
by Timothy Zahn
(3/5 stars)
Before I read this I wanted to go and read the first two books in the series. This was much easier said than done, since apparently the first two are not in print, nor are they available in ereader format. I eventually had to buy one used and the other I lucked out and found at a discount store. An even bigger problem is that this trilogy--or what right now is a trilogy--is the sequel to a previous trilogy that went out of print about 20 years ago. I only read the last two books of that series a few years ago.
Unfortunately if you aren't familiar with all those previous, out-of-print books then you're kind of luck. You really won't have much idea what the Cobras are or the Cobra Worlds or the Trofts or Qasama, let alone know what happened on Qasama in those books from over 20 years ago. Maybe you can look on Wikipedia for a plot summary or something.
Anyway, this book picks up where the two before it left off. The Trofts have invaded the Cobra Worlds and Qasama to conquer the humans on those planets. The heroic Moreau-Broom clan has taken some equipment to Qasama to help the rival Qasamans train Cobras of their own. They believe that the Trofts have abandoned the place only to get there and find out the Trofts have returned in even greater numbers.
From there it's a battle to rid Qasama of the Trofts once and for all. The end promises that there could be at least one more book, if not another trilogy or so.
Anyway, I've read a lot of Zahns books and found all three of these Cobra War books to be disappointing. They definitely aren't as good as his original Star Wars books or even the Conqueror's trilogy that shares some similarities with this in the Cobra War books in that both feature a family caught in the middle of everything.
I think what bothered me the most was most of the characters seemed interchangeable. If the names had been blacked out I couldn't have told you which one was Lorne or Merrick or Paul or even Jasmine and Jody. They're all the same bland, capable characters. And strangely they all figure only minorly in the ending. I really expected more of a contribution from them since they were the focal point of the series.
Maybe it was just with all the effort it took to get these I expected a little more. At any rate I was disappointed. They are OK light sci-fi but the author has a lot better to read.
That is all.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Triple Play
Triple Play
By Max Allan Collins
(3/5 stars)
I had previously read and reviewed Collins's "Chicago Lightning" which was a larger volume of Nate Heller detective stories. They weren't terrible, though not as great as Hammett or Chandler of course. "Triple Play" provides three more stories that again are just OK.
The first story is also the longest. It's 1947 and Heller has recently returned to Chicago from a stint in the Marines, where he was discharged after Guadalcanal. He gets a call from a man named Bob Keenan who says his six-year-old daughter has been kidnapped.
Soon though Heller finds out the girl is dead. There's a note left in lipstick saying "Stop Me Before I Kill Again." This is the signature of the infamous Lipstick Killer.
From there Heller goes out to find the Lipstick Killer. As often seems to be the case in these Nate Heller stories, it's pretty easy to find the killer. Except there's a twist: he may not have done it alone! Then another twist: he may not have done it at all! Then another twist and another twist. Oy, I'm starting to feel like a pretzel. I kept wondering why the story hadn't wrapped up yet and then another twist would be revealed. It did get kind of annoying, to the point where I sighed and said, "Could we just end this thing, please?"
The second story features something that annoyed me with the previous Heller anthology: shameless namedropping. In this case it's a big one: Marilyn Monroe. Heller gets assigned by famed screenwriter Ben Hecht (one of Hitchcock's favorite collaborators) to bodyguard Marilyn to a charity poetry thing. Monroe has nothing to do with the actual story. Instead, it's about the murder of a poet friend of Hecht's who's down on his luck.
Like pretty much every other Marilyn Monroe thing out there from "Candle in the Wind" to the recent movie starring Michelle Williams as the movie star, Marilyn is described as beautiful and a deeper and more tortured soul than we might have thought. Which as I said has pretty much become a cliche. Can anyone come up with something else to say about her?
The case is wrapped up pretty easily, this time without any twists.
The final story again involves some name-dropping, though they aren't familiar names unless you're a baseball fan. In 1951 Cleveland Browns owner Bill Veeck came out with a great publicity stunt when he hired a midget named Eddie to pinch hit. At only 3-foot-6, Eddie had no strike zone to speak of and was walked on four straight pitches. Soon after that game baseball banned midgets from participating.
Anyway, years later Eddie turns up dead and Veeck asks Heller to look into it. And again it's wrapped up pretty easily.
I guess in the final analysis the stories are interesting, but I hate all the namedropping and I'd really like it to be more of a challenge to find out who did it. Though not by just piling on one twist after another at the end. I mean come on, make it harder to find the guy in the first place. Chicago is a big city; it shouldn't be so easy to find one person.
Anyway, if you're into old-fashioned private detective novels these aren't bad. They aren't great either.
That is all.
By Max Allan Collins
(3/5 stars)
I had previously read and reviewed Collins's "Chicago Lightning" which was a larger volume of Nate Heller detective stories. They weren't terrible, though not as great as Hammett or Chandler of course. "Triple Play" provides three more stories that again are just OK.
The first story is also the longest. It's 1947 and Heller has recently returned to Chicago from a stint in the Marines, where he was discharged after Guadalcanal. He gets a call from a man named Bob Keenan who says his six-year-old daughter has been kidnapped.
Soon though Heller finds out the girl is dead. There's a note left in lipstick saying "Stop Me Before I Kill Again." This is the signature of the infamous Lipstick Killer.
From there Heller goes out to find the Lipstick Killer. As often seems to be the case in these Nate Heller stories, it's pretty easy to find the killer. Except there's a twist: he may not have done it alone! Then another twist: he may not have done it at all! Then another twist and another twist. Oy, I'm starting to feel like a pretzel. I kept wondering why the story hadn't wrapped up yet and then another twist would be revealed. It did get kind of annoying, to the point where I sighed and said, "Could we just end this thing, please?"
The second story features something that annoyed me with the previous Heller anthology: shameless namedropping. In this case it's a big one: Marilyn Monroe. Heller gets assigned by famed screenwriter Ben Hecht (one of Hitchcock's favorite collaborators) to bodyguard Marilyn to a charity poetry thing. Monroe has nothing to do with the actual story. Instead, it's about the murder of a poet friend of Hecht's who's down on his luck.
Like pretty much every other Marilyn Monroe thing out there from "Candle in the Wind" to the recent movie starring Michelle Williams as the movie star, Marilyn is described as beautiful and a deeper and more tortured soul than we might have thought. Which as I said has pretty much become a cliche. Can anyone come up with something else to say about her?
The case is wrapped up pretty easily, this time without any twists.
The final story again involves some name-dropping, though they aren't familiar names unless you're a baseball fan. In 1951 Cleveland Browns owner Bill Veeck came out with a great publicity stunt when he hired a midget named Eddie to pinch hit. At only 3-foot-6, Eddie had no strike zone to speak of and was walked on four straight pitches. Soon after that game baseball banned midgets from participating.
Anyway, years later Eddie turns up dead and Veeck asks Heller to look into it. And again it's wrapped up pretty easily.
I guess in the final analysis the stories are interesting, but I hate all the namedropping and I'd really like it to be more of a challenge to find out who did it. Though not by just piling on one twist after another at the end. I mean come on, make it harder to find the guy in the first place. Chicago is a big city; it shouldn't be so easy to find one person.
Anyway, if you're into old-fashioned private detective novels these aren't bad. They aren't great either.
That is all.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wake
Wake
by Amanda Hocking
(3/5 stars)
As someone who's self-published a couple of novels, I had of course heard of Amanda Hocking. She's one of the patron saints of "indie" publishing, someone who hit it big without going the traditional publishing route. I hadn't actually read any of her self-published books, so when I saw this on the Vine newsletter I decided to give it a try and see what the hubbub was about.
The answer: not much that I can tell. I've read more than a few YA paranormal type books int he last couple of years, both traditionally and self-published. This really seemed like a pretty bland offering compared to some I've read.
The bland plot revolves around Gemma Fisher--oh what a clever last name for someone who loves water!--who lives in a small Maryland town. She's sixteen and dreams of being an Olympic swimmer. She also goes out at night to swim in the cove, where she meets three hot young girls with weird names: Penn, Thea, and Lexi. No one really likes those girls or knows where they came from, but boy are they hot! Did I mention they're hot? Because it's only mentioned like all the time.
Anyway, the girls are evil monsters of a type that should be fairly obvious. And of course they want Gemma to go to the dark side with them. I wouldn't have really minded that since Gemma is dumb as a post. Even when she finds out what the Mean Girls are she doesn't do anything really to try and stop them. She doesn't even go on Google or anything to try and find out more about them. I mean come on, doesn't this quaint little Maryland town have DSL? None of the other characters seem any brighter.
The final payoff is slightly less disappointing than "Twilight." Just slightly. I can't think of any reason I'd want to read one sequel, let alone three.
As for the writing, you can take the girl out of self-publishing but you can't take the self-publishing out of the girl. Overall the writing is as bland as the plot. It features things like "head-hopping" during scenes, an abundance of -ing verbs, and plenty of adverbs, all the kind of things agents and editors warn authors about. That is unless said author has sold thousands of ebooks and then they have carte blanche.
Things didn't get off to a great start for my reading experience. The very first sentence reads, "Even over the sea, Thea could smell the blood on her." My immediate thought was, "Well of course you can still smell it if it's ON you." I think the author meant the smell of blood in a metaphorical sense. I'd just drop the last two words and then it would read clearer. There was also this great typo: "He even used to WATER Harper and Gemma when they were younger and their dad was busy." It's important to note Harper and Gemma are not petunias or Cocker Spaniels who would need someone to water them. I assume the author meant WATCH them. I wonder if the editor will bother correcting that or if they'll let it slide and take the easy paycheck.
Anyway, this didn't take long to read. You could probably read the whole thing over one day at the beach or something. I don't see any reason why you should, especially since the traditional publisher will charge much more than for Hocking's self-published books. You can get just as good as this for less than a buck. It's not a terrible book, just terribly mediocre.
That is all.
by Amanda Hocking
(3/5 stars)
As someone who's self-published a couple of novels, I had of course heard of Amanda Hocking. She's one of the patron saints of "indie" publishing, someone who hit it big without going the traditional publishing route. I hadn't actually read any of her self-published books, so when I saw this on the Vine newsletter I decided to give it a try and see what the hubbub was about.
The answer: not much that I can tell. I've read more than a few YA paranormal type books int he last couple of years, both traditionally and self-published. This really seemed like a pretty bland offering compared to some I've read.
The bland plot revolves around Gemma Fisher--oh what a clever last name for someone who loves water!--who lives in a small Maryland town. She's sixteen and dreams of being an Olympic swimmer. She also goes out at night to swim in the cove, where she meets three hot young girls with weird names: Penn, Thea, and Lexi. No one really likes those girls or knows where they came from, but boy are they hot! Did I mention they're hot? Because it's only mentioned like all the time.
Anyway, the girls are evil monsters of a type that should be fairly obvious. And of course they want Gemma to go to the dark side with them. I wouldn't have really minded that since Gemma is dumb as a post. Even when she finds out what the Mean Girls are she doesn't do anything really to try and stop them. She doesn't even go on Google or anything to try and find out more about them. I mean come on, doesn't this quaint little Maryland town have DSL? None of the other characters seem any brighter.
The final payoff is slightly less disappointing than "Twilight." Just slightly. I can't think of any reason I'd want to read one sequel, let alone three.
As for the writing, you can take the girl out of self-publishing but you can't take the self-publishing out of the girl. Overall the writing is as bland as the plot. It features things like "head-hopping" during scenes, an abundance of -ing verbs, and plenty of adverbs, all the kind of things agents and editors warn authors about. That is unless said author has sold thousands of ebooks and then they have carte blanche.
Things didn't get off to a great start for my reading experience. The very first sentence reads, "Even over the sea, Thea could smell the blood on her." My immediate thought was, "Well of course you can still smell it if it's ON you." I think the author meant the smell of blood in a metaphorical sense. I'd just drop the last two words and then it would read clearer. There was also this great typo: "He even used to WATER Harper and Gemma when they were younger and their dad was busy." It's important to note Harper and Gemma are not petunias or Cocker Spaniels who would need someone to water them. I assume the author meant WATCH them. I wonder if the editor will bother correcting that or if they'll let it slide and take the easy paycheck.
Anyway, this didn't take long to read. You could probably read the whole thing over one day at the beach or something. I don't see any reason why you should, especially since the traditional publisher will charge much more than for Hocking's self-published books. You can get just as good as this for less than a buck. It's not a terrible book, just terribly mediocre.
That is all.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Motor City Blue
Motor City Blue
by Loren D. Estleman
(3/5 stars)
The easy way to sum up "Motor City Blue" is to say it tries very, very hard to be Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. But in the end it's just a cheap copy.
I bought this when Amazon had it on sale for a buck or two, mostly because of the title. Living near the Motor City and a fan of some noir detective novels, I was intrigued by the idea of such a novel set in Detroit. Had I paid more I probably would have been more disappointed.
The story involves Amos Walker, a private detective in Detroit. One day he's staking out a guy suspected of insurance fraud when he sees the old company commander of his former unit in Vietnam. (The story takes place in 1980.) Before he can say hello or anything, the man is taken away by two rough-looking characters.
Shortly after, Amos gets an offer he can't refuse from a mob kingpin. The mob kingpin's ward Maria has gone missing and he wants Amos to find the girl.
As you might have guessed, the two cases connect to each other, sometimes tenuously. I still don't think I've worked it all out in my head. Anyway, the case involves some snooping around at pornography shops and amateur porno studios, so obviously this is not for the squeamish reader.
As I said at the beginning, it tries really hard to be an old-school detective novel. There's a lot of tough guy talk, some of which works and some of which doesn't. The line that begins, "The door opened flatuently..." is an example of one that does not work.
I would say that instead of reading an imitation Hammett or Chandler to just read the genuine article. If you've already read them, then read them again. Why suffer through a lousy imitation, right?
That is all.
by Loren D. Estleman
(3/5 stars)
The easy way to sum up "Motor City Blue" is to say it tries very, very hard to be Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. But in the end it's just a cheap copy.
I bought this when Amazon had it on sale for a buck or two, mostly because of the title. Living near the Motor City and a fan of some noir detective novels, I was intrigued by the idea of such a novel set in Detroit. Had I paid more I probably would have been more disappointed.
The story involves Amos Walker, a private detective in Detroit. One day he's staking out a guy suspected of insurance fraud when he sees the old company commander of his former unit in Vietnam. (The story takes place in 1980.) Before he can say hello or anything, the man is taken away by two rough-looking characters.
Shortly after, Amos gets an offer he can't refuse from a mob kingpin. The mob kingpin's ward Maria has gone missing and he wants Amos to find the girl.
As you might have guessed, the two cases connect to each other, sometimes tenuously. I still don't think I've worked it all out in my head. Anyway, the case involves some snooping around at pornography shops and amateur porno studios, so obviously this is not for the squeamish reader.
As I said at the beginning, it tries really hard to be an old-school detective novel. There's a lot of tough guy talk, some of which works and some of which doesn't. The line that begins, "The door opened flatuently..." is an example of one that does not work.
I would say that instead of reading an imitation Hammett or Chandler to just read the genuine article. If you've already read them, then read them again. Why suffer through a lousy imitation, right?
That is all.
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Sirens of Titan
A good analogy for this book is it's like one of those paintings that
looks great at a distance but when you look at it up-close you can see
all the brush strokes. In this case the more distant Vonnegut is from
his characters the better because up close the characters come off more
as cartoonish props than real people.
The story details the lives of three people who are moved by forces beyond their control. William Niles Rumsfoord set out into space with his dog and now through a strange phenomenon I won't try to spell he has become unstuck in time and space (take that Billy Pilgrim!) so that he appears on Earth at his house every 59 days. His wife Beatrice Rumsfoord wants little to do with him. Then one day Rumsfoord calls his cousin Malachi Constant for a visit. Constant is a billionaire playboy who inherited his money from his father and has done nothing with his life. Rumsfoord tells Constant that he will roam the Solar System, first to Mars, then Mercury, then back to Earth, and finally to Titan, where he will meet three beautiful women, the sirens of the title.
Well this does happen but none of it goes as Constant thought it might. Beatrice gets swept up in it as well. Meanwhile Rumsfoord seems to be pulling the strings of everyone in the Solar System but who's pulling his strings?
As I said at the start, Vonnegut is at his best in this novel when he deals with broader issues, like the history of Mars or the lives of tiny insects on Mercury. Those moments called to mind Douglas Adams and the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books where too the broader issues were often better than the up-close ones. The characters of Rumsfoord, Beatrice, and Constant aren't all that interesting and as I said none of them seems all that REAL. Vonnegut I don't think was interested in making real, sympathetic characters so much as in making his points about religion, Fate, and so forth.
The last 15% or so almost makes up for the book's deficiencies. Whereas Douglas Adams seemed to back away from providing the answer of life, the universe, and everything, Vonnegut tackles it head-on. Though in both cases, Earth is little more than a pawn in someone else's game; or perhaps not even a pawn; Earth might be more like a bit of dust that gets blown around when someone else moves the pieces.
I don't think this is one of Vonnegut's best, but it wasn't a waste of time either.
As a special note, I noticed quite a few typographical errors in this edition. In part I think it might be from digitizing this to the Kindle. Or perhaps not. It was a little distracting at times.
That is all.
The story details the lives of three people who are moved by forces beyond their control. William Niles Rumsfoord set out into space with his dog and now through a strange phenomenon I won't try to spell he has become unstuck in time and space (take that Billy Pilgrim!) so that he appears on Earth at his house every 59 days. His wife Beatrice Rumsfoord wants little to do with him. Then one day Rumsfoord calls his cousin Malachi Constant for a visit. Constant is a billionaire playboy who inherited his money from his father and has done nothing with his life. Rumsfoord tells Constant that he will roam the Solar System, first to Mars, then Mercury, then back to Earth, and finally to Titan, where he will meet three beautiful women, the sirens of the title.
Well this does happen but none of it goes as Constant thought it might. Beatrice gets swept up in it as well. Meanwhile Rumsfoord seems to be pulling the strings of everyone in the Solar System but who's pulling his strings?
As I said at the start, Vonnegut is at his best in this novel when he deals with broader issues, like the history of Mars or the lives of tiny insects on Mercury. Those moments called to mind Douglas Adams and the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books where too the broader issues were often better than the up-close ones. The characters of Rumsfoord, Beatrice, and Constant aren't all that interesting and as I said none of them seems all that REAL. Vonnegut I don't think was interested in making real, sympathetic characters so much as in making his points about religion, Fate, and so forth.
The last 15% or so almost makes up for the book's deficiencies. Whereas Douglas Adams seemed to back away from providing the answer of life, the universe, and everything, Vonnegut tackles it head-on. Though in both cases, Earth is little more than a pawn in someone else's game; or perhaps not even a pawn; Earth might be more like a bit of dust that gets blown around when someone else moves the pieces.
I don't think this is one of Vonnegut's best, but it wasn't a waste of time either.
As a special note, I noticed quite a few typographical errors in this edition. In part I think it might be from digitizing this to the Kindle. Or perhaps not. It was a little distracting at times.
That is all.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The House on the Corner
The House on the Corner
by Andrew Leon
(3/5 stars)
This starts off like the stereotypical haunted house story. The Howard family (Air Force master sergeant Will, his wife Claire, 12-year-old Tom, 10-year-old Sam, and 6-year-old Ruth) move from Denver to Shreveport, Louisiana. The house they move into is old and spooky-looking with a lot of flaking paint, dusty, and overly large rooms. Some of those rooms have strange things in them. Oh, and the house's last inhabitants disappeared.
So through 40% of the book I kept waiting for there to be the bumps in the night and such that you would expect in a haunted house story. But then the book does a 180 from that and becomes more like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." There becomes a lot of talk about fairies, Guardians, Towers, wizards, and a magic sword. Which is a little surprising because there are so many Star Wars references.
The book gets much more interesting once that stuff comes into play. Unfortunately at that point there's only 60% off. I think the author bit off more than he could chew at that point. It made for a rushed ending that wasn't extremely satisfying to me.
Also, the book is in dire need of a real editor. A lot of typos. Also, I'm not fond of authors who use the word "suddenly" a lot.
There are still a lot of good things about this book. The first-person narration between Tom, Sam, and Ruth is a little confusing at first but gets easier as it goes on. I liked the kids, especially Sam and Ruth. The relationship between the kids was well-drawn. And once the book really gets going it's hard to put down--or shut off the Kindle.
That is all.
by Andrew Leon
(3/5 stars)
This starts off like the stereotypical haunted house story. The Howard family (Air Force master sergeant Will, his wife Claire, 12-year-old Tom, 10-year-old Sam, and 6-year-old Ruth) move from Denver to Shreveport, Louisiana. The house they move into is old and spooky-looking with a lot of flaking paint, dusty, and overly large rooms. Some of those rooms have strange things in them. Oh, and the house's last inhabitants disappeared.
So through 40% of the book I kept waiting for there to be the bumps in the night and such that you would expect in a haunted house story. But then the book does a 180 from that and becomes more like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." There becomes a lot of talk about fairies, Guardians, Towers, wizards, and a magic sword. Which is a little surprising because there are so many Star Wars references.
The book gets much more interesting once that stuff comes into play. Unfortunately at that point there's only 60% off. I think the author bit off more than he could chew at that point. It made for a rushed ending that wasn't extremely satisfying to me.
Also, the book is in dire need of a real editor. A lot of typos. Also, I'm not fond of authors who use the word "suddenly" a lot.
There are still a lot of good things about this book. The first-person narration between Tom, Sam, and Ruth is a little confusing at first but gets easier as it goes on. I liked the kids, especially Sam and Ruth. The relationship between the kids was well-drawn. And once the book really gets going it's hard to put down--or shut off the Kindle.
That is all.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Chicago Lightning
Chicago Lightning
By Max Allan Collins
(3.5/5 stars)
In the introduction the author says how he admires Dashiell Hammett and that shows from these stories. Hammett isn't a terrible writer, but Raymond Chandler is a lot better. The stories in "Chicago Lightning" have more of Hammett's straightforward style than Chandler's complexity.
The stories revolve around Nate Heller, a former cop turned private investigator in Chicago. The stories range from 1933 to 1949 and are arranged chronologically by setting, not in order they were written. Most of the stories involve someone being murdered.
My main criticism is that most of the stories are so straightforward. There aren't a lot of twists and turns in the mysteries. I know they're short stories (generally about 30 pages) but having read the collection of Chandler stories, they were much more complicated, often involving multiple crimes.
While I don't usually get too much into particular stories, there were a couple that stuck out in my memory--mostly because they were the weakest too. Also two of the earliest, written in the mid-80s, though they're put in the middle of the collection.
"Strawberry Teardrop" has Heller visiting Cleveland and his old friend Elliott Ness. In the course of about 3 days--and 20 pages--Heller and a female sidekick solve the Kingsbury Run serial killings, which were never officially solved. It seemed really unbelievable to me how easily these famous murders were solved. Not really plausible in my mind. Though I think Collins later adapted it into a full-length novel.
"Scrap" was probably the shortest of the bunch. It's also a real nothing of a story. Heller talks to some union officials. That's about it. Not a very interesting story.
Despite that it's called CHICAGO Lightning, about a third of the stories take place in Cleveland/Los Angeles. Besides Ness, Heller also interacts with Capone successor Frank Nitti and Mickey Cohen, who was prominently referenced in "LA Confidential." Nitti and "Boss" John Rooney also appear in "Road to Perdition" which was based on the graphic novel by Collins. I'm not really a big fan of involving the historical figures. That's hard to pull off very well and I'm a little skeptical that a low-level PI like Heller could really know all these people as intimately as he does.
Anyway, though I didn't like some of these stories and found them a little too uncomplicated, most of them aren't boring. They make for some good, light reading.
On a side note, I know this was an advanced copy, but it was annoying not to have a Table of Contents. Also, I hate short story collections that don't update the heading for the particular story. Those both make it easy to know how where I'm at and how much farther I have to go for each story. That's always nice to know when I'm reading at lunch or something.
That is all.
By Max Allan Collins
(3.5/5 stars)
In the introduction the author says how he admires Dashiell Hammett and that shows from these stories. Hammett isn't a terrible writer, but Raymond Chandler is a lot better. The stories in "Chicago Lightning" have more of Hammett's straightforward style than Chandler's complexity.
The stories revolve around Nate Heller, a former cop turned private investigator in Chicago. The stories range from 1933 to 1949 and are arranged chronologically by setting, not in order they were written. Most of the stories involve someone being murdered.
My main criticism is that most of the stories are so straightforward. There aren't a lot of twists and turns in the mysteries. I know they're short stories (generally about 30 pages) but having read the collection of Chandler stories, they were much more complicated, often involving multiple crimes.
While I don't usually get too much into particular stories, there were a couple that stuck out in my memory--mostly because they were the weakest too. Also two of the earliest, written in the mid-80s, though they're put in the middle of the collection.
"Strawberry Teardrop" has Heller visiting Cleveland and his old friend Elliott Ness. In the course of about 3 days--and 20 pages--Heller and a female sidekick solve the Kingsbury Run serial killings, which were never officially solved. It seemed really unbelievable to me how easily these famous murders were solved. Not really plausible in my mind. Though I think Collins later adapted it into a full-length novel.
"Scrap" was probably the shortest of the bunch. It's also a real nothing of a story. Heller talks to some union officials. That's about it. Not a very interesting story.
Despite that it's called CHICAGO Lightning, about a third of the stories take place in Cleveland/Los Angeles. Besides Ness, Heller also interacts with Capone successor Frank Nitti and Mickey Cohen, who was prominently referenced in "LA Confidential." Nitti and "Boss" John Rooney also appear in "Road to Perdition" which was based on the graphic novel by Collins. I'm not really a big fan of involving the historical figures. That's hard to pull off very well and I'm a little skeptical that a low-level PI like Heller could really know all these people as intimately as he does.
Anyway, though I didn't like some of these stories and found them a little too uncomplicated, most of them aren't boring. They make for some good, light reading.
On a side note, I know this was an advanced copy, but it was annoying not to have a Table of Contents. Also, I hate short story collections that don't update the heading for the particular story. Those both make it easy to know how where I'm at and how much farther I have to go for each story. That's always nice to know when I'm reading at lunch or something.
That is all.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Machine Man
Machine Man
by Max Barry
(3/5 stars)
There are a lot of books that start off with a good idea, but then fade with the execution of that idea. "Machine Man" is one of those. It starts off with a good concept, but doesn't deliver.
Dr. Charles Neumann is an engineer who's always gotten along better with machines than people. He works at Better Future, a research and development company that creates all sorts of products. One day Charles is looking for his phone in the lab when he accidentally gets his leg torn of by a machine.
Charles is rushed to the hospital, where he meets Lola, who works with prostheses. She shows him the variety of legs they have available and Charles laments how primitive they are. So after returning to work, he decides to invent something better. Which he does. He creates mechanical legs that are stronger, faster, better.
But Charles doesn't want to stop there. Nor does Better Future want him to.
I had to sympathize with Charles at the beginning. When I get blisters from my stupid hammertoes I wonder why I can't get sweet robot feet that wouldn't blister or get tired. Then I could walk all day if I wanted to! At the same time I don't think I'd want to cut off my own legs to do that. Nor would I want to turn myself into Robocop.
That's basically what happens to Charles as the book goes on. Increasingly he becomes more machine than man as Ben Kenobi said about Darth Vader. It's harder to sympathize with him then as the book goes on. Really after the interesting concept at the start it keeps getting darker and darker. That's not really where I wanted to see it go. I was hoping for something a little more lighthearted, as it was in the beginning. But I guess if you like your humor really black, then this isn't bad.
That is all.
by Max Barry
(3/5 stars)
There are a lot of books that start off with a good idea, but then fade with the execution of that idea. "Machine Man" is one of those. It starts off with a good concept, but doesn't deliver.
Dr. Charles Neumann is an engineer who's always gotten along better with machines than people. He works at Better Future, a research and development company that creates all sorts of products. One day Charles is looking for his phone in the lab when he accidentally gets his leg torn of by a machine.
Charles is rushed to the hospital, where he meets Lola, who works with prostheses. She shows him the variety of legs they have available and Charles laments how primitive they are. So after returning to work, he decides to invent something better. Which he does. He creates mechanical legs that are stronger, faster, better.
But Charles doesn't want to stop there. Nor does Better Future want him to.
I had to sympathize with Charles at the beginning. When I get blisters from my stupid hammertoes I wonder why I can't get sweet robot feet that wouldn't blister or get tired. Then I could walk all day if I wanted to! At the same time I don't think I'd want to cut off my own legs to do that. Nor would I want to turn myself into Robocop.
That's basically what happens to Charles as the book goes on. Increasingly he becomes more machine than man as Ben Kenobi said about Darth Vader. It's harder to sympathize with him then as the book goes on. Really after the interesting concept at the start it keeps getting darker and darker. That's not really where I wanted to see it go. I was hoping for something a little more lighthearted, as it was in the beginning. But I guess if you like your humor really black, then this isn't bad.
That is all.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
I'm A Box
I'm A Box
by Natalia Carrero
(3/5 stars)
Obviously I'm not much of an expert on world literature because I had no idea Clarice Lispector was a real person. Which actually makes "I'm a Box" even creepier than I already thought it was. As a writer it's only natural to idolize another writer; I have a serious crush on novelist John Irving. But the extremes Nadila goes to in this book border on the pathological.
Nadila, like many twenty-somethings is confused and trying to "find herself." And like many would-be writers, she tries to write but finds she doesn't have anything to say. This is probably because she's not a very interesting person. By all accounts she spends most of her time hiding from the world, reading Lispector's books. Nor does she seem to realize that writing isn't the kind of thing you can force like a bowel movement; the harder you try to force it, the less you'll accomplish.
Of course it's not just enough for Nadila to simply read Lispector's books. She's not the kind of fan who just appreciates the author's works and maybe writes a letter or something. No, she's that kind of obsessed, crazy fan who wants to BECOME the author. She tries copying Lispector's handwriting, she imagines long conversations with the author, and even goes around in a T-shirt with a line of Lispector's scribbled on it. The next logical step would have been to find Lispector's grave and ransack it. Maybe she didn't have the money for that.
The novel includes a lot of sayings of Lispector's that seem like literary fortune cookies. Surprisingly there's not much from her actual books. There are also pictures of other things, including Nadila's T-shirt I mentioned. At times the narrative gets confusing because some of it is taking place in the 1990s but then things from the 2000s are mentioned so I'm not quite sure when something is taking place.
As I said, I found a lot of this to go from simple hero worship to creepy obsessiveness. It's fine to respect an author and her work, but trying to commune with her dead spirit, staging fake conversations, and trying to interject yourself into her books goes beyond the rational to the point where you need psychiatric help.
That is all.
by Natalia Carrero
(3/5 stars)
Obviously I'm not much of an expert on world literature because I had no idea Clarice Lispector was a real person. Which actually makes "I'm a Box" even creepier than I already thought it was. As a writer it's only natural to idolize another writer; I have a serious crush on novelist John Irving. But the extremes Nadila goes to in this book border on the pathological.
Nadila, like many twenty-somethings is confused and trying to "find herself." And like many would-be writers, she tries to write but finds she doesn't have anything to say. This is probably because she's not a very interesting person. By all accounts she spends most of her time hiding from the world, reading Lispector's books. Nor does she seem to realize that writing isn't the kind of thing you can force like a bowel movement; the harder you try to force it, the less you'll accomplish.
Of course it's not just enough for Nadila to simply read Lispector's books. She's not the kind of fan who just appreciates the author's works and maybe writes a letter or something. No, she's that kind of obsessed, crazy fan who wants to BECOME the author. She tries copying Lispector's handwriting, she imagines long conversations with the author, and even goes around in a T-shirt with a line of Lispector's scribbled on it. The next logical step would have been to find Lispector's grave and ransack it. Maybe she didn't have the money for that.
The novel includes a lot of sayings of Lispector's that seem like literary fortune cookies. Surprisingly there's not much from her actual books. There are also pictures of other things, including Nadila's T-shirt I mentioned. At times the narrative gets confusing because some of it is taking place in the 1990s but then things from the 2000s are mentioned so I'm not quite sure when something is taking place.
As I said, I found a lot of this to go from simple hero worship to creepy obsessiveness. It's fine to respect an author and her work, but trying to commune with her dead spirit, staging fake conversations, and trying to interject yourself into her books goes beyond the rational to the point where you need psychiatric help.
That is all.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Other Kingdoms
Other Kingdoms
by Richard Matheson
(3.5/5 stars)
The true test of whether you want to read this book might be: did you ever think Tinkerbell was hot? Or did you ever watch "Fern Gully" and wish you could be the guy who gets shrunk and live with pixies? Because that's pretty much what's going on here.
Though Matheson takes about 2/3 of the book to get up to that point. First, we have Alex White, who in 1918 joins the army out of spite because his abusive father is in the navy. Take that, Dad! Alex gets shipped to the trenches of France, which as we all know by now aren't a fun place to be. There he meets a British soldier named Harold and they become friends. Harold tells him about a village called Gatford that is just gorgeous--his word for it.
So after Harold is killed and Alex is wounded, he decides to go to Gatford. He soon finds that Gatford is a strange place, a place where they believe in "little people" or "faeries" or fairies to use the American spelling. But so long as you stay on the paths in the woods you'll be all right.
Except of course Alex doesn't stay on the path and comes under attack by something. He's rescued by a middle-aged redheaded woman named Magda. She's believed to be a witch by the townspeople. And Alex soon finds that out for himself. She's got some other weird quirks too.
But one day when Magda isn't around, Alex hears some beautiful singing and sees a tiny blond woman in the woods. Her name is Ruthana and despite not having talked to Alex before, she's madly in love with him and he's madly in love with her.
And the rest pretty much follows as a less happy "Fern Gully" or "Avatar" or "Dances With Wolves" or whatever movie you want to use.
The biggest drawback of the book is the narration Matheson uses. Alex is 82 when he writes the book and since his time in Gatford he went on to write a series of pulp novels under the name "Arthur Black." And he references this fact about 400 times during the novel, like every time he uses an alliterative phrase he makes an aside that it's a bad Arthur Black habit. Which is funny the first few times, but soon becomes a distraction and then an annoyance. I understand that Matheson was trying to show that Alex is rambling and a bit senile at 82, but he overplays it a bit too much for me.
The other thing is I don't know why Magda or Ruthana want Alex. There's nothing remarkable about him at all. Maybe it's because they don't get many 18-year-old Americans in the woods of Gatford.
I also thought the descriptions of the fairy village and lifestyle were somewhat lacking. I never really got a sense of where or how the fairies lived. Left to my own devices I start thinking of Keebler elves living in trees or Smurfs with mushroom houses. So that could have been handled better.
Despite all that I found this a compelling read. I ripped through it in about three days. It's the kind of book I wouldn't recommend paying full price for, but it's not a bad read. Though Matheson has done a lot better work in his career like "I Am Legend" or his work on "The Twilight Zone" for starters.
That is all.
by Richard Matheson
(3.5/5 stars)
The true test of whether you want to read this book might be: did you ever think Tinkerbell was hot? Or did you ever watch "Fern Gully" and wish you could be the guy who gets shrunk and live with pixies? Because that's pretty much what's going on here.
Though Matheson takes about 2/3 of the book to get up to that point. First, we have Alex White, who in 1918 joins the army out of spite because his abusive father is in the navy. Take that, Dad! Alex gets shipped to the trenches of France, which as we all know by now aren't a fun place to be. There he meets a British soldier named Harold and they become friends. Harold tells him about a village called Gatford that is just gorgeous--his word for it.
So after Harold is killed and Alex is wounded, he decides to go to Gatford. He soon finds that Gatford is a strange place, a place where they believe in "little people" or "faeries" or fairies to use the American spelling. But so long as you stay on the paths in the woods you'll be all right.
Except of course Alex doesn't stay on the path and comes under attack by something. He's rescued by a middle-aged redheaded woman named Magda. She's believed to be a witch by the townspeople. And Alex soon finds that out for himself. She's got some other weird quirks too.
But one day when Magda isn't around, Alex hears some beautiful singing and sees a tiny blond woman in the woods. Her name is Ruthana and despite not having talked to Alex before, she's madly in love with him and he's madly in love with her.
And the rest pretty much follows as a less happy "Fern Gully" or "Avatar" or "Dances With Wolves" or whatever movie you want to use.
The biggest drawback of the book is the narration Matheson uses. Alex is 82 when he writes the book and since his time in Gatford he went on to write a series of pulp novels under the name "Arthur Black." And he references this fact about 400 times during the novel, like every time he uses an alliterative phrase he makes an aside that it's a bad Arthur Black habit. Which is funny the first few times, but soon becomes a distraction and then an annoyance. I understand that Matheson was trying to show that Alex is rambling and a bit senile at 82, but he overplays it a bit too much for me.
The other thing is I don't know why Magda or Ruthana want Alex. There's nothing remarkable about him at all. Maybe it's because they don't get many 18-year-old Americans in the woods of Gatford.
I also thought the descriptions of the fairy village and lifestyle were somewhat lacking. I never really got a sense of where or how the fairies lived. Left to my own devices I start thinking of Keebler elves living in trees or Smurfs with mushroom houses. So that could have been handled better.
Despite all that I found this a compelling read. I ripped through it in about three days. It's the kind of book I wouldn't recommend paying full price for, but it's not a bad read. Though Matheson has done a lot better work in his career like "I Am Legend" or his work on "The Twilight Zone" for starters.
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Losing Graceland
Losing Graceland
by Micah Nathan
(3/5 stars)
The high concept pitch for this book would be: "Blues Brothers" meets "Bubba Ho-Tep." A decrepit old man who at least thinks he's Elvis Presley goes on a mission from God in order to rescue his illegitimate granddaughter Nadine, who's a stripper in Memphis.
Like both of those movies I mentioned, there needs to be a second banana. This is Ben Fish, who recently graduated from college with a useless anthropology degree. Ben sees an ad in the paper promising a lot of money for driving the old man from suburban Buffalo to Memphis. It seems easy enough but of course it isn't.
Along the way, Ben and the old man run into numerous characters, like bikers, a half-Asian prostitute, and some girls in a bar. They also fight a crooked construction company, confront a pimp, and enter an Elvis impersonator contest. These incidents and characters sound more interesting than they really are.
I found the book entertaining enough and breezed through it in a few hours, but that's also the problem. It's too short. I think Nathan's strategic blunder was setting Ben and the old man in Buffalo. That makes the journey far too short. If they had been starting in Los Angeles that would have made for a much longer trip. What would happen with the old man in Vegas? Now that would have been interesting. But maybe the author is far more familiar with the Buffalo area and didn't feel confident enough writing about anywhere else.
The other bugaboo is that Nathan frequently "head hops" or switches from one character's perspective to another. This is the kind of thing that if I showed it to a critique group they'd scream bloody murder. In this case I would have preferred to keep the focus on Ben and his growth as the road trip goes on. Not that he grows an awful lot. I won't give away just how much or how little.
Anyway, if you're a fan of Elvis this is a fun little read. It won't really challenge you and you can finish it in a couple of hours and move on to something more substantial.
I hope this review satisfies your Suspicious Minds...(I got a million of those!)
That is all.
by Micah Nathan
(3/5 stars)
The high concept pitch for this book would be: "Blues Brothers" meets "Bubba Ho-Tep." A decrepit old man who at least thinks he's Elvis Presley goes on a mission from God in order to rescue his illegitimate granddaughter Nadine, who's a stripper in Memphis.
Like both of those movies I mentioned, there needs to be a second banana. This is Ben Fish, who recently graduated from college with a useless anthropology degree. Ben sees an ad in the paper promising a lot of money for driving the old man from suburban Buffalo to Memphis. It seems easy enough but of course it isn't.
Along the way, Ben and the old man run into numerous characters, like bikers, a half-Asian prostitute, and some girls in a bar. They also fight a crooked construction company, confront a pimp, and enter an Elvis impersonator contest. These incidents and characters sound more interesting than they really are.
I found the book entertaining enough and breezed through it in a few hours, but that's also the problem. It's too short. I think Nathan's strategic blunder was setting Ben and the old man in Buffalo. That makes the journey far too short. If they had been starting in Los Angeles that would have made for a much longer trip. What would happen with the old man in Vegas? Now that would have been interesting. But maybe the author is far more familiar with the Buffalo area and didn't feel confident enough writing about anywhere else.
The other bugaboo is that Nathan frequently "head hops" or switches from one character's perspective to another. This is the kind of thing that if I showed it to a critique group they'd scream bloody murder. In this case I would have preferred to keep the focus on Ben and his growth as the road trip goes on. Not that he grows an awful lot. I won't give away just how much or how little.
Anyway, if you're a fan of Elvis this is a fun little read. It won't really challenge you and you can finish it in a couple of hours and move on to something more substantial.
I hope this review satisfies your Suspicious Minds...(I got a million of those!)
That is all.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
After the Golden Age
After the Golden Age
by Carrie Vaughn
(3/5 stars)
Sometimes it's a good thing not to write reviews right away. I was all set to give this book four stars. Then nature called and while taking care of business, the realization hit me: most of this plot was meaningless! All the digging for clues and setting things up didn't matter at all because in the end the villain calls our hero to tell her exactly where--and who--he is. What the heck is that?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that really this could have been chopped into a short story because the rest winds up being filler. Setting up all these relationships, what did it really matter? All but one of the superheroes wasn't even present for the grand finale!
The mostly unimportant story is like "The Incredibles" if the kids didn't have superpowers. Captain Olympus is like Superman and his wife Spark is like the Human Torch, only a girl. They have a daughter named Celia West who doesn't have any powers, except being a hostage. She's kidnapped about six times before the book starts.
The big nemesis is called the Destructor, who is like the resident Dr. Doom. The superheroes have caught him at last and now he's facing a trial. Celia is a forensic accountant assigned to the case despite that years ago she defected to the Destructor's side to get back at her parents. Meanwhile some new criminals are stealing priceless violins and fish (no fooling) and unleashing terror while also abducting Celia a couple more times.
The ride getting up to the big finish is interesting enough, though it never gets much deeper than the back cover flap description. This isn't in the vein of comics like "Watchmen" that try to have profound social messages.
The writing is pretty vanilla; it definitely is not going to challenge you. Celia is your typical spunky female just dying to be played by Rachael McAdams or Amy Adams in a movie adaptation. Though it's hard to have much respect for her since she gets kidnapped so many times before the story and four times DURING the story and yet still walks right into the trap at the end. Yeesh, after a while you'd think she'd get wise and start taking some precautions. And as I said, for all the digging for clues she does, it doesn't really have any impact. It would also have been nice if she hadn't been quite so whiny about her parents all the time.
The romance between her and a police detective who is also the mayor's son, like so much of the story just doesn't matter. In this case it's because another romance comes along, one that's a bit creepy.
Besides the end confrontation not being anything very exciting, the last chapter--which should have been an epilogue--quickly summarizes what happens to all the important characters. Besides limiting the sequel potential, there's nothing emotionally satisfying about these little blurbs.
In all it's comparable to the lesser superhero movies at your local multiplex. So long as you don't stop to think about it, it's not too bad.
That is all.
by Carrie Vaughn
(3/5 stars)
Sometimes it's a good thing not to write reviews right away. I was all set to give this book four stars. Then nature called and while taking care of business, the realization hit me: most of this plot was meaningless! All the digging for clues and setting things up didn't matter at all because in the end the villain calls our hero to tell her exactly where--and who--he is. What the heck is that?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that really this could have been chopped into a short story because the rest winds up being filler. Setting up all these relationships, what did it really matter? All but one of the superheroes wasn't even present for the grand finale!
The mostly unimportant story is like "The Incredibles" if the kids didn't have superpowers. Captain Olympus is like Superman and his wife Spark is like the Human Torch, only a girl. They have a daughter named Celia West who doesn't have any powers, except being a hostage. She's kidnapped about six times before the book starts.
The big nemesis is called the Destructor, who is like the resident Dr. Doom. The superheroes have caught him at last and now he's facing a trial. Celia is a forensic accountant assigned to the case despite that years ago she defected to the Destructor's side to get back at her parents. Meanwhile some new criminals are stealing priceless violins and fish (no fooling) and unleashing terror while also abducting Celia a couple more times.
The ride getting up to the big finish is interesting enough, though it never gets much deeper than the back cover flap description. This isn't in the vein of comics like "Watchmen" that try to have profound social messages.
The writing is pretty vanilla; it definitely is not going to challenge you. Celia is your typical spunky female just dying to be played by Rachael McAdams or Amy Adams in a movie adaptation. Though it's hard to have much respect for her since she gets kidnapped so many times before the story and four times DURING the story and yet still walks right into the trap at the end. Yeesh, after a while you'd think she'd get wise and start taking some precautions. And as I said, for all the digging for clues she does, it doesn't really have any impact. It would also have been nice if she hadn't been quite so whiny about her parents all the time.
The romance between her and a police detective who is also the mayor's son, like so much of the story just doesn't matter. In this case it's because another romance comes along, one that's a bit creepy.
Besides the end confrontation not being anything very exciting, the last chapter--which should have been an epilogue--quickly summarizes what happens to all the important characters. Besides limiting the sequel potential, there's nothing emotionally satisfying about these little blurbs.
In all it's comparable to the lesser superhero movies at your local multiplex. So long as you don't stop to think about it, it's not too bad.
That is all.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Geek Love
Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn
(3/5 stars)
A "friend" reviewed this novel and as something of a freak myself I couldn't resist reading a novel about freaks. But I found I didn't like this nearly as much as I thought I would.
The best way to think about this story is that it's like a darker version of "The Addams Family." Ma and Pa work for a traveling circus and decide that it's too expensive to recruit freaks, so they'll breed them! Ma takes all sorts of drugs and such in order to create deformed babies. Some of them die, but four (or five) survive. They are Arturo, a boy with flippers instead of limbs; Ely and Iphy the conjoined twins; Chick the boy with strange psychic powers; and Olympia the hunchbacked albino dwarf who is our narrator. As in most family sagas the narrator is the most boring character with the least personality. Arturo the Aqua Boy is the big star of the family. Ely and Iphy are second with their singing and dancing. Even Chick finds a niche when Arturo starts a cult devoted to making people into deformed freaks. Olympia's only real role is to be Arturo's valet and main worshiper.
I guess despite being something of a freak myself I'm not so deluded to think that being a freak makes someone special or better than "normal" people. As the story goes on I really found it increasingly grotesque and disturbing instead of funny or interesting. Adding to this is the portion that takes place in the present where Olympia is dealing with her daughter and a mysterious woman who thinks like Arturo that deformity is the key to enlightenment.
Anyway, other people obviously thought this was better than I did. I was just a victim of overly high expectations the book couldn't deliver upon.
That is all.
by Katherine Dunn
(3/5 stars)
A "friend" reviewed this novel and as something of a freak myself I couldn't resist reading a novel about freaks. But I found I didn't like this nearly as much as I thought I would.
The best way to think about this story is that it's like a darker version of "The Addams Family." Ma and Pa work for a traveling circus and decide that it's too expensive to recruit freaks, so they'll breed them! Ma takes all sorts of drugs and such in order to create deformed babies. Some of them die, but four (or five) survive. They are Arturo, a boy with flippers instead of limbs; Ely and Iphy the conjoined twins; Chick the boy with strange psychic powers; and Olympia the hunchbacked albino dwarf who is our narrator. As in most family sagas the narrator is the most boring character with the least personality. Arturo the Aqua Boy is the big star of the family. Ely and Iphy are second with their singing and dancing. Even Chick finds a niche when Arturo starts a cult devoted to making people into deformed freaks. Olympia's only real role is to be Arturo's valet and main worshiper.
I guess despite being something of a freak myself I'm not so deluded to think that being a freak makes someone special or better than "normal" people. As the story goes on I really found it increasingly grotesque and disturbing instead of funny or interesting. Adding to this is the portion that takes place in the present where Olympia is dealing with her daughter and a mysterious woman who thinks like Arturo that deformity is the key to enlightenment.
Anyway, other people obviously thought this was better than I did. I was just a victim of overly high expectations the book couldn't deliver upon.
That is all.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Human Blend
The Human Blend
By Alan Dean Foster
(3/5 stars)
Here's the definition of MacGuffin from our friends at Wikipedia:
A MacGuffin then is what drives "The Human Blend" and in theory the books that follow it. In this case the MacGuffin is a silver "thread" that is some kind of data storage device. A thief named Whispr finds this thread after he and his friend Jiminy Cricket (his chosen name, not his birth name) mug a guy in Savannah.
An explanation of the world this takes place in is probably in order. In this future (how far into the future I'm not exactly sure, but probably late 21st or early 22nd Century) flooding from global warming has put most of the North American coast under water. Cities like Savannah survive by putting the old buildings up on hydraulic platforms. (Others like Washington use dikes to hold back the waters.)
The biggest change, though, is with people themselves. Cosmetic surgery has allowed everyone to add all sorts of "melds" to themselves to alter their appearance. You can look like a famous celebrity, a historical personage, or even Big Bird. Though by this time, most people like Whispr just use melds to help them in their line of work. In his case, Whispr is ultra thin and quiet. Jiminy Cricket can jump long distances. Police are built like weightlifters on steroids.
Some, though, don't take melds, like Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. She's content to be just your normal young, hot blond doctor. She has a practice in Savannah and a comfortable life and a seldom-seen boyfriend. Then of course Whispr shows up looking for medical help--and with the thread.
Most of the book is devoted to various people like the assassin Mole (Mo-lay, not Mole) or some other assassins chasing Whispr and then Whispr and Ingrid to get the thread. Meanwhile, Whispr and Ingrid try to find out what it is on the thread.
Of course they don't find out what's on the thread, because that will be dealt with in future books. Future books I have no interest in reading because this one didn't really hook me. It was an OK sci-fi thriller, but it never rose to the level of Philip K. Dick or "Neuromancer." It's more "Paycheck" than "Minority Report" or "Blade Runner."
Or in other words, it's a competent book, but it feels paint-by-numbers. The characters aren't all that interesting and the uniqueness of the melds and the world these people inhabit just didn't come to life enough for me to really care that much.
But if you're less discriminating than me, you'll probably enjoy it as a beach/airplane/subway read. And maybe you'll be interested in following the Quest for the Thread. I'll just wait until the last one comes out and peek at the last pages to see if they throw it into Mt. Doom or not.
That is all.
PS: Foster does have a character call the thread a "maguffin" at one point, so at least he has a sense of humor enough to recognize this.
By Alan Dean Foster
(3/5 stars)
Here's the definition of MacGuffin from our friends at Wikipedia:
A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction".[1] The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, or a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.
A MacGuffin then is what drives "The Human Blend" and in theory the books that follow it. In this case the MacGuffin is a silver "thread" that is some kind of data storage device. A thief named Whispr finds this thread after he and his friend Jiminy Cricket (his chosen name, not his birth name) mug a guy in Savannah.
An explanation of the world this takes place in is probably in order. In this future (how far into the future I'm not exactly sure, but probably late 21st or early 22nd Century) flooding from global warming has put most of the North American coast under water. Cities like Savannah survive by putting the old buildings up on hydraulic platforms. (Others like Washington use dikes to hold back the waters.)
The biggest change, though, is with people themselves. Cosmetic surgery has allowed everyone to add all sorts of "melds" to themselves to alter their appearance. You can look like a famous celebrity, a historical personage, or even Big Bird. Though by this time, most people like Whispr just use melds to help them in their line of work. In his case, Whispr is ultra thin and quiet. Jiminy Cricket can jump long distances. Police are built like weightlifters on steroids.
Some, though, don't take melds, like Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. She's content to be just your normal young, hot blond doctor. She has a practice in Savannah and a comfortable life and a seldom-seen boyfriend. Then of course Whispr shows up looking for medical help--and with the thread.
Most of the book is devoted to various people like the assassin Mole (Mo-lay, not Mole) or some other assassins chasing Whispr and then Whispr and Ingrid to get the thread. Meanwhile, Whispr and Ingrid try to find out what it is on the thread.
Of course they don't find out what's on the thread, because that will be dealt with in future books. Future books I have no interest in reading because this one didn't really hook me. It was an OK sci-fi thriller, but it never rose to the level of Philip K. Dick or "Neuromancer." It's more "Paycheck" than "Minority Report" or "Blade Runner."
Or in other words, it's a competent book, but it feels paint-by-numbers. The characters aren't all that interesting and the uniqueness of the melds and the world these people inhabit just didn't come to life enough for me to really care that much.
But if you're less discriminating than me, you'll probably enjoy it as a beach/airplane/subway read. And maybe you'll be interested in following the Quest for the Thread. I'll just wait until the last one comes out and peek at the last pages to see if they throw it into Mt. Doom or not.
That is all.
PS: Foster does have a character call the thread a "maguffin" at one point, so at least he has a sense of humor enough to recognize this.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Plot Against America
The Plot Against America
By Philip Roth
(3/5 stars)
I was all set to give this at least 4 stars--and then came the last fifty pages. I haven't been this disappointed with an ending since reading "Next" by James Hynes. (Admittedly that was only a few months ago.) Amazon's review calls that ending "ingenious." I would call it "far-fetched," "ridiculous," "implausible," "deux-ex-machina," and most of the 7 words you can't say on television. It's an ending that completely destroys an otherwise good novel.
This is one of those "alternate history" novels. Only Roth's is more plausible (until the end) than say Harry Turtledove's "Guns of the South" where time travelers give machine-guns to the south in the civil war. Roth's scenario all turns on Charles Lindbergh running for president in 1940 and winning. I'm not sure Lindy could have beat an experienced politician and campaigner like FDR even if he had run, but that's not important.
Instead of focusing on Lindbergh, FDR, or any historical persons, most of the story revolves around Philip Roth and his family. (Because if there's a subject Philip Roth really loves it's Philip Roth.) Philip is 7 at the start of the book and lives in a flat with his older brother Sandy, his insurance salesman father, his stay-at-home mother, and his orphaned cousin Alvin.
After Lindbergh takes office, his parents--especially his father--fear that America will turn into a fascist state like Nazi Germany. He has reason to fear when Lindy signs an "understanding" with Hitler to maintain peace between them. Cousin Alvin goes off to Canada to join the British in opposing the Nazis while Sandy becomes smitten with Lindbergh after a stint on a Kentucky farm through the "Just Folks" program that sends urban kids--mostly Jews--to rural areas to spend a summer.
That kind of cultural assimilation is the most anti-Semitic it gets through most of the book, except for an incident on a trip to Washington DC. Most of the time the Roth family's fear and paranoia is the real enemy. There are no concentration camps or gas chambers.
Most of the book then is a portrait of how fear can tear a family apart, as it nearly does the Roth family. Fissures form between Philip's father and Cousin Alvin, between Philip's father and Sandy, and between Philip's mother and her sister, who marries a rabbi who advises the new First Lady.
Where the book really goes astray is by trying to tack on a sort of happy ending. OK, here's your spoiler alert:
There's the spoiler space!
Anyway, in the last 50 pages, Walter Winchell makes wild accusations about Lindbergh on the air and gets fired. When he decides to run against Lindy (a campaign with as much chance as Stephen Colbert in 2012), he's assassinated in Louisville. This sparks riots and anti-Jewish attacks.
That's all fine. Where it really goes wrong is that Lindbergh flies to Louisville in the "Spirit of St. Louis" and delivers a brief speech to reassure people. After that he disappears! The plane presumably crashes somewhere. Like something out of "24" the new president starts arresting people right and left, including FDR. He even goes so far as to have Mrs. Lindbergh committed. But she escapes and delivers a speech accusing the new president of treason and he's arrested and a new election held. FDR wins this election and from there everything goes back to the timeline we know. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and America enters the war.
And in less than 3 years we're victorious! That's the most implausible part of all. The Germans are more entrenched, as are the Japanese, and yet we defeat them in less time? That's absurd. This whole part becomes some bizarre patriotic flag-waving exercise that makes no sense at all. It also relies on the deux-ex-machina device of a plane crash, after which Roth piles one absurdity onto another.
It would have made more sense to end the book unhappily. Have the Roths flee to Canada. Have Lindbergh set up concentration camps. That would make sense. Trying to make this end in a somewhat happy fashion, especially one this implausible, does not work.
There, now you can't complain about the spoilers! The ending is one of those that makes me so angry and disappointed that it's hard to remember the rest of the book was good. Maybe not as good as "American Pastoral" or "Portnoy's Complaint" but still better than a lot of books.
It was still better than Michael Chabon's "Yiddish Policeman's Union" which is a similar Jewish-themed alternate history. That was wrapped in a lame Dan Brown-style thriller plot. Roth's family drama makes for a better read--at least until the end.
(Actually they both have terribly ridiculous endings. Maybe alternate histories just inspire that.)
That is all.
By Philip Roth
(3/5 stars)
I was all set to give this at least 4 stars--and then came the last fifty pages. I haven't been this disappointed with an ending since reading "Next" by James Hynes. (Admittedly that was only a few months ago.) Amazon's review calls that ending "ingenious." I would call it "far-fetched," "ridiculous," "implausible," "deux-ex-machina," and most of the 7 words you can't say on television. It's an ending that completely destroys an otherwise good novel.
This is one of those "alternate history" novels. Only Roth's is more plausible (until the end) than say Harry Turtledove's "Guns of the South" where time travelers give machine-guns to the south in the civil war. Roth's scenario all turns on Charles Lindbergh running for president in 1940 and winning. I'm not sure Lindy could have beat an experienced politician and campaigner like FDR even if he had run, but that's not important.
Instead of focusing on Lindbergh, FDR, or any historical persons, most of the story revolves around Philip Roth and his family. (Because if there's a subject Philip Roth really loves it's Philip Roth.) Philip is 7 at the start of the book and lives in a flat with his older brother Sandy, his insurance salesman father, his stay-at-home mother, and his orphaned cousin Alvin.
After Lindbergh takes office, his parents--especially his father--fear that America will turn into a fascist state like Nazi Germany. He has reason to fear when Lindy signs an "understanding" with Hitler to maintain peace between them. Cousin Alvin goes off to Canada to join the British in opposing the Nazis while Sandy becomes smitten with Lindbergh after a stint on a Kentucky farm through the "Just Folks" program that sends urban kids--mostly Jews--to rural areas to spend a summer.
That kind of cultural assimilation is the most anti-Semitic it gets through most of the book, except for an incident on a trip to Washington DC. Most of the time the Roth family's fear and paranoia is the real enemy. There are no concentration camps or gas chambers.
Most of the book then is a portrait of how fear can tear a family apart, as it nearly does the Roth family. Fissures form between Philip's father and Cousin Alvin, between Philip's father and Sandy, and between Philip's mother and her sister, who marries a rabbi who advises the new First Lady.
Where the book really goes astray is by trying to tack on a sort of happy ending. OK, here's your spoiler alert:
There's the spoiler space!
Anyway, in the last 50 pages, Walter Winchell makes wild accusations about Lindbergh on the air and gets fired. When he decides to run against Lindy (a campaign with as much chance as Stephen Colbert in 2012), he's assassinated in Louisville. This sparks riots and anti-Jewish attacks.
That's all fine. Where it really goes wrong is that Lindbergh flies to Louisville in the "Spirit of St. Louis" and delivers a brief speech to reassure people. After that he disappears! The plane presumably crashes somewhere. Like something out of "24" the new president starts arresting people right and left, including FDR. He even goes so far as to have Mrs. Lindbergh committed. But she escapes and delivers a speech accusing the new president of treason and he's arrested and a new election held. FDR wins this election and from there everything goes back to the timeline we know. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and America enters the war.
And in less than 3 years we're victorious! That's the most implausible part of all. The Germans are more entrenched, as are the Japanese, and yet we defeat them in less time? That's absurd. This whole part becomes some bizarre patriotic flag-waving exercise that makes no sense at all. It also relies on the deux-ex-machina device of a plane crash, after which Roth piles one absurdity onto another.
It would have made more sense to end the book unhappily. Have the Roths flee to Canada. Have Lindbergh set up concentration camps. That would make sense. Trying to make this end in a somewhat happy fashion, especially one this implausible, does not work.
There, now you can't complain about the spoilers! The ending is one of those that makes me so angry and disappointed that it's hard to remember the rest of the book was good. Maybe not as good as "American Pastoral" or "Portnoy's Complaint" but still better than a lot of books.
It was still better than Michael Chabon's "Yiddish Policeman's Union" which is a similar Jewish-themed alternate history. That was wrapped in a lame Dan Brown-style thriller plot. Roth's family drama makes for a better read--at least until the end.
(Actually they both have terribly ridiculous endings. Maybe alternate histories just inspire that.)
That is all.
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