I’m not sure if there is a specific genre for what this book is – lachrymose lyrical, tearjerker tale, heartwarming something something to fortify one’s faith in the innate goodness of people, etc, etc. – but this is definitely one of those. Normally, I stay away from these things, but this one charmed me with its cephalopodan charm, reached out and grabbed me with its eight tentacles, you know how it goes…you meet an octopus and you are just mesmerized.
And Marcellus is no ordinary octopus, he is a grand Pacific octopus, and smart even for his species, like an Einstein of octopuses, but with more emotional intelligence. Marcellus is on the last days of his life span, tragically short at only four years, and decides to use his time to help some clueless humans sort out their lives. Cue in the humans…and that’s where the book can’t hold water. Or whatever the expression ought to be, since paper and water holding don’t seem like a great combination. There are two principal human characters – Tova, a charming industrious 70-year-old lady, who despite having plenty of money, works as a night cleaner at the aquarium where Marcellus lives for having something to do and Cameron, a 30-year-old loser. Tova has recently decided to rethink her self-reliance, sell her place and go live in a fancy old peoplecommunity. Wait, you say, Tova got a proper description and Cameron got one word? Yes, because first and foremost Cameron is a loser. And the novel’s greatest downfall. Because this genre is supposed to have loveable losers who are reformed through magical intervention of miraculous randomness and kindness of strangers. Well, here the author forgot or failed to make Cameron lovable. Instead, he comes across as a whiny selfish brat who momma (boohoo) abandoned him when he was young – an excuse he used throughout his life to justify failure included but not limited to...taking advantage of a college scholarship, holding down a job, having a place to live, and so on. Mind you, Cameron wasn’t ever in the system, he was taken in, taken care of and loved by an aunt, it’s just that he’s never been able to shrug off that teenage angst. Cameron is smart, so smart, we know this because we are constantly told this, by him himself and others, yet the only way his smarts present themselves in through occasional random trivia. Other than that, the guy’s a loser through and through. Obnoxious, annoying, whiny kind. And so, when Cameron finds himself unmoored once more, he decides to track down his mystery father, a father he decides on scant evidence to be a local man of not inconsiderable wealth, and demand years of back child support payment. Yeah, smart plan, Cameron, we can see why everyone says you’re a genius. Anyway, Cameron sets off on his quest, promptly finds himself penniless, has to borrow money off his aunt, and then ends up in the same small Washington state town as Tova and Marcellus. And wouldn’t you know it, life smiles on Cameron the entire way – people are feeding him, giving him places to live, jobs to do, etc. Presumably, that’s the heartwarming thing at play. Cameron does his best but, of course, ends up blowing up every chance he is given, until the (genuinely) smart octopus shows him and the kindly old Tova the error of their ways. In a plot twist, surprising to no one smart, their connection is revealed, the balloons are released, and a happy ending unrolls itself. Tada. All in all, pretty basic proceedings, albeit objectively decently written, the bag of immature bricks that is Cameron just about sinks the entire production. And the other thing…this genre, I just don’t care for it. it seems to strive for a certain degree of verisimilitude, albeit heavily buttered with niceness and it just doesn’t work, life doesn’t work that way. I read plenty of speculative fiction, so I’m not stranger to altered realities, but this reality isn’t so much altered as it is skewed, uncanny valley style. It’s almost real, but then again it isn’t. This drama is to life what romcoms are to love - rubbish creating unreasonable expectations. The book to go...awww over, like the youtube videos of babies or something, look how cute. There’s obviously a market for this sort of thing and I’m sure this book will do just fine, but, as readable as it innately was, it kind of pissed this reader off. Which resulted in a ridiculously long review. Sorry. Not sorry. Anyway, it read quickly. Thanks Netgalley.
0 Comments
It’s nice when a person finds an idea, a way of life, really, that works for them. It’s obnoxious and tedious when they begin to proselytize it. And so, while on a personal level you can be easily thrilled for the author to find his groove with his ideology of hope, as a reader of his work it’s easy to be tired with it or get put off by it. Because outside of being super excited to share his ways with you, Remender is also a huge fan of laying it on thick, thick, thick, like Paula Deen and butter.
It’s possible he just isn’t that good of a writer, I’ve read his Seven to Eternity comics and wasn’t impressed either, but objectively he’s serviceable. It’s the message and his gung-ho ways of presenting it that are too much. There’s a profound imbalance in Low books, the art dramatically outshines the story. The art, while busy and liberally seasoned with gratuitous nudity, is complex and striking in its attention to detail. The art creates worlds. Remender just populates them. In book two the ridiculously young-looking baby mama Stel continues on her mission to the surface of the world while contending with various people and creatures populating the waters in-between her and the surface. We also get to find out the fate of one of her baby girls, now all grown up and murderous, working for the evil society that…surprise, surprise…persecutes hope. Because it’s all about hope. Actually, at first the story kind of eases up on it, but then Remender seems to notice this uncharacteristic subtlety and goes to get his soapbox, meaning the very end of this volume literally reads like something taken out of a self-help book. Oh boy. Go in for the art and consider the story secondary and the writing a distant third, if you must. It’s how I do it. It’s a quick read that should have been way more fun. Yet another thoroughly enjoyable visit to the world – worlds, really – of Saga. The eighth book picks up right where book seven leaves off, a tragedy has befallen the intergalactic Romeo and Juliet and they must deal with it, but because theirs are no ordinary lives, even this traumatic event is bound to play out according to its own (magical) rules. And of course, there’s another planet to visit and then there’s even a reunion with some old friends. Also included a flashback to the assassin-extraordinaire-gone-to-seed The Will’s past.
Awesome variously anthropomorphized beings of all sorts hooking up with each other across all sorts of gender and race/creed/etc. attributes spectrum, because that’s how they do it in these books. Fun, funny and exciting…all you can possibly want in a space adventure. All in all, as spectacularly imagined and as stunningly drawn as ever, The Saga continues to be one of my favorites. Recommended. I’ve heard of this book when it came out, but that’s about it. At 721 pages, it’s about twice the size a book ought to be, and (for me) a turnoff. In graphic novel form, though, it’s perfect. Well, for now anyway, we’ll see how long it’ll take to adapt a novel that prolix. The graphic novel certainly appears to be taking a leisurely approach, but it’s a more forgiving genre in general.
And so, I ended up really liking it. Wasn’t sure what to expect and Owen is the lesser of the King’s sons, talent-wise, but as a duo, they are pretty dynamic. And the art was very good, great portrait drawings, real faces with real expressions, so much more than a cover would lead you to expect. Y The Last Man did a gender apocalypse. Excellently. By killing off all men. Sleeping Beauties went in the opposite direction. In this story something’s affecting women only, cocooning them, taking them away to an Edenic world in their sleep. Unless they are woken from their sleep, in which case they become unreasonably and uncontrollably violent. There’s only one women, Evie (to continue the Edenic theme) who seems to be unaffected by it all. She knows more than she’s telling, but this is only the beginning of what appears to be a drawn-out story, so just wait… It’s almost a certainty that the entire production will have a strong politically correct message, King and his offspring are known for that, something pro feminist and timely. We shall see. Message or not, it’s a pretty entertaining story off to a promising start. Recommended. The Greatest Invention A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts by Silvia Ferrara11/9/2021 I’m the first to rate and review this book. An objectively smart book I subjectively didn’t quite love. But for the purposes of this review, I shall strive for objectivity.
I love historical nonfiction books told through objects. I’ve read ones done through vehicles, guns (USA, of course), etc. At a glance, this book looked to be a perfect combination of that and linguistics, another interest of mine. And so, it’s difficult to say why exactly it didn’t quite work for me, but let’s try… First off, it’s important to mention it’s likely not to be the book’s fault and you certainly can’t fault the author. In fact, the writing here is good enough to qualify for literature…in fact, the author may have wanted to (or maybe ought to have) write a literary book instead of nonfiction. Either way, the writing’s very good, engaging, all that. But then, and perhaps because it’s so literary, it does its best to stay on topic, but constantly veers off in wildly discursive tangents. It’s almost like it’s a book about a book about linguistics and manuscripts. I admit, for me the manuscripts were the major draw, secret and otherwise, decipherable or not, they absolutely fascinate me. And they are featured in the book, just not as prominently as I would have liked. But the book really is more about writing itself, writing, according to the author (and it’s difficult to argue) is our greatest invention. That’s the contention belabouredly asserted throughout the book. Funny thing, it doesn’t feature anywhere near even the top ten of most polls on the subject, nowhere near the wheel, tv, internet, etc. But then again, we don’t live in the smartest of times and so it’s easy to overlook the granddaddy of them all – the written word. And yet, where would we be without it. The author gets it, she’s an expert, what she doesn’t know about linguistics may not be worth knowing, and her passion for her subject certainly comes across and yet somehow the book was strangely underwhelming while overwritten. It is, most likely, a personal author/reader chemistry thing and shouldn’t affect the enjoyment of others. Overall, though it dragged at times, The Greatest Invention was still an enlightening and educational read, and one featuring an excellent amount of black and white photos and images to tell the additional thousands or words, and so worth the time. Thanks Netgalley. I love the Saga series without any reservations. Been reading them for a long time and our library has finally made it easy by acquiring digital copies, so finally I can binge if I want to. And I do.
Not only did Saga maintained its quality throughout the years, it also maintained my interest. So much so, I find myself remembering it surprisingly well when so many other books just poof and disappear from the library of my memory palace. It’s likely to be the best science fiction comic I’ve read, it’s also the only space opera I ever enjoyed. This funny, raunchy, wild intergalactic Romeo and Juliet adventure as narrated by their grown-up daughter from a distant future is as imaginative, as original and as well told as one can hope for. It’s also absolutely gorgeously drawn and colored with strikingly awesome humanoid and anthropomorphized beings and strange distant worlds. In this volume, the protagonists find themselves moored on a comet, making friends with the adorable furry locals and planning their future– a brief stop that stretches out for months – while those who hunt them, continue to hunt them. There’s also a tragic death of a beloved character so prepare yourself. All in all, a great adventure. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Recommended. I’m delighted to be the first person to rate and review this book, though wish it would have had more readership by now.
I’ve been going through a lot of speculative fiction and wanted to slow things down with a proper literary novel and this one certainly did the trick. And though I am an avowed agist, Stone World worked surprisingly well despite having a six-year-old for narrator, in fact, it probably what made the novel work so well. Pira, as his name is colloquially pronounced, is a young American boy living in Mexico with his violinist mother, the writer she married (whom he considers his second father) and their maid. By all accounts it’s a nice life, he has friends, pets, adventures, even his first love, and, this being the last summer before starting school, is looking forward to attending first grade. But there are things going on all around him, adult things, things his communist father, determined to get back to his fatherland now that the war is over, might be involved in, things that might change their entire lives. This novel works on two levels. First, as just a lovely, vividly rendered account of a summer in a distant (unless you’re in Mexico) land in a distant (unless you’re a time-traveler) time. And second, as an excellent depiction of a socially and politically tumultuous post WWII era in both North America and Europe. There’s a scene in the book where Pira uses a mirror to walk around with and see things from different angles, noting how different life looks from unexpected perspectives. That’s pretty much exactly the trick the author uses for this book, by giving us such a young (albeit smart, emotional intelligent and precocious) narrator he shifts the perspective to allow the readers a different view at the characters (real life and imagined), their actions and the world they inhabit. It’s very clever and I enjoyed it. In fact, the entire book was very enjoyable and had an undeniable charm. And then it sort of just ended. Much like a summer does. And I, with my recent steady diet of speculative fiction that thrives on twists and variously amplified endings, kind of wanted more. But that’s neither here nor there, really, because the novel did exactly what it wanted and told exactly the story it had in mind. A story I liked reading. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley. Carnivals, along with circuses and insane asylums, are just about as perfect of a setting for a scary story as it gets. Which was the main attractor for me when I found this anthology among the random kindle freebies. It didn’t feature a single author whose name I recognized, but hey…carnivals. And sure enough, name recognition or not, this turned out to be a thoroughly excellent read. Took a minute to get going, but then bam, one winner after another.
All the rides, all the attractions, all the frights to delight, thrill and terrify…this collection approaches its theme from every angle and does its epic setting justice time and again. It isn’t just for the kids either, though many protagonists of these stories are, audience-wise this is more like something for your inner child, provided it’s a precocious morbid one. Can’t think of the last time I read a book featuring exclusively unknown (to me) names on the roster and was more impressed. Well done, authors, and well done, editors, for putting together this collection. Just think how disappointing it would have been to be invited to go to a funhouse and end up having no fun? Definitely not the case here. Fun will be had. A great anthology that does its inherently creepy carnival theme proud. Recommended for all genre fans. Apocalypse, the insomnia edition. A world where a certain percentage of the population is being driven mad, or even dead, by inability to sleep. A world where one can donate sleep and dreams that go with it. The scariest thing in the world like that is…what kind of dreams can be donating? What if some of them are nightmares?
Intriguing concept, literary execution, even excellent art panels…and yet, it didn’t quite work for me. I’m not sure why, being no stranger to nightmares, I should have probably found it more engaging. There’s just something about the style of the narrative that didn’t quite work for me. It was almost as if the book was entirely too self-aware of being an experiment. It’s almost…precocious, in a way. This is an acclaimed author writing a book bound to produce acclaim in that ‘look how daring, look how original’ way and sure enough, some of it might be deserved, but in the end for me this was a somewhat credulity stretching plot with too bathetic of a resolution. A different, more definitive ending, might have elevated this, but as is, it was just decent enough, conceptually interesting, but underwhelming in execution. User mileage is certain to vary with this one. This was by far one of my most inspired October 31st selections, a genuinely spooky tale for a day meant for it.
So you know that old jazz standard Autumn Leaves? I love that song. Well, Autumnal sets out to do for the autumn leaves the same thing It did for red balloons or Psycho did for showers. And it succeeds, too. The story isn’t the most original thing and genre fans will recognize a lot of traditional themes…returning to a small town, a small town with creepy secrets, a small town with creepy secrets but enough superficial prosperity for the locals to put up with it, to even pay an unthinkable cost for it…all there. But then again, nothing wrong with tradition is you’re going to do it right and do it justice. Which Autumnal does, very nicely. The narrative gets the atmosphere right, the eeriness, the bleakness, all of it, stab-stab-stab, and then twists the knife in for a killer ending. The art’s great too, gorgeous panels perfectly complimenting the story. All in all, a great read. Autumn leaves have never been creepier. Recommended. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2023
Categories |