The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Saturday, January 31, 2015
Review: The Make-Believe Man
The Make-Believe Man by Elizabeth Fenwick
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Fenwick's The Make-Believe Man is a fast read, and while it's not bad, it's not groundbreaking, either. There are definitely shades of Psycho present, and I can't help but think that the success of that novel must have had an influence here. The basic plot involves a young widow staying at her mother's house after one of her mother's former lodgers returns and wants to get his room back. The widow turns him away, he takes it very personally, and then the thrills start. Sort of. If there's a problem with the novel, it's that, for the most part, there aren't that many thrills. The book is probably about half "young widow realizing that her boss is kind of handsome and fun when he's not at work" a quarter "young widow being afraid of stalker/telling herself she's being silly" and a quarter "stalker being creepy."
Mostly interesting as a look back at a different time period to see how social conventions have changed.
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Review: Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Crumbling future filled with poverty and famine amidst a major energy crisis and rising sea levels? Who wouldn't want to escape from that kind of bleak reality and into a virtual world where you can be anyone or anything?
Cline's book features heavy doses of 80s pop culture nostalgia, video game love, and a hero who is unabashedly a computer geek? *And* it doesn't mock him or play that for snide laughs? Fantastic!
Of course, this is a YA novel, so there's definitely some coming of age stuff here, and if you're not interested in teens falling in love and then breaking up and then moping around about it talking about how they're all emotionally brought low, then perhaps you're a sixer and this isn't for you. If you love YA books that revel in the glories of gaming, endorsing geeky pursuits, and glorifying knowledge, persistence, and friendship, then I'd highly recommend this.
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Review: The Spectacular Now
The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
While I can't help but suspect that I'm a little older than the target audience, this was still a tremendous read. This was both a touching and hilarious look at the life of one Sutter Keely. Specifically, looking at the last half of his senior year of high school.
I really appreciate the way that Tharp explores Sutter's world. I have no idea how "authentic" it is--I'm a long way out of high school, so I can't even begin to know what teens go through these days--but, the attitudes felt very true to me, and I could certainly empathize with Sutter's lack of direction and frustrations.
There are moments where Sutter has realizations--especially during the trip home from his father's place--and, ultimately, that's part of what makes this such a great book. Sutter is at a crossroads, but he's an addict. You don't just turn that off. It's a battle, and, while he's a likable enough guy, Sutter is still a kid. That he was able to recognize the toxicity and danger he represented to Aimee was powerful and poignant.
So, is this a happy story? Absolutely not. It's a tragedy.
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Review: The Ghost Brigades
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not exactly a sequel in the traditional sense, but a second story set following the first, but with mostly different characters, the Ghost Brigade follows the exploits of a special forces unit as they try to unravel the how and why of reports that a famous scientist has turned traitor and rallied alien forces against the CU.
I like this a lot, and appreciated the additional world-building that Scalzi does here. Some of the characters aren't as engaging as those from OMW, but, overall, I found the look at what special forces and MI are doing pretty interesting.
Neither of these things bothered me. In the first instance, I think that the whole point is to show "we're not as different as we seem." The first book sets up the foundations and shows us that the galaxy is at war. We're told that humanity faces hostile forces all throughout the known universe and we're shown some of the various ways that the aliens are completely different from us. Much of this book is designed to show us that maybe that's not completely true, and that maybe we have more in common with other species than we've been led to believe. The opening chapter, and several other interactions throughout the book demonstrate that, while there are obviously some cultural differences, there are also some major similarities. It also serves to show the reader that the CU isn't the Federation of Planets, and that maybe the problem isn't completely that the universe is a hostile place, but that humans and their governments might have a bit of the blame, too.
As far as the back door goes; perhaps it's because I'm not a computer engineer or programmer, but it didn't even occur to me that this was a problem or plot hole.
I'm very much looking forward to reading the third book, now. The developments in Ghost Brigade hint at much larger political developments and I'm quite interested to see where Scalzi is headed with his world building.
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Review: The Night Strangers
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
The best thing about this novel was the description on this inside jacket. On the surface, it sounds like the formula for a pretty cool ghost story: A couple and their ten year old twin daughters move to a strange old house in New England after the father, a pilot, is involved in a plane crash that kills 39 people. Tucked in the back of the basement is a strange door with 39 heavy bolts holding it shut. Meanwhile, the town is full of slightly odd people who don't seem to be telling the Linton's everything they know. Dun dun duuuuuun!
Sadly, it's all downhill from there.
The short version: A plot that crawls along following two completely different premises when the book would have been far better embracing one or the other, characters who are too obvious in their intentions and protagonists who are too oblivious, and an annoying use of second-person narration (for almost no real payoff).
Instead, we get three ghosts, none of which are related to the house, and only two of which are of any import to the story. But, okay, we can work with that, right? Ghosts are ghosts, even if they don't have anything to do with the door. They're victims of the plane crash, and papa ghost wants a playmate for his daughter, because he's so angry that she was taken from the world too soon. Bonus points to the author for keeping us in suspense about whether the ghosts are real or just figments of Chip's disturbed imagination. Points subtracted for having the third ghost not actually do anything after her initial appearance. Still, that could have been fine, except that Bohjalian decided that wasn't enough. We need something... more.
So, the ghosts aren't enough, what about creepy townspeople? It's not enough to tie them in to the creepy history of the house or to have them know details about it that the Linton's don't. Oh, no, we need something more. Instead, they're a bunch of herbalist witches who want to do horrible things to the twins, because they're evil witches. A fact that's obvious almost from the moment we meet them, but that the Lintons are apparently too stupid to notice. Chip I can mostly give a pass to, since he's suffering from PTSD (a fact that you're reminded of every two pages) from the plane crash, but both Chip and Emily mention, several times, how weird people are around their kids, and yet they do nothing but wander around aimlessly for 300 pages. Even when the people who seem to know things start dropping dead and going missing, it never occurs to these people that anything is seriously screwy?
So, okay, we've got ghosts from a plane crash, but one of the ghosts doesn't matter; we've got a bunch of evil witches who want to hurt the Linton's daughters but are pretending to be friendly; we've got a creepy door that doesn't actually play any part in the plot. Great. Frankly, either story line would have been a fine story, I think. The witch story line is very Stepford Wives, but with a twist. It's Whole Foods meets Stepford Wives (whoever wants that idea? Run with it; I give it to you freely!). The ghost story would be fine, too; are they in his head? Are they actually ghosts? What do they want from him? What will he do? Together, they're just a mess.
The plot problems are bad enough, but the writing didn't grab me, either. The use of the second person for the pilot was beyond annoying. I get why it was done, but the payoff at the end wasn't worth it. Maybe it's just me, but I find second person narratives really annoying. I'm not the pilot, and I wouldn't act the way he does. If you tell me that I notice my weird older neighbors acting like creepers towards my twin daughters, my reaction is to become paternal and protect them, not to shrug apathetically and wander off staring at the ceiling.
And don't even get me started on the conclusion. To call it "unsatisfying" is an understatement.
Ultimately, this tries to be too many things at once and doesn't achieve any of them well. I wish that Behjalian had written the book promised on the jacket, instead.
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Review: Gone Girl
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
You read a pop-thriller about a husband and wife who have some serious issues under the surface that only start to come out when said wife disappears under suspicious circumstances on their fifth anniversary. Do you?
a. Love it so much because it's like seriously the most amazing novel you've ever read and ohmygod like you have to tell everyone about it!
b. Wrinkle your nose and drop it in the garbage bin. Pop thriller? More like pop trash.
c. Scowl in frustration at the back of the book because, for all its many faults, 90% of the book was pretty enjoyable, but the final conclusion undoes all the good will the rest of the book built up and leaves you feeling cheated.
The answer, of course, is c.
Gone Girl is a tough nut to crack. I don't mean the plot; at about a quarter of the way through, I was pretty sure I knew where we going, and most fans of this kind of book will see through a lot of the setup almost immediately. It's hard to find popular thrillers that don't try to pull of some kind of twist at some point, and any moderately savvy reader will almost certainly have suspicions. That's not damning criticism, though; I think Flynn's work there was as fine as any. Sure, it wasn't unpredictable, as far as twists go, it's one worth exploring, even if it's not hard to see coming.
The problem is that, in the end, Flynn robs us of the payoff. There's no real conclusion, and we're left with a story that just peters out.
Let's start with the most obvious problem first. Amazing Amy, she of the righteous anger and emotional imbalance.
Amazing Amy just doesn't actually come across as that amazing. We're supposed to believe that this woman is capable of so much, but then thinks $10 is totally normal for a gallon of milk? She's supposed to be the master manipulator, capable of the grandest of grand deceptions, capable of repeatedly terrorizing and framing people for crimes they didn't commit (even as a child), because everyone loves her so much, but she doesn't see the betrayal coming at the cabin? Her scheming and manipulating and her coldness... nobody else has noticed these attributes in the forty years she's been floating around? We're told how disturbingly clever and awful she is, and what a master criminal she is, but the ways that she acts just don't justify the reputation. It's unbelievable that she gets away with so much when we see how foolish and unprepared she is in so many other ways. She plans the perfect frame-up, but she gets herself mugged by people she has every reason to be wary of (and, in fact, has repeatedly expressed concern about?). No. The truly weird thing, to me, is that it was so unnecessary. The whole sequence in the cabin seemed to be there to undermine Amy. It reads like it's supposed to show us "She's not as clever as she thinks she is. She's not some superhuman Lex Luthor style supervillain.", but it's really just there to force her to call Desi. But it does undermine her, a fact that Flynn ignores.
Even despite that, I was still mostly on board. The notes, the scavenger hunt of guilt, the twisting the knife with the little props and the set-up: it's great stuff, even if it doesn't hold up under too much scrutiny. Following the trail of clues and seeing Nick squirm is worth it. Oh, sure, her fury is a little over the top, but, by then, we know he's a cheating scumbag, so it's not like he doesn't have a little comeuppance due. Seeing what he would do next to dig the hole deeper, or what the next cog in Amy's unlikely mousetrap would be made for a nice ride.
Speaking of Amy and Nick: I could even get past the utter unlikability of the characters... Nick, who is too handsome, too likable, too passive, too charming (except when he's not). Amazing Amy, who is too beautiful, too clever, too demanding, too alpha, too strong, too in control (except when she's not). Lots of books are about petty unpleasant people, of course, and this one tries to play with the formula by dragging our perceptions back and forth a bit. Sure it ends up being a little contrived at times How often can a chapter end with Nick saying something ominous out of context or seeing something "off-panel" that makes him seem like the Bad Guy
For all the faults, I'd have probably said this was around 3.5 stars... it was engrossing if shallow, and I thought it hummed along pretty well, especially once we got the twist out of the way. But the ending? Ugh.
The ending is just so bad. It's a total cop out. I don't think every story needs to have a happy ending. Hell, for these two characters, there are no happy endings. No matter where it went, these two characters were not going to end up with a happily ever after. But this ending is a cheat. It takes everything that came before and just sort of washes it away. Where's the climax? Where's the payoff? This is Seven if the courier never shows up and John Doe turns and says "Oh, I lied. There was no other victim."
No, no, no. Amy's smug need to get the last word in might have seemed cute, but it's a cheat. The "ignoring the fourth wall" nonsense of it... she knows that she and Nick are telling us, the reader, their stories, now? Really? That's where we're going? It's not half as clever as it might have seemed. Even beyond that, this ending is tremendously unsatisfying. Oh, I get what she's trying to do. Amy is having a baby to "save their marriage." Marriage is a prison. I got it. It's still a cop out. That's not what the story was building to. It needed a real conclusion, not this wimpy "and they lived unhappily ever after" nonsense. It feels more like Flynn couldn't decide whether to let Nick off the hook or to let Amy's plan succeed, so we get this annoying midway point, instead.
So, overall, a very frustrating experience, this. When I closed the book, I just sat and scowled at the back for a few moments, thinking what a cheat it was.
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Review: Old Man's War
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So, as others, I'm sure, have noted, this is basically a version of "Starship Troopers" (the book, not the movie) where the hero is 75 years old, instead of 20.
That's probably a little simplified, but not much; this is really about one old guy's journey as he enlists, gets his "upgrades" and heads out to kick alien butt in a hostile universe. There are some fun moments where Scalzi explores future-tech, and where we're introduced to some of the creatures that make the universe so terrifying. There's not a ton of character development beyond letting John Perry explore his upgrades and become an elite fighting man of his own, but the book clearly leaves room for sequels (of which there are many). For fans of space warfare novels, I think this is a solid entry. John is a little bit of a Mary Sue--
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Review: Irène
Irène by Pierre Lemaitre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The diminutive Camille Verhoeven, of the French police, is soon to be a father. His wife, the titular Irene, is never far form his thoughts, but while fatherhood approaches, he's called upon to track down a brutal killer who, they quickly figure out, is paying bloody homage to classic crime novels.
I was so engrossed in Lamaitre's novel that I lost track of time and found myself reading far later into the night than I intended. The plot and characters are well realized, but Lemaitre's sleight of hand is particularly impressive with regards to the killer's motivation;
One of the more interesting and unusual murder mysteries/thrillers I've read in a long time; I look forward to seeing how the character develops in the next book.
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Review: One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
B.J. Novak, who I know best from his work on The Office, has released this collection of short (and, seriously, these are very short) stories. As is usually the case with short stories, they're a mixed bag, with some peaks and valleys, but, overall, Novak has put together a really interesting collection of ideas here, with clever premises and a wry sense of humor.
The biggest problem that I had is that so many of the pieces read like drafts of larger pieces, rather than as completed works, or as bits from a stand-up routine. Novak's ideas are great--there are some really interesting "what if"s here, and some very clever concepts that he's exploring--but his execution of the concepts feels a little flat at times. More than once, I thought to myself "That's a really cool idea for a short story!" and then had to remind myself "No, wait. This is the short story." The overall impression is that you're listening to a friend explain an idea to you, rather than reading the finished product.
Still, I wouldn't have any hesitation recommending this to my friends, and I look forward to seeing more from Novak. I like the way his mind works, and the unusual directions he takes many of these tales.
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Review: Closed Doors
Closed Doors by Lisa O'Donnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
O'Donnell's Closed Doors neatly accomplishes what I think can be a very tough task. She manages to convincingly capture the voice of an eleven year old boy without coming across as patronizing or giving him ideas that seem beyond his years. Michael comes across as authentic; from his hyperbolic thoughts about himself and the world around him, to his obsession with Dirty Alice, to his explorations of the world around him and observations about friends, family, and neighbors, Michael sounds like a real child, for good and for bad. She manages to perfectly capture the unintentional selfishness of children, and the self-centered way that they view the world, without coming across as mean or malicious.
O'Donnell's novel, which explores some heavy issues through the lens of the child's eyes, is quite excellently done. As the novel progresses, we're given a chance to see the rippling effect that the central conflict is having on not only Michael, but his family and the people in their small town. There are moments where we, as readers, figure things out before Michael does, which increased the tension of the novel, for me. Part of me wanted to find a way to shield Michael from his discoveries, or prevent him from figuring things out, but, of course, that's the problem the book explores; you can never really protect children from the world around them, no matter how hard you try. If they don't get the truth, it won't be for lack of trying. They just may get the wrong "truth".
Overall, a thoughtful, well written, and engaging novel that explores some heavy issues. Strongly recommended; there's a lot to like here.
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Review: Elric: The Stealer of Souls
Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I like the character of Elric quite a bit. When Moorcock set out to subvert the typical fantasy hero, he came up with Elric. Contrasting Elric is pretty much the anti-Conan. Conan, the wanderer, a dark, muscly barbarian without a past. Elric, the last King of his people, an albino, sick and wasted away, knows too much about the past. Conan loves adventure, and sets out to become a king; Elric loathes his legacy and burns his kingdom to the ground. Conan hates magic; Elric relies on sorcery to live. Conan is cocksure and headstrong; Elric is brooding, frequently suffering ennui or malaise. You get the idea.
You can see that Moorecock was still putting things together and can feel the strong pulp influences in these early stories; they're not quite as good as I remember them being, but they set the stage well and are a solid introduction to a character who went on to be very influential. If you like grim, brooding anti-heroes, Elric is your man.
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Review: Jana
Jana by David Veronese
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Small time hustler meets girl. Small time hustler falls for girl like a ton of bricks. Small time hustler gets pulled in over his head in a world of thugs, rock stars, stolen drugs, and crooked cops. Small time hustler has to pull his ass out of the fire and try to figure out what makes girl tick.
So why, then, is it all so very dull?
In a book full of gun toting criminals chasing the protagonist and double crossing each other and threatening to cut each others' throats, I shouldn't feel like I'm falling asleep every other page.
For all that the basics seem to be in place--unsavory characters, women of questionable virtue, crooked cops, threats of violence, etc--Jana is just so god awfully tedious.
It's not just that there's not a single likable character in the book--Eddie, the protagonist, is a two bit, two dimensional loser who, despite a profound love of classical art (which, frankly, felt like a too-obvious attempt to give a shallow character some much needed depth), still never comes close to being the puckish rogue the book pretends he is; Jana has even less depth, existing entirely to tempt Eddie and spew pseudo-philosophical nonsense at every turn, insult Eddie, and vanish without explanation--it's that none of the characters has any weight at all. They're so completely lacking in history or emotional centers, that when one of them threatens to jump out a window, my first reaction was "would anyone care?" It's a paper doll play full of petty, unpleasant characters; sure, there's lots of motion, but there's no reason to care about any of them or what happens to them.
The closest we get are a few thin references to Eddie's sister, but other than that... nothing. No explanation for why Jana (the character) is so appealing, no explanation for Eddie's laissez faire attitude towards his marriage, etc. And, honestly, lamp shading the inexplicable luck that Eddie has with women does nothing to make it less ridiculous.
Ultimately, this just wasn't my kind of noir.
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Review: In the Teeth of the Evidence
In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy L. Sayers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This Sayers collection is of the old school mystery stories; a crime is committed by persons unknown, the daring detective (or traveling salesman in some of these) turns up and hears the clues. Through clever trickery or astute observations, the detective figures out quickly who the culprit must be, to the surprise of all around. They're perfectly fine stories for what they are, but they read far too much like Encyclopedia Brown stories, to me. This likely comes from both having read every Encyclopedia Brown story I could get my hands on when I was a child, and from having read too many modern mysteries that don't rely on such trickery for the plot. I say trickery because that's what much of it is. The "solutions" are often paper thin, relying on the guilty parties simply giving up as soon as they realize that the detective has them, even when the evidence against them is circumstantial at best.
Not a bad collection by any means, but too many stories of the same type, all at once, to be a truly great collection.
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Review: Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An excellent and eccentric collection of short stories with a fairly obvious motif. As with any short story collection, there are peaks and valleys, but this collection contains far more winners than also rans. Definitely worth picking up, if only for Roald Dahl's particular brand of humor.
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Review: S.
S. by J.J. Abrams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
An incredibly beautiful presentation, S definitely stands as one of, if not THE most well and intentionally executed books I've read. Everything about it is so carefully planned; the library sticker, the stains on the pages, the notes in the margins... It's a masterpiece of book design, for sure.
The execution of the story and concept are less sterling, I think. Perhaps another reading or delving into the mythology online will give me a greater appreciation of the book, but, honestly, I don't want to have to do that. I like a challenging book and I like the expectation that I'll work for it, but there's too much left out of this for my taste. There are big gaps in the story where J and E write notes about events that haven't happened in-text. Often, it's possible to figure out what happened, but there are times where it's not clear but felt like it should be. If this is how they primarily communicate, why are some things they say so obscured? And what happens to everything?
I have the sneaking suspicion that there are plenty of answers hiding on websites behind clever codes and tricks that unlock messages from J and E, but, ugh. I actually want the plot of the book to resolve within the book. I felt cheated that so many plot points happen off page with little or no explanation.
I'm aware that there are plenty of codes and ciphers to be discovered and parsed out, but that should be extra information, not the meat, I think.
Still a very cool book that will definitely have very strong appeal to the right audience. I can already think of a few people I know who I think would eat this up.
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Review: Little Girl Lost
Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a solid, if not particularly ground-breaking, first effort; a bit of a love letter to modern crime authors like Lawrence Block (who the author properly thanks in the acknowledgements). It was nice to read a crime novel about a young guy just getting started, and while it wasn't hard to see the end coming, it was still worth seeing how it was going to get there. Definitely a good starting place for people new to the genre, or for long-time fans just looking for something new but a little familiar.
I'll definitely be checking out the second John Blake book.
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Review: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I switched gears a little bit for this one, and, boy, am I glad I did. While a children's book about a bunch of seventh graders playing games runs a bit lighter than my usual selections, my love of libraries and games made this an easy pick.
I devoured this in a day (thanks, long commute!), and loved every minute of it. As the cover suggests, this is pretty fun stuff. Twelve kids, all twelve years old, win an overnight stay in what sounds like just about the most amazing library in the world--amazing books combined with fantastical technology, donated by Mr. Wonka... er, Mr. Lemoncello. The catch--if you can call it that--is that they've *also* been secretly selected to participate in a great game... "Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library"! The goal of the game? Well, as Mr. Lemoncello points out, the title sort of gives it away, doesn't it? The book mostly follows Kyle Keeley--avid game player whose reading is largely restricted to game guides--as he and his classmates all try to win the grand prize by escaping from the library.
The kids break off and invariably form rivalries and partnerships. Loyalties are tested. Backs are stabbed. Snotty little suck-ups lie, cheat, and steal, but, as you expect, the affable kid comes out on top. And why not? Frankly, how could it end up any other way?
It's a really fun ride. Grabenstein does a great job coming up with amusing puzzles for the kids to solve, and if I had a complaint, it's that I wish there were more puzzles for the reader to play around with. One can hope for a follow-up (and does!) with more puzzles and word games.
And bravo to Grabenstein for coming up with such a delightful cast of characters to populate the book. Some of the characters are a little stock--Kyle's main rival is a snotty suck-up cheater who is pretty much a photocopy of any spoiled rich kid from any children's/teen story ever made--but they work really well together. Kyle's generosity and good nature are very endearing, and his relationship with his friends--and with the new friends he makes during the overnight stay--are well executed. For such a quick read, I liked how well the main cast was developed.
Anyway, sure, it's a kid's book, but it's great fun. Well worth checking out. And it showcases, really well, why libraries are so amazing! They're fun places to be full of all kinds of incredible information that you didn't even know you wanted to know about!
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Review: Defending Jacob
Defending Jacob by William Landay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jacob, a 14 year old kid living in an upscale Boston suburb, is the son of the assistant DA, Andy. From the outside, his life seems pretty normal; he's a little surly and a bit of an enigma to his parents, but, then, what teen isn't? So, when one of Jacob's classmates is brutally murdered in a nearby park, the accusation that their son is involved sends the Barber family into free fall.
This book, told through Andy's point of view, is a bit of a roller-coaster. The book starts off a little slow, but builds up steam as it goes along. Some may find the structure of the book frustrating or annoying--the narrator is speaking about the past and definitely drops hints about things that are to come "I thought blah blah blah, which seemed reasonable at the time; how could I have known what was to come?" sorts of things. I don't mind that, and actually found that it was an important part of the narrator's voice; it helped me understand the sort of person that Andy is and how he is processing the events of his past.
While the book is ostensibly about the murder of a young boy, and the case that built up around it, it becomes very clear that the story is really about relationships and family, and how those things define us.
I think that one of the things that some readers may find frustrating with this book are that some of the choices being made or attitudes they express--particularly Andy--seem to be so clearly... bad. He makes several clearly bad decisions and seems to have so little grasp of who his son really is, that it can be frustrating, but, for me, that was part of what made the book more interesting. Andy's bad decisions don't seem bad to him. As a reader, you have to decide for yourself how much you side with Andy.
Not that the book wasn't without flaw; the book starts off kind of slow, and I found the final section a little too rushed--the book spends so much time on the rest of the trial and investigations, it felt strange to have such an important section whip by at such high speed, and to get so little insight into what was really going through Andy's head at that point. I'm not sure that making it longer would have helped, though, given the nature of the section.
I also felt like the ages of the characters didn't really fit with the descriptions; All the characters felt a little older than they were described as being. Jacob and his peers sounded more like late teenagers than middleschoolers, to me. Granted, I don't have teens of my own, and it's been literally two decades since I was there, so I assume times have changed. The bigger issues, for me, was that Andy ended up sounding much older than the 51 he was supposed to be. My own parents are about to turn 60 and they seem to have a better grasp of youth culture and technology than Andy seemed to. Did we really need to be told what a "mindfuck" is? Did it really not occur to Andy to look at his son's facebook page until a student mentions it? It does handwave at it by arguing that facebook was relatively new, but: 1. the story isn't helped by it (the ubiquity of facebook at this point makes it hard to imagine someone not thinking to look at it, especially since Andy was at least aware enough of facebook to have demanded that Jacob give him the password to it *before* the murder even happens) 2. by 2008 (when the story is set, I believe), facebook had been around for several years to the general public, and it was already pretty much everywhere for kids.
In addition, the book is *very* light on the crime procedural side; I was really expecting something a little different than what I got (although not a bad thing). Still, if you come into this book expecting it to be heavy on the crime, the criminology, or the psychology of the criminal part, you're probably not going to find what you're looking for. This is definitely more about the implosion of the family and the denial of the father than about the crime or the criminal.
Still, those flaws feel pretty minor, given the strength of the story and premise. This is definitely the perfect book for a book club, as Landay hits on some great themes (the limits and flaws of the justice system, crime/violence as hereditary, the importance of truth, the nature of relationships of all sorts, juvenile crime, etc) that are sure to elicit strong responses from readers. While it's not the best book I've read this year, I'd certainly recommend it to
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Review: The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Philip Marlowe Novel
The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Philip Marlowe Novel by Benjamin Black
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
One of the most interesting things about books is the way that two people can read the same thing and have such different reactions. This applies not just to the implications or moral of a story, but even to the characters themselves. My Pillip Marlowe is, for better or worse, not Benjamin Black's Marlowe, and The Black-Eyed Blonde, despite trying hard to hit all the right notes, just didn't come together for me.
If this weren't presented as a Marlowe book (and if it didn't carry the many allusions to Chandler's works so blatantly), I think I'd have enjoyed it a lot more. The ending would need to be reworked, of course, but, frankly, I think it ought to have been reworked anyway given how, as another reviewer points out, appallingly eye-rolling it is. For a while, the story clips along alright, and the central plot certainly keeps Marlowe confused in an appropriately Chandleresque fashion, but... well... it's just not Marlowe.
The author tries very hard--too hard--to remind you that this is a Marlowe book. The constant barrage of throw-back references was too much at times. "Oh, here's the place I used to drink back in that other book. Here's the doctor I called from that one. Here's the restaurant that reminds of that lady I helped out that one time. Remember that? Do you? Because they totally happened to me." There are times where less is more, and this would have been a major one. Marlowe's constantly referring back to Terry and Linda and Holland and etc... it began to feel like the author was shouting in my ear all the time "Look, see, it's Marlowe!" Yes, yes. I know... I knew it was Marlowe when I picked up the damn book. I knew that because it says it in big letter right on the spine "A Philip Marlowe Novel." While I'm not a private eye, I still managed to pick up on that one.
Even beyond that issue, The Black-Eyed Blonde is also noticeably more... vulgar than Chandler's earlier works, in the sense that the violence and sex are far more explicit and blatant. Having just finished a reread of the other Marlowe books, it really stands out. A character hit and tortured so badly that it leaves an "eyeball dangling"? Another shot in the head such that "there were two holes in his head, the one in his forehead and another, bigger one at the back, at the base of his skull. There was a lot of blood coming out of this second hole, and some sticky-looking gray stuff, too."?
And, like I said, this wasn't my Marlowe, nor my Chandler. My Marlowe was world weary and waxed philosophical and, yes, he talked tough and he had an eye for women, but he was sort of a knight in tarnished armor. He'd seen things and the world had beaten him down, but he tried to stay on the right side of things and he helped the people who needed to be helped because if he didn't, nobody else would. And, to be fair, he wasn't the most progressive character regarding race or sexuality (that is: there's pretty explicit homophobia and racism in the books). Weirdly, here, Black white-washes away the racism and homophobia, but really ramps up Marlowe's issues with women (who, we're reminded, are nothing but trouble). His infatuation for the femme fatale is never justified, but Marlowe lets us know, repeatedly, what he thinks about her body. Black's version of Marlowe is darker than mine... less tarnished knight and more bitter jerk.
Overall, the effect was like seeing these characters--Marlowe, mostly, but also Joe and Bernie--through a funhouse mirror.
You know who you're supposed to be looking at, but everything is distorted and wrong.
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Review: Playback
Playback by Raymond Chandler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It's no secret that I love Chandler's Marlowe more than any other fictional detective. The books are high on style, even if the plotting isn't always particularly tight. Chandler was a master of colorful language, from his amazing descriptions of the city, to the playful dialogue.
Which is why this review is all the more difficult. Playback was the last of Chandler's Marlowe books, but what a sad way to go out. It's a rather anemic addition to the series, with Marlowe coming across as less of the magnificent bastard I've come to expect, and more of a creep. As another reviewer noted, this book lets us see a lot more of Marlowe through the eyes of other characters, and what we see is a sad, lonely man... an annoyance.
Marlowe wanders around a lot, gets in the way, and, ultimately, doesn't actually help anyone. Where is his sharp tongue and confidence? Where is his sharp mind?
And the final conclusion? An unexpected and unnecessary phone call from the past that left me shaking my head.
Another reviewer suggested that at least a few of the events here are all in Marlowe's head, and that we're seeing him at his lowest point, as he's losing his grip. That's the only thing saving this book from two stars, frankly.
Ultimately, Playback just doesn't live up to the other books in the series. It lacks the color and excitement of the earlier books, and I may need to read one of those to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
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Review: Expiration Date
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
While this doesn't exactly break a ton of new ground in the time-travel genre, Swierczynski brings his usual flair to the book. Expiration Date is a well paced, interesting effort that keeps you guessing and parcels out twists and turns just often enough to keep everything fresh. The time travel itself is interesting enough, mechanically, and the limitations and uses of it are well explored as Mickey tries to piece together his family's past as he explores his father's death. Like many of Swierxzynski's books, there's a certain cinematic quality to this (I often feel like I'm reading an action movie when I read his books), but that's not a bad thing for me (I think it's one of the polarizing features of his writing, and something that some readers find off-putting).
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Review: The Memory of Blood: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery
The Memory of Blood: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a strange read, and I'm not sure if my reaction to it is because of the book or my expectations. The central mystery was fine and generally well executed, and the cast of characters was interesting, but I was honestly expecting something a little more... I don't know... far fetched? Fantastic? I think that the name of the series, combined with the sort of absurd ways that detective Bryant led me expect something more like a Terry Pratchettesque take on police procedural. This isn't a criticism of the author, but, rather, of my expectations. It probably didn't help that I dropped in on the series some 8 or 9 books in, so probably missed out on a lot of the development that went into the characters. I haven't decided whether to pursue the series from the start or not.
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Review: The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Chandler nails it out of the park in this Marlowe mystery, which finds him drawn into the lifestyles of the rich and famous by his association with a strange, white-haired man on the skids. Chandler's prose is magnificent, here--characters engage in witty banter and menace one another with equal flair, and the mystery Marlowe finds himself drawn into has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing to the end. Marlowe might be a bastard sometimes, but he's a grand one.
---March 2012
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Review: The Fame Thief
The Fame Thief by Timothy Hallinan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a four star book brought down, for me, by the addition of
Junior continues to please, otherwise, though. It was interesting to see his relationships with characters like Dressler evolving, although it would have been nice to see a little more about how Ronnie handles the madness of Junior's day to day (shootings, explosions, mobsters, assassins, and all she does is make an allusion to a vibrator? And will we find out more about her flexibility with the truth at some point?). I waver back and forth on Junior's relationship with his family. I think that having a family adds an interesting dynamic to the character not typically seen, but, if I'm honest, the sections with Junior dealing with his feelings about his daughter growing up continue to be the least compelling part of the novels.
At any rate, another very fun read from Hallinan, despite my criticism. Looking forward to a fourth book.
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Review: The Family Fang
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm having a lot of trouble capturing my feelings about Family Fang, and at least part of that is because I can't really tell whether I'm in on the joke or the butt of the joke. At the core, it's a book about emotional abuse. Or pranks. Or bad art. I'm not totally sure.
Child A and Child B (Annie and Buster) are the children of C & C Fang. Half of the book is told in flashbacks that illustrate the wacky insanity that C&C inflict on the world and their children through their "art". It's clear that Mr. Fang values his art above *everything*, including his children. There's a serious book about what happens when you raise children in that sort of unstable environment, and what it does to them as adults.
(spoiler: it fucks them up, big time!)
The problem is that a lot of the book is spent twisting that around and turning it into jokes or playing it out for the mystery portion of the novel, only to have it suddenly Get Serious at the end.
Like some of the critics on here, I'd have liked to see more evolution to Annie and Buster's relationship, and to see them grow a little more organically, and a little less of the wacky hijinks.
Overall, an interesting, if a little uneven, read.
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Review: The Lifeboat
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Most of the way through this, I'd have said this was a four star book, but there's something about the end that left me wanting a little more. It felt like the last two chapters were really building towards some kind of revelation or development that never *quite* manifested.
Overall, I still have positive feelings about it. Grace's descriptions (which certainly felt unreliable at times [intentionally so!]) of the events leading up to the eventual rescue are captivating. I stayed up later than intended just to find out what was happening and what alliances would be formed. The sense of frustration, anxiety, and hopelessness that begins to set in as they spend more time at sea is well executed, and I think Rogan does a great job selling the premise.
Certainly worth taking a look at, even if it drifts away instead of ending with a bang.
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