Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Anchor; first edition (March 30, 2004)
for mature readers
4/5 stars

When Oryx and Crake first opens, the reader meets the narrator (Snowman) and is immediately aware that there has been a disaster of gigantic proportions.  The information about Snowman's past and this event trickle slowly, through his reflections and memories, at first more tantalizing and mysterious than informational and explanatory.  By the time Oryx and Crake is finished, everything has become crystal clear for the reader, through a delightful process of hints, deductions and knowledge told outright, and then Atwood laughs at the self-satisfied reader with yet another conundrum as it ends.  If you have read The Handmaid's Tale then you are familiar with this particular delicious style of Atwood's.  Oryx and Crake delivers a fully satisfying, if often unsettling, reading experience.

Margaret Atwood

I can't say that I "enjoyed" all of the novel, as the pre-apocalyptic world of Oryx and Crake is one not so much an alternate reality but a possible future was unnerving to me. Kiddie porn sites and snuff films are common viewing material for even young teens.  The division between classes has become such that the elite live in guarded compounds which are like small cities.  Personal freedoms have been lost, or more accurately, cheerfully given up; scientific discovery, often frightening and unnatural, has become the most important advancement for society.  Probably the scariest part of the book is the close resemblance to our current society, and the question that poses of just how easy would it be to find ourselves in that situation, led their by the banner of "progress".

Oryx and Crake is a thrilling, terrifying and often uncomfortable read.  It is not for the faint of heart or apathetic of mind, but makes excellent material for much thought and discussion.

Juniper Berry

Juniper Berry
M. P. Kozlowsky
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Walden Pond Press (April 26, 2011)
Amazon Vine ARC reviewed.
4/5 stars

Subtitled "a tale of terror and temptation", Juniper Berry is a modern day fairy tale.  Our heroine is the brave preteen, Juniper Berry.  Juniper is the daughter of film actors, who have become very famous over the course of the past few years.  The more famous they have become, the more odd they have acted and the more they have distanced themselves from her.  She is sad and lonely and would willingly give up everything to have her old life back.

One day she spots a boy about her age, trespassing in her woods.  Over the course of conversation with her new friend, she discovers that his parents, too, are famous and distant.  Even worse: Giles has seen them doing something very odd in Juniper's woods.

Piecing together the unthinkable, Juniper and Giles set out to save their parents from whatever influence is causing this behavior.  What they discover changes them both, and Juniper faces tough choices, terrible temptation, but comes through a true fairy tale heroine.

Juniper Berry  is told from an omniscient narrator and occasionally uses words that I feel are probably not in the vocabulary of a 9-12 year old.  This happens early in the book, though, and the narration evens out as the story builds.  It has a good pace, and the story unfolds smoothly.  The characters of Juniper and Giles are particularly appealing, making their weaknesses seem all the more vulnerable and believable.   Juniper's parents are truly horrible, and the reader is able to feel Juniper's mix of hurt and confusion, making the redemption of said parents even sweeter.

Like most fairy tales, Juniper Berry has a moral, and it is spelled out very plainly at the end by the wood chopper (yes, there IS a wood chopper, told you this is a fairy tale!), Dmitri:

"There will always be temptation, wherever we go in life, with whatever we do.  There will always be an easier way out.  But there's nothing to gain from that.  We have to overcome such urges; we have to be stronger.  I fought hard and won."

While the moral of this story is a good one, it came across a bit preachy to me.  I felt like this moral of resisting temptation and winning as a result was obvious from Juniper's actions and didn't need to be spelled out.  However, I am not one of the targeted age-group; I am an adult reader.

This was Kozlowsky's first novel, and overall he did well.  There are a few things (namely vocabulary and blatant moralizing) that I think could be improved, and I expect will be improved with his next publication.  I hope he is published again soon, and would look forward to reading another of his fairy tales.

~~Read for the "fairy tale" category of the Once Upon a Time Challenge~~
I felt that Juniper Berry was a solid choice for the fairy tale category, as it contained many of the traditional elements of a fairy tale.  There is an unusually brave and selfless heroine, elements of the supernatural, an animal that can communicate with people and an unspeakably evil villain.  The ending is a happy one, with a universal moral.

It does differ from many of standard fairy tales, as it is set in modern day, and there is no magic for our heroine to use, not everyone involved does live happily ever after, and there is no under privileged person gaining what s/he deserves as a result. 

In addition, Juniper Berry feels like a fairy tale.  It's not obvious at first, but once the action starts happening, one realizes that this is a layered fairy tale, that there will be a moral, that it's not just a fantasy.  I think it's the temptation element that does it.  It seems to me that many fairy tale heroes have to resist a temptation that seems really great on the outside, but will ruin them if they take it.

Yes, on the whole, Juniper Berry follows the fairy tale template more so than not, and quite successfully so, to my mind.

Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert, author
Lydia Davis, translator
Originally published, in French, in 1857
5/5 stars

I read Madame Bovary twenty years ago and was thoroughly unimpressed.  I passed it off as one of those "classics" that everyone reads, for some reason, but no one really enjoys.  Then, in October I heard a review of Davis' newly published translation, and how she endeavored to keep to Flaubert's deliberate and precise style.  I was fascinated.  I had never considered that the reason I didn't like the novel, was due to the translation.

I read Davis' translation with a copy of a previous translation at hand, making comparisons.  I was amazed at what a difference just a word could make, how it could change the whole feeling of the sentence.  Thanks to Davis, I was able to immerse myself in Flaubert's painstaking, detailed writing and come away in awe of his ability to turn a phrase.  (more detailed discussion here)

The plot of Madame Bovary is familiar to many: Emma is a spoiled, vain young woman who spends too much time with her head in novels and, as a result, expects--no demands!--that life, romance especially, be like it is in her books.  After her marriage, she becomes depressed that there is no "grand passion", and this leads to restlessness and eventually to affairs.  Her husband, Charles, is blind to Emma's dissatisfaction, flaws and infidelity; he worships her very belongings.  Emma takes advantage of Charles' love-blindness in a variety of ways, including running up a debt so severe that it bankrupts him.

In the midst of all this drama, Flaubert has the reader stand back, just slightly emotionally detached.  One can't feel fully compassionate for Charles, because Flaubert shows him as a buffoon and sometimes as an idiot.  One can't sympathize with Emma, because Flaubert delights in holding her vices up to the light.  He also interjects bits of every day life from the townspeople, as another way to keep the reader from being overly focused on the crises of the Bovarys, and he paints all the working class with a brush laden with boorishness, and the upper class as heavy handed snobs.  It's hard not to feel superior to many of these characters, and I believe that was Flaubert's intention--to keep the reader from forming an attachment to any character and thereby keeping the book from being a "moral tale".  There is no moral here, it simply is.

It's rare to say that a book with a disagreeable plot is fantastic, but if the writer is good enough no matter what the subject (think Nabokov and his Lolita), the reader will be swept away by the sheer force of the words.  This is the case with Flaubert and Madame Bovary--thanks to Davis' excellent translation.

If you've ever tried to read it and failed, or wanted to read it and just haven't, now is the time.  Other translators did an injustice to Flaubert. Lydia Davis has redeemed this masterpiece for the English language.

Ziska

Ziska; the problem of a wicked soul

Marie Corelli

Marie Corelli
Paperback: 372 pages
Publisher: Nabu Press (September 4, 2010)
originally published 1897
3/5 stars

Marie Corelli was a highly popular writer of sensational novels in the Victorian era.  She combined high melodrama with an attempt to reconcile Christianity with reincarnation, astral project and other spiritual aspects not generally associated with Christianity.  With Ziska, Corelli uses the medium of novel writing as a vehicle for just that crusade.

The plot of Ziska takes place in the British society's "Season" in Cairo.  According to Corelli, t is just the same as the London Season, only with slightly looser morals, giving the greater opportunity to find husbands for daughters past their prime on the marriage market.  The Princess Ziska has appeared on the scene, and taken this tight community by storm.  Nothing is known about her, except that she is unusually beautiful and has stolen the hearts of all the young men, the Scottish laird Denzil Murray in particular.  When Murray's best friend, the famous French painter Armand Gervase, arrives in Cairo, complications arise.  Gervase immediately falls for Ziska, makes no pretense that he (unlike Murray) does not have pure intentions, and feels that he knows her from somewhere.

Murray's mentor and friend, Dr. Maxwell Dean acts as the mouthpiece for Corelli's unconvetional spiritual beliefs, and through him the reader begins to see that there is something not quite human and Ziska and that she and Gervase are somehow destined to be together.

A good portion of this novel is given over to soliloquy in which Corelli expresses her opinion about various things.  The first 21 pages, for example, are a roast of the British tourist in Egypt, and of how said tourist wants to make all foreign lands into another version of England.  It made for amusing reading, but I did begin to wonder if I had stumbled onto a book of essays instead of a novel.

The rest of the book is much taken up with much discussion of reincarnation and of a slightly different take on Christianity. It was interesting the first time, but Corelli has her characters discuss this time and again, and for paragraphs and pages, and by the end, I was skimming large parts of conversations.

The actual storyline was rather thrilling, in the way of a Victorian sensational novel, despite the fact that Dr. Dean spells it out for the reader several times.  Had it not been for his "spoilers" and for the recurring, yawn-inducing philosophizing, this would have been a rather good read.  There was drama and humor and emotion, as well as interesting characters, but there was just way too much laborious, stilted conversations about spiritualism that kept interrupting the flow and made Ziska a struggle to finish.

~~Read for the Victorian Literature Challenge.~~

Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India

Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India
Miranda Kennedy
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Random House (April 26, 2011)
Reviewed ARC courtesy of Amazon Vine.
2/5 stars

Miranda Kennedy quits her NPR job and moves from NYC to Delhi to be a freelance reporter, expecting a grand adventure in the footsteps of her parents and great-aunt. She isn't expecting to find that certain things, taken for granted in the U.S., will be difficult for a single woman. Sideways on a Scooter is Kennedy's recounting of those difficulties, as well as the difficulties she sees women native to India experience. She tells of close friendships she makes, of her observations of the dating and marriage experiences of her friends, of the life experiences of her servants and of some of the things she learned as a result of living in India.

Sideways on a Scooter sounds wonderful when put briefly like that, and it should have been a excellent book, as all the elements of a fantastic memoir were present. Unfortunately, Kennedy's narrative style failed her and the story is instead chapters comprised of a messy conglomeration of her surprisingly intolerant opinions, rambling retellings of India's history and her anecdotes, the three of which rarely seem to connect together. When writing about her experiences she has an unsettling way of crossing from the first person point of view into an omnipotent story teller as she tells parts of her story that she really couldn't have known at that time. I gathered, at the end of the book, that perhaps she went back later and interviewed the people in question as to what they were thinking and feeling at the time. This is mere speculation on my part, though, and even if that were certain knowledge, it would do little to alleviate the awkward storytelling style.

In addition, she tended to flip-flop between various time periods in her life in Delhi within a chapter, making for confusion to the reader. Again, as with the history and opinions, these various episodes rarely tied-in together by the end of the chapter, so the point of it is uncertain.

Despite the unprofessional writing style, Kennedy's experiences were very interesting, and I did want to read them, did want to know what happened to her various friends and acquaintances. It's for that reason I give this book two stars. This book would have been unimaginably better had Kennedy stuck to only her experiences there and left out her attempts at history, current events and op-eds, which only made her appear like a spoiled American complaining about a country that is different from her own. Kennedy would have benefited from a reliable editor or pre-reader with the honesty to point out these things. As it stands, Sideways on a Scooter is a poorly written memoir and I would advise fellow readers to give it a miss.


Note: This is my opinion; on Amazon, 43% of the reviews were 5 stars.

Room

Room
Emma Donoghue
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (September 13, 2010)
5/5 Stars

Room is told in the first person point of view by Jack, who just turned five years old on the day the book opened.

Today I'm five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I'm changed to five, abracadabra.

Jack lives alone with his mother, and as he is her only companion and source of conversation, he has an advanced vocabulary and conversation skills which are obvious from his narration. Also because his mother ("Ma") is his only source of information about the world, except for minimal television, his is unusually naive and at times backward for his age. Donoghue does an excellent job giving Jack a voice that is at once believable and emotionally stirring.

Through Jack's eyes we view his world: one room and Ma. He narrates an average day (though a bit different as it's his birthday) for the reader, not realizing that there is anything unusual about the way his days play out. The reader however, sees what Jack doesn't: that Ma is making enormous sacrifices to keep Jack's world as "normal" as possible.

I don't want to spoil it by telling much of the plot, beyond what might be read on the blurb, but I will say that reading this I am reminded of Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, in that a parent is making enormous sacrifices that the child never sees, and is able to live somewhat normally and happily as a result.

Room is five chapters, but essentially three parts. First, Jack gives a picture of daily life. Heartbreaking for the reader, matter of fact for him, as he tells about the things he and Ma do during an average day. Without realizing it, he shows Ma as a woman struggling with mental illness, doing the best she can to hold it together for her son, while he is an exuberant, generally happy, nearly typical five year old, doing five year old things.

The second part of the book is when Jack and Ma leave Room for Outside. This is very traumatic for them both, in differing ways. Jack has never been Outside or seen other people and the sensory overload is well told in his voice, as is Ma's attempts to stay mentally strong while suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome--though through his eyes the experience looks quite different.

The last part of the book is the triumphant finale. It is again beautifully told through Jack's voice as he and Ma succeed in being "scrave" (brave even though scared) and life begins fresh for them.

I have seen many negative comments, written about such trifling things, that I was shocked. Room is the most fantastic book I have read in some time; definitely the best I've read in 2011, but possibly the best I've read in 2010 as well. It is heartbreaking at times, yes, but it is also such a hopeful book, a book of triumph and love. I highly recommend this stirring and powerful novel.

~~Read for the Take a Chance Challenge.~~

Something Different About Dad

Something Different About Dad 
Kirsti Evans, author
John Swogger, illustrator
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Pub; 1 edition (January 15, 2011)
Review based on ARC from Amazon Vine.
5/5 stars

Something Different About Dad is a both a nonfiction and fiction illustrated resource with an intended audience of children aged 7 to 15 that have an adult in their life with Asperger Syndrome. It is designed in a style similar to the graphic novel, with friendly monochrome illustrations and a handwritten type of font.

The preface introduces the author and illustrator as guides to the story, and gives a brief explanation of what the book will be about:

Whether or not you know for sure that the person you are thinking of has Asperger Syndrome, we hope this book will help. We hope it will help you answer some of the questions you might have and give you some ideas about how to deal with parents or other adults with Asperger Syndrome.

Something Different About Dad certainly lives up to this expectation.

It is essentially a story told by a preteen named Sophie, whose father (Mark) has Asperger Syndrome ("AS"). Each chapter begins with Sophie describing an incident in their family life that has led to difficulties for Mark, and as a result, to embarrassment, emotional pain and misunderstanding for the family. After the incident is recounted by Sophie, with illustrations that do a fantastic job of showing the emotions that each person is experiencing, Kirsti and John appear in the chapter to explain what caused Mark to act as he did.

Ms. Evans, whose experience with Autism and AS is obviously not in name only, does a wonderful job of explaining just what AS is, the four main areas that difficulties occur for persons with AS, and what can trigger the socially unacceptable behavior. It is explained with clarity and in detail, and yet is not overwhelming with all the factual information.

After picking apart the situation to find the antecedent to Mark's behavior, Kirsti and John then speak to the various family members, giving advice on how to lessen the frustration of a situation for Mark. The family then talks about what changes they have made and how these changes have reduced that type of behavior from Mark.

Despite addressing such serious issues as anger toward the parent with AS, having one's feelings hurt deeply by the parent with AS and frustration at having to arrange schedules around that parent instead of oneself, the book ends on a very positive and hopeful note.

My only complaint about the book was that Mark was not generally held accountable for his behavior or asked to work on reducing his reactions. After I pondered on this, however, I realized that the book is geared for children who would not have the right to ask for such changes from an adult, who would only be able to make changes in their own life to help, and therefore showing such a situation would not be appropriate.

Swooger's illustrations fit the story and the information very well. I not only work with young children that have Autism and AS, but have AS myself, and I thought his he caught the expressions of situations very well. I was particularly impressed with the way he showed conversations going on around Mark, and how overwhelming it was to have some much going on. I found it interesting that he drew Mark with blank eyes, different from everyone else; I'm not sure if it was meant to simply show a difference in how Mark looked at the world, but I rather uncomfortably interpreted it to be a blank stare and didn't find that to be as appropriate as the rest of the illustrations.

I think this book would be an excellent resource for children with adults, or even other children, in their life with AS. Regardless of the book's language being geared toward a younger age group, it is also an excellent resource for adults who are experiencing the effects of AS in their life.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
Lish McBride
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (October 12, 2010)
Reviewing ARC version from Amazon Vine.
4/5 stars

Sam is college dropout, trying to find his place in the world but currently flipping hamburgers, riding his skateboard and hanging out with his friends. A smashed tail light causes a chain of events that brings Sam to the attention of the areas most powerful necromancer and brings Sam to the discovery that not only does the paranormal exist, but he is a necromancer as well.

Douglas intends to train Sam, keep him if he's useful and kill him and steal his power if he isn't. None of these options is really what Sam had in mind for his life, and his attempts to resist Douglas lead to murder, uncovered family secrets, heroism and love.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer has a fast, but enjoyable pace. The chapters alternate between Sam's first person point of view and a third person point of view of other characters. This causes the flow to be interrupted a bit at the beginning of chapters, but isn't a vital flaw.

When the paranormal world is revealed, the reader is bombarded by race after race of fantasy creatures. This is overwhelming, trying to absorb all the information being given, and many of the races have no bearing on this story. A more gradual introduction, as the races become relevant, would have been better.

Sam and his friends are well defined, with likable and believable personalities. Douglas is a bit over the top, more of a stereotypical evil villain, but his back story was well written.

A most amusing point was the chapter titles. Sam's love of classic rock is reflected in those titles and often gave me a chuckle.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a good, light novel with humor and tension and well planned plot. I expect Ms. McBride will leave her mark in the paranormal YA genre.

Note to parents: This novel does contain consensual, lightly described, sex between young adults.

Tiger Hills

Tiger Hills 
Sarita Mandanna
Paperback: 624 pages
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group, (January 2011)
Read ARC copy from Amazon Vine.
3/5 stars

Ever since I read the stunning novel The Toss of a Lemon, I have actively sought out stories that take place anywhere in India. I have wanted to immerse myself as much as possible in the varied, rich cultures of that lovely country. So, naturally, when I saw Tiger Hills  offered as an ARC, I snatched it up.

Tiger Hills  takes place during British Colonial rule in the Coorg district (now Kodagu in Karnataka State) in southern India. It follows the lives of Devi and Devanna, and later Muthi, and their relationships with each other.

Devi, the much beloved first female child of several generations, is a headstrong girl from the beginning, wrapping her family around her finger and well aware of that power. She befriends the younger Deanna, and after he is orphaned he comes to live in her home. They grow up as siblings and the best of friends, but Devanna always expects that someday they will marry.

When a ten year old Devi sees Muthi at a "tiger wedding", she becomes immediately smitten with the 21 year old hunter and declares that she will marry him and only him. Her determination is not lost as the years pass, and leads to many complications and sorrows in the lives of all three.

Mandanna uses wonderful descriptive phrases to paint a sensory experience of the Coorg district. The colors and smells and sounds are vivid and, Mandanna's skill in filling the reader's senses is the strongest point of the novel.

The plot begins very slow, and when it does pick up it is to spiral the characters toward unpleasant events or unfortunate choices, none of which come as a surprise to the reader. Granted, a novel does not have to have a happy or pleasing plot to be an excellent novel, if it is well written--take Nabokov's Lolita, for example, which is one of the finest novels ever written. The prose of Tiger Hills , though, is not very striking (with the exception of the location descriptions), and I had to make myself continue to read. When Mandanna's plot planning and general writing match her descriptive ability, she will produce exceptional novels.


Note: This is my opinion; on Amazon, 58% of the reviews were 5 stars.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
Alan More, author
Kevin O'Neill, illustrator
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: America's Best Comics; 1st edition (October 1, 2002)
Read 30 January 2011
3/5 stars

I was predisposed to love The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1, as alternate history is a favorite genre, and famous character mash-ups a particular favorite as well. Volume One introduces a "menagerie" (as they are often referred to) of otherwise famous literary characters brought together to help Queen and Country with dangerous tasks in a somewhat steampunky Britain of an alternative history. Two characters, Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain, are favorites of mine from their original novels and I loved the idea of them having more adventures.

This graphic novel has many literary references, both in the text and illustrations, which is a delight for a book nerd. The pseudo-Victorian style and parody of Victorian serials used throughout the novel was highly amusing for a fan of that era and added an extra level of enjoyment.

Character development and setting introduction took the first few chapters ("issues") and was pretty well done. The personalities of the five members of the League were nicely established and tantalizing hints given about the world from both the illustrations and the text. I became quite fond of the characters, even the amoral Griffin, and was eagerly awaiting plot development.

When the plot did develop, however, it was unsatisfying. Perhaps because so much time had been spent developing characters and world, very little time was able to be given to generate a decent plot. It was a messy, mishmash of explosions and overaction (not to mention overacting) and made very little sense. If it was meant to be a parody of Victorian fiction, it didn't read like any of the multitude of Victorian novels I have read.

The art was nothing spectacular. While there were some scenes drawn with "hidden" references, these occasional treats did nothing to add to the story. The illustration of the panels is a very straightforward, comic book style, with no artistic angles or composition. The lines are harsh, the backgrounds busy, the colors generally unappealing. There were even times when panels were so busy with so many irrelevant details, that it was hard to find the action. I certainly did not feel that I was reading a graphic novel where the art is vital to the storyline; I felt as though I were reading a comic book.

Despite my interest in the characters, the lack of a real plot line and the average art made this very promising premise a mediocre read. I truly am interested in the characters, though, and may still give the second volume a try to see if Moore and O'Neill were simply getting established with this volume.

~~Read for the Graphic Novels Challenge.~~

Britten and Brülightly

Britten and Brülightly
Hannah Berry, author and illustrator
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Books (March 17, 2009)
5/5 stars

Britten and Brülightly is a well written, fantastically illustrated noir mystery. Britten is a private detective who, for years, has specialized so in the tawdry love triangle cases that he has been publicly nicknamed "the Heartbreaker". Despite the encouraging words of his much more upbeat partner, Brülightly, Britten has become tired of both his job and his life. "I don't get out of bed for less than a murder," he said, and it potential murder that persuaded him to crawl out of bed into the public again.

Britten has been contacted by Charlotte Maughan after the apparent suicide of her fiance. To her, the pieces don't fit; she feels it must be a murder made to look like a suicide and hires him to investigate.

Britten and Brülightly is film noir in a graphic novel; it is by far the best written noir I have encountered. It contains the classic elements of great noir : a fractured and down main character; a beautiful lady needing assistance; a complex mystery; realistic (leaning toward the unhappy) ending and leaves the reader or viewer sitting silent in amazement.

Berry's amazing art fits and adds to the story and to the noir feel perfectly. The predominant rain and gray days, the angles and corners, and the nearly monochrome color scheme enhance the feel of the story tremendously. The composition and "film angle", if you will, of the panels is that of a well done movie. They are not the common waist up, front on panels that are so predominant in the average graphic novel. From above, from below, half faces, close-ups: all are used to make an enormous contribution to both plot and ambiance. Berry's particular attention to hands is fantastic.

I had one small complaint: the story is hand written in a font that was, only at times, hard to interpret certain words. Oddly enough, though I had to squint and struggle, I found that in the end this rather added to the story, to the feel of uncertainty, mystery and confusion that were so prevalent in the story.

Britten and Brülightly simply awed me. It's a dark tale, and not a particularly happy one, but totally engrossing and simply stunning--text and image--from the first line ("As it did every morning with spiteful inevitability, the sun rose.") to that last breathtaking scene.

~~Read for the Graphic Novel Challenge.~~

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale
Carolyn Turgeon
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Broadway (March 1, 2011)
(ARC courtesy of Amazon Vine program.)
2/5 stars

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale is touted as a dark, gothic retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, The Little Mermaid. It centers around the mermaid princess, Lenia, and the prince of the Southern Kingdom (Christopher) that she rescued, and the princess of the Northern Kingdom (Margrethe) who found the rescued prince. Lenia falls in love with Christopher immediately, and Margrethe feels that Christopher was brought to her for a reason, namely to bring peace to their warring kingdoms.

Neither particularly dark or gothic, Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale is a quick and somewhat light read. It's less cheerful than most light reads, as it sticks rather close to Anderson's sad tale, but the overall "everyone gets a good finish" ending keeps it from reading like a gothic novel.

I wasn't particularly impressed with this novel. The characters were rather two dimensional and their actions easy to predict (even in instances that didn't mirror the fairy tale). Conversations between characters were also often flat.

While I found the setting interesting, and several of the few descriptions given were quite lovely (the mermaid castle for instance), on the whole descriptions of the place and time were rare, leaving the novel feeling sparse and drab.

Unoriginality bordered on the bizarrely mundane: the kingdoms were called the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, for goodness sake. Given this and the lack of details, I wondered if the novel had been rushed at the end and only the outline published.

The element of time was another problem issue: a mermaid year (between Lenia's birthday) passed abnormally fast; also, she was supposedly completely human and yet gestated a human infant within a few months. The need to make the novel hurry, with few descriptions and conversations and cheats on time, was to the detriment. It's rare that I say a novel would have been better longer, but if more attention had been paid to fleshing out details, this one could have been quite good.

I'm giving it two stars instead of one for the few original ideas and descriptions, but I simply can't recommend this novel, for adults or young adults, as I don't feel it is quality work, even for a light read.

Note: This is my opinion; on Amazon, this book received a 5 star rating 39% of the time.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
Fergus Hume
published c.1889
3/5 stars

I was eager to read The Mystery of a Hansom Cab as it was supposedly one of the most popular (if not the most popular) mysteries of that century and is also, according to legend, what gave Doyle the interest in writing mysteries himself.

The actual mystery in The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a good one: two gentleman get into a cab, one gets out and the other proceeds. When the cab stops for the second gentleman, the cab driver discovers that he is dead. There are no identifying papers or paraphernalia on the deceased and no one comes forward to identify him.

At first, like the detective in charge thinks, it seems a rather cut and dried case. Find the first gentleman and you have the murderer. The success of this novel though, hinges on the depth of the mystery. As the lawyer and detectives begin to peel away at it, they find layer after layer.

Unfortunately for the modern reader, the prose is just plain awful. This was Hume's first novel and it is stupefyingly boring at points as he goes into detail about his opinion of his fellow Australians, for instance, or makes one reference after another to contemporary mystery writers, or recounts everything the reader has just witnessed via a detailed newspaper account. Oh, and Hume's attempts at rendering lower class speech, with dropped letters and a plethora of apostrophes. .. dreadful, simply dreadful. I finally had to just start skimming over that and trust that any important information from these scenes would be recapped in another conversation later. A fourth of the book, of verbiage and descriptions and opinions that didn't contribute at all to the plot, could easily have been removed and it would have been a pretty good read.

If a modern reader is willing to take the time to wade through the chaff to get to the wheat, the mystery itself is a good one. Plus, from an historical point of view, this is a rather important novel in the solidifying of the mystery genre. It's tough going at times, though, so be forewarned.

~~Read for the Victorian Literature Challenge~~

Note: This is just my opinion; on Amazon, 41%  of the reviews were 5 stars.

Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm

Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm
Bill Willingham, author
Mark Buckingham, illustrator
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Vertigo (August 1, 2003)
3/5 stars

Animal Farm picks up right where left off. Snow goes to upstate New York to visit The Farm (where the Fables that can't blend in with humans live) and takes Red with her to work off community service hours.

They arrive at The Farm earlier than is normal for Snow's biannual visit, and find the Farm Fables in the midst of revolutionary unrest. Rose joins with the revolutionists and Snow is left scrambling to find allies.

This story line wasn't nearly as interesting to me as the first Fables volume, despite there being more serious elements. I think this is due, in part, to much of the action being told after the fact. All the real action was over in the first four issues (chapters) and the fifth felt contrived and filled out to make a full issue. Again, there were some memorable lines, and the characters are memorable as well.

Again, I was disappointed in the art. There was nothing original or unusual, or even particularly memorable, to the illustrations. It merely illustrates the story and doesn't seem to give any extra dimension to the story at all. The art is certainly not used as a vehicle to further the story, as it is in other, finer graphic novels.

Despite my interest in the characters, despite the huge following this series has, despite reading that it gets better as it goes on, I'm not sure I'm willing to read a third volume.

~~Read for the Graphic Novels Challenge~~

Note: This is just my opinion;  on Amazon, 61%  of the reviews were 5 stars.

Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile

Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
Bill Willingham, author
Lan Medina, illustrator
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Vertigo (December 1, 2002)
3/5 stars

The Fables graphic novel series begins with this volume, Legends in Exile. It manages to incorporate both background story as to who the Fables are and a mystery.

The "Fables" are just that: the characters from legends, fables and fairy tales. Their Homelands were invaded and those that had the means to do so escaped into New York City and upstate New York. These refugees form a small Fable Town community, with King Cole presiding and Snow White as second in command.

Jack (of the Tales) discovers his girlfriend Rose Red's trashed and bloody apartment and comes to the one law enforcer of Fable Town, Bigby Wolf (as in The Big Bad). Bigby, with unwanted help from Snow (it's her sister that's missing, after all) questions suspects and unravels the mystery. He delivers the answer in a tongue in cheek, classic mystery "parlor room" setting.

The mystery is interesting and has a good ending. There are some truly witty lines in the dialogue. The characters are generally quite engaging. Bigby is charming in a rough, uncertain way; Snow is arrogant and vulnerable; Bluebeard is appealing and frightening. The twist on their lives and characters is just plain fun fantasy. It's not awe-inspiring, but it is fun.

A short story becomes a graphic novel through the addition of good artwork. The art for this is average. Facial expressions are well done and costumes and fantasy elements are clever. Unfortunately, there were no "Wow" moments, as there are in other graphic novels. The panels don't carry the story forward or add to the story, they are simply illustrations. The one excellent panel was showing Bigby's shadow as a wolf. Other than that. . . well, it felt like any ol' comic book.

That said, and despite my average 3 star rating, I became interested enough in Fable Town to want to read more. I just hope that the illustrations become more of a vehicle to tell the story as the series continues.

~~Read for the Graphic Novels Challenge~~

Note: This is just my opinion; on Amazon 55% of the reviews were 5 stars.