Grah, I have been having such a hard time sinking my teeth into anything recently. Right now I am pushing my way through The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks, which is strictly mediocre and I am trying to force myself to continue mainly because I don't want to stop yet another novel halfway through, rather than for any real concern for the characters or outcome. But I guess in this regard, Weeks is doing better than Dan Brown, because I can't think of a thing that could inspire me to pick up Deception Point after I gave up on it 57% of the way through the other day. That's what I get for reading Dan Brown I suppose.
On a friend's recommendation, earlier in December I read The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. In the spirit of honesty, what bothered me the most about the novel is that I didn't think of it first. Grossman shamelessly takes from the benchmarks in the fantasy genre, notably Harry Potter and the Narnia series. It's every bedtime fantasy I've ever had since my Dad first showed me Star Wars. Magic is real, and among us, and if you're lucky you'll get whisked away to a place where real-world problems will never bother you again.
I say "take" specifically, because that was how it felt to me. It wasn't borrowing gently, with love. I didn't feel this book was meant to be a homage to great pillars of the fantasy genre. I don't know exactly how to put it. It seemed... vaguely unfriendly. I know that doesn't make much sense, but I'm trying to describe a nebulous gestalt feeling that nagged me throughout the reading. Maybe I just didn't like C.S. Lewis's world being so casually ripped off.
Certainly the characters are hardly a credit to their talents, but then, this would probably be exactly how young people would behave if given access to almost limitless power, to a life entirely without consequence.
The Magicians is an interesting dark twist to the Narnia story, and I will say one thing -- I definitely did not ever feel the drag to put it down halfway through. The ending is meh though. I give it a seven out of ten. Maybe a 6.5.
While in Okinawa, I happily availed myself of my sister's bookshelf, and came away with two reads in particular that stuck with me, for very different reasons.
The first is Lost in Planet China, by J. Maarten Troost. I am such a tremendous sucker for travel writing, and it's one genre in which my kindle is lacking, so this was a very happy find. The premise: writer Troost decides to embark on a long tour of China to see if it's an acceptable country in which to move his family. He never comes out and actually says definitively yay or nay, but I have to infer from his overarching impressions that he decided not to. Frankly, after reading this book, I don't particularly want to go to China.
Troost spends a lot of time talking about the abysmal air pollution in China. A lot. And it's kind of scary. Something like a third of the pollution in the Sierra Nevada mountains comes from China? Maybe it's even a higher number, but the book is back in Oki and I don't particularly feel like googling it. Anyway, the pollution is bad. And apparently the Chinese government has not the slightest inclination to deal with it. (This is all Troost, btw. This is a book review, not a commentary on China.)
Troost travels all over China... Beijing, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and lots of other places whose names I forget, and again, the book is in Oki. He also goes to Tibet, which is kind of like my personal Everest in terms of world travel. Someday...
The writing is funny, sarcastic, and engaging. He kind of reminds me of me, if I can have some momentary hubris. I, however, would not choose to eat live squid, which this author does. His observations are stark and bullshit-free, and he's certainly not above the self-effacing anecdote to give his travel stories a little spice. China is maybe not presented in the most positive light, but I believe that he wrote China as he experienced it. I recommend it to anyone with the inscratchable travel bug, or anyone interested in Asian current events. Or anyone who appreciates a good laugh.
I also read Stolen by Lucy Christopher. This book pissed me off so comprehensibly, I cannot even tell you. But hey, I'll try. First things first, Christopher must be a big fan of that inspiring literary opus, Twilight, because the premise is exactly freaking the same. "Normal" girl gets swept off her feet and taken by a mysterious man with beautiful eyes into a foreign, dangerous environment, where said stalker/kidnapper is the only thing keeping her safe from the trouble he got her into.
In Stolen, the main character, Gemma, gets kidnapped from an airport in Bangkok and ends up in the Australian desert. Pretty ridiculously implausible, but whatever. It's a story. Her kidnapper, Ty, admits to stalking her (in England, no less), since she was a little girl. To sum things up, Gemma gets Stockholm Syndrome in about ten minutes. Ty is "older," he is "enigmatic." His eyes are a "piercing blue." The fact that he is crazy, a complete sociopath, and an international felon all seem to be fairly minor inconveniences. Because hey, he likes to paint and can tame camels. Cool, huh?
Gemma makes a few very poorly thought out and weak escape attempts, I will give her that. But in the writing, it's obvious that the author wants you, the reader, to want Gemma to be found again by her captor. She wants you to want Gemma to stay. She wants you to hold your breath, waiting for the moment when Gemma finally succumbs, and they kiss.
And you know what? I think that message is not only fucked up, but dangerous.
Let me tell you how I would have written my heroine who had found herself in a similar situation. Given that her captor is delusional enough to think that Gemma will eventually come around and want to stay in his miserable desert hovel with no air conditioning or beer, I would have her take advantage of this. I would have her wait until he is asleep, knock him soundly on the head, and then tie him to the bed and wait until he got thirsty enough to tell her which direction to drive for the nearest settlement, how long it will take, and how much extra fuel she will need to carry. She would make him draw her a map. She would leave him tied with only enough water for a few days, telling him that when she reached the settlement, she would tell the authorities where he was so they could rescue him. But if he lied to her about where the settlement was or how long it would take to get there, he would die.
Implausible, sure. But hey, it's a story. And at least this girl wouldn't have lost her cojones somewhere over the Pacific.
Unfortunately, Gemma doesn't do this. In fact, her weapon of choice when she finally makes her move is -- wait for it -- a sewing needle. She drives off into the desert with no map, no directions, and no water. It would be hilarious except for the fact that kidnapping young girls and trafficking them across continents is so utterly and completely not funny.
The only thing, and I do mean the only thing, that redeems this sad tale of female frailty and dumbness (and of male dominance and superiority) is that Gemma eventually gets herself snakebit and Ty finally agrees to take her to a town so she won't die. The Good Guys catch him, and Ty is put in jail awaiting trial. Cool beans.
Except that the story ends with Gemma and her Stockholm Syndrome wondering if she just might lie (or turn the truth a little, same difference) to the judge in hopes of getting him a reduced sentence. Because, you know. He was so darn interesting, and artsy and had pretty eyes. He had that bad childhood and all. And he didn't let her die from a snakebite. He decided not to cross over from stalker and kidnapper to murderer. What a find.
Bitch, please.
Just so I can put this out there -- because God after reading this book I think it needs to be said -- kidnapping is never fucking okay. Taking a woman, taking anyone, against their will and holding them against their will is not okay. It's not romantic and it's not fun. It's not some sort of coming-of-age learning experience. It doesn't matter if your deranged brain thinks you are "saving" her. It doesn't even matter if you don't rape her, although of course that is a mark in your favor. These are facts, and they don't change, ever. For any reason. Writing a story that glamorizes this is also not okay. That bit's just my opinion, but I'll stand by it with everything I have.
On a friend's recommendation, earlier in December I read The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. In the spirit of honesty, what bothered me the most about the novel is that I didn't think of it first. Grossman shamelessly takes from the benchmarks in the fantasy genre, notably Harry Potter and the Narnia series. It's every bedtime fantasy I've ever had since my Dad first showed me Star Wars. Magic is real, and among us, and if you're lucky you'll get whisked away to a place where real-world problems will never bother you again.
I say "take" specifically, because that was how it felt to me. It wasn't borrowing gently, with love. I didn't feel this book was meant to be a homage to great pillars of the fantasy genre. I don't know exactly how to put it. It seemed... vaguely unfriendly. I know that doesn't make much sense, but I'm trying to describe a nebulous gestalt feeling that nagged me throughout the reading. Maybe I just didn't like C.S. Lewis's world being so casually ripped off.
Certainly the characters are hardly a credit to their talents, but then, this would probably be exactly how young people would behave if given access to almost limitless power, to a life entirely without consequence.
The Magicians is an interesting dark twist to the Narnia story, and I will say one thing -- I definitely did not ever feel the drag to put it down halfway through. The ending is meh though. I give it a seven out of ten. Maybe a 6.5.
While in Okinawa, I happily availed myself of my sister's bookshelf, and came away with two reads in particular that stuck with me, for very different reasons.
The first is Lost in Planet China, by J. Maarten Troost. I am such a tremendous sucker for travel writing, and it's one genre in which my kindle is lacking, so this was a very happy find. The premise: writer Troost decides to embark on a long tour of China to see if it's an acceptable country in which to move his family. He never comes out and actually says definitively yay or nay, but I have to infer from his overarching impressions that he decided not to. Frankly, after reading this book, I don't particularly want to go to China.
Troost spends a lot of time talking about the abysmal air pollution in China. A lot. And it's kind of scary. Something like a third of the pollution in the Sierra Nevada mountains comes from China? Maybe it's even a higher number, but the book is back in Oki and I don't particularly feel like googling it. Anyway, the pollution is bad. And apparently the Chinese government has not the slightest inclination to deal with it. (This is all Troost, btw. This is a book review, not a commentary on China.)
Troost travels all over China... Beijing, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and lots of other places whose names I forget, and again, the book is in Oki. He also goes to Tibet, which is kind of like my personal Everest in terms of world travel. Someday...
The writing is funny, sarcastic, and engaging. He kind of reminds me of me, if I can have some momentary hubris. I, however, would not choose to eat live squid, which this author does. His observations are stark and bullshit-free, and he's certainly not above the self-effacing anecdote to give his travel stories a little spice. China is maybe not presented in the most positive light, but I believe that he wrote China as he experienced it. I recommend it to anyone with the inscratchable travel bug, or anyone interested in Asian current events. Or anyone who appreciates a good laugh.
I also read Stolen by Lucy Christopher. This book pissed me off so comprehensibly, I cannot even tell you. But hey, I'll try. First things first, Christopher must be a big fan of that inspiring literary opus, Twilight, because the premise is exactly freaking the same. "Normal" girl gets swept off her feet and taken by a mysterious man with beautiful eyes into a foreign, dangerous environment, where said stalker/kidnapper is the only thing keeping her safe from the trouble he got her into.
In Stolen, the main character, Gemma, gets kidnapped from an airport in Bangkok and ends up in the Australian desert. Pretty ridiculously implausible, but whatever. It's a story. Her kidnapper, Ty, admits to stalking her (in England, no less), since she was a little girl. To sum things up, Gemma gets Stockholm Syndrome in about ten minutes. Ty is "older," he is "enigmatic." His eyes are a "piercing blue." The fact that he is crazy, a complete sociopath, and an international felon all seem to be fairly minor inconveniences. Because hey, he likes to paint and can tame camels. Cool, huh?
Gemma makes a few very poorly thought out and weak escape attempts, I will give her that. But in the writing, it's obvious that the author wants you, the reader, to want Gemma to be found again by her captor. She wants you to want Gemma to stay. She wants you to hold your breath, waiting for the moment when Gemma finally succumbs, and they kiss.
And you know what? I think that message is not only fucked up, but dangerous.
Let me tell you how I would have written my heroine who had found herself in a similar situation. Given that her captor is delusional enough to think that Gemma will eventually come around and want to stay in his miserable desert hovel with no air conditioning or beer, I would have her take advantage of this. I would have her wait until he is asleep, knock him soundly on the head, and then tie him to the bed and wait until he got thirsty enough to tell her which direction to drive for the nearest settlement, how long it will take, and how much extra fuel she will need to carry. She would make him draw her a map. She would leave him tied with only enough water for a few days, telling him that when she reached the settlement, she would tell the authorities where he was so they could rescue him. But if he lied to her about where the settlement was or how long it would take to get there, he would die.
Implausible, sure. But hey, it's a story. And at least this girl wouldn't have lost her cojones somewhere over the Pacific.
Unfortunately, Gemma doesn't do this. In fact, her weapon of choice when she finally makes her move is -- wait for it -- a sewing needle. She drives off into the desert with no map, no directions, and no water. It would be hilarious except for the fact that kidnapping young girls and trafficking them across continents is so utterly and completely not funny.
The only thing, and I do mean the only thing, that redeems this sad tale of female frailty and dumbness (and of male dominance and superiority) is that Gemma eventually gets herself snakebit and Ty finally agrees to take her to a town so she won't die. The Good Guys catch him, and Ty is put in jail awaiting trial. Cool beans.
Except that the story ends with Gemma and her Stockholm Syndrome wondering if she just might lie (or turn the truth a little, same difference) to the judge in hopes of getting him a reduced sentence. Because, you know. He was so darn interesting, and artsy and had pretty eyes. He had that bad childhood and all. And he didn't let her die from a snakebite. He decided not to cross over from stalker and kidnapper to murderer. What a find.
Bitch, please.
Just so I can put this out there -- because God after reading this book I think it needs to be said -- kidnapping is never fucking okay. Taking a woman, taking anyone, against their will and holding them against their will is not okay. It's not romantic and it's not fun. It's not some sort of coming-of-age learning experience. It doesn't matter if your deranged brain thinks you are "saving" her. It doesn't even matter if you don't rape her, although of course that is a mark in your favor. These are facts, and they don't change, ever. For any reason. Writing a story that glamorizes this is also not okay. That bit's just my opinion, but I'll stand by it with everything I have.
Hi Hon, Just started reading your reviews -- love how you "put it!" However, I did not finish reading as yet. Will continue this evening after work. The clock calls!!
ReplyDeleteLove ya, keep it up, keep it comin', keep it you!
So agree with you on the kidnapper point. Loved that review. Also, glad you had a chance to review the nonfic China travel piece. Probably is an imcomprehensible place; probably is beyond understanding by westerners. Must have been like another planet when travelers of old entered those boarders, even before the communist infulence.
ReplyDeleteDeception Point by Dan Brown is one of the cleverest and suspenseful books I have ever read. It is very smartly written with attention to detail second to none with one of the most unique plots I have ever seen. The novel is set on the backdrop of a fictional US presidential election where the protagonist Rachel Sexton is caught up in because her father, Senator Sedgewick Sexton, the incumbent to the Zack Herney who is running for reelection. Rachel is working for an information gathering and security organization and ever since her mother's death she has despised her father. Rachel would like nothing better than to see her father go down in flames. Sen. Sexton looks like a sure winner in the polls using NASA as the issue to attack president Herney calling it useless and a funding vacuum neglecting other important things like education without funds. Rachel reports to her job where she is called to conference with her boss the organizations director. She has been asked by the president to meet him. She goes utterly shocked where the president briefs her and sends her to a glacier to overlook a discovery that will guarantee a reelection victory.
ReplyDeleteI assure you I did understand fully the plot of the novel. It was simply not written in any sort of way designed to hold my attention.
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