What do you do?

I wasn't even sure about writing a review for today.  I haven't decided how I feel about the book I'm reviewing, and I haven't finished it yet.

About 2 weeks ago, I read a graphic novel called In Odd We Trust,by Dean Koontz  and  Queenie Chan, based off of the Odd Thomas series of novels by Koontz.  I've never read anything Koontz had written before, but I really enjoyed this story, and the premise of it.  Odd Thomas is a boy who sees dead people and helps them bring their murderers to justice.  Sort of Sixth Sense when the little boy grows up.  Since I really enjoyed this story, I requested Odd Thomas  from my local library, what I believe to be the first novel in the series, and it came in on Monday, so I've been reading it.  So far I'm not impressed.

I'm still really interested in the plot, I like the characters, and the premise in general is interesting.  Not only does Odd use his "talent" to solve crimes, the police often rely on him to do so.  It's rare in any kind of story for the police to believe in this sort of thing, never mind using it as a resource.

What I'm torn by is the narrative.  I really just do not like Koontz's writing style.  He uses flowery language and imagery that seem out of place with his story, and he keeps recalling events that have nothing to do with the current issue.  It is putting me off, but I really want to see where this goes.

As an example of the kind of writing that's driving me crazy here, I randomly flipped pages open.  Here's a random paragraph:

                     "The real name of the pinchpenny in question was Spinker, but he earned the secret name we gave him (Sphincter).  Regardless of the total of his bill, he always tipped a quarter.

Bob Sphincter fancied himself to be two and a half times more generous than John D. Rockefeller, the oil billionaire [don't use references you have to explain, sometimes trust your reader to a)know what your talking about or b)be willing to look it up if they don't].  According to legend, even in the elegant restaurants of Manhattan, Rockefeller had routinely tipped a dime."

This novel was published in 2003.  There are probably clearer references for Odd, a twenty year old, to use, never mind the fact that most people in their twenties aren't routinely using the word "pinchpenny" to describe someone who's cheap either.  I'm finding a lot of the language Koontz is using to be really distracting as I try to read.

I am really torn on finishing this novel.  I'll let you know next week how I made out.

Villain to Victim, understanding redemptive literature

We have a tendency to want to forgive or humanize our villains and monsters.  You can see this in books like Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer (as if I needed to specify so the lucky people who don't know what I'm talking about can find out what this mysterious, under-advertised Twilight might be), or the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton.  Vampires and were-animals (lycanthropes for those in the know) are the protagonists and romantic leads now, not the ghoulish, terrifying horrors they once were.  Hamilton has gone so far as to give the supernatural set legal rights.  It's gotten to the point where I get really annoyed when I read a story where vampires are immediately evil from the moment they change, slathering, drooling blood-suckers with no hope for redemption.  I want to know their back story, can they be reformed, and if not, is there at least an equal and opposite good monster aiding the good guys?  Blake, in Hamiton's books not only starts seeing the things she once hunted as humane and human, but she starts to wonder if she hasn't become more monstrous.  Is that why this trend came about?  Have people been looking at the evil in the world, murder, rape, pedophilia, and thinking, well hell, what's a little blood sucking between consenting adults?

This trend doesn't limit itself to fictional characters, or non-human.  There are whole sections in bookstores devoted to ret-conned history, or revisionist history, with plots like "what if Hitler had sold more paintings, or not been in the army during World War I," "what if Lincoln hadn't gone to the theater that night," and now a blending of the two, "what if Pride and Prejudice had zombies?"

Conjecture and speculation are part of what make up good fiction, but is it a worthwhile endeavour to re-write popular and classical literature? And how long should we wait before putting our own spin on someone else's brainchild?  How does this differ from the slash fiction found on the internet, where hard core fans write their own versions of events?  I am not published, but I don't know how I would feel if, after struggling to be published for years, I finally am, and my "fans" decide not only did I not write my characters properly, they could do it better.

I've been reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies  by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, the graphic version.  It is entertaining, and I am enjoying it quite a bit.  I'm challenging myself to remember from high school English (almost a decade ago) to see all the similarities and differences from the original material I can find as I read.  I only ever read for entertainment purposes (at least until I start University again in the fall), so this fits my criteria for something worth spending my time on.  Is that enough to make it worth the writing?  Given the success of the novel, I am not the only one (although I'm sure there's a certain faction of people who picked it up out of a morbid curiousity, rather than actual interest), as well it has spawned a whole series of books along the same vein, including Android Karenia and Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.  

I'm going to continue reading them, so clearly I'm not as outraged by the trend as I might seem, but one that gave me pause, not related to this series at all, but along the same idea of giving an unsavoury character a redemption of sorts, is Fagin the Jew, by Will Eisner.  It is the story of a conversation between Fagin, a death row inmate, and a mysterious stranger.  It is the telling of Oliver Twist from Fagin's point of view.  He gives his hard luck story as a uneducated son of a displaced people.  He admits to wrong doings, stealing and conning to make his way, but only because other opportunities were denied to him.  The story ends after his death, showing that had he only been in the right place at the right place he would have been heir to a respectable life, rather than dying destitute.  Eisner adds details that weren't mentioned in Oliver Twist,  including a cameo by a grown Oliver who adds commentary.

The story was rich, and for the most part paralleled the source material.  It acts as a commentary on antisemitism, going as far as to accuse authors who used the derogatory terms for people that were common at the time of furthering the prejudice rather than fighting against it.  The art is rich and expressive, well conveys the division between wealth and poverty of the time.

How do I really feel about redemption stories and ret-conning?  If I'm honest, I think they're great.  I've always been one to side with the underdog, I've always wondered what made the villains tick.  Think of Gaston from Beauty and The Beast.  He lived his life as a macho hunter, the girls swooned over him, his life was set.  He decides to marry, and has his heart (or eye at least) set on the girl who is obviously the most beautiful and therefore perfect girl in the village for him.  He is rejected, for the first time in his life as far as we can tell.  Mentally, don't you think that mess a person up a bit?  What would the psych evaluation on this guy look like?

I love the fairy tales told from the Big Bad Wolf's point of view.  I like thrillers where we know who the killer is the whole time, and get to hear his motivations, if never truly understand them.

I can only imagine the doorways into slash fiction fan-fiction, in fact I tend to ignore it but I'm sure I've seen on fan-fic sites the words, "this is based off of Cullen_babe52's story entitled..," so it's already happening.  Do we need to draw a line in the sand?  Even the Bible says, "there is nothing new under the sun(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV)," and that's not exactly the newest tome out there.  It's been 2000 years, it's hard to imagine us coming up with anything new now, so I'll just keep reading what entertains me, and hope for the best.

Rating (for Fagin the Jew): 4/5

"Pick your furniture like you pick a wife;"

 "it should make you feel comfortable and look nice, but not so nice that if someone walks past it they want to steal it.

I spent the day reading "Sh*t My Dad Says" by Justin Halpern.  Based off the twitter feed found at www.twitter.com/shitmydadsays, it's a collection of the musings and advice Sam Halpern has given his family for their lives.

Sam has no personal filter.  He's blunt and to the point, often rude and embarrassing to his son, but he's honest, and throughout the course of the book, as Halpern frames his dad's musings with stories from his childhood and life, you see that his dad really cares about him, and this collection of silly and hilarious phrases ends up being a poignant, heart lifting story.

The copy I read is from the library, but I think I might pick this one up and keep it as a permanent bathroom reader.  The twitter length quotes are great for when you only have a few minutes to read, and need to kill some time.

There's not really a lot to say about this book.  The writing is good and it's a light read.  More than a few times I found myself saying "my dad says/does/acts that way too!"  I will recommend it to everyone I know.

Rating: 5/5

Tha Man in Black...and white

Johnny Cash: I see a Darkness is a graphic novel by Reinhard Kleist.  It chronicles the early life, rise to fame, crash and eventual rebirth of the Man in Black and his career.  

Each section begins with one of the songs he was so well known for done in comic form, including a brawl with the Boy named Sue and his Pa, a man shot in Reno during the Folsom Prison Blues, and Ghost Riders in the Sky telling cowboy Johhny to change his ways, lest he want to join their ride.

I really enjoyed this book.  The artwork is simple, yet detailed.  Kleist's black and white drawings, expertly shaded, add dimension and life to the pages.  Cash looks like Cash.  I think I would have preferred to read more about his later life.  This graphic novel covers the same events that the movie, "Walk the Line," covers, with even less about the relationship growing between Johnny and June.

Kleist uses Glen Sherley, a former inmate at Folsom Prison who wrote Cash's song Greystone Chapel, as a narrative tool.  Sherley is telling a fellow inmate everything he knows about Johnny from reading the "yellow papers."  Through Sherley, we see Cash from a starstruck point of view, but as an inmate he is impressed with Cash not because he is famous, but because he is a man who knows what it is like to yearn for freedom, like the prisoners.  He doesn't make excuses for Cash, and the story deals with the gritty details of Johnny's failed marriage, drug addiction, drunk driving and arrests.

For Kleist to have fit as much of Cash's life into the story and still have it read as a good narrative, and not an encyclopedia entry, is impressive.  If I had picked this novel up knowing nothing about Johnny Cash, I would have felt like I'd learned quite a bit in the hour or so it took me to read the story.  I recomend this to anyone who is a fan of Cash, or graphic novels in general.

Rating: 4/5

 Bonus:

 Ain't No Grave, Video done with 1000 drawings

Taming the Beast Within

Fourth post in and I'm already off schedule.  I am going to blame Canada Day in this instance, as I spent most of my week prior making sure my desk was up to date for the extra long weekend I was taking.  The most disappointing part is I had my review written by hand the day before I was going to post it, and now it's gone missing, so let's see what I can remember (since the book has already gone back to the library).

Forbidden Nights with a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks is another in a long line of current popular fiction that plays with the classic vampire/werewolf mythology to suit it's own needs.  It's entertaining if you enjoy the genre (which I do), with lots of sex, violence and romance.  I picked this one up at the library at random off the shelves, without realizing that it is midway through a series. 

This story deals with Vanda Barkowski, vampire owner of an exotic dance club, and Phil Jones, an old friend who becomes her anger management sponsor, guard, and love interest. Sparks tells their story while introducing characters from her previous and future novels, giving a bit too much back story for every character, as though she doesn't trust us to have read the other novels.

I found that Sparks told us details rather than showing us.  Phil has a psychology degree, and he references his education repeatedly, as in "as a psychology major, I think..." and "in my psych courses we learned...," even in his own internal thoughts, as he diagnoses Vanda's anger problems and fear of intimacy.  He tries to help Vanda keep her cool and control her anger, without revealing his own secrets or inner beast.

Several times throughout the reading of the novel I thought, "wow, this is bad dialogue," or something to that effect, yet I still read the novel in one sitting.  The plot, including a fight between the "good" mainstreaming vampires who drink synthetic blood and the "evil" vampires who enjoy drinking from humans and wreaking havoc, a sub-plot involving displaced teen aged werewolves, and just a sprinkling of Nazi's, drew me in. 

If I see more books by Sparks at the library, I'd probably grab them for a quick entertaining read.  The budding romance was well played out (as far as romances go), and the community Sparks has created has caught my attention, so I might just go request How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire, Sparks first novel, from my local library to see if I get more hooked by starting from the beginning. 

Rating: 3/5