Not all bad...

Monty Haaviko is an interesting hero.  A former drug user, thief and murderer, Monty has now settled down in Winnipeg's North End with his wife and young son, and is starting to settle into a quiet life as a babysitter while his wife works realty to support them.

A Criminal to Remember is Michael Van Rooy's third novel featuring Haaviko, and I cannot talk this series up enough.  It is entertaining and honest about the criminal lifestyle (while he sometimes misses the adrenaline rush or the high from the drugs and alcohol, he is very clear about how satisfied he is with his family and current low-key lifestyle).

 To me, this novel is another example of trying to redeem our villains.  Monty says over and over again that he used to be a bad man, he used to do bad things, but he is reformed now (more or less).  His character gives us hope for redemption and rehabilitation.  Yes, his life is full of trials and tribulations, but he overcomes them.  He is always better than the antagonists, either stronger or smarter, or he is able to outlast whatever is happening to him. 

Monty is often playing the bad guys on one side against the bad guys on the other side, while trying to make sure he comes out neutral, with little attention drawn to himself and his family, while also making sure no harm befalls them.  He has had to deal with local mobsters, people smuggling, angry neighbors, crooked cops, and making and keeping friends.  He balances most of these things while raising his son and doing his best to keep his wife, who he clearly worships (without deifying), on the right side of happy.

When I first picked up Van Rooy's first novel in this series, An Ordinary Decent Criminal, I think I took it home with me solely because it's not often I randomly grab books set in Winnipeg, and I was curious.  Usually, when reading, I make myself a map or picture in my head, because rarely have I been to the settings of the books I am reading.  If I have visited a location, my sense of direction is so terrible, that I still don't have a good idea in my head and just sort of go along with a sense of the place.  Having been born and raised in Winnipeg, though, I generally knew exactly where the action was taking place, and I felt like if I went to a certain street corner I might see the building Monty broke into, or a blood stain on the sidewalk where someone was beaten or shot (a little morbid to be excited at that last prospect, but there you have it).  It added another dimension to the story that drew me in.

I cannot wait for Van Rooy's next novel (assuming there is one) to see what trouble awaits the Haaviko family as life goes on.

Rating: 5/5

Sometimes they hit close to home

I can't remember who recommended it to me, but I recently read It's a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini.  I found this young adult novel, which Vizzini  wrote after a 5 day stint in the mental ward of a hospital as a teenager, to be well written and very moving.  Personally, I found it hit very close to home.

Today's student (teen or otherwise) gets buried under praise when they do well, scorn when they don't.  This leads in many to a drive to succeed, excel, be the best student.  This can also lead to a fear of failure.  What happens, once these kids move on and realize they aren't the big fish anymore, but only mediocre fish?  

Throughout University, and even beyond, I have felt a little let down by life.  I was a perfect student, often getting A+'s with very little effort, but I was a constant worrier.  My dad once told me, jokingly, that with all the worrying I did I'd get an ulcer.  Guess what?  Then I just worried about getting an ulcer.  

Craig Gilner, the protagonist, comes from a supportive family.  The pressure to succeed comes from within.  He convinces himself he needs to go to a certain high school, college, lifestyle, and in preparing for the entrance exams he believes will start him on the right course, he alienates himself from most of his classmates, with the exception of Aaron, who is also planning on going to this very elite school.

To celebrate acceptance into the school, they have a party, here Aaron hooks up with Nia, and Craig falls asleep in the corner.  Craig tries pot, and over the course of the year becomes a habitual user, and gets more and more overwhelmed by school work and the pressure he puts on himself.  He falls behind.  He begins to have trouble eating and sleeping, and after admitting to his parents that he might suffer from depression, he starts taking Zoloft and seeing a series of psychiatrists.

It's when Craig accidentally checks himself into the mental illness ward of the local hospital that he starts to put his life into perspective.  Over the course of his 5 day stay he makes a few important self-discoveries, and comes out knowing he might not be cured, but understanding a little better what he might need to do to cope and heal (the swift recovery seems a little suspect, but as the author has spent time in such an institution, and I have not, I'm not going to judge his recollections of the time).

How do you explain depression to someone who has never had it?  For healthy people, there tends to be 2 lines of thought regarding depression:  Snap out of it!  Decide not to be depressed anymore, and take charge of your life.  The other thought process is one of skepticism.  What do YOU have to be depressed about?  Everyone goes through tough patches, why should YOU get special treatment?  

How do you even discuss your problems with people like that?

Reading this young adult novel made me feel 2 things.  Paranoia (if this guy needed to be institutionalized, how far off can I be?) and relief.  I am not alone.  If I ever hit rock bottom, I know there is a support system, I know there is help available, and if nothing else, I know there is someone else out there that might know what I'm feeling.

Rating: 4/5

Dug my heels in...

Finally finished Odd Thomas.  Never in my life has it taken me that long to read a book I was remotely interested in.  I am really torn now.  I can't say I was overly impressed with the ending, there was sort of a plot twist that was interesting, then right at the end Koontz went "oh, by the way, here's a character that I never introduced before playing an important role in the finale."  I call BS on that.  Still really like the characters and the story, can't stand the writing.  Still want to read more in the series, despite Koontz killing off a character I really liked.

With Forever Odd on request from the library, I will see if I can make it through book two in less time than it took Koontz to write it.  Glutton for punishment?  I might be!

Armed with a headcold, and a belly full of energy drink, this post may veer off into a rambling mess.  As most of my readers (hi Gibbs!) are people who know me in real life, this will surprise no one.  For anyone that just happened to wander in, I apologize, but make no promises not to do this again in future.  Sometimes, sleep depravation is our friend.  :)

I readily admit that I enjoy a lot of bad movies, and put up with a lot of bad writing for the sake of interesting stories.  Stephen King, in his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, says something (which I am paraphrasing from one of the 13 times I've read it), that resonates with me every time I read a crappy book.  He says that everyone has read books that makes them despair if they are at all interested in writing, a sort of, "well, I'll never be able to do this well" sort of feeling.  However, the flip side is also true.  Everyone has also read a terrible, awful novel that makes them think "I already write better than this."  When I'm reading bad pulp fiction, or a dragging narrative, or about cardboard characaters that I can't possibly relate to, at least I can excuse myself by saying, "this is just a confidence boost."  How long can I go on pretending that I read terrible books, not because I enjoy them, but because they make me feel better about my dream of becoming a writer?  I'm not sure I can keep fooling myself, though, when I haven't written much in years.

I start school again in September.  If high-school (and my first degree) memories can be trusted, I'll get lots of writing done then!  It was never great writing, but judging by the books I read, that shouldn't be a deterrent.  Wish me luck!
 

Forgive me, my brain is melting

Two weeks later (albeit I had a week of Folklorama dancing in the middle), and I'm still slogging my way through Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.  It has never taken me this long to read a book I was even vaguely  interested in.  Normally if I'm not right into it by the halfway point, I just move on.  I've tried, too. I'm reading three books, but I can't get into any of them until I find out what happens to Odd, the protagonist.  The story isn't following what I would normally call a logical thought process, even for a novel about a man who sees ghosts.  

In the meantime, I have also started reading Bonk by Mary Roach, a humourous view of the study of sex and sexuality.  I'm only in the first chapter, but I'm already hooked as she tells tales of the first sex researchers and the personal experiments they had to do in order to start studying sex realistically.

I'm going to see which of these novels I'm able to finish, and with luck I might actually be able to have a review.  Or I'll get fed up and read the latest Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire novel.  Either way it is a win-win for me.

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