Just read (2016)

[Fenril]

Another year, another reading log, here and in my Tumblr blog.

No list this time, because this year I think I'll try it without a guide.



- The dark half. Stephen King. Writer Thad Beaumont enjoys great literary success... under a pen name. The world knows him as "George Stark", author of bestselling, ultra-violent crime novels. The two books published under his real name have proved commercial flops (although they've resonated with more sensitive readers). When a zealous fan discovers Stark's real identity, Thad and his wife decide to kill two birds with one stone and publicly "kill" George Stark --after all, wife Liz never really liked the guy, and Thad knew he'd have ended up forever under Stark's shadow...
But now somebody has been savagely killing Thad's business associates and everybody else associated with Stark's "murder". Somebody who claims to BE George Stark himself, eerily resembles the mental picture Thad had of Stark, and happens to have identical finger and voice prints to those of Thad himself. Perhaps Thad should have noticed that twins frequently run in his family....

After the simultaneously under and overwhelming "The Tommyknockers", King's follow up was this tongue-in-cheek, brutal, and very darkly insightful horror novel / reflection on the nature of writing itself. What seems on the surface a slasher novel with a supernatural twist (and boy, the amount of reviews I found that went with this first impression! Let's just say there's a reason pages like Wikipedia and Tv tropes aren't meant to be mistaken for anything resembling actual critique) is revealed to be a playful yet disturbing story about writing stories. It is the act of writing that not only conjures Stark and eventually binds him and Thad intimately, but which constitutes their basest nature, possibly their soul. It permeates this book itself: As we advance towards the crescendo every character's act is fueled by a desire to "see how it plays out" (i.e. to reach the end of the story). Stark and Thad, perversely in love with each other far more than with anything they claim to hold dear (family, life, success) cannot exist without fiction. Even when the act of writing harms and eventually kills one, the other is left not relieved, but weeping in grief for the loss of what could have been a great book.

Of course, this book has more than a few autobiographical winks in it. Stephen King, as most of you know, took the pseudonym "Richard Bachman" for a long time, complete with fictional author biography and even death (although in real life Bachman was never that commercially successful until he was outed as King). Then, there are the requisite nods to King's other works. This time not literal references, but themes: "Misery", "The Tommyknockers" and this one all had writer characters who wanted to be "literary" but ended up producing bestselling "genre" novels (respectively, Romance, Western and Crime). His full-on "literary" authors in "The Shining", "The tommyknockers" again and Thad here never found much commercial success and all were consumed by their obsessions anyway. (For the record, the character Alan Pangborn also appears in the novel "Needful Things", though that one is a very, very different book). There is an exorcism at work here, both literal and figurative, in-story and out of it.

All in all, recommended.

[Fenril]

Been quite a while since I was here last. So many things getting in the way. Real-life stuff.

But I still want to keep a log of what I read, if possible.

So:

- Saga of the swap thing, vol. 2. By Alan Moore, et. al. The second volume compiling Moore's acclaimed run on "Swamp Thing". This includes some of the definitive highlights both of that title and of Moore's career --from the infamous, horrific "Love and death", which cemented the decision to run this comic book without the seal of approval of the Comics Code, to the touching and poignant "Pog", both a tribute to Walt Kelly's "Pogo" comic strip and a bittersweet story in it's own right. And then there is "Rite of spring", a key story in Moore's oeuvre, essentially an issue long, psychedelic lovemaking scene. There are cameos from assorted DC comics characters -- Cain and Abel from the anthologies "House of Mystery" and "House of Secrets" (you can see the influence this story would have on Neil Gaiman's acclaimed "The sandman" --and in that sense, it's quite appropriate that Gaiman himself contributes a long foreword for this volume), the Phantom Stranger, Deadman, the Spectre, Etrigan the demon. From Hell through limbo to paradise itself.

Very recommended, both for casual fans of comic books and for Moore enthusiasts.

[Fenril]

- Burning up. Caroline B. Cooney. Fifteen-year-old Macey Clare's idyllic life is turned upside down when she decides to research the story of a building that burned down in 1959. Everybody in town seems to be wary of talking about that fire, if not outright hostile --her neighbors, her doting grandparents, her teachers, even her parents...
During the las months of school before summer break, Macey gets increasingly involved with the new kid in town, Austin (whose own family is closer to the story of that fire than he'd like) and to a girl from the inner city, Venita (whose story will show Clare just his sheltered she had been until now). As she digs deeper into the cover-ups of the past, she starts unearthing the grudges of the present. She will also come to learn the harsh realities of prejudice and of how far people are willing to go just to keep up appearances. All the way to arson and murder...

Surprisingly effective YA drama from one of the most popular authors of 90's YA thrillers. Back then I personally found most of Cooney's books hit or miss. While her characters feel suitably drawn from life, there was often a well-meaning yet ultimately naive set of values on display in her story lines. This 1999 yarn, however, is a different matter: A convincing story about a teenaged girl having her first brushes with subjects she had been brought up practically in ignorance of: Racism, Classism, the banal evil of indifference, and many more. As a treatise on race in Connecticut it may be blunt sometimes (then again, maybe it's even understated, considering the current state of affairs), but that is justified given that we are given the story from the viewpoint of Clare and Austin. While their budding romance is the weakest part of this novel it serves first as a respite from the mundane horror both kids encounter during their investigation and, refreshingly, it is ultimately a contrast of their personalities: Only one of them can both accept the injustice of the past and her own responsibility with the present.

Back in the 90's I remember reading "Twins" (a mystery with an intriguing premise and an atrocious third act), "Wanted!" (a thriller undone by an implausible premise), "Flight #116 is down!" (a pretty effective disaster drama) and the short story "Where the deer are" (a genuinely eerie supernatural tale; collected in the anthology "Thirteen"), all from Cooney. This novel, while still exhibiting some of her occasional flaws, is a much stronger work. Recommended overall.

[Fenril]

- Catching fire (Hunger games, vol. 2). Suzanne Collins. Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen not only survived the barbaric Hunger Games, but managed to save her ally Peeta. Her actions have done much more than that, however: They have sparked a rebelling that could very well lead to a full-scale uprising across the country. Hounded by authorities desperate to keep up appearances, Katniss is forced to continue her charade of being a love-stuck ingenue even in the face of atrocities like public lashings and executions. Yet here are other forces at work, too, some benevolent and some conniving. All extremely dangerous. Soon, "the girl on fire" finds herself swept up into a whirlwind of intrigue that leads her back to her worst nightmare: into a new Hunger Games.

Energetic sequel to the surprisingly good YA novel "The hunger games"; as that novel uses Koushun Takami's "Battle Royale" as unacknowledged template, it is appropriate that this sequel takes a lot from the movie "Battle Royale II" (the novel is a standalone), showing us the nation-wide consequences of our protagonist's defiance against a psychotic authority system. Rawer and far less glitzy than the inevitable movie adaptation, this novel is a rare sequel wroth checking out. Marred only by an abrupt conclusion meant to tie in directly to the next sequel.

[Fenril]

Two short blurbs, since I don't have that much to say about these books:

- Glinda of Oz. L. Frank Baum. The last Oz book written by the original author, Baum, and thus more or less the original ending (Baum had first intended "The wonderful wizard of Oz" to be a stand-alone, and then "The emerald city of Oz" to be the ending). A slim yet charming as usual tale in which Ozma and Dorothy must travel to an uncharted part of Oz to prevent war between two thoroughly selfish, despotic rulers. The primary point of interest here is the way the Oz novels evolved from what was meant to be Baum's modern fairytale sans the suffering found in classics a la the tales repopulated by the brothers Grimm and others, and by this point had evolved into his personal view of a magical, socialist, matriarchal utopia, where wealth and power are shared equally under the benevolent rule of kindly women. That pop culture, particularly in the US, seems to love dark (sometimes interesting, sometimes downright cruel) interpretations of Oz is perhaps indicative of the way the "American dream" of the early 20th century crashed hard into the bleaker nightmares of latter times. And yet, both the original series, the many imitators, and some of their darker takes remain undeniably fascinating to readers of all ages. Perhaps it really is a timeless place and tale, after all.

- My trip to Alpha I. Alfred Slote. The second book of Slote's "Robot Buddy" series of children's sci-fi novels; an adventure yarn in which young Jack must save his estranged aunt from an interplanetary conspiracy to strip her of her properties. A nicely written sci-fi book whose plot of evil indigenous people plotting to reclaim a plot of land that belongs to a benevolent colonial mistress is either unfortunate in its implications or perhaps exactly what appears to be, fiction as a platform for rather repellent ideologies espoused by an author who may not even be aware of his own views.

[Fenril]

- Pendulum. Ruby Jean Jensen. Young Roma Anton is dared by his snobby classmates to swim in a sandpit, the most forbidden area of their town. He'd have succeeded, too, if he hadn't drowned halfway through. One year later Heather, poster child for "down on her luck foster kid", receives an unlikely gift from a garbage collector (as in, a literal garbage collector, not a purveyor of nostalgia memorabilia): A fortune-telling pendulum set. Using it to set up a fortune-telling booth at her school's Halloween festival does briefly improve her social standing. Well, apart from the fact that her pendulum keeps predicting death and "unspeakable horrors" for certain people --incidental adults, teenagers... oh, yeah, and those kids that caused Anton's death. There is no escaping their dire fates, for them or for poor Heather herself...

Pitch-perfect example of why 80's (USian) horror has such a bad reputation amongst most fans of the genre; a novel full to the brim with clichés and missteps. And yet, it's still not quite as bad as you have heard. Ruby Jean Jensen is known (in those places that have heard of her at all, that is) and generally regarded as a serviceable horror author, whose fans champion her novels as early examples of YA fiction and / or modern fairytales. And the publisher, Zebra books, is best described as "literary schlock". Their roster of authors includes the likes of Andrew Neiderman, William W. Johnstone and Stephen Gresham, after all!

As you can probably expect, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Jensen's prose is competent, if not particularly inspired (but it IS a million times better than the likes of Johnstone, let me assure you of that). The characters in this novel are mostly developed, except for---

---well, right here is one of the big problems with this novel: The adult characters are mostly well-written, but the children's portrayal is inconsistent as hell --one minute this character is portrayed as a born sadist, and the next he's just a dirt-poor son of a farmer who wishes to be accepted by the richer kids. Another treats her live-in cousin like dirt one page and gets maternally caring of her two pages later; and so on. The problem is, these children are supposed to be the main focus of the storyline.

On the other hand, this novel is actually pretty good when it forgets the main plot. The best characters, Patsy (aunt of Heather) and Clarice (teacher of Heather) are both interesting in their own right. The former is a social climber dealing with an unwanted pregnancy; the stress is forcing her to confront just how vapid her desire for upscale living has made her, to the point of failing to realize just how self-absorbed her children have grown. The latter is a lonely, frustrated woman stuck caring for her ailing mother and still carrying a torch for the one summer fling she had ages ago --and even that, it soon becomes apparent, was mostly in her head. The truth, as one can imagine from this kind of novel, is far ghastlier.

But the plot itself is still rife with inconsistencies and leaps in logic. How can a family live in a home for over ten years and just not notice that there are two corpses in their basement? Why is the supernatural curse at work so unbalanced -- some characters are punished completely out of proportion (ex., offed for... having bad thoughts about this one person, once) but others walk away with nary a scratch. Why does this one character randomly become a werewolf and then a pet for two ghostly children? Why would a sheriff write in his notes pertaining to a murder investigation "(this kid) has sad eyes"?

So yeah, "literary schlock" is an accurate description of this novel. You could do worse, sure... but you could do so much better, too, ya know?

P. S. Oh, yeah, in case we forgot when this book was written --in this novel, Roma characters are called "Gipsies". And they do have supernatural powers (well, some of them do) by birth.

P. P. S. Also, dig that hologram cover that looks awful when you try to scan it. (USian) 80's paperbacks man!

[Fenril]

- The girl on the train. Paula Hawkins. Every morning, Rachel takes the commuter train to London. Every day, she spies the same lovely couple on a suburban home her train stops by. She daydreams about these people, enough so that she has dubbed them "Jess" and "Jason", and imagines what their perfect lives must be like. But one day she sees something that changes everything. If only Rachel wasn't an alcoholic, and prone to blackouts. And if only she had knows that the HIpwells were not remotely the happy couple she imagined them to be...

Debut thriller from Hawkins; a finely crafted mystery with plenty of twists along the way, but which real draw is the solidly developed characters. Their many, many obsessions and hangups, too. Managing to be sympathetic and repulsive by turns (sometimes almost at once), the cast and the enigma are compelling enough to sustain interest all the way to the end.