Darling Jim

Darling Jim by Christian Moerk (2009)

Rating: 6

I am so conflicted about this book. There were parts of it that I loved, and other parts that just didn't do it for me. I loved the Irish feel of the book...the slang, the scenes, the way a folk tale was woven into the modern day story. I could do without the "comic book incidents."

Comic book incidents, you say? Oh yes, I am afraid so. Here's the basic premise of the tale:

Two young women and an older woman are found gruesomely dead in a house. A local postman discovers the diary of one of the young women. He reads it, and as he does we follow the story of what happened to these people and how they ended up dead. The postman goes on a trek to the hometown of the three women to try and determine exactly what happened. Unfortunately, his main drive for doing this is as inspiration as a comic book artist. There is a folk tale about wolves, castles, and fair maidens woven into the story and he keeps trying to draw these things in a realistic way. I can put up with that to some point, but the real kicker comes at the end of the novel when, well, I can't say it. But, there is a huge shout out to the perceived importance of comic books that comes across as so utterly ridiculous I could barely force myself to read it. Also, unfortunately, the story of these women revolves around the completely unbelievable male character, Jim. There is no one like Jim in existence. Sorry, author. It's just not even close to reality.

The book has plenty of twists, turns, and action. Some of it is pretty far-fetched, though. I guess overall this book just didn't do it for me, which was surprising since it got good reviews on Amazon.

WOW

I can't recommend the Garth Nix trilogy enough. It will especially thrill Harry Potter fans who have been experiencing withdrawls since the end of that series.

It started with Sabriel which I reviewed last week. This week, I finished the other 2 books:

Lirael (Rating- 7)

Abhorsen (Rating 9)

I almost gave the last book a 10 because it really is amazingly well-written. The middle book, as often happens in trilogies, is a little weaker. It moved a little slower and seemed a tiny bit more immature than the other two to me (this author writes a lot of stuff directly for the middle/high school crowd and a sense of that creeped into some of this book). I still enjoyed it, but more as a stepping stone to the truly superb ending book, Abhorsen. I am reluctant to leave this magical world. It is so original and so clearly formed in my mind because of the author's great skill. I am always in awe when authors create fantasy worlds that are unique, fascinating, and so completely revealed that they seem to be real. These books have it all- an intriguing magical world, excellent character development, and perfectly paced action (most of the time).

Sabriel

Sabriel by Garth Nix (2001)

Rating: 9

A friend turned me on to this gem, the first of a trilogy. This fantasy, full of magic and starring a teenage heroine, is reminiscent of the Harry Potter series. The reader is dropped into the fascinating and completely formed magical world, and the action never slows. Sabriel, our teenage heroine, has grown up in a boarding school in the more normal of two neighboring Kingdoms. She rarely sees her father, Abhorsen, because he is away in the Old Kingdom fighting against death. Sabriel and her father are necromancers. This means they can enter the many levels of death and fight those who are not fully dead or those who use dead spirits to accomplish evil in the living world. This is, of course, highly dangerous work. Even though they have a special set of bells and magical swords for protection, moving within death is always tricky and the spirits they battle can be fierce. When Sabriel's father disappears, she embarks on an adventure to save him. This is a action-packed, thrilling tale with twists and turns, and an extremely well-woven magical environment. I was not able to put it down, and I immediately got the second book in the trilogy once I finished.

The Good, the Bad, and the Slightly Interesting

Buckle up, there are 3 book reviews today!

Where to begin, where to begin...There must be a reason people always start with the bad news, so I guess I will also. Here is the bad book:

Julie and Julia: My year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell (2006)

Rating: 5

This could have been so good. The idea is fascinating. I love Julia Child, and the idea of making every recipe from Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume One is exciting!

When Julie focuses on the buying of ingredients, cooking, and Julia Child, her memoir of this year of her life is snappy, interesting, and enjoyable. Her anecdotes about getting marrow from a real bone, boiling lobsters, and her witty insights on Julia Child's recipes are amusing. When she focuses on her extremely immature and annoying friends' stupid lives/loves, her own immature selfish thoughts/behaviors, her crappy apartment, and her boring job the book is absolutely unbearable. Unfortunately, she focuses on the latter about 75% of the time. Skip this one and pick up Julia Child's memoir My Life in France instead. It's so much better.

Things can only get better from here. Moving on to the slightly interesting...

Peony in Love by Lisa See (2007)

Rating: 6

I liked See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, so I really looked forward to this novel. The best thing going for it, also present in Snow Flower, is the way the small daily details and beliefs of 17th century China are woven into the story. I love historical fiction for this reason. When done well, and this one is done well, distant times and cultures come alive and unfold before the reader. The drawback here was that the plot was slightly contrived and did not pull me in very strongly. I was intrigued, amused, but never really connected to the characters. I think part of the reason I could not connect is because the story was so obviously unreal. A main portion of the book involved the active ghosts of dead characters. I am all for books that suspend reality and draw the reader into an alternate universe (as we'll see in my next book review). But in this case, I found it too whimsical and too foreign. It's not a bad read. But I don't think it would appeal to most people.

And finally, the good. I've been dying to get to this because it's really, really good.

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (2006)

Rating: 9

Wow. I love Zusak. I loved The Book Thief. If you only read one book this year, make it The Book Thief. I Am the Messenger is similar to it in that his clever, unusual, striking writing style is present as ever. I really have never encountered a voice quite like his. It captures me completely. I find it moving, funny, compelling, original, and frankly...almost perfect. He overdoes it every once and while- but I can forgive him almost anything because it's so infrequent and because his books are so original. Reading one of his novels, for me, is like opening a Christmas gift to find a unique item that I would have never thought to ask for, but is the exact perfect thing.

When I read his books, this one in particular, I sometimes wonder how he is going to proceed without the whole thing derailing into something dumb, sappy, or ridiculous. I am always mad at myself for doubting, even for a second, because he always takes it in just the right direction. This book is about Ed, a 20 year old do-nothing that suddenly begins to get anonymous messages on playing cards. The messages are very vague, but require him to interact in the lives of people around him. He is never completely sure what his "mission" is in each case, but he eventually figures out what needs to be done. I could barely put the book down. And yes, the ending, especially, suspends belief but it does it in the absolute best way to wrap up the book.

Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (2003)

Rating 5

Another mediocre book in a long line of mediocrity. Sorry. I'm really trying to pick some good reads, believe me. I'm bound to hit upon a wonderful book soon, but it wasn't this time. The only other Atwood book I have read is The Handmaid's Tale which I liked much more than Oryx and Crake. I have The Blind Assassin sitting on my shelf but have not gotten to it yet.

Atwood, in this book particularly, has a masculine style of writing. Oryx and Crake is such a brutally told tale. The writing is harsh, dirty, brazen, vulgar. The main character of the story, Snowman (AKA Jimmy in earlier, less apocalyptic times) is perhaps the only person left on earth. That is, except for a tribe of people he interacts with that are human also, but not in a typical way. Through a series of flashbacks, the reader discovers how things got to this state and also more about the tribe of people. We also discover the role Jimmy's best friend Crake, and the girl both of them fall in love with, Oryx, play in the destruction. I think Atwood's main goal is to explore the basic drives of humanity. We see what makes humans tick, but how those things can also make us into ticking time bombs. Lust, greed, sex, wealth, power, a desire for perfection are explored. The desire for perfection may be overly examined, actually. I got tired of reading how everyone was caught up searching for the miracle cures to aging and death. Yeah, I get it. That's our current society, magnified for effect.

This book just didn't really speak to me. I was also extremely irritated that right when things started to get interesting at the end, the book suddenly ends. There are probably better futuristic, apocalyptic novels out there. I would look for those instead of reading this one.

Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (2008)

Rating: 7

I just finished this book and another similar book Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (2009) during the past few weeks. Both books are compilations more than straight-forward novels. Olive Kitteridge has 13 "stories" within it. Each of the stories is about a person who lives in the same small town in Maine. One bold, out-spoken, stubborn old woman named Olive Kitteridge is a link between the stories. She is the main character in several, and is always at least mentioned in the stories that don't star her.

The Great World novel is more loosely outlined, but still contains a compilation of related stories. This time the characters are in New York City in the mid-1970's. There are fewer characters, some playing quite large roles throughout the book. Tying each of these stories together in an overall way is the feat of a tight-rope walker walking between the Twin Towers. That tight-rope walk actually happened in the 70's, but the rest of the book is fiction. Some of the stories in this book don't seem to go anywhere or relate to the overall theme of the book. I wish those had been cut.

I rate Olive Kitteridge higher than Let the Great World Spin for several reasons. I found the characters more like-able and easier to relate to. Both books had moments of profound, lyrical writing that described human emotion or behavior, but Kitteridge had them more often. Overall, the Kitteridge book seemed brighter and less depressing than the other. I cared more about the characters in Kitteridge so it was harder to put the book down. I wanted to find out what happened in their lives.

I don't usually care for books like these because I don't really have a desire to read about fictional characters' every day lives. There is no climax to the book, or resolution. These books tend to end in the strangest places because they are only describing lives that go on and on and the book has to end somewhere. Usually authors concentrate on depressing themes so it's a beating to read about how sad the characters' lives are when there's plenty of sad lives all around in the real world. I don't need to turn to it in my fictional novel. Sometimes there is a touch of hope or beautiful writing infused into the story. Each of these books had a little of that. But overall, this is not my favorite type of book.

Nation

Nation by Terry Pratchett 2008

Rating: 6

I have a habit of picking out novels that are intended (or so the marketing says) for a teen audience. And often, as in the case of The Book Thief, Harry Potter, and the Hunger Games, I am pleasantly surprised to find them capable of captivating and thrilling adults. Nation is another novel intended for teens, and I have to admit that it is not as grown up as these other books I have listed.

The premise is intriguing. In an alternate history (set in late 1800's England and Southern Pelagic Islands), the worlds of a young English girl and a young Native boy are turned upside down by a tidal wave/tsunami. The girl is on an English ship that crashes into the boy's island. She is the only survivor. The boy has been away on a different island and is canoeing home when the tsunami hits. It wipes out everyone on his home island, so he returns to his home as the sole survivor.

The most interesting parts of the book are watching the friendship between the girl and boy develop, and also watching their characters develop and mature in this desperate situation. They slowly learn to communicate with each other. As other survivors from neighboring islands show up, these two main characters take on a leadership role. Sometimes there is witty comic relief. Other times it comes across as a bit too silly.

The book continually deals with questions of faith. Mostly the native boy questions why his people's god would allow this great wave. It sounds like the same questions asked by people of faith today when tragedy strikes and loved ones die. Unfortunately these faith questions are never answered in a fulfilling way (they are left unanswered as unknowable and the strong message of "gods are invented beings so just believe in the goodness you see around you" is preached.)

This is a fast paced adventurous book reminiscent of Indiana Jones meets The Pirates of Penzance. It has moments of true beauty as the truth of the human spirit is discovered and celebrated. The author allows the reader to experience the joys and struggles of the characters in a touching, personal way. But I kept being pulled away from these moments of beauty by the nagging level of immaturity that was always right around the corner, ready to remind me that this is indeed a novel aimed for younger readers.

It's not a terrible read. It made me think about some important things like life, death, God, and community. But, it wasn't a wonderful read either.