I know there are sub-genres within sub-genres, along with crossover genres. Some work, some don't. Kindred works, and it works well. A friend asked to see the back of the book, and laughed as he read the classification at the top: science fiction/African American literature. I use the term friend very loosely, as we were out on a date and one date later, he called me creepy for keeping a gun underneath my bedside table and also mansplained rape and stalking statistics in my area as being very low. Anyway, that is neither here, nor there.
I would definitely approach Kindred as an excellent piece of historical fiction and African American literature. Set in 1976 and over several years in the antebellum South, it shows the comparative aspects of relationships between black and white people both in time and in relation to one another. Hopefully that made sense. From the back of the books: Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stays grow longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is certain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
I feel that marking it as science fiction reaches a little, but I get why. Regardless, Butler writes well and descriptively, giving Dana depth and emotion--making her a truly likable character. Actually, I like all the characters, even Rufus and Dana's husband, though he falls a little flat. His reaction annoys (by annoy, I mean that it shames me into recalling I benefit from white privilege). I'm actually reading this for two different classes, both within Women's Studies. Within Feminist Theories, we've not touched on the book yet, but I am eager to see it from that approach as well--and may already be seeing it from that kaleidoscope perspective, in that Dana is black, married to a white man and has to deal with the disappointment of her family that she has married a white man. We have already touched on Kindred in my other class, U.S. Women of Colors--and hit it from more of a historical perspective. I'd definitely pick up Kindred if you are interested in historical fiction. If you are a die hard sci-fi nerd, well, it's really historical fiction. Good historical fiction, which means a lot coming from me.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Ready Player One Sequel?
Firstly, I have mixed feelings about this.
What was wrong with Ready Player One? Well, not a lot. But, enough to make it slightly painful to read. It had a strong start and it struck me as a very friendly book to a wide range of audiences. It hit all the high points that you could possibly imagine within the nerd kingdom. My gripe is the romance aspect. It was just eye roll inspiring.
As I stated in my initial review of RPO, I like Cline's writing. And I loved the nuanced aspect of touching on literally every nerd thing. And I do mean ALL OF THE NERD THINGS. I fully give it a 7/10 - would read again. But, I am really hoping for more evidence of his great writing.
Just leave out the teen romance.
What was wrong with Ready Player One? Well, not a lot. But, enough to make it slightly painful to read. It had a strong start and it struck me as a very friendly book to a wide range of audiences. It hit all the high points that you could possibly imagine within the nerd kingdom. My gripe is the romance aspect. It was just eye roll inspiring.
As I stated in my initial review of RPO, I like Cline's writing. And I loved the nuanced aspect of touching on literally every nerd thing. And I do mean ALL OF THE NERD THINGS. I fully give it a 7/10 - would read again. But, I am really hoping for more evidence of his great writing.
Just leave out the teen romance.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Divergent trilogy - Veronica Roth **SPOILERS**
I've been under the weather all week, so I was able to finish the first two books in record time. Once I had recovered a bit (and had to subsequently go back to work), the third one took me until today to finish. On the whole, the entire series has given me a love-hate feeling.
Starting with the hate: the Tris/Tobias dynamic annoyed me to no end. Granted, it was not as cheesy and teen-lust fueled as Ready Player One, but I just didn't like the way they came across. Teenage love moves at the speed of light, and that was reasonable in Divergent. However, I feel like the constant lying to one another and his habit of keeping Tris out of the loop to protect her... Well, I just got overly annoyed by it. While they do eventually come to an understanding and their relationship takes a healthier tone later, I just didn't like it.
The story was certainly entertaining and I had a lot of trouble putting down the first two books. If I am honest, I was secretly thrilled at having a fever and needing to stay home from work on Tuesday to finish Insurgent. I am fairly certain that my dissatisfaction with the series, on the whole, lies within book three. I just couldn't really get behind the dystopia within a dystopia. The Abnegation secret, and then the Bureau's interference within their "experiment" felt a little too manufactured. I'm not certain what outcome would have felt more likely, more natural to me. But, the thought of the Factions inside the city being a monitored experiment wasn't it.
Final opinion: not on par with Hunger Games, enormously better than Twilight. I think I need to go back to reading classics for awhile, and hope I can find some better inspiration there.
Starting with the hate: the Tris/Tobias dynamic annoyed me to no end. Granted, it was not as cheesy and teen-lust fueled as Ready Player One, but I just didn't like the way they came across. Teenage love moves at the speed of light, and that was reasonable in Divergent. However, I feel like the constant lying to one another and his habit of keeping Tris out of the loop to protect her... Well, I just got overly annoyed by it. While they do eventually come to an understanding and their relationship takes a healthier tone later, I just didn't like it.
The story was certainly entertaining and I had a lot of trouble putting down the first two books. If I am honest, I was secretly thrilled at having a fever and needing to stay home from work on Tuesday to finish Insurgent. I am fairly certain that my dissatisfaction with the series, on the whole, lies within book three. I just couldn't really get behind the dystopia within a dystopia. The Abnegation secret, and then the Bureau's interference within their "experiment" felt a little too manufactured. I'm not certain what outcome would have felt more likely, more natural to me. But, the thought of the Factions inside the city being a monitored experiment wasn't it.
Final opinion: not on par with Hunger Games, enormously better than Twilight. I think I need to go back to reading classics for awhile, and hope I can find some better inspiration there.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Chaos Walking Trilogy - Patrick Ness
Summary: In Prentisstown, you drown in your own Noise and the never ending Noise of other residents, pets and wildlife included. Todd is a short month from his birthday, the most important one of all, where he will be considered a man. He is the last boy, and he finds that there has been a terrible secret hidden. So he runs.
I could not help but breeze through the first novel, and even the second. The third was a little less gripping, as I had begun to feel like I knew what was going to happen between the Mayor and Todd. All of the characters started out well, especially Todd and Viola. They linger on the cusp of innocent childhood, only to be shoved into adulthood, where they have no choice but to evolve into survivors, fleeing from their fellow man.
As a villain, the Mayor is a little one sided, never taking on any depth until the second book. I am still unsure how I feel about his part in the story, other than the continual use of him as a foil for Todd. Todd the redeemable and the Mayor being completely nonredeemable. Viola is realistic and strong, a wonderful female protagonist that is scared, brave, and makes very human errors in judgement. The part of the Spackle, the native indigenous race of the new world, in the story becomes larger as it progresses, finally getting an actual voice in the third book. Again, the notion of being redeemable plays an important role here with the Spackle, who is referred to as The Return. I feel like Ness used this formula well, and that the notion of how humans tend to destroy everything was not over done while also not being subtle.
Overall, all three books are well written. I struggled starting out, as they are written from the perspective of an uneducated thirteen year old boy. The purposeful misspelling used to give Todd a voice ended up working very well, as he symbolically showed that knowing right from wrong does not require an education. And also showing that despite his lack of formal education, and growing up surrounded by evil, Todd was able to remain good despite his mistakes.
I could not help but breeze through the first novel, and even the second. The third was a little less gripping, as I had begun to feel like I knew what was going to happen between the Mayor and Todd. All of the characters started out well, especially Todd and Viola. They linger on the cusp of innocent childhood, only to be shoved into adulthood, where they have no choice but to evolve into survivors, fleeing from their fellow man.
As a villain, the Mayor is a little one sided, never taking on any depth until the second book. I am still unsure how I feel about his part in the story, other than the continual use of him as a foil for Todd. Todd the redeemable and the Mayor being completely nonredeemable. Viola is realistic and strong, a wonderful female protagonist that is scared, brave, and makes very human errors in judgement. The part of the Spackle, the native indigenous race of the new world, in the story becomes larger as it progresses, finally getting an actual voice in the third book. Again, the notion of being redeemable plays an important role here with the Spackle, who is referred to as The Return. I feel like Ness used this formula well, and that the notion of how humans tend to destroy everything was not over done while also not being subtle.
Overall, all three books are well written. I struggled starting out, as they are written from the perspective of an uneducated thirteen year old boy. The purposeful misspelling used to give Todd a voice ended up working very well, as he symbolically showed that knowing right from wrong does not require an education. And also showing that despite his lack of formal education, and growing up surrounded by evil, Todd was able to remain good despite his mistakes.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
2014 Books
While I'm not confident that I can keep up with this in 2015, here are the books I read during the past year. It is a short list in comparison to past years, but I drive to work and also have school. Several were rereads, as I was finishing several series and it had been quite some time in between reads. So, Happy New Year!
- Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
- New Spring - Robert Jordan
- Love In the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Gentlemen & Players - Joanne Harris
- Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby
- Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan
- Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan
- Five Quarters of the Orange - Joanne Harris
- The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan
- Sandman Slim - Richard Kadrey
- Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning
- Bloodfever - Karen Marie Moning
- Faefever - Karen Marie Moning
- Shadowfever - Karen Marie Moning
- Kill the Dead - Richard Kadrey
- Devil in the Dollhouse - Richard Kadrey
- Aloha From Hell - Richard Kadrey
- Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood
- Devil Said Bang - Richard Kadrey
- And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
- The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
- Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
- The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
- The Girl With All the Gifts - M.R. Carey
- The Gunslinger - Stephen King
- The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King
- The Wastelands - Stephen King
- Wizard and Glass - Stephen King
- Wolves of the Calla - Stephen King
- Song of Susannah - Stephen King
- The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
- The Girl With No Shadow - Joanne Harris
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris **Spoilers**
Balls. I mean, just... I can't even begin to know where to start. I already loved Joanne Harris. I've actually been rereading Five Quarters of the Orange in the middle of reading the last handful of Wheel of Time novels, just to break things up a bit.
But, bloody hell, this thing has such an intricate and twisted plot! Not only is she touching on class difference, she also shows how easily young minds can be shaped and influenced. Add in the back story, which the reader essentially gets in alternating chapters where our mystery villain tells us about their time at St. Oswald's, an expensive grammar school where class lines are defined and do not budge.
I actually had to go back and immediately read the last few chapters just to make sure I understood what I was reading. It seemed so obvious, who the mystery mole was at the school, but honestly, I completely missed it.
I've read a few reviews of the book and critics seem to think that the entire plot was predictable... And maybe I can agree on the aspect that was centered around the need for vengeance and the desire of our villain to topple the institution. However, the actual identity of said villain? That one took me by major surprise. And perhaps I am not perceptive, but I'd like to think I am.
But, bloody hell, this thing has such an intricate and twisted plot! Not only is she touching on class difference, she also shows how easily young minds can be shaped and influenced. Add in the back story, which the reader essentially gets in alternating chapters where our mystery villain tells us about their time at St. Oswald's, an expensive grammar school where class lines are defined and do not budge.
I actually had to go back and immediately read the last few chapters just to make sure I understood what I was reading. It seemed so obvious, who the mystery mole was at the school, but honestly, I completely missed it.
I've read a few reviews of the book and critics seem to think that the entire plot was predictable... And maybe I can agree on the aspect that was centered around the need for vengeance and the desire of our villain to topple the institution. However, the actual identity of said villain? That one took me by major surprise. And perhaps I am not perceptive, but I'd like to think I am.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Les Miserables - Dallas Summer Musicals
For all of you folks out there that think we Texans don't actually like things like musicals, well you're terribly wrong. My mother, poor thing, attempted to make me a well rounded child. She succeeded, but I'm fairly certain the process was not as enjoyable for her as it was for me. There were several instances at the Houston Symphony where I elbowed her awake (rarely for snoring, but because she was missing Beethoven and Handel. She's also responsible for my love of ballet. I was enrolled in ballet classes when I was six or seven, but didn't really enjoy it. I am not keen on small children in large numbers, and was not when I was a small child. That same year, she started my collection of Christmas nutcrackers, the first having two tickets to The Nutcracker tucked in the box. One could say that I probably, most definitely nerded out. She lives vicariously through me, because she claims she can't sit through anything that long anymore. Psssh.
This was my first time seeing Les Mis, and I have to say I absolutely enjoyed it. A previous boyfriend was (and still is) quite fond of the show, and purchased the version with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, which was nice, as musicals turned movies go. It certainly didn't catch my heart then, but this time was certainly different. Pretty certain I was not the only person sniffling when Fantaine sang I Dreamed a Dream. There was sniffling on and off on my part. It's hard to get into the recording of a musical when you've never seen the whole story play out on stage. It is just so different than seeing it on a screen. And I have to say that Allison Blackwell, who played Fantine last night was quite lovely and her rendition was touching and I think I must have really heard the song for the first time. She made it resonate.
Nehal Joshi played Jean Valjean, and again, I was really touched by how spirited his performance was. Joshi was animated, passionate and I truly felt for him as he struggled with accepting his second chance at living a worthwhile life. Elizabeth Judd was a very sweet and precious Eponine. It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the elements of the story--being happy for Cosette and Marius, but the Eponine element broke my heart. Judd gave a perfectly sassy and heartfelt performance.
Costumes were on point, a mix of modern military gear for the prison guards and lovely frippery for the more colorful characters. In short, I loved everything and am already dying to see it again!
This was my first time seeing Les Mis, and I have to say I absolutely enjoyed it. A previous boyfriend was (and still is) quite fond of the show, and purchased the version with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, which was nice, as musicals turned movies go. It certainly didn't catch my heart then, but this time was certainly different. Pretty certain I was not the only person sniffling when Fantaine sang I Dreamed a Dream. There was sniffling on and off on my part. It's hard to get into the recording of a musical when you've never seen the whole story play out on stage. It is just so different than seeing it on a screen. And I have to say that Allison Blackwell, who played Fantine last night was quite lovely and her rendition was touching and I think I must have really heard the song for the first time. She made it resonate.
Nehal Joshi played Jean Valjean, and again, I was really touched by how spirited his performance was. Joshi was animated, passionate and I truly felt for him as he struggled with accepting his second chance at living a worthwhile life. Elizabeth Judd was a very sweet and precious Eponine. It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the elements of the story--being happy for Cosette and Marius, but the Eponine element broke my heart. Judd gave a perfectly sassy and heartfelt performance.
Costumes were on point, a mix of modern military gear for the prison guards and lovely frippery for the more colorful characters. In short, I loved everything and am already dying to see it again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)