Review: The Lost Man

5 stars. This was GREAT, as expected. Jane Harper is becoming one of my must-read authors. If you enjoy quick, well-plotted, atmospheric mysteries (with a distinctly Australian flavor!), Harper's for you. 

This particular book is a low stakes mystery about a man who returns home - to a broken family in a town from which he was exiled - to deal with his brother's death. As he tries to reconcile and recover from the shock, he realizes he has to face some difficult truths about his past, his present, and his future. It's a story about human nature, denial, abuse, and resilience under harsh conditions. And it's incredibly enjoyable.

I think Aaron Falk is my favorite, so far, but I'm kind of embarrassed with how quickly and deeply I became invested in Nathan Bright's journey. I don't always agree with Harper's protagonists, but I almost always understand them. And her characters are all wonderfully distinct, with clever, strange voices and a hearty mix of good and evil in each. Even the dead ones, portrayed in flashbacks and observational comments, come across brilliantly.

It didn't hurt the book at all, but things wrapped up really neatly here. I actually found that to be quite nice, quite satisfying. I don't think this author is particularly worried about being unpredictable (though the twist was nice). Answers are good but a captivating quest to find them is better. Harper clearly trusts her readers and her writing is better for it.

I am personally in awe of Harper's ability to play with emotions, like shame and determination and forgiveness, and things like memory and intricate family dynamics. I also love the way she makes her setting a character - pushing, pulling, inspiring characters in interesting ways. She consistently paints a really vivid environmental picture; I had no trouble imagining the heat and the dust of the Outback. And she dives headfirst into some important issues here in striking and surprising ways. The way she portrays the nuances of rape and consent - breathtaking. I hope she never stops writing about quiet, complicated humans in complicated situations.

AWESOME BOOK.

The Lost Man on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: The Trial of Lizzie Borden

3 stars. What's fascinating about Lizzie Borden is that there's so much more to the nursery rhyme, but so few answers in the end. The grisly murders captured America's attention, and resulted in one of the fairest, most admirable trials in the history of the justice system. But the crime still, to this day, represents a strange, "locked room" mystery. Those of us starved for the truth will find the details presented here of great interest.

And there are many, many details. This reads like a textbook, and was therefore almost a DNF (I kept falling asleep on the train!); but truthfully I am quite interested in the courtroom drama of it all, and was satisfied by a rewarding finish. I had no idea that Lizzie's story had such a sparkling supportive cast - from the bumbling policemen, charismatic lawyers, thirsty spectators, admirable judges to, of course, the amusing crucial witnesses.

I was not previously aware (naively) of how deeply the sexism of the time permeated the proceedings - Lizzie essentially became, as many defendants do, a tennis ball being racketed back and forth by men trying to outsmart each other. Beyond that, however, I learned that her gender was used by BOTH SIDES to prove her innocence and/or guilt. She's a woman: they're dangerous, wily creatures who have committed the worst crimes in history (!!!) - GUILTY. She's a woman: they're weak, dumb, and don't have the strength to wield an ax (!!!) - NOT GUILTY. I found this to be hilarious and tragic and classic.

But justice prevailed - or did it? I found this book to completely prove that Lizzie is innocent from a legal perspective. Yup, that evidence was circumstantial AF. Yup, the police really screwed some stuff up there. Yup, the prosecution's arguments were underwhelming and desperate. But the justice system is imperfect because it's a human system, and I guess we'll never know what really happened that day in the Borden household.

I couldn't help but compare this to See What I Have Done, which I read fairly recently. I really appreciated Sarah Schmidt's attempt to draw a new picture of the Borden murders, but found it a little tryhard. Still, her sticky, dramatic portrayal of a guilty Lizzie starkly contrasts with the portrayal of an innocent Lizzie in The Trial. The Trial is extensively researched and draws from transcripts, newspaper articles, and more. The illustrations are useful and you really get a feel for what that hot courtroom felt like during the spectacle.

My favorite part was the end - a pithy, beautifully-written coda to an exhausting narrative. I loved reading about the various theories out there, and about the locked up, hidden away defense files. I loved reading about the rest of Lizzie's life, and about her love for Boston Terriers, and her refusal to leave Fall River. Ultimately, I'm into this. I'll always be into Lizzie.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: In a Dark, Dark Wood

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

3 stars. I didn't really like this. I was seduced by the creepy title and the promise of a dark thriller but all I got was a basic story told in weird increments. It was mediocre and predictable and while it kept me turning pages I just really didn't care.

There were a lot of annoying things about this book but the biggest, for me, had to be the protagonist. I know others have commented on her here and I would agree that she's just damn ridiculous. Consuming a story of any kind requires suspension of belief, and I'm willing to suspend a lot if the action is enjoyable and satisfying in its own way. But I'm really unwilling to believe that a girl was so traumatized by a pretty typical (yeesh, that may be misguided - common? fairly common?) romantic experience that it dictated every action years later. My favorite phrase, used by a reviewer above, is "psychologically improbable." Yeah, that just about covers it.

And it's the plot, too - everything's so campy and melodramatic and twisty in a way that simply isn't creative. It wasn't dark enough, for me. I mean, I was super unsettled by the fact that she even went to the stupid bachelorette party in the first place, but I was unsettled in a "oh, this narrator is really fucking dumb," and "a bachelorette party? I'd rather put a campfire out with my face" sort of way.

I read an interview with Ruth Ware in which she described this book as a combination of Agatha Christie and the Scream movies. Cool! What a fabulous concept. And also an extremely admirable goal. I am into it! I just don't think she got there, though, with this one. Poor execution. I'd like to read some of her other books and try her again, though.

In a Dark, Dark Wood on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Interview with the Vampire

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 05 / 12

3 stars. This is a beautiful, classic vampire tale - very sensual, philosophical and romantic. It's not an effortless read, as the writing is substantial and dense. But it's compelling, in its own way, and gives life to some of the most intriguing, interesting characters in vampire literature. I tried to imagine reading this when it had first debuted - before mopey Brad Pitt - and it struck me how innocently Anne Rice employs the unexpected (the interview concept, a child vampire, a blatant homoerotic flavor) to keep you turning pages. It's pillowy and rock hard at the same time.

Interview with the Vampire is Louis' story: his early life as a mortal in New Orleans, his transition into vampire, the chaotic confusion that followed, and eventually, the unsteady awakening of his immortal identity. He describes in great detail his birth, his clumsy grasps for family (including the shallow, electric Lestat and the cold child vampire Claudia) and his startling and devastating encounter with others of his own kind. It's a bit of an epic, spanning decades and soaring from the tapestry of New Orleans to the sparkly light and deep darkness of Paris.

The central focus of this novel is Louis' internal struggle to reconcile who he is with what he is. He is seduced by Lestat and transformed with little knowledge of what he has become, leaving him with questions and infinite time to contemplate them. He believes killing to be the ultimate sin, and spends most of the novel trying to avoid it or hating himself for it. His conscience - his "passion" - is unique among vampires and they find his self-loathing both strange and attractive. He questions the nature of "evil" and its spiritual, or human, origins. I really enjoyed this exploration; a refreshingly slow take on vampire mythology.

That said, it's a bit ... emo. The way he talks is very melodramatic and a bit annoying - I wanted a break from it after awhile. Louis is straight-up sugar - too rich for me. I wanted more Lestat, more Armand, more Celeste, more PEPPER. And more gay stuff! I know the homoerotic tones are strong here, but they kept talking about love but "not physical love of course," to which I'm like [JOHN CENA VOICE] are you sure about that??! I know it gets less subtle as the series continues, which I applaud. 

So here we are, with the dreaded three stars. I liked it, I wasn't totally blown away, I sort of had to muscle my way through it despite its short length. I'm really into Anne Rice though, I love her rock opera way of writing. That's reflected in the movie adaptation, I think, along with the heavy angst (hence mopey Pitt). Ultimately I'm thrilled to have read this for my reading challenge because it was a MUST. READ. I loved reading it so soon after Dracula. I hope it continues to carve its own pathways within the vampire canon.

Interview with the Vampire on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: Before the Fall

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

3 stars. I'm a huge Noah Hawley fan. Fargo and Legion are so incredibly creative and engaging and strong, so obviously I opened Before the Fall with high expectations and a side-eye on the hype. And did it get there? Did it do it for me? Well, sort of.

I've been thinking a lot about Goodreads and social media and its impact on the book world, and I would agree with many that Goodreads "reviews" should really be called "reactions." If I were to "review" this book, I'd probably give it a higher score than if I simply "reacted." I mean look, critics loved this book. They raved about it. "Ingeniously nerve-racking" - New York Times. "Terrific thriller" - Washington Post. "Highly entertaining" - AP.

My purpose here is different, though. I just want to chat! I want to provide my opinion in an informal (lazy) manner without feeling the pressure to recommend or not recommend. I want to unpack and extrapolate to a certain degree but keep things firmly in the realm of "response" rather than "review."

Ugh, okay, back to the book: I just don't know. I loved the concept - I like group dissection stories in which a bunch of characters are introduced and we learn about them one-by-one. I liked the mystery and the social commentary and the insights about families and relationships. I liked that it starts with a plane crash and moves backward and forward to build the narrative. I was delighted by the cinematic details and the deep characterization for which Hawley is particularly well-known.

BUT, I didn't like the ending, so much, although it was the type of dark turn I normally really enjoy. I thought the political / entertainment industry satire fell a little flat. Overall, it lacked a spark, I think, for me. It lacked the special flavor that usually keeps me reading something like this. It just wasn't spicy enough! I'm still a huge Hawley fan (his work this season on Legion is triumphant), but as I said, this is just a solid sort of for me.

Before the Fall on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Dracula

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 RE-READ PER MONTH 04 / 12  

5 stars. Hello there! It's been awhile. Several things happened in life this month: 1. reading slump 2. puppy 3. new Kindle, which took awhile to get used to. I'm behind but I'm going with the flow. And the good news is, I really enjoyed re-reading Dracula.I wrote about 4 billion words on it in college but I hadn't read it for FUN since I was maybe ... 12? I was in the mood for something like this: long, eerie, Gothic, old school.

Three things really struck me about Dracula, this time: One - my impression of this book is really tangled with my impression of the Coppola adaptation. I actually love that film, I love the aesthetics and the performances (yes, even Keanu!), but I thought I'd be able to separate from them in reading. Not so, apparently. Which was fine; definitely made the reading experience a little unusual.

Two - this book could use some editing. I see now that The Historian felt so bogged down and slow to me because it pulled from the flavor of the original. There are parts that sing (Harker's experience in the castle; the mountain chase at the end), but there are incredibly slow parts as the characters try to figure out - ON PAPER - what the heck they are dealing with. I care about the vampire, not about his "child-brain" or whatever. I care about his demise, not which river he took to get home.

Three - OH THE MELODRAMA! I kept rolling my eyes at the extreme emotion of it all - the love for Lucy, the love for Mina, the swooning, the practically spiritual way they all worshiped and praised each other. Characters "overcome" left and right. Even for a Victorian novel, there were so many tears and promises and feelings - from men more than women, which is interesting. Obviously there are a ton of ways to interpret the role of women in this book and there are a ton of papers written about that. It's complicated. But I was really taken aback by the amount of detail dedicated to the male characters' seemingly hysterical reactions to everything.

Truly though, this is a masterpiece. It's rich and brilliant and perfect to study. There's so much to unpack about what was feared and admired in Victorian times, and how each character explores and embodies those themes. I'm fascinated by the way mental health and sanity played a part, as well as desire and religion and spirituality and old vs new. So many delicious ingredients!

I'm so happy that my reading challenge took me in this direction. My house has been chewed up by an 8-week old corgi, my new Kindle has Wi-Fi issues, I haven't "felt like reading in awhile" (which means I'm deathly ill, probably), but I really enjoyed sinking into the Carpathian mountains when I could. What can I say? Vampires interest me, and this one is the OG.

Dracula on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: The Girls

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

2 stars. This just didn't do it for me. I had really, really high expectations, and that may have been part of the problem, but ultimately it just didn't resonate. My immediate reaction: stylish but empty.

Okay, so I liked that The Girls captures a hugely important aspect of being a teenage girl. For someone so insecure and worried about being judged, Evie judges others harshly - especially men. She's hypercritical; beyond hypercritical, she's full of feral hatred and disgust. And she's struggling, flailing around, grasping at an identity that keeps slipping through her fingers. I remember that; as a teenage girl I had no idea what I was doing ... and I knew it.

And the writing is admirably grotesque, borrowing from Gillian Flynn, but the similes and metaphors are really strange and the language occasionally pretentious (sorry! I used the "p" word!). Cline's words are wild and flashy and strange and impressionistic, but they feel manipulative, like shiny wrapping paper around a mediocre gift. The purpose of this book felt murky.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something. I wanted to like this and I do appreciate it on some level. I'm eager to see what Emma Cline paints next. But this a 2-star experience, for me.

The Girls on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: Three Dark Crowns

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

It took way too long for this story to click into place, and when it did, it was only-sorta-barely satisfying enough. I was into the premise (very, very, very Game of Thrones-ish) and the writing is ... pretty good, but I completely understand why many did not finish. The number of characters is off-putting, especially at the beginning, and the lack of action causes things to really drag. Pacing, pacing, pacing.

I don't mean to be entirely negative. Blake earns points for a fun ending and some interesting loose ends. I liked the mood, the atmosphere, and the fairy tale tone. There's a sense that we started reading this story through a magnifying lens and our view will now expand rapidly until we get some history/context. Intriguing! And the book tastes awesome - it's got that spicy fantasy flavor everyone knows and loves. At the end of the day, though, it just didn't satisfy my hunger.

I think I might read on, hoping that some of the issues resolve themselves in book 2. Oh, and I would ask for fewer empty romantic subplots but I'm not so sure that's a Blake thing. That just may be a YA fantasy thing.

Three Dark Crowns on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: The Night Manager

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. The Night Manager tells the tale of a man named Jonathan Pine and his drive to bring down a rich criminal named Richard Roper. Pine infiltrates Roper's inner circle with the complicated support of the government, and - apologies for the old (yet appropriate) spy novel cliche - finds himself tangled in a web from which he will likely never escape.

This is one of those books that forced me to step back and say okay, regardless of how I feel about the story, it's an impressive piece of writing. Among the book's many merits, the dialogue stands out - it's perhaps the most spectacularly consistent use of colloquialism I've ever encountered (thanks to the italic emphasis on certain words, I could hear the British accents in my head). And the dedication to detail makes this book a bit of a project to get through; it required a certain amount of concentration I haven't needed since reading Shakespeare. That's not a complaint.

About the ending: I typically don't mind ambiguous endings. I really don't. Sometimes I find them to be much more satisfying than those that are wrapped up neatly in a bow. However, in this case, it felt like running a marathon for which there was no true finish line. Why dedicate so much time and energy to a story whose main plot line, ultimately, bears no real fruit?

Is that the point? That life, in the end, offers no rewards? That the bad guys go on being bad guys, and the good guys go on pretending they aren't bad guys, and the rest of us go on running in circles trying to figure out who is who? That's pretty bleak. That's a bitter piece of fruit, right there. Which is fine. But somehow it still felt like the ending diminished the story.

Maybe I'm a little unsatisfied because of something more specific. I don't mind a traditional villain's success as much as I mind a plague of unchecked office weasels taking over the earth. Like, I'll take Voldemort over Dolores Umbridge any day. The bureaucratic buttheads were simply a nightmare for someone like me, whose office is rife with tangled power plays and control for the sake of control. I wanted to see those ego-driven, political maniacs nailed to the wall for their pointless trifling. Sigh. I think this says a lot about me: that truthfully, I'm fine with Roper going free. But I'm not fine with the buttheads winning.

This was a really interesting read. It had a little bit of everything; some very, very good writing. I'm not sure I would recommend it, exactly, but I have no regrets about seeing it through.

The Night Manager on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Ghost Story

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 04 / 12

4 stars. As a humble student of horror, I couldn’t give this anything less, but it was hard to get through. Ghost Story is a classic, and therefore it feels like one - long, a bit meandering, successful but due for some editing. I didn't realize what a tribute this would be, full of references to the masters and their masterpieces. Hawthorne, Poe, James, Stoker, King, Bradbury … the gang’s all here!

To go into the plot would definitely unravel the experience prematurely; I suggest going in blind.

But I can’t resist giving some reactions. My thoughts:

Ricky - this adorable, cold-stricken, brave old man, I adore him.
Peter - he snuck up on me in the best way. I’m humbled by him.
The Town of Milburn - I mean Derry - I mean Milburn - I love it when the setting becomes a character.
The Sheriff’s Scene in the Prison with the Bodies - CHILLS.
The Evil with Attitude - YAAAAS!!
The Slow Tugging of Threads - masterful. The sense of dread is so important and wonderful.

I’d recommend this if you like horror tropes, like small towns, multiple points of view, evil blizzards, complicated heroes, an exploration of appearance versus reality through tingly terror. I was really intrigued by the beginning, and although the creative jazz faded a bit by the end, I was still engaged. I still cared. And loved, loved, loved the ending. Fans of King will love this book.

Warning, though: like I said, it’s a bit long - a bit superfluous. And honestly, there’s something about the way women are depicted that makes me uncomfortable. This is a real sausage fest to begin with, but something about it feels old school, in a bad way. The few female characters are either … well … the options aren’t good.

But here we are, at 4 stars, I’m so glad I read this, I feel full and productive and eager for more horror, as always. I SHOULD HAVE READ IT SOONER, but that’s why it was on my 2019 challenge list.

Ghost Story on: Amazon | Goodreads