Thomas More

A Weaker, More Preachy Brew

Revisado: 08-06-18

I have a weakness for prepper fiction. This sequel to William Forstchen's 2009 bestseller One Second After continues the story of a small North Carolina collegiate community's struggle to defend itself and rebuild after an EMP attack cripples the United States. Second books in series like this one rarely excite interest like the first, so it isn't surprising that this one drags a bit. In fact, it was downright boring at certain times. A large portion of the story seems to involve the cranky protagonist debating the moral nature of a particular situation with some other poor individual. I don't remember this guy Matheson talking so much in the first book, and I found myself disliking his caustic personality after a while, but eventually, the bullets began flying, and we had a satisfying conclusion to matters.

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The plot thickens...

Revisado: 08-01-18

There is no sort of book so intimate, so personally revealing than a speculative fiction like this one. It puts all of a writer's ideas (many of them hopes and fears for the future of our world that you'd otherwise have to pry out of her with alcohol in her neighborhood tavern) on display for readers to sort out and pick apart. I don't know another writer working in the genre who crams more ideas into her stories than Ada Palmer, and this is what I love - the mess of everything brought together into this delicious idea soup.

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Something sucks, and it isn't the vampires...

Revisado: 06-29-18

I was really hoping for something better from this book - a Russian vampire urban fantasy. But there was so much clumsy construction everywhere - at first, I blamed the translation (which isn't very good), but it comes down to the fact that Lukyanenko has little sense for developing characters beyond paper cut-outs, developing relationships that are supposed to be worth risking the world for, and brooding (our protagonist is a world-class brooder). Writers need to remember that we can't feel much about character danger or hurricanes or any points of world-altering consequence if we haven't fallen in love with that world. And there's something that's supposed to be a romance here, but it's almost like the part where the relationship is developed has been ripped out of the story to conserve time, the reader being told consolingly, "Oh, it's just like you might expect."

I think my biggest problem with the story, though -the thing that grated the entire time, was the handling of female characters. I don't know anything about Sergei Lukyaneko, and I'm certain there's something to being a Russian male writing in 1998 that fits into all this, but I'm done with books that can't lend dimension to its women.

The narrator Paul Michael does just ok, but he sounds too old for the part of the protagonist, and all his females are the breathy damsel voices. And for some inexplicable reason, Anton has no accent when we hear him narrating, but gains a Russian accent when he speaks aloud - it's very jarring. I so wish that narrators would trust us listeners enough to just lose all the stupid accents - we get it! It takes place in Russia! Everyone's Russian!

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Excellent, interesting novel!

Revisado: 06-08-18

I've had this one on my to-read list for over five years - the story of a single New England night in 1973 in which an ice storm descends and changes the lives of a group of mixed-up humans doing their best to make a go of it. Now just to be clear - it isn't all about the storm. The storm just comes along and weaves its way through the plot. Think, perhaps, of the rain of frogs in Magnolia, as a comparison. I didn't make a firm count, but I think we spend time with roughly six characters during the novel, whom Moody presents to us cloaked in a wise omniscient narrative voice. With this narration, I was reminded of Ann Patchett's Commonwealth, and also, strangely, of George Elliot's books - she was a big proponent of that "eye of God" looking bemusedly over her characters. The Ice Storm finds some middle ground between humor and drama, which is, I think, where most of life takes place. I enjoyed the story a good bit - liked the tapestry of characters, the messiness of their lives and their desires. There's a great deal of sexual activity and sexual thinking - much of it quite unique and interesting. Wendy was my favorite character - as complex a young woman as I've ever run across in literature. You never hear about this book being mentioned as anything special - like "classic" special, and I'm really not sure why - what it is about the writing that holds it back from packing more power or staying with us as readers - and I guess I come back to that narrative voice, which is the heart of the prose, but conversely, holds it back in some way from conveying the emotion of the characters more potently. Or perhaps too many cultural references? I don't know - we Americans are pretty culture-obsessed, so I couldn't tell after a while. All that being said, there are some brilliant passages that I wish I could share a few of here, but they involve a particular plot point that needs to remain hidden. RECOMMENDED.

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For Lovers of Hemingway and Bowles...

Revisado: 12-30-17

This is an exquisite book. I sometimes forget in my typical trudge through the brambles of popular fiction that some writers are still interested in probing the enigma of the human condition. It's hard to compare Kitamura's striking tone to anything I've read from recent writers, but after finishing a chapter or two, I knew I would love this book. It tickles those same sensibilities I have in reading Farewell to Arms or The Sheltering Sky - that setting of "foreigner among locals," that interior voice that observes without sentimentality. I never highlight anything in books, but there were some ideas here so finely written and considered that I had to stop and note them. Kitamura's writing seems to compel the reader to stop and ponder all the absurdities we find ourselves in, to think about our own foolish choices.

Katherine Watterson makes all the right choices with her narration - nothing showy, nothing inauthentic - and her quiet storytelling adds to the tension and feeling of the story. She is superb and intelligent. This was a truly special listening experience.

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Mysteries of Youth and Jazz

Revisado: 12-10-17

For Sun Ra lovers and jazz lovers - this was a fun and fascinating true account of a college jazz group at Dartmouth and their week-long experience of practicing and playing with Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Very well written by Michael Lowenthal - lots of insights into the process of musical collaboration and of being able to let go and live within the music instead of always having to control and drive it in predetermined directions.

I had to go out and buy three of Sun Ra's CDs after listening to this. Three down, 150 or so to go.

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Superb and Thought Provoking

Revisado: 11-27-17

I loved everything about this story, and think it's one of the major works of fiction right now illuminating our society. It horrifies, it thrills, but there are also comic moments that work as clever satire.The narration was superb - I loved Adjoa Andoh's work in listening to Americanah, and she's even better here, juggling a host of characters and accents with consummate skill. Can't recommend more highly - not a single dull moment.

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Good collection of short stories

Revisado: 03-19-17

After reading his award-winning The Sympathizer, I wanted to follow it up by looking at some more stories from Viet Thanh Nguyen. The Refugees is a collection of eight or nine stories that saw original publication in order sources. After the success of The Sympathizer, his publisher brought these works together into this collection. All the stories feature Vietnamese characters and are set either in America as immigrant tales, or in Vietnam, as is the case with the last story of the collection featuring a father who receives a visit from a daughter who has "made it big" in the states as a pediatrician. Themes such as aging, young love, regret, and deceit work strongly throughout the collection. All of the stories are excellent and help to illuminate the lives of Vietnamese immigrants.

The author narrates the collection himself, and as is often the case with such things (SEE "The Lovely Bones," as an example) the results are good, but not great. Great narration is an art in itself, and sometimes the best idea is to bring in a hired gun for the job.

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A Mixed Bag

Revisado: 02-24-17

I found the audiobook to be frustrating, to say the least. I love Saunders' work and know that the printed version of this novel is likely much better than this audiobook version indicates. As is, there are some good narrators (Nick Offerman), some decent ones (David Sedaris), and some utterly terrible ones, who feel like they are reading their lines with a gun to their heads. I think the stilted language of the 1860s was too much an impediment to some of these voices. Another problem is that the actors were not recording a shared experience - in other words, they were not together at the time and were not able to fully feed off each other's lines and work as a true ensemble. Few actors enjoy working under those conditions. The story rambles and ambles about, speakers are interrupted, and there is no cohesive emotional center sustained throughout. I felt at times that I was in the audience of a bad high school play. That said, there are some beautiful moments and funny moments, too. Too bad they're buried amidst the mess.

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Squandering Good Characters

Revisado: 02-18-17

Mark Lawrence had the idea of squandering all the delight readers found in his fantasy odd couple by taking them on a pointless quest. Bad idea.

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