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akujunkanYes, it's about a month late, but at least I finally finished the sucker. I just really had a hard time of it, as one of the seven books I read was so horrible I'm going to spoil the entire thing so that you won't be tempted to even get near it.
1) Wild Ginger - Anchee Min
Wild Ginger is the story of a love triangle set during China's cultural revolution, where the lovers are both abused by and use the Communist system to achieve their own objectives. It's an intriguing concept, but one that Min is unable to deftly exploit. The reader is left with a flat, melodramatic tale that would have better portrayed the horrors of the Cultural Revolution had Min managed to make her characters anything more than words on a piece of paper. The book reads quickly enough, but I would recommend both Chang's Wild Swans and Chen's Colors Of The Mountain over this volume.
2) Celtic Love - Caitlin Matthews
Caitlin Matthews and her husband John have made names for themselves through their Celtic Studies-inspired brand of shamanism. Their books, while often as much inspiration as straight historical fact, are interesting, but unfortunately this volume does not live up to its siblings. Celtic Love appears to have been written with a template, most likely at the behest of a publisher. Matthews has alternately rewritten well known Celtic tales or used them as the basis for original short stories, but they begin to bleed together after awhile. The characters' voices are all oddly similar regardless of historical time period or geographic location, and there is at least one uninspiring sex scene within the first ten pages of each chapter. While not a bad book, there are better collections of modern reworkings of these stories available.
3) The Red Queen - Margaret Drabble
That The Red Queen's author is surnamed "Drabble" is the highest of ironies, considering how bloated, redundant, and masturbatory I found her prose. This novel has a fabulous concept: what if Princess Hyegyong, author of a celebrated late Joseon-era autobiography, were to reach from beyond the grave to influence the life of a 20th century envoy into whose hands Hyegyong has placed her memoirs?
Unfortunately, this concept fails miserably due to Drabble's utter lack of anything approaching talent. When it comes to chronologically-challenged narration, telling-not-showing, inexplicable plot holes, horrid contrivances like flashbacks within flashbacks, and above all multiple self-inserts, Drabble is the worst offender I've encountered since Anne Rice. The Red Queen is 376 pages of endless, mind-numbingly dull exposition provided by Drabble, Princess Hyegyong, and "Babs" the worldly, 20th century rising star academic who is so obviously Drabble's stand-in it's embarrassing.
Each of these "characters" shares the exact same narrative voice, which is to say a complete lack of any narrative voice whatsoever. And the problems don't stop there. Drabble admits on the first page that she knows next to nothing about Korea and has made no attempt to correct this ignorance, which is why Drabble's Hyegyong thinks and acts like a 20th century Westerner. (In an attempt to excuse this inexcusable laziness, Drabble informs us that Hyegyong acts like a 20th century Westerner because she reads widely from beyond the grave. Yeah, right.)
And then there's Babs: beautiful, cultured, her rising academic career tempered by the dark secrets of her past, and utterly captivating to every man she meets: the top academic in her field falls madly in love with her at first sight and they embark upon a May-December romance before he dies, at which point Babs befriends his clinically insane third wife (I am so not making this up) and gives her a reason to go on living by helping her to adopt a Chic Designer Accessory--I mean, underprivileged Chinese baby, which they then raise together. In case one might be tempted to run for one’s life to escape the Mary Sue-ism, Drabble is there to assure us that Babs is no such thing--by having Babs meet Margaret Drabble in the book. And wait--there's more! Babs is a long-time fan of Drabble's writing! And you can be too; Drabble has the characters plug one of her earlier books in the story. My final verdict: do yourself a favor and go read Dan Brown instead.
4) Hellboy: Wake The Devil – Mike Mignola
This second collection of Hellboy stories does much to flesh out the character's background, although as with all the other collections, one gets the sense that there is a lot more to Hellboy's story than is being told here, or indeed at all. Still, the art is excellent and the pop culture/gothic/super hero fusion helps to fill the void for such things left in the wake of Sandman's conclusion.
5) Peace Mom - Cindy Sheehan
I knew who Cindy Sheehan was, but was in Japan for the duration of the Camp Casey media circus and thus missed out on the particulars--which is why I decided to read this book. Sheehan definitely has a bone to pick--her description of her "visit" with an unfeeling President Bush primed for a feel-good photo op sent me into a chilled rage from which I didn't recover for hours. The rest of the book reveals less about the overarching politics of the Iraq War than it does the ways in which that war has devastated people back home: destroyed marriages, bred neglect for surviving siblings, chilled friendships, and led to lost jobs and a basic inability to function in society. Sheehan also has a bone to pick with other anti-war protesters, but is rather oblique about it; I imagine people who followed the coverage as it was occurring will understand her references, but they left me out at sea. At any rate, Peace Mom is not the best book dealing with the repercussions of the war, but it does illuminate an angle which has been neglected by other volumes.
6) In A Dark Wood - Michael Cadnum
This book, a retelling of the Robin Hood legend from the Sheriff's perspective, was surprisingly good. Cadnum combines a nuanced and realistic take on the Robin Hood legend without sacrificing the high adventure of the original. His sheriff and supporting cast are flawed, but sympathetically so--there are no cookie-cutter good and bad guys in this Nottingham--and Cadnum doesn't shy away from dealing with "adult" topics just because he's writing for a YA audience. Fans of the legend or of medieval historical fiction in general should definitely check this one out.
7) Hellboy: The Right Hand Of Doom – Mike Mignola
Few books justify their $18 price tags within the first two pages. The Right Hand Of Doom most definitely does. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have ever wondered why I love Hellboy so much, look no farther. The short stories in collected in this volume continue to build up Hellboy's back story, and the art is as wonderful as ever.
That will be all.
1) Wild Ginger - Anchee Min
Wild Ginger is the story of a love triangle set during China's cultural revolution, where the lovers are both abused by and use the Communist system to achieve their own objectives. It's an intriguing concept, but one that Min is unable to deftly exploit. The reader is left with a flat, melodramatic tale that would have better portrayed the horrors of the Cultural Revolution had Min managed to make her characters anything more than words on a piece of paper. The book reads quickly enough, but I would recommend both Chang's Wild Swans and Chen's Colors Of The Mountain over this volume.
2) Celtic Love - Caitlin Matthews
Caitlin Matthews and her husband John have made names for themselves through their Celtic Studies-inspired brand of shamanism. Their books, while often as much inspiration as straight historical fact, are interesting, but unfortunately this volume does not live up to its siblings. Celtic Love appears to have been written with a template, most likely at the behest of a publisher. Matthews has alternately rewritten well known Celtic tales or used them as the basis for original short stories, but they begin to bleed together after awhile. The characters' voices are all oddly similar regardless of historical time period or geographic location, and there is at least one uninspiring sex scene within the first ten pages of each chapter. While not a bad book, there are better collections of modern reworkings of these stories available.
3) The Red Queen - Margaret Drabble
That The Red Queen's author is surnamed "Drabble" is the highest of ironies, considering how bloated, redundant, and masturbatory I found her prose. This novel has a fabulous concept: what if Princess Hyegyong, author of a celebrated late Joseon-era autobiography, were to reach from beyond the grave to influence the life of a 20th century envoy into whose hands Hyegyong has placed her memoirs?
Unfortunately, this concept fails miserably due to Drabble's utter lack of anything approaching talent. When it comes to chronologically-challenged narration, telling-not-showing, inexplicable plot holes, horrid contrivances like flashbacks within flashbacks, and above all multiple self-inserts, Drabble is the worst offender I've encountered since Anne Rice. The Red Queen is 376 pages of endless, mind-numbingly dull exposition provided by Drabble, Princess Hyegyong, and "Babs" the worldly, 20th century rising star academic who is so obviously Drabble's stand-in it's embarrassing.
Each of these "characters" shares the exact same narrative voice, which is to say a complete lack of any narrative voice whatsoever. And the problems don't stop there. Drabble admits on the first page that she knows next to nothing about Korea and has made no attempt to correct this ignorance, which is why Drabble's Hyegyong thinks and acts like a 20th century Westerner. (In an attempt to excuse this inexcusable laziness, Drabble informs us that Hyegyong acts like a 20th century Westerner because she reads widely from beyond the grave. Yeah, right.)
And then there's Babs: beautiful, cultured, her rising academic career tempered by the dark secrets of her past, and utterly captivating to every man she meets: the top academic in her field falls madly in love with her at first sight and they embark upon a May-December romance before he dies, at which point Babs befriends his clinically insane third wife (I am so not making this up) and gives her a reason to go on living by helping her to adopt a Chic Designer Accessory--I mean, underprivileged Chinese baby, which they then raise together. In case one might be tempted to run for one’s life to escape the Mary Sue-ism, Drabble is there to assure us that Babs is no such thing--by having Babs meet Margaret Drabble in the book. And wait--there's more! Babs is a long-time fan of Drabble's writing! And you can be too; Drabble has the characters plug one of her earlier books in the story. My final verdict: do yourself a favor and go read Dan Brown instead.
4) Hellboy: Wake The Devil – Mike Mignola
This second collection of Hellboy stories does much to flesh out the character's background, although as with all the other collections, one gets the sense that there is a lot more to Hellboy's story than is being told here, or indeed at all. Still, the art is excellent and the pop culture/gothic/super hero fusion helps to fill the void for such things left in the wake of Sandman's conclusion.
5) Peace Mom - Cindy Sheehan
I knew who Cindy Sheehan was, but was in Japan for the duration of the Camp Casey media circus and thus missed out on the particulars--which is why I decided to read this book. Sheehan definitely has a bone to pick--her description of her "visit" with an unfeeling President Bush primed for a feel-good photo op sent me into a chilled rage from which I didn't recover for hours. The rest of the book reveals less about the overarching politics of the Iraq War than it does the ways in which that war has devastated people back home: destroyed marriages, bred neglect for surviving siblings, chilled friendships, and led to lost jobs and a basic inability to function in society. Sheehan also has a bone to pick with other anti-war protesters, but is rather oblique about it; I imagine people who followed the coverage as it was occurring will understand her references, but they left me out at sea. At any rate, Peace Mom is not the best book dealing with the repercussions of the war, but it does illuminate an angle which has been neglected by other volumes.
6) In A Dark Wood - Michael Cadnum
This book, a retelling of the Robin Hood legend from the Sheriff's perspective, was surprisingly good. Cadnum combines a nuanced and realistic take on the Robin Hood legend without sacrificing the high adventure of the original. His sheriff and supporting cast are flawed, but sympathetically so--there are no cookie-cutter good and bad guys in this Nottingham--and Cadnum doesn't shy away from dealing with "adult" topics just because he's writing for a YA audience. Fans of the legend or of medieval historical fiction in general should definitely check this one out.
7) Hellboy: The Right Hand Of Doom – Mike Mignola
Few books justify their $18 price tags within the first two pages. The Right Hand Of Doom most definitely does. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have ever wondered why I love Hellboy so much, look no farther. The short stories in collected in this volume continue to build up Hellboy's back story, and the art is as wonderful as ever.
That will be all.
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on 2007-07-09 01:11 pm (UTC)OUCH! Bloody hell, that must be the worst book ever written, and I've read some absolute crap over the years. I've never thought Brouwn would be a better option. Thanks for reading the crap so I don't have to ;)