Review: Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Posted on June 6, 2010 by

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Topic: Book Review
Date: 06/03/2010

Summary:
With The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1), Rick Riordan takes his readers along on another fantastic journey through ancient myth; though, unlike his Greek mythology series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, this series (The Kane Chronicles) deals with ancient Egyptian mythology. Like his first series, The Kane Chronicles centers on “special” youths who discover they are the unwitting heirs, by blood, of great, primeval power. A teenage boy, Carter, and his younger sister, Sadie, are thrust together after spending a lifetime apart. They are tasked not only with finding their father and saving his life, but also with saving all of humankind in the meantime. On their journey, they learn the history and secrets of their budding powers, and meet ancient characters, reborn, such as Anubis, Nut, Bast, and many other gods, goddesses, and magicians alike. Some are helpful, some are indifferent, and many are out to destroy them.

The Good: 
The Red Pyramid is more reminiscent to me of Book 5 in the Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5). It seems much more developed, and is much longer, than most of the books in the Percy Jackson series and like the Greek storyline, this first book in the Egyptian tales seems well-researched and creatively developed. The pace is fast enough to make you want to churn the pages, but not so fast that you get lost in the thick of it. Characters are distinguishable from one another (a criticism of mine in the Percy series) and, though the tale is fantasy, the majority of plot developments and story movements seem somehow feasible. I had not encountered ancient Egyptian mythology in some time (since the 6th grade) so this was a pleasant surprise – many of the names and stories I did remember, but this book helped remind me of the timeline, the rise and fall of the civilization itself, and the many myths that went with it. As someone who enjoys learning while being entertained in my reading, Rick Riordan never seems to fail me. After finishing the novel and being delighted by the story, you begin to realize that you actually picked up quite a bit of informative, educational substance along the way.

The Bad:
One major complaint is the recycling of a certain plot device throughout the novel. Two or three times, a major scene was driven by one mechanism which, while typically a welcome cliché in any action/fantasy novel, gets to be a bit tiresome when overused within the same story. I also find that Riordan’s novels always seem to take place over a period of days; the heroes are given 72-hours or a week to accomplish some extraordinary task, having at the time only just discovered their powers, and yet somehow they manage. Yes, this is fantasy, but a certain amount of realism, even in young adult fiction, would certainly serve to strengthen the overall story. I find no reason why, for instance, this first novel, being 500+ pages in length, could not have spanned at least a few weeks, or a few months. Why not separate the “Chronicles” into seasons, for instance, or years? As readers of fantasy should be well aware, after the recent and historic successes of Rowling’s Harry Potter series, when characters and stories develop over longer periods of time, the series tends to work well. So, what’s the rush?

The Final Verdict: 4.5 out of 5.0
Overall, I found this novel exhilarating and educational. I was a huge fan of Riordan’s first series, and I think I may even have enjoyed this first of the Kane Chronicles even more. I was not expecting so much from Egyptian mythology, probably because I was less familiar with it. If, like in the Percy Jackson series, each book improves upon the last, then I have very high expectations for this series as a whole.

Published by Hyperion, 2010
Edition: 1st Ed.
ISBN-13: 978-1423113386
Challenges: N/A
YTD: 28
Source: Owned Copy
Rating: 4.5/5.0

Review: Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Posted on May 30, 2010 by

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Summary
Kurt Vonnegut’s  The Sirens of Titan: A Novel is another brilliant morality tale of science meets religion meets the future meets politics and “so it goes.”  This novel seems to take on, full scale, the battle between omniscient destiny and free will. In this tale, a wealthy New Englander, Winston Niles Rumfoord (and his dog Kazak) gets the raw end of space-travel-gone-wrong deal.  He ends up trapped permanently on Titan, the largest of Saturn’s moons; however, he is also caught in a temporal flux, traveling back and forth through space on a never-ending, cyclical loop.  As he can see the past, the future, and everything in between, he decides to play a little game which, ultimately, was actually predestined by an alien race, the Trafalmadorians.

The Good
The cynicism and dark humor are superbly written – just over the top enough to remain non-offensive, but certainly damning.  The description of the army of neurologically controlled Martians (who are actually displaced humans) and their equally radio controlled commanders is brilliant; that Rumfoord takes the time to kidnap these Earthlings in order to build up a Martian army, which is then sent on a suicide mission to invade and destroy Earth, all to bring Earth together as one “planet” as opposed to separate, self-interested nations is just genius.  It also must be partially what inspired the Hegemony of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game (Ender, Book 1) series.  What eventually comes from this plan is the creation of all Earth’s crowning achievements – Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, etc.  The Trafalmadorians were the designers and creators of Earthling history, the purpose of which was simply to send benign messages to a stranded, wandering Traflmadorian on Titan.  Also created from this joining-together of the planet is a new religion which is, essentially, an anti-God religion.  The new religion is the religion of man, which decides to desert God because God has created and deserted man.  Words luck Luck and Will are all banned and, instead, everything that happened is the result of “accident.”  The story was fast-paced, creative (Vonnegut creating and referencing multiple scientific and historical works, including an Encyclopedia of the Universe, all to enhance and progress his plot is simply incredible) and thought provoking.  Who are we, really? What are we here for, really?  And what’s the point?

The Bad
One plot device which was used excessively, I feel, was the “memory wipe.”  There were moments where it seemed that part of the journey for the main characters: Unk (Malachi Constant) and Bee (Rumfoord’s wife & Malachi’s mate).  There are moments where it seems that these two characters will begin to remember things from their past lives, on Earth and on Mars, but these movements fall flat and, ultimately, it does not seem to matter whether or not they do remember anything at all.  This is probably the point (What good is memory?) but I did find it a negative in terms of plot device, as it became distracting and did very little for the storyline.  The back-history between Malachi Constant and his father, also, seemed unnecessary, since Malachi never knew his father, was dropped his father’s fortune in his lap, only to lose it, and then never remembered his father or the fortune thereafter, which left him with nothing to learn.  Again, this could be the point – since Malachi ends on a new world, with new purpose (sort of) but, aside from allowing the reader to see that there really is no point in anything, what does it do for the story?  These were very small objections, however, and in the end there is little to put in the “nay” column.

The Final Verdict: 4.0 out of 5.0
It may be telling that Vonnegut sold his rights to the film adaptation to none other than The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. Unfortunately, Garcia passed away prior to finishing the screen play, but one can only imagine what this book in Garcia’s hands could have been in film form.  Also a hint as to the purpose of the novel is to look at the character, Chrono, a young, restless, almost wild boy throughout – who answers only to his mother, and even then with some resistance.  In the end, Chrono becomes one of the native majestics of Titan, an honorary blue Titan bird.  He completely abandons his humanity and, instead, takes on the traits and characteristics of an animal which, while noble and beautiful, is also without conscience, without morality, and without any conception of “self” – all of which would seem to be what makes humans so proud to be human.  Vonnegut would assert, then, that it is much greater, much freer, to be a Titanian bird than a human being?  The novel left me, overall, feeling that the purpose of life is no real purpose at all, it just to exist and “to love whoever is around to be loved.”

Published by Dial Press, 1998
ISBN-10: 0-385-33349-8
Challenges: “TBR 2010”
Source: Owned Copy
Rating: 4.0/5.0

Review: Light Boxes by Shane Jones

Posted on May 24, 2010 by

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Summary

Shane Jones’s Light Boxes: A Novel is a fantastical tale of a small town struggling to survive through a perpetual winter.  The month is February, and is always February.  Those of us Americans & Canadians who have lived through Midwest or East Coast Februaries can immediately recognize the oppression which this last and most brutal winter month brings.  Creativity and inspiration are sucked up as children are still forced to remain indoors after two or three long months of bitter cold, snow, sleet, ice, and winds.  The mental exhaustion and physical frustration that comes from lack of sunlight, causing “cabin fever” has brought these townspeople to their limit, and after the powerful being, February (who is both an active character(s) and the time period described) bans all forms of flight, for everyone and everything, the townspeople are moved to fight. 

The Good 

Shane Jones’s Light Boxes has been criticized by some viewers as being a bit nonsensical and unresolved; what these critics miss, apparently, is the entire point of the novel.  This is a phantasmagorical romp through the best of lyrical whimsy-noir (yes, I made that up).  What I mean is, Jones brings us, with this, his first novel, on an adult fairy tale, the likes of which I can only recall in the works of Lewis Carroll and the Brothers Grimm.  The author also takes risks with the composition; as he brings his readers to the creative outer-reaches with his bizarre, dreamlike story, so does he push the boundaries of prose construction by alternating font types & sizes, as well as words-per-page (some filled top to bottom, others just one sentence splashed in the middle of a blank whiteness).  All  of these elements, as well as the themes themselves: family, home, depression, loss, sadness, and creative-thinking make the novel bittersweet in its playfulness (because the ambiguous ending leaves it up to the reader, really, to determine whether New Town truly answers the prayers of the villagers or not).  I also find the idea of a self-conscience deity, an omnipotent being with self-doubt, quite intriguing.  The two “powers”, February and The Girl Who Smelled of Honey and Smoke, seem to represent two sides of the same supernatural coin; one compassionate and warm, the other cold and distant.  These powers express their commands, their wishes, through writing, none of which ever seems to turn out quite the way it had been planned.  Careful readers and experienced writers are likely to catch the meaning here, and be delighted by it (as I was).

The Bad

There really is not much to put in this category.  I could say that the novel is too short, but that is not really an accurate criticism, as the novel is exactly as long as it needs to be (though I could have happily gone along with more of the story).  I suppose there are two things which I did take issue with, one being a personal preference and the other a question about the story I find could have been more flushed out.  In regards to the personal preference complaint, I mean the prose & style.  While I applaud authors for being bold and creative in their formatting, I always tend to find these seemingly random, over-the-top text changes a bit distracting.  Now, to qualify my own argument, I have to state that this is clearly a dreamscape novel, which should not be bound to conventional rules and, as such, I understand the reasoning (sort of) behind these choices.  Still, for me personally, I could do without it.  Now, the item in the storyline I wish had been a bit more established was the relationship between “The Builder and the Housewife” and “The Creator, February, and The Girl Who Smelled of Honey and Smoke.”   We learn that the Creator, called February, gives The Builder and his wife the same names as the people have given the Creator and his counterpart, which leads me to believe that “The Creator,” who is represented as two beings, male and female, is actually one.  Still, what is the relationship between these three (or four) people?  It seems almost religious in nature, sub-textually something is going on, but it eludes me.

Final Verdict: 4.5 out of 5.0

Quite obviously, I am generally enamored with this short, dark fantasy.  While reading, I immediately began to picture the story in my mind, as I would watch it if it were a film and, if rumors are true, there may indeed be a movie in the works; if so, I believe that, done right, it will be absolutely brilliant.  The imagery alone is enough to create a stunningly visual film, but the odd storyline and moving emotional moments will create, I think, something along the lines of a “Waking Life” or “Coraline.”  Possible movie aside, though, I found the novel to be touching, both sad and jubilant, with hints of true personal sorrow and struggle on many levels (religious, social, and familial).  This particular story and its form are probably not for everyone, but I would certainly recommend it to my more artistic and ambitious readers.
Published by Penguin, 2010
Edition: 1st Paperback Ed.
ISBN-13: 978-0143117780
Challenges: N/A
Source: Owned Copy
Rating: 4.5/5.0

Review: Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

Posted on May 23, 2010 by

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Summary 
Swann’s Way: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) 
Swann’s Way is the first of seven volumes in the nearly-1.5 million word novel In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.  The entire collection is semi-autobiographical and is meant to chronicle the life and layers of Parisian and French people in the early-20th Century.  This first novel is divided into three parts, the “book end” parts being told by the main narrator, at this time an old man but narrating from the point of his youth (never given, but my approximation would be somewhere about 10-12 years old).  The middle and, I think, best portion is “Swann in Love” and it is the story of a young man, Monsieur Swann, who lives beneath his means, and who seems spurned by both the lower and upper classes for it.  He falls in love with a coquette and, one assumes by part three, gets her pregnant.  Our narrator, then, in part three, becomes enamored with Swann and Odette’s daughter, the young Mademoiselle Swann, who seems to be quite similar in character to her mother.  The story itself does not seem to be as important as the general presentation of French society, philosophy, culture, politics, and thought.  This seems to be the first volume in a novel of ideas, rather than a novel of any particular point or purpose.  This first part is certainly not obviously didactic in any means; instead, it seems to be just a presentation, an observation, of what it meant to be French and of a certain class.

The Good 
“Swann in Love” is this Volume’s savior.  It was the only portion of Swann’s Way which I found at all meaningful or enjoyable.  Character development occurred, there was emotion and conflict, and the relationships between those characters who I feel will play important roles again in the future Volumes begin to be established.  There is an interesting relationship between our young narrator and his mother – disturbing, really, and no resolution was brought to bear, but it does intrigue the reader and one begins to wonder what is in store for this family in future Volumes (if they even appear – perhaps each Volume follows the lives of completely separate people?).  The language is quite beautiful and this translation, in particular, I think is well wrought (I am referring to the Penguin Classics edition, 2004, translated by Lydia Davis). 
 
The Bad
There seems to be no point.  This could be intentional, or it could be because, technically, I am still at the very beginning of the novel (being in Volume 1 of 7); still, this novel standing alone, as many other reviews claim it can, just does not work for me.  The first and third parts, particularly, are incredibly disjointed and meandering.  As a reader more familiar with and privy to linear thought, I found Proust’s flashbacks within flashbacks and ambiguous narrators distracting and hard to follow.  While the middle part obviously stood apart, and was quite beautiful in many ways, I feel it overshadowed the two parts between which it is sandwiched, and left me wondering why the other parts were necessary.  My only conclusion – and it is a hopeful one- is that the young narrator, who we stroll along with in parts one and two, is ultimately going to be the “main character” but that “Swann in Love” was a necessary prelude or prequel to the story about to unfold. 

Final Verdict: 3.0 out of 5.0 
The novel’s language is beautiful and its characters quite interesting, yet I was disappointed in it overall.  Perhaps I need to read In Search of Lost Time in its entirety to truly appreciate it for the complete work it is.  By itself, Swann’s Way was, for me, a wandering, flowery traipse through the lives of many French people who are not at all appealing or interesting.  The two or three characters I could potentially champion tended to be spineless and weak (particularly the men) or deliberately vile and duplicitous (typically the women).  Proust does create an interesting dynamic between men and women, but the stroll seems to be toward no end, with no purpose.  If this is the point (as I wonder can only be surmised after reading all 7 volumes) then, it is unfortunate for me.  Perhaps I am too much of a modern “Western” reader, but I believe novels should have a goal and a purpose, other than just to show for the sake of showing. 

Published by Penguin Classics, 2004
ISBN-13: 978-0142437964
Challenges: N/A
Source: Owned Copy
Rating: 3.0/5.0

Review: Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White

Posted on May 21, 2010 by

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Summary:
The Beautiful Room is Empty picks up shortly after where White’s earlier memoir, A Boy’s Own Story, leaves off.  This work discusses not just the growth of boy-into-man, but also gives a historical account of the period. The 1950s and 1960s – the rise and fall of the Beatniks.  The advent of hipsters.  The strain for one man to understand what being homosexual means, and for one nation – one culture – to begin approaching a similar question.  What is “gay?”  A disease?  A malady? A psychological disturbance or a physical perversity?  White seamlessly weaves the individual and the populous struggle and turmoil.  There is the question in general, and the answers as approached through different lenses: class, education, region.  How do the Midwestern intellectuals, mundane and suburban, treat homosexual?  What about the artsy, edgy New York City high-rollers?  The rich? The destitute?  What’s the difference between a “trick,” his “john,” and day-life versus night-life?  This novel attempts to answer these questions, and more.  Really, though, it’s a novel of questions.  It’s a memoir of life, as lead by the author – someone still obviously affected by the pain, the struggles, the joys, and the many, many questions of his youth.
The Good:
White’s prose is beautiful, almost musical.  The pages turn rapidly because sentences and paragraphs flow richly and uninterrupted.  Ideas, encounters, and the (many) literary references are approached with caution, but also with a shy confidence.  Personal experiences, like the narrator’s experiences in a prep school – guarded from the subversive Art College just across the way- conveniently and realistically mime moments in time, the greater American sentiment.  The psychological fascination with homosexuality as something to be cured, the insecurity of the gay men and lesbian women, so totally aware of who they are, yet still trying to cope with the realization that society around them will not accept their own reality, all wrapped in the narrator’s concession that what he does he knows to be wrong (the consumption of anonymous, meaningless sex, night after night – not being gay in general) and that, though he comes from a dysfunctional family, it is not the family that makes the man.  It is both the personal touches, the narrator’s struggle to find meaningful love – and to lose it – friendships, loss, embarrassment, shame, self-consciousness and body image, coupled with the bigger ideas of society, religion, and law (the many references to gender laws, some of which included laws that banned women from wearing more than three articles of “manly” clothing, and a law which required that in each group of men at a night-club, at least one female must be present) which makes this story so impactful, so believable and so important.  The personal struggle is terribly hard, but White also wants us to remember that, there was a bigger struggle.  Yes, the “Pink Panthers” at the Stonewall Riots found themselves to be a bit ridiculous, yet they were, for the first time, standing up for a certain right being denied them, singing “We Shall Overcome” and, upon waking up the next morning, are crushed in spirit when they find that no mention of the riot, the movement, the importance of their presence can be found in any newspaper.  It was a painful time in America, and that strife and clawing-struggle is purposefully and powerfully represented by White in The Beautiful Room is Empty. 
The Bad:
There is an uncomfortable amount of time and attention paid to the many sexual exploits of the narrator.  Certainly, I understand the inclusion and, admittedly, believe it to be entirely necessary if the novel is to be truly honest.  Still, I did oftentimes find it distracting.  How could White have remained honest without the repeated, saturated references to prostitution, glory-holes, bathroom orgies?  I can’t say – and for this reason, I understand the necessity.  Still, I find myself wishing a bit more attention had been paid to the personal relationships, the professional growth, the assimilation of the narrator into “normal” culture, and his feelings in these situations.  This is my only gripe, and it is a minor one, because despite my need to find fault with any novel, there’s little to find here.  I believe the work could have been strengthened, certainly, by more attention to the late-blooming, loving relationship between the narrator and Sean, which is quickly ended but obviously important to the narrator and his personal growth.  The novel also might be more enjoyable if a closer connection could have been made between reader and the narrator.   Though White makes an effort to open up the narrator to observation and examination by exposing inner thoughts & feelings, by placing his narrator in the darkest depths of his own embarrassment and making the reader bear witness, yet we don’t ever really get to know the narrator. Not even his name.  We know that writing and artistic appreciation drive him, but we don’t ever see any prowess or success in this – in fact, very little time or attention is even paid to the task of writing.  Perhaps the novel itself is the writing, the final outcome, the “what” that had been developing from all of these experiences.  If that’s the case – I missed the hint.
The Final Verdict: 4.5 Out of 5.0

The Beautiful Room is Empty is quite an accomplishment, despite White’s guardedness over his narrator.  I can understand if the story was too personal to disclose anything more than what was disclosed and perhaps, to White, the most sensitive nerves truly were exposed.  Ultimately, the development in plot and in prose & style from A Boy’s Own Story to The Beautiful Room is Empty makes me believe, as I seldom do, that the author’s every concealment and revelation was intentional.  There are later works in this “series” and I can only imagine that the work continues to grow and improve.  That the honesty will continue to be more honest, the writing will continue to run fluid and the self-realization will continue to occur in tandem with the greater growth and understanding of a people.  Truly enjoyable, if at times uncomfortable.

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