I'm not going to say much about this book here, other than to warn others not to read the foreword by Christie's great-grandson James Prichard or the I'm not going to say much about this book here, other than to warn others not to read the foreword by Christie's great-grandson James Prichard or the introduction by mystery author Louise Penny before reading the novel. Despite both trying to talk around any spoilers, it was clear to me who the murderer was before reading a single word of the novel.
For those curious what those comments were:
Prichard: (view spoiler)["My great grandmother was a writer with not only special talent, but also the audacity to rip up the rule book and test the boundaries." (hide spoiler)]
Penny: (view spoiler)["How did she pull it off? She did it by understanding the contract between reader and writer. By relying on it. And then betraying it." (hide spoiler)]
My thoughts: (view spoiler)[While these two quotes individually don't reveal the killer, they make it pretty clear that it couldn't be anyone other than the narrator. And going in with that suspicion, it was very clear that it was in fact, correct, very early on. One give away was that every time the narrator gives a fact or detail about the crime or the victim, they do so framed in dialogue. Meaning the narrator would say "I told my sister such-and-such," because he was in fact lying, but this clever work around allows him to never lie in his written account. (hide spoiler)]
Other than my issues with the prefaces spoiling things — seriously, afterwords are a thing! — this novel is a timeless and near flawless mystery....more
I don't know about anyone else, but I never figure out an Agatha Christie mystery before the big reveal. Being honest, I breeze through the first 3/4 I don't know about anyone else, but I never figure out an Agatha Christie mystery before the big reveal. Being honest, I breeze through the first 3/4 of the book just for that sweet, sweet payoff. So the real question is, does this mystery, and all the red herrings surrounding it, make for a good whodunit? The short answer is definitely "yes," and the longer answer is "yes, but wow is it highly improbable to be aboard a ship with so many secrets and so much intrigue." Also, the entire first chapter of preamble could have easily been cut out to get to Poirot and the trip on the Nile sooner....more
I see a lot of Cold War parallels just under the surface of this novel, which was originally published in 1988, with the Culture playing the part of tI see a lot of Cold War parallels just under the surface of this novel, which was originally published in 1988, with the Culture playing the part of the U.S., with their freer sexuality and expression, and the crude dictatorship of the Empire representing the Soviet Union -- although the parallels do have their limits, as no society on earth is "post scarcity." The entire novel functions as an interesting sci-fi take on the Fischer-Spasky chess match, or perhaps the Miracle on Ice hockey game, with the Culture's expert game player Gurgeh, an aloof outsider, attempting to master Azad, a complex and all-encompassing game entwined in every facet of the Empire's society.
Note this is listed as the second novel in the Culture series, but it clearly works as stand alone novel, as I had no problems following it without having read the first, and there were no major plot lines left unresolved at the end....more
This novel was broken into three sections -- 1. World Without End, 2. The Year 22, and 3. The Last American -- that were interspersed with two "Quick This novel was broken into three sections -- 1. World Without End, 2. The Year 22, and 3. The Last American -- that were interspersed with two "Quick Years" segments that pushed the story forward decades at a time. The first section, where protagonist Isherwood Williams survived a plague, was an extremely strong opening, and felt timeless -- right up until about the time Ish started interacting with other people. The more Ish interacted with others, the more cracks started to form in the narrative.
It really started breaking down after the first section, where uneven pacing and didactic storytelling started creeping into the story. There was lots of telling -- all the quick years segments, the kids' journey, the death of Charlie, the typhoid epidemic -- and no showing. Opportunities for tension or conflict were glossed over or skipped outright in favor of recapping them in retrospect.
Ish was kind of a dick. He was easy to anger, and had a very high opinion of himself and an even lower opinion of other, except his "chosen" son Joey. Then there was Ish's hammer. It is fitting that it was a hammer, as it was used to bludgeon the reader with its metaphorical value as the superstition/taboo/religion/symbol of the Tribe's little society. There was no subtlety to how these allusions were made whatsoever.
This book was, I'm sure, in some ways progressive for its time, as Ish married a woman that is at least partly black -- there are subtle allusions to her dark features and "half moon eyes" and she later mentions the treatment of her people by society before the change -- and there was also a polygamous family in the Tribe. However, it was also racist -- early on, Ish considered staying with "negro" folk and being their king, as they were used to serving the white man -- and also incredibly sexist -- the female characters range from stupid, to ignorant, to half-witted, and absolutely no chance to disparage them was missed.
The rising action of the second section, The Year 22, where Charlie returns with the boys from their journey and the resulting consequences, was a clinic in bad writing:
For starters, the foreshadowing for Charlie being evil was anything but subtle -- he was repeatedly mentioned to be dirty, sweaty, fat, pig-eyed, boar-eyed, etc. -- before he had done anything untoward. And Ish's instant dislike and slander was not solely because Charlie was an outsider, as it was mentioned earlier that the Tribe interacted with others occasionally.
When it was made clear that Charlie would try to bed Evie, a beautiful, vacant-eyed blonde that had absolutely no function in the story until that point, and was clearly written solely to be the impetus for this conflict, the reader is supposed to be against their coupling because Ish was, but Ish's reasoning is flimsy at best, and more likely just self-serving, as Ish feels threatened as the alpha male of the community. Why not just let Evie be with Charlie? Why deny her? She was so excited by the prospect they were literally considering imprisoning her to keep her away from him.
The climactic resolution was entirely skipped over. How exactly did the community separate Charlie from his derringer and kill him without him fighting back? How is it that Em got to vote about the handling of the situation, but not Ezra or George's wives? How did Ish change the minds of the younger kids so quickly that there was no resentment to him murdering their new friend for an act he hadn't yet committed? This second segment of the book raised many more questions than it gave answers, and few of these points were addressed afterward.
But enough about the second section. The segment that followed was another quick years segment, that while it read a bit like an almanac, was brief enough not to cause offense or too much boredom.
The third and final section, The Last American, was a strong, if imperfect ending. I liked Ish's contemplation about the state of the world and his ancestors, who now care for him and even revere him, up to a point. The bit about the bows and arrows was a nice touch, as was the destruction of Ish's childhood home and the conclusion on the bridge regarding the inheritance of the hammer.
While I had a long list of complaints about this book, in the end I am definitely glad to have read it, even if I wasn't loving the process of reading it. So it goes for most classics. It is also a good exercise to revisit the roots of an interesting genre. Stephen King acknowledged this book as an influence in The Stand, so any fan of that book, as I am, will certainly see the value of reading this, if for no other reason than to see how that was built on the foundation this laid....more
It was my turn to pick for book club, and wanting to pick something different, I thought of this steampunk classic that I had already loaded onto my KIt was my turn to pick for book club, and wanting to pick something different, I thought of this steampunk classic that I had already loaded onto my Kindle but hadn't yet read. It was short at around 250 pages, it was available for $2.79 on the Kindle, and it had won a Phillip K. Dick award for distinguished science fiction. So why then, out of seven people, did only two of us, myself included, manage to finish it?
Well for one, it had a hell of an in medias res opening. I mean the story really should have started fifteen years prior, and the prologue could have done more to set up the plot and expectations, and not just the tone and mood. That being said, about of the third of the way in, I started getting traction as to what on this alternate earth was going on and began appreciating the absolute lack of anything resembling an infodump anywhere in the entire novel. However, many of my fellow bookclubbers abandoned ship before this point, and I really can't blame them.
This read was not a typical 250 page breeze, which surprised me -- possibly because most steampunk novels I have read, such as The Leviathan Trilogy and Boneshaker, are aimed at a YA audience? This read much slower, nearly as slow as the ultimate grandfather to the steampunk genre, Jules Verne.
The shame of most of my book club not finishing it, though, is that this story picked up steam in a parabolic curve, exponentially becoming more fun and exciting and leading to a spirited, and appropriately ridiculous, climax, which served to tie up almost all of the loose ends, as well as shedding light on any remaining mysteries accumulated during the process of reading the novel.
There is humor to be found in here. Although it is not a comedy, there are enough hijinks, oddities and playfully macabre antics to keep things lively, as one may expect in a novel where an airship driven by a skeleton is in low orbit around the earth for years. There is also an interesting MacGuffin shell game, where instead of having just one macguffin -- the one containing the homunculus -- there are four, and they get swapped around to a dizzying point where even the reader cannot keep track of which is which. What is not in this novel, however, is enough characterization of its ensemble cast, not even of the nominal protagonist, Langdon St. Ives. And the antagonists are each more of a caricature than the next -- Narbondo, the mad scientist that reanimated corpses, is a hunchback, for example.
To sum it up, if you can get into this novel, which takes some good amount of patience, there is a worthy payoff. But this is not the novel I would go about gifting someone thinking of exploring the steampunk genre, at risk of turning them off to it completely, as I fear I may have done with my book club....more
This discourse on dystopias won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and National Book awards, and almost every single one of my Goodreads friends thatThis discourse on dystopias won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and National Book awards, and almost every single one of my Goodreads friends that has read it has it tagged with a 4 or 5 star rating. So clearly, the problem here is with me, because I really hated this book -- and it isn't because this book is dated or aged poorly, because the Cold War era slant of this book plays perfectly to a modern audience considering the current state of Russian-U.S. relations.
I'm giving it two stars because I do appreciate the big ideas Le Guin brings up. The vision behind the "profiteering" cultures of Urras -- with subdivisions for the capitalists of A-Io (U.S.) and the authoritarian state of the Thu (Russia) -- and the anarchist outcast settlement of Anarres was a solid and interesting foundation for the book. But the weak characterizations, uninspiring writing, unnecessarily non-linear storytelling, lack of action, and disappointing ending all added up to a very difficult and unrewarding reading experience for me. To address those points specifically (mild spoilers may follow):
- There is only one character, Shevek, who is more than one-dimensional. The rest fill out the story as needed -- corrupt bureaucrat, radical friend, loving partner, etc. As for Shevek, for as brilliant as he is, he is naive to the point of incredulity. And I don't mean just after he leaves Anarres for A-Io. It takes him decades longer than his friends to see the corruption in his own anarchist world. He is willfully ignorant of what is going on around him for someone involved in something as deep as theoretical physics.
- The writing was clunky throughout the entire novel, and had no rhythm. There were tedious lists, long sections of discourse about the various imperfections in the various imperfect societies, and unnecessary word invention -- although I will grant calling the toilet a shittery is funny, if nothing else.
- Another aspect of the storytelling that did not agree with me was the alternating chapters, where one chapter would be a flashback to Anarres, and the next a current day chapter on Urras. I would have minded this less if anything interesting or noteworthy happened on Anarres -- what little did happen could have easily been worked into flashbacks in the current day chapters, which could have greatly shortened the novel, and likely, my enjoyment of it.
- There was one action scene in entire novel, and, if you include the aftermath, maybe ten pages are spent on it in total. There were also two other scenes that contained somewhat tense conflict. I don't need every book I read to be paced like The Hunger Games, but I need more of an action-driven plot than this, especially if you expect me to sit through endless info dumps on your imaginary dystopias.
- The book ends right before another action scene -- or at least a scene with great potential for conflict -- that Le Guin either didn't know how to write her way out of, or didn't want to go out on a limb and make a stand for, which I see as a cop-out either way.
- The overall feeling I was left with after reading this book was that capitalism sucks, anarchism sucks in different ways, and the only hope forward lies in benevolent aliens. This could have been improved if the ending to the novel went one chapter further, however it turned out.
I could go on, but I believe my opinion is already more than clear. I will leave you with a quote from this book that sums up how I felt about reading it:
He tried to read an elementary economics text; it bored him past endurance, it was like listening to somebody interminably recounting a long and stupid dream.
Goodreads friends, in all seriousness, tell me what I am missing that led you to rate this so highly. I feel like I am the only one seeing the Emperor's bare ass here....more
This book is a lot of things -- an amalgam of various dystopian ideas, an stream-of-consciousness inspection of the butterfly effect, an analysis on tThis book is a lot of things -- an amalgam of various dystopian ideas, an stream-of-consciousness inspection of the butterfly effect, an analysis on the effects of power on the human psyche, a foray into the multiverse strangely reminiscent of Inception, a love story, an ode to George Orwell (the main character is named George Orr in homage to the author) -- but one thing it isn't is boring.
I have to point that out specifically because I did not want to read this, and if it weren't for my book club, I wouldn't have. This is the blurb from the book:
George Orr is a man who discovers he has the peculiar ability to dream things into being -- for better or for worse. In desperation, he consults a psychotherapist who promises to help him -- but who, it soon becomes clear, has his own plans for George and his dreams.
Nothing about that hooked me at all. I was worried the entire book would be filled with unintelligibly meaningful dream sequences reminiscent of Dali paintings, and I can't stand dream sequences (although I didn't mind them at all in the above-mentioned Inception, go figure). And reading the first paragraph, below, didn't help:
Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss. The light shines through it, and the dark enters it. Borne, flung, tugged from anywhere to anywhere, for in the deep sea there is no compass but nearer and farther, higher and lower, the jellyfish hangs and sways; pulses move slight and quick within it, as the vast diurnal pulses beat in the moondriven sea. Hanging, swaying, pulsing, the most vulnerable and insubstantial creature, it has for its defense the violence and power of the whole ocean, to which it has entrusted its being, its going, and its will.
But I am thrilled to report that the book's opening is also its last into the ethereal world of dreamscapes. The rest of the book is tightly concerned with the consequences of Orr's imaginings, not the acts themselves.
I can't say much more without spoiling some aspects of the plot, such as (view spoiler)[the aliens George dreams up are among my all-time favorite aliens in speculative literature (hide spoiler)], but I feel compelled to add that this story, despite being written in 1971, was very progressive in terms of race, gender and sexuality, and did not feel terribly dated. Michael Chabon's quote from the cover echoes that in a more personal way:
When I read The Lathe of Heaven as a young man, my mind was boggled. When I read it, more than 25 years later, it breaks my heart. Only a great work of literature can bridge — so thrillingly — that impossible span.
After reading Lord of Light, I thought I knew what to expect from Roger Zelazny. I was very wrong. That was in the third person, this was in the firstAfter reading Lord of Light, I thought I knew what to expect from Roger Zelazny. I was very wrong. That was in the third person, this was in the first; that was in a distant fictional world, this starts in our world and expands to a multiverse of worlds; that was a story told in a single volume, this is part of a lengthy series. I wouldn't have even guessed it was the same author had I not known he wrote both books.
As for this book, the plot reminded me of three other books* -- The set-up of the story is reminiscent of The Bourne Identity, with the mysterious protagonist waking up with amnesia; the middle of the story is reminiscent of The Gunslinger, with the background on the multiverse and the protagonist's history slowly expounded; and the end is similar to The Count of Monte Cristo, which even the protagonist narrator was aware of, as he references the fact while he is imprisoned in the dungeon.
While I enjoyed this book a good deal, and may read the next in the series (view spoiler)[if only to see if Corwin's struggle for the crown is resolved (hide spoiler)], it is not on the top of my to-read list by any means.
* I don't mean that this is derivative of these works -- it is published before the first two books, and references the third itself....more
The lack of action made this book too easy to put down, even with it being so short. I think the major issue is that I was expecting Red Dawn, and notThe lack of action made this book too easy to put down, even with it being so short. I think the major issue is that I was expecting Red Dawn, and not this day in the life character study from the points-of-view of an antique dealer, a jewelry maker, and a diplomat. And even as a character study, I feel this was deeply flawed, as the main female character was written terribly -- almost as if Phillip K. Dick took the advice of Melvin Udall from As Good As It Gets when he wrote her, and thought of a man, and then took away all reason and accountability. Even at the end, when the spy and the assassin are revealed, it's really too little, too late as far as saving the narrative. While I'm glad that I've now to be able to say I've read it, I didn't enjoy the actual act of reading it. A five-star idea with a one-star execution....more
I wish I had read this book when I was a high school freshman. Of course it did not yet exist then, so that is just wishful thinking.
RegaDear friend,
I wish I had read this book when I was a high school freshman. Of course it did not yet exist then, so that is just wishful thinking.
Regardless, it is a powerful coming of age story, and I think every kid about to enter high school should read it, although I don't see it as a "young adult" book, anymore than The Catcher in the Rye is -- they are books that speak to different generations about the myriad experiences and transient mindsets of youth, not books with streamlined plots and an absence of bad language and adult situations tailored specifically to "young adults." (Although, if I am being honest, I do sometimes find that young adult books have the best stories, as they are not trying so hard to be mature or pretentious.) And as far as this book goes, it is definitely not that kind of book, as there is underage drinking, smoking, drug use, sexual abuse, physical abuse, rape and abortion all hiding between its covers. Not that my copy had covers. I had an audio book. Does that still count as reading? Or is it just being read to?
Getting back to The Catcher in the Rye, I don't think it is an accident that this book reminded me of that, as Charlie reads it multiple times in a row when his teacher Bill gives it to him to read, which definitely seems like a tip of the cap from the author, as although there are many books Bill gives to Charlie to read, this is the only one he reads multiple times. I am really glad that Bill did not molest Charlie, because it seemed like the kind of book where it was a definite possibility.
I read this in preparation of watching the film remake, and the reality is that only two or three scenes of either movie could be taken from this storI read this in preparation of watching the film remake, and the reality is that only two or three scenes of either movie could be taken from this story's pages. However, the fact that these thirty-or-so pages could inspire not one, but two sprawling science-fiction movies says a lot for Philip K. Dick's imagination, even if the movies did miss the mark at points. But, that goes without say, as Dick has also had Blade Runner, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly adapted from his works. Back to the story, there is not too much that can be said without spoiling anything, although I will say that working two twists into such a short work was quite impressive. Also, despite both movies featuring a scene with a three-breasted woman, the short story is strangely silent in this area....more
The prototype cozy mystery. What irked me about my particular reading experience had nothing to do with the mystery, plot, writing, or even narration The prototype cozy mystery. What irked me about my particular reading experience had nothing to do with the mystery, plot, writing, or even narration -- as all were top notch. My gripe is that this is the first book I tried reading by switching back and forth from digital book to audio book via Whispersync for Audio. It was a complete failure, as it simply wouldn't sync. Hopefully, Amazon/Audible figure out whatever technical difficulty this is quickly, as I'd really like to use this feature going forward.
As a related aside, Audible is giving away free audiobooks of classic novels like this one, Moby-Dick, The Three Musketeers, A Tale of Two Cities, and lots more to promote the (not-yet-working) Whispersync for Audio. Just click this link and follow the instructions. Even if you can't use the sync feature, they are still free, professionally narrated audio books....more
It's always good to read something that helped mold a genre you love -- in the case of science fiction, that means reading Heinlein, Bradbury and AsimIt's always good to read something that helped mold a genre you love -- in the case of science fiction, that means reading Heinlein, Bradbury and Asimov. What's even better is when that classic turns out to be more interesting than anticipated.
In this particular case, that seems to be in spite of itself. It tries really hard to be very boring, in a number of ways.
1) Consistently telling instead of showing, to the extreme that there were literally no action sequences in the entire novel, a novel in which the namesake Foundation's credo is "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent," which, while I theoretically agree, does not lend itself to fascinating science fiction literature.
2) Skipping generations in each segment, giving the reader no characters to view the world through, or, for that matter, to connect with in any substantial way.
3) Having no character diversity -- there are scientists, politicians, and traders. Sometimes the scientists are politicians, sometimes the politicians are traders. None of them, in any case, are female. All of them love speechifying, pontificating, and palavering.
The book survives, and even thrives, despite these flaws, because Asimov's idea about Hari Seldon and his psychohistory is so strong and compelling, and the reader is so invested to see how each Seldon crisis plays out, they are willing to forgive these trifling annoyances for the greater good of an epic story spanning over 150 years....more
A good introduction to the mystery genre for young readers. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, except for the everybody dying A good introduction to the mystery genre for young readers. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, except for the everybody dying thing. ...more
I thought of this recently while trying to recall my earliest exposure to literary science-fiction. It is either this book, Ray Bradbury's short storyI thought of this recently while trying to recall my earliest exposure to literary science-fiction. It is either this book, Ray Bradbury's short story 'All Summer in a Day,' or Henry Slesar's short story 'Examination Day.' Regardless which it was, this book made a strong impression on me, as I (a) still remember it quite clearly all these years later, and (b) still have the original copy that I read in Junior High School, which actually belongs to the school (shh, don't tell)....more
The front cover of this book labels Lord of Light "The Legendary SF Classic," and the blurb on the back cover begins:
Earth is long since dead. On a c
The front cover of this book labels Lord of Light "The Legendary SF Classic," and the blurb on the back cover begins:
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology...
From these two data points, I was sure I was about to read a straight-forward sci-fi adventure, possibly in the vein of Robert A. Heinlein or Ray Bradbury. What I should have paid more attention to was the gigantic fucking Buddha statue on the front cover, and the conclusion of the back cover blurb:
...made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light.
This second-half of the quote, removed from the aforementioned sci-fi context, reads a lot more like an epic fantasy, which is what this book actually is -- albeit with a diverse assortment of actual established religions from our culture. Once I adjusted my expectations, accepted the non-linear storytelling, and figured out the multitude of names -- not to mention body/gender switching -- for each character, I really got into this book.
That said, there is no good reason to give the protagonist this many names, and freely switch between them in the text:
This book got off to such a great start. Read the following in your best movie preview announcer voice.
A mysterious sea monster haunting the world's sThis book got off to such a great start. Read the following in your best movie preview announcer voice.
A mysterious sea monster haunting the world's seas... an expedition to hunt it down... a meeting, ending in the imprisonment of our hero and his comrades in the belly of -- not a monster -- but a mysterious underwater vessel... the Nautilus, a character unto itself, and its enigmatic owner, their captor, Captain Nemo.
From that point I was hooked. I wanted to know all about Captain Nemo, his mysterious business, and the fate of his three prisoner guests.
Unfortunately, Jules Verne had a different idea at that point. He decided to use this incredible set-up as a reason to give dozens upon dozens of pages of the novel to cataloging the different fish and other sea creatures they encounter in their 20,000 league journey. The book could probably easily be separated into the adventure story I was looking for, and the nautical encyclopedia that I instead found.
Despite these lengthy expository segments, there are still many moments of excitement and wonder -- the coral forests, the shipwrecks, the pearl diving, the underwater volcano, the South Pole, the underwater graveyard, Atlantis, the battle with the giant squid, etc. -- hiding within its pages.
Having excised the cataloging -- which the narrator himself admits is dry and boring -- and having an ending that revealed more of the mystery behind Captain Nemo, this could have easily been a four-star book....more
I really don't know what I can say about this classic swash-buckling adventure that hasn't been said already, but a few things that jumped out at me (I really don't know what I can say about this classic swash-buckling adventure that hasn't been said already, but a few things that jumped out at me (minor spoilers below):
- I found it interesting that the narrator details how Captain Smollett, Gray, and Ben Gunn spend their shares of the treasure, but not the original three treasure hunters -- himself, Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney. Actually, the ending in general seems a bit rushed to me, but this is a minor quibble, as I'm a big fan of brevity in literature.
- I enjoyed the open-endedness of the ending paragraph: "The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, where Flint buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for me."
- I couldn't believe this was the same author that wrote Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as the tone of this book is entirely different. But when more of Long John Silver's inner character surfaced, I saw the duality-of-man theme at the center of Jekyll and Hyde present here as well.
- Speaking of Long John Silver, it is remarkable to think that this book's popular is so pervasive that it inspired a fast-food restaurant chain -- 86 years after it was first published.
