Another one about suicide. Jeez. I wonder why I do this to myself.
However, this one's kind of funny, without devaluing the human pathos attached to this kind of subject. The suicide victim sends an old acquaintance 7 audiotapes, each describing an incident which led to her decision to take her life. Each is a person. One is said acquaintance. After he's done, he has to mail the tapes to the next reason.
The ending will stun you. Honestly. It's amazing.
Suspenseful, witty, and very very human. Highly recommended.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Damage
Another A.M. Jenkins masterpiece. Here, however, there's next to no humor, which is appropreate as it's about depression and suicide but also makes for an amazingly depressing read. It's also written in second person viewpoint, bringing the drama that much closer. Seriously. It's depressing. Well written, brilliant, but a total and complete mood killer. Very compelling, though. I could barely put it down.
Recommended for anyone who likes that sort of thing.
Recommended for anyone who likes that sort of thing.
Magnificant Bastards
A collection of perfectly ludicris short stories, Magnificant Bastards by Rich Hall is a fantastic read. You can skip around from chapter to chapter or read the whole thing straight through. All of these stories are very funny and have a little bit of social commentary tucked away, some more than others. My favorite is the one about the American who has to teach Brits baseball and inadvertantly causes an international incident.
Highly recommended to anyone looking for a quick read.
Highly recommended to anyone looking for a quick read.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Blue Avenger Cracks the Code
Yes, the title's silly. Very, very silly. But it talks about parental separation, teen pregnancy, and predestination versus free will. So shut up.
The book follows the adventures of a teen who's renamed himself Blue Avenger. He goes to Vienna in the hopes of proving Shakespeare's true identity. His girlfriend Omaha is afraid of making things official because she doesn't want to become attached to anyone since her dad left.
Okay, the plot leaves a little to be desired. The characters are larger than life. But I've been reading some heavy stuff recently. I need something a little lighter.
Let's be fair. This isn't high literature. The language flips back and forth from high-art and sophisticated to, erm, "common", but doesn't miss a beat. It's very funny, and even the characters admit a lot of this stuff is implausable. It also contains a good deal of trivia, which is nice. You learn something.
I like it. I think you'll like it too. Good books don't have to be depressing.
The book follows the adventures of a teen who's renamed himself Blue Avenger. He goes to Vienna in the hopes of proving Shakespeare's true identity. His girlfriend Omaha is afraid of making things official because she doesn't want to become attached to anyone since her dad left.
Okay, the plot leaves a little to be desired. The characters are larger than life. But I've been reading some heavy stuff recently. I need something a little lighter.
Let's be fair. This isn't high literature. The language flips back and forth from high-art and sophisticated to, erm, "common", but doesn't miss a beat. It's very funny, and even the characters admit a lot of this stuff is implausable. It also contains a good deal of trivia, which is nice. You learn something.
I like it. I think you'll like it too. Good books don't have to be depressing.
Out of Order
I'm on a serious A.M. Jenkins kick right now. She's written four books and I've read three of them.
Here, Jenkins proves that she can pull of a mean realistic fiction piece as well. By far it is the more accurate high school story I've ever read. With no work at all, she creates believable characters although--as is the usual flaw--only the main character gets any real focus. (You want to punch the narrator in the face halfway through, though this is to the book's merit rather than its detriment.) The prose is fantastic, not flowery and totally believable, which is fine since the narrator's a few steps away from functional illiteracy. You can practically feel the thoughts going through his head with every move he makes.
Very good, highly recommended. If you like the narrator until the last fourty or so pages, you're probably an asshole.
Here, Jenkins proves that she can pull of a mean realistic fiction piece as well. By far it is the more accurate high school story I've ever read. With no work at all, she creates believable characters although--as is the usual flaw--only the main character gets any real focus. (You want to punch the narrator in the face halfway through, though this is to the book's merit rather than its detriment.) The prose is fantastic, not flowery and totally believable, which is fine since the narrator's a few steps away from functional illiteracy. You can practically feel the thoughts going through his head with every move he makes.
Very good, highly recommended. If you like the narrator until the last fourty or so pages, you're probably an asshole.
Repossessed
Another amazing book by A.M. Jenkins, this one follows a demon--the original, fallen-angel New Testament types, not these weird-ass horned beasts you've got running around now--who decides to find out why people sin by taking over the body of a teenage boy who had two seconds left on the clock. As he learns more about human nature, and fears "The Boss" will come after him, he gains a new-found appreciation for mankind.
The plot is well-written, though character development for all but the demon is lacking. To be fair, the book's about him from his point of view and there's not much to do with other people. However, it's more than made up for with some great metaphorical imagery and ponderings on life and it's fair share of humor as well. The language manages to find a balance between realism and flowery, Shakespearean tone, and it's very consistent.
The plot is well-written, though character development for all but the demon is lacking. To be fair, the book's about him from his point of view and there's not much to do with other people. However, it's more than made up for with some great metaphorical imagery and ponderings on life and it's fair share of humor as well. The language manages to find a balance between realism and flowery, Shakespearean tone, and it's very consistent.
Night Road
A gripping and compelling thriller/coming-of-age story by A.M. Jenkins, it follows Cole--a "hemi", or blood-sucker--as he tries to train the newest member of this immortal race, Gordo, with the help of another hemi whose name escapes me at the moment. The two travel cross-country, and along the way Gordo learns the ins and outs of his new lifestyle.
Having a central cast of three really helps develop the characters, as we learn who they are through their interactions with each other and their doubts and fears. There are some lighthearted moments, some of which are funny, but for the most part it leaves you digging your fingers into the dust jacket and refusing to let go. It's also ridiculously compelling. Seriously. I defy you to put this book down once you start reading.
Having a central cast of three really helps develop the characters, as we learn who they are through their interactions with each other and their doubts and fears. There are some lighthearted moments, some of which are funny, but for the most part it leaves you digging your fingers into the dust jacket and refusing to let go. It's also ridiculously compelling. Seriously. I defy you to put this book down once you start reading.
Friday, February 5, 2010
An Askew View (follow-up)
Having finally had the book delivered and read it cover-to-cover, I have to say I quite enjoyed it.
It was pretty filled with insight, not just into the meanings of the films themselves but into their effect on film in general--Mallrats, for example, would've been nothing special had it been released in the era of films like American Pie or There's Something About Mary, but instead sets a precedent for these sort of films (although Mallrats has a certain emotional sincerity those films lack.) He also takes a look at Smithian language--"You can't look at one of my films, the way you can look at a Quentario flick, say, and tell it's mine...but if you close your eyes and just listen you'd be able to tell," Smith once said, and it's undeniably true. Brian O'Halloran, Clerks's Dante and a View Askew frequent, says "His dialogue becomes very story-like, and you can almost feel the peaks and valleys. It's very song-like and melodic..."
Being a man of self-depreciation, this book takes time and effort to lavish the (well-deserved) sort of praise on Smith that Smith would never lavish on himself. Anyone who's seen his flicks and wants insight not just into the mind but the filmmaking process of Kevin Smith should take a look.
It was pretty filled with insight, not just into the meanings of the films themselves but into their effect on film in general--Mallrats, for example, would've been nothing special had it been released in the era of films like American Pie or There's Something About Mary, but instead sets a precedent for these sort of films (although Mallrats has a certain emotional sincerity those films lack.) He also takes a look at Smithian language--"You can't look at one of my films, the way you can look at a Quentario flick, say, and tell it's mine...but if you close your eyes and just listen you'd be able to tell," Smith once said, and it's undeniably true. Brian O'Halloran, Clerks's Dante and a View Askew frequent, says "His dialogue becomes very story-like, and you can almost feel the peaks and valleys. It's very song-like and melodic..."
Being a man of self-depreciation, this book takes time and effort to lavish the (well-deserved) sort of praise on Smith that Smith would never lavish on himself. Anyone who's seen his flicks and wants insight not just into the mind but the filmmaking process of Kevin Smith should take a look.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
An Askew View
A book of in-depth analysis of Kevin Smith's first five films. I ordered it online and read a forty-page preview, and while I have to admit that most of it's information any die-hard fan already has, I also haven't gotten to the analysis yet. I only know it's there because of book reviews.
In any case, I am wondering what deeper meaning the author found in the 1980s-teen-movie-homage Mallrats, or the up-its-own-ass-with-in-jokes Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. While both of these are great films, they are much less suited to deep, scholarly analysis than Chasing Amy, Dogma, or even Clerks. It also gives us a sneak-peak at Jersey Girl--something that confused me until I realized the book was published in 2002.
It also covers Clerks: the Animated Series--by far the least sophisticated of Kevin Smith's works, if you could call them sophisticated (and you could, most of them at least, if you look past the vulgarities there's a good deal of substance underneath that Smith's greatest critics tend to overlook.) The series was a complete 180 from the movie: Clerks was bizarre, but subtly (almost realistically) so; the animated series was loaded with impossible insanities and off-the-wall antics.
All in all, this should be a very interesting read. Anyone who's not a die-hard fan and loves the Smith films because of their appearance as lowest-common-denominator fluff rather than in spite of it might want to stay away.
In any case, I am wondering what deeper meaning the author found in the 1980s-teen-movie-homage Mallrats, or the up-its-own-ass-with-in-jokes Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. While both of these are great films, they are much less suited to deep, scholarly analysis than Chasing Amy, Dogma, or even Clerks. It also gives us a sneak-peak at Jersey Girl--something that confused me until I realized the book was published in 2002.
It also covers Clerks: the Animated Series--by far the least sophisticated of Kevin Smith's works, if you could call them sophisticated (and you could, most of them at least, if you look past the vulgarities there's a good deal of substance underneath that Smith's greatest critics tend to overlook.) The series was a complete 180 from the movie: Clerks was bizarre, but subtly (almost realistically) so; the animated series was loaded with impossible insanities and off-the-wall antics.
All in all, this should be a very interesting read. Anyone who's not a die-hard fan and loves the Smith films because of their appearance as lowest-common-denominator fluff rather than in spite of it might want to stay away.
Just Desserts
A "novellah" by Carl Reiner (the interviewer of The 2000-Year-Old Man), this book chronicles the adventures of Nat, a perfectly sane author who talks to himself. He hit a slump after his last novel, but when he jokingly CCs an emailed book pitch to God he finds God enacting some of the book character's recommendations for a better world. Clever, sharp, and very very meta (the publisher notes that a Reiner parody has already submitted the book idea), I think that anyone with a good appreciation for comedy and a massive suspension of disbelief--as well as the stomach for a very warped version of the Literary Agent Hypothesis--will find it highly enjoyable.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
I Am the Messenger
The gunman is useless. I know it. He knows it. The whole bank knows it.
Meet Ed Kennedy. He is nothing.
His dad's dead, his mom despises him, his dog's decaying, his job's dead-end. His friend Marv's a cheapskate, his friend Richie's unmotivated, and he has a hopeless crush on his friend Audrey, who avoids love like the plague.
And his life? It's about to change forever.
It starts with a playing card in the mail, with cryptic instructions on the back. From then on, Ed finds his way into the lives of various people, and does what he can to make each of their lives just a little bit better. But the tasks quickly begin taking a tole on his own life...
The story reads like a mystery novel, but the book itself reads like a comedy. Yes, there's thrills and suspense, but all that takes a backseat to character relations and good humor. The dramatic and emotional moments--and there are some--are as well written as the comedy, and author Markuz Zusak shifts gears between the two seamlessly. My only complaint is the ending, which sort of pulls you out of the book, but boy, are you in for a ride.
Highly recommended.
Losing Joe's Place
Revenge. Retribution. Rental.
Jason Cardone, Don Champion and Ferguson Peach have--miracle of miracles--been allowed the use of Jason's brother Joe's Toranto apartment for the summer. On the condition that the three do not get Joe evicted.
Guess what happens.
It is a great talent for any writer when he can divulge the outcome before telling the story, but Gordan Korman pulls it off brilliantly. Things like damaging the building, injuring the landlord, and unemployment are nothing compared to how Jason and his friends eventually get evicted, and Korman clearly has fun taking us--the audience--along for the ride. While the language is (for lack of a better word) simple, it aids the storytelling and the humor more than harms it.
And what a story it is! It twists and turns wonderfully, making impossible events seem almost plausible. The characters are relatable and at the same time bizarre (Jason might just be the only sane man in this entire universe), and the quality of the writing is consistent.
I recommend it.
Jason Cardone, Don Champion and Ferguson Peach have--miracle of miracles--been allowed the use of Jason's brother Joe's Toranto apartment for the summer. On the condition that the three do not get Joe evicted.
Guess what happens.
It is a great talent for any writer when he can divulge the outcome before telling the story, but Gordan Korman pulls it off brilliantly. Things like damaging the building, injuring the landlord, and unemployment are nothing compared to how Jason and his friends eventually get evicted, and Korman clearly has fun taking us--the audience--along for the ride. While the language is (for lack of a better word) simple, it aids the storytelling and the humor more than harms it.
And what a story it is! It twists and turns wonderfully, making impossible events seem almost plausible. The characters are relatable and at the same time bizarre (Jason might just be the only sane man in this entire universe), and the quality of the writing is consistent.
I recommend it.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Clerks and Chasing Amy: Two Screenplays
Delightfully vulgar, realistically absurdest, and great fun for repeated viewings, Clerks and Chasing Amy are two of Kevin Smith's finest works. I bought the screenplays over the weekend, because apparently they're the versions with deleted scenes and annotations.
A quick background: Clerks is the story of Dante Hicks, a twenty-two-year-old nothing who gets called in to work at the local convenience store on his day off. He and his best friend/worst enemy/neighboring video-store clerk Randal spend the day debating the mundane as Dante pines after his ex-girlfriend, who is getting married. Chasing Amy is the story of a comic-book writer who falls in love with a close friend of his, a woman named Alyssa who identifies as a lesbian.
Clerks is my favorite of the two, and as I hoped the script is packed with goodies such as extended scenes and more time dedicated to minor characters as well as a few lines that were tweaked here and there. It's something like three hours long in this primordial state, and admittedly loses a little something without the line deliveries (Dante's horrified reaction to his girlfriend's past promiscuity especially), but overall it's very tightly written and more-or-less what could be expected. Even early on Smith knew what he was doing with the characters, and had an unmatched ear for dialogue.
Chasing Amy is more or less the film in it's final phase, and besides a humorous scene between Holden & Banky and Mallrats characters Steve-Dave and Walt the Fanboy in which Steve-Dave, word-for-word, quotes Mallrats's harshest review to describe the comic Holden and Banky write. That aside, there's really nothing gained from reading the script that watching the movie doesn't give you twice-over. The impassioned speeches fall short (again, half the magic is in the acting), as does the dialogue in general.
So, what is to be gained from this book? An issue of Bluntman & Chronic, Holden and Banky's comic, which is as silly as to be expected. The comic represents how Smith's harshest critics see his work--nothing but profanity and sex jokes, with very little hidden depth and characterization--which is very, very far from the mark. There's also an introduction from Smith, which details how a single review of Mallrats inspired him to write Chasing Amy--the review, which is reprinted, is as harsh as most of the reviews are but demonstrate an understanding of what Smith was going for rather than the usual knee-jerk reaction. That alone is worth the price of the book.
My advice? Watch the films. They're better.
A quick background: Clerks is the story of Dante Hicks, a twenty-two-year-old nothing who gets called in to work at the local convenience store on his day off. He and his best friend/worst enemy/neighboring video-store clerk Randal spend the day debating the mundane as Dante pines after his ex-girlfriend, who is getting married. Chasing Amy is the story of a comic-book writer who falls in love with a close friend of his, a woman named Alyssa who identifies as a lesbian.
Clerks is my favorite of the two, and as I hoped the script is packed with goodies such as extended scenes and more time dedicated to minor characters as well as a few lines that were tweaked here and there. It's something like three hours long in this primordial state, and admittedly loses a little something without the line deliveries (Dante's horrified reaction to his girlfriend's past promiscuity especially), but overall it's very tightly written and more-or-less what could be expected. Even early on Smith knew what he was doing with the characters, and had an unmatched ear for dialogue.
Chasing Amy is more or less the film in it's final phase, and besides a humorous scene between Holden & Banky and Mallrats characters Steve-Dave and Walt the Fanboy in which Steve-Dave, word-for-word, quotes Mallrats's harshest review to describe the comic Holden and Banky write. That aside, there's really nothing gained from reading the script that watching the movie doesn't give you twice-over. The impassioned speeches fall short (again, half the magic is in the acting), as does the dialogue in general.
So, what is to be gained from this book? An issue of Bluntman & Chronic, Holden and Banky's comic, which is as silly as to be expected. The comic represents how Smith's harshest critics see his work--nothing but profanity and sex jokes, with very little hidden depth and characterization--which is very, very far from the mark. There's also an introduction from Smith, which details how a single review of Mallrats inspired him to write Chasing Amy--the review, which is reprinted, is as harsh as most of the reviews are but demonstrate an understanding of what Smith was going for rather than the usual knee-jerk reaction. That alone is worth the price of the book.
My advice? Watch the films. They're better.
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