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.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
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.
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