The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson (2005)

 

Reviewer:  BeezusKiddo

Rating: 4 Pierogies

Review: My mom left her copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at my house well over a year ago. It has been sitting on my dining room table the entire time.

My book club picked it as the next selection, and I finally shook off the dust and took a look. Now I ask myself what took me so darn long? All the hype around the book made me less interested in it, but there was hype for good reason.

Larsson is an excellent storyteller, who has created intriguing characters, and can weave a quick and intelligent plot. Even though this book is 300+ pages, I got through it in less than a week.

A number of friends have told me that they struggled through the first 150 pages. That first section wasn't boring or difficult for me, but I didn't find it particularly gripping either. After the first 150 pages, things pick up and the plot really takes off.

I suppose the mark of a good translation is that the book doesn't feel translated. Still I find that most translated works are a little choppy. This book had no such problem. The language was very smooth.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted. It's full of violence and dark themes. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, Larsson's writing was heavily influenced by a violent assault on a woman that he witnessed, and he never forgave himself for intervening. This comes through clearly in the book.

What most impressed me was that all 3 books in the Millenium Trilogy were only discovered and published after Larsson had died. I'm sure some editing was done, but I can't imagine any major editorial overhaul was undertaken without the author being available. For an unpublished author to just leave a work like this behind was amazing to me.

A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin (1996)

Reviwer: BeezusKiddo

Rating: 4 Pierogies, homemade even

Review:  I finished that darn book! After a very tiring day yesterday, I plowed through those last 50 pages, had a good sleep, and am now ready to GO today!

 

I feel silly reviewing this book, because I think I'm the last person on the planet to get around to reading it. It is also very hard to give a concise definition about what it's about. It's an epic--how do you define The Odyssey or Lord of the Rings? It's a huge book with a huge cast of characters and a huge number of things happen.

When you have this many main characters, it might be easy for the reader to lose track or get confused. Martin is skilled at placing tiny unobtrusive reminders throughout the book, so that the reader can effectively and effortlessly keep track of all the pieces in play. I liked the mix of names in this book.

Often a book will either have all fantasy names, or all common names. Martin mixes it up and puts a little of both. The only name I got hung up on was "Cersei" (if this is not familiar to you, see Circe). I understand the value of giving a character a recognizable name. The name itself is weighted with connotation, which gives the author a shortcut for having to describe the character's personality in detail. However, I got hung up on the issue of WHY WOULD ANYONE MARRY SOMEONE NAMED CERSEI? Would you marry someone named Freddy Kreuger? Although that kind of obliviousness seems par for the course for Robert Baratheon.

The characters were easily divided into "likeable" (Daeneyrs, Ned, Tyrion, Bran, Jon Snow, Arya), "horrid and mean and dislikeable" (Cersei, Jaime, Viseyrs, Joffrey, possibly Sansa although she quickly becomes more likeable at the end), and then there was a group that wasn't particularly likeable or dislikeable, but more neutral (Catelyn, Robb, Khal Drogo). What most impressed me was that there were so many main characters with distinct personalities, but I never felt like I lost track.



I really liked the book, but I'm not dashing out to read the next one. I am sure I'll read it eventually, but I'm not in any hurry to pick it up. I'm interested in finding out what happens to the characters and the Seven Kingdoms, but the book did not end on such a cliffhanger that I'm dying to find out what happens right now. I've been told the action slows down considerably in the following books.

Also, I really don't care for super long books (Game of Thrones is 800 pages). I prefer to read books under 300 pages, for the satisfaction of starting something, finishing it, and moving on to the next thing.

I am, however, eager to see how HBO translated this saga for television, so I've got to get out and get those DVDs!

Perdido Street Station, China Miéville (2000)

Reviewer: Cock-Eyed Bobby Eff

Rating: 4 sharp-cheddar pierogies

Review: I picked up Perdido Street Station because I wanted to read something different and the title sounded so enigmatic. (A quick search reveals that perdido is Spanish for "lost".) And while I picked it up as a bit of sci-fi escapism, what I got was a horror story married to science fiction and fantasy. China Mieville sets the story in the teeming totalitarian/industrial and magical world of New Crobuzon.  A world populated with humans and modified humans, AI's, insects and flying races. Much of the opening of the novel is centered on Isaac, the human protagonist, and the intertwining story-lines within these disparate groups and the back-history of New Crobuzon. These story lines distract you so much so that it lulls you into the belief that the novel will remain comfortably in the sci-fi genre.  That illusion is shattered as the story takes a stunning turn into sheer horror -much as the movie Aliens did, and the reader is pulled along to observe the predation of the unleashed horror on the denizens of New Crobuzon. While the overall plot is perhaps a bit light, the stunning realm, plot twists and myriad characters keeps the story rolling to a great conclusion. If like sci-fi and you want to get knocked off your seat a bit, this is the story to read.

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The Slynx, Tatyana Tolstaya (2007)

Reviewer: Elle Ewok

Rating: 4 Raisin Pierogies (good but not for everyone)

Review: Although my love for classic Russian literature is well-documented on this website, I have virtually no exposure to contemporary Russian authors. Indeed, the most "current" Russian author I had read (prior to reading this book) was Nabokov and he died in 1977. My younger brother, who is fluent in Russian and has lived there twice, gave me The Slynx for Christmas telling me that its author is one of the most well-respected contemporary Russian authors.

She should be, her great-uncle is Leo Tolstoy for God's Sake! That's quite a literary pedigree. The Slynx is a dystopian novel written in 2007 (in Russian) by Tatyana Tolstaya and it is her first novel. It takes place in Moscow (or what used to be Moscow) two hundred years after some undefined  apocalyptic event which involved large amounts of radiation. The government is run by a succession of petty despots who rename the city after themselves. The population is small and lives in extremely desolate and harsh conditions (think the slavic middle ages). They (almost) all suffer from strange physical deformities and mutations from the radiation exposure and they are all complete morons. They are superstitious, cruel, violent and just extremely dumb. It it not explained whether the population's idiocy is the result of having to start civilization from scrtach or because of the radiation. I'm guessing it's the radiation.

The source of food, clothing and commerce in society are mice. Books are prohibited and the current ruler plagerizes the old Russian literary masters and claims their writings as his own. The Slynx is narrated by Benedikt, one of the despot's scribes. Benedikt eventually discovers books and falls completely in love with them although he is unable to derive any meaning, philosophy or morality from them.

I really really enjoyed this book but I would only recommend it to certain people. It feels exceedingly ....foreign. This is a book seeped in Russian history, Russian politics, Russian literature, written by a Russian for Russians. From an American perspective, the language is odd, the setting is odd, and the writing is odd. I am certain I missed much of the meaning of this book because of my limited knowledge of Russian political history. That said, the world Tolstaya created fascinated and amused me to no end. There is a ton of dark humor in this book originating mainly from the idiocy of the characters. In fact the entire premise is darkly funny. Here is a culture that has not yet figured out fire and has only recently discovered the wheel yet somehow it managed to retain all the hyper-beauracratic machinery of the Soviet Union. It's rather hilarious. Additionally, this is a very literary book. The writing is artisitic, unique and profound. Readers who enjoy studying the craft of writing itself will appreciate this book. Although I enjoyed this book immensly personally, I can understand totally why most people probably would not. It is dark, dreary and depressing. The characters are virtually all unlikeable including the narrator. There isn't really much in the way of plot for the first 75% of the book and the ending is one of those vague, metophorical endings that can (understandably) frustrate readers. It is also a really dense book. It took me a long time to read even though it is a relateively short 275 pages. Our narrarator likes to go on long stream of conscious diatribes, that I'm sure have lot of symbolic meaning, but are challenging to interpret and can get a bit taxing.

My feelings on the end are mixed. The truth is I don't really "get" the ending (although superficially I liked it)  so I can't say whether I truly liked it or not. I hope someone else will read this book so I can discuss to with them. That said, the ending didn't negatively affect my good feelings towards the rest of the book so I consider that a success. Also, my Liberatrian impulses were gratified as this book offers a scathing critique of statism (or maybe not - that is just how I interpreted it). While, it may sound good to give the goverment the power to pull all resources out of the economy so it can be distributed "fairly" to the population - this book points what history has proven over and over again. A corrupt bureaucracy and/or political class inevitably develops that keeps all the good stuff to themselves while throwing scraps in their discretion to the population. The result? No motivation to achieve on the part of the population, stunted cultural and moral development and a lower standard of living for everyone - rich and poor alike. But, hey, at least no one will feel bad if their neighbor has a better car because no one will have a car. Okay - gratuitous libertarian rant of the day ended.

If you enjoy dark, weird stories this book will hit the spot. If you are patient and like heavy literary books this will work for you as well. If you don't like either of these things you should probably read something else. For what it is worth, I loved this book.

Coraline, Neil Gaiman (2002)

Reviewer: BeezusKiddo

Rating: 4 Mrs. T's pierogies (not good enough to be homemade)

Review: I was super-excited when the Coraline movie came out. and loved it.  Then I was at Half Price Books the other day, and found a copy of the book in the Clearance section for $2. What?! Yes please!



Coraline Jones is an adventurous girl, who moves with her family into an old large house that has been converted into flats.  One other flat is vacant; Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, elderly former actresses who can't admit that the past is behind them live in another; and Mr. Bobo, who runs a mouse circus, lives in the fourth.

Coraline spends her days exploring, and discovers a mysterious door that leads into a strange world inhabited by her "other" parents.  Although Coraline's parents are constantly working and seem to be too busy to spend time with Coraline, the Other Parents dote on her, and have creepy buttons for eyes.  Coraline quickly learns that not everything is as cheery as it seems, and her Other Mother is a monstrous creature, who has already captured Coraline's parents and other children.  Coraline must use her wits to free her parents and the other children, and to save herself from this monster's grasp.

Coraline is about 175 pages, and the pages are small and the type large.  It only took me about two hours to read the whole book.  It's a Young Adult novella, so the language is quick and light.  I like reading short, fast books because they make me feel accomplished.  I feel like some kind of genius reader, blasting through a whole book in one sitting.

Anansi Boys is the only other Gaiman book I have read. I picked it up for reading on vacation (a rained-out camping trip) and thought it was perfectly good for that purpose, but I wouldn't count Gaiman amongst my favorites.  Coraline didn't sway my opinion one way or another--I'd be happy to read more of his books, but I also wouldn't really go out of my way to pick them up. Gaiman's a good author to read on an airplane or on the bus, where you want something to easily keep your attention, and don't want to think too much.

We don't have much bookcase space in our house, so if I buy a book, I usually give it away to someone else or sell it to a used bookstore very shortly after finishing it.  Although it's scary, I think Coraline would be a great book for Baby Beez to read when she is old enough to start getting into the YA genre, so I'll hold on to this one.

The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood (2000)

Reviewer: BeezusKiddo

Rating: 5 pierogi

Review: I loved this book.

 

The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favorite books ever, and Oryx and Crake was fantastic as well. As far as I'm concerned, Margaret Atwood can do no wrong (and she and I share a birthday!)

The Blind Assassin is not one of Atwood's dystopic novels, it does have a brief sci-fi component to it, but it's more concerned with families, relationships, and interpersonal conflicts.

The Blind Assassin follows two sisters-- Laura and Iris-- through their pampered childhood as daughters of a button empire, through the market crash and dissolution of their fortune, through Laura's tragic suicide, and Iris' slow decline into old age.

I didn't much notice it before someone pointed it out to me, but Atwood weighs heavy on description. Not visual description, but description through metaphor, which is gripping and effective. For example, in reflecting on the sisters' relationship, Iris explains:

I no longer knew how Laura would have answered these questions. She had become unknown to me, as unknown as the inside of your own glove is unknown when your hand is inside it. She was with me all the time, but I couldn't look at her. I could only feel the shape of her presence: a hollow shape, filled with my own imaginings.

 

Description-heavy passages by other authors would slow the novel's pace down, and might even become distracting. That is not the case with Atwood's style. Her novels are engaging and move at a smooth pace.

There isn't anything specific about the plot that drew me in. With The Handmaid's Tale, I was entranced and terrified by Atwood's projection of the future. The Blind Assassin's plot is not nearly as gripping, but it is easy to become invested in the protagonists. Atwood's use of language is such a joy to read, that she could probably write about the grass growing and I'd be thrilled to read it.