Lisbeth Salander doesn't have much on Smilla Jasperson. But Smilla won't ever have clothes out at H&M. And these days I guess that means something? ThLisbeth Salander doesn't have much on Smilla Jasperson. But Smilla won't ever have clothes out at H&M. And these days I guess that means something? The snow. The Ice. The writing felt like snow and ice. For the last book I read before the beginning of a new year it sure was a thinking man's mystery. Hoeg isn't fucking around and I can't wait to read more books by him, but I need a "light read" after this (well-worth it) chore. Put it this way: if you're ever stuck inside during a snow storm in the winter and relish in that, and want to continue that, read this book and be immersed in snow and ice. ...more
Wasn't the easiest book I've ever read. I almost abandoned it many times. The Wilde like aphorisms on love and poetry and politics started weighing meWasn't the easiest book I've ever read. I almost abandoned it many times. The Wilde like aphorisms on love and poetry and politics started weighing me down. At some points it was one of those books that every line screams to be placed on the front of a quote card for someone like my fiancée to place upon her wall and ponder countless times. And that's all and good for a couple of lines, but there were millions. It became almost too witty. But that aside, I loved the book. The Icelandic allusions to sagas and poets and other historical/political happenings were lost within my slim, ok, zero, understanding of anything Icelandic (besides Sigur Ros). But I loved the idea of a poet, a poet who has never published a single word, sacrificing his life in trying find and define (through the failure that language turns out to be most to the time) beauty. He does an awful thing that places him in prison and still I do not hate Olaf Karason (nor do I forgive him). As an artist who may never "publish" a work of art again and is ok with that, I sort relate to him. Maybe I'm a shirker too? ...more
My reading soundtrack of Fennesz & Sakamoto's "Cendre" provided a soundscape perfect for the hazy desert always hovering nearby Sweden's forests, snowMy reading soundtrack of Fennesz & Sakamoto's "Cendre" provided a soundscape perfect for the hazy desert always hovering nearby Sweden's forests, snow covered fields and mud strewn landscapes. A quick summary because every review I read has one and I don't feel like going against the norm today: Hans Bengler, a failure as a med student and now an entomologist leaves Sweden in 1878 for the Kalahari Desert to find an insect that has never been discovered. He finds one beetle and one boy (around 6 or 7) in a cage. He christens this boy Daniel and heads back to Sweden to...well he (nor the reader, nor the narrator really knows why). Daniel (Molo) desperately wants to go home. And in between are all the things one can imagine by being placed in a foreign country, by being miles and miles and miles away from home, reaching but never attaining, in a time when Evolution was just beginning to enter the minds of the masses and ships still had fresh remnants of rusty metal that held and murdered many during the times of slavery. Yes, you can imagine that this isn't the happiest of books. This book is littered with characters that are difficult to judge. Bengler seemed to have good intentions (albeit no intentions) sometimes and other times purely selfish, tyrannical intentions that left fear and worry and death in his wake. Poor, poor Daniel. Completely innocent in the way that Lennie is in "Of Mice & Men." Speaking of Lennie: Sanna. Slavery still exists if you were to ask her. And even the minor characters such as Andersson and Froken Myrén are at once completely absurd in there behavior and at another time completely reasonable (though more Myren than Andersson). But I enjoy that confusion. When the good vs. evil thing blends together. There is no (pardon the racial proximity here) black and white, only grey (possibly the color of Sanna & Daniel's baby according to her). I have also been ruminating on Mankell's choice of narration. The narrator is only revealed at the end. I'm thinking third person limited omniscient. But like the afterword states, "The novel does not necessarily depict what actually happened. The task of the novel is to portray what might have happened." So how true is this? What viewpoints did Mankell feel more omniscient towards? And that leads me to wonder the purpose of Mankell writing this. He lives, at times, in Mozambique, which appears to be at least somewhat taken over by the Kalahari Desert, so how close to home is this? How does he feel about adoption? What remnants or influences still remain from European settlers and/or European religions? Like Fennesz's electronics bubbling up under Sakamato's melodies, "Daniel" left me thinking about subtle nuances within the character's actions and intentions and how each character has changed either for the good and can possibly improve upon the human experience or if they are only going to perpetuate any sort of hierarchy based upon race, class, intelligence, etc. And to answer what I ponder, I only have to look around. I thought of the aphorism, "you can't go home, again" the entire time I read this... ...more
Felt a little nostalgic for the Lille days. Wish I could still read Francais, bit it would take me a year to read this. It was fun. Not great. Next onFelt a little nostalgic for the Lille days. Wish I could still read Francais, bit it would take me a year to read this. It was fun. Not great. Next one I'll go back to the original Edgar P. Jacobs penned bds. When is Speilberg and Jackson going to make this movie?...more
Warning: A rather low brow review. I finished this book and immediately I thought, welp, I need to read that one again. This is the first book I've reWarning: A rather low brow review. I finished this book and immediately I thought, welp, I need to read that one again. This is the first book I've read by Dennis Cooper. I had a friend who loved him, but for some reason I never sought out any of his books until I read his Art of Fiction interview in The Fall Paris Review. I specifically found Cooper's comparison of his writing to The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Psychocandy," which has been spinning on my record player as of late. Call it coincidence; I suppose it was the time and place to read Dennis Cooper. First of his sentences are beautiful. They seem like William Reid's guitar in that somewhere in there there is a wonderful melody, but through secret passageways of uncontrolled feedback everything seems a bit, well confusing (in a good way). His sentences wind and wind, apparently writing themselves, until a point is made sometime later with some, at once, concrete and abstract simile. The modernity of it all threw me for a loop also. I've never read a book with "emo" written in it so many times. I remember reading how Dennis Cooper was reading DeSade at a young age and someday, somewhere some high school freshman or sophomore will discover this book and his life will change because of it. The sex and violence weren't that bad. I guessed I imagined more of a DeSade type thing. The plot I suppose is a marbled swarm. I can't tell if the narrator is unreliable, truthful but scattered or just fucking with me. But that's why it's fun to read. ...more
I had high hopes for some sort of "high brow" vampire/horror novel. Maybe I wanted another "The Road." Maybe it was when I heard the author on the radI had high hopes for some sort of "high brow" vampire/horror novel. Maybe I wanted another "The Road." Maybe it was when I heard the author on the radio while driving through Iowa talking about this book and sounding intelligent and interesting and different. Maybe the book was just too long. Maybe it was the fact that I found out that the movie rights were purchased before the book was published and that this is the first in a planned trilogy. Maybe I just don't know. But I do know that this book was definitely not "The Road." Nothing as sweet and gentle and heartbreaking like apparently only McCarthy can do with a post-apocalyptic setting. Cronin does write beautifully and intelligently, but only sometimes. Funny, but I think I tended to like his writing the best at the beginning of each section and then it seemed to lose its grace and become, well, like something simply written to be a movie. I know that this was the longest book I read in a long time, and to think that there are two more parts is depressing. If a book is going to be around 800 pages it should be worth it. Leave me hanging. Leave me guessing. Leave me wondering, contemplating. Not another 1600 pages to come. Did I mention that at times it appears to have been written to be a movie. Big stars and big explosions. Michael Bay or someone. But would I read the next one? Possibly come next Halloween (I hope its shorter). So I'd give it 2.5 stars if I could. Maybe I should give it 3 stars. I don't know. What I do know is that it's snowing, school has been cancelled today and I am ready to melt into some Norwegian literature. After of course I finish part III of Bolano's Paris Review serial novel "The Third Reich." ...more
Boy, I'm loving this so far (I just finished the prologue). I feel like I bought this book at B. Dalton in Penn-Can Mall with my mom. It takes me backBoy, I'm loving this so far (I just finished the prologue). I feel like I bought this book at B. Dalton in Penn-Can Mall with my mom. It takes me back to those Hardy Boys days......more
I shall try to write this review without spoiling the ending. I will try, I said, so if I do spoil the ending I warned you. The plot is simple enough.I shall try to write this review without spoiling the ending. I will try, I said, so if I do spoil the ending I warned you. The plot is simple enough. Or maybe it's not simple. Ruby, the older sister, will not let her younger sister Chloe, drown. And she didn't. Chloe finds a dead girl, London, on a boat while trying to swim across a reservoir in upstate New York. Chloe is shipped away from her sister and her drunk mother to Pennsylvania for about 2 years. After that, Chloe and London come back. I that's where I loved it. I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on. I couldn't believe that Ruby had some sort of supernatural powers because the text did not seem to lend itself to the usual YA fantasy type stuff. I was hoping for more of a "Fight Club" type ending or something. Or something even more realistic (like London was never dead?). But alas, there was the fantasy. Oh well. The way Suma personified the water was great. I even thought the whole book could be a nice metaphor for people stuck in my horrible place of birth in upstate New York. I can't wait to see how the students like it... ...more
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