Book Review: Horns
29 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Backlist Reviews Tags: devil, fiction, horror, murder, revenge, supernatural, thriller, unsolved murders
Horns by Joe Hill (2011)
“Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke the next morning with a headache. put his hands to his temples, and felt something unfamiliar, a pair of knobby pointed protuberances.”
That’s how this story begins. Ignatius Perrish (or ‘Ig’ to his family and friends), a seemingly ordinary person, wakes up after a drunken night to find he is growing horns at the top of his head. As if this weren’t strange enough, he notices people acting differently around him. When people see him they start confessing their worst thoughts to him, seemingly asking his permission to do bad things to other people. It isn’t long before Ig notices a connection between the horns and people’s behavior around him.
Then slowly the book’s main plot is revealed, and we discover that Ig is a man with a painful past. His girlfriend Merrin was raped and killed a year ago, and Ig was accused of the crime. Despite being cleared of the charges, he is still a social pariah, the whole town believing that his wealthy family paid his way out of trouble. Finally, Ig decides to use his newfound powers of persuasion for a real purpose: to find out who really killed Merrin.
Even though this book came out last year, I hadn’t heard about it until I got it as a birthday gift. Joe Hill also writes the graphic novel Locke & Key, a really enjoyable series which also comtains elements of the supernatural. He is also Stephen King’s son, and it really is creepy how much they look alike!
Horns is a great book. It’s a story of supernatural revenge which grabs ahold of you from the first page on. Ig is a truly tragic character. Living in the shadow of his perfect older brother his whole life, and taken advantage of by people who claim to be his friends, the only true happiness in Ig’s life was his lover Merrin. And when she is taken away from him, Ig becomes the ultimate irony: a good man who embraces evil to find justice for a life lost.
This is a perfect story for anyone who enjoys thrillers and crime stories. It’s more a story about revenge and the faces of good and evil rather than a supernatural story. It’s a sad book, but still quite moving in its own way. It definitely makes me want to go back and read Hill’s other books. But first I think I’ll dust off and re-read my issues of Locke & Key!
Early Review: The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D
25 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: death, depression, diary, fiction, friendship, marriage, motherhood, secrets, sisters, women's relationships
The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. by Nichole Bernier (pub date 6/5/12)
“That’s the funny thing about people who don’t fit into a box. They grow to infiltrate everything, and when they suddenly go missing, they are missing everywhere.”
Who knows you the most? Is there anyone in your life who knows all of your secrets, your past, your craziest thoughts? Think about the people in your life closest to you: your spouse/partner, parents, friends. Is there a part of you that none of them knows? For some people, the one who knows them the most is not a person but a journal.
The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D is about a thirty-something wife and mother named Kate whose best friend Elizabeth died in a plane crash. Several months after Elizabeth’s death, Kate finds out that Elizabeth had willed her a trunk full of old journals, along with explicit instructions that Kate be the one to read them. Though she is at first reluctant to read her friend’s private journals, Kate accepts her new duty out of loyalty to Elizabeth.
Kate takes the journals along on her vacation, and quickly discovers an Elizabeth completely unlike the one she thought she knew. The cheerful, capable Elizabeth was a mere shell, hiding a painful past and crippling depression. Kate struggles to reconcile her own guilt over not recognizing her friend’s suffering, and also deals with constant inquiries from Elizabeth’s widowed husband Dave about what is in the journals. Resentful that the journals were given to Kate and not him, Dave has doubts about what his wife was really doing on the day she died.
I really enjoyed this bittersweet debut novel. Bernier captures all of the joy, angst, and uncertainty that comes with the best friend relationship. And though Elizabeth’s character is dead all throughout the story, she came alive through the journal entries. It takes a great writer to make a dead character seem alive, and Elizabeth is a rich and dynamic character, as is Kate.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about women’s relationships, and also to anyone who enjoys real-life human drama. It’s an absorbing and very enjoyable story, and it might make you think about the secrets we all keep, even from our best friend.
‘Darker’ I Go!
23 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: BDSM, erotica, female submission, fiction, male dominance, relationships
Since I admit that I enjoyed the first one (probably more than I should have), last week I decided to go ahead and read the second installment of the Fifty Shades trilogy, Fifty Shades Darker. Someone gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday, so I really had nothing to lose. I wanted to see if the story was worth continuing and also what other crazy hijinks America’s most delightfully perverted couple can get into. So here we go:
**[SPOILERS: They have sex]**
After Ana dumped Christian at the end of the first book, she spends all of the first chapter of the second book feeling sorry for herself and trying to move on with her life. By the end of the second chapter, she and Christian are back together. So much for moving on. Not able to endure the agony of their eight minute breakup, Christian begs Ana to take him back and promises to curb his BDSM-related desires in order to be in a “vanilla” relationship with her.
Even though Christian promises no hardcore stuff, Darker still delivers all kinds of “kinky fuckery,” in which Ana and Christian express their renewed feelings for each other by having sex on a boat, a billiard table, a coffee table, a grand piano, in an elevator, in his childhood bedroom, and I think in a bed. To shake things up, the book goes all Lifetime Movie and throws in a psycho ex-girlfriend and some sexual harassment by Ana’s new boss.
Despite all my common sense telling me I should hate this book, I had the same dumb smile on my face while reading it that I did when I read the first book. For the brutally hot sex scenes, I was willing to forgive the lame dialogue and barely-there plot. I was even willing to overlook the return of the annoying e-mails and the much-hated “inner goddess.” However, some of the dialogue was just so cheesy it was awesome. Among my personal favorites were Christian’s lines “I don’t know whether to worship at your feet or spank the shit out of you,” and “Why, why do you defy me?”
**[REAL SPOILERS]**
One thing that perturbed me about Darker however, aside from the awkward ice cream scene, was Ana and Christian getting engaged. Not because of the fact that they have only known each other for a few weeks, but because it ruins the spirit of the books. I don’t want to read about two people getting married…I am married. These books are about fantasy and about exploring taboo subjects in a fun and safe way, so having Ana and Christian get married is just so…blah. Their tempestuous, sometimes dangerous relationship and Christian’s mysterious persona are what made the first book fun and exciting. But now he’s supposedly cured of his dark impulses, and so they’re engaged and he bought her a ring and a huge house and of course she’s quickly developing a case of Baby Rabies. *sigh* It’s great to want those things in real life, but in a story that’s supposed to be dark and erotic, those things just kill the mood.
Of course I’m not criticizing marriage as an institution (I am married, remember), and I’m certainly not saying that married couples can’t experiment with or enjoy a BDSM lifestyle. I’m just saying that in terms of pure escapism and erotic fantasy, the “happily ever after” has got to go.
Granted, I haven’t yet read the third book in the trilogy, so I don’t know what happens next. But deep down inside I’m hoping just a little bit for Christian to get cold feet, or for another psycho ex to ruin their wedding. Because I don’t want Ana and Christian to be happy. I want them to be tortured and confused. Why? Because they’re not real people! I’m real, and reality is boring. Domestic bliss has no place in this story. I want my smut to be smutty; I don’t want my favorite friends with benefits falling in love and picking out china patterns. So while I am still (ashamedly) eager to read the next and last Fifty Shades book, I’ll be sorely disappointed if it turns out to be five hundred pages of “I love you” and the two of them exchanging innuendos while doing the dishes.
Laters, baby!
Book Review: Nocturnal
17 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: cults, fiction, horror, monsters, occult, police, san francisco, undergroud
Nocturnal by Scott Sigler (pub date 4/3/12)
“Bryan said what he always said–that killing a man felt awful.”
I feel like I’ve been posting reviews on mostly serious, dramatic books lately. So it’s time to get back to my horror roots and have a little fun! I’ve never read a Scott Sigler novel before, but when I came across the book trailer for Nocturnal on Twitter, I knew I had to read it:
Set in San Francisco, Nocturnal is a book about the battle between monsters and men, and even dares to blur the line between the two. Our protagonist Bryan Clauser is a homicide detective, rough around the edges but still basically a good man. Stuck with the nickname “The Terminator” due to the number of criminals he’s killed, Bryan tends to see right and wrong strictly in black and white. His partner Pookie Chang provides the comedic relief and also serves to keep Bryan grounded.
When Bryan and Pookie begin investigating a series of gruesome murders, Bryan begins to feel as if he’s losing his mind. He starts dreaming about the murders (even as they’re happening), and he begins to wonder if he’s somehow connected to them. Little by little, he and Pookie start uncovering clues to the killings, clues which point to a 200-year-old cult, a strange teenage boy, a vigilante killer, and a legion of monsters living in shadows beneath the city.
With plenty of twists and turns, interesting characters, and a fair share of blood and gore, Nocturnal is an enthralling read for horror fans. Even at almost 600 pages long, the story stays fresh and the writing keeps pulling you back in. It’s definitely not for the squeamish, but still an extremely enjoyable and unique read. Sigler clearly took the time to develop his characters and provide an origin story for his monsters, making them seem even more real.
Overall, Nocturnal is a hard-hitting story for the true horror fan. It’s part crime drama, part creature feature, and altogether a well-written and intelligent book.
Fifty Shades of ‘The Room’
13 Apr 2012 3 Comments
in New Release Reviews Tags: BDSM, erotica, fanfic, female submission, fiction, male dominance, twilight fanfic
Two weeks ago I was in Barnes & Noble, (almost) minding my own business, when I observed a middle-aged woman excitedly approach a store clerk and ask if he had Fifty Shades of Grey in stock. When the clerk explained that it was currently still only available as an e-book, the woman rushed to the front of the store and bought a Nook. It has to be said that what I witnessed was a miracle of modern marketing. Impressed by the fact that this woman was willing to spend over $100 on an e-reader just to read this book rather than wait four days for it to be released in much cheaper paperback, I decided to give in and find out what all the fuss was for. So here goes:
**[NOTE: By now the whole world pretty much knows what the plot is, but if you're not sure, look it up on Amazon or B&N.com. The customer reviews alone are worth reading!]**
I had heard it compared to Twilight before I read it, but it wasn’t until after I started reading Fifty Shades that my friend and fellow book blogger told me that it was actually written as a Twilight fanfic. *sigh* And except for the sex of course (and the fact that Christian Grey is more like Patrick Bateman than Edward Cullen), Fifty Shades is pretty much just like Twilight in terms of characterization: she’s bumbling and awkward, he’s cold and distant, and both are equally annoying. The story is forced at best and the dialogue is atrocious. I rolled my eyes so many times during the first two chapters I thought I would lose a contact lens.
But still, I couldn’t help but notice a certain level of enjoyment that I experienced in reading this book. Every time I tried to tell my husband about how stupid it is, he countered with “Oh yeah, then why are you smiling?” And he was right. As silly as it is, I was enjoying it, and I was looking forward to lunch breaks and coming home from work to read more of it. Sure, the sex is hot, but the rest of it is just ridiculous. So what gives?
Then I realized that perhaps the reason I enjoyed Fifty Shades is because it reminds me of my all-time favorite bad movie The Room. If you’ve never heard of The Room, you need to Netflix it right now! It has to be one of the worst movies ever made, yet I have watched it so many times I have it memorized. I find such exquisite joy in watching this terrible movie that it’s almost criminal. And for me, Fifty Shades has a lot of the same elements as The Room: under developed characters, repetitive and laughable dialogue, sex scenes that come out of nowhere, contradictions, and characters who enter a scene just to leave it again two seconds later. What’s not to love?
I’ll give credit where it’s due: the sex scenes are hot, and it is a remarkable feat that this story started out as a simple online fanfic and achieved so much success in such a short time. But basically, Fifty Shades is just a fun erotic story that perpetuates the cherished but unfortunate myth that the “bad boy” can be changed. “Oh, he told me he doesn’t want a relationship and that he’s had fifteen women before me and that he doesn’t love me, but I can change him!” *sigh* Ana’s inner monologue is just annoying (What 21-year-old says ”holy moses”?!), and all that “inner goddess” and “my sex” (just say vagina!) stuff made me want to scream. But I admit that I enjoyed it for how silly it is, and yeah, ok, I bought the sequel. And I’m sure I’ll have a big dumb grin on my face when I read that too.
Want more Fifty Shades goodness? Check out what my BFF Jenn N. at the Booksellers Without Borders blog had to say about it!
Book Review: Mother’s House Payment
09 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: bipolar, child abuse, depression, fathers and daughters, memoir, mother daughter relationship, neglect, nonfiction
Mother’s House Payment by Ronnie Schiller (Kindle only, 2011)
“Depression follows mania. A manic person falls like Icarus, plummeting away from the sun into the depths of the sea.”
One of my professors recently said something very simple yet very brilliant about the difference between fiction and nonfiction: we want our fiction to be realistic and we want our nonfiction, especially memoirs, to be larger than life. There is some truth to that statement in this short but powerful memoir by the author of the Infernal Stock series.
Mother’s House Payment is the story of Schiller’s own life, and how she struggled to overcome her traumatic childhood. Born to a mother who never wanted her, Schiller’s childhood is marked by abuse, neglect, and being passed around among parents and step-parents. Still fighting deep emotional scars in her teen years, she experiences mental illness which leads to self-harm and eventually hospitalization. As an adult, she finds difficulty in maintaining healthy romantic relationships, and tries to finally break free of her unhappy, co-dependent marriage.
This is not an easy book to read. It’s raw, gritty, and uncomfortable. But it’s also very well written, and a story that deserves to be told. It shows just what happens to victims of abuse when they grow up, the burden they carry with them into adulthood. And the sad fact is that there are many abuse victims who were not as fortunate as Schiller to have gotten help and turned their lives around.
Mother’s House Payment is a sad but hopeful memoir, and I give a lot of credit to the author for finding the strength not only to help herself, but to share her story with the world. The book is currently selling well in the Kindle store, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got picked up by a larger publisher sometime in the future.
What is Obscenity?
05 Apr 2012 2 Comments
by Jen in Commentary Tags: censorship, first amendment, freedom of speech, obscenity
Obscene.
We’re so quick to throw that word around, but how many of us really know what it means? Many of the great classics in literature have been banned or challenged for obscenity (think Lolita and Tropic of Cancer), but what actually made people think they were obscene?
I took a course in publishing law this semester, and it gave me a lot of food for thought. There is actually a legal definition for obscenity, especially in relation to media. To be classified as ‘obscene,’ the piece in question has to meet a three-part standard:
Yup, this really is the standard, and it couldn’t be more vague if it tried. Who is “the community”? A town, a religious group, the whole state? And who sets the standard? And how do you decide if a book has any social importance or not? Maybe those anti-porn crusaders think that porn has no social importance, but there are many others who would beg to differ. And my personal favorite is the “prurient interest” criterion. Basically, it’s ok for books to talk about sex, but it’s not ok to make people horny. Huh?! And there’s nothing in there about violence, so violence is pretty much ok but sex isn’t?
Obscenity first became a legal issue in the US in the late nineteenth century, an offshoot of the Temperance Movement. At that time it became illegal to send obscene material through the mail, and specially appointed officers could actually open other people’s mail looking for obscene items. Think about that the next time you get Playboy or Playgirl in your mailbox! The three-part standard I mentioned before was implemented in the 1950s and is still more or less applied today, even though it is still contradictory and almost impossible to define.
And for those of you who are thinking that none of this really matters because of the First Amendment, think again. The First Amendment actually does not protect obscene material. It also does not protect child pornography (duh) or any speech that incites violence. So the next time you’re curled up with a good erotic story, try to think about whether it could be technically classified as obscene material and censored or banned.
Banned Books Week is still six months away, but any time is a good time to appreciate the freedoms and privileges we do have, especially in terms of publishing and speech!