French Graphic Novels, eh?

Glacial Period
Nicolas De Crecy
Started July 20, 2007
Finished July 21, 2007

I really enjoyed the premise of this graphic novel. It takes place far in the future, and these explorers are looking for the Louvre, not knowing what it is because it has been lost to time. They find it, and have absurd theories about the artwork. It was funny, as well as interesting, when they were commenting on the art. I really liked that it listed the works featured in the back. I suspect that I would have gotten even more out of it if I had more knowledge of art history or had the energy to spend a good amount of time looking stuff up about the paintings. Nevertheless, my art knowledge was increased. My only criticism is that sometimes I thought it got a bit heavy handed. I'm not sure how I feel about the sentient dogs, especially the one that's in love with a human woman and wishes interspecies love was accepted. Also, the jab at fat American tourists who only care about the Mona Lisa wasn't strictly necessary, though probably truer that I'd like to think. Overall, though, this was an interesting read that didn't require much of a time investment.

The British Catcher in the Rye?

Black Swan Green

David Mitchell

Started July 13, 2007

Finished July 20. 2007

Well, I suppose I should preface this by saying that I LOVED Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, but I can definitely see where it's not for everyone. Part of what I loved about it is the way that Mitchell uses structure to add to the story, and he pays attention to structure in Black Swan Green as well. It's more reader friendly in Black Swan Green though. Cloud Atlas cuts each of the stories except for the last one in half and wraps them around each other, like Russian dolls. In Black Swan Green, both the passage of time and the number 13 are important, and so there are 13 chapters, one for each month that the book spans. You get an episode that happens each month rather than a completely continuous narrative. It works for me.

Black Swan Green is significantly more accessible than Cloud Atlas, although 80s British slang is sometimes like a different language. It's kind of like A Clockwork Orange though... you get used to it. And then you start wanting to whip out words from it and no one knows what the hell you're trying to say... unless they've read the book.

The narrator, Jason Taylor, is sometimes incredibly acute, but then also sometimes things go way over his head. It's also quite interesting to try to work out Jason's contradictions throughout the novel. For example, my favorite quote from the novel: "Me, I want to bloody kick this moronic bloody world in the bloody teeth over and over till it bloody understands that not hurting people is ten bloody thousand times more bloody important than being right" (118). The following chapter makes this a very interesting statement indeed. By the end of the novel, though, Jason has moved forward.

80s Crazy Rich Kids... Did they have souls?

Less Than Zero

Bret Easton Ellis

Started July 2, 2007

Finished July 16, 2007

I think this may actually be my new favorite Bret Easton Ellis book. It also happens to be his first one. I didn't think much of Glamorama (second most recent) so I didn't read Lunar Park (most recent), but I've liked everything older than that to varying degrees. I've heard his next book might be a sequel to Less Than Zero, so hopefully he'll be on an upswing (although we all know how sequels tend to compare to the originals). Anyway, Less Than Zero is apparently based on the Elvis Costello song of the same name (which I haven't heard yet, but now want to track down...). In the book, the protagonist has an Elvis Costello poster hanging on his ceiling that looks down on him (Like God? Accusingly? Providing moral judgment? Now is where I suppose it'd be cool to know more about Elvis Costello and his music, because he's definitely a presence in this novel.)

According to good old wikipedia, Ellis is considered one of the major Gen X writers, and he's definitely got a thing for those 80s drugged out rich kids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Easton_Ellis). Even though I'm not always into what he's doing, at least he's definitely doing something a little different than most of what's out there. He likes to push the envelope and shock. Like typical Ellis, there's tons of seemingly random drugs and sex, and it seems to create a tone of disconnect within the novel. It just seems to have a more pointed effect in this novel. Clay comments on his "need to see the worst" and Ellis doesn't let him look away.

He's definitely channeling Ernest Hemingway in style in this one. There's a definite sense that the narrator, Clay, is only scratching the very surface of the things he comments on. Though I don't think he ever offers up how some pretty fucked up events make Clay feel, Ellis kind of gives you road signs to Clay's internal workings. Like the fascination with the dying coyote. There's also a bit of a Gatsby moment with Clay and an ominous billboard (in addition to the ominous, judgmental Elvis Costello poster...).

Probably the key scene in the book for me:

'"It's... I don't think it's right."
"'What's right? If you want something, you have the right to take it. If you want to do something, you have the right to do it."
I lean up against the wall. I can hear Spin moaning in the bedroom and then the sound of a hand slapping maybe a face.
"But you don't need anything. You have everything," I tell him.
Rip looks at me. "No. I don't."
"What?"
"No. I don't."
There's a pause and then I ask, "Oh, shit, Rip, what don't you have?"
"I don't have anything to lose."

Humorously suicidal...

A Long Way Down

Nick Hornby

Started July 8, 2007

Finished July 11, 2007

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Sometimes I think I may have outgrown Nick Hornby and similar writers, but no, I think there's still something to this that speaks to me. Really, the more I think about this novel, the more I conclude that while it seems like a rather quick, pretty surface-y read, many of the issues addressed had a way of sticking to me... almost like I got tricked into considering new ideas. Which I have to say, I don't mind. I also quite enjoy Hornby's evident love of books which is sprinkled throughout. Especially the observation that it's considered weird to read a book with other people around, but no one gives it a second thought when someone is playing video games in a crowded room. (Haha... except for me.)

WARNING: SPOILERS (not that there's many plot points to spoil...)
Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, I actually found Maureen the most interesting character. One thing that she says really hit me as spot on... the need to not fill all 60 minutes an hour every hour with the same thing. I know that I am sometimes guilty of that, and it does nothing for my mental health. Maureen also has the shittiest situation in my opinion... while Matty, her completely nonfunctional son, doesn't have a voice at all in the novel, his presence is definitely felt. I don't know what I'd do in her situation. What she says about having kids struck me as being pretty right too... that a lot of people have kids to feel a sense of forward motion in their lives, and one of the saddest things about her life is that nothing ever changes because Matty never really grows up. Interestingly, though, she seems to me the happiest of the 4 main characters by the end of the novel, and it has a lot more to do with her outlook than with external events. Really, some of the other characters actually struck me as kind of whiny and less sympathetic.

I liked that nothing really changes by the end of the novel, but the characters somehow seem like they will be okay in the end. Not great, but okay. The plot meanders along, with lots of fairly random things happening and no real end destination in sight, but the destination isn't the point of this novel. It's figuring out how to get there that's the interesting (and difficult) part.