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Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell

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On September 10, 2015

In Fiction, Paul Cornell, Urban Fantasy

Witches of LychfordWitches of Lychford

by Paul Cornell
Series: Witches of Lychford, #1


Kindle Edition, 144 pg.
Tor.com, 2015
Read: September 8, 2015

You ever get nervous about starting a new work by an author? Sure, in retrospect, it may seem silly to doubt, but for every Jesse Stone, there’s a Sunny Randall. As much as I like his Shadow Police series, I wasn’t sure I was up for something else by Paul Cornell. Thankfully, my apprehension was silly, because whether he’s writing about London or a small town, Cornell knows what he’s doing.

The town of Lychford is on the verge of dealing with a major assault by evil forces and for reasons you should discover for yourself, that is not something that can be allowed, because if they are allowed to invade, these supernatural forces will carry the day. So they must be stopped before they can begin in earnest.

These forces are, naturally, a large supermarket chain. What else? They’re called Sovo, and I’m sure they resemble no actual chain (or that Cornell has really good lawyers). But it seems that there’s more to them than low prices and a knack for ruining the lives of small business owners.

Now, your middle class activist types might get riled up by this, but there’s only so much that their petitions and flyers can do against the supernatural (not that they realize they’re going up against powers beyond their ken). Even when the supernatural are primarily using things like empty promises, bribes, and the allure of new jobs, there’s only so much that well-off Muggles can do (to borrow a term from some other series).

It’s going to take people able to see the otherworldly aspects of the PR Campaign that Sovo is waging to win the hearts and minds of the citizenry to thwart them. Now, typically, this is where we’d get someone like Rachel Morgan, Harry Dresden, or Peter Grant to come in and kick a little supernatural butt. Instead, we get such obvious heroes as a crackpot old lady and vicar who’s on the verge of losing her faith. Thankfully, the crackpot is actually a witch of sorts, so they’ve got a fighting chance.

For something a mere 144 pages long, this is an incredibly rich and well-developed world. The magic system seems pretty thought-out and realistic (for lack of a better word). The characters (those mentioned and a couple of others) are sharply defined and could probably carry a story by themselves.

Really, really impressive work — I’d love it if the work were longer, but honestly, I’m not sure if it’d have been as effective if it had another 1-200 more pages to develop everything. I think this ensures Cornell’s place on my “grab anything you see by” list without really caring what the subject matter is.

I was about to hit “Publish” on this when I had this thought — this reads just like one of Bledsoe’s Tufa novels would if set in England. For my money, that’s a pretty high mark.

—–

3.5 Stars

Indexing: Reflections, Episode 3: Brotherly Love by Seanan McGuire

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On September 10, 2015

In Authors, Fiction, Indexing, K-O, Seanan McGuire, Urban Fantasy

Indexing: ReflectionsIndexing: Reflections, Episode Three: Brotherly Love

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Indexing, #2.3
Kindle
47North, 2015
Read: September 8, 2015

Now this is what I’m talking about. A solid, solid entry. We get Henry’s brother back; we get a good, contained story — yet with serialized elements that we’ll see play out; we see fallout from Episode 2; and thanks to Elsie’s particular brand of magic, we — and the characters — see something new.

There’s an incursion near the school where Henry’s brother, Gerry, teaches. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with him, it’s just near him. It’s also near his school, and the children in it — children who, it should be said, are the primary targets of the incursion. So Henry and her team are dispatched to wrangle with the press, school administration, and whoever — or whatever — is out there wanting to snack on kids.

The solution to this comes a bit easily, but the challenge to this episode isn’t solving eh narrative incursion, it’s in figuring out just what’s going on — how this is the result of Elsie’s escape — and then trying to see what the impact is going to be on Henry’s team (the stress on Demi and Henry this episode in particular). We don’t see Elsie at all — just what she’s done, but that’s enough.

Other than the ending coming a page or two earlier than I’d expected, I thought this one worked pretty well. We’ve only had 15 episodes of this series, and already McGuire is playing with the conventions, I like that. Some people would wait until the third book to mess with things like this, but why wait? Go for it while you can. Especially if you can tell good stories while re-writing your own rules, and that’s exactly what McGuire has done here.

—–

3.5 Stars

A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire

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On September 10, 2015

In Authors, Fiction, K-O, Seanan McGuire, Toby Daye

A Red-Rose ChainA Red-Rose Chain

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Toby Daye, #9

Mass Market Paperback, 358 pg.
DAW, 2015
Read: September 2 – 3, 2015

“Wow. Your ego has grown since we’ve known each other, hasn’t it?”

“Ah, but, you see, I have wooed and won the woman of my dreams. Admittedly, some of those dreams would be more properly termed ‘nightmares,’ but I don’t believe we get to be that picky when talking about such things . . . If my ego had not grown, it would surely be a sign that I was no true cat, and you would leave me for another.”

And that, folks, is why half of McGuire’s readers want to be Tybalt and the other have want to have a Tybalt in their lives. A Red-Rose Chain is chock-full of these kind of moments sprinkled between espionage, intrigue and peril.

Queen Windermere is still trying to figure out the whole Queen of the Mists thing, getting her howe and her kingdom running the way they should, and what not when a message is delivered: the Kingdom of Silences has declared war and in three days will begin attacking. King Rhys of Silences (which is in Portland, OR) was put on his throne by the bogus Queen of the Mists that Windermere recently overthrew, and he seems to be getting nervous about his position.

Who else would Windermere appoint as her ambassador to negotiate peace in the three days than Toby? Pretty much anyone in her kingdom. Which seems to be the conventional wisdom — and Toby agrees — but for her own reasons (some of which Toby eventually guesses) the Queen insists. She also doesn’t have a lot of options (see previous paragraph). So Toby and her fiance head off to stop a war instead of instigating one — and they take along Quentin, May, and Walther (the alchemist/Chemistry professor) to lend a helping hand.

Now, he’s no Blind Michael, but Rhys is one of the more despicable people in this series so far. And while he observes all the necessary formalities and whatnot, it’s pretty clear that his heart isn’t ion the whole negotiating thing, and he’s just biding his time until he can attack. The last time these two kingdoms battled was a century or so earlier, and while they prevailed, it didn’t go well for the Kingdom of the Mists — this time, it’s sure to be worse. A perception strengthened once we see how Shadows treats a diplomatic party. So Toby can’t fail.

Toby’s got her friends with her, but in many ways, she’s more on her own that usual — she doesn’t have all the resources to call upon in Portland that she does in SF, but she makes the most out of what she has. At the end of the day, it’s Toby’s series and she’s the one that carries the weight of the plot and the weight of the weight of the mission on her shoulders. McGuire pushes her in ways that she hasn’t been pushed before. I wasn’t thrilled with a couple of the moves McGuire made in the final couple of chapters — not bad writing/plotting, I just didn’t like what Toby had to go through. She prevails, naturally — though, not unscathed, but through grit, determination and the loyalty she commands (and returns) from her allies.

As a small break from the diplomatic tension, we spend a little time with Tybalt’s Portland counterpart. The two are very different from each other, (which is nice to see the variations in personality), but clearly have a a good deal of respect for each other. There’s an interesting shared past for either of them that we’re teased with, too. Would’ve been nice to get more, maybe one day. For the present, it’s nice just to get a little bit more of Tybalt’s pre-Toby history.

Looking ahead to #10 and beyond, I’m a little worried that things are going too well for Toby — particularly where Tybalt is involved. Will McGuire let her be that happy for long? At all?

That’s a worry for another day, for now, I’m going to say that this is one of my favorite reads of the year and leave it at that.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

Who Let The Dog Out? by David Rosenfelt

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On September 8, 2015

In Andy Carpenter, Authors, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

Who Let The Dog Out?Who Let The Dog Out?

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #13
Hardcover, 324 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2015
Read: September 4 – 5, 2015

As Michael Corleone said in The Godfather, Part Ill, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” The fact that it was the worst movie in the history of movies does not take away from the truth of that statement, as it relates to my legal career.

Poor, beleaguered Andy Carpenter. Dragged, kicking and screaming back into the courtroom to defend someone he really doesn’t care about, but by doing so he gets to investigate a crime he’s really concerned with.

As we all expect, that crime involves a dog.

The Tara Foundation, the dog rescue shelter that Andy runs with his former client, Willie, is broken into. The thief does a very professional job and takes off with one dog. Professional or not, the thief didn’t take into account how devoted Andy and Willie are to these animals and how obsessive they can be about them. It doesn’t take them long at all to track down the dog…and the corpse he’s next to.

Andy wants to know more about the dog, and the dog’s owner who turns out to be a fugitive, suspected of murder. The only way he can keep his foot in this case is to defend the man accused of the killing. He eventually does figure out who kills the thief, but it’s almost accidental — it’s certainly incidental to anything else going on. Just one of the little bits of pleasure this provided was that “ah ha” moment.

During the trial — the stage of many of this series’ highlights — Andy treats us to an amusing clinic on all the ways that a couple of lawyers (and people in other professions) can use the word “frankly,” including all the shades of meaning that word can provide. Like so many of Andy’s lessons, this was worth the ticket price.

Rosenfelt brings us yet another storylines that could summed up as: It looks like a simple crime, but is actually the linchpin to uncovering a major terrorist plot/international crime syndicate (minor spoiler that if you read more than a couple of chapters you’d see for yourself). I’m getting a little sick of these. The terrorist plot, by the way, makes me reconsider the plausibility of a similar plan in Robert B. Parker’s Night Passage. I’d always thought that the weakest part of an otherwise compelling read, seeing it now in light of this book makes me think there was something there. Still, for crying out loud, Mr. Rosenfelt, let major criminal enterprises and terrorist organizations figure out that a trip through Patterson, NJ is asking for trouble. Local conspiracies, okay. But major international conspiracies? You’ve got to stop going to that well so often. Or period.

My other worry about this is Ricky. If you haven’t read this far in the series, you may want to skip the rest of this paragraph. About half of the material around Ricky was cute and fun — just like it was in Hounded. The other half (mostly involving stale sit-com like bits about kids’ sports) teetered on painful. I fear that this series might be like the older comedies who felt compelled to add the cute little kid late in the run (Andy on Family Ties, Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch, Olivia on The Cosby Show, Chrissy on Growing Pains, etc., etc., etc.). If that’s the case, I worry about the future of the series.

Don’t get me wrong — I enjoyed this overall. I can suspend my beefs with this series as it goes on and enjoy Andy’s laziness, his awe of Marcus, Marcus’ awe-inducing self, the hacking seniors, and all the rest. I don’t open up an Andy Carpenter novel expecting to be hanging in suspense, to be chilled, to be challenged in any way; I expect to spend a couple of hours in some pleasant company and sometimes to get a fun puzzle. In that sense Who Let the Dog Out? delivered enough.

—–

3 Stars

John Scalzi and Shane Kuhn in Boise

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On September 7, 2015

In John Scalzi, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Science Fiction, Shane Kuhn, Urban Fantasy

If you’d asked me, I would’ve said I’ve written and posted this already. Apparently not. Whoops! Thanks for letting me know, Paul. So, I’ll take a quick break from packing up all my white clothes and get this up now. Better late than never, I guess. . . .
At the end of August, the best bookstore in Boise, Rediscovered Books, brought two authors to town for Readings/Signings. Back in college, I went to readings fairly frequently*, but since then I could count the number on one hand.

Shame on me. I need to do better at this. A good reading is one of the best forms of entertainment around. A less-good reading is pretty bad, but hey, at least you’re supporting the arts.

Anyway, the first author was John Scalzi. Perhaps you’ve heard of him — SF author extraordinaire, blogger, tweeter, etc., etc. Back on August 20, Rediscovered Books brought him to the auditorium of the Boise Public Library! (yes, the exclamation point is necessary). I wondered if that wasn’t overkill for SF in Boise. Not surprisingly, I was wrong and the people that do this stuff for a living were right. If they’d brought him to the bookstore, there’s no way we all could’ve fit, the audience packed the auditorium.

After a little chit-chat, he read a little from his upcoming novella The Dispatcher, his first foray into Urban Fantasy. He asked not to provide any details, as the only people getting this preview were those who came to this book tour. He did give us permission to — maybe even encouraged — gloat about hearing it. So, here we go: neener neener my wife and I got to hear the first chapter of The Dispatcher and most of you didn’t. It was pretty good, and I’ll be grabbing it as soon as I can.

He then read a couple of short humor pieces he wrote for AOL.com back in the 90’s that were appropriate for the Back to School season, and a pretty popular (and funny) blog post, Standard Responses to Online Stupidity. He then he spent 20 minutes or so doing Q&A — he was polite and friendly to the people asking questions, turned even awkward questions into something interesting in his answers (he’s been doing this for awhile).

What didn’t he read? Anything from the book that the tour was promoting — The End of All Things — which I found odd, but I was okay with because I’m way behind on that series. Very entertaining evening — the dude’s a pro.

During the signing, he was again friendly and pleasant and didn’t seem to mind people fanboying/fangirling all over him (which didn’t happen too much or without restraint on the part of the fans). When it was my turn, he laughed at my attempt at humor (which I’m going to believe was because I was moderately funny and not just because he’s sooper polite), gave me a nice, personalized autograph in my copy of The Android’s Dream that went with my joke.

And here’s photographic proof that I met John Scalzi:

A week later, things were a bit different for Shane Kuhn, a favorite around these parts, but largely unknown. Now, Rediscovered Books has been pushing Kuhn lately — he’s a Staff Pick, one of their book clubs read The Intern’s Handbook recently, etc. But a whopping 4 people showed up. Which, sure, provided a nice, intimate setting — but 4? Oh, wait, there were 2 bookstore employees there, too.

That had to be discouraging, but he went on with the show. After taking a poll of who’d read what of his (my wife hadn’t read anything yet, 2 were in various stages of Hostile Takeover, and I’d finished it earlier in the week), he read an early section of Hostile Takeover — the wedding — quitting at just the right spot — it was a good tease, you wanted to know what happened next; and I think the next part would’ve been very, very tricky to read aloud. He then took some questions, it was more of a chat, really. He had this annoying tendency to answer questions I wanted to ask in the middle of another answer, so I ended up not saying anything. Highlights included him talking a little bit about his next book, more of a mainstream thriller; and the process of getting The Intern’s Handbook to the Big Screen. He read another bit from the beginning of The Intern’s Handbook (after teasing my wife about reading the ending), where Alice and John first met.

Despite the low turnout, he didn’t (that I could tell) cut corners or half-ass his way through the reading, and was more than friendly to those of us who were there. If he comes back, we’ll do a better job strong-arming friends and family to come so that his audience will be bigger.

Here’s photographic proof that I saw Shane Kuhn (better angle on me than the other). If you go to Rediscovered’s Facebook page and see the photograph I appropriated, you can see 75% of the audience for the reading)

* And not just for the extra credit either. Although that probably kept me at some until the end.

Saturday Miscellany – 9/5/15

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On September 5, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire — Loved this. Will try to blog about this early next week, but basically, she’s outdone herself. Toby Daye as a diplomat, c’mon, how do you not read that?
  • The Drafter by Kim Harrison — There’s part of me that would be okay with not reading another Harrison, but…man, this premise is so strong. I’m going to have to. Typically, Paul Goat Allen, is on board and has a good post about this one.
  • Jillian Cade: (Fake) Paranormal Investigator by Jen Klein — the title alone intrigues me, sounds like a fun premise to boot.
  • Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns — I’ll be shallow again — that cover (click on the link, really) hooks me. The premise is promising, but I can see where I’d tire quickly of it. Still, worth a shot.
  • Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart — a female character that would be atypical today, but in a mystery set in 1914? Sign me up.
  • Updraft by Fran Wilde — great premise, fantastic buzz.
  • The Dragon Engine by Andy Remic — sounds like grimdark, but fun. Could be wrong about that, but however you describe it, still looks fun.
  • The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore — The end of the Lorien Legacies is here, and I’m ready for it. Probably a book or two too late, honestly. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing how this one wraps up.

Lastly, I’d like to say thanks to The Primroses Were Over and RedTHaws Reads Randomly for the encouraging words this week (actually, had a lot of good feedback/interaction this week, been a nice week — these two started it all).

Provoke Not The Children by Michael W. Anderson

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On September 4, 2015

In Blog Series, Fiction, Opening Lines

Provoke Not The ChildrenProvoke Not The Children

by Michael W. Anderson


Kindle Edition, 348 pg.
Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2014
Read: August 27 – 31, 2014

Some dystopian futures seem plausible — even inevitable — 1984, The Hunger Games; while others seem impossible — Divergent, Red Rising. Anderson’s world is possibly the most plausible I’ve read.

In this future U. S., parents are no longer responsible for the day-to-day raising, nurturing, or educating of their children (they are still responsible for paying for all that). Instead, they entrust their children to the care of Proxies. Proxies are professional child-raisers. The idea is that these people know exactly what an individual child needs for full academic, social, psychological and physical progress and health, and are far better suited to ensuring children receive this care than an y parent could hope to. So after years and years of more and more parents turning to this option, it becomes mandatory for all children in the U. S. to be handed over to the professionals.

What do parents do with all this time they’re not, you know, parenting? Why, they’re making themselves the best possible versions of themselves that they can. Kids just get in the way of paying attention to yourself, your career, your well-being, and so on. (other than having someone to show off at parties and to inherit what you have left, I’m not sure what the point is to having kids in this world — but let’s just assume the biological imperatives win out or something.)

Now, with a government mandate of this size, regulations are going to come into play. And where there are regulations, you need people to enforce them. Enter our hero, Chase Stern. Chase is a Proxy Review Officer — he travels the Northwest working to make sure that children are being cared for by Proxies, and that the Proxies are doing things right.

Naturally, not all are. In fact, there’s a very disturbing number of Proxies getting away with fraud, abuse, and neglect. Chase blows the proverbial whistle on this unpleasant truth and is first publicly pilloried for this, but that soon turns into the opportunity for Chase to be part of the reforms of the Proxy Industry. The cure proposed may turn out to be worse for society as a whole, and the children in particular, than the disease.

Great premise, right? Hard to go wrong with a setup like that.

And yet, Anderson doesn’t quite pull it off. He’s close. I don’t think he was ready to write characters and a story to go with ideas this big quite yet. The pacing was strange at times, and I think the book would’ve been better served if we’d gotten to see more of the process involved — not just opening chapters with a “In the months/years since the end of the last chapter, many things happened”-type summary. Also, there’s a whole lot more telling than showing going on here, his characters gave a lot of speeches. Not quite as bad as Asimov in Foundation*, but along the same lines.

The biggest problem with this book is the characters. They’re flat. They’re not people. The novel is entirely from Chase’s perspective and he comes closest to being a person. But even he’s flat. There’s no growth, nothing other than his crusade to reform. Yes, Chase had been the kind of parent who was in a rush to get his kids Proxied so that he could fulfill himself, and then something happens and he changes into the kind of guy who cares about the welfare of children. Whatever changes he goes through — say, learning how to lobby congresspeople — just appear in between chapters.

That said, Maria, is one of the — I want to say evil, but she’s too shallow for that. Maria’s about the most wretched, vile, hateful character I’ve ever read (her husband, Conrad, is about as bad — but he does less, so maybe he’s just a self-centered twit, not a force for all that is wrong with the world). There are a couple of other characters here that are more actively malicious, too. Still, they’re all little more than amalgamation of characteristics. But Anderson has trouble with the white hat characters. Perhaps he understands human nature too well for that.

There was a very unfortunate typo in the edition I read — and I was taken out of the scene during the climatic confrontation. I’ve emailed the author and he said he’d be fixing it. That’s the big advantage of self-publishing ebooks. Anton Strout, for example, tells the story about someone pointing out a similar problem in one of his fight scenes years after the publication, which will remain in the paperbacks. Anderson’s error is gone. Welcome to the 21st century.

Provoke Not the Children had a killer concept, and a chilling world that you’ll keep thinking about for days. The story’s almost, but not quite where it needs to be. I still recommend it in the end, but don’t expect too much from the narrative. I expect in a book or two, Anderson’s execution will match his world-building.

—
* I remember that being very speech-filled, I think that’s even talked about in the forward Asimov wrote in the edition I last read 20+ years ago. Hope I’m not wrong about that, it’s just the best example I could come up with at the moment. Besides, being compared to Asimov in Foundation should be seen as a compliment.

—–

3 Stars

Underground by Kat Richardson

By

On September 3, 2015

In Fiction

UndergroundUnderground

by Kat Richardson
Series Greywalker, #3

Mass Market Paperback, 354 pg.

Roc, 2009

Read: August 17 – 20, 2015


So Harper’s pal/computer tech/security expert, Quinton, comes to her for a favor. Several homeless people in the area have gone missing, and some have shown up that look, well, eaten. By something large. Quinton would like Harper to look into it, see if there’s something that’s more up her particular alley than what the police are looking/equipped for.

Obviously, yes, or it’d be a very short — and incredibly dull — book.

Harper and Quinton end up on a search through the now underground remnants of Seattle’s bygone days, through the city’s homeless culture, and skirting the edge of local Native American myth (not nearly as mythic as most people think).

I’ve liked Quinton, and wanted to get to know him better. We get the opportunity to here — actually, we learn a lot about him. What we learn makes him pretty distinctive in UF, he might be run of the mill in Suspense/Mystery novels, though — but that makes sense. Richardson is basically writing Kinsey Millhone with ghosts and other supernatural whatnot.

Ben and Mara Danziger do make an appearance, but fairly late into the novel. I appreciated seeing them, but I was also glad that Harper doesn’t have to run to them right away. Ben gets more of the action this time than Mara, which was a good switch. Also, he’s a fun character. Many of the other characters from the previous two novels show up for a scene or two — to provide continuity as well as information on just whatever is snacking on Seattle’s poorest.

Pretty much everything worked well in these pages. Harper’s personality is enough to pull you in. Quinton and the world he introduces Harper to are enough to keep you. The bits of Seattle history were very interesting — even if most of it was variation on what I’ve read before about the underground city (and there’s plenty of fodder for return trips for Harper down there). The Native American elements were a nice addition to this world. I do think it was a little too easy to figure out the non-monster mysteries, Richardson might as well have been putting flashing neon around certain sentences, reading “Pay attention, this’ll be important.” Still, over all, everything worked just right.

The previous Greywalker novel, Poltergeist, was one of the last things I read in 2012, and I’ve been meaning to get back to the series since. Don’t ask me why I didn’t — I can’t give you (or myself) a satisfactory answer. It won’t be another 2 and a half years before I come back, I can tell you that. It’s not the most dazzling and dynamic Urban Fantasy series out there, but it’s good. And when you’re this good? You don’t have to be dazzling, you just have to deliver. Underground did.

—–

4 Stars

Indexing: Reflections, Episode 2: Broken Glass by Seanan McGuire

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On September 2, 2015

In Authors, Fiction, Indexing, K-O, Seanan McGuire, Urban Fantasy

Indexing: ReflectionsIndexing: Reflections, Episode Two: Broken Glass

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Indexing, #2.2
Kindle
47North, 2015
Read: August 27, 2015
So, having reassembled the team, reviewed the events of the last book and refocused both readers and characters to their mission, it’s time to get the ball rolling on this season.

Once again, McGuire introduces the AFI team to a problem that seems sort of light-hearted at first (investigating a House that Jack Built, complete with lines like, “Sloane had managed to locate the cat that chased the rat”) — but with some dark undertones. But before we get too far into it, Henry and the crew are interrupted and have to swing off in another direction. And this direction is a doozy — the prison to hold the Fairy Tales who’ve fully manifested in a bad-for-society way — has a jail break. It’s not just any jail break either, because the Narrative has seemingly done something impossible along the way. But I’ll let Henry spell that part out to ya. I’ll just say that I really like where this is going.

On the one hand, I thought what we learned about Demi in the previous episode helped us understand her better, and demonstrated her commitment to the cause/team. So when many of the same notes where struck this episode, I wasn’t thrilled — but, what we heard/saw this time, was different enough to justify it. Seriously, Demi is either going to be a superstar in the AFI, or when she turns and stabs everyone in the back, it’s going to hurt a lot. I’m hoping for the former, am (trying to) ready for the latter.

Elsie, the escapee, is either going to be a great Big Bad for this season, a great underling, solider for a better Big Bad, or a nice warm-up for the next few weeks until we get to the Big Bad. Mid-sentence there, I thought of several other options for Elsie’s role. Whatever that role ends up being, I think I’m going to enjoy her.

Overall, it’s more of a set-up chapter than anything else, but it was very promising and entertaining. Which is good enough.

—–

3 Stars

Reread Project: The Van by Roddy Doyle

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On September 2, 2015

In Authors, Blog Series, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Reread Project, Roddy Doyle

The VanThe Van

by Roddy Doyle
Series: The Barrytown Trilogy, #3

Trade Paperback, 311 pg.
Minerva, 1991
Read: August 25 – , 2015
Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr. started off as a supporting character in The Commitments, moved up to co-star in The Snapper, and finally moves to the forefront in The Van, which is more about him than the other two were about any one person. Which isn’t to say that Jimmy, Jr., Sharon, Veronica, Darren and the twins aren’t here, they’re just in the background — as are most of Jimmy, Sr.’s friends (actually, I think Jr.’s in this far more than he was The Snapper).

Not only is the focus more narrow, the final installment in the trilogy is different in other ways — it’s almost 100 pages longer (depending on the printing) than The Snapper which was about 50 pages longer than The Commitments. Which gives Doyle more space to do things he hadn’t really before. It’s still primarily told through heavily stylized In the first 90 pages, I estimated I’d read more (significantly more) narration than I did in the first two volumes of the trilogy.

It’s not been clear before what Jimmy did for a living, but whatever it was, it was pretty clear the bills were barely paid. They stretched what they had pretty far, but they seemed to manage. Somewhere along the line, pretty sure it was post-Snapper, but I’m not sure, Jimmy lost his job. Unemployment isn’t setting well with him — he can’t support his family, he’s bored, he can’t even go down to the pub to have a few pints with his friends.

Jimmy’s trying to grow — he’s reading the classics. Thinking of taking some classes. But it’s not enough. At some point his friend, Bimbo, also gets laid off. The two spend a lot of time together — having a companion in his unemployment makes the whole thing tolerable for Jimmy — almost like summer vacation from school. Bimbo isn’t quite as accepting of this new reality — he almost applies to work at McDonald’s, but is shamed out of it by Jimmy. Bimbo’s wife is even less satisfied with his job status. Which leads to a reckless move on Bimbo’s part — reckless, yet maybe inspired — he uses some of his last dollars on a Chip Van (minus an engine). In the midst of the U.S.’ current Food Truck craze, this might not seem so risky, but in the early 90s? (then again, what do I know of early 90’s Dublin, other than what I’ve picked up from Doyle’s novels and the movies based on them?)

They’ve just a few weeks until the World Cup games start when they hope they can cash in on the post-game crowds. So Jimmy and Bimbo rush to clean the, learn to cook, design a menu, etc. And now you’ve got yourself a plot — can these two make a go of this? Can they remain friends and co-workers? Will they start a grease fire that destroys the whole of Barrytown?

There was, it seemed to me, a maturing of Jimmy that started back in The Snapper. Not that he wasn’t a good father before, but he kicked it into a higher gear with Sharon during her pregnancy. Here, that seems to manifest itself in a paternal pride — Junior’s having some sort of success out there, is getting married; his other son, Darren, is doing very well in school (better than anyone else in the family, that’s sure). Part of Jimmy’s reaction to it is finding pleasure in someone else’s success for what it means to them. I’m not convinced that the Jimmy of The Commitments or the first part of The Snapper could do that.

That’s not to say that he’s Man of the Year material or anything. There are some real (human) flaws to him. He’s petty, he’s jealous, he’s proud — there’s some sort of mid-life crisis that he’s got a half-hearted interest in involving Other Women. As in all good fiction, these just make him someone you can like, someone you can relate to, someone you can get annoyed with — even pity.

There’s some great, great stuff about sports fans here — national pride around The World Cup, the joy in sports, the very real camaraderie that can exist for a few moments around a shared experience. That’s not my typical milieu, but I’ve tasted it a time or two — and I can’t imagine many capture it better than Doyle did here. Even if I didn’t like the rest of the book, I think that part would’ve been worth it.

In the end, this is Doyle’s best work (to date), not the most enjoyable, but the best. It’s impossible after reading this, to ignore Jimmy, Sr.’s brief appearances in The Commitments, to not pull for him earlier than you should in The Snapper, and really to forget him. Just a great character in a world you really don’t want to leave.

—–

4 Stars

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