Category: Fiction Page 313 of 341

S is for Silence by Sue Grafton

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On November 12, 2013

In Authors, Fiction, Kinsey Millhone, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Sue Grafton

S is for Silence
S is for Silence

by Sue Grafton
Series: Kinsey Millhone, #19

Hardcover, 374 pg.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005

Grafton’s clearly stretching her craft in these last few books, which is commendable — and, on the whole, pretty successful. Like in Q is for Quarry, Kinsey’s working a cold case, this time she’s not even sure if it’s a missing person or a murder that she’s been hired for.

There’s an interesting pattern to these chapters — one or two in Kinsey’s present, and then a chapter from the Point of View of one of the people that knew the subject of her investigation a couple of decades before. Not only is this a stylistic leap for Grafton, it’s pretty interesting for her to be giving the reader that much more insight into the characters. But overall, I wasn’t crazy about seeing how every one’s a liar, before or after they talk to Kinsey. I’d rather watch Kinsey discover the lie, or see that they’re lying, rather than we readers knowing that and Kinsey being lost.

As we move along, we are given a more complex look at our victim than Grafton’s usually able to provide. We get to know her better and better each time we’re given a look at the past. We see how various people saw her through their perspectives and end up caring a lot more about her when we learn what happened to her than we normally would.

I’m not convinced that the case itself was that interesting, but the way that Grafton told it was very interesting and raised the level of the book. Making this satisfying in a way that Kinsey stories usually aren’t.

Grafton essentially ignores the ongoing family and romance stories she’s been pursuing lately — a nice break, but hopefully she returns to them soon — as much growth as the books have displayed lately, it’d be nice if Kinsey could catch up.

Grafton took a chance this time, and it paid off. Hope she keeps stretching herself as eh move on towards Z.

—–

3.5 Stars

Dusted Off: The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint

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On November 11, 2013

In Fiction

The Riddle of the WrenThe Riddle of the Wren

by Charles de Lint

This was not the best fantasy I’ve read lately, and I know (well, strongly believe) I’m going to read at least one this year that will dwarf its quality by a magnitude I can’t calculate. BUT…

there pretty much has to be a but here, right?

BUT…this character, this world (better, these worlds), the supporting characters…there’s something about them all that just works. More than works, charms you and wins you over.

de Lint does a great job of introducing the incremental changes happening to Minda as she journeys to and through worlds she didn’t know did or could exist until she’s thrown into them. Not only the changes that are happening to her that she’s unaware of, but the ones she sees–and decides to make in herself–as she travels. It’s absolutely believable, utterly winning.

—–

4 Stars

The Arrivals by Melissa Marr

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On November 7, 2013

In Western

The Arrivals
The Arrivals

by Melissa Marr
Hardcover, 274 pgs.
William Morrow, 2013

This is a very hard book to describe, which is a positive in this case — a portal fantasy involving sympathetic vampires, semi-domesticated dragons, outlaws and magic — in a Wild West-ish setting. On second thought, guess it’s not that tough to describe after all.

That may sound like Marr’s tried to throw too many things into the mix, and technically she made have — but she made it work well enough to get through almost 300 pages. Decades ago, a brother and sister (Kitty and Jack) from the Berkeley Area in the late 1800’s vanish and reappear in a new world, called The Wasteland. Some time later, they’re joined by others — including a Prohibition-era mobster, Edgar and then others from various periods in America. And other than one particular event in their background, there’s virtually nothing these people have in common.

Once they arrive in The Wasteland — each new person has to make a decision, to live with Jack and “The Arrivals” or to become a henchman to a pretty twisted proto-mafioso. Independence or some sort of servitude. The majority opt for the security and safety of the latter.

Oh, did I mention there are demon-summoning monks roaming around?

Jack and his people make ends meet doing odds and ends for the local governor, and other miscellaneous figures. Just trying to eke out a living, have a little left over for fun (read: whiskey).

It could be coincidence, it could be a matter of timing, or maybe it’s just the new presence of someone who showed up from 2013 Earth — but things that have been pretty much the same for decades start to change — and the Wasteland will never be the same.
quickly develop into well-rounded characters. This is probably Marr’s strength (not a knock on anything else she did here), as we see that the heroes aren’t always that heroic, most of the villains aren’t that bad either (most of them).

It’s a fun read, a quick read in an incredible world, with well-build and realized characters. Worth your time.

—–

3 Stars

Opening Lines – Straight Man

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On November 6, 2013

In Blog Series, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art–and I love this cover). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I throw it up here. In this selection, we learn everything — practically everything, anyway — we that need to know about our narrator, the next 300+ pages is just filling in the details.
I love this kind of opening.

—–

Truth be told, I’m not an easy man. I can be an entertaining one, though it’s been my experience that most people don’t want to be entertained. They want to be comforted. And, of course, my idea of entertaining might not be yours. I’m in complete agreement with all those people who say, regarding movies, “I just want to be entertained.” This populist position is much derided by my academic colleagues as simpleminded and unsophisticated, evidence of questionable analytical and critical acuity. But I agree with the premise, and I too just want to be entertained. That I am almost never entertained by what entertains other people who just want to be entertained doesn’t make us philosophically incompatible. It just means we shouldn’t go to movies together.
The kind of man I am, according to those who know me best, is exasperating. According to my parents, I was an exasperating child as well. They divorced when I was in junior high school, and they agree on little except that I was an impossible child.

from Straight Man by Richard Russo

Must Kill TV by Ken Levine

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On November 6, 2013

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Must Kill TV
Must Kill TV

by Ken Levine
Kindle, 144 pg.
Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2013

If anyone knows the ins and outs of TV production and networks, it’s Ken Levine. And a quick look at his blog shows that if anyone can talk about the subject with panache, understanding, and levity, it’s definitely Ken Levine.

Charles Muncie is a network president in trouble — he really only has one hit show (and the way he got that show is both utterly ridiculous and probably closer to reality than it should be), and if he doesn’t hang on to it — he won’t last though the next commercial break. So, Muncie becomes a lap dog to the star — a comedian that America thinks is a great guy, but is actually a complete tool. Muncie finds himself doing all sorts of things for the star — filling sandbags before dawn, and arranging a murder. Things go from bad to worse, and even worse from there.

The characters are more types than people — which is pretty much par for the course for a satire, particularly one as one as broad as this. Although, Muncie seems a bit too moral for a typical Hollywood executive, so maybe there’s more characterization than I want to give Levine credit for.

The book is full of nods, allusions and references to movies and television shows and personalities — both real and fictional (a David Caruso sitcom?). This is Levine’s meat and potatoes. This is what takes the book from a pretty straight-forward (yet hapless) murder for hire plot and turns it into something worth reading. Muncie’s internal monologue is the best part of this — he free associates his way from dealing with his real problems, to memories of his childhood (and the TV he watched), to potential new shows, and observations on Hollywood and all points in between. As his life spirals further and further out of control, these associations become longer, stranger and funnier.

A fun, quick, read with just enough excitement to keep the plot moving and enough laughs that you wish it wouldn’t end.

—
Note: I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a review.

—–

3.5 Stars

Dusted Off: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

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On November 4, 2013

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

The HelpThe Help

by Kathryn Stockett
Paperback, 522 pg.
Berkley Publishing Group, 2011

I had very low expectations going into this one–and was pretty much reading it only to placate my wife and mother. I expected a slow, dry and drab book about the woes of domestic help under the oppressive thumb of racism; overwritten, overly-sentimental, impressed with its own importance and appealing primarily to Oprah viewers.

Yeah, I can be snob, what’s your point?

This is a book with zing–I couldn’t believe how quickly I read it, there’s a lot of life to Stockett’s language and it carries you right through. And while no one could confuse this for a comedy, it’s very funny–laugh out loud funny in a couple of instances. The laughs being rooted in–and surrounded by–tragedy serve to make this feel realistic, this could be a non-fiction work and it’d be fairly believable.

I tired early on of the novel reminding me over and over that these women were “brave” and doing something “important” and “dangerous.” Eventually Stockett stopped telling me that, and showed me their bravery and why what they were doing was important and dangerous–and that’s when the novel really took off. But that’s really my only quibble.

It’d have been very easy to make the characters into cookie-cutter racists, black-hearted villains with no redeeming qualities, wholly bent on oppression of their servants. But The Help avoids that. The “worst” character is just a horrid person–and she’d be a horrid person if she appeared in book about the travails of au pairs in the Hamptons rather than a book about the struggles of black housekeepers. Conversely, the heroines here aren’t paragons of virtue–they are flawed, they are frightened they are ruled by their society, too (just not as much as other people are).

This is a very, very good book that deserves to be read (and will reward the reader in turn), and deserves most of the accolades it’s getting. No, it’s not nearly as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, despite what the endorsements may say–but that’s okay, very few books are, and that shouldn’t detract from how wonderful a book this is.

—–

5 Stars

Dusted Off: That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

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On November 4, 2013

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

That Old Cape MagicThat Old Cape Magic

by Richard Russo
Hardcover, 261 pg.
Knopf, 2009

I feel a little odd giving something by a legendary guy like Russo 2 out of 5 stars, but…eh. It was either not as funny as it was trying to be (while telling a serious story), or it was a serious (somewhat tragic) book that accidentally elicited chuckles. Either way, not entirely successful. It felt like Richard Russo tried to write a Jonathan Tropper novel and didn’t quite pull it off.

Well-written to be sure, and not a waste of reading time…but it wasn’t what it could’ve been. Sorta like the marriages the book talked about that were crumbling in the light of the two nascent ones.

—–

2 Stars

Dusted Off: Bright’s Passage by Josh Ritter

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On November 4, 2013

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Bright's PassageBright’s Passage

by Josh Ritter
Hardcover, 193 pg.
The Dial Press, 2011

I wanted to like this a lot more than I found myself able to–maybe it’s just that I didn’t get it, I don’t know. I found this to be an over-written, messy bore. Sorry, Mr. Ritter, I’ll keep listening (and reading in the future), but…this just didn’t work at all for me.

—–

2 Stars

Ever After by Kim Harrison

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On November 1, 2013

In F-J, Fiction, Kim Harrison, The Hollows (Rachel Morgan), Urban Fantasy

Ever After
Ever After

by Kim Harrison
Series: The Hollows, #11
Mass Market Paperback, 528 pg.
Harper Voyager, 2013

So here we are at Hollows #11 — or as I prefer to think of them, The Adventures of Jenks and his Tenants. It’s the best in quite a while, if you ask me.* I’ve had a hard time maintaining a real interest in these lately, and have only persisted because I’ve read so many of them and I’m curious about how Harrison brings the series to a close. The nominal main character, Rachel, did make a radical developmental leap two books back — and while that served as the core of #10, I think it paid off here.

Thankfully.

Since the events at the end of #9, Rachel’s been more proactive, less wishy-washy about her personal life, and generally more interesting than she’d been. This is definitely the best use of her I can remember.

Ivy is still criminally misused and underused. I can’t believe that Harrison still cares about her at all — keeping her “off screen” so much, and then having her do practically nothing meaningful once she shows. Yes, I can see where the groundwork is being laid for a major Ivy storyline, but at this point, I have no confidence that we’ll see it — and if we do? I can’t see it working too well.

Jenks, on the other hand, played an important role throughout — his presence effected the story, he mattered. Not just because I like him better than anyone else in this universe, but the way Harrison uses him is so far superior to any other character, I like him more and more each passing novel. The stuff with his kids, and Belle, while not that important, in the grand scheme of things, grounds the novel and the characters.

Trent continues to grow on me — I was ready for the series to dump him ages ago, but now I really enjoy him. I still think that it’d have made sense, and been a healthier/wiser choice for Ivy and Rachel to have nothing more to do with him after maybe the third book, but that’s clearly not what Harrison wanted, and it’s paying off. Best use of him yet — the way he treats, and wanted to treat Rachel throughout this is so much better than he’s done before — character growth is always good. I wish Rachel got a bit more of it to match him.

Couple of quick character moments before I move on — Bis is such a great addition to the series, and this time we get to meet more gargoyles. I wouldn’t mind a few short stories featuring them (nothing against Anton Strout’s gargoyle series, I should add). I even liked Newt and Al for maybe the first time ever — but I really can’t get into the details there.

The seeds for the plot were planted from the beginning of the series, and were watered consistently — so the payoff here was well-earned, and dealt with correctly. The choices that Quen, Trent and Rachel are forced to make, the actions they take aren’t easy and felt like things people would choose to do, not merely decisions made for the sake of moving the story along (something I don’t think Harrison has consistently done). It’s really the best since, maybe book #4 in that regard.

The last chapter served as a really good epilogue, as well as setting the stage for the future — along with providing a lot of fodder for the various ‘shippers out there (most of this book does that, really). If Harrison’s doing what I think she’s doing here, I will be pleased.

In the end, a pleasant addition to this series, one that exceeded my expectations — can’t ask for much more than that.

* Apparently, I said the same thing after #10, but I don’t remember thinking that.

—–

3.5 Stars

Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway

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On October 31, 2013

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Islands in the Stream
Islands in the Stream

by Ernest Hemingway

I typically don’t bother with posthumous novels, but for some reason* I went ahead and tried this one, and on the whole, I’m glad I did, despite my rating. There’s a lot to the characters in this novel that weren’t in the previous novels. Still, as much as I appreciated various aspects of the novel, I just couldn’t get into it as a whole.

Part 3, “At Sea,” did almost nothing for me — Thomas Hudson is almost impossible to recognize, and it’s probably harder to sympathize with him — or his crew. Given that they’re hunting Nazi’s, it should be a pretty easy sell.

Part 2, “Cuba,” had some really interesting moments, some dialogue that leaps off the page, and once his first wife appears, Hudson becomes likable for the first time since Part 1. I don’t recall Hemingway’s characters having a pet before, and while Hudson’s relationships with his cats seem more than a little strange, just having them made him seem more human. Like in Part 3, he’s very different from the character we met in Part 1, but it’s a bit more understandable here. While I didn’t find that much to like about the character, the physical descriptions he gives towards Honest Lil are about the best, and most evocative, I remember in Hemingway.

Part 1, “Bimini,” is what made this worth the read. Other than the kid in The Old Man and the Sea (which a significant portion of this section evokes), we don’t really see children in Hemingway. But here, Thomas Hudson’s two sons from different wives are spending a few weeks with him, a chance for them all to reconnect, and give their mothers some sort of break. I really liked these kids — probably more than any other characters he’s devised. And Hudson’s relatable, sympathetic, and even likable as a person — something that he loses quickly, and only regains briefly toward the end of Part 2.

Honestly, if you’re inclined to give this a try, only read Part 1 — you’ll be happier for it, and the scenes with Hudson and one or both sons are really great. Otherwise, you probably have better things do with your time.

—–

* I’d already checked it out from the library before I found that out.

—–

2 Stars

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