Abarat: Days of Magic Nights of War by Clive Barker

The second book in the Abarat series. A lot of dichotomies are recognized, some of them brought together. All issues from the previous book are wrapped up here. Apologetically, I must confess that this review is being written many months after reading the book. But if I don't do it now, I may end up re-reading to post a more detailed review or simply not review the book. But it is a good book. You could actually put this one and the first together in one great big book, they match up so seamlessly.
Many things are discovered, secrets revealed, so actually I can't tell you a whole lot anyway lest I ruin it for people who've yet to read it.
If you liked the first book, 'Days of Magic' is an essential read. Otherwise that cliffhanger from the first book will drive you nuts. Trust me. I wasted no time getting into this book to get a resolution.

I'm not sure on the timeline, but there's good news for you people who choose to "wait for the movie." Apparently Disney wants to make this story into a motion picture. I must confess, it would be quite a ride. Especially with the way CGI is these days. It could be a very visually tantalizing flick.
As always, though, nothing compares to the original piece.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm sorry. I couldn't help but think of Andy Kaufmann when reading the opening paragraph of this Great American Novel. The one everyone gets stuck reading in high school along with the Scarlet Letter and Huckleberry Finn.
But this book is more than that.
A good friend of mine who's a fellow bookworm bequeathed me this book along with several others that she just simply couldn't take with her. My sister saw this book and asked me what it was about. She couldn't remember it from High School. And with a great deal of embarrassment, I had to confess that all I remembered was the optomotrist billboard with those great big eyes and that someone dies.
Actually, three people die. But I won't ruin it for you.
It's actually a very sad book. A sort of essay on estranged rich people and how truly lonely they are. It puts me in the mind of a Kids in the Hall Skit where Dave Foley is the apologetic Dr. who was nothing more than Mr. Congeniality in High School, but some how made his way to the top.
"I thought to myself, 'How far can a guy get on charm?' Pretty far, actually."
As lonely as he is, Jay Gatsby's got charm. And just enough mystique about him to make him a lantern in a closet full of moths.

This book is also about the girl that got away. Daisy. Poor, poor Daisy. She was sweet and came off as a flighty little butterfly. And oh how Jay wanted to be her flower. Sadly enough, Jay thought the way to be chosen for the part of "Flower" was to impress the bejesus out of Daisy. To have the most magnificent and opulent home anyone has ever seen. The more money spent, the better.

It's a sad story, really. It's one of those 'Waiting in the Car' books, because it is such a quick read. It speaks truths. Simple truths, but truths no less. It's like the Beatles once said, You can't buy me love.

Abarat by Clive Barker

Children's literature is a curious thing. There's a fine balance--You can't get too deep/brainy or you leave the kids in the murk. But you can't sound patronizing, either.
Clive Barker masters this balance, proving that he can do more than just horror. The style is unmistakably Clive's as is the plot and setting. It's really not that much different from his other books save the plot's been cleaned up a bit.(People who've read Clive Barker are aware of the sexual content in a lot of his books)

We have Candy Quackenbush, the quintessential outsider living in a town as plain and boring as the ones most of us live in. This only serves to encourage the desire to see Candy find happiness elsewhere.
Enter Abarat. Abarat is a collection of islands where each represents an hour and these islands are that hour all the time. So you could conceivably have it be noon your whole life. What's interesting about this is the antagonist, Christopher Carrion. He was in love with the late Princess Boa, who represents light and he'd promised her that if they married they could change the world. Carrion is the Lord of Midnight, and when you stop to think about it, Midnight is not only the end of the day, but also the start of the next day. I smell a paper here.

The artwork in this book is also fabulous. I think what captivated me most about it was that Clive was able to combine his two creative skills into one piece. It was interesting to be reading his description of John Mischeif and all his brothers living on his antlers and then to see a painting of Mischeif. Usually, someone else illustrates a kids' book and it's their interpretation and so you're left to wonder if that's the image the writer had truly intended.(At least that's what goes through my mind, but then I'm a writer myself.) But these paintings were by the author himself just as he'd intended it. The art (as you can see from the cover) is bright and dynamic. The shapes and colors seem very deliberate. The brightness of these pieces seem to fit the type of story this is almost perfectly. But there again, both creations come from the same person, so we're getting Clive's entire vision without any misleading interpretations.

Not only does this book make the balance between simplicity and condescention, but it's also written in such a way that older folk like myself can enjoy it without having to shift our mind-set. Well done, Mr. Barker.

The Odyssey by Homer

I somehow found this book more accessable than The Illiad. It could have been because I was already familiar with the basic story. Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan war to stop his wife Penelope from remarrying because she thinks he's dead.
Athena is the helper God here, assisting Odysseus throughout the book. And Poseidon's the one that's got it out for Odysseus. And well, Odysseus is traveling via boat(or at least trying to), so Poseidon gets lots of shots at him. It lands Odysseus on a variety of islands and encounters he either has to sly his way out of or just hack away with Athena's blessing and assistance.

Odysseus finally makes it back to Ithaca. Penelope's been doing her best to keep the suitors at bay. His son, Telemachus, sees him enter town disguised as a beggar. He lets is son in on this scheme that Athena laid out and he's the only one who knows who this beggar really is. Odysseus suffers several days of insults, being the butt of the suitors' jokes. But when Odysseus unveiled himself, he did smite them mightly. I believe someone's genitals had become a dog's lunch, even. Yeah. It gets violent and crudely graphic. But it's how they handled shit back then. It was a bit of a jaw-dropper, I'll admit. But the way Homer treats these violent acts of revenge, it reminds me of King Arthur again. Crudely graphic yet at the same time retaining a sense of dignity and honor. That the slayer is doing the honorable thing. Homer makes the slaughter sound dignified. I almost expected to hear Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries as I read it.

I told my good friend Noelle about the day I was reading this book and my lead at work saw it and asked what it was. The Odyssey? She hadn't a clue. Noelle made a slapping gesture, like the woman should be smacked for not even being aware of the story.
Of the two pieces of Homer's, I'll have to express a preference for The Odyssey. Like I said, it felt more accessable. A little more personal. And if you only read one piece of Greek literature, make it The Odyssey.

"The Iliad" by Homer

One of the oldest war stories ever told. The lesser-known of Homer's works. People are quicker to recognize The Odyssey than The Iliad, I think.(English Lit students are exempt from this generalization, of course.)

It's lyrical in many ways, although I found myself getting tripped up in a number of places where Homer does his 'son of so-and-so, who's son is so-and-so' . There was also parts that read like the begets in the bible. It was like a cataloging of those who'd fell in battle. But that's what Greek Poets did. Recorded events in such a way that they could be repeated, saved, and survive. Record-keeping in poem form. But this also tells us that real life is just as fascinating as fiction. Of course, fiction had to have something to work from. And what do we have? Life. Art imitating life.

When I read Homer's descriptions of the fighting, I couldn't help but be reminded of Le Morte de Artur. Only more stabings and bludgeonings than decapitations.
The starkness of the battles. Homer makes them sound so barbaric. Which they were. Hurling spears and rocks. Very raw.
And at the same time, very grand--Closing with compassionate gestures and very dramatic funeral services for the heroes who'd fallen.

It's a heavy read. No doubt. But a no less essential read. In terms of the world of literature, it gives you a greater appreciation for references and allusions. Homer's work is so timeless in many respects. Speaking universal truths that still hold true for us today. If you're a person who enjoys that sort of thing and are a bit of a 'Literature Analyst', The Iliad is an essential addition to your Mental Tool Box.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

"My mother is a fish."

This book was an interesting twist for me because of my own family dynamics. I'd always considered my father's side of the family to exceptionally apathetic, but this was nothing compared the the Bundrens.
It's a sort of pragmatic apathy they have that affects their attitude towards Addie Brunden's death. Her husband becomes a broken record looking forward to the new set of teeth he can have now that she's gone.
Her sons are concerned about farming business and treat the pending pilgrimage that would take their mother to be buried in her home town as just another chore.
My gut reaction was to say Dewey Dell's reaction was the more realistic one. To be fair, it was the expected reaction. There's a stereotype for grieving, whether anyone recognizes it or not. And the Brunden boys definately didn't fit this stereotype. Although I suppose it could be said that little Vardaman was quite deeply effected by his mother's death.

And despite this tragedy, the boys moved on with their life. Although one has to wonder about Addie. All the while I'm reading this book, I've already pigeon-holed the empathetic characters that I feel should succeed in this and the cold and indifferent characters I feel should have some sort of epiphany during this journey. But when I got to the flashback chapters, I learned about a whole new Addie. For some reason, up until those chapters, I was wanting to believe that Addie was the sane one. One of the empathetic ones but they lost her and now the family's gone to hell. And considering she'd requested that her dying body be perched in such a way that she could see her son, Cash the carpenter, working on her own coffin. Sound morbid? You betcha. But that's the kind of family they are.
The story's told in that stream-of-consciousness style that Faulkner's so well known for. He rotates each chapter from point of view to point of view. And we get Vardaman's classic chapter: "My mother is a fish".
From a writer's stand point, the point of view trick is an excellent one. It creates a lot of unreliable narratives that add depth to all of the characters.
The ending is the ultimate shocker. I don't want to spoil it for anyone save to say it's a bit of a jaw dropper.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

This book is in every way a classic. It has a lot sadder ending than the movie, but I think that helps make it real. Actually, Holly's not always as likeable in the book as in the movie, but then remember that the book came first and was what was originally intended.

I remember a Seinfeld episode where George had to read Breakfast at Tiffany's for this book club, and he cheaped out and rented the movie. He said something about the love affair between Holly and Paul/Fred and the girls corrected him and said that Paul was gay in the book.

I could find nothing in this book to suggest Paul was. Unless I don't read deep enough between the lines. There are some gay friends he alludes to, but this doesn't make him definitvely gay. I suppose if one wanted to believe Paul was gay, that's fine. But Capote doesn't come right out and tell us because it isn't essential to the plot.

Basically, Breakfast at Tiffany's is about wanting a home/roots/sanctuary, while at the same time wanting the freedom to give in to your own whim. Holly talks a lot about being a 'wild thing' that has to be free. Yet at the same time, she shows signs of wanting a home by frequenting Tiffany's for the comfort it brings. And will name the cat after she finds a place that makes her feel like Tiffany's.

Now I won't tell you the ending because you have to read it. You really do. It's got hints of a love story, yes. But that's not what it's really about. It's about priorities and where one goes to find comfort and refuge. The things Holly would do in the name of money so that she and her brother Fred could have their own home. A place where they'll be safe.

I could itemize, site examples, etc. to support this and I'd have another term paper on my hands. But that's how solid this book is. How well constructed it is in terms of metaphors, symbols, and character development. If it's not on the college reading list, it should be.

This is my first Capote novel and most certainly will not be my last. It's definately a must-read.

Redwall by Brian Jacques

It's many years later-- Martin the Warrior is a legend. In Mossflower, the Redwall Abbey was just being built. In this story it's been there for years. We have a new young mouse: Matthias. Matthias is a meek and awkward mouse, but is inspired by the story of Martin the Warrior. As much as the abbey pushes for pacifism, Matthias yearns for something more exciting. And with the arrival of Cluny the Scourge, Matthias gets his chance.

Cluny the Scourge is a bad-assed one-eyed rat who fears nothing. Except possibly Asmodeous the snake. But then, what rodent wouldn't be?
Cluny is so bad ass he's got ferrets and weasles working for him.(Remember in the real animal kingdom ferrets and weasles have rats & mice for lunch) But this is a work of fiction, remember? Again it's time for the inner child.

This book is much like Mossflower. The underdog protecting him and his against what looks like an almost undefeatable enemy. But through quick wit and determination, they get the job done.

It's a good adventure story. Just like Mossflower was. I think the difference in Jacques stories is that while his adventures have their big star who saves the day(Martin, Matthias), at the same time he celebrates the team effort of everyone else. There's this sense that everyone can contribute. Everyone's got something their best suited for that will benefit the cause. It creates a strong sense of teamwork that's really a good thing to find in children's literature.(In terms of what it teaches kids)