Title: East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
East of Eden chronicles the stories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, while repeating the motif of Cain and Abel throughout the book. The story begins with Adam Trask, who is born to a solider who trains Adam for the army. Adam's brother, Charles, is jealous that their father loves Adam best, so Charles attempts to kill Adam. (Here is the first instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Adam joins the army, and after many years makes it back to the farm to live with Charles. When their father dies, the men inherit a large sum.
Cathy is a sociopath who murders her parents, flees her home, and gets involved with a criminal. When the criminal beats her up and leaves her for dead, she crawls over to the doorstep of Adam and Charles. Adam nurses Cathy back to health and marries her, but she sustains a scar on her forehead. They move to the Salinas Valley in California.
Samuel Hamilton is an Irish farmer with big ideas and a large family. When Adam moves to the Salinas Valley, Samuel befriends Adam, although he realizes something is not quite right with Cathy. Cathy becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. She decides to leave Adam, and when he tries to stop her in his confusion, she shoots him in the shoulder. (Hence the second instance of the Cain and Abel story.)
Cathy moves to Salinas (the city) and begins to work for a house of ill repute, eventually killing the owner and taking charge of the house. Meanwhile, Adam is depressed, and his servant Lee raises the twins. (There is a great scene where Samuel forces Adam to pick names for the children, and we see the beginnings of the third instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Lee is a thoroughly interesting and complex character, who is often judged for being Chinese and, in the beginning of the book, speaks a pidgin dialect with everyone but Samuel.
When Samuel Hamilton dies, Adam goes to Salinas for the funeral. He gets really drunk and visits Cathy. Adam realizes that Cathy no longer has a hold over him.
The twins, at this point, are about 11 years old. Aron is a friendly and well-liked boy, while Caleb is less favored and has flashes of cruelty. Some visitors come to the farm, bringing Abra, a cool-headed girl who Aron soon decides to marry. On the advice of the Abra's parents, Adam decides to move to Salinas. Aron and Abra meet up in Salinas, and while their engagement begins as childhood play, it becomes more serious as they get older. However, Aron is self-involved in many ways. Perhaps Lee describes Aron best when he says that Aron's purity and goodness are often selfish. For example, Aron considers joining the ministry and not marrying Abra.
Cal learns the truth about his mother and goes to see her. Adam and Cal continue to keep the truth from Aron, to protect him. Aron finishes high school a year early and goes to Stanford, although he doesn't like it there. He writes love letters to Abra, but she feels that Aron is really writing about himself. When Adam loses the majority of his fortune on an attempt to ship lettuce across the country, Cal earns the money back with help from Will Hamilton. During Thanksgiving, Cal gives the money to Adam, who won't accept the gift. Hurt and bewildered, Cal takes Aron to see their mother. Aron freaks out and run offs, then joins the army.
Cathy commits suicide, and Adam has a stroke when he hears of her death. Abra declares her love for Cal, in part because he isn't perfect, and they start dating. A letter arrives with the news that Aron is dead, which gives Adam another stroke. Cal reveals why Aron left for the army. Lee begs Adam to give some sign that he has forgiven Cal, even though it is difficult for Adam to speak. Adam manages one word, "timshel," which means "thou mayest." This resonates with an early episode in the book, implying that Cal has the ability to overcome whatever evil is in him.
My Thoughts:
This book is a masterpiece. The characters are complex and believable. The plot is exciting and layered. In summary, this book has everything that a good book should. Steinbeck describes the inner motivations of the characters with the skill of a master writer.
Throughout the book, we see the Cain and Abel theme reemerge for different characters in a satisfying way. I found the theological discussions of Lee, Samuel, and Adam particularly interesting. Steinbeck is always questioning the nature of evil. Where does it come from? Do we have the choice to overcome it (like with Cal and the idea of "timshel")?
The characterization of Aron and Cal invites analysis. Although Aron is the more well-liked brother, he is less complex than Cal. While Cal suffers over his idea of self and struggles to be a good person, Aron has a righteous goodness about him, which doesn't leave room for ambiguity or difficulties in others. (In some ways, Aron's attitude mirrors Adam's first view of Cathy. Although she tried to tell him that she didn't want to move to Salinas or stay with him, Adam refused to hear it, imagining Cathy to be the picture of a perfect wife.) Aron's biggest struggle comes when he moves to Stanford, but even then, it is a superficial struggle. When college does not live up to Aron's fanciful expectations, Aron moves off campus and instead idolizes Abra. Aron also does not have the patience for ambiguity in others. He expects Abra to be perfect, an expectation that she can in no way live up to. When Aron discovers the truth about his mother, it shatters his view of the world, and he can't handle it.
Cal, on the other hand, sees the cruelty in himself and battles to be a better person. He simultaneously loves his brother for his goodness and hates his brother too, because life seems so easy for him. Cal often tries to do the right thing, but he is confused about how to do it. For example, when Cal tries to give the money to his father, he wants to show his father that he loves him. (Although even this action is complex, for Cal admits that a part of him hopes he can buy Adam's love.) Later, Cal burns the money. Cal doesn't realize that being good doesn't have to be such a grand gesture or that it doesn't have to involve his suffering. Although on the surface Aron is easier to like, Abra realizes that Cal is actually less selfish and more in touch with the world.
In my summary of the book, I didn't talk much about the Hamilton family. Although those characters are well drawn, most of them remain in the sideline of the plot. Their stories are more vignettes that add flavor to the work as a whole.
I have nothing but praise for this book. It was a wonderful read.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
This book is huge, so I'm leaving out a lot of minor characters, as well as bits that aren't essential to the main plot.
The book opens with a meeting of the York Society of Magicians, who study magic, but don't actually practice it. The group reaches out to Mr. Norrell, who is known to have an impressive library of magical texts. Norrell claims he can do actual magic, proving so by animating the statues in York Cathedral. The York magicians are forced to abandon their group, based on an agreement made with Norrell, but Mr. Segundus is allowed to continue the study of magic.
Norrell moves to London with the intention of offering his services to the government. He's befriended by two scoundrels, Lascelles and Drawlight, who associate with Norrell for their own profit. Norrell is having trouble getting the government to take him seriously, so he offers to do a favor for government official Walter Poole by bringing his fiance back to life. He completes the magic by summoning a fairy, a gentleman with thistledown hair, who requires Lady Poole's finger and half her life in exchange. The fairy puts Lady Poole and Walter Poole's servant Stephen Black under an enchantment, forcing them to spend their nights at Lost-hope in the fairy realm.
Norrell asks his servent, John Childermass, to force the street magician Vinculus out of town. Vinculus invades Norrell's house and recites a prophecy to him, the same prophecy which induces Johnathan Strange to become a magician.
After marrying Arabella, Strange comes to London in hopes of being taught magic by Norrell. Although hesitant at first, Norrell soon warms to Strange, the only person with which he can truly discuss magic.
Strange goes to the front to aid Wellington with the war effort against Napoleon. Many entertaining episodes ensue. When Strange gets back to London, he realizes that he would like to express his own ideas about magical theory, causing him to make a break with Norrell.
Meanwhile, everyone thinks Lady Poole is mad, and Stephen Black isn't having such a great time, either. Lady Poole is placed in a care facility run my Mr. Segundus. The fairy, wreaking more havoc, decides to kidnap Strange's wife and make everyone believe she is dead.
Devastated by the "death" of his wife, Strange travels to Italy, where he meets the Greysteel family and manages to summon the fairy. The fairy offers him any gift in the world, and Strange asks for whatever the last magician he talked to gave him. Strange receives Lady Poole's finger, travels to the land of fairy, and realizes that Arabella is alive. The fairy casts a spell so that Strange is covered by a darkness which follows him everywhere.
Strange casts a spell that changes all of England, allowing magic back into the world for anyone who wants to practice it. Drawlight appears in Italy, and Strange sends him back to London with a message for Norrell that he is coming. However, Lascelles murders Drawlight before the message can be delivered.
Strange appears at Norrell's library. Instead of fighting, the two try to summon the Raven King. The fairy murders Vinculus, who has the Raven King's book written upon him, but the Raven King appears (while Childermass is there) to bring Vinculus back to life. Strange and Norrell cast a spell so that England will greet the Raven King, but they accidentally name Stephen Black, who with his new powers is able to kill the fairy, releasing everyone from their enchantments. Stephen then becomes the new king of the fairy land.
Arabella makes it safely to Italy, and is cared for by the Greysteels. Strange and Norrell disappear to fairy, still trapped within the eternal darkness. Strange returns to Arabella, saying he will come to her once they have found a spell to lift the darkness, although he certainly doesn't seem to be in a hurry about it. Arabella promises to wait for him.
My Thoughts:
Excellent world building throughout the book. Clarke makes us believe that magic is a part of English history, creating a detailed magical history through the use of extensive footnotes. She uses phrases such as, "all school children know of [insert famous magician here]." Very well done.
The Jane Austen/regency style of writing was wonderful. She uses the same rhythm and complex sentence structure as classics of the 1800s. The book also has bits of humor here and there. Her writing style made for a delightful read.
However, the book certainly could have been shorter. The whole novel is actually three books in one, coming in at about 800 pages. I think the same story could have been told in 300 or 400 pages. We get a lot of detail about minor characters, like the Greysteels, and Stephen's love interest (who is never mentioned again.) There are also times where the plot loses focus, such as the description of all the various magical tasks of Strange and Norrell. I know this adds to the flavor of the book, but I would have preferred a tighter story.
I'm bothered by the ending. Arabella promises to wait for Strange, who seems in no hurry at all to get back to her. I suppose this is his way of saying goodbye to her, since I don't think either one expects to see the other again. I just wish that Arabella had had a more proactive role in the story, and that she could be defined by something other than her marriage to Strange or the fact that she was enchanted by a fairy. The weird thing is, she's described as being quite independent, and her dialog suggests this as well, but her role within the book is one of subservience. Arabella is not in control of her life.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
This book is huge, so I'm leaving out a lot of minor characters, as well as bits that aren't essential to the main plot.
The book opens with a meeting of the York Society of Magicians, who study magic, but don't actually practice it. The group reaches out to Mr. Norrell, who is known to have an impressive library of magical texts. Norrell claims he can do actual magic, proving so by animating the statues in York Cathedral. The York magicians are forced to abandon their group, based on an agreement made with Norrell, but Mr. Segundus is allowed to continue the study of magic.
Norrell moves to London with the intention of offering his services to the government. He's befriended by two scoundrels, Lascelles and Drawlight, who associate with Norrell for their own profit. Norrell is having trouble getting the government to take him seriously, so he offers to do a favor for government official Walter Poole by bringing his fiance back to life. He completes the magic by summoning a fairy, a gentleman with thistledown hair, who requires Lady Poole's finger and half her life in exchange. The fairy puts Lady Poole and Walter Poole's servant Stephen Black under an enchantment, forcing them to spend their nights at Lost-hope in the fairy realm.
Norrell asks his servent, John Childermass, to force the street magician Vinculus out of town. Vinculus invades Norrell's house and recites a prophecy to him, the same prophecy which induces Johnathan Strange to become a magician.
After marrying Arabella, Strange comes to London in hopes of being taught magic by Norrell. Although hesitant at first, Norrell soon warms to Strange, the only person with which he can truly discuss magic.
Strange goes to the front to aid Wellington with the war effort against Napoleon. Many entertaining episodes ensue. When Strange gets back to London, he realizes that he would like to express his own ideas about magical theory, causing him to make a break with Norrell.
Meanwhile, everyone thinks Lady Poole is mad, and Stephen Black isn't having such a great time, either. Lady Poole is placed in a care facility run my Mr. Segundus. The fairy, wreaking more havoc, decides to kidnap Strange's wife and make everyone believe she is dead.
Devastated by the "death" of his wife, Strange travels to Italy, where he meets the Greysteel family and manages to summon the fairy. The fairy offers him any gift in the world, and Strange asks for whatever the last magician he talked to gave him. Strange receives Lady Poole's finger, travels to the land of fairy, and realizes that Arabella is alive. The fairy casts a spell so that Strange is covered by a darkness which follows him everywhere.
Strange casts a spell that changes all of England, allowing magic back into the world for anyone who wants to practice it. Drawlight appears in Italy, and Strange sends him back to London with a message for Norrell that he is coming. However, Lascelles murders Drawlight before the message can be delivered.
Strange appears at Norrell's library. Instead of fighting, the two try to summon the Raven King. The fairy murders Vinculus, who has the Raven King's book written upon him, but the Raven King appears (while Childermass is there) to bring Vinculus back to life. Strange and Norrell cast a spell so that England will greet the Raven King, but they accidentally name Stephen Black, who with his new powers is able to kill the fairy, releasing everyone from their enchantments. Stephen then becomes the new king of the fairy land.
Arabella makes it safely to Italy, and is cared for by the Greysteels. Strange and Norrell disappear to fairy, still trapped within the eternal darkness. Strange returns to Arabella, saying he will come to her once they have found a spell to lift the darkness, although he certainly doesn't seem to be in a hurry about it. Arabella promises to wait for him.
My Thoughts:
Excellent world building throughout the book. Clarke makes us believe that magic is a part of English history, creating a detailed magical history through the use of extensive footnotes. She uses phrases such as, "all school children know of [insert famous magician here]." Very well done.
The Jane Austen/regency style of writing was wonderful. She uses the same rhythm and complex sentence structure as classics of the 1800s. The book also has bits of humor here and there. Her writing style made for a delightful read.
However, the book certainly could have been shorter. The whole novel is actually three books in one, coming in at about 800 pages. I think the same story could have been told in 300 or 400 pages. We get a lot of detail about minor characters, like the Greysteels, and Stephen's love interest (who is never mentioned again.) There are also times where the plot loses focus, such as the description of all the various magical tasks of Strange and Norrell. I know this adds to the flavor of the book, but I would have preferred a tighter story.
I'm bothered by the ending. Arabella promises to wait for Strange, who seems in no hurry at all to get back to her. I suppose this is his way of saying goodbye to her, since I don't think either one expects to see the other again. I just wish that Arabella had had a more proactive role in the story, and that she could be defined by something other than her marriage to Strange or the fact that she was enchanted by a fairy. The weird thing is, she's described as being quite independent, and her dialog suggests this as well, but her role within the book is one of subservience. Arabella is not in control of her life.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
The Wave in the Mind
The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers)
A collection of non-fiction essays on reading, writing, and life, including essays on scanning text for stressed/unstressed syllabus, experiences being a woman writer (and a woman in general), discussion of writing workshops, and an essay on uncomfortable footwear for women.
Thoughts
Such an interesting look into Le Guin's ideas and writing processes. I loved her flowing, yet practical and complex, tips for writing. Le Guin discusses where the ideas for writing come from (hint: not from a mail in order), trying to honestly describe that nebulous, creative space of the writer's mind. She also notes that it can be dangerous to do writing in luxury (such as at a retreat), that luxury should not be a prerequisite for writing, and that it's up to you to make sure you have the practicalities of life (and your real way of making money) squared away. In another piece, Le Guin lays out the assumptions that is found in most fiction, that everyone is male, white, Christian, straight, and young. Breaking down these assumptions is useful for any writer.
What most surprised me was her essay on women's footwear, noting that American cultural norms encourage women to wear shoes that damage their feet. I'm not sure I'm okay with her use of the practice of foot binding as an analogy, but it is an essay that seriously changed the way I think about this issue. I don't want to be complicit in the idea that women have to ruin their feet to be attractive, so I'm considering never wearing high heels again. The poem at the end about the writing woman was wonderful.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers)
A collection of non-fiction essays on reading, writing, and life, including essays on scanning text for stressed/unstressed syllabus, experiences being a woman writer (and a woman in general), discussion of writing workshops, and an essay on uncomfortable footwear for women.
Thoughts
Such an interesting look into Le Guin's ideas and writing processes. I loved her flowing, yet practical and complex, tips for writing. Le Guin discusses where the ideas for writing come from (hint: not from a mail in order), trying to honestly describe that nebulous, creative space of the writer's mind. She also notes that it can be dangerous to do writing in luxury (such as at a retreat), that luxury should not be a prerequisite for writing, and that it's up to you to make sure you have the practicalities of life (and your real way of making money) squared away. In another piece, Le Guin lays out the assumptions that is found in most fiction, that everyone is male, white, Christian, straight, and young. Breaking down these assumptions is useful for any writer.
What most surprised me was her essay on women's footwear, noting that American cultural norms encourage women to wear shoes that damage their feet. I'm not sure I'm okay with her use of the practice of foot binding as an analogy, but it is an essay that seriously changed the way I think about this issue. I don't want to be complicit in the idea that women have to ruin their feet to be attractive, so I'm considering never wearing high heels again. The poem at the end about the writing woman was wonderful.
Friday, September 20, 2013
A Feast for Crows
Title: A Feast for Crows
Author: George R.R. Martin
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
This is the fourth installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As usual, each chapter follows the viewpoint of a specific character.
Cersei Lannister: Power hungry Cersei is queen regent now that Tommen is on the throne, but too young to rule. She puts her evil schemes into play, but makes the mistake of giving the Faith permission to build an army. In the middle of a plot to discredit Margaery, Tommen's wife, Cersei is locked up by the high septon and accused of various sins. She writes to Jamie to save her, but he does not come back to King's Landing to rescue her.
Jamie Lannister: He manages to get Riverrun to surrender without a battle. Spends the entire book freaking out about how Cersei is sleeping with other people.
Brienne: The Maid of Tarth is on a quest to find Sansa Stark (and also hopes to find Arya, once she learns Arya is alive.) Brienne picks up some companions on her quest, including Poddrick (previously squire to Tyrion), and Ser Hyle, who proposes marriage. She slays some outlaws from previous books (Shagga, etc.), runs into Gendry at an inn, and saves a bunch of children by fighting Biter, even though she is grievously injured. Brienne is delivered to Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark), but Stoneheart believes Brienne has betrayed her, since she's carrying a Lannister sword. Brienne and friends are hanged, although it's ambiguous whether they die or whether they will be saved at the last second.
Sansa Stark: She's up in the Eyrie with Petyr (Littlefinger) being all creepy while she pretends to be his daughter. Petyr succeeds in keeping control of the Eyrie, at least for now.
Ayra Stark: Arya ends up as an apprentice at the temple of the Many-Faced God in Braavos. She runs into Sam, although they don't know each other, and she kills a brother of the Knight's Watch who has strayed from his path. When she tells her mentor at the temple what she's done, he gives her a drink. The next day, she wakes up blind.
Samwell Tarly: Sam journeys to the Citadel in Oldtown to become a maester. On the journey, Aemon dies, and Sam sleeps with Gilly. In Oldtown, he meets up with apprentice Pate in the last chapter. If the reader can remember several hundred pages back to the prologue, we know that Pate has been killed, so this guy must be an impostor.
Meanwhile, we get the viewpoints of a bunch of random characters in Dorne and the Iron Islands. Arianne in Dorne tries to form a rebellion to have Marcella crowned queen of the Seven Kingdom. However, that backfires and her lover, Ser Oakheart, dies in the skirmish that follows their discovery. On the Iron Islands, a kingsmoot decides for Euron Crow's Eye over his brother Victarion and Asha Greyjoy. The islanders start raiding territories in the Seven Kingdoms.
My Thoughts:
For such a huge book, not much happened. Cersei does her weird plots (and her chapters take up the most out of any character in the book), but it's so clear that she's power mad that it's not much fun to read. Also, she sits through some boring council meetings, which means we have to sit through them too. And that bit with Lady Merryweather... It seemed like George R.R. Martin just got bored and wanted to throw in some sexy times. Didn't seem necessary.
Brienne wanders around doing nothing for most of the book. I like this character; she's one of the only unequivocally good people in the book. I wish her story had been better. We know where Sansa is, so it's not exciting for us to watch Brienne searching. We know Brienne is looking in the wrong places. Also, her ending was so unfair and sudden (although I don't believe she's dead).
What's with Ayra randomly killing some dude?! So unnecessary. Is George R.R. Martin trying to show that Ayra (whose been painted as a likable character up until this point) is actually evil? Because most good people don't go around murdering people who annoy them. I know his characters are all supposed to be a little rotten, but I don't know if I can go on liking Ayra if she's going to behave this way.
Those are my main problems with this book. I liked Sam's story and was happy to see more of him. I'm also interested to see how Petyr's plans play out, as he seems smarter than the other power hungry characters.
Of course, many of the main POV characters were left out of this book, since it was split into two novels. Here's hoping that the next book will be better.
Author: George R.R. Martin
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
This is the fourth installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As usual, each chapter follows the viewpoint of a specific character.
Cersei Lannister: Power hungry Cersei is queen regent now that Tommen is on the throne, but too young to rule. She puts her evil schemes into play, but makes the mistake of giving the Faith permission to build an army. In the middle of a plot to discredit Margaery, Tommen's wife, Cersei is locked up by the high septon and accused of various sins. She writes to Jamie to save her, but he does not come back to King's Landing to rescue her.
Jamie Lannister: He manages to get Riverrun to surrender without a battle. Spends the entire book freaking out about how Cersei is sleeping with other people.
Brienne: The Maid of Tarth is on a quest to find Sansa Stark (and also hopes to find Arya, once she learns Arya is alive.) Brienne picks up some companions on her quest, including Poddrick (previously squire to Tyrion), and Ser Hyle, who proposes marriage. She slays some outlaws from previous books (Shagga, etc.), runs into Gendry at an inn, and saves a bunch of children by fighting Biter, even though she is grievously injured. Brienne is delivered to Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark), but Stoneheart believes Brienne has betrayed her, since she's carrying a Lannister sword. Brienne and friends are hanged, although it's ambiguous whether they die or whether they will be saved at the last second.
Sansa Stark: She's up in the Eyrie with Petyr (Littlefinger) being all creepy while she pretends to be his daughter. Petyr succeeds in keeping control of the Eyrie, at least for now.
Ayra Stark: Arya ends up as an apprentice at the temple of the Many-Faced God in Braavos. She runs into Sam, although they don't know each other, and she kills a brother of the Knight's Watch who has strayed from his path. When she tells her mentor at the temple what she's done, he gives her a drink. The next day, she wakes up blind.
Samwell Tarly: Sam journeys to the Citadel in Oldtown to become a maester. On the journey, Aemon dies, and Sam sleeps with Gilly. In Oldtown, he meets up with apprentice Pate in the last chapter. If the reader can remember several hundred pages back to the prologue, we know that Pate has been killed, so this guy must be an impostor.
Meanwhile, we get the viewpoints of a bunch of random characters in Dorne and the Iron Islands. Arianne in Dorne tries to form a rebellion to have Marcella crowned queen of the Seven Kingdom. However, that backfires and her lover, Ser Oakheart, dies in the skirmish that follows their discovery. On the Iron Islands, a kingsmoot decides for Euron Crow's Eye over his brother Victarion and Asha Greyjoy. The islanders start raiding territories in the Seven Kingdoms.
My Thoughts:
For such a huge book, not much happened. Cersei does her weird plots (and her chapters take up the most out of any character in the book), but it's so clear that she's power mad that it's not much fun to read. Also, she sits through some boring council meetings, which means we have to sit through them too. And that bit with Lady Merryweather... It seemed like George R.R. Martin just got bored and wanted to throw in some sexy times. Didn't seem necessary.
Brienne wanders around doing nothing for most of the book. I like this character; she's one of the only unequivocally good people in the book. I wish her story had been better. We know where Sansa is, so it's not exciting for us to watch Brienne searching. We know Brienne is looking in the wrong places. Also, her ending was so unfair and sudden (although I don't believe she's dead).
What's with Ayra randomly killing some dude?! So unnecessary. Is George R.R. Martin trying to show that Ayra (whose been painted as a likable character up until this point) is actually evil? Because most good people don't go around murdering people who annoy them. I know his characters are all supposed to be a little rotten, but I don't know if I can go on liking Ayra if she's going to behave this way.
Those are my main problems with this book. I liked Sam's story and was happy to see more of him. I'm also interested to see how Petyr's plans play out, as he seems smarter than the other power hungry characters.
Of course, many of the main POV characters were left out of this book, since it was split into two novels. Here's hoping that the next book will be better.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
2312
Title: 2312
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 4 out of 5
I've decided that my summaries have been getting too long, so I'm going to make future summaries shorter. This book was over 500 pages, but here we go.
Summary (with spoilers):
Swan lives on Terminator, a city on Mercury that glides along planet-wide tracks to avoid being caught in the sun. As Swan grieves at the death of her grandmother, Alex, she learns that Alex was involved in secret political dealings. Alex has left several letters that Swan must deliver, causing Swan to meet up with Wahram, Inspector Gennette, and Wang.
In addition to being overcome with grief, Swan is a rather unusual person. She had her qube, Pauline, installed in her head. She's also undergone various physical modifications.
Swan tries to figure out what Alex was working on, but no one will tell her directly what's going on, except that it has to do with Earth, and that they don't trust the qubes. Swan travels to Earth via terraria (hollowed-out asteroids turned into small worlds), to meet up with her former lover, Zasha. On Earth, some ruffians attempt to kidnap her, but she is saved by Kiran. In return, she gets him off-planet to Venus, where he becomes a double agent for two major political powers.
Swan meets up with Wahram on Mercury. After attending a conference, they decide to don some spacesuits and walk back to the city platform. En route, they witness an explosion the almost hits Terminator and destroys the tracks. They rush back to the city, but it's already been evacuated. Since the sun is rising, they need to get to safety. They decide to run sun-ward to the next platform, which has an underground system mirroring the tracks above ground. They make it to the platform, and while they are waiting for the elevator to arrive, Swan jumps in front of Wahram to protect him from a solar flare.
They hike along the underground tunnel for weeks, trying to reach safety, whistling Bach to pass the time. Swan gets increasingly ill from radiation poisoning. Eventually, they go to the surface to break the monotony, even though they are sun-side, and a vehicle passing by rescues them.
Swan spends time with Inspector Gennette, who thinks the attack on Mercury was caused by lots of small rocks thrown so that they would all land at the same time. He's also suspicious of the cubes. Swan and Wahram go to Earth to help with various development projects and then decide to repopulate Earth with all of the animals stored in the terraria. Thousands of animals are sent through the sky in gel balloons. On Earth, Swan and Warham realize they have feelings for each other.
Swan and Warham become passengers on a space craft, when Pauline informs Swan that a similar attack is planned on the Venus sun shield. They use the space ship to deflect the small projectiles, which means that everyone has to evacuate. Swan and Warham get into space suits and float in space, waiting to be rescued. However, their rescue ship is attacked before it can pick them up, and Warham's leg is injured. Eventually, they are rescued, but their time waiting in space is reminiscent of their time in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, these strange humanoid qubes have been wandering about causing trouble, so Inspector Gennette exiles them all in a star ship. The book ends with the marriage of Swan and Warham.
My Thoughts:
My summary doesn't do the book justice, as its strengths lie in world building, character development, and philosophical discussions. It was a book that would make me stop mid-page and think for 20 minutes about the concepts. I enjoyed the discussion of the pseudo-iterative routines of Warham, the question of qube-human relationships, and the descriptions of the various terraria.
My favorite part of the book was when they were wandering through the tunnel, and also the description of animals floating down to Earth. The chapters completely filled with terraforming descriptions were hard for me to get through, but most of them actually did have a relation to the plot. I believe the book could have been 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed the complexity and depth of the world that Robinson built.
This book has won the Nebula and is up for the Hugo this year. I would have voted for it if I had signed up for a voting membership.
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 4 out of 5
I've decided that my summaries have been getting too long, so I'm going to make future summaries shorter. This book was over 500 pages, but here we go.
Summary (with spoilers):
Swan lives on Terminator, a city on Mercury that glides along planet-wide tracks to avoid being caught in the sun. As Swan grieves at the death of her grandmother, Alex, she learns that Alex was involved in secret political dealings. Alex has left several letters that Swan must deliver, causing Swan to meet up with Wahram, Inspector Gennette, and Wang.
In addition to being overcome with grief, Swan is a rather unusual person. She had her qube, Pauline, installed in her head. She's also undergone various physical modifications.
Swan tries to figure out what Alex was working on, but no one will tell her directly what's going on, except that it has to do with Earth, and that they don't trust the qubes. Swan travels to Earth via terraria (hollowed-out asteroids turned into small worlds), to meet up with her former lover, Zasha. On Earth, some ruffians attempt to kidnap her, but she is saved by Kiran. In return, she gets him off-planet to Venus, where he becomes a double agent for two major political powers.
Swan meets up with Wahram on Mercury. After attending a conference, they decide to don some spacesuits and walk back to the city platform. En route, they witness an explosion the almost hits Terminator and destroys the tracks. They rush back to the city, but it's already been evacuated. Since the sun is rising, they need to get to safety. They decide to run sun-ward to the next platform, which has an underground system mirroring the tracks above ground. They make it to the platform, and while they are waiting for the elevator to arrive, Swan jumps in front of Wahram to protect him from a solar flare.
They hike along the underground tunnel for weeks, trying to reach safety, whistling Bach to pass the time. Swan gets increasingly ill from radiation poisoning. Eventually, they go to the surface to break the monotony, even though they are sun-side, and a vehicle passing by rescues them.
Swan spends time with Inspector Gennette, who thinks the attack on Mercury was caused by lots of small rocks thrown so that they would all land at the same time. He's also suspicious of the cubes. Swan and Wahram go to Earth to help with various development projects and then decide to repopulate Earth with all of the animals stored in the terraria. Thousands of animals are sent through the sky in gel balloons. On Earth, Swan and Warham realize they have feelings for each other.
Swan and Warham become passengers on a space craft, when Pauline informs Swan that a similar attack is planned on the Venus sun shield. They use the space ship to deflect the small projectiles, which means that everyone has to evacuate. Swan and Warham get into space suits and float in space, waiting to be rescued. However, their rescue ship is attacked before it can pick them up, and Warham's leg is injured. Eventually, they are rescued, but their time waiting in space is reminiscent of their time in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, these strange humanoid qubes have been wandering about causing trouble, so Inspector Gennette exiles them all in a star ship. The book ends with the marriage of Swan and Warham.
My Thoughts:
My summary doesn't do the book justice, as its strengths lie in world building, character development, and philosophical discussions. It was a book that would make me stop mid-page and think for 20 minutes about the concepts. I enjoyed the discussion of the pseudo-iterative routines of Warham, the question of qube-human relationships, and the descriptions of the various terraria.
My favorite part of the book was when they were wandering through the tunnel, and also the description of animals floating down to Earth. The chapters completely filled with terraforming descriptions were hard for me to get through, but most of them actually did have a relation to the plot. I believe the book could have been 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed the complexity and depth of the world that Robinson built.
This book has won the Nebula and is up for the Hugo this year. I would have voted for it if I had signed up for a voting membership.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project by Mindy Kaling
Summary (with spoilers):
Mindy tells the reader about her life, from childhood to comedy success, through humorous essays. She discusses her high school experience as a comedy nerd, college acting, moving to New York and writing the play Matt & Ben with her friend, various jobs, and how she became a writer for The Office.
My Thoughts:
Not a bad book, although Mindy is not nearly as funny in her essay writing as she is in script writing and acting. Some of the episodes were well done. I especially liked her description of her childhood. When describing high school, she says that it's okay not to be a star, because it's kind of sad if high school is the best time of your life. However, some of the chapters fell flat for me. The one where she describes pictures of herself on her cell phone is especially bad.
Overall, it was an amusing read, but I could have skipped it.
Summary (with spoilers):
Mindy tells the reader about her life, from childhood to comedy success, through humorous essays. She discusses her high school experience as a comedy nerd, college acting, moving to New York and writing the play Matt & Ben with her friend, various jobs, and how she became a writer for The Office.
My Thoughts:
Not a bad book, although Mindy is not nearly as funny in her essay writing as she is in script writing and acting. Some of the episodes were well done. I especially liked her description of her childhood. When describing high school, she says that it's okay not to be a star, because it's kind of sad if high school is the best time of your life. However, some of the chapters fell flat for me. The one where she describes pictures of herself on her cell phone is especially bad.
Overall, it was an amusing read, but I could have skipped it.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Quiet
Quiet by Susan Cain
This is the first time I've done a review of a non-fiction book. I'll keep the summary short.
Summary (with spoilers):
Cain talks about the "extrovert ideal" in United States culture, which privileges extroverted personalities over introverted personalities. She uses the Harvard Business School as an example of an extreme extrovert culture.
Cain discusses the nature/nurture debate, bringing up physiological elements that influence introversion. She looks at introversion in terms of sensitivity, arguing that people who are more sensitive to outside stimuli are more likely to be introverts. There's an interesting experiment where researchers played recordings of balloons popping, etc. for babies, and were able to predict which would grow up to be introverts based on how the babies reacted. The highly reactive babies were more sensitive, and therefore more likely to exhibit introverted qualities when they got older.
Cain argues that we should pay more attention to the positive qualities of introversion and examines introverted leadership.
My Thoughts:
Although I had high hopes for this book, I wasn't impressed. I could sense the author's bitterness at having to grow up in an extroverted world. Although she repeatedly says that she hopes the book will cause introverts to be at peace with who they are, I don't think she spends enough time on the positive aspects of introversion. In fact, most of the time she's talking about extroverts (the extrovert ideal, comparing introverts to extroverts, etc.) I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more focused on what it means to be an introvert, not about how introverts can survive in an extroverted world. Perhaps the author would have sounded less resentful if she had written the book in a more introvert-focused way.
The most interesting bits of the book talked about the effect of physiology on introversion. Although introversion is influenced by environment, it's also highly hereditary. However, I had some friends note that some of the experiments/findings seemed flawed, like arguing that introverts might be more sensitive to coffee when it's probably a separate gene that influences caffeine sensitivity.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I have so much difficulty finding good non-fiction books. There's always a worry that the book won't be factually accurate (although Quiet contained a substantial amount of footnotes, which is a good sign).
This is the first time I've done a review of a non-fiction book. I'll keep the summary short.
Summary (with spoilers):
Cain talks about the "extrovert ideal" in United States culture, which privileges extroverted personalities over introverted personalities. She uses the Harvard Business School as an example of an extreme extrovert culture.
Cain discusses the nature/nurture debate, bringing up physiological elements that influence introversion. She looks at introversion in terms of sensitivity, arguing that people who are more sensitive to outside stimuli are more likely to be introverts. There's an interesting experiment where researchers played recordings of balloons popping, etc. for babies, and were able to predict which would grow up to be introverts based on how the babies reacted. The highly reactive babies were more sensitive, and therefore more likely to exhibit introverted qualities when they got older.
Cain argues that we should pay more attention to the positive qualities of introversion and examines introverted leadership.
My Thoughts:
Although I had high hopes for this book, I wasn't impressed. I could sense the author's bitterness at having to grow up in an extroverted world. Although she repeatedly says that she hopes the book will cause introverts to be at peace with who they are, I don't think she spends enough time on the positive aspects of introversion. In fact, most of the time she's talking about extroverts (the extrovert ideal, comparing introverts to extroverts, etc.) I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more focused on what it means to be an introvert, not about how introverts can survive in an extroverted world. Perhaps the author would have sounded less resentful if she had written the book in a more introvert-focused way.
The most interesting bits of the book talked about the effect of physiology on introversion. Although introversion is influenced by environment, it's also highly hereditary. However, I had some friends note that some of the experiments/findings seemed flawed, like arguing that introverts might be more sensitive to coffee when it's probably a separate gene that influences caffeine sensitivity.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I have so much difficulty finding good non-fiction books. There's always a worry that the book won't be factually accurate (although Quiet contained a substantial amount of footnotes, which is a good sign).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)