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Wordly Obsessions

~ … the occasional ramblings of a book addict …

Wordly Obsessions

Tag Archives: science fiction

Book Review | ‘Slaughterhouse 5’ by Kurt Vonnegut

18 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review, Excerpts

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

2br02b, Billy Pilgrim, Bombing of Dresden in World War II, book review, cats cradle, Dresden, Hiroshima, Kilgore Trout, kurt vonnegut, science fiction, war, world war 2, World War II


Slaughterhouse 5: Or, the Children's Crusade, A Duty-Dance with DeathSlaughterhouse 5: Or, the Children’s Crusade, A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like “Poo-tee-weet?”

People keep saying that this is the story of Billy Pilgrim; World War II veteran, optometrist and time-traveller. I wish they wouldn’t do that, because that is not true.

This book is about TRYING to write about the unspeakable horrors of war (in this case, the Dresden bombing) and discovering that you simply cannot. It is about how when a mind is trying to draw on suppressed terrors, will constantly be diverted to other more manageable things like stupid insignificant moments of life.

‘Slaughterhouse 5’ is a story about failing to write about Dresden. Anyone knows that in order to write about something, one must first make sense of it. Yet the problem with wars is that almost all of them are pretty senseless. It is a proven fact that after a certain point, nobody really knows what is going on anymore. Vonnegut underlines this, and points out how this is true of every other bombing in world history including Hiroshima. ‘Slaughterhouse 5’ is about the madness of men, the wars they create and how those touched by it eventually turn to that madness for comfort. As Vonnegut put it, there are no actual characters in the story. Fine, we have Pilgrim and his comrades Roland Weary, Paul Lazzaro and poor Edgar Derby; a school teacher who is eventually executed for stealing a teapot. There’s also porn-actress Montana Wildhack and the reclusive science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout.

But, there are no characters. Because the only star of the show should be the EVENT; whose gaping absence (in this case) could also be a presence of such. Because a writer’s only chance of getting near such an event is to talk around it, through populating it. Which is why we have Billy Pilgrim and characters who are not actually meant to be there, but have to be, because (ironically) their presence provides the closest, most comfortable focal point for our eyes to rest on. Any closer, and it might all be a bit too much.

“Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.
    So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.
People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.
I’ve finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun.

This one’s a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt.”

Time is a flexible thing in Vonnegut’s world; one can be dying one minute and be born the next, only to die again. Vonnegut shows us the big events in life. The ones that jar our conscience and even our sanity. But what about the little bombs that are peppered along the path of life? Every laughable, silly character in this book is a ticking bomb in their own right who trigger other bombs. It is how all these events play out that make ‘Slaughterhouse 5’ such an enjoyable and deeply resonant book.

If you’re looking for a read that explores BIG themes, like birth, sex, death, war, humanity and the meaning of life then don’t bother reading this. You will be disappointed. However, if you are looking for a short, concise novella who right from the start understands the futility of such an undertaking and humbly admits as much, then this is for you. And who knows? I mean, you might actually arrive at a better understanding of those big themes through this scrawny little book. Like I did. And start to pay a little more attention to bird-song. Especially ones that go ‘Poo-tee-weet?’

Because when put into perspective, birdsong makes more sense than the bloodlust of humanity. Or so it goes.

For other great Vonnegut books check out my reviews of ‘2BR02B’ and ‘Cat’s Cradle’.

View all my reviews

Related articles
  • Book review | Kurt Vonnegut’s letters leave a legacy of ‘depth, warmth and wit’ (kansascity.com)
  • ‘I Numb My Intellect with Scotch and Water’: Kurt Vonnegut’s Daily Routine (theatlantic.com)
  • Why is George Jean Nathan the only person in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five whose death does not merit a “So it goes”? (ask.metafilter.com)
  • God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut (neatorama.com)

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Book Review | ‘The Doll and Other Stories’ by Daphne Du Maurier

11 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

anime, Beginners, book review, daphne du maurier, Fiction, gothic fiction, japanese, locus solus, Manderley, raymond carver, raymond roussel, rebecca, science fiction, the monk


The Doll Short StoriesThe Doll Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here is an early showcase of Du Mauriers’ literary prowess and her interest for certain themes that she would develop later into full length novels. In this little medley of tales one can spot a prototype of ‘Manderley’ house as well as recurrences of the blood-red azaleas that have become synonymous with it (the haunted setting of her most acclaimed novel ‘Rebecca’).

Overall, the stories centre on the varying degrees of sexual degeneration and the disintegration of relationships. These are explored from different angles, be it through the eyes of a prostitute or an emotionally disturbed violinist. I got a sense that as a young writer, Du Maurier understood the value of subtlety, as even her most extreme story mostly hinges on the power of suggestion. As in the fashion of the great gothic novels like ‘The Monk’ nothing is openly described but more or less alluded to.

Surprisingly, most of these were written during the authors younger years when I suppose her sexual curiosity was at its’ peak. But even then she approached her material with a maturity far beyond her years. This was raw talent trying to find its ultimate shape and form on some very sharp and often risqué ideas.

One particular story (and I can’t review without mentioning it) stands out as the most shocking. Nearly all her stories probe the dark recesses of the human psyche in one way or another, but this one tale really had me bewildered with its’ brazen pornographic twist. ‘The Doll’ is a story I can only describe as lurid and bold. It is dripping with sexual immorality and during its’ time must have caused quite a stir, as the immorality stems from a woman. The story is accessed through a fragment of letters discovered washed up on the shore. While the author is unknown, the account is legible enough to be understood, which turns out to be a strange confessional of an ex-lover who reveals one woman’s dark secret and her sickening fetish for a life-like, mechanical doll called Julio.

Now forgive me, but I didn’t know they actually HAD sex dolls back in the late 1800’s, especially ones that functioned. There is something very creepy about the thought of a cultured woman, carrying around this portable boyfriend in her trunk. The idea has a faint science-fictiony feel to it as I am reminded of the Japanese anime ‘Ghost-in-the-Shell: Innocence’, where the plot revolves around a load of ‘gynoids’ (robotic geishas) that suddenly go homicidal. Nothing like that happens here of course, but throughout the anime deep psychological questions were asked about why the dolls were created, and what they really represented outside their obvious functions. Because of this, I actually found myself attempting to relate with the doll as opposed to the other two characters, which as you can imagine made things more disturbing! Another book I should mention(and have not read yet) is ‘Locus Solus’ by Raymond Roussel, a surrealist take on the absurdities of scientific experimentation and the book which inspired a big part of the anime in question.

But I digress. As I read ’The Doll’, I got the feeling that this was evidence of Du Maurier playing in the sandbox of her ideas. There is an experimental quality to each story, but recurring characters like Maisie the prostitute shows she definitely had something in mind. It is also here that one can see early sketches of her now infamous Rebecca. If you like this book I recommend Raymond Carvers ‘Beginners’ for further reading, which is far sharper and more modern.

View all my reviews

Related articles
  • The Birds and Other Stories – Daphne du Maurier, reprinted 1963 (carolynelw.wordpress.com)
  • My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier (skyebluepink.com)
  • Scary stories for Halloween: The Birds by Daphne du Maurier (guardian.co.uk)
  • ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier (kimbofo.typepad.com)
  • Classic Gothic Tale to Give-away (clairemca.wordpress.com)
  • Authors: Daphne Du Maurier (marygilmartin.wordpress.com)
  • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (mapleandaquill.wordpress.com)

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Book Review | ‘2BR02B’ by Kurt Vonnegut

20 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review, Excerpts

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

2br02b, book review, Dan Wakefield, dystopian, kurt vonnegut, librivox, New York, science fiction, short story, Slaughterhouse-Five


2BR02B2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Your city thanks you; your country thanks you; your planet thanks you. But the deepest thanks of all is from future generations.”

In the not so distant future, immortality has become a reality. The proverbial fount of youth has been discovered (or rather ‘engineered’) by scientists. In a world where the average lifespan of a human is approx. 140 years, natural death is rare and far between (no terrible diseases, no aging). In fact, the only way people ever actually ‘die’, is through choice. In a world where youth is on tap, you’d think it would be a paradise, but not so. In a little over 16 pages, Vonnegut shows us the stark realities of over-population and what happens when mere mortals send the grim reaper on a semi-permanent sabbatical. Told from Vonneguts’ trademark humourous perspective, we are taken straight to a New York maternity clinic and shown the absurd consequences of playing god.

The dilemma we are presented with is that of an expectant father. As his wife is set to give birth to not one, but three babies, he begins to have very dark thoughts. In a society where life has become almost unlimited, the law regulates childbirth with an iron fist. Since ‘deaths’ are on a volunteer basis, birth-control has taken on a whole new dimension. The tragi-comedy here is whether our poor protagonist can find three people ‘willing’ to commit state-endorsed suicide so that his children can be born.

This extremely short story is well-written and best enjoyed either as an audio file or in e-book form. I found this gem through the librivox archives, and since listening to it have realised that it is available in many different formats. I really enjoyed this story, as it displays Vonnegut’s narrative strengths beautifully. The ending was particularly good, very punchy and to the point (as all v. short stories should be in my opinion).

This is short fiction at it’s best and no one should pass up the opportunity to experience it. The story only takes a few minutes to get through, but contains a powerful message that marries the present culture of youth-obsessed ‘body-beautiful’ with China’s own strict ‘birth-control’ regime. It seems the seeds of such a scenario already exist in world society, and that my friend, is scary stuff indeed.
View all my reviews

Related articles
  • Book review | Kurt Vonnegut’s letters leave a legacy of ‘depth, warmth and wit’ (kansascity.com)
  • Kurt Vonnegut’s Rules for Reading Fiction (slate.com)
  • Review: Kurt Vonnegut: Letters by Kurt Vonnegut (edited and with an introduction by Dan Wakefield) (stephenormsby.wordpress.com)
  • A Sensitive Meatball: On Kurt Vonnegut’s Letters (themillions.com)
  • Vonnegut on Creating Characters (ctwesting.com)
  • According to Kurt Vonnegut, You’re Allowed To Be In Love 3 Times in Life (theatlantic.com)
  • Kurt Vonnegut … (beartales.me)
  • Serial Vonnegut (themillions.com)

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Book Review | ‘Marvels’ by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross

15 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alex ross, civil war, comic books, frankenstein, greek mythology, Human Torch, john milton, kurt busiek, mark millar, Marvel, mary shelley, paradise lost, prometheus, science fiction, victor frankenstein, violence


MarvelsMarvels by Kurt Busiek

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here’s yet another graphic novel with an explosive cast, another ‘alternative’ view on superheroes. But unlike Millar’s ‘Civil War’, the ‘Marvels’ creators Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross get the art AND the storyline spot on. This time the story actually works and I think that may have something to do with the fact that not only are they putting the reader firmly in the place of ‘helpless spectator’, but cementing this angle with a narrator who (by default) is in that situation too.

Meet Phil Sheldon, a rookie photojournalist who recounts first-hand experiences and close encounters with the ‘otherly race’. Sheldon is unique in that he witnessed the initial advent of these synthetic gods and takes us not only through their creation and evolution, but also conveys the hopes and fears their presence triggered among mankind. Initially hailed and feared as gods, they are later reviled, and then supported as heroes only to fall yet again in the eyes of the public. This is a complex story to tell, especially from the perspective of your average American citizen who is struggling with his own inner demons.

As a character Sheldon was extremely likeable. I found that he added credibility from both a professional and private stance. Him being a photojournalist meant we really COULD look at things through a ‘lens’ of sorts, and experience what the average person would feel if a world full of unruly superheroes was our everyday reality. Too many graphic novels glorify superheroes; make them the safe, good guys. At least here there is a questioning of motives and a look at the destruction that they leave in their wake and what this really means for normal people.

Other aspects of the book I applaud is the literary nod in the direction of Mary Shelley, as Busiek cleverly parallels the legendary creation of Frankenstein’s monster with that of ‘The Human Torch’. The panels are artfully done, and the short history of ‘The Human Torch’ really does strike a mixed chord of terror, pity and sympathy.

Using ‘The Human Torch’ was a stroke of genius, as the little known second title of ‘Frankenstein’ is in fact ‘The Modern Prometheus’. For those that don’t know, Prometheus is famous in Greek myth as the man who stole fire from the gods and was duly punished for his transgression. Needless to say, this ties in very nicely with the Busiek’s ‘homage’ to Shelley and also (maybe I’m reading too much into it) Milton’s Paradise Lost, as angel’s are purported to be made of ‘holy fire’, which makes ‘The Human Torch’ the perfect character to use.

I don’t want to give away the story too much, but it is definitely worth a read. I was especially amused by a section at the back of the book that showed how the creators captured poses by using models (usually themselves, family and friends) to make the characters more realistic. The colour scheme suited the 1950’s feel of the story/ setting giving it a retro effect that I thoroughly enjoyed.

One thing: I would dearly like to know what happened to the alien-faced girl. She was a great character and I still feel very sorry for her, but she just disappeared from the story without a trace. Very frustrating. Please, if anybody knows about her, let me know!

View all my reviews

Related articles
  • Superheroes/The Scale of Problems (aproposofanything.wordpress.com)
  • Robot Roulette | Kurt Busiek (robot6.comicbookresources.com)
  • Alan Moore and Superfolks Part 2: The Case for the Defence (comicsbeat.com)
  • Artist Feature – Alex Ross (printsblog.com)
  • Cleopatra (worldofblackheroes.com)

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Book Review | ‘Civil War’ by Mark Millar

13 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

9/11, Avengers, comic books, fantasy, mark millar, Marvel Universe, marvels, Nitro, science fiction, Superhero, United States


Civil WarCivil War by Mark Millar

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’m amazed by how Millar keeps coming up with these new slants on the Marvel universe. It must require a lot of creative thinking and collaboration with the ‘right’ kind of people. This time Millar explores what would happen if the superheroes that we all loved and trusted got out of hand and began fighting amongst themselves. The reality of that would be (as the title suggests) complete civil war. The story opens on a quiet American suburb in what looks like a ‘reality tv’ raid on a house full of rogue superheroes on the FBI wanted list for illegal activities. What ensues is a pre-emptive fight that gets out of hand – extremely out of hand. Cornered, confused and enraged, Nitro unleashes an explosive attack near a school which turns into a small-scale atomic blast. The result: an entire neighbourhood burnt to a crisp with a death toll of 900.

In the face of this catastrophe, the American public bay for blood, that results in a merciless witch-hunt for all superheroes. Torn between grief, shame and anger for the careless behaviour of their junior peers, established superheroes like the Avengers begin to suffer the wrath of people. There is soon talk of registering, legalising and uncovering the identities of those with powers to make them more accountable for their actions. This soon divides the superheroes into two camps; those who decide to yield to the public demands and those who resist.

There is more to this story than meets the eye: Nitro’s suicidal attack and its’ devastating effects mirrors the 9/11 attack on America’s twin towers. It is a commentary on fanaticism and the way the Western media have turned the conflict in the East (be it Afghanistan or Iraq) into ‘big brother’ style entertainment.

However having said that, I’m not that happy with the WAY it was told. The graphics were beautiful as always, yet there were some plot-holes that made it a little too unbelievable. There were fights a-plenty, in fact too much violence. I felt the frequency of the brawls eclipsed the storyline too much. Every other page was a fight or a tussle. It was interesting to see who would side with whom and in this version of events Tony Stark (Ironman) takes precedence as he tries to ‘do the right thing’. There are a few shocking events such as some heroes get killed, while others relinquish their well-guarded identities.

As a comic book fan I would like to have seen more of the Punisher and I feel he wasn’t given the credit he deserved. After a brief stint working for the rebelling superheroes, he is quickly cast aside as ‘insane’ and never heard of again. The very thing that makes the story weak is probably the fact that there are too many superheroes. There is an impressive cast, but I felt it truly overwhelmed me. Less could have been more. This felt like Millar was trying to find ways to include as many of his creations as possible.

View all my reviews

Related articles
  • Millar and Quitely’s Jupiter’s Children is now called Jupiter’s Legacy (robot6.comicbookresources.com)
  • Mark Millar Discusses Uniting the Marvel Universe at Fox (comicbooked.com)
  • Graphic Novel Review: SuperCrooks (grizzlybomb.com)
  • Mark Millar Discusses Massive Marvel Crossover Event Movies & Studio Goals (screenrant.com)

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Book Review | ‘Cat’s Cradle’ by Kurt Vonnegut

12 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in 50 Books A Year, Book Review, Excerpts, Philosophy/ Religion

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

bokononism, cats cradle, dystopian, humour, kurt vonnegut, l ron hubbard, religion, science fiction, scientology


Cat's Cradle Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”

So you thought Scientology was wacky? Then you obviously haven’t read ‘Cat’s Cradle’. Forget Hubbards’ many layered, ‘brownie point’ rank system to reach the exalted state of ‘Xenu’; you need

‘Bokononism’. It’s not only completely rubbish and written by a mad man, but also insanely fun to implement. OK, I know it’s not ‘real’, but I really enjoyed the little sing-song calypso psalms that pepper the story every now and then.

‘Cat’s Cradle’ is, when all’s said and done, dystopian fiction. It looks at the delicate balance of the ecosystem, and how one crazy idea in the head of a crazy and very capable person can in effect, completely destroy life as we know it. Written in the first person, the story involves a writer obsessed with the scientist Hoenikker, the supposed ‘father’ of the atomic bomb and his attempts at writing a thesis around the day the bomb went off. During his research he gets to meet Hoenikkers weird and defective offspring, not to mention his work colleagues who give him insight into the frightening genius of the man.

What is evident is that a) Hoenikker’s scientific intelligence was off the scale, but b) had severe emotional lacks which means that c) he approached his work with all the curiosity of a child, but none of the responsibility of an adult. This revelation sends huge shock waves through our researcher, especially when he realises that the last project the good doctor was working on, was ‘Ice 9’; a sliver of which has the capacity to turn every water particle into ice. Some killing machine right? And where did the idea come from? A random crazy general from the American War Department who is constantly complaining how the Marines are fed up of working in all that mud all the time.

But the doctor died before it was ever realised, so we can breathe a sigh of relief, right? Right? No, we can’t. The nightmare scenario begins to unfold, as our poor researcher boards an airplane for the island of San Lorenzo which consequently will also be the very place where this strangest of Armageddon’s take place.

Dystopian fiction is usually quite depressing and grey, but Vonnegut changes all that. ‘Cat’s Cradle’ is in essence about a very upsetting scenario which despite all the light-hearted humour, still seems like it COULD happen in reality. But it is the humour that saves it from being just another ‘Brave New World’. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but makes very accurate observations about society and the ludicrous things we use science for. Vonnegut doesn’t beat you over the head with his message about weapons of mass destruction, but leaves a margin of seriousness within all the silliness for you to chew on.

This is an intellectual novel that is very easy to get into that also resonates deeply with current issues of climate change, war and destruction. Read this. You won’t regret it.

View all my reviews

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Literary Blog Hop! – What Is Literary Fiction?

05 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Meme

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

1984, frankenstein, george orwell, japanese horror story, Koji Suzuki, literary fiction, mary shelley, meme, science fiction


 Don\

Welcome to the ‘Literary Blog Hop’, a meme hosted by The Blue Bookcase for book bloggers who focus on reviewing literary fiction. This weeks’ hop comes with the question:

“What is your favourite book, and why would you consider it as ‘literary’.”

When I received news of this meme in my inbox, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to talk about a popular Japanese trilogy that has been on my mind ever since I read it about 5 years ago. The books I’m
talking about are known as ‘The Ring Trilogy’. The three books ‘Ring’ (1991), ‘Spiral’ (1995) and ‘Loop’ (2002) were written by Koji Suzuki and became a literary phenomenon all over the world. While ‘Ring’ is the most popular book in the series, ‘Spiral’ and ‘Loop’ provide an excellent follow-up to the chilling story of the cursed videotape that kills its’ viewers in seven days. Here is a short synopsis of each book without any spoilers.

‘RING’ – BOOK 1

Ring (Book 1)

“One night in Tokyo, four healthy teenagers die simultaneously. Autopsy reports list the cause as heart failure, but for journalist Kazuyuki Asakawa whose niece was among the dead, it seems something more sinister is afoot. Asakawa’s suspicions drive him to investigate further, which leads him to a strange videotape found in a mountain lodge the teenagers visited together over the holidays. At first, the tape is nothing more than a random series of unrelated images. However the images end abruptly, and what follows is an inexplicable message that condemns the viewer to die in seven days unless they complete a charm. But to Asakawa’s horror, the instructions have been erased. Now it becomes a race against the clock to find out the mystery of the tape, the truth behind the curse and who made it. 

Soon Asakawa realises the images themselves are a series of clues, which point to a terrible secret and an insatiable revenge against humanity.” 

____________________
‘SPIRAL’ – BOOK 2

Spiral (Book 2)

“Dr. Ando suffers from nightmares. In his dreams he is trying to save his drowning son. But everyday he wakes to the cruel reality of his death and the fact that his marriage has all but fallen apart. The only thing keeping him going is his job – performing autopsies. That is, until his old rival Ryuji Takayama, turns up on the steel slab. In High School, Ryuji was famous for being a  codebreaker. He would have remained undefeated, if it wasn’t for Ando. Yet here he is, and ironically Ando has the honour of doing the last duties. But Ryuji’s death soon turns out to be as cryptic as the codes they used to crack back in school. A blood test reveals the impossible truth that Ryuji died from a virus supposed to be extinct, and it turns out he isn’t the only one to have been infected. Being the only person ever to have beat Ryuji, Ando gets the unshakable feeling that his friend is controlling things from beyond the grave by chosing him to solve this mystery.

It’s not long before Ando’s investigation leads him to a videotape, and a crucial choice between life, death – and rebirth.”

____________________

‘LOOP’ – BOOK 3

Loop (Book 3)

“In the ‘Ring’, vendetta came in the form of a videotape. In ‘Spiral’, a mutating virus threatened the entire diversity of life. In ‘Loop’, everything about the ‘Ring’ universe is turned on its head, as the story opens on Kaoru Futami, a precocious ten year old boy born to an era on the brink of a cancer epidemic. This new, aggressive form of the illness is incurable; yet Kaoru has hope as his father lies dying in a hospital along with many other patients. Now a medical student, Kaoru sets out to discover the origins of the disease which takes him to the barren desert of New Mexico and the abandoned HQ’s of the elusive ‘Loop’ project. What he discovers there is an advanced artificial life programme designed to imitate all stages of human civilization. As Kaoru watches events unfold, he realises that a virus mysteriously wiped out the inhabitants of the virtual world; a virus that managed to escape the ‘Loop’ project and somehow find its way into reality.

Yet that isn’t all. Kaoru also finds himself facing a shocking personal truth and a destiny requiring the ultimate sacrifice.”

The reason I chose these books is because despite of their place in popular culture and the ‘hype’ generated by their film versions, I strongly believe they deserve to be recognised as literary fiction.

“The Ring Trilogy? Wait a minute… isn’t that mainstream fiction, Science-Fiction, Gothic horror? How the ‘Ring’ compare to the likes of ‘The English Patient’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’?”

Well, it can’t. Purely because of the difference in genres, but more importantly because books like the trilogy only begin to work on a literary level when it is perceived as a synergistic whole. In other words, you have to read them in order to get the full effect of the intricate way in which the seemingly disconnected plots come together to form the ‘big picture’. Suzuki also provides access to Japanese folklore, offering insight into how various supernatural beliefs developed in this culture. There is also the way each book takes mythological themes of death, life and rebirth and re-works them into a perspective the modern reader can easily relate to. One common problem is that literary fiction is often confused with the  ‘Classics’.  While the canon will always remain as a set number of key texts, literary fiction is the quite the opposite. If it can be regarded as a genre, it is the most flexible of them all, as literary fiction can turn up in any style of writing.  To clear things up, I feel a great need to classify once and for all exactly what literary fiction means.

Literary Fiction – A Short Introduction
The term itself is very difficult to pin down and is surrounded by a plethora of preconceived ideas, most of which are often negative to say the least. The words ‘literary fiction’ are often associated with highbrow art that is often written in a way to be largely unintelligible to the average reader, and more often than not, with a focus on garnering as many awards as it possibly can.

While some of these are tell-tale traits of literary fiction, I am glad to say that it isn’t as straight-forward or narrow as that. ‘Literary’ means ‘of words’, and a work of literary fiction often indicates one to be of considerable merit within its own respectful genre. It may also mean that the book is written with a focus on style, psychological depth or character development.The best thing about literary fiction, is that it often has something important to say about its subject matter or about the art of writing, which means a relatively new book can be classed as literary fiction.

These are traits carried by the books as each one takes the ‘viral’ theme and develops it in a new direction. While some people may not like the progressive changes Suzuki made in his follow-up novels, I thoroughly enjoyed them, as it challenged me to refocus my own theories and assumptions about the plot which taught me a lot about how important it is to keep a story as creative as possible. It was also wonderful to see a work that straddles more than one genre keep the plot balanced between the two. Even though horror and science-fiction do go quite well together, it is difficult to produce a story that is ‘credible’ enough to keep the reader involved, and this is a very important factor for both these genres. If you think of literary classics like Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’, both depicted at the time, a fantastical future that was thoroughly make-believe. But what made them so popular for later generations was their grounding in the political and scientific theories at the time. Of course today’s critics hail them as works of immense foresight, as some of those fantastical things have become a reality.

Frankenstein’s monster was created by various body parts and resurrected through ‘galvanism’ or lightning. Today, doctors can perform amazing surgical feats such as skin grafts and organ transplants. We have also discovered that the human body has its own electrical current and cloning is now a reality. ‘Big Brother’ was the theme of Orwell’s dystopian story, as people are ruled by a despotic government that perpetrates mind control, constant surveillance of its citizens and torture. This scenario is not far off, as some governments i.e. China and Iran constantly monitor, block and censor information on the internet that goes against it’s policies. In a time where freedom of speech and thought has never been so relaxed; there are still parts of the world where people are punished for their thoughts. 

In the ‘Ring’, the now extinct smallpox virus finds it’s way onto a video tape, which when viewed infects its audience in the form of a curse. In ‘Spiral’ this virus mutates, finding it’s way onto the internet and to millions of viewers. The result is an epidemic on an unprecedented scale. Contrary to popular belief, in reality the smallpox virus is all but extinct. It is still kept alive in two places; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in United States and the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Russia. There have been rumours that the virus is intended for use in biological warfare.

The viral theme however does not end here, as in ‘Loop’ we are introduced to the concept of artificial intelligence; something that many programmers are working on. Lately gaming systems like the Nintendo Wii have made physical interaction a part of the gaming experience. There is a great desire to create an ‘intuitive’ relationship between man and machine. The iPad is a great example of how this what with the development of the ergonomic touchscreen and the facility to flip the screen any way you like. I feel that it’s only a matter of time before a totally independent artificial intelligence program is created. What something like this will bring only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, art often does imitate life which gives me the feeling that fiction offers us an uncanny glimpse into the future.

These are but a few of the big themes these books analyse. As technology takes over making our lives more easier, we tend to lose other things. We become alienated from the organic and the natural. What Suzuki tries to illustrate is what happens when the unnatural begins to control our lives as it changes it against our will. The symbol of the virus comes to mean many things. The mutation of it throughout the three books shows the relentless process of evolution and the fact that we haven’t arrived at out final state and we are still a work in progress. The creation of artificial intelligence (playing ‘god’) brings about the ‘curse’ or the cross all humanity has to bear for making something it cannot even begin to fathom. I could go on and on, but I would be giving away a lot of spoilers, and that wouldn’t be fair for those who wish to read and find out for themselves.

Oh, and for all those who think that Suzuki might have stolen the ‘world within a world’ plot from the Matrix films, think again. ‘Loop’ was first published a year before Matrix Reloaded was screened. How’s that for predictive fiction?

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Teaser Tuesday | Androgyny Is Not An Option: ‘The Passion of New Eve’

28 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Meme

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

angela carter, dystopian, meme, science fiction, teaser tuesday


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The quote for today’s Teaser Tuesday comes from Angela Carter’s ‘The Passion of New Eve’. At first it didn’t really notice it, but the title might be a play on ‘The Passion of the Christ’. I get the feeling I’ll be coming across a lot of biblical references on creation and the fall. 

The book itself is set in the near future between London and America. With dystopian landscapes galore, it really is a feast for the senses. This is the story of one man’s (Evelyn) journey through feminine sexuality. Without giving too much away, it’s an extraordinary story about sex-change, feminine revenge and weird woman cult’s. It’s a fantasy/ science-fiction/ psychological thriller type of book, which explores the mythologies built-up around gender roles. Even though I’m still at the beginning, I’m already hooked.

The Passion of New Eve

“I would go to the desert, to the waste heart of that vast country, the desert on which they turned their backs for fear it would remind them of emptiness – the desert, the arid zone, there to find, chimera of chimeras, there, in the ocean of sand, among bleached rocks of the untenanted part of the world, I thought I might find that most elusive of chimeras, myself.

And so, in the end, I did, although this self was a perfect stranger to me.”

Carter’s work is highly feminist and political in it’s approach to gender roles. When Evelyn is captured by a cult  and surgically changed into a woman (Eve), he begins to experience the inequalities facing the fairer sex. This is a very dark tale of transgression, but incredibly fascinating at the same time. I agree when they say that Angela Carter is the best woman writer of her time. ‘The Passion of New Eve’ is a rare post-feminist gem that should be read by all dystopian lovers.

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Book Review | ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’ – John Wyndham

25 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in Book Review

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

book review, John Lazarus, john wyndham, midwich cuckoos, science fiction, Thomas Vinterberg, Village of the Damned


The quiet village of Midwich is famous for being… well… quiet. Not much has happened since man decided to turn it into a settlement area. It’s people are ordinary, dull, slightly snobbish in that rural ‘country manor’ sort of way. And for a few centuries, this boring pattern of nondescript life ebbs along… until the ‘dayout’ that is.
The Midwich Cuckoos
 “It ruins a man’s concentration to have a crèche hanging over his head”
Imagine one day you wake up to an invisible wall, a magic circle looming over an entire village, and everyone within the perimeter of the wall inexplicably falls asleep. And not just people. Cows, birds, anything with a pulse entering that dead-zone drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Well, welcome to the ‘dayout’. This is what happens to the people of Midwich. The police force, the ambulance services, the military, secret services… no one can figure out the reason nor the source of the strange force-field. Twenty-four hours later however, people start to wake up and the invisible wall seems to be lifted and everything goes back to normal.
But a month later, the horror slowly begins to spread, as one by one, the women in the village discover that they have somehow become pregnant. Married and virgin alike are carrying something inside them… the question is, do they give birth to it, or do they destroy it?
This is a unique take on the invasion story, but with a twist. Wyndham’s version has domestic undertones as he takes the plot and weaves it closer to the homestead. Setting the invasion in an ordinary village makes the whole situation slightly absurd, if not abstract. This is my first taste of Wyndham, and I find his style to be deceptive, in the fact that his quintessentially English leitmotifs act as a mechanism for the reader to be lulled into a false state of security. Then ‘bang’, he introduces a crystal-clear nugget of bare-ugly truth to the whole matter, which leaves you feeling slightly shell-shocked. This happens more than once, the most notable occasion being when the women find out about the pregnancies and the head of the village holds a crisis talk. Much effort is made to calm the growing anxiety, and in some way or another it this is achieved, but the stories of the illegal abortions, the pain and shame of the collective violation, and the suicides attempts shake the reader back to their senses.
Overall, the story itself, the premise, is very promising. It was the inspiration for the ‘The Village of the Damned‘, but after reading the blurb and then getting down to reading the story, the reader may feel a slight anti-climax. There were many times I wished Wyndham would delve into the mechanics of the aliens. For instance who they are and where they came from. But he doesn’t do any of that. Instead, Wyndham concentrates on showing us the very weakness of modern society, how guns and nuclear weapons really have no sway when it comes to an alien invasion, as the superior species would easily win the war of survival by capturing the castle from within.
I give this book 3/5 stars, because it could have been written better. At times it felt that Wyndham was being lazy with his descriptions. Then again, it might have been his way of leaving a trail of question marks for his readership to mull over, but I find there were too many of them, which in turn, looked more like plot-holes. But I do insist that you read it to the end – and it’s quite a shock.
Related articles
  • A Sneak Peek at the John Lazarus: Mann from Midwich Book Cover Design (johnlazarus.wordpress.com)
  • Read Excerpts of Johnny Came Home & Mann from Midwich on Wattpad (johnlazarus.wordpress.com)

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