Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone-J.K. Rowling
How I found this book: I was actually introduced to the movie first. It hadn’t even come out on video yet, one of my friends had an illegal bootleg and had brought it to one of my drinking, boozy parties, (don’t ask me why we’d watch Harry Potter at a booze party, we were young and drunk!) It got left, and so I decided to watch it the next day again, this time sober, and found I kind of liked it. Now, eight years later, as I stare at a movie calendar on my office wall, I think Harry’s story kind of stuck.
Setting: The school year of ’91-’92, (when I myself was only a wee thing of 14, barely older than Harry,) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, somewhere in Scotland.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: He for whom the books are named, Harry is one of the most famous children in the secret world of witches and wizards, only he doesn’t know it. Raised by a horrid aunt and uncle after the death of his magical parents, he isn’t even aware of his true powers until a mysterious letter arrives one day telling him that he has a place at a magical school. A whole new world opens up for Harry, one with magic wands, broomsticks, and all manner of strange, new people, some of whom are friendly, and some he discovers are not. Most of all, Harry begins to unravel the mystery of his past, of who he is, why he’s famous, and why he wasn’t killed too that fateful Halloween night so many years before when his parents perished at the hands of the darkest wizard ever known, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”. He is smallish for his age, with a mop of black, untamable hair, and emerald green eyes with glasses, and a jagged, lightening bolt scar on his forehead that seems to give him some mysterious connection to the dark wizard, Voldemort.
The Dursleys: Harry’s mother’s sister and her husband and child, they have raised Harry since he was one, after the death of Harry’s mother, Lily and her husband, James. Petunia and Vernon, his aunt and uncle, are particularly afraid of magic, and try to stamp any possibility of it out of Harry, at the same time trying to ensure that he remembers that he is in no way better than their spoiled, fat son Dudley. Dudley’s main role in life is to eat, watch television, and bully his cousin. Aunt Petunia is tall, boney, and horse-faced, Uncle Vernon is large, red-faced, and usually loud, and Dudley is fat, and bullying.
Professor Albus Dumbledore: The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Dumbledore is who deposits Harry on his aunt’s doorstep after his parents’ death. Dumbledore is a great wizard, as Harry finds out, famous in his own time for both defeating the dark wizard, Grindelwald, but also for discovering the twelve uses of dragon’s blood with his friend, Nicholas Flamel, a noted alchemist, and creator of the Philosopher’s Stone, (called Sorcerer’s Stone in America because they assume American school children are idiots.) Dumbledore is a bit of a mystery for Harry, appearing both very wise, and in the words of Percy Weasley, perhaps a bit mad. He’s a tall, thin wizard, with a long silver beard and hair, and a crooked nose, where he has half-moon spectacles that perch in front of sparkling blue eyes.
Professor Minerva McGonagall: The head of Gryffindor House, Harry’s house in school, she is also the Transfiguration teacher, and an avid fan of the wizarding sport of Quidditch. She bends the rules to allow Harry to join the house team his first year as a Seeker. She is a thin, black-haired witch, which is usually kept up in a tight bun, severe in her demeanor, though she often shows a soft side. She is also an animagus, and can change her form from human to a cat, with spectacle markings around her eyes, (analogous to the human glasses she wears).
Rebeus Hagrid: The Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, he is a large, friendly man who actually helped Dumbledore deliver Harry to the Dursleys when he was a baby. He collects Harry from his all too unwilling aunt and uncle, and is the first person to introduce Harry to the world of magic. He is a kind hearted soul, despite his fierce appearance, and he is very attached to Harry. He is impossibly big for a human, both in height and in proportions, with wiry hair and beard, and a moleskin coat with which he keeps all manner of things. He carries around a pink umbrella that holds the remains of his wand, which was broken when he was expelled from Hogwarts his third year.
Ronald Weasley: Harry’s first friend in the wizarding world, (or ever for that matter), Ron comes from a very large, very red-haired, and very poor family. Despite this, they seem to be very caring, and Ron himself is very loyal to Harry, even if he can be a bit rude, abrasive, and self-absorbed. The Weasley’s are an old, Pureblood family, despite their poverty, and unlike other Pureblood families like the Malfoys, they are known for sympathizing with Muggles, or non-magic people. Ron is the youngest son of the large Weasley clan, consisting of five boys older than Ron, and one girl younger than Ron, his sister Ginny. Ron can sometimes be lazy, loves to eat, and is often seen quarreling with Hermione Granger. He is tall and thin, with a long, thin nose, and bright red hair, with blue eyes.
Hermione Granger: Harry’s second best friend, Hermione at first puts off both Harry and Ron by her know-it-all manner and her strict outlook in terms of rules, (something both Harry and Ron are willing to bend). She befriends the pair, however, after an incident with a troll brought them all close. Hermione is the only daughter of Muggle parents, (neither of her parents is magical), and while she wasn’t raised in the wizarding world as Ron was, she has made up for this by reading about it prodigiously. While she is often the ‘bossy, big sister’ type to Harry, (she is in fact ten months older than he is), she is most often seen quarreling with Ron, as her punctual, precise manner, and her determination to get things done often clash with his nature. She has very bushy, brown hair, and front teeth that are slightly too long in the front, (the irony of that being that Hermione’s parents are both dentists.)
Draco Malfoy: Harry and Ron’s immediate enemy, Draco is from a very rich, very powerful wizarding family, who had ties to the evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents. He is a member of Slytherin House, and is haughty, conceited, and dislikes Harry, Ron, and Hermione immensely. He tries as best he might to get the three in trouble, usually by luring them into traps, or makes fun of them all in front of their classmates. He is a thin, pointy faced boy, with silvery-blonde hair, and gray eyes.
Professor Severus Snape: Harry’s other great enemy at Hogwarts, he is the Potions professor, and head of Slytherin House. He takes an immediate dislike for Harry, though Harry doesn’t understand why, and seems to go out of his way to make Harry’s life difficult, even unjustly so. Dumbledore tells Harry that much of this stems from an incident when Snape was in school with Harry’s own father, where James Potter saved the other man’s life. This was much to Snape’s chagrin as he hated James. Snape is a tall man, with greasy, lank black hair, and sallow, yellow skin, and dark, black eyes. He is often described as ‘bat-like’, swooping down on students.
Professor Quirrel: The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrel is a nervous man, who tends to stutter and shake, and seems afraid of his own shadow, which is funny as he teaches a class on how to defend yourself against magical evils and dark creatures. He wears a turban on his head he claims he received as a gift, and is often made fun off by the students.
Lord Voldemort: The evilest Dark Wizard in generations, Lord Voldemort and his followers had been at war with the wizarding world in the years leading up to Harry’s birth. They caused a general feeling of dread and fear, and using terrorist tactics spread their message of hate. For reasons unclear to most people, on Halloween Night, 1981, he attacked James and Lily Potter in their home in Godric’s Hollow, before attacking their small son, Harry. For whatever reason, however, the Killing Curse he turned on the toddler backfired, and killed him instead of Harry, leaving the child with the lightening shaped scar. While many rejoice and celebrate Harry as being the reason for “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s” downfall, (he was so feared, people couldn’t say his name), there is a suspicion that Voldemort isn’t dead, and that somehow he survived and is biding his time till his return.
Plot: Harry Potter is an orphaned, ten-going-on-eleven-year old boy, raised by his mean aunt and uncle, and putting up with his bullying cousin. He of course dreams of having another life, but he never imagined that indeed…he does have one. Unbeknownst to Harry, he is indeed a wizard, part of a long line of witches and wizards, as were his parents, and that he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to use his talents. What opens up for Harry is a whole world of magic, from his first wand to broomsticks, Charms to Potions, as well as his first real friends, and his first real enemies. But what else begins to unfold for Harry is the truth about his past, about why it was his parents died when he was a baby, and who is responsible for it…and why it is that the wizards and witches of Great Britain call him “The-Boy-Who-Lived.” Now at Hogwarts, Harry makes instant enemies with one of his professors, Severus Snape, who seems to hate him on sight for reasons he can’t understand. One possible answer might lay in the strange thing that the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore has protected in the banned third floor wing, something so powerful that duplicitous Snape might not be able to resist trying to get it, but for whom? Harry learns that sometimes old enemies are hard to kill, especially when they are powerful enough and evil enough to manage to subvert death, and are eager to try and find ways to come back into the world of the living and take hold once again.
Themes:
Even an ordinary boy can be special: Harry, all things considered, isn’t an extraordinary boy or wizard. He is smallish, of average intelligence, and like most boys his age is curious, has a healthy disregard for rules, and a bit obstinate when it comes to over-bearing authority. But despite Harry being ordinary, he really is extraordinary in many other ways, and not just the fact he survived an attack that should have killed him. He has great heart, and hasn’t been beaten down by all that life has thrown his way. He is loyal to his friends; even if it means that he makes enemies of others, or occasionally gets himself in trouble for it. And despite the many fears and insecurities he has, he stands up and tries to overcome them. In Harry lies a bit of all of us, a hero who really is a very normal person, but who chooses to do great things.
Doing what is right isn’t necessarily doing what is easy: This is one of the major themes Rowling has running through the entire series, and it starts early with Harry making decisions that often get him in trouble, (such as with Hermione and the troll, or Hagrid and the dragon), but which in the end are in his mind the right things to do. No one said it was easy trying to do what was right, but sometimes it just has to be done.
The connection between Lord Voldemort and Harry: The mystery begins here, where a powerful dark wizard tries to kill Harry, with no real explanation given. There seems to be some sort of weird connection between the two, though no answers are given in this book, it is the central theme on which the entire plot of the series pivots, and what the great mystery is linking the two together.
Why in the world does Dumbledore keep Snape around again: OK, this is never answered to the very LAST book in the series, but it begins to be a bigger and bigger question in the series as Snape continuous to be a pain in Harry’s side and a more and more mysterious character, who might not be as EV-AL as Harry thinks he is, but he is certainly up to something.
It does no good to dwell on dreams and to forget how to live: Perhaps the first, really important lesson Harry has had to learn, it is hard for a boy whose only had dreams and wishes to keep him going to let go of those dreams and live his life. As we find out in the series, perhaps no one understands that better than Albus Dumbledore, who gives Harry this sage advice. Dreams can be all consuming, but are ultimately fleeting. Life can be a much better adventure.
Every book sucks somewhere: There are few reasons I can think of for this book sucking. It was a marvelous first outing. My one complaint lies in the timeline at the beginning between when Harry’s parents are killed and when Dumbledore, Hagrid, and McGonagall deliver him to the Dursley’s. This is a point that has been argued and re-argued by fans, and I think the best way to answer it is leave it up to your imagination.
Also, Scholastic, (the American publishers), WHY did you need to change it from Philospher’s Stone, (which is a historic concept), to Sorcerer’s Stone. Really…that was just silly. Have a kid pick up an encyclopedia for crying out loud!
What did I like: All of it! This is a great, interesting, fun world, and a great new retelling of a very old story, of the hero who must go out on his quest. Of course, this hero’s quest involves Quidditch, evil wizards, and the Weasley twins, which makes it all the more fun.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is a big, MONSTER WORM. Even if you think that Harry Potter got sucked into pop cultural hype, the fact is this first story is so much fun, and so addictive, and so entrancing, that you realize that it really is a ton of fun to read. And besides, who doesn’t want to have a magic wand, a broomstick, and go to school in a castle?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America- Barbara Ehrenreich
How I found this book: Patric got it for cheap, and was curious as our friend Randy pretty much holds one of these low-paying jobs. We wanted to see what the author had to say about it.
Setting: Key West, Florida, Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, all circa 1999-2000.
Main Characters: It’s a non-fiction book, and follows Barbara Ehrenreich.
Plot: PhD author Barbara Ehrenreich explores through first hand experience how those living on minimum wage make it in different regions and in different areas of work. She spends a month in each region, with specific rules she sets for her experiment, to see if she can make enough to live for a month in each place on the wages she gets. Meanwhile, she also gets to know many of her co-workers, the very people in these situations, and tries to learn how it is they make it on the wages that they earn.
Themes:
Damn the man, he’s screwing you anyway: Ehrenreich’s observations highlight what in her opinion are the abuses of the corporate machine and in particular the thirty-something managers who she sees as ‘the man’ pushing down on the mass of minimum wage labor. She points out many of the gross abuses of people’s time and health, (in particularly one place where a woman was injured on the job), and the unethical practices by many employers, some even breaking the law, (as in the case of a restaurant hiring illegal workers in Key West.)
Just trying to make ends meet: When you are barely holding it together financially, every little thing is a huge obstacle to overcome, and everything from rent to groceries must be calculated to be handled just so, or you sink. Unaccountable things, such as broken down cares, illness, or an accident because major situations that can put someone out of work or on the streets, and there is very little recourse or help for people when life just happens. It’s a very precarious existence on the edge of destitution, and people make do as best as they can to just try to make things happen.
Aren’t we lucky to be edumacated: Ehrenreich has a constant and steady soliloquy on just how lucky she is for her father getting out of the coal mines and putting her through college, so she can be a happy, white, middle-class yuppie unlike all of these poor folk. It’s a mixed message of, ‘gee, aren’t we glad we are smart and better off’, and ‘but we suck so bad for being soft and middle class, and why can’t we do more to effect change for these people?” It’s a schizophrenic tone through much of the book.
Every book sucks somewhere: I had a lot of beefs with this book. First of, Ehrenreich above mentioned ‘schizophrenic’ tone became very grating after a while. While I don’t mind the bleeding-heart liberalism, especially in relation to the working, minimum wage class, it got a bit distracting when I couldn’t decide if she really empathized with the people she was working with for those months, or was she just counting down the days till she could go back to her low-fat, caramel macchiatos. It gave her a very condescending voice, on the one hand almost frowning in disgust at the lives these people have to lead because they can’t afford better, and at the same time upbraiding the rest of us educated folks for not caring about these people. It was very disjointed.
I also resented a bit the fact that Ehrenreich never really ‘lived’ the lives of the people she was attempting to emulate. She had all the buffer and comfort that someone going into any social experiment, such as a reporter, would have, an extra wad of cash to cover things in case her wages didn’t, a car, (which often many on minimum wage don’t have or have to share), and with the knowledge that this was all a temporary sentence, like being condemned to be the char girl for a month by her evil-step mother. This pill is particularly bitter for myself, who grew up in a household with parents who made the kind of money that they make at these jobs, neither of my parents has ever had a well-paying job in my memory. Thanks to their hard work and perseverance, and the talents and intelligence they fostered in my siblings and I, some of us have been able to claw our way up to middle-class respectability, with two of us having attained our college degrees, and two already owning their own homes before age 30. But I don’t forget those rough days, and neither do they, when we worried if our parents could pull together the rent, or how they would pay the electric bill, or get the money together for gas and groceries all in the same week. It’s difficult, and it’s hard, and you make do with it as you can, not because it’s a fun experiment, but because it is the way life is, and either you swim, or you sink. Perhaps someday, as in the case of my parents, you get to see your children succeed, and there, you get to feel that at least something has gone right. Ehrenreich portrays these struggles as ‘injustices’ rather than ‘it’s just how life is’, and you learn to survive and overcome as you can. For some, yes, perhaps it is in changing the system, for others it’s just learning to get by in the hope that something better comes of all of it eventually.
Enrenreich tries hard to add some humor and levity to the work, while keeping her sword of righteous justice still firmly outstretched so we won’t forget it. It doesn’t work, really. Instead, it seems to come off as her making light of a way of life that millions in this country are forced to live everyday, rather than bringing levity to a very serious subject.
What did I like: Ehrenreich tries to be honest in what she sees in terms of the jobs and the problems that go on behind the scenes. This expose of the practices of some employers brings to light a lot of shady things that I hear about from my work in HR, and in doing so perhaps gets a conversation going on how to effect change so those things do not happen again.
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate it a LITTLE WORM. It has a noble premise, I won’t deny that, but its execution is sloppy, it’s not very entertaining, and in spots it’s a bit insulting. I think that in the hands of another author, it perhaps could have been done better.
How I found this book: Patric got it for cheap, and was curious as our friend Randy pretty much holds one of these low-paying jobs. We wanted to see what the author had to say about it.
Setting: Key West, Florida, Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, all circa 1999-2000.
Main Characters: It’s a non-fiction book, and follows Barbara Ehrenreich.
Plot: PhD author Barbara Ehrenreich explores through first hand experience how those living on minimum wage make it in different regions and in different areas of work. She spends a month in each region, with specific rules she sets for her experiment, to see if she can make enough to live for a month in each place on the wages she gets. Meanwhile, she also gets to know many of her co-workers, the very people in these situations, and tries to learn how it is they make it on the wages that they earn.
Themes:
Damn the man, he’s screwing you anyway: Ehrenreich’s observations highlight what in her opinion are the abuses of the corporate machine and in particular the thirty-something managers who she sees as ‘the man’ pushing down on the mass of minimum wage labor. She points out many of the gross abuses of people’s time and health, (in particularly one place where a woman was injured on the job), and the unethical practices by many employers, some even breaking the law, (as in the case of a restaurant hiring illegal workers in Key West.)
Just trying to make ends meet: When you are barely holding it together financially, every little thing is a huge obstacle to overcome, and everything from rent to groceries must be calculated to be handled just so, or you sink. Unaccountable things, such as broken down cares, illness, or an accident because major situations that can put someone out of work or on the streets, and there is very little recourse or help for people when life just happens. It’s a very precarious existence on the edge of destitution, and people make do as best as they can to just try to make things happen.
Aren’t we lucky to be edumacated: Ehrenreich has a constant and steady soliloquy on just how lucky she is for her father getting out of the coal mines and putting her through college, so she can be a happy, white, middle-class yuppie unlike all of these poor folk. It’s a mixed message of, ‘gee, aren’t we glad we are smart and better off’, and ‘but we suck so bad for being soft and middle class, and why can’t we do more to effect change for these people?” It’s a schizophrenic tone through much of the book.
Every book sucks somewhere: I had a lot of beefs with this book. First of, Ehrenreich above mentioned ‘schizophrenic’ tone became very grating after a while. While I don’t mind the bleeding-heart liberalism, especially in relation to the working, minimum wage class, it got a bit distracting when I couldn’t decide if she really empathized with the people she was working with for those months, or was she just counting down the days till she could go back to her low-fat, caramel macchiatos. It gave her a very condescending voice, on the one hand almost frowning in disgust at the lives these people have to lead because they can’t afford better, and at the same time upbraiding the rest of us educated folks for not caring about these people. It was very disjointed.
I also resented a bit the fact that Ehrenreich never really ‘lived’ the lives of the people she was attempting to emulate. She had all the buffer and comfort that someone going into any social experiment, such as a reporter, would have, an extra wad of cash to cover things in case her wages didn’t, a car, (which often many on minimum wage don’t have or have to share), and with the knowledge that this was all a temporary sentence, like being condemned to be the char girl for a month by her evil-step mother. This pill is particularly bitter for myself, who grew up in a household with parents who made the kind of money that they make at these jobs, neither of my parents has ever had a well-paying job in my memory. Thanks to their hard work and perseverance, and the talents and intelligence they fostered in my siblings and I, some of us have been able to claw our way up to middle-class respectability, with two of us having attained our college degrees, and two already owning their own homes before age 30. But I don’t forget those rough days, and neither do they, when we worried if our parents could pull together the rent, or how they would pay the electric bill, or get the money together for gas and groceries all in the same week. It’s difficult, and it’s hard, and you make do with it as you can, not because it’s a fun experiment, but because it is the way life is, and either you swim, or you sink. Perhaps someday, as in the case of my parents, you get to see your children succeed, and there, you get to feel that at least something has gone right. Ehrenreich portrays these struggles as ‘injustices’ rather than ‘it’s just how life is’, and you learn to survive and overcome as you can. For some, yes, perhaps it is in changing the system, for others it’s just learning to get by in the hope that something better comes of all of it eventually.
Enrenreich tries hard to add some humor and levity to the work, while keeping her sword of righteous justice still firmly outstretched so we won’t forget it. It doesn’t work, really. Instead, it seems to come off as her making light of a way of life that millions in this country are forced to live everyday, rather than bringing levity to a very serious subject.
What did I like: Ehrenreich tries to be honest in what she sees in terms of the jobs and the problems that go on behind the scenes. This expose of the practices of some employers brings to light a lot of shady things that I hear about from my work in HR, and in doing so perhaps gets a conversation going on how to effect change so those things do not happen again.
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate it a LITTLE WORM. It has a noble premise, I won’t deny that, but its execution is sloppy, it’s not very entertaining, and in spots it’s a bit insulting. I think that in the hands of another author, it perhaps could have been done better.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The 100 Most Influential Books in Literature
The 100 Most Influential Books in Literature-Martin Seymour-Smith
How I found this book: I was bored at Patric’s house and stole it from his shelves! Well, actually he just gave it to me.
Setting: None, as it is non-fiction, but I could say it takes place in the imaginary land of people who give a rat’s ass about this author’s opinions.
Main Characters: None, as it chronicles the author’s opinions on what he thinks is the 100 most influential writers in history and why.
Plot: Seymour-Smith chronicles from ancient to modern times what he feels are the most influential writings in literature, from the Bible to Mao Tze-Tung.
Themes:
What makes a book influential: Seymour-Smith doesn’t really have a hard and fast rule on why a book is particularly ‘influential’. Sometimes it’s only because it is the first book to start a particular style of writing or a particular thread of thought in writing, as happens with a lot of philosophical work. Sometimes it is because of the impact the book has had on history, suck as the Bible or The Communist Manifesto. Sometimes it’s just because of the enduring quality of the story, and what it had to say about the human condition. He seems to have no big rules, and most of it is very objective, (though you’ll hear few complaints out of me about WHAT he chose.)
God, do Christians suck or what: Seymour-Smith makes no bones about the fact he hates Christians. Well, really, he thinks Christ was OK, and he was really big into the Gnostics, and he doesn’t have a problem with John Bunyan, but bring up the organized Church, Puritans, or anyone else, he thinks it’s next to Satan in terms of how it’s f-ed up the world. Not saying he doesn’t have a point, but…gees, a bit harsh!
Literature for the egg heads: While I’m not arguing that his choices are the most influential works in the world, and had a wide ranging influence on all our lives, a lot of these influential works are not the things that you and I learned in literature class. Perhaps that speaks to the American educational system…or perhaps it speaks to the fact that the 100 most influential books might be influential, but it doesn’t mean they are for everyone. Does that mean that influence doesn’t necessarily equate to ‘popularity’ or ‘accessibility’? It’s an interesting question, one I’d have fun debating in a lit class.
Every book sucks somewhere: No offense to Mr. Seymour-Smith, and perhaps the historian in me and not the lit critic, but why in the world do I care about your opinion. Honestly, I write a blog about my book opinions and throw it out there for free, because if people care, they will read it, if they don’t they won’t, but I don’t expect them to pay good money for it, and then drivel on endlessly. And I lucked out in that I didn’t pay for this book, but I nearly told my friend he should demand his money back from Barnes and Noble for it!
My complaints are many, the first being that many of the essays don’t really get to the heart of WHY the book is influential, (some do, most don’t), but rather why Seymour-Smith thinks they are good or they are horrible drivel. Much of the essay is spent wandering around discussing other thoughts and ideas rather than those of the work in question, (somewhat acceptable if you are discussing the works influence, I suppose, but at least put it in context.) And Seymour-Smith has at best a tenuous grasp on history at times or the historical times the various authors lived in, (should I bring up now my shock in surprise that Hadrian was a pedophile, when as far as I knew he was a Roman emperor who was into a lot of things Greek, including teenaged boys, hardly considered pedophilic in the days of ye’ old emperor Hadrian.) Much of the essays seem to be more exercises in Seymour-Smith listening to himself talk than real, honest academic or scholarly efforts in explaining WHY these are influential pieces of literature.
What’s more, and again this perhaps has to do with the history background I have, but I had it beaten into me that the only opinion that you should be expressing in an essay or paper is the one on which your paper is written…the thesis in other words. Starting to throw out personal opinions on the bowel movements of Luther randomly in an essay on Copernicus seemed a bit confusing and at worst trite to me. While you may or may not have a beef with Martin Luther, (and I’m not saying you don’t have a right to), calling him a crank in an essay about someone else’s work doesn’t lend much credence to your scholarly opinion.
Also, what’s the beef with the church? Yeah, I know they’ve done some messed up stuff, but really, why does it have to come up every other page?
What did I like: I liked the vast encompassment of what Seymour-Smith brought in terms of influences, from religious, to philosophical, to just sheer entertainment. Many of the books he brought up I agree with on a historical level as being very important, and some of them I will add to my ever growing list of ‘things to read’, if I haven’t already, (sadly, I hit up the Bible, Homer, Thucydides, Herodotus, Don Quixote, Shakespeare, and Pilgrim’s Progress already.)
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate this as a LITTLE WORM. If you want a list of some really influential books, it’s great, and I do recommend reading those books he chooses. But if you are looking for real academic insight onto what and why these books were influential…don’t bother; find seriously scholarly opinions on them elsewhere.
How I found this book: I was bored at Patric’s house and stole it from his shelves! Well, actually he just gave it to me.
Setting: None, as it is non-fiction, but I could say it takes place in the imaginary land of people who give a rat’s ass about this author’s opinions.
Main Characters: None, as it chronicles the author’s opinions on what he thinks is the 100 most influential writers in history and why.
Plot: Seymour-Smith chronicles from ancient to modern times what he feels are the most influential writings in literature, from the Bible to Mao Tze-Tung.
Themes:
What makes a book influential: Seymour-Smith doesn’t really have a hard and fast rule on why a book is particularly ‘influential’. Sometimes it’s only because it is the first book to start a particular style of writing or a particular thread of thought in writing, as happens with a lot of philosophical work. Sometimes it is because of the impact the book has had on history, suck as the Bible or The Communist Manifesto. Sometimes it’s just because of the enduring quality of the story, and what it had to say about the human condition. He seems to have no big rules, and most of it is very objective, (though you’ll hear few complaints out of me about WHAT he chose.)
God, do Christians suck or what: Seymour-Smith makes no bones about the fact he hates Christians. Well, really, he thinks Christ was OK, and he was really big into the Gnostics, and he doesn’t have a problem with John Bunyan, but bring up the organized Church, Puritans, or anyone else, he thinks it’s next to Satan in terms of how it’s f-ed up the world. Not saying he doesn’t have a point, but…gees, a bit harsh!
Literature for the egg heads: While I’m not arguing that his choices are the most influential works in the world, and had a wide ranging influence on all our lives, a lot of these influential works are not the things that you and I learned in literature class. Perhaps that speaks to the American educational system…or perhaps it speaks to the fact that the 100 most influential books might be influential, but it doesn’t mean they are for everyone. Does that mean that influence doesn’t necessarily equate to ‘popularity’ or ‘accessibility’? It’s an interesting question, one I’d have fun debating in a lit class.
Every book sucks somewhere: No offense to Mr. Seymour-Smith, and perhaps the historian in me and not the lit critic, but why in the world do I care about your opinion. Honestly, I write a blog about my book opinions and throw it out there for free, because if people care, they will read it, if they don’t they won’t, but I don’t expect them to pay good money for it, and then drivel on endlessly. And I lucked out in that I didn’t pay for this book, but I nearly told my friend he should demand his money back from Barnes and Noble for it!
My complaints are many, the first being that many of the essays don’t really get to the heart of WHY the book is influential, (some do, most don’t), but rather why Seymour-Smith thinks they are good or they are horrible drivel. Much of the essay is spent wandering around discussing other thoughts and ideas rather than those of the work in question, (somewhat acceptable if you are discussing the works influence, I suppose, but at least put it in context.) And Seymour-Smith has at best a tenuous grasp on history at times or the historical times the various authors lived in, (should I bring up now my shock in surprise that Hadrian was a pedophile, when as far as I knew he was a Roman emperor who was into a lot of things Greek, including teenaged boys, hardly considered pedophilic in the days of ye’ old emperor Hadrian.) Much of the essays seem to be more exercises in Seymour-Smith listening to himself talk than real, honest academic or scholarly efforts in explaining WHY these are influential pieces of literature.
What’s more, and again this perhaps has to do with the history background I have, but I had it beaten into me that the only opinion that you should be expressing in an essay or paper is the one on which your paper is written…the thesis in other words. Starting to throw out personal opinions on the bowel movements of Luther randomly in an essay on Copernicus seemed a bit confusing and at worst trite to me. While you may or may not have a beef with Martin Luther, (and I’m not saying you don’t have a right to), calling him a crank in an essay about someone else’s work doesn’t lend much credence to your scholarly opinion.
Also, what’s the beef with the church? Yeah, I know they’ve done some messed up stuff, but really, why does it have to come up every other page?
What did I like: I liked the vast encompassment of what Seymour-Smith brought in terms of influences, from religious, to philosophical, to just sheer entertainment. Many of the books he brought up I agree with on a historical level as being very important, and some of them I will add to my ever growing list of ‘things to read’, if I haven’t already, (sadly, I hit up the Bible, Homer, Thucydides, Herodotus, Don Quixote, Shakespeare, and Pilgrim’s Progress already.)
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate this as a LITTLE WORM. If you want a list of some really influential books, it’s great, and I do recommend reading those books he chooses. But if you are looking for real academic insight onto what and why these books were influential…don’t bother; find seriously scholarly opinions on them elsewhere.
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger
How I found this book: Every wangsty, malcontented teenager, and rebel without a cause decided to read this book, and I felt I’d be left out if I didn’t!
Setting: Late 1940’s, in New York.
Main Characters:
Holden Caulfield: An angry, bored, disgruntled 16-year-old, who has frank ideas about life, adults, others his age, and the world in general.
Phoebe Caulfield: Holden’s 10-year-old sister, he seems to like her a great deal and sees in her a lot of the good he doesn’t see in himself.
Mr. Spencer: Holden’s history teacher, Holden goes to see him before he leaves his school, Pencey Prep. Mr. Spencer lectures Holden on his test answers, as Holden seems only mildly interested.
Mr. Antolini: Another past teacher of Holden’s from another school, he gives Holden advice that he may or may not accept.
Jane Gallagher: A girl whom Holden was attracted to once, she goes out on a date with his roommate at Pencey Prep. He focuses on her a great deal during the story, thinking of her as a sensitive girl with a troubled life who turned to him over their summer together.
Ward Stradlater: Holden’s roommate, he is handsome and seems to be better with women than Holden. He also seems to be a bit of a jock, and turns to Holden, (who is flunking school), to help him out on a paper.
Robert Ackley: Holden’s dorm neighbor, he seems to both irritate Holden and to engender sympathy from him for being so hopelessly socially inept. When not even Ackley can stand Holden anymore, Holden decides to run away from school.
Plot: Holden Caulfied is a directionless, angry, and intelligent 16-year-old, who eyes the world through a cynical, angsty teenage lens. He is flunking out of upper-class Pensey Prep, doesn’t care about school or much else, and feels disconnected both from his peers and the rest of the world. Knowing he’s not coming back after Christmas, Holden runs away from school and back home to New York, where he wanders the city, trying to find something that will make him feel connected to something. Frustrated, he plans to run out west to his brother in California, but visits his sister before he goes. It is his kid sister Phoebe who finally connects to the angsty Holden, and gives him something to hold on to.
Themes:
Alienation: Every teenager goes through it, even the well-adjusted ones, which I wouldn’t say would describe Holden. Teenagers are always looking to fit in somewhere, to find a role that fits them, and for some, such as Holden, that phase can last longer than for others, such as some of his peers at school. Holden struggles to connect with people, and have them understand him and how he sees things, but he finds the task often difficult. However, by the end of the novel, he begins to think that this is just a phase he’s going through, and eventually he will grow out of it and find what he’s supposed to be.
The angst of being a teenager: Teenagers have always been an angsty lot it seems, you don’t know if you are coming or going, and everything and everyone sucks. Holden seems to see through the phony barriers adults put up, and makes observations on people that seem wise beyond his years. While some might say that it is Holden being unnaturally wise for a teenager, having know many, been related to many, and been one myself, I personally think this is about standard for a teenager. Teenagers are adults, perhaps without the wisdom of age, but with an insight all their own. They really aren’t stupid.
The portrayal of kids just how they are: Shocker of shockers, teenagers swear like fiends, are obsessed with sex, often do delinquent things for little or no reason, and disrespect their elders. No offense, but I think the 60’s pretty much enlightened everyone on just how teenagers act. As this book came out a decade before, in the height of the post-War delusion of the nuclear family, I can see where the controversy lay in it. The idea of a 16-year-old being as delusional and confused as Holden was must have seemed somehow abnormal to the adults of the 1940’s and 1950's. In 2008, people make television shows out of the stuff.
Every book sucks somewhere: While I think that the idea of Holden Caulfield is brilliant, and nothing against J.D. Salinger on it, I discovered in listening to the book, (on audiobook), was that really…you have to be a teenager or a disgruntled young adult to really get this book. There were parts where I just had to chuckle, because I remember clearly being a Holden Caulfield myself at one point in my life, and thinking, “Gee, Holden, you grow out of it, things change, and you realize that the world isn’t what you think it is now.” And then I realized that I am too old for this book. I should have read it at 16. After a while I got fed up with the angst and the observations, and wanted to tell him to grow up, get over himself. I was just too old now to read this book. I felt a bit like Wendy being told she was too old now to go to Never-neverland.
What did I like: I think Holden is a brilliant observation of the modern-American teenager. I don’t think much has changed for them since 1948, not really in terms of their disconnect, their disgruntlement, and their desire to find their place in the world, and Holden I think perfectly captures what it means to be a teenager with all their worries, their hurts, their confusion, and their healthy disrespect for everything their parents have done and are.
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate it a FAT BOOK, with the caution though that if you are really older than 25, you might not get into it as much as you would have then. Maybe you might, I don’t know, but while I appreciated the book, I felt that age and experience kept nagging me whenever Holden would speak, and part of me would shake my head and whisper, “Someday, Holden, you will get it.”
How I found this book: Every wangsty, malcontented teenager, and rebel without a cause decided to read this book, and I felt I’d be left out if I didn’t!
Setting: Late 1940’s, in New York.
Main Characters:
Holden Caulfield: An angry, bored, disgruntled 16-year-old, who has frank ideas about life, adults, others his age, and the world in general.
Phoebe Caulfield: Holden’s 10-year-old sister, he seems to like her a great deal and sees in her a lot of the good he doesn’t see in himself.
Mr. Spencer: Holden’s history teacher, Holden goes to see him before he leaves his school, Pencey Prep. Mr. Spencer lectures Holden on his test answers, as Holden seems only mildly interested.
Mr. Antolini: Another past teacher of Holden’s from another school, he gives Holden advice that he may or may not accept.
Jane Gallagher: A girl whom Holden was attracted to once, she goes out on a date with his roommate at Pencey Prep. He focuses on her a great deal during the story, thinking of her as a sensitive girl with a troubled life who turned to him over their summer together.
Ward Stradlater: Holden’s roommate, he is handsome and seems to be better with women than Holden. He also seems to be a bit of a jock, and turns to Holden, (who is flunking school), to help him out on a paper.
Robert Ackley: Holden’s dorm neighbor, he seems to both irritate Holden and to engender sympathy from him for being so hopelessly socially inept. When not even Ackley can stand Holden anymore, Holden decides to run away from school.
Plot: Holden Caulfied is a directionless, angry, and intelligent 16-year-old, who eyes the world through a cynical, angsty teenage lens. He is flunking out of upper-class Pensey Prep, doesn’t care about school or much else, and feels disconnected both from his peers and the rest of the world. Knowing he’s not coming back after Christmas, Holden runs away from school and back home to New York, where he wanders the city, trying to find something that will make him feel connected to something. Frustrated, he plans to run out west to his brother in California, but visits his sister before he goes. It is his kid sister Phoebe who finally connects to the angsty Holden, and gives him something to hold on to.
Themes:
Alienation: Every teenager goes through it, even the well-adjusted ones, which I wouldn’t say would describe Holden. Teenagers are always looking to fit in somewhere, to find a role that fits them, and for some, such as Holden, that phase can last longer than for others, such as some of his peers at school. Holden struggles to connect with people, and have them understand him and how he sees things, but he finds the task often difficult. However, by the end of the novel, he begins to think that this is just a phase he’s going through, and eventually he will grow out of it and find what he’s supposed to be.
The angst of being a teenager: Teenagers have always been an angsty lot it seems, you don’t know if you are coming or going, and everything and everyone sucks. Holden seems to see through the phony barriers adults put up, and makes observations on people that seem wise beyond his years. While some might say that it is Holden being unnaturally wise for a teenager, having know many, been related to many, and been one myself, I personally think this is about standard for a teenager. Teenagers are adults, perhaps without the wisdom of age, but with an insight all their own. They really aren’t stupid.
The portrayal of kids just how they are: Shocker of shockers, teenagers swear like fiends, are obsessed with sex, often do delinquent things for little or no reason, and disrespect their elders. No offense, but I think the 60’s pretty much enlightened everyone on just how teenagers act. As this book came out a decade before, in the height of the post-War delusion of the nuclear family, I can see where the controversy lay in it. The idea of a 16-year-old being as delusional and confused as Holden was must have seemed somehow abnormal to the adults of the 1940’s and 1950's. In 2008, people make television shows out of the stuff.
Every book sucks somewhere: While I think that the idea of Holden Caulfield is brilliant, and nothing against J.D. Salinger on it, I discovered in listening to the book, (on audiobook), was that really…you have to be a teenager or a disgruntled young adult to really get this book. There were parts where I just had to chuckle, because I remember clearly being a Holden Caulfield myself at one point in my life, and thinking, “Gee, Holden, you grow out of it, things change, and you realize that the world isn’t what you think it is now.” And then I realized that I am too old for this book. I should have read it at 16. After a while I got fed up with the angst and the observations, and wanted to tell him to grow up, get over himself. I was just too old now to read this book. I felt a bit like Wendy being told she was too old now to go to Never-neverland.
What did I like: I think Holden is a brilliant observation of the modern-American teenager. I don’t think much has changed for them since 1948, not really in terms of their disconnect, their disgruntlement, and their desire to find their place in the world, and Holden I think perfectly captures what it means to be a teenager with all their worries, their hurts, their confusion, and their healthy disrespect for everything their parents have done and are.
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate it a FAT BOOK, with the caution though that if you are really older than 25, you might not get into it as much as you would have then. Maybe you might, I don’t know, but while I appreciated the book, I felt that age and experience kept nagging me whenever Holden would speak, and part of me would shake my head and whisper, “Someday, Holden, you will get it.”
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Sandman, Volume 7, Brief Lives
The Sandman, Volume 7, Brief Lives-Neil Gaiman
How I found this book: At the comic book store in Monrovia, because Borders doesn’t always have the number I am looking for.
Setting: Circa 1994
Main Characters:
Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, and one of the Endless, he has come off yet another nasty break up when his sister, Delirium, decides she needs to find their long-lost brother, Destruction.
Delirium: The personification of delirium, she is a rather confused, muddled character, who is a hodgepodge of all manner of random ideas, some insightful, some bizarre. At one time in her existence she was delight, but something happened to cause her to change. Delirium feels the strong need to find her older brother, Destruction, and is trying to recruit Dream to help.
Destruction: The younger brother of Dream, he abandoned his realm some time before and hasn’t ever returned. It is discovered that he is currently living on a Mediterranean island, not far from the severed, but still living head of his nephew. His currently incarnation is that of a large, muscular, handsome, red-haired man, who attempts to create art, and lives with a dog with which he converses, named Barnabas.
Orpheus: The son of Dream/Morpheus and Calliope, he once mourned the woman he loved so greatly that he asked his aunt, Death, to send him to the land of Hades to fetch her. He fails in his task, and was eventually torn to pieces by the Bacchae, the frenzied worshipers of Bacchus, who tore him to pieces, leaving only his head alive, unable to have his aunt even aid him in finding death after her previous assistance. Orpheus has had other adventures, including being found in France by Johanna Constantine in a previous episode, but it is currently housed at a temple in Greece and protected by a family there. He is one of the few people who know where his uncle, Destruction, actually resides.
Plot: Delirium wants to see her older brother Destruction, one of the Endless, who deserted his domain years ago and hasn’t been seen since. While the twins Desire and Despair refuse to offer assistance, Dream, fresh off one of his notoriously bad love affairs, offers to help his little sister, if nothing else to get him out of the house. He enters into the waking world with her, only to find that this ‘simple little jaunt’ will reveal not only where their erstwhile brother is, but much about him and how he deals with change. In the end, Dream is forced to make a horrible promise, one that will effect him greatly in the future.
Themes:
Adapting to change: As the Endless go, by rule, they are everlasting. That isn’t to say they are immutable, especially as the perceptions of them change with time and with the cultures that perceive them. We see this most clearly when different characters see Dream in different physical forms. Change happens, and either you roll with it…or you let it roll over you. We see both these aspects in the story, where Destruction has learned to adapt, to change with the times, and acknowledging those changes, while Dream, who is much more hidebound and conservative, can not and disagrees with his brother on this point. It is this inability to change that Dream is beginning to realize is his greatest flaw. Though he recognizes he has changed a great deal from what he once was, he also knows he can not change enough to be what the Dreaming demands of him.
Facing up to the things you’ve done: Dream has had a string of bad relationships, both personal and familial, and all of them tend to come and bite him in the ass. His love matches always end badly it seems, and his relationship with his son takes a turn when he refuses to help his only child after his wife’s death and then subsequent mauling at the hands of the Bacchae. Compassion wasn’t something Morpheus was good at for a long time. His relationship with his siblings hasn’t been much better, as Desire still hates him for whatever reasons Desire has at the moment, and Destruction and he have argued both over a period of time about their respective roles, and have never agreed to disagree. Dream for the most part tries to ignore those that he’s hurt, though since his release from imprisonment in the first book, he’s softened a great deal. The fact that not only has he tried to make amends with his old loves, (Calliope and Nada), but he even agrees in this story to go with Delirium to find the brother he’s on the outs with shows a changing level of compassion that Dream didn’t always have for his brother. And by granting his son the one thing he wanted most, knowing what it could and would mean for him, was a huge step for Dream. See, he can change a little….but it’s the big change that maybe he can’t manage so much.
No matter what, family is family: As much as I would like to ignore my irritating brother or the grandmother-from-Hades I have, I have to admit that they are my family, and that I am connected, and perhaps at times do have a certain level of responsibility. Dream has to admit these facts too…even if he doesn’t really like it.
Every book sucks somewhere: If you are a bit confused in reading this as to why it is Destruction did what he did, don’t worry, so am I. It took me a second reading, and then Wikipedia to understand that part of the story was that Destruction decided he could just leave his realms running themselves well enough, and he could do whatever he wanted. I guess that’s just the closet optimist in me talking. Anyway, that’s something I think they may have wanted to make a bit more explicit.
What did I like: I loved the detail in which we start to see the complex relationship of the Endless and their family, and the weird, kooky, disfunctionality of it all. Like humanity itself, they can’t ever get along for long, and small slights blow up into decades of centuries of no talking, as they are waiting for the ‘other one’ to make the first sign of a reconciliation. Like a typical family, they often can’t stand being around one another, but realize that they are all connected because of who and what they are.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is another FAT WORM, and a great way to read up on more of what is up with Morpheus, his history, and his family.
How I found this book: At the comic book store in Monrovia, because Borders doesn’t always have the number I am looking for.
Setting: Circa 1994
Main Characters:
Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, and one of the Endless, he has come off yet another nasty break up when his sister, Delirium, decides she needs to find their long-lost brother, Destruction.
Delirium: The personification of delirium, she is a rather confused, muddled character, who is a hodgepodge of all manner of random ideas, some insightful, some bizarre. At one time in her existence she was delight, but something happened to cause her to change. Delirium feels the strong need to find her older brother, Destruction, and is trying to recruit Dream to help.
Destruction: The younger brother of Dream, he abandoned his realm some time before and hasn’t ever returned. It is discovered that he is currently living on a Mediterranean island, not far from the severed, but still living head of his nephew. His currently incarnation is that of a large, muscular, handsome, red-haired man, who attempts to create art, and lives with a dog with which he converses, named Barnabas.
Orpheus: The son of Dream/Morpheus and Calliope, he once mourned the woman he loved so greatly that he asked his aunt, Death, to send him to the land of Hades to fetch her. He fails in his task, and was eventually torn to pieces by the Bacchae, the frenzied worshipers of Bacchus, who tore him to pieces, leaving only his head alive, unable to have his aunt even aid him in finding death after her previous assistance. Orpheus has had other adventures, including being found in France by Johanna Constantine in a previous episode, but it is currently housed at a temple in Greece and protected by a family there. He is one of the few people who know where his uncle, Destruction, actually resides.
Plot: Delirium wants to see her older brother Destruction, one of the Endless, who deserted his domain years ago and hasn’t been seen since. While the twins Desire and Despair refuse to offer assistance, Dream, fresh off one of his notoriously bad love affairs, offers to help his little sister, if nothing else to get him out of the house. He enters into the waking world with her, only to find that this ‘simple little jaunt’ will reveal not only where their erstwhile brother is, but much about him and how he deals with change. In the end, Dream is forced to make a horrible promise, one that will effect him greatly in the future.
Themes:
Adapting to change: As the Endless go, by rule, they are everlasting. That isn’t to say they are immutable, especially as the perceptions of them change with time and with the cultures that perceive them. We see this most clearly when different characters see Dream in different physical forms. Change happens, and either you roll with it…or you let it roll over you. We see both these aspects in the story, where Destruction has learned to adapt, to change with the times, and acknowledging those changes, while Dream, who is much more hidebound and conservative, can not and disagrees with his brother on this point. It is this inability to change that Dream is beginning to realize is his greatest flaw. Though he recognizes he has changed a great deal from what he once was, he also knows he can not change enough to be what the Dreaming demands of him.
Facing up to the things you’ve done: Dream has had a string of bad relationships, both personal and familial, and all of them tend to come and bite him in the ass. His love matches always end badly it seems, and his relationship with his son takes a turn when he refuses to help his only child after his wife’s death and then subsequent mauling at the hands of the Bacchae. Compassion wasn’t something Morpheus was good at for a long time. His relationship with his siblings hasn’t been much better, as Desire still hates him for whatever reasons Desire has at the moment, and Destruction and he have argued both over a period of time about their respective roles, and have never agreed to disagree. Dream for the most part tries to ignore those that he’s hurt, though since his release from imprisonment in the first book, he’s softened a great deal. The fact that not only has he tried to make amends with his old loves, (Calliope and Nada), but he even agrees in this story to go with Delirium to find the brother he’s on the outs with shows a changing level of compassion that Dream didn’t always have for his brother. And by granting his son the one thing he wanted most, knowing what it could and would mean for him, was a huge step for Dream. See, he can change a little….but it’s the big change that maybe he can’t manage so much.
No matter what, family is family: As much as I would like to ignore my irritating brother or the grandmother-from-Hades I have, I have to admit that they are my family, and that I am connected, and perhaps at times do have a certain level of responsibility. Dream has to admit these facts too…even if he doesn’t really like it.
Every book sucks somewhere: If you are a bit confused in reading this as to why it is Destruction did what he did, don’t worry, so am I. It took me a second reading, and then Wikipedia to understand that part of the story was that Destruction decided he could just leave his realms running themselves well enough, and he could do whatever he wanted. I guess that’s just the closet optimist in me talking. Anyway, that’s something I think they may have wanted to make a bit more explicit.
What did I like: I loved the detail in which we start to see the complex relationship of the Endless and their family, and the weird, kooky, disfunctionality of it all. Like humanity itself, they can’t ever get along for long, and small slights blow up into decades of centuries of no talking, as they are waiting for the ‘other one’ to make the first sign of a reconciliation. Like a typical family, they often can’t stand being around one another, but realize that they are all connected because of who and what they are.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is another FAT WORM, and a great way to read up on more of what is up with Morpheus, his history, and his family.
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Sandman, Volume 6, Fables and Reflections
The Sandman, Volume 6, Fables and Reflections-Neil Gaiman
How I found this book: At Borders in Long Beach, where they also had Sandman dolls…I was tempted.
Setting: Circa 1993
Main Characters:
Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, and one of the Endless, he plays different roles throughout the stores.
Plot: This volume, like some of the other Sandman volumes, is much more a collection of short comic stories, and I will highlight each of them in the Themes section.
Themes:
Fear of Falling: A young director is putting on the first performance of the play he has just written, and is worried about both success and failure. Morpheus arrives to set his mine at ease about taking such a big leap of faith. This is one of several minor stories depicting Dream in his guise as storyteller and friend to all of those who create dreams.
Three Septembers and a January: Dream and his younger sister Despair get into a bet concerning Joshua Abraham Norton, the so called “Emperor of the United States”, (a real, life character in San Francisco in the 19th century.) Their bet explains why Norton was the way he was and his life, and it is one of the few stories that shows the Endless actively involving themselves in the lives of mortals, something Dream usually only does sparingly. This also shows where some of the seeds of Desire’s current snit with it’s big brother come from.
Thermidor: Almost like a darker A Tale of Two Cities, Lady Johanna Constantine, (I’m suspecting the ancestress or relation of the current John in the DC Universe), is asked by Morpheus to run an errand that could prove dangerous. She is being sent into the heart of the aftermath of the French Revolution to find of all things a relic that the Revolution members would rather see forgotten in this so called “Age of Reason”. Yet even Robespierre can’t prevent the truth of the old stories, and that you can’t destroy what has come before just to suit your political desires. This story is important as it also introduces us to Orpheus, the son of Morpheus, and sets up what will be one of the major later story arcs in The Kindly Ones.
The Hunt: Some stories live on and on in cultures, as any good dream does and this is a fairy tale of a young werewolf who falls in love with a beautiful princess, and decides to find her, and finds himself instead.
August: Dreams can build empires, or to my enduring despair, they can destroy empires as well. We all know the story of Octavian “Augustus” Caesar’s rise to power in ancient Rome, and how he became Rome’s ‘princeps’ or First Man, (more the idea of ‘first among equals’.) This story tells us the secret behind the drive of this rather sickly, though politically brilliant man, (horrible general though.) After being raped by his great-uncle, Julius, Augustus works to subvert his now hated uncle’s plan to make Rome a great empire, and using the Syballine scrolls decides to take Rome down a path that his uncle had groomed him not to take, thanks to the help of Morpheus in a dream.
Every book sucks somewhere: As a Roman historian, I had a lot of historical issue with the Augustus story, (especially in the idea of Caesar raping his great-nephew, as no Roman who was grooming someone to be a leader would do something like that. That’s what slaves and prostitutes were for! But the storyteller in me loves the idea of perhaps Rome taking a different path….and oooohhh, that would have been fun. At least for me, the Roman historian, it would have been. Perhaps not so much for Gibbon, who wrote the most famous, if not completely accurate, book on the fall of the Roman empire.
What did I like: I loved the story regarding Orpheus and Johanna Constantine. It's an interesting preomise, and really gets to a serious point that I feel Gaiman is trying to make, and one I agree with myself.
How would I rate this wormy book: Like many of the other Sandman graphic novels, I would rate this as a FAT WORM. It sets up Dream as what he is, the Endless in charge of our myths, fables, and insights into ourselves.
How I found this book: At Borders in Long Beach, where they also had Sandman dolls…I was tempted.
Setting: Circa 1993
Main Characters:
Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, and one of the Endless, he plays different roles throughout the stores.
Plot: This volume, like some of the other Sandman volumes, is much more a collection of short comic stories, and I will highlight each of them in the Themes section.
Themes:
Fear of Falling: A young director is putting on the first performance of the play he has just written, and is worried about both success and failure. Morpheus arrives to set his mine at ease about taking such a big leap of faith. This is one of several minor stories depicting Dream in his guise as storyteller and friend to all of those who create dreams.
Three Septembers and a January: Dream and his younger sister Despair get into a bet concerning Joshua Abraham Norton, the so called “Emperor of the United States”, (a real, life character in San Francisco in the 19th century.) Their bet explains why Norton was the way he was and his life, and it is one of the few stories that shows the Endless actively involving themselves in the lives of mortals, something Dream usually only does sparingly. This also shows where some of the seeds of Desire’s current snit with it’s big brother come from.
Thermidor: Almost like a darker A Tale of Two Cities, Lady Johanna Constantine, (I’m suspecting the ancestress or relation of the current John in the DC Universe), is asked by Morpheus to run an errand that could prove dangerous. She is being sent into the heart of the aftermath of the French Revolution to find of all things a relic that the Revolution members would rather see forgotten in this so called “Age of Reason”. Yet even Robespierre can’t prevent the truth of the old stories, and that you can’t destroy what has come before just to suit your political desires. This story is important as it also introduces us to Orpheus, the son of Morpheus, and sets up what will be one of the major later story arcs in The Kindly Ones.
The Hunt: Some stories live on and on in cultures, as any good dream does and this is a fairy tale of a young werewolf who falls in love with a beautiful princess, and decides to find her, and finds himself instead.
August: Dreams can build empires, or to my enduring despair, they can destroy empires as well. We all know the story of Octavian “Augustus” Caesar’s rise to power in ancient Rome, and how he became Rome’s ‘princeps’ or First Man, (more the idea of ‘first among equals’.) This story tells us the secret behind the drive of this rather sickly, though politically brilliant man, (horrible general though.) After being raped by his great-uncle, Julius, Augustus works to subvert his now hated uncle’s plan to make Rome a great empire, and using the Syballine scrolls decides to take Rome down a path that his uncle had groomed him not to take, thanks to the help of Morpheus in a dream.
Every book sucks somewhere: As a Roman historian, I had a lot of historical issue with the Augustus story, (especially in the idea of Caesar raping his great-nephew, as no Roman who was grooming someone to be a leader would do something like that. That’s what slaves and prostitutes were for! But the storyteller in me loves the idea of perhaps Rome taking a different path….and oooohhh, that would have been fun. At least for me, the Roman historian, it would have been. Perhaps not so much for Gibbon, who wrote the most famous, if not completely accurate, book on the fall of the Roman empire.
What did I like: I loved the story regarding Orpheus and Johanna Constantine. It's an interesting preomise, and really gets to a serious point that I feel Gaiman is trying to make, and one I agree with myself.
How would I rate this wormy book: Like many of the other Sandman graphic novels, I would rate this as a FAT WORM. It sets up Dream as what he is, the Endless in charge of our myths, fables, and insights into ourselves.
Friday, May 16, 2008
The Sandman, Volume 5, A Game of You
The Sandman, Volume 5, A Game of You-Neil Gaiman
How I found this book: I just keep buying them, I can’t help myself
Setting: Circa 1993
Main Characters:
Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, and one of the Endless, dream plays a more periphery role in this story than in other Sandman comics, though one can say that since it is all about dreams, it is thus all about him.
Barbie: One of the characters from The Doll’s House, she has separated from her one time husband, Ken, and is in New York, trying to find herself. She has a rich fantasy, dream world, where she is a princess in it, and similar to The Chronicles of Narnia, she must enter into it to make things right.
Wanda: A pre-op transsexual who is Barbie’s best friend and lives in her apartment building.
Thessaly: A powerful witch who suspects that there is something more to Barbie’s dream world than meets the eye. She too lives in the same apartment building.
Hazel: On half of a lesbian couple who live in the building, she has recently discovered she is pregnant after a fling with another cook at the restaurant she works at. She, along with her girlfriend, is pulled into Barbie’s dream world with Thessaly.
Foxglove: She had been the girlfriend of one of the minor characters in Preludes and Nocturnes who died during John Dee’s spree. Now she has changed her name and started a new relationship with Hazel, and is pulled into Barbie’s dream world.
The Cuckoo: A mysterious, evil being who has taken over the magic land of Barbie’s dreams, the being she as the Princess must fight to bring happiness to the land again.
George: One of Barbie’s neighbors in the apartment building, it turns out he is a servant of the Cuckoo. He is killed by Thessaly and then kept alive by her magic to give her the answers as to what all the strange happenings are about.
Plot: Barbie left her husband, Ken, and is in New York, trying to find out who she is now she is no longer half of a strange, yuppy couple. She has befriended Wanda, a transsexual woman who keeps an eye out for her, and has made the aquaintances of Hazel and Foxglove, a lesbian couple, and Thessaly, a strange, young woman in the apartment. One night, as a strange hurricane is approaching New York, Barbie begins to dream of the strange, fantasy land that she had often visited in her dreams as a child. There, she is a Princess, who must return to save her magical people from the evil Cuckoo who rules the land. However, Barbie’s dreams begin to have very real effects on the waking world, and Thessaly, who turns out to be a witch, along with Hazel and Foxglove go into the Dreaming to save Barbie, while Wanda remains in the waking world to keep an eye on her sleeping friend.
Themes:
Coming to terms with who and what you are: Many of the characters, especially Barbie and Wanda, are struggling with the idea of identity and just ‘who’ they are. This struggle seems to be personified with Barbie in her dreams, in the real world she is a struggling, confused divorcee, while in her dreams she is a heroic princess out to save her land. At some point she has to wake from her dreams and realize that she is herself, Barbie, whose life has been difficult, but which is still her life, and she should not be ashamed of who she is and try to be something different.
Something wicked this way comes: You can tell already that Gaiman is building up to something in the story. There seem to be subtle hints of things to come in future stories, especially involving Dream. He’s made no friends with Thessaly, and she seems to be one of a long list of people who all seem to want to kick Dream’s ass.
The allure of the fantasy: Dreams can be great and powerful things, but in this series, and in this book as well we see how dreams can be destructive as well. Barbie’s inability to cope with who she is and what her life has become draws her back into a dream world that was a safe haven for her as a child, but which has turned out to be a land that is as equally treacherous, if not more so, than the real life. It is up to her to let go of those dreams, to put them aside and let them fade away, so that she can go on living.
Every book sucks somewhere: I think that it was rather sucky that the main character of the series, Dream, didn’t have a bigger part to play in this book. I spent much of it waiting for him to appear somewhere, and it isn’t till the last big that we see him arriving in all his dark glory to tell us exactly what is going on. I suppose it is nice to not have Dream be as much of a focus in this one, but it did leave me hanging for a bit.
What did I like: I loved Wanda. I wish there were more Wanda’s in the world, and I don’t care if they are male, female, or still deciding what they are, Wanda was a wonderful person.
How would I rate this wormy book: Like many of the other Sandman graphic novels, I would rate this as a FAT WORM. It’s fun if you really are into the series, and it continues with many of the themes that Gaiman has developed for the world of Dream.
How I found this book: I just keep buying them, I can’t help myself
Setting: Circa 1993
Main Characters:
Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, and one of the Endless, dream plays a more periphery role in this story than in other Sandman comics, though one can say that since it is all about dreams, it is thus all about him.
Barbie: One of the characters from The Doll’s House, she has separated from her one time husband, Ken, and is in New York, trying to find herself. She has a rich fantasy, dream world, where she is a princess in it, and similar to The Chronicles of Narnia, she must enter into it to make things right.
Wanda: A pre-op transsexual who is Barbie’s best friend and lives in her apartment building.
Thessaly: A powerful witch who suspects that there is something more to Barbie’s dream world than meets the eye. She too lives in the same apartment building.
Hazel: On half of a lesbian couple who live in the building, she has recently discovered she is pregnant after a fling with another cook at the restaurant she works at. She, along with her girlfriend, is pulled into Barbie’s dream world with Thessaly.
Foxglove: She had been the girlfriend of one of the minor characters in Preludes and Nocturnes who died during John Dee’s spree. Now she has changed her name and started a new relationship with Hazel, and is pulled into Barbie’s dream world.
The Cuckoo: A mysterious, evil being who has taken over the magic land of Barbie’s dreams, the being she as the Princess must fight to bring happiness to the land again.
George: One of Barbie’s neighbors in the apartment building, it turns out he is a servant of the Cuckoo. He is killed by Thessaly and then kept alive by her magic to give her the answers as to what all the strange happenings are about.
Plot: Barbie left her husband, Ken, and is in New York, trying to find out who she is now she is no longer half of a strange, yuppy couple. She has befriended Wanda, a transsexual woman who keeps an eye out for her, and has made the aquaintances of Hazel and Foxglove, a lesbian couple, and Thessaly, a strange, young woman in the apartment. One night, as a strange hurricane is approaching New York, Barbie begins to dream of the strange, fantasy land that she had often visited in her dreams as a child. There, she is a Princess, who must return to save her magical people from the evil Cuckoo who rules the land. However, Barbie’s dreams begin to have very real effects on the waking world, and Thessaly, who turns out to be a witch, along with Hazel and Foxglove go into the Dreaming to save Barbie, while Wanda remains in the waking world to keep an eye on her sleeping friend.
Themes:
Coming to terms with who and what you are: Many of the characters, especially Barbie and Wanda, are struggling with the idea of identity and just ‘who’ they are. This struggle seems to be personified with Barbie in her dreams, in the real world she is a struggling, confused divorcee, while in her dreams she is a heroic princess out to save her land. At some point she has to wake from her dreams and realize that she is herself, Barbie, whose life has been difficult, but which is still her life, and she should not be ashamed of who she is and try to be something different.
Something wicked this way comes: You can tell already that Gaiman is building up to something in the story. There seem to be subtle hints of things to come in future stories, especially involving Dream. He’s made no friends with Thessaly, and she seems to be one of a long list of people who all seem to want to kick Dream’s ass.
The allure of the fantasy: Dreams can be great and powerful things, but in this series, and in this book as well we see how dreams can be destructive as well. Barbie’s inability to cope with who she is and what her life has become draws her back into a dream world that was a safe haven for her as a child, but which has turned out to be a land that is as equally treacherous, if not more so, than the real life. It is up to her to let go of those dreams, to put them aside and let them fade away, so that she can go on living.
Every book sucks somewhere: I think that it was rather sucky that the main character of the series, Dream, didn’t have a bigger part to play in this book. I spent much of it waiting for him to appear somewhere, and it isn’t till the last big that we see him arriving in all his dark glory to tell us exactly what is going on. I suppose it is nice to not have Dream be as much of a focus in this one, but it did leave me hanging for a bit.
What did I like: I loved Wanda. I wish there were more Wanda’s in the world, and I don’t care if they are male, female, or still deciding what they are, Wanda was a wonderful person.
How would I rate this wormy book: Like many of the other Sandman graphic novels, I would rate this as a FAT WORM. It’s fun if you really are into the series, and it continues with many of the themes that Gaiman has developed for the world of Dream.
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