Book Reviews!
May. 3rd, 2011 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalMovies to follow, maybe tomorrow? For now, books under the cut!
Heir to Sevenwaters, by Juliet Marillier
This is the fourth in what was supposed to be the Sevenwaters trilogy, but is clearly not, lol. (I think she's up to five books now?) As you'll recall, I greatly enjoyed the first two books, but the third one got kinda WTFy. This one returns firmly to the pattern established by the earlier books - which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the plus side, we have another strong heroine who does extraordinary things and goes on perilous journeys out of love for her family. There's magic and mythical creatures and epic quests, all rooted in Celtic lore. The downside is that the romantic subplot has gotten exceedingly predictable, since the author CLEARLY has a kink for antagonistic relationships that turn into love. Early on in the novel, the heroine is introduced to two male characters - one of whom is sweet and cute and obviously has a crush on her, while the other is brash and rude and does not seem to like the heroine at all. So obviously that's the dude she's going to end up falling in love with, because that's exactly what happened to her grandmother in the first book and her aunt in the second book.
There's a decent story in there about Clodagh's quest to rescue her baby brother from the Fey Folk, and Marillier is pretty skilled at emotional writing, so that you'll shed a tear even if you know exactly how it's going to end. And she has a great setting in the fantasy world she's created, so I certainly don't blame her for wanting to revisit it. I will end up reading the book that comes after this, too, but it's definitely a "check out from the library" series.
Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
So, this book is apparently a big deal? Like, it got rave reviews or something? I'm not sure I read them, but I must have gotten the idea from somewhere. Did one of y'all recommend it, maybe? Anyway, the point is, I had no idea what it was about when I started reading it.
This book is BLEAK. It's basically a story of suburban malaise cranked up to eleven. Just about every single character struggles with severe depression at some point. And I kind of want to sympathize with them because of that, but the problem is, even without the depression, they're all astonishingly unlikable people. There's Walter Berglund, who starts out a dull pushover and becomes an environmental activist who nevertheless sells his soul to an oil tycoon, after which he goes on a bizarre Malthusian crusade against overpopulation. There's Patty, his pretty, athletic wife, who is absurdly self-centered and ultimately unfulfilled, having single-mindedly pursued the perfect suburban housewife role, only to discover that her life has lost purpose once her children don't need her, and she's questioning her decision to marry Walter rather than his best friend Richard, to whom she has always been sexually attracted. (She gets a taste of her own medicine, though, when Walter falls for his sexy assistant, who is half his age.) Their children - Jessica, who seems like the only normal one in the family and thus plays only a minor role, and Joey, a precocious kid who marries his obsessive stalker girlfriend and is involved in a shady Halliburton-esque arms deal by age 19. The only one who's even halfway likable is Richard, Walter's womanizing rock star best friend, who is torn between loyalty to Walter and lust for Patty. He's just as much of a narcissistic asshole as everyone else, but at least he's honest about it.
The story is by turns absurdly unrealistic and painfully cliched. The political subplots are didactic, and the attempt to make the story seem topical by referencing "current events" falls flat. Characters find themselves in outlandish situations and consistently make self-destructive decisions. The supporting characters are one-note walking neuroses, but all are as equally narcissistic as the Berglund family. And, of course, the grace note on all of this nonsense: after 500+ pages of misery and infidelity, the book climaxes with Walter's sexy assistant conveniently being killed in a car crash, and then skips over the next six years, so that he and Patty can make up and have themselves a happy ending. The writing doesn't do the book any favors, either. It's sorely in need of a good editor to cull out the pages of unnecessary description and repetition, and the POV shifts are wholly unsatisfying - particularly the long section (about a third of the book) that is intended to be Patty's "autobiography," and yet is written in the same exact voice as the third-person POVs later in the book.
In summary, I don't know what the hell Oprah was smoking when she recommended this clunker, but don't bother. Unless you need a really heavy object to bludgeon someone with. I imagine it would be good for that.
Heir to Sevenwaters, by Juliet Marillier
This is the fourth in what was supposed to be the Sevenwaters trilogy, but is clearly not, lol. (I think she's up to five books now?) As you'll recall, I greatly enjoyed the first two books, but the third one got kinda WTFy. This one returns firmly to the pattern established by the earlier books - which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the plus side, we have another strong heroine who does extraordinary things and goes on perilous journeys out of love for her family. There's magic and mythical creatures and epic quests, all rooted in Celtic lore. The downside is that the romantic subplot has gotten exceedingly predictable, since the author CLEARLY has a kink for antagonistic relationships that turn into love. Early on in the novel, the heroine is introduced to two male characters - one of whom is sweet and cute and obviously has a crush on her, while the other is brash and rude and does not seem to like the heroine at all. So obviously that's the dude she's going to end up falling in love with, because that's exactly what happened to her grandmother in the first book and her aunt in the second book.
There's a decent story in there about Clodagh's quest to rescue her baby brother from the Fey Folk, and Marillier is pretty skilled at emotional writing, so that you'll shed a tear even if you know exactly how it's going to end. And she has a great setting in the fantasy world she's created, so I certainly don't blame her for wanting to revisit it. I will end up reading the book that comes after this, too, but it's definitely a "check out from the library" series.
Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
So, this book is apparently a big deal? Like, it got rave reviews or something? I'm not sure I read them, but I must have gotten the idea from somewhere. Did one of y'all recommend it, maybe? Anyway, the point is, I had no idea what it was about when I started reading it.
This book is BLEAK. It's basically a story of suburban malaise cranked up to eleven. Just about every single character struggles with severe depression at some point. And I kind of want to sympathize with them because of that, but the problem is, even without the depression, they're all astonishingly unlikable people. There's Walter Berglund, who starts out a dull pushover and becomes an environmental activist who nevertheless sells his soul to an oil tycoon, after which he goes on a bizarre Malthusian crusade against overpopulation. There's Patty, his pretty, athletic wife, who is absurdly self-centered and ultimately unfulfilled, having single-mindedly pursued the perfect suburban housewife role, only to discover that her life has lost purpose once her children don't need her, and she's questioning her decision to marry Walter rather than his best friend Richard, to whom she has always been sexually attracted. (She gets a taste of her own medicine, though, when Walter falls for his sexy assistant, who is half his age.) Their children - Jessica, who seems like the only normal one in the family and thus plays only a minor role, and Joey, a precocious kid who marries his obsessive stalker girlfriend and is involved in a shady Halliburton-esque arms deal by age 19. The only one who's even halfway likable is Richard, Walter's womanizing rock star best friend, who is torn between loyalty to Walter and lust for Patty. He's just as much of a narcissistic asshole as everyone else, but at least he's honest about it.
The story is by turns absurdly unrealistic and painfully cliched. The political subplots are didactic, and the attempt to make the story seem topical by referencing "current events" falls flat. Characters find themselves in outlandish situations and consistently make self-destructive decisions. The supporting characters are one-note walking neuroses, but all are as equally narcissistic as the Berglund family. And, of course, the grace note on all of this nonsense: after 500+ pages of misery and infidelity, the book climaxes with Walter's sexy assistant conveniently being killed in a car crash, and then skips over the next six years, so that he and Patty can make up and have themselves a happy ending. The writing doesn't do the book any favors, either. It's sorely in need of a good editor to cull out the pages of unnecessary description and repetition, and the POV shifts are wholly unsatisfying - particularly the long section (about a third of the book) that is intended to be Patty's "autobiography," and yet is written in the same exact voice as the third-person POVs later in the book.
In summary, I don't know what the hell Oprah was smoking when she recommended this clunker, but don't bother. Unless you need a really heavy object to bludgeon someone with. I imagine it would be good for that.
no subject
Date: May. 3rd, 2011 09:08 pm (UTC)I just find this pattern so BORING. But it seems to be like in EVERY FANTASY BOOK.
no subject
Date: May. 4th, 2011 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: May. 4th, 2011 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: May. 5th, 2011 07:49 pm (UTC)For fantasy that is totally awesome, read The Name of the Wind. It's the first of a trilogy and it was very very good. The second got bogged down occasionally but it was also thoroughly enjoyable. I'm now on a quest for more fantasy that's not super fantastical.
no subject
Date: May. 5th, 2011 07:56 pm (UTC)I'm now on a quest for more fantasy that's not super fantastical.
*chants* Hunger Games! Hunger Games!
Or you could try Connie Willis or the Dresden Files series.