What the christ am I reading? Why am I 45+ pages into it? There isn’t a discernible point to this, and the writing is like the first 20 minutes of the 1000 monkeys pounding on typewriters.
Moon Called – Patricia Briggs
Posted by L on October 7, 2011
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Several months ago, M. looked down at his armful of books as we walked to the cashier and sighed. “I hate it when I get books that are clearly marketed to me.”
I looked at his selection of alternative history and sci-fi battle books, and looked at my stack of steampunk romance books (The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger) and replied, “I know what you mean.”
That is how I feel about urban fantasy books. Or, as they are categorized by some, “Supernatural Romance”, to which I say, what the christ?
Back in the dark ages, I loved urban fantasy books. Sadly, there weren’t many urban fantasy books and I had to dig a bit to find them. Now, there are too many of them and I can’t stand reading them. The biggest reasons are because they are poorly written and contrived, and I dislike how many of them are based around sex, romance, and sexy romance with supernatural critters. With that phrasing, I think people who fantasize about sexing up vampires or werewolves can be related to furries!
It’s not just that the books tend to be terrible. It’s also that the covers are terrible. Please, think of the commuter-reader who doesn’t want people to see her reading a book with scantily-clad anythings on the cover.
Those things contributed to me not wanting to read the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs: suspicion of the content and irritation with the cover. The heroine is supposed to be a mechanic. Would a mechanic unbutton her shirt to her boob line, roll her shirt up to said line, wear long dangly earrings, and leave her hair lose? This is an embarrassing book to be seen buying or reading, but hey, at least she’s not wearing some sort of taffeta number with wings or dripping mascara.
“Moon Called” introduces nothing new to the urban fantasy genre. There are werewolves, vampires, and faeries. They don’t like each other. Also familiar is how the main character, Mercedes, is none of these but interacts with all of them. It cannot be helped! The local werewolf leader is her neighbor, and her stepfather was a werewolf! Vampires shake her down for protection money, and the previous owner of her shop (and her car mentor) is a faerie.
Mercy is a skinwalker, the only one she knows of (qualifying her for Special Snowflake heroine status), who doesn’t know her father, was raised by a werewolf, and left the werewolf pack to live on her own. Currently, she works as a car mechanic in her own shop, and goes about her la di da business until a werewolf she knows isn’t a part of the local pack comes and asks her for work and she learns that he was an illegally made (by the werewolf pack standards) werewolf that escaped from people experimenting on him. She brings this to the attention of the local pack leader, and hijinks ensue. People get hurt, infighting and subplots come to light, all 3 supernatural factions get involved, and we learn more about Mercy and how the factions work.
I’m not going to say this book was horrible; it’s not. It is also not worth buying. The writing is a bit clunky and awkward, and the world-building is nothing special. It’s not that a book has to have something Super Special to make it worthwhile, but there most be something compelling about the first book in the series that will convince me to buy the rest of the books.
I don’t see an overarching good vs. evil battle coming up, nor do I feel empathy or curiosity for any of the characters. The organization of the factions isn’t interesting yet, and none of the characters have been given enough depth to be interesting.
What I’m saying is that this book is a fast read for a boring day. You’ll want to finish reading it, but once you’re done, it won’t occupy your mind. You might be curious about the sequels, but you will also realize that each book is $7.99 and you could buy a burger or a bowl of ramen that would be more enjoyable.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother – Amy Chua
Posted by L on September 27, 2011
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Everyone knows of this book, whether it’s from the New York Times review, or from NPR, mothers, Asians, etc. It is also likely that most have formed an opinion without reading the book.
I really did not want to read it, partly because I do not want to read books about Asian-American experiences, but mostly because I thought this book would make me furious. However, someone read it and wanted me to read it and talk to her about it because she was amazed at the child-rearing tactics. “We do not do that in France! The school system is so different from America’s! Were you raised like this?”
Indeed, reading the book made me furious, and I often stopped to yell about it to M., who bore this both stoically and with laughter, but mostly with side-eyes. I had to stop reading several times because my brain was going to explode. As a result, it took me a week to read this little book, and it should have taken a few hours.
This book is a recount of Amy Chua’s tactics of raising her kids to be smart, brilliant, and admired so that she can congratulate herself and pat herself on the back.
Okay, so that last bit is my interpretation of the situation, but I feel that it is an accurate one. The entire book is how everything is related to her: the interpreted slackness of American child rearing, being an immigrant child in America, raising children, her family’s situations, etc. Perhaps this should not be unexpected, as this book is written from her perspective. Nevertheless, the degree to which she makes the world revolve around herself is appalling, and combined with the pervasive feeling of smug, self-superiority, this book is palatable only in small doses.
Chua is against the so-called American easy-going attitude, and she was going to make sure her children did not get this American attitude by drilling them ceaselessly in math, music, and whatever else she deemed to be appropriate. The main focus of the forced drills is music, likely because it is the source of the majority of the clashes she has with her family.
Chua is that Asian mom that other kids look at in horror. The one that flipped out at your friend for getting a 98/100? The one that called your classmate worthless for placing 3rd in that music competition? The one that told you, “You are a disappointment and a failure. How can you shame me like this!” It makes the book very difficult to read.
The gist I’m getting from this book is that Chua believes herself to be refined, superior, and always right. After all, she is the daughter of a known scientist, a Harvard graduate, a Yale Law professor, and mother of musically gifted children. She did everything right by her family and children, and she will tell you that in her book. Even her so-called comeuppance isn’t a comeuppance. For that to be true, she would have to believe she was in the wrong. At the end of the book, it is difficult to see if Chua alters her standpoint enough to realize she is not the sole arbitrator of what is right.
This book does not accomplish much outside of a cathartic exposition for Chua, as it neither proves nor disproves her methods. People who already believe in Chua’s methods will use this book to support their beliefs, whilst those who are against her methods will use it to support theirs.
Personally, I did not enjoy this book. I do not feel like rereading it, nor do I want to buy myself a copy. I found it grating and offensive to read, and do not recall any passages as ideas or stories that I should remember.
Good Omens
Posted by L on March 10, 2011
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A lot of guilt is associated with not reading this book, which I have had for so long that someone looked at the cover and said, “$5.99? I didn’t know you could buy a paperback nowadays for $5.
The difference between me now and the me that bought the book years ago is that I’ve read Terry Pratchett’s “Wee Free Men” series and enjoyed it so much that I went and bought any books featuring the witches. They increased my tolerance for the outright silly and for Pratchett’s footnotes, both of which turned me off “Good Omens”.
Now, I appreciate the cleverness of the ridiculous things in the books and the sly digs. I enjoyed lots of things about this book, but it is not among my favorites.
The digs, the asides, the clever snark are fantastic, but something about it does not make it gel for me.