Review: St. Patrick of Ireland

First, some non-review related stuff:

* I'm going to Chicago for two weeks! Woo hoo! Unfortunately I probably won't get to see much of the city itself, since my fiance and I are going there for training with our jobs. But, I'm probably going to have limited if any Internet access between now and June 11. I hope no one forgets me while I'm gone!

* I got to be a guest poster on The Domestic Scientist!! How cool is that? You can check it out here

* So far this year, I've read 37 books! Wow! This is the first year I've ever kept track, though, so I have no idea if that is as good as it sounds for me or not.

Ok, on to the review!
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If I had no discipline whatsoever, I would totally live off of historical fiction alone. However, since I have a fairly wide range of interests, I deliberately challenge myself to try and read a good variety of books. Thus I found myself wandering the biography section of my local library and came across this slim volume. Little did I know I was in for a hugely rewarding treat. To quote the author, "everyone had heard of St. Patrick, of course, but the man most people know is little more than an icon who drove the snakes out of Ireland. This lack of knowledge about the real Patrick is truly regrettable, because he has such an amazing story to tell: a tale of slavery and brutality, pain and self-doubt, sorrow and constant struggle, but ultimately of perserverance, hope, and faith. His letters, in the end, remain as a remarkable gift from an extraordinary man."

Genre: non-fiction, biography

Plot: Freeman strives to once and for all tell the true story of St. Patrick, piecing together what we can from his two extant letters and filling in the gap with his vast knowledge of the British Isles in the 5th century. The result is a hugely fascinating tale focusing on one man, but expanding to include centuries of history and Irish culture. He also includes the whole texts of these letters at the end for the benefit of his readers, an unprecedented move in academic writing, a field that too often leaves much to the layperson's imagination.

Structure: Freeman composes his work around Patrick's probable chronology, beginning with the earliest things we know of him and working his way until his most likely time of death. Freeman also adds chapters about three critical forces in Patrick's ministry--kings, druids, and women--and two other chapters about the context and content of his two letters.

Execution and Style: One of this book's greatest strengths is its ability to flow, seamlessly, from one topic to the next in the author's clear but strangely moving prose. He strives to capture as much as he can about the ancient world but in a very precise, controlled way; likewise, he is dismissive but polite about the supernatural elements of Patrick's life. In short, he is definitive but accessible, knowledgeable but brief.

Theme: 5th century British Isles, the early Irish church, St. Patrick (of course) and many other well-known characters (such as Palladius, Pope Celestine, etc.) connected with him.

Read This If: you are interested in the medieval church, interested in St. Patrick, or just looking for a different sort of biography. It's a good mental exercise without being dry or terse.

4 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Julius Caesar: A Biography
The Philosopher and the Druids: Journey Among the Ancient Celts

If you liked this, you might also like:
Roland H. Bainton's seminal biography of Martin Luther, Here I Stand

Audiobooks: imposters among us?

Hello dear children, did you miss me? I'm back from my awesome weekend fun just in time to see lots of doctors and pack up for my next two-week adventure to Chicago.

I used to HATE driving, especially the 5 hour trek from Fort Worth to Houston, between my college and my hometown. Bleh. However, then I discovered this wonderful new toy, the audiobook, which can be procured FOR FREE at the library. O happy day!

Since then I have used this medium to keep myself awake on several long trips as well as read more books than I'd normally have a chance to do. Ah, but there's the question...am I really reading them? Is reading a book at all different than listening to one? Is the idea of a book intrinsically bound in the paper, the printed words, the act of turning pages?

On the one hand I want to say yes, since I'm a staunch non-fan of Kindle and all its other eBook cousins (the machines will kill us all!!!111). I wouldn't trade the heft, the weight, the real experience of reading as long as I am physically able to. However, like I said, this does allow me to take in/"read"/experience more books/stories than I'd be able to before.

So it all comes down to this: should I add The Memory Keeper's Daughter (my latest audiobook) to my 2009 shelf? What do you think?

Review: The Prestige

This was by far one of the hardest reviews I've ever had to write thanks to its phenomenal movie adaptation. The 2006 flick is, unfortunately, one of the rare exceptions to the "book is always better" rule. I usually always argue, "how could anyone write the story better than the author?!"

In this case, I was completely wrong. and as a result I found it very hard to not be disappointed with the book. However, for the sake of my review (and my professional aspirations?), I tried to forget everything I knew from the movie and take it as objectively as possible. Too bad I still found it lacking.

For those of you curious as to how different the movie is from the novel, let me briefly outline the biggest departures. First, the novel is much, much broader in its scope, since the story spans several generations. Secondly, the motivation for the feud is ... well, shallow. Stupidly so. And the ending is just not as well executed nor as shocking as the movie; it left me vaguely disgruntled.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, onto the review!

Genre: novel, science fiction

Plot: In 1878, two of Britain's greatest magicians enter into a feud that will change not only their own lives, but will continue to haunt their families for generations. Each can perform an illusion the other yearns to unravel, and each will stop at nothing to destroy the other.

The main fault I had with this book was, surprisingly, the plot. While the essence of it is extremely imaginative and it's told with technical excellence, it loses its power by being stretched out over way too many pages, told with surprises that were fairly predictable, and with an ending that fizzles far more than it dazzles.

Structure:
The book has 5 parts, told by 4 different narrators. First we meet a Borden descendant who finds himself in collusion with Kate Angier - this is told in third person. Then we read Alfred Borden's account of the rivalry through his diary. Then Kate Angier takes over, telling some family anecdotes that are only mildly related to the main plot. Then a retelling of the main events, this time through Rupert Angier's diary. Finally, the third-person narration returns to wrap it all up.

In short, it felt like a novel within a novel -- on a technical level, brilliant, but in terms of conveying the story in an interesting, compelling way, it just felt too repeated, too convoluted, too stretched out to be as effective as it could be.


Execution: Priest's exacting duplication of early 19th century language and painstaking attention to detail are outstanding. He fully inhabits both of his main characters in a way that not only highlights their differences, it underscores their similarities. He shifts between several different narration styles, but he does so very smoothly. Although the plot is a little lacking, on a technical level he is an above average author.

Theme: Turn of the century England, magicians, electricity and Nikola Tesla -- it's about a time when science was still mostly a mystery that could deliver things unimagined before, and about two men whose obsessive rage destroyed their families and their careers.

Read this if you you haven't seen the movie! (I feel like I've mentioned the movie too much in this supposedly objective review) But seriously, if you like period pieces, you'll love Priest's use of language. If you're a fan of Mary Shelley or other gothic horror writers, I think this'll be right up your alley.

2 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Indoctrinaire
Fugue for a Darkening Island
Inverted World
The Space Machine
A Dream of Wessex (US title The Perfect Lover)
The Affirmation
The Glamour
Short Circuit
Mona Lisa
The Quiet Woman
The Extremes
eXistenZ
The Separation
numerous short stories

If you liked this, you might also like:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray

Double Feature! Review: The Piano Teacher

Your eyes do not deceive you, children -- this is the second update this week! To what do you owe this joy?

A few things. First, I've got a huge library stack that I'm trying to get through quickly. Second, I'm going to be in Chicago for two weeks at the end of the month, and I highly doubt I'll be able to do much updating then. So I think if I just spoil you all you'll forgive me for being sparse.

Now then, on to the topic of this review. This book was another Barnes&Noble find that I eventually procured at the library, and like so many others of this genre, it took me completely by surprise.

Genre: historical fiction novel

Plot: Claire is a new bride in a new country (a phenomenon I myself will soon experience!). It's the 1950s, it's Hong Kong, and life is quite different from what Claire expected. She finds herself employed as a piano teacher to a wealthy local family, and is soon caught up in the aftermath of events that occurred during the Japanese occupancy in World War II. At the same time, Claire begins on a journey that will transform her from mousy and conventional into the exotic, independent woman she longs to be.

Structure: If I had to summarize it in one word, it would be jolting. Although the narration is consistently third-person, and is technically divided into three parts, the stability ends there. The story is told out of chronological order, jumping between the 1940s and the early 1950s. The author utilizes this in creating a superb air of suspense, and sometimes using it to lend an otherwise unimportant scene a foreboding, haunting aspect. This unique approach to storytelling is by far the author's greatest strength, and when combined with the rather unique setting (I've never read any other book about this particular time and place) makes this novel really stand out in my mind.

Oh, and there's also this huge plot twist.

Execution: Lee is very subtle; so subtle, in fact, that sometimes your forget how good she really is. She manages to describe just enough details to transport you, in Elizabeth Gilbert's words, "out of time, out of place, into a world you can feel on your very skin." And yet she does so without bogging us down in details. She focuses more on little moments, quiet revelations and gestures, for a lot of the novel's emotional punches. The best thing about her prose is that she writes almost the bare minimum, leaving--like all good Greek tragedies--a lot to the reader to imply or imagine. Strangely, the absence adds a richness that is hard to imitate.

Theme: Hong Kong in the 1940s and 50s, war, love, and also a missing treasure collection. It's almost like the plot of an Indiana Jones movie if it were written without Indiana Jones in mind.

Read this if you like historical fiction, or if you're in the mood for a quiet, but none the less exciting, thrill

4 out of 5 stars

Other works:
This is the author's first work. While poking around her website, though, I found her favorite books list! I think I'll be adding most of these to my own list, too.

If you liked this, you might also like:
Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Review: Guinevere's Truth

If all you knew of me was a list of my favorite TV shows, I'm pretty sure you'd guess I was a huge fan of sci-fi and fantasy novels. But, surprisingly, you'd be wrong. Ashley the Iconoclast strikes again (what a lame comic book that'd be)!

Sure, I enjoy a good sci-fi novel now and again--although I don't much care for ones based on TV shows because I'd rather just watch the show. But fantasy I am quite discriminating of, and this anthology by Jennifer Roberson I find to be a good portrait (Dorian Gray style) of what I dislike about the genre.

Genre: short story anthology (fantasy)

Plot: Roberson strives to have some variety in her plots, and to some degree she achieves this. The "some" should be a tip off to you. She has a various amount of settings, but the main characters are predominantly strong warrior-princesses women. I think this is, as she herself admits, partly because of the influence of Marion Zimmer Bradly on her.

Structure: Again, it varies due to the nature of the collection, but for the most part there are either extremely long "did I fall into a novel" stories, or short, almost inconsequential vignettes. Almost none of them felt "right," the way a good short story should feel. Fitting with the strong women theme, she mostly writes in the first person of her chosen heroine. This does little to persuade me against her actually writing of one woman's many past lives.

Execution: This is Roberson's main flaw. Despite her formal education, I just don't thinks he's very good at writing. Competent, yes; creative, at times. But definitely not good, which is especially puzzling considering she's the author of multiple multi-volume series. I found myself describing her style as vapid, pointless, wooden, and laughable in the non-intended way. Most of all wooden. There's just no spirit, no clever play of words that make her stories sparkle. All of her heroines felt very much like the same rip-off of the aforementioned Bradley (and warrior princess), and all the men felt like the same generic guy written over and over and over again, like a bad extra being used too many times.

Theme:Roberson rarely moves from the traditional, tried-and-true (I guess) fantasy themes--Arthur, Robin Hood, a nondescript medieval place, Norse mythology, and the strong, goddess-worshiping women who inhabit such places. She does have some more imaginative forays into modern settings, but for the most part I found them all terribly tired.

Read this if you like Marion Zimmer Bradley, or have a particular penchant for fantasy but want to hold off on your next 450 page epic. If you're not already a fan of the genre, I doubt this will do much to win you over.

1 out of 5 stars

Other works:
well, see for yourself

If you liked this, you might also like:
Margo Lanagan's Red Spikes and Black Juices anthologies
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Swords and Sorceresses anthologies

Review: The Sex Lives of Cannibals

I have seriously been trying to write this review for three days. Who knew being unemployed would be so time consuming?

A few weeks ago I posted an author alert on J. Maarten Troost. When I saw my local library this volume, I almost tripped over several small children trying to get it to the check out desk. This light, uproariously funny, and just plain weird travel memoir was well worth risking a few lawsuits over, as it recounts the adventures of one post-graduate loafer and his aid-working, beguiling girlfriend as they adapt to life on The Republic of Kiribati. Don't worry if you've never heard of it before; you're not stupid, it's just that small.

Genre: travelogue/memoir

Plot: Unlike most travel books, which set out to have some spiritual truth revealed to the author while describing the grandeur of Italy at great lengths, this one cuts the bull and strives to tell it like it is. Sort of. With a lot of humorous, I hope that's an exaggeration but I think it probably isn't anecdotes. While there are no profound epiphanies about the state of man, there are some rather insightful thoughts here and there between rants about La Macarena.

Structure: A first person narration segmented into tongue-in-cheek paragraph-titled chapters, of which I believe there was 20. Mostly these focused on grouping a few anecdotes together, which provided both a unifying structure and a brevity feeling to the overall work.

Execution and Style: A little crass and a lot sarcastic, it's sort of what you'd expect if Dennis Leary had to write a travel magazine. A lot of historical/literary allusions, and a lot of cynicism make it appealing to intellectualists, but a lot of almost slap-stick funny anecdotes make it palatable to the masses.

Theme: the pacific islands, traveling, travel humor, la macarena

Read This If: you need a good laugh while recovering from that sunburn on the beach last week, or if you wondered what Gilligan's Island would be like with pot.

4 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Lost on Planet China
Getting Stoned with Savages


If you liked this, you might also like:
Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (it is more serious, but it has funny moments)