Lexivore's Lunch

The Whale Rider

2010-04-30T19:53:00.002-04:00

The Whale Rider

Witi Ihimaera

My first introduction to this book was actually by watching the movie of the same title. The movie makes me weep, where no other movie has. The book is also deeply moving, and it shows that the film-makers were paying attention to what they had adapted.

Set in modern day, the book centers around a young Maori girl, the latest in an unbroken line of chiefs, until this point, all male. The girl's great-grandfather resents her, and spurns her fierce love for him, searching instead for a boy to impart his wisdom to. The book culminates in a whale stranding, actually, two whale strandings, one mundane and another otherworldly. The second is a memory-whale, an ancestral being, a creature of spirit and being who comes to shore to reconnect with the memory of an ancient friend, the girl's chieftain ancestor.

The story is told from the perspective of the girl's uncle, member of a mostly harmless local biker gang (the girl actually becomes something of their mascot, though the movie leaves out the bikers entirely). Through the uncle's eyes, we see the signs and omens that the grandfather ignores out of stubbornness. We also travel with the girl's uncle to Australia and Papua New Guinea, where we gain insight into the prejudice that builds walls between indigenous populations and the descendants of settlers. In both the book and the movie, the great-grandmother is a powerhouse, a woman larger than life who constantly threatens to divorce her husband (and you really can't blame her).

The movie mostly keeps faithful to the book, though the great-grandfather plays a much larger role in the movie, the themes are held true. It's an enchanting story, exploring the mythologies and mindset of a culture all but cast aside in the tide of western expansion. You grow to love all the characters in this book, and it's an excellent read.

-Very Tasty.

The Wolving Time

2010-04-30T18:36:00.002-04:00

The Wolving Time

Patrick Jennings

I am not embarrassed to say that I'm reviewing another children's book, because sometimes you find little gems like this book. As I'm a sucker for all things werewolf, I snapped this one up right quick. The proprietor of my local bookstore is beginning to sense a theme, as this is not the first werewolf story she's seen me with.

The story itself centers around a shepherd boy, living in France in the late 1500's. His mother and father are both werewolves, though he himself has not reached the age where he will decide whether he wants to live as a werewolf or not. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with a runaway, the servant girl of the local priest. The priest is a cruel man, imprisoning innocent people, forcing them to confess to crimes of witchcraft and pacts with the devil before burning them at the stake in the town square. The boy learns that his family is beset by rumors that they too, are witches. Things come to a head and they must flee the village, though friends are reunited and safety seems all but assured just over the mountains.

What most impressed me about this book was the depth of research the author has done. One is introduced to aspects of life as a sixteenth century shepherd without having facts thrown at you. Jennings also gives a good insight into the mindset of the time, the insular view of the villagers, the institution of the church as a tool of fear and control.

Though better logic tells me that salvation cannot be around the corner for this family, I want them to win. You feel for the characters, and the book leaves you hopeful. It is a children's book, but it's a story about so many things, family, friendship, trust, and growing up.

-A Tasty Little Bite

Beasts

2010-04-08T17:10:00.000-04:00

Beasts
John Crowley

I opened this battered little book expecting to find a romance with a sci-fi/fantasy twist. At least, that's the impression given from reading the blurb on the back, or taking a look at the cover. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case at all.

The story takes place in a vaguely defined near future, in a United States held very loosely together after a civil war fractured the country. We jump from character to character, seemingly without rhyme or reason, until we reach the point where all of these people (and what a varied term 'people' becomes in this book) rally around the main character, Painter.

Painter is a leo, one of a race of genetically engineered hybrids of man and lion, who finds himself at the center of a political movement he wants no part in. Renyard, a one of a kind fox-hybrid, is a political councilor as crafty and cunning as either fox or man could ever dream to be. Sten, the boy who would be America's king, finds a cause in aiding Painter. The cast of characters is even more varied and supprising than I've room for here.

My only complaint about this novel is that the landscape is too ill-defined. At times, I felt a little lost, when even a simple map would have clarified much. I'm left puzzling over the political landscape when I could be considering the plot or the amazing cast of characters. However, I did enjoy this book quite a bit, and couldn't put it down.

-Surprisingly quite tasty

Frostbite

2010-01-14T00:25:00.001-05:00

Frostbite
David Welllington

I'd actually seen this one at the bookstore and avoided it for some time. Something about the cover, something about the addition of "a werewolf tale" after the title, which I felt unnecessary, something about the synopsis on the back, a combination of the three made me shy away. I know I can be picky, but it made it seem like your typical scary "there's a werewolf out to get me" kinda novel. Eventually I relented and bought the book, and I have not regretted it.

The author introduces us into the present, leaving us wondering about the past, before that is introduced in part two. This leaves you wondering about the motives, not of the monster, but the woman alone in the woods, which was interesting. Why did she come to be alone in the woods? What is she doing here? The author hints, but never reveals until things start to fall apart for the characters. It soon becomes apparent that everyone is not what they seem. The lines between the good guys and bad guys blurs. The humans become monstrous and the monsters humanized.

Towards the end, the main character still has unresolved problems, but I was left very satisfied. I even came close to having the warm and fuzzies over the ending. This book finishes off leaving me feeling hopeful for the characters. I really enjoyed reading this book and I've already handed it off to a friend, after I demanded that he read it.

-Pretty darn tasty.

Isle of Woman

2010-01-01T13:31:00.001-05:00

Isle of Woman

Piers Anthony

This book's colorful cover caught my eye, crammed onto the shelf at the used bookstore. Since it was about prehistory, I took it home. For some reason, I've been on a pre-history kick for a long while. Give me anything to do with the ice age and I'll give it a shot.

The concept explored by this book seemed pretty interesting. Following a few individuals reborn throughout mankind's history, through it's varied cultures and time itself. We gain insight into our past; alongside these people we make discoveries pivotal to our way of life, explore unpeopled lands, watch pivotal historical events as they unfold.

However, Isle of Woman does not deliver as well as it has promised. The first problem (though only a minor annoyance, really), is the recycling of names throughout the book. It is understood that the author is trying to make it clear that these are the same souls born again, but it can be hard to keep track of where we are and who we are reading about when we read about a completely different Blaze and Bunny and Ember and Scortch just a chapter ago.

The second problem is that the book preaches, just a little. We get a little warning each time, about how mankind has treated the environment. Now, perhaps for me, this is a case of preaching to the chior. I've done the research, my eyes are open, I am aware of the fact that we must change our course, so perhaps thats why I do not like the way in which this book holds my hand and hints at me that we killed the mammoths and the megafauna of Australia, how our moving to cities set in motion a chain of events that has altered climate, etc. I'ts ok, I can read through a little hand-holding.

However, upon reaching the final chapter, which is set in the not-too-distant future, I nearly put the book down for good. We find mankind reduced, after ecological catastrophy on the global scale, to subsisting on farmed algae and ranched roaches. Maybe that's ok too; I love a good post-apocalyptic tale, and oh, what a relief, our two lost lovers, separated at the dawn of time finally reunite. It was like watching two people run into eachother at the shopping mall. "I missed you in the parking lot!" "You weren't in the foodcourt!"

For an idea that had so much potential, this book was very dissapointing.

-Looked better on the menu

Contact

2009-12-06T23:46:00.000-05:00

Contact
Carl Sagan

I've always wanted to read this one since seeing the movie, so when I saw it at my local used book store, I picked it up. It ended up being the edition with the movie cover (I try to use the same picture on the blog as the edition I read), which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think it's ideal.

If you've seen the movie, you should consider giving the book a try. However, don't expect it to be the movie. The two, while basically following a similar plot, have little in common. There are a few reasons for this, brevity, for the movie's sake (we cannot go in depth into the main character's childhood in a movie with certain time constraints). Also, the political climate of the time changed between the writing of the book and the production of the movie. In the book, the soviet union has a big effect on the landscape.

Because of the movie, I actually had a difficult time reading this book. Every time I read dialogue with the main character, I hear Jodie Foster. The book did not exactly keep me up late into the night reading, though it did keep me reading at a steady pace. There were parts where the story was suspenseful, though at other times, it dragged on. I can only tolerate so much political back-and-forth.

A far as sci-fi goes, this is a very plausible story. This could all take place tomorrow, and I liked that about this book. It made it more real, you could dive right into it because its all there, ready to be grasped and taken in stride.

All in all, I'm very glad I finally did read this book. It explored themes that the movie could never delve into. Where the movie is a good drama, the book is a treatise on what it means to be human in a universe so vast as to be effectively incomprehensible. It was an excellent read.

-Very tasty

The Year of the Whale

2009-11-21T12:05:00.000-05:00

The Year of the Whale
Victor B. Scheffer

This is another used bookstore find. The simplicity of the cover is what attracted me to this one. The silhouette of a whale set against the background of constellations is actually a repeated theme throughout the book. Each chapter (there are twelve, one for each month of the year) is begun with such an illustration.

The book follows the first year of life of a sperm whale calf, born in September. We learn of little calf's adventures and explorations in a world few have actually glimpsed and no human has truly experienced.

Interspersed throughout each chapter are interesting scientific tidbits, historical anecdotes, and information on the whaling industry, which, at the time of the writing of the book, was an actual industry. The Year of the Whale does show its age. Certain scientific studies were still experimenting with what we know today to be fact. The author sometimes poses questions to the reader that have now been answered. Truth be told, it is a bit chilling to read about the whaling industry and its factory ships and explosive harpoons. I am glad that some of the author's dire predictions of hunting to extinction have not come to pass (though we are still too much too careless).

All in all, this was a good read. The author gives incredible insight into the life of a mysterious creature. I cannot imagine the amount of research it took to write this, then the imagination it took to fill in the gaps. While more up-to-date books on the subject have been since written, this book is still a good story.

-Kinda Chewy

The City of Ember

2009-11-12T15:23:00.000-05:00

The City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau

There is a Blockbuster video that is closing nearby. While going through their stacks of dvd's for sale, I found an interesting looking movie, apparently based on a book of the same title, The City of Ember. I usually hate to see a movie based on a book without first reading the book, so I added it to my list of books to pick up (the list is long). I stumbled over it at my local used book store, and set to reading.

The story sounded interesting, a sort of a post-apocalyptic setting about a strange underground city where supplies are running out and the infrastructure is breaking down. Now I am a complete nut for everything post-apocalyptic. So even though this one is a book written for 'young-adults' (which is such a bizarre appellation), since the setting is after some unnamed catastrophe, I still enjoyed it.

That the catastrophe remains unnamed and un-described, even completely un-hinted at until the very end is somewhat irritating. I like to know at least something about the events that set in motion the plot of a story. Apparently we may learn about this in a prequel I havent yet read, however.

All in all, it was an entertaining book. The mystery that the main character finds herself embroiled in is actually interesting. The setting, though familiar to the characters, leaves the reader asking some questions about it, and certainly about it's origins, which are taken for granted by citizens of Ember. The fact that this is a book written for younger readers does make it a light and easy read, so don't expect to lose yourself for a weekend in it.

-Tasty, but not filling

Ender's Game

2009-11-09T19:46:00.000-05:00

Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card

It feels like everyone and their mother has recommended this book to me. Apparently there are film adaptations of this book, multiple sequels, and I know for a fact that there are comic adaptations (I used to work at a comic shop). So when a friend literally hands me his copy and tells me to read it, who am I to say no? I gave in, and read it.

To be honest, I did not care for it. You cannot connect to the main character. "Oh poor you, you've spent your entire childhood as a guinea pig, a rat in a maze, how terrible, but I cannot seem to muster up any empathy for you whatsoever."

The book does not get at all interesting until nearly the end when people finally begin discussing what the Buggers are actually all about. They have spent the entire book preparing for the next Bugger war, and no one has seen fit to actually describe a bugger or explain anything about them. I suppose this is to build up suspense or a sense of mystery but in a book that centers around events set in place by an alien invasion, I would like someone to start talking about said aliens sometime before page 270.

I don't plan on reading the sequels to this book, though I've heard they are better. Though I think its weird when a book is worse than its own sequel.

-An aquired taste.

Sharp Teeth

2009-11-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

Sharp Teeth
Toby Barlow

This one I found while wandering around the bookstore, no real goal in mind. The cover definitely grabbed me, and reading the back of the book, I thought, "Oh cool, a story about a dog-catcher who falls in love with a werewolf, sounds neat."

I take it home and sit down with it, and oh man, it's not written in prose. I found though, that the free verse it's written in serves this book very well. The story flows along smoothly while we still get a great impression of the mood . It's dark, but not in the sense that it's creepy and foreboding, but more that it's raw and shines a light on the dark things that people would rather stay hidden.

The story itself is gritty. The characters are for the most part, caught up in bad situations. The multiple threads of story don't seem to have a link at first, but the author does an excellent job of tying them all together. Not all pasted together last minute, but actually weaving together these threads into a plot that keeps you reading, trying to get to that next big reveal that ties it all together.

The ending, gathers up most of these loose ends neatly, while leaving a few free to tease. I need to know what happens next; I know something is going to happen. Even some of the characters are left in suspense, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

All told, this book was awesome, new stories, new ideas, and a new way of presenting them. Not at all stale and recycled like so much out there.

-Very Tasty.

As a side note, the book has some really cool features in the back, like a playlist, dramatis personae, even a quiz you can take to test if your dog is a werewolf. Also, this book has the absolute coolest website ever. With a public service announcement, quizzes and a pretty neat layout.

www.sharpteeththebook.com