Book Reviews

[Brian861]

Outstanding review, Andrew! One of your best if not the best to date I'd say. You've hit the nail squarely on the head, my friend .

[bugen]

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

“I’m frightened. Of us.”

A group of boys between the ages of 5 and 12 are stranded on a deserted, tropical island and have to learn to fend for themselves, completely unprepared to do so. The children band together and form a basic society, but it begins to fall apart as the warring aspects of human nature emerge and the boys devolve into savagery.

The book is a study of humanity on a microcosmic, easily identifiable scale. It’s the war of id versus ego, instinct versus rationalism. Ralph doesn’t have the intellectual capacity of Piggy but strives to understand and is more capable of leadership than most of the other boys, while Jack is more the monster within us, acting based on instant gratification and raging instinct. Piggy is capable of problem solving and may be seen as the last, gasping remains of civilization.

Perhaps more important than any of these main three characters is the conglomerate human animal embodied by the rest of the boys; they are what really make up the bulk of mankind. They, we, need our leaders to instruct us, to tell us what do. We will follow. The path of least resistance is one where we don’t have to make decisions for ourselves and can just float along instead.

Another important factor as the micro-civilization devolves is the idea we’re willing to place so much responsibility on a few shoulders without contributing ourselves, but ready to reap the benefits should anyone else’s work come to fruition, e.g. Ralph’s signal fire or Jack’s feast of boar. Ayn Rand wrote extensively about this in Atlas Shrugged, a book that is popularly demonized today but is a cutting look at society.

And then there’s this, right after a tragedy:

“Piggy, what’s wrong?”
Piggy looked at him in astonishment.
“Do you mean the--?”
“No, not it… I mean… what makes things break up like they do?”
Piggy rubbed his glasses slowly and thought. When he understood how far Ralph had gone toward accepting him he flushed pinkly with pride.
“I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.”
“Jack?”
“Jack.”

I set the book aside after reading that exchange and thought about it. Considering what Jack represents, the thing that has kept us alive, helped us survive the nights, evolve through the millennia, procreate and spread, harness the wills of men, become successful masters of the planet, all of it—that’s the problem with us. The thing that keeps us alive is the very thing that dooms us.

The philosophy presented here can be dealt with simply. All copies of this book can be gathered up and burned on a sacrificial pyre to appease the dark gods and give us a chance to beg for mercy, for within these pages is a fundamental, uncomfortable truth we shouldn’t be forced to face:

We can say to ourselves, “We are Ralph. We can hope, and we can lead. We are not Jack.” We can say, “We are Piggy, and we can think, and we can solve. We are not Jack.” But the truth is there in black and white, and we’ve known it all along. We are not Jack.

We are the savages.

5 stars

SAM_4982.jpg

SAM_5007.jpg

SAM_5014.jpg

SAM_5020.jpg

SAM_5022.jpg

SAM_5027.jpg

[Brian861]

I got my shipping notice from Water Street Books yesterday, so The Fireman should be here Monday or Tuesday. Can't wait!

[Dave1442397]

I got my shipping notice from Water Street Books yesterday, so The Fireman should be here Monday or Tuesday. Can't wait!

[Brian861]

Thanks for the review, Martin. I have it on order from CD and can't wait to read it. I really dig Joe's sig in this one .

[bugen]

I just laid all the books out on the floor and took a pic from above

You guys are so good. I can imagine having all kinds of logistics problems taking that, like my feet in the picture, reflection obliterating a cover, shadow, etc. Your mosaic is a work of art.

I'm looking forward to the Centipede press edition of this and I'm hoping I'll be able to scratch together the money to get it. From their latest newsletter it sounds great and expensive!

Yep, I'm trying to decide on this one myself.

Joe Hill - The Fireman

Sweeeeet.

[Martin]

Joe Hill - The Fireman

the-fireman.jpg

Had the opportunity to read an ARC of this one. As the book is not yet out I will make sure not to include any spoilers in my review.

I will start by saying that this book was my most anticipated book in quite some time. Locke and Key is one of my favorite stories and I have liked everything Joe has published. With that said 'The Fireman' is now my favorite Joe Hill story and one of my top books read.

The story follows Harper Grayson during a pandemic outbreak of a spore that causes people to develop lesions called Dragonscale and eventually burst into flames. The outbreak spreads very rapidly and with people unsure of how it spread and no known treatments or cure panic ensues. With the world burning from the fires created society breaks down. The story delves into the response of society when panic takes over and people grasp for power using the fears of the people. It does this without political commentary though.

Definitely a must read for 2016!

Five Stars!!!!!

[Sock Monkey]

Julia - Peter Straub

“The dark gained on them all.”

I agree, bugen It isn't Straub's best, but I do think that it works on the scale of which it is written. It doesn't have the vast tapestry of characters or subplots that Ghost Story and Floating Dragon has, but it feels more personal. I think this and If You Could See Me Know make a great double-feature. I'm looking forward to the Centipede press edition of this and I'm hoping I'll be able to scratch together the money to get it. From their latest newsletter it sounds great and expensive!

[Dave1442397]

I've seen that documentary and it was good. Really gives you a sense of the guy and his attitude, basically pissed off at everyone for being idiots. There's a great playlist on his YouTube channel of all of his old Harlan Ellison's Watching shorts from Sci Fy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgAX...vWAzA0M2xQn8jA
I've seen most of them but still have 15 or so to go.

Love that pic you posted of all the books, Dave. How'd you take that? Seems like a difficult angle!

I just laid all the books out on the floor and took a pic from above

Thanks for the youtube link! I haven't seen those clips, so I'll add them to my playlist.

[bugen]

Julia - Peter Straub

“The dark gained on them all.”

Our title character Julia, wealthy by inheritance and obsessed with her daughter’s death years before, retreats from her husband, Magnus, and buys a house where she plans to live by herself. She begins seeing things in the house, including a strange little girl, and starts investigating the history of her new home. Magnus, along with his sister Lily, tries to convince Julia to return to his care, regain control of herself, and accept what really happened with their daughter. But Julia’s investigation uncovers troubling circumstances.

Julia is the author’s first supernatural novel, and proper framing is assisted by mentioning his following two novels. Mr. Straub’s most famous work is Ghost Story, his third supernatural novel, a masterpiece that weaves a kind of slow, creeping cloud around the reader. If You Could See Me Now, an excellent, straight-shooter of a horror story bridges the gap between Julia and Ghost Story.

Julia shares pacing elements with If You Could See Me Now, where the story moves quickly and doesn’t take as much time generating a fog, though you can see the beginnings of the style in the author, more so here than in the second book. It’s not as capable as that second supernatural novel, but is far livelier and faster-paced than the monstrous Ghost Story where the mist-machine is used so effectively.

Character development is strong, especially with Magnus, an alpha we can easily see dominating the rest of the players. Also enjoyable are the elements of mysticism with Lily’s circle of friends that help to trigger Julia in the first place, and with Magnus’ brother Mark whose meditation lifts him out of the world. The book has mystery elements as well but is far from a whodunit.

Julia is a good story, the first stepping-stone on a crooked path to glory and has multiple scenes of intense imagery as only the best writers can evoke.

“In this room, air refused to circulate, but piled atop itself, densely.”

3- stars


*Centipede's working on releasing this one
cover.jpg

[TacomaDiver]

That documentary has been on my wishlist for awhile now - should just pull the trigger and buy it (I've honestly been waiting it for it to be on Amazon Prime, but no dice yet.)

[bugen]

I've seen that documentary and it was good. Really gives you a sense of the guy and his attitude, basically pissed off at everyone for being idiots. There's a great playlist on his YouTube channel of all of his old Harlan Ellison's Watching shorts from Sci Fy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgAX...vWAzA0M2xQn8jA
I've seen most of them but still have 15 or so to go.

Love that pic you posted of all the books, Dave. How'd you take that? Seems like a difficult angle!

[Dave1442397]

I've been an Ellison fan for a long time. Back when I lived in Ireland, I could only get a few of his books, so when I found out a friend was going to NYC in the summer of '84, I asked him to see if he could find some books for me. He came back with the twelve ACE paperbacks and a few others, which was fantastic.

This was the collection in early 2010...I must take some new pics.

P1100163.jpg

If you haven't seen the Ellison documentary, Dreams with Sharp Teeth, it's worth a look. I bought it on iTunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDwEr942gMY

www.HarlanEllisonBooks.com is a good place to get signed copies and pre-order many HE books.

[bugen]

Glad you liked the review, thanks for saying. This book is a great place to start getting involved with his speculative fiction, and it’s his short introduction outlining some of his hurdles and that first story that really sinks the hook in deep. I’ve read a couple of his even earlier collections that were mostly crime stories and I liked them both but they didn’t really contain this type of fiction that made him so well known. The man’s a fascinating, troubled, brilliant guy. Enjoy the trip!

[TacomaDiver]

Thanks for the great review!

Ellison has always been someone that I knew of, but I only discovered him last year. I spent a good portion of last year acquiring a decent collection of signed LEs but haven't gotten around to reading much. This review makes me want to pause my reading of the Lansdale Hap & Leonard and McCammon's Corbett series though.