Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons review on Goodreads

Here is my review for Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons on Goodreads:

It’s nice to read a graphic novel that is just a story in its own right. An actual graphic novel that starts and ends, like a novel. Let alone how it also has a consistent artist (Dave Gibbons) throughout the whole series, which is what also makes Watchmen superior to its peers.

A look into ‘superhero realism’ is what this story is. What would superheroes/vigilantes really be like if they were importantly present in society? Would they be the loveable heroes we normally read about, or would they be psychopathic, rapist, deluded, impassive monsters? Probably the latter. And that is why Watchmen is so incredibly readable. Unlike most comics I have read, I actually felt like I was in a realistic (but definitely not idealistic) universe, where people are as complex and twisted as they are in real life.

Unlike most writers of graphic novels, Alan Moore does not hold back on the brutality that vigilantism would have to stoop down to for success at combating the criminal underworld. This psycho-thriller is a definite must-read.

Characterisation is great, and you get a feel of each character through each chapter, seemingly showing the importance each character plays in the world. There’s also a great twist (better than the movie’s version), made poignant by its profound profanity and harrowing truth.

There are annoying bits, such as the pirate comic’s non-sequitur (I found myself sighing every time it interrupted the bloody tense bits), but I also understand why it was included, serving an important message for a development later on that makes the event, when it arrives, even more meaningful. By providing us with moments such as the pirate comic, and also the monologues of the news vendor, we are given even more realism, but most importantly a reflection of public opinion and mood.

The graphic novel delivers many poignant messages and digs deep into the misdemeanours of cold war society, yet still stays relevant to modern day. I found myself bursting through page and page of beautiful artwork, passionate dialogue, and carefully and cleverly-crafted letters/extracts/articles that add context to the thrill. The ending is also brilliant, but I didn’t quite understand why until I saw the film, which I also loved, but that’s just my lack of perception, rather than poor craft.

You can view all of my Goodreads review here.

Anger Management for Beginners: A Self-Help Course in 70 Lessons – Giles Coren review on Goodreads

Here is my review of Anger Management for Beginners: A Self-Help Course in 70 Lessons by Giles Coren on Gooreads.

I love Giles Coren. Not because he’s one of my favourite journalists, not because I’m a little suck-up who writes overambitious and untrue reviews about writers’ books (who I find interesting) just to make their day with my wonderful words, not because I’m deluded, but instead because what Coren writes is scripture. Now I’m not saying I agree with everything he writes (I’m lactose intolerant and it gives me absolute hell that I can’t eat ice cream without ejecting barbs from my face like a porcupine), but do Christians agree with everything in the Bible? No, because they would all be even more deluded than they are already by succumbing to the evil of creationism. I don’t get up every morning, kissing the photo I have of Giles by my bed, under a pile of used socks, touching his chiseled face with my gloved-hand full of vaseline, singing my praises to ye gods: ‘will today be the day I meet my arsehole hero?’ Because let’s be honest, Giles Coren is a massive arsehole. But that is what makes him so amazing.

His sarcasm and dry-dark humour is so relatable. He finds a way to express our truest, rawest versions of emotions and provocative thoughts on paper. And makes it sound clever. Which, when you’ve visited Twitter at least once in your life, or 90% of the blogs on the internet, you will find out that such a circumstance is rare in these modern times.

This book I will dub ‘The Rant Bible’, and although it is basically just a collection of columns, they’re Giles’ columns, which is what makes the book so successful. There were many laugh out loud (that’s LOL for you sophisticated fellows from Eton) moments, where I found myself clutching my groin profusely to try and prevent the life process of urination all over the saucepan I was currently having my mid-morning bath in. The fact that they are columns allows the reader to dip in and out of the book; this is an ideal process for reading on public transport, when you’re out and about and have a spare 5-hour shit break and have already wiped your arse with this morning’s paper, or even if you’re plunging into the luxury of a mid-morning bath in a saucepan.

Whether you’re a neek, or a geek, this book is guaranteed to make you laugh at yourself, stick your middle finger up at Giles with grinning complacency, and possibly send an angry email in complaint to whoever you think will actually care. And if you’re Polish you may be joining the following Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/82085710304/

It’s still so worth it though, yeah??? Right???

You can view all of my Goodreads review here.

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck review on Goodreads

Here is my review of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck on Goodreads:

This play-novelette is Steinbeck’s first real attempt at writing a book for the sake of literature, and not due to pressure from publishers or financial demand.

The story finds George and Lennie, two itinerant workers, starting at a new ranch after some trouble at the one they had previously worked at. They have a dream of one day escaping the inconsistent work ranches provide, and instead lust for a little piece of land to themselves. And also the property of a few rabbits (who doesn’t want a few nibblers to brighten up their life?).

This harrowing portrayal of 1930s working-class Americans during the era of the Great Depression is incredibly poignant historically, as it shows a realistic insight into the difficulties these itinerants faced. It also provides a profound comment on the complexity of dreams and dreaming: the necessity for such escapism, and also the tragic, proleptic futility of it. Steinbeck characterises with magical professionalism; the contrast between George and Lennie is so realistically developed, that further consequences in the novella become even more powerful.

With lovely phrases of description at the beginning of each section, you as a reader enter the world Steinbeck has not just created, but the world he actually lived in.

I believe that’s something rather wonderful.

You can view all of my Goodreads review here.

BR3AKTHRU’S MadCon Book Corner – July

July’s edition of BR3AKTHRU Magazine’s MadCon Book Corner is finally here! This month’s includes reviews of 127 Hours: Between A Rock And A Hard Place by Aron Ralston and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Details of August’s books have already featured on the Poetic Rage Facebook page, usually along with other exclusives linked to both blog and BR3AKTHRU developments, but as I am going camping tomorrow that will not continue over the next week.

The Secret – Rhonda Byrne review on Goodreads

Here is my review for The Secret (compiled) by Rhonda Byrne on Goodreads:

The Secret is an interesting read; although I do not entirely agree with/believe in its ideology, I respect its revolutionary method of rooting positivity into modern society’s bleak, depressive complacency. No, unlike some people who will have read this book or seen the film, I do not view this ideology as scripture, but it is very easy to read and puts across some very interesting ideas. The Secret causes you to reflect back onto life-defining moments, and can actually make a lot of sense if you attempt to focus on its practice. But does The Secret actually encourage laziness and complacency? Just thinking about things does not actually get them done (this is the main principle of the ideology), but I do believe that what The Secret is really telling us is that thoughts become activity, which is true. The emotions we feel become the actions we take.

The view towards illness in this book annoyed me. Telling someone who is depressed to ‘think happy thoughts, and your problems will go away’ is a very naïve piece of healing advice. That is exactly what depression is, when you can’t ‘think happy thoughts’, which is what makes the illness so destructive and horrible for the victim and those living around them. Giving such advice to someone suffering from depression will rarely have any positive kind of effect.

I also found it frustrating how Rhonda Byrne (Australian) only managed to find two teachers who weren’t American, compared to about the other twenty who all were. For a Secret that is boasted to be so prosperous around the globe, why are all the people who know about it Americans, or living in the US? I felt this cheapened The Secret, not because the teachers were American, but because there wasn’t a variety of cultures across the planet shown to be using it in modern day. However, still interesting and worth a read if you’re in desperate need of some inspiration. You never know, it might work for you.

When We Were Bad – Charlotte Mendelson review on Goodreads

Here is my review for When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson on Goodreads:

What Charlotte Mendelson achieves with her great skill of writing, she loses through her storytelling. I struggled with When We Were Bad to begin with, because I just found it so confusing. With so many different characters being initially thrown at you, I had a real difficulty in remembering who was who. As soon as I was around 100 pages in, I had managed to achieve a firm grasp over who all the characters were, but introducing so many right from the beginning made it difficult for me to divulge in.

About a Jewish family, finding their devotion to each other increasingly difficult, the novel is a family-in-crisis kind of tale. It is written very well, and sentences flow into images without many problems, but as I stated before it’s the storytelling that makes it so frustrating.

A family who values truth, so infected by its own hypocrisy that the frustration boils inside you as you want to scream at the world and ask people why they don’t just talk to each other: this was very well portrayed. Each family member’s pretty, (and generally inconsequential) dirty little secrets gradually erode the family’s ‘firm’ structure, not because of its content but because of the fact that they are kept secrets. The character of Jonathan is another example of Mendelson’s literary talent; he is supposed to be hopelessly boring, and he is certainly viewed that way. The structure of his vocabulary is ingeniously designed to allude to that conclusion. He is the definition of a Daily Mail reader.

One point near the end of the book, there was a bit I didn’t quite understand (even though it was a major part of the climax), but I understand its inclusion did make sense as it was deeply rooted in the character shown by previous developments.

The book has a helpful glossary full of Jewish words that are used in the novel in order to help readers unfamiliar with such terms reach a better understanding of the character’s lives, while still using realism as a tool. Annoyingly there were a few gaps in this glossary, and as I would turn to the back of the book to find out what secrets this foreign-looking word was hiding, I would swiftly become bitterly disappointed, resorting to the distractions of my laptop instead. If you’re going to have a glossary, why wouldn’t you be thorough?

Although I may not have liked this book much, I respect Charlotte Mendelson’s talent as a writer, but her skill of literature is not as much to my taste.

You can view all my reviews and ratings on Goodreads by clicking here, or by adding me on the book social networking site.

 

Stuart: A Life Backwards – Alexander Masters review on Goodreads

Here is my review for Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters on Goodreads:

Stuart Shorter was an ex-junkie, (ex-)psychopath, ex-homeless, and relatively unknown in the grand scheme of things. Yet Alexander Masters was still entirely correct in thinking that Stuart’s story was a story worth telling. With the bizarre structure of starting the book at the end of the story, which isn’t actually as confusing as it sounds, the reader is sent on a journey through the life of a chaotic in the heart of Cambridge, England. For so many horrific things that have taken place at Stuart’s fault in his tragically short life, this nightmare of a man really does begin to grow on you. Masters has truly mastered the art of emphasising the tragedy of one’s past at the same time as filling the pages with his own realistic, yet humourous reactions to Stuart’s difficult behaviour.

One thing didn’t work for me, however. Near the end of the book we get to Stuart’s early years with a chapter titled ‘The Forgotten Years: Aged 0-10’ which made no sense to me. The irony of the chapter’s title is very apparent because it seems as if they really are forgotten. Masters visits Stuart’s grandmother to try and find out about the beginning of his life, but we don’t actually find out anything near the sort. It’s not even made clear if those years really are forgotten by the last few who had a chance of remembering them, or if Master’s made a mistake. Intentional irony or not, I didn’t like that.

Stuart: A Life Backwards is a truly brilliant debut from Alexander Masters. With heartfelt sorrow and ironic humour plastered throughout, this book really was an enjoyable read, despite the confusion around ‘The Forgotten Years’.

Stuart Shorter

The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford review on Goodreads

Here is my review for The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford on Goodreads:

The Good Soldier is an intense tale of the complexity of post-Victorian emotional repression. With a collection of entirely despicable characters, it is somewhat refreshing to know that we live in a society that is somewhat openly over-sexualised, instead of in the hellhole of despair that existed in the early 1900s that was under-sexualised, and therefore even more liable to befall upon adultery and deceit in an explosion of desperation for passionate exposure. Ford Madox Ford certainly has a way with words; his beautiful choice of linguistic devices and upper class vernacular exposes the reality behind this harrowing ‘inspired-by-true-events’ account. The problems with it are that sometimes the novel is simply too complex. Although the narrator does recognise this, and he perfectly justifies his reasoning for the use of this peculiar technique of story telling; the events seem to ‘to-and-fro’ between dates and characters, which sometimes begin to twist the story down a path of amnesiac nonsense. With one sentence being set in a certain time, and another being set in an event that took place a few years before, this twisting path of confusion dwells more in a forest of misunderstood mist than in an open field of appreciated clarity. Nevertheless, The Good Soldier is a beautifully written novel (one feels most elegant to read it), and where it falls on, perhaps, context, it rises and succeeds with its literacy.

You can view all my reviews on Goodreads by clicking here, or by adding me on the book social networking site.