Geek Love follows the Binewski family magical-realism style. It starts with Al, the soon-to-be father who gets the notion in his head of breeding his Geek Love follows the Binewski family magical-realism style. It starts with Al, the soon-to-be father who gets the notion in his head of breeding his own freak show.
People talk easily to me. They think a bald albino hunchback dwarf can’t hide anything.
The absurdity of this unhinged narrative only ratchets up from there, and it's beautiful and ugly.
We follow Olympia/Oly, who is a...bald albino hunchback dwarf. She has several siblings who are more impressive than her from a freak standpoint, but I'll just tell you about one of the dead ones for now:
Leona’s jar was labeled “The Lizard Girl” and she looked the part. Her head was long from front to back and the forehead was compressed and flattened over small features that collapsed into her long throat with no chin to disturb the line. She had a big fleshy tail, as thick as a leg where it sprouted from her spine, but then tapering to a point. There was a faint greenish sheen to her skin but I suspected that Arty was right in claiming that Al had painted it on after Leona died. “She was only seven months old,” Lil would murmur. “We never understood why she died.”
Horror is one of the top tags for this. I'm not sure that I really agree. It's macabre and bursting with dark humor, but I think it would be a mistake to come into it expecting a horror novel. I can definitely see that the Freak Show season of American Horror Story could have been partly inspired by this, however (although that show is barely horror itself tbf).
Most of the "horror" probably comes from Arturo/Arty's storyline.
‘The only liars bigger than the quack are the quack’s patients.’ Arty used to just keep me in stitches. Eleven years old he was then.
Arty...imagine if Artemis Fowl had no hands or legs and pretended not to be super bitter about it, and that's about how Arty, the Aqua Boy, is. Confined to a powerless body, he quickly learns to use his mind as his means of controlling his environment and those around him. He is one of the most important siblings and is the one Oly is closest to.
“I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy. Each of these innocents on the street is engulfed by a terror of their own ordinariness. They would do anything to be unique.”
While I no doubt have a lot of pondering to do before I can fully understand and appreciate this book, one of Dunn's major themes is that deformity can cover the full range of people/personality. They don't have to be nice, and they don't have to pine away the wee hours in dreams of being a "norm." In fact, it's more often the opposite sentiment that drives this story to its wildest peaks.
My only caveat would be that the chapters that happen in the present (most of the book takes place in the past) can be a little off putting when they first appear. I recommend pushing past that to get to the core of the book. Despite that, this is my favorite book of the year....more
Now a second plague comes to the house in the north woods. And while the first was brought by wind and spore, this time the mighty finger of B
Now a second plague comes to the house in the north woods. And while the first was brought by wind and spore, this time the mighty finger of Blame points clearly toward the interstate, the Girl Scouts of America, and eros.
North Woods is easily one of my favorite reads this year (and I've read almost 100!). I immediately bought it as a Christmas gift for someone after finishing it, and I'm sure I'll return to it again within a few years (when I make my boyfriend listen to the audio version haha).
The book is written as connected short stories, all revolving around an old house north of Springfield, Massachusetts. They follow a chronological order, so the first is about a young couple fleeing a Puritan settlement in the 1600s, and the last takes place in modern times.
But if not: Alice, Mary! Remember, always: she is an eating-apple, never press her into cider.
Between this and Tracy Chevalier's At the Edge of the Orchard, this seems to be the year of pomomania for me (author's invented word for an obsession with apples). The Chevalier novel gave more explanatory information on the difference between eaters and spitters, so I recommend reading that first if you'd like to embark on your own pomomanic adventure. But basically, an eater is a luxury pursuit whose seeker often neglects more important and practical things. The apples that grow at the house in the north woods feature heavily throughout time, first purposefully cultivated by Charles Osgood, who lived there in the 1700s.
Osgood, a British soldier who fought at the Plains of Abraham in the Seven Years' War, was stabbed by a bayonet that had just been used to cut an apple. Thus begins a pomomania that grips him for the rest of his life. We even get to read his diary, which is mostly about apples.
Oh, woe! said she. How can it be A dame of tress so fair, That dammed within the earth could be, Like winter’s toad, or bear?
Like Osgood's diary, the narrative chapters of North Woods are interspersed with ballads, dark notes, a doctor's notes, a true crime article, and more. Mason really nailed it with these different writing styles and character voices.
More like the passenger pigeons he’d seen in natural-history books than any rock dove. He grimaced. [His daughter] would have a field day. Just like him, in a moment of emotion, to spot something that had gone extinct.
One of my favorite stories comes near the end. Morris, a metal detectorist and amateur historian, has his own interest in the house in the north woods. Both this chapter and its preceding address to a historical society are extremely well done. A lot of the humor present through the book culminates here.
She has found that the only way to understand the world as something other than a tale of loss is to see it as a tale of change.
North Woods is part historical fiction, part nature novel, which is inevitably a story of loss and change. From the supposedly extinct catamount and the multiple tree blights that have found their way here from around the world, to the human intervention that cuts up and separates formerly pristine natural areas, each have their impact on the north woods. Like its residents, these changes only accumulate over time....more
I’d guessed Evening View saw enough traffic for the proprietors not to pay close attention to any particular guest. I was way off on that one.
I’d guessed Evening View saw enough traffic for the proprietors not to pay close attention to any particular guest. I was way off on that one. The woman had stared at me as if she knew within a matter of days she’d be picking me out of a police lineup.
.
I picked this quote because I think it summarizes how much of a face palm the main characters are. I assumed this book would have a serious, even noir vibe, but it quickly turned into a bumbling, fumbling Scooby Doo troupe. And I love it for that.
“Hopper’s coming.” “No. He’s not. This isn’t a fucking fourth-grade class trip.”
I also am always a sucker for any epistolary, or in this case, full multi-media components. Most of these are in the book, but anything audio/visual (as well as some lengthier extra documents) are on the author's website. You can tell when there's something on the website because there will be the Cordova bird image in the book at those points.
While there is a scary moment or two, this is much more firmly a page-turner mystery. I just let it have the horror tag in the sense that it's about horror.
On the subject of tags, I included several that are only based on theories presented in the book. Pessl's ability to twist the reader up in these various, competing theories is one of the greatest strengths of this book, but some may dislike it for this reason.
Scott, the main character and a fallen journalist, can be problematic. Although I enjoyed the book, I found myself hesitant to recommend it to others as I was unsure what would come out of his mouth in the second half that would end up biting me in the ass. Imagine a white male boomer going around saying and thinking outdated things that are just on the line. Thankfully, this toned down in the second half of the book since he wasn't talking to as many random people.
In any case, this guy is investigating an underground horror film maker named Cordova. The same investigation had been the cause of Scott's downfall several years before. Despite that, Scott is never short of cash to flash around. Now he's taken up the investigation again through the guise of a different angle: Ashley Cordova, the filmmaker's mid-20s daughter is found dead at the bottom of an empty elevator shaft.
I've seen some reviewers say the clues came too easily, too sequentially. While they have a point, this didn't detract from my enjoyment and, frankly, obsession with this book. Given the often zany, larger-than-life nature of the book, I don't think a hardcore detective process was the point....more
I previously read this but didn't review it. This time, I only listened to the audiobook, mainly for my boyfriend's benefit, as background noise whileI previously read this but didn't review it. This time, I only listened to the audiobook, mainly for my boyfriend's benefit, as background noise while I was working. The audiobook itself was months ago, but I wanted to at least write something.
This classic horror novel that's more than a horror novel is still one of the best. Two-bit writers everywhere are still ripping off this title. Shirley Jackson always knew how to make things feel just slightly off to maximum creepy or eerie effect. Whether writing horror or some awkward suburban scenario, it's always evident how smart and insightful she was....more
Hands down, this book has to be the weirdest book I've read in a long time and also my favorite read so far this year. It follows a man named Yozo ObaHands down, this book has to be the weirdest book I've read in a long time and also my favorite read so far this year. It follows a man named Yozo Oba from boyhood and into the first decades of adulthood. From childhood, he finds it difficult and stressful to interact with others. His father, a politician, has high expectations of his family, as does society. He also suffers sexual abuse by two of his household's staff members. To cope with the latter issue and to get out of being respected (thus freeing himself of expectations?), Yozo plays the role of the clown. A series of unnecessary tragedies follow this set up.
I usually wouldn't read an adaptation of something I haven't read. In this case, it was the only Junji Ito book I could get from the library immediately. And having never heard of the original, I felt it was unlikely I would read it any time soon. This made me want to read the original, so I'm glad I strayed from my usual course this time.
From what I can tell, this isn't a straight adaptation. For example, this manga version opens with someone (presumably Osamu Dazai, the author of the original) committing suicide the way he did in real life when he finished the novel. The novel has been seen as the author's suicide note, so that kind of deviation added something to the story that I think paid respects to the author as well....more
Awesome volume! To be honest, I have liked the loosely connected stories more than the arcs (my favorite issue in the last volume was "Men of Good ForAwesome volume! To be honest, I have liked the loosely connected stories more than the arcs (my favorite issue in the last volume was "Men of Good Fortune," a medieval/Renaissance story). But through these stories, we see more of how Gaiman's fictional universe works, for example, such as Dream's changing appearance based on who he is interacting with.
"Calliope": This story brings Greek mythology into the Sandman universe. In this chapter, we see writers using musing to attain artificial success.
"A Dream of a Thousand Cats": This is a story from the perspective of cats. It's kind of like a mix of Animal Farm and The Never-Ending Story, so pretty cool but also sad.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream": Great little story set in the late 1500s that connects with "Men of Good Fortune" from the previous volume. He uses the Long Man of Wilmington in an interesting way.
"Façade": Apparently this features a DC character, but I didn't realize it or feel that I was missing anything while reading. Basically, the story starts with a woman working for the CIA comes into contact with the god Ra while on a mission in Egypt. She is disfigured and feels like an outcast....more
I reviewed the individual graphic novel volumes, but I think the audio adaptation is deserving of its own consideration.
Locke and Key builds a fantasyI reviewed the individual graphic novel volumes, but I think the audio adaptation is deserving of its own consideration.
Locke and Key builds a fantasy concept as memorable as Harry Potter (though it's not for kids). It features a family who become the possessors of a magical set of keys and one of the better villain in recent memory.
The audio has excellent voice acting throughout as well pretty thoughtful changes to reflect the visuals in the dialogue or narration. There are also plenty of unintrusive sound effects and music. Despite that effort, there are still several instances that would be hard to follow with audio alone (action/fighting/struggling scenes). And on top of that, why the hell wouldn't you want to see the artwork?
I highly recommend the audio adaptation as a companion to the comics/graphic novels. Check your library if that sounds expensive....more
5/5 stars for this volume and the series as a whole. I'll remember it fondly the way I remember Harry Potter. They work based on a lot of the same fac5/5 stars for this volume and the series as a whole. I'll remember it fondly the way I remember Harry Potter. They work based on a lot of the same factors: magic just under the surface of the real world known to some select few. I'm left with the feeling that we've only scratched the surface of the Locke & Key universe (in a good way). And while there are some stand-alones set in different times for me to continue with, I will miss the modern-day Locke family and other characters from this series.
I have only sporadically read a few graphic novels, comics, or manga over the years, so I find it harder to comment on the art. But I did enjoy it and thought it contributed to a lot of cool moments that wouldn't have been possible in another format.
I accompanied the graphic novel with the Audible audio adaptation, which was also really well done....more
It's probably harder for a short-story collection to get a five-star review from me. It's not enough to just produce two or three hits; I need to loveIt's probably harder for a short-story collection to get a five-star review from me. It's not enough to just produce two or three hits; I need to love just about all if not all stories.
I'm so excited to read more from Karen Russell. These stories made me smile. They were quirky, funny, absurd, and true. Most are set in the coastal swamps of southern Florida, but there are a couple of oddballs, such as the historical fiction in which a family headed by a minotaur embark on a wagon trail west, or the one about the descendants of pirates in New Zealand.
Russell has an easy writing style that effortlessly shifts into magical realism and absurdity.
The below story descriptions and quotes from just some of the stories based on a handful of quote I just picked out.
"Ava Wrestles the Alligator"
Patsy Cline croons, “till death do us pa-a-art.” Even without a ghost boyfriend of my own, I recognize this phrase to be a stupid fantasy. Is Patsy for real? What makes Patsy think that she’ll get off so easy, loving only for a lifetime?
The first story in the collection, it's the one I don't think I fully understood, but I really wanted to? The reader (if they're like me) is the younger sister who sees "entire kingdoms" in her older sister, getting only rare and incomplete glimpses. Whether these men they find in the swamps to date are pedophiles, ghosts, both, or alligators, damned if I know.
"Haunting Olivia"
The goggles: they work. And every inch of the ocean is haunted. There are ghost fish swimming all around me.
The second story, and by this time I knew this writer is a gem. Two brothers find a pair of goggles underwater and discover it allows them to see the dead. They determine to find their sister, who drowned and was never recovered.
""Z.Z.'s Sleep-Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers"
And it occurs to me that throwing a dead sheep into the sinkhole, this is not our best idea.
This is about a camp for kids with sleep disorders, some real, some fantastical.
"The Star-Gazer's Log of Summer-Time Crime"
I try to keep my voice casual, as if being invited to join a crime ring with a cute girl and the coolest kid in my grade is a routine occurrence for me.
You know when you went on a (probably) lame family trip to a local staple, and you'd randomly see one person from school there you weren't even friends with? And then you start a comical ironical crime gang together? And then you immediately cast aside the astronomy your dad has been trying to instill in you for only your whole life so you don't look like a nerd? It's like that.
"The City of Shells"
“That’s where I sucked off the chlorine vendor.”
Man, teenagers are dumb. I think the main plot of this could be kind of spoilery, but it's set at some poorly kept, commercialized tourist destination featuring giant seashells. This story features some cross over with others, since the leader of the comical ironical crime gang has a small part in this story.
"Accident Brief, Occurrence # 00/422"
They have a knack for making you feel like you are betraying your pirate lineage just by sitting in a car.
This is the one I mentioned above about pirate descendants in New Zealand. The main character has conflicting feelings about that, since a lot of what his people are proud of is no longer acceptable. Several other wacky characters feature, including Mr. Oamaru, who once accidentally bred a two-headed reindeer calf....more
This was a childhood favorite, probably because it was one of the more dangerous and macabre ones. Rereading the series, I could name some that I thinThis was a childhood favorite, probably because it was one of the more dangerous and macabre ones. Rereading the series, I could name some that I think are technically better, such as Standing in the Light or A Picture of Freedom. But as with most books that move from one place to another quickly, I think it's harder to tell a cohesive story like that. Of course, we can hardly follow an Oregon Trail pioneer girl if we just sit around in Missoura (actually I can since that's where I live and read the book, but that's beside the point).
“Remember, Hattie, tell the good and the bad.”
Hattie and her family set out for Oregon City the year after the Donner Party disaster. While they aren't following the same trail as they have a different destination, the threat of not reaching Oregon before winter was one of the most pressing. It exacerbated a lot of tragedy, as there was not time to search for lost children, or find people swept up by a river during a crossing, or even to slow the pace a bit so an elderly couple could keep up.
“I still ain’t in agreement with Brigham Young’s theology but if he wants to rest on the Sabbath good for him. But, Hattie, don’t judge a man only by how strict he keeps rules.”
Good dad.
And yes, Brigham Young appears and is mentioned several times in this book, since his initial group is traveling to Salt Lake City the same year as the wagon train in this book. Some of his group stays behind at some of the tougher crossings to build ferries and other facilities. All of this would have gone completely over my head. Honestly, when I first read this I was probably clueless as to why a man would even want multiple wives. Also, this is the second book I've read this year in which Brigham Young snuck in somehow (the other being Mister Magic).
Speaking of wives, there are multiple marriages of 14-year-old girls that take place in this novel. I don't know how realistic that was for people on the Oregon Trail, but in my experience it would have been rare for a girl to marry so young. I don't remember it mentioning anyone officiating these marriages, either. I'm honestly not even sure where they would have obtained a marriage license out there at that point, so I'm guessing Trail marriages were only made official later (if ever).
Another real person mentioned a few times is Narcissa Whitman, who was one of the first two American women to go to Oregon. She never formally appears, but she's mentioned several times by Hattie's Aunt June, who is a friend of Narcissa's.
Overall, I still liked this one, but I thought the history section at the end was kind of lacking. But I think the author did a good job of incorporating the types of experiences pioneers wrote about in their own (real) travel diaries into the story....more
Can she not do as she’s told for once in her life? They only come for the wild maiden.
I held off on reading this for a while because I thought I m
Can she not do as she’s told for once in her life? They only come for the wild maiden.
I held off on reading this for a while because I thought I might not like it. I don't know why I thought that, because I loved it. It's a combination of historical setting (medieval Russia) and fantasy that just works. Vasya, the main character, is a free spirit and a bit of a tom boy, always quick with a scathing remark for anyone who wants her to be otherwise. Her mother, a little-known daughter of Ivan I, carried her to term claiming that she would be special, a little magical, like her own witchy mother. Out in the northern wilderness, magic is always ripe and people are set in their old ways, yet change from the big city (Moscow) can still get a foothold.
“It is a cruel task, to frighten people in God’s name. I leave it to you.”
I loved all the Russian folklore and cultural stuff. I felt Arden did well at writing from different perspectives, and for the most part I saw more shades of grey in them than black and white. Though I lost a bit of interest near the end of the book (some of what was mysterious becomes mundane), this is an amazing first novel from a young author....more
I read this 3 years ago but never reviewed or marked it as read since I was still reading the essays in the back of the Norton Critical Edition. I stiI read this 3 years ago but never reviewed or marked it as read since I was still reading the essays in the back of the Norton Critical Edition. I still haven't read those essays, but I loved the book/novella. It expresses the anxieties of the early days of the modern world, but the absurdity of the situation lends itself to humor....more
This book questions the way Jack the Ripper's five canonical victims have been portrayed while offering biographies for each. Namely, Rubenhold is criThis book questions the way Jack the Ripper's five canonical victims have been portrayed while offering biographies for each. Namely, Rubenhold is critical of the idea that all the women were what we would call prostitutes today. Women who cohabited with a male partner without marriage (often due to being unable to divorce a first husband) were considered prostitutes in the Victorian era. While Rubenhold found no good evidence that three of the women had ever been prostitutes, she did find a common demon in another vice.
Rubenhold gave me a solid image of how difficult life could be and how the poor lived. The different ways these women got by was illuminating, as were their origins. I had no idea that one of the victims was from Sweden, for example. Reading this book, it seems a bit perverse that people have been trying to solve this for well over 100 years without much regard for the women themselves.
I saw the series Victorian Slum House before reading this. It pairs well in theme and gave me a good visual....more
[Dad] announced that Father Wanderly would be arriving soon to perform the exorcism and that we should get ready. I didn’t know what to do to get read
[Dad] announced that Father Wanderly would be arriving soon to perform the exorcism and that we should get ready. I didn’t know what to do to get ready so I went to the small half bath off the kitchen and washed my sticky hands.
I enjoyed this. It reminded me of my childhood (the beginning, not so much the exorcism part). I grew up in a family with three girls, as well as other girls who lived on our street. I think most of our time was spent trying to scare each other and ourselves. We made up creepy stories that we weren't sure were true or not, we'd walk around the woods connecting each piece of trash or debris to some kind of murder scene, we'd play mean tricks such as taking someone in the basement before suddenly running back upstairs, pulling the light switches while yelling about the "old lady ghost," and I can remember people being dared to pinch shut sleeping noses to a soundtrack of giggling during birthday sleepovers.
I kept going back to those memories as I read this. At many points, Merry doesn't know if Marjorie is faking, similar to how we didn't know for sure if the creepy stories other kids told were true, or where the joke was supposed to end. I really connected with the child/girlhood depicted in this book, which is a little surprising, being an exorcism novel written by a man. On that note, Merry is adorable.
The books goes between chapters of Merry telling the story to a journalist/writer as an adult and a blog on the horror genre. This is kind of fun/interesting foreshadowing, because sometimes the blog mentions things that Merry hasn't gotten to yet in her retelling.
2024 Update: Upon reread (via audiobook this time), I decided to upgrade my rating from 4 stars to 5. Merry is adorable. I also read Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle between these reads, so I see now how The Exorcist is only the decoy heritage of A Head Full of Ghosts....more
This is fantastic. I don't want to review it, I want to talk about it! I think the opening paragraph of the book is worth including in case it grabs sThis is fantastic. I don't want to review it, I want to talk about it! I think the opening paragraph of the book is worth including in case it grabs someone's attention:
My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the deathcup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.
This is my third year in a row of reading Shirley Jackson in the Octoberish season (which naturally extends before and after October). In 2019 I read The Haunting of Hill House, and in 2020 I read The Lottery and Other Stories. They have consistently been highlights of not only my Octoberish reading, but also of my entire reading year. That's because Jackson was an amazing writer; every missed line in the film adaptation is a loss.
“That was my dead wife’s chair on your left, young man,” Uncle Julian said.
I like to go into books without knowing much. In this case, all I knew was that the book was about two "weird" sisters. So I won't say much more than that besides a quick note on a couple of favorite side characters. First, there is the infirm Uncle Julian, whom I found extremely endearing when he wasn't being annoying and overly demanding. He has never fully wrapped his head around a personal and family tragedy from years past and is constantly going through every last meaningless detail. And then there is Jonas, the cat. I'm convinced that several works of analysis could be written on this cat, and I am hoping to find some!
I did not look at him; I looked at Jonas, who was looking at him.
Although there are so many good things I could say about this book, I think the best part is that, like her other works I have read, Jackson leaves the story and characters open to interpretation in a good way. Even though it is a short book, there is enough depth to leave you thinking on it for days, and everyone seems to take away something a little different....more