http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/986519 en-US Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:31:14 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 19016478 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:31:14 -0700 Review17643641 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17643641 to: Life of Pi (Mass Market Paperback) by Yann Martel
]]> 19016030 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:30:46 -0700 Review17643299 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17643299 to: Count Zero (Paperback) by William Gibson
This is definitely my favorite of Gibson's books, for reasons that I won't bother explaining in detail since it would spoil the story. As with Neuromancer, this book is about setting, atmosphere, ideas, and archetypes. The plot itself and most of the characters are somewhat secondary, a vehicle to convey a brilliantly envisioned world-gone-mad. The chaotic interplay between the different elements of that world, and the strangeness that arises from all that information and technology is really where my love of this story is centered.
As with my reviews of other Gibson books, if you read this one strictly for the events in the plot, you're missing the point. Treat it more like a series of verbal paintings. ]]> 19014824 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:21:58 -0700 Review17642295 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17642295 to: Neuromancer (Paperback) by William Gibson
OK, for those unfamiliar with the genre, Neuromancer is one of the first cyberpunk books, a direct descendant of ideas that Phillip K Dick was exploring through his amphetamine-fueled writing career. Gibson himself was technologically illiterate (ironically) so one of the things I find so fascinating is that he really managed to capture the idea of things without ever grasping the mechanics (I read an interview somewhere in which Gibson explained that when he wrote Neuromancer he didn't even own a computer).
This book is confusing, gritty, and atmospheric. The plot itself is somewhat chaotic and disjointed, and in a way almost secondary to the feel of the novel. The characters and the events in the book become a framework upon which Gibson hangs his vision of our future, and an indictment of human nature and our inability to evolve with our tools. Even younger readers may find this book enjoyable, but for those of us who were born just as (or before) "modern" computers were being developed, and who grew up alongside the maturing technology, the book holds sort of a special reference point.
I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone taking a survey of genre classics, or who enjoys f*cked up art. Gibson's prose is inordinately complicated at times, but his descriptive language and aesthetic viewpoint are unique in my experience, and the book is worth reading on those features alone. If you read it for the plot then you're missing the point, at least in my view. ]]> 19013295 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:02:27 -0700 Review17641119 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17641119 to: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Paperback) by Terry Pratchett
This has got to be one of the funniest satires I've ever read. I suppose the closest comparison I could make is to describe it as a literary sibling to Dogma, but filtered through a distinctly British lense. That description doesn't really do the story justice, but that film definitely hits me in the same place as the book.
The whole premise, and I'm not giving much away here, begins with the accidental "mis-placement" of the infant Antichrist during a complex baby-swapping procedure intended to kick off the Apocalypse. It's all down hill from there.
This book is funny, irreverent, and at times surprisingly insightful. While some parts of the book may seem cliched or even kitschy, the book never puts up the pretense of being revolutionary or edgy. The characters, like any melodrama, are intended to be archetypal, so even the relatively predictable changes that occur seem appropriate in the context of the story. The surprises are really in the details, and in that regard the execution is brilliant. To give you an example, the devil Crowly drives a car in which the tape-deck will transform any tape placed in it into a copy of "Queen's Greatest Hits" within a very short period of time after one hits the play button. Now I love "Bohemian Rhapsody" as much as the next guy, but an eternity of nothing but THAT particular album?! That's the kind of devilry that works on many levels. ]]> 19012183 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:48:32 -0700 Review17640227 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17640227 to: American Gods (Paperback) by Neil Gaiman
This is, in my opinion, one of Neil Gaiman's best novels, and certainly one of his most mature. He manages to maintain the quirky sense of mythological heresy that pervaded his work in Sandman, and balance it with the day-to-day drama of human relationships (well, mostly human anyway).
The characters are, in context, quite sensible and realistic, and his imagining of the new world and old world gods struggling to survive in a largely secular america (his world doesn't care what you SAY you believe in, only what you REALLY believe in) is one of the most refreshing and tragic visions of our religious heritage I've seen in awhile.
As you might imagine, over-application of logic and skepticism will ruin the book for you. That is not to say that Gaiman really goes out on a limb, in fact I think he's one of the most toned down and deliberate authors in the genre, but at it's core American Gods is still old-school campfire and cave-painting storytelling that requires a conscious decision to immerse oneself in the reality of the story to really enjoy it. ]]> 18917864 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:26:26 -0700 Review17565799 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17565799 to: Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, Book 2) by Orson Scott Card
This is the sequel to Ender's Game, but it is a very different sort of story. Where Ender's Game focused primarily on Ender himself and the conflict and characters that were essentially forced into his live, Speaker is about his growth into adulthood and his move out into a larger world dominated by conscious choice. The basic plot could be described as anthropological fiction, as it deals with the first alien race that humans have come into contact with since the war with the formics.
The heart of the story is Ender's struggle to heal a profoundly damaged family on the colony world of Lusitania, while struggling to understand the killing of two human xenobiologists by the normally docile native inhabitants. In the process, Ender is given the opportunity to begin the long road towards forgiving himself, and what starts as a compassionate but detached and altruistic desire to help others becomes a much more difficult and painful reintegration into his own species.
As with Ender's Game, the story is driven by relationships and the dynamic and ethically murky realm of responsibility and power. The prose is deliberately plain and straightfoward, which sharpens the focus on the characters.
I read and enjoyed this book as a child, but re-reading it as an adult was a different experience. The complexity of the family dynamics and the different ways in which the main characters experience guilt, love, and self-hatred makes for a tense but very compelling story, though really getting the most out of the book is predicated upon a conscious decision by the reader to empathize with and embrace the ugly, awkward, and painful side of each character. ]]> 18914380 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:46:29 -0700 Review17562913 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17562913 to: Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card
This has to be, hands down, one of the best science fiction books written. Ender's Game is set in a disarmingly straightfoward sci-fi setting: a near future earth threatened by a hostile alien species with superior technology that seems determined to destroy the human race. The story centers on a young boy who is drafted into an all-consuming military training program at the age of 6. The program he's inducted into seeks to forge a new generation of military commanders out of gifted children, and it's sole purpose is to break them at any cost, until they finally discover someone who can't be broken. What follows is an emotionally complex and at times painfully familiar story of children struggling to accept their inner demons. Ender in particular is cursed with a brutal combination of profound empathy for others, and an overwhelming survival instinct that drives him to win no matter what the cost. It is this combination of gifts that may make him the commander the fleet needs in it's war against the alien invaders, but only if Ender can find a way to survive the burden of understanding his enemy so thoroughly that he can no longer see them as "the other," but as a reflection of himself.
The story is fast-paced, and Card's signature style of simple, plain language and streamlined descriptiveness serves to bring the characters front and center at all times. This book is infused with a very real sense of psychological and spiritual dislocation, and treats it's young protagonists as fully realized, intelligent, 3 dimensional characters struggling with very adult questions. Card's other signature: creating drama through ethical dilemmas, is also a central element of the story, and he does a very good job of challenging the reader to find some semblance of moral high ground anywhere. The conflicts between characters are made all the more powerful by the almost total lack of mystery: motivations and intent are laid out very clearly in most cases, and it is the reader's ability to empathize with everyone's point of view that makes the story less about winning and loosing and more about living with the consequences of either.
This book is thought provoking, emotionally complex, and ethically challenging. It's a powerful examination of conflict and violence, military necessity, family roles, and the ways in which we use the idea of "the other" to justify all manner of savagery.
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