Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 18
December 27, 2023
The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids, by Stanley Kiesel
Shark-infested rice pudding didn't work. Eating Mrs. Jerome didn't work. Even stealing Mr. Snockadocka's beloved Grammar Charts didn't work. There was only one choice left. And that was war!
And what a war it was! The kids had Skinny Malinky, the worst kid of them all--but the teachers had Mr. Foreclosure. The kids had Big Alice, but the teachers had the Rococo Knight. The kids had Honor, Truth, Justice, and Freedom on their side. The teachers had...The Status Quo Solidifier!
The Staus Quo Solidifier, the insidious plan of scheming Mr. Foreclosure, would turn the kids into Perfect Young People before they knew it. But Skinny Malinky knew it, and he vowed revenge!
But first things first: It all started at a school called Scratchland, where there was a rule for every exception--and an exception to every rule!
Skinny Malinky, a non-conformist foster kid, is sent to a school for bad kids, where he leads them on a rebellion. The book is part absurdist comedy, and part satire on the bureaucracy and soul-crushing conformity and jargon of the American school system at the time of writing.
I rarely like satire and I almost never like absurdism, so I was not in the natural audience for this book. I'm not sure who is the natural audience for this book.
I bought it at a library sale because I remembered trying to read it as a kid and being utterly baffled, and wondered how it would come across if I read it as an adult. It looked completely bizarre. In fact, it is completely bizarre and I am now just as baffled. Who was this even aimed at? Was it written somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold?
"Okay, I got the answer," said Big Alice, who had stopped listening.
"Which is?" asked Curly, dodging a blow from Skinny.
"Shark-infested rice pudding."
Everyone shuddered with anticipation.
"I have a shark in my aquarium at home. Her name is Lulu. And she likes rice pudding."
Late that night, Big Alice and Skinny dragged the plastic wading pool with Lulu inside over a deep hole which Fritzie and the Mosquitoes had dug in front of the flagpole. Big Alice and Skinny tied a rope around Lulu and gently lowered her into a large bathtub full of rice pudding at the bottom of the hole.
I gave up after Big Alice ate a teacher and the new principal, Mr. Foreclosure, is revealed to be a talking, normal-sized red ant.
Further research disclosed that the author, Stanley Kiesel, was a teacher and wrote this book, a sequel that no one seems to have read, and a book of poetry called The Pearl is a Hardened Sinner: Notes From Kindergarten.
Julian Thompson (The Grounding of Group 6 and other weird books about literal teenage rebellions) also published in the 80s. Louis Sachar's bizarre and surreal Sideways Stories from Wayside School began in 1978. (I recall enjoying the latter, as one of my rare surrealism exceptions. There was something about ice cream I really liked. I see my food obsession began early.) Maybe there was something in the water.
[image error] [image error]
comments
And what a war it was! The kids had Skinny Malinky, the worst kid of them all--but the teachers had Mr. Foreclosure. The kids had Big Alice, but the teachers had the Rococo Knight. The kids had Honor, Truth, Justice, and Freedom on their side. The teachers had...The Status Quo Solidifier!
The Staus Quo Solidifier, the insidious plan of scheming Mr. Foreclosure, would turn the kids into Perfect Young People before they knew it. But Skinny Malinky knew it, and he vowed revenge!
But first things first: It all started at a school called Scratchland, where there was a rule for every exception--and an exception to every rule!
Skinny Malinky, a non-conformist foster kid, is sent to a school for bad kids, where he leads them on a rebellion. The book is part absurdist comedy, and part satire on the bureaucracy and soul-crushing conformity and jargon of the American school system at the time of writing.
I rarely like satire and I almost never like absurdism, so I was not in the natural audience for this book. I'm not sure who is the natural audience for this book.
I bought it at a library sale because I remembered trying to read it as a kid and being utterly baffled, and wondered how it would come across if I read it as an adult. It looked completely bizarre. In fact, it is completely bizarre and I am now just as baffled. Who was this even aimed at? Was it written somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold?
"Okay, I got the answer," said Big Alice, who had stopped listening.
"Which is?" asked Curly, dodging a blow from Skinny.
"Shark-infested rice pudding."
Everyone shuddered with anticipation.
"I have a shark in my aquarium at home. Her name is Lulu. And she likes rice pudding."
Late that night, Big Alice and Skinny dragged the plastic wading pool with Lulu inside over a deep hole which Fritzie and the Mosquitoes had dug in front of the flagpole. Big Alice and Skinny tied a rope around Lulu and gently lowered her into a large bathtub full of rice pudding at the bottom of the hole.
I gave up after Big Alice ate a teacher and the new principal, Mr. Foreclosure, is revealed to be a talking, normal-sized red ant.
Further research disclosed that the author, Stanley Kiesel, was a teacher and wrote this book, a sequel that no one seems to have read, and a book of poetry called The Pearl is a Hardened Sinner: Notes From Kindergarten.
Julian Thompson (The Grounding of Group 6 and other weird books about literal teenage rebellions) also published in the 80s. Louis Sachar's bizarre and surreal Sideways Stories from Wayside School began in 1978. (I recall enjoying the latter, as one of my rare surrealism exceptions. There was something about ice cream I really liked. I see my food obsession began early.) Maybe there was something in the water.
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 26, 2023
Yuletide Recs, Part I
Happy Yuletide!
I woke up to THREE absolutely wonderful gifts, and an entire collection to dive into. Here are some recommendations. If you enjoy these stories, please leave a comment or a kudo, or comment here if you don't have an AO3 account.
DON'T NEED TO KNOW CANON
The City and the City, by China Mieville
Spencer Tunick and the Giant Ul Qoman Protuberance.
There are two things you need to know to read this story. 1) There's a link in the author's note to the work of the real life artist Spencer Tunick. You need to click on it. 2) The premise of the book is that two cities exist as separate entities in the same place via their inhabitants' mutual agreements to pretend to not see anything belonging to the other city. Mieville takes this premise very seriously and uses it to explore serious political and social themes. This story actually also does explore political and social themes, but it also considers the farcical aspects and is hilarious.
"FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense" - Luke Burns
All you need to know to read these stories is this classic, hilarious McSweeney's piece, FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense. Go read it if you never have, you're in for a treat.
There are four Yuletide stories for this fandom and they're all hilarious. I recommend all of them.
NEED TO KNOW CANON
Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
Two Beasts. My gift! Ellidyr, Eilonwy. 2074 words.
My favorite kind of fix-it, the kind that doesn't fix everything but provides a new chance and a path forward. The concerns are very much those of the book: self-knowledge, getting past first impressions of people, and taking that self-knowledge and actually doing something with it. Excellent characterization.
Die - Comics
who needs enemies. Dominic Ash | Ash the Dictator/Isabelle | Godbinder. 6195 words.
I love seeing tropey fic for rare fandoms. This has Ash and Izzy switching bodies; it's a great exploration of their relationship and their individual relationships with their own physicalities, plus hot sex and a solid plot.
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Darkening Skies. Kylara/Lessa, Kylara/F'lar, Lessa/F'lar. 8551 words.
A really interesting, unusual canon-divergence AU; I won't spoil what it is as it takes a while for all the elements to become clear, but it's very cool. Also a terrific portrait of Kylara - her POV is done very, very well.
Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Place of Birds. My gift! Penthe. 2378 words.
This is a crossover with Piranesi, but it's Earthsea canon that you need to know as it's about Penthe going to the House! It's an absolutely beautiful story, very well-characterized, surprising, and ultimately joyous.
The White Ladies of the Ring. My gift! Penthe/Tenar, Ged, Ogion. 7901 words.
What if Penthe had gone to the Archipelago with Tenar, and then stayed with her? Another very joyous AU, in which Penthe's loyalty and drive for sensual pleasure interacts very well with Tenar's guilt and desire for a private life. Also Ged stays in touch. It's great.
Nightfall. Arha, Penthe. 1683 words.
What if Arha had turned back to the Tombs at the last minute rather than leaving with Ged? Very well-written, very dark.
What have you enjoyed this Yuletide?
comments
I woke up to THREE absolutely wonderful gifts, and an entire collection to dive into. Here are some recommendations. If you enjoy these stories, please leave a comment or a kudo, or comment here if you don't have an AO3 account.
DON'T NEED TO KNOW CANON
The City and the City, by China Mieville
Spencer Tunick and the Giant Ul Qoman Protuberance.
There are two things you need to know to read this story. 1) There's a link in the author's note to the work of the real life artist Spencer Tunick. You need to click on it. 2) The premise of the book is that two cities exist as separate entities in the same place via their inhabitants' mutual agreements to pretend to not see anything belonging to the other city. Mieville takes this premise very seriously and uses it to explore serious political and social themes. This story actually also does explore political and social themes, but it also considers the farcical aspects and is hilarious.
"FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense" - Luke Burns
All you need to know to read these stories is this classic, hilarious McSweeney's piece, FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense. Go read it if you never have, you're in for a treat.
There are four Yuletide stories for this fandom and they're all hilarious. I recommend all of them.
NEED TO KNOW CANON
Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
Two Beasts. My gift! Ellidyr, Eilonwy. 2074 words.
My favorite kind of fix-it, the kind that doesn't fix everything but provides a new chance and a path forward. The concerns are very much those of the book: self-knowledge, getting past first impressions of people, and taking that self-knowledge and actually doing something with it. Excellent characterization.
Die - Comics
who needs enemies. Dominic Ash | Ash the Dictator/Isabelle | Godbinder. 6195 words.
I love seeing tropey fic for rare fandoms. This has Ash and Izzy switching bodies; it's a great exploration of their relationship and their individual relationships with their own physicalities, plus hot sex and a solid plot.
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Darkening Skies. Kylara/Lessa, Kylara/F'lar, Lessa/F'lar. 8551 words.
A really interesting, unusual canon-divergence AU; I won't spoil what it is as it takes a while for all the elements to become clear, but it's very cool. Also a terrific portrait of Kylara - her POV is done very, very well.
Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Place of Birds. My gift! Penthe. 2378 words.
This is a crossover with Piranesi, but it's Earthsea canon that you need to know as it's about Penthe going to the House! It's an absolutely beautiful story, very well-characterized, surprising, and ultimately joyous.
The White Ladies of the Ring. My gift! Penthe/Tenar, Ged, Ogion. 7901 words.
What if Penthe had gone to the Archipelago with Tenar, and then stayed with her? Another very joyous AU, in which Penthe's loyalty and drive for sensual pleasure interacts very well with Tenar's guilt and desire for a private life. Also Ged stays in touch. It's great.
Nightfall. Arha, Penthe. 1683 words.
What if Arha had turned back to the Tombs at the last minute rather than leaving with Ged? Very well-written, very dark.
What have you enjoyed this Yuletide?
comments
December 24, 2023
comments
Pre-Yuletide Activities
View Poll: #30376
View Poll: #30377
Here's the Yuletide collection.
If you're the sort of person who shakes presents, it's possible to shake Yuletide stories before they open. Here's how you do it.
First, click on the fandom tag. I'll use Dragonriders of Pern as an example. Then go to the sidebar on the left and click on the tags.
By clicking on "characters," I can see that Lessa, F'lar, and Menolly are featured in two stories (but I can't tell if it's the same two stories or different ones), and that Mirrim is in one story. You can click on relationships, which shows me that I can happily anticipate one story featuring Kylara/Lessa and one featuring Menolly & Mirrim (probably not the same story). And "Additional Tags" shows me that two stories feature canon divergence AUs, plus one tag each for hurt/comfort, future fic, and worldbuilding.
Have you shaken any stories? What are you happily anticipating in the collection? What wank do you anticipate will occur?
In addition to my gifts which look AMAZING, I am excited to see those seven Pern stories, Mr. Burns: an Electric Play, and stories for "Eleanor Rigby," Equus, Earthsea, Emelan, the Expanse, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Jean Auel's Earth's Children - and that's in E alone!
comments
View Poll: #30377
Here's the Yuletide collection.
If you're the sort of person who shakes presents, it's possible to shake Yuletide stories before they open. Here's how you do it.
First, click on the fandom tag. I'll use Dragonriders of Pern as an example. Then go to the sidebar on the left and click on the tags.
By clicking on "characters," I can see that Lessa, F'lar, and Menolly are featured in two stories (but I can't tell if it's the same two stories or different ones), and that Mirrim is in one story. You can click on relationships, which shows me that I can happily anticipate one story featuring Kylara/Lessa and one featuring Menolly & Mirrim (probably not the same story). And "Additional Tags" shows me that two stories feature canon divergence AUs, plus one tag each for hurt/comfort, future fic, and worldbuilding.
Have you shaken any stories? What are you happily anticipating in the collection? What wank do you anticipate will occur?
In addition to my gifts which look AMAZING, I am excited to see those seven Pern stories, Mr. Burns: an Electric Play, and stories for "Eleanor Rigby," Equus, Earthsea, Emelan, the Expanse, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Jean Auel's Earth's Children - and that's in E alone!
comments
December 23, 2023
Progress in pottery
After four months of practice in Crestline plus eight actual lessons in LA, I am thoroughly addicted and should probably not be allowed in pottery supply shops without a leash. I have acquired a large set of tools and multiple jars of glazes and underglazes, as the studio has a very small selection of glazes - I think only ten total.
I am still very bad at centering clay. This is the first step in making stuff on the wheel, and if you don't get it right your pieces will be lopsided. I can now usually get the top centered but not the bottom. If I do get the whole thing centered, it comes un-centered when I open it (create the well in the lump of the clay) or later in the process.
In that regard, I have once again managed to do the thing that always seems to happen with me, which is an early display of promise followed by a complete failure to live up to it. Joey (the Crestline studio owner) sadly remarked that I seemed to have it the first time I tried and I should watch more YouTube videos. Donna (the LA teacher, who is more tactful) seemed baffled that I STILL haven't gotten it after four months of practice and multiple lessons just on that. In both cases, all their other students who started at the same time as me or later than me have mastered centering.
However, I have now managed to at least sometimes center well enough that I can (again, sometimes) create things that, while not quite symmetrical, are at least close enough that I can use them as a basis for what I'm really interested in, which is carving, glazing, and other forms of decoration. So I figure that even if I'm much slower than average at centering, I have at least gotten somewhat better at it, which presumably means that at some future point I will achieve basic competence, even if I never get really good at the wheel. Luckily, basic competence is all I'm really after in terms of the wheel, because if I can make a bowl that's even okay, I can do this with it.
Here is a celadon bowl. The glow is light shining through it; porcelain is translucent when thin, and so is the glaze.
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
Hand-building, on the other, er, hand, is something I've been doing since I was about eight, though mostly with oven-baked modeling clay. The skills transfer pretty well to actual clay.
Here is a porcelain rose.
[image error]
[image error]
comments
I am still very bad at centering clay. This is the first step in making stuff on the wheel, and if you don't get it right your pieces will be lopsided. I can now usually get the top centered but not the bottom. If I do get the whole thing centered, it comes un-centered when I open it (create the well in the lump of the clay) or later in the process.
In that regard, I have once again managed to do the thing that always seems to happen with me, which is an early display of promise followed by a complete failure to live up to it. Joey (the Crestline studio owner) sadly remarked that I seemed to have it the first time I tried and I should watch more YouTube videos. Donna (the LA teacher, who is more tactful) seemed baffled that I STILL haven't gotten it after four months of practice and multiple lessons just on that. In both cases, all their other students who started at the same time as me or later than me have mastered centering.
However, I have now managed to at least sometimes center well enough that I can (again, sometimes) create things that, while not quite symmetrical, are at least close enough that I can use them as a basis for what I'm really interested in, which is carving, glazing, and other forms of decoration. So I figure that even if I'm much slower than average at centering, I have at least gotten somewhat better at it, which presumably means that at some future point I will achieve basic competence, even if I never get really good at the wheel. Luckily, basic competence is all I'm really after in terms of the wheel, because if I can make a bowl that's even okay, I can do this with it.
Here is a celadon bowl. The glow is light shining through it; porcelain is translucent when thin, and so is the glaze.
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
Hand-building, on the other, er, hand, is something I've been doing since I was about eight, though mostly with oven-baked modeling clay. The skills transfer pretty well to actual clay.
Here is a porcelain rose.
[image error]
[image error]
comments
December 20, 2023
Mary, by Nat Cassidy
Mary is an isolated, socially anxious woman who lives alone except for a collection of porcelain dolls which she calls her Loved Ones. When she turns 50 and starts having perimenopausal symptoms, she also finds that if she sees the face of a middle-aged woman - her own included - she starts seeing it decaying. Unsurprisingly, doctors dismiss her in the exact same patronizing manner that the rest of the world dismisses her. She's a middle-aged woman; she's invisible and worthless.
The one person who actually knows her, the aunt who raised her and who she's been estranged from for 30 years, calls her and asks her to come take care of her for a while. Mary accepts, and so returns to the little desert town where she'll be seeing people who knew her as a child. Weird shit ensues.
I was first alerted to Mary by listening to a podcast interview with the author, in which he said it was inspired by Carrie only with menopause instead of menstruation. I was very enthusiastic about this idea, as well as disappointed that I hadn't thought of it first. As it turns out, though Carrie was the inspiration, Cassidy wrote a very different book. Mary is not a book about an outcast woman who gets supernatural powers with menopause and takes revenge with them.
What Mary is actually about isn't formally revealed until about a third of the way in, but it is revealed in the blurb and it's obvious to the reader way before Mary admits it to herself. In fact you can figure it out from the the prologue. But just in case anyone would rather go in totally unspoiled...
( Read more... )
I had very mixed feelings about this book. Mary is a great character and I liked her a lot, even though she's not likable in the normal sense of the world. Her Aunt Nancy is a very fun character, ditto. The narration is often very funny in a dark way, and the climax is excellent.
However. There is a particular trope that I don't mind in short stories but which drives me crazy at longer length. ( Read more... )
Cassidy is taking on some big topics and props to him for doing so, but I wanted a different take than the one he went with.
( Read more... )
Cassidy obviously did a lot of research and talked to a lot of women to write the book, but he missed one bit. Mary's interactions with doctors are condescending, and Cassidy obviously thinks the doctors are being horrible to her and is outraged by it. In fact, her doctor interactions are actually very good on a scale of "woman dealing with doctors." If I'd had any of them, I'd have walked out thinking, "Oh thank God, that wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been."
I listened to the audio version of Mary, and would have given up on the entire book if it hadn't been one of the best audiobook performances I've ever encountered. Susan Bennett absolutely nails Mary's voice. She's hilarious and scary and riveting. So I'm not sorry I persevered but Nestlings is a big improvement. Cassidy wrote Mary under really bad circumstances and a lot of sleep deprivation, often in fifteen-minute chunks, and you can kind of tell.
Content notes: Extremely, extremely gory, to the point that I skipped some parts. Gruesome dog death. Child harm. Depictions of misogyny (not endorsed by author).
[image error] [image error]
comments
The one person who actually knows her, the aunt who raised her and who she's been estranged from for 30 years, calls her and asks her to come take care of her for a while. Mary accepts, and so returns to the little desert town where she'll be seeing people who knew her as a child. Weird shit ensues.
I was first alerted to Mary by listening to a podcast interview with the author, in which he said it was inspired by Carrie only with menopause instead of menstruation. I was very enthusiastic about this idea, as well as disappointed that I hadn't thought of it first. As it turns out, though Carrie was the inspiration, Cassidy wrote a very different book. Mary is not a book about an outcast woman who gets supernatural powers with menopause and takes revenge with them.
What Mary is actually about isn't formally revealed until about a third of the way in, but it is revealed in the blurb and it's obvious to the reader way before Mary admits it to herself. In fact you can figure it out from the the prologue. But just in case anyone would rather go in totally unspoiled...
( Read more... )
I had very mixed feelings about this book. Mary is a great character and I liked her a lot, even though she's not likable in the normal sense of the world. Her Aunt Nancy is a very fun character, ditto. The narration is often very funny in a dark way, and the climax is excellent.
However. There is a particular trope that I don't mind in short stories but which drives me crazy at longer length. ( Read more... )
Cassidy is taking on some big topics and props to him for doing so, but I wanted a different take than the one he went with.
( Read more... )
Cassidy obviously did a lot of research and talked to a lot of women to write the book, but he missed one bit. Mary's interactions with doctors are condescending, and Cassidy obviously thinks the doctors are being horrible to her and is outraged by it. In fact, her doctor interactions are actually very good on a scale of "woman dealing with doctors." If I'd had any of them, I'd have walked out thinking, "Oh thank God, that wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been."
I listened to the audio version of Mary, and would have given up on the entire book if it hadn't been one of the best audiobook performances I've ever encountered. Susan Bennett absolutely nails Mary's voice. She's hilarious and scary and riveting. So I'm not sorry I persevered but Nestlings is a big improvement. Cassidy wrote Mary under really bad circumstances and a lot of sleep deprivation, often in fifteen-minute chunks, and you can kind of tell.
Content notes: Extremely, extremely gory, to the point that I skipped some parts. Gruesome dog death. Child harm. Depictions of misogyny (not endorsed by author).
[image error] [image error]
comments
December 19, 2023
The Spite House, by Johnny Compton
When the novel opens, Eric Ross has been on the run with his daughters Dess (18) and Stacy (7) for about a year. They've been living hand-to-mouth and in a succession of cheap motels, with Eric taking whatever jobs he can find (often low-level illegal) and Dess secretly starting to take some similar jobs of her own. We quickly learn that they're not wanted for any crime but are considered missing people; as they're Black, their case is not a priority with law enforcement. Eric and Dess have told Stacy that her mother is back home and will join them soon, but as they're co-conspirators in protecting Stacy both from whatever they're running from and why, it's not clear whether this is true or if the mother is even still alive.
So when Eric spots a want ad for someone to stay in a locally notorious haunted house in the small town of Degener, Texas, with a whole lot of money promised to document paranormal activity on the premises, he jumps at it. But his employer Eunice, an elderly white woman who basically owns the town, isn't being altogether straight with him over exactly why previous tenants failed. The house is a "spite house" - a bizarrely narrow and tall construction built on a tiny slice of land specifically to spite someone nearby, either by looming over them or blocking their view. (This is a real thing.)
The Spite House is a first novel. I'd heard of it already, but bought it after listening to a non-spoilery interview with the author on a podcast, A Pyroclastic Flow of Negative Energy. Johnny Compton (what a great name!) was tremendously likable on it.
The biggest strength of the book is that Stacy and Dess are also tremendously likable, and the other characters are, if not always likable, very sympathetic and believable, or, if not sympathetic, vivid. I was rooting for Eric, Dess, and Stacy so hard. Their relationship as a family and as individual duos is so well-done. There's also a fascinating relationship with their now-dead great-grandfather.
I particularly liked the Eric & Dess relationship, which is a type I'm not sure I've ever seen in fiction before. They're a father and daughter, but the daughter is on the very cusp of adulthood, and they're both transitioning from a child-daughter to an adult-daughter relationship, and due to both personality and circumstances, they're also currently relating to each other as equals and co-parents. It's really interesting and well-done.
The prose is also very good, and the book feels very real apart from the supernatural goings-on. Degener feels like a real place, and its inhabitants like real people. Both people and places have a depth of history and relationships that's very rich and real. There's also a plot turn about halfway through that knocked my socks off.
The book has some big problems as well. In the interview, Compton mentioned that his publisher had limited the book's length as he was a first time author. On the one hand, the book would have benefited from more length as there's a number of elements that felt slighted or missing. On the other hand, portions are slow and feel like not much is happening, so there's an issue with imbalance as well. There's multiple POVs that are fine in themselves but added to the feeling of imbalance; at the current length, it would have been better to limit the POVs to Eric, Dess, and Stacy.
In terms of the spite house itself, Compton focuses mostly on the element of spite in general. There's not as much time spent on the house as a scary place with weird geography as I would have liked.
But my biggest problem with the book was that some very significant elements never got any resolution.
( EXTREME SPOILERS! I really enjoyed not being spoiled for this! )
In conclusion, a book with some excellent aspects and some glaring flaws. I'll definitely read his next book.
Content notes: Depictions of historical and current racism. Child harm/death (in the past). But it's all non-graphic. This is not a gory, violent, or gruesome book at all.
[image error] [image error]
comments
So when Eric spots a want ad for someone to stay in a locally notorious haunted house in the small town of Degener, Texas, with a whole lot of money promised to document paranormal activity on the premises, he jumps at it. But his employer Eunice, an elderly white woman who basically owns the town, isn't being altogether straight with him over exactly why previous tenants failed. The house is a "spite house" - a bizarrely narrow and tall construction built on a tiny slice of land specifically to spite someone nearby, either by looming over them or blocking their view. (This is a real thing.)
The Spite House is a first novel. I'd heard of it already, but bought it after listening to a non-spoilery interview with the author on a podcast, A Pyroclastic Flow of Negative Energy. Johnny Compton (what a great name!) was tremendously likable on it.
The biggest strength of the book is that Stacy and Dess are also tremendously likable, and the other characters are, if not always likable, very sympathetic and believable, or, if not sympathetic, vivid. I was rooting for Eric, Dess, and Stacy so hard. Their relationship as a family and as individual duos is so well-done. There's also a fascinating relationship with their now-dead great-grandfather.
I particularly liked the Eric & Dess relationship, which is a type I'm not sure I've ever seen in fiction before. They're a father and daughter, but the daughter is on the very cusp of adulthood, and they're both transitioning from a child-daughter to an adult-daughter relationship, and due to both personality and circumstances, they're also currently relating to each other as equals and co-parents. It's really interesting and well-done.
The prose is also very good, and the book feels very real apart from the supernatural goings-on. Degener feels like a real place, and its inhabitants like real people. Both people and places have a depth of history and relationships that's very rich and real. There's also a plot turn about halfway through that knocked my socks off.
The book has some big problems as well. In the interview, Compton mentioned that his publisher had limited the book's length as he was a first time author. On the one hand, the book would have benefited from more length as there's a number of elements that felt slighted or missing. On the other hand, portions are slow and feel like not much is happening, so there's an issue with imbalance as well. There's multiple POVs that are fine in themselves but added to the feeling of imbalance; at the current length, it would have been better to limit the POVs to Eric, Dess, and Stacy.
In terms of the spite house itself, Compton focuses mostly on the element of spite in general. There's not as much time spent on the house as a scary place with weird geography as I would have liked.
But my biggest problem with the book was that some very significant elements never got any resolution.
( EXTREME SPOILERS! I really enjoyed not being spoiled for this! )
In conclusion, a book with some excellent aspects and some glaring flaws. I'll definitely read his next book.
Content notes: Depictions of historical and current racism. Child harm/death (in the past). But it's all non-graphic. This is not a gory, violent, or gruesome book at all.
[image error] [image error]
comments
Book Review Poll
I got very behind on reviewing books I've read. I read or re-read all of these recently. What strikes your fancy?
View Poll: #30356
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View Poll: #30356
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December 17, 2023
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My Fanpottery & Fanfic
Here is some of my recent fanpottery and fanfic.
Fan Pottery
Star Wars - Original Trilogy
Star Wars Pottery Set. A mug and a bowl depicting Luke's home on Tatooine; a cup and saucer set with the cup painted to represent Luke's Rebel pilot colors and the saucer in his Jedi colors.
Fanfic
Barton Fink
Getting Hot in Here: Horror and Homoeroticism in the B-Movies of Barton Fink. An article on the films of Barton Fink.
Dark Tower - Stephen King
My Love is like a Red, Red Rose.
The river flowed along the Path of the Beam, and the ka-tet walked along its bank. It was good pure water, if very cold. The fish they pulled from it were fat and fine and fairly leaped onto their hooks, and none had three eyes or tentacles or slimy fur instead of scales.
It seemed suspiciously nice for Mid-World.
Equus - Peter Shaffer
White Horses. Dysart tries horse exposure therapy on Alan.
The Expanse - TV
The Woman in White. The crew of the Roci tell ghost stories.
I think all you need to know to read this is that the characters are a crew on a spaceship and they come from Mars, Earth, and the Belt (a set of moons and asteroids), which all have different cultures.
The Long Walk
Hints for the Long Walk. A set of helpful hints for the Long Walk.
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Fan Pottery
Star Wars - Original Trilogy
Star Wars Pottery Set. A mug and a bowl depicting Luke's home on Tatooine; a cup and saucer set with the cup painted to represent Luke's Rebel pilot colors and the saucer in his Jedi colors.
Fanfic
Barton Fink
Getting Hot in Here: Horror and Homoeroticism in the B-Movies of Barton Fink. An article on the films of Barton Fink.
Dark Tower - Stephen King
My Love is like a Red, Red Rose.
The river flowed along the Path of the Beam, and the ka-tet walked along its bank. It was good pure water, if very cold. The fish they pulled from it were fat and fine and fairly leaped onto their hooks, and none had three eyes or tentacles or slimy fur instead of scales.
It seemed suspiciously nice for Mid-World.
Equus - Peter Shaffer
White Horses. Dysart tries horse exposure therapy on Alan.
The Expanse - TV
The Woman in White. The crew of the Roci tell ghost stories.
I think all you need to know to read this is that the characters are a crew on a spaceship and they come from Mars, Earth, and the Belt (a set of moons and asteroids), which all have different cultures.
The Long Walk
Hints for the Long Walk. A set of helpful hints for the Long Walk.
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