Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 56
April 16, 2022
rachelmanija @ 2022-04-16T17:25:00
Haggadah required paylink. Now passing around an iPad. Technical difficulties.
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Plagues are a go
You can see the final plagues on my Facebook and Instagram.
We lost the Haggadahs and are reading them off our phones.
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We lost the Haggadahs and are reading them off our phones.
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My latest rainbow
When you're fleeing slavery in Egypt, you need good hair. Thank you to the brilliant Teacup Mermaid. Chag Sameach!
Behold my new hair!
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Behold my new hair!
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Happy Passover! I need help with some plagues.
I have five plagues represented with jelly beans and gummies: blood, hail, darkness, frogs, and boils.
Behold five delicious plagues of Egypt!
Using only jellybeans, what colors should represent gnats, wild beasts, locusts, pestilence, and the death of the firstborn? Please check pic so if possible, colors are not duplicated.
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Behold five delicious plagues of Egypt!
Using only jellybeans, what colors should represent gnats, wild beasts, locusts, pestilence, and the death of the firstborn? Please check pic so if possible, colors are not duplicated.
comments
April 13, 2022
We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory
Five survivors of assorted horror scenarios, from "plucky boy detective battles eldritch horrors" to "partly eaten by cannibals," form a therapy group.
This was what I wanted The Final Girls Support Group to be. A lot of it actually takes place in the sessions and it really is primarily about the group, to the extent that it's narrated as "we." Gregory's wife is a therapist, and the group sessions ring true within their weird framework.
One of the fun things is that the horrors the characters encountered are all essentially variants on pulp horror tropes: Lovecraftian horrors, cannibal families, glasses that enable you to see the monsters living among us, cults, demon lovers, possession, artistic serial killers, and so forth.
Once the survivors start talking to each other, they find that though their traumas and responses to it are very different, they have some very important commonalities: knowledge of a particular type of dark side, for instance, but also having a trauma so unusual that it's either impossible to discuss or a temptation to make it your calling card. This gets into the thing Gregory does so well, which is melding realistic psychology with horror tropes.
I wish this was a bit longer, to delve more into the characters and their lives, but it's very good as is. (It's a novella.) There's a sequel hook for a story that never materialized (there are some prequel stories about Harrison the former boy detective, which I haven't read), but if you know in advance that the question of whether the monsters have a larger plan is not going to be answered, the ending works well on a character level.
[image error]
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This was what I wanted The Final Girls Support Group to be. A lot of it actually takes place in the sessions and it really is primarily about the group, to the extent that it's narrated as "we." Gregory's wife is a therapist, and the group sessions ring true within their weird framework.
One of the fun things is that the horrors the characters encountered are all essentially variants on pulp horror tropes: Lovecraftian horrors, cannibal families, glasses that enable you to see the monsters living among us, cults, demon lovers, possession, artistic serial killers, and so forth.
Once the survivors start talking to each other, they find that though their traumas and responses to it are very different, they have some very important commonalities: knowledge of a particular type of dark side, for instance, but also having a trauma so unusual that it's either impossible to discuss or a temptation to make it your calling card. This gets into the thing Gregory does so well, which is melding realistic psychology with horror tropes.
I wish this was a bit longer, to delve more into the characters and their lives, but it's very good as is. (It's a novella.) There's a sequel hook for a story that never materialized (there are some prequel stories about Harrison the former boy detective, which I haven't read), but if you know in advance that the question of whether the monsters have a larger plan is not going to be answered, the ending works well on a character level.
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April 12, 2022
Sundial, by Catriona Ward
Rob, a suburban mom with two young daughters, has problems. Oh boy does she have problems. Her husband Irving is abusive, her younger daughter Annie is fragile, and her older daughter Callie is showing signs of being a budding serial killer. When Callie tries to poison Annie, Rob takes Callie on a visit to her childhood home, which was a sort of scientific commune, where she hopes to do... something... to fix her.
The novel has four distinct narratives. One: Rob, in the present. Two: Rob, telling Callie about her own childhood (unsurprisingly weird and horrifying). Three: Callie, in the present. Four: Rob's unpublished novel, which is modeled on old-fashioned boarding school books but the characters have the names of her family and other people in her life, and the events are melodramatic horror.
I love this sort of thing if it's well-done and all ties together, and this is and does. Callie's sections are especially striking. Callie sees ghosts and talks partly in spoken emojis ("Red Face" for angry, "Champagne Glass" for party, etc). She is always accompanied by a ghost puppy that she may or may not have killed herself, and by a girl she calls Pale Callie - "pale" being her word for "dead."
In the present, Rob and Callie are locked in a psychological war, with Rob telling the story of her own life to try to explain things to Callie and also trying to understand Callie, and Callie suspicious of her mother's weird behavior and thinking Rob is planning to kill her. Rob is definitely doing some odd things, like digging a suspiciously grave-like hole in the backyard and throwing meat over a fence.
In the past, Rob and her fraternal twin Jack (both girls) are raised in a sort of family commune in the desert by parents who doing experimental behavior modifications on dogs that have become vicious due to abuse, to make them nonviolent again, via brain surgery and a genetic therapy they call "the click." Rob and Jack are extremely isolated and home-schooled, and don't interact with anyone other than their parents, a man living with them who's kind of a surrogate uncle, and a passel of grad students who make brief stays to help with the experiments. They're not allowed to read non-improving books, and so get obsessed with a boarding school book they find and read in secret.
This is an extremely dark, extremely well-written and well-constructed, and extremely bonkers book. It's hard to classify but contains elements of horror, science fiction, fantasy, Gothic, thriller, and family melodrama. The author calls it Grand Guignol, which should give you an idea of the tone and content. For the most part, it's very well-done and compelling; I gulped it down in a single evening and will seek out more of Ward's books. The central relationships, between Rob and Callie and between Rob and Jack, are heartbreaking in a good way.
But I am not kidding about dark. Let me provide some content warnings.
Content warnings: Serial killer-style small animal murder (off-page). Cruel experiments to modify behavior in dogs (on-page, a major part of the book). Bait worm maggots. Dead cows. Dead dogs. Ghost dogs. [rot13 for spoiler: TUBFG SRGHF]. Getting mauled by dogs. Child abuse. Dead children. Children in danger. Dangerous children. Miscarriage. Drug abuse. Mental illness. Domestic violence. Infidelity. Unfortunate implications about child abuse, mental illness, and fate.
This is another book where most of the discussion has to go under a cut as it has a lot of twists and revelations, most of which made sense, one of which is GREAT, and one of which is TERRIBLE.
( Read more... )
Cue every single comment being "I definitely won't read this book!"
[image error]
comments
The novel has four distinct narratives. One: Rob, in the present. Two: Rob, telling Callie about her own childhood (unsurprisingly weird and horrifying). Three: Callie, in the present. Four: Rob's unpublished novel, which is modeled on old-fashioned boarding school books but the characters have the names of her family and other people in her life, and the events are melodramatic horror.
I love this sort of thing if it's well-done and all ties together, and this is and does. Callie's sections are especially striking. Callie sees ghosts and talks partly in spoken emojis ("Red Face" for angry, "Champagne Glass" for party, etc). She is always accompanied by a ghost puppy that she may or may not have killed herself, and by a girl she calls Pale Callie - "pale" being her word for "dead."
In the present, Rob and Callie are locked in a psychological war, with Rob telling the story of her own life to try to explain things to Callie and also trying to understand Callie, and Callie suspicious of her mother's weird behavior and thinking Rob is planning to kill her. Rob is definitely doing some odd things, like digging a suspiciously grave-like hole in the backyard and throwing meat over a fence.
In the past, Rob and her fraternal twin Jack (both girls) are raised in a sort of family commune in the desert by parents who doing experimental behavior modifications on dogs that have become vicious due to abuse, to make them nonviolent again, via brain surgery and a genetic therapy they call "the click." Rob and Jack are extremely isolated and home-schooled, and don't interact with anyone other than their parents, a man living with them who's kind of a surrogate uncle, and a passel of grad students who make brief stays to help with the experiments. They're not allowed to read non-improving books, and so get obsessed with a boarding school book they find and read in secret.
This is an extremely dark, extremely well-written and well-constructed, and extremely bonkers book. It's hard to classify but contains elements of horror, science fiction, fantasy, Gothic, thriller, and family melodrama. The author calls it Grand Guignol, which should give you an idea of the tone and content. For the most part, it's very well-done and compelling; I gulped it down in a single evening and will seek out more of Ward's books. The central relationships, between Rob and Callie and between Rob and Jack, are heartbreaking in a good way.
But I am not kidding about dark. Let me provide some content warnings.
Content warnings: Serial killer-style small animal murder (off-page). Cruel experiments to modify behavior in dogs (on-page, a major part of the book). Bait worm maggots. Dead cows. Dead dogs. Ghost dogs. [rot13 for spoiler: TUBFG SRGHF]. Getting mauled by dogs. Child abuse. Dead children. Children in danger. Dangerous children. Miscarriage. Drug abuse. Mental illness. Domestic violence. Infidelity. Unfortunate implications about child abuse, mental illness, and fate.
This is another book where most of the discussion has to go under a cut as it has a lot of twists and revelations, most of which made sense, one of which is GREAT, and one of which is TERRIBLE.
( Read more... )
Cue every single comment being "I definitely won't read this book!"
[image error]
comments
April 11, 2022
Revelator, by Daryl Gregory
Revelator is brilliant historical folk horror/dark fantasy on two time tracks. In 1933, nine-year-old Stella goes to live with her grandmother Motty and join the generations of Birch women: girls and women who commune with the God in the Mountain, aka Ghostdaddy. In 1948, Stella is a bootlegger who wants nothing to do with the God in the Mountain or the weird cult around it, but gets drawn back in when she hears that a new girl, Sunny, has gone to live with Motty... and Ghostdaddy.
Only women can enter the cave where Ghostdaddy lives and come out alive, but the women have men in their lives - some supportive without really understanding, and some who are in the cult of men who write down and interpret the women's revelations from the God in the Mountain. The cult is essential to the plot and a sharp commentary on how women in religion can be venerated without holding any real power, their words used and twisted and profited off by men.
The bootlegging aspects of the story are convincing and sometimes hilarious. (Stella has trouble finding decent help.) There's a solid cast of compelling, often morally gray, sometimes very likable, always vivid set of characters. But mostly, I loved Stella, the previous and subsequent Birch women, and the God in the Mountain.
The book has a fantastic narrative voice, a very atmospheric setting and culture, and one of the best monsters I've ever encountered.
Content notes: contains complicated, world-specific, well-handled issues of child abuse, cults, and consent. Violence. Period-typical racism and sexism (from characters, not the author). Deaths of pigs, deer, and mice.
The book is extremely well-plotted, with layers of revelations that widen the world and increase your understanding of the characters and their motivations. And that is all I can say about that or anything else without spoilers.
( Read more... )
The audiobook version has an excellent narrator.
[image error]
comments
Only women can enter the cave where Ghostdaddy lives and come out alive, but the women have men in their lives - some supportive without really understanding, and some who are in the cult of men who write down and interpret the women's revelations from the God in the Mountain. The cult is essential to the plot and a sharp commentary on how women in religion can be venerated without holding any real power, their words used and twisted and profited off by men.
The bootlegging aspects of the story are convincing and sometimes hilarious. (Stella has trouble finding decent help.) There's a solid cast of compelling, often morally gray, sometimes very likable, always vivid set of characters. But mostly, I loved Stella, the previous and subsequent Birch women, and the God in the Mountain.
The book has a fantastic narrative voice, a very atmospheric setting and culture, and one of the best monsters I've ever encountered.
Content notes: contains complicated, world-specific, well-handled issues of child abuse, cults, and consent. Violence. Period-typical racism and sexism (from characters, not the author). Deaths of pigs, deer, and mice.
The book is extremely well-plotted, with layers of revelations that widen the world and increase your understanding of the characters and their motivations. And that is all I can say about that or anything else without spoilers.
( Read more... )
The audiobook version has an excellent narrator.
[image error]
comments
April 9, 2022
The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, by Gene Kemp
What did the cross-eyed teacher say?
"I can't control my pupils."
All the chapters start with this kind of kid joke, which is something Tyke loves. Tyke Tiler is a mischievous, athletic kid whose best friend is Danny, who has a severe speech impediment and a learning/developmental disability.
The ostensible plot is that Danny is going to be sent to a different school unless he can pass a test, but mostly it's an episodic story about two kids raising hell and being loyal to each other. The tone is similar to the William books by Richmal Crompton, if anyone's read those, but less farcical. It's fun.
I had a very weird experience reading this book. Since I knew there was a big twist, the instant I read the back cover, I was positive that Danny and Tyke were the same person.
Spoiler: Danny and Tyke are absolutely not the same person, as is extremely obvious almost immediately, but I was so convinced they were that I kept thinking up absurd explanations for why teachers might address them by two different names and people talk about them to each other.
Eventually I decided that they had to be separate people, and the twist would actually be some kind of cement truck tragedy.
Spoiler: There is no cement truck tragedy.
So I stopped looking for a "it was this all along" type of twist, except for a brief interlude in which I was absolutely convinced that Tyke had been dead all along due to a mention of joining Tom, who is very much alive but whom I misremembered as being a long-dead soldier.
Spoiler: Tyke is not dead all along.
As two of you clever readers guessed, the twist is that...
( Read more... )
So that was a surreal reading experience. If you ever want one for yourself, take any random book which is primarily about the relationship of two people, and start reading it under the impression that they are either the same person, or one of them is a ghost.
[image error]
comments
"I can't control my pupils."
All the chapters start with this kind of kid joke, which is something Tyke loves. Tyke Tiler is a mischievous, athletic kid whose best friend is Danny, who has a severe speech impediment and a learning/developmental disability.
The ostensible plot is that Danny is going to be sent to a different school unless he can pass a test, but mostly it's an episodic story about two kids raising hell and being loyal to each other. The tone is similar to the William books by Richmal Crompton, if anyone's read those, but less farcical. It's fun.
I had a very weird experience reading this book. Since I knew there was a big twist, the instant I read the back cover, I was positive that Danny and Tyke were the same person.
Spoiler: Danny and Tyke are absolutely not the same person, as is extremely obvious almost immediately, but I was so convinced they were that I kept thinking up absurd explanations for why teachers might address them by two different names and people talk about them to each other.
Eventually I decided that they had to be separate people, and the twist would actually be some kind of cement truck tragedy.
Spoiler: There is no cement truck tragedy.
So I stopped looking for a "it was this all along" type of twist, except for a brief interlude in which I was absolutely convinced that Tyke had been dead all along due to a mention of joining Tom, who is very much alive but whom I misremembered as being a long-dead soldier.
Spoiler: Tyke is not dead all along.
As two of you clever readers guessed, the twist is that...
( Read more... )
So that was a surreal reading experience. If you ever want one for yourself, take any random book which is primarily about the relationship of two people, and start reading it under the impression that they are either the same person, or one of them is a ghost.
[image error]
comments
April 8, 2022
Let's Do The Twist!
I know it all depends on execution, but in general...
View Poll: Do the Twist
Please mark spoilers for recent canons in your comment headers, or encode with rot13.com.
comments
View Poll: Do the Twist
Please mark spoilers for recent canons in your comment headers, or encode with rot13.com.
comments
Guess the Twist!
I recently read a book based on an article about Carnegie medal winners that said that it was good but had probably won because it had an excellent twist.
I prefer not knowing that something has a twist, because if I know it has a twist, I can usually guess the twist. I like being surprised and twists generally only surprise me if I'm not looking for them. But I was curious about this book.
It's a children's book and it won the Carnegie medal in 1977. Here is the back cover copy:
Tyke Tiler and Danny Price are always up to no good. Stolen money, a sheep's skeleton, fights in class... Somehow it's always down to Tyke to sort it out.
Now Danny's in serious trouble. He needs his best friend Tyke more than ever...
As soon as I read the back cover copy, a twist instantly leaped into my mind. Based solely on what I've provided to you, without looking up the book, what do you think the twist is?
I will review the book tomorrow and reveal the twist, and also whether or not I was correct about what it was. If you've read this book or couldn't resist googling, please don't spoil the twist.
comments
I prefer not knowing that something has a twist, because if I know it has a twist, I can usually guess the twist. I like being surprised and twists generally only surprise me if I'm not looking for them. But I was curious about this book.
It's a children's book and it won the Carnegie medal in 1977. Here is the back cover copy:
Tyke Tiler and Danny Price are always up to no good. Stolen money, a sheep's skeleton, fights in class... Somehow it's always down to Tyke to sort it out.
Now Danny's in serious trouble. He needs his best friend Tyke more than ever...
As soon as I read the back cover copy, a twist instantly leaped into my mind. Based solely on what I've provided to you, without looking up the book, what do you think the twist is?
I will review the book tomorrow and reveal the twist, and also whether or not I was correct about what it was. If you've read this book or couldn't resist googling, please don't spoil the twist.
comments
