David M. Brown's Blog, page 80
November 21, 2012
Film Review: Kenny
[image error] From the biggest festival to the smallest church social, Kenny Smyth delivers porta-potties to them all. A true unsung hero, Kenny is a knight in shining overalls doing one of society’s dirtiest jobs. This engaging mockumentary lifts the lid on one of Australia’s roughest diamonds as he juggles family tensions, fatherhood and sewage with charm, humor and unflinching dignity. Part philosopher, part comedian and all heart, Kenny is living proof that in sewage, like life, the best will always rise to the top!
Starring: Shane Jacobson, Travis Golland, Chris Davis, Alf Scerri, Hayley Preusker
Directed by: Clayton Jacobson
Runtime: 100 minutes
Studio: XENON
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Review: Kenny
“We’re number one with your number twos.” That’s quite a tagline and leaves you under no illusion about what you’re in for with this surprise Aussie hit from director Clayton Jacobson. You might be wondering how sustainable a film about the maintenance of portable toilets is. Well, I was curious why this film had done so well so I put my gloves on, took one final breath of fresh air and joined Kenny for a day’s work experience.
The film is a mockumentary with our host being Kenny (Shane Jacobsen) who specialises in portable toilets. We see Kenny both at work, setting up toilets at festivals, maintaining them amidst the bustling crowds, but we also gain an insight into his personal life, including his relationships with his ex-wife, his son and his father. After some time in Australia we follow Kenny on his first flight abroad to Nashville where he attends a toilet convention and meets some intriguing characters and even has time for a possible romance as well.
Kenny takes his job very seriously and has some interesting anecdotes about using the toilet in general which had me in stitches. Sorry, I’m very immature. Kenny’s team are somewhat inept and he is often called in to save the day, rescuing rings from pipes or taking on rioting gangs. Kenny is meticulous whenever attending public events, needing to know what food and drink will be served to have some idea of the level of service he and his team will need to provide. Away from work Kenny has a less than cordial relationship with his ex-wife but he is better at being a father to his son. Kenny’s encounter with his own father is amusing with the old man abusing his son for being a waste of space and not having a decent job, yet when the two men part it’s on good terms! Kenny clearly has the potential to be more and a trip to Nashville gives him the chance to experience America.
Kenny’s journey to Nashville is a highpoint in the film. On the plane he can’t help but dismantle the toilet to investigate how it works and when the plane later has a problem he steps in to restore order. The plane journey is also a delight as Kenny meets the lovely air stewardess Jackie (Eve von Bibra). The two start talking and agree to meet up in Nashville where Jackie is even keen to attend the toilet convention with Kenny. You will cringe at Kenny’s poor interpretations of Jackie’s interest, especially when she doesn’t want the night to end and invites him for a drink at the hotel bar! Kenny is too polite a gentleman and besides he has to help another character, the Sushi Cowboy, back to his hotel at that point! Yes, the visit to Nashville is eventful and amusing but will things work out for Kenny and Jackie? Will Kenny always be stuck working with toilets? Or will he move on to a better career?
Kenny is a terrific comedy with some hilarious moments and a committed but loveable character in Kenny. He makes many mistakes, especially in his relationships but he’s a decent guy at heart. The premise is very simple but never once is the film particularly dull. Shane Jacobsen is terrific in the lead and though he is supported by a great set of characters, they don’t come close to him. I never thought a film about toilet maintenance could be so much fun.
Kenny is a highly amusing mockumentary with great characters, some amusing set-pieces and even a little romance thrown into the mix. I can’t see this spearheading a flurry of applications to maintain portable toilets but in Kenny we have an example of someone who does a job most of us wouldn’t want to but he is proud all the same.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Kenny | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Book Review: Home Front – Kristin Hannah
[image error] In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.
All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .
Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family.
At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope
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Review: Home Front (2012)
Jolene and Michael are a ‘normal’ couple with two kids, a lovely home… and a crumbling marriage. The distance between them seems to be becoming unsurmountable and Michael caves one day and says he doesn’t love Jolene anymore. A hard statement to overcome at the best of times but when your wife is suddenly called to active service and you haven’t retracted it, what comes next can only be agonising for both parties. Thus begins a novel that is beset with struggles. For Jolene as she faces fear, loss and displacement, mourning the loss of friends and colleagues at the same time as she fears her marriage is over and her children’s resentment and confusion is unsurmountable. For Michael as he struggles with life alone with the children and the guilt over his cruel announcement. For the children as they live in fear and confusion over their mother’s absence.
Sometimes the greatest thing about receiving review copies unexpectedly is that you get a book you would never have picked up under any other circumstances and find you really enjoy it. I didn’t think Home Front was necessarily for me from the blurb but by the second chapter I knew I could settle into it. This is an excellent story with many facets, delving into the intricacies of relationships but also raising more specific points, such as the pressures on military families, coping with time away from home, injury, bereavement. The novel also skims over PTSD, as Michael (who is a lawyer) becomes involved in defending a soldier who is accused of murdering his young wife.
This is a very compelling and emotive read, which kept me turning the pages. It’s thought-provoking and well written, all characters displaying emotional strengths and weaknesses that make them – and their struggles – seem very realistic. Kristin Hannah has produced an excellent novel here and should be applauded for raising some difficult issues in such a sensitive and insightful way.
Verdict: 4/5
(Book source: reviewer received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)
Book Review: Home Front – Kristin Hannah | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
November 20, 2012
Book Review: White Heat – M.J. McGrath
[image error] Nothing on the tundra rotted . . . The whole history of human settlement lay exposed there, under that big northern sky. There was nowhere here for bones to hide. On Craig Island, a vast landscape of ice north of the Arctic Circle, three travellers are hunting duck. Among them is expert Inuit hunter and guide, Edie Kiglatuk; a woman born of this harsh, beautiful terrain. The two men are tourists, experiencing Arctic life in the raw, but when one of the men is shot dead in mysterious circumstances, the local Council of Elders in the tiny settlement of Autisaq is keen to dismiss it as an accident. Then two adventurers arrive in Autisaq hoping to search for the remains of the legendary Victorian explorer Sir James Fairfax. The men hire Edie – whose ancestor Welatok guided Fairfax – along with Edie’s stepson Joe, and two parties set off in different directions. Four days later, Joe returns to Autisaq frostbitten, hypothermic and disoriented, to report his man missing. And when things take an even darker turn, Edie finds herself heartbroken, and facing the greatest challenge of her life . . .
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Review: White Heat
I like tales of the Arctic and Antarctic, the epic journeys, exploration and stories of survival so it was only natural that I’d be drawn to White Heat. McGrath offers a murder mystery in an isolated community in the Arctic with our protagonist being a woman of strong character.
Edie Kiglatuk is a half-Inuit guide who is leading an expedition when one of the two men with her is shot by an unseen assailant. Edie suspects foul play but she and her step-son Joe bow to the Tribal Council in Autisaq who rule that the incident was self-inflicted. When two men arrive in Autisaq and begin expeditions to find the remains of Sir James Fairfax, one is guided by Joe, who returns alone suffering with frostbite, disorientation and hypothermia. Joe confirms the man he was guiding has gone missing. Something strange is going on in Autisaq and Edie is prompted to conduct her own investigation upon finding her beloved Joe has committed suicide, or has he?
White Heat is clearly a well-researched novel. McGrath has done her homework about the Arctic region, the Inuit people, their customs and traditions. In Edie we have an unorthodox but endearing heroine. A recovering alcoholic, Edie is not without her flaws. She juggles teaching with being a guide, her primary focus being to raise funds for Joe to train to be a nurse. Edie lives alone but often sees her ex Sammy and is somewhat frowned upon by the Elders in the community for her independence and strong will. The death of one man – Felix Wagner – she is guiding leaves Edie suspicious but when Joe has one go missing under his watch and returns home severely ill only to later be found dead from an apparent suicide, Edie is inconsolable. Revelations begin to emerge about Joe in the aftermath of his death but Edie cannot believe what she is hearing.
Edie decides to conduct some investigations of her own, going against the wishes of family, friends and especially the Elders. As Edie begins to dig for clues she uncovers a compelling mystery and conspiracy that goes back many years to her famous great-great-great grandfather who was a renowned Inuit guide and hunter who led an English explorer across the Arctic. Edie is not alone. Police sergeant Derek Palliser is on the case as well but will he or Edie manage to solve the mystery or will it lay forever buried throughout the Arctic?
White Heat is a decent enough mystery thriller. The Arctic itself had the most appeal for me – a beautiful yet deadly expanse that the unprepared soon succumb to. Edie is a memorable heroine. Though she is strong and independent, she is not without her weaknesses. Her former dependence on alcohol is severely tested by the events that unfold, especially Joe’s death. The murder mystery is quite interesting but I wasn’t as gripped by it as I thought I might have been.
White Heat is an intriguing thriller throughout with a great protagonist, a well conveyed Inuit community and the Arctic itself is one of the highlights of the novel. The story is quite good and certainly worth considering if you want a murder mystery that is a little bit different.
Verdict: 3/5
Book Review: White Heat – M.J. McGrath | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Book Review: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion – Elizabeth L. Cline
[image error] Until recently, Elizabeth Cline was a typical American consumer. She’d grown accustomed to shopping at outlet malls, discount stores like T.J. Maxx, and cheap but trendy retailers like Forever 21, Target, and H&M. She was buying a new item of clothing almost every week (the national average is sixty-four per year) but all she had to show for it was a closet and countless storage bins packed full of low-quality fads she barely wore—including the same sailor-stripe tops and fleece hoodies as a million other shoppers. When she found herself lugging home seven pairs of identical canvas flats from Kmart (a steal at $7 per pair, marked down from $15!), she realized that something was deeply wrong.
Cheap fashion has fundamentally changed the way most Americans dress. Stores ranging from discounters like Target to traditional chains like JCPenney now offer the newest trends at unprecedentedly low prices. Retailers are producing clothes at enormous volumes in order to drive prices down and profits up, and they’ve turned clothing into a disposable good. After all, we have little reason to keep wearing and repairing the clothes we already own when styles change so fast and it’s cheaper to just buy more.
But what are we doing with all these cheap clothes? And more important, what are they doing to us, our society, our environment, and our economic well-being?
In Overdressed, Cline sets out to uncover the true nature of the cheap fashion juggernaut, tracing the rise of budget clothing chains, the death of middle-market and independent retailers, and the roots of our obsession with deals and steals. She travels to cheap-chic factories in China, follows the fashion industry as it chases even lower costs into Bangladesh, and looks at the impact (both here and abroad) of America’s drastic increase in imports. She even explores how cheap fashion harms the charity thrift shops and textile recyclers where our masses of clothing castoffs end up.
Sewing, once a life skill for American women and a pathway from poverty to the middle class for workers, is now a dead-end sweatshop job. The pressures of cheap have forced retailers to drastically reduce detail and craftsmanship, making the clothes we wear more and more uniform, basic, and low quality. Creative independent designers struggle to produce good and sustainable clothes at affordable prices.
Cline shows how consumers can break the buy-and-toss cycle by supporting innovative and stylish sustainable designers and retailers, refashioning clothes throughout their lifetimes, and mending and even making clothes themselves.
Overdressed will inspire you to vote with your dollars and find a path back to being well dressed and feeling good about what you wear.
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Review: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion (2012)
If you’re going to read Overdressed, be prepared for it to leave a nasty taste in your mouth and a lump in your throat when you next open your wardrobe. This really is a pretty damning expose of the ‘fast fashion’ industry, which churns out clothes faster than we can wear them out, leading to massive waste and a wardrobe full of clothes that we wear only once or twice. Why? Because at $5 an item, we still think we’re getting our money’s worth even if we only wear it a couple of times and then it goes out of fashion.
I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been excessively fashion conscious and certainly for the last 2-3 years, I tend to only buy something when I need it. I do love shoes but even so I become incredibly attached and will wear them even when they have holes in. This Autumn, I finally threw out a pair after getting my feet soaked not once, not twice but three times! But have I bought an item in the past for $10 rationalising that it doesn’t really matter if I only wear it a handful of times? I probably have.
Fast fashion is all about embracing trends but Overdressed points out that trends change so quickly that some stores are introducing hundreds of new lines each week. Therefore, clothing is becoming disposable as people strive to keep up with the new trends emerging constantly. The cost? Our clothing is gradually becoming of poorer and poorer quality. As is stated in the book, it’s now enough for something not to be lousy. We no longer strive for an ideal, we just want to avoid something awful and if we can, that’s enough.
I was born in the eighties but years ago I was given a jacket from the seventies. It had already survived for years and it lasted for many more. Eventually the lining gave and I had kind of outgrown it anyway. I never managed to replace that jacket with anything near the quality. So, what’s the answer? To buy ‘quality’ brands? Not necessarily. Overdressed points out that in an investigation a $75 polo shirt was found to be little different to a $9 one. For the ‘fast fashion’ brands, pricing drops and quality drops but for the ‘premium’ brands, pricing is staying at a premium, even if the quality isn’t.
Really, all I can say is read this book. You’ll draw your own conclusions and may or may not agree with everything that’s said. But like Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘Eating Animals’ was a shocking eye-opener to me as a meat-eater, ‘Overdressed’ is the equivalent version for clothes buyers. So pretty much anyone who doesn’t make their own clothes. It would be naive to suggest that that’s the way forward but perhaps it’s a less frightening prospect than a world where a one-wear blouse becomes as common as a paper plate.
Verdict: 4/5
(Book source: Netgalley)
Book Review: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion – Elizabeth L. Cline | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
November 19, 2012
Book Review: 8 – Michael Mullin
[image error] This is the previously untold story of the previously unknown 8th dwarf, named Creepy. He was banished to the basement for being different and , well, weird. Yet he played a vital – and of course previously unknown – role in the popular tale of Snow White (whose title character is an intruder Creepy refers to as “the Maid”).
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Review: 8
It’s hard to forget Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, whether it’s the original Disney film or the Gremlins singing along to it in the cinema back in the early eighties. Michael Mullin has revisited the classic story but put a different spin on things, telling some of the story from the POV of a character not previously mentioned.
Did you know there were actually eight dwarves and not seven? Well, you do now. This is the story of the eighth dwarf – Creepy. As his name suggests, Creepy is a little bit different to his compatriots, so much so that they shut him in the basement and do their best to forget about him. This brief story which is written in verse is all about Creepy and not just his banishment from the rest of the group but the part he plays in the story of Snow White.
This is a very quick read, one you’ll very easily get through in one sitting but Mullin’s story is one that is a lot of fun and at times you might argue just for the adults. Having been sent to the basement Creepy is alone when the other dwarves head out to work but someone comes into the dwarves’ home. Creepy is worried it is a burglar but looking through the floorboards he notices it is a Maiden. Now, Creepy lives up to his name here by, let’s just say, enjoying watching the Maiden as she explores the cottage and then begins cleaning up. It’s soon clear why Creepy isn’t welcome amongst the other dwarves.
While Snow White wins over the other dwarves, Creepy is left to watch the Maiden from afar and soon falls for her. He may seem a little sinister spying on Snow White but in the end Creepy does try to help her especially when our Maiden answers the door to an unseen visitor and ends up collapsing on more than one occasion, eventually ending up in a coma. Creepy is the first to try and help Snow White but does he succeed? Do the other dwarves see the good in him and let him out of the basement?
This is a good story though unfortunately too short. A collection of re-imagined fairy tales would have been terrific but what’s here is still worth your time. You may never be able to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in the same way again though.
Verdict: 4/5
(Book source: reviewer received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)
Book Review: 8 – Michael Mullin | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Book Review: Gold – Chris Cleave
[image error] Usually, this is where we’d tell you what this book is about. But with Chris Cleave, it’s a bit different. Because if you’ve read THE OTHER HAND or INCENDIARY, you’ll know that what his books are about is only part of the story – what really matters is how they make you feel. GOLD is about the limits of human endurance, both physical and emotional. It will make you cry. GOLD is about what drives us to succeed – and what we choose to sacrifice for success. It will make you feel glad to be alive. GOLD is about the struggles we all face every day; the conflict between winning on others’ terms, and triumphing on your own. It will make you count your blessings. GOLD is a story told as only Chris Cleave could tell it. And once you begin, it will be a heart-pounding race to the finish.
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Review: Gold (2012)
Oh Mr Cleave, you make it hard work for reviewers! I could just tell you about the story of Gold but there’s something in Mr Cleave’s cleverly worded synopsis that makes me want to preserve the secrecy and adhere to his wishes. So, let me just say that Gold is about: relationships, sacrifices, courage. This is the synopsis that is on the Amazon UK page and I’m glad I just read this. It meant I had no expectations when I read the book and – as with The Other Hand (known as Little Bee in the US) – I was staggered by its beauty and the power behind the story. However, Amazon US has a fuller synopsis which I’ve shown below if you want to see it. (Be warned that other reviewers have said they are glad they didn’t see this in advance.)
Full US synopsis of Gold
What would you sacrifice for the people you love?
KATE AND ZOE met at nineteen when they both made the cut for the national training program in track cycling—a sport that demands intense focus, blinding exertion, and unwavering commitment. They are built to exploit the barest physical and psychological edge over equally skilled rivals, all of whom are fighting for the last one tenth of a second that separates triumph from despair.
Now at thirty-two, the women are facing their last and biggest race: the 2012 Olympics. Each wants desperately to win gold, and each has more than a medal to lose.
Kate is the more naturally gifted, but the demands of her life have a tendency to slow her down. Her eight-year-old daughter Sophie dreams of the Death Star and of battling alongside the Rebels as evil white blood cells ravage her personal galaxy—she is fighting a recurrence of the leukemia that nearly killed her three years ago. Sophie doesn’t want to stand in the way of her mum’s Olympic dreams, but each day the dark forces of the universe seem to be massing against her.
Devoted and self-sacrificing Kate knows her daughter is fragile, but at the height of her last frenzied months of training, might she be blind to the most terrible prognosis?
Intense, aloof Zoe has always hovered on the periphery of real human companionship, and her compulsive need to win at any cost has more than once threatened her friendship with Kate—and her own sanity. Will she allow her obsession, and the advantage she has over a harried, anguished mother, to sever the bond they have shared for more than a decade?
Echoing the adrenaline-fueled rush of a race around the Velodrome track, Gold is a triumph of superbly paced, heart-in-throat storytelling. With great humanity and glorious prose, Chris Cleave examines the values that lie at the heart of our most intimate relationships, and the choices we make when lives are at stake and everything is on the line.
Chris Cleave is a beautiful storyteller. He weaves wonderful relationships out of the most difficult scenarios. Thought-provoking and touching, his stories showcase the very best and worst of people at the same time. They make you despair for humanity at the same time as giving you hope for our race. We are capable of such terrible things, such selfishness. Yet at the same time, we’re capable of such sacrifice and love.
Gold is wonderfully written, with moments of humour and sadness throughout. I gasped reading one scene, which (as it involved vomit) should have been incredibly disgusting. Instead it was so moving I nearly cried. Having read The Other Hand, I couldn’t imagine Chris Cleave topping that masterpiece. It would be a lie to say that Gold does but it’s a very different book, with a very different story and it certainly holds its own. Absolutely stunning read.
Verdict: 5/5
(Book source: Amazon Vine)
Book Review: Gold – Chris Cleave | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
November 18, 2012
Tweedlers’ Jukebox Song of the Week: I’ll Stand By You
Released in the UK in July 1994 this beautiful song from The Pretenders peaked at #10 in the charts but its overwhelming message continues to resonate to this day. Recently used in an NSPCC advert, I’ll Stand By You has a degree of ambiguity to it that makes it accessible by pretty much everyone and in times of need its lyrics mean so much.
Whether the message in the song is universal is open to debate. The song is from the point of view of someone who cares for another and will stand by their side through thick and thin and no matter what they do. Some fans argue it’s a mother singing to her daughter but others have drawn a more romantic tone from the song. It could just as easily be about friendship but whatever the reality this is a great song.
Chrissie Hynde got to the heart of love and support with I’ll Stand By You. The important aspects are that we not only remain supportive towards those we love but we tolerate them even if their behaviour is hurtful or irrational. Many people would be justified in walking away if the person they loved was resentful of their support but some of us look beyond such actions and make sure that we stick around. In one line the song describes supporting someone at a crossroads in their life and still being with them even if they make the wrong decision. If someone you know is by your side regardless of your successes and failures then they’re definitely one you’ll be wanting to hang onto very tightly.
Tweedlers’ Jukebox Song of the Week: I’ll Stand By You | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Book Review: The Winds of Love – Beth Gray
[image error] Taking on the forces of Mother Nature for some thrill seekers is a simple task. However, when simultaneously engaging the power of Cupid, relationships become complicated. For while the fury of Mother Nature can be embraced to a point where mere survival is questionable, Cupid, on the other hand, never accepts defeat. A reporter and a camera woman, who were ex-lovers, get caught up in a chase to document the world’s best kiteboarders. These guys dominate the high winds generated by a hurricane passing by the southern tip of the Florida Keys. While most people flee Key West, this select group of thrill seekers relishes the adventure of a lifetime. When the hurricane takes a dangerous turn and surprises everyone on their way back to Miami, there is nowhere to hide. They can only draw on their inner courage, and each other, which quickly reunites a lost passion in the process.
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Review: The Winds of Love
When Madison and Mack are literally thrown together by nature, Madison ends up with a leg injury that means her father and boss declares her unfit to work. Stubbornly she decides to team up with Mack and help him provide a film about kiteboarding, even though it means risking hurricane weather to do so. The two have a history – they broke up many years before and Mack is now divorced so there are tumultuous times ahead, both physically and mentally.
The Winds of Love does have the elements of a good love story. There’s tension, drama, confusions and misunderstandings. However, I struggled to really feel the chemistry between the two in any great amount. There were some looks, a little flirting, some pecks on the cheek but I really struggled to feel like there was any sense of tension or drama building. Perhaps it was overshadowed by the approaching hurricane. Unfortunately that meant that when the sex scene arrived, it felt a little out of place. The sudden surging passion between the two of them seemed at odds with the relatively tame exploration of their feelings, even though they’d been thrown together and feelings were clearly running high.
The elements of the kiteboarding and the impending hurricane added some drama and excitement to this novel. Possibly too much drama. I think it was hard for the relationship developing between the two to really shine against such a full and dramatic backdrop. Ultimately, I couldn’t bring myself to really care about these characters. I need to really care about the characters in a romance for a happy ending to matter to me.
I don’t know whether or not I would read more of Beth Gray’s work. The jury is out. I didn’t find the writing bad but I didn’t feel it grabbed me sufficiently either. Maybe I’ll weather the storm (sorry!) and try another book someday… Technically a 2.5 but as we rate roundly, it’s a 2.
Verdict: 2/5
(Book source: reviewer received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)
Book Review: The Winds of Love – Beth Gray | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
November 17, 2012
Book Review: The City of Dreaming Books – Walter Moers
[image error] Overlook has published three of Walter Moers’s hilarious and beloved Zamonia books and The City of Dreaming Books, a fantastic tale for every book lover, is his most popular yet. Optimus Yanspinner inherits from his godfather an unpublished manuscript by an unknown writer and sets off to track down the mysterious author, who disappeared into Bookholm–the so-called City of Dreaming Books. Yarnspinner falls under the spell of this book-obsessed metropolis, where an avid-reader and budding author can find any number of charming attractions–priceless signed first editions, salivating literary agents, and for-hire critics. But as Yarnspinner pursues the trail of the missing author, the darker side of Bookholm begins to unveil itself–cold-blooded book hunters, fearsome cyclopean booklings, sharp-toothed animotomes, and of course, the Shadow King, whose howls rise from deep beneath the city at night. Will Yarnspinner survive his quest into this world where reading is a genuine adventure?
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Review: The City of Dreaming Books
I’ve previously read Walter Moers’ The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear and Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures which are set in the fantasy world of Zamonia. Each book doesn’t just offer a bizarre journey but a plethora of fantastic illustrations as well. Moers’ The City of Dreaming Books is no exception.
The story focuses on a Lindworm (dinosaur) named Optimus Yarnspinner who inherits a series of goods from his late godfather, Dancelot, including a mysterious manuscript. This work is the finest piece of writing Optimus has ever read and he endeavours to seek out the author of this masterpiece. His journey takes him to Bookholm, the City of Dreaming Books, where literature is an obsession and the finest and rarest books are highly sought. Despite warnings of danger in the city, Optimus outstays his welcome and becomes a victim of the scheming Pfistomel Smyke who poisons our hero and leaves him for dead in the catacombs beneath the city. Can Optimus survive the many subterranean dangers and make it back to the surface?
The City of Dreaming Books follows the same pattern as the previous novels in Zamonia. It’s funny, it’s weird and it’s wonderful at the same time. Optimus is an aspiring author struggling to find his words at the outset and coming into possession of the greatest piece of writing he has ever read does not help his confidence. So good is this writing that anyone that reads it goes through a myriad of emotions including despair at the realisation they will never write anything as good as this. Optimus journeys to Bookholm which is a writer and bookworm’s heaven. Publishers are everywhere as are book shops with some very lucrative texts for sale. Optimus is often distracted by bookshops and even the Tombophone Concert but remains determined to find the identity of the mystery author in the manuscript he carries with him at all times. Optimus’ search leads him to Pfistomel Smyke who has access to a wide range of texts and tricks our poor hero into reading a book which informs the Lindworm that he has been poisoned!
Optimus finds himself in the catacombs where books, old and new, are distributed everywhere. However, some of these books are alive and don’t hesitate in attacking those that get too close. Patrolling the catacombs are also book hunters that are armed and dangerous, either working alone or in groups. They kill rival hunters without mercy or the likes of Optimus that are just in the way. As Optimus ventures deeper into the catacombs he comes to the home of the Booklings, one eyed creatures that learn the content of a book so that they can recite it back. Also at this level is the elusive Shadow King whose screams echo throughout the catacombs and Optimus is also able to solve the mystery of Colophonius Regenschein, one of the greatest book hunters and a known survivor of the catacombs. The question is can Optimus get back to the surface or will he be trapped in the catacombs forever?
The City of Dreaming Books is a great read for bookworms and writers alike. There are some interesting lessons in here for writers and they’ll empathise with Optimus who is struggling to find his way with writing. There are some great references to famous authors here such as Hornac de Bloaze (Honore de Balzac) and Melvin Hermalle (Herman Melville) and many more for you to try and find along the way. This promises to be the first in a series of books so it will be great to read even more of Zamonia.
The City of Dreaming Books is a worthy addition to the world of Zamonia. I’m not sure I favour this one as much as Rumo and Captain Bluebear but this is still a bizarre but fun journey through Zamonia and deep beneath the City of Dreaming Books. Who would have thought that writing and reading could be so dangerous?
Verdict: 4/5
(Book source: reviewer’s own copy)
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Book Review: Pariah – David Jackson
[image error] Pariah asks you to imagine being forced to cut yourself off from society.
You can’t go near your friends, your work colleagues, even your family.
Because if you do… they will die.
Imagine the pain of not being able to see your spouse and your children. You have to live apart from them. You can’t go into work. Your environment becomes a claustrophobic hotel room, with seemingly no escape. You cannot risk talking to strangers in case it is seen as an act of friendship that puts them in danger. It is the ultimate in solitary isolation.
How long could you bear to live like that?
How long would it be before you became desperate for it to end? So desperate, in fact, that you might be willing to sell your soul to anyone who offers you a way out?
NYPD detective Callum Doyle is about to learn the answers to these questions. It starts with the murder of his partner. But that’s only the beginning…
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Review: Pariah
Pariah is a well constructed, fast paced tale of Callum Doyle’s descent into his own personal hell. Not exactly the favourite in his precinct, Doyle suddenly finds himself in a world of isolation when a string of events turn out to be connected and Doyle is warned that anyone he contacts or associates with will die. He quickly moves out of his home and into a hotel room but unable to work or be with his family soon eats away at him. He has to decide how far he’ll go to get his life back – and if the only people who can help him are the people he’d normally be working against, he has to decide if he is willing to sell his soul?
Right the way through the book this was a guaranteed four star read for me for sure. It was fast paced with great characters, fantastic dialogue, scene after scene of pure grit. Jackson can write – he certainly has a bright future in crime writing if this is anything to go by.
But the ending… Oh the DISAPPOINTMENT. This was a book that built and built and built with tension and drama and frustration throughout. The lengths Doyle had to go to protect his family and try and clear his name from suspicion as the deaths piled up around him, all seemingly connected with him, were all steering towards an explosive ending. It didn’t come. Instead, the ending felt too convenient, too much like something had needed to be conjured to pull the loose ends together and then an idea had cropped up and it had been a case of “Oh, this’ll do.”
I sat in a coffee shop and read the final pages and then closed the book with a petulant “OH!”
However, Jackson really can put together a fantastic tale and I understand there’s more of Doyle to come. So I can only hope that in book two, the ending matches the stellar setup of the rest of the book. Anything else is a travesty considering Jackson’s high stakes, high risk, high drama style of writing.
Verdict: 3/5
(Book source: reviewer received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)
Book Review: Pariah – David Jackson | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
