The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Challenge discussion
100 Best Novels - Discussion
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Mulengro - Charles de Lint
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I'm about 100 pages into this book- it's not impressive, frankly not very good at all. The only explanation I can come up with for it's placement on a list like this is that the Charles de Lint fanclub somehow rigged the internet vote (there are several de Lint titles on the Readers' List - ugh.)
Willis wrote: "I'm about 100 pages into this book- it's not impressive, frankly not very good at all. The only explanation I can come up with for it's placement on a list like this is that the Charles de Lint fa..."I've wondered about a few of the authors, especially on the Reader's List. Lots of sci-fi there, too, which I wouldn't think would be an honest assessment of best books. I have Mulengro and hope to start it soon. I'll be interested in your opinion when you finish it - hopefully it will get better!
I actually found the first 70 pages or so interesting, but then it took a quick slide to dislike. I enjoyed the scene-setting at the beginning, but the fantasy part of the story was just silly and boring to me. I ended up giving it 1 star, though someone who likes fantasy novels might find it good.
I am only at page 120 and the first part of the book is great. I think the characters are interesting, but I also like the Sons of Anarchy and other tales about Romy or Romy types in modern culture.
Gregory wrote: "I am only at page 120 and the first part of the book is great. I think the characters are interesting, but I also like the Sons of Anarchy and other tales about Romy or Romy types in modern culture."Although I ended up not liking the book overall, I did find the stories about history of the Romy very interesting.
This books is really addictive stuff. I am truly enjoying the everything is possible, and our eyes can't perceive everything mentality. The book's flow is one that is not easily put down. (on page 203 of 400)
Gregory wrote: "Maybe I am just easily amused!!!!!"LOL! (We probably just like different genre.)
Could there be male and female books? When my wife saw the cover she felt it was a book marketed for boys. (The man in black stands with a furry of beasts at his feet.) When I mention that I love Heart of Darkness many women (not all) have responded with disgust. Maybe some books speak more to men and others speak more to women. I know that I would never be able to read a Diana Gabaldon(sp) book, no matter how hard I tried. But this does not mean the book does not have good literary merit.
I read Moonheart by the same author a couple of years ago and liked it a lot. I will read this one soon, I had forgotten it was on this group's discussion schedule.
Gregory wrote: "Could there be male and female books? When my wife saw the cover she felt it was a book marketed for boys. (The man in black stands with a furry of beasts at his feet.) When I mention that I love ..."My copy of the book has a beautiful woman standing over a dead man with a beast in the back (actually on the back cover, you have to look at both front and back together to see the whole picture).
De Lint does a great job of describing from a 360 degree P.O.V.. The fox upfront with Mulengro and than we find the fox mentioned ten pages later. A cool device that I may want to try.
I loved the book and completed it today. I guess the ending did not really grab me but the book worked as a whole. ANd I am glad that I read it.
LynnB wrote: "hopefully it will get better! "i>
It got worse. I am having a lot of trouble picking this one up to finish it. It's an awful mix of weak contrivance, corny humor, and forced goriness. You used 'boring' and 'silly' - also acurate descriptors. Perhaps my review of this book will be less harsh with time, but for now, let's just say I'm frustrated and quite angry with this book. : )
Willis wrote: "LynnB wrote: "hopefully it will get better! "i>
It got worse. I am having a lot of trouble picking this one up to finish it. It's an awful mix of weak contrivance, corny humor, and forced go..."
Why did it get worse?
I started to read the sample on the Kindle. It starts with a short introduction from the author talking about how this book was originally written under a pen name. The reason was to let the readers that this book, as the others under that name, was an horror novel with graphic descriptions of violence,not his usual fantasy. Interesting.
Gregory wrote: "Willis wrote: "LynnB wrote: "hopefully it will get better! "i>
It got worse. I am having a lot of trouble picking this one up to finish it. It's an awful mix of weak contrivance, corny humor, a..."
SPOILER ALERT!
When I wrote 'it got worse', I was being slightly facetious, but no, I did not like this book one bit. I find that De Lint takes shortcuts to resolve issues or reach a desired point in the plot that don't follow logically, to say nothing of smooth or graceful storytelling. For example, "the Gourlays" appear early on in the book as a couple of local toughs (simply by saying so, btw) who see one of our 'good guys' in a bar and randomly decide to beat the snot out of him, and then casually announce that yes, they are just now deciding to find a friend of his and sexually assault her! Instant storyline! Who needs plot or character development?!? Or, later on, after 290 excrutiating pages, the Detectives are informed by some flunky that he's just 'checked out Gypsies through Interpol' [lol] and, yes, here's your guy! Can anyone say Deus ex Machina? The characters do and say things because the plot needs them to, regardless of whether it fits their character or the storyline.
The sardonic talking cat and the hippy who inserts his 'quirky' POV are not my style of humor, and the gory scenes just seem to be, at times, an exercise in shock value.
To summarize (to anyone who may still be reading this), I can appreciate why someone might enjoy this book, and its laregly a matter of personal preference, but these weaknesses (IMHO) are irritating to me as a reader and at any rate leave me scratching my poor head as to why, what possible polling method, could have led to this work being nominated for a spot among the 'best' books; that it shares a spot on a list with Hemingway and Fitzgerald makes my head hurt.
Willis wrote: "SPOILER ALERT! When I wrote 'it got worse', I was being slightl..."Totally agree with your comments on this book!
I loved the book, but then, I love horror and urban fantasy. This book has everything: magic, evil, and police work. It is one of the best books in this genre I have read in a while (I don't know much about literary quality...)I was reading how the list was compiled in Wikipedia. Maybe the list should had been named "favorites among 400 people" instead of "Best of Modern Library". Wikipedia said the list had a lot heavy criticism and "The board members themselves, who did not create the rankings and were unaware of it until the list was published, expressed disappointment and puzzlement"
Elena wrote: "I was reading how the list was compiled in Wikipedia. Maybe the list should had been named "favorites among 400 people" instead of "Best of Modern Library". Wikipedia said the list had a lot heavy criticism and "The board members themselves, who did not create the rankings and were unaware of it until the list was published, expressed disappointment and puzzlement" "Thanks for posting the Wikipedia info... I hadn't realized that the voting pool for the Reader's List was so small. So that explains why we all think the Reader's List is very heavy on certain authors and genres.
LynnB wrote: "Elena wrote: "I was reading how the list was compiled in Wikipedia. Maybe the list should had been named "favorites among 400 people" instead of "Best of Modern Library". Wikipedia said the list ha..."Yes! I also found the Wikipedia info very telling, Thanks! I found it reassuring in a way, as it seems to help to answer the nagging question: WHY!?!?, that arises after reading some of these selections. The quote from Robert Teeter, that the ballot boxes were "stuffed by cultists", seems to me to be an excellently put explanation.
I finished this one this morning. It was a struggle. Not my type of genre to read and enjoy though there were parts of it that were okay. I actually liked the talking cat..ha! Most of the last section I felt like I was reading Cujo in 3D or something. My biggest problem is there are several more Charles de Lint books on the list..ugh!
I liked the book! But I wonder why it made the list. It seems to not have the Star Trek Quotient, to go where no book or few books have gone before. Good discussion is made from books that not everyone likes.
Gregory wrote: "I liked the book! But I wonder why it made the list. It seems to not have the Star Trek Quotient, to go where no book or few books have gone before. Good discussion is made from books that not eve..."yes! like the Star Trek Quotient! :)
The funny thing is that once someone has gone where no one has gone before, the original appears to be like all the others. It is hard to see the pioneering strides made in any one book.
The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Challenge
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Moonheart (other topics)Mulengro (other topics)
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