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Sunday, March 24, 2024

Five Stars for No Second Chances by Rio Youers

I don't think I've ever given Rio Youers less than a five on a review. His stories always deliverer from painful backgrounds and golden pathed dreams to twisted unforgettable bad guys, not to mention a couple of unexpected plot twists. This one even had an honorable mention of one Lola Bear and I loved her character in a previous Youers book. My favorite Youers is still Westlake Soul even though it is very different than his other novels. 

So, more reasons to read a Rio Youers, specifically No Second Chances: 

1. A rich boy bully who fully deserves to go down.

2. A sweet bad ass chick from Kentucky who definitely needs to go up. 

3. A washed out actor who looks like Don Johnson who ironically needs a second chance.

4. Insanely great dialogue that puts serious humor on old cliches. 

5. Fast paced action packed verbiage skittering along a well-produced plot without what E.M. Forester distastefully calls "tea time."

Other good news is I hear Youers has a new novel coming out: The Bang, Bang Sisters. I can't wait to read all of that bang. I bet it's a good bang for your buck. HaHa. Okay, well that's just cheesy, but I hope to read it and soon. 

Saturday, February 17, 2024

5 Stars for Whalefall by Daniel Kraus


W
halefall
by Daniel Kraus is a must read for folks who look want to dig at the heart of the human condition while marveling at the murky area between life and death and then still finding a connection. In the case of Jake, the protagonist diving for his father's bones, he looks for closure with a father from whom, he carried heavy dark resentment and guilt towards. On the surface, this is just a story about daddy issues and being swallowed by a whale, but beneath the surface this book has a whole Sidhartha feel to it revealing the human condition to be much more than a father/son relationship, but one with the entire universe. Battling the whale and Jake's issues with his dad were only part of the discoveries he uncovered inside the belly of the whale. Personally, and I'm not a marine biologist or anything, I found the whale intricacies to be fascinating, and I found the clever approaches to survival Macgyveresque - not cheesy, but interesting without knowing the true factoids behind it. I loved it! I am going to read more of Daniel Kraus. Whalefall is different in a 2024 world full of mimes. Try Kraus for Catina/Avatar scene. Great imagery and detail without becoming Moby Dickish. Again, Loved it!

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Four Stars for The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera


The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera examines the lightness and freedom of human choice. Milan proposes we fear this freedom often craving the heavy burdens of responsibility. The players in this tale are often choosing between living in truth or living in lies. Lies seem burdensome and truth light and difficult to achieve. A lot of unnecessary thick rambling briar bush type prose held up my reading time. It took me several months to get to a solid story line in this book pushing my five start to a four; however, this is definitely worth the read. The characters are complex and it takes some time to understand what truly motivates theme. They are so flawed and grotesque in their twisted logic surrounding ideas on love that are neither idealistic nor completely cynical. Tereza, the wife of womanizing Tomas, is weighted with love for Tomas, and this should be a stock character like say Elizabeth Proctor, the doting wife, the loyal wife, the stand-by-your-man wife, but Tereza has more than one side and she is loyal and noble and certainly respectable, but her motivations for her loyalty are painfully questionable. Tomas is much the same, but his unraveling is easier to grasp. So, in closing, if you find yourself burdened with responsibilities, then take a hard look at the opposite side of that because you too may find that lightness unbearable. 

Sunday, November 19, 2023

5 Stars for Grady Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House

 


How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix is one of the best Hendrix I've read so far; however, it does get a little purple hazzy at the end in absolute Hendrix flamboyant flair. Still, despite the long windedness of the ending, I absolutely loved Mark and Louise and the brother and sister hurtles I have also experienced with my own brother. Plus, its always great when you start really hating a character aka Mark and then you sympathize with them. Hendrix painted Mark in every color of a Jackson Pollack painting with the drama of a Broadway play like Chicago and a Hendrix town is one full of murder of mayhem but this time told by a flipping puppet. Yes, the whole puppet thing has been done many times, but it never gets old and when you can tell a creepy puppet story the way Hendrix does; its worth the read. 

Sunday, October 22, 2023

5 Stars for White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton


This is a jewel of a book. I did not expect to like it so much especially when books like this heavily compete against the great Jim Butcher books. But, this book held up for a number for reasons. First, the magic had no plot holes in it. As if magic could, until you've been in one of those books and your like, "No that's not real. That wouldn't work." And then the whole book falls apart for you. Slayton has a tight lid on his magic. Second, is the dynamic between the brothers, Adam and Bobby is built with great backstory, but also the two brothers make a great foiled-up scene reminding me a lot of why I've watched Supernatural so much. Last, romance and love is pure and sweet and looks for little and big things that really matter in a mate. I highly recommend this book and I know I will read more Slayton. 

Monday, December 19, 2022

5 Stars for Rules of Civility by Amor Towles


Rules of Civility by Amor Towles ranks alongside The Great Gatsby for its depiction of the influence of wealth in New York City. Although Gatsby was set in 1922 and Civility in 1938, both books embraced that materialism brings happiness. Told through the perspective of 25 year old Katey Kontent, somewhat blue blooded and definitely hardworking, Katey becomes the sidekick for her best friend Eve. When the two of them meet Tinker Gray, a rich banker, their friendship is challenged for a love for wealth and romantic love. Of course in a city fueled by the idea that money buys happiness it becomes harder and harder for Katey to find her niche of individuality no matter how much she reads to discover it. Societies pressure to be among the wealthy is immense and Katey soon discovers people are not who they pretend to be. 

My favorite character in this novel was Tinker. He so reminded me of Gatsby. He was even described as a guy who had 'wonder'. Tinker like Gatsby dreamed and wealth was a huge part of that dream, however Tinker unlike Gatsby seem to discover that you surely can't repeat the past and going forward and truly embracing who you is what happiness is. Too bad for Katey and Eve. Katey even more than Eve, irked me in this regard. This is all I shall say without spoiling. Eve came across as completely shallow, a real Gatsby's Daisy, but her refusal of her dad's money threw me. Eve's character explained it by saying:


"I'm willing to be under anything...as long as it isn't somebody's thumb."


And yet she was under someone else's thumb. To me, this was completely uncharacteristic (for her not to take her dad's money) and unless there was some further explanation for her reasoning. What other things besides money motivated Eve? Clearly not her independence and need for freedom else she wouldn't let someone else care for her. Was Eve both shallow and contradictory? Then I discover that Eve did appreciate good music. Did this make her less shallow? I'm not sure. I'm definitely unsure about Eve. I don't really buy her need for freedom and not being up under somebody's thumb because really she never is and although Katey seems to fly solo, she still can't see past her own limitations that come from feelings of betrayal. For me in the end, Tinker is the only redeemable character in the novel whereas in Gatsby all of the characters were totally shallow and unforgivable - still a great novel. Yes, I highly recommend Rules of Civility and maybe one should read it more than once. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

3 Stars for Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

 


Margaret Atwood is a beautiful writer, and it is easy to get lost in the imagery of her words, but this alone does not make a solid story. In the end, you have to have a story, and Surfacing by Atwood does not contain a solid plot line. It is about two couples living in a desolate cabin in the hopes of finding out what happen to the main protagonist's father. That alone is interesting enough, but the story focuses more on Atwood's philosophical viewpoints on preserving the environment and feminist issues that often define women as something other than being an individual and often victims of society. I don't mind these viewpoints, but not in a story. This book should have been more of an essay. I have the same problem with this story as I have with Anthem by Ayn Rand which is over a hundred pages of someone's opinion about the evils of collectivism. There is no plot There is no story. In the end, I found myself skimming this novel. I'm not sure I can recommend it, but I can recommend other Atwood novels like Cat's Eye and both Handmaid books one and two.