Author: David Nickle
Published: June 15, 2013
POV: Ann LeSage, 3rd person limited
So. I read an interview with the author on John Scalzi's "Whatever" blog and the concept tickled me so much that I went out and bought the book (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/06/26/the-big-idea-david-nickle).
From the blurb: When Ann LeSage was a little girl, she had an invisible friend, a poltergeist, that spoke to her with flying knives and howling winds. She called it the Insect, and with professional help, she contained it...As Ann grew from girl to woman, the Insect grew with her... Now Ann believes that she has the Insect under control. But there are others vying to take that control away from her. They may not know exactly what they're dealing with, but they know they want it. They are the 'Geisters.
The 'Geisters are a group of men that marry women with poltergeists so they can have sex with the ghosts. They keep the women under their control (sometimes locked away) so they can easily access the ghost. Ann falls in love with, and marries, one of their group, not realizing that is why he is interested in her.
Very interesting concept, right? And sadly, all too relevant (the author said he was proofing the galley when the news broke about the man in Cleveland, Ohio, who had kidnapped three women and kept them as sexual slaves for 10 years).
Now, I love a good ghost story, and I was interested to see what Nickle would do with such a setup.
I have to say, I just didn't get it. Ann would move between her present story (courtship and marriage to Michael Voors) and her past (childhood and the rise of the Insect). The back story was well-handled and spaced throughout the book. There was a nice sense of creeping dread - we know Michael and his friend Ian Rickhardt are not quite what they seem - we just don't know when or how we'll find out what they are. We can tell (even if Ann can't) that something is not quite right.
The thing I didn't get - and what threw me out of the book - was how the men had sex with the poltergeists. I did not understand that at all. The Insect manages to convey to Ann that Michael is raping her in the bathroom of the plane on which they're flying back from their honeymoon. The plane crashes, and Michael ends up dying - so it would appear that the Insect really was not a willing participant. But then you would think that the Insect (or any of the ghosts) had to be willing to make intercourse happen. The men do get off on terror - but also are obviously engaged in the act with something invisible. Maybe I skimmed past it, but I never did get an explanation of why or how the men had control over the poltergeists - at least not one that I believed or understood.
There is a scene, late in the book, where they are trying to inaugurate Ann's brother Philip into their cult, as he also has a link to the Insect. This inauguration seems like a religious service, and there is an implication that they are worshiping the Insect. In a plot twist that you can see coming a mile away, Ann's childhood shrink is exposed as one of their members. He has worked very hard to make sure that Ann sees the Insect as Other, not as a component of herself, and this split is what makes the exploitation possible. I tremendously enjoyed the moment Ann realized that this split existed and moved to accept the Insect - and to wreak havoc on those who would use them.
I'm still trying to figure out what I think of The 'Geisters. I thought the concept was great, and really enjoyed the way the author wrote (I thought he was very skilled with showing the interior work Ann did to keep the Insect contained). This was a quick read, and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next.
All that being said, I never quite got into the book. Ann remained a bit distant, and she was a character I feel I could have quite liked - an architect who used to play D&D. For all that we were in Ann's head, we never were really made to feel for her. I think things were rushed - we were always jumping from one scene/event to the next, without time to really absorb (which is probably why I feel I missed learning how, exactly, the men consorted with the ghosts). I wish Nickle had done another draft - I feel it would have been a much better book, and easily one of my favorites. As it is, not so much.
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The White Bone
Author: Barbara Gowdy
POV: Third person limited (Mud, Date Bed, Tall Time)
Genre: Fiction (maybe literature?)
I've had this book for a few years, and have always meant to read it. Last night I finally got around to it. I didn't feel like watching TV, or like writing, or really much of anything. It's been a long month, and my mental and creative reserves are depleted. So I thought about reading, and couldn't decide if I wanted to read an old comfort book (Sunshine and A Fistful of Sky being my first two options) or start a new book. When I went to actually look at the books, though, I didn't feel like re-reading old favorites, so I decided to read something new.
I'm only explaining that I was in a weird mood when I decided to finally read this book to potentially help explain when I can't decide how I actually feel about this book. The characters are African elephants; the main character's name is Mud (a baby-name). Mud belongs to the She-S tribe. The region they, and other tribes, inhabit is experiencing severe drought. Additionally, the elephants are being demolished by poachers. The elephants have heard of a white bone that will point the way to a Safe Place - free of both drought and humans.
Gar, was this a depressing book. Most everyone dies. Maybe I'm just a girl for happy endings, and that's why I can't make up my mind. Because, here's the thing: it's not just as 'cute' book about humanized elephants. These stand on their own, with their own culture. The elephants have their own rituals and ways and explanations. Gowdy has created a neat mythology for the elephants, and some have clairvoyant gifts (one is each tribe is a visionary, one a mind-talker). One bull elephant, Tall Time, is obsessed with, for want of a better word, old-wife's tales. He thinks he's collected them all. There is, actually, a lot to like in this book.
I was compelled enough by the book that I read it in one day. However, that being said, I never did get all that emotionally attached to the characters, and I can't imagine reading this again. The narrative is shared by three elephants: Mud, Date Bed, and Tall Time. Mud was orphaned and rescued by Date Bed's tribe, the She-S's. Tall Time is the bull that collects links (their word for the tales). He's been in love with Mud since he met her when she was a baby. Elephants don't fall in love, though, so this is a strange aberration (one that is never resolved nor explained).
This book starts off with a tragedy (the slaughter of most of the She-S's) and never gets better. Things never look up for the characters. They basically wander around a drought-stricken landscape searching for the white bone and the lost members of their tribe. Most die. The final pages have the few remaining She-S's heading off to what they think is the Safe Place. Everyone else we've been introduced to has died.
So, depressing. But I'm not even sure that's my main quibble with the book. I found the names confusing (every female elephant's name, once they've been mated with, changes to She-something; the something will start with the letter of the tribe them belong to). Mud's name has just been changed to She-Spurns. Other members of the She-S tribe include She-Soothes, She-Screams, She-Sees, She-Scares, She-Snorts, etc. I lost track of who was who.
Gowdy also invented a language. For instance, flow-sticks are snakes. But she doesn't use this consistently. They will be called both flow-sticks and snakes, often in the same narrative. Choose one and stick with it. I think one of my hesitations to start this book was the fact that I'd have to pick up a new vocabulary. Not really necessary. There's the nice dictionary at the front, but she also footnotes throughout.
And it comes down to narrative, too. She used a third-person limited narration, and it threw me to have animals and that described by their human names (like Grant's gazelles). I don't think she ever called zebras ribs (the elephant name for them), although I could have missed that. Trust the reader. The reader can figure it out from context.
All that being said, I did feel the writing was solid and pleasurable, and I would probably read another of her books. I would just hope it was not quite as depressing.
Disposition: Sale/Donation (it's likely someone will appreciate this book far more than I - and as I said, I can't imagine wanting to reread it).
Recommendations: There's not many people I can imagine wanting to read this book, mostly because it is so depressing. Maybe someone else seeking to write non-human characters (again, I thought that was very well done). More of a craft read than a pleasure read.
As a side note/random observation, this book was published in 1998. It's one of the first fiction books with footnotes in it that I can think of - I believe Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell came out a few years later.
POV: Third person limited (Mud, Date Bed, Tall Time)
Genre: Fiction (maybe literature?)
I've had this book for a few years, and have always meant to read it. Last night I finally got around to it. I didn't feel like watching TV, or like writing, or really much of anything. It's been a long month, and my mental and creative reserves are depleted. So I thought about reading, and couldn't decide if I wanted to read an old comfort book (Sunshine and A Fistful of Sky being my first two options) or start a new book. When I went to actually look at the books, though, I didn't feel like re-reading old favorites, so I decided to read something new.
I'm only explaining that I was in a weird mood when I decided to finally read this book to potentially help explain when I can't decide how I actually feel about this book. The characters are African elephants; the main character's name is Mud (a baby-name). Mud belongs to the She-S tribe. The region they, and other tribes, inhabit is experiencing severe drought. Additionally, the elephants are being demolished by poachers. The elephants have heard of a white bone that will point the way to a Safe Place - free of both drought and humans.
Gar, was this a depressing book. Most everyone dies. Maybe I'm just a girl for happy endings, and that's why I can't make up my mind. Because, here's the thing: it's not just as 'cute' book about humanized elephants. These stand on their own, with their own culture. The elephants have their own rituals and ways and explanations. Gowdy has created a neat mythology for the elephants, and some have clairvoyant gifts (one is each tribe is a visionary, one a mind-talker). One bull elephant, Tall Time, is obsessed with, for want of a better word, old-wife's tales. He thinks he's collected them all. There is, actually, a lot to like in this book.
I was compelled enough by the book that I read it in one day. However, that being said, I never did get all that emotionally attached to the characters, and I can't imagine reading this again. The narrative is shared by three elephants: Mud, Date Bed, and Tall Time. Mud was orphaned and rescued by Date Bed's tribe, the She-S's. Tall Time is the bull that collects links (their word for the tales). He's been in love with Mud since he met her when she was a baby. Elephants don't fall in love, though, so this is a strange aberration (one that is never resolved nor explained).
This book starts off with a tragedy (the slaughter of most of the She-S's) and never gets better. Things never look up for the characters. They basically wander around a drought-stricken landscape searching for the white bone and the lost members of their tribe. Most die. The final pages have the few remaining She-S's heading off to what they think is the Safe Place. Everyone else we've been introduced to has died.
So, depressing. But I'm not even sure that's my main quibble with the book. I found the names confusing (every female elephant's name, once they've been mated with, changes to She-something; the something will start with the letter of the tribe them belong to). Mud's name has just been changed to She-Spurns. Other members of the She-S tribe include She-Soothes, She-Screams, She-Sees, She-Scares, She-Snorts, etc. I lost track of who was who.
Gowdy also invented a language. For instance, flow-sticks are snakes. But she doesn't use this consistently. They will be called both flow-sticks and snakes, often in the same narrative. Choose one and stick with it. I think one of my hesitations to start this book was the fact that I'd have to pick up a new vocabulary. Not really necessary. There's the nice dictionary at the front, but she also footnotes throughout.
And it comes down to narrative, too. She used a third-person limited narration, and it threw me to have animals and that described by their human names (like Grant's gazelles). I don't think she ever called zebras ribs (the elephant name for them), although I could have missed that. Trust the reader. The reader can figure it out from context.
All that being said, I did feel the writing was solid and pleasurable, and I would probably read another of her books. I would just hope it was not quite as depressing.
Disposition: Sale/Donation (it's likely someone will appreciate this book far more than I - and as I said, I can't imagine wanting to reread it).
Recommendations: There's not many people I can imagine wanting to read this book, mostly because it is so depressing. Maybe someone else seeking to write non-human characters (again, I thought that was very well done). More of a craft read than a pleasure read.
As a side note/random observation, this book was published in 1998. It's one of the first fiction books with footnotes in it that I can think of - I believe Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell came out a few years later.
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