(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

BOOKS.

I am so close to the end of my "read all the books" list I can taste it.

I tried reading Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, which martinius recommended. I thought the conceit was very clever: a novel set in a culture where gender roles are reversed, but with a focus on the damage gender inequality does. I couldn't really get into the story; it seems like it would make a good short story but gets a bit tedious as a novel -- either that or the focus was so heavy on the conceit that the characters got short shrift. Perhaps it's just that I'm not the target market for this book; I'm already aware of most of what it's trying to point out.

I did manage to get through The Levee by Malcolm Shuman, which I think someone else recommended though I've lost the name. (If it was you, let me know and I'll edit to credit.) It's a decent read, but it felt a bit limp in the end. I was startled to find out Shulman is an experienced novelist, because I read a lot of stuff in this one that gave me a "first novel" vibe.

The basic premise of the novel is simple: Colin, a true-crime writer in his sixties, returns to his childhood home of Baton Rouge to see if he can find out the truth about an event that happened to him as a teenager in the 1950s. There are two parallel stories: adult Colin returning, and young Colin living the events as they happen.

What unfolds is a murder mystery, though it reads more like southern-gothic horror, almost like a stripped down Stephen King. A teacher at Colin's school is murdered, and he and his friends try to sort out how they should react and what they should do. Colin and Blaize, his sickly and over-mothered friend, have the most airtime; Colin's best friend Stan gets a bit shorted as the son of the accused murderer, and their not-really-friend Toby shows up to be a dick once in a while.

The problem is that it seems to be undecided whether it wants to be a story of a small town like Peyton Place, or a coming-of-age like Stand By Me, or a straight-up murder mystery. There is no actual supernatural horror in the story, which is almost a bit disappointing. Colin the Elder is treating the entire thing like it was the focal trauma of his life, and perhaps it was, but the climactic scenes seem to be a bit limp after all the buildup.

I have to admit I was also iffy about the language; while it was definitely period to use the racial and sexual slurs that various characters did, it also felt gratuitous, like it was thrown in for shock value.

Final Verdict: The Levee is a quick read, but it's not a very deep read, and I suspect it might be something of a beach read. It's not the kind of book I can imagine most people wanting to get through more than once.

Comments

[greenet.livejournal.com]

No, Egalia's daughters is pretty awful as a novel. It's better read as an argument than anything else.

Though possibly my dislike of the book comes from having read the St. Croix-trilogy first, so I know she can write much better and more engagingly.

[blushingflower.livejournal.com]

We read Egalia's Daughters is my Sociology of Sex & Gender class in college. It worked pretty well in that class, but as a novel, yeah, not so much.

[athousanderrors.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to add another book to your list, if you haven't read it already - Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs. It's a really intriguing blend of fantasy-horror, interspersed with genuine creepy Victorian photographs ('levitating children', people with faces on the backs of their heads, 'invisible' men...) and it's...yes. Hard to describe, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. And I'd be intrigued to see what you make of it.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I am so close to the end of my "read all the books" list I can taste it.

I'm tempted to add another book to your list, if you haven't read it already

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT.

I mean, I ask jokingly. But I think it means I really will have to institute a "do not suggest books to me" clause on every review I post :D

[athousanderrors.livejournal.com]

WELL IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT FOR SAYING YOU WERE CLOSE TO THE END. Bibliophiles like me see that as a, 'Help I'm running out of things to read!' challenge. ;)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It's true I can never make a "I HAVE NO READING LIST" post.

Because then I will have a reading list again D:

[athousanderrors.livejournal.com]

Precisely.

And you have no sympathy from me, I'm failing miserably on my 'read 100 new books in 2012' challenge. 56 at the last count, which seems not great to me but keeps impressing people. It makes me worry about how much 'normal' people actually read....

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

When you think about it, 56 is actually really good. I averaged about a book a week in 2011, which is only 52 books a year. I would read more, but I work eight hours a day (where I spend about half my time reading) and when I get home I'm usually cooking or writing, so if I can get through a book in a week just reading on a train, that's pretty good.

I think we get an inflated sense of how many books it's possible to read, as children, because childrens' books are so much shorter. :D

[athousanderrors.livejournal.com]

Well to be fair, some of those are graphic novels, and a lot of them are YA or 'supernatural romance' - The Vampire Diaries and the like. Mostly out of morbid curiosity, more than anything else...

Plus, I've been signed off work/unemployed since March, so after reading everything on the internet, there's not much else to do ;)

I've completely failed to comment, btw, but I've thoroughly enjoyed Better To Reign In Hell. As always, reading your fic is a pleasure. You're one of the few writers whom I read regardless of whether I've seen the source canon (White Collar, I'm looking at you...)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! I'm glad you've been enjoying the fic. :)

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

I remember when I saw "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford, and The Girl asked him what his job was, and he told her that he reads. "What... books?" "No, everything. I read everything." And I thought to myself, my god, that sounds like an awesome job. Screw being an astronaut, I want to READ EVERYTHING!

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

I believe it might have been me. I read The Levee last year.