Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

Obert Skye,

Yes, the Harry Potter similarity is apparent - but then, Harry Potter is similar to all the other archetypal early-teen-fictional-hero, that of the person who is the "chosen one" and does not know it, and part of the tale is the coming to terms with these extraordinary abilities. Therefore, in a way, it is difficult now to expound upon a standard convention when the Harry Potter series has exemplified this theme with such popularity that everything that comes after it will be compared to it.

That being said, Leven Thumps is an Okie, which is not a big difference from HP, in that HP was raised in a closet under the stairs and LT is raised on a bed out back behind a trailer home. Nasty parental figures, the whole bit. Realizes around puberty that he has special powers.

From there, the book veers away from the HP and as I said before I really should comment on the story itself rather than a comparison of genres because that's not entirely fair, so give me a moment and let me try to focus.

OK, that's better. One weakness in the book is that the overall theme is thrust upon us early on and then expounded upon ad nauseum, and I feel that it would have strengthened the tale to allow more mystery of Foo before we finally come to a full understanding of it - however, instead, the author gives it to us immediately in one paragraph. The idea is rather interesting: Foo is not so much a "dreamworld" as it is another dimension that allows humans to dream. If there were no Foo, humanity would not be able to dream and thus our minds would be cluttered, restless, and eventually we'd all be driven insane.

The crux of the matter is that LT's dad was able to travel back and forth to Foo, whereas the majority of people who go to Foo from Earth never return, and that's the way the universe is set up. To allow free travel would upset the balance, and cause what I just described in the last paragraph.

Needless to say, there's a power-hungry villian who cares not for the possibilities of destroying both worlds. Sadly, this character is merely a caricature of the archetypal villian - power hungry, with no regard for the sanctity of life, and even utterly uncaring about the possibility of his own doom. But instead of being merely a megolamaniacal nihilist, he just comes across like some cartoon version of Lord Voldemort (ooops! There I go again!)

Here's a diversion: Foo is also populated with many different creatures, subjected to some sort of caste system, and who live with different conditions/bodies/inherent powers. In this way, the tale begins to draw from more traditional mythology such was what we see in the Narnia books, so, there you go, Skye! You've moved from Rowling to CS Lewis - not too shabby!!

One of the creatures, however, is definitely Dobby-esque (only about the size of a cat) who turns out to be LT's greatest companion. Add to that the girl, who has powers of her own and has an yet-unknown part to play in this tale. However, the greatest character has to be the king who Fate reincarnated as a tree, which was then whittled down into a toothpick. Half the book focuses on the adventures of the toothpick trying to find his way to Leven before Voldemort (sorry!) er . . . the bad guy finds him first.

Overall, the book is very readable, very quick, with very intriguing ideas and likeable characters. Some of the plotting is ill-paced (a speed-up/slow-down issue) with not enough "spreading around" of focus on the separate plot lines regarding each character. Also, it's a cliffhanger book, so you're basically forced to get the next one just to see how it all ends, which some readers may consider unfair storytelling.

While I've been joking about it throughout this post, I do indeed worry that this book will be overlooked simply because, on the surface, it does seem like a Harry Potter knockoff. It's not.

And it deserves a read. Based on its own merits.

I tried. Failed . . . but I tried.


VG

The Strong-Willed Child: Birth Through Adolescence

Dr James Dobson. Living Books, Wheaton Illinois.

Tremendously disappointing. Basically, he has one good point - that of "mean what you say - always!" which is true. However, he spends most of this book either a) quoting extensively his previous books and b) extensively undermining other people's advice.

I really wonder WHY this book is so popular that it took me weeks to get it from the library, especially when they had about 10 copies of it.

Strange.

VG

Silk

Alessandro Barrico. Translated from the Italian by Guido Waldman. Harvill Press, London. 1996.

Frankly, this book attracted me because it seemed to read so much like Snow (see previous post). It's also written by a European but set in Japan, and seems to have the same tone as Snow, which is best and most easily described as a European slant on the technique of the haiku, i.e. a world of emotion packed into very few syllables.

What this invariably seems to lead to (in the European novella) is a somewhat haunting, dreamlike love story - almost as though it's a fable, or at least an allegory. But an allegory for what? Not sure . . .

but, for me, the end was worth the rest of this novella, which relied a little too heavily on repetition of previous chapters (the description of the journey across the world - repeated verbatim 4 TIMES!) and, in presenting the repression of the main character, Hervé Joncour, often came dangerously close to being outright dull.

However, the story keeps your interest primarily with the haunting figure of the Japanese girl (who may or may not be Japanese, technically - a mystery never solved, alas) who never speaks but communicates in one (or possibly two) letters to our "hero." The crux of the story, actually, and we as the reader don't find this out truly until later, is the contrast of this "desired" woman, in comparison with the Frenchman's wife, Helene, who is described as having the most beautiful voice in the world. (note the contrast already: "most beautiful voice" vs. "the one who never speaks.") Helene, as well, is simply the devoted wife: caring, kind, compassionate, and while we as the readers are invariably interested in whether Joncour will attain the object of his desire, we are also beset with regret for the attention that this draws from Helene.

And now here's the spoiler, so if you want to read the book, don't read the following paragraphs. OK?

Here goes: the climax of the novel is the most tender part about this love story, because it sets the whole thing on its end. That is: Joncour never gets the Japanese girl/war breaks out/he gets a letter from her which is a long intense erotic letter about all the physical contact they could never have, and as some Japanese woman is translating this for him in Paris, I was thinking to myself that this letter did not truly seem like a Japanese writing style, in that it was too long, too expressive, too detailed. Didn't think about this until the climax of the book, which is this: OK, after this letter is translated for him, it ends with "this is the contact we could never have. Consider this the consummation of our love. Now go live happily with your wife." And he does! He and Helene have another two decades of sweet marriage together, until she dies. Then he gets the idea to go see the Japanese woman who translated it for him in the first place, and she reveals to him that Helene had actually written the letter and had her translate it into Japanese. The woman also tells him that Helene had the most beautiful voice that she'd ever heard.

So the point was this: Helene gave him the girl, in a way that would allow him to let go and spend his days with her, so that he would never be thinking about what might have been - so that he could live fully.

Now, not to p'o all the feminists who will inevitably read the text out of context, I consider this an homage to the strength of the female character (in contrast to the weakness of the male!). In fact, Helene is the greatest, most developed character in this novella, and as a testament to the strength of the story, we don't discover this fact until the final pages.

Not badly done, all in all.

VG

Lord of the Flies

William Golding. Perigree: Berkely Publishing Group, NY. 1954.

I remember reading this book when I was 13, when it came out - and I was about the same age as the boys in the book, and it scared me to pieces, thinking how savage we could become in so short a time.

Reading it again, instead of fear, there is only sadness, really - especially since time and experience have led me to agree more completely with the theories set out in the book, because I've seen them . . . as most of us have.

However, as far as literature is concerned, I would have to classify this novel as a very good first novel, but it is definitely a first novel. It reads almost as an outline for a personal philosophy rather than a completely "fleshed out" book. Basically, the book is too short, and accomplishes the breakdown of society in the space of only seemingly a few weeks. By contrast, the television series "Lost" (while dealing with other themes, but this one included) has the time and the scope to develop the "breakdown" and resistance to it. The novel also has the same ability; however, Golding didn't use that opportunity.

But enough on the negative: suffice it to say, one could read the book as a complete allegory (this WAS written, btw, in the time of Animal Farm) and what drives the book is the characters. Each character, in turn, has their own strengths and weaknesses, except for some of the minor characters, such as the "comedic relief duo" of Sam'n'Eric (much like cummings' "eddienbill") and Roger - but Roger was disappointing, because he was drawn as savage just for the sake of being savage, which even though we all know of sneaky little bullies like that, it would have been nice to see some more dimension to his savagery.

Then, as now, I personally identified with Simon - the quiet introvert with a kind of mystical perception of reality and the people around him. Simon is essentially good, but sees the bad in people, and chooses to withdraw - which makes him the perfect hermitic character to come face-to-face with the Devil/hallucination.

Then there's Piggy - pure intellect, but no physicality. Ralph, who is charismatic but unfocused: he knows what must be done but is occassionally restrained by self-doubt, which becomes his undoing. Then finally, Jack - who has the forcefulness of a leader, and the ability to make quick clear decisions, but is more in love with power and control than in maintaining actual order.

In all honesty - each of the characters has an aspect or a part of the personality of a good leader - a good leader is made from a balance of each of these characteristics. It's just the imbalance that leads to a breakdown.

This book is great for many varied interpretations, and should keep both high school (and even college) students writing introspective papers for years to come.

It's a good read, and well-deserving of being on the "must-read" lists.

VG

Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

Roald Dahl. Penguin, London. (c) 1953 & various years after.

The only problem with this collection is that there weren't enough stories. There were only a few and it should have been a lot longer. Dahl's observations of the human character are spot on and his sense of storytelling is excellent - every single story ended with a twist ending, which probably would not have maintained if the collection included more stories (which is what I just proposed in the first sentence) however! it would have worked if other stories (had he written them) would have been further sketches of the countryside or simple life - or simply character sketches.

As it is, it's hard to discern how much of these stories arose from actual events and how much was extrapolated (i.e "invented") because the rakes and rogues that live in the English countryside appear to be as vibrant as our own neighbours and family members. Every crazy event seems entirely plausible, and more than not - probable!

Favourite story was "Parson's Pleasure" - thoroughly enjoyable last line!

VG

Hopeless Savages

Jen Van Meter, writer. Christine Norrie, illustrator. Oni Press, Oregon. 2002.

Van Meter seems to be the main creative force, as there are some pieces in the back with different illustrators, but Norrie I feel fleshes these characters out the best, gives them their best look.

Basically: this is a continuing story about a punk family throughout the following decades.

The idea is fairly interesting, especially since the stories seems to hop around between the 70's, the 80's, 90's and now. Basically it's fictional, with 4 children growing up under punk values. All in all, it's a story about the strength of family, which is always reaffirming, and I like the freedom that the writer has of travelling through different decades to show the kids in various stages of development.

Favorite moment: one of the back stories, in which the kids are teenagers, being reprimanded by one of their many school principals, who states, "Now, 'Rat,' 'Arsenal,' and 'Twit,' let's first get started by getting rid of those nicknames. What are your REAL names?"

To which the kids reply, "Those ARE our real names, so sod off, y'smug git."

(Trust me, the line becomes incredibly charming after you've just travelled with these kids to rescue their parents.)

And to me, compelling characters always enhance any story.

VG