Because it--coupled with a once-in-a-lifetime trip into el mero corazon Azteca i.e. Mexico, Distrito Federal--affected me oh so much at just the correBecause it--coupled with a once-in-a-lifetime trip into el mero corazon Azteca i.e. Mexico, Distrito Federal--affected me oh so much at just the correct time, "Homegoing" for me is the BOOK OF THE YEAR. It tackles huge themes (the main & overpowering ingredient in all the realm of literature is this confidence on the auteurs part to handle & fashion the ethereal) with the verocity and insatiability of a killer shark. Gyasi is the perennial literary Great White Shark--less common this species is than the Great White Whale of Literatureland. Each one of Homegoing's stories is a tragic-filled morsel of third world suffering. Of omnipresent sorrow. The type which you, as a super lucky individual, couldn't even begin to fathom or properly imagine.
Tribulation, plight, anarchy, struggle, struggle, struggle... With this masterful novel it's not a question of will you cry but When. Beautiful!...more
Works doubly as one hugely terrific autobiography & a megaengaging graphic novel. In FUN HOME, there is a tremendous longing to merge both of these ArWorks doubly as one hugely terrific autobiography & a megaengaging graphic novel. In FUN HOME, there is a tremendous longing to merge both of these Arts. The intent is always to make print as compelling as the pictorials they are made to convey. Astute, cheeky & enthralling, it brings together disparate themes like 'Wind in the Willows" & "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Catcher in the Rye", as well as A Chorus Line & Joyce's Ulysses: pretty much a choose-your-own-literature type adventure that possibly every single reader of this flawless book could relate to.
Ten dollars to you if the last page/frame of this doesn't make you B.O.L.*
PS: We are watching the musical this January! Oh blessed New Year!
THIS IS THE BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL I'VE READ ALL MY LIFE...*!
There. This is a profound, one of those once-in-a-life, lightning-iGush! Times a thousand...!
THIS IS THE BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL I'VE READ ALL MY LIFE...*!
There. This is a profound, one of those once-in-a-life, lightning-in-a-bottle-type experience... This dude is master chronicle (auto)biographer, expert storyteller, and amazing cartoonist all in one... & this is the project that only HE could produce... A type of unicorn, really (you CANNOT possibly let it pass you by). I've never been shaken by something in this genre, like, ever. Until now.
* Lie. Actually, it IS a tie. "Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel also shares this accolade.
My favorite horror novel, ever. Erm... short story collection. Technically.
Wow, wow & WOW! Barker is undenLooking for good horror? Look no further...
My favorite horror novel, ever. Erm... short story collection. Technically.
Wow, wow & WOW! Barker is undeniably unique, a few steps above Stephen King (at this point) in the whimsical world of the macabre. All fifteen of these tales are incredible-- & incredibly wicked--anecdotes, all wonderful drafts for damn-good horror flicks (bettering "Hellraiser," surely) that could become classics as quintessential as Carrie, Pet Semetary or The Shining. Barker has indeed a romantic, and visceral, and uber-gross view of things, foremost a fantastic infatuation with the human body, and with the traffic of the spectral world with mortal sexuality... it's all very toxic, dabbling in the world of erotic masochism & clever even genius motifs of a collective dread.
Indeed, I love the collection. It rivals the very best of King (perhaps only one of his collections hits the visceral nerve a bit more masterfully, albeit less fantastically, than "The Books..."). My favorites are MUSTS (read, read, read!) for those who study the short story; what makes these little nuggets of gold so golden is a true mystery in itself: "Sex, Death and Starshine" cleverly paints a surrealistic picture, rivaling even Dali, of the intermingling of souls with the living (a masterpiece for sure); and "In the Hills, the Cities" has the most memorable "monster" to appear out of the dark subconscious in the longest time, I think, since Frankenstein's demon. This one, too, is a masterpiece, & the imagination for such a clever Voltairesque creation seems so alien and divine as to be madly envied. And in awe of. Lastly, I kinda really dug the monster-flick tale "Rawhide Rex" which should be turned into a script (just looked it up, it is), as the climax is better than mostly any I could think of for a monster story. This guy, it should be clearly understood, is THE Absolute Shit....more
An outstanding achievement. I'm in deep awe of the many components that make up this complex, riveting work of ART. First off, the illustrations are oAn outstanding achievement. I'm in deep awe of the many components that make up this complex, riveting work of ART. First off, the illustrations are opaque & shimmery, raw and delicate, fierce and even bittersweet. The Jack the Ripper story involves different angles, & they're all portrayed here in inspiring detail. Stories & sub-stories, like molecules and atoms, arrive at a fever pitch several times in the narrative, & it really is a roller-coaster of the macabre, of the surreal, and of authentic late 20th century artistry.
"From Hell" may actually belong in a frickin' museum!...more
A mega doozy! A unique faux/dopey emblem of hippie Americana that blows angelic trumpets in your face with the celebration of a dadaesque topsy-turvy A mega doozy! A unique faux/dopey emblem of hippie Americana that blows angelic trumpets in your face with the celebration of a dadaesque topsy-turvy rover's lifestyle. So, oh so VERY unique. Is it all nonfiction? Really?! Or is it a horror film in disguise (no, no, no, just hear me out!) wherein body snatchers captivate the fragile minds of the youth, ensnaring them in major LSD consumption, "intersubjectivity," codependent thinking and a fantastical creation of genuine communal attachment? The hippies were a group that's just (if not more, at the time) self-aware & as conceited as all of them are. All about the "me."
Once the novel is one-fourth over, it finally becomes accessible, cracking open like some golden egg. And what pours out of the almost-mystical experience--following a group of misfits who grok over the long roads & ever-expanding horizons of the motherland--is something unforgettable, unattainable for any other writer than this one, the overly ambitious writer of "Bonfire of the Vanities," Mr. Tom Wolfe. Reading "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" is like following the Pied Piper into some sweet oblivion, acting as stupid foolish children, except that your parents will never find out nor be sad about your departure.
"You're either on the bus or off the bus." Yup, there are life-lessons aplenty to be harvested from this utmost jewel, this crystallized ruby, as important to historians as it is for creative writers.
This one requires your utmost attention, reader. Bring it into your own personal movie, which plays out in a singular, long, mystifying strip of Day-Glo Highlighter acid-&-lemon green!
An unlikely FLAT-OUT MASTERPIECE that contains the most visceral type of horror fiction elements. He expertly expands them toward a precipice of dreadAn unlikely FLAT-OUT MASTERPIECE that contains the most visceral type of horror fiction elements. He expertly expands them toward a precipice of dread. A one-of-a-kind experience, a delicious sassy slap to the moribund reader.
To be read AT ONCE. Do it! NOW! Nothing comes as close as this one to a true modern EXPERIENCE (that feels simultaneously as old as time itself). Take the title of this work literally. Find the time to seek this one out--nothing American comes even close to its gorgeous monster tale. So worth it!...more
For the longest time "Precious" was my favorite "modern" (2009 & up) movie. It had the gospel-and-church-strong power to compel me to immediately lookFor the longest time "Precious" was my favorite "modern" (2009 & up) movie. It had the gospel-and-church-strong power to compel me to immediately look upon my own life reflexively, and pronounce it all not too bad after all. Other souls are in peril, of course, and all I can do is complain about my own vapid existence! In truth, the movie adaptation is a horror film disguised as Oscar-baiting melodrama.
It's powerful; a very visceral kick to the gut. & the book is no different. Sure, it's devoid that once in a lifetime performance by M'onique. The total effect of the conspicuous & sporadic absence of the monstrous mother is one of tension, of the potential bite of the ferocious beast in the dark, that's to naturally come.
Sapphire's novel works like a real, and less tediously-awful "Flowers for Algernon". It remains a brilliant (& worthwhile) piece of art....more
A.K.A.: Grey Gardens by William Faulkner. Are these unfortunate souls dead or alive in their domestic limbo? Oh, this is one delicious yarn with plentA.K.A.: Grey Gardens by William Faulkner. Are these unfortunate souls dead or alive in their domestic limbo? Oh, this is one delicious yarn with plenty of turns--with a terror that comes to us only by the Literary Mistress of the Dark Herself, Shirley Jackson. The luxurious morbidity, the Harper Lee Goth cynicism of the book, it is all an absolute delight. I am truly beginning to think that all of her books are like this one--simply the classiest horror of ALL TIME....more
A ragin' feelin' I had during the first half of "Ragtime" was... oh-my-gawd, this may possibly become my favorite novel all year. Yeah. That overwhelmA ragin' feelin' I had during the first half of "Ragtime" was... oh-my-gawd, this may possibly become my favorite novel all year. Yeah. That overwhelmingly delicious feeling last year achieved during my "Where'd You Go Bernadette"/"The Godfather" double whammy was reproduced, until it, almost organically, chose to focus on one specific era in U.S. history! Ragtime is just so majestically beautiful, taking on the whole of America between 1903 & 1915, aka the dawning of the 20th century, displaying an intrepid attitude that blazes, that accelerates.
It is incredible; an accessible, long meditation, like a panorama-portrait described with broad, lush strokes; accessible unlike Saramago or Garcia Marquez. It's funny, it's very clever with its use of scales, for everything in literature is worth a mention: from a simple shadow on the floor to the features of the general populace of the great American metropolis--this novel has it all. & when the scale becomes unfathomable, Doctorow maintains one singular strand in a huge tapestry that has many strands, it seems. He chooses to fix the novel past the faux-majesties of the new money set (where Gatsby existed) and the slum-wretched-poor (the days before the grapes of wrath) in a factual story of a black man robbed of his property, his basic human dignity, and consequently of his revenge on the white cowards. "Ragtime" is entertaining, wholesome, very educational, & I would urge every American History teacher to add it to the syllabus. It describes a macrocosm effectively & the factoids are invigorating. Plus, the prose, well, it's endearing, unforgettable, good-great-amazing....more
No. "American Sniper" it isn't. Even "The Hurt Locker" or "Zero Dark Thirty" or the forgotten "Stop-Loss" aren't IT, either.
BUT this IS IT. (you gottNo. "American Sniper" it isn't. Even "The Hurt Locker" or "Zero Dark Thirty" or the forgotten "Stop-Loss" aren't IT, either.
BUT this IS IT. (you gotta GOTTA READ this!)
Of course, you would have to go to literature for the most captivating, most REALISTIC depictions of the new American Soldier's psyche. Juicy and spine-tinglingly relevant, this uber-irreverent novel soars high with a grounded and visceral pulse, in an almost minute-by-minute account of society's push on the soldier (Billy Lynn), on his fish-out-of-water-ness. His condition is complex AND clichéd in equal measure, but that it is important or worthwhile of this awesome & o-so-cool portrait there is NO DOUBT.
"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" is a gratifying read that's not only today's "Catch-22", but also Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway put together, swirled in with the priceless and undeniable wit of THE Modern American Author.
PS: film looks exquisite, no? PPS: but it's a dud. Alas. And had I seen it on IMAX? I'd be soo fucking mad....more
A novel that's elegant & overly articulate--yet VERY readable. So much dexterity is on display here ("Damn what an amazing writer!" is a perpetual thoA novel that's elegant & overly articulate--yet VERY readable. So much dexterity is on display here ("Damn what an amazing writer!" is a perpetual thought while reading this), with a prose made by some wizard's alchemy, a talent-filled intuition, & a distinct view that's brutal & uncomfortably honest. Shriver outshines even Flaubert himself: THIS is the very core of feminism, of individualism (move over Madame Bovary... you cared more for the idea of love than anything else, anyway, & never really gave a hoot about child rearing).
An epic book like "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is rare, yeah. I can see this as some rather strikingly beautiful monster composed of the few scary parts from Ira Levin's "Rosemary's Baby" and the more ominous tones of "The Omen". It's a modern psychology (dissected with words so carefully chosen, both intellectual and to-the-core precise) that deconstructs a past for the sake of...something. I won't tell. This one has a DYNAMITE ENDING that will rattle you, and then some. It is, truly, pretty much everything you'd ever want in a book (Shriver's account is WAAAAAY more compelling than Philip Roth's Pulitzer darling "American Pastoral", & they share the theme of the American dream-gone-bad, as parents are betrayed by their own American flag-toting offspring).
Exactly the flawless masterpiece you've heard it is. I've read hundreds of novels in my day, & this is in the top 3 (On equal shelf with "A ConfederacExactly the flawless masterpiece you've heard it is. I've read hundreds of novels in my day, & this is in the top 3 (On equal shelf with "A Confederacy of Dunces" & "Blonde." (My own personal trifecta perfecta: The THE the best novels of ALL TIME!)) I will never stop lauding this book. Unbelievable, mythic; the stuff from the Gods to anyone with an eye & brain to receive from the way-up up up heights.
This is LIFE AFFIRMING literature that's meant to be treasured for the rest of your blessed life. The main character will stay with you until the day you die......more
What a year I've had (2014)! Perhaps 20 books of the 80 or so have been Phenomenal (thanks, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die List). Seriously, the maWhat a year I've had (2014)! Perhaps 20 books of the 80 or so have been Phenomenal (thanks, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die List). Seriously, the majority of these are at least above average, some of them are true essentials that you mustmust MUST absolutely experience). In that vein, "The Master" reigns supreme.
Novels about novel-writing are a hit because they embody the "perfect package": it's drama about drama, prose about prose, what the unfictitious writer had to do to ultimately get his fiction out there... even whole sets of poetics and stylistic inclinations have a TRUE (dare I add: educational) purpose in these exciting, intrepid endeavors. Yeah, Cunningham hit a home run with "The Hours"--his trying to explain a writer's madness somehow allowed it transcendence of the boundaries of time and space. And in Joyce Carol Oates "Blonde" (my favorite novel all year), there is a sincere and Godly effort to portray the ARTIST in all her bright and dark dimensions. THE MASTER is a work about the restraint felt by the artist, in this case, the incomparable Henry James, and how every small moment is erected in his mind with hints of feeling and memory. He feels sadness for children--for their future lives that seem so distant and so full of possibility, including, of course, the possibility of demise. For his sister, for mortality; for the new form of novel which could (and in my very humble opinion DID) surpass his own brand of the same.
Like Woolf, James is a victim of his age, his society--we all are. But Woolf was intrepid; James was insistent on the PROPER way to write a novel (see also, "The Art of Fiction"). His ideas went into his refined and sophisticated art; indeed with so many tuggings and distractions, & clashes with historical events, acquaintances, social gatherings, etc., James became diverted from his clear literary tasks. He is a master of his element, in his element; a brilliant man of unexpected colors.
This one, to me, is PERFECT. Yes, a book about the contemplative nature of one of the greatest writers in the English language is, not boring or dull, but magnificent in its courage to properly give the Master back his due. This is one of the greatest of tributes imaginable.
It must be said that this stands as a clear example of apprentice beating master. I will read Colm Toibin in the future with enormous expectation....more
The "White Tiger of Bangalore" is cunning, fast, intrepid-- the perfect symbol for this perfect novel that reminds the reader of characters like ScarfThe "White Tiger of Bangalore" is cunning, fast, intrepid-- the perfect symbol for this perfect novel that reminds the reader of characters like Scarface & friends-- Antiheroes all. Adiga's yarn is utterly engrossing; it's a mystery unraveled in the purest tradition of classic storytelling. It has that picaresque quality (which is one of the hardest tricks for a novelist to pull off, truly, really) needed to balance out all the heaviness of a constant train of melancholic events (violence and tenderness masterfully intermingled), an oppressive setting (modern day India), & a tale that when stripped of its resplendent coat of heavy whites and blacks, is all pulpy, red, meaty, nasty-- still retaining a beauty that is more than the reader expected or felt entitled to. Coincidentally, it has hints of some of my favorite books/film: Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day", Indra Sinha's "Animal's People" & Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire."
I wholly give FULL endorsement to this marvelously universal yet blissfully irreverent novel....more
An exemplary short story collection & very likely at the zenith in most "all-time" lists. All 10 vignettes are blissfully cinematographic, spewing outAn exemplary short story collection & very likely at the zenith in most "all-time" lists. All 10 vignettes are blissfully cinematographic, spewing out image after retched image, illuminating lives filled with woe, woe, & more woe. In a place of stasis & violence.
The setting is that of the inglorious Southern U.S.--minus its usual sheen of glittery magnificence.
It is without a doubt one very strong dose of American Gothic. The elements of which practically overflow in each short story: the immortal clashes between races, between sexes, between ages... reluctance to the advances of technology, the always impressionable war between rural & urban spaces.... plus the fabulous and macabre for which we've come to know and love the artist, such as: bizarrely wise children and inane adults; monkeys (of course!); trains, cars, transportation; self-fulfilling prophecy (the titular story is the main example of this); death, missteps, punishment exchanged for ingrained ignorance; as one character boldly puts it, an infatuation with "secret infections, hidden deformities, assaults upon children" (173). Sentences are overstuffed with a hidden meaning, & there is absolutely no real key to unlock each mysterious element or eerie undertone.
After the first story, the stories linger on insignificance much to long, but this is quickly forgiven as the last four stories (A Circle of Fire, A Late Encounter with the Enemy, Good Country People [my personal winner], and The Displaced Person) in the book match, if not surpass, the first one, the very very good "A Good Man...". & the immigrant polemic of this country in the modern day is a prophetic way to end her collection, in tale #10.
With these horrific and morbid morsels, it begins to dawn on us that no one else but the devil is in the details. It is no wonder that O'Connor is conversing with Faulkner in the Afterlife at this very moment... (Imagine, for a second, a fantasy collaboration between the two. A screenplay? WOW.)...more
An epic romance made meek, singular, aromatic, ethereal, surreal. A fresh little nugget of splendor, of much-needed prose perfection. This is gothic rAn epic romance made meek, singular, aromatic, ethereal, surreal. A fresh little nugget of splendor, of much-needed prose perfection. This is gothic romance at its absolute height. (It's perhaps the best piece of fan-fiction ever.) & I say this as "WSS" is in actuality a side story formulated for the emblematic crazed woman smack in the middle of "Jane Eyre". But it takes a life of its own... merging elements of brutal nature and brutal nurture both, to birth a spectacle like one I've never experienced before. Not short of magical, it's baffling how truly impactful these short novels really are. Rhys gives us so much by giving us the absolute least. Leaving the reader naturally to ask for more.
There are specks of Graham Greene (the impeccable) here; as well as Toni Morrison (the visionary)-- SO the best of the best in the best.
To be read IMMEDIATELY. "Wide Sargasso Sea": certainly a masterpiece....more
A magnificent experience wherein we discover that the inhabitants of the fourth planet in the Milky Way are identical in the trifles of the everyday aA magnificent experience wherein we discover that the inhabitants of the fourth planet in the Milky Way are identical in the trifles of the everyday as the resident in the 3rd planet. Then some collective idea pops out of nowhere--a fine symbol of apocalypse and annihilation--& scares the living shit outta everyone.
I know I haven't read much sci-fi in the past, but I know that to top this one will be VERY tough.
"Martian Chronicles" surpasses, in some ways, that which Bradbury tried, and admits to imitating with this collection of short stories (the crazy masterpiece, "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson). The fear that permeates in these pages-- a horror novel more than a sci-fi one (well, early sci-fi is mostly always horrific)-- is un-peggable, untraceable, and just completely... yep, Martian. It is eerie at a supreme level... truly heightened emotions in this 50's version of our future. The Chronicles turn Voltairesque, then it all becomes a western as fixed and terrible as anything by Cormac McCarthy full of guns and violence, then takes a Tarantino turn of events, robots and--
It's all one powerful and unique oxymoron. Bradbury writes just the perfectly extra adjective in many of his sentences. Maybe one extra more than needed. Et voila-- amazingness! It's tidily overindulgent and superfluously concise...
A merry-go-round of grotesqueries & infinite pain. The life of the junky means nothing and so the experience is circular-- a self-(or is it?)punishmenA merry-go-round of grotesqueries & infinite pain. The life of the junky means nothing and so the experience is circular-- a self-(or is it?)punishment, an act of extreme nihilism--this is a cry from the very depths of hell, and the last time I checked the most successful account of it was by a man named Dante Alighieri.
Burroughs out-writes those terribly true duds of literary fame, mainly Henry Miller, Kerouac, et al. This is incendiary, fantastic, simply put, a bonafide WORK OF ART. In my mind "On the Road" is but a dull Norman Rockwell, "Naked Lunch" an overpowering "Guernica."
Experience this hell-on-page & immediately go out to the world to enjoy your heaven!
P.S. What a difference ten years makes! I tried to read this right after high school & failed. I feel better for my innocence....more
YOU MUST READ THIS! Have to have to! And you will. It must be one of the BEST (FINEST) novels of all time. (& y'all know that this is the sole topic IYOU MUST READ THIS! Have to have to! And you will. It must be one of the BEST (FINEST) novels of all time. (& y'all know that this is the sole topic I will NEVER joke about.)
Seeing the elusive, the ephemeral, through different filters--a jaguar prowling through the jungle, a baby left all alone, as if you had the privilege to do so in the first place. "Blonde" is a privilege to read-- the rarest of rare novel/poetry book combos. Why read itty bitty poetry in its refracted, basically restricted state? Read novels, exemplary novels like this one, for a novel like "Blonde" kicks the ass of those tiny singular books... there is poetry in each and every page. Undertaking this journey is a huge endeavor for the reader. This humongous tale for the reader is a grotesque fairy tale through & through.
Norma Jean's thoughts/actions occur in present tense, in actual time, & also in fatalistic retrospection. It is a topsy turvy house of horror.
This is an expert fictionalization; momentous literature which must be absolutely devoured.
The saga is sublime. The topic, the figurehead that is Marilyn Monroe, is and has been ultimately misinterpreted. But thanks to Joyce Carol Oates (give her a Nobel already [I mean, even Coetzee and Saramago have one!]) and her extensive research, the meat on the bones are as beautiful and enigmatic as the person herself (and by this, I mean Monroe AND J.C.O.: their collaboration is what dreams are made of. Their nightmare is our heaven).
(Strange to figure how many modern actresses wish to emulate the gorgeous blond, they try time after time, and the great actress tried so much to be the character she was chosen to portray. She was even painfully paranoid of her fictional characterizations drifting into her real life like ghosts!)
Consider Oates's Norma Jean as a 20th century Emma Bovary-- but with something to offer the outside world. And of this many great Hollywood men took notice, and the exploitation that ensues is demonic. The elusive father figure-- Norma Jean never met hers, and so what happens is a collection of men she disgustingly refers to as "Daddy." (see? Even porno stars want to be Marilyn!) She becomes addicted to Codeine tablets, super quick solutions to issues which stem all the way from infancy. There is a patina of infinite sadness, of devastation being covered up for the sake of illusion and the glimmering of the silver screen. The novel is filled with endings-- conceivably, almost every section in the story could be a possible way for Oates to finish her masterpiece-- the prolongment is absolutely masochistic and inspiring, if that makes any sense. The novel that starts off with dolls, star homes and star funerals is undoubtedly what awaits the girl (beautiful and young corpse) at the end. Everything: sad, with a foretaste of certain doom, of impending tragedy. The girl devoted to God and literature and meaty roles (as evidenced by her poems and musings which) beg the reader to feel defensive of her, of this child in a woman's body, The Woman's body. The cooly complex metaphysical stuff (this is a 21st century novel after all and all the Greats brought out all their tricks at this point) is infused with intelligence, and, yes, MAGIC. Marilyn is a woman who falls out of time. She recalls scripts that have never even existed before but compete with her actual life-- she's smart beyond recognition, she is not DUMB AT ALL. She juxtaposes art with life, and this is what all actresses, all good actresses, must feel for their art. She suffers for her art like any other artist worth his or her salt.
It is pretty rare for literature to be so perfectly precise in emulating the theme and source it describes: like the person herself (R.I.P) the novel, for me, will remain unique and unforgettable....more
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