Under the Dome, Stephen King

3.5 out of 5

Under the Dome is a harsh book, to say the least. It wasn't the imagery that was startling so much as the increasingly downtrodden theme of the story itself. It shouldn't have surprised me like it did, it is, after all, an apocalyptic tale. There was just such little peace to be found.

My interest lies in the recreating of society after massive catastrophe. Under the Dome described a thousand pages of societal collapse without any justification at the end. It felt like a downward slide into devastation.

I'm not usually a big Stephen King fan; I grow impatient with his slow, deliberate, descriptive pacing at times, but how could I resist such a stylized story in my particular genre of interest?

It wasn't all gloom and doom. If you avoid the rape scenes completely (yuck), the characters had wonderful depth and many aspects of a modern-day community ostensibly cut off from society caught me off guard. Shocking to see how a small town could decay is such a short period of time: political manipulation, mass hysteria, environmental impacts all piled up on the expected questions of fuel, food and water resources.

~~~

I'm sure I say this after ever book, but certain portions spoke to me. You find what you look for.

There was a character struggling with chronic back pain, dependent on medication. In one paragraph she mused over the mind-body connection of addiction: 'I think that when it comes to drugs, the body and the mind are co-conspirators. If the brain wants drugs, the body helps out. It says, "Don't worry, don't feel guilty, it's okay, I really hurt."'

In the months since I've read Under the Dome, that idea has really resonated with me.

20th Century Ghosts, Joe Hill.

3.5 out of 5

Contrary to the title of this book, it's very light on ghost stories. Out of the 16 stories, including the hidden one in the Acknowledgments, only three were about ghosts.

The book was interesting and although I struggle to find contentment with short stories, as I've mentioned before, I enjoyed them and wanted to know more. Joe Hill is particularly good at adding insult to injury for me by ending some of the tales rather abruptly and in an odd manner.

Also, his writing style reminded me a lot of Neil Gamon; main characters of young boys, frightening father figures, sexual honesty that I can't relate to, and an air of creepiness that leaves me grateful that I am only reading about such situations.

I really enjoyed the story Pop Art even though it had such a strong vein of sadness. As with many of the titles, Pop Art is a sneaky, misleading title. At least three of the stories involved baseball. which I always enjoy. There were tales of supposition of Bram Stoker's sons, the manager of a major league baseball team, and even the filming of a George Romero movie. The mention of Lovecraft caught my attention early on in the book and easy comparisons could be made.

My favorites where Pop Art, 20th Century Ghost, The Cape, Voluntary Committal, and Scheherazade's Typewriter. All in all, the book had interesting characters with intelligent writing squeezed into brief packets of ghastliness.

I'm not sure I can give this book the rating it deserves since I find myself so irritated with short stories. :(

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

3.5 out of 5

This is a cute young adult fantasy story. I was familiar with the tale, but hadn't ever read it, so I was surprised to find that A Wrinkle in Time is just the first book in L'Engle's time quintet.

The book introduced the idea of time travel via the fifth dimension of tesseract. Familiar with the string theory and the concept of time and space as a big sheet that can you simply bring two points together (a straight line between two points not being the quickest route), this was the first I had heard of a geometric explanation for it.

Beyond the theme of light versus dark, there was also the subject of global (and in this case galaxial) responsibility. In addition to the scientific concepts and ominous tasks, the story had a lot of levity. Silly and flamboyant characters who spoke only in quotes, mythical creatures, and two dimensional worlds.

The only reason I have scored this book so low is that the review is based on how I felt, not necessarily the merits of the work. I found myself getting impatient, like I do with young adult works and fantasy.

~~~

Isn't it funny how you find just what you're looking for, no matter where you look? I'm highly interested in quantum mechanics as an explanation of faith. This book reminded me of conversations I have had in my own life with topics like existence and limited human understanding; accepting that things exist without understanding them.

'...there's very little difference in the size of the tiniest microbe and the greatest galaxy.'
- Mrs. Whatsit, the comforter.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

3.5 out of 5

Reading it for the second time since high school, it didn't seem like the same book. I remember thinking it humorous and strange. I couldn't relate to this poor girl's breakdown. This time I was aware of the author's story and the semi-autobiographical nature of the book.

The writing was poetic and encompassing. I understand why Sylvia Plath is credited with helping begin the 'confessional poetry' genre. The sardonic humor in the first half of the book actually made me giggle out loud, but the second half took a much darker turn and was a bit hard to read.

Her description of planning suicide was like watching a junkie ready themselves for a fix. The right place, the right conditions; I don't think she emoted over anything in the book as much as that mediation.

If it was my tale to tell, it would have been hard to look back at that feeling. It was a bit sickening just to read the recount of someone else. So, the author's suicide after writing this novel makes me think it wasn't the distant reflection the book leads you to believe.

Sylvia Path wrote this book under a pseudonym and a few months after it was published, she committed suicide. She put her head in the oven. That takes balls. It's just my humble opinion, but if you were to do something fast and rash, there wouldn't be time to ponder and change your mind. Jumping from a height, using a gun, hanging; even if you changed your mind, there probably isn't much you can do about it. So laying there with your head in an oven sounds like a serious commitment to me.

How sad.

It was still a good read if only for the imagery and flow of the writing. Makes me think of that Imogen Heap song Let Go because she says 'because there's beauty in the breakdown.'