Fiction and such

One thing that this LJ posting does is make me change out the CDs regularly. I have been known to listen to the same one over and over and over, especially when it's a case of simply needing background noise rather than wanting to listen to specific music.

Finished Dennis Lehane's SHUTTER ISLAND last night--has anyone else read it? If so, what did you think? I have to admit that I felt let down. The PW review was a rave, and online reviews were good as well. Read no further if you haven't read SI and want to...

...unreliable narrators. It dawns on you eventually that you're dealing with one here. At first you think it's due to external factors that are beyond the narrator's control. Then you learn otherwise. Many sojourns into dream state and unreality that became a bit much after a while.

Then came the ending, which PW found so shattering. It's a twist. If you've read enough genre fic, you've seen similar endings. What irked me was the hopelessness, what I felt was the unfairness to the character. I can understand the author's point, and in some ways why he choose the ending that he did. It's still enough of a letdown that I doubt I will ever pick up the book again. I felt the same way after reading WAR OF THE RATS, a tale of dueling snipers during the Seige of Leningrad. Adventure takes a sharp turn into devastation and hopelessness before finally augering in to complete and utter Literary let's-see-how-really-really-depressing-we-can-be. I can understand how compelling these endings can be from the author side of the pen. On the reader side, though, there's a feeling of wait-a-minute? that's it? What just happened here? Well...shit. Not entirely satisfactory, iow.

What else could it be with the Lehane book? Maybe the realization that the poor bastard never had a chance to begin with, and that the events in the book just bore that out. Long ride ending nowhere.

Good aspects of the book. Good pacing. Lehane is a very spare writer, using very little detail to describe a character or set a scene, yet managing to evoke complete pictures nevertheless. Does menace and mistrust well.

I should probably read MYSTIC RIVER. I haven't seen the movie, so my perceptions won't be altered in any way. The guy sells through the roof--must be a reason.

Back in Suburbia, I mowed the backyard after dinner. Storms expected tonight, which means even more rain. Once more I'll be able to hear the grass grow.

Or maybe it will just be the voices in my head again, telling me to go out to the garage and pry off the last panel from that hidden compartment...

Just kidding. No hidden compartments in the garage.

Can't speak for the attic yet, however.

Fiction and such

One thing that this LJ posting does is make me change out the CDs regularly. I have been known to listen to the same one over and over and over, especially when it's a case of simply needing background noise rather than wanting to listen to specific music.

Finished Dennis Lehane's SHUTTER ISLAND last night--has anyone else read it? If so, what did you think? I have to admit that I felt let down. The PW review was a rave, and online reviews were good as well. Read no further if you haven't read SI and want to...

...unreliable narrators. It dawns on you eventually that you're dealing with one here. At first you think it's due to external factors that are beyond the narrator's control. Then you learn otherwise. Many sojourns into dream state and unreality that became a bit much after a while.

Then came the ending, which PW found so shattering. It's a twist. If you've read enough genre fic, you've seen similar endings. What irked me was the hopelessness, what I felt was the unfairness to the character. I can understand the author's point, and in some ways why he choose the ending that he did. It's still enough of a letdown that I doubt I will ever pick up the book again. I felt the same way after reading WAR OF THE RATS, a tale of dueling snipers during the Seige of Leningrad. Adventure takes a sharp turn into devastation and hopelessness before finally augering in to complete and utter Literary let's-see-how-really-really-depressing-we-can-be. I can understand how compelling these endings can be from the author side of the pen. On the reader side, though, there's a feeling of wait-a-minute? that's it? What just happened here? Well...shit. Not entirely satisfactory, iow.

What else could it be with the Lehane book? Maybe the realization that the poor bastard never had a chance to begin with, and that the events in the book just bore that out. Long ride ending nowhere.

Good aspects of the book. Good pacing. Lehane is a very spare writer, using very little detail to describe a character or set a scene, yet managing to evoke complete pictures nevertheless. Does menace and mistrust well.

I should probably read MYSTIC RIVER. I haven't seen the movie, so my perceptions won't be altered in any way. The guy sells through the roof--must be a reason.

Back in Suburbia, I mowed the backyard after dinner. Storms expected tonight, which means even more rain. Once more I'll be able to hear the grass grow.

Or maybe it will just be the voices in my head again, telling me to go out to the garage and pry off the last panel from that hidden compartment...

Just kidding. No hidden compartments in the garage.

Can't speak for the attic yet, however.