The Outsider. Albert Camus. Penguin Books. 1988.
Albert Camus' The Outsider is his famous existential novel.
The trial portions are the most interesting and vital parts of the novel. And this from someone who normally is bored with courtroom stuff.
The earlier sections build the background needed for the later stages, and provide the needed plot developments that bring the hero to the his imprisonment. But the author seems impatient with these early portions, and writes in a minimalist style, not only for craft, but to get them over with quickly.
The brilliant dialogue, the philosophical theme, is packed into the trial stages. There are some great scenes here. And the hero is perhaps unique in literature.
I recommend reading through the first sections quickly, then after the arrest, especially once the trial begins, slow down the reading and think about what is being written. And enjoy!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Brackett - Ginger Star
The Ginger Star. Leigh Brackett. Ballantine Books. 1974.
In this novel, Brackett reintroduces Eric John Stark, a hero of a couple of stories many years previous. After writing sf for many years, including some Stark tales, she turned to screenwriting. She wrote such films as Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep. Shortly after returning to sf writing, she wrote Star Wars part five, The Empire Strikes Back.
The Ginger Star is part one of a three part series. It is a quest story. Stark arrives on a distant and hostile planet in search of his missing foster-father. The planet is ruled by dictators known as Wandsmen. Technology is limited. There is only one spaceport on the planet, set up recently by outsiders, and in danger of being shut down by the Wandsmen, who prefer to rule a dying planet than see the people leave for other worlds and be beyond their power.
The strongest part of the book is in the creation of the many places and people. Most are extremely vivid and well thought out. There is a sense that these people and places could be real.
On this planet there are city states, wandering nomads, and human hybrids. Almost all are unrelentingly hostile to all outsiders. The oceans are filled with creatures who were once human, then altered their own genes to adapt to an underwater environment. More millennium later, they have lost all trace of their humanity, and attack and devour any human who falls into the water. Another civilization has adapted itself to live underground. Several societies use magic derived from close contact with the natural forces of the planet. Others live in city-states more recognizable in lifestyle to Stark and to the reader.
This brings us to another key point of the book: most of the civilizations are cannibals. They not only kill outsiders, they eat them. This is explained as resulting from a lack of other food on the dying world. The few city states near the equator seem relatively benign; travel is possible, and they are not cannibals. But wandering hordes of religious fanatics named Farers make their life difficult also.
In this world, it is impossible to travel without a large heavily armed group. There is one city state that seems to be a gathering spot for travelers, but it is unclear where anyone might travel to in this hostile environment. Even the workers at bridges on routes between cities attack any party that seems insufficiently strong. Only one man lives as a trader. He has to establish and keep his route with armed force, and suffers constant attacks.
This world is designed to give Stark a lot of dangers to overcome. But it was designed too well. In such a brutal, inhospitable group of societies, to travel anywhere is absurd.
The device used to move Stark from one place to another is to be captured, over and over again, and carried along part way by his various captors. He escapes usually by luck, sometimes by his own efforts. This gimmick is another weakness of the book. He manages to encounter a danger without capture only once, near the book's conclusion, which sets up the sequel, or rather the continuation in volume two.
In this novel, Brackett reintroduces Eric John Stark, a hero of a couple of stories many years previous. After writing sf for many years, including some Stark tales, she turned to screenwriting. She wrote such films as Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep. Shortly after returning to sf writing, she wrote Star Wars part five, The Empire Strikes Back.
The Ginger Star is part one of a three part series. It is a quest story. Stark arrives on a distant and hostile planet in search of his missing foster-father. The planet is ruled by dictators known as Wandsmen. Technology is limited. There is only one spaceport on the planet, set up recently by outsiders, and in danger of being shut down by the Wandsmen, who prefer to rule a dying planet than see the people leave for other worlds and be beyond their power.
The strongest part of the book is in the creation of the many places and people. Most are extremely vivid and well thought out. There is a sense that these people and places could be real.
On this planet there are city states, wandering nomads, and human hybrids. Almost all are unrelentingly hostile to all outsiders. The oceans are filled with creatures who were once human, then altered their own genes to adapt to an underwater environment. More millennium later, they have lost all trace of their humanity, and attack and devour any human who falls into the water. Another civilization has adapted itself to live underground. Several societies use magic derived from close contact with the natural forces of the planet. Others live in city-states more recognizable in lifestyle to Stark and to the reader.
This brings us to another key point of the book: most of the civilizations are cannibals. They not only kill outsiders, they eat them. This is explained as resulting from a lack of other food on the dying world. The few city states near the equator seem relatively benign; travel is possible, and they are not cannibals. But wandering hordes of religious fanatics named Farers make their life difficult also.
In this world, it is impossible to travel without a large heavily armed group. There is one city state that seems to be a gathering spot for travelers, but it is unclear where anyone might travel to in this hostile environment. Even the workers at bridges on routes between cities attack any party that seems insufficiently strong. Only one man lives as a trader. He has to establish and keep his route with armed force, and suffers constant attacks.
This world is designed to give Stark a lot of dangers to overcome. But it was designed too well. In such a brutal, inhospitable group of societies, to travel anywhere is absurd.
The device used to move Stark from one place to another is to be captured, over and over again, and carried along part way by his various captors. He escapes usually by luck, sometimes by his own efforts. This gimmick is another weakness of the book. He manages to encounter a danger without capture only once, near the book's conclusion, which sets up the sequel, or rather the continuation in volume two.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Canada Reads - winner!
And so, after several days of spirited debate, the winning book is:
The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, HarperCollins Canada.
"Lawrence Hill’s gripping novel features a woman on an amazing journey in the 1700s and 1800s. Although her life is shaped by slavery, Aminata Diallo survives and even transcends adversity."
"Over the course of this epic novel, Aminata is transformed into a storyteller extraordinaire. She spins the astonishing tale of her remarkable travels from Africa to America and back again. Along the way, a sojourn in Nova Scotia illuminates a long-neglected chapter in Canadian history."
To read more, click on the link above.
The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, HarperCollins Canada.
"Lawrence Hill’s gripping novel features a woman on an amazing journey in the 1700s and 1800s. Although her life is shaped by slavery, Aminata Diallo survives and even transcends adversity."
"Over the course of this epic novel, Aminata is transformed into a storyteller extraordinaire. She spins the astonishing tale of her remarkable travels from Africa to America and back again. Along the way, a sojourn in Nova Scotia illuminates a long-neglected chapter in Canadian history."
To read more, click on the link above.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Canada Reads
Those of you who read one of my world-famous blogs, including this one, already know about Canada Reads.
It is an annual contest to choose one book all Canadians (and therefore everyone else) should read.
Five books are chosen as finalists, and a celebrity 'defender' presents his/her chosen book and debates its merits with the other panelists.
All this takes place on CBC Radio One this week - starting March 2!
Cool Stuff! Here's the link to the CBC Radio Canada Reads page. Commentary, video, recaps, info on the books, and so on:
http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/index.html (copy and paste to browser window)
It is an annual contest to choose one book all Canadians (and therefore everyone else) should read.
Five books are chosen as finalists, and a celebrity 'defender' presents his/her chosen book and debates its merits with the other panelists.
All this takes place on CBC Radio One this week - starting March 2!
Cool Stuff! Here's the link to the CBC Radio Canada Reads page. Commentary, video, recaps, info on the books, and so on:
http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/index.html (copy and paste to browser window)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Hideyuki - Vampire Hunter D
I found a series by a Japanese author (the first seven books are available in translations), named Kikuchi Hideyuki. His novels take place on a future post-apocalyptic earth. Humans, some with super-human abilities, survive amidst the ruins of a Vampire -dominated civilization. The books feature the occasional werewolf or other monster as a secondary or supporting character. But here again, the focus is vampires. The series title is Vampire Hunter D. The lead character is a half-vampire. He has lived since well before the cataclysm, since before our time. I won't give all the backstory here, but it is interesting, complex, and well-thought out. The various novels in the series give us drama, horror, action, well-developed characters. I recommend this series for horror, action, and fantasy fans.
Nanten and Yatate - Cowboy Bebop
This week I'm reading a manga - Cowboy Bebop, by Nanten and Yatate. The artwork is good, the stories varied, most of them interesting. It is basically a continuation of the series. There is another manga, written after this one, that re-tells the series. I've glanced at it. I prefer the art from this series, but the stories in the second manga look good - except they wait several issues to bring Faye into the story. Apparently that manga's author does not like Faye, or she is a 'least favorite'. Myself, I like Faye. If she were real I would date her. Of course, she would probably rob me, but even so she would still be ahead of some of the other women I've dated over the years - ha, ha, ha .....sigh.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Coe - The Closed Circle
Last week I read Jonathan Coe's The Closed Circle. I had read his Dwarves of Death many years ago and enjoyed it, so I gave this recent (hardcover - 2004) release a try. In The Closed Circle, Coe does a solid job of combining various character's points of view, writing believably in the inner voice of both male and female characters. He experiments with technique, for example bringing back the epistolary style of writing on several occasions, even modernizing it to include e mail; also, he briefly adopts Joyce's method of writing dialogue, and so on. He is an author brave enough to grant his characters names like 'Malvina', and 'Pusey-Hamilton', which sounds like something from a Bond novel. This is a good book, but a bit soap opera-ish.
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