Novels Now

Irredeemable by Mark Waid
Afterward by Grant Morrison
Volume 1

Pages: 128
Ages: 15+
First Published: Oct. 2009
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

SARAH!

Reason for Reading: The publisher’s plot synopsis grabbed me right away.

Comments: One day The Plutonium, a very powerful superhero turns evil and becomes the world’s greatest super villain. He belonged to a group of superheroes, yet none of them came close to Plutonium’s powers. Now The Plutonium is hunting them all down and killing them and their alter ego families. He has destroyed cities and is a heartless, ruthless killer. The story focuses on his remaining teammates as they try to piece together information about the man inside the costume, what made him turn, and how can they stop him, all while staying on the run as he tries to hunt them down.

This is a stunning story! It opens with a shocking sequence and the action never lets up. There are many layers to the story and this is truly a study in character. The Plutonium is presented as ultimate evil but as the reminiscences of the past Plutonium are brought forward we see the powerful superhero proud and good. We also see the little things and some larger things that happen in his life that aren’t so nice, things that can build up and lay heavy on a guy. The old superhero Plutonium becomes a character the reader can relate to and feel for and yet it is gut-wrenchingly unsettling to see the atrocities he is now capable of.

The book does contain a lot of violence, not the blood and gore type but more along the disturbing death kind. The book is definitely not for the young or the squeamish. Since I’m neither I’m eagerly awaiting Vol. 2 which will be out this Spring.

Matchless, A Christmas Story: An Illumination of Hans Christian Andersen’s Classic The Little Match Girl by Gregory Maguire

Pages: 112 pgs.
Ages: 10+
First Published: Oct. 27, 2009
Genre: fairy tale
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

On an island so far north that it snowed from September to April, a boy named Frederick kept himself warm by keeping a secret.

Reason for Reading: I have several of the author’s books but haven’t read any as of yet plus The Little Match Girl is one of my favourite fairy tales.

Summary: The story of a young boy who lives with his widowed mother. They may be poor, but they have just enough to get by and that is enough for them. Their lives very briefly cross paths with a little match girl who dies in the night cold one evening. Then due to that crossed path they are brought together with her distraught family.

Comments: A bittersweet, little story that is really much more than a retelling of The Little Match Girl. Macguire uses Andersen’s tale as a starting point to expand upon and from which to create his own tale. Chapter 2 of the book does retell Andersen’s tale pretty much keeping to the original though he does make it clear that the little girl is hallucinating and it is her dead mother she sees at the end instead of her grandmother.

Set in the past, in a time of horse and buggies, there is a sentimental ambiance that floats throughout the story. One feels that things are not going to go particularly well and after the death of the little girl any small act of joy becomes poignant. Macguire shows how the small things in life can (and maybe should) mean so much. As in the original tale there is that heavy feeling in the heart but there are bright moments and humour added by Frederick’s mom. The fairy tale aspect comes into play when Frederick and his mom meet up with the little match girl’s widowed father and two other young daughters and there is a special magical ending on Christmas Eve. At the very ending I think the book went one page too long, for I had just finished reading the end and felt happy with a sweet ending when I turned the page and one more sentence was written that I just didn’t get. Perhaps it’s just me, but I couldn’t make sense of it, I turned back and re-read the second last page and for me that is where the story ends. A charming little story. Not for young children but more for adults and older children who don’t mind a bittersweet story.

the road to god knows … by Von Allan
Pages: 141 pgs.
Ages: 15+
First Published: Oct. 2009
Genre: YA, graphic novel, realistic fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

“Has it b-been only a few days..?”

Reason for Reading: A Cybils Award nominee.

Summary: I think the author’s own sub-title pretty much sums up the story: “an Original Graphic Novel about Hope, Friendship, Mental Illness, Schizophrenia, and a Young Teenage Girl Coping with Her Life and Coming of Age in a Broken but Loving Family”.

Comments: This is Canadian Von Allan’s first published book. It is an incredibly powerful story. Marie is a young teenager, 13 or 14, dealing with poverty, being teased at school, having only one friend (though a true best friend), parents who do not live together, and a mother who suffers from schizophrenia and keeps going into the hospital after breakdowns. Von Allen has captured this girl’s immense range of feelings and especially shows it in his detailed b/w drawings. While the speech lacks a certain natural flow, especially between the two girls, it does tell the story well. The mother’s love for her daughter comes through between her very different behaviours and there are two especially frightening scenes that shock the reader into seeing the full extent of this disease. It’s hard to put a suitable age range on the book; there is some foul language and a nude scene plus of course the intense subject matter thus I would say 15+ but the book could be read by mature 13+ or those from similar backgrounds. The language and nude scene are not gratuitous but integral to the story.

The book really has no other plot than the day to day life of Marie coping to live with her mom and then being sent to stay with her dad when her mom is in the hospital. It’s a look at a severe reality. But all is not bad as Marie does have a wonderful, understanding friend and the book explores the role of even just one friendship in such a harsh life. The book does come to a very abrupt ending which is rather jarring but upon reflection one can see why it ends where it does. A worthy read.

The Taken by Inger Ash Wolfe
Hazel Micallef Mystery (Book 2)

Pages: 415pgs.
First Published: Oct. 27, 2009 (Canada), Jul. 15, 2010 (US)
Genre: mystery, crime
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

What always broke his heart was the way they dressed themselves.

Reason for Reading: Next in series.

Summary: Reports of a body found at the edge of a nearby lake have Detective Inspector Micallef and her sidekick DC Wingate investigating. What appears to be an apparent drowning is by no means a mere murder but only the beginning of a twisted game being played out by a psycho. The drowning seems familiar and is found detail for detail in the last issue of the local paper’s summer serial story. When the next installment is printed the police begin a frantic investigation to save the life of a kidnap victim before he is killed or not enough of him is left to be rescued.

Comments: This second book by Wolfe was even better than the first. A very unique murder mystery case unlike any I’ve read before kept me riveted to the book. The gruesome factor is enough to make the squeamish squirm and keep the interest of hardened thriller readers as myself. A well-paced story with a mystery that kept me guessing to the end and I really enjoyed the read. The book also focuses on Hazel’s personal life and progresses her character forward to a more likeable one than in The Calling, yet I still just do not find her someone I particularly like. I think there are also moments within the story when one must suspend reality a tad. I suppose that is inevitable with most crime thrillers, to a point, but this just stands out for me with a 62 year old woman taking on so much action. Ultimately, though, the plot is unique, the case is quirky and The Taken is a compelling read. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what case Hazel must solve in her next book.

The young Canadian, who could not have been more than fifteen, had hesitated too long. For a frozen moment, his feet had stopped moving on the floating logs in the basin above the river bend; he’d slipped entirely underwater before anyone could grab his outstretched hand. One of the loggers had reached for the youth’s long hair – the older man’s fingers groped around in the frigid water, which was thick, almost soupy, with sloughed-off slabs of bark. Then two logs collided hard on the would-be rescuer’s arm, breaking his wrist. The carpet of moving logs had completely closed over the young Canadian, who never surfaced; not even a hand or one of his boots broke out of the brown water. - from Last Night in Twisted River, page 1 -

Twelve year old Daniel lives with his father, Dominic Baciagalupo, in a logging camp along Twisted River in Coos County New Hampshire. Daniel’s father is the cook for the loggers and has been raising his son alone ever since the boy’s mother drowned in the cold, rushing waters of Twisted River. One fateful night, Daniel mistakes his father’s girlfriend Jane for a bear and accidentally kills her. Frightened that the town’s chief law enforcement officer (a drunk with a history of beating women) will not believe their story, Dominic and Daniel flee to Massachusetts and make their new lives in the heart of Boston’s North End. What follows is the story of not only Daniel and his father, but also the tale of Ketchum – a surly, big-hearted river driver with an independent streak who remains the duo’s friend for years.

Beginning in 1954 in New Hampshire, the novel spans more than fifty years (ending in 2005) and moves from Boston to Vermont to Iowa to Colorado and finally to Toronto. As with all Irving novels, the characters drive the narrative…and Last Night in Twisted River is full of memorable characters. My favorite is the gritty Ketchum whose libertarian politics and belief in street justice (not to mention his avoidance of technology except for his beloved fax machine) make him one of the more lovable and humorous characters of the sprawling novel.

Last Night in Twisted River is classic John Irving story telling at its best. Filled with quirky characters and marked by Irving’s signature meandering style, the novel is big, lush and captivating. I have long been a John Irving fan and so I know that when I open one of his novels I must give myself up to the story and simply go along for the ride. No one tells a story quite like Irving, and in Last Night In Twisted River the story is about life with all its ups and downs, unexpected events, and relationships which surprise us. Wound through the pages of this novel is the idea of fate, chance happenings, and the idea that we cannot always map out our lives.

We don’t always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly – as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth  the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives. – from Last Night in Twisted River, page 550 -

Last Night in Twisted River is also about fathers and sons – a common theme in Irving novels – and how parental relationships shape who we become. Daniel becomes a famous author, and Irving has a little fun with his readers by inserting a bit of himself into the character (who has a tendency to overuse semi-colons in his writing).

All that was true the cook thought. Somehow what struck him about Daniel’s fiction was that it was both autobiographical and not autobiographical at the same time. - from Last Night in Twisted River, page 230 -

Readers who love Irving’s early work (The World According to Garp, A Prayer For Owen Meany, and Hotel New Hampshire), and who were swept away by his controversial novels (The Cider House Rules and A Widow For One Year) will not be disappointed in his latest novel. In Last Night in Twisted River, Irving has brought together all his powers as a storyteller. Despite its length (more than 500 pages), I wanted the book to go on and on. When I turned the final page, I was not ready to say good-bye to the characters I had grown to love. For readers waiting for Irving’s next great novel, the wait is over.

Highly recommended.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Buckshaw Chronicles, Book 1

Pages: 292
First Published: April 2009
Genre: mystery, cozy, Gothic
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

It was as black in the closet as old blood.

Reason for Reading: At first, the title grabbed me. Then I read the publisher’s summary and was very excited to read this mystery.
Comments: Flavia is an 11-year-old girl who lives in a run-down ancestral home in a tiny village in England with her Father, two sisters and a few servants. Flavia isn’t your ordinary 11yo, she has taken over an ancient chemistry studio in the house from a former ancestor and her whole world revolves around chemistry. Her speciality? Poisons. Early one morning Flavia stumbles upon a dead man lying in the cucumber patch and that is just the beginning of a series of events that Flvaia becomes involved in as she finds herself matching wits with the local Inspector who has her father under suspicion of the murder.

What an incredibly, deliciously, devilish mystery. This is like nothing I’ve read before. A pure joy to read. The characters were all entirely eccentric from the main protagonist down to the secondary and minor characters. The mystery is both what I would call a cozy and a Gothic mystery. It is a cozy in the sense that it is very Agatha Christie in presentation, lots of mental deduction going on and no gory details, plenty of suspects to choose from and each a nuisance in their own way. On the otherhand Bradley presents a very Gothic feel to his mystery with the old run down buildings and other old English settings, such as a school bell tower, Flavia’s macabre interest in poison and the equally devilishly (though not life-threatening) pranks that she and her sisters play on each other. Characters appear suddenly at windows and loom out of the fog. It really is just splendidly atmospheric writing but completely cozy for those who like their mysteries clean and intelligent rather than soaked in blood.

I only had one small problem and I can’t really say for sure whether it was the author or just myself. The novel’s narrator is an 11-year-old girl and I don’t think it was completely maintained throughout. I’m sure it is difficult to write an adult novel in a child’s voice and it is not something that one reads everyday. At times I often forgot it was a child telling the story until a word or phrase would bring it back to my mind; I also often forgot the narrator was a girl until she mentioned wearing a dress or such. This was something that irked me a little bit, but otherwise I am full of recommendations for this book. I think a wide variety of mystery fans are going to enjoy this book and there are already two further volumes in the series planned for future release! I think Flavia de Luce may just become a future British TV series as she is just that compelling; I’d love to see her come to life on the screen and can’t wait to read her next mystery!