The Page Rule

I don’t subscribe to a page rule, be it 50, 75, or 100 pages.  I’m fairly meticulous in my selection of reading material (go ahead and call me a book snob, I won’t mind), so I don’t need a strict rule on the number of pages I will allow a book to engage me.  That said, a page rule would have saved me some time on my most recent read.  I gave The Stranger by Max Frei around 250 pages before I dropped it.  That was about five times the number of pages to which I should have subjected myself.

This book has been a sensation in Russia, so naturally I was curious about it. After reading half of it the only sensation I felt was drowsiness, and its popularity is a curiosity indeed. Sleep is a recurring theme in the book, as Max dreams his initial contact with Sir Juffin Hully, who then transports him to the magical realm of Echo, where he is frequently assailed in his nightmares. Max’s narration had a magical somnolent effect on me, and reading this book felt like one of those nightmares wherein you attempt to run but cannot move your feet.

As other reviewers have pointed out, this edition suffers from a poor translation. The language is colloquial and cliche, preventing the English reader from appreciating the whimsical story. I could try to read it in the original Russian, but I’d rather spend my time on other promising books instead.

The Dark Fantastic

Congratulations to Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory (see review posted 9/8/08) and The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell (see review posted 3/26/08) for making the short list of the Shirley Jackson Awards, given for “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.”  My kind of books!  See the full list of nominees on the Shirley Jackson Awards blog.

The Watch review

April 20th is the perfect day to review The Watch by Dennis Danvers, a book very much concerned with dates and times. This particular date in 1999 figures prominently in the story. Ten years later The Watch, though no longer in print, ought to figure more prominently in the ongoing conversation. I came to this book by way of a recommendation from Kelly Justice, proprietor of The Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia. I mentioned in a previous post that I was having some difficulty locating a copy but I would continue searching.  My search didn’t take long: the author found that post, left a comment, and sent me a signed copy! So I thank Kelly Justice for her recommendation and Dennis Danvers for his generosity and ingenuity!

The Watch is narrated by Peter Kropotkin, a Russian anarchist from the 19th century.  On his deathbed he is approached by a mysterious figure from the future named Anchee who offers to restore him to life and health if he will do Anchee’s bidding.  Kropotkin accepts without questioning Anchee’s intentions, which he comes to regret and resent.  Kropotkin is restored in the future, when all of his acquaintances are no more, and sent to the foreign city of Richmond, Virginia aboard the foreign conveyance of an airplane.  He arrives with no money, no contacts, and no instructions from Anchee.  He has already lived as an exile however, so he does speak English and has moderate survival skills.  Between his abilities, his charisma, and the intervention of some generous residents of Richmond (like Danvers!) he gets along rather well.  Until he learns that all of these interventions, right down to seemingly chance meetings, have been orchestrated by Anchee, not chance at all.  He has become the subject of an experiment.  If everything he desires (love, anarchy, equality) is arranged for him but not by him, will it still be desirable?

I enjoyed this read on many levels.  As a History and Russian major, I appreciated the treatment of the narrator’s background as well as the setting.  As a U2 fan it made me think of the lines “She said “Time is irrelevant, it’s not linear”/Then she put her tongue in my ear” from the song “No Line On The Horizon.”  As an author working on a book that takes place in Virginia, specifically in Richmond, I gained a crucial perspective of the city that I was lacking.  I haven’t met anyone from the future, but finding this book was so fortuitous it almost seems prearranged by some meddling traveler!

The Dark Volume review

Gordon Dahlquist’s second book The Dark Volume is accurately titled. Like the great airship that crashes on the Iron Coast at the end of the first book, it lacks the lift of its predecessor, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. Instead of the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso format of The Divine Comedy Dahlquist begins with the Ascension, followed by the Descension. Will the third book be the Rescension?

Miss Temple, Cardinal Chang, and Doctor Svenson have survived their confrontation with the cabal on the airship, where Miss Temple slew her former fiance. He and the majority of the cabal were destroyed, but some of their opponents took drastic glass-related measures to survive.  The artist-alchemist who discovered the properties of the blue glass was not among the survivors, but his knowledge was captured in a glass book before he expired.  This is the highly sought after dark volume, and new alliances are formed and fractured in the pursuit of its resources.  When it is at last obtained by a party with the power to employ it it is found to be corrupted by the man’s death and no one gets what they wanted from it.  I didn’t get quite what I wanted from reading The Dark Volume on the heels of the luminous first book, but that is often the case with second books.  I look forward to the Redemption of the third book.

Remembering Henry Hubert

Consummate gentleman, book sales representative, and friend Henry Hubert passed away last Saturday.  I only had one opportunity to meet with Henry before he retired from a career in books that spanned half a century, but even that one meeting was memorable.  Henry introduced me to The Irony of American History by Reinhold Niebuhr, as he introduced numerous buyers to countless gems over the years.  In a previous post I wrote that Henry was retiring from his impressive career due to exorbitant expenses.  That was a saddening loss; this is awful.

Feeling Wicked

I’m certain I am not the first person to opine that I liked the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire better than the Broadway musical it inspired.  I did thoroughly enjoy the musical, however.  The national tour is presently playing in Salt Lake City, and yesterday I attended a matinee performance with my family.  I wasn’t exactly swept away, like so many of the ardent devotees were, but the show is so well written and well produced that it is fully realized.  Calling it an adaptation of the novel does not do it justice.   These are two separate art forms which beget their own forms of appreciation.  I know of many fans who adore the musical but do not care for the novel.  More iterations of the story allow for greater appreciation, so I say encore!

The Industrial Age of Alchemy

Welcome to the industrial age of alchemy. Through a noxious mechanical process, a type of indigo clay is refined into a blue glass that is able to absorb and store dreams, experiences, and memories. Once imprinted the glass can be circulated and viewed by countless others who will vicariously experience the imprinted memory, adding it to their own. In a card bearing a single experience this is a novelty; in a book containing multiple lifetimes it redefines identity. This clay is a limited natural resource that is expensive to process and dangerous to harness, so a powerful cabal of industrialists, scientists, and politicians has combined their efforts in order to achieve their separate ambitions.

Into this sordid plot steps Celeste Temple, a young heiress who has been unceremoniously dismissed by her fiance, a functionary in the Foreign Ministry. Curious to learn what has replaced her in his affections, she decides to follow him about London town. When he leaves town aboard a train, she impulsively goes along for the ride. His end destination (and hers) is a country manor called Harschmort House, where she narrowly escapes (not entirely intact) becoming an initiate of the cabal. Also at Harschmort House that night are a shadowy figure known only as Cardinal Chang, and Doctor Svenson, a naval captain-surgeon attending to a foreign prince who has been drawn into the cabal’s web of influence. Against their common foe Miss Temple, Cardinal Chang, and Doctor Svenson find themselves in league to undermine a well-connected and well-equipped cabal they barely comprehend.

This is Gordon Dahlquist’s intricate fabrication The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters.  A playwright, Dahlquist provides an immense amount of physical details in order to establish the reality of this otherworldly tale.  The degree of detail is such that the large novel has been issued in two volumes in trade paperback.  This is no hindrance to reading the story, as Dahlquist masterfully maintains the tension and the pace.  The secrets of the glass and the  overarching motives of the cabal keep interest piqued throughout.  So deep is the intrigue that there is some palpable risk of being absorbed in The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters!  Terrifically inventive and darkly erotic, this is a book for those readers who, like Miss Temple, are willing to open their minds to thrilling and frightening adventures.