Short Book Reviews Based on Long Thoughts

I'm going to keep these as brief as possible (I know most of you are thinking, "Thank you, baby Jesus!") just to get my impressions across. I'll put them down in order I finished them.

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

First off, whenever I would pick up this book to read it, I would sing the title like it was that Depeche Mode song, but of course with different lyrics. I don't know why, it's just the way my brain works. Second, I'm going to give away something not revealed until the middle of the book. I don't think it ruins anything, but it does fuck with the way Ishiguro wanted us to view the characters before the truth is revealed.

Imagine it is England in the late 1990's. Scattered throughout the country are "schools", some elite, some no better than government housing factories. Populating these schools are generation after generation of cloned children being raised for the sole purpose of providing vital organs for donation when they reach adulthood. The maximum number of donations they give is four, the final always being the heart. Yes, they die afterward. Yes, they are aware of this. The whole country is aware of this. The clones--while kept isolated--are trained in the arts of "normalcy" so as to pass in public. This is necessary as most of the world views them with revulsion or fear.

This is a sampling of words and thoughts I wrote in my journal after finishing this book:
isolation, slavery, ignorance, how complicit are we to not "see" the atrocities committed around us and do nothing?, how casually those with power use those without, do souls exist?, would a clone have a soul?, didn't the book prove that?, does that make the ending more or less hard to bear?, were the clones more or less noble than the "humans" around them?, genocide for the sake of those who would kill them.

I can't recommend or not recommend this book. I think it is one that can only be picked up if one: knows Ishiguro's work and is not put off by bleak stories that raise more questions than they answer; welcomes beautifully written, carefully examined novels of the human experience, and; are those willing to question everything they've just read while still admiring the work as a whole.

Was that vague enough for ya?

As Simple As Snow - Gregory Galloway

Another mystery that raises many more quetions than it answers. I figured out this book is being pushed to teens (even though it was published for adults) because teens welcome open-ended, clue-riddled mysteries. This is a book destined to develop cult status. I looked online to see if there were any forums started and I found a couple, but they focus more on the music referenced throughout. I wouldn't be surprised if I checked in a month or two (as it just came out in PB) and whole websites had started. That's what annoys me about it. It was a book written to create a cult following. I kid you not.

This isn't to say it isn't a great book. It certainly had me going for a while afterwards, hunting for clues, rereading certain passages, looking for that hidden thing that would explain: 1. what really happened to Anna Cayne; 2. what is the deal with Mr. Devon; 3. what is going on (if anything) between the narrator's mother and Mr. Hathorne (not the narrator's father); 4. where did Carl disappear to for those days; 5. if you're an author who names the narrator after yourself, does it make you less pretentious if you only give clues as to the narrator's name??????

Eventually it occurred to me that I have too many more books to read to be swept up in clue-mania, but it was fun for a day or two. I would definitely recommend this book, but only if you don't mind a little frustration with your speculative fiction. If you do read it and get a clue, drop me a line.

Down the Rabbit Hole - Peter Abrahams
After my immersion in two separate surreal worlds (as I was reading the previous simultaneously), I felt a mental breather was needed and I got it in spades with this delightful little mystery. I love reading mysteries and detective fiction for the chance it affords for me to shut off my brain and let the story tell itself. I never try to figure it out ahead of time. It is the mental equivalent of a candy bar: empty calories that satisfies for a brief period.

This book, though was written on a young teenage level (could be read by anyone 11-15, the language is a tad sophisticated for anyone younger, unless you're my godsons and got your vocab skills from your mother), and I had it figured out about halfway through. I still finished it, though. Very enjoyable. Our protagonist, Ingrid, is typical of most 13 year olds throughout history. She is more Trixie Belden than Nancy Drew, confident and spunky enough to get in the middle of shit, but unsure of herself enough to seem realistic. Her burgeoning relationship with classmate Joey is so cute. It transported me back to the days when I liked a boy and I thought he liked me and entire phone conversations would go like this:
"Hi."
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Do your math homework?"
"Not yet, I hate math."
"Yeah. Me too."

I mean, that's how we bonded back then. Over a shared hatred of math.

Pick this up for the 'tween in your family and read it with him or her. It's fun, but definitely not for thinking adults who are waiting for the next Lee Child, or whatever.