Review: The Hellbound Heart

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of my favorite horror films ever was based on a short story by Clive Barker. So I was interested from the get go. Later I found out that not only had he directed the film Hellraiser but he had also written the novella it was based upon.

There's a simple elegance to his writing that goes so well with its grotesque elements. When I watched Hellraiser I loved how the horror elements were truly a backdrop for this story about the fatal attraction between Julia and Frank. There's a tendency in horror to exaggerate, to call everything a forbidden secret, an unnamable horro, to overuse the lovecraftian style of suggesting the monsters rather than just describing them.

I loved that Clive Barker described them, and that his descriptions weren't just a boring list of gross adjectives. The initial scene is unsettling, but what truly makes it unsettling is the very human attraction that Julia has for Frank. You get the scene introducing the Cenobites, you get this man, so desperate for sensation that he calls upon them and then all these details come into fruition when you realize this is the man Julia has fallen in love with, this is the sort of man who would have an affair with his brother's bride on the eve of their wedding and then discard her.

It's poignant and it's immediate.

Everything just sort of fell into place. Julia's desperation to escape her marriage so perfectly echoed Frank's desire for a different sort of sensation. And it made such a perfect sense that it was Kristy who escaped the nightmare because she did not want a re-awakening or an alternative to her routine, what she wanted was the man the the other two characters had continuously despised.

Everyone makes such a fuss over Pinhead and the other Cenobites, because they have such a striking looks, but really, what makes this story so great are the human relations in it.

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Review: The Wide Window

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now that's what I'm talking about! This book was just as good as the Bad Beginning. It had the action and the quirky writing and the funny side notes.

And what I like best is that the guardians keep changing in personalities. It's not all cartoon villains, not all of them harm through sheer meanness like Olaf; it was refreshing to see a character who did as much damage out of fear and self-centeredness as others do out of sadism.

And it was also nice to see the Baudelaires can step out of their rigid roles and do other things aside from inventing, reading and biting. It makes them seem more resourceful and clever and less naive than they've been in the other books.

But I must say I'm taking a break from the books. They are so easy to read and follow that I know I could plow through them all in a couple of months. I'm a bit concerned that the quirks and formulas might turn out to be too much after all.

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Review: The Reptile Room

The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As with the first book, I thought I would find the writing style obnoxious after the first few pages, but surprisingly I didn't. I even found a new exclamation I'm dying to try out, because who wouldn't love to cry "Nathaniel Hawthorne!" when hysterical? Somehow he managed to chose the perfect author name for swearing.

Quite honestly I think enjoying these books has a lot to do with being an English lit nerd. Though I have to admit I found this book a little less action-packed than the previous one, even when you count in all the snakes. It's a little harder to get excited about opening a suitcase than about foiling a fraudulent wedding.

What I did enjoy very much was all the dirt he heaped on traditional fairytales like little red riding hood and the boy who cried wolf. Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales to death, but it was very refreshing to see a children's book that acknowledges that lying about stuff is a reality of life and sometimes useful. Funny formulas aside, these books are mature about handling children.

I also quite liked that the children's new guardian was neither horrible nor a moron. It's nice to shake thinks up a bit. Though it'd be even better if the author started recognizing whenever the Baudelaire's themselves are screwing up by telling Olaf their plans! For a bunch of clever orphans they sure seem naive about confronting the villain with useful information like how Monty tore up Olaf's ticket to Peru. Thanks for getting him killed kids!

I've got hope for them though, still got quite about 11 more books to go. Maybe they'll learn.

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Review: The Bad Beginning

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I devoured this book years ago in one sitting while waiting at the bookstore. The Series of Unfortunate Events books were everywhere then and their faux Victorian covers caught my attention.

When I started reading it I thought I was going to hate it. The tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top misery of the story, the constant use of the joke for explaining words... I love formulaic stories, I really do, but I thought this was just too much...

I ended up really liking it though. It didn't matter how artificial the author's devices seemed to be because when he needed to be genuine he was. The Baudelaires' sadness was genuine and Olaf was a genuinely scary villain. Their troubles are caused by the adults ignoring them and that is so often the cause of a child's tragedy.

I also found it inspiring how evocative the writing was. I loved the film of the books and thought that the almost timburtonesque look of it was perfect, mostly because it matched my impression of the story so well. And the author does this with very little description and a vague sense of era for the books. It's very economic, every little bit counts to create this atmosphere, the covers, the names of the characters reminding you of old-fashioned writers...

I only managed to snag the first book that time at the bookstore. I was still a poor high school student and had to be very careful with how I spent my pocket money. But this year I've made a commitment to finally reading all the Series of Unfortunate Events

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Review: The Shepherd's Crown

The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The afterward of this book says that Pratchett was not through with editing it when he died. I am sad to say that it shows.

I thought the climatic battle was rushed and that the stakes were not quite as high as other witches books have shown. I thought the trains and the King of the Elves were going to play an important part in the final showdown, but I felt they were there merely for show, somehow not really mattering. I felt cheated. I thought Geoffrey's calm-weaving would make an appearance as well, but his thunder got stolen by the old men of Lancre and their sheds? It didn't quite come together in the end.

The death of Nightshade was also a disappointment as was the handling of Tiffany killing three elves. These scenes were so well set up to teach lessons about witchcraft, about what other Pratchett novels have called the "soul and center" of witchcraft. The death of someone who was becoming good and Tiffany faltering in the moral standards that are so important for people who hold such a power.

I thought Letitia and especially Amber would come back, but Amber wasn't even mentioned and Letitia was almost a letdown.

And yet I loved the book. It was such a brave book, from someone who was facing the twilight of his life so bravely. Pratchett killed Granny Weatherwax to kickstart the plot, and it was masterful, setting the stage for a whole new era of witches. It was bold and it was sweet. And I was touched that this character of great struggles was given such a good death, because after what she and her maker have given us, there was no one who deserved it more.

Pratchett also introduced the idea of a male witch and made it make perfect sense. He left Tiffany as the leader of a new future. He bade his readers look to the horizon, to imagine what the next generation would look like, to think up the stories that would be told about them.

Somehow he left us in charge.

I came to Pratchett later than most. I haven't read Color of Magic or even Equal Rites. I came to Pratchett in many ways through the Tiffany Aching books and I loved them fiercely. A lot of what he wrote in them I have taken to heart in my own writing, wishing only to be able to write about responsibility and power and selfishness and difference between being good and being nice with the same ferocity he did.

I'm going to miss him, I'm going to miss Tiffany and I can't lie, I wish this wasn't over yet. Thank you Mr. Pratchett, wherever you are.

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