Month: January 2017

Another powerful book by Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian.

After you died I could not hold a funeral,
And so my life became a funeral.

Some historical background: After 18 years of authoritarian rule, South Korean President Park Chung-hee was assassinated on October 26, 1979. Hopes for democracy were dashed when Army Major General Chun Do-hwan seized power in a military coup on December 12, 1979. On May 17, he placed the entire country under martial law under the pretext of national security concerns. The next day university students in Gwangju held a demonstration protesting his oppressive actions. Government troops were sent to forcefully suppress the opposition, but their brutality did not deter the citizens of Gwangju. People from all walks of life came out to defend their community. The fighting continued until May 27, when government forces succeeded in crushing the rebellion. (More detailed information on the Gwangju People’s Uprising at the Korean Resource Center.)

In Human Acts, fifteen-year-old Dong-ho’s best friend Jeong-dae is killed during a demonstration. Dong-ho ran for safety and feels immense guilt for leaving his friend behind (“There will be no forgiveness. Least of all for me”). The dead bodies are collected in a gymnasium so that families can walk through to find and identify their loved ones. While Dong-ho searches for his friend amongst the dead, he’s recruited as a volunteer and incidentally becomes part of the rebellion. Dong-ho is killed by government troops. The chapters that follow are a collection of individual experiences all connected by the Gwangju Uprising and Dong-ho’s death.

Our experiences might have been similar, but they were far from identical. What good could an autopsy possibly do? How could we ever hope to understand what he went through, he himself, alone? What he’d kept locked away inside himself for all those years.

The book covers a thirty-year period, from 1980 to 2013. Each chapter is from the perspective of a different person in a different year, but they are all living with the effects of that week in 1980. We hear from Dong-ho, his best friend’s spirit, an editor that deals with censors, a man and woman who were imprisoned and tortured for their political activities, and Dong Ho’s mother. The epilogue is told from author Han Kang’s perspective. During the time of the Gwangju Uprising, she was only 9 years old and her family had just moved from Gwangju to Seoul. While she was out of harm’s way, knowledge of the event left an indelible mark on her. She writes about what compelled her to write this book and about the real-life Dong-ho.

You feel the weight of an enormous glacier bearing down on your body. You wish that you were able to flow beneath it, to become fluid, whether seawater, oil, or lava, and shuck off these rigid impermeable outlines, which encase you like a coffin. Only that way might your find some form of release.

The introduction by translator Deborah Smith provides vital historical context and notes about her translation process. She also translated The Vegetarian. Both books are relatively short, but every single word packs a punch. The writing style is accessible, but the content emotionally difficult. There’s a visceral physicality to the language and I felt the impact of every word. Han Kang has a remarkable ability to sum up a person or a relationship in just a couple of sentences. That ability is showcased of the portrayal of the relationship between Jeong-dae and his sister Jeong-mi. There are so many moving scenes, but one of my favorites is in “The Editor” chapter, which details the performance of a play with a censored script. It shows how impossible it is to suppress everything. Dong-ho’s confusion about the displays of patriotism in a nation where the government is attacking its own citizens and the discussion of what a nation is also made an impression on me.
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At that moment, I realized what all this was for. The words that this torture and starvation were intended to elicit. We will make you realize how ridiculous it was, the lot of you waving the national flag and singing the national anthem. We will prove to you that you are nothing but filty stinking bodies. That you are no better than the carcasses of starving animals.

The Vegetarian was the more unique reading experience, but Human Acts evoked stronger feelings in me. I prefer realism and Human Acts is more grounded, while The Vegetarian is surreal and dream-like. However, in both books characters suffer from the long-lasting effects of trauma and the desire to escape the confines of the body. There were several events in Human Acts that reminded me of The Vegetarian, especially in “The Editor” and “The Factory Girl” chapters. I think that reading The Vegetarian would be an even richer experience after reading Human Acts.

Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only hinge we share as as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves this single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, damaged, slaughtered–is this the essential fate of human kind, one that history has confirmed as inevitable?

In Human Acts, people’s lives suddenly become unrecognizable. Many of them feel an instinctive call to protect their freedoms and the future of their nation, even in the face of almost certain defeat. Through the characters, we explore the push and pull of nobility and barbarism on human nature. What does it mean to be human? If we aren’t innately good or bad, is there a way to steer us towards our better impulses? There are several instances where a character assumes decency in another, only to be proven wrong soon after. As bleak as many of the perspectives are, Kang doesn’t ignore the good in the people. She also writes about the helpers and the soldiers who disobeyed their orders. It’s been about six months since I read this book and I still get the same pit in my stomach when I think about it. It’s a tough read, but worth the time.

Some of those who came to slaughter us did so with the memory of those previous times, when committing such actions in wartime won them a handsome reward. It happened in Gwangju just as it did on Jeju Island, in Kwantung and Nanjing, in Bosnia, and all across the American Continent when it was still known as the New World, with such a uniform brutality it’s as through it is imprinted in our genetic code.

NOTES:
• I highly recommend reading the informative interview with Han Kang over at The White Review.
• I’ve read a number of books about citizen uprisings from all over the world and there’s a common thread that runs through most of them: United States support of these oppressive government crackdowns.
• The election of Park Chung-hee’s daughter Park Geun-hye in 2013 reopened old wounds. She is currently suspended from office while undergoing impeachment proceedings.
• Related Books: Green Island (citizen uprising/martial law/brutal regimes/Asia), The Buried Giant (collective memory/scars from the past), Between the World and Me (destruction of the body).

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FAMILY is now something I have created, and not just something I was born into.

3.5 Stars. High school senior Gretchen Asher’s life changed forever the night she was attacked. She has lived in fear for the past six months. One day, she has a panic attack after seeing a young man who resembles her attacker. She realizes it couldn’t possibly be the same person, so she finds him to apologize. The young man’s name is Phoenix (18) and he just recently arrived in the United States. He and his brother Ari (12) fled their home in El Salvador to seek asylum in the United States. Gretchen and Phoenix quickly bond. She doesn’t have to pretend with him. He’s the first person who asks the questions that matter and really listens to her replies. For Phoenix, it’s hard being an outsider in a new country where the people are automatically suspicious of him. Gretchen’s attention makes this place feel like a home. Sadly, the pair might not have much time together. Phoenix has little hope of being granted asylum.

“Don’t let that stuff from your past tell you who you are.”

The chapters alternate between Gretchen’s and Phoenix’s perspectives. At first, I thought this book may be a little too YA for me, but these two characters slowly stole my heart as their background stories were revealed. The thoughtful gestures they made to each other as their friendship developed were so sweet. The story behind the title is a really ‘aww’-worthy moment! Gretchen and Phoenix are able to lean on each other, but sometimes it seems that Gretchen is the one that demands the most support. When she realizes the disparity in the relationship, she steps up for Phoenix in a meaningful way. I’m leery of love stories, but it helped that these two characters were interesting as individuals. They had their own issues to deal with outside of falling in love and other interesting relationships besides each other. Their connection solidified because they were are able to empathize with each other in a way that others weren’t able to.

“All of those people—they don’t know what we know.”

Gretchen has been suffering from PTSD since she was attacked. She can barely leave the house, never knowing what will trigger a panic attack. Well-meaning people try to talk to her about her incident, but they always seem more interested in the attacker’s appearance or explaining to her what they would’ve done. She knows she’ll never be the same, but all her friends and family are waiting for her to revert back to her old self. At the same time that Gretchen is trying to get a handle on her PTSD, she is also experiencing typical teen problems. Her boyfriend moved off to college and they’re drifting apart. Her best friend Bree acts completely different since getting a boyfriend. One thing I liked about that storyline was that while Gretchen is a little annoyed by the new boyfriend, he ends up being a great friend to her and Phoenix. This isn’t the only time that Gretchen’s preconceived notions are challenged.

“My American Dream’s way more simple than that. I just wanna be able to go for a walk in the woods alone—get on one of those little trails in the forest and walk for hours. That would be so awesome. Or maybe head over to a friend’s place after dinner to watch a football match on TV, and not have to look behind my back every five seconds, not have to worry about whether I’ll make it home alive.”

In El Salvador, Phoenix and Ari get forced into a life-or-death situation. Phoenix sees only one way to protect his brother: flee. The four-month journey to the US was long and brutal. After the brothers reached the US border, they were detained and put into separate detention facilities. Phoenix was sent to Atlanta, Georgia, while Ari is in Texas. Phoenix is frustrated that Ari hasn’t spoken one word since they were separated, traumatized by the horrors they witnessed. As an “unaccompanied minor,” Ari has a good chance of staying in the United States, but only if he’s able to communicate. Phoenix was fortunate enough to be taken in by a local family, but he has little chance of being granted asylum–and even less of a chance if anyone looks deeper into his past. In an unforgiving legal system, Phoenix is unable to put that past behind him. The thought of returning home is terrifying because he will almost certainly be killed. Phoenix’s chapters shine a light on the United States immigration system, the conditions in detention centers, and what happens to young people once they reach the border.
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Gretchen and Phoenix both survived things that no one should have to experience. They support each other as they learn how to overcome feelings of guilt and keep living a full life despite their past trauma. The Radius of Us is more than a story about two young people falling in love. Through the character’s unique perspectives, the reader learns (1) about overcoming preconceived notions, (2) what it’s like to be a victim of a violent crime, (3) how to be a supportive friend, and (4) why a person might leave the only home they’ve ever known and what awaits them at the other side. It also gives exposure to another country and culture that many might not be familiar with. On that last note, this book encouraged me to seek out more information on El Salvador. Phoenix’s descriptions of pupusas had my mouth watering and I’ve already found a few local Central American/Salvadorean restaurants that I’m going to try! Recommended for young adult readers. Books like these are important for spreading awareness and fostering empathy.

___________________

Notes: How did the violence in El Salvador get so out of control? Hundreds of thousands of Salvadoreans fled while their country was immersed in a twelve-year civil war, many settling in the United States. In some areas, gangs began to form as a protective mechanism for these new neighborhoods. The US introduced new tougher immigration legislation in 1996 and began deporting large numbers of gang members back to their home countries. Still reeling from the effects of civil war, El Salvador was a fertile ground for violent gangs to thrive. (Sources: How El Salvador Fell Into A Web Of Gang Violence & Who’s to blame for El Salvador’s gang violence?)

I was about to start a marathon cleaning session, but thankfully this book came along. Marathon cleaning is a big no-no and I get caught in that cycle too often! The UFYH method says if you spend a few minutes a day on chores, you’ll save time, reduce your anxiety, and build lifelong habits. I loved the concept of doing things as a gift to your future self. The author suggests 20 Minute Clean/10 Minute Rest sessions but recommends scaling if you have a disability that makes it difficult to stay active for that long. The system is very flexible. If you’re tired one day, just a couple of sessions will go a long way towards a cleaner and happier home. This method is said to be useful to everyone, but especially: busy people, people who can’t afford a maid, people with physical or mental illnesses or disabilities, people on their own for the first time, lazy people, and perfectionists. Warning: The title is bleeped out, but there are obviously some curse words in this book. I thought the cursing was surprisingly minimal considering the title.

There’s a universe of difference between a picture-perfect home that can be featured in magazines and a perfectly functional and livable home that you aren’t ashamed of or stressed out by. … Your home doesn’t need to look like the ones in those pictures in order for you to love living in it.

It’s divided into five sections (1) Getting Started, (2) Unf*cking Your Own Habitat, (3) Troubleshooting: Dealing with Other People’s F*cked-Up Space, (4) Special Cases (Moving, Digital Life, Schoolwork, and Work, and Emergency tips for preparing for last minute visits), and (5) List of UfYH Fundamentals and Helpful Checklists. There are mini-challenges scattered throughout the book, to encourage you to get started immediately. Rachel Hoffman has a supportive and nonjudgmental tone. Sometimes I read these types of books and the author sounds like the type of person who is constantly apologizing for the mess in their spotless home. Hoffman recognizes the struggle! She encourages being realistic in your goals. There’s quite a bit of repetition, but I don’t think most people will be reading this book straight through like I did. Some sections didn’t apply to me and other sections will be more helpful at specific points in life. I appreciated that the author addressed how societal perception and internalization of gender stereotypes can lead to all the housework unnecessarily falling on one person.

“Messy” isn’t who you are; it’s a result of what you do or don’t do, and it can change. You can change it.

Much of the content is already available via the blog, but there is a good case for owning a copy of this book:
• It’s helpful to have a physical copy to refer to, especially since hopping on the Internet isn’t always the best idea when you need to get motivated.
• It’s nice to have the important information concentrated in a well-organized spot that doesn’t require electricity or an internet connection.
• Supporting content creators who make a positive difference in our lives.
I generally prefer print over ebook for activity books.
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We are, for better or worse, our own worst critics, but there’s no reason we can’t also be our own biggest cheerleaders. Self-perception, when you get right down to it, is really the most important view of ourselves, so be as kind to yourself in your own mind as you’d want everyone else to be to you out loud.

This method really resonated with me, because I never learned basic cleaning skills when I was growing up; I never even had chores! I definitely fit the profile of a marathon cleaner. I don’t have trouble with basic tasks like laundry/dishes/trash (though I did when I first moved out on my own!), but I don’t even notice soap scum on my shower door or dust on unused surfaces until it becomes a massive project. Some of the cleaning tips seem obvious now, but I never thought about cleaning efficiency and what areas of the room should be cleaned first. Hoffman recommends teaching your children good cleaning habits at a young age because those habits are difficult to develop up when you become an adult. For those of us that weren’t lucky enough to develop those habits young, UFYH is a great starting point.

Everything tends to become far more manageable when you stop looking at the big terrifying forest and take a nice long look at the trees.

I highly recommend you download the companion app, Unfilth Your Habitat. It includes a helpful 20/10 timer, but my favorite features are the “Random Unf*cking Challenge” and the “Challenge by Room.” Those selections give you specific tasks to work on, so you don’t have to sit there being overwhelmed about where to start. In the “Random” section, you can even select the amount of time you have available. A five-minute challenge might be “wipe down your kitchen counters,” whereas a twenty-minute challenge might be “attack your need-to-iron pile.” Little things done consistently can make a big difference and add up to a better quality of life.

You can’t fail at something cyclical like this.

This book motivated me to start on the home project that causes me the most anxiety–my shower doors! I cleaned between chapters. I’m still working on it, but it’s almost spotless now! Unf*ck Your Habitat will be most useful for people who are complete beginners at cleaning, but there are helpful tips for everyone. If you need a supportive, no-nonsense voice to encourage you to get started, this is the book for you. Hoffman has such a reassuring voice that it felt like we were in this together! The publication date for this book is January 3, 2017, just in time to help you with your New Year’s resolutions!

Twenty-one short stories about flawed, complex individuals who might typically be reduced to dismissive categories. I can’t say I enjoyed reading Difficult Women, but I’m glad I read it. One of the many things that Gay excelled at was creating fully-formed characters and relationships in just a few pages. I felt like I intimately knew each character, even though some of the stories were very short. We’re introduced to a variety of women: jaded women, women who don’t think they deserve love, women who have been hurt by those they trusted or strangers, women who want to feel pain, women who are trying to find their place, women who know exactly what they want out of life, fierce women who instinctively protect their loved ones.

It isn’t light reading. These characters have been pushed to the limit and each story felt like an additional weight on my shoulders. In multiple stories a character begs another not to break their heart, only to be later disappointed. Common threads weave throughout many of the stories: child loss, adultery, abuse, rough sex, twins, the bond between women. My only complaint is that if you read it straight through, it feels like you’re repeatedly reading about the same situations. I got the most out of it when I only read a single story at a time, so that I could focus more on their differences than their similarities.

One of the best parts of this collection were the moments of recognition and vindication–the feeling that someone else out there understands. There’s a part in Difficult Women (Crazy Women) where a woman explains the considerations she makes when walking home late at night and her boyfriend tells her she is crazy. I had this exact same conversation in college and I remember how it made me question my own sanity. It goes to show the importance of having a diversity of voices.

I didn’t feel like I fully understood every story, but I found this great quote from Gay about the creation of Water, All Its Weight: “When I wrote this story I was living in an apartment with a rotting ceiling, and I thought: “What if someone created rot just by existing?” It’s interesting that a lot of people read way more into this story. When I write, there is rarely some grand statement I am trying to make. This story was simply a story about a girl who is followed, haunted by water and its weight. Literally.” (Chicago Review of Books). It made me feel more at ease when thinking about the stories that ventured into magical realism.

THE STORIES

I usually only feature my favorite short stories in these collections, but I felt the need to think through all these stories. My favorites are bolded. Many were shorter, character pieces, but I tend to like longer stories with more plot.

I Will Follow You – A haunting story about the unbreakable bond between sisters. Savvie and Carolina endured a terrible trauma together when they were children. Carolina is married now, but the sisters will always remain inseparable. A perfect opening!

Water, All Its Weight – Everywhere Bianca goes, the water follows–and then comes the rot and mold. Unable to handle the side effects of Bianca’s company, everyone in her life abandons her. My favorite moment is the short time when Bianca’s affliction is celebrated.

The Mark of Cain (link goes to story)- When this husband is with his mistress, he has his twin brother take his place at home. He thinks his wife doesn’t know, but she does–and she prefers the brother. The cycle of violence and the burdens our family can place on us.

Difficult Women – Different categories of misunderstood women: Loose Women, Frigid Women, Crazy Woman, Mothers, Dead Girls. My favorite was Crazy Women.

Florida – A peek into the windows of a Naples, Florida community. There are racial and class divides amongst the inhabitants and employees. New resident Marcy feels out of place next to her perfect neighbors and immediately sees that they “only [exist] in relation to those around them.”

La Negra Blanca – A stripper becomes the fixation of a wealthy client who feels entitled to her body. This man fetishizes black women, but was always taught to keep his distance so as not to “tarnish” the family name.

Baby Arm – A woman who knows exactly what she wants out of a relationship meets a man who gets her idiosyncracies. She conflates love and pain. She regularly attends all-girl fight club with her best friend Tate and other “girls who keep their ugly beneath the skin where it belongs, even though sometimes, it’s hard to keep it all in.” She loves Tate fiercely and Tate always knows exactly what she needs.

North Country – Kate is a black woman, which makes her a “double novelty” at her new university job. She’s welcomed with a barrage of insensitive questions and unwanted advances. She’s not ready for love after the end of a bad relationship and the loss of a child, but she begins to see a possible future with a charming logger named Magnus.

How – After years of being taken advantage of, Hanna’s family finally pushes her to her breaking point. She makes a plan to run off with her twin sister and her true love Laura. I loved the structure this story and the mini-chapters with names like How These Things Come to Pass & How Hanna Ikonen Knows It Is Time to Get the Girl and Get Out of Town.
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Requiem for a Glass Heart – A couple that loves each other, but they each need more than the other can give. The stone thrower, a man of flesh and blood, steals away moments where he “does not have to see too much or love too carefully.” Likewise, the glass woman is sometimes frustrated with her husband “who sees too much and loves too carefully.” Their needs overlap, but they’re unable to provide those things for each other.

In the Event of My Father’s Death – A father takes his daughter to his mistress’s house on weekends. She eventually follows in father’s footsteps.

Break All the Way Down – A woman “uses one hurt to cover another” by finding an abusive boyfriend after the death of her child. Her husband stands on the sidelines until he’s unable to watch her self-destruct any longer.

Bad Priest – A priest who “lied so extravagantly that even though he was not a believer, he feared for his mortal soul.” He begins an affair with Rebekah, a woman who “thrived on hopeless relationships.” My favorite part was the explanation of why Mickey became a priest.

Open Marriage – A woman toys with her husband after he suggests an open marriage. She knows he’ll never be able to follow through.

A Pat – A woman extends kindness to a stranger, but her motivations may be more selfish than it initially appears.

Best Features – Milly is overweight and gets involved in unhealthy relationships because she thinks she has no choice. “She knows how difficult it is to change the world. She used to try to change the world, but she learned better.”

Bone Density – A complicated relationship. The couple in this story both have partners outside the marriage, but they still have a strange pull towards one another.

I Am Knife – A powerful woman who uses her capability for violence to protect her loved ones. After the tragic death of her own child, she enviously watches as her twin sister’s pregnant belly grows. As painful as it is, she will always be at her sister’s side. “I wish I could carve the anger out of my body the way I cut everything else.”

Strange Gods – The first story and last story complement each other. A woman details her past trauma and explains to her devoted partner why she sometimes pushes him away.

My favorite two stories were the ones that felt most of out place:

The Sacrifice of Darkness – Every time miner Hiram Hightower goes underground, he comes back up less of a man. Fed up with a life filled with darkness, he causes the sun to disappear by flying an air machine into it. His family is left to deal with the consequences of his actions. A sweet love story with a hopeful end.

Parents hated Joshua because their parents hated Joshua’s father and none of those kids knew how to be any better than the people who brought them into the world.

Noble Things – Takes place after the second secession of South and the New Civil War. Anna married Patrick, son of a celebrated general who led the Southern states into battle. She wants to move to the North where they’ve already sent their young son. Patrick hates what the South has become, but his obligation to his family makes it difficult for him to leave. Sacrifice and the ties that bind us. There are so many chilling lines in this one.

Anna and Parker had the conversations they could only have with each other. They tried to remember the before, when they were children and there was only one place to call home, one country, the flag billowing on windy days in front of homes up and down every street—bands of red and white, fifty stars, one nation, indivisible until it wasn’t, how quickly it all came apart.

Difficult Women is a fascinating collection of short stories that I would love to read again eventually. There’s so much to unpack that it’s impossible to get it all in one go. This was my first Roxane Gay experience, but it certainly won’t be my last!

Kindred is the tale of a black woman who is repeatedly transported from her 1970s apartment to antebellum Maryland. The main reason I requested the adaptation was so that I would finally force myself to read the full-length novel. I’m so glad I did because it ended up being one of my favorites last year! Kindred makes such a great candidate for a graphic novel because there’s much dialogue and historical fiction seems to work especially well in the format. John Jennings and Damian Duffy they did a fantastic job of adapting Octavia Butler’s story. The review below is for the graphic novel adaptation only. My review for the full-length novel is available at this link.

The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. – Steven Biko

THE INTRODUCTION

What would you do if you were suddenly pulled into the past and had to find a way to survive?

The introduction is written by speculative fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor. She writes about how Octavia Butler inspired her when she needed it the most. Learning about Butler’s kindness and how she made time to mentor a gifted new writer gave me a whole new level of admiration for her!

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural is one of the most memorable books from my childhood book collection. The scratchboard illustrations by Brian Pinkney shaped how I visualize the antebellum South (one of the illustrations). While the artwork of Kindred is unique to artist John Jennings, the earthiness of the illustrations made me immediately recall that book. Jennings’s style somehow made me feel settled in both the 1970s and 1800s. There’s a frenetic energy to the illustrations that convey the extreme stress that Dana’s body is being subjected to. His choice of presenting the 1970s in sepia tones and the 1800s in full-color was brilliant and reminded of how differently Dana processed the two different worlds:

Rufus’s time was a sharper, stronger reality. The work was harder, the smells and tastes were stronger, the danger was greater, the pain was worse … Rufus’s time demanded things of me that had never been demanded before, and it could easily kill me if I did not meet its demands. That was a stark, powerful reality that the gentle conveniences and luxuries of this house, of now, could not touch.

I appreciated the art even more after viewing Jenning’s Tumblr and seeing how the art for Kindred differs from his usual style. Here is a link to one of the Kindred spreads, but you can see some more of his process for his various projects if you scroll through his blog.

THE STORY
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An adapted version won’t include everything. The omissions are going to be harder for me to pinpoint because I read the two books so close together. However, I missed the part where one of the plantation slaves explains the reasoning behind her children’s names. That part was probably easy to cut because many could probably make that connection on their own!

While there are necessary omissions, there are also parts where the illustrations add so much emotional power to the text. Being able to see Dana’s facial expressions tempered my only complaint of the full-length novel—that Dana seemed so detached, unusually accepting of her situation. At one point in the original novel, Dana has to put her copy of Gone With the Wind aside because she’s unable to stomach its representation of slavery after what she has experienced. I mentally pictured her throwing it across the room. The illustration shows her tossing it in the garbage can, which I thought was an appropriate visual.

Some of the most powerful spreads were the ones with the fewest words. One of the pages that impacted me most was after Dana convinces one of the slaves to submit to her owner’s desires. “She didn’t kill him . . . but she seemed to die little. Rufus mailed another letter for me. Payment . . . . for services rendered.” (pg. 158, The Fight) Minimal words, but the illustrations pack such a punch. Another page that I found memorable is at the end of The Fall (pg. 99), when Dana is reaching for Kevin as the whip comes down and she disappears.

The graphic novel is such an awesome format for Octavia Butler’s classic book and would make a great gift for her fans. It would also be a great way to introduce yourself to the story if you’re not ready to commit to the whole novel or you don’t think you’ll be able to make time for it anytime soon. I do recommend reading the novel first because it’s a very fast-paced and action-packed experience!

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If you are interested in John Jennings’s artwork, his Hoodoo Noir graphic novella Blue Hand Mojo: Hard Times Road (pub. date 3/1/17) is currently available in the ‘Read Now’ section Netgalley.

I’m beginning to think that I have a bias against books centered around college professors! (See also: Listen to Me, All Things Cease to Appear) I didn’t dislike Two Days Gone. I just couldn’t get into it. The writing was lovely, but the story and characters were just okay for me.

Tom Huston’s wife and three young children were stabbed to death and he’s on the run. Could the beloved college professor and bestselling author have slaughtered his family? Sergeant Ryan DeMarco leads the search for the missing professor. Perhaps Tom’s latest manuscript holds the answers to this mystery? The investigation takes DeMarco from the campus of Tom’s university to seedy strip clubs.

I’m reminded of Nabokov’s contention that there are always two plots at work in a story. The first is the plot of the story, but above it, hovering ominously like a fat-bellied cloud, is the writer’s consciousness, which is the real plot of everything he writes. If a book is filled with love, it is because the writer longs for love. If the book drips violence, it is because the writer burns to levy justice, to decimate his enemies. The writer composes such books as a means of survival. Otherwise, his psyche would unravel. And the unraveling, depending upon its form, can be either pitiful or disastrous.

RYAN DEMARCO

Amazon calls this book a Ryan DeMarco Mystery, so I’m assuming it will eventually be part of a series. DeMarco is the character we spend the most time with. He was the inspiration for one of Tom’s fictional characters, so they had previously become acquainted during Tom’s research. DeMarco is disdainful of academics, but he immediately identified with Tom despite their many differences. He is shocked when the picture perfect Huston family is found murdered, presumably by Tom’s hand.

The banter between DeMarco and his boss (his former subordinate) at the station was sometimes amusing, but I felt like I’d missed an earlier book in a series. I liked DeMarco most when he was doing fieldwork because the investigative interviews allowed me to know Tom from different perspectives. The two worlds that Tom was traveling between couldn’t have been more different: (1) a university campus filled with grudges and professors fighting to make a name for themselves & (2) the strip club with tight-lipped employees who would rather stay off the grid. The closer DeMarco gets to finding Tom, the more he has to look to the literary greats to get a view into the suspect’s psyche.

DeMarco suffers from a lonely and empty home life. His personal life slowly takes over the narrative, which might have been why I wasn’t overly enthused by the story as a whole. He and his wife Laraine separated after the tragic death of their only child. Laraine lives in a cottage where she entertains random lovers. DeMarco sits outside her home and watches, occasionally becoming one of his wife’s nighttime visitors. (Their story would have been right at home in Roxane Gay’s Difficult Women!) While I wasn’t that interested in DeMarco’s personal life, the description of his relationship with his estranged wife had a good mix of the intimate and the everyday that made their relationship feel authentic.
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THE HUSTON FAMILY

He was both a fiction and the truth. The stronger of the two was truth, however, and the truth sickened him and hollowed him out.

When we first encounter Tom Huston, he has just disposed of a large knife and is on the run. Unable to process what happened to his family, he begins to disassociate and think of himself as a fictional character. He decides to contact the mysterious Annabel, the only person who can help him piece together what happened. I was disappointed when his frenzied perspective became less frequent as the story continued!

The death of Tom’s entire family was objectively horrifying, but I never got a real sense of Tom as a family man so I had a hard time linking into his grief or caring whether he was guilty or innocent. The humanizing parts where there (victim intros and the Huston/DeMarco interviews), but I wasn’t completely sold–maybe because the family was just a little too perfect. At round 75% there’s a picture of family life which gave me inklings of emotion, but it was already too late.

Tom’s beautiful wife Claire is such a perfect extension of him that her portrayal, as minor as it was, irritated me. She felt more like wish fulfillment than a real-life person. The most interesting thing about her was that she and Tom used to spend nights in abandoned buildings, “places where their only real concern was how far through the night Claire’s cries and moans might carry.” I was rolling my eyes by the time she murmurs “Baby, make love to me again. I can never get enough of you.”

Doesn’t every guilty man hide his deeds behind his words and hid his thoughts behind his smile? Or behind other deeds?

I liked what I assumed was the dramatic finale, but the story just kept going and added an unnecessary complication. It was beautifully-written. Even the acknowledgments were a pleasure to read! I just didn’t care about the characters enough to care about the other elements. Since what makes a character and their relationships compelling differs for everyone, I’m going to end with links to two positive reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly.

“What I have to do now is that which is not easy. That which I most fear. If I keep accommodating my fears, I can only move in reverse. That would be fine if by moving in reverse I could move back through time, but the past is a wall, a solid and impermeable wall. The past is a fortress that cannot be stormed.”