Bite me?! I’m disappointed. Crazy for whales, a Moore fan and the main character’s from where I live, seemed like a no brainer. Well, not this time - Bite me?! I’m disappointed. Crazy for whales, a Moore fan and the main character’s from where I live, seemed like a no brainer. Well, not this time - I like funny crude, this is more the kind you catch 12 year olds snickering over. A third in I gave up, not due to any maiden aunt sensibilities - it was just…lame. Click spoiler for a taste if you’re undecided, this was my 'enough' point... (view spoiler)[“Suddenly, out of the water on either side of them came two huge penises, the males searching for their mark, moving closer to the female, producing waves that knocked the two women into the floor of the boat. Above them the two pink towers curved around looking for their target, feeling the edges of the boat, running slime across the rubber, over the biologists, poking, beating about, and generally abusing the women. The female now had the Zodiac centered exactly over her genitals, using the rubber boat as an ad hoc diaphragm.” (hide spoiler)] Alrighty then...
It does have good points, Kona the surfer dude is a hoot, I’d just rather move onto one of his tastier books - Lamb appeals. Done slamming now, leave off on a lighter note.
“Nate had been born and raised in British Columbia, and Canadians hate, above all things, to offend. It was part of the national consciousness. “Be polite” was an unwritten, unspoken rule, but ingrained into the psyche of an entire country. Of course, as with any rule, there were exceptions: parts of Quebec, where people maintained the “dismissive to the point of confrontation, with subsequent surrender” mind-set of the French; and hockey, in which any Canadian may, with impunity, slam, pummel, elbow, smack, punch, body-check, and beat the shit out of, with sticks, any other human being, punctuated by profanities, name-calling, questioning parentage, and accusations of bestiality, usually—coincidentally—in French.”
3 ½ stars. It'll make you smile. The perfect mental gargle after a few heavy novels, creative and just plain fun. Fantasy with a judicious touch of m3 ½ stars. It'll make you smile. The perfect mental gargle after a few heavy novels, creative and just plain fun. Fantasy with a judicious touch of magical realism, everyone in it's a superhero (except for the main character) but they’re subtle about it, we're not talking a bunch of flamboyant cape wearers. Instead each person’s strongest characteristic is what defines their super-power, bet you’ll find yourself wondering what yours would be... It can be silly, so prepare for a few eye rolling moments but there’s some depth to it as well. This is Kaufman’s bestselling debut, if you like him read The Tiny Wife. It’s darker and I thought quite a bit better, but that's more about my personal taste - I like dark. So if you're into stories that are strange and unusual, give this one a try.
Cons: I need more fleshed out characters. This one’s got about 40 which is seriously too many for a 120 page book:) Don’t worry though, they make brief appearances flowing in and out of the story - no need to try and keep track of them at all.
"Mr. Opportunity. He knocks on doors and stands there. You'd be surprised how few doors get answered." ...more
Gaiman’s my go-to guy for a fairytale fix, love his lyrical style. Reads like a child’s nightmare, haunting, claustrophobic but not entirely grim. WitGaiman’s my go-to guy for a fairytale fix, love his lyrical style. Reads like a child’s nightmare, haunting, claustrophobic but not entirely grim. With monsters and hunger birds to battle "Huge, they were and sleek, and ancient, and it hurt my eyes to look at them." the nameless boy in this is not nearly as tough as Coraline. Luckily he's got the Hemstock women as back-up, Maiden, Mother & Crone, and just like in “Coraline” a reclusive cat to lend him comfort - when it’s so inclined:) Touted as an adult novel I’m thinking YA but does it really matter? There’s depth. Of course there’s a moral, this ones strange - All the knowledge in the world won't make you happy "Be boring, knowing everything"- if it means losing your sense of wonder.
"Girls and boys come out to play, the moon doth shine as bright as day. Leave your supper and leave your meat, and join your playfellows in the street. Come with a whoop and come with a call, come with a whole heart or not at all."
Described as his most personal work to date it feels authentic; like he’s inviting you to join him revisiting the pain from his own childhood. The loneliness “Nobody came to my seventh birthday party. I lay on the bed and lost myself in the stories. I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyway.” and the helplessness of having your fate in the hands of adults. "She was power incarnate, standing in the crackling air. She was the storm, she was the lightning, she was the adult world with all its power and all its secrets and all its foolish casual cruelty. She winked at me."
Cons: Beware the hype! Don’t go into it with false expectations, okay? It could have been more fleshed out, at 180 pages reads like a novella. There is humour, but less than he normally injects, and the EVILNESS of his dad and sister is a bit over the top. Finally some find the story too bleak - I revel in gloominess so didn’t consider this a negative, but you might:)
For it’s genre - a solid four fantastical stars...more
Ivonne says, "We do read different kinds of books; however, this book is right up your alley. It's supposed to be a children's book, but I don't see hIvonne says, "We do read different kinds of books; however, this book is right up your alley. It's supposed to be a children's book, but I don't see how they thought so. It's very, very dark in a Neil Gaiman kind of way. It's much more Coraline than Harry Potter. I think you'll love it." Note: really well received debut....more
It’s an imaginative tale with a fable-like quality. Bod, the lone survivor of the murder of his entire family finds protection and comfort in the oddeIt’s an imaginative tale with a fable-like quality. Bod, the lone survivor of the murder of his entire family finds protection and comfort in the oddest of places – a graveyard. A story of murder, survival and retribution chalk full of dead people that somehow manages to be both dark & cheerful at the same time – like how Gaiman pulled that off. An easy, entertaining read - young adult leaning towards children’s - fun to read at any age. Fast moving plot right from this hook of an opening line "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." The world building handled so well it seemed perfectly reasonable that a child could be raised in a graveyard by a bunch of ghosts, though I did wonder how he bathed. For me it's most memorable scene the dance with the dead. "Time to work and time to play, Time to dance the Macabray"
Full of ghouls, werewolves & all sorts of supernatural creatures with murderer Jack taking top billing in the evil department. Wonderful characters; Bod’s personal guardian Silas is outstanding as a creature neither living or dead - he get’s the best lines. "It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will take a graveyard."
Thanks for the words of wisdom, a reminder to live life to the fullest. "truly, life is wasted on the living"
3 ½ stars rounded up to 4 ________________________________________ Kiss a lover, dance a measure, Find your name and buried treasure Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, Leave no path untaken ...more
Florence (Lefty)
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fantasy
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