Some novels are good because they have a great story. Not because of the writing so much, but because of the unique plot of the novel. Take the Harry Potter series as an example. Others are good because they have great characters. The Catcher in the Rye and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest can certainly be included in this category (though they also include great writing and great stories, as well).
But some books are a pleasure to read merely for the writing. The way in which the author creatively uses language to describe the story of the book and to develop the characters often makes some books as good as they are.
Rabbit, Run certainly figures into this class of literature. John Updike's eloquence and mastery of the English language creates more than a novel with three chapters and long paragraphs, but a work of art. The way he beautifully weakes his words together seems to put this book in a separate realm of literature altogether, one where books are written to showcase the author's skill for writing.
Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is the protagonist in this fine novel. Rabbit was a basketball star in high school, but now, in his early-20s married life, has sunk to a level of monotony and near depression uncharacteristic of the exciting, flighty young man. Finally realizing his wife's stupidity, Harry leaves her on a whim one night, driving from his home in Pennsylvania all the way south to West Virginia.
The novel involves a variety of characters: some who implore Rabbit to return to his wife, some who beg him to not, and others (like Rabbit himself) who are not sure what to do. Updike seems to keep the story in the back seat, however. The book moves along at a somewhat slow pace, though this can hardly be noticed in the face of Updike's superb writing style and excellent characterization. The character of Rabbit seems to be definitely an anti-hero, almost despised by some readers and critics though definitely respected by others.
This is the essence of Updike's craft. He presents each character exactly as a person would be in real life in order to allow the reader to formulate his own opinion. Updike does not create "good" or "bad" characters, but living people who make questionable decisions. It is no wonder Updike was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
http://www.amazon.com/Rabbit-Run-John-Updike/dp/0449911659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299300768&sr=8-1
Grade: 8.5
Friday, March 4, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Hunger Games
After a very long hiatus, I thought I'd start 2011 with a review on most certainly one of the greatest young-adult series in recent history.
Suzanne Collins is a favorite author of mine. Her first popular book, Gregor the Overlander, is one of the best I have read, and the next four in the series are worthy successors to such a great beginning (see "The Underland Chronicles"). However, when this series came to a close, Collins diverted her attention to a new trilogy of books that has become very popular in mainstream literary critical circles, both for children and adults.
The Hunger Games is the acclaimed first book in the trilogy. It takes place in a post-revolutionary America centuries in the future. America, now called Panem, is composed of the central Capitol and 12 districts, the thirteenth destroyed in the war 74 years earlier. Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old in the impoverished District 12, is the novel's resourceful and skilled protagonist. An intelligent young woman, she brandishes a bow as fearlessly as any man and cares for her family after the untimely death of her father, a miner.
Every year in Panem, a Hunger Games is put on by the Capitol as a reminder to the districts of who is really in charge. A 12- to 18-year-old boy and girl from each of the 12 districts are taken from their homes. They are paraded on national television (mandatory viewing for every denizen of Panem) in gorgeous attire, trained for weeks in fighting (skills, strength, and strategy), and then put in a massive arena, a sort of miniature world for the children for the duration of the Games. There they are to fight until only one child is left living.
After Katniss's sister's name gets called, Katniss quickly volunteers to take her sister's place in the brawl. She and an acquaintance, Peeta Mellark, are to be District 12's representatives in the 74th Hunger Games. As the Games draw near, they are trained by District 12's only previous champion, Haymitch Abernathy, an inveterate drunk. In the Hunger Games, Katniss must struggle with self-preservation, disapproval of murder, and the desire to show the Capitol that nobody can control Katniss Everdeen.
While being to some degree a children's book, it is quite violent and traumatic in many places. The Hunger Games is just what it sounds like: a bloody, fight-to-the-death gladiator battle. Though Collins is certainly not as great of a writer as, say, Salinger, Steinbeck, or Twain, she more than makes up for it with a balance of fast-paced action and feminine sentimentality that easily appeals to adults as well as younger ones (or at least those who have the stomach for it).
Without giving too much away of the events of the trilogy, I will just express my love for the second and third books in the trilogy, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, respectively. Catching Fire takes place a year later and revolves around the events of the 75th Hunger Games, while the final novel has Panem's revolution against the Capitol manifest itself after three-quarters of a century of waiting. Though the first book is the best in my opinion, Cathcing Fire is almost as good, and Mockingjay, though slightly more far-fetched than the previous (what can be far-fetched about a postapocalyptic America where children kill each other for national enjoyment?), is a worthy conclusion to the fine trilogy. It is an action-adventure series that, at its heart, is a coming-of-age story in the face of violence and mortality. Now we all eagerly await another series by Suzanne Collins, the queen of young-adult literature.
Grade (The Hunger Games): 9
Grade (Cathcing Fire): 8.5
Grade (Mockingjay): 8
http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Trilogy-Boxset-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0545265355/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1295749536&sr=8-5
Suzanne Collins is a favorite author of mine. Her first popular book, Gregor the Overlander, is one of the best I have read, and the next four in the series are worthy successors to such a great beginning (see "The Underland Chronicles"). However, when this series came to a close, Collins diverted her attention to a new trilogy of books that has become very popular in mainstream literary critical circles, both for children and adults.
The Hunger Games is the acclaimed first book in the trilogy. It takes place in a post-revolutionary America centuries in the future. America, now called Panem, is composed of the central Capitol and 12 districts, the thirteenth destroyed in the war 74 years earlier. Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old in the impoverished District 12, is the novel's resourceful and skilled protagonist. An intelligent young woman, she brandishes a bow as fearlessly as any man and cares for her family after the untimely death of her father, a miner.
Every year in Panem, a Hunger Games is put on by the Capitol as a reminder to the districts of who is really in charge. A 12- to 18-year-old boy and girl from each of the 12 districts are taken from their homes. They are paraded on national television (mandatory viewing for every denizen of Panem) in gorgeous attire, trained for weeks in fighting (skills, strength, and strategy), and then put in a massive arena, a sort of miniature world for the children for the duration of the Games. There they are to fight until only one child is left living.
After Katniss's sister's name gets called, Katniss quickly volunteers to take her sister's place in the brawl. She and an acquaintance, Peeta Mellark, are to be District 12's representatives in the 74th Hunger Games. As the Games draw near, they are trained by District 12's only previous champion, Haymitch Abernathy, an inveterate drunk. In the Hunger Games, Katniss must struggle with self-preservation, disapproval of murder, and the desire to show the Capitol that nobody can control Katniss Everdeen.
While being to some degree a children's book, it is quite violent and traumatic in many places. The Hunger Games is just what it sounds like: a bloody, fight-to-the-death gladiator battle. Though Collins is certainly not as great of a writer as, say, Salinger, Steinbeck, or Twain, she more than makes up for it with a balance of fast-paced action and feminine sentimentality that easily appeals to adults as well as younger ones (or at least those who have the stomach for it).
Without giving too much away of the events of the trilogy, I will just express my love for the second and third books in the trilogy, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, respectively. Catching Fire takes place a year later and revolves around the events of the 75th Hunger Games, while the final novel has Panem's revolution against the Capitol manifest itself after three-quarters of a century of waiting. Though the first book is the best in my opinion, Cathcing Fire is almost as good, and Mockingjay, though slightly more far-fetched than the previous (what can be far-fetched about a postapocalyptic America where children kill each other for national enjoyment?), is a worthy conclusion to the fine trilogy. It is an action-adventure series that, at its heart, is a coming-of-age story in the face of violence and mortality. Now we all eagerly await another series by Suzanne Collins, the queen of young-adult literature.
Grade (The Hunger Games): 9
Grade (Cathcing Fire): 8.5
Grade (Mockingjay): 8
http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Trilogy-Boxset-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0545265355/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1295749536&sr=8-5
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