“All Down Darkness Wide” Review

Content/Trigger Warning (for both the book and this blog): Mental health struggles, mentions of AIDS, suicidal ideation, relationship struggles, partner death, parental death, brief mentions of possible addiction

All Down Darkness Wide is a memoir encapsulating the young adult life of the author, Seán Hewitt. In this memoir, Hewitt explains the convoluted relationship he has with death and his own sexuality. He sees his blood as a historical artifact; a reminder of all the queer men and women before him who were killed by AIDS. While this story focuses on Hewitt’s time as a young, post-college life, the first few chapters elaborate on Hewitt’s time in high school and college. He discusses past relationships that ended in turmoil and the emotional baggage that has left him with. After this, we see Hewitt, despite his financial troubles at the time, save up enough to visit Columbia. This trip introduces the second most important person in this story, a man named Elias. From this point on, the story centers around Elias and Hewitt’s relationship.

This isn’t a love story, though- at least, not entirely. Elias and Seán do love each other very much, but it becomes evident from the very beginning that Elias is not in a good enough mental space to be in any sort of relationship. His insecurities, anxieties, and depression begin to weigh on Hewitt, who believes it’s his duty to take care of Elias. They’re together for a few years, both spiraling deeper into the droves of mental illness, before the two break up. Hewitt reflects on his relationship with Elias, as well as the other men he dated in college and in high school. While not all of his relationship ended poorly, it seems that quite a few have really weighed on his psyche. After their separation, Hewitt continues spiraling. He is forced into a journey of self discovery, all on his own.

This book tackles some serious themes of depression, suicidal ideation, addiction, and death; all in a manner that feels both respectful and genuine. Nothing is softened to the point it loses its effect or meaning but, at the same time, there aren’t unnecessarily gory details that feel disrespectful or out of place. Hewitt is a poet, and you can pick that up from his prose. He describes places, people, and objects with such vivid detail that it feels like you’re there in the moment with him. My personal favorite aspect of this book is the perspective you get of the partner feeling the need to be the sole provider and caretaker for their mentally ill significant other. I feel that it’s a common trope in media to see this story from the other perspective; someone struggling with mental health issues finds themself relying on a friend or lover to help them through their struggles. A lot of the time, this is painted in a positive or romanticized light. The fact of the matter is that, oftentimes, this is a burden upon unwilling partners who frankly aren’t responsible for being their significant other’s full time therapist. This book gives a new perspective, while staying sympathetic and understanding to everyone mentioned. You find yourself understanding why Hewitt stayed for so long and simultaneously feeling for Elias who is clearly struggling on his own and was just grateful that someone was there to help take the weight off his shoulders.

I easily give this book a 10/10. The writing is beautiful, the characters are multifaceted, the plot is diverse and nonlinear in a digestible and understandable fashion. Even if the plot isn’t your cup of tea, the writing will inspire you on your writing journey. I first read this book back in 2022 and I finished it in about a week. I read it while I was away at a writing camp and it helped me through the writer’s block that I often feel when I’m in a creative writing class or course. I’ve found, since reading this book, that reading is the best way to cure my writer’s block. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is curious. Whether you enjoy poetry, memoirs, or are simply intrigued by this blog. I bought my copy from the Leumeria library in Jackson, but you can find this book wherever books are sold. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of All Down Darkness Wide.

One Piece Charater Analysis: StrawHats, Luffy Part 2

Syrup Town Arc

Ok so we start this arc off with the trio trying to find a ship they can use to actually go out into the sea, and they end up at Syrup town where they are met by Usopp the troublemaker/ liar of the village where he threatens the trio so they can try and get them to leave. His scheme didn’t work but as he talked to them it is revealed that Luffy knows his father because Usopps father is Yasopp shanks sniper on Shanks crew. Skip forward the person in charge of the island is about to be assassinated so the crew steps in and stops them. Luffy takes out everyone except the 2nd mate of their crew since Zoro always handle them and Luffy takes out the captain. They ended up saving the girl and the girl gives them a ship and the trio along with their new member/ sniper leave the island.

Baratie Arc

ok so the crew are starting to get aquainted with their ne ship and have decided to draw a jolly roger flag (crew enblem) Luffy ask Usopp to demonstrate his sniping skills with one of the ships cannons. Usopps aim proved well as it destroyed a small island which is important to remember that but anyway the crew is impressed with Usopp but they are missing someone fatal, a cook and they just so happen to wander by a restaurant ship called the baratie when they enter they are met by Sanji who has already fallen for Nami’s beauty so he starts treating her like a V.I.P but the men however are broke so they are about to get kicked out but before they are kicked out an injured man comes through the front door looking for food and he starts threating people that if he doesn’t get any food he’s going to hurt them that is until Sanji stops him and gives him food this act Makes Luffy want to recruit him so in typical Luffy fashion he starts to bother him until the baratie was attacked by Don Kriege so Luffy goes out to fight him and protect everyone this act makes Sanji wants to join him and you may be wondering why I’m skipping so much stuff that happened there it’s because it’s not crucial to Luffy’s story but more its crucial to Zoro and Sanji’s stories and developments. when I do their parts I will include it then. but never mind that after the fight is over Nami betrays them and steals the ship and the treasure so the boys go out and try and find her.

the next blog will be the arlong arc and the winter arc and can I just say One piece has way too many arcs and I’m only talking about pre time skip I bet if you look at whole cake island arc I’m pretty sure there’s about 6-character arcs in there by itself

Percy Jackson And the Olympians Part 2

Hello everyone, I’m back with another blog about Percy Jackson and the Olympians and I wanted to say thank you for all the support and if some of my information is off or it’s not going in that much depth it’s because I’m going off the top of my head this is also the 2nd part since I need to divert my Attention elsewhere and if you guess what the 1. book is I’ll give you a cookie. Now without further ado I present.

3. The Battle of the Labyrinth

Characters: Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, Nico, Grover, Daedalus, Tyson, Luke, Kronos, Calypso, Poseidon, King Minos, Rachel Dare.

Ok so we start off the book with Percy attending orientation at his new school where he encounters some demons where during the fight fire is prong across the school which burns down. Percy would’ve been in major trouble if it had not been for Rachel dare the same girl that Percy met at the dam last book. She ends up getting him out of the school. Percy took her back to camp where she began her studies as an oracle. after getting her situated Annabeth and Percy talk to the campers to tell them Lukes’s plan but unbeknownst to Percy Grover was on trial for not finding Pan [ Even though the gods couldn’t even find him but go off] After this they do a war game [ like every book] where Percy is introduced to the new sword trainer [ who i believe was Luke please tell me if I’m wrong] Percy is suspicious of this new sword trainer because you know they are at war with Luke Chiron is so dumb sometimes. Percy and Annabeth find a labyrinth in camp which they believe Luke will use to invade the camp. Annabeth issues a quest to go into the labyrinth to find Daedalus Workshop and close off the route to the camp. Annabeth, Grover, Tyson and Percy go into the maze where they then cross paths with Nico from the book Titians curse who is there to try and resurrect his dead sister Bianca with the help of King Minos. Nico joins Percy even though he still hates him for not keeping his promise which is technically not his fault since she wanted to be dumb but i can understand Nico’s frustrations.

like I beforehand I haven’t read this in years so i only remember the important parts but stay with me now

Percy went on a side quest for Hephateus to kill a group of Monsters in a volcano that ends up exploding which leads to Percy and Annabeth getting separated with Annabeth thinking he died. Percy ends up getting stranded on an island where it Harbors Calypso (Atlas daughter). Percy stays there for about 2 weeks until he is finally able to leave and when he returns to camp, he sees the camp mourning him since they all thought he perished. Annabeth hugs and punches him for living and not telling her. long story short Grover finds pan makes him lord of the wild, Percy fights Luke, Kronos now has Lukes body, and Daedalus is dead destroying the labyrinth.

sorry, there’s not that much information I remember most not all.

8/10

Hello everyone, :)

So, as my first post I decided to rank my favorite book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians and give details about each book. I’ll be ranking them lowest to highest

5. Sea Of Monsters

Ok so the sea of monsters is about of Grover (2nd fav) is captured by a cyclops and Percy and Annabeth go across the sea to rescue him encountering Luke the person that betrayed Percy and the camp and the end of the last book. Where they also met up with allies like Clarissa and Aries (God of war) and had to help them fight a group of enemies (I don’t remember who) but after the help her out they use the sub that Aries gave to Clarissa to go to the island where Grover is being held. When they get to the island, they find Grover in a wedding dress about to get married to the cyclops with the help of Tyson and Clarissa they managed to get Grover out and escape.

Likes: Grover in a wedding dress, Annabeth and Percy relationship growing

Dislikes: Literally everything else. there was barely any character growth for Clarissa. We do get introduce to Tyson Percy half-brother, but it minimizes Percy struggle being the only kid in of Poseidon and in the fight with the cyclops he had barely any importance to the fight also this means the Poseidon broke the taboo again (Hades on top).

this book was a 4/10 for me at least there’s mixed reviews

4.The Titians Curse

I’d say that this had potential because of the characters he introduced like Nico, Thailia even though we saw her last book at the Zoe, Bianca and Paul. You may be asking Paul? Who’s Paul? He is Percy’s step I’m and im glad we got his introduction in this story now we get to see Percy have somewhat of a normal life but let’s get into the summary.

So, we start with Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Thalia going to a school to help out 2 students Nico and Bianca and bring them to camp but there are monsters after them so Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia along with some of Artemis warriors fight them while Grover get Nico and Bianca to safety. During the fight Annabeth gets kidnapped and Thailia, who mind you was also there, blames Percy for her kidnapping. Percy talks to the hunter hoping for help to get her back but he finds out that Artemis has been captured and most likely by the same people.

Bianca talks to the hunters about her joining them which to me doesn’t make sense because that would mean leaving Nico her brother behind but that doesn’t matter right now because after this dialogue Apollo comes in to give them all a ride back to camp, they rest come back they have a prophecy.

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan’s curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.

So, they chose to take Zoe. I can understand Thalia I can understand Grover I can also understand that but Bianca? Why her over everyone, even Percy who at this point already battled a god and legendary Monsters, just to choose the girl with no experience and a nerdy brother who knows more about mythology than you. Anyway, the four of them go while Percy follows behind discreetly with a sea creature named Bessie after having dreams about the general. He follows them to Washington DC where he spots Luke following them, so he tells them, and they get mad at him (not Grover though) for following them. They then get attacked by some zombies. Zoe allows Percy to join making it 5 now.

They get to New Mexico where they find a junkyard but before this Aphrodite along with Ares tells him to not pick anything up. Listen to me they said do not pick anything up. Guess what Bianca picks up a figurine she wanted to give to her brother before she leaves him for most likely forever is killed by Talos which breaks the promise to Nico to keep her safe. I blame 2 people and 2 only Zoe and Bianca cause why would you bring an inexperienced first day hunter with you on a dangerous quest and why would you do something so stupid on a dangerous quest and why would she bother giving Nico anything you’re already leaving him behind when you’ve been with him for a hundred years.

After this happened Percy sad since he broke his promise to Nico, but they continue on to San Francisco at the hoover dam where they meet Bessie again and it turns out she has the power to overthrow the gods a manticore who is a servant to Kronos comes almost convince Thalia to join him, but she relents they call Mr. D he comes takes out the manticore.

They are then taken to Olympus where the gods contemplate killing Thalia and Percy since they have the potential to destroy Olympus. So, Thalia decides to become a hunter for Artemis, so she won’t grow up to be 16 while Percy convinces them that he won’t destroy Olympus. Flash forward they get into a fight with Atlas, and they see Annabeth holding the sky with a white streak in her hair. Atlas is also Zoe’s father, so they beat him, make him hold up the sky again and Zoe dies fighting her father, so Artemis makes her a constellation to honor her. They head back to the camp and the relationship between Percy and Annabeth grows and Nico hates Percy since he didn’t keep his promise to keep Bianca safe and it’s revealed that he is the son of Hades in the end.

The end.

5/10

The only reason this rating is so low is that the pacing was very slow, and the character dynamics were terrible compared to the first book.

Part 2 coming soon

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

SUMMARY

A Clash of Kings, second in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, begins very shortly after the end of Game of Thrones. Westeros is in pieces—the Starks have been split apart, winter is coming, and five kings—Robb Stark, Renly Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Joffrey Baratheon, and Balon Greyjoy—are battling for the Iron Throne. Catelyn Stark tries to put her shattered family back together, all while her son grows too fast for her to keep up with. Her daughter, Arya, is still in hiding, and is targeting her enemies. In his brother’s absence, Bran Stark holds Winterfell. Catelyn’s oldest daughter, Sansa, is a hostage in King’s Landing for King Joffrey and Queen Cersei to play with as they please. Also in King’s Landing, Tyrion Lannister puts his foot down and establishes his role in the game. In the North, Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch march beyond the Wall. Trouble brews across the sea, too, as Stannis Baratheon prepares to attack King’s Landing with Melisandre the Red Witch and Davos Seaworth at his side. Theon Grejoy, son of Balon, returns home after many years away. Daenerys Targaryen, last of the Targaryen, now mother of the world’s only dragons, struggles to find war ships for her Dothraki. While a red comet flares in the sky, Westeros is falling apart at the seams.

REVIEW

If you’ve ever seen Game of Thrones, you’re familiar with the grit of A Song of Ice and Fire. George R.R. Martin isn’t afraid to go into fine, gross detail on the screwed-up world of Westeros. It can go overboard at times, but it gets its job done. It’s also a case of “Reality Ensues”—as, to be honest, if we lived in a world where there were no ready police force and the law was only enforced in the enforcers wanted it to be (ie the law enforcers can have bias), there would be chaos everywhere. It’s a nice take on how fantasy worlds are usually depicted as cool and peaceful. Even if the detail isn’t gritty, it’s beautiful. Westeros is a place where everything is larger than life, and Martin depicts it well, from the clothing to the food to the many places travelled.

The plot is not action-packed (except for an important and grandiose battle near the end), for good reason. ASOIAF depicts a world where violence can reign, but it doesn’t drive the story. The story is, as the first book tells, a game. Each chapter is a character’s next move, whether it be manipulation, revenge, war strategy, or simple survival. Even characters not in a permanently-violent position, like Sansa, have gripping storylines. Just because a character is “good”, it does not ensure that they will win—or, if they do, that they will come out in one piece. Some characters do not have their own chapters, like Cersei and Littlefinger, but we still get a look in their heads through their actions and words. But though the story is not one with pedal-to-the-medal pacing, it establishes that it is heading in a certain direction. Stannis is planning to march on King’s Landing, Jon and the Night’s Watch are looking out for Mance Rayder, and Daenerys is looking for war ships and who to trust them with.

When reading and watching Game of Thrones, I always thought that Martin’s strongest skill was writing characters. Each character, good and bad, have their redeeming qualities and their flaws. Stannis has his low moments, but he has reason, too. Sansa is somewhat naïve, but she isn’t stupid. Tyrion is clever and cunning, but he doesn’t know how to hold his tongue. And so on, so forth. Even Joffrey, who has zero redeeming qualities, is so immature and hateful that you kind of love-hate every scene he’s in. The characters we root for screw up sometimes, and villains have motives, reasonable or not.

ACOK has an attention-grabbing story, characters, and details. Yet, for the same things I praise, I dislike in some sense. Details, for example, can drag on. There are scenes when a room full of people describes everyone’s clothing, one-by-one. Something that could be summed up in one paragraph stretches on for three or more to fill up the chapter length. Towards the end of the book, there’s a battle scene that goes into such detail, much of the tension and suspense is lost. I found myself skimming through many dragging parts of the book.

Because of this, Jon Snow’s chapters really slow down the pacing, as most is just travelling in the land beyond the wall. As said before, things could be summed it, but instead stretches on beyond necessity. Catelyn’s chapters are not so tedious, but they do have slow moments, as only one thing of great importance happens in them. Sansa’s, Tyrion’s, and Davos’s piqued the most interest, with Arya’s, Bran’s, and Theon’s following.

One thing that I distract from both this book and its predecessor is that sadder scenes are ruined with lengthy dialogue. There’s a very poignant scene from Catelyn where she mourns how broken her family has become, but she goes into such detail about things that the emotion is ruined. The sad scenes that work well are ones that have little to no dialogue in them, like, ironically, another scene with Catelyn.

ACOK is a long read, tedious at times, but ultimately worth it. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll be a fan of this, too.

Too Far by Rich Shapero

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Too Far follows six-year-old Robbie, a child with a lot of imagination and nowhere to put it, living in the Alaskan countryside. Robbie’s parents are in a failing marriage—his father encouraging his curiosity, his mother determined to keep him confined to the house. One day, on a whim, Robbie travels out into the forest and meets a girl named Fristeen. Fristeen is colorful, chipper, and utterly wild. Fristeen is under the care of her easygoing but spacey mother, Grace. Fristeen and Robbie form a tight bond, and the two travel into Too Far, their make-believe wonderland. In Too Far, there is a red lake, a tree named He Knows, a forest of Bendies, and the benevolent but mysterious Dream Man and Dawn. Although Too Far becomes the children’s escape to joy, they soon realize that they can never escape reality, as it soon creeps into Too Far.

Too Far is a book that is told in two parts: Too Far and the real world. The real world is easy enough to understand, albeit told through children’s eyes. Robbie and Fristeen’s parents are presented the way a child would, through very opinionated eyes. To Robbie, his mother is controlling and boring, not wanting him to travel out into the woods, but to readers, we understand where her maternal fear comes from. Robbie sees his father as fun-loving and supportive, though we may think him to be too loose with his child. Robbie looks up to Fristeen’s mother Grace as a wise, mystic woman who is as easy-going as it gets. We, however, see that Grace is often drugged out of her mind, and though she loves her daughter, she also pays no mind to her safety. Framing these characters through Robbie’s and Fristeen’s eyes works both ways: we see them as the flawed humans they are, while we also see how tragically idealistic the children are.

The second part of the book, Too Far, is told in a very mystical, fairy-tale way. There’s a tree named He Knows that talks, a ‘bouncy lake’, etc. Although we as readers know that these are simply fragments of the children’s imaginations, they are treated as fact. The characters of Dawn and Dream Man may seem confusing at first, but as the book continues, it becomes clearer that they represent the children’s parents: they love them, but they don’t always make sense, they do bad things and don’t apologize, and they bounce between caring for and pulling away from the kids. It also becomes increasingly clearer throughout the story that Too Far is more dangerous than the children realize. Playing out in the woods is all fun and games before the reader realizes, “Oh, yeah, these are two children completely unsupervised in a place where they could die.”

Without giving away spoilers, the book does end on a very somber note, albeit not one that doesn’t make sense. In fact, as readers, we may consider the ending to be bittersweet, though it’s a tragic one for Robbie and Fristeen. I think the book overall captures the imagination and innocence of children, while also capturing the adult fear of “These children have no idea about what a bad situation they’re in.” Also of interesting note—the book has a soundtrack! Dawn Remembers is an album by Rich Shapero and Maria Taylor made with the book in mind. Cool.

On a more negative note, there are some slow parts in the book, wherein Robbie and Fristeen are just moseying around Too Far. Now, arguably, this is because they’re two bored kids with nothing to do, but it still makes it a tedious read. Especially noticeable in that the kids follow a sort of pattern every time they go into Too Far. Some scenes with Dawn and Dream Man can be a bit hard to decipher, as they are two unreal things being treated as real—in other words, though they are in the children’s imaginations, they seem to have real-world effect.

And of course, the most controversial part of the book—two kids in a sexual relationship! Robbie and Fristeen never actually have sex…or, if they did, it was too ambiguous to tell…but there are parts where the six-year-olds become…acquainted with each other. Kids learning about sexuality is a really tricky thing to write on. It happens, we’ve all been through it, but it’s very uncomfortable when done wrong, and it can very easily be done wrong. And Too Far’s depiction of the situation is…fine. No, I did not enjoy reading about two children getting naked together, but it could have been way worse.

All in all, though it can be difficult to understand and slow to process, Too Far does give a very interesting take through a child’s view. It is imaginative, worrying, and hopeful at the same time. I understand that it is a very divisive book, though, so I’d day look at a sample and see if it interests you.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Image result for the giver by lois lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry’s The Giver is set in a place known simply as “the community”. In the community, everyone is expected to show one another respect and caring—rudeness, lying, and simple exaggeration are all discouraged. Anywhere beyond the community is known simply as “Elsewhere”, and those who break the rules, grow too old or too sick, or simply ask, are “released” to Elsewhere. People are divided by their numbers (ages) and job occupations. Once a person enters the Ceremony of Twelves, they are Assigned their roles in the community—except for Jonas, who is chosen to be the Receiver of Memories, the highest honor of them all. Jonas has no idea what it means to be able to “receive”, but enters training anyway, apprenticing the previous Receiver known as “the Giver.” As Jonas is given memories, he realizes that he and the community have lost more than just the past.

The simple detail given in the book reflects Jonas’s and the community’s point of views. They do not notice color, shape, or form because they have been taught not to. As the book goes on, the detail grows to show Jonas’s worldview expanding. The twist with color is also a clever one that I did not see coming, as is the more major twist towards the end. Even though we may not be able to perfectly see what is happening, we get the idea clear enough.

Dystopian novels are always hit-and-miss with me, and I feel that the one presented here works. Lowry wisely does not explain every facet of the community, as each answer would probably raise another question. There’s no extremely-advanced technology or a dictionary’s worth of terms to keep up with. Although the community, to us readers, is as bizarre as it needs to be, it does not break logic. There’s some sick kind of reason to how the community is run. The lack of explanation for what caused the world to become the way it is works in the story’s favor.

Jonas, being twelve, offers a naïve newcomer’s view on the events taking place. We learn what he learns. Admittedly, I would say that the only character with personalities are Lily, Jonas’s sister; Asher, Jonas’s friend; and the Giver himself. One could argue that this is the point, to show how the community is boring and unison, but the vocal charismas of Asher and Lily kind of undermine that. The Giver himself is an enjoyable character—you expect him to be quiet and mysterious, in that ‘creepy-magic-old-guy’ kind a way, but he’s actually very sweet and soft-spoken. The way he interacts with Jonas is both heartwarming and telling of the setting the story takes place in. The same can be said for the dialogue spoken in the story. It is stilted and awkward, but with reason.

The subjects that story tackles, and the numb tone to which it does, adds to the eerie and mysterious tone of the novel. Murder, loneliness, solitude, and lack of emotion are all discussed in a speculative manner—i.e., how would people act if they did not know what ‘this’ meant? Jonas himself must deal with great emotional suffering as he realizes that the people he loves cannot and do not love him back. The film adaptation was a romance story between Jonas and Fiona, but it’s more of a tragedy here. Jonas has feelings for Fiona, but not only can she not reciprocate them, Jonas himself can hardly understand them. This helps the curiosity as to what caused society to become the way it has.

Though the novel has many things working in its favor, and it builds a not-wholly-original-but-overall-captivating world, it ultimately could have done more. The book is very short and only takes a shallow glance into its circumstances. Many things are left in the air and are unresolved. Now, it is important to know that the book actually has sequels/prequels/midequels? Other books that take place in the same setting. Unfortunately, it is also said that these books are inferior to The Giver, and I probably won’t be reading them. So, judging the book by itself, I don’t think it took advantage of its setting as much as it could have. Also, I know many consider the ending to be artistic and deep and insightful, but I was simply unsatisfied by it.

Overall, I still think The Giver is a fine, if not simple, book.

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Image result for the green mile book

Stephen King’s The Green Mile is a recollection by the elderly Paul Edgecombe of his days as a prison guard. Paul was a guard for the E block of the prison, where prisoners are kept until their executions via electric chair—the floor of the E block is bright green, earning it the title of the Green Mile. Paul finds his job to be a never-ending cycle of prisoner comes in, prisoner stays, prisoner goes, etc. Lately, he has to grapple with Percy Wetmore, a young prison guard who uses connections to higher-ups as an excuse to abuse the prisoners, and Eduard Delacroix, an insane but seemingly harmless inmate with an amazingly intelligent mouse named Mr. Jingles. While Paul and the other guards think nothing of the inmates, their minds change when they meet John Coffey—a giant of a man found guilty of the rape and murder of two little girls. Though Coffey is quiet at first, the guards soon realize that there is more to him than meets the eye—a superpower, perhaps, that doubles as a curse.

As with all of his works, King has an eye for dialogue and detail. I saw every image and heard every conversation as perfectly as possible. Though the characters use expressions we don’t in reality, they did not feel out of place. And though not every moment of the book is packed with suspense and drama, I rarely ever felt bored with it. The cuts to the present-day elderly Paul calmed things down, but did not damage the overall experience, something that most past-and-present-spliced books find difficult to pull off. Delacroix, Wetmore, Coffey, and Wharton were all characters with fantastic characterizations that made them stand out from one another. The plot of the book does not have a typical point-A-to-point-B formatting. The book does not build up to something over its course; arguably, the climax of the book happens a little over halfway through, with the rest tying up loose ends.

On the downside, some of these details can border on unnecessary—one will probably tire of how often the act of urinating is detailed in this book. The first part of the book that focuses so heavily on Mr. Jingles the mouse can also be irksome to get through. And though some of the characters stand out so greatly, others, mostly the prison guards, do not. In all honesty, the only thing I ever knew to differentiate them by was the knowledge that Brutal was the tall and muscular one. That’s it.

The book gives a message that can be hard to swallow: we will all do bad things, some more than others, and how soon we will have to make up for them is unknown. Characters like Wetmore and Percy, without giving away details, exemplify true evils in humans with no remorse for their actions. Meanwhile, characters like Paul and Coffey spend much of their time questioning their choices and wondering if they have done the right thing. The ‘twist’ in the book is also well-executed, as I legitimately did not see it coming, and the smaller ‘twist’ at the end further proves the book’s message.

The Green Mile is deep, dark, and contemplative, and I’d recommend it to everyone.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

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Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a speculative fiction piece taking place in a dystopian world. After the government has been usurped, the main character, known by her fake name of “Offred”, lives in the reformed country of Gilead. Gilead is based on strict but warped Christian fundamentals. Men and women are assigned roles in society—men having roles in government or security, women the roles of housekeeping and simple wives. Offred is a Handmaid. Her job is to go from household to household and become pregnant with the household’s Commander’s child, give it to the Wife, and move to the next house. If she does not succeed in pregnancy within three households, she will be shipped off to the “Colonies.” Throughout the story, Offred looks back on her past life, laments her lack of independency, and wonders if an uprising is on the way.

The story is told by jumps between the present day and the past. The restrictive, “women-aren’t-allowed-to-raise-their-voices” world is juxtaposed to our modern day world. Though the difference is great, the novel rarely goes overboard with it. The few times that Offred laments her restrictive life are used to effect, as opposed to coming up every other sentence. The overall world and how it works are also told in a simple “this is how it is” fashion. The book, after all, doesn’t need to inform the reader that what is happening is not okay—the reader knows that—so Offred doesn’t need to bring it up all the time.

The fact that Offred rarely shows how she feels makes the moments of her falling apart all the more effective. Atwood describes the environments with just enough detail to leave the exact image up to the reader, and because of this, leaves things simple enough to understand. Handmaids wear red, Marthas wear green, Guardians wear black, etc., etc. The reader also isn’t told every single practice of Gilead, but the ones they are told are enough to fill in the blanks. This is a tricky thing with dystopian novels like this and The Hunger Games and Divergent—getting across just how bad the government is without spending half the book on exposition. THT does this very well.

The more we find out about Gilead and the rest of the world, the more things click into place, as opposed to it all coming at once. The last few chapters also cement how things are not always one-hundred percent cemented, either. Not everyone is going to listen to the “system.” And not in the straightforward, uprising rebellion way, just twists in the system way. The fact that the world is speculative also lends to its effect. Nothing about Gilead is too technological or fantastical, and is intentionally realistic enough in function and design. While it’s also clear that the rest of the world is not exactly like this, the book wisely leaves out how other countries react to Gilead, as any explanation would probably be unrealistic.

Characters in this book are tricky. The only ones with straightforward personalities are Moira, Offred’s best friend; the Commander of Offred’s household; and Serena Joy, the Wife to the Commander. Moira is almost like the character who’s supposed to be the protagonist—she’s not vocally rebelling against the system, but she’s sneaky about it, and unlike Offred, retains her personality after the change. The Commander is intentionally mysterious and hard to figure out. Serena Joy is almost the same, as it’s unclear exactly what her motivations are. These characters are primarily what sets the plot forward.

Offred herself is hard to place. It could be argued that she’s simply a shadow of her former self, and that years of abuse and despair have worn her too far down to recover. Her acceptance but bitterness of the system, for example, and having more curiosity than hope in regards to change. This is reasonable, as like I’ve said, she does have her moments where she crumbles a bit. Her reactions to change are not hope or joy, but rather caution in case she gets in trouble.

Because of this, when she thinks back on her former child and husband, it can be a bit hard to take seriously. She doesn’t fear for them, rarely expresses hope that they’re alive, and seems to just accept that they’re gone and she’ll never see them again. The memories she has of her child are tender, but regarding her ex-husband, she talks about him as if he never really mattered. It can be confusing and conflicting at times. This problem is especially tedious towards the end. Offred is put into several very emotional situations that she doesn’t react very emotionally to.

The book can be slow at times, because progressions of the plot are coupled with the unspoken thoughts and feelings from Offred. Understandable, considering this is first-person, but rather than the two being interlaced with each other, one chapter can be wholly plot, and the other wholly thoughts. It’s hard not to skim through some bits (sorry if this is literary-sacrilegious.)

The book, without giving away anything, has a semi-happy, semi-ambiguous ending that ties everything nicely together. There’s no grand battle with explosions or anything, but it does end on as pragmatic of a good ending as possible. I didn’t feel like time had been wasted, and its open interpretation gives a lot to think of.

So, in conclusion, THT can be slow and tedious at times, but it still offers some thoughtful insight and capturing worldbuilding.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden – A Book Review

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Memoirs of a Geisha follows the life of a Japanese girl, Chiyo, as she grows up in 1920s-onward Japan. Chiyo lives in a “tipsy” house Yoriodo and lives a very simple life. After her mother falls ill, and her father is too old to pay for the medicine on top of everything else, Chiyo’s father sells Chiyo to an okiya, where she is trained to become a geisha. Besides the unfairness of her life as it is, Sayuri must battle Hatsumomo, a cruel senior geisha who hates Sayuri from day one, and the greedy owners of the okiya, Mother and Auntie. Sayuri finds a mentor in senior geisha Mameha, and with her help, ventures a path in hopes of becoming the most successful geisha in Japan—and hopefully win the heart of Ken Iwamura, chairman of Japan’s most important electric company.

As a prelude to my review, I’d like to bring up aesthetics and morality, which we discussed in class earlier this year—basically, whether art and morality should be connected or separated. Autonomists believe they should be separated, aesthetic moralists believe they should be connected. I am an aesthetic moralist, which is important to bring up as I talk about this book.

While writing Memoirs, Golden interviewed renowned and retired geisha Mineko Iwasaki for background information on the life and customs of geisha. This led to two big problems—firstly, Golden had promised Iwasaki that she would remain anonymous, then published her as a source in the book. Because geisha have a traditional code of silence about their work, Iwasaki received a great deal of backlash, including death threats. Secondly, Golden took a few too many liberties when describing the work of geisha, namely that of mizuage and danna. Mizuage, according to Golden’s version of Japanese history, was the tradition of selling an apprentice geisha’s (maiko) virginity to the highest bidder. In Memoirs, this is treated as absolute tradition, while in reality, while bidding on a maiko’s virginity did happen, the maiko was never obligated to accept the offers, and rarely ever did. A geisha’s danna was a wealthy man served as the geisha’s patron, providing money for her expenses and such. Memoirs portrays a geisha and a danna’s relationship as a sexual one, the geisha sleeping with the danna in payment for his money—in reality, danna and geisha rarely have sexual relationships, and if they do, it is much more than ‘casual’ and is not seen as exchange for the danna’s money.

These portrayals of geisha customs have kind of contributed to the way they are seen today—aka, prostitutes. Curiously enough, in the book, there’s a part where Sayuri amusedly debunks the myth that geisha sell their bodies…in the same book where geisha sell their bodies.

In short, enjoying this book can be a little more difficult knowing the harm it does, and I argue that the book’s value gets degraded because of its presentation.

Regarding the story itself:

The first ¾ of the book is what I found to be the most capturing. Sayuri’s travel from being sold to the okiya, separated from her sister, tormented by Hatsumomo, and so forth keep great tension. I was genuinely interested on how Sayuri would do, if she would escape from the okiya, etc. It was easy to dislike Hatsumomo as much as I was supposed to. Golden has a knack for description, and I imagined everything perfectly. The little details that Golden gets right—kimono, dancing and shamisen training, even food—are told in vivid detail. The way he describes character is unique, as he almost always compares them to something else—the character Dr. Crab is named as such for the way he awkwardly bends his arms.

The characters in the book are also interesting. Mameha, Sayuri’s mentor, is kind and wise, while also being mysterious and a bit sketchy. Pumpkin, the other girl at Sayuri’s okiya, was appropriately saddening. Hatsumomo was despicable in the best way. I think Nobu was my favorite character, since I have a fondness for characters who are gruff and blunt but have their soft spots. However, as much as these characters are enjoyable, some of them could have gotten better spotlight, or better outcomes. Of particular note, Sayuri spends a great part of the novel pursuing Ken, who she always refers to as simply “the Chairman”, and we unfortunately do not get as much time with him as wanted. He’s kind for sure, but that’s as much as we can get, since Sayuri spends most of the book unable to get closer to him. Because the Chairman is seen so little, the idea that Sayuri would spend so much of her life chasing him is a bit hard to stomach.

Sayuri herself is a bit of a weak point. She’s…fine. Just fine. She doesn’t really stand out very much, the way she reacts to things do not really give a lot of characters, so on, so forth. She goes through some tough stuff, but never really grieves long about it. Things that she feels so strongly about one chapter, she never references again later. This has the unfortunate side effect of leaving some plot threads loose. Unlike The Lovely Bones, we aren’t meant to put ourselves in Sayuri’s shoes—she’s a character, not a stand-in, that we are supposed to follow. The most character she gets is in the final part of the book, which unfortunately I believe to be the book’s biggest detractor.

The last part of the book can’t be detailed without giving away pretty much everything to read the book for. In short, Sayuri makes some ill choices. It was hard to root for her reading through them, especially when she makes these choices for relatively petty goals. Most things that were built up throughout the whole book get anticlimactic and unfair ends. The final pages can be inspirational, as Sayuri, now old, looks back on her life and the things she’d overcome, but they also include revelations that further sour the book as a whole.

Memoirs has an attention-grabbing beginning and middle but unfortunately goes downhill in quality as it comes to its end. After having so much interest and faith in it at first, finishing the book left me disappointed. This, coupled with the controversies and harm the book has brought, leaves me with really mixed feelings and a reluctance to read it again.