His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass

In brief replacement of The Magicians by Lev Grossman which I will post about in the very near future, I decided that I'll read one of the other novels within the same category that I really enjoyed and highly recommend for everyone to read once for it's really interesting concepts and characters. I will also later update on The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan because even though it was listed under "heroic journey" I still believe that it fits very well within "spiritual education". I think it's a little obvious that I really enjoy these kind of books. With that being said, Phillip Pullman's novel really impressed me for I was going into reading this with a little bit of skepticism. I tend to do that when regarding extremely popular books and yes, that also includes the Harry Potter series (yet another novel fitting within this particular category). I was pleasantly surprised, however, when I found that his writing and theories tickled the philosophical section of my mind. This is especially true since it was recommended by classmates who, in my opinion, did not uphold the same intellectual standards as I did at the time I first read it (eighth grade). One has to wonder if they really "got it" or just wanted to seem smart when the students with higher aptitudes began raving about the book but I digress.

The first concept that quickly intrigued me was the idea of deamons. Auto-correct is telling me it's spelled wrong but it was spelled that way for a reason. Playing off the idea of animal familiars the accompany witches or those of magically spiritual faith, deamons are beings that oft times take the form of an animal or creature that are attached to their human. The deamons form upon maturity will be that of an animal that bests represents their human's core personality. This closely related to Harry Potter's concept of a patronus that will shield the person from harm portraying the creatures that is most identifiable to their personality. Before maturity, the deamon has the ability to change into a form that is most handy at the time. The part I most liked about this is the fact that the deamon can't be more than a certain distance away from their human for they share a kind of bond, almost like an invisible string, that keeps them physically together as well. Children, in this sense, "wear their hearts on their sleeves". However, once that tie is severed the child loses a piece of themselves and inevitably loses their creativity and soul.

I find this to be of a driving factor for learning about one's spirit than the actual golden compass itself that is SUPPOSED to be the catalyst for the plot to move forward. True that with great power comes great responsibility and knowing when to use her special gift is a huge step in Maturity for Lyra but being aware of the big bad world seems to me to be a more important message. Bring aware of the fact that keeping your soul and child-like wonder in tact is more important than abiding by popular society's rules appears to be a better message than "know when to tell people that you can read the special compass of all knowledge". That and the message of is it really safe to be messing with higher beings other than yourself? Is it worth it to break children's innocent souls to find the matter in which to literally kill God? Exactly what forces are we dealing with here? All of these questions that the novel invokes into the minds of the audience is the reason I too began raving about this book to others. I was just disappointed when the two following novels really didn't uphold to the same level the first one did.

The Hobbit

I am a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien primarily because his books are what got me to love reading. Before sixth grade, I detested having to sit down and sift through inane things like genre, theme and plot because there wasn't anything particularly exciting about doing that. Also I didn't much get it at the time. However, for some reason The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit changed all of that for me and I fully believe what helped with that is it's complete submersion of fantasy. Everything about the world of Middle Earth is well plotted out and interlinked which enables the reader to fully submerse themselves into a reality that is not their own and that was something that I sorely needed at that time. I got so hooked in fact that I was able to finish the trilogy AND the prequel story in one month exactly, still retaining most of the information to this day. I have been an avid reader (especially for fantasy) ever since.

I do admit that I read the trilogy first and if there is one thing I could say about Tolkien's writing it would be that it's surprisingly inconsistent. I'm a little surprised that I didn't notice that much of a change throughout the separate books of the trilogy but that most likely is because they were originally written as one super-novel. Even though they pertain to the same universe and include some of the same exact characters and settings, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and even The Silmarillion each have a very distinct way that they were written. The first is read very much like a fairy tale or as if we are listening to Bilbo Baggins recounting his adventures to us himself around a campfire munching on our suppers. The second is an epic journey that has many twists and turns and narrators with much more ground to cover than the first. The third is sadly very much akin to a dry text book of the worlds history down to what star was located where and when. Although the second work is highly entertaining and drags the audience to the edge of their seat, the first is probably the most liked among agile fantasy readers. Yes, the story still takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride but you are aware of the safety net of it just being a story. However, this blanket of comfort might be a personal feeling since I had read the trilogy first therefore knowing that Bilbo had to have lived.

The reading of The Hobbit is almost like reading a good lore tale. I think the best comparison I can put it to is like reading Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier which is completely immersed in Irish myth and folk stories. Even though the book follows a main protagonist with a clear plot, antagonist, climax and resolution it still had the distinct aura of being a legend. If you replaced the figures with that of Ancient Roman mythology it would still have the same feeling about it when reading the novel. That is how I felt personally when reading The Hobbit. It caused me to reminisce on the times my dad would read to me in bed and I had the time to picture the action as if I were watching a movie. It was the same only this time I could read at my own pace with my own voice and still picture it with my own sequential images. In a sense, learning to read this particular novel helped my to learn the fundamentals of good reading techniques in general leading me to always hold a special place for J.R.R. Tolkien's work in my heart. I even own The Silmarillion even though I can guarantee that I will never EVER be able to get past the first twenty pages.

A Wild Sheep Chase

The writing of this novel was a little different than what I'm used to and that could easily be accredited to it being written originally in japanese and then translated to english. With that being said, I really forgot where this was taking place until the text mentioned different locations within Japan. I don't know if this is because I watch and read a lot of stuff from Japan and am interested in their culture therefore didn't find some cultural things out of place but it still stands that I felt like I could submerse into the story fully without the distraction of not knowing foreign contexts. Although, I do not know what the significance of sheep is. Anyways, it marks the beginning of a good novel that can attribute to an array of different people while still conveying the same basic messages.

Within the story itself we find some really interesting characters that are never given full names. I don't know if I like this because it's easier to project our own life ideals and images onto the objects presented to us or if I find it creepy that I'm not given a name to a face. I guess that it helps with the pacing of the book since foreign audiences won't get hung up on Japanese names with too many syllables. Did Haruki Murakami even know that this novel was going to be taken to other countries? I'm sure there was a more psychological reason for excluding real life names. Maybe it has to do with that fact that we will be dealing with forces outside of the realm of reality. When I was researching more about this book I came across the listing of it as a "surreal" novel and in many ways I feel like that title fits the work better rather than horror. I tend to forget it's even supposed to be horror other than some underlying themes that would we call "creepy". For instance, the reappearance of a peculiar sheep in pictures and the distinct feeling that it'll be more important in the end events but we aren't quite sure why would be very unsettling.

What I enjoyed most about this novel, though, is the extreme attention to detail and the author's choice of twisting said detail to become very poetic. His style of writing really does hook the reader by the gills and draw them in to this world where everything that is mundane is also beautiful and mysterious in a way. You can feel the protagonists love and obsession for his new girlfriend's distinctly gorgeous ears or awkwardness of being in a room that he did not feel he belonged in. I began to wish I could see things the narrator did just so that the world was more palpable and easy to touch much like how I feel after watching a Hayao Miyazaki film. What is it about the japanese? Are they born to be that observant?

The Lost Boys

This movie was...interesting...to say the least. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. The title The Lost Boys makes me think of the characters in the classic novel Peter Pan which gives me the impression that this movie will have a sense of wonder and fantasy to it. That's true, in a way, since we are once again brought into the world of the vampires. Is this some way of subliminally telling us what is extremely popular in our culture when it comes to the fantasy genre? The fact that this is the third blog post I'm making dedicated to a vampire story makes me both happy and a little wary of what we have come to. Especially since the close second are zombies but I digress.

Anyways, the film wasn't as fantastical as I was kind of hoping it would be. In fact, that went right out the window during the opening scene when it showed this normal run down town that had a lot of biker gang influence and very obvious 1980's imagery. Let's face it....not much was very whimsical or naturally mysterious about the 80's. I could have done without a vampire with a mullet. It brought up some new views upon the vampire world, though. Before we were challenged with the ideas of what was morally wrong or right about sustaining one's existence on another being's life force. Now we are also confronted with the overall effects on a society with a group of vampire creatures within it. You can see this just by the overall stand-offish attitude that most of the townspeople exude by their body language or facial expressions. The environment itself has this rough and tumble look about it that you feel like is attributed to the gangs since the camera then pans to the numerous bikers that don't give a damn about what they're doing in retrospect to anyone else.

Later, you then find out that this particular gang also happens to be vampires. What is interesting about this particular group is that they take a complete laissez-faire approach to their status as members of the undead. Having their abilities and lifestyle is a form of power that is used to influence others to do what they want. They don't have to worry about the implications of their actions because that's what they are meant to do. For once we see vampires enjoying themselves for the heck of it...unfortunately for us humans that means using us as their playthings as the character Michael finds out. You know that he knows that they know they are stringing him along even though he semi-willingly goes along with it. On some account, Lestat would have fit right in with these characters but I don't think he would have liked it very much. Even though Lestat in Interview with a Vampire had embraced his sense of being and the implications that came along with it, he still approached situations with a certain sense of decorum. Yes, he played with his meals (that lovely scene with the prostitutes) and showed no remorse for completely dead corpses (waltzing with Claudia's mother) however he always upheld an air of class. The miscreant in The Lost Boys would sooner piss on Lestat's boots.

Interview with a Vampire

So, in contrast to my post of why I loved Let the Right One In, I will now write why I kind of like Interview with a Vampire by the Queen of vampires herself. I think I give more credit this book just because Anne Rice was the first to bring about the "vampire as a sex toy" phase instead of just another romance writer branching off of the same cliche. It's not a cliche if you were the first one to do it therefore you already have won more merit for writing such a thing. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of this particular use of vampires purely due to what this genre has come to (e.i. Twilight). I would like to think that my intellect requires more than just a hormone driven porn plot for a 600 page novel. I rather like books such as Sherwood Smith's Sunshine that has more to do with the lore of vampires and the culture of a modern world that happens to have multitudes of monsters in it. This is also the reason that I expressed during my post about the vampire movie we watched.

However, I admit that Ms. Rice saves herself here where most secondary writers fail. She does actually go in depth about the world and culture of these vampires. The unwritten "rules" of what is morally wrong and right for vampires and their internal debate about whether the mortality of others is really their problem. Are they entirely new creatures that don't abide by the same homo-sapien laws at all even though they were once humans themselves or are they technically humans with super-human powers attained through a virus? What are the limitations of vampires? Are they obsessed with mortality? All this leads to question like is there a god? Where did the vampire disease originate? All of this is embodied in to two characters that both get along and don't due to these very questions which have the audience thinking about them as if they too were in the same state. If you were a vampire that had these powers would you be happy or would you be lonely?

This is why this novel is worth reading even though sexual themes do pop up for those who are into those kind of things.

Monster Island

I will start off this post by saying that I loved everything about this novel. The way that it was formatted as a blog post per chapter so that it was open to the public, the chapters short and easy to read with good basic story writing and interesting characters was brilliant. It was brilliant because this is the first time and only time I've ever heard of anything like that and it had the talented writing to back it up. That was the first step David Wellington did right when tackling such a project as a zombie based novel. I'm implying that a zombie novel is difficult because there isn't much one can do that has not been done already. We have almost seen every angle that can be taken of zombies including to inside of the zombie itself. However, David cleverly found a loophole by writing from the point of view of a kind of hybrid between undead and human. This way not only are we getting the suspense of trying to live through the zombie apocalypse as a human in an infested world but also trying to "live" in an infested world with humans trying to kill you. We also get the opportunity to theorize what exactly it would feel like to be zombified with dying tissue, organs, and muscle matter since we live through the experience as the character does. The very fact that Gary medically kept his brain in tact during the transformation so that he kept some of his humanity because the hope of surviving completely human was slim to none, was a genius piece of plot that, in my opinion, made this novel.

The blog posts themselves are interesting because, as I said, they aren't significantly long. A reader can easily get through 10-11 hours within an hour if they're hooked and I'm sure the majority will be. We're in the day and age where we have seen almost anything and crave for the new. Now there are many novels coming out with the "bad guy" point of view, skewing the original stories to make a completely new one with different moral and value sets. This is another such work however it's extra appeal is that it reads like a comic book. At the end of each page is yet another twist that keeps the reader hooked until the next "issue". The characters have very distinct characterizations that make it easy for the audience to picture in their heads and follow their actions even though there aren't any physical pictures of them anywhere. It's hard to help after the first few pages not to have a favorite character that you hope will make it to the end but sometimes die within the blink of an eye. My only wish is that this DOESN'T become a comic. As it is, this novel is extremely interesting because it's the first I've read that reads like a sequential piece without it becoming one and actually making it one will ruin some of the original texts charm.

Let the Right One In

I had been shown this film before several years ago and I remember thinking that it was very quiet for a vampire movie. In fact, it was also a little slow which caused for a few head nodding moments while watching it. However, I'm glad I had to opportunity to watch it again because despite it's slow pacing to a younger me it still left a good impression. This movie directed by Tomas Alfredson was the first to not over glorify a world with vampires in it let alone the vampires themselves. Usually in pop culture films depicting these particular monsters we are confronted with this image of "bad-ass" and aloof characters that we often think as "dark" sexy. They are the things that we cannot have which makes them all the more appealing. To be honest, ever since Anne Rice the word "vampire" has become synonymous with sex on a certain level. This can't be true in this movie because the two main characters are around the age of twelve. So what can a writer do with this since after all the story started out as a book?

Instead of focusing on the adult and almost cliche fetish theme like most vampire films...or monsters films in general if you really thing about it (King Kong for example)...Let the Right One In truly built up a very believable relationship between two beings the was developed upon overcoming obstacles and solving problems together. The obstacles and problems just happen to be revolved around the issue that Eli is some kind of other being or monster. It's not the other way around where the relationship happens BECAUSE the person is a monster. This movie, as gory as it can get, is a breath of fresh air. I can easily call this film a sophisticated monster horror film that will give you the most satisfyingly heartwarming ending with decapitated heads you will probably ever see in your lifetime.

This is just concentrating on the basis of the story as well. The visuals of this film are very...satisfying. It shows a very down to earth depiction of an urban city with creaky swing sets, yellowing windows, cracks in the walls and clothes that don't fit properly. The feeling of the atmosphere in similar to opening on old book that hadn't been opened in a while. There is that gratifyingly crisp sound and the wisp of what can only be labeled as "old book smell" that makes you feel like you are part of something bigger than yourself. It's old, dusky and textured and that is what makes the moment romantic. The colors and visuals of this piece are like that at least to me. I believe this movie is considered by many to be high recommended because it is very poetic especially for a monster movie.