Monster Island: Re-edit

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. I say this 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 chapters 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. In fact, this might be one of the few novels that the majority of our class actually read instead of skimming it.  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 and doesn't become one. In fact, to make it one would ruin some of the original texts charm.

Later:  Looking back on all of the works we had read and movies we have watched and things we have discussed in class, I still think that this particular "novel" was one of my favorites.  First off, it's a zombie story which instantly makes it awesome but it is done in such a way that the creatures seem that much more believable.  I absolutely LOVE the online format and I really REALLY wish that more authors did something like that.  It really does make the novel easier to read and easier for us younger generations to get in to.  Is is especially helpful for those kids that struggle with reading just by seeing the amount of pages they have to go through.  In the case of this "book" being in a blog format is that we don't quite realize just how much we are reading.  Also, each post is a new surprise and keeps the audience hooked and sitting on the edge of their seats.  Overall, this is plain and simply well written which is extraordinarily commendable in this day and age where books like Twilight exist.  The revamped monster story done right.  I'm glad to have taken this class JUST because I got to know of this novel's existence, that's how much I appreciate it.  

The Aquatic Uncle

This is by far the WEIRDEST thing I have ever read but then again it is also one of the most interesting.  I would say that I'm not into "fine arts" thinking where everything is so abstract that you feel as if you're floating through an acid dream but I wouldn't necessarily say that this story is like that.  Sure, the names are extremely weird and the creatures are on that border of "real" and "alien" but the over concept behind them is in direct correlation to our beliefs in evolution.  Who knows, maybe it was and it just seemed alien to us because the story took place from the prospective of creatures in the midst of change.  The only logic going against that theory is the fact that it was evolution sped up by thousands of years.

You could tell this story was a satire on our own society much in the same way that Animal Farm is quite obviously a satire.  The themes and morals of peer pressure and society making you want to think that the newest is the best.  What captivates me the most in the story is the fact that there is an obvious favoritism for every species to think this way.  Wanting to go backwards through evolutionary process just seems dumb and no one thinks that way.  In fact, Qfwfq automatically assumes that Lll would want to stay a land creature and is very confused when she actively pursues the old uncle to learn the ways of the water. There are so many old morals that could be contributed to this story which makes this odd setting run parallel to that of a fairy tale.  For instance, "you always want what you can't have" and "you never know what you have until you've lost it".  "Listen to your elders" seems just a tad too obvious but it's there none the less.

In the end, I enjoyed how simple the message was among the weird names and creatures.  In a way it brought the most basic ideas out into the open without us being tripped up by the notion of "well they are human characters so this is all must be more complex because that's how humans are".  There are so many times when we are having discussions analyzing literature that I just want to scream out STOP just because people read way too far in to things.  That is especially true if the story revolves around a human character.  Sometimes just taking the human factor out of the story makes the design of it simpler, easier to follow and therefore more enjoyable to read.  I guess, all in all, I am just saying that I appreciate this story exists and I have read it.  Will I read it again?  Most likely not but at least I have.

American Gods

First and foremost, Neil Gaiman has been one of my favorite authors since I first picked up Good Omens back when I was a wee little sophomore in high school.  There was this really old book store in Savannah that had some really interesting titles and for some reason that was the book that called out to me.  Then I started reading it and I couldn't put it down.  I was laughing after almost every other page, attempting to also explain to the rest of my family at dinner just what made it funny.  Granted, Terry Pratchett put his fair share of his humor in that particular work but that doesn't take away from the brilliance that was the concept behind the story.  When you read more of Neil Gaiman's work it is much easier to see what he had contributed to Good Omens that made it the brilliant novel that it is.  Most, of course, is his extraordinary knowledge of mythology from all over the world.  However, there is knowledge and then there is what you do with that knowledge which leads to what I believe puts Gaiman above most authors.

You see, it is easy enough to use old stories of mythology and especially when those stories are often told and popular.  We could all retell some variation of the Hercules story or the Merlin story or the Pandora's box story because they have been circulated so much in our childhood via movies or the American education system.  Now, we see books like the Lightning Thief where the author assumes that we haven't had these stories already shoved down our throats and retells it as if it's their own.  This includes a few twists like "oh it's the Greek gods' children" but it's still the same basis.  It's a retelling of a classic story passed down through ages.  What Neil Gaiman does with mythological tales is that repurposes them.  A fine line exists between the two but they are different all the same.

Retelling the story is just as it sounds, nothing really changes other than maybe the location and a variation of the initial tasks that main characters were once given.  The same characters are there and they interact with the same people and basically stay within their own story.  Repurposing a story is taking the guts of it (such as the morals and the character development) and mixing it in with a completely new situation that normally would have never happened.  Most of Neil Gaiman's characters aren't just from one culture which in the end influences a specific character's design. The most amazing aspect of that happens when the different character's interact since it brings out their character flaws which is result of the myth's culture.  American Gods which is in relation to Anansi Boys is one of the best examples of this since you have everything from African to Irish lore figures that exist in the same plane because of America being the "melting pot".  In this world, it's plausible to have a leprechaun and Anubis to breathe the same air.  That is genius and to that sir I commend you.