apocalypse please

book: oryx and crake

author: margret atwood

completion date: 29/06/10

method: borrowed (andrew)

the apocalypse seems to be a pretty common thread for authors. what i like about them is that they all follow similar threads (war, famine or infection... i feel like we're missing one here) but each one is unique. also there is the automatic contrast implied: this is how the world was this is how the world is now this is how humanity survives. this was the hand we were dealt this time and this is how we played it.

i started this book totally blind ( which i don't really enjoy doing on the regular). there was no summary on the back or within the first few pages. all i knew was that it is a post apocalyptic novel and margret atwood wrote it. that was it. all i knew. mum also told me that you never know what happens until the end.

i am really happy that writers like atwood exist. she so often shows such strength in her novels and i love her for it. this quickly could become one of my favourite post apocalyptic novels because of the crakers. all i can say is: way to go. she really addresses what happens when we go to far. when we make something that looks human and sounds human but has no humanity. the crakers are blank shells. they aren't even animalistic. i would argue that even animals show jealousy and sexual preference. the crakers feel like an experiment gone wrong. everything about them is false. except for the purring. i can't remember if it was jocelyn howard or meg or kate atkinson that told me about a book where a scientist created a perfect being and it could purr because purring is one of the most soothing sounds and has healing tendencies. if any of you remember please tell me. it reminded me of when you have a stomach ache and your cat comes and purrs right beside you.

crake terrified me. he had no limitation. no top, no regard for humanity. jimmy's arguments about art and society seem to fall flat against crake's argument for perfection. but it seems that crake was a product of his society. the scientist were pushing the boundaries which meant that crake could justify his actions. he wasn't doing anything worse then his predecessors, he was just doing more.

atwood just created such a unique apocalyptica, its hard to see what the book that apparently i'm being set up to read will show me.

xo-ellebee

the white man's burden

book: the book of negros

author: lawrence hill

completion date: 27/06/10

method: borrowed (mum)

i wasn't ready for this book. mum warned me that it was upsetting but i figured i could handle anything. this was beyond what i could take. but i loved it. this book just grabs you by the heart (and occasionally the guilt) and doesn't let go. the story is so moving and heartbreaking.

let me just say i wasn't expecting for this to be a 'feel good' book. i understood that with the premise it was unlikely that it was going to be anything other than upsetting. what i loved is that you are pushed to the edge and then redeemed so you never feel like all is lost and aminata's struggle is useless. her fight is the most important. it is how unrelenting the human spirit can be that makes this book inspirational.

i mentioned the guilt earlier. this is not a book that makes you feel awful to be a white person. also i believe that if we live in the past we can never move forward. i don't mean forget in any way, i mean if we allow ourselves to become consumed with guilt then we will never learn from our mistakes. what i mean is we sometimes feel so awful about things our ancestors did that we have no control over and this book is a perfect example. the white man's perspective is the fascinating one. a) that rebels fought against themselves being slaves to the british, but didn't acknowledge that they were in full violation of the golden rule. b) that slavery was better then barbary. by nature africans were savages and we were liberating them into our society. we were allowing them to be our slaves, to live in our country. the first point is what really intrigued me. the american rebels demanding their freedom and saying that they deserve nothing less. yet they wander through the black village chaining up other humans to use for this same purpose.

if only everyone abided by the golden rule, but then we'd all be equals.

xo-ellebee

in layman's terms

book: ladies and gentlemen, the bible

author: jonathan goldstein

completion date: 24/06/10

method: borrowed (andrew)

i grabbed this book in a rush this morning, knowing that i'd finish less than zero in minutes and i wanted something that would last the long commute today. it seemed like a good sized book, and i was totally disappointed by the fact that the book is about 6x9 but the type only takes up about 4x4.5. and at only 218 pages i whizzed through it so much faster than expected. on this respect i was not impressed.

however i found that the interior of the book to be very funny. it really did feel like the bible in layman's terms. the stories were direct and simple and much more relatable than i found them in the real thing. noah was a miserable old coot whose children didn't appreciate him (but then again what children do appreciate their parents lawl). and david just wanted to be loved. actually most of the stories had to do a lot with rejection and the need to be accepted by our peers. although it wasn't really a deep book, i found this regard touching.

i was not raised with religion of any sort and have never read the bible. in all likely hood, this is the closed i'm going to get unless somehow a copy slips into my ever growing stack of books to read. i found i really enjoyed these stories. especially the one about cain and abel. i never knew this story, other than cain was the first asshole and abel was selfless (and really kind of boring). also don't ever name a character cain in any tv series because they don't tend to do very well. it felt that cain's murder of his brother was more out of some screwed up curiosity as opposed to ill will. cain did not understand death in human terms, and abel was the perfect target.

i liked that all these stories focused on sibling rivalries, because it makes them way more real and relatable. none of the siblings get along and are constantly pitted against each other by their parents and god.

this book does however make a number of bible heros both human and douchy. after all, how do you think joe reacted to the 'immaculate conception'.

xo-ellebee

poor little rich boy

book: less than zero

author: bret easton ellis

completion date: 24/06/10

method: borrowed (james)

i can see how robert downy junior would be the star of the movie version of this book. more like, this book is what happened to r.d.j before he went to rehab and prison and the like. its a limitless world for those who have the means.

i can't imagine reading this book when i was 18 or 19 or however old these kids are. its terrifying to think that there are people who live like this who have more money and no limits. one of the characters says at one point he doesn't have everything because he doesn't have anything to loose. what i loved about this book is how intense it got out of nowhere. i almost thought i was going to hate it in the beginning because all these characters are just so rich and don't give a fuck about anything. you watch as they search for something that pushes them over the edge but nothing seems to do it. being totally coked out all the time has to totally fuck with you too.

as he comes out of his haze it seems that clay starts to notice that things are wrong in their beverly hills paradise of cocaine, sex, unlimited parties and money. but even still clay only just leaves when he realizes that the way he and his friends live is wrong and totally fucked up. it reached a point that i had to re-read sentences because i didn't believe what i had just read.

i think it all chalks up to bad parenting.

xo-ellebee

sorry for the language.

pretty solid.

book: life sentences

author: laura lippman

completion date: 23/06/10

method: borrowed (dad)

i have been greatly let down by thriller mystery novels i've read so far this summer, but then again they were ian rankin books (apart from shutter island which was AWESOME). i guess this isn't really a thriller, but it has the air of mystery about it. all of the characters know more than they're telling you, but i didn't mind being left in the dark.

i like books that can centre around an asshole. something about when the main character isn't totally relatable, but totally human makes for a really compelling character. cassandra was so headstrong and right all the time, but not in an omnipotent narrator way- she's just the kind of person who has always had the answers. she was a liar and very self involved and as annoying as she could be, it made her feel more real. after all, she's a writer who's success has come through writing memoirs. that has to make you feel very self involved.

i really liked how lippman included samples of cassandra's most successful novel throughout the book. not only did it it make for really awesome characterization, but it let us see how cassandra thought.

i did find i wanted more mystery though. mainly because i enjoy the suspense and have been starved for it in my recent readings, and when i really think about it i don't know how much a car chase would have suited the pace of this book. it was a great one to read while commuting because it was totally engrossing and exciting and well written, but i don't think i'd read it again. it definitely felt like the kind of book you buy in an airport bookstore and leave on the plane when you finish it.

xo- ellebee

you've lost me chuck

book: lullaby
author: chuck palahniuk
completion date: 22/06/10
method: borrowed (emma)

i feel that i should have left good enough alone. we were doing so well. we were over our rocky patch and were deeply in love again. now i feel a nagging doubt in the back of my mind- something is not right. maybe we're just waining because i don't believe that the connection can be gone for good forever. but lullaby has shaken my faith.
my brother said in the car yesterday that he feels he's too old for chuck and i have to say now i agree with him. it could be because i'm over tyler durden. also because i am sick of the supporting characters- the prophet, the know it all, the dreamer and the saviour. i know them all so well, they're just dressed up in different costumes. tyler always knows more than he cares to tell us and this time when i found out i didn't really care.
i want the romance back, chuck. i want the feeling that i don't know whats going to come next. maybe i just know you too well. we've drifted apart- gone stale. i still love you, but i don't know if i'm in love with you anymore.
xo- ellebee

i am well aware that i sound like a crazy stalker.

the deptford trilogy pt3

book: world of wonders
author: roberston davies
completion date: 21/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i felt that this was by far the weakest link in the trilogy. i found myself not really enjoying it or seeing its purpose and almost didn't finish it. fifth business seemed to stand head and shoulders above the manticore and world of wonders.
this novel focused on the story of the illusionist that young paul dempster became (i don't have his name here... i have already returned the book.... plus i could never pronounce it). and the main problem was that he is totally unlikable. he is unpleasant and spoilt despite his rough childhood. i found that i was totally unsympathetic to his plight because of who he had become through it.
up until half way through i really was liking this book too. but then i just couldn't get into it. i totally lost interest. i feel that this is not a trilogy in the traditional sense at all. they are 3 loosely connected novels.
even though this novel is narrated again by ramsay, we don't have the benefit of his intelligence or poetry because the story is dempster's retelling of his life story as observed by ramsay. as a character ramsay is one of the strongest (rivaled by boy stanton and lisel) characters and has the most fascinating insights but he is totally useless in this novel. i was disappointed but i feel that it was partially my fault- it isn't the type of trilogy you read in succession.
xo-ellebee