Review: The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Just a staggering work of fiction. Margaret Atwood provides probably the second most harrowing and compelling picture of a dystopian future of all time. The first, of course, is Cormac McCarthy. But nobody is beating The Road. Nobody. What makes this story so unique is the feminist outlook, which shows just how terrible men are to womankind. The best science fiction talks about current issues, and this book, written in the 80s, seems more relevant than ever, what with the fight with Planned Parenthood and a woman's right to choose. The Handmaid's Tale is a futurists outlook on how things were back then, and it resonates loudly since so little has really changed. It's just a phenomenal story. I recommend reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles as a companion piece for a whole other look of female oppression. I'm sure you've already read it since I'm apparently the very last person on Earth who has, but if you haven't, do. Prepare to be amazed and sickened.

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Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender-The Search

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search by Gene Luen Yang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I seriously love, love, love these graphic novels of Avatar: the Last Airbender (I'll have to check if they have any for the Legend of Korra, which I actually prefer to Avatar). These stories fill in so much and actually seem necessary to fully understand the characters of TLA, which is what all follow-up stories should do. I think of it like DLC, in book form. This story concerns Zuko's mother, which was always a great mystery on the show. All those answers are revealed here in a very satisfying way. My only complaint is that it's so short. I read the entire thing in the span of my daughter's nap time (and I spent $40 on it!). If you're a fan of Avatar, you must read this book!

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Review: The Tenants

The Tenants by Bernard Malamud
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Basically, a book that makes you hate and distrust black people even more than you already do. It's hard to find a book written in the past (Hell, it's difficult to find now) where a black character is admirable unless he's a slave and telling Huck Honey to get back on the boat. Most black characters are seen as vicious, untrustworthy individuals (who don't talk in complete sentences), and Malamud continued with that tradition. The only book I can really think of that had a redeemable, respectable black character was The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and that character was a doctor juxtaposed with other black characters who loathed him for being so different. It was an interesting character study to say the least, and it was refreshing to read.

But I digress.

Why the four stars for this book that I clearly found offensive? Well, because it's good. The characters, though unlikable, are clear and three-dimensional, and the story is told in a meta fashion, which impresses the writer in me. The story concerns two tenants, a Jewish man and a black man (Though one only pays the rent. Guess which one), who are both writers. The black man feels he has to write about the black experience, sort of like Richard Wright. But the problem is, he isn't disciplined like the Jewish writer. The moment he receives even the slightest bit of criticism, he gets upset and does something stupid. It's infuriating to see such a bum of a character, even though he works hard at his craft. The situation is exacerbated when he does a heinous act after the Jewish character kind of oversteps his bounds with the black man's girlfriend (Though, an argument could be made that the black man was in the fault for not treating his girlfriend right in the first place).

Overall, it's a quick read and an interesting book told in a fascinating fashion. Do I like how blacks were portrayed in this book, which was published back in the 70s? No. There is not one redeemable thing about them. But as a black writer, I guess it's my job to write minority characters who are actually worthy of praise. I just won't go overboard with it. That's how you DON'T write three-dimensional characters.

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Review: Tim and Eric's Zone Theory: 7 Easy Steps to Achieve a Perfect Life

Tim and Eric's Zone Theory: 7 Easy Steps to Achieve a Perfect Life by Tim Heidecker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't know how many times I've thought this, but I'll think it again. Why am I a fan of Tim and Eric? After watching Tom Goes to the Mayor, Awesome Show, Bedtime Stories, Check It Out With Dr. Steve Brule (http://www.cinemablend.com/television...), Billion Dollar Movie, and their live show, I think the only thing out of that list I truly enjoyed was Awesome Show (And mostly only season one). Oh, and their Chrimbus Special, which is how I got into them in the first place. So why do I keep watching and buying their stuff if they have such a hit-or-miss (Mostly miss) record with me? I don't know, but after reading Zone Theory in its entirety, I think I've found yet another strike out.

The problem is the writing. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's so repetitive, especially if you've seen their other stuff. How many times are these guys going to talk about spaghetti? I mean, jeez. This is the kind of book that is funnier when you just flip through the pages at the store and are assaulted by a picture of question mark shaped penises, or the weird, distorted faces of people throughout the book. I get what they were going for here with the cult-religion stuff, and it's funny for the first few pages. But after awhile, it grows tiresome, and you probably got all you needed out of it from the amazing promo (Oh, yeah. I always love their promos, too. They're usually pretty good. But again, bite-sized Tim and Eric is better than full-length Tim and Eric).

Would I recommend this book to anybody? No. Not even Tim and Eric fans. Leaf through it at the store, get a chuckle, and then put it back down. I guess I'm just not Zone Theory material, and will never find the elusive 8th Zone (Which is fully featured in this book).

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Review: Song of Simon

Song of Simon by C.A. Sanders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you're a fan of high fantasy, then raise my score by one star. But, given that I can't even finish reading the second Lord of the Rings book, it's safe to say that I'm not a fan of the genre. In fact, I hate it. Which says a lot for C.A. Sanders' book, Song of Simon, because I did finish it. So, uh, take that, Tolkein! :) But I do have an issue with the protagonist, and it's a major one. I didn't like him. And I mean, like, throughout the entire book. I never found him likeable and was never truly interested in his storyline. He does have growth, though, so I will give the author credit for that.

Another issue I had with the book is the tone. As a writer friend of mine told me, it's like Harry Potter in the beginning and it turns into Game of Thrones, which is absolutely the case. The violence in this book is so vividly described, that you feel like you're actually right there on the battlefield. I'm most certainly not saying that's a bad thing, but it kind of throws off whatever tone this book is trying to go for. In the end, it left me a little lost.

All the same, if you like high fantasy, you'll love Song of Simon. Personally, I don't love high fantasy, hence my "it's just okay" score.

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Review: The Exorcist

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, I guess I can now put The Exorcist on my list of movies that are much better than the book (It's right up there with Fight Club, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, two of which were directed by Stanley Kubrick). It's not that The Exorcist is bad, per se, as there were a few moments that really got under my skin. But it just can't compete with the movie. That music, that face, that voice. Just everything about the movie trumps this book by a mile.

And I think lot of that can be attributed to the lackluster side-story. The Detective Kinderman sections felt like they made up half the book, and they weren't even that interesting (I don't even remember the character in the film to be honest). And while the book is a relatively quick read, I felt that there were sections that moved much faster than others. Again, anything with Kinderman felt slow, while all the stuff that dealt with the possession moved at a rapid pace. If you're deciding on reading the book, I'd say to just watch the movie instead. It's superior in every way.

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Review: The Dark Knight Returns

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Dark Knight Returns is TERRIBLE. I don't understand why people still talk about it to this day. I understand its significance and importance in relation to what Batman is like today, but outside of the context of Batman, why do people STILL like it? I've heard people put it up there with The Watchmen, and let me just say this--It is nowhere NEAR as good as The Watchmen. The Watchmen is actually like literature. It had something to say. But this, well, it has nothing to say. Batman is old and he's in a society that feels they don't need vigilantes anymore, until they do. And then Batman comes back, does some stuff, gets a new Robin, rides a horse, fights Superman, the end. Honestly, that's the whole story, and it meanders all over the place.

Frank Miller, author of Sin City and a whole bunch of other crummy comics, was not and is still not a very good writer. I'm not saying he's not a good comic book writer, because he suits his purpose. But he's no Neil Gaiman. He's no Alan Moore. Hell, he's not even Sam Keith, who penned the brilliant comic, The Maxx, back in the early 90s. What Frank Miller did was change the whole vision of Batman, which is to be commended, sure, but not to be applauded to the extent that The Dark Knight Returns is considered one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. It's not even close. To cite one of the lines of this terribly boring book, The Dark Knight Returns is "balls nasty." And not in a good way, like it's used in this book, but in a bad way, like balls actually being nasty. Especially if they're not cleaned.

I know you've heard a lot about this book, but it's not justified. It sucks. Plain and simple. Read something else instead.

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Review: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I almost gave The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter a four star rating instead of five since the description on the back totally misrepresents the story I just finished reading, which really pisses me off. Why would they push the book the way they did on this vintage version that I picked up? It doesn't make any sense. Even the photo on the cover (my cover is different from the one presented here) doesn't truly represent this staggering work. It's strange. While reading the book, I kept turning it over and re-reading the back to see when the "loss of innocence" would occur, or why they say that Mick Kelly, who is important in the overall narrative, would be called the main character, as this is a book where every character is important. It's just really poor marketing on the publisher's part, and I don't get it. Why?

But, moving on.

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is a masterpiece as it clearly represents a collage of loneliness. Every character suffers from it, and in a sense, you get the feeling that whole world suffers from it as the characters represented here are about as diverse as you can get. You get the educated black doctor who was born too early since the things he wants out of life are outside of his reach for another 20 years. You have the loner Communist who doesn't entirely know what he wants, but he avidly thinks he needs to get it and soon. You have the aforementioned, Mick Kelly, a 13 year old girl who has music in her heart and dreams of the future, but lives in abject poverty and searching for something more. And then, you have arguably the most complex character, Biff, who is most likely a homosexual, but not really sure or even desiring to confirm it in himself. They are all tied together by a deaf mute named Mr. Singer, who is also most likely gay, but also just as lonely, if not even lonelier, than the rest of the cast. His one true love, a fellow deaf man who may or may not even understand his only friend, is the glue that keeps Mr. Singer together. Every last character is essential to telling this story, which is one of the most depressing and beautiful I've ever read. There is hope at the end, but you wonder if it's justifiable hope. In the end, who's to say?

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is a rich, complex, layered novel and one that I will never forget. Its stature as a novel has only risen over the years, and for good reason. It's a true masterpiece.

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Review: Wergild

Wergild by J.L. Hickey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wergild starts off very well, with interesting characters and good dialogue, but I found the ending didn't fit the attitude of the protagonist at all, even after going through some trying circumstances. The story concerns a young artist who is pushed into a terrible ordeal due to his wretched uncle, who is my favorite character since he's such a scoundrel. A lot of the story, which is much more of a short story than a novella, concerns the time period itself and the concept of what the gods, or the creator, have to do with the daily lives of mankind. This theme is played out in a story within the story written by the protagonist, who has the potential to change the world some day with his words.

That said, there is a bit too much philosophy going on in this story, which slows down the otherwise pretty good pacing. I would have liked if that aspect--the questioning of theology and the troubling times of the story--had been put on the back burner, and the compelling narrative itself had taken center stage, but oh, well. I will say that I did enjoy the overall story arc and the growth of the protagonist (Even if it's not entirely consistent), so this story definitely has that going for it. The author is very talented and knows his stuff around crafting a story, so I will definitely read more of his work someday. He is quite skilled.

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Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While short, The Epic of Gilgamesh is quite boring. I expected much more from it. What's boring about it is that all throughout, lines are repeated over and over and over again, and for no real reason whatsoever. I don't blame the translator, since they were just doing their job, but it's just a bit much. I grew tired of it after awhile. It's so damn repetitive.

Besides that, I also wanted a great deal more from it. Being that this is the oldest epic poem on record and also the basis for the hero's journey, I thought it would be much more drawn out and specific, but it wasn't. It meandered quite a bit, and it didn't leave me satisfied. Later epic poems, like The Illiad, would nail what we call "plot" much better than this early snooze-fest.

That said, given its history and legacy, I can't grade it too low. This started it all, so it definitely deserves credit for that. Overall, an unsatisfying classic. At only 63 pages, you might as well give it a read.

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Review: The Harlem Hellfighters

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

War. It's a topic that Max Brooks is good at writing about. Whether it's a war against zombies, or a real war back in WWI, Max Brooks is a master at building characters and scenes that really resonate with the reader. The Harlem Hellfighters is no exception.

I actually heard about this book in Entertainment Weekly and found it an odd topic for the author of WWZ to write about. Even weirder, it was a graphic novel. What could this man possibly have to say about black soldiers in a war that very few people even talk about these days (WWII gets all the attention)? Well, apparently, a lot.

I had never even heard of the Harlem Hellfighters and everything they accomplished until this very graphic story. Max Brooks writes with sparseness, making it an easy and quick read, but one that sticks with the reader. There are scenes, like when a decorated black officer is applauded in France but is belittled by his own country, that truly filled me with rage. I gnashed my teeth, and it just goes to show how good Max Brooks is to make me feel that way about injustice. In an age of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, it's hard for any race related incident to get my blood boiling any longer since it's unfortunately so frequent, but this book managed to do just that. That's no small achievement.

That said, it's hard to sometimes follow certain characters because they come and go and you don't really get a sense of who they are or what they're here for, so that's one weakness of the book. Other than that, though, I encourage anybody who wants a good read to pick this up. Max Brooks does it again. I'm looking forward to seeing what his creative mind gravitates toward next.

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Review: The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Man in the High Castle" is the kind of book that when you finish it, you get angry. "Is that it?" I asked aloud as I turned it over and read the back again to see if I was missing anything. I then sat and thought about it. What does a novel about the Japanese and the Germans winning WWII have to do with antique dealers and the I Ching? I left it on my table and walked away from it, very upset that out of all the great Philip K. Dick novels I've read, THIS is the one that won him the Hugo award and is possibly considered his masterpiece.

What was I missing?

Well, like a movie that is critically acclaimed that I just didn't get (Like Lost Highway, by David Lynch, for instance), I decided to read what others thought, and I found that I wasn't alone with my confusion. There were many who "didn't get it," and very few who actually did. But reading the summaries from those who did made me have a new liking for the book. It also made me see that it really does fit snuggly in with the theme of "What is real?" that Philip K. Dick liked to play with in his books. It's just much more subversive here, and even more cynical.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a book about an alternate reality in which the Allies lost WWII and the Axis of Evil won. What would the world be like if that actually happened? There are ideas scattered throughout--The Germans would be tyrannical, and the Japanese would be internal and reflective--but the book is more than just that. It's the idea that even if that reality WERE to have happened, what makes it actually real? For that matter, what makes the world we're living in now real? What is money? Well, that's easy. Money is paper and coins, but what else? What is success? What is tyranny? All of these questions are left open-ended to the extent that even the ending feels like there are pages still missing. This is a book that is not meant to be read for enjoyment, but rather, to make you think, which makes it one of the least concerned about the reader's feelings that I've ever read.

That said, PKD was such a master that I was still strung along for the ride, even though I didn't know where I was being strung along to, or what for. In the end, this is essential reading if you love science fiction or what if? novels. It is a landmark work by one of the masters of the craft. Give it a read. Just don't think you will be satisfied by the end. You will have more questions than answers.

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Review: Secret Seekers Society

Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro by J.L. Hickey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At times, Joe Hickey's Secret Seekers Society invokes fond memories of Harry Potter. It genuinely is that good. The story concerns a brother and sister who enter a new world where strange creatures (Known as cryptids, such as Bigfoot and Nessie) exist. This emergence into this new world creates a lot of conflict, as the protagonists are not only just learning about this society their parents one belonged to, but there is also a strange creature on the loose--the eponymous Beast of Bladenboro--that the kids are on the move to stop. It makes for compelling fiction.

What I think I like most about this book is the pacing. All throughout, the story moves at a steady clip and it never really slows down (Even though the beginning takes a little while to warm up). I think this is mostly because the characters are likeable, especially Uncle Joe, so you genuinely care about them. There is also a great deal of intrigue as the author keeps his cards close to his chest about the society until the very end. This is both a positive and a negative, as the last few pages feel kind of bogged down with information. Still, I do prefer this over getting inundated with info too early on in the story. I don't know. I'm a little mixed on the matter.

One other thing that I thought could have used some work was the primary antagonist, which, being the beast, doesn't really have much to say other than growls and snarls. It's an interesting approach, making the bad guy a monster that doesn't really have anything to say, but it is fascinating to say the very least. We learn more about the characters and the organization because the main enemy doesn't talk back. Again, I'm a little mixed on how it was handled, but it works.

Overall, Joe Hickey's Secret Seekers Society is one of the few independent books that sustained my interest all-throughout. I highly recommend this story for any and all ages. There's a little bit of magic for everyone. Definitely pick it up.

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Review: The Toynbee Convector

The Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Toynbee Convector is highly misleading in both title and cover. Ray Bradbury, who has written both exceptional novels (Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes) and short story collections (The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man) swung and missed with this book of bite-sized tales, and mainly because it feels so disjointed and aimless.

The stories in this collection are all over the place, and only one of them ("The Toynbee Convector") could even come close to being considered science fiction. This is the reason I said the title and cover are misleading. Most of the stories feel hollow, and it's strange, given the richness of most of Bradbury's work, rest his soul. There are a few highlights here or there, but mostly, the stories are unfulfilling. You're left wondering, why did I read that?

Overall, The Toynbee Convector is a weak book of short stories from a master in the field. It happens, I guess. So even if you're a Bradbury fanatic, there's no need to read this book. There is much better material in his collection out there. Read that instead.

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Review: Teacher Man

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Frank McCourt was the kind of teacher I always wanted, and somewhat, the kind of teacher I usually got when I went to school--supportive, open, and revealing. It just goes to show that a truly great teacher cares more about the student's well-being than the lessons themselves.

Being a teacher, I saw a lot of my own faults while reading this book, which is both enjoyable and insightful. Having read Angela's Ashes, I already knew that Frank McCourt was a masterful writer, but I actually believe this book is even better. It's probably because I relate to the subject more, and can find ways to grow from it. Even when writing about his own life, Frank McCourt found ways to teach life lessons that truly resonated. And when reading his books, we see ourselves in his characters, who are actually real people. This just goes to show how alike we all truly are in the long run. McCourt was a genius in finding this out about people by finding it out in himself. That's incredible.

Teacher Man is an excellent book about learning by teaching others. It's fitting that the last book in his memoir trilogy actually leads him to thinking about writing Angela's Ashes, making it circular in its delivery. We lost a good soul when we lost Frank McCourt in 2009. This book is a testament to his talent.

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Review: Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had more people recommend Ready Player One to me than probably any other book. And while I enjoyed it quite a bit, I don't know if I'd say it was one of the best books I've ever read, no matter how geeky it got. It fact, I think it got a bit too geeky at times. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with extreme geekiness. But it's just such a PERSONAL geekiness that it's a little off-putting. You can tell the author, Ernest Cline, had a good time reliving some of his favorite childhood memories while writing this book. They're just not MY memories, which is why I couldn't really connect with the book as much as I wish I could have.

Bummer, dude.

And while this sounds impossible for any author to really capture the things in my own life that made me into the geek that I am today, I think he could have accomplished it by focusing on either video games, like Wreck-It-Ralph did, or movies. But not both. It just didn't seem to work for me. Is it selfish of me to wish that Cline wrote about more of the things that I enjoyed growing up with? Sure it is, but there's a difference between reading a story about video games and movies from the 80s that I liked, and reading a story about video games and movies from the 80s that the author liked, if that makes any sense.

I'm not sure that it does.

I don't know.

Maybe if the references had taken place in the 90s I would have connected with it more. It's a petty complaint, I know, but it kind of hurt the book for me.

Other than that, it's a pretty original story. On the version I got, the cover has a quote from USA Today that says, "Willy Wonka meets The Matrix," and I think that's a pretty apt description. The story takes place in a virtual world called OASIS and it involves a hunt for an Easter Egg, which is a secret in a video game that is hidden for players to stumble upon. I really dug the quest itself, but wasn't too into the relationships of the characters all that much. Also, some of the dialogue felt forced. Again, maybe if I connected with the time period, I would have enjoyed it more. As it stands, it had a pretty good pacing, especially toward the end, and I enjoyed it. But is it a game-changer like Slaughterhouse 5 was for me the first time I read it? No. Not at all. It's a good, nerdy diversion, but nothing more than that. Unless, that is, you were born in the 70s and remember the 80s really well. Then, you will LOVE this book.

PS. I wrote this review while listening to the Battletoads soundtrack.

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Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (Spoiler free!)

(Image taken from: www.comingsoon.net)

Guardians of the Galaxy is both unlike anything Marvel/Disney has ever done before, and also exactly like everything Marvel/Disney has ever done before, making it feel both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. And it works! By being less grounded than its predecessors, but still retaining that jokey, brightly colored Marvel aesthetic and feel, GotG manages to have a funky, out-there vibe that plays well when set in the Marvel cinematic universe. It also doesn't hurt that the characters are relatively unknown to the general public (As a comic book nerd, even I knew very little about them before the movie was announced), and it actually works in the movie's favor. Here we see Marvel's vast potential at unloading even more of its obscure characters and making it gel. Could a Moon Knight movie be that far off into the future now that we've introduced Peter Quill and his merry band of intergalactic misfits? Well, a boy can dream, can't he?

That said, for all the movie's strengths (genuine humor, excellent pacing, and gnarly special effects), the movie stumbles a bit. One of the main misfires is that the movie actually has two main villains. Sort of. The problem with this is that the main antagonist is kind of overshadowed by the other villain, who isn't really in the movie all that much, but since it's his first speaking role in a Marvel movie, you kind of have more of an interest in him. This takes potency away from the main antagonist, which is a shame because he's pretty cool and scary. They should have just stuck with him. But given that all Marvel/Disney movies are meant to be a bridge between the last one and the next, I understand why they made the decision. Without this other villain, a lot of fans would probably wonder how this movie connects to The Avengers, which all Marvel/Disney movies seem to have to do these days. It's a small problem, but a problem, nonetheless.

Another small issue is that not all of the humor hits. Most of it does, and Rocket, Groot, and Star Lord are all major highlights. But Drax the Destroyer is kind of corny after awhile, and Gamora, while cool, doesn't really have a lot of great lines. She does move the story along, though, so she's definitely essential to the plot. In fact, all of the characters feel essential. Even Drax. Warner Bros. and DC should take note. When it comes to ensemble pieces, Marvel/Disney really knows how to make every character feel necessary to the story. They did it with The Avengers, and now, they've done it again with GotG. If Warner Bros./DC could do the same with their future Justice League movie, then it might actually work. I didn't think it could, given that there are so many characters they still haven't built up yet (Aquaman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, etc). But Marvel/Disney did it with these relatively unknown characters, so DC should have a less difficult time as most people already know characters like Green Lantern and Aquaman. But I digress.

Overall, GotG is a enjoyable romp that feels fresh and yet familiar at the same time. Marvel/Disney has done it again, and if this film is successful, then the possibilities for them are endless. Good for them. They've earned it.

Three and a half stars out of four

Review: Rabbit Redux

Rabbit Redux by John Updike
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It may not be as enjoyable as Run, Rabbit, mainly because of the characters this time around, but Rabbit Redux is a solid progression in the saga of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. Taking place ten years after the events of the first book, Rabbit is an older man, beleaguered by a boring job and problems at home. It begins with an affair and escalates to some pretty major events, but my main problem with it is two primary characters, Skeeter and Jill. I just don't like them. I'm not really sure what that says about me as a person, as I get the feeling that Updike was painting them to be characters with flaws, but, at the same time, sympathetic characters with flaws, but they just rub me the wrong way. Their chapters weigh down the entire book and I think they reveal less about Rabbit as a person than they intend to.

That said, there are some great moments in this book, and we get to know Rabbit's son much better since he's older. He's definitely a product of his time. I also liked the commentary on Vietnam in this book. I'm sure this was a pretty relevant novel upon the time of its release, and it's interesting to see the various opinions that were swirling around about the war while it was actually occurring.

Overall, though, I just liked and didn't love this book. I'm looking forward to the next two, though, since both of them won the Pulitzer.

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Review: Angels In America

Angels in America by Mike Nichols
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't get it. Maybe if I actually saw the play I could get a better sense of what the hell was going on, but from what I read, it seemed like a lot of retreading of the same territory over and over again. I'm gay. I have AIDS. I didn't know you were gay. We're hallucinating. Angels.

From the brief bit I saw of the HBO mini-movie, it all seemed pretty fantastic in the sense of production. But unlike other plays I've read where you can get a true sense of character and structure just by reading it, Angels in America is all over the place. Much like August Strindberg's, A Dream Play, it's the kind of play that I think you HAVE to see performed to get a true sense of what's actually going on.

So as a play, I'm sure it's wonderful, but as a story on the page, it sucks. I hated it.

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Review: The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think I like the idea of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, better than the actual story itself. It may be because one of the Wes Moore's (The one who wrote the book), doesn't have that interesting a story to tell. Now, I know, I know, this isn't the kind of memoir where you're really supposed to be interested or engaged all the time. This isn't Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography. It's not meant to shock or surprise you. It's meant to prove a point about a societal issue, and it does a pretty good job of that. The point has been made.

The story itself concerns two Wes Moore's, both of them born around the same Baltimore area, and both of them having wildly different futures--one of them ends up in jail for life, and the other ends up writing a book and hobnobbing with important people in the White House. The question here is, why? Well, Wes Moore doesn't exactly spell it out for you, but he shows that through certain key decisions in both their lives, they ultimately determined their own fate, with the tragedy (as he puts it), being that either one of them could have had their fate reversed. I'm not entirely sure I agree with that notion given what's presented here, but I do think he plays his cards right by not telling you why he thinks the different outcome occurs, which was a good move.

But again, the book is mostly interesting when we read about "The other Wes Moore", the one who didn't write the book. His story, while sad, is engaging. This is a good read if you're looking to better understand urban environments and what it does to the youth. I recommend it.

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