BR: The Dark Half (Stephen King)

Amazon Link: The Dark Half
Author's website: Stephen King

I'm cheating and pre-dating blog posts to include comments for books I've read over the past few months. Starting with SK's 'The Dark Half'

I read this novel quite quickly, once I got past the slow start.

I found it hard to engage with at first. Several side-characters, with in depth narratives, featured in the first 1/4 of the book. Characters that were either killed, or were witnesses/law enforcement officers, and whom I felt didn't warrant the degree of depth they were given.

I persevered though, and am glad that I did. Once Stark's killing spree settled down, the story became much more psychological with Thad trying to figure out what this thing was and how to stop it. The interconnectedness of Thad and his 'twin' was disturbing, and by 3/4's of the way through the novel I expected Thad to either be killed or to sacrifice himself so as to ensure that Stark was ultimately destroyed.

As it turned out, Thad does suicide, but beyond the realms of this novel. 'Bag of Bones' features one line where the protag in that story muses on Thad's fate. It's a sad end, but necessary because Thad and Stark were almost one and the same, there would be no certainty that Stark couldn't be resurrected while Thad still lived.

Overall, a fantastic novel. I'm warming to SK's wordier approach to fiction writing. His style is vastly different from DK's, and though I prefer DK, I can appreciate SK as well.

BR: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Amazon Link: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
About the author: Robert Louis Stephenson

Much shorter story than I had imagined, and filled with more narrative than I had expected. Considering its era and the good/evil inner battle that wages in men, it is a masterful story. As any literary piece, it is heavy on description and light on action and dialogue. Not tedious, so much, but for a person such as I who is used to modern fiction, I found it enjoyable but not particularly gripping.

Also, I have become somewhat numbed to violence and so the murder was less vivid than I had expected. Again, considering the time that this was written, it did break new ground. We have become desensitised to violence, to a lot of things, in fiction and in all entertainment media.

The idea that a draught could be taken to wholly separate the good and evil personas within is a captivating concept. There is no denying that we all possess both aspects, and the entire separation is where the problem lies. After reading this story I worked through some online class notes which had a lot of insight about what the story meant, what each chapter/scene achieved, including the particular lack of women characters. Those that were included were portrayed as exceptionally weak. Of more interest was the examination of what might now be considered multiple personality disorder.

That Hyde eventually overtook Jekyll also has meaning. Does that mean that evil is more powerful than good? In the long run, it will overcome. Afterall, evil had to have overcome good in order for Jekyll to have done this to begin with.

A good read, and I am glad that I now that this story under my belt. I have heard about this since I was a child, and even called my father and uncle by this without understanding what I was saying. I thought they were two people -- maybe even a frankenstein type situation created by a mad scientist who was then forced to live with the monster he had created. In fact, the reality is more complex than that, and pleasing.

BR: Phantom (Thomas Tessier)

Amazon Link: Phantom
Author's website/blog: Thomas Tessier

I read this novel (finished it at least) in April. It's now July as I back-date these entries, and I can't recall my exact reaction to this novel, except that the authors imagery and ability to make me feel the young protagonists terror, was incredible. The novel switched POV, a technique that is often poorly mastered. Tessier had no such problems, and though the point of view shifted within chapters, within scenes, I had no trouble discerning between the characters because each one was a unique identity.

I doubt I shall forget in a hurry the abandoned spa-house where Ned goes to face the monster. He finds spiders. Lots of spiders. Webs so dense that they seem to have a life of their own. I'm not doing the author any justice at all in this, but some time has elapsed and I'm writing this while yawning and thinking I really must go to bed.

Just to finish up. I found this novel while looking through a second hand bookstore for another novel by the same author. Tessier is considered by some to be a master at horror writing. After reading this novel, I can understand why.

BR: This Perfect Day (Ira Levin)

Amazon Link: This Perfect Day

This book illustrates an inevitable future, a Hitler-like vision where the population's behaviour is manipulated and controlled by drugs, conditioning and religious acceptance. Li (Chip) doesn't quite fit in, with his one green eye and a grandparent who shows him the inner workings of the computer that determines their lives, he craves a life of choice.

The novel progresses through his stages of life, allows us to experience the near freedom when he is indoctrinated into a clandestine group who share cigarettes, have unbridled sex and conceive of no more. Chip wants more, and it earns him an increase in his drug regime and a continuation of his dulled existence.

Years later, memories resurface. He's now in his early 30's, unhappy and not quite sure why. He fools the computer and cuts off his 'treatments', and soon he is reawakened.

The story ends well, as well as can be expected for this futuristic world. Chip leads a party to destroy Uni (the supercomputer) and finds that it's programmed by people just like he. He seems to accept, but the reader can sense his yearning to destroy it, and Wei, the Hitler-like mastermind, mistakenly trusts him.

The showdown is a little confusing, though maybe that was me reading it while walking from the train station to work. It seemed hard to picture well, though it was a tense action sequence. Arguably, it could have been polished some more before print, and slowed down. It felt rushed, confusing.

Chip walked away, returned to his wife and young son. It was a good ending, a satisfying ending because the protagonist achieved his goal and in our expectation what he did was right. But was it? Yes, of course it was... however by destroying the supercomputer that controlled these people's lives, he has thrust them into unequivocable chaos. Many would not survive, and as the confusion lulls into a battle for dominance, the weaker is destined for a life of cruel abandonment.

The book is well written and entertaining. However the author relies heavily on 'look', 'looking' and 'looked' to place characters in a busy scene. Given the maturity of the work, this seems a disappointing let-down. He was capable of better than this.

The most memorable part of the book is when Chip forces himself on his mate. It is an act that comes uncomfortably close to rape, and one that I cannot forgive, and yet I can understand it. Chip knows no moral code other than that which Uni has metered out to him. He has not learned through social mores, because there are none for hte person he becomes when left 'untreated'. Him taking the woman without her consent is objectionable. It shocked me, and I struggled to accept it. This act, though understandable, made me distance myself from Chip for the remainder of the novel, and in the final scene I realised that if he died, I would not be overly distressed. I lay the blame on that one pivotal scene where his character showed too great of a flaw for me to be entirely sympathetic.

It's interesting, and I wonder whether Ira did it deliberately to evidence Chip's dilemma... because Chip did show remorse, and a failure to understand what he had done.

The other memorable scene was Chip throwing up after drinking alcohol. He spouted off some loud mouthed theories on how to destroy Uni, to free the family, was sat down, stared dazedly at his hosts and then promptly threw up on their carpet. That it was carpet shocked him the most. I liked that scene, it showed Chip's innocence, his uncouthness and his courage.

All in all, a good read. Put-downable, but enjoyable.

BR: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Aron Ralston)

Amazon Link: Between a Rock and a Hard Place:

Aron's story reads as a biographical account of his spirit -- the origins of his resilience and his will to live. Through recollections of his childhood, the close bond with his family, his pursuit of physical and spiritual liberation, I got to know Aron. I got to like him, to admire him... yet when it comes to his rescue and the countless friends and family who suffered not knowing where he was, I felt a little angry at him as well.

He was smarter than this -- not the accident itself, that was unforeseeable, but the not letting anyone know where he was. Makes you realise that even in the safest of situations (and this was 'safe' for Aron), anything can go wrong. Let people know where you are -- it doesn't detract from the experience.

The imagery in this book is stunning. Aron is a born story-teller. I *am* with him in the desert, on the mountain, being chased by a hungry bear, skiiing slopes, out-racing avalanches. At no point does this story lapse into droll description, every line sparks with originality and evocative imagery. I felt as though I were sitting around a campfire listening to him speak. It tells much of a human spirit, the courage of a man to live. He loves life, and isn't afraid to take calculated risks, but he's not on a death-wish.

This story also hammers home Aron's ability to withstand suffering and pain... yet, interestingly, once rescued and recuperating (which is a whole other battle in itself when he falls victim to potentially deadly infection), Aron's pain threshold fails him. Even though he's maxed out on morphine, drugs, he can't find a reprieve from the pain. Is it because he knows he's safe and he's exhausted and just needs it to be over. Because in that slot canyon, as he's slowly dying, pain is secondary to survival.

I'd recommend this novel to anyone. The actual amputation scene didn't gross me out. Surprisingly. Earlier attempts he made to sever his arm, however, did make me squirm. Maybe, by the end of the story, after sitting with him for so long, I needed him to be free and the physical price for that was acceptable. If this were me though, I'd not be able to do it. I wonder if Aron ever thought about this, maybe he had, because even early on, he knew amputation was an option.