Book 31 American Psycho

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis fulfills the “Book Featuring One of the Seven Deadly Sins” for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. The tale features many sins: Envy, Greed, and Pride. Overkill, right? You have no idea.

Spoilers ahead.

I cannot speak about this novel without revealing many spoilers. So, if you would like to avoid them, here’s my quick take. I’m a huge horror fan. I’ve been reading horror since 1983. Sad but true. Stephen King is my jam. Every new story is a like curling up with a good friend. I’ve read Barker, Koontz, Jackson, Hill, Trombley, Hendrix, Lovecraft, Straub, Stoker, Poe. You get the idea. American Psycho disturbed me on a Clive Barker level. Like way more than I expected from the man who gave us Less Than Zero. Yikes, it was graphic and intense and not for those with a weak stomach.

Phew…on to spoilers.

This novel got under my skin. The images portrayed haunted my nights for a while after I read it. I was a teen in the 80s, and many of the business stuff, power, money, clothes, cultural stuff rang true for the time. But contrasted with the description of the acts performed by Patrick. OMG.

Backing up…American Psycho is the tale of Patrick Bateman, who slowly devolves from a corporate businessman into a psychopathic killer. When not working or eating at 5-star restaurants, he spends his time torturing and killing people. He seems to be completely detached to the heinous acts he performs. His deeds fall into many of the seven sins. He kills because he’s envious, and greedy with materialism that was the 80s. And the pride he has getting away with murder...I’m sure with some serious thought I could come up with Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust. But I do not want to think deeply about this story.

So there you have it. A serial killer loose in New York City, preying on anyone and everyone he wants. The torture scenes and death images were horrific, better than any slasher movie I’ve seen. But details niggled at me. Our killer claimed he ate some of his victims. I had a hard time reconciling his behavior with cannibalism. Not that I didn’t believe this guy would eat people. Oh, he would if he could. But his mental state didn’t deteriorate as I thought it should. Cannibalism attacks the brain with a disease called Kuru, not unlike Mad Cow disease. But he was pretty nutty by the end.

Also, his need to confess struck me as odd. Why tell everyone? Was this the Pride sin flashing its ugly head? Perhaps. But no one believed him. No one bought his crazy stories. No one question the people around him going missing. No one remarked on the bloodstains in his apartment, on his clothes (not even his dry cleaner). No one believed him when he outright said he killed Paul Allen.

Wha?

Spoilers for sure here.

The end reveals it was all in his head. He never touched, killed, or hurt anyone. Never tortured a woman with a rat (that was the WORST image). Never took out his coworker to gain his job. Wha?

Or did he?

The end leaves an ambiguous note about what really happened in the book and what didn’t. It was the 80s and drug use (specifically cocaine) abounded. But I think our protagonist (no way I’m calling him a hero) was a very sick man either way. The author painted the mental illness in broad, bloody strokes. So by the end, whether or not he was guilty, we were disturbed deeply by this guy.

Like I said, I’m a horror fan, but this book was just too much for me. 

I give American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis Four Dry Cleaning Bills. (Even though I didn’t love it, it sure stayed with me.)

Book 30 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins fulfilled the “Book Published in 2020” category of the PopSugar Reading Challenge. The novel is a prequel of the Hunger Games series by the same author. This novel chronicles President Snow in his formative years. It was published in May 2020.

I read the Hunger Games series long ago and had a very hard time with it, especially the first title.  Just the idea of children killing each other made me sick. The writing was fine, and the storyline good. But the plot was pure Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. Ms. Collins tackled a controversial topic and did well (until the end of Mocking Jay, but that’s another story). Personally, I think The Hunger Games should be taught in high school.

But I never understood the teen response to the books. People made Hunger Games play-a-longs in Minecraft and had Hunger Games themed birthday parties. It seemed they missed the point of an authoritarian government forcing the poor and underprivileged to sacrifice their children. Teens didn’t seem to see that, and no one explained it to them. When my girls were old enough and had an interest, I talked to them about it, told them about The Lottery, and cautioned them about the violence.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes narrative shows how President Snow became the man he was in the first book of the series. I have no clue. The novel gave some great insight into how we got to Katniss’s story. But Snow is still a mystery. It’s as if Ms. Collins wanted to dump a big backstory on us to explain how we got to Katniss with a story about another character.

Spoilers ahead.

Snow’s tale reminded me of Heartless by Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles. In that novel, Ms. Meyer tells the origin story of the Queen of Hearts. Like Ms. Collins, we route for this villain until the end when they completely change gears, personalities, and tacks. Snow was a pretty good guy until the last few pages. (He was a spoiled brat, but I digress.) I do not understand what happened in the ending scene. His life was tragic in a “poor, little rich boy” way, but there were no feels to set up his break. Heartless was the same. A true villain story should make us think “hey, they weren’t so bad, just misunderstood.” This book failed to do that.

The rest of the novel was okay, the same style as the other three. But again, the feels were shallow. It showed the deeply troubled mindset of Capital residents with the cluelessness only the rich can have. It says something about the times we are living in but does not hold up as a story to relate to, like Katniss’s. Had the author chosen to give us a deep look into Snow and made him a better man, his fall would have impacted us more. But as it was, I saw a spoiled boy get betrayed (though I have no clue how he realized it) and throw a temper tantrum.

Let’s talk about titles for a second. It’s not pretty and rather deceptive. Yes, the mocking jay had a huge role in the first three books. But if Snow is the snake and Lucy Grey the songbird, then why wasn’t this apparent until the very last second? Both animals were represented in the book, but Snow was never tied to the snake. Was Lucy Grey also the snake? What happened to her in the end?

Don’t get me started on some of the character’s first names. The audio reader was tripping over them throughout the story.

This was not my favorite. 

I give The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins Three Colorful Venomous Snakes.

Book 29 The Alice Network

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn fulfills the “Book with a Three-Word Title” for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. It’s part of Reese Witherspoon’s book club. My husband and I read it for a local club. (We met once to talk about the first section, then things kinda blew up.) But Hubby and I discussed the novel at length.

I rarely read historical novels. I’ve dipped my toe a few times in nonfiction (Bryson and Larson), but usually, I stick to romance, mystery, and sci-fi/fantasy. An old friend wanted to do a virtual book club to stave off COVID boredom and picked this novel. Hubby joined the group too, and away we went. (He finished the book in three days back at the beginning of June.)

The Alice Network takes place in two timelines, one in World War I and one after World War II. The essence of the tale is Charlotte (Charlie) St. Clair’s hunt for her missing cousin in France in 1947. She’s nineteen, in a family way, and desperate to find her lost friend and confidant. She risks everything by running from her parents to follow a scrap clue. It leads her to a clerk in London. The clerk ended up being our second heroine, Eve Gardiner, a veteran of WWI. Eve is tough, sour, angry, and broken but agrees to help Charlie.

The two end up in France along with Eve’s driver, Finn, taking them to various towns in search of Rose. The novel goes back and forth between 1917 and 1947, telling Eve’s origin story and Charlie’s hunt. As time goes, the stories tie together more and more as the friendship builds despite Eve’s hostility and Charlie’s naivete. The book is well-written and could pass the Bechdel, but something was missing.

Here was a tale of loss, family, growing up, hard times, love, pain, acceptance. And I didn’t feel many of the emotions. I’m a romance author, and I strive in my books to ensure the reader is feeling what my characters are feeling. I think the author missed some great cues to get us deeper into Eve and Charlie’s heads. At points, I dismissed Charlie’s story as I felt nothing for her character. I didn’t experience the deep pain of losing her best friend, the fear of becoming an unwed mother, the desperation to find answers. She seemed like a teen who was rebelling without passion.

As for Eve, there was more emotion, mostly because Eve had a worse time of it. But again, the author failed to put us in her shoes fully. Hubby and I talked about the lack of deep point of view. I said it seemed like Eve was skating through. He pointed out how Eve had to be a perfect waitress and mistress with the threat of death hanging over her at every moment. Any wrong move and the Germans would arrest her. Though that was true, I never felt her fear. I saw the love she had for Lily and the disgust for René, but never the pain and torture of dealing with spying deep in German territory.

Another issue I had with the book was the creativity. The three principal characters all get pregnant. Really? No other ideas for young women fighting a war? All three—Rose, Eve, and Charlie—are with child and not married (it was the forties and 1910s, but still.) Women can have many things to deal with besides babies. Money, men, jobs, personal health, mental health, family, friends, sexuality, education could have used instead of three pregnancies. Yes, I get gynecological health was an issue back then, and perhaps the author tried to parallel the women with the concept. But I didn’t see any big insights.

The novel had meat but no spice. Amazon lists book clubs and awards, but the author, in writing about amazing women during war, forgot they were women and left out most of the feels. In fact, I didn’t realize a woman wrote the book until I glanced back at the cover after reading it. 

I give The Alice Network by Kate Quinn Four English Spies.

Book 28 Dark Matter

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch fulfilled the “Book Published the Month of your Birthday” category for the 2020 PopSugar Reading Challenge. It was published on July 26, 2016. Please don’t do the math. I know. According to Facebook, my birthday is in February. Authors sometimes change some details about themselves. Shhhh, don’t tell.

Dark Matter is a sci-fi thriller. Usually, a novel like this is more my husband’s cup of tea. But I’d heard some good reviews, and the library had it on audio. (Plus, this guy wrote Wayward Pines.) Win, win. The story investigates the ideas of happiness, regret, and string theory. Do I have your attention yet?

Imagine a life where you’ve made some professional sacrifices in order to have a good home life. Would you regret not fulfilling your potential as a scientist, writer, lawyer if you chose another path? I could totally relate to the idea. Being a stay-at-home mom for the past fifteen years has made me question my choices. But regret them? No way. I would not have my beautiful family. I may have never started writing if I’d stayed teaching or never moved from Connecticut.

But that road not taken…

In Dark Matter, one scientist tries to reset his life and have a do-over. Kinda. The book is super suspenseful, and we don’t know what’s happening until all the pieces click for our main character, Jason Dessen. He’s kidnapped at gunpoint, shot up with drugs, and wakes up in a world that is not his own. He has no wife, no child, but an amazing career as a physicist who’s discovered how to enter alternate realities. String theory at its finest. But how did he get there?

Boom! The Jason from the “amazing scientist with no love life” reality has switched with him. Very cool premise. It was kinda obvious once he was dumped in an alternate reality what happened. But the author kept our Jason guessing. The poor man had no time to think due to all the running away and hiding and running some more. Tom Cruise would be a perfect actor for the role as he always seems to run in every single movie.

My thoughts—loved the book, but was disappointed in the ending right after I woo-hooed the author for being brilliant. Spoilers ahead.

At the end of the novel, when Jason finally makes it back to his world after seeing dozens of alt-realities some with terrible things happening, he discovers he’s not the only Jason who made it. I loved that. If every decision we make, results in all possibilities happening, then every time Jason made a decision, more Jasons.

In the end, the author had more than a hundred. And all the Jasons wanted the wife and kid back. Some were willing to be violent to get them. What is the real Jason to do? He’s got his family in tow, running from crazy versions of himself? He opts to go back through the machine and try a new reality with his wife and son.

Uh, okay.

What about all the Jasons you deserted in Chicago? What about all the dead Jasons left behind? What about the hundreds more who could burst out of that parking garage forever? And the other Jasons let him go. That made little sense. Some should have seen it as the best solution, but others were nuts from living though multiple apocalypses. I think the ending was a cop-out. Sorry, that’s mean, but it was as if he ran out of story. I felt like I was reading Dean Koontz—hours and hours of suspense and a quickie ending. No time for a cigarette or anything.

But the worlds he visited! Man, Mr. Crouch could write thousands of books of Jason living through those realities. He only hit on a few—major earthquake (I’m thinking Yosemite), pandemic disease (2020), nuclear winter, the planet freezing. Any of those could be a great story. Perhaps he’ll inspire all those YA authors that seem to love a dystopian story.

In summary, I liked to book but not the end. I may fan-fic it to make myself feel better.
     I give Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Four Ampules.

Book 27 Inkheart

Inkheart by Connie Funke fulfilled the “Book that passes the Bechdel test” for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. It was probably not a great choice for this category. But I’ve been wanting to read it for years, so…

The Bechdel test is a measure of gender equality in literature. The women must engage in dialog beyond males and relationships. Inkheart isn’t the best example of a novel that passes the test. There are few female characters, and they interact little. I think the pass comes from Meggie and Elinor’s interactions. They talk about books every so often. But in a 534-page book and to pass this test, I would hope there should be a stronger relationship. Meggie also speaks with her mother and the Magpie, but again, nothing profound.

Why is the Bechdel test important? Our current environment is dominated by men—publishing, misogyny, male-world view. Therefore, it’s essential for women to communicate with each other beyond talking about guys. Many books give women a small role or keep them out of the big conversation. The test points to stories where women, especially young girls, can see their gender engaging in intelligent discourse without men participating. I’m not trying to man-shame, but we need to talk to each other without them around, ladies.

I should have switched the novel for this category to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero which I used for the “Book with a Pink Cover” prompt. That story has the girls talking about many things beyond their relationships with their father, their male friends, and boyfriends. But then I wouldn’t have a pink cover story. And I’d have read a 500+ page book for nothing. LOL

If we go beyond the category for the story, Inkheart is a rich well of fantasy. Who wouldn’t want their favorite characters to emerge from their novels to hang out and chat? But those characters need to deal with our world. And in some cases, become more than the two-dimensional figure from the story. I like that Dustfinger remained himself. He was always selfish and stayed so. He wanted to go home despite the new universe, his new love (who he lost), and a more sanitary life. I hate that he betrayed Mo so many times, but he was who he was.

The story took a long time to get to the ending. It seemed to me that Ms. Funke looped the story by going to the Italian village twice. I understand the plot device, but the length of the tale could have cut that to one trip. There were other places where I needed the author to pick up the pace and move the tale forward faster. This is an adventure story, but I felt like I was constantly sitting and waiting.

All that said, it’s a good tale with much adventure and fun. If I continue the series, I’ll listen to the next on audio. Passive reading seems to get me through these enormous books. 

I give Inkheart by Connie Funke Four Rare, Leather-bound Books.