Review: During the Reign of the Queen of Persia

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I don’t really know how to review this book because I don’t know how to evaluate it. For example, I can’t even really pinpoint the climax. Was it one of the several character deaths? When Gram sold the property? The attempted suicide? The fire? I really don’t know.

The story isn’t even linear. It begins after a major event, that is later retold about 3/4ths into the novel, then ends after the beginning. So the timeline is all over the place.

Was it interesting? Fairly. Some of the characters really came alive; the setting was vivid. Lots of interesting events happened. The writing was beautiful.

But what was the point of the novel?

The preamble before the book in my edition talks about the titular Queen of Persia (the matriarch grandmother) and also about the fever dream of childhood summers. I guess you could pinpoint those, but I didn’t really get much of a sense of either of those. The book is collectively narrated by 4 cousins, two sets of sisters, as the “we”. But not only do they describe things it was unlikely for them to know (for example, Gram’s early marriage to Grandad and their sex life), but they step back and describe some cousins as apart from and yet together with the “we”. If narrating as a collective, that collection should be fixed. Instead, the people in the “we” keep changing to suit the story.

Finally, the ending is pretty abrupt and unsatisfactory. Although since I can’t pinpoint a protagonist or a climax, I’m not sure what kind of ending could possibly work. The best way I can describe this novel is as a beautiful road to nowhere.

3 stars.

This book fulfills the female author, came out in the year you were born, and an author you’ve never read before requirements for the challenge.

Review: BtVS Season 10 New Rules

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I’ve enjoyed most of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novels, but this one was surprisingly excellent. If you haven’t been keeping up to date with the graphic novels, I highly recommend you do so, so that you can get here. It hit my fandom spot in all the right places. I also really love all the story lines they’ve mined from the magic seed idea. The only character that needs an arc is Willow. They seem to have forgotten about her mostly, although she did have her own short series.

Nicholas Brendan (Xander) has joined the writing team now and I don’t know if it’s because of him, or what, but I feel like these issues really came back to basics with a lot of the characters. I can’t wait to see where it’s going!

5 stars

This fulfills the book with non-human characters, the book with magic, the graphic novel, and the book based on or turned into a TV show requirements.

Review: Think Like A Freak

2015/01/img_2423.jpg“Think Like A Freak” by Stephen Dubner & Steven Levitt

I think I would have liked this book a lot more if I had not listened to the podcasts previously. It definitely just rehashed all the same material that they’ve had over the course of the past year or so. I really enjoyed the first Freakonomics book. The second felt less like an additional book and more of an addendum, which is interesting because the second book is actually 5 pages longer.

Some interesting anecdotes sprinkled throughout, as is the modus operandi for the Freakonomics duo. Some stuff about hot dog contest eating, soccer playing, and our reluctance to quit things or admit that we don’t know something. This book is written sort of in the manner of “here are ways you can challenge the way you think about things”, but it doesn’t really do that. It mostly just gives examples of how conventional wisdom is often wrong. (I can tell you how to challenge your thinking without spending a couple hundred pages discussing it – question everything!)

My personal opinion is that the contents of the podcast should have been collected in a CD or digital download presentation, and just packages that way. The podcast really sells it with the interviews from people and everything. The book is a little disappointing.

2 stars.

This book fulfilled the non-fiction requirement for the challenge.