Dora Reads: magic realism

Showing posts with label magic realism. Show all posts

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Review Time! - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Title: The Song of Achilles

Author: Madeline Miller

Genre: LGBTQ+ (M/M; M/F,) Mythology, Historical Fiction*, Fantasy*, Magic Realism* (*ish)

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

If any queer men have reviewed this then let me know! I'd love to link to your review.

This was actually a recommendation from the lovely Charlotte @ Bookmarks and Blogging - who was spot-on with her rec! :)

Premise:

This is a retelling of the story of the Iliad (the Trojan War and all that jazz) from the point-of-view (POV) of Patroclus, the beloved companion of hero Achilles.

What follows is a Greek tragedy of love and war.

Best bits:

Uerkjnhrylojmnprkmtnoltknklnmnbreope!!!!!!!! This bookkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys, I love Patroclus - HE WAS A PURE PRECIOUS LITTLE GEMSTONE, AND THEY DIDN'T DESERVE HIM DAMMIT!

The strong voice of Patroclus comes through the POV - and I think this was a smart plan. Achilles is a lot more likeable through Patroclus' eyes than I think he would be in 3rd person.

Honestly, Achilles can be a bit of a douche - and it's only through Patroclus' love and light that we see him as more than just the boring role of 'the perfect hero.'

Patroclus is the first and foremost strong point of this book - he is just so exceptionally... lovely and wonderful, that I would love to actually meet him.

And even though I had some knowledge of the story of the Iliad, and knew how this was going to end, IT STILL RIPPED MY HEART OUT AND HANDED IT TO ME (in a good way.)

And the writing is completely awesome-sauce and good quality :)

Not so great bits:

*rolls up sleeves* - Look, for a book that won a women's fiction prize, I expected less of a sh**y role for the women.

We have few female characters - in a way, that's not too bad, because we're at war with a Greek army, so I wouldn't expect that many women around.

But every woman in this book gets either married off to the highest bidder and/or against her will, raped, murdered, or some combination of all three.

There's a lot of rape here - and it's used as a throwaway plot device, just something that happens. Again, probably not unrealistic - but the emotion, the trauma, and the victim seriously needed more attention.

I've seen - out and about there in Internet-land - criticism of Patroclus' representation.

Some people seem to think that he was overly feminised or forced too much into the 'wife' role in the relationship, but without knowing the backgrounds of the reviewers, I honestly can't tell you whether this is a legitimate concern from queer reviewers, or masculine insecurity from heterosexual reviewers.

What I can tell you is that I didn't find him overly feminised at any point.

There's some sexy-times, much violence, and swearing, as well as the aforementioned references to rape.

Verdict:

OK, there were some issues. But I loved this book.

AND I ADORE PATROCLUS - HE WILL BREAK YOUR HEART DAMMIT!!!!! THEY DID NOT DESERVE HIS PURE GOODNESS!!!!!!!!

Update 19th Feb 2017: I've become aware that this book has issues regarding the Bury Your Gays trope. If anyone has a post or review which discusses this, I would be more than happy to link to it.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

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Monday 14 November 2016

Mini-Review! - God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

Title: God Help the Child

Author: Toni Morrison

Genre: Contemporary, Magic Realism* (*ish)

Amazon: UK - USA

Verdict:

This was a pretty damned awesome book.

And, I'm told, by pretty much everyone, that Toni Morrison's other books are even better - so I'm totally going to check out more!

This follows Bride, who always felt unloved by her mother, Sweetness, as she tries to deal with her falling-apart relationship with boyfriend Booker.

It's really quite difficult to explain what this book is about - except childhood, and how it relates to everything else.

Because Bride's childhood, Booker's, even Sweetness', affects everything that comes after. And in Rain, the girl adopted by the hippie couple, we see the current face of a traumatised child.

Huge warning guys: child abuse is a big theme here.

There is child abuse of every type in this book - emotional, physical, and sexual. There's even some child murder.

It's handled well - but I figured I'd let you know in case that's going to be a problem for you.

There's also a butt-tonne of swearing.

Generally though? This book is fantastically well written, and infinitely readable.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads

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Monday 7 November 2016

Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Who Killed Kurt Cobain?: The Story of Boddah by Nicolas Otero

Title: Who Killed Kurt Cobain?: The Story of Boddah

Author: Nicolas Otero

Genre: Graphic Novels, Magic Realism, Contemporary, Biography, Non-Fiction* (*ish)

Release Date: 8th November

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

If anyone who has bipolar disorder and/or drug/alcohol addiction problems has reviewed this book, let me know and I will provide a link to your review.

This is weird. And probably needs to come wrapped in a 'trigger warning' protective plastic cover.

That said, this was interesting - so let's get down to this review, shall we?

Premise:

Kurt Cobain's suicide note was addressed to Boddah.

Now, given the amount of conspiracy theories over Cobain's death, Boddah's identity and role has been discussed a lot.

The simple truth, though, is that Boddah was Cobain's imaginary friend as a kid.

This is the story of Nirvana, Kurt, Courtney, and Kurt's death - as told by Boddah.

Best bits:

Otero seems to honestly feel for Cobain - which stops the book from feeling as exploitative as I feared it would. (It still does feel disrespectful though - see next section.)

We're encouraged to empathise with a man who was, at heart, actually very childlike and lost.

I felt like the image of Kurt given here was one of an actual human being - as opposed to the caricature or legend that he's become since his death.

This book is also down-right heart-breaking. You are right there with Courtney screaming at Kurt to open the bathroom door, watching him as he slowly self-destructs, and unable to help.

The artwork is serviceable - and the boldness of the more experimental hallucinatory-type panels was sometimes breath-taking.

The way Boddah seems so realistic is impressive. He loves Kurt; when Kurt is gone... the panels where Boddah is left without him are just heart-breaking.

Not so great bits:

Things drawn graphically in this book that people need to be aware of:

drug-use (including heroin injection and joint smoking)
sex
child abuse (physical, emotional)
guns (and a suicidal fascination with them)
attempted suicide
drying-out in rehab
self-harm (I think... not 100%, I might be misremembering - a lot happened in this book)
hallucinations
childbirth
suicide - including a VERY graphic image of Kurt's dead body.

There's also swearing - but, to be honest, if you can get beyond the things listed above, swear-words aren't going to bother you.

The question of respect for both the living and the dead is a difficult one in this book.

Honestly? (And you guys know I'm always honest with you.) I found it quite disrespectful.

I sincerely doubt that anyone bothered to get Courtney Love's permission to draw her explicitly having sex with her late husband - and that's NOT OK. It's just not.

Likewise, I doubt permission was obtained from any of Cobain's family to show the final distressing panel of his dead body. Again, that's NOT OK.

I DO NOT THINK THE SHOCK-VALUE IS WORTH HURTING PEOPLE. If these were fictional characters, maybe it would be different. But they're not.

You're dealing with REAL people here - have some f**king respect, please!

I felt like Kurt's mental health problems weren't really explained. We got one or two blink-and-you'll-miss-them references to his bipolar disorder, and that is it.

Now, given that Kurt Cobain committed suicide, and there's a chance that Boddah was a hallucination brought on by the bipolar (or, indeed, a hallucination brought on by the drugs, or a combination of the two,) some attention to how his illness will have impacted on both his general mental state, and his susceptibility to drug and alcohol addiction, would have been a good idea.

Verdict:

It was interesting. It was readable. It was heart-breaking.

But there were also issues - and one's which can't be ignored; so give it a read if you want to, honestly, it's pretty fascinating, but do it with your eyes wide open.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads

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Tuesday 1 November 2016

Month In Review(s) - October 2016

October is over!!! And I'm sure most of you are currently stuffed with sweets and/or chocolate from Halloween.

So, without further ado my dearest nerdlets - let's get this wrap-up started!

October was a pretty cr*ppy month for me, depression-wise, but I'm lucky enough to have a) family, b) The Bestie, and c) all of you guys.

Seriously, I appreciate you guys a butt-tonne! You make me smile :)

And even though someone who I once considered cool - a fellow bookworm in fact - unfollowed me when I tweeted about LGBTQ+ things, the number of people actually doing that has reduced from what was happening last month.

This is possibly because I've put Sexually Fluid/Queer on my Twitter bio - so the a*shole bigots probably aren't following me to begin with.

And the very lastest day of this month saw my two-year blog anniversary! And with over 40k pageviews over all, and over 7k pageviews this month, DORA is still going strong (and I'm so surprised and happy, you honestly wouldn't believe it!)

So, to the books I reviewed this month:

Young Adult

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley - historical fiction, LGBTQ+ (F/F)

Adult

Finders Keepers by Stephen King - crime, thriller

Star-Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine - magic realism*, sci-fi* (*ish)

Comics/Graphic Novels

Bread and Butter #1 - contemporary

Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead - kids, horror, zombies

Monday 31 October 2016

Review Time! (& GIVEAWAY! [closed]) - Star-Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine

Title: Star-Shot

Author: Mary-Ann Constantine

Genre: Magic Realism*, Sci-Fi* (*ish)

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers, Seren Books, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Well dearest nerdlets, today is my 2-year blog anniversary!

And, to celebrate, Welsh publishers Seren Books (Seren means star - yay, shiny!) have agreed to give-away 1 copy of Star-Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine.

So let's get on with this!

Premise:

In a version of the Welsh capital that is almost, but not quite, our own, something strange is happening in the city of Cardiff.

Pockets of silence are appearing - areas which seem to muffle, mute, and eliminate sound.

Against this backdrop, the winding nature of everyday life draws a group of people together; an unlikely group, who are, in one way and another, affected by the silence - can they also have an effect on it?

Best bits:

This whole book has an uber-cool atmospheric deal-y going on; like a fable or a myth, only with more of a contemporary setting, and it works very well. :)

I quite like the quick slips between Welsh and English.

This switch between the two is done well enough that non-Welsh-speaking folks will be able to follow without taking an intensive language course, but it still allows Welsh to have a place in what is otherwise an English novel.

The sense that this is a novel weaved together so that it fits as it's supposed to is strong throughout, and the language is languid and gentle without verging on boring.

I also love the way a multi-character cast is juggled so well here, never forgetting about anyone along the way.

And is there diversity? Yes, my nerdlets, there is.

We have named PoC characters who become more integral as we continue through the plot, and we also have a fair whack of disability representation on top.

I love that Lina, a Syrian refugee, is smart, clever, resourceful, and a scientist, despite the fact that she works as a cleaner in Cardiff.

And, I won't give it away because of spoilers, but there's a pretty damn good message here too.

Not so great bits:

None of the dialogue is in speech marks, it's all just part of the other text.

While this is clearly a clever way of showing the disconnect and muffling quality of the silence, it's not practical and led to me like: was this out loud? Who said that?

Yes, it's nice to be smart and experiment. No, it's not too big a deal. Yes, it is irritating.

Also, there was less of a sense of place than I was expecting.

I know Cardiff - yes, the features are Cardiff (with some of those quirky alternate-reality exceptions) but to me it didn't feel like Cardiff.

This may just be me - I'm notoriously bad at sense of place in books (and in life... I get lost a lot...)

Also, while I liked the bilingual elements, your average day in Cardiff will involve a lot less Welsh language than this book suggests.

Verdict:

OK, this book is weird - but it's a good weird.

It's the kind of weird which keeps you reading, keeps you guessing, and is just my cup of tea (or coffee - I'm one of the few British people who can't stand tea. I know, she's a rebel.)

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads - Seren Books

Giveaway details

OK guys - it's as simple as this: RT this tweet and FOLLOW my Twitter account, and you could be getting your very own copy of Star-Shot, courtesy of publishers Seren Books.

Open from 9.30 GMT on 31st October 2016 to 9.30 GMT on 1st November 2016. Open Internationally.

Wednesday 31 August 2016

Month In Review(s) - August 2016

August. Ahhhh, August.

(I can't resist a happy-dog-in-sunglasses pic!)

August was actually a pretty good month for me.

Despite how difficult my anxiety made it, I came out as sexually fluid; and that felt great ;)

Blog-wise, less impressive stats than last month. But they were still pretty damn good :)

Over 4k page-views this month, reaching over 25k page-views over-all!!!!!!!!!!! XD I mean - wow! 25k!!!!!! XD XD

(Actually I've now reached over 26k, but 25 is such a round and shiny number, lol!)

And I now have over 950 followers on Twitter.

Things've stagnated a little on BlogLovin' - but still trotting along with a handful of new followers this month :)

And shameless plug time!

The Bookish Diversity Link List 2016 is up and running.

Be sure to check it out, and let me know if you find anything I can add! (It's easier when people help me, lol.)

Kids