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furyofvissarion) wrote2009-11-01 05:07 pm
furyofvissarion) wrote2009-11-01 05:07 pm
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The Magic of Blood - Dagoberto Gilb. This collection of stories highlights the effects of racism & classism on mostly working class men of color. The stories are gritty, resigned, poignant; never easy reads, but that's entirely in keeping with the lives his characters lead. Though there are many similarities among the characters, Gilb does a pretty good job keeping the voices in each story distinct.
Tales from Outer Suburbia - Shaun Tan. Wonderous collection of illustrated short stories. Some are mostly text, some mostly graphics, but all are compelling & imaginative, & both text & pictures reinforce each other & seem completely necessary. Themes of immigration, cultural difference, & separation from family will be familiar to those who've read, as I have, Tan's incredible wordless graphic novel The Arrival.
Spaceman Blues: A Love Song - Brian Francis Slattery. Manuel Gonzalez lives in a bizarre, vibrant New York City: it's home to a strange religious cult, the Church of Panic, whose members float a few inches off the ground, & there's also Darktown, the city beneath the city. Manuel is the center of a wide-ranging social network stretching across all the boroughs (& below) & into seemingly every immigrant community. So when Manuel disappears suddenly, all his friends gather to mourn, find answers, & ultimately party for days. His lover, Wendell Apogee, is determined to find him. Unfortunately, Manuel also had a lot of enemies, including four mysterious creatures in raincoats who start incinerating anyone with a connection to him.
This book reminded me of Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad from the start: both books share an extremely strong sense of place, taking place in (two different) chaotic, creative, POC-centric cities; both center around the relationship between two men. Unfortunately, I also found myself enjoying the milieu far more than the plot, particularly in the last few chapters when all was revealed--something else this book has in common w/Faust.
This was made even more disappointing because I really, really loved the NYC that Slattery set up: the strange science-fiction-y bits, but also how he captures, with loving detail, the energy & heart of the city. (He even works in a Dr. Zizmor reference, which made me laugh) Compared to just watching Wendell proceed through this landscape--for example, hanging out in a bar made of a subway car & suspended in midair in subterranean Darktown--the actual plot kind of paled. Which is a pity, because I felt quite invested in the characters; another thing Slattery does well is sudden heartwrench, dropping in a quick comment here, an image there (the fate of Wendell's dad, augh). His characters not only understand pain but express it in ways that can't help but shatter you.
Midnight Brunch - Marta Acosta. This is the sequel to Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, which I haven't read. However, she does a good job at summing up what's happened in the previous book & it's really not that hard to figure out. Anyway--Milagro de los Santos is entangled w/the fortunes of a secretive vampire family, largely through being the partner of the rich vampire surgeon Oswald Grant. They live in a little cottage on his family's California ranch, & there seem to be some weird dynamics there around Milagro being bossed around/sucked into doing loads of housework by Grant's grandmother. I especially found this squicky because Milagro is Latina (duh) & the Grants are white. Milagro does talk about race & stuff sometimes, which is nice because most of the fluffy vamp lit I read tends to avoid the topic. The book centers around a secret vampire faction that wants to take over the world; they're obsessed with Milagro, as she's been infected with vampirism before but survived with enhanced physical skills but without the sun sensivity. Nothing really fresh & new here (it's blatantly obvious to me that Milagro has the wrong boyfriend--another cliche), but fun to read, especially because the book's a bit more race-conscious than usual in the genre.
Flight - Sherman Alexie. Zits is 15, half-Indian, & the survivor of 20 foster homes. On the brink of committing a mass shooting in a bank, he is inexplicably pulled through a series of time traveling events, where he's put in the body of an FBI agent working to destroy the American Indian Movement, an Indian at the Battle of Little Big Horn, & a white amateur pilot, among others. I've loved the other Alexie books I read & was prepared to be blown away by this one, but instead I felt kind of underwhelmed. The time travel bits were interesting but in the end they just seemed random, & the end of the book felt unrealistic to me. Zits may make it through after all but in an unconvincing way.
Tales from Outer Suburbia - Shaun Tan. Wonderous collection of illustrated short stories. Some are mostly text, some mostly graphics, but all are compelling & imaginative, & both text & pictures reinforce each other & seem completely necessary. Themes of immigration, cultural difference, & separation from family will be familiar to those who've read, as I have, Tan's incredible wordless graphic novel The Arrival.
Spaceman Blues: A Love Song - Brian Francis Slattery. Manuel Gonzalez lives in a bizarre, vibrant New York City: it's home to a strange religious cult, the Church of Panic, whose members float a few inches off the ground, & there's also Darktown, the city beneath the city. Manuel is the center of a wide-ranging social network stretching across all the boroughs (& below) & into seemingly every immigrant community. So when Manuel disappears suddenly, all his friends gather to mourn, find answers, & ultimately party for days. His lover, Wendell Apogee, is determined to find him. Unfortunately, Manuel also had a lot of enemies, including four mysterious creatures in raincoats who start incinerating anyone with a connection to him.
This book reminded me of Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad from the start: both books share an extremely strong sense of place, taking place in (two different) chaotic, creative, POC-centric cities; both center around the relationship between two men. Unfortunately, I also found myself enjoying the milieu far more than the plot, particularly in the last few chapters when all was revealed--something else this book has in common w/Faust.
This was made even more disappointing because I really, really loved the NYC that Slattery set up: the strange science-fiction-y bits, but also how he captures, with loving detail, the energy & heart of the city. (He even works in a Dr. Zizmor reference, which made me laugh) Compared to just watching Wendell proceed through this landscape--for example, hanging out in a bar made of a subway car & suspended in midair in subterranean Darktown--the actual plot kind of paled. Which is a pity, because I felt quite invested in the characters; another thing Slattery does well is sudden heartwrench, dropping in a quick comment here, an image there (the fate of Wendell's dad, augh). His characters not only understand pain but express it in ways that can't help but shatter you.
Midnight Brunch - Marta Acosta. This is the sequel to Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, which I haven't read. However, she does a good job at summing up what's happened in the previous book & it's really not that hard to figure out. Anyway--Milagro de los Santos is entangled w/the fortunes of a secretive vampire family, largely through being the partner of the rich vampire surgeon Oswald Grant. They live in a little cottage on his family's California ranch, & there seem to be some weird dynamics there around Milagro being bossed around/sucked into doing loads of housework by Grant's grandmother. I especially found this squicky because Milagro is Latina (duh) & the Grants are white. Milagro does talk about race & stuff sometimes, which is nice because most of the fluffy vamp lit I read tends to avoid the topic. The book centers around a secret vampire faction that wants to take over the world; they're obsessed with Milagro, as she's been infected with vampirism before but survived with enhanced physical skills but without the sun sensivity. Nothing really fresh & new here (it's blatantly obvious to me that Milagro has the wrong boyfriend--another cliche), but fun to read, especially because the book's a bit more race-conscious than usual in the genre.
Flight - Sherman Alexie. Zits is 15, half-Indian, & the survivor of 20 foster homes. On the brink of committing a mass shooting in a bank, he is inexplicably pulled through a series of time traveling events, where he's put in the body of an FBI agent working to destroy the American Indian Movement, an Indian at the Battle of Little Big Horn, & a white amateur pilot, among others. I've loved the other Alexie books I read & was prepared to be blown away by this one, but instead I felt kind of underwhelmed. The time travel bits were interesting but in the end they just seemed random, & the end of the book felt unrealistic to me. Zits may make it through after all but in an unconvincing way.
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