Critical Monkey Contest Entry #3 - The Red Tent

My next entry in the Critical Monkey Challenge was thrown at me.

Okay, I've never actually had a book hurled at my head, pages flapping wildly in the wind. What I mean by "thrown" is more a particular friend telling me I "HAVE" to read a particular book, at which time she puts the book in my hands and runs away before I can sneak it into her purse. Sigh.

My friend, Carolyn, declared to me over a year ago that "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant was her favorite book, so she left it with me to read. I generally enjoy reading new books, and I said I'd read it as soon as I had time, but a year later I found the book on my bookcase covered in dust. Whoops!

I hadn't really been too busy to pick the book up though. Every time I looked at the cover, I only saw one thing: "God Book." "Bible Story" seemed to flash in neon letters when I picked it up. Granted, all I knew about the novel was that it revolved around a bible story, but that was enough to keep me away. Just about the last thing I wanted to read was another preachy God book (lets think about Left Behind here, shudder), so I gradually pushed the book aside, then forgot about it.

But the other day, Carolyn asked if I still had her book; her FAVORITE book. As the guilt sat in, I made up my mind to suffer through it, no matter how bad, just to be able to return the darn thing to her. So I did double duty between Critical Monkey and trying not to be a crappy friend.

Plot: The book tells the story of Dinah from the Bible. You may say "Who the heck was Dinah??" I also said this. Turns out, she was Joseph's (of the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat's Fame) sister. Luckily, the plot doesn't really dwell on Joseph's story and sticks more to the women in the book, namely Dinah and her four mothers and the time they spend in the Red Tent, the place where they have babies and spend "their time of the month."

My reaction: I prepared myself for the worst and the worst never came. I couldn't have been more surprised and pleased with the novel! Although this book takes a minor story from the Bible, Diamant makes the characters extremely engaging. She fleshes out the the day to day lives of the women of the Tribe. The rituals they perform for their gods and very vivid descriptions of midwifery and childbirth always keep things interesting. The time the women spend in the Red Tent seems to organize the first half of the book and hold the stories together, and eventually the Red Tent serves as a symbol of the power of the women when they are united and a tribute to their history and their customs/beliefs.

I needn't have worried about the book being a "God book" either. Diamant doesn't preach on how great the God of Abraham is in her story. In fact, I got the impression that she thought that God was kind of a dick, and honestly, I did too.

What It Might Remind You Of: The Mists of Avalon. (Every man in the room just ran away screaming). Whoa There! Okay, when I say it's similar I just mean it has all the Women Power and Ritualistic stuff that Mists had. Luckily it does not have crappy Old Gwenhwyfar who screws entire stories for no reason. Needless to say, I might have some issues with Gwenhwyfar (last time I read the book I threw it across the room and swore I'd never read it again because she sucks so bad). Happily enough though, Dinah is nothing like Gwenhwyfar and the only ones who come close are the brothers and Jacob.

Hilarious moments: My Bible knowledge is WAY rusty, but after listening to the "Dreamcoat" soundtrack about a million times in high school, I kept thinking of the songs when something would happen. They mention Potiphar at one point and I kept chanting "Potiphar had very few cares...he was one of Egypt's millionaires." Too bad there weren't any songs about Dinah, or I would have been singing a lot more.

What I've Learned:

1. Just because a book takes place in Biblical times and uses characters from a Bible story, doesn't mean it's a preachy book.

2.Trust my friend Carolyn's taste in books.

A Bend In the Road - Critical Monkey Contest Entry #2

A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks

So I was torn by what to read next for my Critical Monkey Challenge, because I am sadly, quite far behind. Is it my fault that I've been assaulted by books that I actually wanted to read!?! Well, I went so far as to purchase a Danielle Steele novel (which will probably be my next entry), but because of time, I chickened out at the last minute and grabbed the much shorter "A Bend in the Road" by Nicholas Sparks.

Nicholas Sparks is not someone whose books ever appealed to me. His particular style of writing always sounded like the books I would never read as a kid. The ones about real people dealing with hard issues. Books about cancer or death, divorce, or eating disorders never appealed to me. Books were a way to escape into different worlds or times, and the idea of reading a book about the girl who loves her boyfriend but he gets killed and she is left alone, never sounded worth reading, unless that boyfriend was killed by a vampire. Seeing other girls at school carrying those books around made me clutch my copy of "Dealing with Dragons" close to my heart. That's not to say that I don't enjoy a good romance. I even smuggled in Harlequin romance novels to read at night (away from the prying eyes of parents), but they were always "Historical Romances" and were set in far away places that took me as far away from "real life" as possible. And mainly, lets be honest here, I read them for the sex scenes (I was 15, after all). And though I have ventured out into more "issue conscious" fiction since High School, "A Bend in the Road" still seemed like a story NOT right up my alley.

The plot is relatively simple: Centering around a man, Miles, whose wife, Missy, died in a hit and run car accident 2 years before, Miles works as a sheriff in this small town (of course), but was never able to find the driver of the car. He has been struggling to keep going and raise his son, Jonah, until he meets, Sarah Andrews who brings new life and love to he and Jonah. But (SPOILER ALERT) when Sarah's brother comes forward with new information regarding Missy's death, Sarah and Mile's love and relationship are threatened.

My Thoughts: Okay, judging by my description, you can tell I wasn't all that thrilled with the book, and I think the reason I keep going back to the books I read in high school is because I feel like this is exactly the book that the other girls used to read. The wording, sentence structures, and frequent cliches, make it seem like it was a book written for teenagers or tweens. Maybe that's just the mass market appeal structure I'm seeing, but I felt like I was reading a "dumbed down" style of writing. Damn, now I feel all pretentious, but I guess that's what comes from reading this book. Sigh.

Part of what really bugged me, aside from the writing, was the immense amount of characters "doing the right thing." When Sarah was hiding something about her past from Miles, she hesitated, looked distraught, then "told him the whole story." When Miles isn't sure he should open up about his feelings for Missy and what her death meant to him, he stops then tells Sarah "the whole story." On and on in this book, people are telling each other "everything."

Is this a cheap cop-out Mr. Sparks? Did you just get tired of writing and decide to use this phrase every time!!?!?

Okay, sorry about that, back to the review.

But aside from the massive amount of "I Statements" and "doing the right thing," all of the sudden, Miles, when he finds out who the "mystery driver, really is, turns into a Crazed Widower Bent on Revenge! Nothing can stop his rage and fury. I half expected him to rip off his shirt, turn green and shout "Hulk Angry!"

Unfortunately for the reader, he doesn't, so it just feels totally weird, and frankly some of the things he did really cheesed me off, including the part when he yelled at Sarah and roughed up some people that didn't need to be roughed up. When he finally does calm down enough to return to Human form though, everyone seems to automatically forgive him, and through some long talks and "sharing of feelings" it all works out in the end.

And one more thing, did you know that Nicholas Spark's sex scenes pretty much sound like this:

"Then they made love the whole night."

That's it. More of that descriptive language at work, eh Nick? At one point I completely missed the fact that the characters had even had sex. It went from, "he placed a kiss on her lips," to, "they woke up next to each other." What the Hey!? I had to go back, and find the tiny sentence of "and then they made love all night,” wedged in there.

Sigh.

My overall opinion of the book isn't too high, if you could tell. I feel like I should make a t-shirt that says "I read a Nicholas Sparks book and all I got was this crappy t-shirt, which I had to make myself." Oh well, at least I get to cross another entry off my Critical Monkey contest now. :-)

Shelf Monkey Challenge Book #1

A while ago I found a contest on Shelf Monkey about reading 7 books that you would normally not read. Taken from his blog:

The point of Critical Monkey is very simple: take a book (or author) you've always avoided, for whatever reason, and force yourself to read it. Then, post a review, link to it in my comments section, and once a month I'll post an update for all participants. We're going for seven reviews over the course of a year, to correspond to the seven stages of grief:

1. Shock (one review)
2. Denial (two reviews)
3. Bargaining (three reviews)
4. Guilt (four reviews)
5. Anger (five reviews)
6. Depression (six reviews)
7. Acceptance (seven reviews)

So, being someone that has snickered at romance novel covers in the grocery store, and scoffed at mass market mysteries and legal dramas, I decided maybe I should give this a try.

My first entry in this challenge is actually a set of two novels.

Generation Dead
Generation Dead: Kiss of Life

Okay, judging from the cover art, its pretty obvious these books are meant for teenagers, but while wandering around Walmart waiting for my oil to be changed, the cover-art caught my eye and I happened to pick it up. The book wound up in the cart and then in my suitcase on my Seattle trip.

The Story: Zombies are real! Across the world, newly deceased teenagers have started to come back and instead of chewing on some fresh brains, they really just want to go to school and "live" their lives. One living girl, Phoebe, takes an interest in an undead football player and things get interesting from there.

My initial thoughts: Honestly, the first few chapters were pretty hard to get through. The writing really isn't stellar, but once I used my "Twilight"skills and turned on "skim-mode," I was able to skip the Teen speak and get right to the heart of the story.

Final Thoughts: I became kind of addicted. So much so, that after I finished Gen. Dead, I put the next book on hold at the library, and finished that one in a matter of days. Both do a really nice job of showing the struggle for basic human rights, and like the best fantasy, we realize this mirrors the struggle minority and BLGT students are in right now.

The author does a really nice job of fleshing out this zombified "universe," even going so far as to talk about interviews with pro & anti-zombie factions. There are several segments with realistic portayals of families that have had their child "come back" and the consequences of their decisions. The more liberal families welcome the child back with open arms, but others refuse to acknowledge "its" existence. A lot of time is spent detailing the lack of rights for the "differently biotic." Zombie Hate Crimes run rampant, and with no representation in the government, this is a group who have no voice.

Would I recommend them: I'd say yes. I would recommend implementing ye olde "skim mode" to get through the teen angst, athough this had WAY less than some better known teen books. These aren't meant to be Shakespeare....or even J.K. Rowling for that matter, but they are a interesting and engaging read that help open the mind of the reader using new and creative ways.

Plus, any novel that has zombies is pretty cool in my book. ;-)