19th June, 2009
300
It’s summertime which means there’s plenty of timing for reading out back under the ol’ oak tree. Except that we don’t have any oaks, only maples, and I’m not too keen on sitting under the trees when the mated pair of grackles who moved into our backyard this year are overly zealous in protecting their nest. Awk, awk.
Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
A satirical recount of a terrorist cell member’s experience coming to the US and attempting to blend in with middle-class society. Palahniuk uses a peculiar writing style in this book which makes things a little difficult to get into the flow, but he uses it with great success to excoriate the stereotypical American way of life. The book feels a little clunky at times and he also throws in some of his tiresome shock scenes, but probably still worth the read. At a hair over 200 pages, it’s short enough not to be a waste of time if you don’t like it.
3/5 gogs.
House of Chains by Steven Erikson
Continuing to plow through Erikson’s massive Malazan Book of the Fallen series, book four brings back Crokus, Apsalar and Iskaral Pust and introduces some new characters as well. Lots of foreshadowing in this one along with the expected well-written action and plotting. Good stuff.
4/5 gogs.
Posted at 5:20 am | Comments (2)
On July 1, 2009 at 10:26 Will R said:
July 1, 2009 at 10:26
Hmmm….I didn’t quite know what to make of Pygmy. I liked the writing (thoug I agree it makes it a bit harder to read – funnier, though, when a joke he drops takes a minute of squinting at text to understand), but I think “tiresome” is a great way to describe his shock scenes. I mean, he’s all about the creep/shock vibe, a la Lullaby and Choke, but it does get old after awhile. His story lines are still pretty good, though – I just wish he’d concentrate on THEM instead of meeting the criteria of his other books – 1)vivid description of freaky sex scenes 2)gore 3)vivid description of freaky sex scenes 4)gore
On July 2, 2009 at 5:11 Gog said:
July 2, 2009 at 5:11
Yeah, Palahniuk does have some pretty interesting ideas. Kind of makes you wonder how he comes up with them…