Book Review: The Passage by Justin Cronin

Book Review:  The Passage by Justin Cronin

• Hardcover: 784 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345504968
• ISBN-13: 978-0345504968

The moment I heard The Passage described as "The Stand but with vampires," I knew this was a book I had to read.  The end of the world?  Viral vampires?  It sounded like good cheesy fun.

In fact, this was a 100% cheese-free thrill fest with surprising emotional impact, definitely worthy of comparisons to Stephen King's classic.  Cronin sets up a classic horror film conceit, but his literary skill and genuine compassion for even the most villainous characters allows the story to aspire to a higher level of meaning.  Clearly, Cronin hopes to engage the reader in some spiritual thought-provocation; Biblical references crop up regularly, and the vampires roam the Earth in a state of anguish that could easily qualify as damnation.  Only Amy, the unfortunate little girl who is introduced on the very first page of the book, has the power to save them and possibly save the world.  (And isn't the root of the name Amy love? Hmmm...)

Be warned, though:  despite its epic length, The Passage is just the beginning of a longer journey.  The ending leaves no doubt that a sequel (at least) is required to explore the history of life on Earth after the vampires arrive, and the author has mentioned plans for a trilogy.

Justin Cronin has been seemingly everywhere.  Check out a few of the following sites for interviews:  PowellsBooks Blog, Book Page, NPR, Good Morning America (Stephen King phones in to praise The Passage during this interview with George Stephanopoulos!)

One sidenote:  relatively early in the story, the Memphis Zoo is described in terms that would make no sane person (or animal lover) want to go there.  For the record, that must be the future pre-apocalypse Memphis Zoo, because the present day zoo is AWESOME.

• Genre:  Post-apocalyptic vampire epic
• Read it if:  you love The Stand by Stephen King or World War Z by Max Brooks
• Skip it if:  you think all vampires should look like Robert Pattinson or Alexander Skarsgard
• Movie-worthy:  this would make a brillliant movie--if they could do it justice.

Book Review: City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley

Book Review:  City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley 


Hardcover: 352 pages

• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1 edition (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312603606
• ISBN-13: 978-0312603601

Brace yourself:  to fully appreciate this noir murder mystery, it might help to have some good bourbon and a pack of Chesterfields on hand.  Chain smoking and a regular dose of the hard stuff fuel Miranda Corbie, PI, as she seeks justice for a young Japanese man murdered in Chinatown.  

Set in San Francisco in 1940, City of Dragons is a full immersion trip to a fog-beset town of steep hills, organized crime and cops indifferent to the fate of a Japanese kid or a Chinese escort.  As Miranda walks the streets of this city, we see a little known slice of San Francisco history come to life.  

Stanley reveals tantalizing bits of Miranda's back story, but leaves so much unexplored or unexplained that the novel practically begs for a series.  What happened to Miranda's long lost love, Johnny?  Why did Miranda become an escort after returning from the Spanish Civil War?  Will she ever be able to love again?  Questions like these will echo in your head long after you put down this remarkable book.  

While I'm waiting for a sequel, I plan to snag a copy of Kelli Stanley's first acclaimed historical mystery, Nox Dormienda, a noir set in, of all places, Roman occupied Britain in 83 A.D.  

• Genre: historical fiction/noir murder mystery
• Read it if:  you love The Maltese Falcon but wish Sam Spade had been a woman.  
• Skip it if: you recently quit smoking
• Movie-Worthy?:  Absolutely!  May I suggest Angelina Jolie as Miranda and Christina Hendricks as her friend Bente?   

Summer Reading!

It's summertime and the summer reading lists are everywhere!  


The Gotham Writers' Workshop has compiled the following helpful list in its newsletter:

•  'PW' Staff Picks 2010—Publishers Weekly 
•  Great Expectations: Sixteen reads the book world is betting on—The Wall Street Journal
•  Beach Books: Fangs and Other Fluff, Completely Guilt Free—The New York Times
•  Hot summer books: Titles worth reading in every genre—USA Today  
• Sizzling Summer Picks From Indie Booksellers—NPR
•  Summer beach book preview—New York Post
• Your guiltiest summer reading pleasures—Salon.com
•  Summer 2010 reading guide—Christian Science Monitor
• The Early Word Swimsuit Edition: New Summer Reading—SeattlePI
•  Roundup: Mysteries, thrillers to chill you this summer—USA Today
•  If You Liked My Book, You’ll Love These—New York Magazine  

If that list isn't comprehensive enough for you, Oprah has several recommendations as well, including Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann.


Entertainment Weekly recommends a book a day, including The Passage by Justin Cronin.




In other words, there are so many books coming out this summer that even the most voracious reader should have an overflowing tote bag of good reads.

Book Review: The Heights by Peter Hedges

Book Review:  The Heights by Peter Hedges

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (March 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052595113X
• ISBN-13: 978-0525951131

This novel, the latest from What's Eating Gilbert Grape? author Peter Hedges, follows Kate and Tim, a married couple living with their two young sons in Brooklyn Heights.  As the story opens, Tim is a history teacher at a private school and Kate is a stay-at-home mom; they try to make the most of their tiny apartment and avoid comparisons to their more affluent neighbors.


The highlight of this story, told from alternating perspectives, has to be the vivid, detail rich-characterization of Tim and Kate.  Tim floats along, buoyed by his unwarranted self-confidence, while Kate takes a much dimmer view of the world and her own flaws.  A new arrival in the Heights, the mysterious Anna Brody, shakes up the neighborhood and Tim and Kate's marriage.


While Tim and Kate are vividly realized, the secondary characters never come to life in the same way: Anna Brody remains a cypher, Bea Myerly a cartoon character, Claudia Valentine an improbability.  (I can say with certainty I've never heard Claudia Valentine's obsession discussed among any group of moms, with our without alcohol.)  This could be because we only see most of these characters through Tim and Kate's eyes--when given the chance to comment, Bea categorically rejects Tim's description of her--but it still watered down the overall effect of the story.


Yet watching Tim and Kate's downward spiral still makes for a strangely entertaining read.  I had high hopes for this book when I read that Hedges had also written and directed one of my favorite movies, Dan in Real Life; although I can't say I love the book as much, it was fun while it lasted.

• Genre: literary fiction
• Read it if: you loved Little Children by Tom Perotta and want to compare and contrast
• Skip it if: you don't like books involving playdates
• Movie-Worthy?:  It's already in the works!

A Session with the Biblioracle

Not sure what to read next?  If you're lucky, the Biblioracle may be open for consultations. John Warner, a writer for online magazine The Morning News, occasionally sets up shop as the Biblioracle--list the last five books you read, and he'll recommend your next read.

I was fortunate enough to submit my list in time to receive the following recommendation:  Not Sidney Poitier, by Percival Everett.  I've never heard of this book but it sounds like the kind of thing I enjoy.  Unfortunately, my local library doesn't have it, so I'll have to wait until I can justify buying new books again before I can get my hands on a copy. 

Book Review: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

Book Review:  Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1 edition (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441018645
• ISBN-13: 978-0441018642

Dead in the Family is the 10th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, and if you haven't read the other nine, stop right here and go find yourself a copy of Dead Until Dark, the book that started it all.  Jumping in at this point would be a mistake, especially since Dead in the Family opens with an unusually glum Sookie recovering from the terrible wounds she suffered in book nine (Dead and Gone.)

Although Sookie can read human minds, that's not much help when she's dealing with her vampire boyfriend Eric and his problems, both professional and personal.  She also finds herself caught up once more in the drama of Alcide's werewolf pack and just to keep things interesting, her fairy cousin Claude surprises her by asking to move in.  In other words, it's just another day in Bon Temps, Louisiana.  

Sookie, though, has changed; when she learns who kept Eric from coming to her rescue when she needed him, she wants the culprit dead.  She's also starting to think about the toll time will take on her while Eric stays young forever, and the children she will never have if she stays with him.  Eventually Sookie will have to make some big choices, but has her blood bond with Eric narrowed her options?

The book ends with at least one big question unresolved, leaving the reader prepped for number 11.  I, for one, can't wait.

• Genre: deliciously guilty pleasure (note:  I don't actually feel guilty)
• Read it if:  you've already read the other nine books in the series
• Skip it if:  I lost you at the phrase "her vampire boyfriend"
• Movie-Worthy:  it's already a TV series, so why not?

Book Review: The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? by Padgett Powell

Book Review:  The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? by Padgett Powell

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1St Edition edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061859419
• ISBN-13: 978-0061859410

It sounds like a gimmick, too clever for its own good:  how else could you write a novel (if that's what this is) using only a series of questions?  I picked up this brief book expecting a quick amusing read.  Instead, the questions stopped me at every turn, left me bemused, thoughtful, immersed in unexpected memories triggered by seemingly random questions.  

This book demands a slow, attentive reading.  The unnamed narrator addresses you, the reader, with some very personal questions.  The narrative insists on a response, even if it's just a quick  mental yes or no, maybe or it depends, and some queries require significant consideration before the reader can move on to the next question, usually an apparent non sequitur.  Yet despite all the randomness, the narrator gradually reveals, through repeated questions and thematically similar scenarios, a certain preoccupation with mortality.  The questions repeatedly touch upon the notion of assessing your own life, determining exactly what kind of person you are, in scenarios both realistic and bizarre, commonplace and profoundly off-putting.  

I read an article once that said unresolved questions preoccupy our minds much more than neat resolutions; not knowing with any certainty who was asking all these questions and why, what the questions were for, even in a strange way what my own answers meant--all this uncertainty has kept me thinking about The Interrogative Mood for days, and I have a feeling these unanswered questions will stay with me for a long time to come.

• Genre: existential questionnaire?
• Read it if:  you love Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker or filling in those little self-knowledge quizzes in magazines
• Skip it if: you insist on things like plot, characters and declarative sentences
• Movie-Worthy:  I can't imagine how this could be made into a movie.