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Book Review: House of Stairs by William Sleator
Summary:
Five sixteen year old orphans living in state institutions are called to their respective offices, blindfolded, and dropped off in a building that consists entirely of stairs and landings. There appears to be no way out. The toilet is precariously perched in the middle of a bridge, and they must drink from it as well. To eat they must bow to the whims of a machine with odd voices and flashing lights. It is starting to change them. Will any of them fight it, or will they all give in?
Review:
This book was enthralling from the first scene, featuring Peter awakening on a landing intensely disoriented and frightened. Showing a bunch of teenagers obviously in an experiment opens itself up to caricature and stereotype, but Sleator skillfully weaves depthves and intricacies to them.
The writing is beautiful, smoothly switching viewpoints in various chapters from character to character. Hints are dropped about the outside world, presumably future America, that indicate the teens are from a land ravaged by war and intense morality rules. For instance, their state institutions were segregated by gender. Sleator weaves these tiny details into the story in subtle ways that still manage to paint a clear framework for the type of cultural situation that would allow such an experiment to take place.
It is abundantly clear throughout the book that the teens are facing an inhumane experiment. Yet what is not clear at first is what a beautiful allegory for the dangerous direction society could take this story is. Not in the sense that a group of teens will be forcibly placed in a house of stairs, but that some more powerful person could mold our surroundings to make us do what they want us to do. To remove our most basic humanity. This is what makes for such a powerful story.
It’s also nice that friendship in lieu of romance is central to the plot. Modern day YA often focuses intensely on romance. Personally, my teen years were much more focused on friendship, and I enjoyed seeing that in this YA book. I also like how much this humanizes the animals facing animal testing, and Sleator even dedicates the book to “the rats and pigeons who have already been there.”
House of Stairs, quite simply, beautifully weaves multiple social commentaries into one. It is a fast-paced, engrossing read, and I highly recommend it to everyone.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Movie Review: Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)
Summary:
Robin is a sensible college student who firmly believes a successful marriage is about the science, not the emotions. She convinces her boyfriend David, who just wants to get married already, that they should live together without sleeping together first to see if they are emotionally compatible. Her aunt is not only her college professor, but also a recent divorcee, and Robin and David move into her old apartment. Unbeknownst to them, Aunt Irene moved out due to a messy break-up with the lecherous landlord, Hogan, who lives across the hall. Hogan is determined to craftily break up the couple so he can sleep with Robin himself, and David and Robin struggle to determine the right way to have a modern relationship.
Review:
Some in the modern audience would find the entire concept of this movie too laughable to be viewable, but if you’re aware of the situation of the sexes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was actually quite a progressive movie for the time period. Divorce is acknowledged via Robin’s aunt, Irene, and she is not demonized as a slimy divorcee. She is a woman who has learned that relationships are not always simple, but also what is important to bring to them. In fact, she gives the climactic speech of the film about relationships. Then there’s the fact that Robin’s and David’s sexual feelings are acknowledge, and David even questions how much it would actually hurt their future together if they were to sleep together before getting married. Robin worries that young people are rushing into marriages due to “glandular urges.” These are quite sensible concerns voiced in a climate in which “proper” people did not engage in premarital sexual relationships, and the characters’ feelings are actually highly relatable.
Of course, the film is not entirely a serious one. It address what was then a modern concern under the guise of slapstick. It also utilizes one of my favorite comedy techniques wherein one room has multiple doors and windows, and the characters come and go either just missing each other or only briefly encountering each other. One particularly delightful scene features a drunk Robin reciting e. e. cummings in an attempt to seduce David. If any of these types of humor are favorites of yours, you will find yourself laughing at this movie.
I should also mention that this film features Jack Lemmon in an early role, as well as Dean Jones, who frequently does push-ups. Talk about your old-time eye candy. It also has an opening sequence, used frequently in 1960s movies, wherein a young lady and man dance around to a song written for the film together. It’s cute and really sets the tone for the movie.
Also, cat lovers should be aware that there is a cat in this movie who plays a rather important role both to the plot and the slapstick humor. I love how older movies insert cats into the storylines in a way in which modern films just don’t anymore. Cats weren’t the props to crazy cat lady jokes. They were part of the story.
If you enjoy old movies, the questioning of society’s sexual mores, or slapstick humor, you will definitely enjoy this film.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Book Review: Slither by Edward Lee
Summary:
Nora and Loren are polychaetologists–worm scientists. They are asked by their college to accompany a National Geographic photographer to an island off the coast of Florida to help her photograph a rare worm. They are accompanied by a member of the military, as it is an island that is unused military property. Also coming surreptitiously to the island are two criminal brothers and their mutual girlfriend to check on their pot growing operation and a group of four college students looking to party. What they don’t know is that the island is gradually becoming infested with a parasitic worm. Only this worm isn’t microscopic. It’s huge and has multiple, gruesome ways of using its hosts. As the various groups try frantically to avoid the worms and their ova, it seems that someone in toxin-blocking suits is watching them.
Review:
I originally picked this book up and read its blurb because of the cover. I mean, look at that! Such a striking piece of art. Upon reading the description, I decided it sounded a bit like a slightly more phallic Michael Crichton-esque book. In a way, it certainly is. It has the group with scientists attempting to solve a situation that is putting civilians at risk. The similarities kind of end there, however.
This is definitely a horror book, but I wouldn’t call it a scientific horror book. There’s nothing particularly plausible about any of it. I’d absolutely classify it more as the B-type movie gross-out fest. Lee does the gross-out part well. I found myself continually surprised and disgusted by the various things the worms do to human beings. The worms are…well, they’re so gross that it took me a bit longer than usual to read this book because I couldn’t read it right before bed or while I was eating. So he’s definitely good at that!
The book blurb hints at exciting sexual tension, but the sex veers much more strongly toward sexual abuse or gross sex than fun, crazy sex. I didn’t particularly find this bothersome, although a bit sad for the characters. However, I know some readers find that triggering, so you should be aware.
I enjoy watching B films with silly effects and bad dialogue, but it’s a lot more tedious to read awful dialogue than it is to hear it, for some reason. The dialogue really, truly is atrocious. Particularly bad is when Nora talks or thinks. It’s like Lee has never been around a nerdy woman in his life. It’s not much better when he’s writing anyone’s thoughts. They all have the most inane thoughts I’ve ever read. This actually was so tedious to get through that I almost gave up on the book a few times in the beginning. I’m glad I didn’t, because the end is absolutely a surprise. Not so much in the who survives sense, but in the mystery of the worms. It was a satisfying payoff, but I wish he’d either gotten to it sooner.
I feel that overall this is a decent horror book. It’s entirely possible that the beginning just didn’t jive with me, but would with others. I recommend it to fans of gross out horror who don’t mind flimsy dialogue.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Friday Fun! (A/C, Ribbon Cutting, Garden)
Hello my lovely readers! I hope you all are enjoying the long, hot days of summer. I am so grateful that we put in my a/c unit last weekend. It’s been up in the 90s and humid all week, and I would have been pretty miserable sitting in my attic apartment without it, particularly after biking home from work! Besides biking and cooking, I haven’t been doing too terribly much in the hours off of work. Just hanging out and vegging out. Everyone needs a week like that once in a while though, eh?
It’s been an eventful week at work. The intranet that I’ve been working so hard on (along with others from each department in the hospital) was officially launched. Yay! Hopefully this will make everything easier, particularly once our patrons get used to using it. Additionally, ever since I started working here, construction has been going on converting the floor the library is on into an education and research center. My hospital is focusing more in on academics and such. I’m excited about the change, as it means the library is now conveniently located to the Chief Academic Officer, Chief Education Officer, Residency Training, and more. Anyway, this week was the official unveiling and ribbon cutting of the new floor, and people have started moving into their offices already. It’s nice to be on a floor bustling with education instead of construction.
In container gardening news, my pepper plants are growing like weeds (har-har). One tomato plant is still struggling, and the other is going at a fairly normal rate. I did take BookishBella’s advice and fertilize them all. I believe struggling tomato plant grew a tiny bit afterwards, but the pepper plants just shot right up overnight. I’m thinking my kitchen might just be more conducive to peppers than tomatoes. I also planted onions, which seem to be doing alright. Unfortunately, my kitty seems to have an affinity for them, which is super odd as she’s never given any of the other plants a second look. We have to keep stopping her from trying to eat the onion shoots. I’m thinking a few have already been lost to the cause when I wasn’t looking. I do think it’s pretty odd she chose onions of all things to want to nom on.
I’m excited for the weekend, as always. I hope you all have wonderfully relaxing ones!
Imminent Arrivals and TBR
Since I didn’t quite manage to finish my current read on the bus this morning (I literally had to stop in the middle of the climax. I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS), I thought I’d do something a little bit different today. As you all know, I use PaperBackSwap for acquiring a lot of my books. It lets you sort your wishlist by estimated time to fulfillment, so I thought I’d share with you guys the books that are estimated to be mine shortly.
First up, I’ve been waiting for this book forever: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Next is The Group
Third is yet another post-apocalyptic book: Life As We Knew It
Ok, so I also have books in my TBR pile, so I’m going to show you guys 3 random books from there. If there’s one you sorely want reviewed soon, tell me now!
I stumbled upon The Integral Trees 
A pretty recent arrival, I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells features an untrustworthy narrator with sociopathic tendencies who spends the book trying to convince us and himself that he’s not a serial killer. Kind of reminds me of Dexter
Finally, there’s Undead and Unwed 
That’s it! Please tell me what you think, my lovely readers!
Book Review: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Summary:
Originally serialized in 1859 to 1860 then published in book form in 1860 this epistolary novel is considered one of the first mystery novels. Walter Hartright is an artist who gets hired to be a drawing master for two half-sisters Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe. He and Laura soon fall in love, but they cannot be together due to class differences and Laura’s prior promise to her now deceased father to marry Lord Percival Glyde. A mysterious woman dressed all in white warns Laura against her marriage, calling Lord Glyde evil. However, Laura is reluctant to renege on her final promise to her father and proceeds with her marriage, sending herself, Marian, and Walter into a spiral of intrigue and danger.
Review:
I love slow-moving, epistolary novels, particularly gothic ones read on a long, hot summer day. One of my finest reading memories is of enjoying Dracula while working on a summer internship at a national park on a peninsula with four beaches. So I came to this gothic, mysterious, epistolary novel with high expectations. At first they were met, but as the plot proceeded I came more and more to want to smack Collins upside the head.
Without giving away too much, suffice it to say that the slowly building tension indicates a truly serious infraction on Lord Percival Glyde’s part that turns out to be not particularly shocking at all. At least to my American mind. Suffice it to say, it revolves around title holding, something which I find baffling and laughable. Why should anyone care if Laura is Mrs. Glyde or Lady Glyde? Her life seems more boring than the servants’ anyway. I thought I would be reading a novel that was more about revealing the treachery and debauchery of the upper class. Instead I got a book about bourgeois problems, which, I’ve indicated elsewhere on this blog, I simply cannot relate to and find completely annoying. I get it that some people enjoy that, but the desire to maintain a tense, mysterious illusion around the book led me to believe it’s something it wasn’t. That is frustrating, to say the least.
Beyond the disappointing mystery there’s of course the typical problems found in early 1800s literature. The sexism comes from Marian’s own mouth, which is surprising given that she is a depicted as a strong woman. She often will lament the short-comings of “her sex.” Actually, the entire situation between Walter, Marian, and Laura is baffling. Laura is a weak, foolish girl who Walter falls and stays head over heels in love with. I cannot fathom why that would be when he spends an equal amount of time with Marian, who is a strong, thoughtful, intelligent woman. Laura is described as beautiful, whereas Marian is described as possessing a beautiful body but an unfortunately masculine face. This leads me to believe Walter is rather shallow, as I see no reason beyond Laura’s beauty for his devotion to her. I know sexism is to be expected in older novels, but I would at least hope for a hero who loves the heroine for something beyond her beauty.
That said, the novel certainly gives modern women a new appreciation for our current situation. The women in The Woman in White are constantly downtrodden by the men around them who believe it is entirely within their right to dictate to them everything about how they should behave, speak, dress, etc… It appears that the only thing the women have control over is when to leave the men to their wine after dinner. In fact the couple presented as the happiest and most well-functioning is that of Count Fosco and his wife, and they only function well due to the fact that she obeys his every command. Mrs. Fosco is described as a woman who prior to meeting the Count was loud, obnoxious, and always yammering on about women’s rights. Count Fosco, apparently, “fixed all that,” and she is now such a pleasant woman to deal with. The only woman who does not base her entire existence around a man is Marian, and that is due to her bizarre, near worshipful devotion to Laura. It makes me shudder to think if those had been my options as a woman–existing purely for the whims of a man, downtrodden and outcast, or pure devotion to a sister. Yeesh.
I did enjoy listening to the book. It felt a bit like listening to an old-time radio program, which I’m sure is due to its origin as a serial novel. Those who enjoy the slower pace of older novels and can relate to the bourgeoisie will probably enjoy it. If either of those elements turns you off, however, you should look elsewhere.
2.5 out of 5 stars
Source: Librivox recording via the Audiobooks app for the iTouch and iPhone
Movie Review: The Fly (1986)
Summary:
Seth Brundle’s future is looking up. He is on the verge of completing a teleportation machine and is dating the journalist who is chronicling his creation of this wonderful new invention. One drunken night brought on by unwarranted feelings of jealousy, he makes himself the first human test subject for teleportation. Unfortunately, a fly teleports along with him, and the machine merges their DNA, beginning Seth Brundle’s gradual, gruesome transformation into Brundlefly.
Review:
A horror movie hasn’t made me cringe and shriek to an extent like The Fly did in a long time. I love a good horror movie, and the filmmakers hit all the right notes to make a viewing a mind-tingling, gross-out pleasure. The urban loft sets are the perfect back-drop to the scientific horror. The 80s clothes and hairstyles enhance the visual appeals instead of distracting from it. The dialogue is ideal, having the characters say just enough to keep the story going but not too much to distract from the visual horror.
Seth Brundle’s gradual transformation is a terrific mix of his body gruesomely changing and him visibly losing his mind. Jeff Goldblum does a fantastic acting job, showing the remnants of Brundle’s human mind and the emerging of his Brundlefly mind. He manages to pull this off through the grotesque make-up, and it is this superb acting that really makes the horrific scenes read as real and not fake, B-movie material.
I have not enjoyed a horror movie this much in ages. If you’re a fan of horror or 1980s films, you absolutely must watch The Fly. I doubt you will be disappointed.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Friday Fun! (My Dad, Amazon Associate)
Hello my lovely readers! The invasive species removal on the Charles last Sunday was lots of fun! It was overcast, so we weren’t sitting in the direct sun for hours, and the river was so peaceful and beautiful. Removing the water chestnuts wasn’t so hard, but it did give me some splinters and blackened my fingernails, so I wound up with manicured fingernails for once this week to cover it up, haha.
The rest of the week was a bit rough for me. My dad had a triple bypass last year, and when he went in for his annual cardiac check-up they decided to check him in as an in-patient. He had a bit of an angina and other symptoms they were worried about. They put a camera in his leg up through to his heart (a procedure he’s had many times) and checked out his heart. Apparently some of the arteries that used to be completely blocked up now are losing blockage due to the bypass, so they put in stints. After that, they adjusted his meds and warned him he needs to quit his job as it is bad for his heart. He’s now home on short-term disability and trying to figure out if he can get long-term disability or change to a type of job that wouldn’t be bad for his heart. He’s spent his whole life doing machine tooling/carpentry/construction all of which is too stressful for his heart, so it’s unlikely he can find a job that won’t be bad for him. Although it all turned out well, the original phone call from my brother certainly sent me into a panic as we only knew that he’d been checked in, and the last time that happened he wound up getting the triple bypass. Given my mental issues, it takes me a bit to calm down and return to normal functioning after being that level of worried. I’m still a bit off today, but I expect the weekend will smooth the last bit of anxiety over.
In other news, I have a brief blog announcement. After a lot of consideration, I’ve decided to become an Amazon Associate. I waffled on this for a while until I saw that several book bloggers I highly respect are Amazon Associates. Additionally, if a reader decides they want to buy whatever it is I have reviewed, it will be easier for them to do so with one click than by opening another tab and going off to wherever they buy from. My reviewing style will not change beyond adding a link to buy the item. My reviews will stay the honest, cheeky style they’ve always been, and I promise to keep any Amazon links as unobtrusive as possible. I hope you all understand my decision and will still respect me as a blogger.
Happy weekends all!
I’m on the Kindle!
If you have a Kindle or the Kindle app for iPhone/iPad, you may now download my blog directly to it to read at your convenience, just like a newspaper or magazine! You may subscribe by going here. Excitement!
Note: If you do subscribe through your Kindle, I will receive a small percentage of the subscription fees, but I’m not offering this for the money. I just thought it’d be convenient/cool for those of you who enjoy eReaders.
Book Review: Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
Summary:
In this memoir, Julia recalls growing up in a conservative Calvinist family in Indiana with her two adopted black brothers and the parental abuse and general racism they faced. The last part of the memoir recalls her time spent in the Dominican Republic at a fundamentalist Christian reform school–Escuela Caribe–and the further abuse inflicted upon herself and David there.
Review:
I heard about this memoir due to the section on Escuela Caribe. A cousin of mine was sent there by her parents in the 2000s and when googling it, I came across all the controversy surrounding the school with this memoir frequently cited. I therefore expected this book to predominantly be about a vicious reform school. In fact, it is a stunning exploration of race and racism in the United States.
Julia was four when her parents adopted David, and they immediately bonded. Julia frequently expresses feeling as if David, who is only a few months younger than herself, is her twin brother. They are happy siblings and oblivious to the racism around them until their parents adopt another boy a year older than them, Jerome, so that David can “have one of his own kind around.” Jerome is violent, steals, slacks at school, and molests Julia. Julia eventually comes to wonder why her parents beat Jerome and David when they sin but simply send her to her room. This combined with Jerome’s continued attempts to convince David to side with him against “the whiteys” is confusing and painful to Julia. Julia and David feel as if they are truly brother and sister, why doesn’t anyone else treat them that way? Julia beautifully depicts her own struggles against imitating racist actions and words as well as her brother David’s struggles against internalizing the racism they are surrounded with.
The other element strong in the memoir is a bracing look at the violence, anger, and fear often found in fundamentalist Christian homes. Children are guided with anger and violence instead of love due to the Bible verse “spare the rod, spoil the child.” Julia’s parents believed in this, and Escuela Caribe clearly firmly believes it as well. They believe the children are horrible people and the sin must be beaten out of them, whether with belts, boxing gloves, over-exercising, humiliation, or excruciating physical labor. This is important for people to know about, and Julia paints a clear picture in an unbiased voice. Indeed, this is the least biased narrative voice I’ve ever read in a memoir, which makes it all that much more believable and painful to read.
Julia’s writing talent is strong, and she weaves a painful narrative that is difficult to put down and forces the reader to confront racism and abuse in American culture. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys memoirs or has an interest in race relations or fundamentalist Christianity.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Swaptree
This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 