Lit Blog Hop - To Cliff Notes or Not to Cliff Notes

Literary Blog Hop


Lit blog hop asks:


Do you like to supplement your reading with outside sources, like Sparknotes, academic articles, or other bloggers' reviews? Why or why not?


Number one, I don't even know what Sparknotes are. So that should be the first clue to this answer. I assume they are Cliffs Notes, essentially? And the answer to that part of the question is no. Why? Two reasons:

1) I'm cheap. I often buy my books (as cheaply as possible), and am not compelled to spend more on notes.

2) I'm not being tested on this stuff. And because I'm not being tested on this, I'd rather discover things on my own OR more than likely just remain oblivious. Either way is fine by me. BECAUSE I AM NOT BEING TESTED.

If I'm struggling with something in a book, I may (infrequently) do a search on the world wide internets to see if there's anything out there that can shed some light for me...ahem, Faulkner.

Finally, I don't necessarily seek out blog reviews about books I am reading, but I do keep tabs on about 20 blogs, and I often read a book because of someone's review (oddly a less than stellar review can push me to read a book, too). And just, in general, I enjoy reading others' blogs.

No Mercy - Lori Armstrong (-)

Wow, has it really been that long?  Ok, so over the holidays, I decided to go back to one of my comfort reads - a crime novel.  Without much idea of what to go for, I decided on the Shamus Award winner for Best Novel of 2011.  The Shamus Awards are PI centered novels, and I have a VERY soft spot for this sub-genre.  So anyway, that led me to purchase No Mercy by Lori Armstrong, a completely new author for me.

The book is about an Iraqi/Afghanistan soldier/sniper, Mercy Gunderson, on medical leave, who returns home in South Dakota just after the funeral of her father - a well respected Sheriff.  While home, shit starts to hit the fan in the normally peaceful town, as dead bodies start to pile up and many of them are found on the land of the Gunderson ranch...and appear to be tied to the dark cloud history that has always seemed to follow the Gundersons...indeed one of the bodies is Mercy's nephew.  If this all sound interesting to you, dear reader, I have bad news for you...

I am at a loss for how this book won any Best Novel award.  My problem was that I just didn't care...about any of it.  As is often the case in these situations, the blame lays on the shoulders of the main character. Mercy is an interesting concept for a character.  She is tied to the times.  Interesting to see a POV from a female soldier.  Also, she's dealing with post-traumatic stress...etc.  Not bad at all.  But somewhere when going from that scarecrow concept to actually breathing life into the character and animating Mercy...well let just say we're left with ratty clothes stuffed with hay.  She is tough as nail one scene...sensitive mush the next.  I understand the need for inner conflict, but wow this was bordering on multi-personality disorder...something I'm sure was not intended by the author.  And reading how Mercy went to putty every time she was around the new Sheriff, who replaced her father, was just the kind of stuff you find in a "penny dreadful".

So is there anything good to say about the novel?  The premises were good...I liked the concept of Mercy.  I like family dysfunction stories.  Plenty of that here.  I'm usually drawn to stories that explore Native American traditions/culture, etc.  A lot of the story centered on this.  So yeah, it looked like something for me. The execution just wasn't there.  I blame Mercy.

It took me about a WEEK to finish the last 30 pages of this book.  Maybe that is all that needed to be said about this one.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

What I knew (or thought I knew) about To Kill a Mockingbird:

1. It's about the trial of a wrongly accused black man.
2. It has strange named characters like Scout and Atticus.
3. Every female who has ever read the book has secretly (ok, not too secretly) longed to name their own daughter "Scout"
4. I am the only American born after this book's publication, who was not required to read this book at some point during his education.

It turns out that To Kill a Mockingbird isn't really 'about' the trial of a wrongly accused black man. The trial is part of the events of the book as is it's aftermath, but it really takes up very little of the story.  No,  To Kill a Mockingbird is really about a young girl, Scout, learning about tolerance through the incredibly wise teachings and actions of her father, Atticus.  I have a soft spot for stories about fatherhood...the one's that show it in a favorable light that is.  When I read "The Road", it is not the question of why we choose to carry on with the absence of hope that draws me in...it is simply the love of the Father that engages me.  In Mockingbird, the character of Atticus comes across as pretty distant from his children at times, but it is when he implores Scout over and over again to "put yourself in the other's shoes" that his love for all of mankind shines through.

At the end of the book Scout says,"...he was real nice."

Atticus' simple response sums up the story's theme, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."

To Kill a Mockingbird doesn't break much new ground as a novel.  Ms. Lee's prose isn't all that memorable.  But what it does well, it does astoundingly well.  And that is tell a story that emotionally captures the reader, and gives him/her one small, but important thing to ponder after he/she puts the book down.  It's not a book I will soon forget.

Back among the blogging

Ok...maybe not so much. But hopefully I'll find some time and inspiration to post about my current read (To Kill a Mockingbird).  I'm still reading...I've just gone through the unemployment, re-employed,  trying to get up to speed on a new job in an incredibly different work environment than I'm used to...I'm pretty drained most nights, hence the dormant blog.

But yeah, I'm back. Sort of.  To Kill a Mocking Bird.  Pretty damn good, so far.

Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist

Par Lagerkvist is a Swedish author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.  Barabbas is his novella examining the life of Barabbas, the man pardoned so that Christ would be crucified in his place.  In my opinion, it is a fascinated concept for a story.  Lagerkvist for the most part delivers on the promise of that concept.

Still, it is a difficult book to review.  Lagerkvist hits the reader with so much to ponder.  There is a lot to think about here, especially for such a small book, and it's often hard to nail down the message, if there is one.  Evidently, Lagerkvist struggled to understand his faith, and that comes through in his book to a degree.  For most of the book, I felt that the book would be equally accessible to non-believers and believers; and Christians and people of other faiths.  It is mostly the story of a man living with an incredible burden.  The story of a man who has never been loved, trying to understand a faith whose singular message is to "love one another."  In that regards, I'd say Barabbas is universal.  However, the conclusion is filled with religious symbolism.  And it left me wondering, how the non-believer would approach the subject.  Again, making the book somewhat difficult to review with the possible exception that I would say the Christian reader would probably enjoy Barabbas, as I did, despite the fact that Christians don't get a pass in the book.  In fact, it was surprising to me that Lagerkvist depicted many of the early Christians much as we see many of the modern Christians.  I was reminded of Gandhi's quote, "I like your Christ.  I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

At any rate, I'm going to recommend Barabbas, especially for Christians as it gave this Christian much to think about.  More tentatively to non-Christians, because at it's heart it is a compelling portrait of humanity.

American Tabloid - James Ellroy (+)

James Ellroy is a bit of a mixed bag.  I came to read him via the excellent film adaptation of  L.A. Confidential (oddly it is the only of his L.A.Quartet novels I have never read). His The Big Nowhere is a masterpiece. His White Jazz is nearly unreadable.  What makes him a mixed bag is that he's just so Ellroy.  If you've never read him though, that doesn't really help.  He has his schtick. It is his style, language, attitude.  The whole deal.  In an Ellroy novel, you're going to get staccato prose.  You're going to get characters referring to women as 'cooze', and a lot of racial slurs.  And your going to get this "look at me, I'm so cool" attitude from the authorial voice, that reminds this reader of Quentin Tarantino as a director.  It's all so Ellroy.

American Tabloid is a book I've picked up and put down at least three times over the last decade-plus.  It took reading in short 10-minute bursts during break at my new night-shift job to see it to its conclusion.  This manner of reading seemed to suit Ellroy's staccato prose. The book is a fictional account of the American underworld and its ties to the Kennedy assassination.  I am always fascinated by stories/documentaries about the JFK assassination.  So it comes as no surprise that I ended up loving American Tabloid.

The story follows the exploits of three unlikable characters.

Pete Bondurant - a 6'5" French-Canadian "gorilla", former LAPD cop, current P.I. who begins the book employed as the guy who scores Howard Hughes his heroin.

Ward Littell - an idealistic FBI man, stuck investigating Commies, when he'd rather go after the Mob

Kemper Boyd- a narcissistic FBI man, who manages to wiggle his way into three government jobs (FBI, CIA, Bobby Kennedy's Justice Dept.)

The plot that Ellroy tosses these three into is dense and huge.  And like L.A. Confidential (and unlike The Black Dahlia), the beauty is how Ellroy is able to keep this complex ball of yarn from unraveling and make it seem plausible.  Ellroy's fictional history is as believable as any Kennedy story you've heard, and Ellroy's prose stylings suit this story perfectly. I shutter to think how long this book would have been in the hands of a more descriptive writer.  The book has the Cuban revolution of Fidel Castro, Bobby Kennedy's crusade against Jimmy Hoffa, the Kennedy election, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and, of course, the assassination of a President. All of it is coated with the grime of Ellroy's Underworld. All of it touched by the hands of his three anti-heroes.

It is a great book. Even has me considering The Cold Six Thousand next.  And I seldom read series books back to back. I still think Ellroy needs to ply his thesaurus and use "cooze" less often, though.

Veronika Decides to Die - Paolo Coelho

Oh, didactic fiction...

I've had this book for awhile.  I picked it up at the Big Ass Book Sale last year.  I've been interested in reading Coelho for sometime, but I kept reading mixed reviews.  Mostly people seemed to complain that he is too simple.  Not a problem for me.  I like, love even, simple stories.  I could probably spend a whole post on how simple stories are no easier to pull off then complex stories.  I also like simple, straight-forward tight prose.  I can't say that I've heard Coelho's prose called simple, but I can see it being labeled such. I had no problem with his prose.  The story, though?

It reads like a cheap self-help book disguised as fiction.  I like stories with a message, but I do want that message veiled by a good story.  In the case of Veronika Decides to Die, despite being billed a "Novel of Redemption", the theme is conformity/non-conformity.  It's really about learning to do your own thing without the restraint of societal norms.  I dig the message...not the delivery.  I suppose there's redemption, too.  But conformity rules the day.

Coelho was placed in a mental hospital when he was young, so he knows something of the workings of the setting in the novel -  Veronika is placed in a mental hospital after attempting suicide.  He also knows a great deal about struggling against conformity, as his own struggle with wanting to be a writer against his parents' wishes is what put him in the hospital.  I believe Coelho claims Veronika to be his most personal novel for those reasons.  And that may be why, despite its many shortcomings, the novel still managed to touch me.  Those places are few and far between, but they at least have me considering give Coelho another chance.  YEARS DOWN THE ROAD.