Tag: book reviews

The Outsider, by Stephen King

TL1138Leave a comment

The Outsider starts out promising: a mysterious murder, conflicting evidence that points at a man being in two places at once, implications of some supernatural evil (the author name, Stephen King, should make that obvious going in) and a compelling main character, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose guilt over his actions drives him to make things right. We’re off to a great start.

Then Holly Gibney shows up, and everything goes to shit.

Where to start with her? Now granted, I have not read the Bill Hodges trilogy; if I had, my opinion might be different. But this silly, gimmick character comes in and hijacks a story that had been trucking along nice. I simply cannot think of a reason for her to be here other than a cheap tie-in to a book trilogy I haven’t read, and if Holly Gibney is featured heavily in it, believe me, that’s not going to change.

There’s no reason Ralph Anderson couldn’t have been the one to pursue the case to Dayton Ohio and tie everything together–in fact, it should have been him. His story is atoning for the wrongs he did to Terry Maitland’s family, not being enlightened by this second-rate Agent Mulder. There’s also the issue of introducing the supernatural; Holly Gibney quickly suggests the mythological creature El Cuco as the true murderer, and people for the most part just go along with it.

And here’s something that I hate to have to say: the HBO miniseries is better. It still has the book’s fatal flaw (i.e. Holly Gibney), but at least in the miniseries Terry Maitland’s widow rejects the El Cuco theory. In the book, she’s on board right away. Another win for the miniseries of the confrontation at the end. In the book, Holly Gibney delivers the fatal blow and has the lion’s share of the interaction with El Cuco. In the show, it’s Ralph Anderson, which just reinforces my first point: Ralph Anderson should have been the driving force of this story because he is a far more compelling character than Holly Gibney.

I’m a big Stephen King fan. He got me into writing, and I think he’s a great writer who crafts believable characters no matter what the literary types think, and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on. But do you know who this book reminds me of? Tom Clancy. I mean that in the sense that simply placing Stephen King’s name on a cover guarantees a spot on the bestseller list, so perhaps his give-a-crap levels are close to zero. And that’s a pity, because when Stephen King wants to knock it out of the park, he can hit a grand slam.

The Flock of Ba-Hui (And Other Stories)

TL1138Leave a comment

I got the review copy for this book back in December. I wrote the review in April and now I’m posting a shortened version of that bloated mess here, in October.

You can’t say I don’t finish what I start and here we have The Flock of Ba-Hui (And Other Stories), a translation of a series offbeat and original horror stories set in the Lovecraft universe by Chinese authors. I’ll admit I’ve never read anything by Lovecraft–my horror experience began with Goosebumps in elementary school, jumped to Edgar Allan Poe in junior high, and then pole-vaulted over Lovecraft all the way to The Stand. So I don’t have an opinion of Lovecraft’s work to influence what I think of Ba-Hui, and while if you spend two seconds googling Lovecraft you’ll no doubt be shocked to learn that a white man born in the 19th century harbored some racist leanings, it has nothing to do with this review.

Like I said, The Flock of Ba-Hui is a translation of a series of Lovecraftian stories. What makes these stories different is that they’re set in China, written by Oobmab, a fan who originally posted them on the Call of Cthulhu subforum on The Ring of Wonder (http://trow.cc), an online fantasy and gaming community. Doing the translating are Arthur Meursault and Akira, two dedicated Lovecraft fans themselves, who had the tall task of translating these stories while preserving the tone of the originals and making them understandable for Western audiences.

The four tales of horror range from the mountains of Sichuan province (the titular story, The Flock of Ba-Hui) to an ancient tower (Nadir) to the former German colony of Qingdao (Black Taisui, with a nod to Xu Fu, whose ultimate fate might’ve been as Jofuku in Japan to Tibet (The Ancient Tower). To help explain certain references to Western audiences, the translators have provided footnotes and a framing device linking all stories together, with a nice ending.

If you enjoy action-packed horror, look elsewhere. But if you like atmospheric slow burns, then you’ll have a great time with The Flock of Ba-Hui. For me, I can appreciate the atmosphere, as well as the dedication needed to translate these stories in the first place. I thought the titular story was the best, and I hope The Flock of Ba-Hui will provide an impetus to rescue other Chinese stories from obscurity. There’s much to be discovered, and we can’t let big publishing force-feed us the same boring, workshopped shit forever, right?

Check out The Flock of Ba-Hui, and get the paperback copy; leaving it out on your desk at work sparks some interesting conversations.

Book Review: Taiwan Tales Volume II: An Anthology

TL1138Leave a comment

NB: I consider Ray Hecht, one of the contributors to this anthology, a friend. *shrug* Take that as you will.

Title: Taiwan Tales Volume 2: An Anthology

Logline: A collection of offbeat tales from expat Taiwan writers.

Verdict: From a haunted hotel to a literate dog to expat friendships and Taiwanese mythology, Taiwan Tales Volume 2 has plenty to offer.

Taiwan Tales Volume 2: An Anthology is a collection of fiction set in Taiwan, the China/Not-China who doesn’t get a seat at the UN dinner table. This book is a product of the Taiwan Writers’ Group. That there’s a Taiwan Writers Group at all is thrilling. Not to say there isn’t a Mainland China Writers Group, of sorts, but membership seems closed except where it concerns the right kinds of people, who produce the same boring shit year after year and ruthlessly cannibalize each other on social media.

The Taiwan Writers Group is nothing like that. For starters, they have creativity. What they’ve produced is a delightful collection of stories displaying a variety of styles. Amazing what can flourish in the absence of myopic gatekeepers who cum tribute Wish Lanterns.

Room 602 tells of a haunted hotel room, Notes from Underfoot is written from the perspective of a family fog, The Taipei Underground continues Ray Hecht’s exploration of the emptiness of the modern dating scene. Bob, the Unfriendly Ghost vs. the Mother Plant tells of an expat’s hallucinogenic experience via a South American vine. Underworld involves a man’s journey underneath Taiwan, into a world of Taiwanese mythology. If you’re interested in desperate expat creeps, Connor Bixby has you covered with A Complete Normal Male Expat and the anthology ends with Onus, a tale of an expat friendship and a dark past.

A lot of good in here, but it doesn’t all land softly. Bob, the Unfriendly Ghost vs The Modern Plant didn’t work for me. Onus stretches believability a bit, though it makes some great points about the fleeting nature of expat friendships and is actually my favorite story in the book. On the other hand, A Completely Normal Male Expat provides a fresh take on the pitiful expat male trope while Notes from Underfoot alone is worth purchasing the book for.

If you’re looking for an interesting read, you’d do well to check out Taiwan Tales Volume 2: An Anthology. It contains writers of various styles and stories that stand out from one another, a prime example of what I wish I could see from mainland writers.

Taiwan Tales Volume 2: An Anthology is available at Amazon. Check out the Taiwan Writers Group here.

Quotes:

In person, they ignored each other. Work was one world, and there they had their own separate reality. There was no need to actually speak.

All the while the silence from his phone was deafening. Once it was a source of happiness, and now it represented cold, still death.

It seems anyone who fails as a person in an English-speaking country has a second and third shot in places like this, where others can’t see through their vacant souls so easily.

When you begin as an expat, you start relationships like you would back home, with the hopes of a long-term friendship. Then, that friend you spent all your free time with that one year goes home and you never hear from them again. Your heart breaks. You make another friend. Maybe you keep in touch with this one when they leave, maybe not, but the point is, you start to feel a strain. A struggle. So, at the words, “I’m leaving in six months,” or “I’m not sure how long I’m here for,” you learn to run.

We were almost living that “in a perfect world” dream, but we weren’t close enough to catch on fire and be lost forever.

New Expat Jimmy Review

TL1138Leave a comment

On a day in which my website was hacked and I had to endure Facebook burying my posts because I won’t pay them to show it, I mean “boost” it, some good news came flying in over the transom: another Expat Jimmy review.

Jetlagged and tired, Jimmy sees Wuhan, goes to many different places (and manages to not collapse from exhaustion!) and listens to Adam’s endless China tips. Crazy taxi rides, construction works everywhere, baijiu, hot water, accidents, shady clubs… this is China!

This review comes courtesy of Marta, who lives in Suzhou with her husband. She works as a translator and blogs about her life in China in both English and Spanish.

Check out her blog. Huge thanks to Marta for doing the review. Not all writers have automatic support systems thanks to their pedigree or gender, nor do we get book deals and coverage thanks to big media connections, so I appreciate every review I get.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out Expat Jimmy, a tale of James’s first day in China, and the jaded seven-year laowai who shows him the dark side of expat life. Taking place in one day, it’s unique among expat novels in its approach, at least until someone well-connected writes a neutered version of the same book.

At that point, Expat Jimmy will be forgotten, so review it while it’s hot…

Expat Jimmy review roundup + TV Tropes page

TL1138Leave a comment

I wish I had the support some other authors have, but I am thankful for the few reviews Expat Jimmy has received. They are genuine, and I’ll take four real reviews over a bunch of tossed-off five star write-ups from either people who expect a future favor from me or buddies in the publishing industry.

I am further detaching day-by-day.

On to the reviews:

First we have Quincy Carroll, author of Up to the Mountains, Down to the Countryside, which I reviewed here. It was recently reissued by Camphor Press out of Taiwan with a new edit.

 I very much enjoyed this story by Travis Lee and would recommend it to anyone who has spent time in Asia. There’s an undeniable sense of nostalgia permeating the narrative, and Lee successfully captures the “sensory overload” aspect of stepping off the plane for the first time. Tons of books have been written on the subject, but many devolve into stereotype and/or condescension. Expat Jimmy takes an honest look at what it’s like to transplant oneself across countries and cultures, and for that reason, I’d recommend it to those unfamiliar with China, too.

Ray Hecht, author of South China Morning Blues (which I reviewed and recommended here), offered his take:

In some ways the narrative is not particularly original—many expat authors (yours truly included) have covered the angle of an ESL westerner intrigued and shocked by the modern East. However, in condensing this rather archetypal story into one day, Lee succeeds at capturing the essence of this sort of story. Wasting no time, his tour of Wuhan in the mid-aughts covers everything a reader could want: all full of wonder, disgust, fear, and hope.

Jocelyn Eikenberg was kind enough to feature Expat Jimmy on her blog Speaking of China:

In 62 gripping pages, we follow the eponymous newcomer on a tour through Wuhan with Adam, a rather unscrupulous ESL teacher involved in some shady business. Lee skillfully captures those little details of living in China easily forgotten to longtime expats. It reminded me of how China appeared to me once upon a time, when I was still fighting jetlag and struggling to speak Mandarin.

And finally, Arthur Meursault. He wrote a great satire called Party Members which didn’t receive nearly the coverage it deserved. You can read my review here or go on Amazon and check some of the better reviews. David I Cahill’s is a good one.

The amount of places visited is unrealistic, though I can understand that the author is trying to present an introduction to all the weird and wonderful aspects of life in China within the vehicle of a one-day timeline. It doesn’t quite work and there is almost a little too much happening within the one hundred pages of this story for it to settle in the reader’s head and leave an impression

Huge thanks to the people who reviewed Expat Jimmy. I appreciate it. I’ll post more reviews as they come in.

In the meantime, check out the Expat Jimmy‘s TV Tropes page.