Despite the subtitle, as much Faust as Frankenstein; for teens looking for social commentary in their fiction.
A philosophical fable, fourth in the series but able to stand alone, pits an ambitious scientist against his own unnatural creation.
Aspern Grayling was born in bucolic, pacifist Arcadia, but after over 100 years, all his loyalties lie with the technocratic militaristic empire of Megalopolis. This report, ostensibly a plan of conquest, metamorphoses from a dry encyclopedic assessment to a more personal memoir (or, perhaps, confession) following his triumph: the genetically-engineered Nietzschean übermensch Pavo Vale. Incorporating allusions to the contemporary political climate, the story delivers a polemic framed in binaries: technology/nature, individualism/communalism, rational/spiritual, toxic masculinity/eternal feminine, etc. The former are personified in the monstrous Pavo, who would be cartoonishly villainous if it weren’t for his graphically brutal rapes, murders, incestuous obsession, and wanton destruction; the latter, in the immensely (and interchangeably) beautiful, wise, compassionate, multiethnic heroines of Arcadia. Only Aspern bridges the divide: He is arrogant, condescending, viciously misogynistic, transparently (and unconvincingly) justifying of Pavo’s appalling crimes, yet sympathetic in his honest admiration of any intellectual achievement, his craving for respect and admiration, and his deep, unwilling love for the Arcadian professor Devindra Vale. Black-and-white illustrations of tarotlike cards in a pre-Raphaelite style hint that the apparent triumph of Megalopolis and its values may be only temporary.
Despite the subtitle, as much Faust as Frankenstein; for teens looking for social commentary in their fiction. (dramatis personae, family tree, table of transformations, appendices) (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-935259-31-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Exterminating Angel
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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