Thought Train to Pusan

I’ll admit that my knowledge of Ernest Hemingway before reading this book was excruciatingly limited. As in, I saw the portrayal of him in Midnight in Paris and was struck with a serious case of the giggles, and I wasn’t really sure why. So hey, why not actually read something by the guy? He is considered to be a classic American author, right? The problem I often find when I read “classic” novels is that I typically end up either frustrated by everything and slamming the book shut for forever before I even come close to finishing, or painfully trudging through something totally disconnected from myself, just because of the beauty of the language… However, in this case I was surprisingly fortunate, as The Old Man and the Sea was absolutely stunning to read. The novel focuses on an old, poor fisherman in Cuba, whose boat is pulled further and further out to sea for days on end by a massive fish that the man is too proud to let go of. From here, we follow the...

After harshing quite a bit on the previous Shakespeare play I read, Twelfth Night , we now come to the comedy of Much Ado About Nothing . And this comedy, for some reason, I enjoyed much more than the previous one. I’m not really going to compare and contrast the two, however, as they are just so different in terms of where they draw their comedic factors from. I remember seeing the 1993 film of this play back in the eighth grade, and in all honesty, I had no idea what was going on. All I know is that I found Robert Sean Leonard’s melodramatic acting to be hilarious, and by God, did Kenneth Branagh ever worm his way into my heart, the sly devil! Upon reading it now though, I appreciate the language and plot a lot more, even if the story itself follows a simple course to its predictable, rosy end (as is to be expected in Shakespearean comedies). In any case, here’s an extensive rundown, with the ending included… Spoilers? Can I really “spoil” a 500 year-old play?: A ...

I couldn’t tell you how many people asked me if I was planning a vacation upon seeing that I was reading a book called Daytripper . And even though, yes, am, this is not in fact a book about day-trips or traveling adventures: it is something else entirely. Co-written and drawn by twin brothers from Brazil, Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, Daytripper is a graphic novel that examines the moments in life that define us. Or, more likely, it takes a look at the moments that make us truly start living, but in a very Benjamin Button “if-one-thing-had-been-different-or-taken-a-second-longer-would-this-have-happened?” kind of way. Ideas concerning death, and the subsequent lives of those left behind are also explored, through having the protagonist work as an obituary writer for a long time. The story itself follows a man named Brás de Olivia Domingos at various ages, and not necessarily in chronological order. Each short tale includes some moment of Bras’ life that made h...

And so my long and arduous stream of Shakespeare reviews begins (as spurred by required readings in my current English course). I’d apologize, but we all need a little Will in our lives every now and again, huh? And with that quick wit of his, I was quite excited to read Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night . But let me tell you, I have never before been more frustrated with a play in my entire life. No no no, not in a, “oh, sweet young thing doesn’t understand Shakespeare,” kind of way. In a, “wow, these characters are really grinding my gears” kind of way. And more than anything else, I was frustrated by the fact that this comedy of errors is not funny. Don’t get me wrong, it does follow the typical “comic” path of the plot being driven by mistaken identities and people playing tricks on others for sport with unforeseeable consequence until the ultimate, tidy end, with many a loving union. But you don’t read Shakespeare for a unique story (in fact, they are often consi...

I hear the voices of my friends ringing in my ears: - “Another holocaust story? Don’t we have enough of those?” - “Making it about cats and mice? That seems trivializing…” - “Why are so many literary graphic novels somewhat autobiographical? It’s self-indulgent.” But what hasty assumptions to make without reading something first! I needed to see what this proclaimed “masterpiece” from the early 1990s was myself. Maus itself is not without some flaws and uncomfortable feelings, but it really exceeded my expectations, given the doubts seeded into my mind by some of the people around me. And yes, I’ll concede that maybe there are many tales of the holocaust out there, but aren’t there just as many (if not more) in every other genre? This graphic novel is clearly made for people who are interested in the subject. Without that interest, however, I could see why someone might just brush it aside, or read it at the most superficial and hasty levels (which I’m sur...

Last night I dreamt that I needed to work my way through a zombie-ravaged high school in order to make it on time to my Irish dance recital with Idris Elba. After a gravity-free performance, I did not feel well, and promptly gave birth to a small, wooden sheep. Surprisingly, my baby sheep was somehow animated enough to defecate on my hands while I held it, all while my sour mother looked on and rolled her eyes at me. Maybe this nonsensical construction in my mind is a telling picture as to my internal self. Maybe it is a description of my past, or my fears for the future. Whatever the case, if we are to see it all through Neil Gaiman’s eyes, even the most fleeting fragments of our dreams have the ability to affect a person, tell a story, or even alter the course of the world. And so we come to The Sandman: Fables & Reflections , which I saw as an illustration of just that. The sixth volume of Gaiman’s graphic novel series does not directly connect to the overall sto...

While I’m usually knee-deep in reading psychology textbooks from cover-to-cover, my love of reading had led me to decide to join up with the fifth annual Cannonball read this year! But only a half-Cannonball goal of 26 books, due to school restrictions and so on. Thus, throughout the year I shall be posting reviews of all the books I read here. In any case: For my first review of my first ever Cannonball read (be gentle with me and my terrible writing!), we have the fifth volume of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel series, The Sandman. Usually I love the instalments in this series, but A Game of You , in my opinion has so far been the least interesting. But then again, I’ve heard that Gaiman sometimes describes this installment as his favorite in the series, due to the fact that it is most people’s least favorite. Cheeky thing, hey? It all centers around a young woman, Barbie (who was previously seen as a minor character in the second Sandman volume, The Doll’s House ), l...