Thought Train to Pusan

I read this book as a part of my readings for a class in art therapy fundamentals. Personally, I think that this book is more suited to those who have an interest in art therapy, or particularly like the tales of people’s personal journeys. Because that is what this book is: the recounting of Pat Allen’s personal journey once she understands what art can do for her in an emotional and spiritual way. It also lays out some exercises and suggestions as to how the everyday person might come to explore their own soul and life through creating art. But would these tactics work for everyone as profoundly as they did for Allen? Maybe for some, but definitely not for others. That is the nature of art therapy, though, isn’t it? Art is a Way of Knowing begins with Allen laying out how one can come to explore using art themselves, and as she does so, begins recounting some of the early events in her life. Things come into much more detail once she reaches discussing her time studying art, ...

A graphic novel spin-off from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, following the eponymous Lucifer after he resigns from his post as ruler of Hell to live a life on earth running a small piano bar in Los Angeles. And yet, the business of Heaven just won’t seem to leave him alone, and the question of where he fits into the equation of free-will is present as always. The first book of Lucifer is presented as a number of seemingly independent stories, that all manage to weave and connect together in the end, and all dealing with how Lucifer essentially becomes a hired-hand for Heaven and other supernatural beings in his post-Hell career: just because Lucifer is not an angel anymore, that doesn’t mean that he can’t work for Heaven, right? And even though he represents free-will, is his rebellion still not a known part of the universe and how it plays out? The angels of Heaven have their hands in all the honey-pots, and despite not wanting to intervene in certain aspects on earth directly,...

I’m not sure why it took me so long to finish Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, after the first volume grabbed my attention and imagination so thoroughly. But slowly, as I read through more installments, I saw that the series was scattered with highs and lows. The tenth and final volume, The Wake , is a somber affair, regarding the events immediately following the “death,” of Morpheus, the Lord of Dreaming. But just like Despair before him, his death is more of a regeneration, if you will, as you cannot kill a concept or the personification of a concept. And yet, people are affected, as are their dreams, and we see characters from all of the past volumes come forth and take part in mourning the death of the Dream King. There are three issues within the volume itself, which contain the events within the dream world, entitled: Chapter One, Which Occurs in the Wake of What Has Gone Before", "Chapter Two, In Which a Wake is Held", and "Chapter Three, In Which We Wake...

A story of a young man’s unrequited love, tangled in a web of death, mental illness, and the impact of sexual experience upon a person’s life. I was unaware that that last point would play such an important role in the story of Norwegian Wood , which made reading on the bus next to an older women conspicuously reading over my shoulder a bit of an interesting experience. In general, however, this novel focuses on the confusing time that is a person’s late teens, and how certain moments have the power to stay with us all through our lives. Norwegian Wood begins with a 37-year-old Toru Watanabe, suddenly being hit with a wave of nostalgia, and memories from the 1960s when he was around 17-20 years old. And the trigger of these memories? An orchestral version of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood”. The rest of the novel is where Toru recounts all that occurred during this early and altering time in his life. It all begins when Toru’s best friend, Kizuki, commits suicide when he is 17...

Speak is a young adult novel that deals with the aftermath of a young woman’s rape: a time wherein she feels she cannot tell anyone what happened, leading to a period of depression. I hate to think that these things happen to people who are so young and vulnerable, and yet I know that it does occur, and more often than not, the blame is placed on the wrong person, or the victim is too afraid to speak to someone who can help them. Laurie Halse Anderson portrays this issue in a serious manner, which I think is very important, yet she doesn’t allow for it to be so dark that there is no hope for redemption. While I could not possible know what rape victims feel, or even have an inkling as to how it may stay with them throughout their entire lives, I want to believe that there is still the possibility for happiness after such a trauma. The protagonist of Speak is a 13 year-old young woman named Melinda, who attends a party at the end of the summer before she enters high school, onl...

I don’t really know why I’ve found myself liking Hellboy so much lately, but I really do enjoy him as a character a lot, as well as how Mike Mignola uses dark folklore tales as the basis of his short, episodic stories, just changing them slightly to suit the world of Hellboy. And there are always little explanations from Mignola as to where the stories came from, which I find to be incredibly interesting. Then again, I have a thing for supernatural lore being used in different works, if just in influence, or being reinvented in a new way, and The Right Hand of Doom definitely follows the pattern of Hellboy’s past volumes in that it plays little installments from his life involving different paranormal threats, which may or may not be connected to a bigger picture. I really enjoy it, but I know that some people aren’t into that kind of thing, just like how I like the somewhat less-detailed nature of Mignola’s drawings, which makes them almost seem more moody and dark (heeeeey, early...

I know a lot of yee fellow Cannonballers have already read and reviewed this book since it came out this summer, so I’ll try to keep it brief. For me,  The Ocean at the End of the Lane  was an exercise in reminiscence on the past, and the wonder of childhood. I was amazed at how quickly and unquestioningly the young boy of the story just accepted the strange things occurring around him. But when I think about it, children are like that, aren’t they? They are the most likely to believe in things that defy logic, or even yearn for more magical explanations for things that they may not understand. This brief novel truly captures this quality: The Ocean at the End of the Lane begins with our nameless protagonist, returning to his hometown for a funeral, and finding himself back at the old farmhouse at the end of the lane where his childhood friend used to live. As he sits looking at the pond in the back of the farm, he recalls some strange events from when he was seven yea...