ANNE RICE’S THE WOLF GIFT: IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE, IT’S … A WEREWOLF?

RATING GUIDE:

 

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

Anne Rice returns to her gothic roots, in a way, in The Wolf Gift, one of the two books in The Wolf Chronicles series.  It is the story of Reuben, who seems to lead the perfect life.  He seems to have it all:  good looks, a promising career as a journalist, a pretty, successful girlfriend, a wealthy, privileged, educated, successful family.  And yet, Reuben seems to be a square peg in a round hole that is his life.  He loves his family and his girlfriend, and yet, he seems to be separate and alienated from most of them.

A writing assignment leads him to a beautiful and mysterious older woman named Marchent Nideck.  He’s supposed to write about the house Marchent wishes to sell, a house that is as beautiful and mysterious as she is.  Upon meeting Marchent and seeing the house, Reuben is smitten, so to speak, with Marchent, the house and its contents.  Come nighttime, Reuben decides he wants to buy the house.  He also ends up sleeping with Marchent.

This is just the first in one of the many surprises in Reuben’s life.  Shortly after having sex with Marchent, Marchent dies a violent death.  Reuben almost loses his life, as well.  But instead of dying, Reuben actually recovers … except that he’s not human anymore.  He becomes a werewolf, with super-heightened senses and the ability to spot malice and evil.  He develops a primal urge to literally kill evil.  As a result, Reuben ultimately finds himself leading a double life, just like Superman.  He’s a journalist by day (just like Superman’s Clark Kent).  But when his beastly instincts take over, he becomes The Man-Wolf, who saves people from evil (again, just like Superman). 

Reuben is exhilarated with his new life, and yet, he finds himself even more alienated from his family.  It’s a very lonely existence.  The only people who give him comfort are the only two people who know his secret: his older brother, a priest named Jim, and Laura, a widow who has lived a life of isolation following the death of her family.  

As Reuben struggles to cope with the new changes in his life, which includes keeping his werewolf identity a secret and juggling two jobs (journalist and superhero of sorts), he faces a new danger, that of being caught and turned into a medical experiment. 

Sounds pretty much like a comic book story, doesn’t it? 

As in Angel Time, Anne’s quality of writing is very visual and fluid.  It reads just like postcard, very beautiful, or a song, very easy, melodic and lyrical.  And that’s despite the violence that takes place in the story (there’s a lot of blood and guts and torn limbs here).  The pace is quick, except for the small hiccup towards the end.  There’s a chapter that seems a little strange because it reads more like a poem than a narrative.  Whether or not Rice intended it to be so, I don’t know.  In any case, it stands out, like a speed bump.  Sadly, the ending is a little frustrating, for it seems a little anti-climactic.  After a particularly action-packed climax, it slows down considerably to its ending, with a lot of dialogue and philosophical discussion.  And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. 

Despite these imperfections, The Wolf Gift is a very good book.  It is essentially the story of many people, of those who seem to have it all, and yet are actually lost in their own world.  It is the story of a man who finds his true self and realizes his own strengths and potential in the midst of chaos.  It is about the irony of finding one’s true family, not in people who share the same blood and DNA but in people who share the same principles and values.  It is a mirror of Everyman’s desire to eliminate the evil in the world (and these days, the evil comes in so many forms and is all around us).  It is a story of faith, of struggling to keep what is good in one’s heart, when one is in a very “gray” area.

RATING:  4

ANNE RICE’S ANGEL TIME: NOT YOUR TYPICAL READING FARE FOR HOLY WEEK

RATING GUIDE:

 

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

 

If you are one of those people who still value Holy Week as a time for reflection and bonding with the Lord (as opposed to those who use Holy Week as a time to go partying), then you might want to take a look at Anne Rice’s book called Angel Time.  And yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you.  I did say Anne Rice.  You know, the same Anne Rice who wrote The Vampire Chronicles, from which the highly popular movies Interview With The Vampire (starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt) and Queen Of The Damned (starring the late actress Aaliyah) came.

If you read about Anne Rice on the internet, you’ll find out that Anne Rice is known for her gothic fiction, her erotica (written under pseudonyms Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelare).  Not exactly someone you’d expect would write something spiritual, right?  But Anne Rice is actually Catholic.  For years, she was an atheist (if I remember right, I saw a documentary where it was said that the death of her child from leukemia triggered the total loss of faith).  But a near-death experience brought her back to the Lord.  Not to say that Anne Rice is back to being a practicing Catholic.  These days, Anne Rice stays away from any form of organized religion (Catholicism included), but remains committed to serving God through her writing.  This commitment is evident in Angel Time, one of the two books in her Songs Of The Seraphim series.

The hero in Angel Time is a young man named Toby O’ Dare, a sensitive soul and a brilliant lute player.  Given his artist’s heart and talent, Toby should have gone on to become a highly successful musician.  Instead, Toby has gone on to become a brilliant assassin called Lucky The Fox (I bet you didn’t see that one coming). 

Despite his (cough, cough) chosen career, Toby is still a partly practicing Catholic. In between assignments, Toby tries to lead a fairly normal (though anonymous) life at an inn and slips into church from time to time.  He prays the rosary and reads his collection of spiritual/religious books, even though his heart has strayed so far from its teachings.  After one particularly nasty assignment, which takes place right in his “home,” Toby gets the surprise of his life when an angel named Malchiah shows up and invites him to leave his life an assassin and be a special agent, so to speak, this time for God.  Toby ultimately says yes, and Malchiah whisks him off to 13^th century Norwich, England and turns him into a Benedictine monk (I bet you didn’t see that one coming!) for a special mission.

The characters and plot are fantastic, and yet it is everyone’s story.  Anyone who has gone through the pain of broken dreams, a lost love, a disappointing family or trauma will see themselves in Toby, who has gone through all of these.  People who started out loving God, then questioning His ways and even His existence, yet have a flicker of desire to renew his or faith will also identify with him.  Toby’s life before becoming an assassin is so heart-breaking, I’m pretty sure it will leave many of you in tears.

As Holy Week is essentially a story that speaks about God’s love and is also a call to reconcile with Him, Anne Rice’s book is an unusual yet perfect choice to read during this Lenten Season for it is a story of a lost soul who is never forgotten by God.

RATING:  5

AMY TAN’S “THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES”: A CHINESE BANQUET FOR THE MIND AND HEART

 

RATING GUIDE:

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

The first time I heard about Amy Tan was when I saw this movie adaptation of one of her famous novels called “The Joy Luck Club”.  I remember it well because the movie featured Andrew McCarthy, who was one of my crushes when I was young.  It was an excellent movie about a group of Chinese women who either lived in China or moved to/grew up in America.

While I have yet to buy a book by Amy Tan, I have had a copy of one of her books called “The Hundred Secret Senses” lying around in my house for years. 

“The Hundred Secret Senses” is basically the story of two Chinese women.  It’s primarily the story of Olivia, a thirty-something Chinese-American photographer who’s on the verge of divorcing her husband, a half-Chinese, half-American man named Simon.  She’s not a very likable character (in fact, she annoys the hell out of me).  She’s insecure, selfish, manipulative and mean-spirited.  It’s actually quite ironic that for someone who makes a living viewing the world through the lens of a camera, she can be quite narrow-minded.  You’d think a photographer would be pretty broad-minded, right?  Well, not this woman.  Only her opinion is the right one.  She’s also pretty self-absorbed. 

It’s also the story of Kwan, Olivia’s elder sister.  Unlike Olivia, who grew up in the United States and is basically American except for her “packaging,” Kwan is still all Chinese, for she moved to the United States when she was already in her teens.  While Kwan can be slightly gullible or crazy at times, she is, unlike Olivia, pure-hearted and full of wisdom. 

Work forces Olivia and Simon to travel to China (rather, Kwan puts them up to it).  It is on this journey that Olivia makes many surprising discoveries about herself and her traveling companions.

Since I’m used to pretty straightforward narratives, it took me a while before I got used to Amy Tan’s style of writing.  I found the book to be a bit surreal and confusing at first.  I thought the book was pretty slow at boring at the beginning, but Kwan was just too interesting a character that I decided to finish reading the book.

Reading this book is like thickening soup with cornstarch.  At first, everything is a slurry mess, but then, everything suddenly comes together into one.  In my experience, everything began to coalesce when I was about three-fourths of the way through.  That’s the point when everything began to make sense.  I was very surprised by the revelation in this book.  I couldn’t believe it.  How come I never saw that one coming?  But Amy Tan very sneakily planted clues along the way.  I was just too clueless to notice it.

I still didn’t like Olivia by the time I was done reading the book.  She’s just not very likable as a character.  She reminds me too much of the kind of people I need to stay away from if I want to keep my sanity.  But Kwan … now, she’s the reason why you should read this book.  She’s definitely an unforgettable character.  Kooky bordering on the verge of mad, but actually very, very wise.  She reminds you of the most important values your senses have to keep looking out for, values which have been lost in modern day life.  Loyalty, generosity, hope.

Amy Tan grew up in America, so in this book, we get to see the world she created through an American’s eyes.  The culture clash is very evident here, as is the confusion that is probably in the heart of every foreigner who grows up in a Western world.  Most of the time, it’s funny, yet at times, it’s heartbreaking.  One particularly painful scene in the book is Olivia’s reaction to Kwan being made fun of by her American “friends”.  What a betrayal!  She also gives us a very interesting story of life in old China, as well as modern day China through her funny, interesting, thought-provoking side characters.

I can only describe “The Hundred Secret Senses” as a Chinese banquet.  You know, a the kind of banquet where the food keeps on coming, and the eating experience only gets better as you go further along the feast.  This book is a multi-layered feast, not just for one’s mind, but also for one’s soul.  Highly recommended.

RATING:  5

BARBARA CARTLAND: THE GRAND "LOLA" OF "KILIG"

I was probably seven years old the first time I saw someone holding a copy of a Barbara Cartland novel.  Without telling you how old I actually am, let’s just say that it happened a LOOOOONG time ago.  I didn’t know who she was at the time and it was much, much later that I learned who Barbara Cartland was and her many contributions to the world of literature, and really, just the world in general.

So, just who is Barbara Cartland?  In a way, let’s just say that Dame Barbara Cartland (yes, she has a royal title!  More about that later) may be considered the grand lola of all things kilig.  A British author who was born in Birmingham, Dame Barbara was one of the world’s most prominent authors of the 20^th century.  From 1925 until her death in 2000, she wrote HUNDREDS of books, most of them romantic novels, making her one of the most prolific authors of her time.  Based on an article I read on Wikipedia, she actually held the Guinness Book of World Records record in 1983 for most novels written in a year (twenty-three).

Dame Barbara was known (and loved) worldwide for her romance novels, which can be considered as the considerably tamer precursor to the present-day romances we are familiar with.  You know, the semi-pornographic, multi-orgasmic stories (or drivel, depending on who writes it) that make us envy the heroines with envy (or retch in disgust).  Dame Barbara’s romances are known for chasteness, where the passionate kiss is THE climax (and not the appetizer, so to speak).  She was a very popular celebrity who was well-known for her trademark pink dresses and feathered hats.  She signed her books in … what color?  Pink!

Before you dismiss her as someone who was all romance, no substance, think again.  Dame Barbara was part of the early days of aviation, when she participated in the gliding movement of the 1930’s.  She was also an advocate of civil welfare, fighting for nursing home reform, increasing the salaries of midwives and legalizing education for the children of Gypsies.  She even made an album the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra!  In 1991, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to literature, politics and society.  The late Princess Diana of Wales was actually her step-granddaughter!

At the time of her death, Dame Barbara had written approximately seven hundred and twenty-three titles (kaya ‘nyo iyan?), with a hundred and sixty or so left unpublished (I wonder if she ever used a computer or laptop to write her last few novels).  These unpublished novels are now known as part of the Barbara Cartland Pink Collection.

I’ve got two of Barbara Cartland’s books from the Pink Collection, which I’ll be blogging about very soon.  Are chaste romances better than sex sagas like Fifty Shades Of Gray?  Abangan!

MARGARET ATWOOD’S “SURFACING”: FULL OF POTENTIAL AND HIGHLY POETIC BUT SADLY PRETENTIOUS AND PROBLEMATIC

RATING GUIDE:

 

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

I got hold of Margaret Atwood’s book “Surfacing” from a swap meet with some old friends.  I thought it would be a great read, based on the blurb at the back cover and the glowing reviews about Atwood and the book on the cover and the inside pages.  Well, I’m finally done reading this book, and all I can say is … you really can’t believe everything that you hear or read!

This book is unique in that its lead character, a female, doesn’t have a name.  Well, she must have a name, but for some unknown reason, Atwood chose not to reveal that to us.  The world our unnamed protagonist lives in is Canada (Quebec?) sometime in the early 1970’s.  I wish I knew more about Canadian history to have a better understanding of the story (alas, I don’t).  But the world the heroine is in is clearly facing a time of change.  Traditional institutions and values such as marriage and fidelity are being challenged by the “new” ideas of the seventies, like feminism and open marriages.  Babies aren’t people but pieces of flesh to be aborted, and love is just a euphemism for sex.

This book isn’t your typical book with a clearly defined plot.  It’s a story that’s mostly internal, dealing with a few revelations about the unnamed heroine’s life, but mostly about her observations about the people and things around her, as well as her opinions about certain issues (like abortion, for example).  It is mostly stream-of-consciousness told in hebigat poetic descriptions.  You know, the type that sounds soooo intellectual and soooo profound, your head feels like it wants to explode.  The lines are poetic, no doubt, they sound good read aloud, but whether or not it gives you an idea as to what is REALLY happening in the book … well, that’s the big question!

Our unnamed heroine is forced to revisit her old home in Canada following the disappearance of her father.  She is joined on this trip by her boyfriend Joe and her newfound American friends, David and Anna.  By the time her father is found, our unnamed character has been (unsuccessfully) seduced by David, she has finally decided to have sex with her Joe, after which she loses her mind.

And that, my friends, appears to be the book’s story, more or less.  I can’t really tell for sure because the book was just so damned confusing!

Blame it on the poetry.  It sounds good read aloud, that’s for sure.  It sounds VERY arty, but it’s all over this book that it eclipses everything, including the plot, including the main characters, including the historical elements of the story and the potentially relevant statements it can make about issues such as marriage, feminism, sex and abortion.  And it’s such a shame.

Here’s a passage from page 197 of the book:  “Rump on a packsack, harem cushion, pink on the cheeks and black discreetly around the eyes, as red as blood as black as ebony, a seamed and folded imitation of a magazine picture that is itself an imitation of a woman who is also an imitation, the original nowhere, hairless lobed angle in the same heaven where God is a circle, captive princess in someone’s head.”

Beautiful words, right?  Provocative imagery.  But can anyone tell me what THAT means?  Anybody?

See what I mean?

This was Atwood’s second novel.  My guess is, as with many young writers who are still trying to discover their own voices or build their own writing identities, she was still in the process of experimentation when she wrote this.  Or maybe it was her poetry-writing side that got in the way of her prose-writing side.  Either that or she just let her words take over the entire book.  I’m sure you’ve read books where you’re pretty sure the writer fell in love with his/her beautiful images and phrases that he/she just couldn’t part with them.  Or maybe she was on some hebigat acid trip.  Because man, super-heavy siya man!  ‘Di ko ma-dig! 

As confusing and frustrating as the book was, Atwood still had some very good, thought-provoking points to make about many issues.  About love and sex.  About abortion.  About family.  About alienation.  About relationships.  About men who sleep around.  About women who let their men walk all over them.  About not trusting anyone.  About  society and it’s mistrust of what’s different.  About clashing cultures.  And if I’m right about what I think happened to the character, then Atwood also came up with a very arty, poetic way of showing someone who eventually fell into madness.  Whether that was temporary or not, I’m not sure (like I said, I had no idea where the hell the story was going to go most of the time --- I don’t even know what happened to her missing father!).  But these profound thoughts about these hebigat issues are still important thoughts to ponder, even in this day and age.  And I don’t care if the book is dated.  How dated is it?  Well, when you hear one of the characters say “groovy chick,” you know it is soooo dated.

Based on what I read on the internet, Atwood is one of Canada’s highly respected authors.  Which means her career survived this book, which, despite its beautiful, arty poetic imagery, is … well, a little bit of a lemon.  But I’m open to reading her other books to see what she came up with after this one. 

RATING:  1