So I am reading this in November 2024, post election, filled with dread, so this especially dark series seems appropriate reading. We are now supposedSo I am reading this in November 2024, post election, filled with dread, so this especially dark series seems appropriate reading. We are now supposedly in a stable community led by Rick, a few years post-Negan, kinda like post-pandemic, happy days are here again. . . and then you fill in the blank with whatever world horror undermines the illusory sense of peace and prosperity.
So the next horror scenario involves this group we call The Whisperers that wear gross skin masks so they can blend in with the walkers. In a confrontation where this group kills some of Rick's group, a girl named Lydia kills and is captured. You may recall that Carl liked to talk to the jailed Negan? Well here Carl talks to the jailed killer Lydia, who seems thankful enough to help Carl lose his virginity. I thought Sophie was Carl's girlfriend, whom Carl defended as some hicks beat up? Ah, youth! Carl is this one-eyed blacksmith. . . . so what do I know about the choices of women, but having an empty eye socket for Lydia is actually a check in some imaginary box, apparently.
But all joking aside, Lydia tells Carl about multiple sexual assaults in the Whisperer community, as Lydia in a prisoner exchange returns to her group. Maverick Carl--who once tried to kill Negan--now appears to want to attack the Whisperers to rescue Lydia. Which could point to a good next volume, maybe, righteous wrath?
I dunno, this issue is okay, but there is always this dark streak of horror running through the series, freaking me out (like Trump's choices for hs cabinet?), which is what you came for in a dystopian comics series. ...more
My sixteenth Easy Rawlins book, and it is good. I think if this is the first book you pick up from him, you will see why he is one of the greatest wriMy sixteenth Easy Rawlins book, and it is good. I think if this is the first book you pick up from him, you will see why he is one of the greatest writers in detective fiction history. Sharp writing, just crude enough to make you laugh, just sexy enough to make you turn the pages, a page turner. A femme fatale we know from the get-go (i.e., the title) is gonna be gone. Amethystine, looking for her lost husband, sleeping with the detective she hired, a liar who can't be trusted, but too beautiful not to get wrapped around her finger.
He's hot, she's hot, but I already forgot the plot.
But you don't usually come for the plot with Mosley. You come for his strong, brave-to-foolish risktaker Easy, you come for character, and he's just fun, not getting too seriously reflective or anything, not losing his mojo. I think it is a 4-star book for the first time reader, maybe even better, but with the exact same ingredients he has done better. I say 3 stars for my experience, but it may be me in a funk, as I also three-starred the recent Louise Penny book, so consider the source, and election week trauma. Time for more picture books to heal my soul? The laughs Easy/Mosley brought me were not quite enough this time....more
Self-care comes in many ways, and you generally learn, as you get older, or most of us do, how to psychically survive. Grief is part of life, and it'sSelf-care comes in many ways, and you generally learn, as you get older, or most of us do, how to psychically survive. Grief is part of life, and it's hard, but part of life, and you go through it. Reading and writing are for many of us a kind of balm, but maybe also forms of inspiration, a way to sort of right the ship in a storm. Important work, and not just escape. And we are in a storm now in the US, post-election; or maybe it is more accurate to think of it in terms of the new normal hurricane season, with the dangerous winds are just beginning to blow.
And blow they indeed will. In my lowest moments I fear the big bad wolf will blow all of the houses down. The aftermath of the 2016 election was a kind of chaos we had not heretofore seen, but it was for a time seen as a fluke. Surely this madness will be regretted! But this recent election--a landslide?!--is a deliberate embrace of chaos, and we now expect a dismantling of the government like we have never seen before. The end of any pretense to acknowledging climate change, the end to the Department of Education (I'm a teacher), the release of all the January 6 "heroes," the disappearance of any and all criminal charges, and the revenge tour.
I know what to do, though; I read, write, listen to music, run/walk, teach my heart out, help prepare a new generation of English teachers, huddle close to family an friends. I join others in coalitions to spread kindness and love in the world especially as greater hate is unleashed. I try to do good. And fight the powers of greed and lies and corruption and hate as I have always done. I do not give up, we do not give up, even if the light appears at times to be going out.
So last night in an effort to "right my ship" in these rocky seas, I went with my super-fan friend Jenn to see Patti Smith at the Chicago Humanities Festival upon the occasion of the release of her new book with photographer Lynn Goldsmith, Before Easter After, a book set up to reflect the present moment.
Okay, it's mostly photographs of Patti over the years by Lynn (the Smiths, Patti said last night), but the foundation of the book is survival, the early Patti, then her disastrous fall--her back and neck damaged, though not broken, not paralyzed--for many years, and recovery, reflected in her Easter work.
As art is supposed to work, I was inspired, somewhat rejuvenated, and came home and read it all through, the book including Patti lyrics, poetry, reflections. I was a folkie, not a punk fan, but I appreciated her poetry and early work on Horses. But I am in a later crowd who has become a huge fan of her memoir work in such books as Just Kids. And this is mainly a fan's book of photographs.
I might have included the captions on the pages rather than in the back pages, but I know, this way you get the full photos, uninterrupted. I get that, I'm a comics guy, preferring wordless stories, and these pics tell a number of stories. I might have asked for more Patti writing, but this is essentially Lynn's book about Patti.
The book opens with a poem written to Patti by Sam Shepherd, and ends with a poem/song Patti and the love of her life Fred Sonic Smith, which opens this way:
Where there were deserts I saw fountains
and ends
I commit my dream to you. That the people have the power To redeem the work of fools Upon the meek the graces shower It'sdecreed the people rule.
I know, this all may seem naive at the moment, and may seem almost cruel in the face of the slaughter of the innocents in Ukraine and the middle east, but this experience helped me to reorient myself to the future, to hope, to the important work we must continue to do....more
The calm after the storm, or war with Negan, and we have a functioning community, a garden, different jobs, a nice place, like re-establishing societyThe calm after the storm, or war with Negan, and we have a functioning community, a garden, different jobs, a nice place, like re-establishing society, run by Leader Rick, who now has a prosthetic arm, a wife, Andrea, and a son, Carl, who wants to be a functioning member of society, a blacksmith. In the rhythm of this long series, this is the peaceful, reflective, loving volume. Oh, and it is set years in the future, in a post-technological age.
But this is dystopian fiction folks. What clues are there that all hell breaks loose? Negan is imprisoned, but is talking to his buddy, Carl. . . and then when a new small group comes in to join Rick's world, they decide to talk to Negan, who begs to be let out of this prison in which this Monster, Rick, has put him, that meanie. So of course we await the time when Negan the Crafty Tactition talks someone into letting him out so that he, one of the most popular and diabolical characters in the series history, will raise psychotic murdering hell again. Because this is what readers want. I imagine Walkiing Dead blogs and forums from the time begging Krkman to let him out of prison.. . .
And speaking of hell, some of the Walking Dead seem to have developed some new skills? Whispering! And they capture one of our Good Guys. Let's guess they are (spoiler alert] not actual Undead, but wearing masks. We'll find out more in . . Volume 23!
I have not had the exhilarating reading experience with this series that almost all y'all my Goodreads friends have had, but since I am reading this one during the week of the 2024 Presidential Election, I can see some practical wisdom in paying more serious attention to it now. That Doomsday Clock just started to tick a little louder and faster. . ....more
It may primarily be due to my present grumpy mood, but this was for me one of the weaker Gamache novels. The 3 Pines world is only superficially mentiIt may primarily be due to my present grumpy mood, but this was for me one of the weaker Gamache novels. The 3 Pines world is only superficially mentioned--but to have less Rosa if ok with me--and the family foundation of love and community also peripheral. The case would appear to be a thriller plot. I didn't read the thriller Hilary Clinto and Penny wrote--heard it was not very good--and this would seem to continue in the thriller mode.
What terrorists will poison the water system and create chaos and kill thousands? Is thre government involved? Are some despairing monks?! Eh, they save the day and barely survive and end up in family mode, except there's a rare instance of a cliffhanger ending, which could possibly upend the whole paint-by-numbers plot and reveal something altogether surprising in the next book? There's some attention to climate change and government corruption, which I appreciate in a way, but I had read Amitav Ghosh's The Great Derangement: Climate Change and theUnthinkable (2016), a book that complained--rightly--that literary fiction had consistently ignored THE elephant in the room--as the recent 2024 Presidential election once again did--the Climate Disaster, and now, eight years later, everone seems to be mentioning it, and--her is my despair--largely it feels too little, too superficial, too late.
I have read all of the Penny books and usually have four- and five-starred them, but this is not a great entry in the series, imho. But of course because of the cliffhanger--making this a two-book story?--I will probably read the next one....more
So as was inevitable, Rick leads the Good Guys to victory, defeating the once-thought brilliant strongman Negan. Had to happen, but how, given how smaSo as was inevitable, Rick leads the Good Guys to victory, defeating the once-thought brilliant strongman Negan. Had to happen, but how, given how smart and unpredictable and ruthless Negan was? So Kirkman's solution is to suddenly make Rick infallible, and Negan stupid, making mistakes inconsistent with anything we had known about him. But again, this has to happen for humanity to continue. Hitler, Stalin, fascism, authoritarian rule, has to be defeated or we are lost.
The action sequences drawn by Adlard are terrific. Who doesn't like a fast-paced war story where the good guys win, accompanied by inspiring speeches and heart-rending visuals? Rick ain't Lincoln, he ain't Churchill, but he wins and unites people around him. Then the image of him and his woman and Carl, arm and arm.
Then, when we have Negan defeated, Rick disappoints vengeful readers and chooses not to go the bloody capital punishment route, but for life imprisonment. As he says, we cannot be them. We cannot be mean to the mean; we cannot be cruel to the cruel. You can't counter hate with hate....more
I am reading this comic issue Saga #70 by Brian Vaughgn and Fiona Staples as the 2024 election results come in. The cover image of Squire is ominous, I am reading this comic issue Saga #70 by Brian Vaughgn and Fiona Staples as the 2024 election results come in. The cover image of Squire is ominous, dark. No cute animals here to draw you in. Do we even want to go in? We know Squire is, as are many young people in 2024, anxious and depressed--and he needs to get help, so in this issue he goes away to get that help. And Haze reminds us of how much family matters during dark times.
But as we always know, things are closing in on the hunt for Alana. So that feels like another cloud. With crazy inventive colorful characters along the way. This one features Gayle, Petrichor, Noreen, too.
This release, on election night, is not random; it seethes with anxiety, foreboding. Or is that just me, as of 10 pm? On the knife edge of hope and despair, this issue, like the world. ...more
“You can’t have a war without casualties”--Rick sez (but you’re supposed to say something more poetic, Rick, like "you can’t make an omelette without “You can’t have a war without casualties”--Rick sez (but you’re supposed to say something more poetic, Rick, like "you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs”! but Kirkman will never go down history for his lyrical literary skills
So in Volume 20,: All Out War Part 1 guess what you get? (see subtitle, we don't want any surprises here, now). The communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom have declared war on Negan and his Saviors, led by Commander Rick, who now has a better plan mapped out than the one he nearly destroyed his friends and family with in Volume 19. And yes, this one is all action, all the time, with a big body count but without a resolution. Volume 21, part two will finish it, and we pretty much know the outcome already, but I look forward to any and all surprises.
I continue to put my faith in Jesus (the character who sez he believes in Rick); Jesus is my fave character in this stretch. I did sorta like King Ezekiel, who has started this “thing” with Michionne, but he seems to be losing his edge after the tragic death of his tiger (!).
Negan continues to be an unpredictable--thus interesting, even entertaining--character. I mean, he destroys Alexandria in one assault on the complex with grenades. . . who knew they had grenades? Then he has this weird moral system:
“We are not monsters,” Negan says to the captured Holly, who was nearly the victim of sexual assault by one of his men. Then he monstrously kills the guy for the attempt. So, yeah, he has moral rules, but it is hard to figure them out! For another instance, we see that Negan has other (monstrous) plans for Holly, so you can’t count on any predictable system from a psycho killer. ...more
I read Indemnity Only, the V.I. Warshawski detective novel by Sara Paretsky with my fall 2024 detective fiction class and many in the class didn't lovI read Indemnity Only, the V.I. Warshawski detective novel by Sara Paretsky with my fall 2024 detective fiction class and many in the class didn't love it, or V.I., who was intended as a feminist answer to The Boy's Club of Dick Lit (detective fiction, now, come on!). That book was her first novel, published in 1982, and while many applauded her taking on the male detective fiction establishment, others in my class felt it was "dated" as a kind of feminist statement, a novel that revealed itself to them as an okay first try.
And yet Sara Paretsky achieved international fame for her series, so to be fair I thought I would read another one, and picked the most recent one, Pay Dirt, published 42 years later, in 2024! That's staying power, right? This one is set in Lawrence, Kansas, where the Iowa-born Paretsky went to uni before moving to Chicago. But it is also written by Paretsky at 77, maybe not ideal either for luring young readers to V.I.? We'll see.
Students noted in class discussions of Indemnity that there are no discussions of race; all the people in the novel are white, in a very diverse city. There are discussions of class, sexism, mob corruption and Vic gives as good as she gets in physical altercations with bad guys, and she dumps a boyfriend who doesn't respect her work. In Pay Dirt we are in Lawrence, Kansas, where Vic , still struggling with male romantic partners, goes to take a break from a brutal case (I assume detailed in Warshawski #21?). She’s going to see a Northwestern versus Kansas women’s soccer game, and one girl disappears, so she agrees to help.
There are many contemporary issues--too many, I think--mentioned in this book, from CRT to climate change to sexism to corporate corruption, opioid addition, and racism, and I'm a left, but instead of being inspired, for the majority of the book, I was largely bored, and bored, too, by V.I.’s annoying haranguing of a local detective as she investigates the girl’s disappearance (tec fic trope, check, and tec fic trope, too, that she becomes a suspect, yawn).
The plot gets very complicated, as she herself ponders all the balls she has to juggle: “Sabrina. Valerie. Power Ranger. Brett Santich. Trig. Clarina. Gertrude Perec. Cady. The Wakarusa plant. The Yancy project. The Omicron boys. The Dundee House” (Yes, they all somehow tie together). Vic goes to a house where college kids are dealing drugs, and one of the injured players is in fact a buyer, but in doing her research about the house leads her to investigate historic racial violence in Lawrence. Environmental crime and corporate and police corruption are involved, with Vic getting beat up along the way to solving the case. Tec fic trope: Nobody wants outsider Chicagoan in Lawrence business, except maybe a young Lois Lane cub reporter I also found annoying.
Paretsky tells us in an afterword that she has situated four of her novels in Lawrence, where her early years were spent. She also tells us that it took her a long time to come to terms with and investigate deeper into Kansas racist history, which I admire her doing. Point for that, for sure, and I like in the afterword her telling us the books she read to inform her novel.
I didn’t like the way characters talked to each other--some outdated lingo for contemporary America--though some of my problem with it may have to do with my disliking the reader, who reads lines from corrupt guys as if she were mimicking Jimmy Cagney playing Al Capone. 2.5 rating from me, though I thought it finished strong, so round up. ...more
Okay, I'll admit Negan is a pretty interesting psycho of a character, but more for what he doesn't do than what he does, the time he does not go balliOkay, I'll admit Negan is a pretty interesting psycho of a character, but more for what he doesn't do than what he does, the time he does not go ballistic when we expect him to. And as a hyper-violent guy, he seems to respect most hyper-violent or at least courageous guys, such as Rick and Carl.
So this is a pretty good volume for one that is obviously setting up for a(n uncivil)"war." Or: It basically occasions the need for a war, because Rick makes dumbass mistakes, is ill-prepared and uninformed about Negan and his cohorts, endangering (again and again) his son, Carl, his girlfriend, and basically every "good guy" out there. Requiring lots of action, some pre-war violence, then a truce.
But the die was already cast in the previous issue, which is to say that we are tossed down into the pit of hell, as soon as we meet Negan. He must die, and the only way this can happen is by a coalition of forces across communities. So, leaders Rick, Paul, and (King) Ezekiel (with his tiger!) along with the residents of Alexandria, The Hilltop Colony and The Kingdom move forward to kill Negan. Until, that is, Rick gets impulsive and stupid and lays bare their intent to kill him. Not good to have Negan aware of this, obviously, since he actually knows a thing or two abotu war strategy and power, in addition to being ruthless.
Part of the anxiety here as we move into (yet another) war is whether we can trust ANY of the leaders, including Rick. King Ezekiel seems crazy as a loon; he may be good, maybe not. We like his little flirting interactions with Michionne (maybe; I reserve judgement). Basically, this is an Allied/League of Nations moment where you have to trust each other to Defeat Evil, against everyone's self-interest and greed and incompetence whatever. My favorite character in the series at the moment is Jesus (so far I trust in him, yep), who is furtive, elusive, and sly, and the most competent and able person around now.
The dialogue is not and never has been great, but as I have said before, this is basically what they (and maybe especially Adler) do best, action sequences. I mean, this stuff is not th edeepest political philosophy or High Literary fiction; it is prewar dystopian horror with a lot of action going on in this one already. For what it sets out to do, it is good, holds yr interest....more
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