Yikes.
Well, it's been a while, and we've both said some things, but I hope that you'll take me back...
Well, I'm writing this anyway!
Just looked at the stats for this blog for the first time in months, and they're amazing! Thank you to anyone who's reading! So it galvanised me into coming back with a bang.
And what bigger bang than to review the heartbreaking, emotional rollercoaster that is
MOCKINGJAY
In my opinion, no better.
*Mild spoilers detailing the horrific events in this novel are included*
Onward!
Well. This book. What to say? I admire authors who have the guts to kill of their characters. It's horrible, and I hate reading it, but it's brave and more realistic to get rid of those who don't deserve to die. I'm currently pondering whether or not to mention the extensive list of deaths, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone... Feel free to comment if you haven't read, but want to know, and I'll tell you!
If you haven't read it, then you'll have picked up that a lot of people die in this book. And it is extremely heartbreaking. Especially the way it leaves Katniss. Speaking of Katniss, I LOVE what happens to her in this book. Not because I'm sadistic, but because it was so different. When we see her at the beginning, a little while after escaping from the 75th Hunger Games, she is completely broken. She can't focus, she breaks down frequently: she is physically and mentally weak. We NEVER see heroes/heroines suffer from PTSD, and I think it was a good thing that Katniss suffers so badly: look what she's been through, how much death she's seen and caused herself. It's far more realistic for her to suffer this way than to spring right back up and be ready to lead an entire rebellion. So I applaud Collins from my very comfy swivel chair that I am currently sitting on. And I also want to ask which, if any, heroes/heroines from other novels would or should have suffered from post-traumatic stress? Harry Potter? I'm as yet unsure about this one. I certainly think he'd suffer post-traumatic guilt, and would spend a long time wallowing in the memory of all the deaths he thought were his fault.
I do think that Gale is amazing with her in this book. Although in Catching Fire he seemed to pressurise her a lot and blame her almost unjustly for her relationship with Peeta, I think he was a better influence on her in this book than Peeta ever would have been. Gale may not have been through the same things as Katniss, but they have this bond that transcends language. He knows what she's feeling, and he can help her through this horrible time. I also think he's pretty awesome in the fighting side. Even the most devoted Peeta-fan couldn't argue with the fact that Gale would have been way better in the Hunger Games than Peeta, who only survived because of Katniss.
Speaking of Peeta, OH MY GOSH. Now that storyline surpassed anything I could ever have expected. It was cruel of Collins, but that just makes me admire her all the more. To completely reverse his feelings towards Katniss through TORTURE was a touch of genius, and incredibly interesting, as we see how much Katniss depended on him before. In fact, she sees this for the first time herself, too. She realises that she took him for granted, and I think that's what sets her on her (very slow) path to genuinely loving him. I think it must have been awful for him, to be so confused about his own memories - imagine not knowing what's real and what's been put there by a corrupt government - and to have no one trust him.
I really liked the parallels between the official government of Panem and the rebel forces: it shows that this is not a battle between good and evil, that these things aren't black and white. It makes it all the more difficult for Katniss to know what she's fighting for - especially after they've won and President Coin suggests they host their own, final Hunger Games. And, of course, the bomb that Gale creates that kills so many innocent children (including SPOILER) goes to show that they're almost exactly the same as the Capitol.
The underground setting for the majority of the novel was successfully claustrophobic, and you could feel the pressure of the walls and the war closing in on Katniss. No wonder she had a hard time!
Then, the end, where everything is supposed to be all happy again, was still riddled with heart-wrenching agony. I have a picture of Katniss sitting alone in her house, not moving for days, burned into my mind. Her mother not returning was just horrific, and, although I don't want to say "heartbreaking" AGAIN, there are no other words. Although I kind of get Gale not wanting to say goodbye. After what he did, nothing he said could ever have made her understand, and it was better that he didn't upset her any more. I just hope that he got over his feelings for her and was happy in the end.
I was glad about the way Katniss's life ended up (again, not going to say just in case - comment if you want to know), although it was still profoundly poignant. It's a nice, peaceful ending, but was it really what she wanted? Would she have been fully satisfied after everything she went to? I think she might have been, but there's always that flutter of doubt in the back of your mind. I think it's because the Epilogue's so short, and we don't get much insight into her future life, that we still think this, and I think that was intended.
Overall, I though this was an excellent book, addressing very mature themes and gripping the reader in an iron fist that still doesn't let you go after you've finished.
On a slightly different note... Who's going to see The Hunger Games on Friday? I am :) very excited - the reviews have been so good, and the trailers look fantastic. Still not as excited about this as I was for Harry Potter, but if I was, I think the world would be worried...
Coming soon [or as soon as it takes me to read and review these novels, which, knowing me, will probably be a while]:
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Between the Acts - Virginia Woolf
A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh
Yep, you guessed it - more Enlgish books. But IF I shock myself and read these all this month before I go back to Uni, then you could perhaps look forward to the likes of these beauties:
The Bloody Chamber and other stories - Angela Carter
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Mitford Sisters - ... can't remember... started this LAST SUMMER, and still haven't finished due to the horrific strain of reading lists for Uni. But I plan on finishing it this summer...
Hope the next gap isn't this long again - believe me, I'll try my hardest!
Btw: if you still haven't had enough of my ramblings on The Hunger Games, here is my review for my University newspaper...
http://www.wessexscene.co.uk/features/2011/11/05/hungry-for-more-a-review-of-the-hunger-games/
*shameless plug*
Showing posts with label Sad sad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sad sad. Show all posts
Monday, 19 March 2012
Sunday, 18 September 2011
One Day by David Nicholls
I decided I'd buy into the hype about this book and see what all the fuss is about, so this review is of the hugely popular and surprisingly upsetting One Day.
This type of book isn't usually what I go for. I read so many teenage girl books when I was younger (I was going to say, when I was a teenager, but then technically I still am, at the tender age of 19), that I think I must have saturated my thirst for 'chick flick fic', as I like to call it, and I tend to go for classics and more 'high literature' fiction, in an attempt to make me sound more intelligent and widely read in my English seminars... Somehow, I still end up bringing Harry Potter into everything though... really must sort that out. Anyway, my point is that I didn't really think that I'd enjoy this book so much, but I was surprised by how well-writted and witty it was. I'm not saying that this book changed my life, that it was a revolution in modern literature, and that I will never read another book, like so many people seem to have done, but Ifound I did enjoy it.
If you have been living in a hole at the end of your garden for the past couple of months, here is a brief summary of the story. Emma and Dexter met on 15th July, 1988, on the day of their graduation from St Andrews University, Edinburgh. Emma got a first (that's the highest you can get) in English and History, and Dexter got a third (the lowest you can get) in Anthropology. Each chapter in the book details what happens on that day, every year after that until about 2005. I thought this was a very original idea, and I suppose it could be difficult to pull off well, because seeing these characters for one day, once a year might stunt the character development, or not make us that close to the characters because we see them so infrequently. However the closeness we feel, and the progress of these two characters is really admirable, and I really did feel attached by the end.
I'm going to start with Emma, I think. She was a surprising character because she was so cynical: not at all the type of successfull, perfect character you see in so many novels/films of this genre. Indeed, the last few chick flicks I've seen seem to have made a point of characters who are not the perfect, pink, cheerleading-type that we've seen for so long. At first I thought this was quite refreshing, but now I'm getting quite bored of it. They try to make them seem 'kooky' and 'cool because they're different', when really they still end up with what the film-makers deem the 'perfect life' with the 'perfect boyfriend' and everyone loving them. Seriously, can we please have a chick flick where the girl doesn't get the guy, where nothing changes, but she still comes out happy and awesome?
I digress. I did like Emma's sarcastic sense of humour, how she avoids awkward and potentially emotional scenes with her dry wit, because I could relate to that. I hate ~emotional stuff~ when it comes to my life (although I adore reading/watching it), and I hardly evertalk about my feelings because it's weird. So I liked that quality about her. What really frustrated me though, and I think it was supposed to, was how when she left University her life spiralled into nothingness. Her brief stint as a performer who tried to change the world one act at a time was awful, and then she landed that humiliating job with the mexican restaurant Loco Caliente. I just couldn't understand how someone as bright and intelligent as her could possibly be settling for jobs like that. Dexter points this out at some point in the book, that she seemed to like suffering, and I think he was right, because she did nothing to get out of it, and she didn't even seem to care.
Her *unrequited love* (I hate that phrase) was definitely something I could relate to, so in a number of ways I felt she was fairly similar to me. But I don't want to go all fangirl and say that *this book is the definition of ~MY EXISTENCE~*, because that's definitely not true. But yeah, I was pleased in a way that Nicholls kept them apart for so long. I don't think the relationship could have worked if they'd been together when they were younger, as she was so dependent on him, and he just took her for granted for years. So although it's very poignant how little time they actually had to be properly together, I don't think it would have lasted as long if they'd got together earlier on.
This seems like a good time to talk about Dexter. Oh, Dexter. He was one of those characters who you couldn't help but love, even though you absolutely hated him sometimes, and Nichols summed this up absolutely perfectly in the now legendary line, "I love you, but I just don't like you", said by Emma to Dex. I kind of understood why he was such an asswipe at the beginning because hey, he was hot, rich, fairly intelligent etc, and could get any girl he wanted. When he was "finding himself" abroad, it was obvious that he didn't get how awful a time Emma was having, but you kind of had to forgive him, because when we read his side of the story we knew how much he though about her.
It wasn't until he became a TV Presenter and became a C-list celeb that his asswipe-ishness just turned into general arrogance and unbearableness. He was evidently an alcoholic, and completely full of himself, not caring about any of his old friends, especialy not Emma. In fact, I think he really liked the idea of Emma, knowing how close they'd been, but when it got to actually seeing her again, he just wanted her to know how much he'd given up to be with her tonight, how he deigned to be in her presence. I didn't blame Emma at all when she "broke up with him", because she really didn't need him in her life.
I want to talk briefly about the interesting juxtaposition between Dex's first live show and Emma's school play's opening night. They both had these things on at the same time, and they were both so different, yet so important to each of them. It highlights how different they were at that point, and also how selfish Dexter was to beg Emma to come to his show, when he knew what she was doing was equally as important.
I know I haven't talked about every detail that happened in this book, but I don't think I need to. I'm going to go straight on to the shock of the ending.
Well. Did anyone gues that was going to happen? I know I certainly didn't! I was surprised that I didn't cry though. I have to admit that I am prone to crying when something like this happens. I can't bear it when two people are separated. Think Lyra and Will (that still makes me cry), Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, and Cecilia and Robbie from Atonement. Yep, absolute wreck. So, very surprisingly I didn't cry, and I'm still not sure why. It was certainly upsetting that Emma died, especially the way she did, just out of nowhere, by a lorry (and that bit was really horrible in the film).
I guess what was worse was when we followed Dexter on the few years following her death, when he was an absolute wreck, and I think I found that more upsetting, because I hate to see the ones left behind. Still, I didn't cry, but that doesn't mean it wasn't sad. I thought Nicholls' writing was very emotive, and when Dexter was 'celebrating' Emma's life by getting drunk and being beaten up, I thought it was quite brave of Nicholls to do that. It would have been so easy to say, 'after Emma's death Dexter was perfect to honour her memory', but the fact that he slipped back into his old ways was probably more realistic, and I'm glad they kept it like that in the film: especially the loss of respect from his daughter.
Essentially though, it is a happy book, because we're left with the image of the two of them together in Edinburgh, young and happy, and I think the message here is that death is not what's important: as long as you've lived and loved, you've lived a full life.
This type of book isn't usually what I go for. I read so many teenage girl books when I was younger (I was going to say, when I was a teenager, but then technically I still am, at the tender age of 19), that I think I must have saturated my thirst for 'chick flick fic', as I like to call it, and I tend to go for classics and more 'high literature' fiction, in an attempt to make me sound more intelligent and widely read in my English seminars... Somehow, I still end up bringing Harry Potter into everything though... really must sort that out. Anyway, my point is that I didn't really think that I'd enjoy this book so much, but I was surprised by how well-writted and witty it was. I'm not saying that this book changed my life, that it was a revolution in modern literature, and that I will never read another book, like so many people seem to have done, but Ifound I did enjoy it.
If you have been living in a hole at the end of your garden for the past couple of months, here is a brief summary of the story. Emma and Dexter met on 15th July, 1988, on the day of their graduation from St Andrews University, Edinburgh. Emma got a first (that's the highest you can get) in English and History, and Dexter got a third (the lowest you can get) in Anthropology. Each chapter in the book details what happens on that day, every year after that until about 2005. I thought this was a very original idea, and I suppose it could be difficult to pull off well, because seeing these characters for one day, once a year might stunt the character development, or not make us that close to the characters because we see them so infrequently. However the closeness we feel, and the progress of these two characters is really admirable, and I really did feel attached by the end.
I'm going to start with Emma, I think. She was a surprising character because she was so cynical: not at all the type of successfull, perfect character you see in so many novels/films of this genre. Indeed, the last few chick flicks I've seen seem to have made a point of characters who are not the perfect, pink, cheerleading-type that we've seen for so long. At first I thought this was quite refreshing, but now I'm getting quite bored of it. They try to make them seem 'kooky' and 'cool because they're different', when really they still end up with what the film-makers deem the 'perfect life' with the 'perfect boyfriend' and everyone loving them. Seriously, can we please have a chick flick where the girl doesn't get the guy, where nothing changes, but she still comes out happy and awesome?
I digress. I did like Emma's sarcastic sense of humour, how she avoids awkward and potentially emotional scenes with her dry wit, because I could relate to that. I hate ~emotional stuff~ when it comes to my life (although I adore reading/watching it), and I hardly evertalk about my feelings because it's weird. So I liked that quality about her. What really frustrated me though, and I think it was supposed to, was how when she left University her life spiralled into nothingness. Her brief stint as a performer who tried to change the world one act at a time was awful, and then she landed that humiliating job with the mexican restaurant Loco Caliente. I just couldn't understand how someone as bright and intelligent as her could possibly be settling for jobs like that. Dexter points this out at some point in the book, that she seemed to like suffering, and I think he was right, because she did nothing to get out of it, and she didn't even seem to care.
Her *unrequited love* (I hate that phrase) was definitely something I could relate to, so in a number of ways I felt she was fairly similar to me. But I don't want to go all fangirl and say that *this book is the definition of ~MY EXISTENCE~*, because that's definitely not true. But yeah, I was pleased in a way that Nicholls kept them apart for so long. I don't think the relationship could have worked if they'd been together when they were younger, as she was so dependent on him, and he just took her for granted for years. So although it's very poignant how little time they actually had to be properly together, I don't think it would have lasted as long if they'd got together earlier on.
This seems like a good time to talk about Dexter. Oh, Dexter. He was one of those characters who you couldn't help but love, even though you absolutely hated him sometimes, and Nichols summed this up absolutely perfectly in the now legendary line, "I love you, but I just don't like you", said by Emma to Dex. I kind of understood why he was such an asswipe at the beginning because hey, he was hot, rich, fairly intelligent etc, and could get any girl he wanted. When he was "finding himself" abroad, it was obvious that he didn't get how awful a time Emma was having, but you kind of had to forgive him, because when we read his side of the story we knew how much he though about her.
It wasn't until he became a TV Presenter and became a C-list celeb that his asswipe-ishness just turned into general arrogance and unbearableness. He was evidently an alcoholic, and completely full of himself, not caring about any of his old friends, especialy not Emma. In fact, I think he really liked the idea of Emma, knowing how close they'd been, but when it got to actually seeing her again, he just wanted her to know how much he'd given up to be with her tonight, how he deigned to be in her presence. I didn't blame Emma at all when she "broke up with him", because she really didn't need him in her life.
I want to talk briefly about the interesting juxtaposition between Dex's first live show and Emma's school play's opening night. They both had these things on at the same time, and they were both so different, yet so important to each of them. It highlights how different they were at that point, and also how selfish Dexter was to beg Emma to come to his show, when he knew what she was doing was equally as important.
I know I haven't talked about every detail that happened in this book, but I don't think I need to. I'm going to go straight on to the shock of the ending.
Well. Did anyone gues that was going to happen? I know I certainly didn't! I was surprised that I didn't cry though. I have to admit that I am prone to crying when something like this happens. I can't bear it when two people are separated. Think Lyra and Will (that still makes me cry), Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, and Cecilia and Robbie from Atonement. Yep, absolute wreck. So, very surprisingly I didn't cry, and I'm still not sure why. It was certainly upsetting that Emma died, especially the way she did, just out of nowhere, by a lorry (and that bit was really horrible in the film).
I guess what was worse was when we followed Dexter on the few years following her death, when he was an absolute wreck, and I think I found that more upsetting, because I hate to see the ones left behind. Still, I didn't cry, but that doesn't mean it wasn't sad. I thought Nicholls' writing was very emotive, and when Dexter was 'celebrating' Emma's life by getting drunk and being beaten up, I thought it was quite brave of Nicholls to do that. It would have been so easy to say, 'after Emma's death Dexter was perfect to honour her memory', but the fact that he slipped back into his old ways was probably more realistic, and I'm glad they kept it like that in the film: especially the loss of respect from his daughter.
Essentially though, it is a happy book, because we're left with the image of the two of them together in Edinburgh, young and happy, and I think the message here is that death is not what's important: as long as you've lived and loved, you've lived a full life.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Scorpia Rising, Anthony Horowitz
I have been back for a few days now and I still don't really know how to do this review. And I finished the book on the second day of my holiday.
I am in complete and utter shock.
I still can't believe Horowitz could have done something like this.
I refused to believe what I had read.
But that's not until towards the end of the book, and there's so much to cover. I think I should say now, that if you haven't read this book and are just looking for an overview, read with caution because I will be talking with nothing held back about the events that happen in this book.
Are you prepared to delve into utter, heartbreaking misery? I'm not.
So my last review was the chapter that concludes Part 1 of this book, and seriously, I look back on that time as a happier time in my life because I was blissfully unaware of the horror the next part would bring. Maybe I should stop being so melodramatic. We'll get to THAT bit later.
We join Alex in school, in a lesson, and he sees a sniper. He alerts everyone, and HIS BEST FRIEND TOM HARRIS WHOM I LOVE TO PIECES gets shot. :(( But, don't worry, it's only in the arm. Phew.Alex, naturally, runs out of the school and onto his bike, hoping to chase the sniper. Seriously. What person in their right mind would follow the person who just tried to kill him?
At the time I couldn't work out who this sniper was working for. Was it Scorpia? But they already had their plan. Unless it was because Mrs Jones and Alan Blunt had failed to take the bait and weren't using Alex. I just couldn't tell, but I guessed it to be the latter. When the truth is revealed at the end, I could have screamed in anger and hatred... but we'll get to that later.
As is typical of Alex, he follows the sniper to a helicopter, and manages to make it crash. Natch. So then he feels compelled to alert MI6, but Jack (eternal love for her) demands that Blunt and Jones come to Alex. Not him come to them. Wow, what a BAMF. She is forever awesome. I liked how humiliated Blunt felt by being summoned like this, and it just goes to show how important Alex has become to them. It wouldn't be to anyone that they took time out to come and visit them.
Alex asks for protection and, inevitably, they demand 'payment'. They want him to go to Egypt. Nothing dangerous, just keeping an eye on a school.
I HATE MI6 I HATE MI6 I HATE MI6
Why? Whywhywhywhy? Can't they just help him one last time? Alex is obliged to agree, and Jack insists on going with him. I was so pleased, because I love Jack and I thought Alex might be safer with her there too. Can someone please hold me while I cry?
Blunt and Jones do agree to send another agent though, and this time it's going to be Smithers. This reminded me of something. Ages ago I read an interview with Horowitz who teased that something huge would be revealed about Smithers. I worried for ages that he would be working for the 'bad guys', that he would end up betraying Alex, and I didn't think I could stand that. At this mention, I fleetingly thought it would be EPIC LOLZ if it turned out Smithers wore a fatsuit. Oh Helena. Your powers of furtune-telling are greater than you think. Right? We'll get to that though.
Alex and Jack go off an their adventure, and for ages there seems nothing wrong with the school. Smithers give Alex various eavesdropping gadgets, in order to help him listen in on head of security, who they suspect. Of course, this is a WHOLE BIG SCORPIA PLOT. After various mishaps, Alex has a run-in with the CIA who don't realise who he is, and torture him by the infamous 'waterboarding' technique. How someone could do that to a 15 year old boy is beyond me. Do they have no compassion? Fortunately he is saved by Joe Burn, head of CIA, and is informed that they are here to protect their Secretary of State who will be flying out to give a talk about international relations. A talk in which she will name Britain as a weakening country. They worry that she may be assassinated because of this. As a Brit, I wondered if I should feel affronted by this speech, but really I don't really care if we're a 'super-power' or not. In fact I think it would be nice not to be, maye the government wouldn't interfere with so much. But then, I'm not particularly informed about current politics, so I'm not the best judge.
Alex finds Jack again, and they agree to leave the next day, because things are definitely getting dangerour, and they were told it would be safe. He goes to see Smithers to tellhim they're leaving, and this is when THINGS GET 100% AWESOME! Not that they weren't already. Scorpia learn of Smithers' presence and decide to take him out. So we get to learn of all the gadgets he has built into the house. And they are truly awesome. My personal favourite was thesecret passage through the fridge and out into the street behind, but I did like the line about the exploding garden gnomes he has in England. Alex and Smithers are on the run from the 4 or 5 agents who are trying to kill Smithers, and when it seems like there's no escape, Smithers drops a bomb on us. Figuratively, not literally. Turns out that my random musings were 100% CORRECT!! Well what do you know? Is it enough to say that my mind was well and truly blown right then? I wonder if Horowitz always planned this...? Not only that, but his face is completely different, and he has an Irish accent. Deep cover or what? Anyhoo, he and Alex separate, and I assume that he makes it out ok, because we don't hear anything else about him.
Alex returns to the house he is staying in with Jack, only to find the house empty and a note telling him that Scorpia have her. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. I felt like my stomach had just ridden a rollercoaster and my body had chickened out and stayed on the ground.
NOT JACK YOU ABSOLUTE FUNSPONGE. THERE I SAID IT. I HATE SCORPIA, THEY ARE FUNSPONGES, AND FUNSPONGES ARE NOT COOL.
They leave instructions for Alex, and he obeys them, terrified that he will lose the one person who has stuck with him throughout (excuse me while I curl up in my sock drawer and cry for ten years). When he reaches the appointed destination, he comes face to face with - himself. Well, Julius Grief. But still. You think that's pretty bad, but then he's flown out into the desert with Julius and the Head of Security, who does actually turn out to be a bad guy.
We arrive at a place we've been before. Razim, the guy who was testing a measurement of pain, who lives in the desert. Alex and Jack are reunited briefly, and then things go from bad to worse. Razim confirms that he will be torturing Alex tomorrow evening, and he hopes that the anticipation will make the pain worse, as this would be informative to his studies. Know what? Funsponge isn't even strong enough for you, you bastard.
The next day, Alex and Jack talk, and she reveals that she thinks she's found a way out, and will try to get help as soon as they take Alex and don't pay attention to her anymore. I expected this to be the only way out. How wrong I was.
Razim and Julius take Alex to the torture room, and Razim explains that Alex must have no marks on him, because tomorrow he is to do something else for them, so he as devised a way to hurt him without leaving any scars. I was a little confused by this, and wasn't quite sure what to think. I'd heard that Alex came out alive at the end of this one, but that what happened to him was worse than death, so I thought we'd find out here. Imagining some terrible torture that would leave him paralysed. Oh, but it's so much worse.
Narrative switches to Jack who makes her escape, and it's surprisingly easy, but as soon as she got in the car on the way to the nearest city I felt relief. So then we switch back to Alex, and we see Razim turn on a television. Was he going to make Alex watch a Saw marathon? I know that would torture me. But no.
It shows Jack.
She is escaping.
No one is worried.
She is driving away.
Julius pushes a button.
The car explodes.
My head explodes.
My heart explodes.
Why?
I just can't get over it. I sat in my room that night and sobbed, because I just couldn't bear the thought that Jack was dead. I was so sure throughout the remainder of the book that Horowitz would be like, 'FOOLED YOU! It was just a trick, here she is!' as he's done so many times in this series, and I think it was because of this that it only sunk in till later. I still can't believe it.
Razim, heartless pig as he is, finds that emotional pain is far worse on physical pain, and writes this all down, which makes me sick.
You've probably all read the rest of the book, so I'll just say that Alex manages to stop Scorpia from killing the US Secretary of State and saves the day again.
But what I want to talk about now is what happens between him and Julius Grief. Because Alex actually kills him. With a gun, in cold blood. This really got to me, because throughout the series we all know, and he does, that he wouldn't actually be able to kill someone. And now Jack has gone and nothing seems to matter to him anymore. Everyone mentions how the light has gone from his eyes, how he is empty. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Mrs Jones says later on the killing Grief was like killing a piece of himself, because they are identical, and I hadn't thought of that. Could it be that he was effectively killing the 'spy' part of him? Is it a metaphor? Or is it an example of just how wrong you can go when you've been mistreated and abused, manipulated and lied to by adults. Jack was the final straw, and I worried that there'd be no going back now.
It's funny, because in Harry Potter the point is that Harry would never kill anyone. He has too much love in him, and despite the amount of people who have died for him he still never kills. When he defeats Voldemort he uses Expelliarmus, and Voldemort uses Avada Kedavra which rebounds; therefore meaning that Harry didn't physically kill. So what's the difference then, now that Alex has killed? I'm not saying he's gone bad, not at all, or that he's weaker. I just think that it's interesting how two children's authors have tackled similar problems so differently.
We learn through the POV of Edward Pleasure that Alex is now going to live with them in San Fransisco, which is good: he'll get away from MI6 (although now Mrs Jones is head, I don't think they'd use him anyway). But again, it was heartbreaking to read how Edward noticed how broken Alex is, how he strares for long periods of time into nothingness, and doesn't volunteer conversation. The only way things are looking up is that he notices that Alex has perked up minutely since he arrived, and hopes that he will keep doing so.
We're left believing that things are going to be alright, if not for a very long time, but at some point, as Alex leaves his life behind him and tries to forget the horror that has been the past year of it.
I am in complete and utter shock.
I still can't believe Horowitz could have done something like this.
I refused to believe what I had read.
But that's not until towards the end of the book, and there's so much to cover. I think I should say now, that if you haven't read this book and are just looking for an overview, read with caution because I will be talking with nothing held back about the events that happen in this book.
Are you prepared to delve into utter, heartbreaking misery? I'm not.
So my last review was the chapter that concludes Part 1 of this book, and seriously, I look back on that time as a happier time in my life because I was blissfully unaware of the horror the next part would bring. Maybe I should stop being so melodramatic. We'll get to THAT bit later.
We join Alex in school, in a lesson, and he sees a sniper. He alerts everyone, and HIS BEST FRIEND TOM HARRIS WHOM I LOVE TO PIECES gets shot. :(( But, don't worry, it's only in the arm. Phew.Alex, naturally, runs out of the school and onto his bike, hoping to chase the sniper. Seriously. What person in their right mind would follow the person who just tried to kill him?
At the time I couldn't work out who this sniper was working for. Was it Scorpia? But they already had their plan. Unless it was because Mrs Jones and Alan Blunt had failed to take the bait and weren't using Alex. I just couldn't tell, but I guessed it to be the latter. When the truth is revealed at the end, I could have screamed in anger and hatred... but we'll get to that later.
As is typical of Alex, he follows the sniper to a helicopter, and manages to make it crash. Natch. So then he feels compelled to alert MI6, but Jack (eternal love for her) demands that Blunt and Jones come to Alex. Not him come to them. Wow, what a BAMF. She is forever awesome. I liked how humiliated Blunt felt by being summoned like this, and it just goes to show how important Alex has become to them. It wouldn't be to anyone that they took time out to come and visit them.
Alex asks for protection and, inevitably, they demand 'payment'. They want him to go to Egypt. Nothing dangerous, just keeping an eye on a school.
I HATE MI6 I HATE MI6 I HATE MI6
Why? Whywhywhywhy? Can't they just help him one last time? Alex is obliged to agree, and Jack insists on going with him. I was so pleased, because I love Jack and I thought Alex might be safer with her there too. Can someone please hold me while I cry?
Blunt and Jones do agree to send another agent though, and this time it's going to be Smithers. This reminded me of something. Ages ago I read an interview with Horowitz who teased that something huge would be revealed about Smithers. I worried for ages that he would be working for the 'bad guys', that he would end up betraying Alex, and I didn't think I could stand that. At this mention, I fleetingly thought it would be EPIC LOLZ if it turned out Smithers wore a fatsuit. Oh Helena. Your powers of furtune-telling are greater than you think. Right? We'll get to that though.
Alex and Jack go off an their adventure, and for ages there seems nothing wrong with the school. Smithers give Alex various eavesdropping gadgets, in order to help him listen in on head of security, who they suspect. Of course, this is a WHOLE BIG SCORPIA PLOT. After various mishaps, Alex has a run-in with the CIA who don't realise who he is, and torture him by the infamous 'waterboarding' technique. How someone could do that to a 15 year old boy is beyond me. Do they have no compassion? Fortunately he is saved by Joe Burn, head of CIA, and is informed that they are here to protect their Secretary of State who will be flying out to give a talk about international relations. A talk in which she will name Britain as a weakening country. They worry that she may be assassinated because of this. As a Brit, I wondered if I should feel affronted by this speech, but really I don't really care if we're a 'super-power' or not. In fact I think it would be nice not to be, maye the government wouldn't interfere with so much. But then, I'm not particularly informed about current politics, so I'm not the best judge.
Alex finds Jack again, and they agree to leave the next day, because things are definitely getting dangerour, and they were told it would be safe. He goes to see Smithers to tellhim they're leaving, and this is when THINGS GET 100% AWESOME! Not that they weren't already. Scorpia learn of Smithers' presence and decide to take him out. So we get to learn of all the gadgets he has built into the house. And they are truly awesome. My personal favourite was thesecret passage through the fridge and out into the street behind, but I did like the line about the exploding garden gnomes he has in England. Alex and Smithers are on the run from the 4 or 5 agents who are trying to kill Smithers, and when it seems like there's no escape, Smithers drops a bomb on us. Figuratively, not literally. Turns out that my random musings were 100% CORRECT!! Well what do you know? Is it enough to say that my mind was well and truly blown right then? I wonder if Horowitz always planned this...? Not only that, but his face is completely different, and he has an Irish accent. Deep cover or what? Anyhoo, he and Alex separate, and I assume that he makes it out ok, because we don't hear anything else about him.
Alex returns to the house he is staying in with Jack, only to find the house empty and a note telling him that Scorpia have her. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. I felt like my stomach had just ridden a rollercoaster and my body had chickened out and stayed on the ground.
NOT JACK YOU ABSOLUTE FUNSPONGE. THERE I SAID IT. I HATE SCORPIA, THEY ARE FUNSPONGES, AND FUNSPONGES ARE NOT COOL.
They leave instructions for Alex, and he obeys them, terrified that he will lose the one person who has stuck with him throughout (excuse me while I curl up in my sock drawer and cry for ten years). When he reaches the appointed destination, he comes face to face with - himself. Well, Julius Grief. But still. You think that's pretty bad, but then he's flown out into the desert with Julius and the Head of Security, who does actually turn out to be a bad guy.
We arrive at a place we've been before. Razim, the guy who was testing a measurement of pain, who lives in the desert. Alex and Jack are reunited briefly, and then things go from bad to worse. Razim confirms that he will be torturing Alex tomorrow evening, and he hopes that the anticipation will make the pain worse, as this would be informative to his studies. Know what? Funsponge isn't even strong enough for you, you bastard.
The next day, Alex and Jack talk, and she reveals that she thinks she's found a way out, and will try to get help as soon as they take Alex and don't pay attention to her anymore. I expected this to be the only way out. How wrong I was.
Razim and Julius take Alex to the torture room, and Razim explains that Alex must have no marks on him, because tomorrow he is to do something else for them, so he as devised a way to hurt him without leaving any scars. I was a little confused by this, and wasn't quite sure what to think. I'd heard that Alex came out alive at the end of this one, but that what happened to him was worse than death, so I thought we'd find out here. Imagining some terrible torture that would leave him paralysed. Oh, but it's so much worse.
Narrative switches to Jack who makes her escape, and it's surprisingly easy, but as soon as she got in the car on the way to the nearest city I felt relief. So then we switch back to Alex, and we see Razim turn on a television. Was he going to make Alex watch a Saw marathon? I know that would torture me. But no.
It shows Jack.
She is escaping.
No one is worried.
She is driving away.
Julius pushes a button.
The car explodes.
My head explodes.
My heart explodes.
Why?
I just can't get over it. I sat in my room that night and sobbed, because I just couldn't bear the thought that Jack was dead. I was so sure throughout the remainder of the book that Horowitz would be like, 'FOOLED YOU! It was just a trick, here she is!' as he's done so many times in this series, and I think it was because of this that it only sunk in till later. I still can't believe it.
Razim, heartless pig as he is, finds that emotional pain is far worse on physical pain, and writes this all down, which makes me sick.
You've probably all read the rest of the book, so I'll just say that Alex manages to stop Scorpia from killing the US Secretary of State and saves the day again.
But what I want to talk about now is what happens between him and Julius Grief. Because Alex actually kills him. With a gun, in cold blood. This really got to me, because throughout the series we all know, and he does, that he wouldn't actually be able to kill someone. And now Jack has gone and nothing seems to matter to him anymore. Everyone mentions how the light has gone from his eyes, how he is empty. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Mrs Jones says later on the killing Grief was like killing a piece of himself, because they are identical, and I hadn't thought of that. Could it be that he was effectively killing the 'spy' part of him? Is it a metaphor? Or is it an example of just how wrong you can go when you've been mistreated and abused, manipulated and lied to by adults. Jack was the final straw, and I worried that there'd be no going back now.
It's funny, because in Harry Potter the point is that Harry would never kill anyone. He has too much love in him, and despite the amount of people who have died for him he still never kills. When he defeats Voldemort he uses Expelliarmus, and Voldemort uses Avada Kedavra which rebounds; therefore meaning that Harry didn't physically kill. So what's the difference then, now that Alex has killed? I'm not saying he's gone bad, not at all, or that he's weaker. I just think that it's interesting how two children's authors have tackled similar problems so differently.
We learn through the POV of Edward Pleasure that Alex is now going to live with them in San Fransisco, which is good: he'll get away from MI6 (although now Mrs Jones is head, I don't think they'd use him anyway). But again, it was heartbreaking to read how Edward noticed how broken Alex is, how he strares for long periods of time into nothingness, and doesn't volunteer conversation. The only way things are looking up is that he notices that Alex has perked up minutely since he arrived, and hopes that he will keep doing so.
We're left believing that things are going to be alright, if not for a very long time, but at some point, as Alex leaves his life behind him and tries to forget the horror that has been the past year of it.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 15: Special Delivery
This chapter was horrible.
I don't even know how to talk about it.
It was so much more cold-blooded, horrific, evil and inescapable than anything else in the entire series, and that's saying something. I mean, seriously, who would do something like that?
Um if you haven't read this book (or any other books in this series for that matter) just go and read them now because you're seriously missing out.
In this chapter Alex gets captured by some people who are working for McCain on his way to school. They get him with a hypodermic syringe to knock him out and then bundle him into the back of a van and take him to a strange place where they are joined by Myra Bennett who makes the situation much worse.
She cuts his hair badly and they've changed him into old baggy clothes by the time he wakes up. Bennett then sticks another needle in him, but this time she doesn't take it out: instead she attached some sort of box to it and hides them under his sleeve. She tells him that it will keep re-injecting him with this liquid at regular intervals so that he has no chance of escaping.
And then she shows him his reflection in the mirror. He's sitting in a wheelchair, and with the haircut and stained outfit and numbing fluids that are being pumped into him, he looks like he's suffering from severe brain damage. Bennett has lodged onto the fact that people don't look closely at people in wheelchairs because they don't want to look like they're staring and has taken advantage of it. Even if people were already looking for Alex, they wouldn't think to look at disabled people, and Alex is almost unrecogniseable anyway. Alex can't move, can't speak, his body has become a prison as his mind continues to work normally - when he's not unconscious, that is.
They wheel him out, and through his various bouts of consciousness he registers that they're taking him to Heathrow Airport, then boarding an aeroplane. The most painful thing about this chapter is how helpless he is. His mind could be screaming at him but he cannot do anything, and these people know exactly what they're putting him through, and they don't even care.
Onboard the aeroplane, Bennett tries to further humiliate him by getting him to eat baby food, but luckily Alex is able to keep his mouth resolutely closed to avoid any more of this torture he's being put under. What kind of person would do this to a fourteen-year-old?
They get off the plane and Alex sees a huge sign saying, "Smile, you're in Kenya" and realises that he has flown so far across the world and no one knows where he is. Jack wouldn't have known, MI6 would have been alerted but there's no way they'd expect this to happen and they can't have been prepared. His only hope is if they manage to track down McCain and therefore, by some miracle, Alex too.
And then it just ends. And we're left feeling completely gutted. How on earth can Alex get out of this? If no one knows where he is, even if he manages to escape, how on earth is he going to get back to England from Kenya??
Uuuurgh this was so horrible to read, I have no idea how he's going to escape this one, I almost don't want to read the next chapter because I can only see it getting worse!!
I don't even know how to talk about it.
It was so much more cold-blooded, horrific, evil and inescapable than anything else in the entire series, and that's saying something. I mean, seriously, who would do something like that?
Um if you haven't read this book (or any other books in this series for that matter) just go and read them now because you're seriously missing out.
In this chapter Alex gets captured by some people who are working for McCain on his way to school. They get him with a hypodermic syringe to knock him out and then bundle him into the back of a van and take him to a strange place where they are joined by Myra Bennett who makes the situation much worse.
She cuts his hair badly and they've changed him into old baggy clothes by the time he wakes up. Bennett then sticks another needle in him, but this time she doesn't take it out: instead she attached some sort of box to it and hides them under his sleeve. She tells him that it will keep re-injecting him with this liquid at regular intervals so that he has no chance of escaping.
And then she shows him his reflection in the mirror. He's sitting in a wheelchair, and with the haircut and stained outfit and numbing fluids that are being pumped into him, he looks like he's suffering from severe brain damage. Bennett has lodged onto the fact that people don't look closely at people in wheelchairs because they don't want to look like they're staring and has taken advantage of it. Even if people were already looking for Alex, they wouldn't think to look at disabled people, and Alex is almost unrecogniseable anyway. Alex can't move, can't speak, his body has become a prison as his mind continues to work normally - when he's not unconscious, that is.
They wheel him out, and through his various bouts of consciousness he registers that they're taking him to Heathrow Airport, then boarding an aeroplane. The most painful thing about this chapter is how helpless he is. His mind could be screaming at him but he cannot do anything, and these people know exactly what they're putting him through, and they don't even care.
Onboard the aeroplane, Bennett tries to further humiliate him by getting him to eat baby food, but luckily Alex is able to keep his mouth resolutely closed to avoid any more of this torture he's being put under. What kind of person would do this to a fourteen-year-old?
They get off the plane and Alex sees a huge sign saying, "Smile, you're in Kenya" and realises that he has flown so far across the world and no one knows where he is. Jack wouldn't have known, MI6 would have been alerted but there's no way they'd expect this to happen and they can't have been prepared. His only hope is if they manage to track down McCain and therefore, by some miracle, Alex too.
And then it just ends. And we're left feeling completely gutted. How on earth can Alex get out of this? If no one knows where he is, even if he manages to escape, how on earth is he going to get back to England from Kenya??
Uuuurgh this was so horrible to read, I have no idea how he's going to escape this one, I almost don't want to read the next chapter because I can only see it getting worse!!
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 4: Off-road vehicle
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHAT THE F...LIP DID I JUST READ??? WHYYY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME ANTHONY HOROWITZ???
Pretty uch the entire of the chapter is eclipsed by the final line here. It was a very short chapter so there's not very much to talk about. Alex leaves the Billiard room feeling pretty guilty about beating McCain of his £25,000, but he soon runs into Edward Pleasure and they wait for Sabina to find them before they leave, as they all feel a bit awkward.
They have a conversation which is very probably foreshadowing for some future event: it's about some homework Alex is doing about GM (genetically modified) crops. They're saying that the companies who control this modification process or whatever it is have the ability to have a huge amount of power and money by forcing farmers to pay them for competitive seeds, and also by modifying them so they don't reproduce and therefore farmers have no option but to buy the seeds from these companies. Edward is a journalist and believes he could write something about this, and just as he says this Alex sees McCain close to them. He must have heard what they were saying and looks very worried. What are the chances he's A) behind one of these companies, B) about to get into one of these companies or C) masterminding an evil plan that could seriously be damaged by Edward writing about them.
McCain is not being set up as a good guy here, especially when the three leave and they all agree that something had given them the creeps about that party and they had left feeling awkward and very uncomfortable.
But then the worst thing of the novel so far happens (also strengthening my belief that McCain is a bad guy):
"The accident was so sudden, so unexpected, that none of them even realised what was happening until it was almost over"
There has been very thick snow, and Kilmore Castle is on a mountain, so they're driving down these tight hairpin bends and somehow something goes wrong and they're skidding on the ice, swinging around on the icy road, until they slide off and hang over the edge, teetering for a second before the inevitable:
"For half a second the car hung there.
Then it pitched forward and plunged down."
HJNRE[BGJRE[IBJWer k/hfsuhwe
NHJE;KWATHJE45HTE5U4JNHF S
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WHAT?? THIS CANNOT HAPPEN IN CHAPTER FOUR!! IF SABINA OR EDWARD DIE THEN I WILL CRY FOREVER!!!
This has to be Desmond McCain's work.
Pretty uch the entire of the chapter is eclipsed by the final line here. It was a very short chapter so there's not very much to talk about. Alex leaves the Billiard room feeling pretty guilty about beating McCain of his £25,000, but he soon runs into Edward Pleasure and they wait for Sabina to find them before they leave, as they all feel a bit awkward.
They have a conversation which is very probably foreshadowing for some future event: it's about some homework Alex is doing about GM (genetically modified) crops. They're saying that the companies who control this modification process or whatever it is have the ability to have a huge amount of power and money by forcing farmers to pay them for competitive seeds, and also by modifying them so they don't reproduce and therefore farmers have no option but to buy the seeds from these companies. Edward is a journalist and believes he could write something about this, and just as he says this Alex sees McCain close to them. He must have heard what they were saying and looks very worried. What are the chances he's A) behind one of these companies, B) about to get into one of these companies or C) masterminding an evil plan that could seriously be damaged by Edward writing about them.
McCain is not being set up as a good guy here, especially when the three leave and they all agree that something had given them the creeps about that party and they had left feeling awkward and very uncomfortable.
But then the worst thing of the novel so far happens (also strengthening my belief that McCain is a bad guy):
"The accident was so sudden, so unexpected, that none of them even realised what was happening until it was almost over"
There has been very thick snow, and Kilmore Castle is on a mountain, so they're driving down these tight hairpin bends and somehow something goes wrong and they're skidding on the ice, swinging around on the icy road, until they slide off and hang over the edge, teetering for a second before the inevitable:
"For half a second the car hung there.
Then it pitched forward and plunged down."
HJNRE[BGJRE[IBJWer k/hfsuhwe
NHJE;KWATHJE45HTE5U4JNHF S
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WHAT?? THIS CANNOT HAPPEN IN CHAPTER FOUR!! IF SABINA OR EDWARD DIE THEN I WILL CRY FOREVER!!!
This has to be Desmond McCain's work.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Crocodile Tears - Chapter 2: Reflections In a Mirror
Chapter 2 brings Alex Rider back into our thoughts and my heart broke a thousand times. It starts with him looking in his reflection in the mirror, and thinking about his life in the past year. It recapped over everything he's done which was good for me as I hadn't read the books for so long but I guess it was probably unnecessary for some. This bit was so awful because he is so damaged by what's happened to him: not just physically (he still has a scar from a bullet wound left in book 5) but mentally. He has these memories of being knocked out, beaten up, shot at, attacked. And then the memories of those who died: Yassen Gregorovitch, who, like Snape, turned out to be kind of good; Ash, his godfather, who betrayed his parents and blew up their plane, killing him when he was only a baby (recognise Pettigrew/Jame and Lily Potter there?) and then of course his Uncle, Ian Rider whose death started this rollercoaster-ride of a few months with MI6.
It makes you think how much he's been through, and this is why I like the books so much: like Harry Potter, the hero doesn't just pop back up each time he's knocked down (literally and metaphoriaclly), he's a little bit worse off each time, and by the end he's been hardened by these experiences. It's so realistic. I feel like I'm about to cry.
So Alex is getting ready for this big fancy party celebrating the New Year. He's on holiday with his friend (or is it more than that?) Sabina Pleasure and her family in Scotland and this rich man has invited them to his SCOTTISH CASTLE WHICH IS LATER DESCRIBED EXACTLY LIKE HOGWARTS for NYE. Sabina's mum is ill (foreshadowing maybe? Watch this space) and isn't going so it's just Alex, Sabina and her Dad. They all know Alex is a spy because he helped to track down a man who tried to kill Edward Pleasure (Dad) in book 4. This man happened to be the most famous singer on the planet, but Alex defeated him and saved the day.
Edward and Alex discuss this past, and Alex makes it clear that he wants nothing more to do about MI6. Famous Last Words. Edward tells him about the man whose house they're going to, and one thing that BLEW MY MIND AND MADE A MESS ON THE FLOOR was this: the man in question, Desmond McCain, used to be a boxer and was tipped to win some big championship, but lost in the first round to another boxer called Buddy Sangster. A year later Buddy fell under a train in New York and died. This seems like a strange accident, but not a strange when you read that one fan gave him ONE HUNDRED BLACK TULIPS!!! Ok if you haven't read the series before this won't mean anything to you. But in book 2 there was this assassin who whenenver he killed anyone he would send the family BLACK TULIPS. Edward Pleasure doesn't think there's anything wrong with this Desmond guy, but it's obvious to me that there is because he must have ORDERED THE MURDER OF BUDDY SANGSTER. If I'm wron, feel free to laugh at me, but someone as talented and detailed as Horowitz wouldn't put this in by accident. I'm going to have fun with this I can tell.
So anyway, the chapter ends with them going into the castle and Alex reading a motto that says, "You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are" which Alex notes seems very fitting for him. I wonder if this will come into play later? Hmmmm.
It makes you think how much he's been through, and this is why I like the books so much: like Harry Potter, the hero doesn't just pop back up each time he's knocked down (literally and metaphoriaclly), he's a little bit worse off each time, and by the end he's been hardened by these experiences. It's so realistic. I feel like I'm about to cry.
So Alex is getting ready for this big fancy party celebrating the New Year. He's on holiday with his friend (or is it more than that?) Sabina Pleasure and her family in Scotland and this rich man has invited them to his SCOTTISH CASTLE WHICH IS LATER DESCRIBED EXACTLY LIKE HOGWARTS for NYE. Sabina's mum is ill (foreshadowing maybe? Watch this space) and isn't going so it's just Alex, Sabina and her Dad. They all know Alex is a spy because he helped to track down a man who tried to kill Edward Pleasure (Dad) in book 4. This man happened to be the most famous singer on the planet, but Alex defeated him and saved the day.
Edward and Alex discuss this past, and Alex makes it clear that he wants nothing more to do about MI6. Famous Last Words. Edward tells him about the man whose house they're going to, and one thing that BLEW MY MIND AND MADE A MESS ON THE FLOOR was this: the man in question, Desmond McCain, used to be a boxer and was tipped to win some big championship, but lost in the first round to another boxer called Buddy Sangster. A year later Buddy fell under a train in New York and died. This seems like a strange accident, but not a strange when you read that one fan gave him ONE HUNDRED BLACK TULIPS!!! Ok if you haven't read the series before this won't mean anything to you. But in book 2 there was this assassin who whenenver he killed anyone he would send the family BLACK TULIPS. Edward Pleasure doesn't think there's anything wrong with this Desmond guy, but it's obvious to me that there is because he must have ORDERED THE MURDER OF BUDDY SANGSTER. If I'm wron, feel free to laugh at me, but someone as talented and detailed as Horowitz wouldn't put this in by accident. I'm going to have fun with this I can tell.
So anyway, the chapter ends with them going into the castle and Alex reading a motto that says, "You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are" which Alex notes seems very fitting for him. I wonder if this will come into play later? Hmmmm.
The Woman In Black - Chapters 9-12 TOO MUCH SCARY!!!
DID I SAY IN THE LAST POST THAT THIS WASN'T SCARY ENOUGH??? SUSAN HILL OBVIOUSLY SAVED ALL THAT IS HORRIFIC, TERRIFYING AND DEVASTATING FOR THE FINAL FOUR CHAPTERS BECAUSE I WAS FLIPPING SCARED!!!! I take back my words from yesterday. I could NOT BEGIN TO IMAGINE what lay in store for me!! How do I begin?
Arthur returns to Eel Marsh House the next morning and surprisingly spends a whole day there completely unharmed by any supernatural beings. HOWEVER that night he is woken by Spider the dog growling at the door. He could hear a noise coming from down the hall which he recognised but couldn’t quite identify. I thought this was particularly good in increasing the tension, because not knowing what was down the corridor, relying on Arthur to describe the sound, and not being able to hear it ourselves was very powerful as it forced us to focus on what Arthur was saying, rather than if we were watching the film we’d be trying to work out what the sound was ourselves.
The sound is coming from a room which Arthur passed earlier and which he knows has a locked door. He slowly creeps up to it, building the tension by describing this sound as something from his childhood which he knew should be perfectly innocent but in this case would be perfectly terrifying if he could only work out what it was. This was interesting, as so many horror films use things related to children and make them absolutely terrifying: children's voices singing nursery rhymes, dolls (which actually were written about by Freud, explaining why they can be so scary), clowns etc. He approaches the door and cannot open it, but still hears the sound. He returns to his room and attempts to sleep, knowing again that there is someone or something else in the house with him.
The sound is coming from a room which Arthur passed earlier and which he knows has a locked door. He slowly creeps up to it, building the tension by describing this sound as something from his childhood which he knew should be perfectly innocent but in this case would be perfectly terrifying if he could only work out what it was. This was interesting, as so many horror films use things related to children and make them absolutely terrifying: children's voices singing nursery rhymes, dolls (which actually were written about by Freud, explaining why they can be so scary), clowns etc. He approaches the door and cannot open it, but still hears the sound. He returns to his room and attempts to sleep, knowing again that there is someone or something else in the house with him.
The next thing that's important is that next day he continures sorting through Mrs Drablow's papers (that's what he was supposed to do from the start) and discovers letters sent from someone called J to Alice Drablow, who obviously had a baby out of marriage and whose parents are forcing her to give it away. She doesn't want to but eventually gives it to Alice and there are papers of adoption along with these letters. Previously Arthur had found a grave with a name on it that started with J, so she obviously died here. Also, remember that child in the pony trap? Well Arthur heard that same noise again the night before, so it's obviously not human, and can I just say now that I INSTANTLY thought of a theory: THIS J PERSON IS THE WOMAN IN BLACK, SHE GAVE UP HER CHILD TO ALICE DRABLOW, THE CHILD DROWNED ON THE MARSHES, AND WHEN SHE FOUND OUT SHE DIED TOO. That is what I came up with.
Ok so later he hears this strange sound again, and he thinks he realises what it is. He walks slowly along the corridor and up to the door and - THE DOOR IS FLIPPING OPEN!!! DJFSE;HAEKESH HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?? I AM NOW SCARED FOREVER!!! Inside is A NURSERY, which is scary in every way because it's preserved as though there's a child still living there, even though they died years ago, and THE ROCKING CHAIR IN THE CORNER IS ROCKING!!!! There's no one there, it's described as though someone has just left, but WTF? Man I was scared.
That night there's a storm (wow that's original) and Arthur opens his bedroom door to venture out into the corridor, but he can sort of sense another being just walking past him. Hold me whilst I cry with fear please :[ Then there's a power cut so he's in total darkness - :O - so he can't do anything/go anywhere so he goes back to bed. When he re-awakes at dawn he decides for some reason to go outside for a walk, and Spider runs off across the marshes, no doubt trying to escape that awful place. BUT he gets stuck and starts being PULLED UNDER and Arthur tries to save him and IT'S NEARLY THE MOST HORRIBLE BIT OF THE WHOLE BOOK but then they get free, Arthur faints and then wakes up under the care of Samuel Daily who came to rescue him. PHEW! I can breathe again.
After that there's the whole explanation thing going on, and I was 100% RIGHT ABOUT MY THEORY! Only thing is that Jennet was Mrs Drablow's sister. But then Daily says the worst thing in the entire history of horror books. Every time The Woman is sighted a child dies. It is her revenge for her child dying and no one can escape from it. But this time no child seems to have died. Maybe the 'curse' is broken.
Arthur returns to London and marries Stella, his fiance who we never met previously. He begins to put the pastbehind him and they have a child and everything is happy. Then one day they're all out and the child begs to go on a carriage ride in a park. He and Stella go on board and move off. Arthur sees in the distance The Woman. She walks up to the horse pulling the carriage and scares it. The horse rears and the carriage is upturned. Stella and the boy die.
And I finally understand why Arthur reacted the way he did when asked to tell a ghost story at the beginning of the book, because not only were his experiences terrifying, but his later happiness was completely ruined by this avenging ghost who cannot bear to see anyone with something she lost. I really was not prepared.
Friday, 1 April 2011
Never Let Me Go - Part 3 - Ruth Reformed
I'm not really sure what to write for this one. The end of this book was just so sad that I think it stands out, overshadowing the rest of the story. I can hardly remember how Part 3 starts, and nothing seems as significant as the final few chapters.
I suppose I should start by saying what happens to Kathy after she leaves the Cottages. She becomes a carer, and the life seems very solitary, so lonely: she drives around from place to place, sleeping in bedsits and looking after donors. She talks about how it feels when one "completes" (they don't call it dying, which makes them sound subhuman: as though they're merely machines built for a task that they must complete), how you feel guilty and yet relieved that their suffering is over.
Ishiguro lets us aclimatise to this new way of life, and in a way new narrative style, as Kathy doesn't talk directly to us as she did before, and the tone is a lot more subdued and quiet than during Parts 1 and 2. A few years after she left she meets Ruth who has just done her second donation and is not doing so well for it. This is the bit where I started to warm to her. She still had a little of the stubborness that used to annoy me, but she - like the narrative - was very subdued, very meek. The two seem to have got over their differences that distanced them at the Cottages, and they reminisce about their years together. They decide to take a trip to a boat that had appeared in the middle of a field (yeah I found that weird too) and of course, Tommy just happens to be situated near there too.
The trip they take, and their meeting with Tommy really highlights how things have changed - or rather not - between the three of them. Maybe it's because of Ruth's new, quiet, almost submissive manner, but now it seems that she, rather than Tommy and Kathy, is the odd one out. Those two have some kind of easy relationship that instantly brings them together again, whereas she struggles to participate and becomes almost a 'third wheel'. On the way back though, she shows exactly why she has been so quiet. She begs Kathy to forgive her. I initially thought it would just be for her being domineering, but then she reveals that it should have been Kathy and Tommy together from the start (I KNEW IT!!), that those two made more sense than she and Tommy ever did, and that she deliberately tried to keep them apart. Ouch. That was spiteful. Anyway, she begs them to try now, even though she knows it's nearly too late (Tommy's had his third donation, and people don't often last much mre than four), but she believes that if they apply for a deferral, like those rumours said, they will get to stay together for longer.
I was torn between great happiness for Kathy and Tommy, who I've been rooting for since the beginning, and sadness, because Ruth (even though I don't like her) is obviously full of regret and pain at what she did. She's dying slowly and painfully and this is her one last chance of righting the wrongs she did throughout their relationship. I also thought it was interesting reading Kathy's reaction. Before now we are never told by Kathy her feelings towards Tommy: almost as though they're irrelevant. I've said before that in many ways she distances herself from us, and this is evidence. We only know for certain now that she has felt this way for years. Maybe she didn't know herself, maybe she only just understands now, but the point is that although she seems to draw us into her confidence, we don't really know her deepest feelings until near the end.
Ok so there is so much to talk about in the next section that I've decided to do it as a separate post, because otherwise this one will be insanely long, and I've already talked enough today. So I'll probs do it tomorrow, but until then byyyyyyye!
I suppose I should start by saying what happens to Kathy after she leaves the Cottages. She becomes a carer, and the life seems very solitary, so lonely: she drives around from place to place, sleeping in bedsits and looking after donors. She talks about how it feels when one "completes" (they don't call it dying, which makes them sound subhuman: as though they're merely machines built for a task that they must complete), how you feel guilty and yet relieved that their suffering is over.
Ishiguro lets us aclimatise to this new way of life, and in a way new narrative style, as Kathy doesn't talk directly to us as she did before, and the tone is a lot more subdued and quiet than during Parts 1 and 2. A few years after she left she meets Ruth who has just done her second donation and is not doing so well for it. This is the bit where I started to warm to her. She still had a little of the stubborness that used to annoy me, but she - like the narrative - was very subdued, very meek. The two seem to have got over their differences that distanced them at the Cottages, and they reminisce about their years together. They decide to take a trip to a boat that had appeared in the middle of a field (yeah I found that weird too) and of course, Tommy just happens to be situated near there too.
The trip they take, and their meeting with Tommy really highlights how things have changed - or rather not - between the three of them. Maybe it's because of Ruth's new, quiet, almost submissive manner, but now it seems that she, rather than Tommy and Kathy, is the odd one out. Those two have some kind of easy relationship that instantly brings them together again, whereas she struggles to participate and becomes almost a 'third wheel'. On the way back though, she shows exactly why she has been so quiet. She begs Kathy to forgive her. I initially thought it would just be for her being domineering, but then she reveals that it should have been Kathy and Tommy together from the start (I KNEW IT!!), that those two made more sense than she and Tommy ever did, and that she deliberately tried to keep them apart. Ouch. That was spiteful. Anyway, she begs them to try now, even though she knows it's nearly too late (Tommy's had his third donation, and people don't often last much mre than four), but she believes that if they apply for a deferral, like those rumours said, they will get to stay together for longer.
I was torn between great happiness for Kathy and Tommy, who I've been rooting for since the beginning, and sadness, because Ruth (even though I don't like her) is obviously full of regret and pain at what she did. She's dying slowly and painfully and this is her one last chance of righting the wrongs she did throughout their relationship. I also thought it was interesting reading Kathy's reaction. Before now we are never told by Kathy her feelings towards Tommy: almost as though they're irrelevant. I've said before that in many ways she distances herself from us, and this is evidence. We only know for certain now that she has felt this way for years. Maybe she didn't know herself, maybe she only just understands now, but the point is that although she seems to draw us into her confidence, we don't really know her deepest feelings until near the end.
Ok so there is so much to talk about in the next section that I've decided to do it as a separate post, because otherwise this one will be insanely long, and I've already talked enough today. So I'll probs do it tomorrow, but until then byyyyyyye!
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