Review - Simon by Michael Mullin

Title: Simon

Author: Michael Mullin

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis:

His father is dead. His mother has remarried. His uncle is . . . his new stepfather? When the ghost of Simon Elsinore's father returns and claims he was murdered by his own brother, the nineteen-year-old film student must determine what is true and exact the revenge his father demands.

I received an ebook copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

My thoughts:

To tell the truth I have my issues with modernized Shakespeare, but from time to time I pick up a book or watch a film adaptation that sets one of the Bard’s story in modern times just to see if I can take anything away from it. Very often I don’t like the whole setting, the whole atmosphere of these works, simply because I adore the mood that Shakespeare originally created so much, it’s hard for me to stop expecting it to be there.

Now what is extremely interesting in the case of Michael Mullin’s Simon is that my favourite thing about it was the alienation I experienced when reading it. I kept pushing the story away to a safe distance where I could look at it with an analytical eye without having to be a part of it.

When I became conscious of my withdrawing from the happenings in Simon I started thinking of its reason – you see, I never felt the need to ’keep away’ from Shakespeare’s Hamlet this way, I was always eager to brood over matters of life and death together with the Prince never feeling the weight of it… and ay, there’s the rub… Simon, being set in today’s America, in our time, made Hamlet’s story REAL.

Simon begins with the end: from the news we get to know a massacre happened in the suburbia of an American town. Isn’t it something we hear in the telly every day? Murders, massacres, mayhem. It is too familiar and too tangible. In Simon the safety that the distance in time provides in the case of Hamlet disappeared and it made me feel uneasy. It may sound a bit contradictory, but the need to distance myself from the events of Simon brought me closer to Hamlet and made me see it from a different light. I think if a retelling opens new, interesting, windows on the original work it is well worth reading.

The story is well known, but of course you can’t rewrite it in the 21th century without making certain changes. I think Mr. Mullin did a good job with the little bits that eventually made this old tale adjust to the present. I especially enjoyed the usage of media and technology. I felt the book wanted to put an emphasis on the shift in communication that took place between then and now (Hamlet’s time and today).

I liked how the film as medium was represented in the book. Inserting the grave-digging ’scene’ was a phenomenal idea. Speaking of grave digging… the metaphors and symbols were very strong in Simon, sharp even, which I loved. The depiction of the wedding/funeral got me hooked in the very beginning.

The reason why I didn’t give 5 stars to this novel was Simon. He didn’t strike me as a Hamlet figure despite him being the title character. For me there was too much doing and too little reflecting when it came to him. Maybe I missed something, but he didn’t seem deep enough for me.

All in all, the stars and – I hope – this review tells everything. Happy reading, Shakespeare geeks! 

Goodreads | Amazon

"Waiting on" Wednesday #1

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by breakingthespine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

I'm a big fan of the podcast called Welcome to Night Vale, therefore this week's spotlight falls on the book that its creators will publish this fall under the same name. I requested a copy on NetGalley, I would be over the moon if I got approved.

Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

Date of publication: Oct 20, 2015

Synopsis:

 

Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.

Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked "KING CITY" by a mysterious man in a tan jacket holding a deer skin suitcase. Everything about him and his paper unsettles her, especially the fact that she can't seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and that no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City and the man in the tan jacket before she herself unravels.

Night Vale PTA treasurer Diane Crayton's son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane's started to see her son's father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier, when they were both teenagers. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.

Diane's search to reconnect with her son and Jackie's search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: "KING CITY". It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures...if they can ever find it.

Teaser Tuesday #11

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
The rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser is from a YA Hamlet retelling – Simon by Michael Mullin:

Synopsis: 

His father is dead. His mother has remarried. His uncle is . . . his new stepfather? When the ghost of Simon Elsinore's father returns and claims he was murdered by his own brother, the nineteen-year-old film student must determine what is true and exact the revenge his father demands. 

 My Teaser: 

'He [Simon] is compelled, not by others, but by some force within, to sit in the front and watch the two ceremonies – funeral and wedding – occur simultaneously. Not intertwined, but one atop the other, grotesquely and unnaturally occupying the same space, connected in sight alone, like a rapist and his victim.'

What do you think of this teaser? Can I read yours? Leave a link to your TT post in a comment below!

Review - Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

Title: Daniel Deronda

Author: George Eliot

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis:

Gwendolen Harleth gambles her happiness when she marries a sadistic aristocrat for his money. Beautiful, neurotic, and self-centred, Gwendolen is trapped in an increasingly destructive relationship, and only her chance encounter with the idealistic Deronda seems to offer the hope of a brighter future. Deronda is searching for a vocation, and in embracing the Jewish cause he finds one that is both visionary and life-changing. Damaged by their pasts, and alienated from the society around them, they must both discover the values that will give their lives meaning. 

My thoughts:

 

Daniel Deronda was the first George Eliot novel I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Pleasure, I say, because a lot of joy was involved in this reading experience. This classic was also the first of the books I’ve read this year that made it to my favourite shelf. Let me tell you why.

The subject Daniel Deronda deals with is one that required a lot of courage to write about, especially the way George Eliot did. She introduces us to the life of Jews and the ways of the Jewish community in 19th century England and all the while she does it by showing them in a favourable light. Anti-Semitism was definitely a thing in Victorian England, like it had been in earlier periods and in other places since Biblical times, but in Daniel Deronda George Eliot made an attempt to fight against this phenomena and I was pleased to realize it.

Daniel is a young man who doesn’t know what to do with his life. He feels an extreme amount of empathy for persons in need; empathy is the most important thing that defines him and drives his actions. The reason for his willingness to help is rooted in his childhood: he doesn’t know who his mother is and is not sure if his uncle is actually his uncle or his father. All the pain he feels in connection with his uncertain parentage leads him to help unburden other human beings. 

To tell the truth Daniel sometimes seemed too perfect to me. Such a level of selflessness that he presented was too unrealistic to me sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him, but I don’t think I can come across a person like him in the real world. At times I felt sorry for him, because he felt guilty and miserable when he couldn’t help – when he was unable to help. His relationship with Gwendolen was eating him inside and he was blaming himself when he should have realized the girl wasn’t his responsibility.

I couldn’t not partly agree if someone said Daniel isn’t the real protagonist of this novel though. Gwendolen Harleth’s story of redemption and tragic enlightenment in many ways outweighs the importance of Daniel’s path-searching struggles. We find ourselves getting involved in Gwendolen’s tale in the very beginning of the book – Daniel appears for a brief time, then we don’t even meet him until we are well into the book. Gwendolen goes through so many things: having to grow up, getting poor, oppression, tragedy – and the end of the story finds her clinging to someone and being afraid to fall. The depth of the character is amazing, the transformation from a spoiled, confident child to a completely changed adult is striking.

I liked that the book wasn’t a love story – in my interpretation it wasn’t, anyway. There is love in it, but if you’re looking for something like Pride and Prejudice, don’t turn to Daniel Deronda. There’s a lot of feeling involved and the novel is utterly romantic in this sense, but love is not the most important of feelings here. For example, Mirah, the little Jewess, who is Daniel’s (other?) love interest was not such a profoundly discovered character as Gwendolen was.

Another important person in the novel is Mordecai, a young Jew, who changes Daniel’s life. With Mordecai mysticism comes into the picture and one cannot help but wonder at this character. He is peculiar, a prophetic air surrounds him; his obsession with Daniel made me feel second-hand embarrassment not just once, yet I envied him for his faith and he seemed to be a creature filled with love for others. It cannot be denied that he is a charismatic person and he has to be to make his speeches about Jewish nationality effective. Sometimes my jaw dropped at how much his speeches could touch me.

There are some well-known 19th century/romantic themes too that you can meet in this book: marriage (it covers married life as well – not a pleasant marriage, mind), consumption (seriously, has anyone ever read a 19th century novel in which no one died of this illness?), parlour music and musical talent etc…

Daniel Deronda is a thick book (more than 700 pages), but it is most definitely worth to read it. The story is highly enjoyable, the characters are interesting and deep (even the side characters) and you will be left with a lot of feels and thoughts to meditate on, I guarantee that. Happy reading!

Goodreads | Amazon

Ebook haul

Simon by Michael Mullin

Synopsis:

His father is dead. His mother has remarried. His uncle is . . . his new stepfather? When the ghost of Simon Elsinore's father returns and claims he was murdered by his own brother, the nineteen-year-old film student must determine what is true and exact the revenge his father demands.

I can't resist Hamlet retellings, I just can't. 

The author of this book was kind enough to send me an ebook copy. Thank you, Mr. Mullin!

Alien Love by Stan Schatt

Synopsis: 

In Stan Schatt’s latest Science Fiction novel, a dying astronaut reveals a secret that blows the lid on a government treaty with extraterrestrials while other alien races have come to Earth with their own agendas. Meanwhile an ancient alien race with a base on the Moon makes plans that could spell doom.

25 year- old EX-SEAL, Jack Starling, has plenty of his own problems, but he can’t help falling in love with the beautiful woman he rescues after she is brutally attacked. He learns how dangerous it can be to fall in love with someone who is not human who has her own plans for him. Jack finds himself pitted against aliens far stronger and far more cunning than any human enemies. Once he learns what the aliens have planned for him and for Earth, he must race against time before it is too late.

I received an ebook copy from the author. Human/alien love story? Bring it on!

Chivalrous by Dina L. Sleiman

Snyopsis: 

Strong and adventurous Gwendolyn Barnes longs to be a knight like her chivalrous brothers. However, that is not an option for her, not even in the Arthurian-inspired Eden where she dwells. Her parents view her only as a marriage pawn, and her domineering father is determined to see her wed to a brutish man who will break her spirit. When handsome, good-hearted Allen of Ellsworth arrives in Edendale searching for his place in the world, Gwendolyn spies in him the sort of fellow she could imagine marrying. Yet fate seems determined to keep them apart. Tournaments, intrigue, and battles--along with twists and turns aplenty--await these two as they struggle to find love, identity, and their true destinies.

I was fortunate enough to receive an ebook copy via NetGalley. I would read anything and everything about lady knights and this one sounds pretty good.