"Who knows, Samara, your future husband could be sweltering away crafting the next great American novel as we speak..."

One can hope, Bob.  One can always wait and hope.

Nearly out of the dark...

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Red Rising

Recently I came across this buzzfeed article about up-and-coming NYT best-selling author Pierce Brown.  His def-con-5 nerd level and the description of his dystopian future novel, Red Rising, intrigued me, so I added it to the list.  After a little more research, reading some brief reviews, and discovering we had a mutual friend, I ordered Brown's novel and bumped it up to my next read.  And I'm glad I did.  This, the first book in the "Red Rising Trilogy" was released less than a month ago.  Since then it's maintained a spot on the NYT best-seller's list, won rave reviews, and Universal has bought the film-rights, with a director and producer already attached.  Everything indicates that this is going to be big!

[via]

But let me back up and give my best non-spoilerific summary of Red Rising:

Darrow is a colonist on Mars, born into a color-coded caste-system with Reds - Darrow's people - on the lowest rung and Golds on the very highest.  His community slaves away miles under the surface of Mars, mining materials needed so the Golds can one day terraform their way across the galaxy.  After his wife, Eo, convinces him that freedom is worth any cost, Darrow joins a liberation movement.  But in order to fight for that freedom, he must transform himself into a Gold, attend their prestigious "Institute," and do whatever it takes to infiltrate the highest Gold position possible.

In this world, Brown creates an intense, fast-paced story that examines what freedom means and what it costs. The plot, though tricky at times, is carefully woven and moves incredibly quick.  This includes inciting action(s) extremely early - lots of "They wouldn't actually... Oh my gosh, they are!" moments - creating high stakes early on.  Instead of setting everything up and explaining, Brown does a very good job explaining as he goes, providing clues only as needed.  After reading a few too many first-person, present-tense narrations where I felt a bit smarter than the narrator (Um, hello, Katniss. Guess what - Peeta is only pretending to be a Career to save you), I was grateful that along with Darrow, I was blindsided by one game-changing surprise after another.  Red Rising is one of those books where you might have to cover up the opposite page so as to not spoil one of the many intense moments of the novel.  These were such proper jaw-dropping, hand-over-mouth shocks that, even though I finished 3 days ago, I am still shaking my head, thinking, "Wow!  He just pulled that off."  And despite the high-stakes and driving plot, I was grateful Brown created a sense of resolution amidst incredible suspense at the end of his first novel. 

As the novel progressed, I was grateful that it moved from a straightforward cry of freedom to a realization that, sometimes, there is not such a clear difference between the oppressor and the oppressed.  Darrow learns that a depraved person with power will exploit and manipulate no matter if they were born rich or poor, commentating, "The measure of a man is what he does when he has power." Brown explores not only this complex French-revolution-like lesson, but also a much more current issue of "us vs. them."  Darrow is in the process of learning who the real enemy is.  In one of my favorite lines of the novel, he encounters a Gold and thinks "he doesn't seem a monster.  He should be a monster."  But he discovers things are rarely so simple.  We are a generation that refuses to be defined by the "us vs. them" labels of the 20th century (and continued to cling on to the start of the 21st).  So, telling this story that seems so black and white, but using it to demonstrate social complexity is brilliant.

Now, addressing a concern I've heard a few times... The observant eye will note that The Hunger Games is mentioned no less than 4 times on the cover of Red Rising.  This, combined with certain other parallels in the story, have caused concern Brown's novel was a "ripoff" of Suzanne Collin's brilliant work, but I would argue this isn't the case at all.  Just about any story about oppressed groups in a sci-fi, fantasy, or dystopian-future landscape is going to overlap.  I believe that creativity does not derive simply from originality of plot and characters, but of how a story is told.  The former is something of a myth, but the latter is what made Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and Tolkien the greats they are.  One of the main issues, specifically, is that a good portion of the "Institute" is set up as a brutal "game" where the competitors are divided into 12 houses where the goal is not killing but conquering the rest of the houses... which includes quite a lot of killing.  This may sound like THG, but if the Institute was in Panem, it would mean the "Games" were for Capitol youths only and that Katniss had to successfully masquerade as a Capitol citizen to even get into the games.  The point is, Red Rising may have moments reminiscent of The Hunger Games, but is far too innovative and engaging enough on its own merit to be accused of "ripping off" or "copy-catting."  The repeated mention in summaries and reviews of THG is little more than an (understandable) marketing ploy.  I'd also mention a few other stories Red Rising reminded me of, including: Braveheart, Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, Ender's Game, Lord of the Rings, Greek Mythology, The Iliad, Gladitorial games, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Circle Trilogy, Doctor Who, A Few Good Men and many more.

As incredible and moving as Red Rising was, I have to include some potential detractors.  This was an incredibly brutal, gruesome book.  I would hope that for the film to do it justice, it would be rated R.  On nearly all fronts, this book is dealing with mature topics - murder, rape, a "bloodydamn"* lot profanity, mutilation, overall gore, and, what the movies call, "frightening and intense scenes."  While these are heavy and difficult I would add they are rarely if ever gratuitous.  Brown is painting a very particular picture of this violent culture.  Even the profanity has specific meaning with *certain words becoming a sort of passcode.  To be clear, there is enough brutal detail to turn the stomach, but it is all purposeful, not something reveled in.  This necessarily bleak tone is captured well by the tragic and harrowing opening paragraph:

[Warning: Graphic Content] The first thing you should know about me is I am my father's son.  And when they came for him, I did as he asked.  I did not cry.  Not when the Society televised the arrest.  Not when the Golds tried him.  Not when the Grays hanged him.  Mother hit me for that.  My brother Kieran was supposed to be the stoic one.  He was the elder, I the younger.  I was supposed to cry.  Instead, Kieran bawled like a girl when Little Eo tucked a haemanthus into Father's left work-boot and ran back to her own father's side.  My sister Leanna murmured a lament beside me.  I just watched and thought it a shame that he died dancing but without his dancing shoes.
On Mars there is not much gravity.  So you have to pull the feet to break the neck.  They let the loved ones do it.

As difficult as the crude, cruel tone and topic of this book are, my main concern with the book was something else entirely.  There is an ever-growing trend in fiction I can only describe as a morality that purports to be selfless but is at the same time radically ends-justifies-the-means in it's approach.  I have encountered this in books like The Road, Mockingjay, among others. The idea is that any action is excusable because you're doing it for someone else.  This is an extremely complex issue to address, especially in the context of a fight for freedom, and one that has me often re-visiting Jack Nicholson's infamous "you can't handle the truth" speech.  But the multiple disturbing situations and moral quandaries Darrow face cause the reader to pause and reconsider these issues.

Like Katniss (in at least books 1 & 2 of THG), Darrow demonstrates the power of living for something beyond this life, but he has yet to truly learn the lesson of Ender's empathy.  This was a shockingly good debut novel for 26 year old brown and I am eagerly looking forward to see what surprises are ahead for Darrow and where the sequel takes him.  4.5 / 5 Stars.

Favorite Quotes:

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

“Why is it so horrible?" I ask him. "Life. All this. Why do they need to make us do this? Why do they treat us like we're their slaves?"
"Power."
"Power isn't real. It's just a word” 


"Funny how a single word can change everything in your life."
"It is not funny at all. Steel is power. Money is power. But of all the things in all the worlds, words are power.”

[via]

I haven't been able to stop listening to this song.  Then I came across this stripped down version they did at Abbey Road:

All of your flaws and all of my flaws
They lie there hand in hand
Ones we've inherited, ones that we learned
They pass from man to man

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And this is why I love my city...

West by Northwest: City Lights from Edward Aites on Vimeo.

An understanding

One year ago today, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries released Episode 87: An Understanding:

Two sisters, terribly at odds and remarkably alike, are forced to reconcile in the midst of the imminent release of a sex tape.  After being exploited and lied to, the younger suffers the worst social nightmare of a world in which “the Internet is forever”; the older faces her own failure in understanding and compassion.   
This is Pride and Prejudice.  At least, it is according to Hank Green and Bernie Su, creators of the Emmy-award-winning web series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  The poignant scene described above is their interpretation of Elizabeth’s response to the Lydia-Wickham scandal and, at episode 87 of 100, serves as the climax of the adaptation.  The moment also represents the show’s argument both that a 200-year-old story matters to modern YouTube audiences and that layering contemporary issues onto classic texts can lead to more effective readings of those texts.  Austen’s novel says, “Elizabeth is flawed and misunderstands Darcy.  She must resolve this before reconciling her future, both romantically and socially.”  The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (LBD) takes this empathetic lesson a step further, extending Elizabeth’s repentance to include not only her misunderstanding of Darcy but also of a fully realized Lydia Bennet.  

 

* See also MK Wiles' (who plays Lydia) blog where she shares some of her thoughts on this episode and this character.
** If you haven't seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, start here.  

It's been almost two weeks since my last post.  That's unusual.

I wasn't sure how to begin.  January was one of the most grueling months of my life.  When I woke up on February 1st, my first thought was, "I survived!"  But how to begin the next phase?  And how to write about it?

Well I have been writing, but those thoughts are either incomplete or for another project that I hope I can tell you about soon.  The best I can say of such hard weeks and months is that I am still learning, and for that I can be grateful.


Alright, but now for a random selection of life lately:

\\ The Seahawks won the Superbowl and last Wednesday I was one of 700,000 crazies who went to their victory parade.  Despite the 3-hours it took to trek 11 miles and the sub-freezing temps, it really was such a phenomenal experience.

[From Top left: Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, me flashing a 12, and Pete Carroll]

\\ My flatmate & I went away this weekend to an island cabin for a "Silence Retreat."  It was rather wonderful. We alternately journaled, read, and rested - all bundled up next to the fire.  I think I need the equivalent of this at least twice a year.

\\ But we got a little white surprise during our getaway.  Not 20 feet from the ocean, we had 4 inches of snow!  Made things a bit dicey on Saturday and Sunday, but it was absolutely gorgeous! 

[my feet got lost in the snow]

\\ A song* for you:

*This gives me all sorts of The Fault in our Stars feels :-|

\\ Amazon Smile - seriously, anyone who has an account with Amazon should sign up for this!

Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I had high expectations for this book.  In hindsight, that may have been the problem.  

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was my second foray into Neil Gaiman's novels.  I greatly respect him as an author - for a variety of reasons - but I'm afraid Ocean disappointed my expectations.

To briefly set the scene, an middle-aged, unnamed narrator leaves a funeral (presumably a family member's) and drives back to the lane where his childhood home once stood.  Driving [literally] "down memory lane," he comes to the old Hempstock farm at the end.  He then remembers Lettie Hempstock and a long-forgotten week in his childhood that changed everything.  The rest of the novel is told as a sort of prolonged flashback of what occurred.

Being that it's Gaiman, the novel's commentary on life and memory is beautiful.  I also appreciated several of the characters - especially Lettie.  But this was the first book I've read in a long time where I preferred the style and characters to the plot.  At first slightly dull, by the mid-point of the novel I was rather disturbed.  If it weren't for my respect for the author and the book's multiple recommenders [like Patrick Rothfuss's delightful review / fantasy of tree-fort parties with Gaiman and Whedon], I may not have kept reading.  But I am glad I did, because I think the 2nd half was better. 

As for my dislikes, I can pinpoint a couple of things.  

• I can only stand a character being oppressed without agency for so long, and, for such a short book, this 7-year-old boy dealt with agony upon agony - not even anything noble and epic, just meanness and the frustrated plans of a 7-year-old.  
• There were physical descriptions that were just gross.  And there's just something with me and feet wounds - they make me extra queazy.  [Also, fyi, some adult content.]
• Sometimes I think I'm an immature reader for thinking this, but... I do not love magic realism - and most of this book is magic realism.  I think it's because I love fantasy so much that this feels watered down.  I don't mind things being open-ended and left unexplained, but there's something just wonderful about entering the fantastical through a wardrobe or a police box or a train platform, rather than just gradually slipping into unreality without noticing.  I suppose it may have to do with characters generally unquestioning acceptance of magic-realism elements.  The narrator here asks a few questions, but in fantasy, when one enters another realm, they are very much aware of it and their curiosity mirrors my own.  Anyway, parts of the magic in this book were wonderful, but, again, most of them occurred in the 2nd half.

A few general closing comments...  This book felt like one I would have read in my English Honors class - both because of its theme (memory) and the focus on better style than substance.  I do think that the kind of excellent style Gaiman displays makes the book worth reading, just perhaps not as enjoyable.  In the end, I think I expected either more of a reveal or an impossibly brilliant ending [or that it was actually all a dream].  Highlights of the book included its intertextuality, Lettie's character, stunning metaphors for faith, and, we'll just say, the scene "in the Ocean."  Overall? *** out of 5 stars.

I believe the book would stand up even better to a 2nd reading, but I'll have to save that for later.  Off to new worlds - I'll just leave you with these quotes:

“I lay on the bed and lost myself in stories. I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyways.” 

“I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just were.” 

“Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody.” 

“You don't pass or fail at being a person, dear.” 

“How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. You have a gateway inside you to lands beyond the world you know."

One Bibliophile's Calendar

A time for every book under the sun
Or rather round the sun.
Different months call for different books;
A read for every season.
January is an amalgamation -
unfinished books from the prior year,
gifted books, bettering books.
February offers more choice:
What would you like to read?
March is best for modernism.
before marking her demise on the 28th
read some Woolf, and get into Eliot
before the "cruelest month."
April showers... mean sit in and read,
dive into that series, you have the time.
"Spring" for a re-read romance and
May-be find a way to "read out of doors."
June - despite the sun and celebrations,
your series is still making you feel "bibliosocial."
Summer is a time for sci-fi or short stories
or a good Shakespeare comedy.
If, in July, you can carve out a vacation
or just a rare quiet, sun-filled day,
binge-read a new author.
August is for finishing.  Just how much
can you finish before the re-start?
Sun to fog - September is transition
New routines, new books assigned in school
or cradled on suddenly-longer commutes.
At long last: Fall, the reader's utopia.
And Fall means fantasy.
For October - books, scarves, glasses are in vogue,
the bigger the book, the better.
Fantastical wanderings lead into November,
reifying characters and locales in our mind's eye.
Gothic is also good - Jane Eyre feels right
in a stormy or cold December night.
Then the holidays come, and with them,
re-assessed goals, another push to finish,
a search for the Word to make us real.
So we keep reading, keep becoming.

5

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Today is my blog's 5th birthday!

5 years ago, in my "Introduction," I shared,

"words help me process things - and this will be where i'll place the words

that don't seem to have any other home."

Through many phases and changes and far more page views than I ever imagined,

that still remains a pretty accurate description of my blog.

I apologize for the times it feels scattered, but it's not a niche blog.

It's just a space for the homeless words in my head.

When I created this, I really didn't think I would be able to keep it up.

I was like that with pen-pals as a kid.  I would be all enthusiastic... but then

get behind after 2 or 3 letters and be too ashamed to finally write back 6 months later.

So I was more shocked than anyone that 1 year, 2 years in I was still blogging.

Now, it's a rare day I don't get on to check the blog or start another draft.

And though it took me 4 years of blogging to actually admit that just maybe I was a writer...

I am more enthusiastic about it than ever.

I hope to continue to expand and develop both this space and my writing

[keep an eye out in the future - wink, wink]

I want to thank everyone who has followed my blog at any point these past 5 years.

Writing and crafting this has helped me become more of who I am supposed to be,

and your encouragement of that means the world to me!

So, merci beaucoup, my friends.  Merci.

* Interesting fact - I didn't put this together till yesterday, but, though done unwittingly, I think it was Fate that I created this blog on January 28th, as it just happens to be the date Pride and Prejudice was originally published.  And I'd like to think that is a good omen :)

Stories

teach us how to love

and swallow sadness,

find light in darkness,

 turn away from despair.

Crafting and grafting us

into a plot much bigger,

much smaller

than our own.

They remake us

like their protagonists,

from coward to courageous.

Each story that passes

through our hands,

through our minds,

is a gift

wrapped up inside words.

 "Hello, old friend

and here we are,

you and me

on the last page."

Where they end

our hearts break or smile,

crying from tragedy or delight.

But then, our next page.

While their story ends,

our journey is only mid-way,

another chapter,

a new gift.

Top:  Nurse, Young Man, Kiss-a-gram

Below:  Old Man, Journalist, Hero

"We are all stories in the end..."
- The Doctor

"The end of a matter is better than it's beginning."

- Ecclesiastes 7.8

“If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?"

- GK Chesterton

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."
- Samwise Gamgee

  

“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”  

- Madeleine L'Engle

"You were my new dream."

- Flynn Rider

"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die...that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living."

- The Count

[HitRECord]

"Though truth is heavier than fiction,

Gravity lifts as the projectionist rolls tape.
And it makes us brave again"

- Sleeping at Last

Sarah.

Guess who's graduating today...

[Starting a big year off together ;) ]

This girl!!!

Sarah, you are such a favorite!!

Mom or I or someone else may have told you this story countless times before,

but this is my blog, so I get to tell it again :P

When I was a little girl, I really wanted a baby sister.

Jerry was great and all, but... not quite the same ;)

So every day before naps and every night before bed, I would pray for a baby sister.

And then one morning I woke up, the precocious 5-year-old that I was,

and marched into my mom's room to tell her I had had a dream the night before

that Jesus told me she was going to have a baby girl.

What she hadn't told us was that she was expecting

and that baby, which she would come to find out was a little girl, was you!

Now, I can't imagine life without you

And I'm so grateful that Jesus answered that prayer :)

 

As I've mentioned, you are one of the funniest people I know!

 

[Stunning]

And even though we're 6 years and one brother apart, I have so enjoyed the past several years as you've become one of my dearest friends.

[We were babies :P ]

 Shortly after you came on the scene, I came to the realization that, one day,

this charming little girl was going to pass me up.

And I don't just mean in height (that's no great feat).

But I mean, I've just always known you would be a stunner!

Seriously - those big blue eyes and sleek blonde hair?

Ridiculously hot babe material!

And then that day came a while back where there was no more denying it.

And I don't mean this in some competition sort of way,

just more of Lord-help-the-Mister-who-comes-between-me-and-my-sister way ;)

 

[Seriously though... you've keep getting MORE stunning!!]

And on top of all that, you are wonderfully talented and creative.

You have the patience to make all sorts of things beautiful and personalized.

[Via]

Graduating just marks the beginning of a new adventure.

And I think you're going to have SO much fun!

[Love us!]

Love you tons!  I'm so proud of you and can't wait to celebrate :)

Loves,

Samara

Funniest thing you'll watch today:

Jack Bauer presenting Sherlock Holmes with an award and, per usual, "he forgets his pants*."

*American transliteration of "pants" ;)

Within the last 24 hours I have scored a great deal on tickets to:

Gungor in concert - 3/26

An Emerald City ComicCon Sunday pass [to see Karen Gillan] - 3/30

John Newman in concert - 4/16

Spring is looking fantastic!!

*** Update ***

Did I mention... my flatmate and I are going to see The Lion King on April 5th? Oh yah, and that one was a gift!!

Yay! Yay! Yay!  My heart is getting ready for Spring already :)

[Cos]Playin' it Up

Ok... as previous posts show... I really like costumes.
Alice, Hobbits, Sherlock, Moonrise Kingdom, Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

 But I thought I should give you an update of some costumes and cosplay lately.

For Halloween, some friends and I decided on going as Fantastic Mr. Fox characters.
Even despite the "What does the fox say?" craze, this Wes Anderson inspired look was a fun one to pull together. 

[Foxy - mask, tie, vest, blazer, tail]

[Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, Ash Fox]

[Inspiration: Foxes on the right]

A few weeks later was the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special (extensive post here).
For the house party with friends, I went as Amy Pond from "The Impossible Astronaut"

[Amy: plaid, denim, sharpie necklace]

[inspiration]

The next night, Rebekah and I went to a showing in Seattle.
She rocked it as Rose from "The Idiot's Lantern" (1950's ;) and I went as the 11th Doctor.

[11 & Rose]

 I even found myself an Amy from "The Impossible Astronaut" episode - perfect!

[11 & Amy]

December brought with it the Hobbit and, being that Bob wanted to see my costume, I threw an "Unexpected Party" at work.

[Hobbit: ears, vest, green blazer, cloak, Lothlorien Leaf, handkerchief.]

[The ears :]

And then, this past Sunday, Sherlock returned to PBS.  So, my flatmate and I hosted a costumed premiere party.
I knew right away, I wanted to go as "The Woman."  And no, not because of that.

[Irene Adler - dress: black, eyeliner: blue, lips: blood, earrings: diamond, hair: classic twist.]

[Irene Inspiration]

Somewhat last minute, not only did my brothers come, they brought their A-game as Moriarty and Sherlock - the gents in Irene's life.

[Moriarty: Westwood, Irene: Azagury, Sherlock: Belstaff]

So... those have been my costume adventures the last few months.
I'm looking forward to more soon.  Any reason for a costume. :)

Which are some of your favorite characters or costumes?  Who do you like to dress up as?