Atomic Books

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xfmjunky reviewed a book.

“The first thing the informed reader will notice about Have Gun Will Travel will be the reportage style in which its written. Soon after, they will begin to notice that events overlap from one episode to the next. Third: the seemingly endless gallery of individuals from various classes, of various...”

“The first thing the informed reader will notice about Have Gun Will Travel will be the reportage style in which its written. Soon after, they will begin to notice that events overlap from one episode to the next. Third: the seemingly endless gallery of individuals from various classes, of various racial or cultural backgrounds and with various jobs/roles. Lastly, the vexing pattern of 'we said/they said' unresolved crimes which weave through the many colourful events which make up the bulk of this book.
Ronin Ro undoubtedly took on a daunting task when he set out to commit the history of Death Row records into prose. Have Gun Will Travel is - to its merit - a book which makes the history of a group of sexist divas and their childish in-fighting compelling. Even the uninitiated will be aware of those who take centre and peripheral billing in this sprawling account of the eventual formulation of a phenomenally successful record label through its sad climax - the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls - to the eventual, laughable ship-jumping, court-casing denouement.
Despite the good intentions, HGWT would have benefited greatly from some considerable structuring and editing. The despicable machismo of the many violent recollections speaks for itself – I for one have a clear moral stance – but repetition is not required for readers who can make up their own minds on what they think of those who provide evidence for Ro to sift through. Sift really is the most suitable word to describe the reading experience here; at times, reading HGWT made me feel like I was going over circumstantial evidence in a court-case that was bound to be thrown out, that my efforts to make sense of the endless symphony of distrust and violent silliness was all in vain. If this was Ro’s intention he succeeds, but I could still easily chop 50 pages out of this unwieldy tome. The redeeming feature of Ro’s journalistic style is that is bereft of any sensationalism and it should be acknowledged that he skilfully remains non-judgemental whilst recounting many despicable acts that were allegedly carried out by label king-pin Marion ‘Suge’ Knight.
The frequent use of anecdotes from unnamed sources becomes tiresome. Ro’s myriad sources act as an indictment of gang culture all over the world. Living in London, one would not need to go far to find members of communities who are untrusting of the law-enforcement and judicial systems which are there to protect all. The many anonymous players in HGWT are equally sceptical of the authorities in the US; their wish to remain unknown is – presumably – due to their fear of reprisals. Again, though, it rather makes reading this book feel like an endless news-piece as does the aforementioned litany of label functionaries, lawyers, subsidiary companies, signed contracts, hangers-on. Trust is not an issue when the evidence is so self-contradictory, so the question remains as to why Ro felt the need to leave no stone unturned. Tedium was probably not what Ro was aiming for, unfortunately it is an outcome.
Thankfully, Ro is brave enough to depict key figures as fully-rounded human beings. Both the music and the media have made frightful bogey-man figures of the likes of Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, for example. Dre is portrayed as a hard-working, party-loving perfectionist – with a penchant for ruthlessly beating up women - whose success is rooted deeply in his love of music. With further hind-sight, his later lyrics: ‘Gangsters? Who d’you think helped mould them all?’, are entirely transparent in the context of his very clear gang-neutrality; HGWT recounts his preference for wearing black as he moved from one South Central neighbourhood to the next as a teenager, in an attempt to avoid being involved with either the Blood or Crip gangs. Shakur, on the other hand, comes across as an emotionally frail, posturing upstart; rather the kid with the big mouth who hangs around with the playground bullies to maintain an undeserved reputation as a hard-man. Unlike Dre, Tupac’s rich back-catalogue is as conflicted in its values as his work. Songs like ‘I Ain’t Mad Atcha’ would sit alongside hateful hits like ‘How Do You Want It?’. Ro’s book goes a considerable way to exploring the complex and fragile man-child behind hip-hops greatest back-catalogue. In short, as in life, there are no heroes or villains in this book, only real people; products of their environment with their many idiosyncrasies.
More than anything, HGWT's value lays in its attempt to demythologise the entrenchment of the East Coast/West Coast rap conflict in contemporary cultural history. If anything, Blood/Crip, East/West tensions are blurred into a reality. Social dichotomy’s are for the intellectually lazy and Ro’s book succeeds in highlighting truth – that it is individuals and small factions who are directly involved in shaping the wider public consciousness. Indeed, it’s regrettable that Ro did not go further in his examination of the role of magazines The Source and Vibe as they fanned the flames of the conflict that confused the relationship between rappers who – at the onset of their meeting – are presented as both admiring and respectful of one another.
It is over a decade since HGWT was first published. Hip-hop in the twenty-first century is a joke within a joke as the commercial music industry struggles to keep up with the internet. Many have cited Odd Future as a group picking up the mantle from Death Row. Given this, Ro would prove a perfect candidate to investigate the fortunes of Death Row’s publishing rights not least the formulation of Tupac’s seemingly endless posthumous releases, as well as Suge Knight’s attempts to begin again under the moniker Tha Row. Furthermore, as recently as 2010, singer Danny Boy’s 15 year-old album recorded during his time at Death Row was finally released, a bizarre delay. A second edition, both abridged and augmented would be most welcome. ”

xfmjunky reviewed a book.

• Rated 3 stars

“I rather strange, fast-moving story plunges X-Force fresh from the loss of Warren Worthington III into an Otherworld realm in which Captain Britain seeks to try and execute Fantomex whilst simultaneously fighting a losing battle against a goat-headed wizard-demon with seemingly endless powers....”

“I rather strange, fast-moving story plunges X-Force fresh from the loss of Warren Worthington III into an Otherworld realm in which Captain Britain seeks to try and execute Fantomex whilst simultaneously fighting a losing battle against a goat-headed wizard-demon with seemingly endless powers. One would immediately question the Captain's lack of prioritisation but without it, there'd be no excuse for the Uncanny X-Force to get involved. In short, this is a rather dire stop-gap between larger story-archs. Tocchini's thick pencils are a novel change but the apparent lack of inks and watercolours provide further evidence that there was a fuckitthatwilldo attitude to putting together these books. The unrelated follow-on stories in this volume make for interesting reading but - ironically don't involve any of the principle members of the eponymous team?! I will be reading the ensuing Final Execution but wonder if I wlll stick with this title beyond that.”

xfmjunky reviewed a book.

“Not your average comic book by a long way. This was my first experience of reading the feted Ed Brubaker and it took some acclimatisation. Those looking for explosions and action will be disappointed because this is rather fraught exploration into the lore of Captain America. Taking place shortly...”

“Not your average comic book by a long way. This was my first experience of reading the feted Ed Brubaker and it took some acclimatisation. Those looking for explosions and action will be disappointed because this is rather fraught exploration into the lore of Captain America. Taking place shortly after the Civil War saga, Cap begins the book on a low only to begin questioning his own sanity. Its glaringly obvious to all who read that Bucky - Cap's WW2 sidekick - is the eponymous Winter Soldier but the best bits of this book find Cap grasping for the moral stability which has perhaps - until now - been taken for granted.”

xfmjunky reviewed a book.

“Being the first volume of Plath I've read, I'm not entirely sure where this fits into the wider picture of her other publications. It shares a simlarity to her posthumous 'Ariel' in that it was also edited by her husband Ted Hughes. Jagged, hurtful and true, there are times when images or rhythms...”

“Being the first volume of Plath I've read, I'm not entirely sure where this fits into the wider picture of her other publications. It shares a simlarity to her posthumous 'Ariel' in that it was also edited by her husband Ted Hughes. Jagged, hurtful and true, there are times when images or rhythms are recycled with diminishing reward but there are some poems here - 'You're' - being the most obvious that do a great deal to overturn the prevailing morbid reputation with which Plath's work is ordinarily treated.”

xfmjunky reviewed a book.

“It isn't until Isherwood's final episode in this book - A Berlin Diary - that any sense of depth emerges. Otherwise, Goodbye to Berlin tends to offer little but a first-hand account of a decadent metropolitan society sleep-walking into oblivion. Worth a read if you've time on your hands but even...”

“It isn't until Isherwood's final episode in this book - A Berlin Diary - that any sense of depth emerges. Otherwise, Goodbye to Berlin tends to offer little but a first-hand account of a decadent metropolitan society sleep-walking into oblivion. Worth a read if you've time on your hands but even then, there are many other who have written at greater depth and more stylishly from the awkward perspective of the Englishman abroad.”

xfmjunky added a book.

xfmjunky now owns a book. (see 2 more books added to shelf)

xfmjunky reviewed a book.

“The early chapters of this book are very interesting. Syed systematically overturns many myths regarding those who are considered 'gifted'. There is some overlap with Malcolm Gladwell's far more well-known Outliers, but Syed's book serves more to present a range of scientific research from a...”

“The early chapters of this book are very interesting. Syed systematically overturns many myths regarding those who are considered 'gifted'. There is some overlap with Malcolm Gladwell's far more well-known Outliers, but Syed's book serves more to present a range of scientific research from a range of sources in a palatable manner. That said, the narrativisation of events is rather annoying at times and I felt patronised in places. Eventually, I found myself skimming the last two chapters. A thought-provoking book.”