treal

• Rated 4 stars

“In this little memoir of another man’s life, Paul Hemphill does a succulent job of capturing the voice and vices of America’s greatest country star. Haunted by a broken family, a broken home, a broken heart, and a maligned spine that must have felt to be broken, Hank Williams knew all too well what pain felt like. He put his whole life to music and the results were ten number one songs and a legion of followers that listen to his music even today.
Mr. Hemphill writes in a no-nonsense journalistic style that showcases many facets of this complicated singer of ‘hillbilly’ music. This certainly gives the reader a larger picture of Hank Williams, and the author is careful to differentiate the rural legends from the facts. Consequently, though, the prose reads a bit too dry with a strict chronological telling of the stories with inserted dates and times. But at a brisk 212 pages, the book should contain the interests of many readers with interesting facts and tidbits that only the die-hard fans would know about. This book serves as a suitable introduction to an individual the author refers to as the “proletariat poet of the people.” The book is carefully researched, lyrically written at times, and will serve the demands of even the most ardent fans of biographies and history texts.
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treal wrote this review Thursday, September 18 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“The Lady or the Tiger and Other Stories by Frank Stockton is a fine, entertaining collection of original fairy tales and folklore told in the uniquely Victorian prose reflective of the era.

The title story itself was an unprecedented success that both pleased and later haunted the author, whom would have rather been remembered for his other fairy morality tales. But for all his talents as a writer, it was “The Lady or the Tiger” that would be most reprinted in anthologies and would serve as a template to the modern ‘puzzle story.’ This is made all the more tragic since Mr. Stockton other works were no less impressive or memorable.

The rest of the stories in this collection follow a faithful, but true, pathway that while not strictly original served as memorable story or archetypes that never seems to grow old or outdated.

We have the reluctant hero (the fairy Ting-a-Ling in the eponymous short story), a villainous dwarf or other type of monster; the wish-giving wizard, the forlorn princess, and the ambitious, but somewhat foppish, prince.

Some stories delve into the classic formulistic themes of friendship (“The Griffin and the Minor Canon”), love (“The Three Sisters and the Kilmaree”), quest adventure (“The Magician’s Daughter and the High-Born Boy”), and redemption (“Old Pipes and the Dryad”). These are, of course, standard themes of morality that can be found in fairy stories new or old, but at least the author has a wicked imagination and grand sense of humor to freshen it up.

If there is anything critical to be said of these stories is that they are oftentimes very violent, which is made all the more shocking considering that these stories were all to be published for the children’s marketplace. But considering that Mr. Stockton was working in the traditions of bloody Grimm fairy tales or the highly depressing mortality tales of Hans Christian Anderson, one can’t be too harsh for his stylistic pendants for violence. At least most of the characters on the serving end of the sword are the villains in the stories. But if the readers are not too offended by an occasional show of gore, The Lady or the Tiger is a memorable little book perfect for the child in all of us.”

treal wrote this review Wednesday, July 9 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“James Joyce once said that if Dublin were to ever be destroyed, then the city could then be rebuilt just by using Ulysses as blueprint. Likewise, it can be argued that if society were to ever return to whaling, the text of Moby Dick would serve as an excellent guide. The book is a richly filled with factual accounts of whaling, philosophical thoughts on human nature, and a tragedy that could rival the greatest dramas of Shakespeare. In lesser hands the story would just be a quaint travelogue, but in Melville's hands it is something much, much more. And as a side, it's interesting to note that Moby Dick was largely a financial failure when it was first published. This is tragic that the author himself never saw his most famous works become an established milestone in the literary world canon. ”

treal wrote this review Tuesday, May 20 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Tales from China is a reasonable and well-written book on the subject of Chinese folklore. It is not the best written book on the subject, nor is it the most comprehensive. It is however a great introduction to wonderful Chinese fairy tales that is sure to enchant readers young and old.”

treal wrote this review Friday, May 2 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Mrs. Dalloway has been called Virginia Woolf’s response to James Joyce Ulysses. They both take place on a single day, as well as utilize multiple perspectives via inner dialogue (or stream of consciousness) to carry their respective themes. And while Joyce uses three main characters to convey this inner dialogue, Woolf chooses to use well over a dozen unique protagonists to convey this story. And it should be noted that all these characters are connected, directly or indirectly, to the title character and her plans to create the perfect party.

Due to its heavy handling of lofty themes such as feminine suppression, imperialism, and mental illness (something the author could really well verify), the book is far less humorous than the aforementioned Ulysses. It is also at times a difficult book to read due to the author’s use of time, narrative perspective, and conflicting points of view. Several passages need to be reread to fully understand, and appreciate, the greater universe that is contained in Mrs. Dalloway. And while the journey may be arduous, the reader is left with the greater satisfaction of just finishing a unique 20th century classic.
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treal wrote this review Sunday, April 6 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“William Gibson's Neuromancer is a strange, fast paced novel that presents a future very much like today's present. In it the world of cyberspace is presented as a fertile battle between the polarity of the haves and have-nots; anarchy and order; low culture and high tech; change and entropy. It's an engrossing read that ,like a car traveling a frictionless grease road, won't slow down until it hits the impeding brick wall of a conclusion.

With its unique lexicon and 'tech-talk,' it is by no means an easy book to read, but it is a rare literary treat that transcends its genre and speaks a fable of high-tech caution.
This book comes highly recommended.”

treal wrote this review Tuesday, March 11 2008. ( reply | permalink )

11 of 13 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“Many critics have called Lolita a tragicomic, although ‘horror satire’ might equally be apt of a descriptor. The novel’s narrator, Humbert Humbert, remains a memorable literary villain drawn from the literary gene pool of Iago or Roger Chillingworth. And like the above villains, Humbert takes pride in manipulating individuals’ struck by tragedy (in this case Dolores Haze or, as Humbert christened her, Lolita). What’s striking about this novel is the villain acts as the narrator, and the reader gets a darken view of an irrational man and his sexual desires. And while his actions are detrimental to the social structure of Nabokov’s self-made literary universe, those same actions are masked by the narrator’s charm, intellectualism, bohemian lifestyle, and ‘fatherly’ kindness. And of course the reader is in danger of falling for this devilish charm up till the last half of the novel’s end (and perhaps not even then). This is the subtle genius of Nabokov where the reader is disgusted by the protagonist dirty hands while, at the same time, being caressed by the narrator’s erstwhile poetic rationale. Despite historical troubles with Lolita and censorship, the book is not ‘pornographic’ in the strict sense of the word, nor does it endorse rape. In fact, the novel stands as a morality play on the consequences of one man’s destruction of society through an act of destruction of one child’s innocence. By novels’ end three characters will die and the reader is left with the impression that a cathartic experience of the Grecian kind has just occurred. In this sense, Lolita stands as perhaps as one of the most important books of the last century. And despite some individuals decrying the novel as pornographic, to many discerning readers it stands as a great ‘anti-erotic’ or ‘anti-pornographic’ novel. ”

treal wrote this review Thursday, February 7 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Not the greatest compilation of Holmes stories, but entertaining in its own unique ways.”

treal wrote this review Tuesday, January 22 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Perhaps not the most exciting chapter in the X-Men mythos, Essential X-Men Volume 5 still contains memorable storylines, and fine early art from the likes of John Romita Jr. and Barry Windsor-Smith. ”

treal wrote this review Thursday, November 8 2007. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“"The Horror. The Horror."”

treal wrote this review Sunday, October 14 2007. ( reply | permalink )