The Cat Who Came for Christmas (Cleveland Amory) Conclusion

The last two chapters; “His Foreign Policy,” referring to his modes of interaction with other species of animals, and “His Domestic Policy,” referring to his modes of interaction with people, both bring the focus mostly back on the story of Polar Bear and his first year as Mr. Amory’s pet/owner.  Cats are, of course, creatures of habit, and do not like anything that interrupts their routines.  Mr. Amory is, however, very involved in animal rescue activities and often needs to house a stray animal overnight, which interrupts the routine in a huge way, especially when the guest is a dog.  The tale of Bouncer, a large puppy invading the apartment – though a traumatic one for Polar Bear – is only the beginning of a series of guests which include other dogs, cats and even a pigeon.

But when it comes to people, anyone new is bad news.  This is another area in which the Cat and the Author differ: the author rather likes meeting and getting to know new people, is in fact rather partial to them:  ‘And why, may I ask, should I not be? After all, when you come right down to it, there is a great deal to be said for new people.  You can, to begin with, tell them all your old stories without worrying whether or not you have told them to them before, and you can also tell them, as long as you can remember the punch lines, your old jokes.’

We meet Benedict, the cat at the office of The Fund for Animals where Mr. Amory spends much of his time, who is one cat that loves new people.  ‘Benedict particularly likes making friends with people who do not like cats.  At one time we had a bookkeeper who admitted he was scared to death of them.  Benedict had apparently given some thought to the problem and had come up with a solution.  One day he watched, well hidden, while the man, seated in one of the offices and attempting to do his work, was at the same time nervously keeping a lookout for him.  Benedict outwaited him and, when the man eventually relaxed his vigil, he crept in from behind his chair, shot up and leapt into his lap.  He had apparently decided that the cure for the fear of cats was, like hiccups, a matter of a good surprise.’  And, of course, it worked.

Polar Bear didn’t mind so much when one of Cleveland’s chess playing friends came over to play chess.  ‘He saw some virtues in it such as the lack of noise associated with it… But there were also two things he did not like about chess.  One was what, to him, was the interminable length of it, the other the ridiculous seriousness with which people took it.’  As an ex-chess-tournament player myself, I can attest to both the lengthiness and the “ridiculous seriousness” of chess as demonstrated in the large halls and gatherings in which such tournaments take place!  ‘…he never could understand why everybody made such a fuss about a few little pieces being knocked to the floor…’

‘I am well aware that in most books about individual animals, the animal dies in the end.  I have never liked this – indeed that was one of the reasons why, even as a child, Black Beauty appealed to me so much.  It is true there was misery and suffering in the book.  But, in the end, Black Beauty has not died.  Neither, I am happy to say, has Polar Bear.’  In fact, the author went on to write more “Cat” books featuring Polar Bear, including The Cat and the Curmudgeon and The Best Cat Ever.  My copy of the present book, Cleveland Amory’s Compleat Cat contains all three books in the series, and yes, I will be reading the other two books before too long!

January’s book of the month:

“Garnethill,” by Denise Mina!

Amazon.com Review

Garnethill (the name of a bleak Glasgow suburb) won the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Crime Novel--the British equivalent of the Edgar. It's a book that crackles with mordant Scottish wit and throbs with the pain of badly treated mental illness, managing to be both truly frightening and immensely exhilarating at the same time. -- Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

From its opening pages, this winner of the 1998 John Creasey Memorial Award for best first crime novel pulls readers inexorably into the tortured world of sexual abuse victims and their struggle to survive as whole people. Eight months after spending almost half a year in a Glasgow psychiatric hospital devoted to treating sex abuse victims, Maureen O'Donnell is desperately trying to hold together her shattered life. Bored with her job at a theater ticket office and depressed because her affair with one of the hospital's doctors, Douglas Brady, is over, Maureen and a friend get drunk. The next morning Maureen finds Brady's body in her living room, his throat cut. With bloody footprints matching Maureen's slippers at the scene, Detective Chief Inspector Joe McEwan sets out to prove the woman's guilt … Maureen's valiant struggle to act sane in an insane world will leave readers seeing sex abuse victims in a new light. -- Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Week 1:  Chapters 1-8 

(First post, 1-9-15)

Week 2:  Chapters 9-20
Week 3:  Chapters 21-27
Week 4:  Chapters 28-38

 

The Cat Who Came for Christmas (Cleveland Amory) Chapters 7-8

The book continues to divide its content between the story of the adoption of Polar Bear – the story we came to the book for – and sporadic essay-like asides related-to and not-so-specifically-related to cats.  That continues to be okay with me because the asides are pretty interesting in themselves.  But it still smacks just a little of bait-and-switch tactics to get us to read something we otherwise might have given a pass.

The story of the author’s trip to Hollywood is justified here by the fact that he took Polar Bear with him.  We learn a lot vicariously about the dos and don’ts of traveling with a cat – mainly, don’t – and wade through a lot of rather shameless name-dropping on the author’s part.  It is pointed out that in traveling with a cat, introductions are unpredictable: ‘The fact is that most cats, most of the time, have already met everybody they care to meet.’  Different hotels have widely varying rules on pets, but the author noticed that at the time of writing, the trend was toward banning them and he hoped the trend would someday be reversed: ‘A possible sign is the success of the Anderson House, a hotel in Washaba, near Minneapolis, where not only are cats welcome but, if you have not brought yours and are homesick for him, the hotel maintains fifteen of them in a barracks dormitory with their names over their rooms, from which you can select a companion to share your room for the night.’  Okay, that’s a little weird.

The opportunity arises to show how well the author knew Cary Grant, when he invited the actor to see Polar Bear in the hotel room to escape autograph seekers:  ‘Cary never gave autographs, but his turn-downs of requests for them were such studies in charm that I often thought they served as come-ons even to people who knew they wouldn’t actually get one.  In any case, this proved itself on this occasion – and, as usual, Cary was up to the challenge.  To one woman who gushed, “My friends will never believe I met you unless...” Cary gently interrupted, “You mean you have friends like that?  You really shouldn’t.”  To a man who began, “I hate to bother you, but…” Cary’s interruption was firmer.  “Don’t ever,” he advised, “do anything you hate.”  And finally to a third man, who started, “My wife will kill me…” Cary was also admonitory.  “Tsk, tsk,” he smiled.  “You really shouldn’t have that kind of a relationship – it’s too dangerous.’”

Returning to Polar Bear – remember?  The Cat Who Came for Christmas?  Amory talks about cats getting sick and having to attempt forcing a pill down Polar Bear’s throat.  ‘Polar Bear and I were, from the beginning, two very different individuals when we were sick.  When I am sick, I want attention.  I want it now, and I want it around the clock … He wanted to be alone and he wanted to be completely alone.’  (That second one is me!  The first is my wife…) ‘…the very last thing he wanted was a pill.  When it came to pills, Polar Bear was not only a Christian Scientist, he wrote the book…”

The story of the author’s trip to the arctic to foil a baby seal clubbing event is tied in to the book because one of the other activists suggested that he bring Polar Bear along as their good luck charm on their ice-breaking ship.  Right.  Even Amory saw the problem with this.  The Canadian government had fought to keep the seal clubbing viable, and had laws about interference from activists:  ‘…Canada’s so-called “Seal Protection” Act had decreed that nothing, ship or person could come within half a nautical mile of the sealhunt unless engaged in the killing.  It was surely remarkable seal protection.’  Indeed. 

Next Week: Chapters 9-10 (Conclusion)

January’s book of the month:

“Garnethill,” by Denise Mina!

Amazon.com Review

Garnethill (the name of a bleak Glasgow suburb) won the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Crime Novel--the British equivalent of the Edgar. It's a book that crackles with mordant Scottish wit and throbs with the pain of badly treated mental illness, managing to be both truly frightening and immensely exhilarating at the same time. -- Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

From its opening pages, this winner of the 1998 John Creasey Memorial Award for best first crime novel pulls readers inexorably into the tortured world of sexual abuse victims and their struggle to survive as whole people. Eight months after spending almost half a year in a Glasgow psychiatric hospital devoted to treating sex abuse victims, Maureen O'Donnell is desperately trying to hold together her shattered life. Bored with her job at a theater ticket office and depressed because her affair with one of the hospital's doctors, Douglas Brady, is over, Maureen and a friend get drunk. The next morning Maureen finds Brady's body in her living room, his throat cut. With bloody footprints matching Maureen's slippers at the scene, Detective Chief Inspector Joe McEwan sets out to prove the woman's guilt … Maureen's valiant struggle to act sane in an insane world will leave readers seeing sex abuse victims in a new light. -- Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Week 1:  Chapters 1-8 

(First post, 1-9-15)

Week 2:  Chapters 9-20
Week 3:  Chapters 21-27
Week 4:  Chapters 28-38

 

 

 

The Cat Who Came for Christmas (Cleveland Amory) Chapters 4-6

This section of the book takes a sharp right turn in an unexpected direction.  The large majority of the content of these three chapters is given over to a sort of extended general essay on cats, departing from the story about the author’s acquisition of a pet on Christmas Eve.  I can see this being a disappointment for some readers, especially young readers who expected a continuation of the antics of the cat.  At first, I was a little put off by it myself, but the exposition is intriguing enough that found myself enjoying it, albeit it in a different way than I had expected.

After a short discussion about how cats are creatures of habit and like to follow strict routines, there is a section on the myth that cats hate water.  Large cats, in particular actually love it.  An anecdote about a friend of the author who owned a pair of tigers and also had a swimming pool says, ‘Normally the tigers just went into the water any old way, but as time went on and they observed John diving off the board, they too would get up on the board and do their version of John’s swan dive. . .  Small cats too are not averse to water . . .’ His own cat did not ‘actively dislike water.  He just disliked vertical water . . . If it was to be in large quantities, then he firmly insisted on his water being horizontal.’

Next is an exploration of cats as laboratory animals.  The cat ‘has the terrible bad luck of having a brain which, for all its small size, is not only, save for the ape, the most highly developed on the evolutionary scale, it is also the one most like the human brain.’  I had not heard this before.  I once saw a poster featuring the cartoon cat, Garfield, with the quote, “The Cat – Nature’s Most Perfect Creature.”  I hadn’t realized that this was predated by Leonardo Da Vinci calling the cat “Nature’s Masterpiece.”  This was Mr. Amory’s favorite cat-related quote, though he continues, ‘It hardly seemed necessary to go further . . .  But the fact was I soon found others which would become favorites too.  One was from, curiously, our own country’s preeminent humorist.  “If,” Mark Twain said, “man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”’

Finally we come to the problem of choosing a name for the cat.  An entire chapter (out of the ten total chapters of the book) is devoted to this.  Once again, the writing here is full of fascination factoids and anecdotes, but this reader still had that feeling of tension that comes with having the actual story being “put on hold.”  ‘The naming of a cat, like marriage to a person, was obviously not to be undertaken or entered into lightly.  On the contrary, it was, as T. S. Eliot, who wrote a whole poem about it, noted, “a difficult matter”’ which is the adopted name of this chapter.  A portion of the poem is included at the end of the chapter and is a large part of the inspiration for the Broadway musical named “Cats.” (Oh, and the cat’s eventual name? - Polar Bear.)

And, in yet another reference to Mark Twain, there is the anecdote of one of the kittens of his famous feline companion, Tammany, and its domination of Twain’s pool table: ‘It was the habit of the kitten to hole up in a corner pocket, thus adding, by her blockade, a new dimension to any game.  To this tactic she added a second with her habit of not always, but occasionally, when the mood struck, swiping out with her paw and redirecting a ball headed toward the other corner pocket.  In these cases, Twain recalled, house rules called not for any condemnation of the kitten but merely for putting  the ball back as closely as possible to the original position and reshooting the shot.’  Ha!  That’s my kind of billiards!

 

 

Next Week:  Chapters 7-8

Week 4:  Chapters 9-10

The Cat Who Came for Christmas (Cleveland Amory) Chapters 1-3

‘To anyone who has ever been owned by a cat . . .’ is the first phrase of this story: a telling phrase that can be completed in thousands of ways, many of which are explored in this book.  This humorous look at one man’s views on cat psychology keeps bringing to my mind Mark Twain’s lighter works – a real treat for this reader!  Cleveland Amory is sharing observations that are more or less common among cat lovers; not trying for originality so much as universality; but taking the ideas perhaps a little deeper than most of us, and phrasing them so eloquently as to tempt us to stop and admire the prose.  He’s one of those writers that students trying to learn the craft of writing might want to study in detail.  Bravo!

‘For an animal person, an animal-less home is no home at all.’  Looking back on the periods of my own life when I didn’t have a pet in the home for an extended time, this resonates with me.  Personally, I would take it a step further and apply it specifically to cats.  I have often had to “make do” with dogs, and I love them dearly, but the hole in my life created by not having a companion cat is like a missing tooth; something you could get used to, but never quite comfortable with.

The personification of cats – this one Who Came for Christmas in particular – is elevated to a fine art here.  ‘. . . he spoke.  “Aeiou,” he said.  “Ow, yourself,” I replied; “Merry Christmas.”  I reminded him that he was supposed to say, “Meow.”  “Aeiou,” he repeated.  Obviously, he was not very good at consonants, but he was terrific at vowels.’  He even borrows from the great Aldous Huxley: ‘“My young friend,” I said, “if you want to be a psychological novelist and write about human beings, the best thing you can do is to keep a pair of cats.”’  ‘“The tail in cats,” Mr. Huxley declared, “is the principal organ of emotional expression.”  The author also counselled his student not only to watch his cats “living from day to day” but also to do more than this – “to mark, learn and inwardly digest the lessons about human nature which they teach.”’  I’ve often wondered how differently humans would have evolved psychologically if we had never kept pets.  I have to think we learned valuable lessons from dogs and horses especially and perhaps, more subtly, from cats.  Would we even have survived as a species without the positive personality traits learned from these wonderful beings?  Somehow, I doubt it.

‘As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human mind.’ . . . ‘They sense that it is absolutely essential for them to seize every opportunity for education and correction.  Otherwise, as befitting our slothful natures, we will slip back immediately into our most incorrigible old habits.  Their job in this regard something, I’m told, like a wife’s.’   (Another beautiful “Mark Twain” moment!)  This leads to a comparison of “dog people” and “cat people” – in particular the idea that women are usually more drawn to cats and men to dogs.  He had long held this as a general theory, ‘But, all of about twenty-four hours after I had had my cat, I was suddenly not so sure.’  (That many famous male authors favored cats is well documented.)

Chapter Three ends with the most thorough cat-personification yet, in which the author essentially gives us both sides of the conversation between he and the cat about whether he can “train” the cat to “Come” to him on command.  Right.  I’m reminded of a Facebook meme in which a German Shepherd and a medium-sized black cat are looking out a glass-pane French door.  The dog is thinking, “The Master’s home!! Yay!!” and the cat is thinking, “You’re late, slave!”

Next Week:  Chapters 4-6

Week 3:  Chapters 7-8
Week 4:  Chapters 9-10

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan) Conclusion

Then the Unconsecrated are upon them.  Again.  ‘A thousand thoughts run through my head.  How to stop them.  How to fight them.  Where to go.  How to hide.  How to survive.  Travis’s leg and Argos and the ladder and the attic.’  Only nine hundred ninety one thoughts to go.  It’s a good thing our heroine is a fast thinker!  This kind of sloppy prose – the kind our high school English teachers red-penciled like crazy in a previous century – has gotten more and more distracting as the story grinds on.

It finally occurs to me as I reach page 238 (okay, I’m not the fastest hamster on the treadmill!) that I will enjoy this book much better if I simply pretend that it is a novelization of a cheap, grade B horror flick.  I don’t remember seeing Dawn of the Dead if I ever did, but reading the book, if there is one, I know I would merely chuckle at the ludicrous parts.  I don’t really think Carrie Ryan wrote this in the same spirit as movies like that – I think she meant for it to be taken more seriously.  But downgrading my expectations for this book will improve it immeasurably in my eyes!

There are many possible reasons to read a book.  In general, some books have a great story and are well-written in the bargain.  Sue Grafton’s alphabet series come to mind; always enjoyable on both counts.  Some books have a weak story but are written so well that most people find them compelling anyway.  Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an example, in my opinion.  Some books have a really cool story but the writing is weak.  Like this one.  Of course, books that are weak in both areas (Danielle Steele always seems to be my go to example) are simply not worth the time it takes to read them.

This book is worth the time, though another hundred pages might have knocked it out of contention.  Is there a sequel?  Yes; in fact, I was given the sequel – The Dead-Tossed Waves – first, but decided that I wanted to start at the beginning.  Is it likely to be better?  Quite possibly – but I may never know…  It does promise to be very different.  The climax of the story comes at the very end – usually a good place for it – with Mary finally reaching the ocean.  Was it worth losing literally everything she had, including her brother and other loved ones to accomplish this?  Apparently so.  I guess that’s one of the things the sequel will reveal.  At the seashore, she meets (and is almost decapitated and buried by) a Nice Young Man who lives in a lighthouse.  Oddly, he isn’t given a name in this book, though presumably he will in the next.  He does have a nickname for the Unconsecrated.  He calls them “Mudo.”  ‘ “It’s what the pirates who hunt along the coast call them.  It means speechless.” ’  And all this time we could have been spared the endless repetitions of the U-word!  I’m liking the next book better already…

If Mary seemed somewhat fickle before, here she is taking notice of this new guy; ‘I like the sound of his voice.  Its depth, its tone.  It reminds me of Travis, melts into my memory of Travis’s voice, of the way the words slipped from his lips.’  Girl, get a grip.  In thinking about Travis and her past life; ‘I wonder if these memories are worth holding on to.  Are worth the burden.  I wonder what purpose they serve.’  (Would she have wondered the same things about this book in general?)  ‘Already the ocean is washing around the Unconsecrated on the beach, pulling them back into the water, reclaiming them.  For a while I stand and watch, until the beach is clear and the man takes my hand and leads me to the lighthouse.’  For someone who has spent the entire book obsessing over her romantic relationships at the expense of survival concerns, she seems to be mighty comfortable with this new arrangement! 

December’s book of the month:

“The Cat Who Came for Christmas,” by Cleveland Amory!

This one is for those who have commented on how “dark” the recent selections have been!

From Publishers Weekly:
It is fitting that the founder and head of the Fund for Animals personally rescues and takes in strays, and one incident proved to have a profound effect on him. On a snowy Christmas Eve, Amory helped capture a scrawny cat and took it to his apartment. How does a new cat-keeper train a creature accustomed to fending for itself in Manhattan's alleys? Slowly, with patience and respect. Interspersed with tales of Polar Bear are many digressions involving the author's work with animal-rescue and animal-rights organizations. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:
Apparently aimed at the holiday gift trade, this is the pleasant, rambling story of a white cat rescued by Amory one Christmas Eve. Struggling to understand his feline friend, he becomes devoted to a degree that not everyone will understand. An animal rights activist, Amory shares his feelings about veterinarians, airlines, hotels, human and animal natures, and the complexities of modern life. Although amusing anecdotes abound, there is little action. Amory's intelligent, educated musings explain life as he and his cat experience it. He also includes interesting trivia on ancient feline history and celebrities who loved or hated cats. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Week 1:  Chapters 1-3 

(First post, 12-5-14)

Week 2:  Chapters 4-6
Week 3:  Chapters 7-8
Week 4:  Chapters 9-10

 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan) Chapters 18-25

Sometimes speakers or writers have pet phrases which they regularly overuse, apparently with no realization of it.  One that was pointed out to me recently that a relative says is, “Look at it this way…”  Another was a professor who uses the word “Actually” to begin a high percentage of his sentences in lectures.  “Like” and “Totally” are two words we find sprinkled liberally throughout the speech of some young people, as they chew their gum.  On the other hand [there’s another one!] when we notice an author doing this, it becomes a real distraction.  Carrie Ryan probably doesn’t realize – and we might presume that her editor apparently doesn’t either – that she overuses, “cannot help but,” as in “cannot help but think” or “cannot help but wonder” on a pretty regular basis.  Don’t look at me, I’m not going to tell her, either!

When the action keeps up a good pace, this story is as riveting as it needs to be.  But when the action lulls and Mary gets contemplative the story begins to get tedious.  Is it compelling to a 14-year-old girl?  That seems to be the intended audience here much of the time.  There are some embarrassingly awkward sentences sprinkled here and there.  ‘Her long black hair framing skin that was both pale and dark, like the moon as it hangs just over the horizon.’  Skin that is both pale and dark?  You know, like the moon.  ‘I don’t realize until after the word is out of my mouth: betrothed.  It’s as if the individual letters hang in the air like fat rising in water.’  Okay, Carrie, next action scene please.

Except that is it pages and pages of “thoughtful” prose before the Unconsecrated finally break through the front door that had survived the original attack that brought about the downfall of this village.  In any sci-fi/fantasy/dystopia type story, we assume we will be suspending our disbelief a little or a lot to accommodate artistic license.  But we still expect a certain degree of internal consistency.  We want a little assurance that there is a logical reason, for instance, for a corridor of chain-link fences that has been constructed spanning miles and miles from one village to another.

Presumably, the mystery that is the fenced corridors will be explained eventually, even if not to our complete satisfaction.  Somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen here.  There are so many such oddities that go without explanation in this story that I think we’re just going to have to let most of them go.  In a story like Alice in Wonderland, that might work.  But this story pretends to present more Realism than Alice, so we expect a little more.

The wheels really come off the cart at the end of Chapter XXIV, when Mary realizes she can wrap a note around an arrow and send it across the street to where Harry and the others are living in the treehouse section of the village.  She fills many sheets of paper with ‘…everything I wish I had ever said to Harry…’ and wraps these pages around arrows.  As she fires them across the way, only the last one gets to the intended target.  The rest of them miss their mark: ‘Again and again I embed my story into the skulls of the Unconsecrated that surround us.’  Apparently it doesn’t occur to our author how unlikely it is that all of the arrows hit a zombie in the skull, not a shoulder, torso, leg or simply the ground.  Apparently a little realism wasn’t the important thing here.  This is not “artistic license.”  This is sloppy thinking and poor story-telling.  Harry gets the last message.  (Fortunately it did not embed itself in his skull.)  ‘He leans over and plucks the paper from the shaft, leaving the arrow where it lies.  He unfurls the letter and reads it.  I tell him we are well and ask him if they are doing okay.  And then I ask him if they have pondered escape.  I wait for his answer.’  If this kind of story construction is one of the results of a generation raised on texting shallow messages to one another, we are in greater trouble than we imagined!

 

 

 Next Week: Chapters 26-36 (Conclusion)

December’s book of the month:

“The Cat Who Came for Christmas,” by Cleveland Amory!

This one is for those who have commented on how “dark” the recent selections have been!

From Publishers Weekly:
It is fitting that the founder and head of the Fund for Animals personally rescues and takes in strays, and one incident proved to have a profound effect on him. On a snowy Christmas Eve, Amory helped capture a scrawny cat and took it to his apartment. How does a new cat-keeper train a creature accustomed to fending for itself in Manhattan's alleys? Slowly, with patience and respect. Interspersed with tales of Polar Bear are many digressions involving the author's work with animal-rescue and animal-rights organizations. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:
Apparently aimed at the holiday gift trade, this is the pleasant, rambling story of a white cat rescued by Amory one Christmas Eve. Struggling to understand his feline friend, he becomes devoted to a degree that not everyone will understand. An animal rights activist, Amory shares his feelings about veterinarians, airlines, hotels, human and animal natures, and the complexities of modern life. Although amusing anecdotes abound, there is little action. Amory's intelligent, educated musings explain life as he and his cat experience it. He also includes interesting trivia on ancient feline history and celebrities who loved or hated cats. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Week 1:  Chapters 1-3 

(First post, 12-5-14)

Week 2:  Chapters 4-6
Week 3:  Chapters 7-8
Week 4:  Chapters 9-10

 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan) Chapters 9-17

‘It has been weeks since we have seen each other, months since we have spent time together as friends the way we used to before my mother became Unconsecrated.’  The term “Unconsecrated” as it is used to indicate the zombies is always capitalized and is almost never varied from in alternative terms.  It seems to be overused a little gratuitously, as if we, along with the author, never tire of how wonderfully clever it is.  I imagine a deep-voiced announcer intoning “Unconsecrated!” each time with great drama and a touch of reverb.  The above could have been, “…before I lost my mother” or “…before my mother changed over” or “…before my mother became one with the Forest.”  I get that the idea is that these people view the zombies in quasi-religious terms; I’m just getting a little jaded on this one.

The situation that our villagers have lived with all their lives is ultimately rather ludicrous.  The zombies have been clawing at the protective fence for generations and have never found their way through.  As our current story unfolds, the breakthrough finally happens.  ‘…we simply stand and stare.  Unable to fully comprehend what is happening.’  They’ve been dreading it all their lives, drilled for it, taken all kinds of precautions over it, but still can’t imagine it.  ‘That such a thing would occur must have been inevitable and yet none of us ever believed it would happen.’  Is Carrie Ryan, our author, trying to tell us how we might feel if and when the American Political/Economic System collapses?  I’m finding it hard to believe that this story is that deep, that allegorical.  But it wouldn’t surprise me if an English teacher, having the class read this as an assignment, would expect the students to buy into that interpretation…

Or how about this: ‘ ”Don’t you see?  Everything has changed,” I say. “Jacob’s parents may not have even survived.  Nothing will be the same.”  She moves her hand from my cheek to cover my mouth.  “I don’t want to hear such things,” she says, her voice even and serious.  “Don’t you see that believing the village is gone means that everyone we have ever known is dead?  I won’t give up that easily on them.  And neither should you.” ’ Is this primacy of what one Chooses to Believe over Reality, irrational as it is, a commentary on the psychological mechanisms that lead to reactionary religious belief?  Again, I have a hard time giving our author that much credit.

For one thing, she herself seems to accept that it is perfectly understandable that “Love” (depicted here as the idolization of a potential mate, perhaps the advanced stages of a “crush”) should occupy a rational person’s mind more than the dire survival challenges that our main characters are facing.   Mary’s obsession with Travis in the face of real peril qualifies as a severe neurosis – but the author seems to be showing us that not only is this normal; it is noble.  The love letter prose – ‘It feels as if my heart is about to explode . . . as I wonder if I have ruined any chance for Travis and me to be together because I didn’t wait for him until the end.  Because I chose to Bind myself to Harry. Because I gave up on Travis.  On Love.’ – positively reeks of middle school puppy love sentiment.   This, when she might well be wondering where her next meal is coming from.

So, am I enjoying this book?  Actually, on some levels, yes!  The storyline, plot, action sequences and several other elements are strong enough to make up for the weaknesses, strangely enough.  There’s even this:  ‘Jed turns to me.  “That’s where I was the day that mother was . . . infected.  I was out on the paths, checking supplies, making sure the fences still held.  That’s why I couldn’t return before she . . . turned.” ’ He avoided saying, “Became Unconsecrated”!  Twice!






Next Week: Chapters 18-25

Week 4:  Chapters 26-36 
 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan) Chapters 1-8

Yes, here we go with another book from the YA section of the library.  My wife makes fun of me for reading from this genre, and you may too, if you want.  But some of the most compelling fiction-writing going on these days is from a new, untested generation of authors who haven’t yet established a following or a niche in the market, and are seeking a good way to break in.  Even some of the old-guard writers appear to be looking for a little YA boost in their careers, for one reason or another.  (James Patterson comes to mind, although I won’t go into my opinion of why his career needs a boost…)

The story is told in first person, beginning with a little background but quickly getting to present events.  When the topics switch from past tense to present tense, we segue from, ‘Jed and I watch our mother closely now…’ to ‘And then one day Beth’s brother catches up with me while I am dunking our laundry in the stream…’   It seems to me that there was a time when this use of tense would be considered incorrect, or at least gauche.  Correct would then have been, ‘And then one day Beth’s brother CAUGHT up with me while I WAS dunking our laundry in the stream…’  I have noticed this sort of “present action” tense-mangling more and more in the last few years, especially in books written for young people, and I have wondered when it became acceptable, even fashionable to write this way.  Surely there is a term for it – any Literature professors out there?  What’s this called?  And what’s next, using text abbreviations?  “U R my 1 and only luv!”  It’s not that I’m all that put off by this – it’s just that it still comes across as a little naïve and Middle-Schoolish to me.  Oh, well.

What I do like very much about the story is its palpable Darkness.  Like many of the best Dystopian stories, it is permeated with a deep, brooding aura that many of us find appealing.  But instead of mankind having been mostly wiped out by bombs, pestilence or well-meaning politicians, this story shows what might take place after a zombie apocalypse.   I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’ve ever read of that type – and since I never watch TV, I haven’t seen Walking Dead,  though I have seen the Will Smith movie, “I Am Legend.”  At least it’s not another vampire knock-off (though I’m not as jaded on those as most people claim to be!).

Before dealing in too much detail with “The Evil That Is The Unconsecrated [Zombies],” we are treated to an uncomfortably close look at “The Evil That Is Reactionary Religion” – another popular theme in much of today’s literature.  Mary, our heroine, is caught between these two hard places and we share with her some doubts about which one is worse.  The “Sisterhood” actually forces her to choose between joining them and being “fed” to the zombies.  Questionable recruiting methods, to be sure, but as Mary points out, she doesn’t have much of a choice.

Now that we have a clear picture of the bleak environment in which Mary has been trapped all her life, and a revelation for her of just how bleak it is she stumbles upon the game-changer, the pivotal plot event that is The Outsider.  Someone from the outside is being kept a secret from the village by the Sisterhood, and Mary – a little too conveniently – encounters the Outsider, named Gabrielle, by whispers through the wall separating Gabrielle’s room from the room Mary just happens to have been called into by the most powerful member of the Sisterhood.  Maybe it’s not supposed to be obvious yet, or maybe I’m reading too much into it, but this looks just a little too much like a set-up!  Let’s read on!





Next Week:  Chapters 9-17
Week 3:  Chapters 18-25
Week 4:  Chapters 26-36 

‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King) Conclusion

The connection of the Vampire Myth to contemporary religious beliefs is usually limited to the holding of a crucifix to “ward off” a vampire.  You might occasionally run into the use of “holy water” as well, but beyond that, perhaps the less said the better.  In this book, religion, especially Catholicism, plays a major role, and Mr. King does not shy away from the ramifications.  Father Callahan, the local priest, is brought into the picture and becomes a central figure in the story.

Callahan insists, as any priest probably should, on acting as a representative of the church in his part against the vampires, and requires everyone in his confidence to give him their confessions before he will participate.  Ben, though not a Catholic, complies, experiencing ‘the dull embarrassment that went along with telling a stranger the mean secrets of his life . . . There was something medieval about it, something accursed – a ritual act of regurgitation . . . The confessional might have been a direct pipeline to the days when werewolves and incubi and witches were an accepted part of the outer darkness and the church the only beacon of light.’ Is this the author or the character giving us his take on confessions?

The first indication of the religious connection to the supernaturalism that actually occurs in the story is when Father Callahan approaches the front door of the Marsten house and says, ‘ “In the name of God the Father . . . I command the evil to be gone from this house!  Spirits, depart!”   And without being aware he was going to do it, he smote the door with the crucifix in his hand.  There was a flash of light – afterward they all agreed there had been – a pungent whiff of ozone, and a crackling sound, as if the boards themselves had screamed.  The curved fanlight above the door suddenly exploded outward, and the large bay window to the left that overlooked the lawn coughed its glass onto the grass at the same instant.’  Who needs Thor’s hammer when a little silver cross can do all that?  Is this the point where all good Catholics toss the book into the trash and write Mr. King a scathing letter rebuking him for his blasphemies?

The suspense has been building for the entire book regarding the mysterious Mr. Barlow, and what he might look like or how he might act.  We finally meet him (on page 535 of this edition!) and the first image we are given is; ‘. . . a white, grinning face like something out of a Frazetta painting. . .’  To those of us who are familiar with the works of Frank Frazetta, there is a lot of aesthetic impact in this phrase.  Otherwise, it could come off as somewhat of a copout.  Fortunately, the continuation is: ‘. . . which split to reveal long sharp fangs – and red, lurid eyes like furnace doors to hell.’  Subsequent descriptive passages fill in the character a little better (including an intriguing passage where Mark spits in Barlow’s face and ‘Barlow’s breath stopped.’  Uh . . . do vampires breathe?) but for those of us who love this kind of thing, King doesn’t give us near enough.  True, shedding too much light (pun alert) on the chief vampire might result in overexposure, and it’s always better to “leave them wanting more” as the old entertainment maxim goes.  But some of us were looking for a more developed character in the main antagonist, even if he was “dead” before the story began!

Of course there can be no happy ending to this story.  Ben and Mark return a year later to a village virtually deserted (except at night, it’s understood) and Ben contrives a way to recreate the Great Fire of ’51 which played a prominent role in the town’s history, finding the conditions to be right.  Burning down all the hiding places of the vampires which still haunt the town would flush them out where they can be dealt with by the light of day.  As tidy an ending as one might expect for this amazing and impressive legend of a book!

 

November’s book of the month; “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” by Carrie Ryan!

"A bleak but gripping story...Poignant and powerful."- Publishers Weekly:  Starred

"A postapocalyptic romance of the first order, elegantly written from title to last line."-Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies series and Leviathan

"Intelligent, dark, and bewitching, The Forest of Hands and Teeth transitions effortlessly between horror and beauty. Mary's world is one that readers will not soon forget."-Cassandra Clare, bestselling author of City of Bones

"Opening The Forest of Hands and Teeth is like cracking Pandora's box: a blur of darkness and a precious bit of hope pour out. This is a beautifully crafted, page-turning, powerful novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it."-Melissa Marr, bestselling author of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange

Dark and sexy and scary.”  Justine Larbalestier, author of How to Ditch Your Fairy

 

 

Week 1:  Chapters 1-8 

(First post, 11-7-14)

Week 2:  Chapters 9-17
Week 3:  Chapters 18-25
Week 4:  Chapters 26-36