I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage by Susan Squire
I feel kind of bad saying this, but I was a bit disappointed by this book. The author writes in a humorous fashion, gives a nice overview of the ways people's views of marriage changed over the years, but she concludes in the 16th century with Martin Luther. In some ways, it is really less of a history, and more a series of snapshots of famous and influential people's opinions. This is unfortunate, because Squire mentions that she spent 13 years working on this book, and while looking through her bibliography, I noticed quite a few interesting sources - she had a lot of information, but I wish more of it had been included in the book. I was also surprised to note that she didn't include Marilyn Yalom's A History of the Wife as one of her sources. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I've already read that, but I don't necessarily feel like this book presented that much new information.
In some cases, the information she presented focused more on men's views of women without really discussing these effects on marriages too much. One chapter that was particularly guilty of this was when she talked about the Malleus Maleficarum, "The Witches' Hammer," which was the infamous guide used to find witches from the late 15th century onward. It basically tells men that women are evil and to beware, but I felt like something else was needed to really tie it into the rest of the book a bit more (in her defense, I was slightly jetlagged while reading this, so I may have just missed that part), especially since this wasn't exactly new information to 15th century men.
Having recently read Guns, Germs and Steel, I felt she described how people settled down and started developing agriculture a bit simplistically, but that really isn't the point of the book. After that she begins with looking at gender roles in the Bible with Adam and Eve, and how the creation story will be used time and time again to justify women's position as inferior to men. At this point in time, the basic point of marriage is to "be fruitful and multiply" - she also analyzes the text and shows how Eve has been portrayed as an evil temptress though the text doesn't say anything about her tricking Adam despite popular belief (I guess we can partially blame that on Milton as well as centuries of sermons). The book was strongest in this part where she was analyzing the text and how its interpretations would later justify the dominance of men over women in all life and particularly marriage. She then moves on to the Greeks, who had a very divided system - there were wives for reproduction, courtesans of a sort for sex, prostitutes for other types of sex, and then men for plautonic love and intellectual conversation since women obviously couldn't fill this role.
Comparatively, Roman wives have more rights, but both Greek and Roman writing shows plenty of misogyny, and when people rediscover these texts during the Renaissance, they also rediscover justifications for looking down on women. From this point forward, the book shifts to the Christian perspective, and with this, there is also a shift in the reasons for marriage: it stops being about reproduction per se, and starts being about lust control, leading to such common sayings as "it is better to marry than to burn." Over a millenia, the men of the Church, some of whom have never had sex, become more obsessed with sex and with regulating sex. For example, Paul thought it was best to not have sex, but if someone was going to have sex, they should do it in marriage. He didn't really elaborate too much. As the years go on, priests, monks and churchmen would limit the types of positions that were appropriate, the times of day, and finally declare that sex should only be for reproductive purposes. Of course, some beliefs from back than were nice to hear about, such as the belief that women had to orgasm for conception to occur.
Another topic she discusses throughout are the ideas of the ideal wife, and how some men would illustrate these examples to women. Squire also mentions that most men liked to marry younger women because they believed they would be easier to control and mold into proper wives. However, this came with its own risks because the literature of the time demonstrates that many men were afraid of being made a fool or a cuckold. Chaucer, for example, used his stories to poke fun at old men married to lusty young wives.
Eventually, however, the idea of love is introduced. At first, it isn't within marriage, but as part of the chivalric tradition, there are finally stories about men and women dying for each other in honorable ways. Previously, most of the stories concerned men dying for other men, such as in the Greek traditions. With this introduction of love and sex, it opens the door for this to later be incorporated into ideas of marriage, and it is Martin Luther that partially does this. Additionally, she argues that the plague made people more willing to question the church so his timing was perfect. His wife is his helper in the traditional manner, but he doesn't try and dictate people's sex lives, and writes of a loving partnership, which Squire argues is the beginning of modern love and marriage even if there some hick ups after.
As I said, it's a great overview, though in some cases I think it can be deceiving because the book starts out in chronological order, but then the last few chapters tend to be more by themes since many of the things she discussed and addressed happened around the same time. And while Luther may have been the start of modern day marriage, it didn't just happen that quickly. I definitely would have liked to read about what happened after Luther, and up to today even. Additionally, it was Western-centric, so it only addressed the history of marriage in Europe. I wonder how much of the current book was the author's vision and how much was an editor telling her to cut it down. I guess my one other problem with the book had more to do with expectations: since she used the word contrarian in the title, I think I was expecting more of a polemic, such as Laura Kipnis's Against Love, but I don't feel like anything she argued was necessarily that extreme or contrarian. Still, as a quick overview with some humor, it is good. It is just necessary to look elsewhere for more something more in depth.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Book 16: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
While I was on leave, I drank quite a bit of tea, and I think this novel may be partially to blame. The novel begins when Major Pettigrew finds out that his brother has died, and while he is processing this news, his town's shopkeeper drops by to pick up the newspaper money. As a result, Jasmina Ali sees the always proper major in a slightly disoriented state, and she volunteers to help him out as necessary, including a ride to the funeral. The major soon realizes just how forward he looks to seeing her, and having discussions with her, and a friendship slowly develops over tea and Kipling. They have both lost their spouses in the past, and get along easily but their different backgrounds provide some difficulties. Ali is Pakistani, and while she is accepted in the community, there is a certain type of racism and cultural insensitivity displayed towards her in the community. For example, when the golf club's committee of women decides to do an Indian theme (or actually Mughal), they start throwing in all types of stereotypes, and want to ask her. The major, who spent part of his childhood in India, attempts to explain just how off they are. While Ali graciously assists, the evening ends up being disastrous.
Additionally, Ali's nephew has come to assist with the shop, and he is also acting as a bit of baby-sitter. Simonson deals with the cultural differences and complications with a light touch that seems realistic rather than heavy-handed. The major has his own generational problems: he doesn't understand his young son, Roger, at all. Roger is very materialistic and focused on money while his father is more concerned with tradition. I can't say I ever liked Roger, but even with the novel being mostly from the major's perspective, none of the characters seem completely two-dimensional. One of the major parts of the narrative concerns Major Pettigrew's father's rifles. When he died, each of his sons inherited one, and as far as the major was concerned, they were to be reunited at either brother's death. However, his brother made no mention of this in his will, and since the set is worth 100,000 pounds this is obviously a point of contention. Roger is purely interested in selling them and making a quick buck, while for his father, they are a family heirloom.
The ending was a bit crazy compared to the relative calm of the rest of the novel, but it wasn't distracting enough to take away from the rest of the novel. I would definitely recommend this novel, and plan to read more by this author. I just liked her characters, and the way she incorporates old, traditional England with the evolving world, and how it affects the people in small towns. I liked that as much as the major cared about tradition, honor and family, he was also willing to take a chance, overlooked things his neighbors didn't, and tried to be a good person, even if he made mistakes and was fallible.
While I was on leave, I drank quite a bit of tea, and I think this novel may be partially to blame. The novel begins when Major Pettigrew finds out that his brother has died, and while he is processing this news, his town's shopkeeper drops by to pick up the newspaper money. As a result, Jasmina Ali sees the always proper major in a slightly disoriented state, and she volunteers to help him out as necessary, including a ride to the funeral. The major soon realizes just how forward he looks to seeing her, and having discussions with her, and a friendship slowly develops over tea and Kipling. They have both lost their spouses in the past, and get along easily but their different backgrounds provide some difficulties. Ali is Pakistani, and while she is accepted in the community, there is a certain type of racism and cultural insensitivity displayed towards her in the community. For example, when the golf club's committee of women decides to do an Indian theme (or actually Mughal), they start throwing in all types of stereotypes, and want to ask her. The major, who spent part of his childhood in India, attempts to explain just how off they are. While Ali graciously assists, the evening ends up being disastrous.
Additionally, Ali's nephew has come to assist with the shop, and he is also acting as a bit of baby-sitter. Simonson deals with the cultural differences and complications with a light touch that seems realistic rather than heavy-handed. The major has his own generational problems: he doesn't understand his young son, Roger, at all. Roger is very materialistic and focused on money while his father is more concerned with tradition. I can't say I ever liked Roger, but even with the novel being mostly from the major's perspective, none of the characters seem completely two-dimensional. One of the major parts of the narrative concerns Major Pettigrew's father's rifles. When he died, each of his sons inherited one, and as far as the major was concerned, they were to be reunited at either brother's death. However, his brother made no mention of this in his will, and since the set is worth 100,000 pounds this is obviously a point of contention. Roger is purely interested in selling them and making a quick buck, while for his father, they are a family heirloom.
The ending was a bit crazy compared to the relative calm of the rest of the novel, but it wasn't distracting enough to take away from the rest of the novel. I would definitely recommend this novel, and plan to read more by this author. I just liked her characters, and the way she incorporates old, traditional England with the evolving world, and how it affects the people in small towns. I liked that as much as the major cared about tradition, honor and family, he was also willing to take a chance, overlooked things his neighbors didn't, and tried to be a good person, even if he made mistakes and was fallible.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Book 15: The Lost
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn
Due to his love for his grandfather and interest in the family's history, Daniel Mendelsohn became the family historian early in his life. Part of the reason for this fascination was his grandfather's brother, Shmiel, who was "killed by the Nazis," and whom Mendelsohn bore a resemblance to as a child. However, since everyone in the family but Shmiel had already left their hometown prior to the Occupation, no one really knew what had happened to him, his wife and his four daughters. This book describes Mendelsohn's search for answers, and how he slowly realized that less important perhaps than finding out how they had died, was finding out how they had lived - who had these six people been?
Early in the book, Mendelsohn describes his love of Greek and Roman classics, and how he was much less interested in the Torah. He believes this has much to do with the stories' set-ups: the classics would go off on tangents and give background, such as Homer explaining the warriors' backgrounds before they would face each other, while the Torah was much more straightforward and linear. He believes this is because the first way reminded him of how his grandfather, the storyteller, would tell a story. This book follows that structure. Mendelsohn goes off on quite a few tangents to provide background only to return to his earlier point much later. However, having been given this earlier explanation relatively early in the book, it didn't bother me. The book really reads very much like someone telling a story, remembering things as he goes, and tying them in, repeating certain facts and phrases throughout for emphasis (sometimes unnecessarily).
Just like Mendelsohn didn't receive a clear, immediate answer regarding Shmiel, Ester and their daughters, the reader doesn't get the answer in the beginning. While Mendelsohn hints at points that he received further information later, or gives a sentence or two of it, the reader goes through Mendelsohn's journey of discovery with him. Based on what different eye-witnesses and survivors report to Mendelsohn, his conception of what had happened to his long lost cousins change, and sometimes they change repeatedly.
As he traces his roots, he realizes the resources he had had at his disposal at a child without actually being aware of it. Eventually he him makes contact with the survivors of Bolechow, his family's home town, through the Israeli branch of his family and these people help give him answers and lead him to others that may have more answers, both about his family and what their life may have been like, before the Occupation and as the Nazis took control. This leads him to places like Sydney, Copenhagen, and Israel. Their stories not only give some light on what happened (or may have happened) to his relatives, but also put other family stories and legends in a new perspective.
Some answers were much easier to find than others - Ruchele, the third daughter's fate, was the most clear, and there were no surprises later in the story. However, of the other five, some answers were never very clear, and others changed, such as who got transported to Belzec, who was hidden etc. Mendelsohn had to accept that he couldn't find all the answers but he still ended up with much more information than the family had originally. I know personally, there was one thing in particular I was wondering, and I'm sure Mendelsohn may have had a similar question in addition to many others.
I mostly enjoyed the book. As I said, Mendelsohn quite often went of on tangents, so for someone interested in the Holocaust, this book may meander a bit much. Even I thought that towards the end, he could have wrapped it up a bit more tightly or quickly, and maybe cut a few pages. I enjoyed the interviews with the survivors although some of them were only hinted at since the subjects only told them if they would not be put in the book. My one other complaint is that he doesn't have a list of sources or bibliography in the back. While he generally mentions books he read in the text, in some cases he mentions only the author but not the title, and there is no bibliography at the end. Since this is a memoir/family history and not a history book, I understand why there isn't an index and a bibliography but I would have liked one nonetheless, especially since I occasionally forgot who some of the many people he knew, interviewed, and referenced were.
Due to his love for his grandfather and interest in the family's history, Daniel Mendelsohn became the family historian early in his life. Part of the reason for this fascination was his grandfather's brother, Shmiel, who was "killed by the Nazis," and whom Mendelsohn bore a resemblance to as a child. However, since everyone in the family but Shmiel had already left their hometown prior to the Occupation, no one really knew what had happened to him, his wife and his four daughters. This book describes Mendelsohn's search for answers, and how he slowly realized that less important perhaps than finding out how they had died, was finding out how they had lived - who had these six people been?
Early in the book, Mendelsohn describes his love of Greek and Roman classics, and how he was much less interested in the Torah. He believes this has much to do with the stories' set-ups: the classics would go off on tangents and give background, such as Homer explaining the warriors' backgrounds before they would face each other, while the Torah was much more straightforward and linear. He believes this is because the first way reminded him of how his grandfather, the storyteller, would tell a story. This book follows that structure. Mendelsohn goes off on quite a few tangents to provide background only to return to his earlier point much later. However, having been given this earlier explanation relatively early in the book, it didn't bother me. The book really reads very much like someone telling a story, remembering things as he goes, and tying them in, repeating certain facts and phrases throughout for emphasis (sometimes unnecessarily).
Just like Mendelsohn didn't receive a clear, immediate answer regarding Shmiel, Ester and their daughters, the reader doesn't get the answer in the beginning. While Mendelsohn hints at points that he received further information later, or gives a sentence or two of it, the reader goes through Mendelsohn's journey of discovery with him. Based on what different eye-witnesses and survivors report to Mendelsohn, his conception of what had happened to his long lost cousins change, and sometimes they change repeatedly.
As he traces his roots, he realizes the resources he had had at his disposal at a child without actually being aware of it. Eventually he him makes contact with the survivors of Bolechow, his family's home town, through the Israeli branch of his family and these people help give him answers and lead him to others that may have more answers, both about his family and what their life may have been like, before the Occupation and as the Nazis took control. This leads him to places like Sydney, Copenhagen, and Israel. Their stories not only give some light on what happened (or may have happened) to his relatives, but also put other family stories and legends in a new perspective.
Some answers were much easier to find than others - Ruchele, the third daughter's fate, was the most clear, and there were no surprises later in the story. However, of the other five, some answers were never very clear, and others changed, such as who got transported to Belzec, who was hidden etc. Mendelsohn had to accept that he couldn't find all the answers but he still ended up with much more information than the family had originally. I know personally, there was one thing in particular I was wondering, and I'm sure Mendelsohn may have had a similar question in addition to many others.
I mostly enjoyed the book. As I said, Mendelsohn quite often went of on tangents, so for someone interested in the Holocaust, this book may meander a bit much. Even I thought that towards the end, he could have wrapped it up a bit more tightly or quickly, and maybe cut a few pages. I enjoyed the interviews with the survivors although some of them were only hinted at since the subjects only told them if they would not be put in the book. My one other complaint is that he doesn't have a list of sources or bibliography in the back. While he generally mentions books he read in the text, in some cases he mentions only the author but not the title, and there is no bibliography at the end. Since this is a memoir/family history and not a history book, I understand why there isn't an index and a bibliography but I would have liked one nonetheless, especially since I occasionally forgot who some of the many people he knew, interviewed, and referenced were.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Book 14: The Titan's Curse
At the beginning of this novel, Annabeth, Percy and Thalia, Zeus's recently reawakened daughter, visit a boarding school after Grover alerts them that he has found two siblings, both halfbloods, there. Unfortunately, a monster has already found them as well, and Annabeth is kidnapped in the ensuing skirmish. Artemis and her Hunters happen to be in the area, and come to aid the demigods, but too late to help Annabeth. However, the monster mentioned some other looming threats, and Artemis decides to investigate them after accepting Bianca, one of the two new halfbloods, as one of her Hunters.
Given the danger, Artemis leaves her Hunters at Camp Half-Blood, but Artemis is soon captured, and based on the Oracle's prophecy, five heroes are chosen to go on a quest to save her. Originally, this includes three Hunters (Zoe, Artemis's lieutenant; Bianca; and one other) as well as Thalia and Grover. However, one Hunter is out of commission before the quest even starts so Percy secretly follows them so he can help save Annabeth.
This novel revisits many of the monsters and challenges that Hercules faced, and Percy also learns a bit more about the nature of Greek heroes from some of the immortals. The prophecy continues to loom, especially since Thalia's sixteenth birthday is less than a month away, and whatever the prophecy foresees was supposed to occur when the next halfblood child of one of the top three (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) reached 16.
The series is definitely very fun, especially watching the young demigods explore their powers. However, I don't remember the heroes of ancient Greece being quite so powerful - obviously, they tended to be smarter and stronger than the average human, but were the heroes of mythology able to affect the elements in the same way as in these novels? Percy as the son of Poseidon, for example, can speak to horses, control water and breathe underwater, while Thalia can call up lightning, and not just in a "the elements are nice to them due to their parentage" way, but they actually manipulate their surroundings. It definitely makes the novels more entertaining so I don't have an issue with this, I'm just genuinely curious, and don't feel like googling it right now. Oh, my one other comment regarding these novels is that it's surprising to me how often Percy still comes across beings he doesn't recognize - he remembers some of the Greek myths but considering how his summers go, you'd think he would spend every waking minute of his off time reading up on obscure creatures of Greek mythology. Of course, it also gives the readers more motivation to read the original myths to find out exactly what happened.
Book 13: Interred With Their Bones
Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
It seems like the actual murderer tends to be rather easy to guess in murder mysteries, perhaps because being a novel, it is obvious that it is going to be one of the characters already introduced. Still, every once in a while they are well-written, and in those cases, it tends to be the story and motivation that are the most interesting part (and the characters when they are very well done), not just the ending. I picked this up due to the Shakespeare angle, and it had a staff recommendation attached to it.
The novel actually reads very much like The DaVinci Code, except in this case, the story concerns Shakespeare and not DaVinci. This isn't even a bad thing - The DaVinci Code on its own was a very entertaining thriller that just got way too hyped up and seemed to develop a type of cult around it. For some reason, people don't seem to be nearly as interested in Shakespeare as Jesus and DaVinci because I'd never heard of this before. Overall, I would even say it is better written than The DaVinci Code, although it has its flaws. For my tastes, there were just a few too many murders - I would have been happy with just a literary mystery that was started with a murder, and I could have done without the trail of bodies that accumulated in the novel (all the bodies were staged in a way to recall Shakespeare's plays which was a nice touch on the part of the murderer - one person is obviously a homage to Hamlet's father, another is Ophelia, there is a reference to Julius Caesar and his assassination etc.).
The novel begins when Kate, the narrator, receives a visit from her former mentor, Roz (Rosalind Howard), a tenured Shakespeare professor at Harvard, who tells her that she has found something, gives her a box as a gift, and arranges to meet her later. Kate was a Shakespearean PhD student but decided to leave academia to pursue a career as a director, and she is currently directing Hamlet at the Globe - quite the feat for an American woman under 30 as she explains. However, Roz misses the meeting, and there is a fire at the Globe, where Kate finds Roz's body. This leads Kate to open the box, and she soon is on a trail to discover whatever it was that Roz had found. Evidence leads her to believe it may be a manuscript of Cardenio, one of Shakespeare's lost plays.
In some cases, it seemed like the author had so many things she wanted to discuss that the novel was a bit cluttered, and there were a few trails that seemed to be slightly misleading, or at least they were rather long ways of getting to the answer. The novel also addresses the debate regarding Shakespeare's identity, and some of the candidates that have been offered as alternates to the actor from Stratford. Carrell includes scenes with the dark lady and the blond youth of Shakespeare's sonnets but doesn't clearly identify them. Much like in The DaVinci Code, the protagonist finds herself racing from one place to another in search of clues, often doubling back between the States and England. It was mostly an entertaining read though I had my doubts at the beginning. Although Carrell doesn't neatly wrap up all the answers, the murder mystery is neatly, though unoriginally, solved. Basically, good enough entertainment for an afternoon but altogether forgettable.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Book 12: Of Bees and Mist
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
I picked this up based on a staff recommendation display at BookPeople (every other independent bookstore I have ever been in was very small so they couldn't compete with Barnes and Noble for me; between this store and the Alamo Drafthouse, I almost want to move to Texas), and wasn't sure what to expect exactly. The back cover describes it as the story of three generations of women, while the Amazon blurb calls it the story of two families. While these aren't exactly inaccurate, it is really the story of Meridia. Meridia's parents, Ravenna and Gabriel, are so angry with each other that Meridia is rather neglected throughout her childhood. Her father is distant, her mother forgetful, and it isn't until she is sixteen, when she meets Daniel, that she feels loved. The two marry and move in with Daniel's family. At first Meridia is enchanted with his family who appear to be the opposite of her own: loving, caring and attentive. However, as time goes on, Meridia is curious about certain things in the house, and realizes how controlling, manipulative and deceitful Eva, her mother-in-law, is. This leads to an ongoing battle of wills between the women, and Ravenna becomes very helpful to her daughter as she becomes slightly less involved in her own world.
Daniel goes back forth between supporting his wife and believing his mother. I also quite enjoyed Daniel's sisters, and their evolving relationships with their mother and Meridia. One thing that makes this novel stand out from being simply a family drama is the use of magic realism. The coldness that creeps into Ravenna and Gabriel's marriage manifests itself as a physical coldness inside the house which is also surrounded by an impenetrable mist. Eva's constant bickering at her family and husband to bend them to her will is represented by the swarming of bees.
The novel isn't set in any particular time period or town though it seems very turn of the century pre-World War I. While magical things occur, the mists, bees and other things simply symbolized people's feeling and emotions, so I don't think it should be too much of a turn off to people that aren't into magic - in this case, the magical events don't necessarily have to be taken literally, and it's not as if any of the characters actually attempt to cast spells. The characters were wonderfully portrayed and this is probably one of my favorite reads so far this year, and I feel like I've been quite lucky so far with selecting books I enjoy over the past few weeks.
I picked this up based on a staff recommendation display at BookPeople (every other independent bookstore I have ever been in was very small so they couldn't compete with Barnes and Noble for me; between this store and the Alamo Drafthouse, I almost want to move to Texas), and wasn't sure what to expect exactly. The back cover describes it as the story of three generations of women, while the Amazon blurb calls it the story of two families. While these aren't exactly inaccurate, it is really the story of Meridia. Meridia's parents, Ravenna and Gabriel, are so angry with each other that Meridia is rather neglected throughout her childhood. Her father is distant, her mother forgetful, and it isn't until she is sixteen, when she meets Daniel, that she feels loved. The two marry and move in with Daniel's family. At first Meridia is enchanted with his family who appear to be the opposite of her own: loving, caring and attentive. However, as time goes on, Meridia is curious about certain things in the house, and realizes how controlling, manipulative and deceitful Eva, her mother-in-law, is. This leads to an ongoing battle of wills between the women, and Ravenna becomes very helpful to her daughter as she becomes slightly less involved in her own world.
Daniel goes back forth between supporting his wife and believing his mother. I also quite enjoyed Daniel's sisters, and their evolving relationships with their mother and Meridia. One thing that makes this novel stand out from being simply a family drama is the use of magic realism. The coldness that creeps into Ravenna and Gabriel's marriage manifests itself as a physical coldness inside the house which is also surrounded by an impenetrable mist. Eva's constant bickering at her family and husband to bend them to her will is represented by the swarming of bees.
The novel isn't set in any particular time period or town though it seems very turn of the century pre-World War I. While magical things occur, the mists, bees and other things simply symbolized people's feeling and emotions, so I don't think it should be too much of a turn off to people that aren't into magic - in this case, the magical events don't necessarily have to be taken literally, and it's not as if any of the characters actually attempt to cast spells. The characters were wonderfully portrayed and this is probably one of my favorite reads so far this year, and I feel like I've been quite lucky so far with selecting books I enjoy over the past few weeks.
Book 11: The Fall
The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
This wasn't a bad book but it definitely felt like a place holder. Picking up after the events of The Strain, Manhattan is about to be completely run over by vampires. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the characters very much this time around. Abraham, the old vampire hunter, reveals even more of his backstory, and Vasiliy Fet, the exterminator, starts a blog. Additionally, the novel reveals the fate of the young Mexican gangster who was captured by the Ancients, the other old vampires that are at odds with "the Master." All this wasn't too bad, though so many of the characters read like stereotypes. Mostly, I just was very annoyed with Eph. Yes, the world around him is falling apart but could he be less emo about it? I also disliked that the only female character of any importance in this series is now relegated to girlfriend, and caregiver of Zac (well, only important female other than Zac's vampire mother, Kelly). Seriously? Eph is busy feeling sorry for himself, so why not make him the caregiver? I mean, really?
Overall, the novel deals with the continuing spread of the vampire virus, and the group's hopelessness. The sun didn't kill the Master as they'd hoped, and now they are at a loss. However, it turns out that even with all the chaos, a certain cursed and almost mythological book regarding vampires is about to be auctioned off and it may contain the answers they need - if only they had a few million dollars at their disposal. The whole world is now under threat though news is sketchy; for example, flights similar to the one that started The Strain have shown up in other cities, filled with inexplicably dead passengers.
Overall, there were definitely some interesting ideas expressed but for most part that is lost due to the novel's focus on characters like Eph. I know when The Strain appeared, there was some excitement because it was mixing up the current vampire trend, and somewhat more original, but nothing about this novel was very original . . . the characters were mostly cliche, and not very engaging.
This wasn't a bad book but it definitely felt like a place holder. Picking up after the events of The Strain, Manhattan is about to be completely run over by vampires. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the characters very much this time around. Abraham, the old vampire hunter, reveals even more of his backstory, and Vasiliy Fet, the exterminator, starts a blog. Additionally, the novel reveals the fate of the young Mexican gangster who was captured by the Ancients, the other old vampires that are at odds with "the Master." All this wasn't too bad, though so many of the characters read like stereotypes. Mostly, I just was very annoyed with Eph. Yes, the world around him is falling apart but could he be less emo about it? I also disliked that the only female character of any importance in this series is now relegated to girlfriend, and caregiver of Zac (well, only important female other than Zac's vampire mother, Kelly). Seriously? Eph is busy feeling sorry for himself, so why not make him the caregiver? I mean, really?
Overall, the novel deals with the continuing spread of the vampire virus, and the group's hopelessness. The sun didn't kill the Master as they'd hoped, and now they are at a loss. However, it turns out that even with all the chaos, a certain cursed and almost mythological book regarding vampires is about to be auctioned off and it may contain the answers they need - if only they had a few million dollars at their disposal. The whole world is now under threat though news is sketchy; for example, flights similar to the one that started The Strain have shown up in other cities, filled with inexplicably dead passengers.
Overall, there were definitely some interesting ideas expressed but for most part that is lost due to the novel's focus on characters like Eph. I know when The Strain appeared, there was some excitement because it was mixing up the current vampire trend, and somewhat more original, but nothing about this novel was very original . . . the characters were mostly cliche, and not very engaging.
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