Book Review: Fight Club 2 by Chuck Palahniuk

I have mixed feelings on Fight Club 2. What I loved was Palahniuk’s insertion of himself into the graphic novel… that’s great and it was funny. I loved that he had a bunch of fan’s show up to his graphic novel house and he asks if they’re looking for Neil Gaiman. What I hated … was everything else.

Palahniuk created this wonderful thing that my generation adopted and adored to the point of idol worship. I’ve read Fight Club multiple times, I’ve seen Fight Club more times than I can count. My website is named after Fight Club.

It’s not even that he fucked with Jack/Sebastian. It’s not that he fucked with the idea of Tyler. It’s that he put Marla Singer in a fucking pantsuit with a suburban life and a child. I’m sure dudes hold Jack in higher esteem, being upset that he became a cube-dweller, but I don’t find that shocking. It’s possible to me that Jack had this crazy experience and then went back to sleep. However, it’s out of my realm of understanding to accept that Marla Fucking Singer has a perfect house, with a son, and a babysitter, and a cell phone??

No, nope. I’m going to pretend this was a fever dream and that Fight Club 2 never happened. 

Book Review: Fables Vol. 22: Farewell by Bill Willingham

When I first started my love affair with graphic novels, I went for the safe picks, like Sandman by Neil Gaiman and anything by Alan Moore. I already knew that I loved Gaiman, so therefore Sandman, Sandman created an intense passion for graphic novels, I wanted more. Gaiman loves Alan Moore so therefore Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, etc. Then one day at the library, I came across Fables Vol 1, and decided to give it a shot. As I developed my tastes in comics, there was always Fables. I wasn’t an early follower of the series, I started reading in about 2010 but a six year relationship with this characters is nothing to scoff at. So being given the opportunity to review the final Fables graphic novel is an honor and sadness wrapped up in one.

WAIT… if you haven’t read Fables, go to your library now, pick up the first few trade paperbacks and enjoy.

Ok, I’ll assume at this point that the folks reading are up to date in the story. When we last left the Fables universe, Rose Red and Snow White were preparing for a war against each other. Neither seemed to actually want the war, it was being imposed upon them, by a force revealed in Vol. 22. Bigby is back from being shattered into a million pieces from Snow’s first husband, however, there is a missing piece through which he is being controlled. He’s roaming around the streets of New York as a feral, deadly killer. In addition to being a danger to the mundies physically, his presence is creating holes in the protective spells that allow Fabletown to be invisible. Finally, the mundies are aware of the presence that has lived among them for generations.

As we pick back up, there is a hodge-podge of activity in the book. Bigby returns to Wolf Manner to kill the cubs. Snow White and Rose Red are on the eve of war with each other. Rose Red learns of the family curse that requires only one sister to live. The action of this book clears up in the first half, then we are told various endings of other fables. This allows the reader to have as much closure as possible. I really enjoyed the ending to this series, it wasn’t all happiness or all sadness, it felt true to the saga.

Fables Vol. 22: Farewell is on sale today. 

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Book Review: Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel: A Graphic Novel by Anya Ulinich

As the novel opens, we meet Lena (a 37-year-old, divorced, mother of two) as she receives an offer to go on a book tour in Russia. Lena was born in Russia, but migrated to the US as a child. She is newly divorced from her 2nd husband and, until this point, has had no real independence. 

During her trip to Russia, Lena’s high school boyfriend comes to the hotel unannounced. She hasn’t seen him in 20 years but they have kept communication intact. After spending the night together, finally consummating their decades long relationship, Lena announces to her friends that she’s in love. When her friend/mentor pushes back on Lena (specifically her lack of sexual/romantic experience), Lena decides to take some time to experiment sexually in the dark abyss of Ok Cupid.

The book is beautifully drawn and though could easily be a full length novel was excellently presented via a graphic novel. The author provides astute observations of dating in your 30’s, specifically the meat market of online dating. To say this is a book about dating would be selling it short, this is a book about a woman who until this point had always belonged to a man, and for the first time she has her independence.

Favorite Quote:

 “My sexual awakening was entirely the fault of the U.S. State Department.”

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Book Review: Locke and Key Vol 6: Alpha & Omega

Locke and Key, the long running comic by Joe Hill, will conclude with Locke and Key Vol 6: Alpha and Omega.  (Note: this is the team that brought us NOS4A2, so if you enjoyed NOS4A2 you may also enjoy Locke and Key, or vice versa.) 

Locke and Key is the journey of the Locke family after the brutal murder of their father. The children: Tyler, Kinsey and Bode, find themselves uprooted from their home and sent to Lovecraft, MA to the home where their father grew up.

The family is breaking apart with grief, not only have they lost their father, their mother is an alcoholic. Bode, being the youngest, tasks himself with exploring every nook and cranny of the house and soon finds a magic in the house that can bring the family back together or that can completely destroy them.

At this point, I will assume that you’ve read the series … in the prior volume, Bode’s body has been taken over by a demon that had previously been occupying Lucas’ body. Tyler and Kinsey are completely unaware of this and relax hoping that the evil that has been dogging them relentlessly for the past year is finally behind them.  Tyler, being the man of the house, never truly let down his guard. We know that Tyler has found a way to make a new key, and I’m sure each reader has dreamt up the key they would make.

The final installment is brilliant. It was perfect. Cleaver, not exactly what I “wanted” but still perfect; and incredibly heartbreaking, I suggest going into this with a box of tissues next to you. 

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Book Review Quickie: Saga Vol 1 by Brian K Vaughan

Super quickie....  

I've seen this book pop up again and again. I finally borrowed it from my library and loved it. The story is told as a child relaying the story of her birth and early life. It starts when she is born in the back of a garage while her parents are hiding from people who want to kill them. They are in a war between two races, they represent one of each. The father is a ram and he's trying to give up his violent ways so that he can live a peaceful life with his new family. The mother, a fairy type, is not willing to give up those ways. She was given orders to watch the ram guy and apparently they fell in love. She is a badass. I love it.

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Book Review: Are You My Mother by Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel brings her childhood back to life in this graphic novel which serves as a follow-up to her earlier work, Fun Home. Fun Home focused on the relationship between Alison and her father. In her current work, she focuses on the relationship with her mother, or specifically her feelings about her relationship with her mother. We follow Alison while she goes through years of psychoanalytical therapy to heal from her interesting childhood. 

What I find so interesting about this work is that its completely personal to Alison, however, it remains interesting to the reader (or at least to this reader). I do wonder if this would translate well to a text only book. The comic portion give such life to the story, that I doubt it would work in a different medium.

I think this a great read for those that enjoy reading about psychology and maybe those who have some issues with mom (I would fall into both categories).

Favorite quotes:

Donald Winnicott quote, "So the man that falls in love with beauty is quite different from the man who loves a girl and feels she is beautiful and can see what is beautiful about her."

Dorothy Gallagher quote, "The writer's business is to find the shape in unruly life and to serve her story. Not, you may note, to serve her family, or to serve the truth, but to serve the story."

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Book Review Quickie: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Sorry for the short reviews lately, I'm a bit backlogged in my "review every book you read" challenge. 

Fun Home is a graphic novel that deals with the author's relationship with her father. I love that graphic novels are being used in this fashion (i.e., Maus, Blankets, etc.).

Alison had a strained relationship with her father, when she was a child. He was very meticulous and stressful, sometimes abusive. Her mother seemed emotionally absent. It was not until Alison grew into a young lady who preferred masculine aspects of herself, that she was able to bond with her father - who also had an appreciation for masculine beauty. When Alison left for college, she discovered that she was a lesbian. She immediately wrote home to tell her parents. Her mother was disappointed. Her father's response was to explain that he too had experimented in college. Her mother further explained that the experimentation on her fathers behalf did not end in his youth. Alison is not only dealing with the facts of her budding sexuality, but the lies and deception regarding her father's sexuality. 

Then he dies. 

He dies before she is able to make peace with him. Alison believes that the death was a suicide but the method of death was very ambiguous. 

Fun Home is Alison Bechdel's cathartic way of dealing with the death of her father. It's interesting, funny at times and painful in others.

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