A Pale View of Hills

A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro

Evan’s ESS = 9 out of 10

Erin’s ESS =  out of 10

Content = (Adult Content, Violence, Gothic Elements, Brilliant Plat Masking)

Why: We declared Kazuo Ishiguro a master after reading Never Let me Go and although we may have second guessed his brilliance after Remains of the Day, A Pale View of the Hills has cemented his legacy as one of our favorite authors of all time.  However, it should probably be noted that this list is pretty extensive for us, but still....   

Against the backdrop of her eldest daughter’s suicide, A Pale View of Hills tells the story of a Japanese woman named Etsuko.  The main character sets out on a journey of blurred self reflection of her earlier life in Japan.  Specifically, she recalls a defining period of her life when she grew especially close to a woman named Sachiko.  The rest is history (seriously) as the memories shared reveal the many horrors of Etsuko’s past.

Do yourself a favor and learn as little about A Pale View of Hills as possible before you actually embark on the read.  Now, there’s a chance that our own slowness-of-thought could have played a part, but we didn’t figure out the huge plot twist until the second to last page.  The entire novel, Ishiguro refuses to give anything away and pulls you along, just telling you enough to help you through the next chapter.  Honestly, he makes you feel stupid, like you’re missing something even though it’s all right before your eyes.  He did the same thing in Never Let me Go and we love him for it!

The tone of this novel is somber and slightly disturbing, which added to the mystery surrounding the main characters.  The setting was vivid and even though only a small glimpse in terms of years was provided, we came away with a better appreciation for the culture, family dynamics, and history of pre WWII Japan.  The narrative does jump quite often which can be frustrating at times, but for us it added to the atmosphere that Ishiguro was trying to create (assuming we pretend to know what Ishiguro was trying to do with the novel).  

Finally, given our aforementioned slowness-of-thought, we want to make sure we figured out the twist, because there is some debate.  If you’ve already read this one, please let us know your thoughts.  If you haven’t, hurry up so we can discuss... 

Follow Friday (September 9th)

Question: Have you ever wanted a villain to win at the end of a story? If so, which one??

Answer: In most cases we like to see our villains suffer uncompromised retribution for their evil ways, however, there are a few exceptions.  The first character that comes to mind is Oliver from I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President.  Oh, and Artemis from the Artemis Fowl series.  Admittedly, both “bad guys” were written sympathetically so maybe they don’t count.  Can we get a ruling on this?

Just in case the ruling goes against us, some other scoundrels that we have a soft spot for are Zaphod Beeblebrox, Elphaba, and.... actually, that’s all we got.   

Can’t wait to find out who we missed!

Thanks to Parajunkee’s View and Allison Can Read for hosting this fun event.  Have a great weekend!

The Power of Reading

We’d like to briefly navigate away from our regularly scheduled reviews and memes to introduce the first in a one part series entitled: The Power of Reading. It’s a bit long but we promise there’s a point...

Earlier last week we made the decision to embark on a momentous journey through the Chronicles of Narnia with our 6 year old son (featured HERE in this Vlog). After a lively debate over reading the books chronologically or by publication date, we decided to start with The Magician’s Nephew. We dove right in. Following the conclusion of chapter 3 the jury was still out, but then we arrived at the part in Charn where Digory reads the message above the bell.

Suddenly, the room got quiet and the many questions that always accompany a nighttime read with any of our children ceased. We could literally feel his body tense as he waited for Digory to make his crucial decision. The chapter ends quite abruptly after the fateful strike of the hammer as did the reading session. Not surprising, our child was curious to know what to expect next. We may or may not have let slip that an evil queen would be making an appearance.
Fifteen minutes or so passed while we finished our nighttime routine when suddenly a bold proclamation was made from beneath a large pile of stuffed animals. “I don’t really want to ready Narnia anymore.”

Our blood froze. Our teeth gnashed. We knew we should have done more with Uncle Andrew’s voice. Would our son never appreciate the classics?

“My brain is going to be too scared of the queen.”

First, a little background. Our son doesn’t get scared (for the most part)... he’s watched all the Star Wars movies, including when little Anakin gets burnt to a crisp, and the Pirate’s of the Caribbean where an entire crew of skeletons attacks the British navy. And yet, on this occasion our son was scared of a slightly oversized queen with a destructive temper.

Suddenly we were filled with joy! Not because C.S. Lewis managed to scare the heebie-jeebies out of our son, but because books can do that. We’ve always said that the scariest villains are in books! With all the special effects in Hollywood and video games, the printed word can still do that to kids. Whether it’s laughing, crying, throwing things, screaming, swooning, or feeling happy - reading has so much power. That’s why we love to read!

To add a happy ending to this lengthy story, we promised our child one of two things. A.) we’d let him fast forward through any of the scary parts or B) read the queen in a silly voice. After a moment of thought he picked option B. We can only hope that Mr. Lewis will accept our sincerest of apologies...

If you’re still with us, we’d love to hear what book first spoke to you.

The Help

The Help – Kathryn Stockett

Evan’s ESS = 8 out of 10

Erin’s ESS = 8 out of 10

Content = (Adult Content, Language, Violence, Racism, Flavorful Pies)

Review inspired by the Books to Movies Challenge

Why: The editorial board here at Two Bibliomaniacs is rather scrupulous when it comes to including spoilers in our reviews.  Most of the time we try to avoid their wrath at all costs, but this week we threw caution into the wind and decided to walk a very fine line.  Unfortunately, we threw it upwind and all that caution blew right back into our face...  Now, we didn’t include any major spoilers, but we DO need to talk about the ending of the novel to fully express our feelings.  All’s were sayin is if you haven’t read The Help, it might be a good idea to peruse this review with one eye slightly closed...

Encouraged to write something meaningful, aspiring writer, Skeeter Phelan, decides to tackle one of the most turbulent issues imaginable in 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi.  With the help and leadership of Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, two African American housemaids, the trio sets out to capture the oppressed voices of the town’s “help”.  Having the project published could risk the lives of everyone involved, but remaining silent is an option they were no longer willing to accept.    

The book.  Where to begin?  The Help was presented to us with a whole bunch of hype and in general we believe the book delivered.  From the beginning we were drawn into the story, the characters, and the city of Jackson.  The novel delivered a powerful perspective on an appalling piece of US history.  We fell in love with Aibileen, Skeeter, and Minny just as much as we loved to loath Hilly Holbrook and the rest of her minions.  The different narratives added an element of suspense, although we weren’t thrilled about the brief jump to third person in the middle of the story.  On several occasions we found ourselves up late into the night trying to figure out if Johnny was going to catch Celia and Minny or if the repercussions from the toilet incident would be dire.  Which brings us right up to the end...

We didn’t love the conclusion.  We wanted more.  Now, let’s get something straight – we’re not the kind of readers that need a super happy ending with sugar on top, where the bad guys die a horrible death or suffer public humiliation while the good guys win the lottery and find true love’s kiss.  In the case of The Help, we wanted more reflection.  Despite our wish for a certain character whose name rhymes with Billy to suffer more, we were okay with how everything turned out.  Given the racial tensions of the time, what these three ladies were doing could have resulted in a horrible tragedy.  Yet, at the end of the book, it just....ended.  After such a heroic undertaking, we wanted more of a clean-up job.

The Movie:  Honestly, there’s very little to say.  The movie was everything that the book was, only with a much more satisfying ending.  The set, the cast, and the script were all amazing and it was one of the best book-to-movie adaptations we’ve seen, maybe ever.  Our overall experience was so positive that we won’t even bother pointing out some of the small inconsistencies.  The character of Constantine was incredibly touching as well as the end scene with Minny and Mr. and Mrs. Foote.  Tears were streamed down the face of at least two of the Two Bibliomaniacs more than once while watching the film...  Bravo to everyone associated with the production. 

           

In conclusion, we loved The Help!  The book is a very worthy read with an even worthier premise.  Katherine Stockett did an admirable job with such an ambitious theme.  And as great as the book was, our opinion is that the movie was better.  This doesn’t happen very often, but in the curious case of The Help, these book lovers would rather watch it then read it.

Agree?  or should the Two Bibliomaniacs go seek some professional help?     

2011 Reading Challenge Update - August

The month of August will go down in the books as the month of the challenge!  In the past 31 day’s we’ve (Evan) managed to put a wrap on no less than 3 challenges!  Let’s take a moment or three to reflect on some of the great books these challenges inspired...

Technically, the Back to the Classics Challenge was the first to be closed out and finished in style with Les Miserables (which was a fantastic book).  We also encountered some of our favorite books of the year in The Count of Monte Cristo and Shutter Island.  The Gothic Reading Challenge came next and delivered some fantastic books in The Woman in White and A Pale View of Hills.  The latter kept us in suspense until the very last page – nicely done Kazuo Ishiguro!   And finally, the What’s in a Name Challenge was closed out with One Hundred Years of Solitude.  Even better were The Princess Bride and I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I want to be your Class President.

This month also marked our very first Graphic Review, which introduced the Two Bibliomaniacs in full color illustrated form.  Yep, it’s just as weird as it sounds!

Here are the reviews that we posted in July that fit into our 2011 Challenges.

Enchantment – Orsen Scott Card
Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Here’s an update on our 2011 Challenge.  All the inspiring details can be found HERE.

Books to Movies Challenge – 2/6

Gothic Reading Challenge – 8/8

Back to the Classics – 8/8

What’s in a Name Challenge – 6/6

2nds Challenge – 19/20

100+ Reading Challenge – 85/100

As we look ahead to September, there is reason for considerable zeal.  A Game of Thrones, Night Watch, Kane and Abel, Her Fearful Symmetry,  and Trainspotting should provide us with one heck of a month!  How’s everyone else doing in their 2011 reading endeavors?  Send us a link so we can check out your progress!

Follow Friday - September 2nd

Question: If you could change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose?  Why and to What?

Answer: This question is far too explosive to ignore this week, plus we’re feeling a tab bit rebellious today.  Also, due to the controversial nature of our answer Evan will own up to being the author.....

*Gulp* We (Evan) could have done without the last chapter in the Harry Potter series.  There, we said it.  Sure, it was nice to see everyone all happy and matched, but with there were sooo many new characters introduced.  It felt like a beginning, not an ending.  Plus, poor Draco, the wizarding world can figure out how to brew up a potion to completely change your appearance, but not one innovation has been made in the area of male pattern baldness.  Come on, Slughorn...   There you have it, in writing; one arm of the Two Bibliomaniacs could have done without the Epilogue: 19 Years Later.

Ahhhh, it feels so good to get that off our chest.....  Can’t wait to hear how many blogger vehemently disagree... Please don’t un-follow us J


Have a great Weekend!

Books to Movies Challenge - September Check In

We’re back for the official Books to Movies Challenge September Check in!

Try as we might to make excuses, August was a dismal month for us...  We STILL haven’t made it to the movie version of The Help and not one review was posted that fit into this challenge.  The good news is that we had a long heart to heart conversation last night and plan to turn things around in September.  A babysitter is lined up for this weekend and a paperback copy of Trainspotting is waiting for us at the library!       

Nice work to everyone else who made some great progress this past month!!!

Be sure to include any new reviews in the below Linky!