Runester

First, a quick movie review. The gf and I went to see a movie (as we do most weekends) and this time the best we could find was “The Messengers.” It was supposed to be a horror movie, and it did have a few high-tension scenes - so I guess that makes it better then a poke to the eye. On the other hand, the premise was incredibly hard to believe and the plot kind of handed you the “who” in the who-dunnit of the opening scene.

When I say ‘hard to believe’, I don’t mean the whole ghosts in the basement thing - that’s par for the course. I mean, that a family from Chicago would pack everything up and move out to the most desolate place I’ve ever scene and move into the most dilapidated, spooky old house around in order to make a fresh start … growing sunflowers. The second complaint was the transparency of the plot. The first few minutes of the movie are very effective, showing a family terrorized by some unseen force; each disappearing down into the basement even the innocent little boy. The only problem was what they DIDN’T show you … the father. This immediately implied that it was the father of this doomed family on some sort of rampage. So, later on when a mysterious stranger, a man, shows up and volunteers to work long hours for months at a time for no wages other then a place to stay and some meals … alarm bells went off.

I was almost thrown off by some red herrings, but the red herrings weren’t there to lead you to another potential killer, just caste doubt on the right one. In other words, they didn’t introduce anyone else in the movie that it could have been and they didn’t convincingly prove that it couldn’t have been him. So, when they perform the ‘reveal’ and show him in the initial scenes as the ‘unseen force’ it doesn’t really surprise anyone.

Finally, the movie followed a particular plot that is so old and hackneyed in horror that smack’s of Hollywood cheese. Namely, the teenager who knows what’s really going on but who can’t get any adults to believe them. Let’s get this out in the open … (saying I eventually have a daughter) if I were to look into the eyes of my daughter, even a daughter who was a rebellious teenager who’s gotten into trouble as teenagers tend to do, and see abject terror … I’d tend to believe her and not dismiss the entire story as her ‘antics’. This movie wasn’t as bad as others, but in many, the parents have to disbelieve a whole sequence of events including people disappearing, strange wounds appearing, and other creepy signs and portents. In “The Messengers” all the parents had to do was disbelieve strange bruises on their daughters ankles, her repeated stories of spectral attacks, the disappearance of the previous tenants, and the complete terror that came radiating off of their daughter whenever she related the events. At some point, of this disbelieving smacks of abuse.

Here’s a partial review, and radically different from movie mentioned above. It’s the business / organization book, recommended to me by my mother, “From Good to Great.” At first it seemed a little dry and business-book-ish; but as I got past the introduction I found that it was utterly fascinating and the lessons completely believable and utterly applicable. The believability comes from their firm roots in empirical facts, not gilded theory. The applicability is due to their universal nature. I may never be the CEO of a large corporation, but the description of a “Level 5 Leader” applies just as much to a person improving their own lives, or the head of a family improving his family’s life, as to a corporate leader improving the entire organization he heads. This is only a partial review since I’m only about 30+ pages into the book, but if the rest proves to be as good as this section then it was money and time well spent.

I finished the Caitlin R. Kiernan book, Daughter of Hounds, a few days ago.

Of all of her books, this one had the most ‘concrete’ feel to it. Instead of the endless ambiguity in her descriptions of monsters and magic, this book actually came out and described everone and (nearly) everything in it, in fairly unambiguous terms. Good! Also, the final denoument actually felt like a denoument instead of the point where the author just got tired of writing and decided to stop.

This is now my favorite Caitlin R. Kiernan novel, with “Alabaster” being my favorite book (it’s a collection of short works about one of my all time favorite characters, Dancy Flamarion).

Does my review sound a little harsh? Would it surprise you to know that I am actually an avid reader / collector of Kiernan’s works? The aspects that drew me to her writing still recommend her work to others. Namely, her amazing characterization of young people on the fringe of society and the dark (Lovecraftian) fantasy they interact with. The sense of place and gritty realism is expertly counterpointed to the fantastical elements, and each character feels amazingly real and yet so far outside the norm, that you can’t help but be pulled in. And Boy! Can this lady write! The use
of language is extraordinary; with the overly wrought flourishes of her early work tamed as she matured in her craft.

The negatives, are her use of ambiguity to communicate the sense of Lovecraftian horror. I feel for her predicament: if she were to clearly describe what the creatures were and what rules have to be followed in order to survive or defeat them … then the sense of wonder and dread would evaporite right off the page and this would read like a turn-of-the-century zoology paper. But, with very little concrete description it’s hard to figure out exactly what’s happening. Not only is the ‘what’ mysterious, but then the ‘why’ is as well. So the whole time you’re reading you’re thinking, “who is that? why did they just do that? what does that paragraph mean?” and then when you get to the end of the book, it tends to just stop. No real wrap-up or finale or conclusion. It. Just. Ends.

The most disappointing example of this is her sci-fi book, “The Dry Salvages.” If any book ever gives the impression that the author got bored with the topic and just tacked on a bullet-point list of what would have happened if she’d felt like finishing it - then this book would be it! The whole intro was fascinating, the characters intriguing, and the situation very original. Then you get to the last few chapters and wish you hadn’t. In fact, without those chapters tacked on, I would be free to fantasize about the ‘unfinished manuscript’ and what could have happened had the author ever completed it.

In summary: Caitlin R. Kiernan, an absolutely fantastic author who can accomplish the near impossible. The ‘real thing’ in a genre replete with pretenders and poseurs. Someone more then worth reading, if you can overlook or at least tolerate her few, minor foibles. If you “absolutely have to know!” then she definitely is not for you. If you can immerse yourself in a world full of vibrant characters and decaying settings, and tolerate never really knowing the full story or the real ending, then this definitely is for you!