Guest Review of a Banned Book: SlaughterHouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Genre: Fiction
Publisher (this edition):  Dial Press Trade Paperback; Reissue edition 
Publication Date (this edition):  January 12, 1999
Reasons given for banning: depictions of sex, profanity
Buy Links: Amazon     The Book Depository
 
Book Blurb (from Amazon): 

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden. 

Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

 Our Guest Reviewer:

Author and performer Jillian Lauren grew up in suburban New Jersey and fled across the water to New York City. She attended New York University for three minutes before dropping out to work in downtown theater, where she performed with Richard Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric Theater, among others.

She is the author of the novel, PRETTY, and of the New York Times bestselling memoir, SOME GIRLS: My Life in a Harem, both published by Plume/Penguin. SOME GIRLS has since been translated into fourteen different languages.

Jillian has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Flaunt Magazine, Opium Magazine, Society, Pale House: A Collective and in the anthologies My First Time: A Collection of First Punk Show Stories and Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost.

She has performed at spoken word and storytelling events across the country and has been interviewed on such television programs as The View, Good Morning America and Howard Stern. She was a featured dancer with the infamous Velvet Hammer Burlesque. As a performer, she has recently worked with directors as diverse as Robert Cucuzza, Steve Balderson, Lynne Breedlove, Austin Young, Michelle Carr and Margaret Cho. 

Jillian recently premiered her solo performance piece, Mother Tongue, at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles.

She regularly blogs at TODAY Moms and at her site. Jillian is married to musician Scott Shriner. They live in Los Angeles with their son.

Jillian's Thoughts: 

I have rarely been quite so tickled as when I learned that my memoir, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, had been banned. It seemed glamorous to me, placing me in the illustrious company of the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Some Girls has been banned in at lease two countries- Brunei and Dubai. I only know this because of the emails I’ve received from readers who live there and managed to get their hands on a copy anyway. 

Reading those emails filled me with a sense of gratitude. I wrote my sometimes-scandalous book without a second thought because we live in a country that has freedom of the press. But perhaps that sense of gratitude is misplaced. I escape censorship because my book flies under the radar by dealing with such obviously taboo subjects as teenage prostitution. No one is suggesting that my memoir go on the shelf of a school library. But if the recent publication of the altered version of Huckleberry Finn is any indicator, censorship is still very much a relevant issue in this country, First Amendment or no. 

This week is Banned Books Week. Here’s an excerpt of what the American Library Association website has to say about it.
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

In celebration, I decided to revisit an old fave of mine from this list of the Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Because so many of the challenges happen through the public school system, I chose an author who was deeply influential to me in high school. I was rather surprised to learn that Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five has been challenged as recently as 2007, because from my recollection, Slaughterhouse Five wasn’t exactly Naked Lunch or Story of the Eye. 

I reread the book and STILL couldn’t figure out what was so controversial about it. So I looked it up. Slaughterhouse Five has been repeatedly challenged, banned and even burned for such crimes as irreverence (which is apparently inherently offensive), profanity and the depiction of sex.


Slaughterhouse Five is about the life of a man named Billy Pilgrim, whose defining experience is surviving the WW2 bombing of Dresden. The structure of the book is organized around the idea of time travel. The non-linear juxtaposition of moments creates a sense of absurdity and fatalism that form the book’s central themes.

As I watch my three-year-old son begin to sort through the complexities of what makes up a joke, I’m reminded of the essential place of humor in organizing the human experience. Vonnegut was perhaps my first real exposure to the use of satire in addressing complex existential quandries. Satire was an important tool for me in learning to think about otherwise unthinkable atrocities. 

After 20-odd years, it was a pleasure to revisit Vonnegut. His unique voice was transformative for me as a young reader and has remained influential to me as a writer.
 

Guest Review - Krista D Ball reviews Aspect Ratio by Frances Pauli

 Publisher: Mundania Press

Release Date: May 2011

Series: #2 of Shift Happens

More Info: Amazon     Smashwords

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):

Chloe Watson is just starting to get used to her inter-dimensionaly career, her covert relationship with the boss and her life as a cross dimensional traveler. Then a last minute promotion, a galaxy wide tournament and an unexpected stow-away manage to throw a wrench in her status quo. 

Now she's left to sort out a string of parallel abductions, deal with an infestation of Lemurian bedbugs and get her local pet store associate back home before the woman blows the whistle on everything Chloe had going for her. 

 Just for fun, her relationship starts looking more than a little rocky, her job is on the line and her boyfriend/boss is keeping secrets that could cost them both a lot more than just their salaries.

Author Krista D Ball offered a while back to do a guest review. It took some time to coordinate our schedules but here's her post, what I hope will be the first of many. 

A little information about Krista - she was born and raised in Deer Lake, Newfoundland, where she learned how to use a chainsaw, chop wood,and make raspberry jam. After obtaining a B.A. in British History from Mount Allison University, Krista moved to Edmonton, AB where she currently lives. Somehow, she’s picked up an engineer, two kids, seven cats, and a very understanding corgi off eBay. Her credit card has been since taken away. Like any good writer, Krista has had an eclectic array of jobs throughout her  life, including strawberry picker, pub bathroom cleaner, oil spill cleaner upper and soup kitchen coordinator. These days, when Krista isn’t software testing, she writes in her messy office.


Krista's Thoughts:

This is the second book of Pauli's hilarious chick lit- science fiction hybrid series. This book can be read out of order from the first one (The Dimensional Shift), though I do recommend picking up the first one for the background on our heroine, Chloe.

In ASPECT RATIO we find our heroine temporarily promoted to the ranks of security of an inter-dimensional hotel. It's a long ways from cleaning hotel rooms, that's for sure. However, promotion means more responsibility, including bad guys and bed bugs the side of dogs.

I laughed a lot in ASPECT RATIO. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book of the series, only because I felt it was a little rushed. I felt like there wasn't a breather from page one to the end. I was out of breath when I finished it! I also was thrown by having the point-of-view of a new character that didn't exist in the first book added to the mix.

The crazy neighbour and invisible roommate returned, however, and that helped balance any small issues I had with pacing. Overall, this is another highly recommended book on my list.

4/5

Krista owns this ebook.

Guest Review of Hexed, an anthology by Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James, and Jeanne C. Stein

Publisher: Berkley

Release date: June 7th, 2011

More Info: Amazon  The Book Depository

Book Blurb:


Four of the bestselling names in romance and fantasy come together in this collection of thrilling novellas featuring powerful women who know how to handle a hex or two... 

New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews spins "Magic Dreams." Shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau finds herself in deep waters when she must challenge a dark being to a battle of wits or risk losing the man for whom she secretly longs.

In "Ice Shards," New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn returns to the Otherworld as Iris Kuusi, a Finnish house sprite, journeys to the frozen Northlands to confront the crazed shadow of her former lover and break the curse that is keeping her from marrying the man she loves.

National bestselling author Allyson James takes you to Magellan, Arizona, where Stormwalker Janet Begay and her friends are trapped by a powerful curse. It will take every bit of magic simmering beneath her skin for the Stormwalker to survive being "Double Hexed."
 
From national bestselling author Jeanne C. Stein comes "Blood Debt," in which bounty-hunter-turned-vampire Anna Strong is visited by three witches who ask her to right an old magical wrong. Anna will have to live up to her last name to make it through alive.


Today we have another guest reviewer, Elizabeth. She's another person from the Hurog board and from time to time, as her schedule allows, she will post reviews here. She's 30, lives in Alabama with her husband and young son, used to live in Japan, recently started a paying job outside the house, and loves to read. Please welcome her to the blog. :)





My Thoughts:


I’ve just read "Hexed", a collection of four novellas by some very good writers. The first story is "Magic Dreams" by Ilona Andrews, which takes place between Magic Bleeds and Magic Slays in her Kate Daniels series. I am a rabid (squees and all) fan of her work, so it should come as no surprise that I found it to be a well thought out plot and timeline. In it we follow the white tiger, Dali, as she tries to save the Feline Alpha, Jim, from a curse that is killing him. As usual, Andrews touches on more than one system of religion and magic with a well thought out flow of information that doesn’t get in the way of the plot.

The second story is "Ice Shards" by Yasmine Galenorn. I have as yet to pick up the main series that this novella is from, and I noticed the lack when reading this short. The idea behind this story is wonderful, the characters are colorful and show a good bit of growth from the background she slips in painlessly. The main character, Iris, and her friends go back to her home dimension to try to release her first love from the cursed half life he’s leading as a murderous shadow, while she searches for the truth of whether or not she caused him to be that way. I found some of the lack of forethought on the main characters part a little hard to swallow given that she’s supposedly been thinking about this for over six centuries, but overall it was a worthwhile read.

The third story is "Double Hexed", the title story of this book by Allyson James. She is a new to me author who has piqued my interest. In this installment of her "Stormwalker" series we watch Janet and her motley collection of friends try to break a disturbing curse laid on her hotel, that’s not only keeping them hostage but not so slowly driving them to their baser behaviors. With guest appearances by American Indian gods and demon goddesses this dark short story manages not to be depressing, and even a little adult in its content. I plan on picking up the first in this series sometime in the near future.

The fourth and final story is "Blood Debt" by Jeanne C. Stein. This story starts out with a familiar feel to anyone who reads Urban Fantasy novels but loses the formulaic feel quickly. Our main character Anna, a vampire PI, who just so happens to be a Chosen One who dictates human/vampire interactions, is called to another plane to answer for killing two people. This ‘call’ comes in the form of blackmail, to save her friend’s brother from death, she has to defend her actions and justify killing a dark witch and her bodyguard while in a place of sanctuary. In a genre overburdened with formula heroines with predictable angst this story keeps the appeal mainstream with subtle distinguishing plot points that keep the story fresh.

In other words, this book was well worth the read. Kudos to the four authors on such wonderful stories.



The reviewer own this book.

Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead - A Guest Review

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Publisher: Zebra

Release Date: March 1, 2011

More Info: Amazon

Series: #3 in the Dark Swan series

Book Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Richelle Mead takes readers back to the Otherworld, an embattled realm mystically entwined with our world--and ruled by one woman's dangerous choice. . . 

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham is the best at banishing entities trespassing in the mortal realm. But as the Thorn Land's queen, she's fast running out of ways to end the brutal war devastating her kingdom. Her only hope: the Iron Crown, a legendary object even the most powerful gentry fear. . . 

Who Eugenie can trust is the hardest part. Fairy king Dorian has his own agenda for aiding her search. And Kiyo, her shape-shifter ex-boyfriend, has every reason to betray her along the way. To control the Crown's ever-consuming powers, Eugenie will have to confront an unimaginable temptation--one that will put her soul and the fate of two worlds in mortal peril. . .

Today, we have another guest reviewer, Hurog_Kate.. She was talking about Iron Crowned after she read it and I asked if she'd mind typing that up for me into a review. :D Hurog_Kate is an aspiring writer who works in education to pay the bills. (Okay, she actually really likes her day job but would quit in a heartbeat if she had an actual paying career as a writer.) She's an incessant fiction reader, primarily in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Mystery genres. She's also stupidly opinionated (her words, not mine, lol) about what she's read... but will likely not argue with you about it if your opinion differs. :)

Contains Spoilers for Books 1 and 2 in the series

My Thoughts:

I’ve never been particularly driven to review books in any sort of professional/public capacity. I’ve got lots of reasons for this. For one, I’m an aspiring writer myself, which means that I fear the “lemme tell y’all how it’s done” syndrome. Plus, well, I’m afraid of ticking off any potential future employers or avenues to publication. (And yes, I know that sounds kind of silly… but there you go.) Secondly, I spent several years in graduate school for writing, which meant I analyzed every word I read or wrote ad nauseum. It started to impinge on my actual enjoyment of reading for pleasure. These days, I’m quite happy with my informal review process: Loved it! Hated it! Didn’t finish. Heroine TSTL (too stupid to live). Meh. It was fine. I got it for free. And so on. 

This long-winded opening is to explain why I quite happily classify this as an UN-professional, highly subjective reaction to reading Iron Crowned, the third book in the Eugenie  Markham Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead. Not a review. 

Additionally, it’s very important to me to point out that I stand in awe of anyone who can finish a coherent novel, let alone the number that Ms. Mead has. 

I loved the first book in the series, Storm Born. It introduced the heroine, Eugenie Markham—aka Dark Swan—a half fey/half human shaman who works to banish spirits and fey who illegally cross over into our world. In fairly classic Fantasy series fashion, a startling prophecy is revealed: in this case, that her firstborn son will conquer the human world for the fey. She spends the rest of this book and the next navigating between the human and fey worlds trying to stop this prophecy from coming true. Of course, there are two gorgeous love interests: the Human kitsune (fox-shifter) Kiyo and the scary/sexy fey King Dorian who seeks to train Eugenie in her fey powers of controlling storms. Of course, Dorian is quite honest about how happy he would be to put a bun in Eug’s oven, but he does help her in his own Machiavellan way throughout the series. 

By the time we get to this third book (SPOILERS for books 1 and 2), Eugenie has been repeatedly attacked, taken over an entire kingdom and remade it in the image of her beloved Arizona desert, discovered an unknown half-sister who also may fulfill the prophecy, discovered that her boyfriend Kiyo knocked up one of the few (apparently) friendly fey monarchs (awkward)… oh, and gotten kidnapped by the lunatic son of a rival monarch and repeatedly raped in his attempt to impregnate her and bring about the prophecy. That ends badly for him when she ends up being rescued by a contingent including Kiyo and Dorian, who ends up running the douchebag kidnapper/rapist through with his sword. Which I was pretty much “right on!” about but Kiyo refused to do because it wasn’t moral or something, and it turns out he might have been kind of right because it puts Eugenie and Dorian at war in the fey world against his mother, whom I will now refer to as “Rape-Mommy” because she encouraged all of these shenanigans. By the end of the second book, she’s broken up with Kiyo and is firmly in a relationship with Dorian. Oh, and her step-father, the shaman who trained her, is not speaking to her because he’s super mad that she has a kingdom in Otherworld.

As I said, I loved the first book. I found the second book a little frustrating with Eug continuing to juggle her commitments in the human world (her shaman/exorcism business) with those in the fey world, with somewhat limited success. But I was still really looking forward to the third book. Let’s start with the positives for the book: as always, Mead’s characters leap off of the page. Her dialogue is fun and the world that she has built (both human and fey) are alive and real within the confines of the book. In terms of world-building, she is almost always consistent (which is harder than you might think). There is one pretty big inconsistency very late in the book, but it honestly could be explained away at some point… which doesn’t mean it didn’t bug me. I’m just not sure it should have. LOL I can honestly say that I would not have had such a negative reaction to the book if it wasn’t written so vividly. 

 I can sum up my annoyance without MASSIVE spoilers by looking at two factors: One, Eugenie generally doesn't take any responsibility for her own actions through pretty much the whole book. These actions include: cheating on Dorian (while convincing herself that she didn't cheat); running back to Kiyo; taking over a whole other kingdom; ignoring the concerns of her stepfather and mom; and then when Kiyo suddenly and almost inexplicably becomes horrible, running back to Dorian. Sigh. It’s like this very adult series suddenly took a left turn from a great blend of high and urban fantasy to Young Adult Soap Opera land. 

The second factor is that I think the only major character who acts consistently with everything we've been told about him for the two previous books is Dorian. But I'm pretty sure we're supposed to think he's a lying, manipulative scumbag and it's okay that Eugenie gets it on with Kiyo before actually breaking up with Dorian. The big reveal that drove Eugenie away from Dorian was not a small thing. It’s definitely a HUGE “we gotta talk” moment among two adults in a relationship. That talk might be nothing more than, “screw you, I’m out.”  But there should be a meeting of the minds. 

In fact, almost everyone careens through this book from action to reaction back to action with no thought and the thinnest of rationalizations. I found myself with that extreme WTF look on my face so often, my husband asked me what the heck I was reading that made me look like that. There's a reason I don't read YA books anymore. I like my characters to act like adults, not whiny teenagers who only think about what the world and other people owe them, rather than how their actions affect the world as a whole.

Now, below is my really unprofessional rant about the plot that I sent to a few friends. It is almost completely unedited so it contains major spoilers and a complete description of why I really was pretty irritated by almost the entire book. Also, there is a lot of raving and many, many sentence fragments. DON'T SCROLL DOWN if you don't want to know almost everything that happens in the book.  

Guest Review of Glimpses by Lynn Flewelling

Publisher: CreateSpace and Morrigan Press

Release Date: September 19, 2010

Series: A stand alone anthology within the Nightrunner series.

Today we have a guest review. This has been on my TBR pile for a while so when Line expressed interest in the story, I offered her my review copy in exchange for a review. I've known her for several years, we met at Kelley Armstrong's board and then I lured her to Patricia Briggs's board. :)

Line:


Who am I and how did I come to write this at Bea's Book Nook? To answer the last one first: she asked, and she is good at asking.

Who am I? I am a woman approaching my fourth decade, I live in Norway and I have a passion for reading. I read all kinds of fiction but fantasy and speculative fiction takes up most of my reading time. I work in geriatrics and reading is entertainment and escape and sometimes a tool for dealing with the difficult questions in life.

LineJ


Book Blurb:

Lynn Flewelling's Glimpses explores “lost” moments from her popular Nightrunner Series, events alluded to or passed over – Alec's parents and childhood, Seregil's early liaisons in Skala, Seregil and Alec's first night as lovers, how Seregil and Micum Cavish met. Each story offers a new perspective on events readers have speculated about for years.

For new readers, it offers an introduction to the characters Romantic Times calls "two of the
most memorable heroes in fantasy." Professional and amateur art provided by Flewelling's fans accompany Glimpses' stories, as she honors the dedication and devotion her fans have given her over the years.

My Thoughts: 

This is truly a collection for the fans and lovers of this series. I really liked the idea of illustrating
with works of fan art and I was not disappointed. Some of the artwork was absolutely stunning and
the illustrations really enhanced the reading experience, despite the fact that the first time I read this
I had only a review PDF that Bea was kind enough to let me have (NOTE: After I badgered her she agreed to review it for me) after I whined about not being able to get the book here, and the pictures in that was naturally not full size files.(I have since acquired the book)

Although I liked all the stories and enjoyed myself reading them, I am not so sure this would be the
case for someone not familiar with he characters and the world, there is a lot of presupposed
knowledge needed to follow most of the stories I think. I feel that without having read the
Nightrunner Series I would not really be able to follow all of the stories very well, and some of the
episodes would not make any real sense. By The River for instance, without knowing of the later
relationship between Micum and Seregil this would seem like a very strange somewhat unfinished
kind of story to put into an anthology but having read the novels it was a fun bit of background.

Of the four short stories,the one I liked best was The Wild, this tells a complete story and could
stand alone very well without the background from the previous novels, even if knowing what happens later to Alec gives an extra dimension to it.

Over all I enjoyed this very much but I would not recommend it as a starting point for the series.
This is treats and goodies for the fans and readers. If you haven't read the series before I think the
best starting point is absolutely the first book in the series: "Luck In the Shadows".

This PDF was received from the publisher for review

Guest Review of JD Robb's Treachery in Death

Publisher: Putnam

Release Date: February 22, 2011

Series:  #32 in the In Death Series.

More Info: Amazon



Today we have a guest review from an acquaintance I'll call Nifty. I met Nifty at Patricia Briggs' discussion board. Nifty is an avid reader and when she's not reading or working, she is playing with her dog, Bandit.

Book Blurb:

In the latest from the #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon, Eve Dallas tracks down those who break the law-including the ones sworn to uphold it.

Detective Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a senseless crime-an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. This is Peabody's first case as primary detective - good thing she learned from the master.

But Peabody soon stumbles upon a trickier situation. After a hard workout, she's all alone in the locker room when the gym door clatters open; and-while hiding inside a shower stall trying not to make a sound-she overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. It doesn't take long to realize they're both crooked-guilty not just of corruption but of murder. Now Peabody, Eve, and Eve's husband, Roarke, are trying to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down-knowing all the while that the two are willing to kill to keep their secret. 

My Thoughts:

Unlike other books in this series, Treachery in Death is light on the mystery - we know who the bad guy is, and what the crime is, from the first chapter – and doesn’t seem to have the heft and evilness of some previous plots.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as sometimes the plots of the In Death books can be over-the-top – not just evil, but eeeevil – and in this case, it’s a straight-forward police procedural that brings the focus back on the team, their skills, and their principles.  Merely knowing who the bad guy is isn’t enough.  Eve still has to gather evidence and build a case and move with care in doing so, considering that the bad cop is a ranking officer of the NYPSD and the daughter of a highly respected former commander. This investigation has to be 100% above-board and air-tight.

Most of the story moves at a lightning pace.  Eve uses the homicide of one of the bad cop’s weasel as her foot in the door, and from there it’s just connecting the pieces.  And if she has to shake a few trees to see what kind of rotten fruit falls down, so much the better.  We all know how much she loves to get in the face of the villains she has targeted.
Eve's personal story doesn't get a whole lot of attention, but there's a humorous scene with Eve, Bella, and Mavis – who is tagged for a bit of con-work -- and a sweet scene between Roarke and Eve. The most significant personal aspect for me was actually professional also: Eve muses on how the type of woman she is sets the tone for the type of cop she is, but also the type of BOSS she is.  Also, every In Death story comes with at least a little focus directed at one of the (many!) secondary characters, and in this book, that particular spotlight is focused on IAB rat Don Webster.

I thought the tightness of the story suffered just a bit at the very end - the last 70 pages or so - and the climax could have used a bit more punch. But overall I found this one to be really enjoyable and kind of rewhetted my appetite for these characters and this series (which had begun to wane in the last couple years).