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If this book doesn't make you angry, doesn't make you cry, I don't want to know you.
Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer who has made it his life's work to represent those on Death Row left without legal counsel or recourse, inmates who have been handed death-in-prison sentences as minor children, and others who The System has failed so dramatically. The majority of his clients, and indeed the majority of those who are incarcerated in this country, are people of color.
"We're supposed to sentence people fairly after fully considering their life circumstances, but instead we exploit the inability of the poor to get the legal assistance they need—all so we can kill them with less resistance."
It's amazing to me that Stevenson has managed over thirty years mired in this bullshit without falling into a spiral of hopeless despair - but it is hopeful to realize that he and others like him exist in a world like this where they are desperately needed, all working toward a tomorrow where they won't be necessary.
Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer who has made it his life's work to represent those on Death Row left without legal counsel or recourse, inmates who have been handed death-in-prison sentences as minor children, and others who The System has failed so dramatically. The majority of his clients, and indeed the majority of those who are incarcerated in this country, are people of color.
"We're supposed to sentence people fairly after fully considering their life circumstances, but instead we exploit the inability of the poor to get the legal assistance they need—all so we can kill them with less resistance."
It's amazing to me that Stevenson has managed over thirty years mired in this bullshit without falling into a spiral of hopeless despair - but it is hopeful to realize that he and others like him exist in a world like this where they are desperately needed, all working toward a tomorrow where they won't be necessary.
A tie-in with The Force Awakens , this book is split into three parts: Finn, Rey and Poe, to give us more background on their circumstances than we received in the film. We're gifted with infrequent illustrations from the talented Phil Noto throughout the book - every single one is lovely, but his Poe is truly exceptional. Or maybe that's just Oscar Isaac's face.
Before The Awakening opens with Finn, or FN-2187. We are immediately told that he is an exceptional soldier, with high scores in everything from combat to leadership skills - none of this is apparent in the film, where he is panicked while faced with his first deployment. FN-2187 performs well in simulations and doubts himself afterward. He is concerned for Slip, the lagging member of his fire-team and unable to truly find the fervor for the First Order during mandatory morale meetings. What I want to know, and what isn't adequately explained, is how he shrugged off years and years of very pervasive brainwashing. Said braindwashing pretty standard military psychology, but FN-2187 has never known anything but the First Order. So what was the catalyst? Natural inclination toward compassion? The Force? Am I asking too much from a middle-grade book? I remain unconvinced, but still interested.
Rey's chapter opens with talking about the native people of Jakku, the Teedos, and their religious beliefs. Their god R'iia is uncaring and angry, bringing storms and famine and "great shards of metal filled with many, many soft beings". Rey is one of the softer beings, though she's become more like the scavengers of her adopted planet as she grows. She's a tinkerer, a mechanic, something she has needed to learn to survive. This just creates more of a contrast between her and Kylo and the ghost of Anakin Skywalker - Rey is the before The Fall and Kylo is after.
We still learn nothing of her past - she makes oblique references to not having anything to compare the town of Niima to, she prefers to be alone, plays with a flight simulator in her spare time. There's plenty in the sparse prose that exemplifies how difficult survival is for her, dependent as she is on selling scrap for food portions and water: "What little wildlife there was on that part of Jakku emerged in the darkness, as well, and most of it was predatory, as desperate to survive as every other living thing."
Slow to trust, but also slow to anger as well. She finds an almost intact ship and immediately works to repair it, not to leave Jakku but to up its value to Unkar, so that she can get the best possible price for it. "But it was a ship, it was in one piece, and Rey had found it - and that made it hers." Rules of the desert, man.
Two other scavengers find it as well and she, however reluctantly, agrees to partner with them as they guard it during her repairs. In the end, Rey has something that could almost be considered a friendship, only for that to be betrayed at the very last as they abscond with the ship and do the one thing Rey could never bring herself to do: leave Jakku.
Last, but never least, Poe's story starts with his mother and her ship. She is a hero of the war and never, ever discusses it. He finds out about her heroics and history once he joins the New Republic after her death. A good chunk of his story is taken up by various space battles with the squadron under his command; the first is begins when they receive a distress signal from a free trader during a routine flight. They engage with the First Order and Muran, one of his pilots, dies in the fray. We find at the debriefing that the New Republic does not seem to believe the First Order to be a threat to the galaxy - they are "a remnant born of a war thirty years gone."
Poe, of course, does not believe this for a minute and it is his CO's refusal to take his information seriously, to passively wait until another attack, that makes him take the telemetry data and follow the First Order's jump path. He is determined to find proof to bring back to Command; Poe desperately wants somebody to do something.
After engaging with the First Order, escaping by the skin of his teeth, he returns to base to be formally reprimanded. To his great surprise, he is brought to meet Leia, where his fanboyism comes out in full force:
He makes the obvious decision. In this we see the recklessness and determination that was hinted at in The Force Awakens and expanded upon in The Last Jedi, where it was a pivotal part of his character development. He is wildly observant of Leia too, which gives me one of the best descriptions of her older self I have seen in the new canon:
Before The Awakening opens with Finn, or FN-2187. We are immediately told that he is an exceptional soldier, with high scores in everything from combat to leadership skills - none of this is apparent in the film, where he is panicked while faced with his first deployment. FN-2187 performs well in simulations and doubts himself afterward. He is concerned for Slip, the lagging member of his fire-team and unable to truly find the fervor for the First Order during mandatory morale meetings. What I want to know, and what isn't adequately explained, is how he shrugged off years and years of very pervasive brainwashing. Said braindwashing pretty standard military psychology, but FN-2187 has never known anything but the First Order. So what was the catalyst? Natural inclination toward compassion? The Force? Am I asking too much from a middle-grade book? I remain unconvinced, but still interested.
Rey's chapter opens with talking about the native people of Jakku, the Teedos, and their religious beliefs. Their god R'iia is uncaring and angry, bringing storms and famine and "great shards of metal filled with many, many soft beings". Rey is one of the softer beings, though she's become more like the scavengers of her adopted planet as she grows. She's a tinkerer, a mechanic, something she has needed to learn to survive. This just creates more of a contrast between her and Kylo and the ghost of Anakin Skywalker - Rey is the before The Fall and Kylo is after.
We still learn nothing of her past - she makes oblique references to not having anything to compare the town of Niima to, she prefers to be alone, plays with a flight simulator in her spare time. There's plenty in the sparse prose that exemplifies how difficult survival is for her, dependent as she is on selling scrap for food portions and water: "What little wildlife there was on that part of Jakku emerged in the darkness, as well, and most of it was predatory, as desperate to survive as every other living thing."
Slow to trust, but also slow to anger as well. She finds an almost intact ship and immediately works to repair it, not to leave Jakku but to up its value to Unkar, so that she can get the best possible price for it. "But it was a ship, it was in one piece, and Rey had found it - and that made it hers." Rules of the desert, man.
Two other scavengers find it as well and she, however reluctantly, agrees to partner with them as they guard it during her repairs. In the end, Rey has something that could almost be considered a friendship, only for that to be betrayed at the very last as they abscond with the ship and do the one thing Rey could never bring herself to do: leave Jakku.
Last, but never least, Poe's story starts with his mother and her ship. She is a hero of the war and never, ever discusses it. He finds out about her heroics and history once he joins the New Republic after her death. A good chunk of his story is taken up by various space battles with the squadron under his command; the first is begins when they receive a distress signal from a free trader during a routine flight. They engage with the First Order and Muran, one of his pilots, dies in the fray. We find at the debriefing that the New Republic does not seem to believe the First Order to be a threat to the galaxy - they are "a remnant born of a war thirty years gone."
Poe, of course, does not believe this for a minute and it is his CO's refusal to take his information seriously, to passively wait until another attack, that makes him take the telemetry data and follow the First Order's jump path. He is determined to find proof to bring back to Command; Poe desperately wants somebody to do something.
After engaging with the First Order, escaping by the skin of his teeth, he returns to base to be formally reprimanded. To his great surprise, he is brought to meet Leia, where his fanboyism comes out in full force:
"The problem with a reputation is that it can become a legend." General Organa tugged at the shoulder of her uniform, adjusting it. She shrugged. "Don't be deceived, Poe. I'm not a legend."She gives him a choice: she can make his indiscretion go away and allow him stay with the New Republic, or Poe can join the fledgling Resistance to find irrefutable evidence of the First Order's violation of peace agreements.
Poe grinned and shook his head. "You're not sitting where I'm sitting, General."
He makes the obvious decision. In this we see the recklessness and determination that was hinted at in The Force Awakens and expanded upon in The Last Jedi, where it was a pivotal part of his character development. He is wildly observant of Leia too, which gives me one of the best descriptions of her older self I have seen in the new canon:
That air of sadness had descended on her once more. His father had carried a similar melancholy after his mother had passed; Poe would see it descend on him like a shadow, settle over his shoulders like a blanket made of warmth and memory and longing and loss. Leia wore something made of the same material, and not for the first time Poe wondered how she had come by it and, perhaps more importantly, who had given it to her.
I shopped for its own sake, looking and touching, inspecting merchandise I had no intention of buying, then buying it. I sent clerks into their fabric books and pattern books to search for elusive designs. I began to grow in value and self regard. I filled myself out, found new aspects of myself, located a person I’d forgotten existed. Brightness settled around me.A big ol' "meh" from me. I didn't care about anyone or anything in it, which is par for the course with me and satire. My fictional loves are character-driven, always have been. I understand, I believe, what DeLillo was saying re: American culture and consumerism, but it was nothing new to me (especially since this was written in the 1980s) and the prettiness of the words didn't alleviate the emptiness the story left me with. Maybe I just don't get DeLillo, but that's all right. There will always be others.
There's a lot of his works on Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, which means I'll have to give myself some time before I try him again.
This series pretty much has everything I love about fantasy, even the overused tropes. Except, perhaps, I could do without the Kvothe being so ... himself. The part with the fae? Unneccessary.
Too good to be true main character? Check. Amazing mental and physical prowess? Check. Clever and witty? Check. Tragic childhood? Check. Extraordinarily lucky? Check, check, check.
Cheating, again. Skimmed most of the stories, because I really grabbed this for "Unappreciated Gifts", a short story in Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega series. It explores sometime in the life of my favorite supporting character, Asil, as a few mysterious packmates set him up on a series of blind dates. This story covers the first date: dinner and masquerade ball. His date Kelly and he immediately get off on the wrong foot, mostly because Kelly is a man. I love Asil.
"... They didn’t give me your email address or any way to contact you—just the restaurant inform—”I was hoping that he and this young man, who had been tricked into this farce as well, would come to an understanding of the more intimate nature, but Asil proclaims his heterosexuality. Alas! Still, a good friendship blossoms. Kelly is very cute, I would love to see him in the background the next time we meet Asil in the main series.
He looked up. His mouth stayed where it was and noise quit coming out of it.
Yes, Asil thought, the other’s awe soothing the feathers that had been ruffled by the wait, I am beautiful.
Strange Brew
Caitlin Kittredge, Charlaine Harris, Faith Hunter, Patricia Briggs, Rachel Caine, Jenna Maclaine, P.N. Elrod, Karen Chance, Jim Butcher
A rounded up 3.5 stars.
I read all of the stories, but since I'm only familiar with half of the series, that's what the rating and reviews are for. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SEEING EYE- PATRICIA BRIGGS
This is the get together origin story of a couple who appear as supporting characters in the Alpha & Omega series. I really enjoyed seeing more of Moira, the blind white witch whose strong morals led her to destroy her own eye as a young girl rather than fall prey to Kouros, a coven leader: "Sacrifice is good for power," she said again. "But it works best if you can manage to make the sacrifice your own."
This story is her chance to help bring Kouros down when Tom, a werewolf, approaches her to help save his brother who has been taken by the coven for a fatal ritual. The plot moved along at a nice pace, but we went from zero to one hundred red roses very, very quickly on Tom's end. He and Moira were strangers locked in a pact of mutual cooperation and by the literal end of the day, Tom was calling her family. Partially the nature of werewolf fiction, but eh, not Into That.
LAST CALL - JIM BUTCHER
I forgot how much the Dresden books remind me of A Series of Unfortunate Events in the way it explains magic much like Lemony Snicket explains "big words". But Harry's always good for a laugh.
Dahlia, a vampire widow, contacts a witch to make plans to annihilate an entire pack of werewolves for their "legal murder" of her own werewolf husband. The witch is a descendant of Circe and they have a hilarious back and forth about the size of Odysseus's dick (since Circe kept him on her island for a year, he had to be good for something, right?)
Weirdly, amongst the vampires and werewolves and witches, what I found most implausible was the story they used to spy on their suspected murderer. The idea of some rando guy claiming to be from the local university to film children "for a short feature" would not fly? Like, at all? I worked as a photographer employed by a school district and we still needed permission for certain events. Privacy is a thing they took seriously then (2005-2007) and it's increased ever since.
In the end, Dahlia is a Stone Cold Bitch and I am here for it.
SIGNATURES OF THE DEAD - FAITH HUNTER
I stopped reading the Jane Yellowrock series mostly because I hated her love interests so much, but this story starts from the POV of her earth witch friend Molly, as they work together with a police officer to find a group of rogue vampires who had brutally murdered an innocent family. Seeing Jane from an outsider's point of view makes me want to try this series again. It has a much more violent, realistic tang to the concept of Other existing alongside humans.
I read all of the stories, but since I'm only familiar with half of the series, that's what the rating and reviews are for. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SEEING EYE- PATRICIA BRIGGS
This is the get together origin story of a couple who appear as supporting characters in the Alpha & Omega series. I really enjoyed seeing more of Moira, the blind white witch whose strong morals led her to destroy her own eye as a young girl rather than fall prey to Kouros, a coven leader: "Sacrifice is good for power," she said again. "But it works best if you can manage to make the sacrifice your own."
This story is her chance to help bring Kouros down when Tom, a werewolf, approaches her to help save his brother who has been taken by the coven for a fatal ritual. The plot moved along at a nice pace, but we went from zero to one hundred red roses very, very quickly on Tom's end. He and Moira were strangers locked in a pact of mutual cooperation and by the literal end of the day, Tom was calling her family. Partially the nature of werewolf fiction, but eh, not Into That.
LAST CALL - JIM BUTCHER
I forgot how much the Dresden books remind me of A Series of Unfortunate Events in the way it explains magic much like Lemony Snicket explains "big words". But Harry's always good for a laugh.
I shook my head at Murphy and said, "Let him scamper, Murph."BACON - CHARLAINE HARRIS
She let him go, and Caine fled for the stairs on his hand and knee, sobbing. He staggered out, falling down the first flight, from the sound of it.
I wrinkled up my nose as the smell of urine hit me. "Ah. The aroma of truth."
Dahlia, a vampire widow, contacts a witch to make plans to annihilate an entire pack of werewolves for their "legal murder" of her own werewolf husband. The witch is a descendant of Circe and they have a hilarious back and forth about the size of Odysseus's dick (since Circe kept him on her island for a year, he had to be good for something, right?)
Weirdly, amongst the vampires and werewolves and witches, what I found most implausible was the story they used to spy on their suspected murderer. The idea of some rando guy claiming to be from the local university to film children "for a short feature" would not fly? Like, at all? I worked as a photographer employed by a school district and we still needed permission for certain events. Privacy is a thing they took seriously then (2005-2007) and it's increased ever since.
In the end, Dahlia is a Stone Cold Bitch and I am here for it.
SIGNATURES OF THE DEAD - FAITH HUNTER
I stopped reading the Jane Yellowrock series mostly because I hated her love interests so much, but this story starts from the POV of her earth witch friend Molly, as they work together with a police officer to find a group of rogue vampires who had brutally murdered an innocent family. Seeing Jane from an outsider's point of view makes me want to try this series again. It has a much more violent, realistic tang to the concept of Other existing alongside humans.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
I chose this as the first to check off from my POPSUGAR 2018 reading challenge - "a book made into a movie you've already seen". It's been a hot minute since I watched the film, but there are so many differences that I didn't even need to consciously remember, most of which I can understand as a transition from printed word to screen. In the film, the four women come to know one another in college and dramatically make a pact to stay in touch after graduation, whereas in this novel, we see that they have drifted into one another's social circles (or the outskirts) due to their marriages and economic statuses. Movie magic, as it were.
Plot summary: three women conspire together to get revenge on their husbands, who all left them for younger lovers, amongst their other sins, partially avenge a friend who committed suicide because her husband was the biggest asshole of them all. Shenanigans ensue.
Side note: I never get tired of media about women pulling the rug out from under The Worst Kind of Men.
The slow come-together of their shared information, how they relate to one another in certain ways, but hide embarrassing information in others, speaks a lot to the way Goldsmith crafts their friendships, how she understands women. We have Annie, the "good girl"; Elise, the aging film star who left the industry to marry and Brenda, the Jewish-Italian woman who built her husbands empire with her own connections and skills only to be left behind as it became a success.
This was funny and irreverent as the ladies plot to ruin the lives of a few terrible men, while perhaps finding love again themselves (Elise, with a much younger man and Brenda with a handsome lady lawyer). Mostly, I was just relived that Annie, a doormat for much of the book, was finally able to take a goddamn stand against her ex-husband when he came crawling back to her like the most pathetic creature.
At the end of the novel, when all the men have been vanquished, Annie goes traveling to "find herself" (ah, the escape of the upper-middle class) and the epilogue see the gang back together again, successful in all their newly chosen ventures.
Favorite chapter title: "Morty, You Fuck!"
I chose this as the first to check off from my POPSUGAR 2018 reading challenge - "a book made into a movie you've already seen". It's been a hot minute since I watched the film, but there are so many differences that I didn't even need to consciously remember, most of which I can understand as a transition from printed word to screen. In the film, the four women come to know one another in college and dramatically make a pact to stay in touch after graduation, whereas in this novel, we see that they have drifted into one another's social circles (or the outskirts) due to their marriages and economic statuses. Movie magic, as it were.
Plot summary: three women conspire together to get revenge on their husbands, who all left them for younger lovers, amongst their other sins, partially avenge a friend who committed suicide because her husband was the biggest asshole of them all. Shenanigans ensue.
Side note: I never get tired of media about women pulling the rug out from under The Worst Kind of Men.
The slow come-together of their shared information, how they relate to one another in certain ways, but hide embarrassing information in others, speaks a lot to the way Goldsmith crafts their friendships, how she understands women. We have Annie, the "good girl"; Elise, the aging film star who left the industry to marry and Brenda, the Jewish-Italian woman who built her husbands empire with her own connections and skills only to be left behind as it became a success.
This was funny and irreverent as the ladies plot to ruin the lives of a few terrible men, while perhaps finding love again themselves (Elise, with a much younger man and Brenda with a handsome lady lawyer). Mostly, I was just relived that Annie, a doormat for much of the book, was finally able to take a goddamn stand against her ex-husband when he came crawling back to her like the most pathetic creature.
"I guess I'll go then, Aaron." She looked at him, his handsome face surprised, a look that said, This can't be happening.
"But Annie. I'm so lonely."
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it," Annie said, and she left him.
At the end of the novel, when all the men have been vanquished, Annie goes traveling to "find herself" (ah, the escape of the upper-middle class) and the epilogue see the gang back together again, successful in all their newly chosen ventures.
Favorite chapter title: "Morty, You Fuck!"
A truly creepy commentary on body image and how society as a whole has damaged scads of young men and women into believing that their entire worth is based on their looks. Our main character, Ririko, is a world-famous model who is slowly starting to break down in more ways than one. Her body and her mind are decaying at an accelerated rate, thanks to the dubious experimental cosmetic surgery regimens she takes part in. She rages and seduces and cries and is very, very cruel to her assistant, the only one who is even moderately close to her. Ririko is a goddamn mess.
