Bit of a dark horse, this one. A young woman comes to town, staying with Ethan and his wife. As each get to know one another, going on nightly outings, we see a pretty effective rumination on poverty and social conventions that force each into staying deeply unhappy, which permeates the book with a melancholic narrative voice. It feels like they are merely one step away from seizing the reigns, yet can’t bring themselves to actually do so.

The best thing about the book is how well drawn the characters are, though. None of them are irreproachable. To a degree, they’re unlikable, but in an understandable way. It’s a heartbreaking story that, though short, packs a huge punch—the ending making a story that would have otherwise be a more complex tale on heavily retrodden ground, much more effective and interesting.

The audio book with CM Chester is really well done. A female narrator feels much more suited to it than when I sampled the other Scott Brock recording (good as he is).

This is a 3.5 rounded up, because as it goes on it did get better.

To begin with, I found this mostly retreading a story I’ve read before: An older closeted man, married with children, has a lover nobody knows about, and the tension is around wether or not he will finally leave his wife and come out. This became more nuanced as it went on. His own internalized fear and the fact that he’s black and an immigrant and the homophobia he’s completely steeped in with the community contextualize things further.

I did think that it sort of petered out at the end. It seemed like the author had brought up everything they wanted about these circumstances and then just ended it. Things just fall into place and that was about it, so it very much lacks any anticipated impact. The dynamics between he and his nephew and his daughters as he begins to open saved it for me. Otherwise it would have been a 2.5-3.

While I loved The Prestige, The Glamour didn’t have me, nor did it keep me, and it ended with a thud. It’s ostensibly about a man who is struck by a bomb outside of a police building and his recovery, mostly to do with memory loss. It’s very slow and it ratchets up the tension with the fantastical, to do with the ritual Glamour. Some special people are dubbed invisibles, with the general population being unable to see them. It extends to what they interact with as well. And this notion is introduced by the primary opposite character, basically the only other character in the book: Sue. Who claims to be one of these people, as she attempts to reconnect with him and rekindle an odd relationship they had held before the event.

It’s fairly unconvincing but does become more so when this strange account of Sue’s is brought up, which deflates the tension around his false memories, as her account is from her own perspective, so more-or-less invalidates his memories. But even more annoying than that, is none of that even matters. It’s not actually about what it purports to be and transitions into some outlandish supernatural horror aspects, including a very graphic, horrific rape - followed by Sue becoming an even more unbelievable character, as she gets over this violation quickly and the relationship with the rapist completely uninhibited. Then the plot itself, also is completely eschewed on a flight of fancy / gotcha moment.

There isn’t much that it particularly has to say and it doesn’t even respect the fiction it creates. It is very near completely pointless and there are many other novels with a meta context that makes this point much more interestingly.

This is an excellent sampling of Highsmith's work. As is typical with these collections, the short stories end up being the roots colonized for the more major novel results, which makes a lot of sense. Depending on your type of reader, it could be annoying to read several short stories with a specific theme and then read the same thing, hit harder, in long form. I took my time reading this, so it didn't bother me overly much. And I picked it up primarily because it was the easiest way to get ahold of the novels in the collection. After all, it was on sale. The narrators are great - the reviews for the other works I've logged as I've read them.

Truthfully, this is a bit of a precarious 4 stars. It could have gone to three as well. As good as the writing consistently is, the story about a man finding an equilibrium with the island, and his misconstruing of nature and himself due to the fallout of a foolish decision.

The structure mostly works, circuitously revealing more about the protagonist as it moves through time. I think he’s really well rendered. Probably Too well rendered, for my taste. The granularity of the verisimilitude vacillates between showing how the island is singular, and how living on it is different. But it gets lost in the weeds perhaps just as often, often reiterating the same points refracted onto the character, probably to continue to log the differences in island life. It has to have a more complex structure because the revelations are very straight forward; even forgone conclusions. The fallout is predictable, as is the theme.

So, really it depends very much how much you enjoy the actual consumption of the prose. If you pick it up and it’s even slightly a chore this will probably only get more pronounced. If you immediately vibe with it though, I think there’s enough here to flit in and out of very beautiful writing and, sometimes, interesting thoughts. There’s a reason he’s rather simple, and that ended up helping me somewhat, when thinking about the overall reading experience. To some, it’ll probably be more of an excuse than a reason.

The charming esoterica that encroached on the universe where the books as written are objects consumed, and “real” memoirs by the vampires, actually ends up escalating to a silly degree, undermining the gothic noir aesthetic cultivated. It becomes about, basically the fate of the world, rather than moody broody sad boys.

There are some shining moments, such as when the origin of the vampires is revealed, even if that mystery probably would have been fine being obscured forever. Unfortunately the ultimate villain is a bit of a sideshow caricature, who has wild, literal insane ideas that escalate the stakes. It’s not entirely supposed to be sensical, but it shifts the expectations away from the core drama and interest, and also takes a very long time to get to and resolve the cliffhanger events of the second book, where Something is killing vampires and seems to be chasing after Lestat and company. This deflates the tension for more than half of the entire novel, only to attempt to ramp it up with the new threat, which just didn’t feel at all natural.

I found I couldn’t get invested in anything beyond the recounting of the ancient tales, which is really what this series is best at. The modern aspects do come into some play with the Big Bad, but they never feel properly situated, as with the backstories of individuals. And before it’s done any Justice, suddenly it’s all in peril? It just felt rather clumsy and odd.

Frank Muller narrating is amazing though, even if he does mispronounce things from time to time. I guess books on tape, back in the day, probably found it more difficult to edit and check these things. Any time he pronounces the name like Louis instead of Louie, I internally riot. Still, miles above the other samples I’ve tried, if you can find it.

Though well written, this was so low key, especially at the start, that the build to emotional punch felt like a legitimate reason to Solider on, but otherwise feels like something people will identify with solely if the few interests the duo of friends share. As I didn’t, I think for the first three quarters of this book, had I decided to put it down I doubt I’d have cared if I ever picked it up again. It’s easy reading, though, and the last quarter is when it gained more of a universal appeal to me, and became more relatable.

Never a chore, ending being memorable, this falls into a middling spot, overall.

Interesting enough that I’ll continue, probably - but also feels extremely sophomoric in terms of exposition and information design. You just aren’t supposed to know how some of what’s communicated is important yet, which is a certain type of style in this format. It’s frustrating at times and you really have to decide if you think you’ll get value out of it or not.

For me, I like the themes; especially the androgyny agender type of reflection that’s possible with these weird beings and their makeup as different types of gems, and what that all means for their community structure.

It feels kind of like Evangelion. Lots of wild, weird stuff. Huge threats, all of which also appear as iconic, symbolic, god-like things. The artwork can be really hit and miss. I don’t know, it’s intriguing, what can I say. I can completely see why some people were immediately turned off by it, but I think it’s presented enough complexity that there is a reward in the future, if I continue.

I asked myself how much weirder could it get. The answer is: A Lot. This second volume mostly features a spurned ex of the rooster and a chick he saved in the first book, making up a weird kind-of found family, even as the meta plot of him trying to find the specific demon he wants to find plods on.

It features: a hen with a stun baton and a smart phone; more manga tropes transposed onto the fiction; the rooster giving out life lessons; bird sex.

What a strange thing that, for the most part, if it didn’t have the gimmick of farm stock battling the demons (for some reasons humans never do this) would probably be a fairly generic samurai-revenge type manga.

This is, as expected, pretty silly. Better than I expected, but among the best manga ever, according to some lists… I don’t think so. It’s about an itinerant rooster that seems to be searching for a particular demon, which people turn into. The demons are basically kaiju creatures and the rooster can beat them up and blow them apart when he crows. I don’t think stories that anthropomorphize creatures tend to do anything with it, and that’s the case here. It’s pretty obviously a trope just transplanted onto a rooster. Fun, but I don’t think you can take it seriously and have it stand on its own legs.