I wish that I could say that even if you didn’t like Quentin Tarantino’s movies, you would find this book a fascinating peek into the inner workings of the Hollywood machine. I would also like to say that even if you aren’t familiar with David Carradine, you will be charmed by peeking into the inner workings of his character. Unfortunately, I can’t say either. I needed the hook of being a big Tarantino fan and always considering David Carradine an enlightened and elevating presence for any movie (mostly crap) he happened to pop up in to keep me engaged in this book. Let the word DIARY being in the title alert you that quite often when something catches your interest it will suddenly evaporate into a mist of personal distractions or self-aggrandizing vapor. That Carradine considered himself a brilliant actor might have been necessary for his craft but it is a tad off putting. That everyone he meets is the most wonderful or beautiful person ever or they vanish from sight may beautify his personal world but it fails to inform me of anything useful or interesting. Since I do like Tarantino and have a soft spot for Carradine largely because I liked the TV series KUNG FU when I was a kid, I found it easier to forgive these transgressions and there were just enough tantalizing nuggets dropped my way to keep me looking for the next. I would recommend reading it in one or two sittings—the good stuff feels closer together. I wish he had talked about his famous father and brothers more and less about his girlfriend and their travel habits. If you are a Tarantino fan, there are significant portions about his approach to making KILL BILL to fascinate you. The never-ending reinvention even as the filming is underway is rather awe-inspiring. His ability to keep coming up with marvelous ideas to replace merely very good ones gives insight into why his movies turn out the way they do. So this isn’t for everyone but if it is, you know who you are.

Recently randomly won this as a Goodreads Giveaway. What I found compelling enough about the book description to enter the Giveaway was that the main character was Chinese and that I would get a vivid description of the labor camp he escapes from and the China that he escapes into. Unfortunately, there is barely a glimpse of the camp and the escape/flight across China underwhelmed me (largely he hid in a hole then he slept while hidden on a train—then suddenly we’re in the big city). And almost as suddenly the perspective shifts to that of the actual main character—Philip Mangan, a western journalist freelancing in China.

Mangan is not without his charms. As with most of the characters in the book, he is well sketched out. I didn’t doubt the presentation of his working life for a second. Credit the author’s extensive experience with international reporting for delivering these parts of the story so well. The author’s very success with these parts of the book sewed my discontent with the rest. I never quite recovered from Peanut, the labor camp escapee, being put in the backseat. He remains relevant and interesting, but the author’s heart is clearly with Mangan—and who can blame the author for wanting to insert himself into the story (plus the caucasian journalist is the centerpiece of a planned trilogy). But as good as Mangan appears to be at his job, he doesn’t bring much of that skill set to the espionage he takes part in—and he becomes the donut hole at the center of his own story. Peanut and the various intelligence agencies swirling around the central conflict in the book are all quite interesting—their various agendas distilled quite nicely with regards to each agency and even many members within each agency. Yet Mangan seems to be left running in place. I get that the journalist is caught between Peanut and the Eastern/Western intelligence communities determined to capture/exploit the Chinese asset but when Mangan is challenged to be his most interesting he fails to deliver as a character.

The conclusion is exciting though I was not thoroughly satisfied with the mechanics that brought it about. Without providing spoilers, I’ll just say that a Western Intelligence group does one of those stupid things that the TV show LOST IN SPACE always counted on Dr. Smith to do in to create the conflict for that episode. (If no one has ever used the term “Dr. Smithing it” for a nonsensical plot complication then they should be.) Likely I sabotaged my own reading experience by hoping the book would be something it wasn’t—but the author failed to compel me to do anything else.

When sound was added to movies in the early 20th century, filmmakers quickly realized that they had to do more than just replace title cards with a few bits of recorded dialogue. The silent era was more impressionistic, performances were broadened to the point of being cartoonish and the vast space between title cards afforded the viewer the opportunity/challenge to fill in the details as they wished. With sound, everything became more immediate, specific and gave the filmmakers more control over their stories. Practically a whole new art form had to be developed. BATMAN: YEAR ONE was a similar seismic shift for Batman in particular but also for graphic novels in general. Coming out about the same time as the legendary WATCHMEN comic, both of these works brought a complexity and depth previously not experienced reading about superheroes. For the first time the streets felt like ones you might walk down yourself in a city that was less Hollywood backdrop and more misshapen urban chaos. Characters appeared to have lives beyond the scenes they appeared in and motivations that reached beyond simple good and evil. Ostensibly an origin tale, for both Batman and policeman Gordon, the characters are allowed the space to grind through their days. Change doesn’t occur with a flash, instead it is the grinding that shapes us. When life provides a flash, it merely blows away the debris and reveals the changes that have already occurred. As referenced, in a savvy move this is as much the story of Gordon as it is Batman. Wonderfully rendered and revelatory of Gordon’s motivations (not always just a good guy), allowing Gordon space gives the whole city more breadth and depth. More importantly Gordon’s story-line allows Batman to lurk in the shadows and retain some mystery. Miller works it as a sleight of hand to keep the story moving ahead even while letting the fog drift in and shroud Batman. I was left with the feeling that everything I had seen or read about Batman before YEAR ONE was merely rumor and hearsay, and everything after started from this point.

Dorothy Gale at the beginning of THE WIZARD OF OZ movie, is trapped in a black and white world she sees as so devoid of hope that she feels she must run away. As we realize later in the movie, all around her are the components of a world she fails to appreciate. It just hasn’t clicked for her yet. That’s how I felt about reading Michael Deforge’s A BODY BENEATH. A collection of his early works, I could see his talent but the material just wasn’t where I wanted it to be yet. There is evident growth as an artist and story teller as the collection progresses—the best stories (Recent Hires & Living Outdoors) were at the very end—but overall this is just not a good book. Having previously enjoyed—almost loved—Deforge’s later work ANT COLONY, this was particularly disappointing. Opening ANT COLONY again after reading A BODY BENEATH was like when Dorothy opened her door to see the Land of Oz for the first time. Not only is it quite literally moving from black and white to color, but ANT COLONY explodes with ideas and imagination lacking in Deforge’s earlier work. This reminded me of when I read Thomas Pynchon’s magnificent V and followed it up by reading a collection of his early short stories called SLOW LEARNER. Very disappointing but I could see that he had to work his way through the hum drum before reaching the magnificent. If you want to reach OZ, read ANT COLONY instead. If you have read ANT COLONY and still want to read this, go into it as an act of literary anthropology.

Funnier than I expected and more accurate than I feared.