A soul confined must rebel either in a thousand little ways that build bridges between days or in one all in run for freedom. This heart-breaking graphic novel about the impact of slavery in Brazil, contains four stories where souls RUN FOR IT in various ways. The illustrations are spare like the characters lives, with thick lines that cannot be broken and set up in such a way that the reader often feels encircled. If you pick one story to read I’m not sure you’d be that impressed. Just as running only part of the way home feels different from running all the way. The stories seem to build on each other and by the end you feel more impact than you thought possible. Like the author skipped a stone on a lake and each time the stone hit water it slowed and sunk deeper until finally it catches enough depth to stop you completely.

Regarded as the MURDER OF THE CENTURY in the middle of a century that would see truly greater crimes, I opened this book eager to take the pulse of those tumultuous times. All too often this book flat-lined. It struggled as a history to find a point of view and seldom found a dramatic drive and instead just drifted. The author discusses in the forward that learning of this murder trial made enough of an impression on him that he immediately wanted to write about it—but then apparently life got in the way and he didn’t get around to it for over 30 more years. I squinted with some concern when I read that and that’s how the book felt. Something interesting would happen. Then it just seemed to lay there for 30 years. The resulting book feels more like just the notes he collected rather than a narrative designed to bring this history to life.

When I first heard about this 1954 murder on a podcast, I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t familiar with it already. Famous mystery writer Anne Perry when she was a teen and living under her real name in New Zealand took part in a brutal murder—helping her best friend kill her friend’s mother. Covered internationally at the time of the murder and then again when Ann Perry’s identity and past were uncovered at least partly due to the release of the murder inspired movie HEAVENLY CREATURES, I knew nothing about it. I do know a lot about it now. The author, despite the passage of time and likely passing of a lot of memories, did gather a lot of information. It is clearly written the way directions on a map are clear but a map doesn’t tell me much about a city. The editors must have sensed this lack of inertia as they present the murder in great detail up front as if trying to hook me rather than draw me in. Still, the story does fascinate despite the presentation. Much of what we now know of psychology and child rearing put an entirely different spin on what spun these girls out of control. The author does bring this up but only at the end as almost an addendum.

A well written history makes you feel like you have spent some time in the past and wonder how it connects to the present world. While this book did little to make me wonder about comparisons, real life has presented an example. The teenage girls in Wisconsin who stabbed their friend 19 times in an attempt to impress a fictional character called Slender Man bear a striking resemblance in character and tone to Anne Perry and her childhood friend.

My review of Hodgman's previous book of bald face lies masquerading as reference material can ALMOST equally apply to this entry. While still a delightful distraction from real facts, I didn't care for this one quite as much. While the first book returned to the Hobo Rebellion as a central touchstone (and tickled me every time) this entry uses tales of Mole Men dwelling beneath the earths crust as a similar touch stone with much less consistent success. The entry also seemed to smother the reader a little bit at times as if too accurately spoofing old academic journals. But that being said, if you liked the first you'll still like this and if you should happen across this one first go ahead and read it. No matter what order you read them in, it's still funny and still not true. Amuses me, and I imagine it might amuse John Hodgman too, that second among the top genre/shelves listed by Goodreads readers for this book is "Non-Fiction". This book is many things...but that it ain't.

I believe everyone should read Kurt Vonnegut. I also believe that if you read him at only one time in your life, it should be when you are young. Most of the Vonnegut I have read was before or well before I was 30. His various novels, especially my favorite SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, detail the worst of what the world might offer but also the best of how we can handle it. However fantastic the goings on, the strength of our humanity will be what gets us through. This is largely why he was so popular among college kids in the sixties who were tossing off the time worn structures of religion and politics and embracing humanism. I took his books as a tuning fork setting the tone for how I perceived the world: hard but not without hope. What fascinated me about this collection of Vonnegut materials (mostly worth reading) is that it seemingly unconsciously reveals what happens to old humanists. When you consider humanity responsible for all that is wicked and wonderful in the world, you have no safety net other than your own contentment with what you have done. And part of getting older and older and old is evaluating the paths you have chosen that determine that contentment. This book indicates this isn't always a restful process. Vonnegut's humor and humanity still twinkle but also at times a gloom is cast that can be quite unsettling--as if hope had escaped Vonnegut. In my 50's now, I pride myself on still hearing that tone I picked up from Vonnegut years ago. Sometimes I have to strain to hear it or seek a quiet place from which to listen--but it is still there. That is not always evident for Vonnegut himself in this book. Maybe this explains the title better than anything else. In the end we are our own countries, our own world, our own responsibility. As we live, we learn but knowledge should not be the enemy of hope--but it certainly has a habit of wounding it.

While pondering this review I kept thinking of the Coen Brothers and in particular their movie THE BIG LEBOWSKI. I would like to think that among the last thoughts of Kurt Vonnegut was something as reassuring as "The Dude Abides". If you don't know what that means watch the movie. If then you still don't know what it means, watch it again. So it goes.

Translating a work from one medium to another can be tricky—even when done by the same creator. In this case the creator (Joseph Fink) of the podcast ALICE ISN'T DEAD has translated it to book form. While non-fiction podcasts still dominate the format, fictional story driven podcasts are quickly creating their own space. HOMECOMING, LIMELIGHT & WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE are other prominent fiction podcasts that have jumped mediums. The gist of ALICE is that the main character is road-tripping to find her presumed dead spouse and in the interim uncovering a dark and menacing conspiracy (kind of X Files meets Twin Peaks meets The Fugitive). The pulse of the podcast is the first-person narration telling much of the story like a recorded diary. The heart of the podcast is the actress delivering that narration: Jasika Nicole. Much of the story telling is non-linear jumping back and forth in time just applying layers to the story. What could be confusing or disjointed is held together by her voice. Some of my favorite episodes didn’t really move the story ahead but were entertaining side trips designed to add to the overall atmosphere. That is sorely lacking from the book which proceeds in a more straight-ahead fashion with a third person narrator and only the occasional nod to the personal narration. At times, the book feels like an outline for the podcast, draining the story of much of its immediacy and intimacy. Had I not heard the podcast I might like the book more—and it is really not bad—I just liked the Podcast a lot. To the book’s favor, some characters are given more room to breathe and the conclusion is less abrupt. Mostly, however, I missed the stuff the author left out and didn’t like as much what he put in their place. I listened to the podcast while driving home alone from work through winter darkness. I read the book while under the weight of winter blankets pulled up to my chin in bed. Both are prime locations to stir the imagination but I remember the drives home so much more.

There is a good story in here somewhere and at moments it does peak through but mostly it is lost in a blur of rushed story-telling, confused art work and a mauling of history. From the beginning I found myself putting in way too much effort trying to figure out who was who during the herky-jerky prologue that was the main character’s youth. Then when the battle for Athens was under way, it just grew worse. Most of the dialogue was inelegant and the art work under-conceived—just throw a bunch of stuff in there and have someone shout what’s happening. When you have to reread portions to figure out who is who in a story designed to mimic the impetus of a runner you have already lost the race. As implied by the cover art and the title the best part of the book is the dramatic run at the end much of which is thrilling and well executed (dialogue at a minimum). However, by this point I was shouldering enough annoyance to hinder my interest in the goings on and what should have been a stirring victorious conclusion became just the last pages of a book I was closing so I could read something else.