It was the Psychedelic 60's and the vast drug experimentation of Americans took on another level, the junkies, the sane and insane alike. For the mentally unstable medication through Psycho therapy became a fad like no other.

Wanting to learn more about this unusual behaviour Ken Kessey volunteered himself to take part in a study at the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital on the effects of psychoactive drugs. His experiences as a medical guinea pig inspired Kesey to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962.

********

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was set in a fictional mental asylum ruled by a "tyranical" middle aged Nurse Ratched. Narrated by the towering Native-American Chief Bromden a schizophrenic who pretends to be both deaf and dumb.

Through his self-imposed solitude Bromden accurately observed each element of the hospital's surroundings and manages to give readers a full and personal account of the arrival of the rebellious new inmate R.P. McMurphy. ( whose initials can be aptly defined as "revolution per minute").

Enter Randle P. McMurphy, a petty criminal who fakes his own madness in order for him to be admitted in the institution and therefore avoid a lenghty prison term.

Prior to the arrival of McMurphy, the asylum was run by the domineering Nurse Ratched and her assistants ( who were described as black men by Bromden ). The patient's life revolves around a clockwork precision setting bound by the strict rules of the staff members.

McMurphy brought with himself a symbol of resistance and rebellious exuberance against these rules, he finds the "therapeutic techniques" of the staff as non-existent, that medicated drug and the threat of electro shock therapy is not making the patients well, but just a method to keep them scared and forever following authority.

And the ensuing results is a never ending battle between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched.

*****

The book represents a much larger aspect other than life in a mental institution, it also paints the over-all battle of the weak and the strong in society as well. The main characters' struggle to regain sanity in the mental institution clearly represented the title "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" which is Chief Bromden's memory of a children's nursery rhyme that depicts a group of geese flying in different directions, continously opposing each other. In the book it is Nurse Ratched, McMurphy, the Chief, the acutes and the chronics who were literally and symbolically representing the wild geese chase.

Ken Kessey's beliefs that most of the patients he encountered as a volunteer and late r on while working in Menlo Park as a nurse assistant, doesn't really fit the typical crazed man. Only he believes that these people were sent to such place making them to believe that professional help and aid of drugs can help them get back to the system's definition of a sane man.

Wherein Kessey's beliefs that these patients were not insane, that society had pushed them out because they did not fit the conventional ideas and ideal stratosphere of how people were supposed to act and live their life.

And the result was a literary gift that critics hailed as one of the best novels of all time.

*****
I haven't seen the movie version, but its hard not to think of Jack Nicholson when reminded of Randall McMurphy, the zest of his character critics describes as a bit Dean Moriarty of Kerouac's "On the Road", which is understandable to think that Ken Kesey is a part of that so called "beat generation". His other novel "Sometimes a Great Notion" was a product of his experiences with the 'muse' of the beatniks, Neal Cassady who introduced Kesey to the other "beatniks" Kerouac, Ginsberg and Timothy Leary.

Randall McMurphy is the character that is not about to impress or be a leader of the pack, he was just this trickster, a joker, gambler, no good man ( according to the norms of society ). But along the way he became this 'personal saviour' of other patients. ( other scholars refers to him as a Christ like figure whose sacrifices left a valuable lesson to the other patients). In a way a rebel with a cause, out to defy authority that subjects its followers as slave. To quote Harding "the strong becomes strong while continously devouring the weak".

McMurphy is the symbol that gives life to an otherwise normal set-up of the Asylum, where-in Ken Kesey's challenges and questions about the state of psycho therapy in America, of the ruler's rule over its followers, in a sense that it asks the question of tyranny, the urge or fetish of creating an order of rules, authority for the so called greater good but at the moment neglecting the proper and just things that makes a human being alive. In doing so, this so called parameters makes a human soul more stagnant than ever before.

Bounded by paralysis, mental anguish and labels such as Acutes, Chronics and other clinical terms.

And after reading this book, you might as well find yourself asking the very same questions that Kesey brought up in this great novel.
Read More »

Douglas Coupland follows four characters who were directly related in one way or the other to a tragic event in the past.

Cheryll: the pregnant 17 year old who wrote in her journal what would be her last entry, and her thoughts from the afterlife as well,her own sentiments about the aftermath of the tragedy at the school cafeteria that took her own life, addressing directly all to God.

 

Jason: The secret husband of Cheryl, narrates his own experience from becoming a hero-suspect-and back to a victim of the same tragic event, writing his own memoirs from a van facing the ocean, more than 10 years after Cheryl died, his inability to cope with the sad event, his alienation with his father whom he casually refer to as Reg.

Heather: The woman who love Jason, still feeling trapped from the effect of Jason's tragic past,caught between Jason's inability to move on, Heather told her story in a much different narrative as an outsider from that terrible tragedy, about her chance meeting with Jason, falling in love with him and her desperate attempt to locate Jason when he goes missing.

Reg: Jason's strictly religious father, narrates a short glimpse of his character and offers a rare look at the seemingly distant and hard rock figure, the object of Jason's contempt, partly due to his hypocrite views about religion and those he seems as not worthy of paradise.

'Hey Nostradamus!' is a powerful and funny novel about consequences, after-effects and the human response to tragedy. The book doesn't focus on the killers. their motives nor the cops investigation, as if it only served as a backdrop to the story or theme of the novel which is coping with the aftermath of the tragedy, as told in first hand narrative of the four characters and those around them.

Reading the book is like riding a roller coaster in terms of emotion, from the onset of Cheryl's narrative about her death, life ( which she described as more boring, getting married in Las Vegas, being the subject of gossip among her fellow schoolmates and so on) Up to her own brewing questions about the purpose or reasons of what happened to her that morning in the school cafeteria.

Then to Jason, with a complete revamp settings, 11 years down the line, still coping with Cheryl's death and the eventual separation of his own family, reliving the death of his brother, writing in a profound manner addressed to his Brother's twins?, His own struggles of not really getting a life after that sad event, like a living dead, until the day he disappeared for no apparent reason at all.Jason's story is the most compelling, the longest and often the funniest.

Enter Heather, the only person not directly connected to the shooting tragedy, she tries hard to connect with Reg while at the same time making an effort to locate Jason ( enter psychics or should i say fake psychics who brings messages from make believe characters ).

And Reg the estranged father caught up with his own religious dogmas, strict and questionable moral code, that eventually distant him further from his own family. All said and done, although i was left hanging a bit about the conclusion, there are still a lot to treasure about, a lot of questions abound especially the motives behind the killing, but that will make up an entirely different novel.

Because what Coupland brought here is a story of people, on how they lived, try to cope up, with the usual strands of indifference,grief,loneliness and even guilt.

Read More »

Charlie Nancy is living an ordinary life, working in a top agency, being engaged to a beautiful woman named Rosie ( whoa sweet name ), life in London is what he wants, peaceful and most of all away from his Father and the embarrassments that he brings into his life.

Until one day, Charlie whose nickname "Fat Charlie" was one of the many embarrassing reminder his father sanctioned upon him, received a news that his father died of an apparent heart failure in the middle of a Karaoke stage.

Dealing with the aftermath and burying his father, Charlie came to know the truth about his father's real identity. Charlie's dad is not just any other dad, he was Anansi, a god who outsmarts and uses tricks to outwit his enemies, the rebellious God who can create wealth opportunities without working a single day, a God who owns most of the stories handed down from generation to generation.

And that is just a humdinger of things to come, "Fat Charlie" also learned the existence of his brother, all he had to do as Mrs. Higgler told him is ask a spider.

Of course "Fat Charlie" never believed a thing, but when a spider shows up in his tub one night while Rosie is about to take a bath, Charlie did the unthinkable,

"If you see my brother..tell him to come by and say hello" Fat Charlie told the spider.

And then the next day his brother Spider showed up in his doorstep, and Charlie's life will become more interesting and a lot dangerous...

**********

I'm telling you right now, this is not the best book the author has written, but if you're Neil Gaiman, it still speaks highly of you, comparing it to "Neverwhere" or "American Gods" is unfair, those two books are probably at the top of every reader's barometer of a great fantasy novel.

Still "Anansi Boys" is an enthralling read that will provide fun and excitement, Gaiman has again created a world in a world setting, vivid and haunting, to the extent that it stretches your imagination to picture even a portion of what is going through Gaiman's head.

And the result is once again a staggering images of dreamlike scenes enough to make your reading experience a truly enjoyable one.

In Anansi Boys just like in Neverwhere and American Gods, it has a character that is drawn in the world where God's roam and battle each other, Charlie Nancy is that character, unknowingly a descendant of a God, unwittingly drawn into a conspicuous battle between good and evil forces of the world where his father once fought, to the present dangers that beset him in the modern world.

His relationship with Rosie, made complex by the arrival of Spider, Grahame Coates his boss at work, who is planning to pull of a major financial scam, old women in Florida who practice sort of witchcraft rituals, jet-setting from London to Florida to an island in the Caribbean, Neil Gaiman has brought us again fresh and wider plot twists that has been a trademark of his previous novels

And those are some of the upside of "Anansi Boys", it has much of a human element, with the large participation of characters like Rosie and her mom, Daisy, Grahame Coates and the Florida women, the plot is more scattered as i would say, all in a good way, that keeps readers slowly getting the pieces, creating and providing them a wonderful tale.

Although i find the ending a little bit rushed, especially the ones that involves Grahame Coates, an additional 50 pages of additional plot twists is more likely, but hey its almost 400 pages of a fun ride here and there in the world within a world which has become Neil Gaiman's expertise.

Over-all i cant complain, yeah its not "Neverwhere" and "American Gods" but still, i was left impressed again and asking for more, waiting for another Neil Gaiman novel.
Read More »

From the author of "fight club" comes another tale pf an exaggerated portrayal of a dark,grotesque character searching for his own meaning of existence.
  

Amidst the modern woes of everything around him Victor Mancini narrates his life through the present grips of a lame minimum wage job as a role playing 17th century character in a theme park, to the mad and exciting world of a "sexaholics" group therapy sessions.

In between visitation to an elderly hospital to see his Alzheimer disease stricken mother and flirting with the staff nurses, until an indecent proposal from a hot female doctor named Dr.Paige Marshall about a revolutionary genetic cure for Alzheimer's.

The narratives of the present is preceded in betweens of flashback of Victor Mancini as that "stupid little boy" and his Mother's exploits at mis adventures, with the court declaring her as an unfit parent, Victor ended up in foster homes often ended up being kidnapped by his mother aboard stolen cars and a school bus, teaching him about things he wouldn't learn at school but will definitely save his life

"in most hospitals Nurse Flamingo means a fire, Dr.Green a suicide...in a grocery store paging Mr.cash is a call for an armed security guard, Mr.Bernard Wellis, please meet your party at gate 16, means somebody is holding a knife to the throat of a hostage there"...

Footing the almost $3,000/month hospital bill for his mother, Victor devised a complicated scam of pretending to choke on a piece of food in a restaurant, waiting for someone to save him, thereby creating a feeling of being a hero for some total stranger, hoping that the old chinese saying of "once you save the life of a person, you feel responsible for them the rest of their life" will set in afterwards.

After a bit of sob stories about his mother being sick, multiply all of those choking incidents, restaurants and instant heroes willing to help more, cash donation will also come week in and week out...

Seems like everything are going smoothly for Victor, even though still struggling in the 4th step of his recovery from sex addiction, with lots of recreational sex .
see:tanya
see:nico
see:scores of women.

Until a diary of his mother written in Italian surfaced, promises to reveal the truth about Victor's real parentage , an incident that will turn Victor's world inside out, surrounded by a bunch of characters, the insane patients of St.Anthony hospital, a friend who collects rocks, Victor Mancini after all said and done, may be very well be the second coming of Jesus Christ?

What would Jesus Christ not do?...

*****************
Over-all although i find some parts of the book highly unbelievable, like Victor's scam on choking on a food, but hey "Fight Club" is highly unbelievable either But Chuck Palahniuk has written it well with crisp lines and twists it ends up highly entertaining...

I guess same goes with this book, Victor's mother is the maternal version of a Tyler Durden the savior of the rest of us, The bored and dazed, Victor as un unknowingly could be second coming of christ is as hateful and understandable, given his circumstances, one can relate to his thoughts...

The part about the 'sexaholics' therapy sessions are a bit short, i would love to read more of it ( haha pervert? ), but same in "FightClub" the narratives moves quickly from one setting, time frame to another, i cannot complain with that, it leaves less room for boredom.

Over-all, its not that perfect pitch of a book, but the humor, the rawness, the gravity is there, i had a blast reading this one, this goes straight to my book shelf, for me to enjoy reading again, probably a year from now...
Read More »

Volume 1 of the Sandman Series ( a collection of the original issues 1-8 ) written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III, Robbie Busch and lettered by Todd Klein.

Also my introduction to the world of Dream aka Morpheus and Oneiros. One of the Endless. Dream, the representation of dreams.

*****
As this is the very first Sandman series, i find it fairly good, the introduction of Dream when he was captured by Roderick Burgess ( in an attempt to get Death ) in "Sleep of the Just" was simple yet effective.

Well it only means one thing, from volume 2 to the last, the Sandman series is bound to get better and better as Gaiman's writing style and the artistic style of those responsible for the Sandman graphic novel becomes more attached to the story and develops more interesting plots and characters as well.

I particularly like "Dream a Little Dream of Me" mainly because of the participation of John Constantine, a cool and comical protagonist of the comic series Hellblazer. Wherein he helped Dream locate one of his valuable possession, a pouch of sand which came into the hands of John's former girlfriend.

Preludes & Nocturnes is all about the introduction of Dream, his capture, imprisonment and his attempt to locate his totems of power, which were dispersed following his capture: a pouch of sand, a helm and a ruby. A journey that will take him across the world and into the infinite abyss of Hell.

In "24 Hours" an interesting encounter with John Dee, a.k.a. Doctor Destiny, ( supervillain from the Justice League of America series). John Dee came into the possession of Dream's ruby after getting it from his mother Ethel ( a former mistress of Roderick Burgess ). John Dee reminds me of Tolkien's creature Gollum, where in they find themselves fighting the evil forces that influence what they possess. As the ring is for Gollum, here its the ruby for John Dee.

Eventually John Dee succumbs to the tempting promise of power of the Ruby and used its power to initiate a rampage that drove people worldwide mad.


The final chapter "The Sound of Her Wings" introduces as to character of "Death" also a part of the Endless family, here she gave Dream a better understanding and direction for his future journeys.


****

By Gaiman's own admission that "there's a lot in this first collection that is awkward and ungainly", but the promise alone is enough guarantee that "Preludes & Nocturnes" is a must read. There were a lot more good than bad, considering this was written when Neil Gaiman was still struggling to find his niche ( well he eventually did in a big way ).

The ingredients for a great graphic novel was laid out in here, the horror alone of "24 Hours" is enough to keep you hooked and the darkness of Dream's character, the mystery, interactions with various DC characters all make up for one thrilling and great reading experience.

I can't wait to start Volume 2: The Doll's House.
Read More »

It's 2004 and Liz Dunn, in her own words "overweight and lonely woman in her 40's" is writing a journal, in here she relates her childhood years, from finding a severed body of a transvestite in a railway track to sneaking on other people's home, not to steal but just "to sit and stare at the family pics" and a high school trip to Rome.

To the era of the last Haley's Bop comet in 1997, when Liz, lonely yet quite okay with the setup of living by herself, showing for work, renting videos and her condo living receives an emergency call from the hospital about a patient named Jeremy.

All of a sudden Liz's world is catapulted to a never ending examining of what ifs and a race against time to make up for a regrettable decision she made years back. A catapult that will take her into a trip across the world to find the answer to the question that has puzzled her since that school trip to Rome.

All told with a heartfelt honesty that serves as a prelude to a wonderful journey that will climax with Liz while hunched in an airplane seat just above Reykjavik, Iceland in 2004, finally getting that new perspective in life .

****
It's Douglas Coupeland, master of the profound, venturing into a soul of a character not likely of other novels, but very much about the average human being, it can be any of us, the feelings of loneliness, being invisible, unwanted, regrets, Liz Dunn takes us there, to have us realize every words as true, thinking "yeah i've felt that before".

In "Hey Nostradamus" Coupeland takes us how to deal with a tragedy and lost love, in "All Families Are Psychotic" he shows us the craziness of a family all sewn up by one major thread, which is love for one another.

In "Eleanor Rigby", there are patterns of close family ties, while at the same time showing us the brewing distance that a once close knit family encounters when everybody starts growing old, having a family of their own. In here Liz Dunn a self confessed loner is besieged with a caring brother and sister a worried Mother who still lectures her at the same time Liz wonders if she ever makes her proud.

"Eleanor Rigby" while named after the Beatles song about a lonely woman who waits for love by her window, the similarities ends there, aside from being Liz's email (eleanorrigby@arctic.ca) Liz wasn't looking for anything, life as a loner is a gift yet at the same time a curse, it just so happens that when Jeremy arrives in her life, she was left without a choice but to steer different from the path that she expects to thread for the rest of her life.

How one event brought on from an encounter buried in the past can shake things up and provides someone like Liz a real shot at happiness, is both endearing and riveting.

If there's a writer that writes for the underdog it's Douglas Coupland, if there's anyone who could make me read a novel that is narrated by a 44 year old woman, chubby, un-attractive, self confessed loner with "chick lit" written all over, i guess it's Douglas Coupland, not exactly my kind of book genre. But i like it nonetheless, good enough to stay in my shelf for a long time.
Read More »

In "Cimarron Rose" James Lee Burke takes time out with his Dave Robicheaux series, while introducing a new series that features Billy Bob Holland, a former Texas Ranger, assistant US Prosecutor turned defense attorney in the small town of Deaf Smith in Texas.

Most fans of the Robicheaux series would see quite a score of similarities between the two characters, both are Men of goodwill at the same time displaying that gung ho routine of breaking chops with the bad guys. Holland is a hero in the same league as Robicheaux, both carries excess baggage of the past, Billy Bob Holland is a man haunted by the ghost of L.Q. Navarro, his partner in the Rangers whom he accidentally killed while pursuing drug dealers in Mexico.

L.Q. Navarro doesn't mind being dead as he literally haunts Billy Bob thus becoming a friend to talk to and even give advice during moments of confusion.

But this is ain't a ghost story, it's just one of the threads that James Lee Burke weaved around the novel, it's a crime mystery that pits good and evil and the ghost of the past ( as Billy Bob reads passages of his grandfather's journal about his affair with a female outlaw of the wild wild west ).

Rounding up the plot is Lucas Smothers, a young kid who was found passed out in a truck while a body of a raped and murdered girl lies 20 feet from him. Charged with the crime, Billy Bob sets out to defend Lucas sincerely believing in his innocence.

As Billy Bob digs out the truth he encountered different obstacles like a rogue DEA Agent, corrupt sheriffs, Garland T. Moon, a psychotic killer turned loose on technicalities, Darl Vanzandt, the sick son of a wealthy and the town's most powerful person. All that plus a love interest with a female sheriff / Federal agent whom Billy Bob got cozzy up with. ( Which shows the human and soft side of Billy Bob )

This is classic James Lee Burke where plot abounds you don't just get immersed in one story but other interesting events in the past of the main characters.

Surely this is a book filled with violence, either Billy Bob is dragging a boy beater by the saddle of his horse, he's breaking the jaws of a rogue DEA agent, or his house is getting ransacked, Lucas being drugged and dumped at a country club, and Garland Moon wrecking havoc.

Over-all it's a finely written tale about a man's fondness for the good and going all out to battle the evil that resides even in a small compact town like Deaf Smith, Texas...at all costs and making those responsible pay big time.
Read More »

Other People a novel by Martin Amis is a haunting, probing and dark "metaphysical" thriller as critics calls it.

 

The book opens with a confession by the mysterious narrator
"I didn't want to have to do it to her. I would have infinitely preferred some other solution, still there we are"

Then it is followed by Mary Lamb leaving a hospital and getting lost wandering around London, as Mary struggles to locate past memories. She had difficulty remembering things like nouns, common terms, the names of familiar objects. The whole world is a riddle for her. Thus a newspaper is a 'dirty sheath of smudged gray paper that came and went every day'.

The story is then commented here and there by a second mysterious narrator who may very well be someone who holds the key to unlocking Mary Lamb's past.

As Mary walks barefoot in the streets of London she meets different characters that represent the shabby London society and at the same time leaving a trail of destruction behind ( Trev and Jock attacking her, as she was also at the same time sees sex as a strange practice she cannot get the hang of ) and a couple of obsessed men who truly looked out for her, but without a memory the notion of love still lingers past Mary ( Alan and Russ ) and the eventual tragedy that befell Alan.

The entire book can be seen as a living through or a living back of her life at or after the moment of her supposed to be death at the hands of her lover.

As Mary slowly by surely regains snapshot of previous memories, the very existence of a certain cop who calls himself Mr. Prince becomes more puzzling to her.

Mr. Prince is the first person to confront her that she may be Amy Hide not Mary Lamb. The reader then became more engulf in the mystery. Is Mary Lamb the innocent Dr Jekyll figure of this novel, and Amy, as her Mr Hyde?

The more Mr. Prince gives Mary the clues the more you will wonder what kind of a dark past that Mary as Amy Hide has?

Things just go more interesting from here on...

And then ""She had torn through the glass and come back from the other side. She had found her again. She was herself at last"

Mary Lamb is now Amy Hide. And the chilling conclusion where Mr. Prince will once again try to finish the undone task. Which in his own words " I didn't want to have to do it to her. I would have infinitely preferred some other solution".

The last part of the book closes with a 16 year old Amy Hide finding herself back home just prior to meeting her demon-lover.


A great read indeed !!!!.....

Read More »

A magical, wicked story of Richard Mayhew, after encountering a bleeding girl on the sidewalk of London, helping her, Life turned out, or real world as he knows it to be something entirely different.Again Neil Gaiman vividly created a world within a world setting.

"the marquis scratched the side of his nose, "young man" he said. "understand this: there are two London's, there's London above - that's where you lived and London below - the underside - inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world, now you're one of them" - Neverwhere...

Leaving London Above for a journey on London Below, Richard Mayhew encountered a cast of colorful characters, the mysterious girl named Door, the Marquis de Carabas, a female bodyguard who answered by the name of Hunter, talking rats, bungling, hilarious yet vicious and violent pair of villains named Mr. Croup and Mr. ValdemarThrough secret passageways, non existent ( in London above ) subway stations, floating market, hidden doors, angels?, friars, dirty sewerage, humongous beasts, strong gravitational pull. "Neverwhere" truly takes you on a wild, uplifting, fun filled imaginative journey with surprises and thrills aplenty.

Think Harry Potter meets Alice in Wonderland meets Peter Straub and Stephen King = Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere"
Read More »

Written in three stages of working class Joe Martin's life, first part happened in the year 1977, the definitive Punk era of the Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Sham 69 and the likes.

Growing up in a sleepy town in the UK countryside called the sloughs, with fellow mates Smiles, Chris and Dave, they went on with their life, listening to punk bands, going to pubs that plays reggae music, disco girls, being beaten up, beating poofs ( a term for homo's ).

Life is sweet for Joe Martin, he's got the best mates, a summer job picking cherries with the gypsies until one nasty event when he and his best mate Smiles was beaten up and thrown at the grand union canal.

Fast forward to 1988, Joe Martin is now working at a pub in Hongkong away from the memories of home until a news from home forces him to make the long journey across central asia, moscow and London aboard the Trans Siberian Express, as he prepares himself in coming to terms with a tragedy.

Last part is the present day, year 2000, Joe Martin is working as a DJ, selling fight and concert tickets, life is sweet again until a face from the past made him re deal with the fallout of the year 1977.

***************************************

i really loved the 1977 part, it clearly defines the punk era of that time, when people talk about "PUNK" i only seem to recognize that movement in the 70's clearly no other punk bands had succeeded to even come close as the ones in those years...there's a lot of reference to the importance of bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Jam is mentioned over and over again throughout the story. Joe sums it up best by saying,

“Some people get their ideas from books, but for us lot the likes of Rotten, Strummer, Pursey and Weller were the best writers, producing the sort of literature that dealt with our lives. They didn’t need to fake anything, do any research, just wrote what was already festering inside them and connected with millions of other people who felt the same way.”

“Human Punk” also has the requisite drinking, fighting, fucking, humor and social commentary that makes this one a juicy read.

After reading this feel free to refer to those who pissed you off as "cunT" ( with capital T )

Read More »