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.
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They say this comic book was the driving force behind Heath Ledger's brutal portrayal of Joker in the movie "The Dark Knight". It might be the case, because Joker, in this book was at his most brutal ever. Alan Moore left no inhibitions at how violent and mad Joker can be.

Which includes Joker shooting Commissioner Gordon's daughter in the spine, showing no remorse in mentally torturing Gordon, trying hard to make him crumble into madness as he oftentimes says that the only difference between a sane man and a psychotic criminal was "one bad day".

"one bad day" might have caused Joker's slide into the dark side as the story interchange with flashbacks of Joker's old life which may give hints of his possible origin. But no one can be certain as Joker says "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"

Alan Moore, presented a possible origin of Joker when he was still a normal human being and this creates a Joker presented in both extreme personalities, which makes "The Killing Joke" a rarity in terms of storytelling.

And did i hear someone mention something about Borland's art in this book?

The facial expression of each characters really gives life to the story, the shadows, the colors, the minimal colors during the flashback scenes all makes up for an eye feast at the same time.

The colors was lurid and brimming with intelligent eye for details. Borland and Moore really concocted a very creative partnership in this graphic novel.

From start to Joker's last joke at the end, it was a short read (bitin konti) but a really great read. Something you can't help but read over and over again.
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Let me start this review by quoting Harlan Ellison "anyone who misses this milestone event in the genre of the fantastic is a myopic dope."

I'm glad that after reading Alan Moore's "Watchmen" i am not a myopic dope anymore. For some they ask the question "Why comic books should grow this far?"

My answer is why not, comic books or graphic novels whatever you may want to call it still serve its purpose as another reading option whether it tells simple, fanatical stories or complex, dark and haunting story line with troubled characters and the impending doom of the world plots, i say it's even better thanks to Alan Moore's groundbreaking "Watchmen".

Watchmen is set in the year 1985 of a distinctly altered history with Richard Nixon still the US President, America winning the Vietnam War. 8 years before that costumed superhero or vigilantes were outlawed by the Keene Act. Before that, outlawed superheroes were an ordinary part of society, grabbing headlines with their anti crime crusade until pressures from other law enforcement agencies forced some lawmakers passing a law regulating vigilantes.

Watchmen is part political thriller, part murder mystery when the opening panels shows a murdered former costumed vigilante named "the Comedian". An investigation to the cause of his death was closely followed by another costumed vigilante named "Rorschach".

After a mysterious conspiracy that drove the only remaining but regulated adventurer Dr. Manhattan out of Earth and into Mars, a series of conflicts arises beginning with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the looming threat of a nuclear war closes in, the remaining costumed vigilante like Rorschach, the Nite Owl II unites and decides to get into the bottom of things and try to uncover the identity of the individual behind the whole conspiracy starting with the murder of the Comedian, the character assassination on Dr. Manhattan and mysterious threat to the life of the other Superheroes.

The flow of the story is very entertaining with brilliant lines and magnificent artworks which is done by renowned artist Dave Gibbons.

Another interesting concept that the Watchmen offers is the "Black Freighter" , a comic book written within the Watchmen world, a so called "post modern metafiction" that also annotates and represents some of the ideas for the main plot.

The book has an abundance of themes, mainly it expresses the notion of questioning the main perception of authority. As there are Watchmen that watches over us, fights crime and all, but the question lingers as to "who will watch the watchmen", this is definitely the one thing each reader may ask themselves once they got into the surprising conclusion in the end.

The possibility of the Apocalypse and other conspiracy theories also forms a part of the plot.

Over-all this comic book, deserves to be at the top of your reading list, if you still haven't read this one.

*****
A "Watchmen" movie is currently in the works with "300" director Zach Snyder working behind the lens...can't wait for it, tentatively scheduled for release on May 2009....yes that's a year and a half from now.

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The Sandman: Endless Nights is a follow-up to the Sandman series written by Neil Gaiman. It depends if you want to try the Sandman series you may try reading this first as to get a glimpse or an idea about the whole Sandman story.

*****
In "Endless Nights" Gaiman wrote seven chapters, each devoted to one of the Endless, a family of brothers and sisters ( namely Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destiny and Destruction ).

It was his way of telling their own story in relations to the different representations of the aspects of life.

Each tale is stylistically written in a different way, and allows Gaiman to work with different talented artists like Milo Manara, Miguelanxo Prado, Glenn Fabry to name a few.

****
"Death and Venice" tells the story of a man's encounter with Death and how he helps her open a door to a world in a different time. This is probably my favorite chapter of the book

"I shall see her again, i know that in my heart, one last time..Until then i shall continue to send people to her"

"What I've Tasted of Desire" is tragic love story of a woman who "wants like a forest fire." The object of her desire is the chieftain's son. They eventually became lovers until a horrible event made the story turn darker. Desire who is neither man or woman is intelligently portrayed through the art renderings of Milo Manara.

"The Heart of a Star" Neil Gaiman takes us to one of the earliest Endless tales, here Dream is seen with one of the very first woman he ever loved. Readers will have a glimpse of the Endless world. While Dream introduces his girl to his other siblings like Desire and Delirum.

"Fifteen Portraits of Despair" isn't really a narrative but a collection of portraits made by Barron Storey, designed by Dave McKean with each image being represented by bits of text that narrates every moments of Despair, like the man who losses his job and continues to pretend to his wife to still have one, a young woman who killed herself and so on, it is as Dark as any one can expect.

"with this pain, i thee feel..."Her kiss is the black dog that follows you in the darkness"

"Going Inside" is a multi facet story that revolves around Delirium, it tells the story of a rescue mission involving a young girl by the most uneven host of characters.

"On the Peninsula" Delirium agrees to help his brother Destruction to dig in an excavation site that they believe lies hidden underneath is the Future.

"Endless Nights" doesn't tells a story because as how it goes only Destiny knows our stories and so on and on. And everything is written in a book he carries all the time. The Artwork by Frank Quitely in this chapter is by far the best among the rest in this book, that is if you will ask me.

*****

This is a must read for Sandman fans, and helps first time readers a wonderful start for those who would like to try out Neil Gaiman's graphic work but were doubting about collecting the ten-book series.
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Volume 2 of the Sandman series. ( it includes issues #9-16 ).

I enjoy Preludes & Nocturnes and i find The Doll's House as notching it up higher in terms of great storytelling and visual feast.

The Doll's House follows a girl named Rose Walker who later learned the real identity of her grandmother, Unity Kincaid ( the hapless girl who spent a great majority of her life in a deep slumber in Preludes & Nocturnes ).

And later on trying to find her long lost brother Jed, at the same time Rose is being monitored by Morpheus aka Dream with her possibly being the "Vortex" that threatens the world and the dreamworld as well.

Hatched through the story are fantastic single-chapter sub plots and short stories that take us away from the action but also help refine the Sandman as character from long way back. The story telling is executed perfectly; never dragging and always perfectly paced.

I particularly like the totally unrelated story ( but it could be in the upcoming volumes ) "Men of Good Fortune", about Hob Gadling, a 14th century man who tried and succeeded in defying death, saying that "It's a mug's game. I wont have any part on it" ( referring to death ).

He then attained immortality. And from his initial conversation with Dream they agreed to meet at the same place once in every hundred years, eventually they both became friends.

But nothing will beat the great storytelling, horror and humor of "Collectors".

In this chapter, Rose Walker and Gilbert find themselves among a Cereal Convention but in reality was a "Serial Killer Convention, where lifelong criminals ( grass widow, psycho killer, candyman, nimrod, dark angel etc ) are gathered and engages in panel discussions in topics like "We are what we are", "Women in Serial Killing" "There is no sanity clause".

It's a humor laden chapter and a harrowing one as well.

The Corinthian: "the good doctor likes to skin people, Nimrod is a bone hunter. He can bone joint and gut any animal in minutes. For myself i have a penchant for eyes. And you know what we're going to do now, Philip?...We're going to take turns"

Not to mention Gilbert's retelling of a supposed to be original version of "Little Red Riding Hood".

*****
Over-all as i said, it keeps getting better. My sandman experience is turning out to be a great one, calls for more urgent needs to get my hand on the following volumes.

The artwork is outstanding, a "Visual Feast" as Bunnylette would say and i agree.

As one online review would say

"This is arguably one of the highlights of the Sandman series and sets the standard for what follows. The Doll's House seems to expand and improve with every reading and should take pride of place on the bookshelf of anyone who likes a good yarn, comic reader or not"
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The shortest so far from the 5 other Sandman volumes that i've read. This volume is a collection of four stand alone stories that explains some aspects about the Endless namely Dream and Death. Although not a continuation of the Sandman storyline, still it offers readers a lot in regards to the over all scope of this monumental Sandman series.

Calliope - a short story about a struggling one hit writer Ric Madoc and his obsession to reach top form again, doing so he receives a present from cult filmmaker Erasmus Fry, in the form of a muse, whom he abuses and rapes after drawing inspiration from her and writing bestsellers, directing movies and unto the peak of success. Until Dream, who is the muse's former flame, escapes from his captor and decided to free up his muse and gives Madoc a lesson or two about not having any ideas at all.

A Dream of a Thousand Cats - an imaginative tale that shows a gathering of cats and their dream of a world where cats are the masters and human as its servants, a frightening possibility that one feline speaks of, if only all the cats in the world will believe that it is the case ever since the beginning of time.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - won the World Fantasy award for best short story, tells the story of William Shakespeare and his wandering theater troupe and it's performance in front of an audience that looks like not any audiences they have played for in the past.

Facade - is a short story related to another Sandman volume, the Kindly Ones. Former superhero known as the Fury, Lyta Hall now lives in almost seclusion. In the end with the help of "Death" her powers becomes the solution to how she will be freed.

Although i really want to read this volume because i was so curious about Midsummer Night's Dream, although it turned out quite well, i can say my favorite is "Dream a Thousand Cats", the artwork is creepy, the theme so dark and the message frighteningly chilling.

While Calliope reminds me of people who would sell their soul, in exchange for a burst of creativity, makes me wonder who among us right now has a muse somewhere hidden in their bedroom whom they keep imprisoned and abused. Yes another creepy tale.

Plus the inclusion of the sample script by Neil Gaiman will teach you a thing or two about how to write and imagine a story that is ought to be written as a comic book.

All the more makes this a must read for everybody.
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Brief Lives is the 7th collection of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed The Sandman Comics series. It was the 4th volume that i've read so far and probably the most insightful one in terms of explaining to me the relationships between each member of the family of the Endless.

Brief Lives starts with with an old man named Andros climbing up a rocky hill into an almost obscure island, among the small inhabitants of that island where some of Andros' family playing the modern day version of "the priests of Orpheus", it is then revealed that they were guarding and taking care a severed head which seems to be alive and at the same time talking.

Same with almost the previous Sandman volumes, each will start out with a scene that may resonates with the reader as they advance through the story, here the mysterious "talking head" will play a great part in the mysterious past of Morpheus aka Dream.

But the events of Brief Lives progresses on when Dream's youngest sister Delirium ( childlike in any sense of the word ) decided to find the Endless' missing "prodigal" brother Destruction, who about 300 years ago has abandoned his realm and responsibilities.

Delirium travels through the different realms of her older siblings to ask for help in locating their brother, after being churned away by both Desire and Despair telling her that they should respect their brother's decision, Delirium then was able to convince Dream to help her find Destruction in the waking world.

Dream accepted to help childish little sister Delirium so he can take his mind off the pain caused by the latest break up of a relationship with an unmentioned female.

Their quest costs the lives of many people who would be entangled in their search, because of what will be revealed later as result of 'mechanisms' Destruction set up before he left his realm. Eventually, the pair do track Destruction down, with the help of Destiny who in turn told Morpheus to ask for the help of an oracle.

The oracle that will help Morpheus and Delirium's quest for their brother turns out the severed head in the opening chapter, the Oracle's name is Orpheus, none other than Morpheus own son.

In exchange for the information, Orpheus demands a "boon of his father": where he wishes to die; and bound by his sense of obligation to his son, Morpheus cannot do anything but consent to his wish of dying and finding peace. Thus the shedding of family blood.

****
As i said, Brief Lives offers a great deal about the relationship of The Endless, in spite of their different realms and responsibilities, a feeling of love bounded by hundred of years of existence still exist with each other, Destruction's fondness of both Delirium and Despair is both touching and endearing.

The conversation between Dream and Destruction towards the end that explains Destruction's decision to leave offers a hindsight on the start of the existence of the whole Endless family.

Destruction: "As the universe came into being, Destiny came with it, alone on the darkness...before the living thing came into existence, our sister was there waiting"

Dream: "And when the first living thing awoke to life, i was also there"

And how Destruction's decision that he doesn't want any more part in it.

Destruction: "The Endless are echoes of Darkness, and nothing more. We have no right to play with their lives, to order their dreams and their desires"..

And with that Dream and Delirium watch as their brother descends to another world.
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Frank Miller's "Sin City: The Hard Goodbye" tells the story of a down on his luck man named Marv, a huge character with a soft heart for doing good.

 

 

Problem arises when after making love to a beautiful woman named Goldie an experience that Marv describes as:

"I'm staring at a goddess, she's telling me she wants me. She sounds like she means it. I'm not going to waste one more second wondering how it is i've gotten so lucky"

And the next day Marv awakens to a dead Goldie in his bed.

"Not a mark on her, you'd have to check her pulse or notice those perfect breasts of hers aren't moving like they would if she was breathing...and there's nothing telling me it wasn't just a heart attack in her sleep..nothing but that cold thing in my gut getting colder"

And as Marv promises vengeance to those responsible for Goldie's death, the rest of the book details Marv's single-minded pursuit of vengeance in a classic true film noir fashion.

A journey that will lead him to encounter characters like his sexy but lesbian parole officer Lucille, a well-endowed stripper named Nancy, a gun wielding Wendy ( Goldie's twin sister ), Kevin, a sadistic, cannibal who doesn't speak but is a deadly killer to be reckoned with and Roark, a man who lives in the shadows, but holds the ultimate power.

Ultimately Marv got his revenge to those responsible for Goldie's death.

During the time after he sawed of both of Kevin's legs:

"Not even at the end, not even when the mutts had his fill and Kevin's guts are lying all over the place and somehow, the bastard is still alive, still staring at me, not even when i grab the saw and finish the job. HE NEVER SCREAMS"

The best part was when Marv meet up Patrick Henry Roark in his own place.

Roark: "Will that give you satisfaction my son killing an old helpless old man" ( dont be fooled by his rhetorics about being helpless )

Marv: "The killing, NO!, but everything up until the killing will be a gas"

"And when his eyes go dead, the hell i send him to must seem like heaven after what i've done to him"...


*******

It is graphic, violent YES! but the writing are slick, no wonder Robert Rodriguez based the movie page by page, line by line. All you ever wanted in great pulp fiction is here. Frank Miller delivers the goods. And i'm left wondering how great the other Sin City Volumes would be. I guess i had to collect them all.

Damn another reason to be broke, but as Marv would put it
"Everything is worth dying for, worth killing for, worth going to hell for Amen"

Although i aint dying and killing for nobody...i guess Reading "Sin City" is very much worth being broke for.

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I've put my reading habit on the sideline for over a month, hopefully I'm back to reading again because I still got lots of backlog books on my shelf.

Anyway here's the one that broke the streak and put me back to reading again.

"The Dream Hunters" is Neil Gaiman's homage to mythical Japanese literature, served with an appetizing dish by way of the artworks of Yoshitaka Amano, one of Japan's legendary painters. 

 

 

While the original plan was to create a graphic novel version of the retelling of the classic "The Fox, the Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming".

But according to Gaiman, Yoshitaka Amano insists while he is a fan of the comic medium he does not create one and the plan to make a novella with accompanying paintings by Amano proved to be a wise idea.

The Dream Hunters started as the back blurb would say "begins with a wager between a badger and a fox".

The wager's conditions was who among the badger and the fox would succeed in driving out the monk out of his temple. After unsuccessful attempts by the badger and the fox to get rid of the monk. Unexpectedly, while the fox transforms into a female body to try and fool the monk to leaving his temple, the fox formed a deep connection with the monk and eventually falls in love with him.

Driving the badger away the fox accompanied the monk in the temple. Life together was peaceful until the fox overhears a countryside conversation between two creatures plotting to kill the monk.

On the other side of the country a rich Master of Yin-Yang known as the "Onmyoji" is bothered by unexplained fear amidst a life of wealth, convenience and the company of a wife and a concubine. After consulting with three wicked sisters, the "Onmyoji" learned that the only thing that can drive away his fears lies on a monk living in a secluded temple somewhere.

And as the "Onmyoji" plots a plan to get rid of his fears at the expense of the Monk, the fox approaches the "King of Dreams" with the hope of saving the Monk's life.

The ensuing events and what happens next is for you to discover!.

****

The prose and the way Gaiman commands his storytelling which is patterned after Japanese mythologies and Yoshitaka Amano's fine artwork, which sometimes would force you to tear a page from the book and put it in a frame to hang in your wall. All of it makes this a "must read".

Most importantly it brought me back to reading again...I pick just the right book to kickstart my reading habits again.

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I'll skip Volume 3 (I can't find a copy of Dream Country). Season of Mists begins with a sort of family gathering of the Endless, until it boils into an argument when Desire reminded Dream about a former flame whom he had banished into hell more than ten thousand years ago. Dream, driven by guilt of being wrong bid the Endless family goodbye to travel into hell and bring back his former love.

 

 

Expecting a tough challenge from Lucifer Morningstar, he was then surprised to see that Lucifer had gone weary of leading hell, has sent the demons away and having no desire to rule his dominion anymore gives the key to his realm to Morpheus.

Unsure of what to do with hell, Morpheus aka Dream become entangled with a problem because he has no desire to own and rule hell.

Now the gods and evils of different mythology have come to Morpheus world in order to seek what once was Lucifer's. The key to hell, and the rightful power that is associated with it.

In a magical and wonderful storytelling Gaiman weaves these different characters in the palace of Morpheus, each one earning an audience with Morpheus, bribing and pleading with him their own case.

In the end Morpheus must make a decision that will change the realms of hell forever.

*****

This sandman series i'm currently hooked in, keeps getting better and better by each volume.

In Season of Mists, readers will get introduced to the whole Endless family, Desire, Death, Delirium, Destiny and so forth. What i like about the book is the way it shows Morpheus' ability to admit that he had done wrong. And the path he will go through to try and correct that mistake.

The climax where he finally apologizes to Nada is one of the strongest part of the story.

( The story about Nada and Morpheus was told in the opening chapter of Vol. 2 The Doll's House ).

*****
Written in between is sort of bonus short story ( but is relevant with the whole story of the dead leaving hell and coming back to Earth ) "In Which the Dead Return; and "Charles Rowland Concludes His Education".

It tells of a haunted boarding school where in Charles Rowland meet the ghost of a previously murdered boy named Edwin Paine. ( their characters will appear in another DC Comics called "Dead Boy Detectives" ).

*****
Morpheus as a character is at the top of its league in this chapter, new readers can start reading Vol. 3 and end up getting to know him real well. It is this pain and pride that kick-start this beautiful tale, of cruelty, of the subconscious of man, and eventually to betrayal and redemption. In the end the answer on who will rule hell lies in God's willingness to sacrifice one of his own just to put the balance in the world.

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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.

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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.
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Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls tells the story of Lucy and her family, when one day Lucy started hearing noises inside their walls. She then warns her family about something as "wolves in the walls" only to be disputed by her mother "Oh it must be the rats" her mother would tell her. Until her father and brother would not believe her either, they even said to her ''When the wolves come out of the walls", they tell her ''it will all be over''.

Which frightens Lucy more.

Until one night the Wolves did come out of their walls, Lucy and his Tuba playing father together with her mother and brother scampered out of the house into the garden where they spent the night trying to ponder about their future. Her brother suggests, for example, that they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles."

Lucy in turn wants to remain still in their house. Remembering that her beloved pig puppet was left behind in their home ( which is now occupied by the Wolves, Wolves sitting on their couches watching the tv, Wolves eating her mother's jam straight out of the bottle, Wolves playing her brother's video game and breaking its high scores ) Lucy silently as a shadow crept back in to the house, unnoticed by the wolves busy frolicking inside Lucy rescued her beloved pig-puppet.

Upon returning to the garden where her family searches for her, Lucy devised a plan of how to retake their own home from the wolves.

The plan was to go back to the house, hide inside the walls and peek out at the wolves on by way of a hole on the painting hanging on one of the walls. When Lucy's family cannot take the sight of the Wolves spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs, and wearing their clothes, they decided to come out of the walls themselves.

And that scares the Wolves out of their senses, they in turn yelled ""And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The Wolves flees out of the house and was never seen again.

Life returned back to normal after a few days of cleaning the mess the wolves have left behind. That is until Lucy hears another noise coming inside the walls "that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze."

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"Wolves in the Walls" is a children's book but its audience can be very well stretched out to adults, the artwork by Dave Mckean is wonderfully made, the shadows, colors and character animation are a feast to the eyes.

The story is simple, is it too frightening for children? i dont think so, in fact the concept of the story will teach children some valuable lessons such us:

1. the importance of communication in a family - Early on Lucy seems not to be taken seriously by her parents, because she was young, her father thinks she's imagining things like a child used to do.

2. Working together sure beats working by yourself - Lucy's family retook their home by staying together and being courageous at a time of a crisis. They eventually scared the Wolves away by displaying such trait.

3. After a problem was solved, comes another one - After the wolves, comes the elephants hehe

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