BOOKS THREAD

Cannot wait for "The Twelve"

 

OK, I'm about 40 pages from the end. This book is pretty much a mess. There's no great writing in it. There is one line that I consider brilliant, but out of place -- "Sod would have raped the wind if it had a hole in it." Obviously about some guy who likes to go around raping people, and animals. And things, if they have holes in them. (Doughnuts?) Two different times he ends scenes with, "And that was the end of that." The characters don't act with a whole lot of consistency. One in particular does an abrupt change toward the end that is completely out of character with anything the character has done before.

Most of the book focuses on some complex where a ruling class has enslaved thousands of people and basically uses them to stay immortal. I don't remember this place being talked about or hinted at in the previous book or most of the beginning of this novel. And suddenly it takes center stage. The guy in charge is like a James Bond villain.

Probably the highest body count of any book I've ever read. First practically the entire world is wiped out. Those who survive the next 100 years or so don't fare too well either.

I give it a solid meh.

 

Oh, this is basically what I was trying to say:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/books/the-twelve-by-justin-cronin.html?_r=0

 

Anybody read House of Leaves? Thought about buying it but it might be a bit too much.

 

I just started it too. I'm through the Castiles period.

 

Might have to check that one out. Not a huge Bruce fan, but Peter Ames Carlin's book on Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys was well done.

 

Ok, who finished the Twelve and has their final review?

 

I enjoyed "The Twelve". I don't think it's as good as "The Passage" but it kept me involved.

 

Here's what I posted on Goodreads.com. I gave it three stars out of five, which on there means "I liked it." Four stars is I really liked it, and I didn't. Two stars is "It was OK" and it was better than OK. My review is more negative than my star rating.

** spoiler alert ** The promise from The Passage is gone. No longer is Justin Cronin's planned trilogy a literary feast. Long gone is the feeling generated by the brilliant first section of The Passage; searching for more like that is like a gambler chasing after the rush of his one big score. With The Twelve, Cronin presents us with more of a plot-driven horror book that in parts is more comical than scary.

Much of the book is centered on a city whose populace has been enslaved by a few people who have found a way to use the vampires' blood to give themselves immortality. The leader of this city is practically a James Bond villain who ultimately loses because he wants to display his might and explain his grand plan to everyone in sight, rather than shoot his enemy in the head when he has the chance. When he dies his last thought is the name of a prostitute he loved a hundred years prior -- a far cry from Rosebud. Though it seems as if Cronin is trying to humanize the evil dictator at this point it comes across as farcical.

This plot ventures far from the original premise, which is that a government experiment gone wrong creates a virus which leads to the creation of vampire-like creatures who destroy much of the North American continent. How does our merry band of survivors live and fight back in such a world? Now humans are the main enemy instead of the Draculas.

Characters are now just plot devices, thrust into and out of situations because the story calls for it. There are few standout passages. Lines are either underwritten -- "and that was the end of that" appears twice at the end of sections -- or overwritten, such as the lengthy names of characters like "Grey, the Unleasher of Night, Familiar of the One called Zero." This is comic-book territory.

In trying to recreate his big score, Cronin has basically taken The Passage, rewritten it, and made it worse. He craps out on this one

 

Well that sucks, guess I'll wait for the price of "The Twelve" to go down on Kindle. Serious buzzkill.

 

The War at the Wall Street Journal by Sarah Ellison. A pretty solid read about Murdoch's acquisition of Dow Jones. I love media books and this is a worthy addition.

Murdoch is seen as greedy, dishonest, obsessed by the NY Times and incapable of introspection. he is very critical of the Times because he sees alleged biases of Sulzberger Jr. on every page of his paper......