Review: Gilead

I just finished Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. I was going to write a nice, lengthy review of it, but the only thing I can think to write is:

Holy shit.

Then, as a follow-up (for clarity's sake):

There is no doubt in my mind why this won a Pulitzer. Robinson uses the English language with a mastery that suggests that she owns the damn thing. Almost as a dare against her own formidable talent, she wrote a book that breaks just about every friggin' rule that they tell writers not to break: it's in the form of a journal, written in first-person as an aging third-generation preacher living in a desolate town in the midwest telling a rather narrowly focused narrative to one person--and the reader falls right into it. It's like 250 pages of tightly-woven poetry. It makes me embarrased of everything I've ever written; but not in a bad way...in a way that reminds me why I read fiction, and want to do better at writing it.

It's that good.

Who-o-o Watches the Watchmen?

I watches the Watchmen!

As I've mentioned, I never read The Watchmen--my first thought was that it had something to do with The Avengers (shows how little I know about either). Neither of my kids were interested (in retrospect, a lucky thing for me), so Amy and I did something we never, ever do: we went to a movie alone. It was like an alternate reality.

Anyway, the movie...I thought it was great. Not awesome, not the pinnacle of the genre, but for either a comic-based movie OR a dramatic/action flick, it was pretty damn good in both categories. The characters, for the most part, were well-layered--as much as they can be in such a compressed environment. 

<begin spoilers>

There is very little wrong with this story; I think it has some very interesting things to say about society, and a great depth of emotional storytelling and character development. It's also a very refreshing Socratic thought  experiment on the genre: aren't superheroes really just vigilantes in cheesy costumes? Wouldn't people who do that be total outcasts? Wouldn't they have mental problems, emotional issues, and weird incestuous relationships within their little group of superfriends?

I do think that they could have fleshed out Silk Spectre II a bit more; there were a few points where it seemed like she was just there as a storyline pivot point, yet she was so central to the overall story. Ozymandias was a bit thin, too...he was just kind of out there as the guy who is super-smart, super-rich, and super-strong, but never really explained or justified any of that.

But, those are really my only complaints, and they are minor points at that. The other characters were great--especially Rorschach. Rorschach is the kind of character that I think many writers wish they could have brought to life: singular, intelligent, powerful, vulnerable, and, ultimately, broken beyond repair. The Comedian was also great--he was a grade-A motherfucker, somebody that you have no choice but to absolutely loathe, despite his 40-year spot on the "hero" team, and long relationship with the U.S. government. He is, in a not-so-subtle meditation on the nature of good guy/bad-guy, the worst parts of humanity all in one basket, but that's what made him interesting. He is a reflection of the darker parts of society; in his words: the American Dream come true.

It also featured two things that no other comic movie has had (that I'm aware of): softcore full-nude, pelvic-thrusting sex scenes, and extended full frontal male nudity, albeit the (presumably) CGI-rendered horse-member of Dr. "Papa Smurf" Manhattan, which, in one scene, swings to and fro as he walks across the room. Very brave for American cinema (which is a sad commentary on American cinema, I'm afraid).

I put the Watchmen compilation in my Paperbackswap queue, but I think I'm like 238th in line...which is fine, I wouldn't read it for a while anyway. Also, some things I've learned in researching the Watchmen saga: Alan Moore, the writer, is a pretty eccentric guy. He's so pissed at the studios, apparently he is giving all of his proceeds from Watchmen and V for Vendetta to the guy who penned the comics.

</end spoilers>

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Still reading Gilead...there is no way in hell I'm going to hit 50 books this year, but I'm not worried about it...as long as I keep working through my TBR list, I'm happy.

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Still pounding away on my full length Aquarium, although I did take a day off and knock out a 2700 word short story...it's kind of a funny story about a sadistic, murdering marriage counselor, and it's in queue with...someone. I can't remember.

Hellooo.....?

Echo...echo...echo...

I just realized it's been over a week since my last post. I have been busy. No excuses. But that's why I've neither posted to G&S, nor have I read anyone else's blogs...I feel out of touch already. I need to stand in the corner of the internet until I promise to be more attentive.
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As of sometime last week--Tuesday, I think--I have begun dieting again. I hate dieting. For most of the week, I didn't take in any more than 1100-1200 calories a day, and I was so grouchy that for a few days I didn't want to talk to anyone, much less type. Being that hungry is too distracting; I lost three pounds in as many days, but at the cost of reduced productivity. I have since raised my intake a bit.
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Also, some time last week, I set up another blogspot to journal my Halloween garage haunt. Sick as I am, I've already started working on Halloween 2009. That probably deserves double-sentencing to the corner. My wife certainly thinks so.
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In reading news, I finished Straub's Ghost Story; really fun read. Actually kind of got me spooked in the second half, although there was a point in there when they could name the evil they were facing and kind of figure it out, and at that point it ceased being scary. I think the unknown is way worse. Anyway, I remembered at some point that a movie was made out of it in the 80s, and pulled it up on Netflix Watch It Now. It sucked, and I'm sorry I remembered (except that it had Alice "Borg Queen" Krige in the lead role, which was cool...also liked her in Sleepwalkers). On Saturday we went to see Coraline, and it successfully washed Ghost Story out of my prefrontal cortex.

I just started Robinson's Gilead; the reviewer's consensus on this one seems to be "just friggin' read it", so I am. Also, I also just traded Getting to Yes, a business-drone user's guide, for No Country for Old Men on Paperbackswap. Fair trade, I think.

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A couple of re-subs and re-writes on short stories, and started another longer piece: kind of a modern-day, condensed Grapes of Wrath. Seemed apropos for 2009.

Happy President's Day, and have a good week...I'm off to read some of my much-neglected internet-friends blogs, then an hour of reading before beddy-bye.