The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

The reviews are coming slowly but surely. I’m disappointed that there aren’t as many page views coming in as in the summer, but I know it makes sense. In the summer months I was finishing a book a week. Just wanted to give a shout out to all of my readers: THANKS! You make me seem popular. Here is a novel I read in my Creative Writing class.

Tu is a young tour guide working in Hanoi for a company called New Dawn. While he leads tourists through the city, including American vets on "war tours," he starts to wonder what it is they are seeing of Vietnam--and what they miss entirely. Maggie, who is Vietnamese by birth but has lived most her life in the U.S., has returned to her country of origin in search of clues to her dissident father's disappearance during the war. Holding the story together is Old Man Hung, who has lived through decades of political upheaval and has still found a way to feed hope to his community of pond side dwellers.

 

 

The beauty of humanity doesn’t always show, especially in this novel. There is great contrast between the horrific past events that went on during the Vietnam war compared to the country in the present, which is where the story is set. The bits and pieces of the country’s cruel past are brought to life by Hung’s memories. Transitions to and from the past and present are written very well by Gibb, she brings out the past at precise moments throughout the plot.

One of the strongest parts in this story are the characters. Written in third person point of view ensures that the reader gets to know each main characters well and Gibb has you rooting for all of them as they make their way through the plot.

Many people in my class commented on how they didn’t enjoy the ending but I thought that it tied up many things very nicely. This is one of those hit and miss novels, either you like it or it’s a big disappointment. If you’re looking for a fiction that is focused on Vietnam history then don’t pick this up, there is more focus on Pho than the details of the war. This novel is also pretty slowly paced so don’t expect super exciting things to be happening all the time, like I mentioned it’s focused on the characters and a deeper concept of people as a whole.

I would recommend The Beauty of Humanity Movement to somebody who is looking for a quick and light read. I’ll give it a 3 OUT OF 5. Here is her website http://www.camillagibb.ca/

Later biznitches,

 

-MRR

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Summer is halfway through and already I’m not looking forward to the end of it. All there is to do is make the best of it though! I recently won $25 to chapters for one of my reviews, and I finished my 3rd interview at chapters today. I’m so exited to be working there! Wish me luck in getting hired. Back to the books:

On a burn ward, a man lies between living and dying, so disfigured that no one from his past life would even recognize him. His only comfort comes from imagining various inventive ways to end his misery. Then a woman named Marianne Engel walks into his hospital room, a wild-haired, schizophrenic sculptress on the lam from the psych ward upstairs, who insists that she knows him - that she has known him, in fact, for seven hundred years. She remembers vividly when they met, in another hospital ward at a convent in medieval Germany, when she was a nun and he was a wounded mercenary left to die. If he has forgotten this, he is not to worry: she will prove it to him. And so Marianne Engel begins to tell him their story, carving away his disbelief and slowly drawing him into the orbit and power of a word he'd never uttered: love.

I borrowed this lovely novel from my friend Alannis, and when I asked for her opinion on it she said it was so slow she didn’t even get past the first couple chapters. I feel sorry for my dear friend Alannis. Even though there isn’t a great deal of excitement until you meet Marianne, the first part introduces the character thoroughly, it’s where you get to know him.

After Marianne butts her way into the plotline, the reader feels the same fascination with her as the main character does. Her stories to him in the hospital are what weave the novel together and also what kept me intrigued. The writing is very descriptive, especially near the end when things are wrapping up. Some might find parts of the book graphic, but I enjoyed the intense imagery.

The best part about The Gargoyle is the constant tipping of a scale. On one side the possibility that Marianne is not insane and her realistic stories were real, on the other side an inevitability that her schizophrenia was the only truth behind them. While reading I found that I believed Marianne whole-heartedly, but Davidson might find points to push you to think otherwise.

The first half is definitely not as gripping as the second but I know I made the right choice in picking this up and reading start to finish (Unlike poor Alannis). I’ll give it a 3.5/5.

Learn more about the author here http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=10235

And check out my tumblr as well! http://spasticmooseful.tumblr.com/

Chow,

-MRR