Category: Books

Plaster City by Johnny Shaw

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the great things about the rise of e-books is the proliferation of new authors, many self-published. It seems as if it has never been easier to get a book out and in the hands of an audience. Many people smarter and more experienced than I can speak to all of the problems that this has created, particularly when it comes to compensation and distribution issues with companies like Amazon. I’m not touching that, because I feel underqualified to comment. I’m just a consumer, and all I know is I’m reading more than I have at any point since my childhood and I’m reading a much greater variety of books.

I really like the Kindle First program, where you get to select 1 of 4 pre-release books, principally because the books on offer so far are all outside of my usual reading material, so if I want one of them I have to pick something out of my wheelhouse.

Plaster City certainly qualifies in this category, although I read a bunch of Elmore Leonard novels in my twenties, so its tone is very familiar.

The book is actually the second in a series, the first being Dove Season. I never read that novel, but don’t feel that it was any impediment to enjoying Plaster City to the fullest.

The story continues the misadventures of Jimmy Veeder and his friend Bobby Maves on the California/Mexico border (Calexico). The two are alternatively irresponsible and violent drunken screw-ups with a penchant for trouble, but charming despite or possibly because of their ineptness. There is a physical aspect of loyalty in the face of danger here that is actually quite endearing.

Bobby’s estranged teenage daughter has gone missing and these two madmen with their jump first approach may actually be exactly the right guys to get her back. Gangsters, bikers, exes and the law will be involved, with tons of cursing, beer and fistfights along the way. The result is 350 pages of absolutely mayhem as they wreck very nearly everything around them, mostly by accident and complete lack of preparation or planning.

I was quite surprised by how long this story was; things seemed to be nearly wrapped up halfway through before taking a completely different turn. Unusually this wasn’t a problem for me – I was totally hooked and followed every crazy twist and development.

Oddly for a book I enjoyed so completely, I have no real interest in reading the other books in the series (existing or to come). I liked Plaster City so much because it was so different (for me) and thought the characters were great fun. I don’t know if that feeling would last over multiple installments. I think there’s something to the fact that Elmore Leonard wrote so few sequels. Better to create new characters with his gift for fascinating portraits. I have no doubt author Johnny Shaw is capable of doing the same.

[schema type=”book” url=”http://johnnyshaw.net/” name=”Plaster City” description=”Jimmy Veeder and Bobby Maves are back at it, two years after the events of Dove Season—they’re not exactly the luckiest guys in the Imperial Valley, but, hey, they win more fights than they lose. Settled on his own farmland and living like a true family man after years of irresponsible fun, Jimmy’s got a straight life cut out for him. But he’s knocking years off that life thanks to fun-yet-dangerous Bobby’s booze-addled antics—especially now that Bobby is single, volatile, profane as ever, and bored as hell. When Bobby’s teenage daughter goes missing, he and Jimmy take off on a misadventure that starts out as merely unfortunate and escalates to downright calamitous. Bobby won’t hesitate to kick a hornets’ nest to get the girl to safety, but when the rescue mission goes riotously sideways, the duo’s grit—and loyalty to each other—is put to the test.” author=”Johnny Shaw” publisher=”Thomas & Mercer” pubdate=”2014-05-01″ edition=”1st” isbn=”1477817581″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes”]

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read this 100% because it was so heavily recommended by my wife. Granted, she recommends a lot of books to me, but this time she had me at “it’s a quick read and I still have it out of the library for a few days”. Does she ever know me…

It’s a grabber. I was snagged within a page and a half. I can see why so many people fall so hard for this book and this author. What an amazing way with words he has.

I absolutely fell in love with the main character, Hazel. So well written, so interesting. I can certainly understand why some may feel that the dialogue is not realistic for teenagers, but I disagree. Certainly not all teens are so introspective and literate, but based on my experience, I’d suggest probably a lot more are than you may expect.

The novel in unflinching in its depiction of the harsh realities of living with terminal illness, and the refreshing honesty of the writing makes this a wonderful read.

The heady first third of the novel is filled with the kind of exhilarating relationship creation that you just love to read – and is sadly unsustainable. One of these days we’ll come up with a novel that is made up of the exciting first acts of other books.

While the luster may wear off a bit, the novel continues to be interesting and moving throughout. It really is a wonderful book. It is definitely a heartbreaker, but I never felt as though it was a manipulative tearjerker. It’s a sad tale, but the author’s great writing delivers it without mawkish sentimentality.

Highly recommended.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For my first attempt at re-reading this since high school I went with the audiobook read by Tim Robbins. Really glad I chose this edition. Robbins has a unique soft inflection that really made this text interesting to me in a way reading the novel never did. Of course, I was a lot younger and the story didn’t speak to me at all. Why do they make teenagers read these books? The stories can’t hope to carry the weight they will later in life.

But in truth, I can’t say that the story really spoke to me now either. I enjoyed it, but I put felt no tug to start reading again after having taken a break. Part of reading almost strictly during commutes is the challenge of having something that beckons you to rejoin it as soon as possible. Having to break your reading up into one hour chunks provides an unusual and unintentional judging process. If I’m not eager to get to the next opportunity to read, finding extra opportunities to continue the story, then maybe it’s not that engaging after all. I’ve become much more selective this way, occasionally unfair, but then I’m reading for my enjoyment, so why stick with something if it’s not speaking to me.

I guess it was well written, but I can’t pretend to have found it interesting.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story on this one is that it began as a short story and morphed into a full novel. Most of the reviews I read indicate a dissatisfaction with the length of the novel; that it was too short. I disagree; I think this would have made a near perfect short story. Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy the novel; I certainly did. But being a quick read is a goal, not a flaw, and lengthening this story could only have hurt it, not helped.

Gaiman is always an illustrative writer, and he may be at his best here as he stays close to home; his remembrances of childhood and the world of his past ground this otherwise supernatural tale. Best of all is the way he puts the focus of the story solely through the eyes of his seven year old protagonist. The story grows increasingly more adult, dark and serious, but the perspective remains with the boy and he retains his singularly child-like voice; everything is viewed consistently as a child, which really keeps the story fresh. Gaiman never lets the boy have adult insights or allows an omniscient view for narrative ease.

While I didn’t think it was up there with some of his best (and I appear to be in the minority on that), this is nevertheless one of his most personal novels and well recommended.

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The beginning of it all. Unpolished as all first novels, it is a great read and it’s easy to see how the phenomenon got started. All the pieces are here to set up a foundation for a franchise, and if this is a fairly simple story it is to leave room for you to get a good look at the character. Vesper is hugely underwritten and only illustrates just how amazing of an adaptation Neal Purvis, Robert Wade & Paul Haggis wrote for the 2006 film.

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