The Wrong Goodbye

de Chris F. Holm

The Collector Book Two

Urban fantasy

Angry Robot - 2012

387 pages - 8.99 $

En français ici

Why this book

After reading the first one (Dead Harvest), I could only read more. I love Holm's writing style that mixes so well thrillers, fantasy, pulp and a humor ... very dark. 

Summary 

Because of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.Which sounds all well and good, but when the soul Sam’s sent to collect goes missing, Sam finds himself off the straight-and-narrow pretty quick.

A small part

My feet cast wild shadows as they scrabbled for puchase, but it wasn't any use. "I didn't -  I swear!"

He slammed me into the rock wall behind me. My head hit so hard I thought I'd puke. Then I did puke, so, you know, yay for being right.

"I think you're lying to me, Sammy," he said, and slammed me into the wall again, so hard my vision swam. Not that I minded much. In the best times, Dumas wasn't much to look at, and these weren't the best of times. 

My opinion

I have not been disappointed, once again, by the quality of the story and the writing of Chris F. Holm. He really has a knack for creating an atmosphere of his own and to make endearing characters, while at the base ... who wants to  befriend a collector?

I love the dark humor he distills throughout the book that enhances the dark side of the book and at the same time makes Sam more human and sympathetic.

I liked to meet up Sam and discover with him his new ​​colorful friends, but also to learn more about two people crucial in his life - his own collector Dumas and Lilith her boss.

Finally, I appreciate the nervous rhythm of the book that does not weaken. The book is packed with action, so you'll never have time to get bored. I wonder what those book would give on screen but I bet that'll blow one away!

Let's be brief

A book and a writer I highly recommend for who loves pulp, fantasy or both! 

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 3/100

by Mark Twain

Aventure
Flammarion - 1994
Collection : Garnier Flammarion / Littérature étrangère
344 pages - 15.95 $

En français ici

Why this book

During my undergraduate degree in international studies and foreign languages, I took courses in English literature. It was one of the mandatory books (the other one was Life of PI). And also, like so many, I followed Tom Sawyer and Huck's adventures on TV when I was a child so it was a pleasure to immerse myself again in their story. And Hey! It's part of the 100!

Summary

Wild child Huck has to get away. His violent drunk of a father is back in town again, raising Cain. He won't rest until he has Huck's money. So the enterprising boy fakes his own death and sets out in search of adventure and freedom. Teaming up with Jim, an escaped slave with a price on his head, the two fugitives go on the run, travelling down the wide Mississippi River. But Huck finds himself wrestling with his conscience. Should he save Jim, or turn his friend over to a terrible fate? 

What I think of it 

I've read it in English and it was quite difficult. Mark Twain wrote in languages spoken by the different social classes of the time which  makes the book more authentic, certainly, but also quite difficult to understand. However, I can't blame him for the linguistic details that make the book so interesting.

The tone of the book is still quite light, it is written in an autobiographical point of view and the narrator, Huck is a young boy uneducated and quite candid, but also very clever. That said, his candidly description of the people he encounters makes an even more cynical portrait of the society that Mark Twain criticizes. This is a pessimistic and realistic  novel and it puts us in the presence of samples of different social classes (bourgeois, bandit, trapper, etc..) all more cunning or hypocrites than the others.

I liked less how the book treats Black people and the endless questioning of Huck as to whether or not he will return Jim to his life as a slave. After all that Jim had done for him, I did not like that he can still ponder. However, I understand that this is a painting of the society at that time and that such questioning could actually arise.

This book was the precursor of American literary style that uses dialects spoken during the period. The theme of good and evil is very present, but distilled humor makes the book enjoyable to read. This is a realistic and fierce critic of Southern society before the Civil War and that it is very interesting. Just as it is interesting to see how the notion of good and evil could be reversed for the interests of the wealthy (eg, slavery is good).

Let's be brief

A book less known than Tom Sawyer, but very nice to read. A book I recommend for those who want an overview of the society at the time and the evils of slavery. If you like Charles Dickens, you should like Mark Twain.

Ru

by Kim Thúy

Random House Of Canada | September 6, 2012 | Trade Paperback

160 pages - 18.95 $

En français ici

Why this book

For its cover (I know it's lame!) For the poetry it exuded even before you open it. For the originality of the narrative form ... which I must say was a good point because I thought ... after all, even if it is not terrible,I will finish it quickly!

Summary

At ten years old, Kim Thúy fled Vietnam on a boat with her family, leaving behind a grand house and the many less tangible riches of their home country: the ponds of lotus blossoms, the songs of soup-vendors. The family arrived in Quebec, where they found clothes at the flea market, and mattresses with actual fleas. Kim learned French and English, and as she grew older, seized what opportunities an immigrant could; she put herself through school picking vegetables and sewing clothes, worked as a lawyer and interpreter, and later as a restaurateur. She was married and a mother when the urge to write struck her, and she found herself scribbling words at every opportunity - pulling out her notebook at stoplights and missing the change to green. The story emerging was one of a Vietnamese émigré on a boat to an unknown future: her own story fictionalized and crafted into a stunning novel.

The novel's title, Ru, has meaning in both Kim's native and adoptive languages: in Vietnamese, ru is a lullaby; in French, a stream. And it provides the perfect name for this slim yet potent novel. With prose that soothes and sings, Ru weaves through time, flows and transports: a river of sensuous memories gathering power. It's a classic immigrant story told in a breathtaking new way.

What I think about it

This is the story of Kim, a young  boat People, arrived in Canada and who builts her identity : a mixture of her native Vietnam and her new homeland. She gives us a series of stories about her, her family or her knowledge, and through anecdotes we understand what was life in Vietnam after the departure of Western and what is the life of refugees..

I loved it. It reads very quickly (one day only). In fact, I devoured it. I loved her style : poetic and decent despite the horrors told. Never negative, even if it is sometimes nostalgic, the author gives no moral lesson but presents her reality with humor and kindness. Even the style of the book is original: each anecdote or story idea starts on a new page, even if the previous one is only ten lines long. 

This book proves that you can tell the darkness of this world and of life without falling into misery. Proves that life is not pretty but you can tell it beautifully.

Let's be brief

A book to give or to treat yourself to that will delight the most sad souls because at the end of the book they'll know that life if beautiful... nevertheless