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Book Review: Essex County Volume 2: Ghost Stories By Jeff Lemire

Monday, October 15, 2007

In the second installment of the Essex County trilogy, Lemire has hit his stride. The storytelling is worlds beyond the first (Tales From The Farm), and the illustrations - which have the appearance of wood engravings - are as powerful as any number of masterpieces from ages past.


Compared to Tales, Stories is a darker, more honest portrayal of home life, with devastating perspective spewed forth as the main character (Lou Lebeuf) goes from hero to zero - or at least he becomes mortal.

There is passion, betrayal and regret (try “She only knew me through letters and phone calls those last years. I was so wrapped up in myself...in what I’d lost” on for size). While Lou holds a bottle for comfort, his equally lonely brother Vince holds his wife and daughter. And for the skeptics who think graphic novels are kids’ stuff, think again. If I’d not been reading this 223-page book in a waiting room, I wouldn’t have been able to hold back the tears.
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From Big Ol' Face Full of Monster Magazine; BOOK REVIEW: Lost Echoes, by Joe Lansdale

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Title: Lost Echoes
Author: Joe R. Lansdale
Length: 341 Pages
Publisher: Vintage Books
Publication Date: February 2007



There is an ageless quality to the beginning of Joe R. Lansdale’s novel, Lost Echoes. The opening to the main narrative – which arrives only after a newspaper clipping and a brief retrospective thought from the novel’s lead character – has a quiet sense of timelessness that could lead a reader to believe that this story could be taking place at any time in the latter half of the 20th century. An ill child awakens from a fevered sleep and wanders through a quiet house in the dark, reveling in his innocence by watching drive-in cartoons through his living room windows, parents all the while unaware. The sweetness of this picturesque scene is soon stripped away, when this single incident leads to a new talent that will haunt this child, young Harry, for much of his life.


The idea is fairly simple: the story of a young man, who, as a result of this childhood illness, sees and hears what is not there. Or, rather, what once was there, but has long since lapsed into the forgotten memories of countless villains and their hapless victims. Where Lost Echoes differs from a bevy of other paranormal thrillers is that the focus is not on the hero learning to use his gift to save the day, but rather learning to cope and bear the weight of knowing, seeing and feeling what others have left behind.


The novel is broken into three basic components, all centered around the story’s major player, Harry: a battle against the self, a battle against alcoholism and a twisted little mystery that draws both together. These major components of the story arc are oddly segregated, with the mystery crime-drama aspect relegated to the last and least important position. While the mystery of an accidental suicide that could be a murder, wrapped in the perfumed cloud of a returned childhood crush, is intriguing, it plays only a supporting role to the real drama of the traffic hero Harry’s battle with his alcoholism and the terrifying visions – the title lost echoes – that come to him carried on waves of seemingly harmless sound.
This is in itself an intriguing idea, bring realism to the idea of a human being plagued by haunting visions of the past. Visionaries, psychics and mediums are a dime a dozen in fiction of a paranormal bend, but rarely do they possess such depth and reality. Lansdale presents Harry as sympathetic figure, plagued by visions he does not want and cannot stop. He is no sage mystic, using his supposed sight when and if he feels it necessary; he is just a tired, overwrought kid, attacked daily by a barrage of horrible images, vestiges of the inhumanity man wreaks upon himself and others. The evil med do, the author seems to subtly remind, can never truly die away, and while most can forget it with the passing of time, there are some, like Harry, who can never ignore it. He must deal with everything the rest of us leave behind; all of our fears, our horrors and our hates, invading the life and mind of the young man.


Unable to escape his gift – or, rather, curse, as Harry himself seems to see it – he draws himself into an obsessive compulsive cocoon of padded walls, planned ‘sage routes’ and avoidance. Anything he cannot control, Harry drowns in a flood of liquor, numbing his senses and halting the flow of the echoes that torment him. It is only after meeting a fellow barroom regular – an older man, perhaps representing the only future Harry will have if he continues on his self-destructive ‘safe’ path – and an unscheduled deviation from his normal routine that Harry begins to believe that there must be a better way. Enter Tad, a middle-aged martial arts master gone to seed, who drinks a nightly tribute to his own sad memories, a startling contrast to young Harry, who instead uses the alcohol to blot out and numb away everyone else’s lingering echoes. Together, the two embark on a quest to regain their control – find their centers – over their own lives.

Lansdale creates the world through Harry’s eyes – or, better, his ears; readers find the idyllic quiet of what seems to be modern day small town perfection shattered by the silent reverberating screams left only for Harry to see. Hidden here, and perhaps everywhere, are the dirty little secrets and softly spoken lies that are the underbelly of even the happiest of settings.

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Book Review: Fruit, The Ripe Pick by T. M. Gorman

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Have you ever bitten into a luscious-looking peach only to find it dry, mealy and tasteless inside? Or sliced into that 20-pound watermelon you just lugged home from the store, anticipating something crisp and sweet but finding it bland and anemic instead?


It’s a common occurrence among fruit lovers. Little-known signs of perfect ripeness elude even the most experienced shoppers.

T. M. Gorman understands; she often eagerly sampled fruit only to experience profound disappointment. After some heavy research, she learned the secrets of proper fruit selection and shares her expertise in her new book, Fruit, The Ripe Pick.

This pocket-sized quick-reference guide describes 50 different fruits, from common everyday varieties to exotic rarities. Chapters are organized alphabetically for quick and easy access and show how to use sight, touch and smell to find prime ripe specimens.

Learning these valuable tips and techniques not only yields great-tasting fruit, but also saves time and money. You learn to identify the most popular varieties of each fruit, discover peak seasons and best times to buy, and acquire essential nutritional information, including vitamin and mineral content, calorie count, and fat/carbohydrate content.

If you crave a lusciously perfect watermelon, peach, pear, or one of those exotic tropical fruits showing up in produce sections these days, this handbook will show you how to select fruit for optimum freshness and taste.

This book also abounds in interesting historical facts and fascinating trivia about fruit that make it fun to read. At a retail price of only $9.95, this pocket-sized quick-reference is an affordable and entertaining way to uncover the mystery of proper fruit selection.
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