Review: The Seeds

The Seeds by Ann Nocenti
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'll be honest, I only read this because the art was done by David Aja. After reading it though, I still can say it should only be read for the art. It's short though, so it won't take up too much of your time. I would like to see a quote like that in a follow-up printing of this book. It's badly written, but at least it's short.

There's not much praise to be had for this book. Even the primary reason, the art, isn't a strong contender. The art is good from a technical aspect but lacks any creativity I might have come to expect from David Aja. The art just felt dull and underutilized. Though, given the story he had to work with, I wouldn't blame him.

The writing here is just bad. Plain old-fashioned bad. People talk without much meaning behind their words as if they are having slightly different conversations. Or, to put it another way, it's as if one person is replying to a conversation that is taking place five minutes in the future while the other person is still in the present. Characters also randomly (and repeatedly) mention things meant for world-building but don't affect the story in any conceivable way. I know it's setting the scene and tone, but it's just so badly done.

There's also no real beginning or no real end to the story. And I mean that in a narrative sense. Plenty of great books begin and/or end in unresolved spots, but you can at least affirm that it was the beginning and/or end. This book just kind of begins and just kind of ends, as if the writer didn't care about it.

This review turned out longer than I had planned. I was just going to make a few notes and be on my way. Turns out I had some issues to get off my chest. I didn't care for this book if you couldn't tell by now. I fully recommend the works of David Aja, but there are much better examples than this.

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Review: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Socialists are middle class. The working class don't want a revolution, they just want more money.

Paraphrasing Alan Moore aside, I wouldn't say I 'enjoyed' this book. It's far too depressing for that. The reason being is because of how little has changed in previous decades. Not only since the book came out, but since before the book was even released. This book could have been released in the 1980s, 2000s, or 2020s and would be relevant regardless. It's upon that realization that the depression really sets in. So I wouldn't say people should read it because they would 'like it', because they won't, but rather it will likely challenge their worldview. And people should always read books that perform that rare feat.

The ground-level focus of the book is its strength and its weakness. The micro-level experience gives a real human face to the issues facing the underpaid but the macro-level statistics only work if you assume everyone's perspective is the same. And I always maintain that you can't use the micro to justify the macro (and vice versa). Just because one person survives cancer doesn't mean it isn't a deadly disease.  This is further complicated by two out of the three cities being heavy tourist hubs that are viewed during their off-seasons. While her points aren't invalid, it does skew the results. It would be like taking global temperature readings where one test was on the equator and the other was on the north pole.

To get the objective portion out of the way, the book is well written. It's everything you'd expect from someone who was educated in the most mayo of liberal arts colleges. I mean this both in a technical and artistic level. Not only does the book communicate all the information clearly but it also makes you feel it emotionally. One glance at many of the other basic bitch reviews shows judgment being heavily swayed by cognitive dissonance, but, regardless of how your lukewarm evolutionary leftovers make you feel about the subject matter, no one can successfully argue it isn't at least well written.

I could make several arguments for and against this book, but I think that would miss the overall point. I don't think anyone without rotten karma would disagree that the working poor has a terrible time of it. The point of the book being to expose how bad it truly is and how we're being less and less aware of it from the socially forced segregation of the classes. The main underlying issue with the book is the power of assumption that there needs to be a dramatic change to fix things. But, if there's anything one can learn from this book, is that the working poor doesn't have the time or inclination for revolution. They just don't want to be poor.

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Review: Six Wakes

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I dislike disliking things. Honestly, I wished everything was good. It's not, we know this, but I somehow hope that every book, movie, and album is good in some way. That's the best way to describe how I feel about this book. I want to like it, but it's not good enough for me to justify any kind of stamp of approval. I can't even say this book is only mediocre as it's good in some elements but bad in completely different others.

The reason I felt bad about disliking this book is because it actually has a brain in it. Much of the book, at least in terms of world-building, is smart and thought out. It's everything else about it that just kind of sucks. It takes the Heinlein question of "What if (clones)?" and runs through its logical paces. The problem is that the story isn't well constructed and is mostly vapid on a creative level.

The plot is supposed to be a murder mystery but the author doesn't seem to know how to write one. This is clear in its lack of focus on the actual plot and tends to make up less interesting subplots to pad out what is already a book that is below average in length. It kind of sort of all connects at the end, but the ending feels uninspired and unearned. The structure might have worked as a fictional memoir or other less thriller-derived plot. It's like someone showed up to a Halloween party dressed as Santa Clause. They got the idea but missed the point.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the book is its tone. It's kind of the same problem I had with the "Murderbot Dairies". A flat uninterested tone that could have been engaging if it wasn't also so tiresome. Here, the tone is fairly nonchalant about everything. The problem is that I can't tell if it's supposed to be the point or if it's just bad writing. And if you can't tell if something is done purposely or if it's just bad, always put your money on it being bad.

This book is smart but badly written on almost every metric. And I like smart books, they tend to be my favorite kind, which left me struggling to determine how I felt. I want to like it, but it's just not good. Not even remotely.

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