Home » Posts tagged "book review" (Page 57)

Book Review: In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein by Fiona Sampson

In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein by Fiona Sampson

Pegasus Books, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1681777528

Available: Hardcover, used paperback, Kindle edition,

 

We know Mary Shelley as the daughter of revolutionary writers Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, and muse and wife to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who as a teenage girl who wrote Frankenstein, but beyond the anecdote of the challenge to write a ghost story issued one night at the Villa Diodati. But we don’t really KNOW her, beyond the facts of her life.  Somehow, her own life and thoughts have been passed over in favor of her companions, and we have been mostly left with the myth of Frankenstein’s creation, and the many permutations of her novel that have capitalized on it.

In this biography, Fiona Sampson aims to capture the “real” Mary, through her letters, journals, and publications, those of her friends, family, and colleagues, and recreating the context of the time she lived in and how that affected her, from the reading she chose, to the effects of changing climate and the development of electricity.  During the short time she was with Shelley, Mary was pregnant five times. Three of her children died at a young age, and she miscarried a fourth. During the same time period, her half-sister Fanny and Percy’s legitimate wife Harriet both committed suicide.  Intense and intellectual to begin with, Mary dealt with difficult emotions like grief and guilt as well as physical problems while still taking responsibility for the mercurial Shelley’s welfare, and completing and publishing a book. These are the facts of Mary’s life with Shelley, but Mary’s life did not end when Shelley’s did– and throughout her life, she was a survivor. Sampson has taken an unusual and effective approach to her subject, taking a “close-up” of who Mary Shelley was and how she became that person, a young woman who, surrounded by great men, “forced open the space for herself in which to write” and because of that, was later able to establish a literary life of her own.

While not a complete look at the Shelleys and their friends and family, the zoom-in focus on Mary Shelley makes this a worthwhile, and fascinating read. Recommended for adult library collections

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

 

Posted on August 22, 2018 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Hellboy Omnibus, Volume 2: Strange Places by Mike Mignola, art by Mike Mignola, Gary Gianni, and Richard Corben

Hellboy Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places stories by Mike Mignola; “Into the Silent Sea” story by Mike Mignola and Gary Gianni; “The Right Hand of Doom”, “Box Full of Evil”, “Conqueror Worm”; “The Third Wish”, and “The Island” art by Mike Mignola; “Being Human” art by Richard Corben

Dark Horse, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-50670-688-7

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology

 

Hellboy Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places includes Hellboy’s adventures from 1998 to 2005, in chronological order. In these tales, Hellboy searches for answers about himself and his destiny.

In Hellboy: The Right Hand of Doom, the titular character meets Adrian Frost, the son of Professor Malcolm Frost who spent the last years of his life trying to kill Hellboy. The priest tries to convince Hellboy of his father’s fear of him, and that he wasn’t an evil man. He offers to sell Hellboy the only surviving clue that he found in his father’s notes about himself. The price is a story, the story of Hellboy. He tells a story of the Mad Monk who came back, his death at Hellboy’s hand, and the search for who Hellboy really is, who he is meant to be.

“Box Full of Evil” finds Hellboy and Abe Sapien investigating the case of a mysterious man who can paralyze a household while he digs through the walls of a gentleman’s sitting room only to pull out a small locked box and a pair of commonplace fireplace tongs. What could the box hold, and who is the man who had the power to subdue everyone in a large house merely with a hand shaped candle?

In B.P.R.D.: Being Human, Hellboy convinces the B.P.R.D. to let him take Roger the Homunculus out in the field to investigate the dead bodies of the Quillen family, who walk out of their graves to return to their run-down estate. They discover a Black woman with a vendetta to settle. She was born out of the rape of her mother at the hands of the head of the household, and she wants them to pay in their afterlives.

Roger and Hellboy are sent out again in Conqueror Worm, with a guide to Hunte Castle, to stop the Nazi spacecraft that is estimated to crash land there. Hellboy discovers the terrible truth about something the BPRD decided to add to Roger’s internal workings when they brought him back to life. When they arrive at the castle, they find they were led into a trap, and Lobster Johnson is real.

Trapped by the nail of the Bog Roosh, Hellboy must fight his way to freedom in “The Third Wish”. The youngest mermaid of three proves an unlikely ally in his journey, and reconciles with her father in the process. Hellboy meets the cursed being that set his existence into motion in “The Island”. This creature underestimates Hellboy’s strength and humanity in the end. In the final story in the omnibus, Into the Silent Sea, the true commander of a crew of men on the ship named Rebecca is called by something in the sea, just as she calls to it. Will anyone survive her visit?

Also included in this volume is a Hellboy sketchbook with notes by Mignola. The sketchbook is a bonus to see how Mignola crafts his stories and artwork as well. It has been fantastic to read these stories in chronological order to see how Hellboy’s story unfolds. This also provides a new reader the opportunity to become familiar with the short stories in the Hellboy/B.P.R.D universe. There are, of course, mythological and Lovecraftian overtones galore. Something that seems to be prevalent in the Hellboy stories is the subject of humanity’s inability or unwillingness to recognize the fact that Hellboy is not human, based on his actions and decisions to aid humans when at all possible, even risking his own life at times. They don’t have any qualms about calling other creatures, whether they be demons or homunculi, inhuman. This, of course, gets under Hellboy’s skin and he is not shy about addressing it. We even see the big red guy quit the B.P.R.D. as a result of something he can’t sit by and watch. Highly recommended.

Contains: some blood, violence

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on August 17, 2018 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Marley’s Ghost by Charles Dickens, Harvey Kurtzman, Josh O’Neill, and Shannon Wheeler, art by Gideon Kendal

Harvey Kurtzman’s Marley’s Ghost based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Harvey Kurtzman, completed by Josh O’Neill and Shannon Wheeler, illustrated by Gideon Kendal

comiXology Originals, 2017

ASIN: B01LZAATMD

Available: Kindle, comiXology

 

Marley’s Ghost is the posthumous completion of Harvey Kurtzman’s (1924-1993) adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. Kurztman’s concept for this book started in the 1950s, but was never brought to fruition. Josh O’Neill and Shannon Wheeler decided to expand upon Kurtzman’s adaptation notes and partnered with Gideon Kendall to supply his rich artwork to bring this work to the comic world.

The first thing that struck me about this graphic novel version of A Christmas Carol was the designs of the ghosts. Marley has the typical rendering, but he’s somehow more effective. His expressions of frustration and, at the same time, remorse for his past are so clear. The Ghost of Christmas Past is depicted as a woman dressed in white with windswept hair and glowing orbs in place of eyes. She’s truly beautiful and haunting. The Ghost of Christmas Present, in his rich velvet robe, surrounded by abundance, takes Ebenezer to show him the jollity the members of his community experience despite the ills they face every other day of the year: from the humble home of his clerk, to a ship’s crew out at sea, and the very home of his nephew who graciously invited his uncle to Christmas dinner, only to be scorned and thrown out of the shop. The Ghost of Christmas Future has always been my favorite spirit to visit Scrooge, and it’s interesting to see how creators depict this harbinger. This volume is no different. The color tone also changes with this spirit’s visitation. All of the panels are tinted red, and the shadows are more prevalent. When Scrooge awakens, the color changes to a light blue, and the sun is shining in through his window directly on his cowering frame. It’s a very effective use of color to evoke the message of redemption Scrooge is experiencing.

Kurtzman was the creator of Mad, Playboy’s Little Annie Fanny and Trump, and Help! Magazine, among other creative endeavors. O’Neill is the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning writer and editor of Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream, and Wheeler is the Eisner Award-winning creator of the comic Too Much Coffee Man and a contributor to The New Yorker. Kendall is an illustrator and animation designer whose clients include Disney, Cartoon Network, and New York Times. All of these great contributors have helped create an incredible graphic novel adaptation of one of Dickens’ most influential works. I recommend this particular version to anyone who has a love of Dickens and enjoys seeing new adaptations of his classic ghost story. Any library that collects creative adaptations may be interested in taking a look at selecting Marley’s Ghost for their collection. This could also be a useful addition to graphic novels courses, Victorian literature courses, or other courses that explore the classics. Academic libraries that are growing their comics and graphic novels collections to support the teaching, learning, and research goals of their universities might consider speaking with interested liaisons to gauge interest. Recommended.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on June 8, 2018 by , Reply
First « 5556575859 » Last