Books, among other things
I went out and bought some coin wrappers to roll this bucket of change I got when I emptied out all the banks in my room, and I bought a notebook along with it. I found a sheet of paper the other day, in with my brother's tenth grade Honors English stuff, and I asked him if I could keep it. It's a list of ideas for things that go in a writer's notebook, and it really struck me as inspiring, if a little contrived.
So that's what the notebook is for. It's not really a journal, since that's all I'm going to put in it, but it'll probably have some stuff that finds its way here, too, and vice versa. I wasn't sure if I was a notebook/journal kind of person, but I've already filled ten pages in less than eight hours, so I guess I am. I was actually thinking of putting this in there, but that was a little too meta for me.
So, that being said, I have a book review! Sorta. Really more my thoughts on a book I finished recently.
It's called The Mission, by Jason Myer. It's about this fifteen year old kid, Kaden, who goes to San Francisco for a week to hang out with his cousin, James. James gets Kaden involved into the whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll thing, and pretty soon Kaden is partying it up with the best of them. And JM has this fantastic way with writing young people and young people's environments; it's all very raw and vivid and gripping, and the characters swear a lot and use stupid slang and overthink things and just generally act a lot like real people, like someone you kinda know.
So the style is great. But something else bothered me hardcore, mostly because I can't figure out if I got it right. In the book, Kaden, who comes from a morally black and white background in rural Iowa, keeps seeing James and his friends lie, cheat on, and just generally fuck around with people who are supposed to be close to them, and he keeps calling them out on it. In response, James and several other characters maintain that in the real world, everything is gray and you'll inevitably hurt the people you love the most, so why not have fun while you're doing it? Their complete apathy drives a lot of the stories events, and it bleeds into Kaden's action across the narrative.
Eventually, Kaden, who has a girlfriend back home, caves to his desires, and has sex with James's girlfriend. He immediately makes the connection between what he's done and what he's seen all week, and, to prove to himself that he's different from James and the rest, calls his girlfriend to come clean.
And here's where it gets bothersome.
Kaden confesses and says he regrets hurting his girlfriend, but that he doesn't regret what he did.
Um...What? How is that possible?
Logical and sincerity concerns aside, it's the message the author seems to be conveying here that gets me. I don't know about you, but I read that and I think, "Yeah, it's cool to hurt the people you care about, just as long as you don't regret it and were true to what you really wanted."
It's doubly upsetting because Kaden spent so much time defending his morals and his sense of right and wrong to other characters, but when he was truly tested, it seemed like he just gave up. And maybe that was what JM wanted to get across: that shit like that breaks you down, turns you inside out, whatever. The about the author section indicates that he's got a lot of first hand experience with that kind of life, so who knows.
I'm just hoping that he isn't condoning those choices in a book that kids younger than the protagonist are probably going to read.
So that's what the notebook is for. It's not really a journal, since that's all I'm going to put in it, but it'll probably have some stuff that finds its way here, too, and vice versa. I wasn't sure if I was a notebook/journal kind of person, but I've already filled ten pages in less than eight hours, so I guess I am. I was actually thinking of putting this in there, but that was a little too meta for me.
So, that being said, I have a book review! Sorta. Really more my thoughts on a book I finished recently.
It's called The Mission, by Jason Myer. It's about this fifteen year old kid, Kaden, who goes to San Francisco for a week to hang out with his cousin, James. James gets Kaden involved into the whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll thing, and pretty soon Kaden is partying it up with the best of them. And JM has this fantastic way with writing young people and young people's environments; it's all very raw and vivid and gripping, and the characters swear a lot and use stupid slang and overthink things and just generally act a lot like real people, like someone you kinda know.
So the style is great. But something else bothered me hardcore, mostly because I can't figure out if I got it right. In the book, Kaden, who comes from a morally black and white background in rural Iowa, keeps seeing James and his friends lie, cheat on, and just generally fuck around with people who are supposed to be close to them, and he keeps calling them out on it. In response, James and several other characters maintain that in the real world, everything is gray and you'll inevitably hurt the people you love the most, so why not have fun while you're doing it? Their complete apathy drives a lot of the stories events, and it bleeds into Kaden's action across the narrative.
Eventually, Kaden, who has a girlfriend back home, caves to his desires, and has sex with James's girlfriend. He immediately makes the connection between what he's done and what he's seen all week, and, to prove to himself that he's different from James and the rest, calls his girlfriend to come clean.
And here's where it gets bothersome.
Kaden confesses and says he regrets hurting his girlfriend, but that he doesn't regret what he did.
Um...What? How is that possible?
Logical and sincerity concerns aside, it's the message the author seems to be conveying here that gets me. I don't know about you, but I read that and I think, "Yeah, it's cool to hurt the people you care about, just as long as you don't regret it and were true to what you really wanted."
It's doubly upsetting because Kaden spent so much time defending his morals and his sense of right and wrong to other characters, but when he was truly tested, it seemed like he just gave up. And maybe that was what JM wanted to get across: that shit like that breaks you down, turns you inside out, whatever. The about the author section indicates that he's got a lot of first hand experience with that kind of life, so who knows.
I'm just hoping that he isn't condoning those choices in a book that kids younger than the protagonist are probably going to read.