snarl
Ok, so I admit it, I am totally and one hundred percent escapist in my readings. I read to escape, to broaden the depths of my imagination, this is why I read fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, alternative history, you name it. I have no problems admitting this and see nothing wrong with it, books have been my comfort and protector since childhood, a retreat from life. They still are. So, I picked up the latest Dean Koontz novel. He is about the only 'horror' author that I read, mainly becuase he doesn't really fit that genre. I normally love his books, the plots tend to be somewhat similar but the characters are what draw me in every time, they are wonderful strange and intriguing. So, halfway through Odd Thomas, I started getting worried about how it would end. The protagonist (now don't I feel like I am writing a book report) can see dead people and is in the midst of trying to avert a disaster that he thinks will occur with no real details about what it is. His girlfriend tells him she has finally decided to accept his proposal and tries to convince him to drive the three hours to Vegas that night, he says he can't let go. All sorts of other premonitions lead her to believe that he is going to die, but he doesn't believe it. This would be ok, but now I am worried about her. I resist for a further 30 pages, but finally give in and read the ending. He is in ICU, but then she walks in, so all is right in the world. They leave and spend five days sequestered to avoid the media. At the end of those five days, his friends finally have to almost break down the door. They are carrying her ashes. The bottom just drops out of you, like a knife to the chest. So, to say the least, this was not the escape I was looking for. Reading about a man losing the love of his life and then not being able to deal with it for five days and convincing himself that her ghost is actually her, even when it can't speak, is just not the sort of world I would choose to escape to.
So, the end of my weekend has just been hamstrung, and now I am going to be thinking about it for two days, as alas I don't even have the comfort of it having been badly written or callous, it was beautifully written and heart-wrenching, which means it will stay with me. This is why I determined long ago NOT to read books like this, the world is depressing enough without adding things like this to it for me. This is the antithesis of why I love reading so much.
On a more normal note, had a good weekend, Trev and I went and saw Hellboy this afternoon, which was excellent. As I said at the time, any movie with a guy that breathes water, a demon on the side of good, the FBI as heroes for once, rasputin, the elder gods of chaos made manifest on earth (one of them at least), a naked women encased in blue fire (there was a blanket, but still....) and of course, Nazis, has to be worthwhile!
Well, time to find something cheerful and light to take my mind off the last book.
So, the end of my weekend has just been hamstrung, and now I am going to be thinking about it for two days, as alas I don't even have the comfort of it having been badly written or callous, it was beautifully written and heart-wrenching, which means it will stay with me. This is why I determined long ago NOT to read books like this, the world is depressing enough without adding things like this to it for me. This is the antithesis of why I love reading so much.
On a more normal note, had a good weekend, Trev and I went and saw Hellboy this afternoon, which was excellent. As I said at the time, any movie with a guy that breathes water, a demon on the side of good, the FBI as heroes for once, rasputin, the elder gods of chaos made manifest on earth (one of them at least), a naked women encased in blue fire (there was a blanket, but still....) and of course, Nazis, has to be worthwhile!
Well, time to find something cheerful and light to take my mind off the last book.