The Compound by S.A. Bodeen is a creepy thriller that surpasses Patrick Carmen's Dark Eden -- and takes the meaning of survival to a whole new level.
Eli has always been accustom to a life of wealth and luxury. His father is a billionaire, and he has never wanted for friends because his twin brother, Eddy has always been there for him. But when a nuclear war arises and Eli and his family, his mother, his father, and his two sisters, are locked inside an underground compound, and Eddy and Gram (the boy's grandmother) are locked outside, Eli retreats inside himself. Not questioning anything, he does his jobs and tries to stave off the boredom. For six years he lives a hallow life, devoid of meaning, until his little sister tells him that she hates their father . . . and the wheels start churning. How much is it how it appears? Can Eli trust the truths he's always known? And how far would his family go to survive?
That was a crummy book summary. Sorry. The real thing is much better. S.A. Bodeen delivers a creepy tale, maybe only fit for Halloween. How far would you go to survive? For me, I wouldn't even consider what Eli's father wants to do, but I suppose every situation has it's own unique considerations. That would be just off-limits though. That is the thing that makes it all creepy. That, and, well, I can't give it away so I won't.
There are plenty of things that symbolize other things here. Eli's long hair symbolizes his isolation from his family. The nesting doll symbolizes things that are hidden. Maybe the bad wheat could symbolize a family gone bad . . . or maybe I'm just stretching the metaphor.
The creepy thing is just creepy. And gross, if I haven't mentioned that. And unthinkable in today's society.
Eli is definitely a dynamic character, and you can tell it. He practically says it. Lexie, I would think, is a static character, but you just don't get to see her hidden side until around the middle. Therese, well, I think she's static too, if loosing her accent doesn't count as anything. They make up the delightful cast of main, ahem, siblings, with the girls always at odds at Eli until he finally changes. (When he finally figures out what's wrong with him, you'll breath a sigh of relief. He is such a stuck-up prig, but he can't seem to grasp that fact.)
What else can I say without ruining the whole story for you? Nothing, really. Just, be prepared to be yanked through a few tight spots, and maybe to read with your heart in your throat. Because when nukes blow up, family falls apart.
Showing posts with label Safe House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safe House. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Dark Eden
Dark Eden, by Patrick Carmen, is a dark and haunting tale about fears and what lengths people will go through to cure them.
Will Besting can't go to school. He can't be near crowds. He doesn't have any friends. He has gone to therapy for over two years, a total of over 150 sessions. And while he's at his therapy sessions he steals his therapist's files.
When his therapist and his parents decide to send him to summer camp for a week, Will knows something's whacked. Sent to live in isolation with six other kids who have irrational fears, Will ekes it out on his own, afraid to be near them and afraid of his summer camp. And he has every reason to: When it comes time for his fears to be 'cured' Will discovers something about himself and his family that has the potential to ruin him. And Will's brain is not the only one telling lies and creating illusions . . .
This book is extremely haunting and creepy, but deliciously so. I don't believe I did the plot of the book justice with my pitiful explanation, and I might've given away more of the ending than I should've. I'm sorry.
There are some things about the book that don't make sense and that aren't explained, but you come to accept that as part of the mystery of the setting. It is a sci-fi/fantasy book, with some things bordering on the edge of unbelievable and nearly magical.
The only characters you really get close to are Will, his brother Keith, and maybe Marisa, because Will won't let anyone else close to him. Even then, you don't get to know Will as well as you would like to. It is told to you that he's scared of something, but you don't know what until past page 200. You only see a few instances where that fear comes into play, and even then you don 't recognize it for what it is until it is pointed out to you.
Marisa's fear is not explained very well. I think that was the point, for some of the book, but someone had to say it outright for me to get it. Maybe I'm just dim, but I still don't understand what mushrooms had to do with the whole thing.
And I'll have just one more aside focused on one person: Avery's fear is the real disarm-er. Well, maybe it isn't her fear, exactly, it is what is comes after her fear. You'll have to read the book to understand ( ;), but it is the creepy element to this story.
All in all, this story is one that shook me to my bones. It may not be "that fantastic story I will remember in 20 years from now", but its memory will resurface every time I am alone in the dark or see a spy movie where there is a wall of computer monitors and people are watching the torture of others on them. And I am reconsidering the number seven as my lucky and favorite number.
I wish for the best for Will Besting and *ahem* victims, and I hope that they will find themselves more hunter than hunted in Dark Eden 2. It's a dark and twisted world that Patrick Carmen has created, but a dark and twisted world I don't mind venturing into.
Will Besting can't go to school. He can't be near crowds. He doesn't have any friends. He has gone to therapy for over two years, a total of over 150 sessions. And while he's at his therapy sessions he steals his therapist's files.
When his therapist and his parents decide to send him to summer camp for a week, Will knows something's whacked. Sent to live in isolation with six other kids who have irrational fears, Will ekes it out on his own, afraid to be near them and afraid of his summer camp. And he has every reason to: When it comes time for his fears to be 'cured' Will discovers something about himself and his family that has the potential to ruin him. And Will's brain is not the only one telling lies and creating illusions . . .
This book is extremely haunting and creepy, but deliciously so. I don't believe I did the plot of the book justice with my pitiful explanation, and I might've given away more of the ending than I should've. I'm sorry.
There are some things about the book that don't make sense and that aren't explained, but you come to accept that as part of the mystery of the setting. It is a sci-fi/fantasy book, with some things bordering on the edge of unbelievable and nearly magical.
The only characters you really get close to are Will, his brother Keith, and maybe Marisa, because Will won't let anyone else close to him. Even then, you don't get to know Will as well as you would like to. It is told to you that he's scared of something, but you don't know what until past page 200. You only see a few instances where that fear comes into play, and even then you don 't recognize it for what it is until it is pointed out to you.
Marisa's fear is not explained very well. I think that was the point, for some of the book, but someone had to say it outright for me to get it. Maybe I'm just dim, but I still don't understand what mushrooms had to do with the whole thing.
And I'll have just one more aside focused on one person: Avery's fear is the real disarm-er. Well, maybe it isn't her fear, exactly, it is what is comes after her fear. You'll have to read the book to understand ( ;), but it is the creepy element to this story.
All in all, this story is one that shook me to my bones. It may not be "that fantastic story I will remember in 20 years from now", but its memory will resurface every time I am alone in the dark or see a spy movie where there is a wall of computer monitors and people are watching the torture of others on them. And I am reconsidering the number seven as my lucky and favorite number.
I wish for the best for Will Besting and *ahem* victims, and I hope that they will find themselves more hunter than hunted in Dark Eden 2. It's a dark and twisted world that Patrick Carmen has created, but a dark and twisted world I don't mind venturing into.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Candor
Candor, by Pam Bachorz, is another great book with another great message: When adults rule the world, they do it badly. :)
Oscar Campbell is the perfect student, son, friend, boyfriend, and criminal. He has a 115% average in biology, he makes his father toast every morning, he hangs with all the nerds so they won't feel left out, he eats carrot sticks in the movie theater with his girlfriend, the second-best student in the school . . . and he's busy undermining his father's Utopian society. He'll sneak you out from the town of Candor for a "small" fee. Candor, the town his father created after Oscar's brother died. Candor, the town where everyone is brainwashed to do as they're told. Candor, where every thing's perfect. At least, it's supposed to be. Oscar's the one anomaly, the one person in the town of Candor who knows how to block out the brainwashing messages. But will he be able to help bad girl, new girl, Nia, overcome the evil charm of Candor, or will he choose to help himself instead?
Yet another book that I love. What is there not to love about a book that suggests that kids do it better than grown-ups? But it's fun watching how Oscar knows more than everyone else does. It's fun watching him try to impress Nia, even while fighting his good-boy urges. It's sad looking back into Oscar's memories, and it's heartbreaking how everything all falls into place . . .
I won't give away the ending, but I'll let you know I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love the characters though, especially Oscar. He's exactly what you think he is, and you have to respect that. Nia, on the other hand, is fun-loving and impulsive. Not the best combination when you're trying to stay under the radar in a town where parents go to get their wild kids under control. Sherman is a dirty pig who's trying, to the best of his abilities, to do what's best for him, and it ruins the lives of several people who you think shouldn't have their lives ruined--namely, the protagonists. Mandi is just a brainwashed freak. She sort of scares me, actually. Oscar's dad, though. Ooh, if I met that man in real life I would hurt him very badly. He's worse than every villain you've ever met in real life or books, if only because he has no mercy. I mean, sure, some villains in some may kill without a second look, but Oscar's dad is human first, or, at least slightly human, and then he condemns himself irreversibly in three pages. It's sickening. But at the same time, very enjoyable. Humans impulses in a fictional setting is one of the best types of story, in my opinion, because it shows that humans all over the place, no matter where or when, are never perfect. In my life, that is a very comforting principle to have.
But yes, Candor is a book in which nothing is as it seems. It may come off as perfect, but it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste. And the first taste is all the sweeter for that.
Oscar Campbell is the perfect student, son, friend, boyfriend, and criminal. He has a 115% average in biology, he makes his father toast every morning, he hangs with all the nerds so they won't feel left out, he eats carrot sticks in the movie theater with his girlfriend, the second-best student in the school . . . and he's busy undermining his father's Utopian society. He'll sneak you out from the town of Candor for a "small" fee. Candor, the town his father created after Oscar's brother died. Candor, the town where everyone is brainwashed to do as they're told. Candor, where every thing's perfect. At least, it's supposed to be. Oscar's the one anomaly, the one person in the town of Candor who knows how to block out the brainwashing messages. But will he be able to help bad girl, new girl, Nia, overcome the evil charm of Candor, or will he choose to help himself instead?
Yet another book that I love. What is there not to love about a book that suggests that kids do it better than grown-ups? But it's fun watching how Oscar knows more than everyone else does. It's fun watching him try to impress Nia, even while fighting his good-boy urges. It's sad looking back into Oscar's memories, and it's heartbreaking how everything all falls into place . . .
I won't give away the ending, but I'll let you know I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love the characters though, especially Oscar. He's exactly what you think he is, and you have to respect that. Nia, on the other hand, is fun-loving and impulsive. Not the best combination when you're trying to stay under the radar in a town where parents go to get their wild kids under control. Sherman is a dirty pig who's trying, to the best of his abilities, to do what's best for him, and it ruins the lives of several people who you think shouldn't have their lives ruined--namely, the protagonists. Mandi is just a brainwashed freak. She sort of scares me, actually. Oscar's dad, though. Ooh, if I met that man in real life I would hurt him very badly. He's worse than every villain you've ever met in real life or books, if only because he has no mercy. I mean, sure, some villains in some may kill without a second look, but Oscar's dad is human first, or, at least slightly human, and then he condemns himself irreversibly in three pages. It's sickening. But at the same time, very enjoyable. Humans impulses in a fictional setting is one of the best types of story, in my opinion, because it shows that humans all over the place, no matter where or when, are never perfect. In my life, that is a very comforting principle to have.
But yes, Candor is a book in which nothing is as it seems. It may come off as perfect, but it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste. And the first taste is all the sweeter for that.
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