The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

Book Review: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Book #262 of 2020:

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (Charlotte Holmes #1)

I like how this Arthur Conan Doyle modernization isn’t a straight retelling of one of the classic stories, but instead a YA ‘next generation’ approach of the teenage descendants of Holmes and Watson teaming up at boarding school to see if they can solve a mystery like their forebears, whose traits they have largely inherited. There are still plenty of nods to the canon, but in context these play out as homages everyone’s aware of, rather than cutesy updates and reinterpretations.

On the other hand, I really don’t care for the Nice Guy entitlement with which Jamie views Charlotte — seeing red and attacking a guy who brags about sleeping with her, considering himself in something of a friend zone, etc. — nor how the series narrative seems to be trending towards rewarding him with an eventual relationship.

He also at one point brushes off a potential romance between the then-14-year-old detective and her 20-year-old tutor with a comment that “Anyone else would look at the age disparity there and think, Oh, that asshole took advantage of a young girl, but Charlotte Holmes wasn’t innocent.” Yikes! I don’t know if this is a view that author Brittany Cavallaro shares with her protagonist, but an underage person’s supposed worldliness is no excuse for what an adult chooses to do with them. And that’s not even getting into the problematic use of rape and drug abuse in the character’s backstory to explain her frigidity.

I’m torn between two and three stars for my rating here, because for the most part, this is a fun little genderbent-Sherlock novel with two interesting leads who admittedly develop some appealing chemistry together. But it just has too many elements that make me grit my teeth in frustration, and that inclines me to the lower score.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Tristan Strong Destroys The World by Kwame Mbalia

Book #261 of 2020:

Tristan Strong Destroys The World by Kwame Mbalia (Tristan Strong #2)

I still love the concept of a middle-grade fantasy series populated by African gods and black folk heroes, but I’m not quite as charmed by this sequel. I feel like it retreads a lot of the same material from the first novel, and the big new mysteries that it poses — the secret identities of both the Shambleman and Junior’s father — seem somewhat arbitrary in their eventual resolution. The element of Anansi writing knock-off smartphone apps to help navigate this storyland never really justifies itself beyond the initial ‘web developer’ pun, either. Chalk it up to middle volume syndrome of what’s now a planned trilogy, perhaps, but overall I don’t know if this is a wholly necessary leg of the young protagonist’s journey.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin

Book #260 of 2020:

Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin

Outspoken Jewish female journalist Talia Lavin has endured widespread attacks from members of the alt-right and related supremacist movements, including rape threats and death threats, both for being who she is and for daring to report on their organizing. In this book, she goes even further, presenting what she has learned by entering their online networks under pseudonym and observing as they talk amongst themselves. To some extent, the result is a wry portrait of the author catfishing people who claim to be the master race yet swiftly fall for the ruse of someone they consider inferior. But mostly, it’s an utterly horrifying look at the worst impulses of humanity, the writhing maggots of racism, sexism, and antisemitism that fester hidden beneath the stone of public propriety.

Intellectually, I’ve long known that such hatred is out there on the internet, but seeing it laid out like this is a far more visceral experience. Lavin also offers a valuable lesson on the dogwhistles, memes, and other jargon that these groups employ, making it easier for her readers to spot when their rhetoric encroaches on the mainstream. And it’s interesting to realize the factionalized nature of this ideological space, with incels, whites-only dating sites, nationalists, neo-pagans, Christian Nazis, mass-shooter devotees, and others all carving out overlapping yet distinct sections of a shared ecosystem of bile. (I’m surprised by the absence of the Qanon conspiracy theory in this coverage, as it seems to thrive in similar circles. But I suppose the writer makes no claims as to exhaustively detailing these subcultures.)

Although not a read for the faint of heart, it’s a great illustration of the violence that’s fomenting on under-regulated digital platforms — and of why antifa resistance to it is not the boogeyman that conservative media and politicians allege — as well as a practical example of how to confront such miscreants. Going undercover and leaking names and plans from the bigoted ‘dark web’ isn’t something that everyone will want to do, or anyone should need to do, but we can all be grateful that Lavin has been both bold and careful enough to do so safely herself.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: The Twilight Zone, season 2

TV #47 of 2020:

The Twilight Zone, season 2

Unlike the first year of this Jordan Peele anthology, which offered a fairly consistent assortment of promising concepts that regularly failed to stick the landing, this follow-up is all over the place. A few episodes are hands-down fantastic, but some are pretty awful and others somewhere in between, so I don’t know on balance if I can count it as an improvement or not. Luckily, as with the original version of the series, there are no real ties between installments outside of the occasional sly easter egg, so it would be possible to watch only the better hours and skip the rest.

My favorites, then: “Meet in the Middle,” in which a man forms a potential love connection with a woman across the country whose voice he starts hearing inside his head. “The Who of You,” in which a bank robber gains the ability to switch bodies with people, but every new victim ends up in his arrested original self, able to provide the decreasingly-skeptical cops with information on his movements. “Among the Untrodden,” in which high school girls dabble with wicked psychic powers. And “Try, Try,” a rare time-loop narrative from the perspective of someone not looping, which doubles as a terrifying commentary on male entitlement.

These stories are classic Twilight Zone, with interesting premises presented in distinctive ways and generally building to one clever final twist. If the rest of the season had only lived up to that, I would be thrilled.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Book #259 of 2020:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #2)

I’m approaching this reread of the Narnia series in publication order rather than internal chronology, which I don’t believe I’ve actually ever done before. So that means starting here, with young Lucy Pevensie stumbling into a magical snowy landscape that readers will discover alongside her. The worldbuilding is evocative yet archetypally simple, even if, as a Jew and a critic, I chafe a little at the “always winter and never Christmas” shorthand of the evil witch’s dominion. I loved these books when I was younger, but what they present as universal is not necessarily designed to include people like me.

Truth be told, however, the Christian elements in this first volume are not as blatant as I had remembered (give or take the literal appearance of Santa Claus). Aslan the talking lion is definitely a sacrificial Jesus figure, yet the allegory is not so heavy-handed as author C. S. Lewis will eventually make it in the sequels. For now, a reader of any age or spiritual leaning can likely sit back and enjoy the story on its own terms.

And it is a great tale, full of warm humor and a grand spirit of adventure that help paper over the occasional under-explained plot detail. The character of Edmund is more interestingly nuanced than most figures in this sort of literature, and the siblings all prickle with believable personalities even before they cross through the wardrobe. The whole venture holds up pretty well seventy years after the fact, although there’s some regrettable sexism when the girls are denied swords to match their brothers — another element that grows more egregious as the franchise continues.

It’s always so hard to determine whether a media property from one’s childhood is truly quality or just a font of fuzzy nostalgia, but I do think this work is a classic for a reason. With iconic scenes and concepts that have been hugely influential in the fantasy genre, it’s a somewhat problematic fave that’s still worth revisiting today.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: The Office, season 5

TV #46 of 2020:

The Office, season 5

Sitcoms have a tendency to grow stale and repetitive the longer they air, but the better ones find ways to gradually tweak their storytelling dynamics over time. This era of The Office is an excellent example of that, regularly spooling out developments that shake up the status quo and add significant complications into the characters’ personal histories, rather than being immediately forgotten and reset. At the beginning of the year, Michael is flirting with Holly, Andy is engaged to Angela, Phyllis has blackmailed her way into chairing the Party Planning Committee, and Pam is away at art school in New York. Those situations all shift and grow over the following episodes, which are enjoyable as individual half-hours of entertainment yet also demonstrate the care for unfolding plotlines that some of the writers and producers would later bring to projects like The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

One major arc late in the season is probably about as serialized as this program ever gets, and it’s honestly so strong that I almost wish the show had fully embraced that as a model going forward. It may make it harder for casual viewers to miss an episode here and there (or catch a random one out of sequence) and still enjoy everything, but in an age of easy streaming and bingeing, watching the series build on itself over the course of this run is a uniquely electrifying experience.

★★★★★

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Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

Book #258 of 2020:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

I was a little hesitant to pick up this book, both because I’ve had mixed feelings about the previous titles I’ve read from author V. E. Schwab and because the general concept of a heroine who can’t be remembered once she’s out of sight seemed too similar to Claire North’s supernatural spy thriller The Sudden Appearance of Hope, which I really loved. But this one turns out quite strong in its own right, and its genre is more of the romantic brooding immortals variety better associated with Anne Rice (or, uh, Claire North for that matter).

In the early eighteenth century, our protagonist strikes up a Faustian bargain with a force of darkness in the French countryside, granting her everlasting youth but cursing her to be forgotten by everyone she knows or will ever meet. Addie cannot form relationships or amass any property, and the nonlinear narrative bounces mainly between her long backstory and her modern life in 2014 New York as it explores the particulars of that lonely existence. A chance meeting with the first person to seem immune to her condition redirects us into a love story, which remains poignant through their difficulties in building any kind of future together.

On the whole it’s a rather bittersweet tale, and I particularly enjoy the recurring presence of the tempter figure who ostensibly wants Addie’s soul in exchange for ending her torment but winds up in a sort of codependent dynamic with the only other being to live on through centuries like him. I know the low-stakes character-driven plot won’t be to every reader’s tastes, but I’ve felt caught up in the epic sweep of Schwab’s imagination and very glad that I gave her another try.

[Content warning for rape, suicide, depression, and anxiety.]

★★★★☆

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Movie Review: Hocus Pocus

Movie #14 of 2020:

Hocus Pocus (1993)

I think this may be a film that you have to have seen as a child to fully love, and my shameful millennial confession is that I never did. Absent any nostalgia factor, it’s pretty solidly okay for an evening’s entertainment, but perhaps not the defining Halloween feature that it’s sometimes held up as. The performances, atmosphere, and general concept are hokey without ever quite hitting the delirious heights of camp, and the humor gets tangled up in plot holes like exactly how much of modern America the evil Sanderson sisters understand from scene to scene. There’s also a heaping dose of toxic 90s masculinity, and no particular acknowledgement that the Salem witch trials targeted, tortured, and killed innocent people rather than these cackling villains who gleefully feed on children and call Satan their master. (I’m not saying witches should be off-limits in spooky fiction, but setting a story amid historical slaughter carries a certain obligation to the victims that isn’t remotely met here.)

Is Hocus Pocus fun? Sure! Especially for kids the age of the high school protagonists or younger, I would expect. It has a few good lines and interesting acting choices, as well as a showstopping musical number that again doesn’t make much sense in context. I can see why y’all like the thing, even if it’s not going down as one of my favorites.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Iron Heart by Nina Varela

Book #257 of 2020:

Iron Heart by Nina Varela (Crier’s War #2)

I still have mixed feelings about the first volume in this YA duology about intrigue and rebellion amongst cyborg overlords, but I am happy to report that the sequel is a big improvement, with a faster-paced plot and a less problematic love story. Ayla is no longer an indentured handmaiden in Lady Crier’s household, which removes the coercive power dynamic between the two girls, and they are both better developed as independent characters by spending half of this novel apart. The action has also picked up since the last book, and I really enjoy what author Nina Varela has done with the zombie-like robots who have devolved into a feral state and now roam the countryside at large. The series won’t go down as one of my favorites, but it leans into its strengths for this conclusion and so I do recommend seeing it through to the end.

This book: ★★★★☆

Overall series: ★★★☆☆

Individual rankings: 2 > 1

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Movie Review: The Princess Bride

Movie #13 of 2020:

The Princess Bride (1987)

This beloved film lives up to my memories and its own reputation, offering thrills, laughs, and emotional stirrings in equal measure. (I legitimately teared up at the last scene tonight, perhaps because my wife and I have each lost a grandfather this year.) It’s a feel-good movie for the whole family, packed with endearing characters and eminently quotable lines, as fun for the quasi-historical main narrative as it is for the cheekily meta interruptions from the storybook framing device. A modern classic, through and through.

It also doesn’t come anywhere near to passing the Bechdel Test, and its vision of an idealized Europe offers no hint of racial diversity. In one early scene, the protagonist rants about the duplicity of women and threatens to strike his love interest. The title figure herself is fairly passive throughout the tale, functioning more as a damsel in distress than an active hero like the swashbucklers around her. Physical deformity is used as a shorthand for villainy, and suicide is spoken of lightly.

I raise these faults not to condemn the work, but merely to observe that they stick out a few decades after the fact, and different audiences — those from marginalized backgrounds and/or without a fond childhood attachment to it, for instance — may justifiably be less charitable in their opinions. It is not a perfect film, as much as I may personally enjoy it, and when later writers regularly turn here for inspiration, I hope they are drawing on the elements noted in my first paragraph rather than my second.

★★★★★

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