The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

Book Review: A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth

Book #217 of 2019:

A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth

I love the magic in this standalone regency fantasy novel, which concerns a temperamental living house that grows flowering vines to caress its caretaker, yet floods her veins with deadly mortar when she channels its power to protect the local countryside. It’s simultaneously beautiful and awful, the sort of uncanny eldritch force that is too rare in this genre. I also appreciate the minor Jewish representation in the supporting cast, which is a rarity in its own right.

Unfortunately, I have some issues with the main storyline, mostly stemming from inexplicable character choices and relationships. Why has the heroine waited nearly a decade before putting her plot into motion? Why does the king’s heir risk her own life and status to overthrow a system she could simply disband once she succeeds her father to the throne? Why is His Majesty’s big secret, hidden even from the princess, apparently known by a random flunky? These questions go unanswered, and along with some cloudy logic surrounding the rules of sorcery, they hinder the volume from showcasing its strengths to their best effect.

★★★☆☆

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Movie Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Movie #12 of 2019:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Thanks to Disney+, I’m finally diving into this branch of the Star Wars franchise that spans the gap between the prequel films Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I’ve heard the ensuing TV series gets better, but this movie-length debut seems pretty nonessential so far. It’s fine enough for something clearly aimed at kids, but the animation and the dialogue both feel a little under-budget (especially now that I’m watching the masterful 2019 show The Mandalorian). Way too many scenes of indistinguishable armored clone and droid soldiers exchanging blaster-fire; not enough interesting worldbuilding, plot, or character work.

[Content warning for queer-coding a minor villain.]

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Book #216 of 2019:

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (Tristan Strong #1)

Middle-grade fiction is very hit-or-miss for me, but I loved this series debut right from the start. #OwnVoices stories rooted in the perspective of their authors’ cultural heritage have become increasingly popular, and this latest novel from the Rick Riordan Presents publishing line is one of the best. Not only does it deliver rare representation in the form of its black seventh-grade protagonist and its inclusion of traditional African-American folk heroes like John Henry and African gods like Anansi; it also just spins a clever and entertaining narrative that’s full of heart and wonder.

It’s easy for books like this to coast by on old tropes retold in diverse settings, but writer Kwame Mbalia brings a refreshing originality to Tristan’s challenges throughout. I would have liked a little more plot resolution at the end, but I’m glad to see that a sequel has already been announced to continue the tale. And I’m really happy that I read this title in time for it to get my vote in the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards!

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Book #215 of 2019:

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Despite my hopes, Ruth Ware’s mystery thrillers keep not quite working for me. This one takes its obvious inspiration from The Turn of the Screw, adding to that classic framework of a governess beset by her unsettling charges and the possibility of ghosts a modern smart home that may be malfunctioning and questions of narrator reliability. It’s all a bit much, as these various angles unfortunately cut against one another more often than they cohere together. We’re clearly supposed to fear what’s happening at the rural Scottish manor, but the exact nature of the threat stays as a sort of nebulous dread for far too long. I also feel like the requisite twists of the genre are both too telegraphed and ultimately ill-motivated by what we know of the characters.

The atmosphere is sufficiently spooky, and I do enjoy the framing device of presenting the entire story as letters from an inmate to a potential lawyer, but overall I need more depth and cleverness from this type of narrative.

[Content warning for gaslighting, mention of incest, and death of a child.]

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel

Book #214 of 2019:

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel

This volume is part crash-course on traditional wisdom from Judaism and part demonstration of how it can inform modern child-raising. As with most parenting books — or self-help guides more generally — the advice can sometimes feel like plain common sense, but even that is helpful to see written out, and I could imagine referring back to the title when my daughter is a little bit older.

On the other hand, certain aspects seem contrary to either my intuition or my understanding of the latest best practices, and the 2001 text definitely shows its age here and there with a few specific concerns that may have applied to my own generation of children but are less relevant to the one(s) after us. And some are the sort of perennial complaints about ‘kids these days’ that always ring false even if you weren’t one of the kids in question yourself.

But it’s overall still a worthwhile reading experience, especially for those people who, like author Wendy Mogel, feel estranged from their Jewish heritage or who have only recently entered the faith community via marriage and/or conversion. If you are a parent looking for lessons on Judaism for both you and your child, this could be an invaluable resource.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Book #213 of 2019:

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Given a recent string of underwhelming titles, I decided to revisit this old favorite of mine. It was the first Stephen King book that I ever read, and it got me hooked on the author at a stage when I didn’t feel brave or interested enough yet to try his better-known horror stories. Indeed, King had always been synonymous with that dauntingly adult genre to me, so I was amazed when I checked out this book at my uncle’s urging and found it was more similar to the classic works of fantasy adventure that I had loved growing up.

I think a lot of that comes down to the tone of the writing, which is as warm and conversational as Tolkien in The Hobbit or Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia, with lots of “I’ve heard tell…” and “You may think…” authorial asides. And even though I want to be critical about the generic medieval setting, it reads enough like a fairy tale that my usual criteria for worldbuilding are somewhat relaxed, and King does offer plenty of intriguing references that help the realm feel more expansive than we actually get to see.

There are also links to some of his other fiction like The Stand, The Talisman, and especially The Dark Tower, and although none of those are necessary for a reader to pick up on in order to enjoy this novel, they further deepen the narrative and reward a diligent fan. But even taken on its own, this is an exciting yarn of princes, friendship, treachery, and magic. It was great as an introduction to the writer when I was younger, and just as fabulous to reencounter now.

[Content warning for some minor bawdiness and an early reference to male genitalia. It’s honestly light enough that I wouldn’t even mention it, save that it does seem at odds with the general child-friendly vibe of the text.]

★★★★★

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Book Review: Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Book #212 of 2019:

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

This volume by infamous CIA/NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden reminds me somewhat of James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty, and not just because I read both of them for my local book club. Each is also half memoir and half political tract, finding a controversial public figure recounting his ethical origins and engaging in a bit of soul-searching to explain certain unpopular decisions… to admittedly mixed effect.

I definitely feel like I have a firmer grasp now on the facts of America’s clandestine mass surveillance program that Snowden leaked to the public, as well as the government operative’s personal history, but I’m not sure the author has satisfied me as to the thought process that led him to take the drastic actions that some have labeled treason. It’s fine documentation mixed with hacktivist advocacy straight out of a Cory Doctorow novel, but a step below Comey and other thinkers who are able to really walk readers through their exact judgment calls.

Although I broadly agree with the positions he articulates herein and can relate to his childhood on the early internet, I still don’t truly understand why Snowden diverged so radically from the rest of the intelligence community — or how the writer positions himself in his own understanding of events. And in that sense, this text seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb

Book #211 of 2019:

Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wild Chronicles #4)

This final volume in The Rain Wild Chronicles embodies all of the problems of that fantasy quartet. It’s long and uneventful and curiously detached from its characters, none of whom seem to have much of an arc or any particular goal they’re striving for. It doesn’t help that author Robin Hobb is juggling at least a dozen different perspectives, jumping around to follow the (minimal) action rather than presenting personal stakes for readers to invest in. There’s some worldbuilding and plot development for her larger The Realm of the Elderlings saga, but unless the next series goes in an unexpected direction, I would say this franchise offshoot can be safely ignored.

[Content warning for rape.]

This book: ★★☆☆☆

Overall series: ★★☆☆☆

Book ranking: 3 > 1 > 4 > 2

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Book Review: Renia’s Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel with her sister Elizabeth Bellak

Book #210 of 2019:

Renia’s Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel with her sister Elizabeth Bellak

I have mixed feelings about this diary of a Polish Jew who was killed by the Nazis at age 18. The obvious comparison point is fellow Holocaust victim Anne Frank, but Frank was a consummate observer who hoped to someday publish her record of events, whereas Renia Spiegel is clear at several points that she is writing only for herself. She also makes scant — albeit always arresting — mention of the turbulence of the times around her, being instead more concerned with her teenage poetry and her feelings for a local boy. There’s a certain uncomfortable voyeurism in reading these passages, and although putting a(nother) human face on a tragedy can be beneficial, I don’t know that the payoff is worth the intrusion.

Perhaps more interesting are the Preface, Afterword, and Notes written by Renia’s younger sister, now in her late 80s, who took the diary out of storage and had it published in the original Polish in 2016 and an English translation in 2019. These sections provide important historical context and constitute an invaluable aspect of the overall text. But I’m just not convinced that a story so personal and so trivial really needed to be shared with the world.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt

Book #209 of 2019:

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt

This is an interesting topic, and I appreciate the array of studies that author Tom Vanderbilt has assembled for the task, but I find many of his arguments hard to parse, reliant on unjustified assumptions, and frankly somewhat repetitive. I also think he stretches in tying local traffic norms to purported cultural values such as individualism or civic corruption, and I feel that his critiques of innovative technologies like GPS navigation and self-driving cars have proven overly pessimistic since the book’s publication in 2008. So overall, this has been something of a disappointing read.

★★☆☆☆

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