The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more

Book Review: Thanos: Titan Consumed by Barry Lyga

Book #21 of 2019:

Thanos: Titan Consumed by Barry Lyga

Originally announced and written as the first novel set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Disney walked back that claim just before publication, this book presents the backstory of its title character and the origins of his quest to destroy half of all life in existence. (The exact reasons for the Mouse revoking a canonical status remain unclear. I see no contradictions with any of the on-screen continuity through Avengers: Infinity War, so presumably there’s something in here that goes against future plans for the MCU’s cosmic inhabitants, unbeknownst at the time to author Barry Lyga.)

Even if this were still an official part of the series, though, I wouldn’t be able to really recommend it to anyone. The plot is largely unremarkable, and there are so many ridiculous leaps in character logic, most of which hinge on Thanos’s absolute conviction that he’s mathematically determined the certainty of a planet’s entire population dying off — despite making numerous other miscalculations over the course of the text — or him killing whole worlds of people anyway when they don’t agree with his diagnosis or proposed cull.

And while there’s definitely potential for someone to tell an interesting, compelling story about such a misguided savior, rich in dramatic irony about what he’s overlooking, there’s no attempt at that sort of complexity here. Instead the narrative is completely on Thanos’s side, which makes it practically impossible to ever take seriously. It’s just the tale of a bullied child who refuses to check his math, kills a lot of people, and eventually learns what Infinity Stones are. It’s inessential, non-canonical, and generally not worth your time.

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

Book #20 of 2019:

Circe by Madeline Miller

I’m not well-versed enough in Greek mythology to recognize everywhere this novel diverts from the traditional versions of the title character’s story, but it’s nevertheless clear that this presentation of her life on her own terms is something special. Much like Wicked, it’s a feminist reclamation of a demonized woman and a thoughtful consideration of what it’s like to be cast as the villain in someone else’s narrative. As a protagonist, Circe is both hardened and tempered by her various experiences, and author Madeline Miller crafts that personal journey into a profoundly moving tale.

My prior knowledge of this figure comes mostly from The Odyssey, but my favorite chapters here are actually the moments before and after her fate intersects with the wandering Odysseus. Miller has constructed an authentic-feeling mythic world for the witch-nymph to inhabit, and her origins and her destiny there are more interesting than just the retelling of Homer from a different point of view. In fact, my sense is that this book would largely succeed even for readers who know nothing of the original legends beforehand — for if considered solely as a work of fantasy, it would still be an outstanding character piece about the power of moving past early trauma to define one’s own legacy.

[Content warning for rape, graphic violence, and emotional abuse.]

★★★★☆

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Book Review: All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother by Danielle Teller

Book #19 of 2019:

All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother by Danielle Teller

I have a soft spot for fairy tale retellings, and in theory this novel offers a fine premise: Cinderella is a spoiled brat, her stepmother is a former servant struggling to keep the household solvent, and all the wickedness and magic in the familiar version of events is nothing but hurt feelings and exaggerated court gossip. In practice, however, the book is unfortunately rather lifeless. The heroine doesn’t even marry Cinderella’s father until the last quarter of the text, and there’s no conflict particularly driving her narrative either before or after that point. Some sharp observations on the historical restrictions of class and gender are appreciated, but the idea that a conventional villain is just a misunderstood woman from the lower classes isn’t enough on its own to justify telling the story this way.

[Content warning for rape.]

★★★☆☆

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TV Review: Breaking Bad, season 3

TV #6 of 2019:

Breaking Bad, season 3

This series has been incredible from its very first scene, but the third season is where it truly hits its stride in terms of plotting and character work. This run of episodes is all about the chess game against Gus Fring and the battle for Jesse Pinkman’s soul, both of which offer ever-ratcheting tension and sporadic outbursts of deadly consequence. I have some issues with Breaking Bad as a whole in its treatment of its central antihero, but the writing is best when it functions like it often does here, puncturing Walt’s ego and stripping his illusions from both himself and the audience.

If I have any complaint about this period of the Heisenberg story, it should be clear from the names above: this is a very male-centered narrative. Even Mike and Hank emerge this season as more complicated and compelling figures, but the women like Skyler and Marie are increasingly being left on the sidelines. That’s not necessarily a damning fault — there’s plenty to say about these men alone — but it sometimes leaves me wishing for the interesting cross angles that, for instance, Kim Wexler brings to Better Call Saul.

All in all, however, I love this show, and this season has some of my favorite, most iconic moments. It’s darkly funny and beautifully shot throughout, and it’s the year that cements the series in my mind as one of the greats.

★★★★★

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Book Review: Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Book #18 of 2019:

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Unsurprisingly given the power of her novels, author Jesmyn Ward’s presentation of her own early life as a poor black girl in rural Mississippi during the 1980s-90s crack epidemic is equal parts insightful and gut-wrenching. Told mostly as a series of vignettes, this memoir centers its narrative around five male friends and relatives whom the young writer has already had to bury. Some have lost their lives to drugs, some to violence, and some to accidents, but all are victims of fates that don’t seem to cull people from other backgrounds in America to anywhere near this degree. It’s incredible that Ward has had to go through such a devastating experience so many times, and that she’s been able to present her raw grief so achingly here.

Published just as the Black Lives Matter movement was first gaining momentum in 2013, Men We Reaped is an unflinching cry at the injustices that have struck down these boys, and a demand that we not look away from the pain of their community.

[Content warning for slurs and other racism directed at the author, sexual assault, and suicide.]

★★★★☆

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TV Review: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, season 3

TV #5 of 2019:

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, season 3

I may look back and decide that I’ve judged this season too generously in the moment, but wow: not only does it improve upon the first two outings for this Netflix series — which were already quite strong! — but it also avoids nearly all of the frustrating vagueness of the closing volumes of the source material. Grading on either of those curves, it’s an absolute triumph.

This show has always been a fantastic piece of literary adaptation, skillfully capturing the delightfully morbid tone of the books whilst expanding on quite a fair bit of unrealized potential in their setting and overarching plot. Here, as in the previous seasons, important details and characters are threaded into the narrative much earlier (and occasionally later) than their first appearances in the novels, which gives them more resonance and thematic weight when they do take center stage. It’s not the most faithful possible interpretation of the original series, but it’s a whole lot stronger for the creative team having embraced that freedom.

This season brings Lemony Snicket’s tale of the Baudelaire orphans to its ultimate conclusion, and although there’s still a slight degree of ambiguity in the final hour, it plays more like an intentional storytelling choice and less, as I put it in my review of that book, “like a writer who didn’t know where the story was going when he began and didn’t manage to come up with anything before his publisher’s deadline.” There’s actual resolution in this version of The End, capping off an outstanding run of episodes that further complicate the lines between heroes, villains, and well-meaning but ineffectual authority figures. It’s a great send-off for what’s proven to be a surprisingly fortunate adaptation process.

This season: ★★★★★

Overall series: ★★★★☆

Season ranking: 3 > 2 > 1

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TV Review: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, season 3

TV #4 of 2019:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, season 3

Episode by episode this series is as strong and hilarious as ever, but the season-long plots and character arcs seem like they’re getting sloppier as it goes along. Promising ideas fizzle out, people make some fairly major life decisions with little build-up, and the season is just overall telling a much less coherent story than I know this show can provide. The original music numbers remain top-notch and the writers are still grappling with mental health issues in a mature and nuanced way, but it all feels less momentous than it should for being the batch of episodes where the title figure finally gets her medical diagnosis.

★★★★☆

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TV Review: The Good Place, season 3

TV #3 of 2019:

The Good Place, season 3

Three seasons in, this sitcom about the afterlife is still one of the funniest, smartest, and most warm-hearted shows on television. It regularly redefines its own premise and is hard to describe without spoilers (and probably impossible to watch out-of-order), but I love that its exploration of moral philosophy has now reached the No Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism stage. I wish the writers weren’t quite so fond of wiping character memories to get out of a narrative bind, as that can make it harder to track an emotional throughline, but I love the risks they take and just how different this series is from anything else in its genre.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Book #17 of 2019:

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

An excellent yet uncomfortable character study of a woman’s struggle with depression and prescription drug abuse. I’m lucky to have never gone down the route of overmedication myself, but I recognize a lot of the narrator’s thought processes from my own lowest moments. It’s sharp and bitter and hilarious, and I suspect it might be an exasperating read for people who don’t see something of themselves in the main character’s self-destructive impulses. (Readers who say they want to yell at her to shape up are missing the point that people with mental health issues yell that at ourselves, internally, all the time.)

With such a well-drawn protagonist at the center of this story I’m not particularly bothered by the thinness of the plot, but I do wish the two major supporting figures of her best friend and her therapist weren’t such over-the-top caricatures. Even allowing for how they likely aren’t being portrayed objectively, these two don’t seem to fit with the otherwise grounded mood of the novel. Overall, however, that’s a minor issue that doesn’t detract from my appreciation for what author Ottessa Moshfegh has accomplished here.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris

Book #15 of 2019:

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris

A campaign book is probably never going to be great literature, but this one presents a solid introduction to its author, California Senator Kamala Harris, as she launches her run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Presumably an extended version of her forthcoming stump speeches, it neatly lays out the candidate’s background, politics, and general governing philosophies. This last area is perhaps most interesting to me as a primary voter, and I’m heartened by Harris’s belief that politicians must ‘show the math’ that leads to their specific policy positions as well as her call for everyone to regularly examine their thought processes for implicit biases.

Living up to these ideals, the senator walks readers through several political stands that she’s taken over the years, including her opposition during the recent confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. I don’t know if Harris will ultimately earn my vote, and this book is certainly not a balanced critical look at the author’s platform and record. But there’s nothing in here that I would personally consider to be disqualifying, and if you’re seeking to form a first impression from the candidate’s own words, I’d say this is a fine place to begin your vetting process.

★★★☆☆

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