Malazans!

I made it to the end of Book 6 of Erickson's epic* fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen.  There are 10 books, which today isn't entirely abnormal for a series, but these are so loooong.  And exhausting.  I've actually only read 5 because I skipped one**.  It has taken me a while to develop a definitive opinion on the series, but finally here's what I think:

There are too many characters.

It is kind of lame to boil down 1000s of pages into 5 words, so I'll try to explain. Erikson and his pal Esslemont spent years - in between being archaeologists and other stuff - developing the Malazan world for the purpose of role-playing games.  They score points here for being seriously devoted, for putting in so much time, and for being anthropologists***. One cannot fault the Malazan books for being rich on details.  There are a variety of distinct cultures spanning millions of years many of whom have developed mythologies and histories. 

Up to a certain point I am fascinated with the different groups; humans, non-humans, gods, monsters, etc.  Unfortunately, many of these people are practically immortal (even when they aren't gods) so instead of these ancient races being relegated to the backstory, they all keep running into each other.  Many of them have issues with each other - conflicts, unresolved crises, lost loves etc.  Furthermore, lots of them have a multitude of aliases.  And our writers are intimately familiar with these stories that span millions of years and thousands of characters because they spent decades inventing them.  But the reader (i.e. me) does not have such depth of knowledge and so these complicated plots become quite confusing.

I can, in fact, totally sympathize with this problem though from an academic point of view.  When writing grants I often alluded to things in my research that I was intimately familiar with and that seemed super obvious to me, until a kind reader pointed out "hey actually I don't know anything about the Austro-Hungarian Empire maybe you could explain this with a couple more concrete sentences."  In contrast, Erikson and Esslemont are writing characters.  Therefore the problem of the super-obvious not, in fact, being so obvious is that conversations between characters can become extraordinarily opaque - particularly if these characters have been around for a long time (being nearly immortal).  No actually I don't remember that brief episode you are vaguely referring to that happened 10,000 years ago with one of those tribes on one of those continents.  Don't mind me muddling through your insinuations that turn out to be (3 books later) important revelations and crucial to understanding the over-arching plot.  Sorry.  

Beyond the issue with time-depth, the other problem is that the very structure of Erikson's novels requires dozens of characters.  In most books, something happens called a convergence.  This occurs when things in the Malazan world get heated up, there is extra excitement, the gods are meddling more than usual and so on.  People all over the empire are affected by different aspects of this turmoil seemingly at random until you realize that everyone is actually headed in the same direction (to the same city, battle, temple, or what have you).  Therefore in order to get a whole world stirred up and to convey the grand-scale of this conflict many characters are needed.  In addition, much of the action is war-oriented.  There are many (oh so many) battle scenes and Erikson likes to write these scenes from the points of view of the armies - not just one soldier, but several that are usually in a squad together.  Its nice on the one hand because you get a feel for the bantering camaraderie of these army buddies, but on the other hand I just can't keep up with the sheer number of them.

Now I should point out that Erikson's fans have come through and have created an encyclopedia.****  And I have multiple times had to consult this reference guide because I can't remember who is who, when, or why.  Honestly, I feel sort of cheated that I have to do research in order to read these books, in order to understand where the story is going (and where it has been).  See, its exhausting. 

Ok, so now you ask "why don't you stop reading?"  Well, several reasons.  1) I have nothing better to do at the moment 2) I like some of the characters and I do want to know what happened to them 3) Its nice to be able to read an epic fantasy series that is actually finished! 4) I've invested a lot of time in them and since I don't hate the books I might as well keep reading while I still have time to read things for fun*****




*of unusually great size or extent
**I skipped book 5 b/c the storyline diverges from book 4, but in order to read further I have to go back and read it b/c book 7 combines the two plots.  See its exhausting.
***I'm only a little biased. 
**** I'm actually pretty sure there are two, possibly more
***** Before I become a real anthropologist. 

Random Fact of the Day

Did you know that HP Lovecraft was neither claustrophobic nor agoraphobic but rather some strange mixture of the two?  He was terrified of large enclosed spaces*. This makes so much sense if you've read enough Lovecraft. Seriously horrible things happen to people all the time as soon as they find a yawning dark cavern that is seemingly infinitely vast. 

I learned this from reading The Roots of Horror in the Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft by Barton Levi St. Armand.  

*And not just caves because that's only ordinary speluncaphobia. 

Size Matters

I decided I wanted to crochet a hat with ear flaps.  Here is the result:

 

What was that? Where are the flaps? Well, as you can see it didn't quite turn out the way that I had hoped.  I did make the flaps (and they are actually still attached, just hidden), but the hat was about 2 inches two big for me. Because of the size being off the flaps fell in a weird position and just looked silly on me. 

I really like this particular color of yarn though (I think it is called Lagoon) and I might try again just with a modified pattern to try and make it fit my head more closely. 

By the way, this here is the website where I found the pattern.  Obvsiously, mine looks nothing like the example.  The pattern is in fact pretty easy to follow.  I have a hard time following written patterns so the pictures were super useful.  And to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the pattern itself, I just a) don't know how to crochet very well and b) have a small head.

A Tale of Two Exorcisms

Concerning The Last Exorcism and Exorcismus

I watched quite a few scary movies in honor of Halloween and for Peril on the Screen including two about exorcisms. There were some overlapping features, but they diverge enough that I thought it might be interesting to review them together here.

(Sorry there are spoilers)

Both movies are about young girls possessed by a demon of some sort. In each, the exorcism is recorded. I found that for the most part the characters' behaviors were realistic and they responded in believable ways (there are a couple of exceptions, but we can ignore them for now). The acting wasn't spectacular, but I would say that in both films the main characters-- the priests and the girls-- did a good job portraying the drama and terror of the ritual. These two movies are full of the “standard” tropes of such movies; body contortions, speaking in tongues/different voices, writing in blood, etc. I really wonder if there can be anything original about future exorcism films.

Despite these similarities, the two movies diverge in significant ways. The first The Last Exorcism is filmed as a documentary (mockumentary). I actually don't mind this usually, I'm not bothered by the “shaky camera." The premise is that an extravagant preacher (for once not a Catholic priest) from Baton Rouge, LA has been faking exorcisms for the past few years; he hashad a serious crisis of faith and has a rather contemptuous attitude towards his congregation at the beginning of the movie. He has decided to do one final exorcism, but will document the entire experience from deciding which case to take, during the investigation, and to the end. His purpose is to expose exorcisms as being not only fake, but, in fact, harmful to those undergoing such rituals. The girl he decides to visit lives in rural Louisiana.

Exorcismus is a Spanish movie (in English) filmed in the standard style, rather than as a documentary though there are scenes from the recorded exorcism. Here we have a Catholic priest who has been involved previously in a botched exorcism and, while not entirely removed from the Church, is in disgrace. He is presented as deeply religious. The possessed girl is his niece and they all live in an urban neighborhood (possibly in England, but I'm not sure).

The differences in the religious figures (priest/preacher) lead to differences in the ways that the exorcisms are cast. In The Last Exorcism, due to his lack of faith, the possession is portrayed as being purely social/psychological. The preacher arrives at the girl's house as a skeptic (well, disbeliever in fact) and interviews various people trying to piece together her life looking for secular reasons for her behavior. The priest in Exorcismus, on the other hand, firmly believes that his niece is possessed. Furthermore, there are incontrovertible signs that there is something supernatural going on with her that could not be explained away by a viewer such as her levitating off the ground. In the first movie, everything the girl does can (theoretically) be caused by something mundane rather than demonic.

In both films, there is a surprise development, a twist in the plot, revolving around the priest/preacher and the audience's perception of the possession. For the Louisiana preacher, it turns out that his client is in fact possessed by a demon. But in order to get to this point (after all the contrary evidence), the plot becomes totally derailed. The ending, which is over the top potentially to prove once and for all that the girl is possessed, is five minutes of some of the most ridiculous footage that I've seen in a movie. And here The Last Exorcism devolves into a series of stereotypes that seriously lowered my opinion of it. As I stated above, they are in rural Louisiana. Even from the beginning there are some cliches overplayed, but by the end what you have are incestuous, ignorant, backward superstitious country folk who just happen to be part of a Satanic cult. To top it off, the “manifestation” of the “demon” at the end just looks stupid, and I was definitely rolling my eyes during the final sequence.

The twist in Exorcismus, on the other hand, actually succeeds in making the movie better. The priest as we discover is not only a believer but actually an insane fanatic who is happy to destroy his entire family just so he can capture definitive evidence of demons on camera. Due to his disgrace from a previous exorcism, he hatches a plan to capture a demon in the act so that he can regain his position within the church and prove to people that he his behavior during the botched ritual was justifiable. He teaches his niece about demons and blood sacrifices and when she does become possessed he quickly jumps in to take over. As we find out though, his actions during the taped sessions do not quite match up; he has not been trying to cast out the demon because he wants it to get stronger – he wants to catch it in the act doing something undeniable such as levitating. There are some holes here. It is not a perfect set up, but overall this surprise addition to the plot works much better than the “surprises” in store for you in The Last Exorcism.

I give Excorcismus 3 ½ stars and I would have given The Last Excorcism the same score if the last 5 minutes of the movie didn't exist (yes, it is that bad). Instead, I give it maybe 2 stars.

RIP Review: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

            Two dueling magicians chose two protégés to battle one another in a mysterious contest known only as “the challenge.”  As children Celia and Marco, each learn a different system of magic.  Their teachers care only about winning, but once the two are thrown together they fall in love.  The venue for their challenge is a traveling circus --Le Cirque des Rêves--full of colorful and eccentric characters, elaborate shows, and dangerous magic.  The contest set up by their masters ensnares everyone in the circus and leads to deadly consequences as the two contestants struggle to figure out the rules of the challenge and discover what they must do to win.

            The book is written from several points of view including the main characters and several secondary ones.  It is broken up into short chapters that are often not in chronological order.  Inserted between different sections of the book are second person narratives that describe the circus as if the reader is walking through experiencing the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes for herself.  

            Overall, this is one of my favorite books of the year.  The author provides amazing details of the circus from the taste and smells of carnival treats to the intricate workings of the troupe’s custom-made clock.  Colors play a prominent and symbolic role throughout the book.  Le Cirque des Rêves is mostly black and white – the tents, the exhibits, the costumes, etc.  But here and there splashes of red appear very much in a similar way that colors often intrude in dreams.  

            In fact, the whole book has a dream-like quality not limited to the circus (which is of course constructed to be a series of dreams), but also in the structure of the narrative itself.  At first, I was annoyed by how the chapters skipped back and forth in time, but I think this fits ultimately with how dreams often are not linear stories.  Rather, they are often fragments that need to be pieced back together in order to see the whole story.  And if we see dreams as stories (as our own personal stories) then the ending is nearly perfect as we learn that what we have just read is a story being told by one of the characters to Marco’s instructor.  

            There were a few nitpicky things that bothered me—the beginning was paced a bit slow for me, sometimes the author was bogged down in her own descriptions (such as saying a character was “elegant” 5 or 6 times in one tiny chapter)—but I do think the book lives up to all the hype.  4 1/2