Book Review: Get Out or Die

First of all this is not really your normal book review, but more an exploration of my reactions to this book. I will say I liked the book; it kept me interested though I figured out who the "killer" was on about page 100 or so (its a 348 page book).

I'll give you a brief summary. Aurelia Marcella is a Roman citizen living in Roman Britain in 91 A.D. She is an innkeeper. At the start of the book two Romans are found with their heads cut off, having been brutally beaten, with a tablet pinned to their clothes that says "Get Out or Die." These are the first in a string of brutal murders. When one of the targeted victims is found on her inn's doorsteps, having survived the attack on him, Aurelia takes him in and inadvertently gets involved. As it turns out, there is a rebellion brewing. A group of native Britains want to take their country back from the conquering Romans and they're using scare tactics, including almost daily murders, to do it. The leader of the rebellion is someone she knows, but she must figure out who before she becomes the next victim.

Aurelia is an engaging character and its definitely interesting getting a glimpse at life in the early days of Roman Britain. The identity of the leader was fairly obvious early on, but I enjoyed finding proof throughout the novel that I was right.

But what I found particularly interesting while reading this book was my reactions to it. For most of the book, I was rooting for the rebellion. Of course I didn't want Aurelia or her family and friends to be killed, because I did like them, I wanted the rebels to get their land back. At least half the population in this fictional world were British slaves to Romans who had moved in to the area less than 20 years prior to the time the novel was set. There were also free Britains and even a few who had been granted Roman citizienship, but most were slaves.

Almost all of the people who worked at Aurelia's inn were slaves. The author of the novel, Jane Finnis, does not spend any time exploring the lives of these characters. From what I could tell they lived fairly free-ish lives but based on what I read in this book I have no idea if they had their own families, if they were allowed to marry, what kind of living conditions they were given, etc.

But it almost doesn't matter. They were slaves. One minute they were free people, the next the Romans showed up, "captured" them and sold them as slaves. And throughout the books, that's simply taken as a given, as the way the world is. Even Aurelia doesn't question it or care, that's just not part of her character.

Well, it's part of mine. I object fiercely to the idea of slavery and the idea of conquerering. And I want to see the slavers and the conquerers defeated. And in the case of this book, that's the Romans, which includes Aurelia.

So, on the one hand I don't want Aurelia to be killed but on the other I want the rebels to win.

To a certain extend I think Finnis deals with this by giving a slight twist to who the leader of the rebellion is and what that person's motivations are. He's not really looking out for the best interest of the rebels, just using their unhappiness and hatred to his advantage. So of course in the end I do want him to be caught and punished.

But I was definitely not happy that the rebellion was simply broken and that the Romans get to continue their life just as before. Even Aurelia doesn't "learn" anything from her experience with the rebels.

I think its important to note that I read this book shortly after seeing the movie "Avatar," which is about people from Earth invading a planet that has mineral resources that Earth wants/needs. Because the Earth people don't understand the natives, they treat them as "less than human," as vermin who need to be exterminated. Of course there are a few exceptions -- i.e. the scientists who are trying to act as a go between while learning about the planet and the people. But in the end, the way the soldiers want to do it (wipe 'em all out) is the way the mining expedition goes and hundreds of the native people's are killed. In this movie, Earth people are the enemy and the natives are the good guys -- it's a classis nature versus industrial industry story (other examples: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings).

Also, I think its important that I'm American, and the author of this novel is British. American comes from a rebellion, and we have slavery in our past -- something most of us (the better part of us) have been taught is most definitely wrong in every way. As Americans I've always felt we have a tendency to root for the underdog (although as a society we've become invaders now), so its unsurprising that I'd root for the underdog rebels in "Get Out or Die."

It was an interesting experience reading a book during which I was simultaneously rooting for both the protagonist and the rebellion (though not the main antagonist).

I'm curious what kind of reactions people from outside of the U.S. have to this book, other British people especially since it was most likely written with them in mind. I'm curious to know if other Americans had similar reactions to me.

Anybody else out there ever read this book? What did you think?

Book Review: Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron

Sand Sharks is author Margaret Maron's 15th Deborah Knott Mystery and the first one I've ever read. But after finishing reading it, you can be sure it won't be the last one I'll read. I really liked the character of Deborah Knott and I loved the fact that I had no idea until the last couple of chapters who the killer really was.

In Sand Sharks Judge Deborah Knott attends a summer conference for North Carolina district judges. The conference is at a beach hotel and Deborah is looking forward to seeing old friends and spending all her free time relaxing on the beach. So she's not very happy when she stumbles on the strangled body of another judge. She quickly learns a lot of people disliked the man, whose unethical behavior has hurt a lot people and given the Bench a bad name.

Deborah quickly gets involved in helping to solve the crime when a local police detective asks for her help, since she knows most of the people involved. The investigation gets much more personal when a close friend is run down, and the two crimes seem to be linked.

The best part of Sand Sharks is Deborah herself. She's a very likeable character and realistically written, as are most of the characters in the book. I'd actually go so far as to say characterization is Maron's strongest skill set, at least as far as Sand Sharks goes. I truly enjoyed getting to know each of the characters in the book, and definitely want to go back and read more about them. Although Deborah is happily married in this novel, it is clear she has quite a checkered past where men are concerned, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about all her experiences.

I was a little confused by some of the dialogue in the book. I'm not sure if some of the strange grammar and word structure was supposed to mimic the way people speak in North Carolina, or if it was just bad editing. However, I didn't come across too much of the odd wording, so the few instances of it were easy to ignore.

The plot of Sand Sharks is simple and easy to follow, though I felt Maron was too liberal with red herrings. There were so many red herrings I often felt that some of them must have started out as sub-plots that never got developed. But they were developed enough that at the end of the book there were a couple of story lines I felt were left unresolved and so I was left a bit unsatisfied.

However, perhaps because there were so many red herrings I was never able to figure out who the killer was until very near the end. And that’s always a good thing when reading a mystery!

In the end, it was the character of Deborah who really pulled me in and hooked me enough to want to read more. There’s no higher praise than that, is there?

Book Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

I think it would be too simplistic to say that if you liked the Harry Potter books and/or grew up on C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, then you’ll like Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, even if that happens to be true.

Instead, I would go one step further and say if you ever hoped, prayed, needed the worlds in those books to be true… If you ever sat on the staircase in your house as a little kid staring intently at a photograph waiting for magic to pull you into the picture and an amazing adventure (like I did when I was a kid)… If even as you’re entering middle-age, or leaving it behind, you still think a magical adventure is somehow waiting around the corner for you, then The Magicians truly is the book for you.

The Magicians is the story of Quentin Coldwater, a quiet, nerdy kid, who at age 17 has not yet found his place in the world. Instead, he lives inside his imagination, in Fillory, that idyllic, cozy make-believe land, where animals talk and orphaned children go on merry adventures. For Quentin, a magical life in Fillory is the life he was meant to live. So he thinks he’s finally on the right track when, on his way to a college admissions interview, he receives an invitation to test for and attend a magical college in upstate New York.

During his five years at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, Quentin learns all about magic, including how to cast spells and shapeshift, while at the same time experiencing college just like every teenager does, making friends, discovering sex, and imbibing too much alcohol. But at the end of five years, he’s still unfulfilled, still searching for his place in the world.

Upon graduating, Quentin loses himself completely. He’s rich, powerful, living in Manhattan, what could be better? But under the almost frantic urge to satisfy every craving, Quentin still yearns for meaning. So when a fellow Brakebills graduate stumbles across the entryway to Fillory, Quentin is sure he’s finally found “it,” what he’s been waiting for his whole life.

But childhood dreams are often built on dark truths and Quentin is not prepared for what awaits.

I knew I was going to like, I mean really like, The Magicians when on page five (of the whopping 402-page book) I read the following:

He followed James and Julia past bodegas, Laundromats, hipster boutiques, cell-phone stores limned with neon piping, past a bar where old people were already drinking at three forty-five in the afternoon, past a brown-brick Veterans of Foreign Walls hall with plastic patio furniture on the sidewalk in front of it. All of it just confirmed his belief that his real life, the life he should be living, had been mislaid through some clerical error by the cosmic bureaucracy. This couldn’t be it. It had been diverted somewhere else, to somebody else, and he’d been issued this shitty substitute faux life instead.

Grossman hit the nail on the head. That is exactly how I feel most of the time, but I’d never seen it said so eloquently before. Of course, Grossman wasn’t talking about me. He’s describing Quentin’s feelings, who at the time of this paragraph is 17 years old.

But it didn’t matter that I’m a 37-year old woman and not a 17-year old boy. I related to Quentin almost from the get-go and even as Quentin gets older, more annoying, shallower, more hedonistic, shadows of “me” followed his story and kept me hooked. Even when I hated Quentin, I still saw myself in him because Quentin lives his life under the same “if only” philosophy I do.

If only magic were real, life would be perfect, Quentin believes, until magic is real and life still isn’t perfect. If only he could go to Fillory, life would be o.k. again. But of course, after tragedy life is never really o.k. again.

I live the same life. If only I could win the big Mega Millions jackpot. If only I could become a published author. If only I had two dogs and three cats. If only, if only, if only.

I suppose it’s fair to say that sometimes I accept that there is no “if only,” that this is the only life I get and I’d better start living it before it’s too late. Logically, I know that no matter where you go, there you are; there is no escape.

But deep inside I’m still waiting for “the life I was meant to lead” to be dropped in my lap, and that is why The Magicians was more than just a good story, one that pays homage to some of my favorite authors and fantasy stories.

Quentin is not a particularly likeable character, even if he is a compelling one. Nor is the end of the novel a very satisfying one. At the end Quentin has experienced some of life’s harshest lessons, and yet he doesn’t seemed to have actually learned anything.

On turning the last page, I found myself completely disappointed in Quentin, but perhaps in the same way I’m often disappointed in myself when I realize I haven’t grown up yet either, and that I’m still waiting for life to deliver happiness and fulfillment in a prettily-wrapped package to my door.