Ms. Hen reviews David Copperfield

 

David Copperfield

Charles Dickens

1850

W. F. Burgess

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she was traveling to England, and she envisioned reading this on her trip. When she got the book, she decided it was too heavy to carry in her suitcase, so she decided to read it after she came home. The book is long, so she had to take a break to read her Halloween books in October, and she took another break to read a science fiction novel last week.

Ms. Hen learned that this novel is loosely based on Dickens' life, and this was his favorite book. She also found out that the magician, David Copperfield, took his stage name from the protagonist.

This novel is about a young man and his life. His father dies when he is young, and is raised by his mother, and his nurse Peggotty. His mother marries again, and the stepfather does not like him. He goes with Peggoty to visit her relatives, and becomes enchanted by her niece, Emily. David is sent to school, then his mother dies, and is sent to work in a warehouse.

Ms. Hen and a portrait of Charles Dickens

David becomes friends with Mr. Micawber, who Ms. Hen learned (after she read this) is based on Dickens' father. He has problems with money, he does not have enough to support his family, and lands in jail. David goes to jail with the family, but tries to help them. He finds his aunt in Dover, and she rescues him, and sends him to school, and he lives with a lawyer in Canterbury. He gets into more adventures with his friends, and does his best to assist them.

Ms. Hen enjoyed this novel. The story meanders, and some sections seem to take too much time, but she understood that Dickens got paid by the word, and the novel was serialized, so people would read it piece by piece. She thinks that would be an easier way to read this, without diving into the whole thing.

Ms. Hen went to the Charles Dickens Museum when she went to London, and she thought it was wonderful. She thinks that Dickens might not have been the nicest person, but most great artists are like that. People should separate the artist from the art, and Charles Dickens was a brilliant artist.

Charles Dickens' dining room table

Ms. Hen reviews Artificial Condition

 

Artificial Condition 

Martha Wells

2018

Tor.com

Ms. Hen decided to read this book, because she has been reading a really long book, and she wanted to read and finish something fast. She read the first one in this series, and thought it was charming, so she decided to dip back into the world of Murderbot.

Murderbot is a robot with feelings: it feels ashamed at having killed people, and has low self-esteem. It escapes from the planet where it committed the crimes, and makes a friend on a ship, another bot, ART. This bot advises it to get a job, so it can get transport to another system.

Murderbot gets hired as a security consultant to a team of humans. They think it is human. It travels with them to another planet, and they get in trouble. ART saves them, and Murderbot does not feel good about the bad advice it gave the humans.

This novel reads like a long short story. It's another chapter in the story of Murderbot, and it's a fast read, and colorful enough to keep Ms. Hen's attention. She feel sorry for Murderbot because it's a bot that seems to have imposter syndrome; it is better than it thinks it is. 

Ms. Hen thinks that a lot of young people could relate to Murderbot, because it escapes into media, or watching series, and it does not feel good about itself. It does not know what it wants, and does not know how to accomplish what it needs to do to survive.

ARTIFICIAL CONDITION is a pleasant quick read, and Ms. Hen recommends it to anyone who is not afraid of reading about a robot that is also a murderer, but also feels badly about itself, and does not know how to exist in the right way.

Ms. Hen reviews House of Leaves

 

House of Leaves

Mark Z. Danielewski

Random House

2000

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she wanted to experience a new Halloween book. She learned about this from O MAGAZINE, in an article about the best books for the season. She didn't know anything about it before she started reading it, but she learned it was an underground novel that was passed around before it was published by a publishing house.

When Ms. Hen started reading this novel she thought it was strange. At the beginning, it is two novels in one, about the Navidson family moving into a house in Virginia, and a young man in L. A. reading the novel. The section about the family is in Times New Roman, and the part about the young man is in Courier New. Every time the word "house" appears in the novel it is blue, and there are appendixes, lots of them, some which reference articles that don't exist.

Ms. Hen thinks it is a lot of work to read this book, because sometimes she had to turn it to the side, and sometimes only one or two words are on a page. She learned that this is a type of "ergodic" literature, which means a reader has to work to read it. The novel takes on paths which are difficult to decipher, and the reader has to pay attention to what they are reading.

Ms. Hen paced herself while reading this novel, because she thought she had to spend a lot of time on it, and she could not absorb it in short bursts. This is a book that needs attention.

Some of this novel is like pornography, such as the section about Johnny Truant, and the part about the Navidson family is about issues within a family structure. The horror in this novel is because the family finds a space in the house, which is like a cavern, but it has different rooms and spaces that appear when it is entered. 

A documentary made of the films Navidson makes becomes a giant success, critically and commercially. Johnny Truant goes insane while reading about the house, and at the end of the novel, we hear from his mother, and some artwork is placed in the book.

Ms. Hen thinks this is like nothing else she has read. She enjoyed it, but she was not scared; she thinks it is strange, but in a good way. If a person is brave enough, they would enjoy this novel, but the reader should not be afraid to do extra work. The best things in life have to be labored for, and Ms. Hen admires those who are unafraid.