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.

Ms. Hen reviews Tales of the Unexpected

 

Tales of the Unexpected

Roald Dahl

Vintage Books

1990

Ms. Hen decided to read this collection, because she watched some short films that were based on the author's stories, and wanted to learn more. She watched THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, and three other short films by Wes Anderson based on Roald Dahl. Ms. Hen loves strange stories, so she bought one of his books.

Ms. Hen learned that some of the author's short stories were adapted to ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, a mystery show she used to watch in reruns when she was young. She remembers one episode from the show that is a story in the book, "Lamb to the Slaughter," about a woman who kills her husband with a leg of lamb, then feeds it to the policemen who are trying to solve the case.

A lot of these stories are about gambling, which Ms. Hen does not understand. Also, a lot of these stories are strange, which Ms. Hen does appreciate. The story, "Royal Jelly," is about a man who discovers that the royal jelly from bees can help his baby grow, so he takes it from his bee hives, and fantastic things occur. The story "Skin," brings us to Paris and we find a man with a tattoo on his back that could be worth a lot of money. The story "The Landlady," is about a creepy boardinghouse where the character learns that two young men have disappeared and become something else.

Ms. Hen thinks these stories are written in a way that people don't write anymore. She thinks they are a little dragged out, and the time period in which they are written is evident. She thinks they're ironic, and sometimes cruel, and a little old-fashioned. But some of them are unsettling enough for the Halloween season.

Ms. Hen does not know if she would recommend this book. It's strange, but somehow, it's not strange enough, and not consistently strange. Ms. Hen desires things that are devotedly strange, so she can fall down a rabbit hole and get lost in the midst of darkness.

Ms. Hen reviews The Ancestor

 

The Ancestor

Danielle Trussoni

Harper Collins

2020

Ms. Hen chose this book, because she wanted to read a Halloween book she had never read before. She read about this on a list of the best books for Halloween in O Magazine, and decided to order it from the library. She's happy she got it from the library for free, because she would not want to pay fifteen dollars for a book this horrendous.

The first horrible thing Ms. Hen noticed is the writing style. The author writes like she does not know how to write. Every sentence is constructed piece by piece, awkwardly, and it sounds as if it's written by a high school student.

When Ms. Hen read about this novel, it was compared to REBECCA, which is one of Ms. Hen's favorite novels. This is nothing like that. The character goes to a mysterious house in Italy in the Alps, after she discovers that she's the sole heir to the Montebianco family. The house is creepy, but Ms. Hen doesn't think it's creepy enough. She doesn't believe what she read on the pages, because it doesn't come to life for her.

The story becomes more ridiculous when the character discovers that she's a decedent of snow beings who live in the mountains, a type of Yeti that live in a tribe like prehistoric people. Ms. Hen will spare you the agony of reading this atrocity by telling you what happens, the character goes to the tribe, and lives with them for a while, and takes a child with her to Paris, and tries to hide the fact the child is a snow person.

Ms. Hen does not know how she read this entire novel. She wanted it to get better, but it simply became worse. She doesn't know how books like this could get published. The world is full of mysteries, and some things in life don't make any sense, and the fact that this book got published and exists in the world is one of them. Read REBECCA instead.

Ms. Hen reviews Convenience Store Woman

 

Convenience Store Woman

Sayaka Murata

Portobello Books

2016, 2018

Translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takamori

Ms. Hen bought this book at Waterstone's in London. She had it on her library list for a while, and she wandered into that bookstore, because they're all over London, and there used to be one in Boston. She bought the book because she likes to buy books when she's on vacation.

This novel is about a woman who works in a convenience store in Japan, and the store is her whole life. The book does not explain that she is autistic, but Ms. Hen suspected that. She read reviews about the book after she read it, and Ms. Hen's idea was confirmed.

In CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN, Furukura has worked at her job since she was in college, and she does not want to get another one. Her parents don't understand that, and her friends don't understand why she doesn't get married. Her sister helps her learn what to say to people in order to not have them think she is strange.

A man starts to work at the store who nobody likes, and he gets fired. He explains to Furukura that he worked at the store to look for a wife. He convinces her to let him live with her, and she agrees. She wants her friends to think she's getting married, and he wants to get his sister-in-law off his back. He doesn't leave her apartment for a while, and Furukura gets upset with him.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of other books she has read including SHOPGIRL by Steve Martin, and ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman. There is a sub-genre in fiction that encompasses sad women, and this is one of those books. It also reminds Ms. Hen of a Netflix series called EXTRAORDINARY ATTORNEY WOO, about an autistic lawyer in Korea. Ms. Hen started to watch that show, but she stopped, because it was too real.

Ms. Hen loved this book, but it was too short! She wished she could spend more time with the character. She learned in doing research after she read the book, that the author worked in a convenience store, but it's not about her. She worked there while she was a published writer, but she had to stop when she became too successful because a fan was stalking her at the store where she worked. Ms. Hen would love to have problems like that. She is a strange hen, if you didn't already know.

"If a book is well written, I always find it too short." Jane Austen

Ms. Hen reviews The Gap of Time

 

The Gap of Time

Jeanette Winterson

Hogarth

2015

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she wanted to read another British book when she went to England. She's read several books by this author, and was intrigued by the premise of this one - it's a cover version of Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE. This is a series of different rewritten Shakespearean plays by various authors. Ms. Hen is not familiar with this play; it's one of Shakespeare's lesser known works. The press is the same one started by Leonard and Virginia Woolf.

The novel opens up with a car chase, and the forming of a family. Shep finds a baby who he names Perdita, because that is the title of the song on the sheet music that he finds with her. He is mourning his wife, but he finds Perdita and some money, and moves away, opens his own bar, and a new life.

Leo and Mimi, Perdita's parents, fight because Leo thinks that his friend Xeno is the baby's father. Leo is rich, and he wants to get rid of the baby. He sends his gardener to America with the child. Seventeen years later, Xeno finds himself in New Bohemia, and chaos ensues.

Ms. Hen thinks the plot of the novel is very complicated and Shakespearean. It's a beautiful story with complex twists and turns. The reader does not know the truth until the end. It's absurdist and funny at times, and tragic in others. Ms. Hen likes that Leo is such a jerk; she thinks it's comical. 

There are some inconsistencies with language when the characters are supposed to be in the United States. The word "curb" is spelled "kerb" which is the British. Also Shep says "going to hospital," where in America people would say, "going to the hospital."

Ms. Hen read this book partly when she was in England, and she enjoyed reading it there. It made the characters seem more real, because she could imagine their voices. She thinks this book is a fun romp, because Shakespeare is always a good idea. She wants to try to read other books in this series.