Ms. Hen reviews Running with Scissors

 

Running with Scissors

Augusten Burrows

Picador

2002

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she found it at a Little Free Library near where she lives. Someone she knew had read it years ago, and she always remembered the title.

This is a book based on the author's true story, but he claims it is not a memoir.

This is the story of young Augusten and his dysfunctional life. His mother was a poet, and struggled with mental illness. His father was an alcoholic, and was not very responsive. His mother sent him to live part-time with her psychiatrist when she got a divorce, and was having a difficult time with her life.

Augusten's life in the psychiatrist's house was unconventional and never boring. The doctor had children, and the house was a mess, and they had some adopted children, and a patient that lived in the house, and never left her room. Augusten became good friends with Natalie, who was around his age. They got in trouble together. His mother became more unstable, and his situation was like that as well. He didn't go to school, but wanted to be a doctor, or own a hair empire.

When Ms. Hen first started reading this book, she didn't like it; she didn't like the way the mother was portrayed, because she seemed cartoonish, and Ms. Hen didn't think the story was funny. But as she got into the book, she liked it, because it's like being a voyeur into someone else's twisted life. 

Ms. Hen thought she knew about mental illness, but the doctor in this book is completely off the rails, and she does not understand how someone like this could practice psychiatry.

After she finished the book, Ms. Hen wondered what the point of it was. None of the characters are likable, and they don't have any redeeming qualities. The protagonist is a selfish, cruel, weird young man, and his mother is sick, and the family he stays with is demented.

Ms. Hen thinks the author might have written this as a sensational book to make the people in his life look bad.

Ms. Hen learned that the family portrayed in RUNNING WITH SCISSORS took the author to court and they lost. Ms. Hen understands why. If a book is not a memoir, then it is not the truth. Writing is a funny business, and some people write for questionable reasons. 

Ms. Hen isn't sure if she liked this or if she didn't, but while she was reading it, she thought it was a fun romp. She thinks that might be the whole point. 

Ms. Hen reviews Behind the Mountains

 

Behind the Mountains

Edwidge Danticat

Orchard Books

2002

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she has read other books by this author. She saw it at a thrift shop, but could not carry it with her, but she went back a month later, and it was still there.

This novel is about a thirteen-year old girl named Celiane in rural Haiti. She receives a journal from her teacher, and writes about her life. She is intelligent and gets good grades in school. She lives with her mother and brother, but her father lives in New York. He sends them money, and they plan to move there to live with him.

Celiane and her mother and brother visit her father's sister, Tante Rose, in the city. She works as a nurse, and is successful. Elections are happening, and violence erupts in the city and all over the country. Tante Rose helps the family gets visas to New York after a bomb hits their van while they were on the way home. The family goes to New York. 

This novel is very easy to read. Ms. Hen did not realize that it's a novel for young adults until after she finished reading it. The book is very calming, even though there is violence, and parts are scary when Celiane is in the hospital, and she doesn't know if her mother is dead. Ms. Hen found this novel a stark contrast to the last novel she read, DAVID COPPERFIELD, which is long and winding, and complicated. 

Ms. Hen thinks it's good to escape into a world which she knows nothing about, but is beautifully written. Being an immigrant is difficult, and this novel opens a window to what it means to leave your country, and live somewhere completely different. Ms. Hen has never left her country, but everyone has different issues, that is what makes the world a diverse and beautiful place.

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.