Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Oct.14, 2009

I just finished a monster book this morning:
Drood: a novel, by Dan Simmons, 2009. 777 pages. Yes : 777 pages. Fiction- I guess I would call this historical fiction? Dan Simmons is an author I really like. He writes science fiction/fantasy, horror, mysteries, all kinds of genres. He doesn't seem to give a damn what category he writes in, and I find that kind of interesting in this time when it seems most authors get locked in to one genre, and are considered as authors who ONLY write that genre of story.
    For example, Stephen King is considered as a horror book writer (or maybe "the" horror book author), but I actually find some of his books should really be in a different genre- The Stand, is post-apocalyptic sci-fi, in my mind, and The Talisman is fantasy. Sure they have horror elements, but I think they fit better in those categories.
    Well, I digress. This is not uncommon...but back to this book, and Dan Simmons. Some of the best books I've ever read were written by Dan Simmons. His 4-book Hyperion series (I think the order is: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion) is outstanding. His quasi-horror book The Hollow Man is one of the most haunting and emotional books about love you'll ever read. And his update of Homer's Odyssey into a modern, sci-fi setting (in Olympos and Ilium) was very innovative. He likes to incorporate historical figures into his sci-fi, brought back via cloning or computers or alien technology, but this one is about Charles Dickens and is set firmly in the time period in which Dickens actually lived (mostly in the last five years of his life (1865-1870)). The narrator of this book is Wilkie Collins, apparently one of Dicken's close friends and collaborators, a minor author that history has largely forgotten (I had). The book is drawn from an obsession from late in Dickens’ life with a shadowy figure named Drood, which was a real part of the end of Dickens’ life (according to the book jacket, anyway- I actually don't know much about that and haven't researched it, but the author provides lots of fodder for research in his bibliography section). Anyway. Interesting concept; well-written book; wasn't his best work in my opinion. His premise for how it all happened (can't tell you more- could spoil the book) just wasn't that great in my opinion. So, I would say read this book if 1) you find the era or Dickens himself interesting, and 2) you don't mind long books. But I didn't think it was as good as some of his other works. I rate this one a 4.

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