Zombie

Zombie 
by Joyce Carol Oates

“Zombie” is just one of Joyce Carol Oates numerous enthralling novels. In 1995, it received the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for a horror novel.

Ever wonder what is the impetus for a serial killer? What makes the fiend tick? Oates takes the reader into the mind of a cold, calculated serial killer where a conscience does not exist but just a carnal desire to subjugate. Will Q_ P_ ever get his zombie?

Oates portrays a terrifying mind of a serial killer through creating a unique writing style, which aids to establish a multidimensional character. Quentin P. narrates in the first person voice recollecting his past savage crimes. He sometimes refers to himself in third person, evoking an eerie image of a man with a public persona. The language is colloquial and distinctive for the innumerable ampersands in place of the traditional “and”.  Readers should be warned there are graphic descriptions that will have you cringing.

It succeeds to petrify and haunt the mind, for its uncanny consonance with infamous sociopaths. There is a conspicuous similarity between the main character, Quentin P. and Jeffery Dahmer. They are both homosexuals from a well-to-do family, on probation, registered sex offender, and have a substance abuse problem. Most importantly they share the desire to create their own zombie through morbid techniques.

Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Memories of My Melancholy Whores
by Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez is well known for his novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera” which was adapted to motion picture in 2007. His most recent novella, “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” received mix reviews. It is believe to be his last written work stated by Carmen Balcells, his literary agent.

Captivating from the first sentence, “The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.” Many thoughts may ruminate though a person’s mind. Is this a story about a perverted old man or worse a pedophiliac? To the contrary, it is a story about a man with a troubled conscious for the ninety years of life he has lived. By the age of fifty, he has had sex with over five hundred women, all whom he has paid.

The unnamed narrator recollects his past dual life, which is the journey of a man whose life should be ending but has just commenced living at the mature age of ninety. The catalyst, a female prepubescent child laborer supporting her family by sewing buttons on garments and subsequently selling her virginity.

The short story (115 pages) is enjoyable for its contemplation aspects, projection of ideation, rationalizing decisions, and role of sex and love. “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” is perfect for a book club discussion group.

Lastly, what does “The tiger does not eat far away” mean? I have a few theories, but will refrain discoursing my opinion, for it would give too much information about the plot, spoiling it for others.

Elsewhere by William Peter Blatty

Elsewhere

by William Peter Blatty

Blatty lionized for his blood-curling novel “The Exorcist” and its eventual motion picture, has a novella “Elsewhere” recently republished by Cemetery Dance Publication. It was initially published in Al Sarrantonio’s anthology “999”. A few days ago, I received my limited edition copy of “Elsewhere”, which is signed. Significant, for it is my only signed book by the wordsmith.

After reading a sundry of haunted house novels, there is obviously an underlining trite theme; a group of individuals investigate the authenticity of a house egregious reputation. Some novels surpass this cliché like Richard Matheson’s “Hell House”. Blatty’s “Elsewhere” is a haunted house novella, which commence with an investigation but transcends to an original haunted house story. Blatty similar to Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” utilizes psychological horror to supplement the plot. What is really happening? There are foreshadows throughout the story.

Short Synopsis:

Joan Freeboard, a realtor is implored to sell an upstate New York mansion that is proclaimed to be haunted by the original owners who had an unkindly death. In order to make a sale, Freeboard devises a plan to prove that the house is not haunted through having an investigation with a renowned psychic Anna Trawley, literary writer Terrance Dare, and parapsychologist Gabriel Case. However, strange behavior and a case of déjà vu lead to the inconceivable.

What happens when we die?

The Brief History of the Dead

by Kevin Brockmeirer

I'm sure we have all ruminated over what happens when we die? Is it just the end, only darkness? Is there a heaven or hell that reside afterlife, or is there a rebirth? Is life a cycle of different realms, and each realm is progression. Well Kevin Brockmeier's unique book " The Brief History of the Dead" gives a take on life after death.

While one woman struggles to survive in the world at the cold Antartica, in another world people are cling to the life they have built, and wonder what is happening? A number of peoples' life stories are told that intertwines to connect with the idea that life is formed somewhere else after we pass from life on Earth.

My thoughts on Brockmeier's book is that I wish there was more. Now, that can be viewed as good or bad; I don't feel gypped after reading his book, for the material was interesting, and I enjoyed his descriptions. The descriptions was so vivid I could see it in my mind's eye. I could see the the city where the people lived, and I could feel the cold in Antarctica. Yet, I would like to know what happens to the characters. Some characters were just left hanging, and that can make a reader pretty perturbed. Anyway, I cross my fingers and hope that I see a sequel.

Oh, and if you like novels about afterlife below is a very short list of books I have read that I thought would be relevent to this category.

Mitch Albom's the five people you meet in heaven
Douglas Clegg's Afterlife
Alice Sebold's Lovely Bones

Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon

Flowers For Algernon

by Daniel Keyes

I live two blocks from a Barnes & Noble, so I go there often just to peruse the aisle. Upon a table on new paperbacks, I stumbled over Flowers for Algernon. My friend told me she had heard it was very good, and wanted to read it also. That evening I came home with Keyes' book but did not read it until a few weeks after, because I had to finish The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, which was a intricately descriptive adventure, well worth the read.

Flowers for Algernon is a heartbreaking story about Charlie a mentally challenged man who wants to be smart. He goes through a radical experimental operation to achieve his goal to be like other people. His dilemma is not in my perspective to become smart, but to understand whom he is, and maintaining the newfound ability, he has acquired. Flower for Algernon is a mind-provoking book; it leaves you with a new perspective of life, and the people you have encounter throughout your life. A book called to be read at one sitting, because your mind is demanding you to know what happens next.