The Unincorporated War

Unincorporated War by Dani Kollin

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Avatars, personal incorporation, battle fatigue, mind control, a controversial view on the return of religion: this book had so many interesting ideas, which is probably why I was extra disappointed by the storytelling. I did not enjoy the storytelling because I could not engage with the characters.

Characters in the book felt like engineered aspects of the author's premise. Never for one moment did I feel as though the characters had any life of their own. In most cases characters were completely black and white- the bad guys acted like total jerks, the good guys were total goody two shoes. And it was not unusual for a character to suddenly pop up (even 3/4 of the way through the narrative) just long enough to give a long info dump on their whole life's history, be used to forward the plot, and then get conveniently killed off or simply forgotten about, and never enter into the story again. I felt like the characters were narrative tools, not people, and I could not and did not care about them at all.

Toward the climax of the book, the action did get quite exciting and engage my attention. It was almost like a tragic opera, announcing in advance what was going to happen, then letting the reader bite nails as the foreshadowed dramatic events unfolded. Unfortunately the denouement took the edge off the exciting conclusion by backpedaling and calling into question the finality of the climax. And to add insult to injury, it ended with a big old "to be continued."



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Everything Beautiful Began After

Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book had two rare distinctions for me: 1. only fiction book in which I highlighted lots passages that really struck me; 2. only book I have disliked in the middle only to find out that all the uncomfortable stuff was necessary to a good ending.
The book begins a little like a French novel, or Truffaut film. The middle sections dive into post modern 2nd person narrative, with lots of images of typewritten correspondence (it was this section that I found jarring and uncomfortable).
I was not surprised when I learned that Simon Van Booy is also the author of several philosophy books. This novel was an exploration of what it means to live- not just to survive, but to love, grow, and thrive. When the author states his thesis, he is often forced to use words that ring hollow to me: destiny, fate, God, meaning. Then he uses the characters he has breathed to life to play out the thesis, with beautiful attention to the detail of their experience. Those characters, those details, really spoke to me.
My biggest complaint would be that the narrative suggests that there is some endpoint, some place of completion in which characters have grown into their full potential. For narrative purposes there is something harmonious and satisfying at having that endpoint. But I suspect that the philosophical thesis would be more correct admitting that no person, no character, is ever truly finished.



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Wonderland: The Zen of Alice

Wonderland: The Zen of Alice by Daniel Doen Silberberg

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Silberberg writes that after enlightenment, the Buddha did not think there was any way to teach the path to others, or even to put what he had experienced into words. Then he tried, anyway. Silberberg does much the same with this book on Zen. He admits there is no way to transmit his knowledge directly, like a how-to manual. Instead, he uses every method he can think of in a genuine attempt to spread the benefit of what he has learned. He uses personal anecdotes, Zen koans and stories, and, yes, even uses a little Alice in Wonderland to get his message across. As can be expected, some of these methods resonated with me more than others. Readers looking for a walk-through course on Buddhism organized around the adventures of Alice will be disappointed. But those familiar with Wonderland will see it used as one of several methods to describe something but can't be described. Silberberg does a good job of trying, anyway.



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