Sir Dostoevsky

This I wrote for the final project in my World Lit class. We had to write two letters, each to a different author. I chose to write one to Fyodor Dostoevsky, of Crime and Punishment fame. Before reading C&P, we read "Notes From Underground," which was significantly worse. I wrote this letter as though I had just finished reading "Notes From Underground" when it was first published, before C&P had been written. If you ever had to struggle through C&P or "Notes from Underground," you'll get the humor in this letter. If you never had to read it, think about all the verbose works you have read, and I'm sure it'll be fairly applicable. If you ever read Tolstoy, I hear that he's fairly similar. Enjoy.

November 13,1864

Re: Editing

Dear Mr. Dostoevsky:

I am writing to you concerning your recent novella “Notes From Underground.” I congratulate you on exploring so well the subtleties of the alcoholic, anti-social jerk. I do wonder what inspired you to write such a comprehensive study of such a character, although I agree that it is a unique work. Perhaps some particular individual inspired the Underground Man? It is certainly amazing how well that you managed to explore the depths of his mind.

However, in my opinion, the short story, while short, could easily have been written much more concisely. While I understand that the story was written to explore the concepts of ennui, pain, and nastiness, I don’t believe that readers should be forced to feel pain and boredom deeper than the Underground Man himself feels during the novella. Additionally, I think that your stories might be significantly more popular if you inserted a smidgeon of cheer. For example, the Underground Man is well defined, but he does not change at all. At the end of the book, he is just as unhappy and despicable as he is at the beginning. As such, I think that you ought to appreciate my services as an editor.

As your editor, I would prevent you from repeating mistakes that you made in Notes From Underground. If I had been working with you while you wrote Notes From Underground, I would have suggested a happier ending, for Liza, at least. For the Underground Man himself, some character growth would have made the story significantly more likeable – for example, after his awful cruelty to Liza when she comes to visit him, the Underground Man should have attempted to change his pitiful and terrible attitude towards life and other people. After all, while your Underground Man was certainly well developed, modern audiences consisting of decent people may find him difficult to identify with. If I had been helping you, your character would have found redemption in the end, and the unfortunate victim Liza would have been lifted out of her sinful prostitution and her awful position.

Besides your characters, I would recommend that you alter the constitution of your writing. Your writing style is commendable, but Notes From Underground was extremely long winded – I’d hate for your next book to have 500+ pages. Although you are not repetitive, I do feel that many of your ponderings were redundant. That is, while you did not directly repeat things, you certainly did use and overuse ideas. As your editor, I would try to prevent your beating concepts into the ground. For instance, if you were to write a thrilling murder mystery, I would advise you to not write more than three hundred pages exploring guilt.

My final suggestions as your editor would be plot – please have some. Although there were certainly events in Notes From Underground, they were certainly less than thrilling, and I believe that your talents could create an absolute cliffhanger. Again, I do suggest a murder mystery. I believe that you could certainly make readers sit on the edge of their seats, chewing their nails, wondering who the killer was, if you would only abandon this obsession with character development.

I thank you both for writing Notes From Underground, and for reading this letter. I hope you’ll return my interest in my aiding you with your writing. I’m sure you realize how much more marketable and appreciable your writing could be, were I to help you with it, and I certainly do hope you find my suggestions agreeable.

Your devoted reader,

Carlin

Review of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a book inspired by the Antebellum South, where the strange institution of slavery was viciously defended, and whites were taught to view blacks as lesser beings. As many know, it is about the adventures of a boy and an escaped slave on the Mississippi River, and about the mental journey that Huck undergoes to view Jim as an equal. In my opinion, its fame is well deserved, for the book is extremely well written, as well as engaging.

I enjoyed reading Huckleberry Finn because it was well written and engaging. Twain’s writing style is friendly and familiar, although the dialect can be difficult to get through (when I first tried to read Huck Finn in 8^th grade, after reading Tom Sawyer, I gave up around when the King and the Duke appeared). Twain has the rare gift of forcing readers to live with the characters, even if the setting and situations are completely different from what the readers have ever experienced themselves. The exact issue at hand, slavery, has ceased to be a central issue to America today, but the struggle between what Huckleberry has been taught is right and what he knows in his heart is right is still very relevant.

Compared to other works of the same time period, Mark Twain’s writing is concise and easier to read, because while he may have been paid by the word, he didn’t write as though trying to get as many words as possible into his book. His word choice is appropriate for his subject matter, and the characters never seem to speak awkwardly – again, Mark Twain is a master of dialect. What really made the book stand out 150 years ago was not his writing style, however fantastic and unique it may be. Instead, it was his ability to take on a very controversial subject without preaching or hateful writing. This subject, although no longer a focal point of politics, is still a tender one in the American eye. Mark Twain’s book was recently re-written (read: censored) to exclude the word “nigger” and replace it with “slave.” The re-write has been the focus of much debate, and shows that Twain’s novel is still controversial; even now that slavery has ended over a century ago.

If readers look to the newly released version of Huck Finn to give them literary swank without needing to brave hate language, they may wish to read Tom Sawyer instead. After all, the book is exactly the same as the original, only missing the “n-word”. As such, Jim is still beaten and chained, treated like a thing rather than a human being, and hunted for like an animal, but he is never called any names (except, of course, for the arguably worse title of “slave”). Huckleberry Finn is a book that will make you angry, and it will make you sad, and it will make you ashamed for what once was. It’s certainly not a book for light reading. It will also make you laugh (Says Jim: Is a Frenchman a dog, or a cow? If he’s a man, why doesn’t he talk like one?), however, and it is a book that everyone ought to read. (If everyone in the world had read the same book, we’d all have something to talk about at those awkward parties. Icebreaker? Huckleberry Finn, of course!) It’s a story that will stir your emotions, which is really the most important thing for a book to do.

Read Huckleberry Finn. It’s a fantastic book that’s somehow managed to remain entertaining, engaging, and relevant for longer than most. The only dissappointment you’ll face is at the end, when you’ll have to wonder if Mark Twain sold out to what I’m sure were the demands of periodical readers that read Tom Sawyer and wanted more of the same. If you pretend that the end is the famous, “Fine – I’ll go to hell!” line, and you still drudge up some discontenment, please tell me what it was and let me argue with you.

Review of The Warrior Heir

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. First in a trilogy.

In a magical world where most people (Anaweir) are completely unaware of magical happenings, wizards are willing to stop at nothing to gain the upper hand in their own political intrigues. These wizards use all other magical beings (Anawizard Weir) to achieve those ends. The highest pawns in demand are Warriors, a class that is almost extinct, due to a barbaric, gladiator-like “Game,” in which the warriors are forced to fight each other in their wizard’s stead.

Jack belongs to the Warrior class of Anawizard Weir. Having come into his abilities late in life, he is fought over by the two major wizard political groups. Jack doesn’t want to die in this political game… and he doesn’t want to kill anyone else, either.

The book was entertaining, with a somewhat original premise. However, it seems that Chima’s foreshadowing is a bit heavy-handed – I predicted several key plot and character developments in advance (remember, I’m the only Harry Potter fan in the world that didn’t foresee Ron and Hermione’s relationship). Additionally, Chima’s wording is awkward at times, and she has a love of incomplete sentences. Chima often has two sentences where one would be more effective and elegant. For my taste, fragment sentences are forgivable in dialogue, when communcating dialect – in narration, it is less forgivable.

Characterization is shallow at times – best friend Will is big and loyal, but there’s really not much else to him – and characters’ objectives tend to be simple. Additionally, aspects of The Warrior Heir’s world were not initially well explained. Since most of the book is in third person, from Jack’s point of view, perhaps Chima was trying to force the reader to feel the same confusion Jack feels. However, I felt that because we did see some backstories that Jack wasn’t privy to, the information was simply poorly dealt out. For example, it was difficult to figure out just why Jack was being sought after – it wasn’t until late in the book that we really learned about “The Game,” even though we’d seen characters talk about it in the first chapters.

Negatives aside, the story was entertaining, if not engaging, and certainly a fresh take on the normal-teenager-turned-ancient-warrior line of YA literature (My favorite series in this vein is Percy Jackson). Chima’s writing is descriptive, and she seems at ease with using variety in her language, without sounding like a thesaurus. My twelve-year old source loved the book, but if you’re looking for a book to enjoy with your young teen, you might consider others (Three unrelated but fantastic series you might enjoy as much as your young person are: Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer; Percy Jackson, by Rick Riordan; Bartimaeus, by Jonathon Stroud; Ranger’s Apprentice, by John Flanagan). That said, this book would be great for young audiences who are just beginning to edge away from the Children’s section of the library and towards the Teen section. Kids that love books with lots of action (like my source!) should also enjoy The Warrior Heir.

On the other hand, I would say that for a similar-premis-but-better-written book (also the beginning of a series), you might pick up The Hunger Games over this one.

-Carlin Mackenzie

Books

I'd like to get back into reading a lot of Fantasy and Science Fiction (I've gotten out of practice at reading space novels). I'd also like to start reading new books again -- it feels like forever since I've picked up a brand new book and read it.

You know, there's a big difference between reading and rereading. There's also a big difference between reading and reading for an English class. That's why I decided to make a list.

These are books that I want to read and review:

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

(books below were added to the list after a facebook plea)

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Sun Tzu: Art of War

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Potchrowe Harris and the Hallowed Death People by J.K. Simmons (not a parody of anything, I'm sure)

These are books I need to finish and review:

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg (penname Hannah Green)

The Belgariad by David Eddings

Anybody know of any other books that I should read?