D. M. Papuga's profile

Book Review: Engleby by Sebastian Faulks, January 6, 2008

"I decided not to be mad any more; I was never going back to a place like that again."
Engleby, pg. 191



Audiences love underdogs and surprises. They also love the formulaic nature of entertainment. Readers, even if they've never encountered the term "archetype," recognize signature character types when they see them. Conventional literary signposts clue readers in on who to root for, who the good guys are, and who should be wearing the black hat. In Engleby, Sebastian Faulks turns conventional character development on its ear and, like Nabokov did with Humbert Humbert in Lolita, forces the audience to invest in a protagonist who is detestable, yet… Read more

Book Review: The List by Tara Ison, September 9, 2007

Folk wisdom about love proclaims that opposites, like magnets, attract. Tara Ison's second novel, The List, depicts the obstacles and darkly comic circumstances of two opposites trying repeatedly to tear themselves apart. Isabel, a gifted heart surgeon about to begin her residency, and Al, a video store clerk and director whose only film turned into a cult-classic, are involved in a toxic relationship where neither of them is capable of breaking the cycle of enabling the other's destructive behavior. In a vain attempt to bring her chaotic personal life into the kind of black and white order her career contains, Isabel and Al create a list of things they always talked about doing together… Read more

Book Review: Unscarred by R.M. Hamilton, September 9, 2007

Following the brutal overthrow of King Jonathan, the Land of Eir is thrust under the thumb of Maurader and the army of the Eternal Flame. Unscarred really begins when Kyle is forced by Maurader to accomplish a task that only he can undertake. Throughout the journey, young Kyle learns far more than he bargained for and is forced into manhood through torture, conflict, revelations of his heritage, his desire to become whole again, and his growing need to rescue his homeland from the megalomaniacal Maurader. R. M. Hamilton gives readers a coming of age story of magic, conflict, and triumph.

This first novel is a valiant effort to pull together all of the tropes of the fantasy… Read more