tirsdag 20. november 2012

A review of a true little gem named Snow


(First, I have to state; this review is not finished. I still have polishing to do, but I wanted it up today. After all, today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, and due to the themes of the book, it seemed a bit fitting.) - 20.11.12

While I would like to think I'm above average, I wouldn't classify myself as a very good writer of factual texts. However, I have wanted to review this book for a while, as it's risen to be one of my absolute favourite books, and when the Jaded - "signed book contest" was announced, I figured it was time. Hopefully you can enjoy parts of the review at least, and if you consider to pick this book up while reading, even just for a brief moment, my work is done.

So, for the review:



“When you think of the future, you never know what it holds. You cannot possibly foresee what is waiting for you around the next turn. Anything can happen; next week, tomorrow, in five minutes…
            But when you think of that one word, regardless of what it holds, you know that you have one.
            So why is it then that sometimes the ground is just swiped away from underneath you, causing you to lose your grip on life? How can something you have no control over just reach into your life and snatch your future away from you?
Who knows.
But it happens”
(Olsen, Caroline: Snow pg. 3 line 1-12)

Thus starts the novel Snow, written by Norwegian self-published author Caroline Olsen, and after reading this far, I assumed the book would be a real tearjerker. It does sounds that way, and to a degree, it’s the truth, but there is much more to it than just tears. This book has more than a sad story to offer, and it didn’t take me long to realize that.
In a way, Snow was destined to be different just because of its heritage. Written by a Norwegian writer, in English, about Japanese teenagers, it already sounds like a bit of an oddity. And different it is, in the best way imaginable. Not far into the book, there was one thing that struck me hard and set this book noticeably apart from all but the peak of the novel-mountain I’ve read hitherto in my short life. The characters.
Now, if there is one thing I’ll complain about with almost all books I’ve ever had the chance to read, it would be the characters. While books may have interesting characters, I’ve almost never felt close to one. On rare occasions, the character, rather, the narrator, of a book narrated through first-person perspective, have managed to get my complete sympathies, make my eyes mist red or have me want to step into the book to just hug him/her. But this is rare. With Snow, however, it was different. Though narrated in third-person, the main characters felt very “of-this-world”-to me. I almost believed I’d bump into any one of them on the street any day.
I do not know exactly what it is that makes the characterization of the characters in Snow so good. I fail to pinpoint it. My theory, however, is that those characters, and their brilliant vitality, is a positive side effect of Olsen knowing her characters far too well. Most times, when I read a book, I get the feeling the authors were focusing on the plot, with the exception of most stories narrated by an “I”. When the plot is in focus, the story writes the characters. Snow, however, strikes me as a book that is all about, and only about, the characters. The characters write the story. And for that to work, the characters need to be strong and well made. They need to have good sides, bad sides, ups and downs, hope and despair. This is something I feel the characters of Snow all have. When I finished the book, I wasn’t left with some made-up persons I remembered the name of. I was left with friends, who will stay in my heart forever. I take my hat off for Olsen, for making that happen.

Maaya ruffled his friend’s messy hair. “You’re just jealous!”
“Of what?” Atsushi asked him, gasping in a very excessive manner.
“My fantabulous planning skills!” Maaya exclaimed, beaming.
Atsushi burst out laughing.
“Fantabulous?” he shrieked. “What kind of word is that?!”
Maaya smiled. “A fantabulous one”
(Olsen, Caroline: Snow pg. 27 line 24-30)

To sum the book up, it’s all about a boy named Maaya. As an artistic soul and a true ideologist, he’s fairly calm when he at 16 realizes he’s gay, and from there, you follow him through love, break-ups and prejudice. As you hear, the plot itself is pretty normal. You’ve probably all read something like it before. However, without this sort of simple plot, I don’t think the book would have worked at all. There is something I’ve been saying to myself for many years now; a motto of sorts, which marks my path when I myself write. “When the characters write their own story, the plot cannot be too bold or extraordinary. Should the plot decide to stand out, it would slowly take the throne from the characters, while the characters would still be fighting for their place. In this case, the story would lose its focus, and with it, its grip on the reader.” I believe this to be the truth. After all, a story thrives by its ability to keep the reader’s attention. Should it be unclear which drives which of the story and the characters, where would you, as a reader, place your attention? The story? The characters? Or maybe you would rather pick up a different book? I know I am of the latter type. Therefore, as Snow is a character-driven story, it is crucial for me that the story be generic. After all, that is what, to me, makes it excellent.
The themes of the book are also a strong side. Naturally, due to the plot, you have the theme of homophobia and prejudice, but it also deals with drunken parents and troubled childhoods. While all quite strong themes, they’re handled in a very tasteful and rather peculiar way. Instead of letting them dominate the storyline, they’re just standing there on the sideline. The themes can be seen in the characters, and the characters can be seen in light of the themes, but that’s also almost all there is to it. A cynical and seemingly apathetic nature may well be linked to that character’s troubles at home. An upbeat and pacifistic nature can have a connection with that character’s “above average-awesome” parents. And while the homophobia and prejudice plays a part, and when all comes to all, a pretty important part at that, it does not overshadow the characters, nor does it become preaching. It is simply there, helping the story along and giving room for reflection.
But then of course, you also have all the sweet themes. Friendship, love, and fights for equality all play important parts in the story. As a matter of fact, the friendship and love may be exactly what drives the characterization and makes the characters so extremely real. Without the love, certain characters may well have had nothing to live for. Without the friendship, certain characters may well have been much less upbeat and much less positive than they are. And in the end, the friendship and love is what binds the characters together and shapes them into who they are, and for that, those themes deserve creds.
Now, I have one little pet peeve with this book; the language. Or rather, the grammar, the punctuation, and at some points the sentence structure. Olsen’s vocabulary is good; the book is very easy to read, while keeping up some linguistic wisecracks, as seen in the quote four paragraphs ago. The writing style itself, while far from Salinger- or Nabokov-quality, is above average, and it works. However, some grammatical errors, punctuation errors and a very few nonsensical sentences do to a certain degree disturb the reading experience. While I do not know exactly which pages to find them at at this point, I do notice it, and it does disturb me when a “have” have replaced a “has”, a dot is replaced by a comma, or at worst, nothing at all, and two sentences that should not be one have apparently been fused together, whether it’s due to a glitch or an undiscovered mistake. However, it does not ruin the book at all for me. I know I am above average grammar-nazi, and I’m always told to calm down when errors like these make me see red, but the characters carries the book above all that.
Therefore, even if you’re bugged by linguistic mistakes, I still recommend you to pick this book up, because the good elements of it wash the bad elements away. All in all, it’s a well-done piece of literature; it provides laughs, it provides tears, and when the inevitable happens, it can fairly break your heart. But in the end, that is also all right. After all, without sadness, you wouldn’t have happiness, and it takes some heart-breaking moments to truly appreciate the amounts of joie the vivre contained within  the front and the back of this cover.


(Art by Lanny Suhandy)

             


onsdag 25. april 2012

Another post just for my own use...

Cerian's measurements:



Doll measurements (numbers in cm):
Head: 16,5
Whole doll: 26,5
Shoulder to ankle: 18
Girt of broadest point of neck: 6
Shoulder to shoulder (shoulder joints included): 7
One shoulder: Without shoulder joint: 1,5 With shoulder joint: 2,5
Arms: Without hands: 8 With hands: 10
Girth of upper-arm: 5,5
Torso (shoulder to groin): 9
Girth of chest: 13,3
Girth of waist: 12,3
Girth of hips: 14
Girth of thigh: 7,8
Length of legs (hip to ankle): 12

If you need any more, please post in comments ;)

onsdag 18. april 2012

Long time no see

Well... it's been a long time since I actually posted something here. I've been busy and occupied with other stuff; I've joined one too many swaps on DenOfAngels, and we're also now straight in the middle of our exam period. Meaning, most of my time is being spent sewing, or studying. And of course, the mandatory reading of novels and graphic novels. Mostly graphic novels. An alarming amount of them actually, but what the heck, it's fun. I've also been reading quite a couple of *graphic* novels, but that's an entirely different story.
For the moment I'm reading Battle Royale for Norwegian class (gotta love when you can choose your book entirely on your own, so long as it exists in Norwegian), and loving every moment of it. Damn, it's a good book *like*
I will admit though that what drove me to read it is the fuss about Hunger Games being a copy of it bla, bla and so on. Sure, I'd heard the title many times before, and heard that it was supposed to be good, but it was just one of those books that I wanted to check out but never got around to.
I'll give my opinions on it versus HG when I'm finished reading it, but so far, I have to say I find the writing style of Koushun Takami to be better than that of Suzanne Collins.

Well, but what really I wanted to share today is; I've actually, for one time's sake, had quite a productive day. Meaning, I've mostly been cleaning. First the bathroom, then some cotton brocade, to check the colour fastness, and then some discoloured cotton (I managed to remove ALL the discolouration).
Afterwards, I've gotten started on (another) doll kimono; finished pressing all edges, sewing together all parts in the main part, and lined one arm. I might post pictures tomorrow, because I'm pretty sure I'll be finished then <3

mandag 26. mars 2012

Just for my own use...

This isn't really a blog- post, it's just some things I need to have uploaded on the net somewhere. Please just ignore it ;P

Cael Murphy

Doll measurements (numbers in cm):

Head: 24

Whole doll: 64

Shoulder to ankle: 52

Girt of broadest point of neck: 12

Shoulder to shoulder (shoulder joints included): 13

One shoulder: Without shoulder joint: 3 With shoulder joint: 4

Arms: Without hands: 20 With hands: 26

Girth of upper-arm: 8.5

Torso (shoulder to groin): 17.5

Girth of chest: 25

Girth of waist: 20.5

Girth of hips: 25

Girth of thigh: 15.5

Length of legs (hip to ankle): 33.5

torsdag 23. februar 2012

Kingdom Hearts-ing...

Okay, folks (does anyone even read my ramblings?)!

So, it’s been a while; blogging is fun, but time is scarce and I’ve got my priorities.

Well, anyway, after finishing up my article, for school, about neutrinos on Friday, we went on our winter holidays, skiing in the mountains, and that’s a swell time to get something done. Rather; a bit of skiing or snowboarding, and then hoards of writing, studying maths and science, reading… and gaming. Or

rather, Kingdom Hearts-ing. Or, to be even more precise, Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded-ing. Figured it was time I finished it. My time for gaming the last half year has been sparse.

Well, so, anyway… no, I haven’t finished it yet, though I was recently stuck in a most peculiar position. Let’s just put it the way my thoughts like to put it:

“Okay, currently Sora’s inside Riku, but I guess he’ll pull out soon, ‘cuz it’s been a while since he entered him.” XD

That’s how good I am at picking the right words (or should I say, wrong?). Additionally, it’s not really good having those thoughts trail around in your head when you’re up against the toughest boss (yet) of the game; platform style! (Did I ever mention that platform style gaming is my weakest point?). They do sorta distract you, don’t you agree? I would like to see that slashy version of KH though, should it ever be made. The characters are slashable enough already.

But anyway, back to the point: with some help from my brother (oh, praise be to ye platform gamers!), the boss was beaten, and Sora pulled out. And I guess I’ve almost finished the game. But you never know, do you?


And this all resulted in an utterly pointless entry. This is what happens when your life is utterly uneventful...

lørdag 14. januar 2012

Anyone else having cracky dreams?

I have this weird relationship to dreaming… either I don’t seem to dream at all, or I have some seriously derpy dreams. One time I dreamt of a privy filled with popcorn-flavoured cupcakes.

Still, I think the dream I had tonight ranks pretty high up on the WTF-scale. Story goes:

“My family and another family we know are going to travel to Australia by boat. Actually, it was a rather luxurious cruise ship. When the ship arrives in “Australia”, however, it turns out we’ve landed on Iceland instead, as there are a lot of icy cold volcanic deep pools (O.o I took a bath in one to check), but also a few really warm ones.

So, when we’re already there, we decide to check out the place, and find out it’s quite worn down; the houses are on the brink of falling together. But the nice thing is, there’s a quite funny market there, and also a “Lati” shop, which BTW, in addition to selling Lati dolls and accessories, also sells action figures, doujinshi, alcohol and fabrics. I very much want one of the FF action figures and an Akuroku doujinshi, so I ask my dad for money. My mother tells him not to give me too much. He says he won’t, and gives me “just” $20000 (O.o). I buy the things, but I still keep on looking around in the shop, which makes everyone in my group annoyed, except for a very cute girl my age who genuinely loves the shop. That makes me fall in love with her; we kiss and start a relationship and stuff, but decide to keep that a secret from our families. Then, suddenly, Maaya (from SNOW) shows up with his boyfriend Aki. Apparently they’re on a holiday, or as Aki names it, honeymoon. My now-in-story girlfriend and me befriend them.

My mother and the girl’s parents think there’s something fishy going on in our relationship, and so, they ask Aki. He blabbers out the whole story, and my mother and her mother become angry and decide it’s best to separate us. But my mother thinks it best to get my girlfriend away from me, not the other way around, so she grabs the girl and drags her with her onto the real boat to Australia. That makes the girl’s parents angry, so they accuse my mom of kidnapping and sends her to court…"

And there I awakened.

O.O There has to be something seriously wrong with my subconciousness…