Book Review: Neverwhere

Why:
I had to drive from Tennessee to Texas and wanted to listen to something for the 12+ hour trip. I got the trial audible subscription and looked at all the top books. Neil Gaiman popped up. I remembered listening the Moth Radio and hearing him talk about something related to his dad. Since then he had been on my radar.
But, I've heard of him before that. My brother always talked about the coolness of Sandman.
I didn't end up buying the audio version of Neverwhere, it turns out I already had it in my possession when I borrowed it from my brother.
Didn't I say I really liked / believed in star aligning coincidences?

In record time, it only took a month to finish the book. That's good considering I mostly read on the bus or while doing errands. Lately, I've been trying to avoid staring at my phone. It's hard.

Summary:
It's about this guy name Richard going to London Underground and embarking on a quest by accident.

Rating:
08.5 / 10.0

Reason:
It was good and I hadn't read a book like that ever. It was the first time I had to pay attention to details and there were many "ahhhh, I see" moments. However, Richard is annoying which is bad since he is the main character. Gosh, I wish I could have heard more about the Marquis or Door. She was cool.

SPOILERS:
SPOILERS:
SPOILERS:
So the story is about the every day Joe, Richard, stumbling across this young woman named Door. She's in trouble and he decides to help her out. In doing so, his life is completely altered. He no longer "exists" in the normal everyday London. He is only seen in the realm called London Underground, a place where the people who slip through societies cracks end up.
These two goons are on the lookout for Door, but no information is given on why. Pretty cool, eh? Since he no longer can live in London Above, he decides to accompany Door and her small, makeshift team to find out why she is being hunted. He hopes to return to the world above. Just from that you should guess how it ends.
What bugged me, was how useless he was. There was no explanation on why the others let him accompany them other than feeling sorry for him. I was also irked by the typical hero who is just given the title hero without really earning it. For example, the end. He kills this giant beast, but only by sticking out a spear he is holding and stabbing that thing as it lunged onto his pal. There was no tactic. He didn't even find the spear, it was given to him. In another part he has to face a trial to get this thing and the reason he passes is because he finds the belonging of a previous companion. That's it.
Door and company seek out this angel named Islington. It tells them to find a key and in return he will provide answers. They get it. Turns out, the angel is bad. One of their companions, Hunter, is also bad. She dies at the final stretch by the beast that she wanted to kill. The remaining party is caught but Door saves the day by preemptively replicating the key and opening a door to another dimension. The angel and his henchmen get sucked into the dimension and all is good.
Did you guess the end? Richard goes back to live in London Above then decides that maybe he doesn't want to live there after all.

Characters:
Despite the flaws with Richard I really enjoyed all the other characters and was fascinated by The Marquis. I imagined someone like the guy from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While Door and Richard suspected him of being a traitor, I always knew he was "good".
Hunter, a hunter that ends up betraying the group, was also cool. She died rather lamely, though it is possible that she could still be alive. I loved that about the book, leaving stray ends for the reader to come up with their own theories.
Door, she was cool, but at the same time I couldn't get a good mental picture of her. Was she really young? 20? 25? 30? What about Richard made her like him? What did she do before the being hunted? I wanted to talk to her over coffee or something.
The Angel...it didn't really occur to me that he was bad. Perhaps I should have guessed it. Why did he need a key? What probably caught me off guard was it not being obvious. They talked to him about halfway in the book and I figured it was just a small plot line.

And that's that. Another crappily written review. You're Welcome.

-Alyssa

Come Closer (from ...Archives)

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN 2011... my opinions may have changed, but I am too lazy to re-watch. I'm putting this out here, because I can I guess. 

Come Closer is a movie that might not be for everyone. It is paced a bit slow and is a slice of life. 

Characters:

• Su-Jin (Kim Hyo-Seo): She is the first character introduced. She answers the phone in the coffee shop.
• Young-Soo (Oh Chang-Suk): draws pornographic images and is struggling with his old boyfriend over an affair with a woman.
• Se-Yun (Yeom Bo-Ra): She sleeps with Young-Soo eventually ending up with him.
• Hyun-Oh (Yun Gye-Sang): He is trying to move on his life while his ex keeps showing up to stop him.
• Eun-Hee (Jung Yu-Mi): She cannot get over her ex(Hyun-Oh) and stalks him from time to time.
• Woon-Chul (Jong Seo-Won): He is dating Young-Soo, eventually getting dumped after Young-Soo decides to leave him for a girl.
• Ju-Young (Yoon Hee-Seok): He is hangs out with Hye-Young and complains about woman wanting stability instead of romance.
• Hye-Young (Yozoh): She is in a band with Ju-Young and has (almost) given up on relationships.

Notes:

So…let’s talk about Come Closer. Right from the start the movie gives and indie vibe. I usually like the genre in general; however it seemed a bit cookie-cutter. As if the creators got together and said, oh this will definitely make it more indie. Take for instance the opening. The movie begins with a Polish guy looking for his girlfriend. He calls a Korean Coffee shop, explaining that someone told him she might be there. The girl who picks up the phone tells him no, and opts to listen to his story. The polish guy proceeds to describe his girlfriend a bit and what it’s like in Poland. This whole ordeal goes on for about ten minutes, during which, I was under the impression that the scene was the opening credits for the production team. You know, like Pixar’s short animation before the movie begins. There was also a very mellow vibe that screamed; look I’m indie!

Most of the stories that were presented were a bit too brief for me to gain any emotional attachment. For example during the scene with Eun-Hee and Hyun-Oh, I was trying to figure out its point. I know some movies are just stories that don’t have a deeper meaning, but sometimes the story should be interesting. You know? I didn’t really care that she couldn’t get over him. It happens to all of us; however we do not go stalking our exes.

The story revolving around Young-Soo was probably my favorite because it consisted of about half of the movie. I was able to get a grasp on the situation while formulating an opinion. I understood that it was a big deal for him. Most people are concerned about liking the same sex and try to push their awareness away, however it is opposite for Young-Soo. He pushed away his preference for women because he mistook admiration for love.

(4:38PM)(10/13/11)

Thus the awkward scene where he had sex with Se-Yun makes a hell of a lot of sense. During most sex scenes, participants act with lust (or passion…whatever you want to call it) but Young-Soo is making a discovery. Oh my goodness, after all these years, I never knew this could feel so good. And with this, his movement is a bit stifled. All his life he thought he knew one thing, but within an instant the rules have completely changed. It’s like eating the forbidden fruit, there is no back button. The whole confrontation with Woon-Chul (his boyfriend) adds on to his development.

(5:10PM)

Young-Soo explains that he had felt inferior to Woon-Chul since high school. As he watched in envy, he became attached. He wanted to be closer (unintentional reference to the movie title) to Woon-Chul in hopes to be a little more like him.

….AGH!!!

(5:16PM)

Obsessed

(5:17PM)

As time draws on, he becomes more obsessed with Woon-Chul, eventually forming a relationship with him. He felt happy, but only because he was making Woon-Chul happy. It’s kind of like when we were younger (or even now), we became obsessed with celebrities and wanted to be just like them. At the end the movie, we don’t know whether or not Young-Soo and Se-Yun will last as a couple, but it is irrelevant. The point the movie is trying to make, is that Young-Soo needs to find himself. If dating a woman makes him happier, then he should do so.

 (10/13/11)(9:01PM)

My second favorite story is the friendship between Hye-Young and Ju-Young. For some reason I enjoyed their pessimism about love. While looking at younger couples still in their honeymoon phase, they both agree that after a while, people want stability over a fast burning love. Hye-Young seems to be more in a rut than Ju-Young, claiming that all guys are idiots. It is established early on that she has gotten out of a relationship, however how much time has passed since them remains unknown. Thus it is unclear about whether or not this is just a phase for her. It makes me curious; will she ever be able to accept a relationship again? She seemed so adamant about her position in the whole ordeal that it is hard for me to imagine her doing so. There was an occasional moment or two in which I thought that there was an attraction between them; however I am still unsure about whether or not this was intended. Because of this I like how their scene ended with their future unclear.

The ending of the movie was a bit typical, indie music and shots of the characters on their own. Seeing as this movie consisted of multiple storylines, it is hard to imagine an alternative. It just seemed like it was missing something though…The last shot was of Hye-Young looking nonchalantly into the distance. I kind of wished that it would have ended with a shot of leaves or something, I don’t know. I felt like there should be a deeper meaning behind choosing her, but I couldn’t find it. Any ideas?

Overall I liked the movie, but I had to watch it in intervals because it was a bit slow at some points. After completing the film, I looked up the actress who played Hye-Young and was surprised to learn that she was an indie singer (Yozoh). Her music is quite nice to listen to while working on homework or writing. I didn’t think her acting was bad at all, does anyone else think differently?? I decided to watch this because Yun Gye-Sang was in it, but was disappointed that his role in this movie was approximately 20 or so minutes.

I would give this movie a 7.5 /10 for quality and an 8/10 for personal preference.

Oh My Goodness! And Book Review. Spontaneous

I thought that I had so much more on this blog that I've been elevating in the back of my head. I looked at it today, because I wanted to talk about a book I read a few weeks back. The last post March 2015...Almost a year ago. Whoops.

The in between stuff that has been happening will be saved for another post, sawwwrryy.

The book: Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer 

How I found it: Well I just happened to be with friends looking around a local bookshop and there it was. I've always been a sucker for things that shouldn't be there and this book was it. On it, it said advance reading copy, not for sale. On the back was a poncho. It was only seven dollars, a steal!

On the cover there is a girl blowing a bubble with bubble gum in a power pose on top of a ice cream truck. I thought she looked cool.

Brief summary: The seniors of a high school are combusting for no apparent reason. The story takes place in the perspective of a girl named Mara. She's sort of self-absorbed and is written to be dark humored. I would probably wouldn't be friends with her. Despite this I was curious, why were they exploding? What important lesson would they learn?

Spoiler: They don't learn anything other than live your life. Gosh, if only I had spontaneous combustion there to tell me that.

More Spoilers: Her best friend is Tess and I really, really wanted the two of them to get together. They had a spark. But no, Mara chose Dylan. Who was Dylan? I don't know...some guy that sought her out for no apparent reason. In the end, when he dies, she admitted that she didn't love him. She talks to Tess in the final chapters and they really have a moment. Like, I couldn't be reading it wrong, it was definitely there. And then...Tess is gone. Did she die? Did she run off to start a new life? The book doesn't say.
Well...it ends with Mara being optimistic that Tess is still out there and that she will make it a goal to find her. I guess that's good enough?
You never find out why they were exploding either. Everything just felt pointless.
At one point they brought up this girl named Jennifer Lawrence and how she was wronged...but nothing is confirmed. They don't hint that she could be behind it all. She's brought up to show how cruel they once were.
Maybe I missed something.

The good: It was an easy read, a page turner. I enjoyed shipping Tess and Mara.

The bad: It was fluff. Maybe if I went back in time it'd be more useful...probably not. It felt like the author was doing his best to tell the readers (who I assume are supposed to be high school age) that he gets them. Trying to get on their level. It was just so forced. What high school full of drugs, booze, and sex did he go to? Where are the normal kids?

More Reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23587115-spontaneous

My "Rating": 07.0/10.0

Takeaway: I've got my reading muscles going and I realized that I really wanted to read a sort of adventure mystery (Hello Neil Gaiman!).