i announced i was coming back, and then in typical thea fashion, swiftly disappeared, but worry not! exciting things are happening in my life right now, which have been keeping me from writing and reading as much as i would want.
i am hesitant to share them, until everything is set in stone, but send good vibes my way, because it looks like libra season is coming in clutch! i will be making a big post about my birthday and what happened these last few weeks!
i used to describe myself as a “dedicated blogger” – and i was! i was committed to o, narcissvs, and i was committed to my book reviews, and tv show reviews, and i really thought i could do it alongside everything else i was doing – volunteering, research internships, freelance work, editing… i really thought i could do it all, and do it well.
of course, as much as i thought i could will myself above my mental health, it just didn’t happen. the truth is, in 2018, a little after i sent off my ba dissertation (on the fantastic laurell hamilton), i was completely burned out. i had no motivation to do anything anymore. for a very long time, i thought that the only way to be worthwhile as a person was to always be 150% on, working all the time, producing “content”, and that left me with very little time for myself. i felt guilty for keeping up with my interests, anxious when my work wasn’t returning the great results i always expected. and this blog, which started as a passion project, began to feel more and more like homework. i thought i could update once a week, but that clearly didn’t work out – from the very beginning. i thought i could handle an update once a month, but ultimately, by the time i started my third year at lancaster, i wasn’t writing for o, narcissvs at all. i had to write for my creative writing classes, had to write essays, had to keep on top of the journals i was editing, and while it was one of the most fun and fulfilling years i’ve ever had, it also lead me to realize that i couldn’t keep up that sort of tempo all the time.
in august 2018 i did a writing residence in can serrat in catalonia. it was meant to be a time for me to focus on my writing and reflect. i was horrified to find out my writing reserves were completely depleted. i had no energy to generate new ideas, let alone write them, and while i managed to produce a fair bit of poetry and short fiction during those wonderful weeks, i felt that they were seriously lacking in “soul”, so to speak – the words were there, but even to me they sounded per functionary. i had to make a conscious decision to take a step back from what i was doing, and focus on myself and my own needs.
this blog was always meant as a fun space for me to chat about the things i enjoy, and so when writing articles and reviews started feeling like a chore, i realized it was time to take a break – and by then i hadn’t updated in almost a whole year, and i think – had seriously let some people down because of it.
i’m coming to the end of my ma now, and i feel that the last few years have been so full and wonderful! i want to tell you all about them. my final year in lancaster will forever be in my heart as one of the best years of my life, and my ma at durham has been a dream come true! i have amassed so many memories, thoughts and impressions, so many new friends, and old friends who came back to me through the magic of time. it sounds sappy, but it’s true. i’ve always been a Romantic at heart – i believe in those things.
so take this post as a tentative announcement that i am coming back to the space of o,narcissvs, with freshly baked hot takes. this time, i am not giving myself a posting schedule, and i will put posts up as and when i think and write them up. i want to give myself the freedom to enjoy my hobbies and interests once again, but already i am feeling the pressure of putting up all my takes on the last two years of pop culture into coherent articles.
i don’t mean to alarm you, but 1) the game of thrones finale was good 2) the new star wars is good 3) riverdale is good 3) i have some takes on anime, since that’s an old interest i’ve rediscovered with the help of my friends 4) vampires literally never stopped being cool and 5) fanfiction is good actually, and has been around longer than most of us have been alive.
stay tuned for more divisive opinions on fiction, and in the mean time you can keep up with me on social media @ohnarcissvs on twitter and instagram, or by lighting a vanilla scented candle in front of a mirror and saying “tumblr” three times (only works around 4 am on alternating tuesdays during fall)!
In the summer season, when the air is thick with heat, and all you want to do is stretch out on a beach, with a fruity cocktail, and a good book, Hannah Onoguwe’s short story collection Wine and Water, provides exactly the kind of romantic escape we all need from our every day lives.
Each of the twelve stories in the collection is crafted with a brilliant attention to detail, bringing forward characters, so fully fleshed out and dimensional, you can almost feel them in the room with you. The dialogue is beautifully simple, and easily believable, structured in a way that rings true to many real-life conversations, and all the more powerful for that. Each story presents a self-contained world, painted richly and in broad strokes, fully immersive, and sentimental, bringing about a warmth and love of the backdrop that almost makes it a presence of its own within the writing. With her descriptions of Lagos as a city where love blossoms so beautifully and easily between so many different people, Onoguwe builds it up as a place of dreams, while still grounding it in reality.
While the stories themselves are about love, and romance, they also tackle a number of real, and serious issues, that play an important role in the characters’ lives and decisions. From familial ties and relationships between parents, children and siblings, to the issues of women’s position in society, these problems, represented without sugarcoating, only serve to make the stories stand out more, as literary texts that take themselves – and the subject matter – seriously, and don’t underestimate the readers, giving them a full spectrum of emotions.
There is also something to be said about the way in which Onoguwe crafts her male characters, writing them just as flawed, real, and richly imagines, as her female protagonists. Often in writing romance, authors fall into a trap of endlessly romanticizing the love interest, projecting a fantasy of the ideal man, and forgetting to write a human. In Wine and Water, each of the male characters – lovers, brothers, and fathers is allowed to have an inner world, and an emotional landscape that makes them all the easier to fall in love with- both for the protagonists, and the readers. The female characters too, are afforded variety – they are women from all walks of life, different women, each strong in her own way, with dreams and desires that never looked down on, or considered invalid, with an eagerness and lust for life that is deeply relatable, and incredibly important in a time where ennui seems to be the modus operandi for romance heroines, who are just waiting for a man to save them. These women don’t need a savior, so much as a companion who will share life with them – this is made abundantly clear in “Baggage to love”, a story that brings together two sensitive people, and allows them to be vulnerable with each other, and reveal their feelings despite baggage, and previous hurts.
Overall, Wine and Water is an incredible collection of short fiction that will bring a smile to your face, and allow you to engross yourself in a wonderful world, where love is just around the corner, and everything is possible with honesty, hard work, and genuine faith in people. It’s en excellent read for summer, and offers something to take away to everyone.
I had the unique opportunity to meet the amazing Deborah Smith – the translator of this lovely book, and hear her talk about the translation process, and the Man Booker International, and her own publishing house – Tilted Access. It was a wonderful evening, and I am so grateful to Lancaster University and The Storey for making this event possible.
As someone with a keen interest in a translation, it was very refreshing to be able to speak to a woman who’s made it her entire life, and very affirming to know that you don’t have to be completely bilingual to be able to make words happen so beautifully across languages.
Here is my review of The Vegetarian, which was originally printed in my college’s magazine, and which I asked Deborah to sign for me:
The full review is pasted here:
I was first attracted to The Vegetarian because of the cover – a delicate white bird’s wing in front of a dark red background, calling to me, grabbing my attention. I’d heard of the book before – like every aspiring writer, I check every literary award shortlist obsessively, to see what’s “the competition”, what’s “in vogue” so to speak (sometimes even literally, what’s in Vogue, what are important famous people reading, it’s good to know stuff like that).
So I knew that it had won the Man Booker International, and I knew that it was an incredible translation. I am ashamed to admit that this is my first forey into Korean literature, and it already had so much expectation riding on it. I expected that book to be mind blowing. And it was. Sometimes, a novel slips into your life delicately, making a neat little space for itself, and stays there. When I was trying to explain the book to my friends, without giving too much plot details away, I’d resolve to calling it a psychological novel, but it’s so much more than that.
I recommended it to my housemates (both of them vegetarians), and so they picked it up. “This blurb,” one of them said, “claims that this book is darkly erotic. Is this some type of 50 Shades nonsense?”
When I got the book, I hadn’t actually paid attention to the blurb, but yes – apparently it was supposed to be “erotic”, and of all the things that I’d been expecting from this book, because of all the rave reviews, recommendations, and conversations with writer and translator friends, with all the hype I’d built in myself about it, “erotic” was one word that couldn’t be farther off. So I won’t talk about that. Instead, I’m going to talk about all the other things this novel is.
It’s amazingly introspective. Split in three parts, between the point of view of the vegetarian’s husband, her brother-in-law and her sister, the book chronicles the journey of one average, unremarkable middle-aged, middle-class woman into mental illness, as perceived by the people around her. It all starts with a dream that drives her to give up on eating meat. That one, seemingly innocent action, tilts everyone in her world to look at everything else she’s ever done differently, to find the root of the problem, to figure out what’s made her behave outside the norm.
It isn’t until the final part of the book, where her mental illness is finally named, that the reader can comprehend the depth of her issues. Through the point of view of her husband, she is just an uncharacteristically silent woman, unknowable, a little odd, perhaps, but not harmful as such, until she tries to take her own life. Her brother-in-law, on the other hand, sees her as an object of sexual desire. Perhaps it is in his part that the odd “eroticism” critics seem to find in the book comes into play, but in reality, reading through his chapters, it comes across as merely coercive, and more than a little unsettling, particularly in the part of the book where he, driven by the desire for her, rapes her sister – his wife, and then coerces her into sex, first with another man, then with him.
It isn’t until the final part of the novel, narrated by her sister, that the reader is allowed a glimpse at Yeong-hye not as an object to possess or desire, but as a person, and even that is arbitrary, as In-hye only discusses her sister as an inconvenience. She does, however, detail the childhood abuse that may have spurned her sister’s madness, and finds the words to describe her perceived insanity in detail.
At its core, The Vegetarian is a deeply emotional, disturbing in its detail, look at mental illness through the eyes of its witnesses, without offering them any sympathy for their callous dismissal of the real victim. The writing style, coming through the beautiful translation is intimate and emotional, riddled with lovely description, and stunted, bloodless dialogue which reveals the emotional and spiritual vegatation of the participants. It’s an amazingly rendered critique of society, and a bold challenge to tradition. It comes alive starkly through a masterful translation, and leaved the reader wanting more.
And here is my copy of the book, which Deborah was kind enough to sign as well:
Hey friends,
I’m really sorry I haven’t updated this blog in ages. It’s been a very hectic year for me.
I had an incredible internship, and focused a lot on my freelance work, so I didn’t really have time to maintain this blog as much as I would have liked. Don’t worry – I’ve got plenty of drafts that I can’t wait to post and share with you.
In the mean time, check out my writing for Taylor Magazine, Noise Medium and HerCampus, where I talk about a whole lot of things!
I will put links up in a post soon, and on my Find Me Elsewhere Page.
XX Thea
Over summer I’ve accumulated a lot of new books so I’m making a book haul post.
Apologies for the awful camera quality.
Not pictured because I’ve given them away are:
Not pictured, but I have them as ebooks are:
I will also do a book shelf tour of my Bulgarian library as soon as my housekeeper helps me organise it. If you live in Bulgaria/UK I might be giving away some books so keep your eyes peeled.
I have had five lectures on script writing, film and cinematography as part of my creative writing course. I’m here now to do movie reviews like I know what the hell I’m talking about. Enjoy.
I want to start this review by saying that I absolutely loved Suicide Squad, and I am confident enough in my good taste not to feel the need to defend this statement. I loved Suicide Squad. This review will be split in two parts: Reasons why the movie was awful and Reasons why I enjoyed the movie (some of them overlap, actually).
So therefore, let me present all the reasons why Suicide Squad absolutely sucked in no particular order.
I won’t lie, I know four lectures on script writing and cinematography a movie expert do not make, but from a strictly textual perspective, SuSq had absolutely no plot. It was, at the best of times (and at the worst of times) weak and flimsy and generally just terrible. It served the purpose of bringing all the characters together, and giving them a common purpose, but overall it was just Bad. Of course, unlike the Avengers, it lacked five movies of exposition, but nah. As far as plots go, this one was (as we say in Bulgaria) sewn together with white string (that means bad).
However, as some people say, good actors can and will carry a weak plot. And boy, did they! I can’t not gush about how brilliant Will Smith was as Deadshot – absolutely marvelous. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn literaly blew me away and I’m still recovering – her performance in a limited and overly sexualized role affected me so much I’m considering tatooing Damaged on my forehead in serif italics like so: DAMAGED. This brings me on to my second point:
If you’ve opened a DC comic book once in your life (not a pre-requisite for enjoying the movie, btw) you’d know that Harley and the Joker’s relationship is VIOLENTLY ABUSIVE. Actually, if you’ve been on the Internet even once in anticipation of SuSq you’d know this. And for those people who somehow missed the memo – The Joker Abuses Harley. He beats her, manipulates her, assaults her, insults her, constantly, hurts her, and treats her like shit. This is NOT a love story. Harley Quinn is an abuse victim. In most recent comic book canon she has broken away from him, and is currently involved with Poison Ivy (be still my beating heart!).
That having been said, we (the fans) were promised a movie that portrays Joker’s abuse of Harley. We did not get this. Apparently the scenes where he lays hands on her didn’t test well with audiences – big shocker – can you believe the general public doesn’t want to see a realistic view of a woman being hurt by her significant other, when they can just as easily ignore that anything is wrong and romanticize a relationship that is, fundamentally, founded on violence? I mean, we can’t even, as a society, pull together enough to recognize that toxicity of real life abusive relationships, let alone ones we see in fiction.
I love the Joker as passionately as any twelve year old boy with a hot topic obsession, but the way SuSq showed his relationship with Harley was a BIG no for me.
In fact, SuSq did Harley dirty in many aspects. She was eye candy with a sad backstory (kind of like El Diablo, but minus the tired racial sterotypes). From oversexualizing her to the point of being actually uncomfortable (and that’s hard to do in contemporary Hollywood films because EVERYTHING is oversexualized), and downplaying her trauma (and using it to – make the Joker seem romantic?), the movie betrayed all expectations on the Harley front. I’ll go as far as to say that Harley in SuSq was just a continuation of Margot’s character in The Wolf of Wallstreet (and like, not in a good way. At all). It was unfortunate. Hyperfocus on her body, and her ~quirky~ one-liners took away from what could potentially have been a very strong portrayal of a female character with a lot of agency.
Overall my verdict on Harley was: very pretty, lots of fun, I squealed every time she was on screen, but if you spend even a second thinking a bit deeper about her, you will get sad and upset. Enjoy her character at face value.
But SuSq betrayed all its female characters. So:
Karen Fukuhura is an angel – she is literally an angel. She did the best she could with little screentime, and a poorly strung together presentation. I loved her – or rather, I would have loved her, if I knew what the hell is up with her character. I’ll admit, I am a fake geek girl – I know maybe 5 things about DC comics. I didn’t know anything about Katana before seeing Suicide Squad, and I definitely didn’t know much more about her after I saw it. I thought her look was pretty sweet, I thought she was super badass, I just wish I knew how did she get involved with the Suicide Squad project and how her (tragic) backstory ties her in to the rest of the characters. Just, you know, things and stuff. Another plot hole that sadly remains unfilled. I liked that she spoke Japanese instead of thickly accented English, and that most people on the squad understood her/didn’t make a fuss about it – I thought it was a nice touch. And her fight scenes were pretty cool too. Just really wish we knew more about her.
Enchantress/June Moon was a big ????? for me. I get it, we need the possession storyline so Cara can realistically play a South American (?) lady, but that also took away from both characters. In fact, the entire Enchantress storyline (the plot line meant to carry the movie – and failing spectacularly at it) was so tired, weak and overly unpleasant I prefer to pretend it wasn’t there. Literally. So wait, June touched an ancient artifact, brought a thousands of years old witch into our world, and the witch decided to wipe away humanity because she is no longer worshipped as a god, and she brought the spirit of her witch brother to help her do it, but her heart isn’t in her body (??) and she must reclaim it to reclaim her full power and THEN she can wipe away humanity and um – reign supreme over a desolate planet, I guess? Ok. And so Annalise Keating decided “Hey, you know what sounds like a totally great idea that literally can’t go wrong? We’re gonna take this witch, who is overpowered as all hell, and try to control her, using her heart (which will give her her full power back if she reclaims it) and we hope if her vessel body does the sexytimes with a good looking military man that will be enough to reign her in. Brilliant, this cannot go wrong!” (This is why you’re being investigated for like 75 murders on HTGAWM, ANALISE!!!!!!!!)
Um. Can y’all tell how I feel about this plotline? Listen, Anne Rice already did this in Queen of the Damned, okay? That movie EXISTS (kind of). This movie exists right down to the hypnotic ~exotic~ arm-wavy dancing in front of a big glowy thing. Trust. It was a moderately okay movie. It also involved a lot of leather and Hot Topic. Lestat in it was a better Joker than the Joker here.
So yes. I’m pulling the plug on the Enchantress storyline. It didn’t happen. Cara Delevigne was gorgeous though. She did her best.
HOWEVER, I really loved Viola Davis – playing a tough as nails woman in power suits her. I keep calling her character Annalise, but the truth is, Amanda Woller is badass on a whole other level. I don’t even care that we didn’t get the backstory on this lady, I just wanted MORE of her. Seriously. She was brilliant. More, more, more.
HOLY SHIT, STRAP IN, if you thought my review so far was pretty negative, just wait until I say my piece about the Joker.
First let me say, that I do NOT support Jared Leto in any way shape or form. I think he is a transphobe and a rapist, and a generally subpar actor, with a bad work ethic, who is unprofessional and straight up harassed his colleagues. The only reason I paid money for the movie is because I wanted to support all the POC in it.
Secondly, I am a BIG Joker fan. Largely what got me into fandom (tumblr) was seeing The Dark Knight and loving the Joker so much.
That having been said, for all the hype, could he have possibly been any more bland and disappointing as the Joker??????????? Nah, I don’t think so, but it’s obvious he tried. I’ll try to break this down in order but tbh it all overlaps a lot.
4.1. The Look
Ok, I’m a basic bitch, I actually liked the look, sue me. But it just wasn’t – it wasn’t J, sorry it wasn’t. With his slicked back evenly touched up at the roots hair and artfully smudged Ruby Woo MAC lipstick, and his spotless gloves and pimp cane don’t get me wrong, he looked COOL, he just didn’t look RIGHT. He looked like a fashionization of the Joker (if anyone has seen the fashionization art Kevin Wada has done for Marvel), not the real deal. The tattoos were a neat touch, but again – Not The Joker. He was like a sullen dead-eyed male model off the runway of any ~edgy~ new fashion line. The Joker is supposed to be the living embodiment of Chaotic Evil, he doesn’t have time to do the Jefree Star and Nikkie Tutorials make up challenges what are you DOING??
I want the costume department to come talk to me. I swear I just wanna talk. fight me
And his living space? What. Was. That. What???? MY ROOM IS MESSIER THAN THAT AND I AM NEUTRAL EVIL AT BEST. The neat writing on the wall looks as intentional and well-done as Luna Lovegood’s pretty artistic renditions of her friends, the arranged assortment of knives and guns, while very very pretty and intimidating, is 1) impractical 2) not the Joker at all – I mean, just assuming that he has the attention span to put all his weaponry in plain sight like this for purposes other than cleaning it/preparing to maim somebody –why would he? Ok maybe he doesn’t need a reason, he’s the Joker, let me rephrase – why would the Joker feel the need to arrange all his weaponry like this to um – indicate –his grief (?) for Harley, when he barely gives two shits about her?
Has whoever made the room arrangements watched too much of Phantom of the Opera in designing this more Spartan version of the Phantom’s haunt? Has Jared read too much 2010 Joker/OC fanfic off the Internet?
4.2. The Manner/Voice
Coughing purring and growling like a prepubescent boy was as poorly thought-out as every other aspect of this Joker. Being touchy-feely without actively causing grave physical injury – even more so. This Joker was a the lovechild of Heath Ledger’s Joker and Tiago Silva in Skyfall. A lovechild that was then tossed to the wolves, and somehow emerged a slick, twisted, but not the least bit terrifying, impressive, or intimidating character, ready for the A/W runway of a lesser known designer in Sofia Fashion Week.
There was none of the disjointed movement we grew used to with Ledger (who to me is the ULTIMATE Joker, because as I said I am basic), or which characterizes the one in the animated series, and none of the barely contained danger in Jack Nicholson (who is the ULTIMATE Joker, comic-wise).
4.3 Harley
Ok, I’ll admit seeing him kinda sorta give a shit about Harley was nice in the same way in which Christian Grey obsessively chasing Anna in 50 shades is nice- aka, not at all. I’m sure any fifty-something mom who took her sullen teenage son to see the movie thought it was nice, and maybe even shed a tear with Harley when we all thought he was (blissfully) dead and we wouldn’t have to suffer through another minute of this poorly executed rendition of a beloved villain (I shed a tear of happiness), but. But.
Like, I said before, HE BEATS HER, JANET. Yeah, I will keep coming back to this. I don’t care that the physical abuse wasn’t in the movie – there was plenty of evidence of the toxicty of this relationship that I’m sure girls who don’t know better will interpret as romantic. The Chemical Wedding was visually stunning, but also, originally, he shoves her in the containers. AND he was going to just LEAVE HER THERE. That’s not nice.
He does physically damagae her – what shooting electricity up someone’s skull isn’t considered abuse anymore, or?
He offers her to one of his um – business ? associates? – yeah, that’s just an excuse to fuck the guy’s shit up, but he treats her like a commodity (the MOVIE treats her like a commodity, we talked about this). She’s just property to him. He’s not trying to get her back because he misses her – he just wants all his stuff to be in one place – another sharp shiny thing in his collection of knives. And if you think the Joker doesn’t think of Harley like this – as a pretty shiny object that he can use and discard as he pleases, you are NOT paying attention.
(Unrelated, but Harley screaming “I can’t swim!” and him crashing the car in the water anyway – just nah.)
4.4. The Entirety of the Joker altogether:
It was just bad. It was just. Just Bad.
“But Jared didn’t have a lot of screentime!” I’m sorry but if you’re playing the Joker, even if you have all of 5 seconds in the movie, you should be able to leave a lasting impression. BATMAN left a more lasting impression, and he was actually in the movie for only 5 seconds. Batman. Can you believe this?
That having been said, I actually enjoyed the Joker, the way someone on a diet enjoys a greasy McDonalds burger. It was bad, unsatisfying, and definitely not as good as advertised (+ my absolute loathing hate of Leto colored every second of the movie experience), but I also kinda liked it, and I don’t like that I liked it. It was bad, fam.
The movie was a lot racist.
5.1. Slipknot
First nations representation had all of 3 seconds of screentime (still more memorable than the Joker) and got killed? Are you kidding me? What, we couldn’t have killed off the creepy Australian? It HAD to be the actor of color? Really?
5.2. El Diablo
A lot of very bad ethnic sterotypes went into this one. A lot. I don’t have to point them out, he was written like a Trump campaign ad. We need a wall to keep fire weileding drug lords out of our country. I’m sure it could have been handled better.
5.3. Katana
I already talked about her, and I loved her but still – a lot of her portryal relied on racial stereotypes and she got pretty much no development, no matter how badass she was.
5.4. Enchantress
The possession thing – don’t tell me we couldn’t have found a South African actress to get possessed instead of Cara, whom I love, but I still need to say it.
5.5. Oh, you know what I’m sure there’s more than what I picked up on, but I’m white and really what I’m pointing out here is stuff people have already pointed out. It just bears repeating.
Now let’s mention some things I actively enjoyed:
He came on screen and I said “Daddy!” (ok i didn’t, but I thought it). Handsome, clever, quick, and funny and generally a lot better developed than the other characters, he was BRILLIANT, his chemistry with the squad was incredible, and he single handedly redeemed the whole movie. Just thinking about how good he was now makes me want to delete all the bad things I’ve said so far.
And his backstory? Aw! Who doesn’t love a guy who loves his kids?
AND his chemistry with Harley specifically was so nice and refreshing after the dead-eyed tired performance of ~romance~ they tried to shove down our throats with her and Joker.
While I still maintain I’d have liked him to get killed off over Slipknot, I found him kinda funny, and not bad to look at. That I don’t remember his character’s name speaks more about the movie and his role in it than me being a fake geek girl. Edit: his name is Captain Boomerang. Lame.
Yes, he was written full of poorly handled racist tropes, and bless the actor for doing his best with what was given to him – he was actually a great character? I genuinely enjoyed him. Sad eyed, tattooed and genuinely remorseful? Also the Guy with the Coolest Powers in the Whole Damn Film? Yeah, I loved him.
And that line about not losing another family? Are you kidding? I may have teared up a bit. He was so good. I wanted more of him. Like, a lot more.
Yeah, so, after complaining about Harley was handled, I can also point out that Margot Robbie’s performance was some next level shit. Good actors carrying a bad plot – she did that. Boy, did she ever do that! Even though her character was written as a purry sex kitten (Hollywood is doing her a gross injustice by typecasting her like this), she managed to bring some dimension, and work with the unfavorable one-liners and skimpy outfit to bring Harley to life as more than a two-dimensional crazy ex-girlfriend. Plus, acting like you’re in love with/attracted to Jared Leto – wow. Where’s her Oscar already?
Yes, it was bad. Yes, I enjoyed it. This is an indefensible statement. Where do I turn in my Joker Fan badge?
He was cool.
She kicked ass. She kicked ass, and I loved it. I want her to kick MY ass next. She was amazing. Aside from her poorly executed plan to control a magical entity with the powers of a god, I mean. Brilliant.
Overall, I give the movie a 7/10, I loved it, I’m definitely seeing again soon (actually by the time this review goes up I might have seen it again already). It was bad, but sometimes you just need to see some bad cinema and let yourself enjoy it. It can’t all be conceptual European cinema all day every day. Sometimes you just need to see a hot blonde lady in shorty shorts beat the shit out of some mud monsters with a baseball bat. Who else is crazy excited for the Harley Quinn solo?
My favorite thing about the Anita Blake series is that each book builds off from the previous one, but if you happen to skip a book or two, LKH’s descriptions and recaps will helpfully fill you in, and then throw you to the wolves. Or the plot.
Circus of the Damned is one of those books that sets up one of the more far-reaching plot arcs in the story, but you wouldn’t know it when you read. Skipping it on my first read through of the series taught me the important lesson that in the ABVH world everything is of crucial importance.
COTD introduces one of my favorite secondary characters – Stephen Deitrich, who is absolutely delightful to read about, and who also forces Anita to acknowledge and examine her anti-werewolf prejudices. It also brings Richard to the stage which. Whatever. In book 24 now, he’s just starting to redeem himself to me, and he has a rather long way to go, but that’s fine, because in COTD he’s likeable enough, and if this is your first time reading through the series you will definitely end uo rooting for him. (Don’t trust Richard Zeeman!)
COTD brings to the stage a few very important players, and continues to expand the already established supernatural world, but more importantly – it sets up the continuing appearance of the Vampire Council in Anita and Jean-Claude’s life. I am a die-hard fan of the old school vampire genre, where more often than not there is some type of ruling authority established in the old decrepit halls of rotting European castles. Anne Rice brought us Mekare and Maharet and Akasha and Enkil, and to a lesser extent some Dracula adaptations brought us the Order of the Dragon. LKH gifted us the Vampire Council, who will later serve as a prototype of the equally terrifying Authority in True Blood.
The Earthmover is to my knowledge the most ancient vampire written in the genre – a vampire so old he isn’t even homo sapiens definitely trumps however many measly millenia Mekare and Maharet used to have on everyone else. He can probably contend for most ancient supernatural baddie period. His only competition at this point are the Biblical figures in Supernatural. Of course, given how old and powerful he is, it takes Anita the whole book to defeat him and bring him to heel, which she does beautifully.
There is something very satisfying about reading how the good guys win, and Anita fighting fiercely, this time not only for herself, but also for Jean-Claude was absolutely wonderful. Wether she wants it or not, she now has something to protect, and that is a huge step up for her from the first book. Slowly and with attention to detail, Hamilton begins to shape her into the character we come to know and appreciate in alter books, but it starts as early as the third one.
Even though it’s a long time until Anita actually heals for good, or even begins healing, rather than just aggresively opening old wounds, it all starts with COTD.
I’m one of those people who really just can’t do much of anything without a good soundtrack, and I have a long long list of songs I listen to depending on what I’m doing, but really, there’s only a few that I play on loop to get me in the zone when it comes to writing, be it fanfic, original, or meta.
Here is my favorite writing and reading music, and also the characters I relate it to, in no particular order:
The first time I was listening to this song, I was reading Venus in Furs, which is hailed as the first BDSM novel, and the origin of the term “masochist” (derived from the author’s name, Sachter-Masoch). From then on, this has been my soulful but kinky romance song, and I usually put it on when angst-filled pining-heavy sensual scenes are about to happen.
Characters I associate it with: Narcissus, Venus, Theo Decker, Boris Pavlikovsky
Lana’s lyrics are sheer genius as far as I’m concerned. This song just has a very sad Gatsby-esque vibe, so obviously, I play it whenever I’m reading about sad young men with broken hearts and dubious morals, and when I have to write about them. For some reason I also really associate it with Nathaniel Grayson, even though the lyrics have nothing to do with him as a character. It’s just one of those things, I guess.
Finally an anthem for the murdering club siren, thanks to Queen Bey. Every single song from Lemonade is pure gold, and the Warsan Shire voiceover is bone-chilling, but something about this song in particular just makes me want to write some good old-fashioned vampire-centric horror. I mean, the lyrics are pretty stright-forward in that regard. I’m waiting for YouTube content-makers to grace us with some Santanico Pandemonium dance edits.
I am only putting this on the list because it’s my favorite moment of Only Lovers Left Alive, and it’s a very beautiful song and melody. It’s a reverse mirror of Sanatnico’s dance scenes in From Dusk Til Dawn, and it’s also so wonderfully shot and choreographed. It’s really less about the song, and more about the feel of it.
The official Joseph Kavinsky anthem, as far as I’m concerned. Also, my favorite song from Halsey. Incredible lyrics, combined with her beautiful voice, and just an very haunting all-around feel. I put it on when I write introspections or freestyles. It really gets me going.
The official Andrew Miniyard anthem, for obvious reasons. My other favorite song from Halsey, and the one I listen to during introspections and freestyles if I feel like I’m bored of Gasoline. They have a very similar feel.
Pure poetry. The beat, and the lyrics, and the uneven rhythm, combined with his deep raspy voice make for a great listen when doing pretty much anything at all. This is my “bad guy writing” song, but since pretty much all my characters are bad guys, it’s more of a “character is dealing with the fallout of a bad action” song, and it really makes me feel some type of way.
Characters I associate it with: Lestat, Spike
Soulful childhood romance featuring a queer couple – more like, Troye’s entire discography waxing lyrical about suburbia. I love it, and it really sets the mood for just straight up (but not straight) non-genre fiction.
Characters I associate it with: Gregory and Stephen Deitrich, Jason Schuyler, Adam Parrish
Historical settings and violence, and dissatisfaction, and a deep sense of having be cheated off of something, and pretty much every time I write old souls in young bodies, I just can’t not put Lorde on. “I’ll show you what this big word means” yes, please, please show me, I’m drowning in SAT vocabulary trying to elevate my style.
Characters I associate it with: Armand, Henry Winter
Is this the desginated sexytimes song? It should be. Everything over PG-13 pretty much happens to the tune of the Bedroom Hymns. Florence’s music in general is great when I’m writing more spiritual things.
Characters I associate it with: Hannibal Lecter (don’t ask), Francis Abernathy
I like listening to the same music over and over, so the list is rather short – these are the songs I’ve been listening to the most lately, when I write. If you liked this post, and want to see similar, please let me know. I’m still figuring out what I want this blog to look like exactly, so any feedback is appreciated.
I am hopelessly behind with reviewing the ABVH series, and at this point I probably won’t be able to catch up, given that I’ve just started an internship, and have also committed to reviewing some other books (and I have also increased my reading list by about eighty titles). That having been said, I am not behind on the reread, and so, let’s dive right into the thick of it – the laughing corpse that is.
In pretty much all my ABVH rereads I always end up glossing over it, skipping parts, and overall just not paying much attention at all, and I’ve never been quite certain why. While I love all the ABVH books, there are some I definitely like more than others. TLC is not one of them. This time I forced myself to pay attention and finally realized why – the villain is just too creepy, and too unsettling, and so he throws off the whole experience for me (kind of why I have a thing about the books that feature Olaf more heavily, actually).
It is definitely a testament to LKH’s writing genius, that she’s been able to craft a villain so incredibly upsetting that it’s stuck with me for over six years. In fact, it’s even more impressive because when I first read TLC I was a lot younger and had a much bigger tolerance for cringy stuff that I now avoid at all costs. Gaynor is absolutely deplorable. Some villains you might try to excuse, try to find a redeeming quality. He is not one of them. Echoing the disturbing portrayal of the Joker in The Killing Joke, Gaynor is, simply put, absolutely certifiably terrifying in and vile in his treatment of women, and of everyone in general, and nothing felt quite as satisfying as Anita smoothly (or not so) dispatching him at the end of the book.
The ending is actually my favorite part of TLC. Anita’s jump in powers, but also in ruthlessness and the cold calculated savagery of her actions is what hooked me on this series to begin with and this is one of her more gruesome actions. Violent and merciless, she shows once more why she will later earn herself the name “War” among preternaturals. Her cold and unbothered behaviour when questioned by Dolph and Zerbrowski is even more impressive. This is definitely not the Anita of the first book – in this Anita we already see some of Obsidian Butterfly!Anita peek through, and it’s sufficiently terrifying.
While far from my favorite in the ABVH series, The Laughing Corpse is an excellent continuation of Guilty Pleasures that will doubtless endear itself to anyone who enjoys a classic thriller with gruesome murders and an “interesting psycopath” as the main villain.
o, narcissvs 