Kay Drew's Views

It's been a long time since I was impressed by a novel, but at the moment I'm in the midst of reading an exquisite book that mixes fantasy and history that has a dash of horror thrown in for good measure. Miss Peregrine's House for Peculiar Children is the title of Ransom Riggs's novel about Jacob, a teenager who witnesses the brutal death of his grandfather. The story doesn't end there, though. The loss of the grandparent is just the beginning of Jacob's spine-tingling journey. As the months go by, Jacob is lead to Wales. There, he discovers the truth behind the stories his grandfather used to tell him. He learns that reality is stranger than fiction and that monsters just might exist outside of the psyche.  What he sees and experiences, I'll let you find out for yourself. This book is too brilliant to spoil; besides I haven't finished it yet, thus I'm still experiencing Jacob's journey. I will warn you, this book is very hard to p...

To continue with the idea of surprises in stories, I'm going to focus on Kindred by Octavia Butler. Now, for anyone who hasn't read the book, I will be revealing much about the story (including the ending).  This is fair warning to you all, if you don't want the end ruined, click away from this entry. Thank-you. Kindred is this story of an African American woman, Dana, living in 1976 California with her Caucasian husband. While moving into their new apartment, Dana suddenly finds herself whisked back through time to the Antebellum South and in the presence of her ancestors. She unwillingly travels back in time on 6 separate occasions. During her time on her ancestors plantation, Dana learns firsthand what it was like to be a slave all the while trying to keep her ancestor - Rufus - alive long enough for Hagar (the direct descendant) to be born. Her job is not easy because Rufus tends to get himself into a lot of trouble. Every time his life's in danger, she gets ca...

All right, to continue with the surprises theme, I'm going to look at another television show because I see a great transition from my last blog entry to this one. You might wonder, 'What is she talking about?' or 'Where is that transition?' I'll tell you. It's the Others. These Others are different from Lost's. They didn't live on an island. They weren't crazy and take people. Nope, they helped people. They all have special gifts that they used to communicate with the dead or solve mysteries. They lived in a college town and most had jobs and tried to live normal lives, even though they had special connections to the supernatural world. It was a short run show that was brilliant written and crafted. It came out the same year as Nicole Kidman's movie, The Others, but it was quite different from the film, even though Ms. Kidman's movie got more hype. The Others, the movie, was just about ghosts while the TV show dealt wit...

This week, I'm going to write about surprises in storylines. I love a good surprise. I want to think, "I didn't expect that", or "Wow, that was cool", or "Why didn't I think of that?" The bigger the surprise is and the more shocking it is, the more I enjoy it. I think it takes a brilliant writer to craft a surprising plot twist that is believable and works. A shocking revelation has to fit in if it's going to succeed. I've seen a few scenes that were shocking that didn't live up to my expectations and fell flat. However, I'm not going to discuss that. I'm going to discuss plot twists and surprises that I enjoyed! But, to start the week off, I'm going to look at the season 3 opening episode of Lost - A Tale of Two Cities I believe the episode was called. It starts out, as you will see from the clip below, in a village with a woman named Juliet as she prepares for a book club meeting - we watch her get dressed, pull burn...

I have not seen this film yet. All I've seen in a trailer for the film and also a little blurb in the Sunday paper. However, from what I have seen and read, it sounds brilliant. It looks heartwarming and funny. I'm sure there are some heart wrenching things in the film as well. I love the concept of telling the story of a day. To have the main character as a thing, as time, is just brilliant. The whole film celebrates humanity and how richly full the world's life is. It makes every insignificant moment feel it truly matters. The promo video makes me feel connected to humanity and appreciate the world we live in. It makes the world appear more beautiful, brilliant, and vibrant than I could ever imagine.    Even though this is a documentary, there is a distinct story to this piece. There appears to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. I will assume the film starts out with the day and ends with the night, but that's beside the point. I will also assume it starts with a...

Inspiration can come from anywhere or from anyone. Some might find inspiration in art or music, while others might find inspiration in people. For those who get their inspiration from people, just want a novel to read that isn’t for class credit, or just enjoy reading memoirs, than Erin Zammett’s novel, My (So-Called) Normal Life is wonderful choice.             She is a witty, passionate young woman who is just twenty-three. Her wit and passion shines through her words in this nitty, gritty and truthful novel about her life with cancer. Zammett is rarely down in the mouth about her life or her cancer nor does she have any major pity parties because of what she has been dealt. She takes a lighthearted as well as a very real approach to what she has.             Yes, she has cancer. Yes, she has to take medicine. But, no, she does not let the cancer or the medicine stop her. ...

History is not just the events that took place; it’s the written account of what happened. Writers often put their own spin on the past, be it for political reasons or personal ones. Shakespeare isn’t excluded from the history altering group. His reason for tweaking history was to appease Queen Elizabeth I and then King James I, whom both he served. There are several plays in which this “tweaking” is obvious. On such altered account is in The Tragedy of Richard III . Shakespeare crafted Henry VII, Elizabeth I’s grandfather, to be a hero by killing Richard III and ending the War of the Roses between the house of York and house of Lancaster. Shakespeare was trying to show that the Tudor family, Elizabeth’s lineage, was powerful, as well as protectors of the innocent, therefore appeasing Queen Elizabeth.             Richard III wasn’t the best leader, although he was not the barbaric man portrayed in The Tragedy of Richard III . He ...

Here is something different. This is my take on Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. “Where am I,” wauled the babe tersely. In the dark, her eyes shined with unshed tears. “I liked where I was. It was nice and warm.” She toddled forward with an unsteady walk. “Can anyone tell me? Tell me? Tell me?” “Oh, oh, oh, dear Alice, you are at the tea party,” exclaimed Hatter Mad. He slapped his gloved hands together as a opossum smile crept over his mouth. “And here you will stay until the end of dazzling days.” With a wave of his hand, the clearing was no longer dim. “Then to the white, wonderful wispy skies of Heaven.” “But, what if I don’t like tea?” demanded the minor. She stared crossly at the mountainously tall man. He smiled at her as tea cups rained down Atop the lengthy table which was decked desirably. “What then?” “You don’t like tasty, translucent tea? Oh, well swell,” sighed Hatter Mad. He stared at the trees hued in emeralds and majentas Where a corpulent ca...

            Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a book that had a message to convey. This message is that people are trying to stifle us – to make us robots. There are many characters in Kesey’s book who are at first submissive to the world around, but in the end they begin to fight “the system,” and the world sees these people as crazy. In the beginning of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , Chief, the narrator of this tale, knows that the world is trying to make the non-conformists kowtow. He tries to fight it, but Chief does not know how to go about rebelling (Kesey, 2002, pp. 3-8) until Randle Patrick McMurphy shows up. McMurphy is a gambler, loves intimacy, a good drink and freedom. He believes that the world is wrong to make people submit, and McMurphy is not going to stand for it. Randle Patrick McMurphy is a man who is an individual in the way he thinks and acts.       ...