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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated The History of Wolves in Books

Nov 3, 2017

The History of Wolves

Emily Fridlund | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Compelling and rather odd

History of Wolves is a coming of age story that will resonate with many people. Linda, mostly left to raise herself by hippy, laid back parents, lives in Northern Minnesota, on grounds that used to belong to a commune, of which her parents were members.

Linda is 14, melodramatic and poetic. She's somewhat obsessed with a classmate, Lily, who spread rumours that their teacher, Me Grierson, molested her though this is questionable. Linda's narrative often veers off into dark corners, and the way the story is told (going back and forth, from teenage Linda to older Linda, reminiscing) only serves to increase the feeling of unease as the reader continues through the story.

The girl also spends a lot of time babysitting Paul, a toddler who moved into a cabin across the lake with his mother, Patra. Paul's father, Leo, is often working away, but when he arrives, Linda's relationship with Petra becomes strained. Patra's youth becomes glaringly obvious when her older husband appears. As a reader you're aware that something terrible has happened, but author Emily Fridlund trickled the information into your mind, keeping you reading until the end. The story surrounds Linda feeling both as a victim and a wrongdoer.

It's not the best Man Booker long list read as at times the narrative is far too disjointed. But the author writes very well.

Kudos

graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Every House is Haunted in Books

Feb 15, 2019

Standouts:
Cabin D - Intriguing beginning gave way to fascinating ending.
The Nanny - This just made for a neat ghost story.
The Cat - I could use a cat like this, but I don't know if I'd survive.
Charlotte's Frequency - Creepy and weird. Me likey. After reading, I wondered who'd win in a Cat vs. Charlotte battle. <spoiler>I vote for draw, or else they team up and annihilate humanity. That's probably more likely.</spoiler>
The Tattletail - Kinda cute, actually.
Inheritor - I kinda saw where this was headed but it still made for a darned good yarn.
The Candle - Appropriately creepy and a good book ender although I'm not exactly sure what the heck happened.

Ho-hum
Autumnology - I get it, but I think I'd get it more when I'm an old geezer. Physically, not just in mind.
The Dark and the Young - This was just too long and explained things too much but with little point.
Woods - I liked the thought behind this but the ending just didn't do anything for me.
Relaxed Best - In a different anthology, I might have liked this better as I like noir, but I just didn't care for where it went.
Twillingate - Meh.

All the rest of the tales fell somewhere in between awesome and meh, but even in the Ho-hum category, I didn't actually hate any of the stories.
3.5 stars

Kudos

Andy K (10823 KP) rated Deep Rising (1998) in Movies

Aug 4, 2019

Deep Rising (1998)

1998 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

6.7

(11 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I love me a creature feature!

A wise-cracking boar captain is hired to bring a band of mercenaries out to sea for an unknown mission. He soon finds out there are several large bombs on board his hull. Meanwhile on a nearby large luxury liner, someone has sabotage's the ships instruments so they are now dead in the water. A beautiful thief is also captured and locked in an inner cabin of the ship.

When the small craft arrives, they notice all the ship's crew and passengers have vanishes do the force of an unknown entity. Once they discover what has happened and what is involved, they have to try and escape the now sinking ship quickly to save themselves.

Treat Williams and Famke Janssen lead the pack here of a very entertaining creature feature in the vein of The Relic, Mimic, Phantoms, The Virus or other films of that era.

Very entertaining as long as you don't think much about it or are able to accept the premise and story as is. The SFX are of the time period. Not great by today's standards or even of those like Jurassic Park which was made years earlier. They are not as bad as The Rock in the Scorpion King (man was that awful)!