To Kill a Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
1960

The Summary

For young Scout (Jean Louise) Finch, growing up in Maycomb county of Alabama presents its share of difficulties and joys:  playing pretend in the front yard, struggling to understand grown-up antics, trying to convince the mysterious Boo Radley to leave his house, reading the newspaper with Atticus, her father.  But The Great Depression has left its indelible mark, and one court case may very well change the course of history for the Finch family.

The Good

Harper Lee's novel is absolutely beautiful.

Told from the perspective of Scout Finch, a young girl living and growing up during the Great Depression, when hope sometimes seems at its lowest and equality seemes to appear only periodically, To Kill a Mockingbird opens the door on a world struggling to cope with new ideas and old cultural values - and children trying to cope with old ideas as they try to form their own.

Besides depicting a moving, heart-wrenching tale of growth and experience and portraying one, crucial court case that will rock the county of Maycomb to its foundations - and change Scout's and her brother's (Jem's) lives forever - Lee also creates a host of endearing and memorable characters.  And, through the voice of Scout, Lee brings her characters to life, fashioning a dynamic and beautiful piece of literature in the heart of one, tiny Southern town in Alabama.

To Kill a Mockingbird is more than a memorable book, however, it's an iconic novel about race, religion, class, gender, and learning to balance all these things in the earliest parts of adolescence.  In short, it's a novel about growing up in a world tinged by racism and prejudice and learning how to rise above it

The Bad

Some harsh language may appear; however, the most dramatic - or, rather, traumatic - episodes will occur in the latter half of the book with the trial one Tom Robinson, a man falsely accused simply because of the color of his skin.  The fate of Tom Robinson, and the results of his trial, are certain to put an ugly spin on an otherwise wonderful book.

The Ugly

Bob Ewell.

If you've ever had the opportunity to read Lee's novel, you'll certainly know what I mean.

An Abundance of Katherines

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An Abundance of Katherines
John Green
2006

The Summary

Colin Singleton, a young man gifted with an exception skill for mathematics and anagrams, has realized his relationships can be categorized by one word, a name:  Katherine.

Not Catherine.  Not Cathy.  Not Kate.  Just Katherine.  And there have been 19, all of whom have dumped him.

But, now recovering from Katherine XIX (19), Colin is on a mission with his best friend, Hassan, to prove the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability and, more importantly, escape the dreaded name of Katherine - and, maybe, survey the tome of a dead archduke.

The Good

John Green's novel is hilarious and witty, well-written, well-executed - a fine piece of literature to read, savor, and enjoy.  Not only does the author provide an enjoyable setting, unique in its design and characters and back story, he creates exception characters who are easy to know and, more importantly, love.

Both Colin and Hassan have a sense of humor that's undeniably funny, and Lindsey is an easily enjoyable accompanying protagonist in the tiny town of Gutshot.  More to the point, the small footnotes applied throughout the book, explaining Colin's past, his thougts, and his ideas concerning his latest mathematical equations, give the novel a unique feel and tone.

It's funny, it's sweet, it's memorable.

The Bad

Although this novel is relatively mild, there are some mature themes.  You'll find some language (at times thinly veiled, and at other times not so thinly veiled), alcohol use, and mentions of sex.  As expected, not for an exceptionally young audience.

The Ugly

Break ups can be pretty ugly when it gets right down to it.  You'll find a lot of collateral damage - and, sometimes, black eyes.

The Children of the Sun

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The Children of the Sun
Maxim Gorky
1905

The Summary
Maxim Gorky's play tells the story of Protasov (Pavel), a minor Russian aristocrat and obsessive scientist, and his family as they weather the trials and tribulations of a particularly  frightening affair:  political uprising and violent protests.

The Good
Much of Gorky's play is told in good fun (or satire, as the case may be) - and Pavel is amusingly forgetful, terribly evasive, and frighteningly obsessive, even while he tries to avoid the attentions of Melanyia, a young widowed woman with her eyes now set on the married Pavel.

The awkward conflicts between the two are certain to garner a laugh, or, at least, a passing giggle.

Additionally, it's funny how often the characters of Gorky's play clash and rebound, ricocheting wildly against each other and their surroundings as they attempt to find a more comfortable place in society and acclimate to the changing social climate - even as they fail miserably at the latter.

The Bad
Honestly, reading Children of the Sun is a bit of a chore.  While the play has its moments where it amuses and enchants, it more frequently discourages with its seriously flawed characters, its dissatisfying conclusion, and its criticisms of human nature - or, more accurately, its criticisms of corruptible human nature within society.

It's interesting and potentially enlightening, but, ultimately, it's difficult to read and remain entirely attentive.

The Ugly
Although Children of the Sun is tinged with comedy, the characters of Gorky's play seem doomed to encounter tragedy and, more importantly, doomed to remain caricatures of a flawed, human society.

For instance, Pavel, a dedicated scientist, can no longer see past his experiments to even stop his wife from leaving.  Liza, afraid to trust the world and enjoy life, chases away the one many who loves her.  Melanyia, widowed and prowling for a new husband, spends her days tailing after a man who is not only married but couldn't possibly love her in the first place.

And that's not even half of it.

In between the miscalculations and missteps and mistakes, you'll find madness, violent protests, social upheaval, sickness, death, and suicide.  It's a concoction of tragedy that will leave you reeling - and not altogether satisfied with its conclusion.

Bonus: Looking for Group

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www.lfgcomic.com

Looking for Group (LFG)
Ryan Sohmer
Lar Desouza

The Summary
Written bi-weekly (Monday and Thursday of every week), LFG is an online comic following the misadventures of Cale, an elf bent on changing the world, and Richard the Warlock, a fun-loving guy who is the Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead, and Mayor of a little village up the coast.

Together, they make new friends - like Benny, a sorceress of questionable parentage, and Krunch, a pedantic and philosophical Bloodrage - and make use of hilarious pop-culture references, burn innocent villages to the ground, and take on the tyrannical Empire that lives next door.

Not necessarily in that order, but you get the point.

The Good
Looking for Group is simultaneously hilarious and witty.  As I said, many of the characters make use of pop-culture references - anything from the most recent internet fads, like Gangnam style, to Star Wars to Lord of the Rings to political blunders - and show a blatant disregard for terms like "good" and "evil."

The characters, too, are amusing.  Sarcasm is simply one of Benny's many gifts, and Richard has a way with absurdity that makes him more just another gloomy warlock.  They each have qualities that make them endearing and memorable, if only a little kooky and crazy.

Although I don't quite understand the lingering importance of the rabbit, I think the overall narrative is amusing, well-written, and well-executed with beautiful full-page illustrations that make the comic an enjoyable, cohesive product.  The story sometimes borders on absurd, but it's memorable - and entertaining - nevertheless.

The Bad
Occasionally, Looking for Group can be strangely serious.  The overarching narrative, as well as some of the background stories and character flashbacks, can prove to be fairly heart-wrenching.

Occasionally, it's also difficult to reconcile Richard's absurdity with the actual damage he causes - and, more to the point, the comic can easily make twists that jump from absurd, to bizarre, to serious in a matter of a few panels that can make the comic seem slightly bipolar.

Although the comic is fine for the reality of life and death, good and evil, it dashes into the mix, it can sometimes be difficult to embrace both the jokes and the undercurrent of serious fantasy that exists beneath it all.

The Ugly
As I've pointed out, Richard isn't the nice, wise, temperamental wizards (like Gandalf, or Dumbledore) that we all know and love.  Richard is - well, he is Richard and he is a Warlock and he likes to kill things.  Especially small defenseless things.

So, in the interest of being candid, Looking for Group has a lot of violence involved.  Maybe, it's the local empire that's committing genocide or, maybe, it's just Richard defending himself from an orphanage, but, either way, you're not guaranteed to find a whole lot of "nonviolence" involved.

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For more information on Looking for Group and other projects undertaken by its creators, check out www.lfgcomic.com.