Black Hole by Charles Burns

I read Black Hole for my graphic novel class. I had never heard of, and had no idea what to expect. Although it doesn’t have page numbers, Goodreads says it is 352 pages long. It felt a lot shorter than that, as it moved extremely quickly. I finished it in two sittings. However, the content makes it seem longer — this was a strange book.

I honestly got confused with this plot, which isn’t something I can say about a lot of novels. This may have been, in part, because of the fact that two male characters (and even the main female character) all looked alike — they all had black shoulder length hair with short bangs. I plan to go back through, and reread the novel again knowing that the two guys, Keith and Rob, are not the same person. Now this may have been a hard mistake to make for some, but it made things a little confusing at first for me.

I believe the basic plot takes place in the 70s and is structured around Rob and Chris, who have a rocky start to a relationship, and their various friends. The other possible main character is Keith, who I figured out was a separate person from Rob about halfway in… All these people are somehow dealing with a type of ‘bug’ or disease that is being spread through sexual contact/saliva that physically disfigures people in strange ways (facial restructuring, growing new body parts — Rob’s second mouth, for example). This was really odd, and not well explained, but interesting all the same. This disease is incurable, and makes people social outcasts. Many who have it resort to living in the woods, stealing food to get by, and avoiding normal society.

One thing that really struck me about this book was, unsurprisingly, the artwork. Partially because the characters do drugs quite a bit, and also partially due to the weirdness of their world, the artwork was beautiful and mind-opening, and just absolutely wonderful in every way. I know it sounds like I’m fawning over the art — probably because I am. One character does artwork throughout the book, and you get to see some of it, and even that is wonderful in a weird, disturbing way. I spent much longer taking in the details of the strange layout (when Rob is tripping on LSD) than looking at the words that just described what he was seeing. The panels start to get wavy, start to weave into one another, and start to change shape when things get trippy — I feel this was a fantastic way to help the reader know what the characters were experiencing.

If you don’t have an open mind about drugs, sex, and horrible teenage actions, I would warn you away from this book. However, if you are open to that sort of thing, I would highly recommend it. Even the ‘sexual’ drawings, shoot, even the art from the pornographic magazines, didn’t feel out of place or negative. It all fit in so well with the content of the story, that I think it really worked. The only downside (if I can even call it that) is the confusing plot. I think on a second read, everything will clear up a bit. Though I know some of it won’t — that’s part of the mystery of the book; the full spreads of black pages with a few white, spiraling objects makes you question the story, the characters, and their motives. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and definitely plan to reread it soon.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I read this book a year ago on a recommendation from a good friend. I did not know what I was getting into.  It has 213 pages and measures about 7 x 5, which makes for a nice, compact book. It is an epistolary novel, in the form of letters from a person that we’ll call Charlie to a person that we’ll call the reader for lack of a better name, and the narrative fits the story quite well.

If you’re the type of person who likes to watch the movie after reading the book… The Perks of Being a Wallflower film stars Logan Lerman as Charlie and Emma Watson as Sam and will be  released in September of 2012. I will admit I’m excited to see it, because my favorite minor character, Bill, is being played by Paul Rudd, who is one of my favorite actors.

The story focuses on Charlie, a boy of 15 who is going to be in high school soon, which causes him anxiety. He doesn’t have a lot of friends, partly because his best friend recently committed suicide, and the girl that hung out with them has changed a lot to fit into the high school ‘scene.’

Charlie does manage to make a few new friends… Sam and Patrick and a few people they hang out or party with. Charlie is introduced to drinking, drugs, sex, and lots of great music through these friends. He also connects with his AP English teacher, Bill, who recommends many books that help set the tone of the novel, the most obvious being Catcher in the Rye, which I think heavily influenced Perks.

There is so much in this book that feels personal to me that it is a little difficult to review. I thought that perhaps on the second reading, in light of what is revealed in the epilogue, I wouldn’t like the book as much. It surprised me then that I enjoyed it even more than the first time. I find Charlie and the typical teen angst and self-pity he experiences relatable. This is a quiet book, though Charlie learns a lot and manages to grow throughout. It is a great story about going through high school freshman year as a wallflower, which I know I can relate to.

The epistolary style helps break up the novel, and makes the ‘average every day’ high school life seem less routine. It’s a relatively quick read, only in page number though, because the emotional roller coaster I feel when I read this book make it seem so much longer, so much larger a narrative. I only have one problem with the novel, and I can’t really share it because it would be a pretty big spoiler. Overall, though, the story and characters work really well and I would absolutely recommend it. However, note that you should be in the right mind set when you read it… Charlie is truly a self-pity machine, a wallflower, an inactive soul. If you can’t empathize, you might have trouble enjoying his character.

I find that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is really quotable because Charlie has profound thoughts and Chbosky writes them brilliantly simple. While I could throw in dozens of my favorite quotes from the book, I will leave you with just one:

“It’s kind of like when you look at yourself in the mirror and you say your name. And it gets to a point where none of it seems real. Well, sometimes, I can do that, but I don’t need an hour in front of a mirror. It happens very fast, and things start to slip away. And I just open my eyes, and I see nothing. And then I start to breathe really hard trying to see something, but I can’t.” – Charlie

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

Disgusting, disturbed, gross, horrifying, insane, weird, wonderful. There are many ways I would describe Diary, these are just a few. For anyone who has read Palahniuk before, this probably comes as no surprise. I did enjoy this book, but was also definitely put off by it. If I were to recommend it, it would be with great CAUTION. Know what you are getting into before you read it.

I don’t want to give anything away, so I will do my best to avoid spoiling any major plot points for those I haven’t scared away from reading this novel.

I love his covers, they are so interesting. The white front lifts up and the back of it reads, "Where do you get your inspiration?" in black and white with the same font as the cover.

This book is set up as the diary of a middle aged woman named Misty Marie (Kleinman) Wilmot. She went to art school, met Peter Wilmot, her future husband, and dropped out when she got pregnant. They moved to Peter’s hometown of Waytansea Island. This is almost a dream for Misty — she has always been painting and imagining living in a wonderfully big, beautiful house. She was attracted to Peter’s ‘old’ wealth and his strange jewelry — big brooches and necklaces made of fake sparkling rubies and diamonds.

However, where the diary starts off, Misty is miserable. Her husband tried to kill himself, and failed. He is now in a coma, which leaves her with lots of debt, a low-end job at the Waytansea Hotel, a young daughter, Tabbi, and Peter’s mother to take care of. This lends a bitter tone to the novel. Waytansea Island is running out of money, all the old money is not going to last for much longer, and Misty is not dealing with it well. As she says,  ”A couple drinks. A couple aspirin. Repeat.” It really is a miserable, bitter, almost angry (although Misty is a little too cowardly to be angry) book.

I think that’s where I can’t go any further. I will say that this novel is riveting. I could barely put it down, I was so interested in finding out what happened to Misty and why Peter had written mysterious, threatening messages on all the summer homes he dry-walled. Diary draws you in and doesn’t let you go until the very end.

Again, I would only recommend this a huge caution sign. If you don’t like strange books, if you don’t like Palahniuk, if you don’t like conspiracy theories, if you don’t like hearing about bodily functions, if you don’t… I could go on… then be warned that this book might not be for you. For anyone who this doesn’t apply to, or who likes to read books that challenge their views, then this IS for you! I personally enjoyed it quite a bit. Although it grossed me out on occasion, that didn’t bother me or deter me from finishing. The story is so compelling that even if I was disturbed, I could not stop myself from finishing.