Teen Fiction: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

My research has lead me to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, teen fiction written by Carrie Ryan and I am quite enjoying it.

Granted, there are some tell-tale markers of teen fiction that I am struggling with. The use of personal pronouns can be a little overwhelming at times, with most sentences beginning with "I went", "I think", "I decided to" etc. and this can slow down the pace of the novel. There is also a tendency to over-explain things slightly.

However, the main difference that I expected, that of tone, is not nearly as pronounced as I anticipated. The novel does not condescend to the reader and in fact does quite the opposite. It takes it for granted that the reader will keep up with the pace of each ontological level.

It is this dynamic that gives power to teen fiction. By twinning the previously mentioned markers that force the reader to slow their pace a little with this trust, the novel achieves two feats. In the first place it is an appealing read with much depth. In the second, the teenage reader is drawn along in such a way as to improve their skills for dealing with narrative. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is an example of a novel that shows the way forward without seeming to force the reader down that path.

Teen fiction surely has its bright lights and Carrie Ryan should be considered amongst them.

-The English Student

A Bi-Polar Weekend

This has been some of the strangest 48 hours of my life.

The previous Thursday and Friday were difficult ones for me. Others had felt the strange vibe building around those days, with unusual weather and unusual events. Saturday morning and afternoon was absolutely bizarre, with my attempts at study completely thwarted by the anticipation of a bit event that evening. That event in itself was ridiculous, moving from the absolute dejection to absolute jubilation in the space of two hours. Following that was a party that married a huge celebration with unfortunate issues bubbling to the surface. This morning was a hang over, followed by very kind words from friends (and even some freshly baked cake from one of them!) and a fixing of the issues of the night before.

A few hours ago I finally slowed down a little bit and felt the weight of the weekend hit me. If you will pardon my language, it was an emotional shit-storm. My mood was rocketing from one extreme to another at a seemingly dangerous rate. Thankfully I was aware of this whilst undergoing the oscillation and barring the end of last night which was subsequently addressed, I managed to maintain a good level of control.

The key seems to be ensuring that when I am on a high, I understand that it does not make me invincible and when I am a low, it is a temporary one that I will be able to weather. The weekend was marked by extremes where I am afraid that I lost sight of these issues. But by and large, by keeping them at the forefront of my mind I got through the weekend and am able to look back on it as an excellent one.

Perhaps I can begin to embody this sensibility without it being at the forefront of my mind and thus find some level ground.

-The English Student

Thoughts on the New Danger Mouse Album

My initial thought is that this album is not out yet.

That said, Danger Mouse is once again testing the limits of music distribution. His new album with Daniele Luppi is streaming online through various websites and most interestingly, youtube. The usual nonsense of links within videos on youtube has been put to good use here. You are presented with a menu, much like a DVD menu on which you can choose a track from the album or allow it to play through itself. This allows the whole album to load, while also offering high quality tracks and therein, the best possible advertisement for the album.

My initial impressions of the music are largely positive. The resonance with Enio Morricone cannot be avoided and nor should it, with the choir of "The Good The Bad and The Ugly" and "Once upon a Time in the West" reunited for the album. Couple the contemporary spaghetti western vibe with the guest voices of Jack White and Norah Jones and you have a recipe for something very unique indeed.

Unique, however, just does not ring as accurate for the album. I have been wondering if I should just listen to some more Enio Morricone instead of this somewhat unoriginal connection. But then again, this was never meant to be a blazing trail into new territory. It is instead, slick, polished, smooth and thoroughly enjoyable on its own terms. As an homage then, this is a wonderful project.

I wonder if I can find the money and wherewithal to actually buy it.

-The English Student

Attention Monopoly

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan last Monday.

What else happened on that day? Protesters were killed in Syria and the rift between rebels and loyalists in Libya widened. These are the only two developments that I remember from that day and in truth, they are based on a following of these news stories for the past few weeks. I partially blame my own blinkered vision on Monday for this, yet the sheer volume of attention that the death of bin Laden garnered necessarily pushed everything from the front page of sites and papers.

With good reason, too. The reaction to this event is far-reaching and has serious ramifications for everyone in both the 'west' and 'east'. I am not saying that these stories should not be given their due space and news outlets will obviously be in competition with others for the most succinct, original and in some countries, extreme piece on the event. It makes good economic sense to devote this kind of space to major events.

Yet I cannot help but wonder what the tyrants of the world are thinking when they see such dominant headlines. I do not know if Gaddafi was particularly violent on this Monday or if Syrian security forces cracked down even harder on protesters and I would be willing to bet that most people in the world do not know this either. Was such a news story a carte blanche for such regimes to enact brutalities on a people that would go largely unnoticed? I do not know and I do not know how this would be mitigated.

At any rate we should be aware of this trend and not allow dictators one moment free from the global gaze.

-The English Student

Alternative News Blogging?

Real news became ancillary news this weekend.

I will not engage with my usual effort to avoid naming certain events with the thought that they have garnered enough attention and do not need my own. Instead, I wish to name and shame the royal wedding in the UK this weekend and how certain news outlets dealt with the event. Throughout this post I do not wish to dampen the joy and fun that people gained from the event. If UK citizens wish to celebrate this wedding they are within their full rights to do so and it is always a good thing to see a country unified in joy.

It is not, however, acceptable for this particular news story to absolutely block out the rest of the world. One site in particular caused me a great deal of frustration. This site frequently live blogs on certain events. I have often left their live blog on middle eastern politics open in the last few weeks as it is both informative and updated frequently. On Friday, however, there was a blog devoted to everything that was not royal wedding related. I skimmed through this blog and found entries on Libya, riots in Bristol and other big events happening throughout the world. It was, in short, a blog of the news.

When did the news become the secondary factor of a news website?! The media itself has been quick to point out that this wedding was a massive reality television show on a huge stage. Yet surely with this self-awareness, these outlets need to consciously address the balance when relating news. If people wish to submerge themselves in royal wedding 'news' for the whole day then a royal wedding live blog would have been a brilliant way to do it and would have allowed people nonplussed by the whole affair to equally, avoid it.

Allowing oneself respite from the harrowing events of the world is understandable but that should not lead to a wider ignorance of the world.

-The English Student