Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

I went into the read thinking that this was going to be an action novel for some reason. The title is very provocative and the movie promos feature a very dynamic-looking female character. I’ve done my best to stay away from details about this book so I really wasn’t prepared for what I encountered.

Spoilers below:
Since I was expecting an action novel, the ploddingly slow start was confusing. The prose is not unpleasant, and the details are interesting, but there is a lot of explaining and talking without anything much happening. This goes on for more than half the book.

When I finally realized that I was going to be reading a murder mystery and a financial mystery, I pretty much knew right away what the resolutions were going to be. The set up for both story lines are pretty obvious. No, I was not prepared for the exact specifics and how disturbing the crime portion turned out to be, but those plot revelations always had to be told to us. They were not ones that we, the readers, could have figured out on our own. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is that kind of mystery.

Overall, the book was readable and fairly entertaining. I did read late into the night because I wanted to find out what happened. But I do have trouble with the questionable pacing and the lack of depth within the main characters.

I know that this was a first effort, and that Larsson died before the manuscripts ever reached an editor’s eye, but for me, it would have been a pick-up-and-put-down novel. I’m still not sure why it has just caught fire around the world. Thanks to the reputation of the series, however, I will have to give the second book, The Girl Who Played with Fire, a try.

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Return of the Dapper Men changes what we will think of when we think about a graphic novel. The volume itself is hardbound with raised cover elements and high quality paper. It is a beautifully made book that feels like one to keep.

The visuals are also so unique and created with care. I’m not usually one to linger over images within a graphic novel, but I did for this one. Janet Lee, the artist, applied a unique style, which is nicely explained in an extra spread at the end of the book, to their creation.

Her multi-layered cut-out process complemented and added to the fairy tale/parable tone of the overall story, of which the basic premise is: Anorev is a town that’s wrong. Seemingly, an 11-year-old boy and a robot girl are the only ones who can feel it.

It is an ambitious effort that is worth your time, but… the scarcity of plot details is what makes it fall short for me. The mystery rolls along well while reading but the pages will frustratingly leave out reveals and answers on purpose. We’ll pick up right afterwards to deal with the consequences.

I understand playing with genres. It’s a trend in today’s works, but for me, I still think fairy tales and satires need themes and arcs.

It felt like Jim McCann was trying to get there but even after a few days of thinking, I still don’t know if he had anything specific to say about ideas like destiny, growing up, embracing differences, and change.

There are leads and hints aplenty in the story line. I would like more resolutions, both emotional and plot-wise, to make the reading experience more satisfying.

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Just Kids is the story of the very interesting relationship of two very interesting people. Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe found each other in 1967 New York City and formed a bond that would last beyond a lifetime.

They were just kids, and they knew they had artistic destinies to fulfill. But there were a lot of realities, such as rent, food, and obscurity, standing in their way.

The New York scene breaks, but it also provides. Guiding lights, such as Allan Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, and Andy Warhol, inspired and taught, both directly and indirectly.

I don’t think we can take this book as the whole truth because Patti Smith is writing with goals and a perspective. This book is a celebration of talent, passion… and Robert Mapplethorpe.

But the lack of reliable veracity doesn’t prevent it from being a wonderful work of art. Patti Smith strove to become a poet, and this book reads like a poet’s tribute—to a time, to the artistic spirit, to a love, to a man.

She is a moving writer, one who can say so much without a lot of words. And even as she piles credit and influence on Robert, I never lost the sense that she was anything less than an equal in their partnership. I never felt she was weaker than, less deserving, or less of an artist than he.

She’s produced a work of which she should be proud. I’d like to think that Robert certainly is.

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