Saturday, July 25, 2015

read: THE Star Wars (3 stars)

The Star WarsThe Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a mess. As such, it is an interesting take on one of the early drafts of what eventually became the Star Wars we all know and love (it took years and many revisions of the story and script to make that film). It's pretty amazing that the author and artists were able to make this into something as semi-coherent as it is. You should only read this if you are a giant Star Wars fan and your little fan-boy heart won't be broken when you see the names of your favorite characters attached to almost unrecognizable new characterizations. I had fun reading it.

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Thursday, July 23, 2015

read: The Girl on the Train (4 stars)

The Girl on the TrainThe Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very unsettling and suspenseful story. Written in first-person from the point of view of three female characters, all unreliable narrators, the reader is never certain what is fact and what is a made up. The three men they interact with are also not very reliable. By the middle of the book, it's clear that everyone is a psychological mess and anyone could be responsible for the unfortunate event. In that way, the comparisons with Gone Girl could be fair (I've only seen the film). But thankfully, this book has a completely different twist.

Ultimately, this is a familiar tale. It's just told in a compelling way.

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