Tag Archives: fiction

Jul 22 2010

My Review of “The Host”

I have gone without reading any fiction for almost a year. It was high-time I picked up another novel, and with my new iPad, I wanted to test reading an e-book. I shopped around for The Host, and found the edition and price I was interested in from the Barnes & Noble e-reader bookstore.

Reading on the iPad is great. Granted, it was a learning experience, to read a 560 page book on an e-reader has it’s pros and cons. But I foun I had the hang of it before page 100. I’m glad I invested in the e-book format. I know now from experience that I can recommend e-reading. It really isn’t all that different from a hard copy, if your eyes are good.

The Host is the novel by Stephanie Meyer—the author of Twilight—she has written since she finished the  Twilight novels. The Host has nothing to do with vampires. This book is about an alien species that takes over the human race on earth. Really, it’s about one alien of this alien race, and her experiences with the human race, as she comes to favor mankind over her own kind.

In a clever way, the story is an update on the premise of Jekyll and Hyde. The idea with the classic Jekyll and Hyde is that there are two personas in each person; one good, and the other evil. Only one controls the heart of man at any given moment, but these two demeanors are in constant war with each other. This is just the tip of the iceberg with the Hyde story. I recommend you look into it for yourself. It’s a great novel.

In The Host, while there is not this sort of literal split personality like that of Jekyll and Hyde, there is a metaphor for it. The alien’s soul is like that of, maybe, somewhat like the holy spirit, actually. The heart of man is still present, and so the human heart, and the alien soul, are at odds continuously in the main character. Now, this is how the moral values are represented. This is not necessarily how the social and cultural differences of the characters are metaphorically represented. There’s a lot of science fiction to the story of The Host. That said, it’s much more than just a sci-fi flick. There’s drama, romance (not half as much as in Twilight), and suspense.

I like a good story that explores the conflict of the human heart. Man’s soul is basically evil. The Bible says so. It couldn’t be any clearer. However, we are either ‘ruled’ by our fleshed—the evil side of human nature—or we are living in the Holy Spirit, and our Lord lives through us; thus making it possible for us to do good. In so doing, as the Lord lives in us, we are ‘dead’ to the flesh. The metaphor found in The Host is great for expanding one’s understanding of such a spiritual dynamic.

While I do think that the Twilight series is a great work about great characters with a weak story (at times) I think something different about The Host. The Host is a great work about mostly great characters with a great story. So the strength of The Host is the overall story, and some of the characters are weaker than those found in the Twilight stories.

Do I recommend you read The Host? It is slightly more ‘mature’ than the subject matters of Twilight, while still being easier to grasp and easier to discern. A world of vampires with their complex moral ethical controversies are harder to deal with than the pure and simple outrageous possibilities of the aliens in The Host.

So, The Host is good for high school graduates, young adults, lovers of science fiction, and those that simply enjoy Stephanie Meyer stories. I’d give The Host ★★★½ out of five.

Mar 6 2010

Interpretation Continued: Objectifying Morality in Fiction

Building on a proper understanding of the genres of fiction, and a thorough appreciation for the whole of stories and there individual scenes, let us look now at the culmination of morality in fictional works to interpret the intent — message/meaning, if you will — of a story.

Morality is one of the stickiest issues for religious people to cypher whether a story is a good one to read or watch. We get lost in the minutiae wondering about the suitable age range for audiences; whether the story is “Christian” enough; whether the villain’s worldview overwhelms that of the hero’s; we total up the number of expletives in the first act; we count the number of square inches on our TVs that are covered in a splash of blood in a bit of violence…. Continue reading →

Feb 25 2010

Interpreting Whole and Individual Scenes in Context

In a family flick, there might be a scene where the six-year-old daughter complains to her daddy that she doesn’t wanna go to a birthday party. First, she wines about it, but quickly this turns into tears and chewing the tips of her fingers; while her Dad struggles to pay attention to something else—like his smartphone telling him that his boss wants his head on a chopping block. Continue reading →

Feb 24 2010

Knowing Your Genres (for Interpretation)

Genres are slices of a whole life view. Life can be romantic, hilarious or haunting at times, but individual lives are not all these things at once. To make it easy for storytellers to communicate with their audiences, storytellers tell you stories using a small selection of human emotions, conditions, and details that reflect qualities we see when we’re feeling especially romantic, humored, frightened, etc. Continue reading →

Feb 23 2010

A Proper Interpretation of Fiction

I know. This post’s title sounds thrilling, doesn’t it? Don’t get too excited….

Readers interpret the meaning of stories beginning with the opening line of “once upon a time.” In some cases, with stories that are intentionally transparent and simple so all audience members will understand them with limited focus, this is easy. For instance, a good comedy won’t make you think too hard about its intended meaning. Continue reading →

Feb 9 2010

Real Life People — Fictitious Lives

One of the incredible attractions to creative writing is the opportunity to flesh out characters and lives that otherwise don’t exist. Ah, the power of the written word—with just a few words typed out anyone can make up a mythical persona. Fictional people, whether they be characters in a novel, childrens story book, or elsewhere, inspire real life people to greatness.

We are drawn to fictional lives because fictional people have nothing to loose and their lives are an open book (no pun intended, honestly). The fake man has no reason not to be honest with the real man. Authors can divulge sins of make-believe characters without offending those people in the real world. Then, they can express the depths of the struggling spirit to overcome all obstacles without being too dramatic for the real world, so to speak.

Thus, when I create a fictional character, I aim to tap into the greatest depth of human emotion, intelligence, and spirit. The artificial reflection of fiction serves a great impact on our own lives; the non-real inspire us to make the virtues of the non-real real in our own lives.

Nov 30 2009

The Christian Character of Sherlock Holmes

I do not delve too deeply into my undying interest in classic films on this blog. I find them to be most tasteful, thought-provoking, and pleasant movies in general — movies that proceeded the invention of color, and those just after color came to screen. Alas, today’s readers, and web community at large, hardly understand or appreciate classics of any nature. People of any generation, it seems, are consumed with what’s modern for them. Back in the day, Shakespeare plays were modern and exciting to audiences that had the pleasure of being the first to watch a Shakespearian play. Today, we consider such classics as ancient even before we’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing them, watching them, or seeing them for the first time. Continue reading →

Sep 28 2009

Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The Harry Potter series of books is completed. When the series was hot discussion in years past, little did people know where the series was headed. I’ve heard fans and those disenchanted of the stories amongst Christians. Obviously, a story relating a system of magic is not one to be taken likely for Believers. Magic in the real world is supernatural. Real world magic is either spiritually good or evil. Real world magic is usually engrossed in some form of religious worship — and not worship to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Literal vs. Fictional Magic
In fiction, magic usually takes on fictional characteristics that are inconsistent with real-world magic. While there are stories that relate ideals of magicians, wizards, and witches to be true and good, a many “hocus pocus” stories don’t want to be all that literal. Is Harry Potter attempting to be literal magic or fanciful? Is Harry Potter propose that magic is truly an acceptable, universal, truthful, and positive force of the “real” world?
It doesn’t seem so, based on the telling of the first installment, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” A lot of imagination and creative ingenuity tell a fantasy of a young boy called to a specialized school of magic in a dimension set apart from the world of non-magical people. Most of the magicians in the story are fictitious, and their magical methodology is non-descript. The teachers of magic at this fictional school say that there is a good magic and an evil magic. The evil use of magic is usually called “the dark side of magic.”
Sound similar to another popular fantasy? In relation to how the magic all works in the Potter book, it frequently reminded me of the force in Star Wars. Do Christians everywhere have a moral problem with the force?
Yes. Christians should understand that the supernatural in the real-world is what the Bible describes. There is not an abstract force governing the destinies of man and alien throughout the galaxy. Darth Vader is a fantasy character. So is the evil wizard Voldemort of the Harry Potter fables. If Christians are struggling with what is real and what is fictional when they hear/see these stories, they have major struggles with discernment and probably shouldn’t enjoy such stories. If you have sense and know where to draw a mental line between just good imagination and reality, I don’t think that the fictitious laws of morality and magic should hinder one’s understanding of the real world.
What’s to Like About the Story?
Harry Potter is an intricate story well-told. It’s good youth fiction that adults may enjoy to read as well. The distinctions between right and wrong are mostly consistent with those of the real world (magical or no magical forces). Several mysteries are introduced in this first book and just enough of them are answered (and some unanswered) to keep people entertained and interested in continuing the rest of the series. The characters have good dynamics (relationships). Side characters that appear to have little relevance in the beginning have significant developments of their own throughout and to the very end of the book (before the end of the story, you realize just how important seemingly insignificant characters are).
Harry is tested many times over with making simple, yet difficult, ethical decisions. Faced with bullies, family, peers, trolls, and magic itself, Harry must practice discernment to make the wisest choices in his unusual circumstances. Harry doesn’t always make the right ethical choices, but given his developments we see Harry learns from some of his mistakes; making progress towards maturity in his early youth (I think Harry is supposed to be eleven in this book).
Adults in the school that are meant to be role-models have high expectations of their youthful students. While not all children are positive examples to other students, all children are expected to practice self-control and face their academic and social challenges responsibly. It would seem (because it is implied) that the children are not only taught magic but given a moral standard of the right and wrong use of it — quite a feet for this alternative school to pull off.
What’s Not to Like About the Story?
Given this is a magical, fanciful world of magic, some times I would like to know what’s at the foundation of the magical universe and what governs it. It’s not clear that the world Potter lives in does or does not have God, or a force, or something that defines absolutes. Absolutes are all throughout the story, but you’re left to assume their meaning to life without knowing why there is meaning — there just is.
At times, legendary icons of magic history are mentioned from history. Most of these people named are real-world men and women of history (some aren’t) and in all their cases they really weren’t good examples of moral upstanding. One magician mentioned as a “great from the past” is Agrippa — Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (c. 63 BC-12 BC) [ADD LINK]. If the Agrippa mentioned is the Agrippa of Rome, you can see why conservative and Christian families would object to uplifting such a foe as a positive role-model of times past. Agrippa may not be one of the more notorious historical figures, but there’s little saintly about him either. I’ll also note that it is clever in the story to mention real-world historical people because it returns interest to the real-world and history, but it is misguided at the same time in this book (in my opinion).
In “The Wizard of Oz,” it’s stated very clearly that “there are good witches and there are bad witches….” This statement does not make up for the fact that it isn’t true in the real-world, but it does make it clear that Oz is very different from the real-world. In this story, witches and wizards are just professions, as it were, and it is the individual witch and wizard that is judged on their own merits as good or evil. This is basically the same scenario as in Oz, but it isn’t as clear an explanation. Very young children might not pick up on this position in the story, and thusly respond more open-mindedly to witchcraft in the real-world.
What About the Movie?
After I finished the book I saw the film. Here’s what I think: it’s consistent with the book, but not as well-told or thorough. The book is rushed at moments in the film. Relationships of characters, places, events are not explained, so you are left assuming a great deal more from the film. In favor of the movie, there are excellent elements of cinematography, special effects, and soundtrack. I could tell a lot of effort was put into the film to drive the audience’s interest back to the books.
Conclusion
It’s not a story to be taken lightly. There are good reasons readers should gird their minds when reading the book, but no reason why the story cannot be enjoyable, insightful, and scrutinized by readers. More story-telling like that in the story of “The Sorcerer’s Stone” could lead to some very positive reinforcement of good, clean values and beliefs.

sorcerers_stoneThe Harry Potter series of books is completed. When the series was hot discussion in years past, little did people know where the series was headed. I’ve heard very opposite opinions about the stories amongst Christians; whether it be for good or evil for readers. Obviously, a story relating a system of magic is not one to be taken lightly for Believers. Magic in the real world is supernatural. Real world magic is either spiritually good or evil. Real world magic is usually engrossed in some form of religious worship — and not worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Continue reading →

Aug 18 2009

Reading is the Best Practice for the Creative Writer

I have wanted to be a writer since I was twelve. I had a obsession with the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. I couldn’t get enough of Jimmy Stewart’s role of George Bailey, and I so wished there was a novel adaptation of the movie so I could delve deeper into the world of Bedford Falls. Since there was none, I wrote my own adaption.
Continue reading →

Jun 25 2009

Jeckyll and Hyde Revisited in Teenage Vampire Tale

By popular demand, there is a new monster story on the rise to classic literature claim of fame. The Twilight saga, by Stephenie Meyer, is one of the more recent captivating tales about a world with vampires and werewolves. Already a completed series of books, with the potential of further expansion, Twilight is recognized as a hit with young adult audiences everywhere. Of the four books in the series, one has already had a movie adaptation with sequel installments well under way.

Continue reading →