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gluckenstein's reviews
125 reviews
Cell by Stephen King
3.0
Read this closely following The Mist (in a Soviet magazine publication that cut sex scenes), and the ending to Cell ("Zona Pokryttia" in translation) looked to me like a blatant retry of that novella's ending.
Cujo by Stephen King
2.25
Feel-bad thriller with some stuff about adultery, and class differences, rather banal wrt/ the former, and underexplored in case of the latter. Just not enough thematic cohesion to justify the bleakness imo. And the nihilistic bleakness registers as a problem because while the novel is stylishly written, it's not that suspenseful.
The Cursed Hermit by Kris Bertin
fast-paced
3.0
This solves first volume's problem of having a little too much on the plate, too many mysteries and supernatural plots vying for your attention. Spotlighting fewer members of the main cast and going all in on the trippy horror sequences are also laudable features.
But thematically this is, unfortunately, very rote. "Relics of pariarchal and colonial past were still very much alive in the 90s and it is very, very bad." Whatever. I am too old for this shit.
But thematically this is, unfortunately, very rote. "Relics of pariarchal and colonial past were still very much alive in the 90s and it is very, very bad." Whatever. I am too old for this shit.
Burning Chrome by William Gibson
fast-paced
4.0
Judging from this, William Gibson formula is:
1. (stylistically) lotsa casually dropped jargon.
2. (structurally) "present-time" adventure interleaved with the "you must be wondering how I've got here" backstory.
3. (content-wise) computer- and brain-controlled/assisted (multi-)media experiences (wetware!).
4. (content-wise) PoV male character, prominent female character and melodrama about their complicated relationship.
Some notes on how it's used (or unused) in different stories of the collection:
"Johnny Mnemonic". One of the least faithful to the formula stories not in terms of content (pretty on-brand, pretty cyberpunk-ish!) but in spirit. If there's a lot of bleaker noir overtones in the last leg of the collection, this story in its structure and tone resembles rather a post-80s action comedy where a "badass" woman turns some schlub's life around, making it more interesting and fulfilling.
Didn't care much for this, even if it's obvious why it's this story that got the higest profile film adaptation. Players in this crime thriller's game of cat-and-mouth, as well as their surroundings, succeed at looking "cool" but not much else - I didn't find any character's backstory intriguing in the slightest.
"Gernsback Continuum". This can be read as Gibson's explanation for why creating (what probably was perceived at the times as) his own aesthetic from scratch instead of developing the one passed down from Asimov or Heinlein. As this is just a sneaked-in essay in a short story form it doesn't share a lot of hallmarks of other stories: Japan-dominated wetware-obsessed near future gets swapped for the present, consequently no futuristic jargon is dropped (although at one point the PoV character coins a term for a vintage architecture flourish). Still, there is kooky a woman who gets the plot going, though her relationship with the protagonist is long-distance for the majority of the story.
"Fragments of the Hologram". Sadly, had trouble connecting with this one. Very literary-minded, it seems. A man's life story in a dystopic future and crumbling of his relationship, told out of order. Very similar to what science fiction magazine stories turned into later (let's say in 2000s-2010s), so, I think, the shock of the new it might have had is completely gone - what remains is just not very memorable. However, I observed a huge similarity to the movie "Strange Days" (Ralph Fiennes pining for Juliette Lewis parts) and that Japan is made to look really shitty here with that one small "indentured servitude" detail.
"The Belonging Kind". Another weird aberration, in terms of mode and sci-fi subgenre. Kinda funny, if slight. Not much beyond a character sketch and some notes on wardrobes of different scenes (subcultures) of the time.
"Hinterlands". A little off-brand because it's about real space, not cyberspace. Also, interestingly, it's the only one where prominent female character occupies the role of a comrade, not some variation on a (quasi-)love interest etc.
The story is a little plodding (and all in all it's very much a much less effective rendering of what Frederik Poul did with "Gateway" and Strugatskys with "Roadside Picnic") but a horror story is a nice change of pace for the collection. Also, it concludes with an instance of a human body transformed/repurposed, so that, I guess, is pretty Gibson-y.
"Red Star, Winter Orbit". The second and the last space story. Japan as a geopolitical juggernaut and Russians as badasses - two motifs of the collection - both make prominent appearance here. Plot and structure stray far from formula making me guess this story had Bruce Sterling at the helm for the most of the writing.
Future Soviet "Russia" somehow outpacing the United States while described in lotsa ways as an extention of its dispirited 80s form seems pretty preposterous if curious (transcriptions samisdata and psikushka are also inspired), and I didn't care for some of the obligatory cliches (the protagonist is a Russian badassTM so of course you gotta include how he "used to" (he's old) "drink like a hero") but the story gets kudos for being one of few where plot is involved and not a straight line.
"New Rose Hotel". Simple in its purity. A very light science fiction elements, unobtrusive near future setting, basically a noir with Japanese corporate espionage instead of double indemnity. Basically perfect, with the titular setting and fatal heroine being very evocative.
"Winter Market". This is a classic art prodigy tragedy set in Gibson's signature world of wetware. The tragic resolution is foregrounded in the structure to shift focus to the protagonist's sorting out his complex feelings towards the heroine, which are pretty intriguing. Strangely for such a melancholy piece ends on something of a gag, although it arrives at it pretty naturally.
It's funny that Gibson was such a Japanophile that he couldn't introduce a pretty universal concept of "garbage" into the story without calling it "gumi" and retelling a history of Japan's garbage island (in his defense, the story was probably less well-known at the time).
"Dogfight". Another collaboration. There's no backstory-present-day jumping in this one, and no attempt at relationship complexity (well, the characters are teenagers). This is a gruff, perfectly orchestrated cautionary tale where a youth learns there's more to the world that personal success. Conflicts between characters' self-realization goals and class backgrounds are all supposed to manifest or be catalyzed by them going for the same resource (a performance-enhancing drug). It's all crystal clear plotting. Maybe, even too clear by half. The story's climactic moment is unnecessarily gross for YA fodder but the story is too single-minded and superficial to be very stimulating for adults. The story's strength is in some of its images, while the story's world, harping on American anxiety's of "forever wars", poor treatment of veterans, and growing income inequality didn't prove a draw in itself.
"Burning Chrome". Hacking scenes in this, somehow even less convincing than in "Hackers" (1995), are pretty cringe. Doesn't help that the thriller part of the plot isn't particularly meaty or involving. But the relationship drama saves it. The three-way relationship between principals is intriguing enough and the story doesn't overstay its welcome.
1. (stylistically) lotsa casually dropped jargon.
2. (structurally) "present-time" adventure interleaved with the "you must be wondering how I've got here" backstory.
3. (content-wise) computer- and brain-controlled/assisted (multi-)media experiences (wetware!).
4. (content-wise) PoV male character, prominent female character and melodrama about their complicated relationship.
Some notes on how it's used (or unused) in different stories of the collection:
"Johnny Mnemonic". One of the least faithful to the formula stories not in terms of content (pretty on-brand, pretty cyberpunk-ish!) but in spirit. If there's a lot of bleaker noir overtones in the last leg of the collection, this story in its structure and tone resembles rather a post-80s action comedy where a "badass" woman turns some schlub's life around, making it more interesting and fulfilling.
Didn't care much for this, even if it's obvious why it's this story that got the higest profile film adaptation. Players in this crime thriller's game of cat-and-mouth, as well as their surroundings, succeed at looking "cool" but not much else - I didn't find any character's backstory intriguing in the slightest.
"Gernsback Continuum". This can be read as Gibson's explanation for why creating (what probably was perceived at the times as) his own aesthetic from scratch instead of developing the one passed down from Asimov or Heinlein. As this is just a sneaked-in essay in a short story form it doesn't share a lot of hallmarks of other stories: Japan-dominated wetware-obsessed near future gets swapped for the present, consequently no futuristic jargon is dropped (although at one point the PoV character coins a term for a vintage architecture flourish). Still, there is kooky a woman who gets the plot going, though her relationship with the protagonist is long-distance for the majority of the story.
"Fragments of the Hologram". Sadly, had trouble connecting with this one. Very literary-minded, it seems. A man's life story in a dystopic future and crumbling of his relationship, told out of order. Very similar to what science fiction magazine stories turned into later (let's say in 2000s-2010s), so, I think, the shock of the new it might have had is completely gone - what remains is just not very memorable. However, I observed a huge similarity to the movie "Strange Days" (Ralph Fiennes pining for Juliette Lewis parts) and that Japan is made to look really shitty here with that one small "indentured servitude" detail.
"The Belonging Kind". Another weird aberration, in terms of mode and sci-fi subgenre. Kinda funny, if slight. Not much beyond a character sketch and some notes on wardrobes of different scenes (subcultures) of the time.
"Hinterlands". A little off-brand because it's about real space, not cyberspace. Also, interestingly, it's the only one where prominent female character occupies the role of a comrade, not some variation on a (quasi-)love interest etc.
The story is a little plodding (and all in all it's very much a much less effective rendering of what Frederik Poul did with "Gateway" and Strugatskys with "Roadside Picnic") but a horror story is a nice change of pace for the collection. Also, it concludes with an instance of a human body transformed/repurposed, so that, I guess, is pretty Gibson-y.
"Red Star, Winter Orbit". The second and the last space story. Japan as a geopolitical juggernaut and Russians as badasses - two motifs of the collection - both make prominent appearance here. Plot and structure stray far from formula making me guess this story had Bruce Sterling at the helm for the most of the writing.
Future Soviet "Russia" somehow outpacing the United States while described in lotsa ways as an extention of its dispirited 80s form seems pretty preposterous if curious (transcriptions samisdata and psikushka are also inspired), and I didn't care for some of the obligatory cliches (the protagonist is a Russian badassTM so of course you gotta include how he "used to" (he's old) "drink like a hero") but the story gets kudos for being one of few where plot is involved and not a straight line.
"New Rose Hotel". Simple in its purity. A very light science fiction elements, unobtrusive near future setting, basically a noir with Japanese corporate espionage instead of double indemnity. Basically perfect, with the titular setting and fatal heroine being very evocative.
"Winter Market". This is a classic art prodigy tragedy set in Gibson's signature world of wetware. The tragic resolution is foregrounded in the structure to shift focus to the protagonist's sorting out his complex feelings towards the heroine, which are pretty intriguing. Strangely for such a melancholy piece ends on something of a gag, although it arrives at it pretty naturally.
It's funny that Gibson was such a Japanophile that he couldn't introduce a pretty universal concept of "garbage" into the story without calling it "gumi" and retelling a history of Japan's garbage island (in his defense, the story was probably less well-known at the time).
"Dogfight". Another collaboration. There's no backstory-present-day jumping in this one, and no attempt at relationship complexity (well, the characters are teenagers). This is a gruff, perfectly orchestrated cautionary tale where a youth learns there's more to the world that personal success. Conflicts between characters' self-realization goals and class backgrounds are all supposed to manifest or be catalyzed by them going for the same resource (a performance-enhancing drug). It's all crystal clear plotting. Maybe, even too clear by half. The story's climactic moment is unnecessarily gross for YA fodder but the story is too single-minded and superficial to be very stimulating for adults. The story's strength is in some of its images, while the story's world, harping on American anxiety's of "forever wars", poor treatment of veterans, and growing income inequality didn't prove a draw in itself.
"Burning Chrome". Hacking scenes in this, somehow even less convincing than in "Hackers" (1995), are pretty cringe. Doesn't help that the thriller part of the plot isn't particularly meaty or involving. But the relationship drama saves it. The three-way relationship between principals is intriguing enough and the story doesn't overstay its welcome.
Good Night, Mr. James: And Other Stories by Clifford D. Simak
3.25
How corny, yet how, sometimes, comforting. I dismayed at a story I must've liked as a part of The City, and was partial to the two tgat had actual plot: a western and the Ganymede one. The last one seems to be fun and revealing.
The Case of the Missing Men by Kris Bertin
fast-paced
3.75
Not that unique but cute enough.
More than enough plot to take up 12 issues, and contours of the town the story takes place in start to emerge nicely by the end. But when all said and done, for a twin pastiche in such overcrowded genres as a 'meddling kids' detective story and a ghastly small-town underbelly mystery, this lacks enough unique images to really set it apart, and while characters are drawn well and lovingly, dialog doesn't rise consistently enough over functional to completely fall in love with the comic's panel-to-panel writing either.
Enough formal gambits to prevent the story from getting monotone! The tenth issue, I think, is a standout in cleverness.
More than enough plot to take up 12 issues, and contours of the town the story takes place in start to emerge nicely by the end. But when all said and done, for a twin pastiche in such overcrowded genres as a 'meddling kids' detective story and a ghastly small-town underbelly mystery, this lacks enough unique images to really set it apart, and while characters are drawn well and lovingly, dialog doesn't rise consistently enough over functional to completely fall in love with the comic's panel-to-panel writing either.
Enough formal gambits to prevent the story from getting monotone! The tenth issue, I think, is a standout in cleverness.