Readers Review - Max Brooks (World War Z)

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I just had a fantastic reading experience! Can a book about zombies be considered serious? And if it really tries, will it succeed or will it just be a pathetic parody of an already overloaded genre?

When I learned that Max Brooks had chosen to write 'World War Z' as a report from the United Nations Postwar Report, I was a bit disappointed. It sounded complicated and confusing.The book consists of numerous eyewitness accounts which together describes the Zombie War from the first cases, over the large outbreak and comes to an conclusion with the official end of the greatest conflict in human history. Each report is from two to eleven pages long and is shaped like interviews with questions and answers, and sometimes description of the interviewee's emotional reactions. We are presented with statements from doctors, soldiers, finance men and peasants, just to name a few groups. The book is filled with footnotes and references to other reports and literature. There are also explanatory notes when the text includes military abbreviations and medical terms.

Does that sound boring? Maybe, but I can assure all potential readers that 'World War Z', must be one of the most worked through and compelling books in the zombie genre. And the quality goes even further. I have never read a book like this. I deeply admire Max Brooks.The empathy he posses when he describes the people being interviewed, are nothing short of amazing. Not two interviews are alike. The zombie war is illuminated from every conceivable angle. Again and again we must marvel at how the author has thought through the consequences of such an imaginary conflict. The groundwork he has done before he wrote 'World War Z' is so impressive and so enormous that it sometimes may have seemed like a daunting task. All opinions are independent and depicts the war from different geographic, ethnic, political and cultural views. Each country developed their own individual strategies during the conflict. And amidst all these different considerations, there will be references time and again to authorities and reports that have been prepared and made available to other countries, during the war.

Only a few authors have been able to write in such a way, that I have felt a physical need at the end of the book. Peter O'Donnell, Thomas Harris and Stephen King belongs to this small and exclusive club. Today, this trio became a quartet!

If you only want to read a single book throughout 2013 - it has be 'World War Z'.

Boganmeldelse - Jussi Adler-Olsen (Og Hun Takkede Guderne)

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Dear reader. I have chosen to write this review in Danish since this book has not yet been translated to English.

Når Jussi Adler-Olsen strammer sig an, er han en forfatter i verdensklasse. Når han kører på autopilot, er han en gennemsnitlig forfatter, som ikke tilføjer litteraturen noget særligt. Og med bogen ”Og Hun Takkede Guderne” viser JussiAdler-Olsen os alle sine bedste og stærkeste sider. Her bliver man underholdt fra start til slut. Bogen har to hovedpersoner som i fællesskab bærer hele historien.

Peter de Boer lever af at ødelægge firmaer for sine klienter. Det er ikke en beskæftigelse, der gør ham populær – men den gør ham utrolig rig. Og det bringer ham også i terroristers søgelys, da de øjner en mulighed for at presse ham til at arbejde for sig.

Som Peter de Boer's diametrale modsætning finder vi Nicky Landsaat. En ung kvinde med rødder i Indonesien. Hele hendes opvækst har været præget af en voldelig og fordrukken fader, en forknyt indonesisk mor og en bror og søster som er henholdsvis kriminel og prostitueret. Under disse omstændigheder kunne man vel sige at Nicky's skæbne var fastlagt på forhånd, men hun har tydeligvis andre planer med sit liv. Nicky vil bryde det negative familiemønster. Hun arbejder flittigt og tjener derved selv penge til sin uddannelse. Det er dette gå-på-mod der ved et tilfælde bringer hende i kontakt med Peter de Boer.

”Og Hun Takkede Guderne” er en meget intens bog, der bringer én helt ud på kanten af stolen igen og igen. Jussi Adler-Olsen har skabt en hektisk historie, som hele tiden eskalerer fra ondt til værre. Bogen bærer præg af en fantastisk grundig research. Der er virkelig tale om solidt forfatterhåndværk.

Sædvanligvis vil jeg også gerne nævne nogle mindre gode sider ved bogen, men med ”Og Hun Takkede Guderne” er det simpelt hen ikke muligt. Jeg har efterhånden læst de fleste af Jussi Adler-Olsens bøger og jeg må sige at ”Og Hun TakkedeGuderne” sammen med ”Washington dekretet” må betegnes som hans absolutte perler.

Det kan undre at Jussi Adler-Olsen vil nedlade sig til at skrive bøger som Q-serien. Efterhånden som bøgerne i serien udkommer, virker det mere og mere som om der er gået spekulation i historierne. Personligt må jeg sige at jeg ikke fatter, at et så stort talent som Jussi Adler-Olsen vil bruge energi på at skrive disse krimi-føljetoner, når det er så tydeligt at hans store litterære styrke ligger i de enkeltstående romaner.

Så konklusionen må være: Hvis du skal lære Jussi Adler-Olsen at kende som det store talent har er, vil ”Og Hun Takkede Guderne” være et rigtigt godt sted at starte.

Reader's Review - Thomas Harris (Red Dragon)

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Some years ago I was exposed to a very unpleasant experience. A good friend and I sat one evening and drank some fine whiskey while we heard some nice blues. After a while I left the room for a moment, and returned to my chair a couple of minutes later - ready for more blues and more whiskey. We raised our glasses and drank. The surprise caused me to spray the contents of the glass on myself and around my immediate surroundings. My 'good' friend had poured my whiskey out and replaced it with coffee.I have not the slightest against coffee, but my expectation of a very particular taste when I emptied the glass, got my senses to react very strongly and inappropriately. On the other hand, if I had a cup of steaming coffee in front of me, the experience would have been extremely pleasant. 

That was the kind of feeling I got when I read 'Red Dragon' by Thomas Harris. If you place the book in chronological order with the other books the author have written about Hannibal Lecter, this book will be the second out of four books - until now. But Hannibal Lecter appears only peripherally in the story. The readers are never allowed to enjoy his sublime character, his intellect and his cold-blooded cruelty.In this story, Hannibal Lecter is merely a mentor for the story's protagonist, Francis Dolarhyde. Francis Dolarhyde is a deeply disturbed man who obviously have severe personality disorder. Officially, he works as a manager at a photo lab, but after work, he suffers from a compulsive idea that he is about to transform into a red dragon. To accomplish his conversion, Dolarhyde must implement one brutal murder after another. 

'Red Dragon' is Francis Dolarhyde's story. As usual, Thomas Harris is both stylish and sharp. He knows where he wants to lead us, and he knows how to enthrall the reader from start to finish. 'Red Dragon' is well told and captures the reader from the first pages. If it had been another writer and if Thomas Harris had not created such a charismatic figure like Hannibal Lecter, 'Red Dragon' would have been a great novel. But because I expected that Hannibal Lecter would be the focal point in the story, I was not able to enjoy the many fine details. I was so focused on Hannibal's presence, that the other action of the story was of minor importance. What a shame it was. The novel was indeed well told. 

In other words: I expected the taste of whiskey, but what I really got, was a bitter cup of coffee.It's a bit of a paradox when a writer is able to create such strong and significant character that he completely takes over the story and begin to live his own live.I believe that if Thomas Harris had left Hannibal Lecter out of 'Red Dragon', the novel would have been so much easier to appreciate. The producer of the movie must have come to the same conclusion. In the movie, Hannibal Lecter have been offered a much more prominent place, without dominating the film. 

The best thing you can say about the 'Red Dragon' is, that readers still have the best experiences waiting ahead. In 'Red Dragon' Hannibal Lecter had for awhile resigned and left the stage to another - that is not going to happen again in 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Hannibal'.