2 Quick Reviews

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.

I picked this up on a whim. I'm lukewarm on retelling stories; Gregory Maguire and a few others can do it well, but for the most part, I'm over it. And Alice in Wonderland? At last count (via Wikipedia), there's been about 20 movie adaptations, a stage play, several television serials, not a few porn movies, and dozens of books that either borrow heavily from the plot, or retell it entirely. What else could possibly be said about it?

Frank Beddor made a very bold choice in writing this adaptation, by blending actual historical events with the narrative. Alice Lidell, a child whom Carroll met in Oxford and wrote the book for, is actually Alyss Heart, exiled heir to throne of Wonderland. Her parents were murdered in a coup, and Alyss had to flee for her life to our world.

One of the best things that Beddor does is reinvent characters in real and believable way. Instead of the Mad Hatter, we have Hatter Madigan, agent of the Millinery, a secretive order of royal fighters. Instead of the White Rabbit, we have Bibwit Harte, the albino tutor who has taught generations of the ruling family. Instead of hookah-smoking giant caterpillars, there are... hookah-smoking giant caterpillars, but with traces of college stoners and Buddhist monks in their makeup.

The Looking Glass Wars is a great read for anybody who likes fantasy, but wants to move on past the Dungeons & Dragons kind of stuff. It's well-written, it's characters are realistic, the action is fast-paced and enjoyable, and there's even a bit of light philosophy thrown in.

And, I just found out, it's part of a trilogy. Seeing Redd, the second book, was recently released, as was a series of four comics about the above mentioned Hatter Madigan, called Hatter M.

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

There are not nearly enough books in the world that do more than reaffirm the preexisting views of the audience. For my generation, at least, that means a sense of cynicism and callousness about the world, and the notion that we Americans deserve the privileges we have - or at least shouldn't question why we have them, or at what price.

I was listening to a Kimya Dawson song the other day, "12/26", about the 2004 tsunami in Asia. The lyrics are haunting:

everything she's ever known is gone, gone, gone,
everyone she's ever loved is gone, gone, gone,
the only reason she's alive is she grabbed a palm frond, and held on...

It reminded me of Frankl's book, which is part memoir and part psychological study. Frankl was imprisoned in several concentration camps during World War 2. The book expounds on how humanity is capable of living through the worst possible conditions; terror, hunger, cold, violence, and complete dehumanization. One of Frankl's most famous quotes from this book has the answer: “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how.'”

Frankl also reminds us that there are responsibilities in living life, just as much as there is meaning.

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

To be reminded of this freedom, even in the worst circumstances, is necessary. I think that this is a book that I'm going to need to read several times in my life.