On Saturday night, I finished reading “Dark Sister” by Graham Joyce.
I have read a few book descriptions for this one and have decided to alter the best one, because some of the plot points were incorrect. So here is Tamara Hladik’s description/review of the book that is listed as the description at Amazon.Com with my corrections/additions:
“Dark Sister” is the third book by British fantasy writer Graham Joyce to be published in the United States - and the author travels further into the realm of pure horror than he did in “The Tooth Fairy” or “Requiem”. Maggie Sanders, an unfulfilled, restless housewife in England, comes to terms with her nascent, otherworldly power amidst a disheveled and antagonistic domestic life. Her archaeologist-husband Alex is subtly dominating, which makes for an unfulfilling marriage. So, Maggie buries herself in the chaos of her small children (six-year old Amy and three year old Sam), until a chance discovery both liberates her and invokes catastrophe.
The Sanders decide to tear out their gas log imitation and open up the fireplace for real wood fires after a visit to a friends’ home. While cleaning out the chimney, Alex discovers an herbalist’s journal which Maggie finds much interest in. Soon after, her life unfurls wildly and runs horribly aground. It seems that the owner of the journal was not just an herb woman, but also a witch with real powers. Inspired by this forgotten woman, Maggie begins to dabble in the arts of Wicca, with the help of herbal store owner Ash and Old Liz in whom he has consulted. The gifts it brings her are powerful - a sense of freedom, purpose, even clairvoyance. But every gift has its counterbalance, and Maggie’s newfound telepathy allows her to see things she might have wanted to remain hidden. Even more ominously, it seems that in unearthing the journal, Maggie has awakened deep tragedies from an abandoned time, and the evil that now stalks her and her family might be insatiable and unstoppable.
Now, I left the first line of this description/review in there because that horror word crept in again in regards to Joyce’s work. I obviously need a lesson on what horror fiction is, because I just don’t see it. Just like “The Tooth Fairy” this book came across as a novel about real life with fantastical elements. And the “horrors” or events that happen in this book seem even less horrific, to a point, then those in “The Tooth Fairy”, except for one. Though still, with other fantasy books I have read, it is not more horrific then anything else I have come across. Though part of that is in presentation.
One element of the book that I really enjoyed was the subtleness of the witchcraft. And maybe subtle is the wrong word, but it’s the only one I can come up with right now. It’s not overbearing, it’s not what the whole story is about. There are real life issues going on there, and Maggie tries to use these powers to help the issues, and sometimes fails. But it’s not heavy handed, like some big gothic novel. I have a copy “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman waiting to be read. I would like to see how these two books compare. (And for the record, I have not seen the movie “Practical Magic”, based on the book, which is surprising given that I am a fan of Nicole Kidman.)
Graham Joyce
The characters are all well crafted, though there is a bit of craziness to each. However, we are dealing with a world where “witches” can practice their craft and are successful. One of the most endearing characters though is Old Liz. She’s the 83 year old women that Ash sends Maggie to see for advice. At first she is a hard woman, but as the story goes, you see the intelligence in her character, the reason for the hard exterior, and though her presentation doesn’t change much, you do see more and more of her inner person as the book goes. All the characters have flaws and they are well presented, and of course many of them won’t own up to those flaws.
This is the second book by Joyce that I have read in the last month, and I have enjoyed both on many levels. Both have very fantastical elements, but he keeps so much reality in the books that they can be seen from many different views.
Side note:
I am not really into quotes by other authors that are displayed on books. I have found them unreliable at times. But there were two on this book that I found interesting. They are also listed with the description of the book on Amazon.Com:
“I won’t bother saying Graham Joyce deserves to find a wide audience in America; rather, I think the American audience deserves to discover him.” — Jonathan Lethem
“Graham Joyce writes the kind of novels we keep hoping to find, but rarely do.” — Jonathan Carroll
I think both of these are accurate. Of course you have to like these kind of books. But it took me quite a few years to finally fall into Joyce’s work. And frankly, I think Carroll’s quote about Joyce is true of his own work. I have yet to read anything by Lethem, but have one of his novels coming via BookMooch soon.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
More bad press for your home town……….
Researchers: Detroit Nation’s Most Dangerous City
Sunday , November 18, 2007
ADVERTISEMENT
DETROIT —
In another blow to the Motor City’s tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation’s most dangerous city, according to a private research group’s controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.
The study drew harsh criticism even before it came out. The American Society of Criminology launched a pre-emptive strike Friday, issuing a statement attacking it as “an irresponsible misuse” of crime data.
The 14th annual “City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America” was published by CQ Press, a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc. It is based on the FBI’s Sept. 24 crime statistics report.
The report looked at 378 cities with at least 75,000 people based on per-capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft. Each crime category was considered separately and weighted based on its seriousness, CQ Press said.
Last year’s crime leader, St. Louis, fell to No. 2. Another Michigan city, Flint, ranked third, followed by Oakland Calif.; Camden, N.J.; Birmingham, Ala.; North Charleston, S.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; Richmond, Calif.; and Cleveland.
The study ranked Mission Viejo, Calif., as the safest U.S. city, followed by Clarkstown, N.Y.; Brick Township, N.J.; Amherst, N.Y.; and Sugarland, Texas.
CQ Press spokesman Ben Krasney said details of the weighting system were proprietary. It was compiled by Kathleen O’Leary Morgan and Scott Morgan, whose Morgan Quitno Press published it until its acquisition by CQ Press.
The study assigns a crime score to each city, with zero representing the national average. Detroit got a score of 407, while St. Louis followed at 406. The score for Mission Viejo, in affluent Orange County, was minus 82.
Detroit was pegged the nation’s murder capital in the 1980s and has lost nearly 1 million people since 1950, according to the Census Bureau. Downtown sports stadiums and corporate headquarters — along with the redevelopment of the riverfront of this city of 919,000 — have slowed but not reversed the decline. Officials have said crime reports don’t help.
Detroit Deputy Police Chief James Tate had no immediate comment on the report. But the mayor of 30th-ranked Rochester, N.Y. — an ex-police chief himself — said the study’s authors should consider the harm that the report causes.
“What I take exception to is the use of these statistics and the damage they inflict on a number of these cities,” said Mayor Robert Duffy, chairman of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
The rankings “do groundless harm to many communities,” said Michael Tonry, president of the American Society of Criminology.
“They also work against a key goal of our society, which is a better understanding of crime-related issues by both scientists and the public,” Tonry said.
Critics also complain that numbers don’t tell the whole story because of differences among cities.
“You’re not comparing apples and oranges; you’re comparing watermelons and grapes,” said Rob Casey, who heads the FBI section that puts out the Uniform Crime Report that provides the data for the Quitno report.
The FBI posted a statement on its Web site criticizing such use of its statistics.
“These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, or region,” the FBI said. “Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents.”
Doug Goldenberg-Hart, acquisitions editor at CQ Press, said that the rankings are imperfect, but that the numbers are straightforward. Cities at the top of the list would not be there unless they ranked poorly in all six crime categories, he said.
“The idea that people oppose it, it’s kind of blaming the messenger,” Goldenberg-Hart said. “It’s not coming to terms with the idea that crime is a persistent problem in our society.”
The report “helps concerned Americans learn how their communities fare in the fight against crime,” CQ Press said in a statement. “The first step in making our cities and states safer is to understand the true magnitude of their crime problems. This will only be achieved through straightforward data that all of us can use and understand.”
The study excluded Chicago, Minneapolis, and other Illinois and Minnesota cities because of incomplete data.