tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post4161630608029490424..comments2023-10-17T03:41:01.759-04:00Comments on reflexiones finales: Yellowcake Springs: A reviewrussell1200http://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-60775790029156361112011-09-15T10:00:47.252-04:002011-09-15T10:00:47.252-04:00Getting closer! You got the 'l' in there. ...Getting closer! You got the 'l' in there. Still missing the 'i' and the 'd'.Lizhttp://www.crocktease.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-51064691955489082102011-09-14T18:21:45.405-04:002011-09-14T18:21:45.405-04:00Thanks! I went back to my review of his earlier b...Thanks! I went back to my review of his earlier book and noticed that I got it right two out of three times: I am regressing.russell1200https://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-22244903072103940762011-09-14T15:58:15.849-04:002011-09-14T15:58:15.849-04:00Guy was too kind to mention that you mangled his l...Guy was too kind to mention that you mangled his last name. (Hint: it's on the book cover.)Elizabethhttp://www.crocktease.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-47097634710303760412011-09-14T12:56:54.032-04:002011-09-14T12:56:54.032-04:00Hopefully you will get some interest on this side ...Hopefully you will get some interest on this side of the (really big) pond. Australian fiction can be hard to get hold of over here. <br /><br />Grittiness/Realism is not intended as a "per se" qualitive indicator unless that is specifically intended. However, some genres are much easier to work if they have a high realism level: horror, and action-thriller in particular come to mind.<br /><br />Science fiction tropes and stylistic sensiblities tend to inhibit grittiness. Even in a dystopian setting, the technology gets in the way of reality. Gibson's style is more like an espionage novel; which is probably why he doesn't seem to have this problem.<br /><br />Scarrow writes in an action-thriller style. In his case I would say that it is the immediacy and speed that gets him over the hurdle of realism.<br /><br />Nova in his Gardener Summer combines extremely dysfuntional characters with the "knowing detail" to pull it off. You would almost think he is writing it from his cot in the homeless shelter. But he is uneven. His action scenes are all western shootups.<br /><br />At times Paolo Bacigalupi in the Wind Up Girl seems to be trying to substitute graphic perversity for tonal quality: it is the only real failing of a very good book IMO.<br /><br />I think the key, is the knowing detail. For instance Rion finds "a pistol". But Ryan has been around a violent gang for a while. So to him it would be: "another Spanish Glock knockoff. But it had the extended mag and if you held the trigger down it just kept on firing. Thiry rounds in 5 seconds tends to get your attention in a hurry. Which may have been our dead hero's problem."russell1200http://reflexionesfinales.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-60171628359997418222011-09-14T05:16:42.390-04:002011-09-14T05:16:42.390-04:00Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked...Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you liked the book and that it raised some interesting issues. Your criticism of the tone of the badlands environment, and Rion's movement through it, is a good one. I'm going to be writing a sequel and I hope to make it grittier in this regard. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my life thus far has been more like Sylvia's than Rion's, so depicting the grim reality of these badlands is a challenge. The book definitely doesn't approach the hyper-realism of The Road - I can agree with that. But thanks again :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com