I usually don’t care for Kuper’s work, but I feel he did a fine job turning the classic short story of Franz Kafka’s into a short comic. Kuper’s stark B/W and bold lines lent themselves well to this stark and bizarre tale. Great summary for those wishing to supplement their reading of the work.
Tag Archive: Literature
Feb 08 2013
Frankenstein: The Graphic Novel – Adapted by Brigit Viney
This version of the classic novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is designed for young students, complete with guides to history, story structure and vocabulary. I thought it was a good take on the tale of a scientists who creates life and then shuns it, leading to a life-long enmity between them.
Jan 28 2013
Zombie Notes: A Study Guide to the Best in Undead Literary Classics – Laurie Rozakis
Dr. Rozakis sets up a Spark Notes-ish collection of classic literature, which, apparently, is all zombie based. The work is clever and fun and shows Rozakis’ knowledge of the classics and the Cliff Note form; however, I think this works more as a good idea, or as a joke gift to someone like me rather …
Mar 09 2012
City Gates – Elias Khoury
I am certainly grateful that Mark Beta gave me this short book about a stranger who comes to a city where everyone is gone, dead, or a weeping woman. It’s very strange and surreal, but, unfortunately, not anything I cared for. Surely it was better in Arabic.
Sep 13 2011
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
The second novel from the Afghan author is not as strong as the first, which might be due to the character focus. The story deals with two women, Mariam, who is raised ignorant and illegitimate, and Laila, who had all the potential to be an influential and developed westerner, trapped in a marriage to a …
Sep 07 2011
Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Both the movie and the book are powerful looks at pre and post Soviet and of Taliban Afghanistan. The tale revolves around Amir, a Pashtun boy of privilege, and his strained relationship with his father, his best friend/servant, and the upheaval caused by the ceaseless turmoil in his homeland. My problem with the book is …
Mar 22 2010
The Queue – Vladimir Sorokin
Mark Beta got me this book–can I call it a book? It’s more of a transcript of dialogue of a bunch of people in Soviet Russia waiting on a line. For what and how long will they wait? Good questions. Sorokin does a great job, especially considering that he’s providing the reader with nothing in …
Nov 07 2009
Writing and/the Wor(l)d: Johanna Drucker The 2009 Bishop Faculty Fellow
My late Uncle Charles once complimented me to some other relatives by saying “Mark is on a higher level than we are.” That’s how I felt about Johanna Drucker after hearing her speak and seeing examples of her work at The Center For Book Arts. Here’s a woman who doesn’t simply write (and write quite …
Apr 27 2007
Loving Across Boundaries: Life & Death and Indian & White in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine
Through multiple characters’ perspectives and relationships, Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine explores the two concepts of love and identity in a variety of ways. With each chapter narrated by a different character, they each tell their stories and an overall story about the interconnectedness between several family clans on the Ojibwa reservation in North Dakota.
Some characters define their identity by their expression of love and could not define themselves otherwise. Lulu Nanapush is one such example. Sometimes the idea of love is misunderstood and parents are forsaken by their children, as is evidenced by the case of Lipsha Morrisey, whose own identity is a mystery to no one but himself. Nector Kashpaw is a great example of the concept of searching for identity, loving two women and two worlds, the Indian world and the white man’s world, which both of his lovers exemplify. He is an educated man, having gone to boarding school like his lover Lulu, “Lulu Lamartine sniffed down her nose at the length and bagginess of old-time skirts. She led her gang of radicals in black spike heels and tight, low-cut dresses blooming with pink flowers,” (p 303) while his wife Marie (Lazarre) Kashpaw had remained on the reservation and gone to the convent for her education, “…A determined bunch who grew out their hair in braids or ponytails and dressed in ribbon shirts and calico to make their point,” (p 303). Marie did not take in a lot of the white man’s ideas and culture as had Lulu and Nector.
Oct 05 2006
Drown – A Book Review
Drown, 1996, by Junot Diaz, is a collection of short stories, about Dominican kids and adults, in the Dominican Republic and America, trying to get by in a tough world, where money doesn’t come easily and love sometimes comes less easily. The first story “Ysrael” is one about the cruelty of children. Ysrael is a …
Sep 17 2006
Woman Hollering Creek – A Book Review
Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories, 1991, by famed author Sandra Cisneros, is a collection of excellent short, and not-so-short stories taking place in and around San Antonio, Texas and the Mexican/American border. The book starts off with tales about children and at times the stories are told from a child’s point of view, “Eleven” …
Oct 29 2003
Going After Cacciato
O’Brian, Tim. Going After Cacciato. New York: Dell Publishing, 1978. Fed up with the pointlessness of the Viet Nam war, Cacciato has gone AWOL, and it is up to Paul Berlin and the rest of his platoon to bring him home. The catch: Cacciato is heading for Paris, and maybe his platoon doesn’t really want …
Mar 29 2003
Catch-22
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1961. Catch-22 follows World War II fighter pilot Yossarian as he tries to stay alive in an increasingly maddening world. Yossarian is expected to fly mission after dangerous mission, no matter how ludicrous and despite the fact that he is over the required military maximum (“that’s okay, …
Apr 29 2001
The Odyssey
Homer. The Odyssey. Middlesex: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1985. The Odyssey is one of those books that you were supposed to read in high school but didn’t, so I figured it was about time to get around to doing the real deal instead of relying on Mr. Cliff. What surprised me most about the story was …
Whom To Blame
 |
 | |
 |  |
Socialize!
Information overload? Like us, add us, follow us everywhere!
 |
 |
 |
| And we'll probably be on other social media 5 minutes after it gets passe. |
Buy Our Crap
 (or email us!) |
 |