Twelve in 12 reviews: October and November

Yes, yes, I know I’m a little late with my October reviews. I’m also posting this here, as I don’t have the password for the Twelve in 12 diary. So, here I go.

Review for October:

The Men Who Stare At Goats
Author: Jon Ronson
Pages: 240
Factual

This book starts with Major Stubblebine who runs at the wall of his office and, as he doesn’t expect, bounces straight off. He is, of course, trying to run through the wall, figuring that it should be easy as both he and the wall are made up of atoms which are mostly made up of space.

With this story, Ronson starts to take us through the story of the black ops part of the US Army. Disbanded in the ’80’s, it’s making a comeback to help win the war on terror.

Amongst the ideas mentioned in the book is the fact that the Army at one point kept debleated goats. Not just so that the soldiers could practice emergency medical surgery on them, but so that they could try to stop the goats hearts just by staring at them. In fact, Ronson meets a man who claims to have done just that. (The goats were debleated to keep them secret.)

Throughout the investigation Ronson details incidents involving Abu Ghraib, Halle Bopp comet and the Heavens Gate cult and a psycic war with General Norriega. He sometimes goes from the surreal (sitting with a songwriter from Sesame Street and his agent as they work out how much royalties the US Army might owe him for playing his songs on an endless loop for hours at a time) to the heartbreaking (the press conference held by a man convinced that his father was killed because of his involvement in MK ULTRA).

Throughout the book, ronson approaches the subject with a strange combination of open mindedness and just a hint of cynicism. Read the book with the same mindset and you will enjoy it.

Review for November:

The Beach
Author: Alex Garland
Pages: 448
Fiction (not entirely sure which category it should go under apart from that)

Richard has just landed in Bangkok as part of a backpacking holiday in Thailand. After a strange conversation with the person in the room next to him (who promptly kills himself), he is given a map to a travelling urban legend. A secret beach, well off the beaten track, where a select number of travellers live in complete isolation.

Richard sets off to find it, accompanied by a French couple, and discover that it does actually exist. But what he finds there is more than he bargained for…

The Beach is Garlands first novel (he has since released two more, as well as writing a couple of films) and it is as confident and self assured a debut as I’ve ever read. It moves along at a furious pace and it is easy to see that Garland has experience in backpacking. The book twists on itself about halfway through and this, while slightly unsettling, is what makes it so good. (It is also a device that Garland has continued to use, successfully on the most part.)

Richard is a compelling narrator, with the premise being that he’s writing the book after the events it portrays as a catharcic exercise. He is not quite sympathetic, especially when it comes to a few of his actions near the end of the book. It is also quite nice that while Richard is in love in the book, this love is unrequited as it makes a nice change from the norm. (This is one of the problems I have with the film version. One of many.)

All in all, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Personal note:

I know I said I was going to answer your questions today, but I’m not really in the mood. So, should anyone wish to ask any more, you now have till Tuesday.

Will

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