Some time ago I posted about The Chosen, Book one of Ricardo Pinto's series (see thread title for the series' name, I just can't bring myself to type it again). While we were in England, I found a used PB of the 2nd book in the series The Standing Dead and figured, ah, what the heck.
I have to ask first if I'm the only one to have read these books. If so, I consider you all much smarter and/or luckier than I. If not, then I would like a second opinion, or third. Surely no more than 3 people actually read these two books.
Of course, the worst part is that while I am dreading its creation, I know that if I ever see a used copy of the 3rd and final book in the trilogy (at least they've given us the information that there is a predefined end to this disaster), I will buy it and read it. But this act on my part is just an expression of my underlying disease and has nothing to do with loyalty to this author or any interest in his characters or admiration for his work.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN. IF YOU REALLY THINK YOU MIGHT READ THIS BOOK...STOP READING THIS POST. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Seriously, if you want to be encouraged to feel that your worst cr@p must somehow be publishable, if you could only find the right combination of pharmaceuticals to slip into the water at the publisher's offices, this is the series for you.
The story has more loose ends than a batch of post-operative planeria after the first lab in Biology 101.
Characters run the full gamut of emotions. From love mixed with hatred, to hate mixed with lovetred. The gulf between those two is often a matter of a mere sentence, with, of course, no intervening transition.
Conflicts arise and disappear seemingly at the whim of the author with no exposition whatsoever. It is almost like a description of a Jackson Pollack painting inch by inch. Only not as interesting.
Moral issues are raised, hands are wrung, right and wrong are debated, and the morally wrong choice is selected for no other reason than a dark suspicion that failure to do so would lead to almost certain destruction, and, in comparison, the clearly destructive path is...um, ...still clearly destructive. But we do it anyway.
Because otherwise, we couldn't run the gamut of emotions, again. At different subjects.
In the first book, there was a scattering of fairly explicit gay sexual activity. It actually seemed to make sense in the context of the story, but it was far more explicit than it needed to be.
In the second book, it became clear that the editors/publishers had told the author to tone it down a bit. Now we have hints of interest in possible homosexual relationships, but the out-of-synch emotions of the main characters and the changeable nature of their various roller coaster emotional tracks basically eliminated any instances of any two characters ever connecting.
Two or three hints are given that something happened a page or two back when you weren't looking.
Now this might lead one to believe that this second book is somehow better in its handling of the sexual tension aspect of any good literary relationship. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I finally read about the two main characters having briefly renewed their love affair, I was so far beyond caring what either of them did, I couldn't have cared if they'd simply dropped off the page and the book continued on a completely different story line, with all new characters.
Which, frankly, it almost did. The story doesn't so much pick up where the first book left off, as much as it takes two main characters from the first book and plunks them down in a completely different world with no real referents to the old world, which, of course, they still are in and try to talk about, but since they are immersed in this other world, the references make no sense at all, you can't connect to these other characters who are talked about but never present, and you are simply spoonfed a bunch of material that should've been covered either in the first book (and he just forgot to do it) or should've been shelved for some later time.
I suspect that this guy is making it up as he goes along and that his third book in the trilogy will be an absolute train wreck of trying to write himself out of the boxes he's created. If there was an outline for this story, it can't have filled more than one napkin at the bar where he wrote it.
Oh, and one final nail in the coffin. All the humans in this story are apparently incapable of any empathy whatsoever except one character. So, connecting with ones fellow humans on any level other than as slave to master (or vice versa) comes as a complete surprise to everyone else in the story. Over and over again. People cry over serious events (that are contrived in the extreme) like the loss of their own child, but look upon the loss of their neighbor's child as just another fact of life, like when the bread lands butter side down on the floor. Darn!
As one might imagine, the relationships between married people are treated as some sort of alien bargain. There's no jealousy if the guy wants to take a male lover. Well there is jealousy, but if the rival smiles and shares a 2 minute conversation, then all is well. Living under a death sentence makes it hard for one guy to find a spouse, and he treats her and their child alternately with love or completely abandons them. This might make sense psychologically if we ever explored the character's motivations. But it just "happens" in the story and we're supposed to accept it.
And the guy is not portrayed as a jerk for doing this. It's not even brought up.
I think alternate sentences were written months apart. Or by entirely different people.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:It is almost like a description of a Jackson Pollack painting inch by inch. Only not as interesting.
Ouch. Thanks for the warning.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
Stone Dance of the Cameleons? It seems really sad to me that the title would seem somehow more compelling and logical if it was Stoned Dance of the Cameleons.
Your description is so wonderful, it almost makes me want to read the books, in spite of how horrid they actually sound. It's like the bizarre fascination that occasionally compells me to watch Sandra Lee and her "Semi-Homemade Cooking" show on FoodTV. It just sounds so awful that I must experience it to believe that it's actually possible. Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :
I've never heard of it. And thanks for the warning about it.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
*shudder* Someone once recommended this book to me. That person is alive only because I am a pacifist.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Alive, well...okay. Tell me you at least tortured them or flayed the skin from their back. Surely you didn't let this recommendation go unpunished!!!
I thought the world felt unbalanced...
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
Amazon's Review "Pinto is blazing a trail where others, no doubt, will follow" - Amanda Foreman
NOOOOooooooo!
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
quote:Pinto is blazing a trail where others, no doubt, will follow
like hogs to the slaughter?
like lemmings over a cliff?
Anyone who patterns their writing after that of Ricardo Pinto should be sent back to repeat the 3rd grade. Again.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Now I must read it. Damn you, Schopatz!
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Joldo,
Don't say I didn't warn you. Also, given the infinite variety of books out there, surely you could put this one far enough down the list that you have some hope of never actually reading it. For example, reading the dictionary cover to cover, or the NYC phone book should come before this series.
Memorizing Eye of Argon would be time better spent.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
*giggle*
*crosses Stone Dance of the Cameleons off reading list*
*Makes note if ever sees the third book in the series it would make an excellent Christmas gift for new brother-in-law*
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
<shakes tiny fist in frustration>
You are so getting the chair with the Scat Mat® on it at our next family gathering!
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
It'll take more than a 9 volt battery to shock me. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
9V battery plus nicely sized capacitor, however...
<--- picture of LJ sitting down, momentarily.
Sadly, the dog that some people refer to by the epithet "dumb" has learned to recognize when the scat mat is and is not present on the furniture. So...rather than learning to stay off the furniture, she's simply learned to only go on the furniture if the scat mat isn't there.
We suspected she'd learned how to turn the mat off, but it turns out I just didn't turn it back on after changing the battery.
Posted by punwit (Member # 6388) on :
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
It seems really sad to me that the title would seem somehow more compelling and logical if it was Stoned Dance of the Cameleons.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Evil Laugh]](graemlins/evillaugh.gif)