Angels and Visitations

Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany
Neil Gaiman
166 pages; published 1993

Memory is the great deceiver. Perhaps there are individuals whose memories act like tape recordings, daily records of their lives complete in every detail, but I am not one of them. My memory is a patchwork of occurrences, of discontinuous events roughly sewn together: the parts I remember, I remember precisely, whilst other sections seem to have vanished completely. (141)

I always enjoy Neil Gaiman’s writing, so I pretty much knew I would love this one too. His writing is just so clever, so rich, that you can’t help but want to read more.

Angels and Visitations, however, was a little different from the other novels and short stories of his that I’ve read. It is, as the title says, ‘a miscellany’, a collection of literary bits and pieces he has accumulated over the years: poetry, book reviews, stories written for this and that. As such, it was a bit of an odd collection, but still full of wonderful pieces that I’d recommend to any Neil Gaiman fan. 4.5

Other Reviews
Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

The Lady of Shalott

Song of the SparrowLisa Ann Sandell
394 pg; published 2007

What place does a woman
have here, in this
realm of men?
I wonder.
But I do have a place.
I belong here, with these men.
They are my family.
I mend their clothes,
I mend their bodies.
I grew up wild like a boy
here.
How could she possibly belong here,
to this camp?
Her clothes are far too
clean for these dusty soldiers,
dusty tents.
Yet, I always dreamed of a girl
coming to live here, of a girl
who would be my friend. (182-183)

Sixteen year old Elaine, with a temperament as fiery as her red hair, is the only female in a battle camp of over three hundred and fifty men. Growing up with this band of brothers and no mother to guide her in the ways of ladyship, Elaine has lived and grown as a boy, wild and free.

Now that she is older, however, things aren’t quite as they used to be… and she’s not even sure that she wants it to be. While her ‘brothers’ look to her for friendship, advice and, and always, the mending of their clothes, they leave her behind when they go off to war. She is quick, fast, and knows medicine – she could be of help to them, she’s no longer the little sister they coddled.

She does not want her friends to get hurt while she’s not there to help them, especially her best ‘playmate’, the brave and handsome Lancelot. She yearns to tell him how she fells, to have him tell her she’s beautiful and loved. Her plans for love are interrupted, however, when Lancelot returns to the camp with Arthur’s new bride: the beautiful Gwynivere, with whom he is already “enchanted”.

Elaine’s hopes for a new friend are crushed when Gwynivere’s haughty, almost cruel nature is made clear. And her presence does nothing to help her plans where the war, and her involvement, is concerned.

I’d admit it, I got sucked in entirely by the cover on this one – it was just too pretty to resist. As such, I was surprised to get it home and actually realise that it a verse novel; not what I had expected. I’ve read a few verse novel’s this year, but I’d have to say that this one is my favourite. Sandell’s verse swung between absolute straight forward practicalities and beautiful descriptions.

As a character somewhat overlooked in most tellings of Arthurian legend, I was looking forward to seeing Sandell’s treatment of Elaine. She was an honest and endearing character, and this came through quite strongly through her voice. Sandell took a few liberties with Tennyson’s poem, but it was done respectfully and, I feel, to great effect.

Overall, a lovely book that I’d recommend to any fan of Arthurian legend. 4.5/5

Other Reviews
Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

Almost Forever

Maria Testa

69 pages; published 2003

The four of us

gathered

with other families,

we all gathered

in a building

on the Army base,

all in a special room

set aside

for saying goodbye.

One year

is not

such a long time,

Daddy said,

kneeling on one knee

in front of me,

squeezing

my shoulders.

In one year, Baby

you'll be in

second grade,

not first,

and you'll be

seven years old,

not six,

and then

I'll be home.

One year

is not

such a long time.

I did not

tell Daddy

that he was wrong -

that second grade

was half a hallway

and a whole world

away from first,

that seven

was everything

six was not,

and that one year

was forever.

There are literally hundreds of war books told through the voice of the soldier. Almost Forever, however, speaks through the unique (to me at least) voice of the soldier's child.

The innocent, six-year-old narrator watches as her father, a doctor, goes off to fight in Vietnam. Far from the horrors her father is undoubtedly witnessing, his young daughter is dealing with the impact the war has had on her and her family back home: moving house, letters from her father, seeing her mother cry, and, worst of all, starting to forget what her father really looks like.

This book is told entirely through verse, short beautifully simple poems that convey both her sense of loss and hope to see her father again. 3/5

Other Reviews
Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

Cold Skin
Steven Herrick264 pages, published 2007
They named me Eddie
after Mum's father
who died before I was born.
'A quiet, stubborn bastard,'
says my dad.
I'm not sure if he's talking about
Grandad or me.

Eddie, eighteen, hulking and trapped in school, lives in the backwater town of Burrugo. Nothing ever happens there, ever; the most you can hope for is a chance to get a job working in the local coal mine - and even that, his father won't allow. Life in the small town is thrown upside down, however, when Colleen, a local teen beauty, is found dead by the river. Suddenly every one - everyone - is a suspect.

Problem is, despite the size of the town, no one really seems to know their neighbours terribly well, or, in same cases, they know them a little too well. Every suspect is clouded by years of prejudice and ill-opinion. Is Mr. Butcher, the slimy high-school teacher, the perpetrator? Perhaps Les Johnston, the handsome young miner? The suck-up Mayor? Albert Holding, the local war-time 'coward'? Or maybe his son, Larry, known to have a crush on Colleen?

Told entirely in first person verse, each 'poem' continues the story and adds yet another perspective to the mix. Certainly an interesting read. 3/5