Literature of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction

  Blogs 87 points + Attendance points 13 (missed 2 classes) = 100 points

  A story about war, time travel and aliens? Everything is possible in Kurt Vonnegut’s works. The non-linear storytelling in a form of time travelling or most likely flashbacks adds chaos to the story as the reader does not know where and when they will be thrown on the next page. The way the protagonist Billy Pilgrim thinks and perceives the world around him illustrates the effects of war trauma on an individual. It is hard to write or read about war but Vonnegut had a different approach to this destruction. The protagonist refers to death the same way as the aliens with a phrase “so it goes”, without any emotions as they know time is relevant and they always live in different periods of time, and they always die as Billy Pilgrim always dies on February 13 in 1976. We are going through his memories, we are living with him all the moments of his life in no particular order but only Billy has to suffer over and over again. Having friends that just came from war now it makes me under...

  The Clockwork Orange was an interesting read. This was the first book from this semester I decided to read in russian without knowing that there are russian words in the original work which were written in latin letters to keep the originality of the author. This anglo-russian slang the characters use gives the story a unique look and completes its mood. However, it was very hard to understand what exactly the words meant because of the horrible spelling that I switched to listening to the audiobook from halfway through the book.  The story is pretty violent but at the same time very realistic. Mostly because of the amount of detail the protagonist gives while describing every single scene and character. The author makes the reader face the reality not letting them close their eyes on the dark sides of it. Alex is a complicated and interesting character. What surprised me the most about him was his love towards classical music juxtaposed with his cruel lifestyle. It seems li...

  Margaret Atwood created this totalitarian childless world that skillfully hides the actual historical events used to shape the novel. While reading the novel I noted that none of the characters are pure evil. Everyone is affected by the Gilead. There are memories showing the happy times of the pre-Gilead period and it always contrasts with the present Gileadean nightmare. The handmaids are affected the most in this new system as their sole role was to bear children for the Commanders whose wives could not. Even their names were formed by “of” plus the name of their commander, as Offred once said “everyone’s on the take” (Atwood). There is huge tension throughout the novel created by almost all the characters. As Gilead has intense power over everyone resistance is unavoidable. Even the Commander, having all the privilege, being a wealthy man, powerful and having a contribution in designing the Gilead performs small scaled rebellions. One of his rebellions is when he calls Offred ...

  Beloved tells a story about poor, black people who used to be slaves. Sethe was a slave before and even after being free she was trapped in her own house being unwelcome from the community and haunted by all the memories of her past. She does not know what happened to her husband and the only thing she has is her children. Sethe loves her children so much that when white people come she kills her daughter to keep her “safe” from slavery comparing that kind of life with death. Cincinnati’s black community plays a crucial role in Morrison’s Beloved.  Communities are complicated, it is not just a group of people living in one place. They help, accept and belong to each other. It is the community that betrayed the 124 and failed to warn them about the Schoolteacher approaching. Sethe, unable to hide, acts radically and kills her daughter. However, it is the same community that helped them to ban Beloved and prevent Sethe from making another mistake by killing Mr. Bodwin. Before ...

  It is hard to say I had a positive reaction to the Bloodchild. It was weird and confusing as it was lacking exposition and I was trying to figure out which world I am at. I was asking myself if T’gatoi was human or not even after the phrase “T’Gatoi used four of her limbs” until maybe the talk about stinging which still did not clarify what exactly T’Gatoi is.. The talk about eggs in the beginning seemed normal and I thought they were just talking about nutritions until I realized what eggs they are talking about exactly. Having a bright imagination did not help me here as some of the scenes were very disgusting. The story ended almost the same way as it started, abruptly. It is hard to say that I enjoyed the story but in my opinion it was a good piece of this genre.  Of course the humans being aliens in this world and being used by centipedes as hosts for their offsprings is a metaphor to black community feeling outsiders in this world. Gan being promised to T’Gatoi also re...

  Babel-17 was an interesting short novel and I would say revolutionary for its time. Samuel R. Delany choses a strong female protagonist which is rare for 1960s science fiction works. Rydra’s crew is unique as well, there is a huge ethnic and cultural variety which adds more interest to the story. However, they serve as a collective and only Rydra’s and Butcher’s characters stand out to be remembered from this novel. The character designs are very weird and did not make much sense to the point that it became too random for me and I was not interested in them. Rydra Wong is a famous poet and linguist that has to solve the language/code called Babel-17. I am amazed by the amount of dialogue the novel has. The goal of the characters is very clear  right from the beginning. In my opinion it helps to explain the situation, help the reader understand the underlying science and even aids worldbuilding even though there is not much. The language Babel-17 is used as a weapon that may ...

  I honestly enjoyed reading The Martian. Part of it is because I like science fiction and all the exploration, explanation and how I learn more about science through these books. Another reason why this was a good read for me is that there was not that much romance in it that distracts from the plot. And finally, the character development. I grew fond of Mark Watney because Andy Weir makes the reader spend days with Mark on Mars and walks through every step. Right before I thought the meticulous attention to the detail will make the book boring Mark’s sense of humor and introduction to his personality changed that thought. Mark is the main protagonist and focus of the book, although there are other characters but they almost blur in the crowd as Mark takes most of the “screen time”.  The only person left behind on Mars is a botanist, and I think that if any other member of the crew was left behind they could not survive. First, there is an impression that Mark will survive on...

  Watching Coraline made me go back and read it. I will do it whenever I have time. It was a fantastic story with a unique style where everything is stunningly weird. I liked worldbuilding the most and the duality of everything. In my opinion LAIKA succeeded in every aspect of this stop motion feature. There is a lot of foreshadowing and great exposition to prepare the viewer for horror. It is done mostly by threads and needles. I really liked the contrast between the parallel worlds and the way evil is introduced in this “perfect” form. Everything is nice and normal except the eyes of the “other” characters but it seems like Coraline is not bothered with it that much until she realizes that they want to sew a pair of buttons for her eyes as well and opposes them. The character arc and the relationship between the two main characters is very interesting as well making us root for them. Most importantly there is an obvious and important  high concept and she learns her lesson a...

 Blogs 47 points + attendance 7 points = 54 points

  “The circus arrives without warning” this is the opening sentence of the book. It started with mysterious words that awoke my interest and triggered my imagination. However, the overall plot and the way the author exposed his thoughts through imagery was confusing because of non-linear storytelling. From the beginning till the end there are multiple storylines and jumps in time and space to reveal more and more about the characters which also makes it a slow read to take my time and understand what exactly is going on. This is done to make the atmosphere of the book more mysterious and I think Erin Morgenstern succeeds in it. The sudden appearance of the circus that is open only at night and closes at dawn and there is no way to track where it goes is definitely a unique hook. The Night Circus stands out with its exposition, costume and prop designs and worldbuilding overall. I liked all the magic and weirdness throughout but the romance kept distracting me and it was the least e...

  The Hobbit definitely stands out with its meticulous and amusing worldbuilding, exposition and character development. It is hard to have many characters in the story and keep the clarity of the story. However, Tolkien brilliantly portrays his characters and even though some of the characters get more attention than the others he gives equal importance to all the characters. Throughout the story the reader follows Bilbo, his point of view and his character development. In my  opinion Bilbo is a great representation of a character arc and the growth of an ordinary into a hero. The reader can relate to Bilbo and discover themselves through his journey. All of us can find our inner hobbit when we plan our lives and try to stay on the safe side of it but some events push us to do more, to think outside the box, be our better and braver selves and feel accomplished.  What caught my eye the most is Tolkien’s representation of the Smaug. I find him very engrossing but it was am...

   I am not sure what to write about this book. The first sentences were promising but it turned out to be another witch story that has nothing new to offer. There is not enough introduction to the characters I think and the book starts with action which seemed confusing to me. Sunny is different from others, she is Nigerian Albino which makes it hard for her to find her place in the community. Orlu and Chichi felt random for me in the beginning as their connection did not seem natural. I wish I could read more about Chichi’s house. As the book itself is written in first person, Sunny’s explorations play a huge role in the story. Before she is told the truth about Orlu and Chichi she notices some weird things but it does not bother her that much. Some of the terms throughout the book feel almost paraphrased from Harry Potter. I think that similarity made me stop reading almost halfway through. I was trying to find a reason to continue reading but was getting more and more conv...

  Annihilation is as strange as it can possibly be. The narrator is the protagonist of the story and one of the four experts that goes to this place called Are X which is separated by an invisible gate and somehow they cannot use modern technology there and everything they take has to be at least thirty years old. Area X does something to the ecosystem which affects everything and changes things. Right from the beginning of the book I felt that there is something wrong and I should not be here and it was not even clear why these characters would want to go there if they know that various traumas happened to the people from previous expeditions. There is a great set up of suspense and foreshadowing of what is going to happen. The four women in the expedition are not supposed to know even each other's names which makes the whole thing impersonal but I think that there is more personality in here as it is written not from the neutral outsider’s point of view but as a diary of the biol...

  Although the lecture by Dr. William Tsuitusi is about Godzilla. I liked the research aspect behind the fantasy worlds and characters. Dr. Tsuitusi leads his lecture in a conversational form making jokes and involving students which is a good way to keep them involved in the theme. The Mosasaurs was a good discovery for me which turns out to be the core aspect in the name Gojira (Godzilla) which is a combination of words gorilla and whale. The origins of Godzilla is based on the success of the re-released King Kong and The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms which gave this idea of a giant monster to Japanese filmmakers. Godzilla was supposed to be a very serious film. The special effects during the world war were pretty simple and they were using miniatures but these miniatures were very detailed. Dr. William Tsuitusi also mentions the problems of American adaptations of original movies. He recommends to watch the 1954 film which includes the Hiroshima events and being a fairly serious m...

   Haruki Murakami creates these weird worlds where nothing should make sense and he does not even put an effort to explain or make things ordinary. In A Wild Sheep Chase the characters do not have names and the protagonist tells the story in first person narration. However, the characters have interesting nicknames that I think play a bigger role in describing them than just names such as “the girl who’d sleep with anyone.” While reading the book I had this weird feeling that was hard to explain but made me go a few years back when I was reading Murakami’s Kafka On The Shore. I guess all his books share the same energy and it is in the words. The way he describes morning and how tasteless everything seems because of the morning sun evokes hazy feelings.  Back to weirdness, the ears being the center of attention, a part of the body that is usually neglected as people mostly pay attention to the eyes, nose and mouth. We never heard somebody say “your ears are so beautiful”...

  The Interview With a Vampire was both predictable and surprising for me. One of the things that amused me was the emotional aspect of Louis. For me, he became more sensual after his transition to vampire than he was as a human. The way he describes his last sunrise, or the caring about other people, especially Claudia is very delicate and emotional. Living as a vampire for more than two centuries Louis decides to tell his story to a young reporter which for me sounded less of an interview than a monologue, a lesson for an audience. Unfortunately, at the end of the story the boy makes the opposite conclusions based on the story he just heard and wants to become a vampire as well. Lestat’s character is a curse itself let alone for the whole eternity. In my opinion, if Lestat was a human he could be considered as an emotional vampire as he keeps poisoning the life of Louis and drains his energy. There is a feeling of late motif throughout the story when Claudia and Louis start to ki...

  The lecture about the Gothic by Professor David Punter helped me understand the specifics of the genre and find similarities between stories that seemed completely different before. While explaining the theme Professor Punter discusses various books from the very first books written in the 1780s and 90s to more recent ones. Some of these books interested me due to this lecture, for example, The Castle of Otranto and The Monk. It was not very clear to me what the concept of sublime is but the phrase “the world is far more powerful than you” helped me understand the feeling behind it. I enjoyed learning about the reasons why people watch or read horror stories. One of the reasons brought by Professor Punter surprised me as he claims that watching something frightful may help people feel less frightened in the outside world as I usually noticed that after watching horror movies people become more scared of for instance, similar places they saw in the movie. It was easier to understa...

  Frankenstein is considered one of the most famous Gothic novels. The characters are typical to the genre with the protagonist, Dr. Frankenstein, a handsome, well-educated man that is sent to study and is about to succeed is very similar to a romantic hero but his actions lead to destruction of his life and the ones he loves, thus questioning his heroism. Frankenstein’s creature is an outcast that does not belong in this world which makes him a great gothic character. This novel belongs to the kind of Gothic where the author gives natural and scientific explanation of the events such as the scientific practices used by Dr. Frankenstein. The female characters fall into the frame of the genre as well; given the minimum significance, all three female characters of the story do not act much and die at the end. While reading the novel I enjoyed the “story within a story” structure that confused me in the beginning but made sense at the end wrapping up the story the same way as it start...

       The picture of Dorian Gray is a vivid example of Gothic text with its dark tone and the presence of the handsome, wealthy and mysterious male protagonist that has much resemblance to the romantic hero. However, Dorian appears to be more villain than a classic romantic protagonist. I was captivated by and related to Basil's character right from the beginning of the story through the misunderstanding between him and Lord Henry about his painting of Dorian Gray. It sometimes feels like the artists live in a completely different world where they have an alternative understanding of the reality. The inciting incident of the story feels hidden for while as it is just an innocent wish Dorian has after seeing his portrait. I think at some point everyone had wishes like that but Oscar Wild makes this wish come true which makes it not so innocent anymore. The immortal youth of Dorian Gray is in the core of making the story an example of a supernatural Gothic genre. Lord...