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Book Review: Suzie & the Monsters – A Fairytale of Blood, Sex and Inhumanity

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Megan in Reviews

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

books, eBooks, female vampires, human trafficking, lesbian, lesbian love, lesbian sex, lesbian vampires, literature, misogyny, novels, vampires

Vampire novels these days seem to be very similar. Many of them involved a woman falling love – or lust – with an alpha male vampire. Sometimes the female protagonist can be a kick-ass, superwoman type, while other times her life revolves the man she is focused on.

Well, how about a vampire book that is almost entirely different from all the others out there? As in, where the men aren’t the heroes and women can be someone’s cup of tea?

British author Francis James Franklin likes to explore a vampire’s struggle between it’s monstrous nature and the humanity of it’s previous life. He also likes to explore female sexuality, especially in the realm of lesbianism.

Before you jump for joy or get enraged over more lesbian chic, I say relax. Taking a look at Franklin’s blog shows he is not exactly a Howard Stern-like drooling over girl-on-girl action. He admits that women’s sexuality can be powerfully dangerous and erotic. Too bad patriarchal oppression kept down powerful women for many centuries, and it looks like he explored how that can affect a woman in his self-published eBook, Suzie and the Monsters: A Fairytale of Blood, Sex and Inhumanity. He also brings his exploration of a vampire trying to remain human while being something inhuman to this book.

What drew me to this book were the reviews on Goodreads. I saw that the ratings were low for Suzie and I wondered why because Franklin seems to analyze issues pretty well. When I checked them out, there were many complaints of the explicit sex in this book. Many felt the scenes were far too graphic, and there were other complaints about the POV and the unconventional plot. But some described the main character, Suzie Kew (yes, that is her name), as a strong woman in charge of her life, yet mildly self-hating because of her vampirism. Intrigued, I decided to check out the book myself.

First off, yes, there is a lot of sex in this book. A lot! But I can attest that this is not erotica, like some have said. Erotica is when there is more sex than plot, and the sex goes on for pages or paragraphs in a very graphic manner. Most of the time, the sex here is just matter-of-fact. But there are scenes that make me uncomfortable, particularly one that happens in the very first few pages where Suzie rapes a girl in a club bathroom stall. Yeah, not exactly a protagonist to root for and I was very disturbed by that.

Click here for Amazon link

Click here for Amazon link

However, I admit I was interested in learning more about Suzie, who she was and where she came from. She didn’t seem psychopathic nor was she an angel. There was also the promise of what she did for a living that hinted a plot. When Suzie is not out clubbing, seducing women left and right, working as a pole dancer at a classy strip club, and obsessing over high fashion and the aroma of coffee, she assists a private investigator in tracking down missing girls.

Although there wasn’t much of a plot with that detective part – it was more like a side story the way it was written – it does offer a chance to get to know Suzie. With that, it becomes clear that this book is not a typical plot driven one, but a character study, and a statement on female sexuality and how women have suffered as second class citizens for centuries. As a woman who cares about women’s issues myself, I found it intriguing that a man will take on this feminist slant very well.

Throughout the book we learn about why Suzie is vicious and how she struggles with that. She has very good reasons to want to destroy all the monsters in the world (translation: men who brutally abuse women) but yet, she knows being driven by hate and vengeance makes her a monster, too. “And who would love me then?” she asks at the very last line of the story. Such is the conflict she’s been dealing with for 500 years.

At the heart of this story is Suzie’s blossoming relationship with Cleo, an 18 year girl finishing up school whom she met right after raping that girl in the bathroom stall (BTW: that girl pops up again later on, and we learn why exactly Suzie did what she did. Not to condone her actions at all, but it was not just sexual domination that drove our protagonist). It doesn’t take long for Suzie to fall madly in love with the naive but bright, young but strong, innocent but fearless Cleo. Cleo herself falls in love and leaves all that she has behind to follow the vampire she sees as a goddess. Along the way, there is plenty of blood drinking, both from the guys who kind of deserve it and those who do not. Oh yeah, lots of sex. But hey, that’s what two people do when they first fall in love, regardless of orientation.

I was enjoying this story very much until about two-thirds along the way. I really got into Suzie working for the private investigation in tracking down missing girls, and discovering a human trafficking scheme involving young women from Eastern Europe being forced to work as prostitutes in London. This is an issue I personally care about because it is horrifying that human trafficking is still being done, and the way the women are treated makes me both mad and sad. For those of you who’ve read my book, The Dark Proposal, you may recall there were brief moments where victims of human trafficking were depicted, but for very different reasons compared to Franklin’s book.

Anyway, I was enjoying this and hoping Suzie would emerge victorious in the end. But then there’s a part where she talks at great length about her history. I felt her doing so took away the momentum of the story, because it was gearing up for a big event, and I actually got bored reading about it. I know it was to help the reader understand where she was coming from and what drives her. But it turned the excitement down several notches.

By the end of the novel, I felt this was about a woman fighting for women’s freedom from brutal men who just so happened to be a vampire rather than vice versa. It is clear Suzie’s vampire status is second to that of her fighting for women’s freedom from brutal men, and that is definitely a different take on vampires in fiction. Unfortunately, it may confuse other readers on what to make out of Suzie. Is she a vampire? A sex-crazed lesbian? Or a woman who has dealt with and seen too many women suffer from patriarchy that she makes it her mission to get justice however she can?

Obviously, Suzie Kew cannot be put into a box and that is something not too many authors do with their main characters. Yeah, some may have villains with an apparent sweet side, but this protagonist cannot be pigeon-holed at all. Be prepared if you choose to read it so confusion won’t set in.

Overall, I liked Franklin’s writing style, how he structured his book (the chapters are not numbered, just named) and his exploration of topics that can make wood burn big time. This is a book that very different in a lot of ways, so do not expect this to be a conventional vampire/character study/lesbian love/social justice novel.

I give this book four out of five stars.

Should We Always Relate to the Protagonists?

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Megan in Storytelling Musings

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

A Clockwork Orange, book reviews, characterization, Gone Girl, literary fiction, literature, main characters, opinion, protagonists, The Kite Runner, thoughts

A few weeks ago, I came across this essay on the Huffington Post’s books section. Written by Evan Gottlieb, an English professor at Oregon State University, it asks the question whether it is imperative for readers to identify with the main character in the books they read. 7030239035_624c94268a_z

Gottlieb says that this is something new with readers, most likely because of the advent of psychologically complex characters in the 19th century. Before, the thoughts and actions of protagonists weren’t as deep and were mostly symbolic. Now, they are more realistic.

So does that mean all protagonists have to be relatable to any potential reader?

If, as Gottlieb points out, relatable means “likable”. In that case, I would say that is not always necessary. I’ve read books where I didn’t like the main character but enjoyed the book anyway. The Kite Runner didn’t have Amir as a likable protagonist, but the story was amazing. Louis in Interview With The Vampire was whiny, but it was a very entertaining book. From what I’ve been hearing, the popular novel, Gone Girl, has unlikable characters but is a very good story.

However, you might recall my review of Kushiel’s Chosen, where I made it clear that I couldn’t stand the main character, Phedré, and almost put the book down for good because of her. On Amazon and Goodreads, there are many reviews where people say they couldn’t enjoy or even finish a book because the protagonist was so unlikable.

So there is a need for likable characters. However, is it plausible? Meaning, do all main characters have likable or even interesting for a story to be told?

A_Clockwork_Orange_Wallpaper_by_Sanderson_V3Not necessarily, and here’s an example: perhaps many of us read or saw the movie A Clockwork Orange in college. Now, Alex is wholly an unlikable character! But Anthony Burgess’ book continues to receive good reviews not because Alex is such a lovable, caring, sweet protagonist whom we root for from beginning to end (Ha! I can’t believe I used those words, even mockingly).

That is because Burgess has a point to make about forcing people to be good, and torturing them to stop being bad. The book makes the reader ponder what is the right or wrong way to stop antisocial behavior, plus show that even the justice system can be worse than the criminal.

See, who Alex is isn’t the point of the story – it is what happens to him that is the point.

I think some books require the protagonist to be liked and others don’t. I can’t see a romance novel being successful if the main character is widely disliked, but a thriller can call for a less than likable one.

Evan Gottlieb’s essay ends off with these lines which ring true:

There are, of course, many other good reasons to read literature: for entertainment, for instruction, for inspiration. But from the 18th century onward, novels have shown themselves to be remarkably effective, durable technologies for encouraging us to extend our understanding to others, no matter how different or unlikable they might initially appear.  And if that isn’t a good reason to pick up a good book, then I don’t know what is.

Please Write Another Book, Khaled Hosseini

13 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by Megan in Books

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Afghanistan, authors, bestselling authors, bestselling book, great books, Khlaed Hosseini, literature

I was dusting my furniture this afternoon, and when I got to my bookshelf, I started to think about the books resting on them. I thought about how much I enjoyed each one, if I really wanted to see if the authors of those books had any other books out (I have so many to-read books on my other shelf that I am hesitant to add to it), and so on. But when I thought about the books, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Afghan novelist, Khaled Hosseini, I found myself wishing so much that Hosseini would put out another book.

Don’t judge me based on the design of my blog. As I mentioned in my previous post, I do read other genres besides urban fantasy/paranormal. I actually prefer books that take me somewhere else – be it another time in history, another country in the world, another dimension or subculture in our world, or even a country with an alternative history to it. Just take me somewhere different to my world, and have a great story to it.

Click here to buy book on Amazon

Hosseini certainly did that. From the moment I read the first words in each of his books, I was pulled in everything about Afghanistan – its people, its history, its conflicts, its heartbreaks. I really learned a lot about a country that was a big part of news reports for most of the past decade. I also was drawn into the lives of the characters he wrote about – Leila and Mariam, Amir and Hassan. They were so memorable and so real. I felt as though I was standing right in front of them, watching their scenes close-up and feeling everything they were going through. That is the definition of a great author, in my opinion.

That is why I would love it if Hosseini wrote another book. A Thousand Splendid Suns was published several years ago, and that was his last book. I understand Hosseini is now a UNCHR ambassador and works hard for his people these days, which can take up time to writing a new novel. It makes perfect sense, and I’m not disappointed in him. Priorities are priorities.

It is just Afghanistan has changed a lot since the Taliban fell in 2001, and I’m sure there are still some amazing stories that can be thought up that can take place during this period. I’m certain Hosseini can create another set of very real characters while telling the reader about Afghan history and society. His writing style is breathtaking and it really sucks you in – I can’t emphasize that enough. He has both a storytelling gift, and an educating gift – the perfect combination for any writer.

And if and when he ever does publish another book, I will be reserving my copy the minute I hear about – guaranteed!

New Excerpt from “The Dark Proposal”

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Megan in My Books, The Dark Proposal

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Book excerpt, eBooks, excerpt, horror, literature, October, paranormal, scary stories, scary story, urban fantasy, vampires

Still thinking about reading my urban fantasy book, The Dark Proposal?

There’s a new excerpt to be read and it could be found at Mywithshins for Susan’s October dedication to scary stories. If you are writing or have something published that falls under the scary story genre, feel free to contact Susan to see if she’ll feature you. She’s very approachable and enthusiastic about this homage to October, so don’t hesitate to ask!

It’s a short excerpt, but unlike the one used for my blog tour last month, this excerpt is taken from the middle of the story – where everything is different for Claire and Daniel.

 

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