Remember how I promised to read more in an attempt to kick-start my creativity and improve my brain?

Well! I read two books over the weekend (it was a long weekend with a lot of car travel). I finished Zombie, by Joyce Carol Oates, and I read The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green, by Joshua Braff. Here are my brief reviews.

Zombie is a stylish, gruesome, and generally effective look at the inner workings of a serial killer. It is written in the first person from the killer’s perspective, and I think it’s a pretty interesting take on mental illness. The style is jumpy and disconcerting, much like the subject matter. One of the most interesting aspects is the fact that the killer does not actually think of himself as a killer, but rather an unsuccessful zombie maker. He read about early lobotomy techniques (gross, by the way; let’s just say there are ice picks and eye sockets involved) and decides that he needs a personal zombie slave, which he could fabricate by lobotomizing a person. Unfortunately, lobotomy has fallen out of favor for many reasons, one of which is its high failure rate. He kills everyone he tries to lobotomize, which fuels his sense of personal dissatisfaction.

What a great idea! I mean, who wouldn’t want a zombie? And what a brilliant way of going about zombie-izing. The very brilliance of the plot crux made this book unsatisfying; I wished it had been a science fiction story with an omniscient narrator so the zombie production process could have been more deeply explored. Although the author is effective in transporting the reader into the killer’s mind (I guess; having never killed any humans, I don’t know exactly what it’s like), the book doesn’t go much further than that.

Overall, it was an interesting and tittlating read, if zombie-making is your bag, and I know it’s mine. Some might find it unsatisfying, depending on whether or not you accept the idea that a character study is sufficient content for a novel.

***

The Unthinkable Thoughts… is a very funny and well-constructed little book. There were some parts I found a little unbelievable, but on the other hand, I’ve never been a young Jewish boy in the ’70s living with a tyrannical father. The style was a fairly smooth and non-jarring blend of fantasy and reality, with a lot of witty dialogue and astute observation. The three major charaters (a father and two of his sons) were solid and well-rounded, though some of the secondary characters get short-changed. I felt teased by the interactions with the mother; there is clearly a lot going on with her that we never get to explore (save a very thoughtful and fascinating glimpse into her imagination when she is put on the spot by her husband at a party).

Overall, it was a very emotionally provocative book, with both postive and negative emotions. It might be traumatic to read if you grew up with a mentally ill father.

On another topic entirely, here’s an interesting article about condiments.