Dead Until Dark (That book True Blood is based on) Review
So, this was sitting around in my LJ client. For a few days now. I told it to post, and I guess it didn't want to. Well, fine, cut-and-paste it is. Sorry for the delay.
In which, I discuss the book in relation to the television show, in minimal relation to Twilight (look, that's apparently hot-button), and on its own.
All things vampires have been such a media focus lately that I've practically been avoiding them. I mean, I lawl at Twilight with everyone else and I watch True Blood when it's in its season, but other than that, I haven't bothered doing the vampire thing since some bad Lost Boys/Anne Rice crossovers in high school.
This is my life.
Granted: True Blood (or moreover, the Sookie Stackhouse Series) kind of runs on its own steam. For those of you unfamiliar: it is about vampires. But, once you get past the initial "Blooooood! Deaaaath! Glamoooooooor!" the series begins to let you look into other realms of paranormal: mind reading, shape shifting, a hooring that has never been hoored, and (from what I've seen in the television series) we even see bacchae (maenads, I think they called them?) and have hints at werewolves.
You know, everything you could want from a supernatural series and more.
True Blood/The Sookie Stackhouse series for those that don't live in my head, watch the show, or have read the books takes place in the small town of Bon Temps in Louisiana. The basic premise is that those crazy Japanese have created a synthetic blood (called "True Blood" -Oh. I see what you did thar) that has allowed vampires to come out of hiding ("coming out of the coffin") and live among civilized people because they no longer have to kill them ("mainstreaming", they call this). Of course, all of this is happening through the eyes of one mortal, Sookie Stackhouse, who begins to date the local vampire of Bon Temps ("Vampire Bill". It's okay, you can laugh. Sookie did too) and begins to discover the entire supernatural world. Something she should have discovered before being that she's not actually a "mere" mortal, but a telepath (and we see in the second book that she's not alone).
Now, the television show (season one, at least) does a damn fine job of sticking true to the book. At least, plot-wise it did. I'm not going to lie, the show series is kind of like a soap opera. With vampires. And mind-reading. And thick southern accents!
My voyeurism allows me to be enthralled by horror films, but has never given me the patience to watch a soap opera. The writing, acting, etc. on the show is *that good* that I continue to watch it, despite the constant threat of long-lost twins and miracle conception alien babies. The book isn't as bad as the television series in this sense. I mean, really, it could be, but I believe Harris's writing really is so approachable, the story reads like "Oh, no, this is TOTALLY NORMAL", which I can dig. Other than that, if you've seen season one, you've basically read Dead Until Dark, with the exception of the story telling (Sookie's first-person narrative in the books, film allows you to see what *everyone* is doing). The gripping murderous sub-plot is in tact in both stories, and, oh look at that, Harris allows the plot to fully play out. Not only that, she let's Sookie do some BAMFy ass-kicking. Most of it, in fact (Sookie: 1; Bella: 0). Personally, I really love this. It's great to see a lead female character be a girly-girl, but still know how to defend herself. It's -I dare say- refreshing.
In both stories, there is a constant element of Bill's old-world values and Sookie's modern-day pseudo-feminism. My personal favorite moment is when Sookie approaches Bill's house, where he is apparently having a vampire sleepover with a whole den of anti-mainstreaming vampires who look to "glamor" Sookie (the hypnotizing thing all vampires can do. The ~*DAZZLE*~ if you will), which doesn't work because Sookie considers herself disabled with this mind-reading gift, and when the other vampires get nasty about it, Bill intervenes with "Sookie is mine!" (ep. two or three of the show, page 66 of the book).
This may seen innocuous enough, but Sookie is greatly offended that Bill would try to claim ownership of her, while Bill is all like, "But...I was trying to keep you not dead yet?" Hilarity and sexual tension ensues. At the time it happens, Sookie does have enough sense to not argue about it in front of the hungry vampires, but she's still angry.
Quote:
"Sookie is mine,' he said, and his voice was so cold and smooth it wouldn't have made a ripple in the water if it had been a stone.
I looked at him sharply, but I had enough brains to keep my mouth shut."
Why is this my favorite, you ask? Just the way it's said on the show. "Suckie is MAHN!" and Anna Paquin's >=X face sticks in my brain as the simplest way for me to explain why I love the series as a whole.
And, hopefully you can kind of see what I mean about the writing being approachable. Like Mark Twain, Harris does an amazing job using language and tone to really paint what it's like to be in the south, watching all of this happen. You really feel like you are simple Sookie going through her day-to-day. And, it helps that Sookie is not at all a Mary Sue (it makes her more realistic, and even more approachable). She has what everyone wants to call a "gift" (the mind-reading), but she calls it a "disability", and isn't shy to make you feel the same way: she describes what it's like to try to be around someone you can hear the thoughts of while they're aroused. Really. Think about that. Think about what they think to themselves to make the arousal more intense ("I wish her butt were bigger", "Man I just want to grab her boob", etc.). Now think you're hearing that while working as a waitress serving this person a hamburger. Disability. Sold.
Because of this disability, Sookie could never excel in school. She would always hear the distracted thoughts of students around her and get distracted herself. For that reason, she's considered "simple" and "dimwitted". But, despite all of that, she pursues reading and learning on her own, and is stable enough to defend herself when need be, and to keep a positive attitude on everything.
Kind of makes me want to hug her, don't know 'bout you.
However, in this simplicity, Sookie is still the girl that likes to think about clothes. And, being that this is her story, that means we get to hear about the clothes she's thinking about. I think it was Salinger or Steinbeck who said that a writer should let the dialog and action describe your characters, not what they're wearing. For me, I agree whole-heartedly. This doesn't make you a bad writer to describe the clothing and appearances of your characters, I'm just the reader that doesn't care, I want action. The only time I want to hear about what Sookie's wearing is when it's relevant to the plot. Example: Sookie talks about wearing a short sun dress on a date with Bill. She goes into detail about how small a dress it is. When Bill picks her up, he criticizes her, saying she's not wearing enough dress. This begins a conversation about Bill missing petty coats, and we get some insight on what makes Bill nostalgic. But, talking about the cherries on the dress you're sun-bathing in when the focus of the plot for the scene is how your brother is a suspected murderer? I don't care about the cherries, thank you.
And hey, if that's my only complaint, I think that's pretty promising for the rest of the series.
FYT:
In which, I discuss the book in relation to the television show, in minimal relation to Twilight (look, that's apparently hot-button), and on its own.
All things vampires have been such a media focus lately that I've practically been avoiding them. I mean, I lawl at Twilight with everyone else and I watch True Blood when it's in its season, but other than that, I haven't bothered doing the vampire thing since some bad Lost Boys/Anne Rice crossovers in high school.
This is my life.
Granted: True Blood (or moreover, the Sookie Stackhouse Series) kind of runs on its own steam. For those of you unfamiliar: it is about vampires. But, once you get past the initial "Blooooood! Deaaaath! Glamoooooooor!" the series begins to let you look into other realms of paranormal: mind reading, shape shifting, a hooring that has never been hoored, and (from what I've seen in the television series) we even see bacchae (maenads, I think they called them?) and have hints at werewolves.
You know, everything you could want from a supernatural series and more.
True Blood/The Sookie Stackhouse series for those that don't live in my head, watch the show, or have read the books takes place in the small town of Bon Temps in Louisiana. The basic premise is that those crazy Japanese have created a synthetic blood (called "True Blood" -Oh. I see what you did thar) that has allowed vampires to come out of hiding ("coming out of the coffin") and live among civilized people because they no longer have to kill them ("mainstreaming", they call this). Of course, all of this is happening through the eyes of one mortal, Sookie Stackhouse, who begins to date the local vampire of Bon Temps ("Vampire Bill". It's okay, you can laugh. Sookie did too) and begins to discover the entire supernatural world. Something she should have discovered before being that she's not actually a "mere" mortal, but a telepath (and we see in the second book that she's not alone).
Now, the television show (season one, at least) does a damn fine job of sticking true to the book. At least, plot-wise it did. I'm not going to lie, the show series is kind of like a soap opera. With vampires. And mind-reading. And thick southern accents!
My voyeurism allows me to be enthralled by horror films, but has never given me the patience to watch a soap opera. The writing, acting, etc. on the show is *that good* that I continue to watch it, despite the constant threat of long-lost twins and miracle conception alien babies. The book isn't as bad as the television series in this sense. I mean, really, it could be, but I believe Harris's writing really is so approachable, the story reads like "Oh, no, this is TOTALLY NORMAL", which I can dig. Other than that, if you've seen season one, you've basically read Dead Until Dark, with the exception of the story telling (Sookie's first-person narrative in the books, film allows you to see what *everyone* is doing). The gripping murderous sub-plot is in tact in both stories, and, oh look at that, Harris allows the plot to fully play out. Not only that, she let's Sookie do some BAMFy ass-kicking. Most of it, in fact (Sookie: 1; Bella: 0). Personally, I really love this. It's great to see a lead female character be a girly-girl, but still know how to defend herself. It's -I dare say- refreshing.
In both stories, there is a constant element of Bill's old-world values and Sookie's modern-day pseudo-feminism. My personal favorite moment is when Sookie approaches Bill's house, where he is apparently having a vampire sleepover with a whole den of anti-mainstreaming vampires who look to "glamor" Sookie (the hypnotizing thing all vampires can do. The ~*DAZZLE*~ if you will), which doesn't work because Sookie considers herself disabled with this mind-reading gift, and when the other vampires get nasty about it, Bill intervenes with "Sookie is mine!" (ep. two or three of the show, page 66 of the book).
This may seen innocuous enough, but Sookie is greatly offended that Bill would try to claim ownership of her, while Bill is all like, "But...I was trying to keep you not dead yet?" Hilarity and sexual tension ensues. At the time it happens, Sookie does have enough sense to not argue about it in front of the hungry vampires, but she's still angry.
Quote:
"Sookie is mine,' he said, and his voice was so cold and smooth it wouldn't have made a ripple in the water if it had been a stone.
I looked at him sharply, but I had enough brains to keep my mouth shut."
Why is this my favorite, you ask? Just the way it's said on the show. "Suckie is MAHN!" and Anna Paquin's >=X face sticks in my brain as the simplest way for me to explain why I love the series as a whole.
And, hopefully you can kind of see what I mean about the writing being approachable. Like Mark Twain, Harris does an amazing job using language and tone to really paint what it's like to be in the south, watching all of this happen. You really feel like you are simple Sookie going through her day-to-day. And, it helps that Sookie is not at all a Mary Sue (it makes her more realistic, and even more approachable). She has what everyone wants to call a "gift" (the mind-reading), but she calls it a "disability", and isn't shy to make you feel the same way: she describes what it's like to try to be around someone you can hear the thoughts of while they're aroused. Really. Think about that. Think about what they think to themselves to make the arousal more intense ("I wish her butt were bigger", "Man I just want to grab her boob", etc.). Now think you're hearing that while working as a waitress serving this person a hamburger. Disability. Sold.
Because of this disability, Sookie could never excel in school. She would always hear the distracted thoughts of students around her and get distracted herself. For that reason, she's considered "simple" and "dimwitted". But, despite all of that, she pursues reading and learning on her own, and is stable enough to defend herself when need be, and to keep a positive attitude on everything.
Kind of makes me want to hug her, don't know 'bout you.
However, in this simplicity, Sookie is still the girl that likes to think about clothes. And, being that this is her story, that means we get to hear about the clothes she's thinking about. I think it was Salinger or Steinbeck who said that a writer should let the dialog and action describe your characters, not what they're wearing. For me, I agree whole-heartedly. This doesn't make you a bad writer to describe the clothing and appearances of your characters, I'm just the reader that doesn't care, I want action. The only time I want to hear about what Sookie's wearing is when it's relevant to the plot. Example: Sookie talks about wearing a short sun dress on a date with Bill. She goes into detail about how small a dress it is. When Bill picks her up, he criticizes her, saying she's not wearing enough dress. This begins a conversation about Bill missing petty coats, and we get some insight on what makes Bill nostalgic. But, talking about the cherries on the dress you're sun-bathing in when the focus of the plot for the scene is how your brother is a suspected murderer? I don't care about the cherries, thank you.
And hey, if that's my only complaint, I think that's pretty promising for the rest of the series.
FYT: