UR (#4) - New Moon (#5)

Well, one way to catch up on book posts is to do a two-fer and it kind of makes sense for these two books since either (a) you likely can't read it, or (b) you've likely have read it or have no intention to do so!

First up, UR by Stephen King which falls into the former category. It is allegedly the first literary work written exclusively for the Kindle.  So while I do hear that it will eventually be lumped into a short story (though it's advertised as a novella - I guess-timated 92 pages) collection in physical book form, for now it is only for us Kindle owners.  King is a big fan of the device and this story was "published" to coincide with the release of the Kindle 2.0. 

As you can see by the "cover" of the book (again, kind of funny since the Kindle does not do color), it does revolve around a very mysterious pink Kindle.  I won't give away the plot, but it was a cool little twist... more supernatural, thank violence or horror.  I'll admit I am not the biggest King fan or fan of this genre, though I think King is doing more the eerie / spooky / weird stuff than the gore.  But the story I found quite entertaining and for $2.99 it seemed like something one should give a try as a Kindle owner.

But it was being a Kindle owner that in many, many ways dragged the work down.  King writes the story (sorta kinda) understandably so as if someone has never used / experienced a Kindle.  So at times it feels very instructional (like Kindle 101 class), so it was a bit frustrating and like "ummm, duhhh... I know, I am using one right now!"  I'll admit to some confusion since the protagonist has the new Kindle (2.0), and since I was reading with the original Kindle... some of the button positioning is different, so until that dawned on me I was thinking King didn't even know what he was talking about!  And other times it does stink bad of being a big, long advertisement / product placement.  I am sure I wasn't the only person to guffaw when the main character thought this device would cost a lot of money, but was pleasantly surprised to find out it "only cost less than $400."  Now, I love the Kindle, but even I think it is over-priced... so that line really struck the wrong chord and took awhile to recover from.

So I give the book kudos for its story... and definitely fun that it was Kindle-centric... but just a bit too dumbed down for me re: the Kindle and definitely smacking of a bit of a sell-out from Mr. King.

King likely would not have approved that Stephenie Meyer's New Moon was the next book on my list.  Early this year, King started a bit of a feud with the Twilight series author, differing in the opinion that the latest literary sensation is in the same company as the Harry Potter series, King stating: "The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."  And while given my thoughts about Twilight which leaned very much towards King's opinion, it just kind of smacked of sour grapes and/or general bitchiness (as far as I know, Meyer never responded -- and if that is the case, I think very wisely ... let the book sales and phenomenon do the talking).

Anyhow, I am not really sure why I decided to go onto Book #2 in this series when I was so critical of the first.  But alas, age-appropriate or not the books are a pop culture phenomenon and couple that with my reading guilty pleasure of vampires... and, well, it ended up not being a battle worth fighting.  (On a side note, the vampire-less Harry Potter series is likely the reason I didn't get beyond the first book there... pop culture phenomenon alone is not enough!)   Also contributing was still feeling the need for an easy read after Wuthering Heights... and this certainly qualified.  Funny enough, Todd's sister (just a smidgen younger than myself) was also reading this book at the same time and she mentioned that this books are allegedly written at 4th-grade reading level... ha!   And here I was worried that I was reading something for "tweens"!   

I don't know if I went into this book with lower expectations and/or knew what I was getting myself into that I ended up liking this book a whole lot better than the first.  It even seemed to be a bit better written (though I am one to talk as I am not even sure what I just typed is good grammar!)... and I did like the story better, though Twlight fanatics will likely gasp as I note the reason for that is that Bella and her vampire-love Edward end up being seperated for much of the action in this volume.  One of the most eye-rolling aspects of the first book was the horrificly painful dialogue between the two youngsters in love (well technically, Edward is 100+ years old... but in the body of a 17-year old... so I'll just go with that)... and likely making matters even worse, I found myself finding Jacob, even after his own revelation, to be a preferable love interest for our damsel in distress... and the actor who plays Jacob in the movie is pretty... well, since he is not legal I'll just leave it at... ah, the dangers of age-inappropriate lit!

So, I will likely march on with the series... though have no strong compulsion to do so immediately (my vampire fix will likely next move to the books that inspired the HBO series True Blood).

Comments

[Scot]

I just watched the movie twilight last night and have to admit, I liked it. The acting is dismal, the characters are insipid, there are sooooo many mistakes - but what can I say, I liked it. The score and soundtrack are really outstanding. The cinematography is excellent and quite frankly, the vampire baseball game is cool. I started watching with VERY low expectations and there was plenty of eye-rolling but I still enjoyed watching it.
I find vampires written by females to be much more interesting than those written by males. I'm sure its because women have a much different relationship with blood than men do. I doubt that I'll read the books because of all the bad reviews (including yours) but I did enjoy the movie.

[Scott K]

Never really got into the Vampire thing. I loved Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie, that is- never read the book), but I hated, hated, HATED Interview with the Vampire (both the book and the movie).

In regards to Stephen King's comments, I have to say that J.K Rowling deserves a lot of credit for her imagination. The world that she created for Harry Potter is fantastical and detailed. Maybe Rowling's prose isn't the most sophisticated, but these books were designed for kids.

I don't have any desire to read the Twilight books. I thought about renting the movie off Amazon the other night, but my only reason would have been just to see what all the fuss is about. I can't criticize the Twilight books or story as I don't have any experience with them.

From what I've read from other critics though, it sounds as though the Harry Potter books will remain as classics like the Beatles, while the Twilight series are more of a fad akin to The Jonas Brothers.

[B-ohio]

I sort of disagree about Twilight. I found the book to be extremely erotic in its description of the characters and their interactions, which in contrast, I found the movie to be lacking in the "erotic" sense, although I did really like the movie. (I don't mean erotic in a naughty way, I know its a kids book). I agree with you on Jacob being a great love interest. As a 32 year old father, I found it hard at first to get into the books but I just finished New Moon and will be starting the next one this week.