Day: February 25, 2018

Trigger Warning: The book reviewed in this post, The Ghost Years by Mutch Katsonga, contains depictions of drug use, attempted rape, and AIDS and HIVs. If you are under 18 years of age, are triggered by such depictions, or otherwise wish to avoid them, proceed with caution.

I have another book review for you, one also filled with tragedy like Twin Flames Rising but also a light at the end of the tunnel. This one, however, is by the author of another book I’ve reviewed on here before, Beyond the Spiral Gates. The book reviewed in this post is called The Ghost Years by Mutch Katsonga.

Homelessness is a nerve-wracking experience. Nowhere to stay for the night, no protection from the cold and the elements, and sometimes no friends or family to turn to for comfort. You add drugs, sex, and violence to the mix, and you have the netherworld of homelessness that the protagonist of The Ghost Years threw himself into as a young adult.

The Ghost Years follows a young man as he falls from the grace of a loving home into the deep despair of substance abuse and life as a vagabond. Beginning with the loss of his mother’s sanity, his life spirals downward until he is a twenty-something-year-old divorced ne’er-do-well, a wall of pride between him and his family and the high of addiction his only friend. How low will he go for that next high? How low will he have to go before he’ll be able to pull his life back together? And will anyone be there to give him a helping hand?

Katsonga creates another amazingly raw account of a life cast aside by the world when he needed support the most. Unlike in Beyond the Spiral Gates, the prison for the protagonist of this story is wide open world itself, a cold and cruel reality that he wants to escape, sending himself right into the arms of alcohol and crack cocaine. While Katsonga paints the picture of a sympathetic young man beaten down by circumstance, the protagonist is clearly no saint, either. He allows his bitterness and despair to envelope him and pushes away the very people who could help him most. He makes stupid mistakes and digs himself a deeper hole into the sewage of the homeless netherworld, but that is exactly what makes him human. The protagonist is flawed, but the tragedy of his younger years and the man that we see him become while volunteering at the nursing home proved to be more than enough for me to care about what this poor man went through.

Being told in first person, this story allows the reader to get up close and personal with the protagonist, his desperation, and his darkest thoughts. After the first chapter, the narration reads as though you are listening to someone tell you his life story, from the conditions surrounding his birth through the lowest points of his life. The first chapter reads does not quite have that same storyteller element, more like the reader is following the protagonist on his rounds through the nursing home, and the shift can be jarring. However, that’s part of what makes it feel more real; it’s as though the protagonist has decided to tell you what got him to this point in his life, to share his heart-wrenching but also inspiring story of recovery.

Still, the narrative style also serves as the book’s downfall. The protagonist is prone to excessive amounts of philosophizing and self-reflection. These passages certainly match the character’s personality and reveals the influence his mother had on him. I really appreciate that effort at characterization. After a while, though, I began to fade in and out while reading these. This attention issue may have just been due to the fact that I’m still sick, but I had to struggle some to make it through the philosophy to make it back to the meat of the story. I love a good philosophical discussion as much, maybe even more than, the next reader. Regardless, I was anxious to find out what happened next, a good sign for Katsonga’s storytelling but a hindrance for the philosophical musings.

The metaphors which Katsonga employees beautifully illustrate the struggles of addiction and homelessness. From Hercules and the Hydra to St. George and the dragon, Katsonga uses his protagonist’s earlier thirst for knowledge to his advantage in these metaphors. While I struggled with some of the philosophical and self-reflecting passages, I still enjoyed the utilization of Greek mythology and Christian lore to express the internal struggles which anyone who has hit their low can understand. Some readers might consider them overdone, but I think that they complemented the protagonist’s dilemma very well.

An unfortunate flaw in this book is the proofreading. I noticed multiple proofreading errors, most prominently misused commas. Some of these errors I could brush off as building the poetic, storytelling voice of the narration. Others, however, I could not. As with all proofreading errors, these are easy to fix just by taking another look at it and uploading a new eBook copy. (The wonders of modern technology, huh?)

Overall, The Ghost Years by Mutch Katsonga is a wonderful, if painful, book. It’s so true in its depiction of homelessness and addiction that this book can be hard to get through. Nevertheless, I highly encourage you to. I feel I have a new understanding of both these issues, as well as the workings of society which perpetuate them. The philosophy and self-reflection did grow a bit tedious even for me, but that only detracts slightly from the general reading experience. If you’re looking for a book that will give you a new view of that poor man sleeping on the park bench—and a new hope that his life can be turned around—then The Ghost Years is for you.

You can buy The Ghost Years by Mutch Katsonga as an eBook and in print on Amazon. Also make sure to check out Beyond the Spiral Gates and look the writer up on Twitter and Instagram.

Do you know of any books I should read? Want your work reviewed on this blog? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com or message me on Fiverr and we can arrange something.

 

Trigger Warning: The subject of today’s review, The Book of Angels: Twin Flames Rising by Maya El, contains depictions and discussions of rape, domestic abuse, violence, and sexual situations. If you are under 18 years of age, are triggered by such depictions, or otherwise wish to avoid them, proceed with caution.

Warning: Twin Flames Rising addresses controversial topics of a political nature. People of all political perspectives are welcomed to express their views, but any discussion resulting from this review should remain civil and polite. Any bullying, trolling, hate speech, or inappropriate remarks will result in the participating parties being reprimanded. Please refer to the Comments and Privacy Policy page for further information.

Well, I’m off to a not-so-great start today, but that’s a subject for another time. For now, I want to start this Sunday off on a slightly cheerier note. Well, not cheerier but definitely more entertaining. Today I’m bringing you yet another of my backlogged reviews, this time for a novel called The Book of Angels: Twin Flames Rising by Maya El.

Nathalie Parker lives in a time of chaos and uncertainty. As a woman of color—a person of color—in Chicago, things are looking bleak. With the election of a new president and the establishment of a strictly-enforced curfew, the number of unjustified police murders of African Americans is rising. On top of this turmoil, Nathalie has been trapped into an abusive marriage and seems to be losing everyone she loves. Since her husband is a local pastor doing so much good for the black community, very few people are even willing to believe her accusations. What’s a girl to do when her world is crumbling around her?

Fortunately, a glimmer of hope has entered Nathalie’s life: a figure who has been haunting her dreams, giving her the deepest sense of pleasure and bringing her complete ecstasy. But who is this mysterious god of lust? Is he real, or just a dream born of dread and depravity? What will his presence do to her marriage—more importantly, what will her husband do to her if these dreams empower her to leave him?

I found this book to be gripping, an intricate weaving of politics, violence, and romance. It’s as much a story about a woman reclaiming control of her life as it is a call-to-action for the African American community. This book has to be one of the most overtly-political books I’ve reviewed on this blog so far, and I love it.

El does well in plunging readers head-first into the chaos. No explanation, no prolonged world-building, she just jumps right into the heart of Nathalie’s struggles. Of course, it helps a bit that the book takes place in an alternative version of a real city. Nonetheless, the disorientation of being right in the action complements the disorientation in Nathalie’s life very well.

Each character is unique, realistic twists on old tropes: Nathalie, the scared and abused wife who refuses to be submissive; Tameka, the understanding, strong, and supportive best friend; Daddy, the civil rights activist and loving father; Carson, the abusive and possibly deranged husband; and Tariq, a lawyer bent on delivering true justice for the innocent. I’ve encountered each of these kinds of characters before in one form or another. However, they did not feel that way. They felt fresh and like real people I wanted to know (well, not Carson, for obvious reasons).

Endless twists and turns pulled me right through this book. In fact, I quite literally could not put it down until I was done. At only around 170 pages—about 158 of which are the story itself—this book would have been a relatively quick read for me anyway. El’s writing and the plot twists only helped me to finish the book even sooner or at least feel like I did.

Unfortunately, as with all books, this one is not perfect. While the first half (roughly) felt perfectly paced, El rushes through the second half. She tries to cram so much into so little space that not every punch was as effective as it could have been. In some cases, such as love scenes and scenes of violence, this quick pace actually works in El’s favor. The reveal, however, felt too quick, and some of the big “ah-ha!” moments felt anticlimactic as a result, even though in actuality they were compelling plot points.

The dialogue also came across stiff at times. I saw too much formal English for my liking. In some cases, it’s appropriate, such as when characterizing Tariq and maybe even Carson. Other times, it felt forced. I just think more contractions and idioms could have been used in order to make the dialogue feel more modern and real. I also grew bothered by the fact that a lot of dialogue in the beginning served as exposition, explanation of certain characterizations and character histories through the characters’ conversations. This might only bother me because it’s a pet peeve of mine; I’m not a big fan of exposition in everyday conversation between characters already familiar with each other. Nevertheless, the information was necessary and I suppose I would need some time to think about it before deciding on a better method than what El uses.

I caught some very minor proofreading errors, but these were very minor. Generally, this work is well-edited and has no glaring errors, so the grammar fanatics among my readers should be rejoicing.

On a more personal note, I took offense to only one thing in this book, i.e. the use of Planned Parenthood in a villain’s plot. El ensures that Nathalie and Tameka show more liberal tendencies when it comes to women’s health care and the right to choose what is done to one’s body, which I deeply appreciate. However, Carson’s endorsement of it gave me mixed feelings because that meant that there was clearly something suspicious about it, even before characters voiced those concerns. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Still, El—through Tameka and Nathalie—explains how the placement of Planned Parenthood indicates an attempt to control the African American population. I can see that view and I agree that it’s fishy; I’m just disappointed that not much actually came of this part of the plot. Then again, that’s just another reason for me to continue with the rest of the series!

Overall, Twin Flames Rising by Maya El is a great start to a new series. It’s not too focused on the romance or the politics; it’s the story of a woman’s life within an unpredictable and frightening world with the politics as one of the evils and the romance as one of the ways she can deal with it. I know that there will be conflict among readers because of the political stances in this book, but what else is literature for than to encourage us to think and discuss the important issues? Anyone interested in a fast-paced, sensual story with romance and social injustice at its core will not be able to put this book down.

You can buy Twin Flames Rising by Maya El as an eBook and in print on Amazon. Also be sure to check out the book trailer for Twin Flames Rising.

Do you know of a book I should read? Want your work reviewed on this blog? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com or message me on Fiverr and we can arrange something. (Right now, though, the safest bet is to e-mail me. See the Contact and Hire Me page for more information.)