Seize the Night by Dean Koontz

Copyright: 1999

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

Synopsis:
Christopher Snow lives near the ocean in California. This novel is his second installment of his journal chronicling the events that are taking place (the first novel is titled Fear Nothing)....and they're CRAY-ZEEE!! It has horror elements and sci-fi elements, along with friendship and love that every person wishes for in life, to make a well rounded, epic story. What happens in Moonlight Bay via mad scientists and the Big Brother? What do you do when you find out your pet dog was genetically altered and is probably smarter than you? How do you adapt to the world when you have a genetic disorder that forbids you to ever be in sunlight (or UV rays or computer screen glares!?!)? You are about to find out...

Review:
The first time I read this novel I was thirteen years old (upon its release in 1999). I thought it was the most amazing thing ever! It has also been in print for thirteen years, and as of today I have read it seven times. Yes, I think you can assume that I looove this book. It's so easy to do. The characters are amazing, the story is interesting and fast-paced, and it's quotable like a mother fucker. Not to mention, I am an over-the-top dog lover...and Orson is a bitchin' dog. I'm sorry if I sound like a surfer from Cali....when you read almost 500 pages of surfer characters, it can rub off on you.

First off: the main character is Christopher Snow. He's 28 years old and has a genetic disorder called Xeroderma pigmentosum. His body is unable to produce enzymes that replace the damaged DNA from ultraviolet rays....so any exposure puts him at extreme risk of skin and eye cancers. That's all I'll say - but it's important to know that this is why he is limited to the night (hence the title! ohhhh!) and why he knows what it's like to be an outcast; an outsider. Of course he embraces it well. His dad was a poetry professor - therefore Chris has a "poetic" way about him, which I think it unique and sweet (like "awesome" sweet...not "awww" sweet).

His best friend is Bobby Halloway. I love Bobby. He is the mellow surfer bro that is super sarcastic. Bobby and Chris' friendship is special and I adore it. Especially since you have to find the love and care between the lines.....as most dudes don't like sharing those kinds of feelings outright. Girls are a special breed when it comes to the mushy and gushy. Bobby's take on life and his philosophies are what I wish I could have for myself, but I am a girl who thinks too much and has too many feelings.

Chris has a girlfriend named Sasha Goodall. As you can imagine she has to be a bad-ass to fit in with this crew. She's a DJ. A songwriter. An exercise enthusiast. Has a past that could make any girl wish to be her. Plus, she can look beyond Chris' medical issues and love him for who he is. And will be there for him when worse comes to worse. Sasha is a good balance for Bobby and Chris in the novel, and the three characters compliment each other very well. It's practically sitcom ready.

ORSON! The super amazing, totally intelligent, lovable dog that I wish I could steal from the book and make my own. He is also a best friend of Chris'. Orson is always by Chris' side and being genetically smarter than your average mutt, he's not your run-of-the-mill puppy.

This novel takes place over a couple of days. Seriously action packed days! So much happens I am not even sure where to begin. But I think a few quotes are in order:

"This weapon has saved my life more than once, yet although it's a reassurance to me, I am not entirely comfortable with it. I suspect I'll never be able to handle it with complete ease. The weight and design of the piece have nothing to do with my aversion to the feel of it; this is a superb handgun. As a boy roaming the town at night, however, I was subjected to some memorable verbal and physical abuse from bullies - mostly kids but also some adults old enough to know better - and although their harassment motivated me to learn how to defend myself and taught me never to let an injustice pass without a firm response, these experiences also instilled in me a loathing of violence as an easy solution. To protect myself and those I love, I will use lethal force when I must, but I'll never enjoy it."

"So far, the changes have been disturbing, sometimes terrifying, but, with a few notable exceptions, they have been subtle enough that authorities have successfully concealed the truth about the catastrophe. Even in Moonlight Bay, at most a few hundred people know what is happening. I myself learned only a month before this April night; upon the death of my father, who knew all the dreadful details, and who revealed things to me that I now wish I didn't know. The rest of the townspeople live in happy ignorance, but they may not be out of the loop much longer, because the mutations may not remain subtle." 

I don't want to give too many details away. However, the idea of retrovirus', kidnappings, cover-ups and rescue missions is enough to pull me in! Coupled with these AMAZING characters to share the journey with makes a sweet-ass novel. Seriously though, you should read it.

"Carpe diem, said the poet Horace, more than two thousand years ago. Seize the day. And trust not in tomorrow. Carpe noctem works as well for me. I seize the night, wringing from it all that is has to offer, and I refuse to dwell on the fact that eventually the darkness of all darknesses will wring the same from me."

"I think dogs were put in this world to remind humanity that love, loyalty, devotion, courage, patience, and good humor are the qualities that, with honesty, are the essence of admirable character and the very definition of a life well lived."

"In good Orson I see the hopeful side of my mother's work, the real potential of science to bring light into an often dark world, to lift us up, to stir the spirit and to remind us that the universe is a place of wonder and infinite potential."

"So you believe you can ride through the end of the world by growing potatoes and broccoli on an uncharted tropical island somewhere east of Bora Bora, where there's both insanely fertile soil and mondo glassy surf - but you find it hard to believe in an afterlife?"

He shrugged. "Most days, it's easier to believe in broccoli than in God."

"Not for me. I hate broccoli."

Bobby shook his head. "I'm never gonna be at home in this brave new smart-animal world, bro. It's like I'm living in a maximum-wacky Donald Duck cartoon, but one where, between the laughs, dudes get their guts ripped out."
"The world according to Edgar Allan Disney," I said.

I could keep quoting this book all night long, but at that point I'd just be giving you the novel via blog post. Seize the Night is such a fantastic book - I, of course, recommend it. And will probably read it again before you pick it up.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Copyright 1999


My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis:
A young girl named Astrid (or Ass-Terd if you watch "The Office" sitcom) ends up in the foster care system after her mother goes to prison for murder. Her mother, Ingrid, is quite the messed up individual...and you can see how that effects a child being raised by such a character. This story takes you along Astrid's journey of being eternally connected to her biological mother, while also trying to survive as a teenage girl in this big, bad world.....one foster home after another. It's DRAMA! It's SEX! It's LIFE! (That's right, I said sex. Now do I have your attention?)

Review:
Where do I begin!?!?!

First off, this story is beautifully written. It's like reading one long (very long) tragic and inspiring poem. As it should be: the two main characters are "artists."  Astrid is a painter/drawer and Ingrid is an author. They live in L.A. CALI BABY! I'm only slightly jealous of that. Which is probably another reason I adored this novel - it took place in Southern California....a place I imagine would be lovely to live but will probably never find out. I shall live vicariously through these stories!

Astrid is a character that is easy to fall in love with and be pissed off at at the same time. She has to grow up quick, and having (what I believe) to be a slightly crazy mother...she didn't have much of a chance. I personally know of scenarios (in my own family!) that take place in Astrid's life, so it was simple to relate to and completely believable. Which made it all the more sorrowful, tragic, downright depressing. 

"I was torn. He deserved to be punished, but now she had crossed over some line. This wasn't revenge. She'd had her revenge, she had won, but it was like she didn't even know it. She was drifting outside the limit of all reason, where the next stop was light-years away through nothing but darkness. How lovingly she arranged the dark leaves, the white blooms."

What would you do if your mother killed her boyfriend? When you were 12 years old? I can't even begin to fathom what I would do. Astrid's life is one possible outcome - and more probable than most. It's genuine stuff. In all seriousness, it's more than likely happening at this very moment.

Astrid's character crosses a lot of lines that I never would (in theory, haha). But then again, I didn't have the traumatic and hard-knocked life she did. I'm not an incredibly judgmental person, so I chalked it up to: some people are fucked up...because that's how this world is. I love the detail Janet Fitch goes into when describing these things that are forbidden. Taboo. Wrong. If it makes you uncomfortable...good! She's doing her job as a writer, and you are doing your job as a reader. I enjoyed the really screwed up parts of the novel - they can give you a sense of security in knowing your life isn't as bad as you might think it is sometimes. It also helps to prove that humans are very complex. Every life is it's own universe. Anything can happen, so don't be so quick to judge or dismiss a person for the less sunny aspects of their existence.  

"And I was deluged by fresh waves of shame and regret. He never knew when he met me that first day, when the little boys sat on the porch, that I would be the one to ruin his life the way Starr crushed his model in the living room."

"I had foolishly doubled my dose, and now I lay shipwrecked on a desolate shore littered with broken glass. I caught a cold from the air-conditioning, which worked too well in my small porch room. All I could think of was how alone I was. My loneliness tasted like pennies. I thought about dying. A boy in the hospital had told me the best way was an air bubble in the bloodstream. He has bone cancer and had stolen a syringe he kept in an Archie comic book. He said if it ever got too bad, he'd shoot up some air, and it'd be over in seconds. If it weren't for my mother's letters, I would have thought of something. I reread them until they were soft and divided along the creases."

Ingrid, while a unique and strong-minded individual, should not have children. I know she loved her daughter Astrid, but she also ruined her. I see this all too much in reality. I wish I could save Astrid from her mother, but I know deep down that everything happens for some stupid reason or another...even if it makes no sense at all.

Astrid goes to a new foster home often  - she even says she went to eight different schools in five years. It's a struggle to want this one home...this one family to work out, but it's just as fucked up as the others ones, if not worse. However, every single home she lives in and leaves gives her a piece of herself that made her who she was in the end. Bad things can make good lessons, this I know is true. I've experienced it myself. It's always hard to comprehend while going through it - it can only be appreciated and recognized in the rear-view mirror.

Oh yeah! I did emphasize the sex to get your attention. There is the dirty, bad sex you'd expect a troubled 14 year old to have. Then there is the sexual tension that most people in general have. The sex gives the story life. It is, after all, one of the basic human instincts. It provides one of the uncomfortable edges to the novel, while making the characters more real. And it's totally not porno-esque...so don't get too excited.

Without giving too much more of the details away of this wonderful novel, I will say it was so worth the read. It's a melodic tragedy. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking. It's what a good book should be. I absolutely recommend White Oleander!

"Who am I, Mother? I'm not you. That's why you wish I were dead. You can't shape me anymore. I am the uncontrolled element, the random act, I am forward movement in time. You think you can see me? Then tell me, who am I? You don't know. I am nothing like you. My nose is different, flat at the bridge, not sharp as a fold in rice paper. My eyes aren't ice blue, tinted with your peculiar mix of beauty and cruelty. They are dark as bruises on the inside of an arm, they never smile. You forbid me to cry? I'm no longer yours to command. You used to say I had no imagination. If by that you meant I could feel shame, and remorse, you were right. I can't remake the world just by willing it so. I don't know how to believe my own lies. It takes a certain kind of genius."