Yeah, I'm Scowling

Scowler by Daniel Kraus
New York : Ember, 2014.
289 p. ; 22 cm.     

I wish I could say I liked this book - I really do.  It's supposed to be a devilishly good Midwestern Gothic tale. It is an intense, twisted, psychological horror story of human depravity and domestic violence - which just didn't move or captivate me.

It's an odd tale of a 19 year old young man who at age ten survived his father's attempts to kill him after beating and torturing his wife.  Unfortunately for us and for the young man, his psyche is a twisted bin of delusions, violence, sexual frustration and anger - embodied in his three vividly imagined "living" playthings - a bear, a little Jesus, and a toothy, vile looking toy with very sharp edges - yep, Scowler.  All of this comes exploding to the fore when there  are the surreal impacts of several small meteorites in rural Iowa where this tale takes place.  This cosmic event breaks open the prison where his father is being held - setting him free to come after the family again, and plants a weirdly magnetic and never cooling meteorite on the farm where the family lives.

There were times as I read it that it just felt sordid and creepy.  I'm okay with dark and violence, but for me it has to have more than the goal of just entertainment or creating the "ick" factor (which this book definitely does).  However, I think I'm in the minority in my lack of enthusiasm for Scowler.  The book has received many rave reviews (check out the book's official page), and is popular with those wanting mature and gruesome horror tales.

It's not a book I'll be pushing, but if someone finds it and likes it, that's okay with me.

Yum

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
New York : Penguin Press, 2006.
450 p. ; 25 cm.

I've been wanting to read Michael Pollan's book for quite a while, probably since hearing him interviewed on radio (or TV) back in 2006 when the book first came out. I remember being most intrigued by his findings that, thanks to the industrialization of food, corn has become the basis for nearly all food in the US, and that what is sold as "food" is often a chemically assembled/reassembled mix of corn, fats, salts, sugars, and "natural" flavorings that are rarely healthy or nutritious.  Well, living in Illinois - the land of corn - (OK, coming in 2nd place to Iowa) and the home of the villainous "food" giant ADM and "food" behemoth McDonald's, I simply had to read Pollan's book.  I wasn't disappointed.

Pollan's book is an interesting read on many counts - as science, natural history, social history, and culture.  It is a book that offers a rare glimpse into the extremely destructive nature of agriculture/agribusiness as it is practiced in the US - and the many ways that the worst practices of agriculture (monoculture and complete dependence on fossil fuel) are encouraged and enforced by US law and policy.

His book also looks at agricultural practices that are beneficial to humans and the environment - including the importance of local foods.  As a mostly vegetarian eater, I really appreciated his interesting insights into what is good and bad about the "organic" food supply as it has evolved in the US, particularly as it has become a huge multi-billion dollar industry itself.  I also found a lot to think about regarding the positive benefits of having livestock on farms - livestock that are allowed to pasture and participate in a rich multi-cultured farm,  not livestock that are raised in large-scale confinement operations. 

For the leisurely non-fiction reader, the book is a bit on the long side and took me awhile to finish, but I was really pleased when I realized that our library also has an edition of the book for younger readers (still weighs in at about 300 pages) that is really excellent.  The young reader's edition has a lot of great photographs and graphics that frankly would have been wonderful in the adult version, so I can definitely recommend it as well.