Book Review: The Invention of Morel

This is my 5th - and final! - book for the LOST Books Challenge ... woohoo!  To read my complete review and see what I actually thought of this book, please visit me at this link.


- Heather J.


*** About the Book ***

In this short story, the main character is a fugitive from Venezuela who has somehow escaped to a tropical island. The island has several buildings on it but no people. After a long time alone on the island, the fugitive suddenly sees people in the buildings! He is terrified that he’ll be captured so he runs off to the forest and hides. From there he observes these new people and he falls in love with a beautiful woman named Faustine. When he finally gets up the nerve to approach her, she doesn’t even acknowledge his existence. Things become steadily more mysterious and the fugitive becomes more and more confused. Finally he decides to sneak in to the building to see if he can figure out what it going on. What he finds out is strange, unexpected, and life-changing …



*** Connection to LOST ***

For the fugitive, life on this island is not what it appears to be. The same could be said of the LOST island, that’s for sure. In the story Morel has created his own version of the world just the way he wants it to me (or, at least, mostly the way he wants it to be). Again, the same could be said of LOST; Ben ran Othertown the way he wanted it to go, at least for a while. And neither Morel nor Ben – nor many other characters on LOST – are averse to manipulating people to get what they want with little regard for the feelings of those people.

That’s MY opinion … let’s see what Lostpedia has to say:

[In the episode Eggtown] Sawyer is seen reading this book at the barracks.

Seriously?! That’s all you’ve got?! Even I did better than that …


NOTE: My challenge co-host Amy also read this book and you can check out her (much more thorough) review here.

Book Review: Stranger in a Strange Land

This is my 4th book for the LOST Books Challenge ...

Below is a bit about STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, by Robert Heinlein from my review on my blog.  To read the rest of it, including what I thought about the book, please visit me at this link.


- Heather J.




*** About the Book ***

In this science fiction classic, life has been discovered on Mars. The first expedition to Mars was never heard from again. About 20 years later a second expedition travels to the red planet and discovers something amazing: a human baby, born to the crew of the first ship, has been raised by the Martians after the rest of the crew died. When the second ship returns to Earth they bring this strange young man with them. What will happen to him on Earth? What lessons of Martian life and culture did he learn and what does he not know about humanity? How will he be treated by “regular” people? By the government? What will happen to him? Is he even really “human” anymore?


*** Connection to LOST ***

I don’t recall what happened in the LOST episode entitled “Stranger in a Strange Land” but that could fit any number of situations on the show. In the book the “Man From Mars” is a complete outsider on Earth. Likewise, in the show LOST, there are many characters thrust into groups where they don’t fit or don’t belong.

Here’s what Lostpedia had to say about this book:

• The title of the book is taken in turn from the Bible passage Exodus 2:22: "And she [Zippo'rah] bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
• Episode Summary: Jack bargains with Ben to save Juliet while Kate and Sawyer struggle with the consequences of their escape.

Book Review: Evil Under the Sun

Review snippet: "Murder, intrigue, and propriety mingle and sizzle in the summer heat at the Jolly Roger Hotel on Smuggler's Island Leathercombe Bay. Thank goodness detective Hercule Poirot just happened to be vacationing there when a dead body turns up. Now that I have read my first Agatha Christie, I see why she is so loved. The story is ripe with colorful characters, plots twists, and mystery. I had my theories. I even kept a diagram of the characters and possible motives. But the mystery alluded me up to the very end."

My LOST connections:

-Arlena Stuart captures the hearts of many men just like Kate.

-Arlena and Nikki Fernandez are strikingly similar. But (because I refuse to spoil the book) all I will say is that they are both actresses with poor taste in men.

*

Review copyright © of Tales of Whimsy.com

To read my review in full please visit Evil Under the Sun review.

Book Review: Lord of the Flies

Allie at A Literary Odyssey has been busy lately.  She's read her third book for the challenge, LORD OF THE FLIES, by William Golding.  Allie didn't like much about this book but she did find that is related to LOST in a variety of ways:

• The struggle between two leaders (Jack and Locke) that threatens to tear apart a group of survivors)
• Being lost on and island and forced to survive
• The savagery of certain individuals vs. those who want to survive and be rescued
• The plans for eventual rescue by different individuals vs. the needs of the group to survive
• The hunting of the wild boar
• Violence between individuals in the groups

There is more, but those are the biggies.

Be sure to check out the complete review for details on why this book wasn't a big hit with Allie.

Book Review: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Allie at A Literary Odyssey read O PIONEERS!, by Willa Cather.  She absolutely loved this little book but couldn't relate it much to LOST:

I had a really hard time making any connections other than the characters' names: Alexandra and Carl. I even talked it over with Matt and he had nothing else to offer as well. I suppose I could attempt to draw comparisons between all of the characters and the idea of being on a frontier, as the island is a new place to many of them, but that seems so shallow I won't develop it.

To see what makes this book so wonderful - even if it isn't full of LOST-ness - check out Allie's complete review here. 

Book Review: Animal Farm, by George Orwell

Allie at A Literary Odyssey read ANIMAL FARM and found some definite connections to LOST.  Here's a bit of what she had to say:

Early on in the show's run, it is made clear that there are a few survivors who hold more power than the others (the main characters obviously). As a group, they call the shots and run things, often making the minor characters their little puppets. Since it is a show and they are the main characters, the audience has to sympathize with them. After all, they are the ones we are introduced to and care about.

However, you get a glimpse of this kind of Animal Farm corruption in an episode in Season 2 where a minor(ish) character is attempting to build a sign on the beach to get rescued. The characters simply dismiss it. There is also a lot of discussion about who is in charge and who is calling the shots.

It is interesting, to say the least.

To read the rest of Allie's review please click here.

Book Review: On The Road, by Jack Kerouac

I decided to read On The Road, by Jack Keruoac, for this challenge because I usually love the classics and I figured it would have a lot of say about LOST. Oh how wrong I was!

I absolutely hated this book. When my husband sees a movie he ends up not liking, he always says "Well, that's an hour and a half of my life I'll never get back." In this case, this audio book took 11.25 hours of my life that I'll never get back!

If you want to know what I disliked so much about this book check out my complete review on my blog.


*** Relation to LOST ***

The point of this book, in my mind, is that avoiding responsibility and living always “in the moment” can give you a fulfilling life. Not sure if that was what the author was intending to say but that’s what I got out of it. And, of course, I totally disagree with that. Because of my animosity toward this book I didn’t give much thought to the LOST connection. Instead I relied on the internet to tell me what makes this book special to the show.

Here’s what LOSTpedia had to say: “When Ben checks into the hotel in [the episode] The Shape of Things to Come, he uses Dean Moriarty as a pseudonym. Moriarty is a principal character in Kerouac's famous work.”

Seriously?! THAT is why this book is related to LOST?! Ugh. That’s what I get for not looking at LOSTpedia before making my book list …

Book Review: After All These Years, by Susan Isaacs

Review snippet: "After 25 years of marriage, Rosie's husband files for divorce claiming to be in love with a much younger woman. But just before the divorce is final Rosie's cheating ex is found dead in their mcmansion. Now to avoid false imprisonment she is about to go on the lam. Rosie has only days to piece together his final weeks and learn who killed him and framed her."

The LOST connections:

• In the season 2 episode 4 ("Everybody Hates Hugo") this book is seen on Sawyer's bedside as he recovers from injuries inside the Swan station.
• The same season that we learn the truth about Kate and "What Kate Did" (season 2 episode 9).
• Kate (like Rosie) lives on the run and later reunites with a childhood flame.
• Both characters also carry strong desires to trust someone.
• The story also seems to say: don't be so quick to judge a person as guilty.

Review by Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com

To read my review in full please visit After All These Years review.

Book Review: Animal Farm, by George Orwell

{PHOTO ARRANGEMENT CREDIT: TALES OF WHIMSY}

Review snippet: "A good book can sooth you, inspire you, or even enrage you. That is what happened to me with Animal Farm. I didn't expect to become so emotionally charged by this novella. But at times the porky hypocrisy had me ready to scream at the other animals."

The LOST connection: "Referenced in Season 3 Episode 14 (Exposé) when Dr. Leslie Arzt shouts "The pigs are walking! The pigs are walking!" in reference to Kate, Jack, and Sawyer not telling the group about the guns they found. With this outburst Arzt cautions everyone that Kate, Jack, and Sawyer have become just like their oppressors (the others)."

Review by Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com

To read my review in full please click on Animal Farm review.

Book Review: The Pearl, by John Stienbeck

Here is an excerpt from my review of THE PEARL:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the success of THE GRAPES OF WRATH author John Steinbeck became uncomfortable with his sudden fame. About this time he reworked an old legend into a new story, which he called THE PEARL. In the story Keno, a pearl diver in a small Spanish village, finds the largest pearl anyone has ever seen. And just in time too, as his baby boy has been stung by a scorpion and needs medical care that Keno cannot afford. The pearl seems to be the solution to all the family's problems ... but is it really a blessing, or is it a curse?

...

I gave this some serious thought and here's what I came up with:

THE PEARL is about the evils of materialism and how it is better to live without money and be happy. On LOST, the survivors of the crash do almost exactly that near the beginning of the show. They realize that they can live pretty good lives despite their circumstances ... until, of course, they meet The Others. And the last we heard, Rose and Bernard continued to embrace their simplified life despite the changes to the island.

After I exhausted my brain coming up with this I headed over to the official LOST book list and here's what I found:

• The most obvious reference to this book is that there is a Dharma Station called The Pearl. I can't seem to find any relation between the station and the book though.
• The theme of the book - that money doesn't bring happiness, and that too much money actually brings unhappiness - is exemplified in the the show by Hurley and his rotten luck since winning the lottery. Much of that was featured in the episode "Everybody Hates Hugo" (Season 2, Episode 4).
  

So I wasn't exactly off base but I wasn't exactly on target either. Ah well, that's LOST for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you'd like to read my complete review, including what I actually thought about the book, click here to view the post on my blog.

Book Review: The Odyssey, by Homer

I decided to read The Odyssey earlier this year (actually, I listened to it) without realizing it was one of the books on the LOST list. I wrote a very short review on my blog which you can read here if you like.

How does The Odyssey relate to LOST? In the epic poem Odysseus is attempting to return home across the sea to his wife Penelope (and his kingdom) after an absence of many years. One obstacle after another gets in his way but he eventually overcomes them all and makes it home safely. Once there he finds he cannot be reunited with his queen until he has killed all those who plotted against him during his time away. That finally accomplished, he and his wife retire to the countryside.

Now does that remind you of anyone? Desmond and Penny maybe?! I can't believe I didn't pick up on this while I was listening to this story - it makes perfectly logical sense. Penny's name should have been a dead giveaway (Penny = Penelope = DUH!). Desmond has been gone for years, he and Penny have been pining for each other just like Odysseus and Penelope, Desmond and Odysseus meet with many obstacles on the sea including being stranded on an island, and in the end they live happily ever after ... at least Odysseus and Penelope do. Let's just hope that LOST continues to parallel The Odyssey until the end and gives Des & Penny their own happily ever after!

Book Review: Of Mice and Men

I realize I may be one of the last people on earth that hasn't read Of Mice and Men as part of some literature class somewhere along the way....but I haven't. The book has long been on my list of "classics to read someday", but The LOST Books Challenge finally gave me the motivation to get to it.

Last year I read The Grapes of Wrath and didn't really enjoy it. Friends suggested that I should give Steinbeck another chance and read Of Mice and Men. I really liked the book and found it to be very fast and easy reading. No wonder it is a favorite of high school English teachers everywhere....except my school apparently. If you've read it before just skip the summary and head on down to the LOST connections.

Summary:

Of Mice and Men is the story of two drifters wandering aimlessly through life just trying to find a job on a farm or ranch....and keep it. George and Lenny will do any kind of manual labor there is in exchange for a bunkhouse, some chow and a few dollars. Their earnings they plan to save up in order to someday purchase their own little farm somewhere. They spend hours dreaming about their own piece of land.

Someday we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and live off the fatta the land. We'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with going to work and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around and listen to the rain comin' down on the roof....

The biggest problem they face along the way is Lenny himself. He is mentally retarded and often over-reacts to small situations making them worse. He is a big, strong guy with the mind of a child. More than once the pair has had to leave a good job because Lenny has innocently and inadvertently scared, harmed or killed someone or something. George spends all of his time putting out Lenny's fires and smoothing things over.

George often gets fed up with Lenny and resents his presence. He knows that his life would be so much easier without Lenny. On his own, George would have no problem holding down a job and saving up the money he needs for his own little place. But without Lenny, George would have another problem altogether....loneliness.

Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a rand an' work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to. With us it ani't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' our jack jus' because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us. An' why? Because ....because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.

George and Lenny only have each other, and the truth is neither one could make it without the other. That fact become strikingly obvious at the end of the book. It is also what makes the book relevant to LOST.

The LOST Connection:

Besides the fact that rabbits play a minor role in both storylines, I think the loneliness factor is the biggest common denominator. It is the whole idea that no man is an island (pardon the pun). We all need community. The Hostiles. The Others. The Losties. The Tailies. Everybody has to band together to live. They argue, fight, disagree, and arrange for the mass murder of their entire village...and yet not a single character could make it on his own. Regardless of the inconveniences and drawbacks they need each other.

Sawyer, the ultimate loner, even struggles with loneliness. Remember the episode where Hurley tries to teach him how to be nice to people so they will like and accept him? Even though they are separated from their families and friends they have been able to form a new community on the island, and they are totally dependant on that community for their sanity as well as for their protection.

Really, I think this is the central message of LOST (aside from "time travel's not just for Star Trek anymore"). Community. Loneliness. The search for belonging, love and acceptance. All of these themes make LOST the moving show that it is, and Of Mice and Men the great novel that it is.

Book Review: Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

Here is an excerpt from my review of MOBY DICK:

I've been going over the book in my mind, trying to figure out how it relates to the show LOST. I don't see any direct parallels, but I did come up with something ...

Ben is a lot like Capt. Ahab. Both have a specific goal in mind (Ben wants to get back to the island and be in charge, Ahab wants to kill this particular whale) and they will do absolutely anything to achieve that goal. Their own ambitions seem to be the only important thing. They are both willing to allow other people to die (or in Ben's case, to actually kill people) in order to achieve their goal.

Was my theory correct? Find out when you read my complete review - and see some pictures of whales - on my blog here.

Book Review: The Coalwood Way by Homer Hickam

First a caveat: I am not a book reviewer, or even a particularly good writer. I love to read and I love LOST, so here I am. Now on to the review.

The Coalwood Way was a beautifully written book. It reminded me of John Grisham's "other" novels, like The Painted House. Hickam's photographic memory of the home of his childhood and the characters that filled it is remarkable. The descriptions of rural America, and particularly small mining communities in the backwoods of West Virginia, in the mid-1950s are excellent. The reader comes away with a real sense of the people and the times.

The story centers around the author, Homer "Sonny" Hickam. Sonny, through the help of a favorite science teacher and the press coverage of Sputnik's flight, develops a great interest in the space program and rocketry in general. He and his like-minded friends begin to design and build their own rockets and plot their trajectory using complicated algorithms and trigonometry. For a bunch of teen aged boys in the a coal mining town in West Virginia this endeavor is completely unheard of and viewed as slightly crazy. Sonny's own family has doubts about his new found interest.

Homer Hickam Sr. is a supervisor in the local coal mine and takes his job, and the lives and livelihood of his employees and neighbors, very seriously. So seriously that he puts his own health and well being on the line daily. He also leaves very little time for his family in his schedule, especially his awkward second son that is more of a brain than a jock....or a coal miner, for that matter. Sonny is also surrounded by his no-nonsense, long-suffering mother and a host of townspeople that know his business practically before he knows it himself. The "Rocket Boys", as Sonny and his space loving friends are called, spend all of their spare time thrilling the town with rocket launches and dreams of going to Cape Canaveral to work after college (a dream that Sonny realizes, while many of the others never make it further than the coal mine down the street).

Throughout the book Sonny is desperately trying to identify the source of the gnawing sadness that overtakes him occasionally. Following the advice of "Little Richard", the preacher of the local African American congregation, Sonny finally discovers that his desire for his father's approval, and fear that he can never attain it, are causing his melancholy. As he tries to deal with these feelings he finds it difficult to keep the Rocket Boys supplied with the properly crafted parts and maintain straight-A's for the first time in his academic career.

This is a beautiful novel about teen aged self-discovery, family dynamics and small town mentality. Sonny sees discrimination, domestic violence, murder, and labor strikes play out in his town, but he also sees generosity, kindness, and an amazing example of community spirit. Hickam is quick to point out the good, the bad and the ugly in his hometown and it's people.

I would highly recommend this book, and Hickam's other two books Rocket Boys and Torpedo Junction as well as the movie October Sky, starring Jake Gyllenhall, Laura Dern and Chris Cooper which was based on Hickam's life. It is a great movie that really captures the feeling of the novels.

As far as how this applies to LOST.....I have no clue. The only correlation I can see is that several of the characters on the show (Jack, Kate, Locke, Sun) have Daddy issues just like Sonny does. Unless rocketry or coal mining show up in the show at some point that father-child relationship is the only relevant issue I can find in the book.

Book Review: Island, by Aldous Huxley

Here's an excerpt from my review of ISLAND, by Aldous Huxley.

The very last page of my copy of ISLAND gives a bit of info about the author. One line states “his later work reflects an interest in mysticism and the effect of the consciousness-expanding drugs.” That single sentence goes a long way to explain ISLAND.

Boy did I ever hate this book.

Yeah, it was *that* bad. If you want to find out why you can read the rest of my review here.

A commenter on my blog wanted to know why I continued to read it if I didn't like it so much. Well, I was CONVINCED that there must be some redeeming quality, some fascinating tidbit, that would make it all worthwhile. Yeah, not so much.

Book Review: The Survivors of the Chancellor, by Jules Verne

This is the story of the sinking of the fictitious ship Chancellor and the ways in which some of the passengers and crew managed to survive. Here's an excerpt from my review:

It is believed that Verne based his tale on two [then] recent disasters: that of the French frigate "Medusa" which sunk off the coast of Africa in 1816 and that of the British ship "Sarah Sands" which caught fire in 1857. So unlike many of Verne's other stories, this one could actually happen. *shiver*
...

There are not a lot of direct parallels between the book and the show, but it is most definitely about surviving a horrible disaster and that is parallel enough for me.

You can read the rest on my blog at this link.

Book Review: The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James

Here's an excerpt from my review of THE TURN OF THE SCREW, by Henry James.

From what I can tell ... the phrase turn of the screw originally "referred to torture where each turn of the screw amplified the pain of the subject." In modern language it usually refers to a plot twist, or more particularly "an action which makes a bad situation worse, especially in order to force someone to do something."

...

This is a brief but creepy tale and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the framework of the story, beginning as it does with a "true story" being told to friends late in the evening. I got so caught up in the story of the governess that I forgot about the tale within a tale until long after I finished the book. It's stories like this that you wish for when you're camping out in the wilderness and sitting around a fire ... or maybe you don't!

You can read the rest on my blog at this link.

Book Review: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Here's the beginning of my post on Dickens' Our Mutual Friend, the book that Desmond has saved to read before he dies:

From the introduction (Penguin Classics edition) to Our Mutual Friend:

'Most of the life in Dickens's last completed novel tends to a state of suspended animation. Nothing seems certainly dead nor entirely alive."

Well, if that motif doesn't relate to the TV series LOST . . . Fans have been trying to decide whether the survivors of Oceanic Flight are alive or dead or someplace in-between ever since the series began.

**********

The entire review was written as season three ended showing us that some of the Losties had indeed left the island, alive or moving in time or something. So, we now know that they're not "in-between" (purgatory), but do we, even in season five, know who's really dead, who's pretending to be dead, and who's only mostly dead? Dickens' VIctorian novel of death and pretended death and hiding from the real world is even more apropos as we enter this season of the Dead Speaking and the Live Returning.

Book Review: The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne

Here is an excerpt from my review of THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, by Jules Verne:

Five men and a dog traveling in a hot air balloon are caught up in violent storm. "They continue to travel for many, many miles, finally crash landing on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean. Using only their ingenuity and resources they find on the island they create a very civilized home for themselves, complete with (almost) all the modern conveniences. The island seems to be a perfect - albeit lonely - home for the five men. But all is not exactly well. Due to some rather strange occurrences the men become convinced that they are not alone on the island ..."

...

The creators of [Lost] credit The Mysterious Island as the chief inspiration for the show.

You can read the complete review on my blog at this link.