Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Books => Topic started by: Mad Dr Jeffe on January 10, 2004, 12:34:24 AM
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Abarat, an "other" world of thirteen islands surrounded by a wide sea, a sea that goes all the way to Wisconsin and a girl named Candy Quackenbush. Written and illustrated by Clive Barker (of Hellraiser and Nightbreed fame) Abarat is magical and creepy, whimsical and jam packed with emotion. Abarat is the kind of book that you picture every scene of as clearly as the most technicolor movie. Like C.S. Lewis's The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe the book is a marvelous voyage of discovery, the realization that there are other worlds to explore and experience when the one we are in seems to let us down in every way. Candy Quackenbush is a young girl from Chickentown USA, a Wisconsin town so dull and dreary that mostly harmless would be too verbose. But Chickentown used to be a great deal more, it was a mighty Seaport, leading to otherworlds and other times. But that way was closed for a long time. Untill Candy was called that is. And without even realizing it Candy leaves Chickentown behind and enters the thirteen islands of Day and Night. OF course there are all manner of Villians and Heroes she meets upon the way but thats all part of the adventure.
Anyhow I bought it this aftenoon and cant put it down.
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http://www.thebooksofabarat.com/content4/xbarat99.html
heres the web site if you want to see some of the art and listen to a chapter...
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Hmm, sounds good; I"ll have to look up a copy somewhere.
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oh, hey it's young adult fiction too- even better.
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That sounds like some great good stuff. I'll have to do as fuzzy will and look it up sometime.
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I went to the website to show my husband. "I didn't expect Clive Barker to look like that. He's rather youngish and good-looking."
Husband: "And very very gay."
Me: "ah. Figures."
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Heh, sounds like someone who can appreciate you. Or someone I could have fun with. Hahah.
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It was a choice title in my fantasy class last year and I didn't choose it (we picked one of three or four choice titles per week). The general consensus of my class was that it wasn't satisfying as an entire story (and I won't tell you why until you get to the end). They all said it's well-written, a fascinating story, but then they got to the end... at any rate, I'd be interested in hearing your take on it. I've been meaning to pick it up since it was on the list, because it's been talked up quite a bit among YA fantasy people. Certainly the illustrated YA novel is an interesting concept, pretty original.
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Oh I liked the ending I just cant wait untill the next book.
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Its not something I want disney making a movie about though and they now own the rights to it. unless their other company does it. The edgier one.
And yeah young adult sums this one up nicely, dont buy this book for your young kids yet Eric, it will scare the bejeebers out of them, (and im pretty certain bejeebers are essential for strong backbones)
10 and older will probably like it.
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So, don't read this quote if you are easily scared.
From Clive Barker's bio on the inside flap of his book
Mr. Baker lives in California with his partner, the photographer David Armstrong, and their daughter, Nicole. They share their house with four dogs, five goldfish, a parrot, fifteen rats, innumerable wild geckoes, a cockatiel, and a parrot called Malingo.
It's too bad he couldn't have the same morals as C.S. Lewis.
So, here's my question (not meant to offend--please don't take it that way), do you encourage your children to read a book by an author whose morals you seriously disagree with?
I'm not sure myself.
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Yes if the subject matter in the book itself is acceptable to your morals. After all many historian belive that Michalangelo was gay. Would that mean your kids should never look at David, or see the Sistine Chapel?
Picasso was a drunk and a womenizer and lets not even get started on Hemingway. The truth is that with a few rare exceptions artists are just like you and me, fallible unsaintly people.
Obviously this is something you feel strongly about. If you think you might object... read the material first or even better read it with your kids.
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Actually, after studying more art history than I care to admit, I would have to say that artists, in general, are more messed up than most people. Almost all of the abstract expressionist commited suicide. And psychologists have found that mental illness is more common among the artisticly inclined than other occupations.
I've also concluded that some "great works of art" are actually quite damaging to people. I ussually find that some of the artists' morals get infused into their work wether they like it or not.
And having been trained to teach elementary art, the National Association of Art Educators does not find Michealangelo's David or Sistine Chapel to be appropriate for Elementary Schools. At least not for lower elementary grades. Their reasons go beyond just that it has nudes, it has more to do with child developement.
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And having seen both beautiful works of art in the flesh I would have to stridently disagree with those people.
I find their mere existance to be spectacular... I find them to be monuments to the limitless potential of the human imagination.
I really cant understand what part of a childs development would be damaged by witnessing such marvels.
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Milk before meat. You're not ready for everythign the moment you're born. I don't think that a magnificent achievement automatically makes it appropriate for universal viewing.
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im not going to argue, but I find nothing objectional in either work.
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no one said they were objectionable, just not appropriate to all age groups.
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well no really that wasn't the issue either... I still think it would come down to the individual child and how well they had been taught. My friend Scott and I were talking and for a class of 5th graders we'd only take them to the the chapel if they had been given a chance to paint their own "ceiling"
My original point was that you dont condemn art for your children offhand because you dont approve of the creators morals. To move the argument into another court Thomas Jefferson was a slave holder. Does that make the Declaration of Independence an offensive document because I dont like Jeffersons morals? Or Ben Franklins?(now there was a playa if I ever saw one)
You should use your judgement to determine if the creation is appropriate.
And thats why you keep trying to show your children Star Wars.
I still want to know how those works of art would be developmentally damaging by the by.
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I saw them both when I was a kid, and I wasn't hurt by it. <twitch> Uh, well, I *am* a fantasy novelist. Wait a sec...
But, seriously. Speaking of artists and insanity, does the fact that I'm emotionally well-adjusted mean that:
a) I'm not a true artist
b) I just haven't been doing it long enough to go mad.
c) I'm actually insane and just think that I'm well-adjusted.
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I would say either b or c, but mostly b.
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D... the majority of artists arnt tortured or messed up.
Its an overgeneralization or stereotype like all southerners or Utards being dumb, or overly religious or bad dressers.
To say that all the cubists or post modernists went crazy and killed themselves is an oversimplification of their lives... Like the Scene in Oceans 11 when George Cloony is othering Julia Roberts about the two painters...
"is he the one with the mistress or the one who commited suicide"
"They also painted occasionally"
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I don't know if I'd say majority, but I'd definitely submit that a larger portion of them are than the general public. After all, even as far back as Plato scholars have observed that much (if not all) art comes from a sort of madness.
However, I don't htink you're REQUIRED to be messed up to be an artist. So I think the answer is E, one of the lucky few.
Though EUOL, you're old and unmarried, so maybe there IS soemthing wrong with you ;)
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Well, I've given this some thought and this is what I decided.
I do NOT want to be one of those moms that sensors everything their children reads, sees, does.
That being said, I'm going to have to learn to let my children use their own judgement.
At some point. So yes, I disagree with Clive Barker's particular choice of lifestyle, and will let my children know, but I certainly am not going to force my children to read only Jack Weyland. *gag*
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Though EUOL, you're old and unmarried, so maybe there IS something wrong with you
Ha. Somehow I think that in most societies, I hardly count as being 'old' and unmarried. I will grant, however, that within my own culture it is an abnormality.
Perhaps, however, my even temperament is in itself an abnormality. It seems that, compared to most people, I am excessively even-tempered. I'm by no means an automaton, but I have never experienced these bouts of depression you speak of on the other thread. Neither do I get very 'high.' I generally feel the same, and act the same, with little variance in mood. I can't remember the last time I was depressed--or even simply 'sad.'
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It was when I killed your puppy!!!
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I don't think it's all that strange EUOL. You just described my husband, my step-father, his brother and my grandpa (though in all fairness, Grandpa used to get very angry, when my dad was a kid--Grandpa has mellowed now).
Obviously I am not such a person ;)
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I think there have to be both kinds of people in this world, or it'd either be pretty boring or pretty neurotic. Now we just have a mix. ;D My first boyfriend was like that, EUOL, and he kept me sane all throughout high school. As emotional as I get, it's nice to have someone on an even keel nearby. I have quite a few friends like that, too. And, I'd like to think, my emotional rollercoasters keep life interesting. :D
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So, here's my question (not meant to offend--please don't take it that way), do you encourage your children to read a book by an author whose morals you seriously disagree with?
Oscar Wilde was the Dennis Rodman of his day, more or less. Nonetheless, he wrote some of the most beautiful, compelling, and thoroughly moral fairy tales that I've ever read. He wrote them for his own children. Exceptional among the stories are "The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant." I highly recommend them.
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Rodman could only wish he were as twisted and sick as Wilde.
But yes, Wilde wrote some amazing stuff.
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I started this last night. I'm on Chapter 5 and enjoying it so far.
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its very nice,... I love how the bad guys are menacing without being ... well horror movie esque. Cristopher Carrion is SCARY... and the Johns are really cool.