Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
This is a novel about a man who gets swallowed by a whale, and I tell you in all honesty that I was really enjoying it right up to the point where a guy was swallowed by a whale. Jay Gardiner is a 19-year-old whose father, a legendary scuba diver, was extremely tough on him, screaming at him and endlessly picking at him as he tried to teach his son to follow in his footsteps. Eventually, their relationship breaks down completely, and not even a […]
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
After a battle, an American WWI unit is perturbed by an awful shrieking coming from the middle of the field. The commander sends five of his most expendable soldiers out to “take care” of the problem, which they all understand means they are to go find the dying soldier and put him out of his misery. But when Private Bagger, an Iowa preacher’s son and career con artist, and Private Arno, an innocent teenager who lied about his age to enlist, stumble upon the source […]
Angel Down: A Novel by Daniel Kraus
Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through making sure he’s as far from the carnage as possible; and if that’s digging the latrine trenches that’s fine by him; at least he’s not possibly getting blown to bits. But his survival instincts also mark him as one of the five most expendable people in his company, and therefore perfect for a suicide mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land with the other four to euthanize a wounded […]
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
I’m not mad just disappointed. Just kidding, I’m pretty mad. I’m going to say what many reviewers have said before me: This is not a book about a man who is swallowed by a whale and has to use science to get out alive. This is a book about a man (a teenager, actually, but more on that below) who has daddy issues real bad, and he happens to be swallowed by a whale also. The parts with the whale are few and far between—it […]
Blood Sugar by Daniel Kraus
The Crow by James O'Barr
The Transgressors by Jim Thompson
Happy Halloween! Preceding this Devil’s Night, I had a full day off and caught up on a lot of reading. It was a relief to get these three off the TBR list. All were good in their own respective ways. Blood Sugar 3 stars “A” for effort on the language, which is written in the slang of what Daniel Kraus thinks is a modern day teenager. I found it too distracting. But much like Nico Walker’s Cherry, when I was able to get used to it, […]
