Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

While I am not always an avid reader of young adult literature, I will dig into it from time-to-time. After a deep dissection of Greek culture, life, and mythology in class as we covered The Odyssey, some of my students suggest Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and provided the text (as well as the subsequent books in the series). Thus I gave the text a quick read, and yes I know I am late to the game with this book and this series, but if you enjoy mythology, are interested in seeing it with a modern twist, and want a quick read, grab this book.

Written from the first person perspective of twelve year old Percy Jackson, the reader is taken on an adventure as Jackson discovers that all of his disabilities are actually gifts from the gods, abilities in disguise (very A&E movie there, dyslexia becomes the ability to know ancient Greek for example). Furthermore, he has these gifts because he is a descendent of on the gods, a son of one of them, and he is in harm’s way as monsters and demons lurk around every corner. These monsters are a bit convenient at times, stumbling into Medusa's garden after being attacked by furies on a bus or ending up in a Lotus Blossom based hotel in Vegas just to cut the quest's time window short, but the conceit works in such a way that the reader can buy the coincidences. They work in that they are fun, they flow, and they are not jarring. Thus, Percy finds himself centered on finding Zeus’ master bolt, the lightning bolt of bolts, in order to prevent an all-out war between the immortals. As he journeys on, the story arc that attracted Hollywood rises to the top as he discovers the extent of his powers and wards of legions of angry monsters with a sword that grows from a pen in his pocket.

Of course Percy saves the day, for now, and the classic coming of age themes churn beneath the surface, but what else would one expect. Either way, the text is not and was not meant to be singular, for there are prophecies from the relocated oracle, potential dangers, and the possible undoing of western civilization as we know it.

On Reading Flannery O'Connor's "The River"

Flannery O’Connor’s “The River” stands as a classic slow build narrative. For the longest time, one struggles to know where it is going and what the payoff will be. Topically, the narrative revolves around Mrs. Connin serving as a babysitter for young Harry. Mrs. Connin is a commoner so to speak—she is poor, she has hogs, and she floats in the midst of faith healing common in the American South. The bible, the good book that Harry will later pilfer from her, stirs her soul and stands not just as her moral center, but also as the center of her life. She is entranced in the gothic nature of the religious revival—the river is where it is at, where she strives to be. Thus she looks forward to visiting the preacher by the river and taking part in the culture of healing and baptism, the center of the religious conservative base that still dominates the South today.

Harry for his part, denounces his name, opting to be called Bevel. He is a sad boy, victim to alcoholic, socialite parents who pawn him off on a stranger by day in order to sleep off their hangovers. Bevel doesn’t lash out per se, no more than any other young boy would. Yes, he will dump and ash tray over and rub the debris into the carpet, but he does so not for attention, but because he is little, ignored, and untamed. Thus he changes his name, thus he seeks new adventure. As Bevel, Harry steals the bible from Mrs. Connin, as Bevel, he confronts religion with a fleet of ignorance: “He had found out already this morning that he had been made by a carpenter named Jesus Christ” (163). Whether through alternate views on the religion of the poor masses or through the same absentee parenting that had made Bevel who he was, he had avoided religious instruction. Ignorant to such facts, desperate to belong, Bevel opts for Baptism in the river.

The preacher of choice, also named Bevel, views himself as a symbol of God, a character above all others through his ability to speak with Jesus: “‘If you just come to see can you leave your pain in the river, you ain’t come for Jesus. You can’t leave your pain in the river … I never told nobody that’” (165). He will baptize, he will indoctrinate, but you, the individual are culpable for your actions and will thus either fall victim to your sins or pursue the light of God. Bevel greets this prospect, this chance to belong and feel as if he matters to someone, something, somewhere: “‘If I Baptize you,’ the preacher said ‘you’ll be able to go to the Kingdom of Christ … Do you want that?’ ‘Yes,’ the child said, and thought I won’t go back to the apartment then, I’ll go under the river” (168). A dip in the river gives him courage, gives him soul, gives him freedom.

It is here that we find the beauty and craft in O’Connor’s writing. Once confronted with the remains of another of his parent’s high class, drunken parties, Bevel longs for the river, longs to belong, and go under. Living a neglected life where breakfast consists of discarded crackers cannot appeal to anyone, especially this boy who has newly been welcomed into the religious light. The slow build explodes to the surface as Bevel returns to the river, gulps at the water, gasping for freedom, gasping to belong, and despite the best efforts of an onlooker to save him, Bevel willfully drowns to meet the kingdom he has been promised.

Favorite Lines:

• “‘Didn’t you have your breakfast?’ ‘I didn’t have time to be hungry yet then” (159).
• “‘You’ll see him today at the healing. He’s got cancer over his ear. He always comes to show he ain’t been healed’” (162).
• “He shut his eye and heard her voice from a long way away, as if he were under the river and she on top of it” (170).

Other posts on the The Complete Stories include “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” “The Geranium,” “The Barber,” “The Wildcat,” “The Crop,” “The Turkey,” “The Train,” “The Peeler,”“The Heart of the Park,” “A Stroke of Good Fortune,” “Enoch and the Gorilla,” “A Late Encounter with the Enemy,” “The River,” “A Circle in the Fire,” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”  If the book interests you, please use the link in the first paragraph or click the picture to support my efforts when you purchase the text.

Book Review: Stephen King’s From a Buick 8

Much like the novel’s title object, Stephen King’s From a Buick 8 sat on my shelf for many years. While I never stared at it and assumed the superintendents position as the book possits, it traveled through multiple moves without a glance. Typically a quick read, I tend to refer to King when I need a good novel, one that flows by without deep literary symbolism and interpretation. Something that can spark interest and excite while keeping the pages turning. While From a Buick 8 has merits, this book is a bit folksier than King’s typical works and driven more by theme than events, as in this text was not quite what I was expecting at the time.

Primarily written from the first person perspective of an aging Pennsylvania State Trooper named Sandy, the text follows the mysterious and strange events that surround a peculiar Buick the Troop branch took possession of in bizarre circumstances: the owner drove it into a gas station, asked for service, went to the bathroom, and never returned. While his absence is not the mystery the text presents, this car not only appears invulnerable to damage—one can scratch it and watch the paint regenerate—but also a source of great energy. It emits light quakes that flash waves of purple, transports strange creatures from another world, and is responsible for the disappearance of at least three individuals, including its owner. Furthering the oddities, the car is not built to spec and exists as more of a concept for its make year than the real thing—nothing about the machine seems to add up.

Typical of a Stephen King thriller, the car seems to breathe, seems to gnaw at the mind of the officers, and while standing as a beacon of interest for the men, it is linked to the worldly death of many officers, even if such occurrences exist more as hunches than anything else. Yet the narrative, which hovers around the hodgepodge recounting of Buick experiences to young Ned, the mourning son of a recently killed State Trooper who held an unhealthy fascination with the Buick, and while the tales do hold merit, the central narrative does not. Frankly, the narrative just kind of starts, plods along, and ends under the assumption that everything will be alright, a fact that is atypical of Stephen King’s creations.

While the tone is indicative of much of his later work, where redemption and life reflection tend to ooze to the top, King spends too much time in Sandy’s head offering too much cliché patter about the actions of Ned and the boy’s reception to their story. In the end, while the book is a decent read, it neither thrills nor fully enthralls. There is something here, something that rings home, but that something may not be worth the four-hundred pages.

Favorite Lines:

• “I did, too. Sometimes there’s nothing to learn or no way to learn it, or no reason to even try. I saw a movie once where this fellow explained why he lit a candle in a church even though he wasn’t a very good Catholic anymore. ‘You don’t fuck around with the infinite,’ he said. Maybe that was the lesson we learned.”

B-Skips Demonstration

Recently I wrote on A-Skips, a great drill that can be used to work on knee drive. After mastering  A-Skips, consider starting B-Skips as well.

These are essentially the same thing with a twist: you hit a rhythmic high knees, but you then kick your leg out and bring it to the ground, scraping the toes back.

Here is Matthew executing the drill to perfection in slow motion (one must love the hat):


My video below isn't perfect, but it has the basic gist. My legs are not getting high enough (especially when bouncing off of my right leg which has a slight injury) and I was a bit timid to scrape the ground in my bare feet, but you need to with a bit of force. Once the slow motion kicks in you can get a better shot. Between the two shots you should be able to have the dynamics down.

What do these do for you? First you work on knee drive, much as with A-Skips, but then you work on your landing pattern, trying to get your landing under your hips. Next you engage the hamstrings a bit, getting the full flexor and extendor relationship in play.

Incorporate a couple 10-20 meter sets in before and after your runs, then think about it during the run, see if some of the cues you are learning can come into play. Helps with sprinting, forefoot landing, whole foot landing, as well transition from knee drive to landig.