2017 Reading: Sliver

#49 A book you got from a used book sale

That heading could literally be nearly every book I own.

I picked this book up because I was a fan of his other books that I've read and the premise of this one seemed interesting. It reminded me a bit of that movie The Resident so I thought I would give it a shot.

It takes The Resident to a new level. The idea of watching other people live... It's why reality television was created. We want to see other people's drama because we don't want to have to deal with our own. And we become so attached to the 'story' and the 'characters' that we lash out at them. It's one thing to be mad at a character in a TV show or a movie, because on some level our brains know that they are fake, that this story is fiction. But when you take away the fiction, that attachment can stay the same, which is why people get death threats or things like that. Life does not have a happy ending yet when you watch the real world as if you were watching TV, you still expect it. When the end doesn't go how you want it, then that's when the madness starts.

Also, voyeurism (when not agreed upon beforehand in a calm, sane, and civil manner) is creepy.

And that dude had SO MANY mommy problems.

2016 Reading: Rosemary's Baby & Son of Rosemary

#26 A book and it's prequel

Rosemary's Baby: I saw the movie many years ago in my horror movie class while I was in film school, but I have always wanted to read the book. I've read other Ira Levin books and I found his writing style to be really unique and sort of flow-y so it's really easy to get lost in the story and not want to put the book down.

If I had never seen the movie, I think the ending would have been more dramatic for me. I would have thought Rosemary was just crazy until about the very last chapter. As it is, I'm kind of glad that I saw the movie because I could find the little subtle hints within the plot that foreshadowed the ending.

Son of Rosemary: Oh. My. God. This book! I have no idea what I was expecting (I didn't even really know there WAS a sequel until I saw this book at a used book store). It was such a unique thing to do to make this set so far in the future and have so many parallels between Andy and Jesus. I cold not put the book down because I just knew that something had to be wrong. But I STILL did not see that ending coming.

Part of me was a little disappointed at the ending, but another part, a bigger part, thinks it was the most brilliant thing to do for this story and it made me question so many things. I think I might have to go back and read this a second time at some point so that I can really pay attention to the details.

Ugh. So good.