It took a few months, but I finally finished Alexander Chee’s “Queen of the Night” and it was worth every penny of that overdue penalty from the library.
OK, seriously, I have never read a book that had me so anxious at the end. I realized I was holding my breath! No spoilers I guess, but … never mind
**SPOILER**
Lilliet is my homegirl! When she attacked and killed the tenor, I was like, “Is this a dream sequence? She doesn’t have it in her!” Then I was like, “If she did this, she definitely didn’t do it right.” When I realized she offed the dude and did it right (for the most part — that stinkin’ maid), I decided that she was going right up to the top of list of my literary character hero list. (Which I guess I’m now going to have to do.) Whew! I was pissed that she lost her man, but I think it’s safe to say she liked him more than he liked her. Honestly, Aristafeo was straight trash.
**SPOILER OVER**
I think I’ve noted I don’t normally like Victorian-era books, but once this one got clicking, I couldn’t put it down and I’ve been thinking about why that is. If you’re a writer, you’re creating worlds and to take the reader with you, you have to get granular, so specific. That’s what Chee did, and the way he injects historical figures and events works beautifully because Lilliet is so fully formed that you’re experiencing this life with her. But you have to be thorough. I know in my fiction writing, I have a tendency to sneak past the stuff I think is boring, but it’s atmosphere and it makes your worlds pop up off the page. It’s been a while since a story has done that to me and it makes me want to do it for my work.
In my ears
When I was just out of college and living by myself, I would fall asleep to episode of “Forensic Files” or something similar and that is just weird, right? To be soothed by stories of crime? Now I do it with podcasts, too, and it is so odd. There was a time when I’d listen to any content involving a real crime. It could be listening to Crime Writers On (the best podcast critics’ show out there right now) that’s got me a bit more discerning. But I listened to one in the last couple of weeks that I had to turn off.
It’s called 22 Hours: An American Nightmare, and it’s a case about a family and their housekeeper that was kidnapped, terrorized and killed. They were found in their burned out home. So I have a theory about podcasts, and it’s that broadcast reporters/companies are the worst at podcasts. It makes sense — they focus on showing you something with their stories, with your eyes. It doesn’t often translate to radio or print. This podcast is trying to be true crime, hardboiled and Serial all at the same time, and if you want to talk about a face plant, well, here you are. I only allow myself to cringe over something I’m listening to in a podcast for two minutes and then I realize it must not be for me.
The exact moment that did it for me was when the host, whose name I won’t even bother to go look up, talks about how emotionally challenging it was for her to report on this story when it first happened, then played some audio of her talking about how hard it was to her producer. Less than a minute later, they open up a box of evidence and the mood is … much lighter. Someone does that fake suspense music — you know, “dunt dunt DUNNNNN!”
I turned it off.
One other thing that I am not turning off is the Mueller Report Audio. My brother told me about this, because obviously, I did want to read the report, but was short on time. I guess I understand why special counsel Robert Mueller is being asked to testify before Congress (on this very day!), but listening to this report, it is damning enough — and it’s redacted! So far, my favorite part is Donald Trump telling Chris Christie that because he fired Michael Flynn, the whole “Russia thing” was over with and Christie responding with, basically, “yeah no.”
Comedy gold. And yet, also terrible.