Killing Floor

I had heard some rumblings about a series of books by author Lee Child centering on a character named Jack Reacher. In fact, over the years, Child has released 20 books in this series. Given that I like a good action - adventure romp, I decided to dive in, starting at the beginning with the title Killing Floor. Jack Reacher is an ex-army MP officer who served 20 years and was discharged. He is a big, brooding sort of man who never for a moment even considered what would happen after his military career ended. So, Reacher has chosen to wander around America to find himself. Reacher is a man of few words, but deep in knowledge and able to use it in a pinch. He is not easily cowed or sent into a panic even when he seems to be in the most danger. His character falls into the Rambo mold, but mixed in with a pinch of MacGuyver and a dash of Columbo.

In this novel, Reacher is taking a bus from Florida with his only intent to head north. On a whim, he gets off the bus on the outskirts of Margrave, a small Georgia town. His brother had told him that an old blues singer that he liked had once spent some time there. Just a short while after getting off the bus, Reacher is dragged off to jail by the local police as a suspect in a recent grisly murder. Reacher is locked up in the nearby prison for the weekend while the police decide whether he is to be charged. Reacher is nearly killed and he reasons that he was set up. When he is returned to Margrave, Reacher bonds with the new police detective who seems to be an honest and reasonable man. Together they come to learn of some mighty strange happenings involving a major counterfeiting operating in the sleepy and wholly corrupt town of Margrave.

The novel itself was a bit of a tough slog for me. The narrative was completely implausible, contrived, based on impossible levels of coincidence, and absolutely paper thin. Each and every one of the characters was not much more than a limp caricature, and what passed for dialog was most often stilted and trite. However, given that the series has proven so long-lasting and popular, and given that this was the first novel by Child, I can only think that he had to have matured as writer. Based on this, I have decided to stay hopeful as I move onto the second novel in the series, Die Trying.

Observations 91

My occasional blog series "Observations" was created to be an outlet to share a variety of topics that pop into my field of view as a result of a condition that many bloggers are afflicted with known as "blogger's eyes". In this state we view the world on the constant look-out for topics on which to write about. Today's blog came about from random odds 'n ends of things that I have noticed over the past few weeks.

• There was a headline on CNN recently that read, "Tests show some beards are as dirty as toilets." Ewww.
  
• I wonder if the attacker hiding in the shadows ever gave himself away by instinctively saying "Bless you" after his intended victim sneezed.
  
• Whenever politicians, celebrities, and star athletes are caught in the press or in the courtroom in an obvious lie, the news outlets never use the word "lie". They always soften the language with descriptors like, "implausible", "alternative version", "different opinion". Seems to me a lie is a lie is a lie. Why call it something different?
  
• Have your ever stood by and watched helplessly as the window in your car exploded? Yeah, me too.
  
• Why are people who drive those honkin' big SUVs so cautious about driving over a little ol' speed bump? They are not scaling the Jungfrau!
  

Quick Hits 36

Sometimes I hear an utterance or catch a quick visual of something that sticks in my mind. As this sensory input rolls about in my head, several different outcomes are possible. It might be the case that after a moment of consideration, the input is deleted as uninteresting, trivial, or too much for me to deal with. However, another possible outcome is that the input keeps demanding my attention. It somehow wants me to wrestle with it and give it more than just a passing notice. In such cases, they can end up here, in my blog series called Quick Hits.

If nearly all of the salaried employees in a given position work nearly 60 hours per week, it is fair to look down on the worker who only puts in his 40 hours and no more?

What do you think?

Incongruous Parallelism

A literary device commonly employed in ancient Hebrew poetry is known as synonymous parallelism. This high-brow term describes a pair of successive lines in verse, known as a couplet, in which the second line repeats the main idea or content of the first, but using different terminology or images. One well known example comes from the Old Testament of the Bible,

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities.", Isaiah 53:5

Another form of this same technique is called antithetical parallelism, and is based on a couplet where the first and second lines connect opposing ideas in marked contrast. Another Old Testament verse provides an example,

"The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.", Ecclesiastes 10:2

However, I tend to eschew those commonly recognized forms of poetic parallelism and have adopted instead the form known as incongruous parallelism. This is a technique where I live my life in a way completely opposed to what I know in my heart is right and true. Using incongruous parallelism my actions can go wholly against my professed principles and what I would say are the foundations of my heart. Within this device, I can treat others with contempt and disdain while at the same time praying that God would keep me ever-mindful of the needs of others. I can also beg God for companionship while living life as a hermit. I could go on for pages detailing examples of this form from my own life, but I would guess that this form of poetry, although I can take credit for coining the term, is not one that I alone have mastered.

Memorial Day 2015

A day off from work ... a day to relax with your family ... a day to toss back some brews and some brauts ... Sure these are all good things, things to be celebrated, things to take advantage of. But, do you know why you have the day off today and what this all means? ... Remember, if only for a moment.

Fevre Dream

I just finished the novel Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin. If you thought for a moment that Martin was a one trick pony when it came to producing works like A Game of Thrones, then I would point you to this novel. This is a decidedly different genre altogether but it reveals master story telling, pacing, and character development from start to finish. What made this work even more impressive is that it is billed as Martin's take on the classic vampire novel, but if this is a seemingly dry well, Martin finds quite a bit more water in its depths.

The story tells the tale of Mississippi River steamer captain Abner Marsh, a gruff, irascible, hulk of a man who had a few years where his Fevre River Packet Company was doing alright for itself, thank you very much. He owned and operated half a dozen paddle-wheelers that moved tons of cargo and thousands of passengers in stops from New Orleans up to St. Louis. Then one brutal winter, the river iced up something fierce and crushed the hulls of his prize ladies, sending them to the bottom. The bigger hurt for Abner Marsh was not the loss of his fleet and the hard financial times that he began to face, but it was being labeled as a cursed man and having his friends turn from him. Just when he was reaching his nadir, he was approached by a curious man who wanted to partner with him to build the finest steamboat the Big River had ever seen. This Joshua York offered to fund the construction of the ship if Marsh organized everything else associated with running the business. The only stipulation was that York would do curious things from time to time and Marsh was not allowed to question what he saw. Something in Joshua's bearing convinced Marsh to take a chance and the glorious Fevre Dream was built and moved into service.

For a time, Joshua and Marsh got along well, and Marsh began to feel like his failures were behind him. The Fevre Dream was everything that he had ever wanted or dared to dream. However, Joshua's behavior steadily became more and more curious to the point that it was affecting profits and the company's reputation. Marsh confronted Joshua and learned an unbelievable truth about a race of creature wholly other than humanity. Vampire. The very word evokes a living nightmare of undead creatures that live forever and prey on the blood of innocents. Yet there is good and evil in everything. Does one judge a lion for taking prey that it needs for life? Yes Joshua is a creature of the night, but there is a nobleness to his actions and his approach that ultimately wins the lifelong respect and admiration from a riverman who thought that he had seen everything.

In the News 12

While I have not touched an actual newspaper in some time, I do skim through the online news headlines each day. There is always something that catches my attention, whether it
involves human conflict, a human interest piece, the sports wrap, or just the usual absurdities. In this series, I carve out a space for my opinions, reminiscences, or comments.

Tim Tebow - There are certain NFL quarterbacks who somehow seem to hang around despite physical flaws and clear deficiencies in their games. Tim Tebow would be part of this category, however his deficiencies were just too glaring. He is also very public about his faith and I think moreso that his problems throwing a football accurately, he is someone everyone seems to love to hate and bash. His failure to land a job in the NFL caused most folks to foam with joy. However, he continued to work toward his goal of getting back into the league to prove his doubters wrong, all while remaining humble and true to himself. Tim signed a 1-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles on April 20, 2015. I, for one, hope he makes the team.

David Letterman - In the 1980s there was an event marked on my calendar 5 nights a week, Late Night with David Letterman. Even now I can recall the sense of peace that would wash over me as I got home from studying in the library and got to spend a few minutes before bed unwinding with Dave. I almost think that back in those days watching Late Night was part of a college student's core ciriculum. Eventually Dave moved from his irreverant NBC post marked by hilarity, inanity, and Alka-Seltzer suits, to a more mature and staid CBS position and we eventually lost touch. However, he has a solid place in my heart. Dave hosted his final show on May 20, 2015.