Book Review: Howl: A Graphic Novel by Allen Ginsberg, Animated by Eric Drooker

This week is banned book week.  In honour of this, I chose to read Allen Ginsberg's Howl, a poem written in 1956 and was the subject of obscenity charges in 1957.  The charges were dismissed.  I have heard a lot about this poem in recent years, especially when the movie came out, and was curious about it and thought now was the perfect time to read it.  For a list of more recent banned books, you can check the American Library Associations site here.

Book:  Howl:  A Graphic Novel by Allen Ginsberg, Animated by Eric Drooker, Harper Perenial, 2010, 224 pages, adult, poetry.

Source:  Library.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Allen Ginsburg's legendary and groundbreaking epic poem, Howl, is now a graphic novel—a tie-in to the major motion picture starring James Franco. Featuring graphics by acclaimed New Yorker cover artist Eric Drooker, Howl is a magnificent visual interpretation of a classic work by a seminal Beat writer and contemporary of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs.

First published in 1956, Allen Ginsberg's Howl is a prophetic masterpiece—an epic raging against dehumanizing society that overcame censorship trials and obscenity charges to become one of the most widely read poems of the century.

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading this poem, even though it was difficult sometimes, as well as morbid and full of angst.  The words and language are so rich, I found myself savoring them at times, rereading lines in order to unpack their meaning and meander on their wonderful combinations.

It starts with:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness...
...starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves though the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, (p. 18-19)

This lays out the theme for this long poem.  The first section is one sentence, listing how the best minds have been destroyed, so many kinds of madness.

Then there are lines like: 

who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Avenue mid blasts of leaden verse & the tanked-up clatter of the iron regiments of fashion & the nitroglycerin shrieks of the fairies of advertizing...
...& the mustard gas of sinister intelligent editor, or were run down by the drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality, (p. 98-100)

This is just an example of the writing.  The phrases are so packed full - this is not a poem to race through.

There is definitely the historical significance of this poem, with what was happening in society at the time, the dehumanization of society, the social unrest, the wars.  However, much of this is still significant today as, in many ways, our society is becoming even more dehumanized through technology and television.  There is also no shortage of wars and intolerance.

This particular edition of this poem has been animated by Allen Ginsberg's friend and colleague Eric Drooker and I think he did a brilliant job.  This must have been a daunting prospect, but the pictures are amazing and go so well with the poem and helped me to take in the words.  For the most part, the pictures are dark, sometimes hazy, sometimes without a lot of detail, but they capture the spirit of the words perfectly. 

The whole package of the poem and the animation is beautiful and well done.  I am not sure if I understood the whole poem, but I did enjoy reading this piece of history and savouring the words.

Book Review: Tales From The Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne

Tales From The Odyssey is a series of six children's books that retell Homer's Odyssey.  They are written by Mary Pope Osborne of The Magic Tree House fame and are written for a similar age group, I would say around grade 2 to 6.  The names of the characters may be a bit complicated, but there is a pronunciation guide in the back.  I have chosen to review the series as a whole because I tend to think of The Odyssey as a whole, that and we read them so fast that they seem like one story.

I recently read the whole series of six with my middle son who is in grade 2 and he was completely hooked by them, and even my eleven year old found himself listening in as I read - after all, these are entertaining, exciting stories that have been around for thousands of years!  I picked the first book up because I am a HUGE classical mythology fan, to the point of studying it in university.  I am always on the lookout for good versions of classical stories to share with my kids and I am very impressed with Mary Pope Osborne's version of The Odyssey.  I would say it is quite obvious that she did her research as the story rings true to the original, but in a much shorter and more accessible kid's version.

Mary Pope Osborne focuses on the action of the original epic poem - for example, the Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, and various other monsters.  There are battle scenes, blood and guts, fighting and shipwrecks.  The gods interfere, Odysseus pines for home, the sea rages, and the ten years of Odysseus's travels are told with a feel of the original.  She even mentions the "wine dark sea" several times, which is one of many epithets used throughout The Odyssey.  Epithets are such an important part of Homer's work that I love that Mary Pope Osborne included this one in her retelling.

While looking at reviews of this series, it is clear that the fourth book, The Gray-Eyed Goddess, is the least favorite.  This corresponds to The Telemachy in The Odyssey, the part where Telemachus sails around Greece looking for word about his father, and is probably universally considered to be the least favourite part of the epic.  That people found this book to be the most boring of Mary Pope Osborne's retelling again is evidence that she remained true to the original.

Each of the six books could stand alone as an exciting adventure story, but the books also build on one another and readers will want to know if Odysseus ever makes it home again to his wife and son.  Listed below are the six books, each with a brief summary courtesy of HarperCollins:

Book 1:  The One-Eyed Giant:  When Odysseus must leave his home to fight in the Trojan War, he never imagines that he'll be away from his family for so many years. Now, at long last, he is leading his men across the seas. But many dangers await them -- and none is more terrifying than Polyphemus, the one-eyed giant.

Book 2:  The Land of the Dead:  Odysseus and his men have defeated the one-eyed giant, but its curse plagues them at every turn. Cast out to the open seas by the wind god, Odysseus and his men face giant cannibals and outwit a beautiful witch, who reveals Odysseus's next challenge -- a journey to the mysterious and feared land of the dead.

Book 3:  Sirens and Sea Monsters:   Odysseus and his men have done what no other mortals have done: returned alive from the terrifying Land of the Dead. Armed with warnings and advice from the ghost of the prophet Tiresias, Odysseus is determined to finally sail home to Ithaca. But the enchantress Circe tells him the Greeks will face even more horrors on their journey, including an encounter with Scylla, the six-headed monster, and Charybdis, the deadly whirlpool. Who will survive these terrors -- and how?

Book 4:  The Gray-Eyed Goddess: Odysseus is trapped on the island of the sea goddess, Calypso. The beautiful goddess wants him to forget his wife and son and marry her, but he is determined to return home. Back in Ithaca, Odysseus' wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, desperately fend off suitors who want to marry Penelope in order to take control of Odysseus' island. It is only with the help of the gray-eyed goddess Athena that they can hope to ever become a family again.

Book 5:  Return to Ithaca:  After years of captivity on Calypso's island, Odysseus finds himself on the shores of yet another strange land. Meanwhile, his wife, Penelope, fears for their son Telemachus. His enemies -- Penelope's unwanted suitors -- plan to ambush and kill him upon his return to find his father. But the family's years of suffering come to an end, as father and son are reunited in a series of startling, strange, and magical events. Odysseus is finally home. And now his revenge beings ...

Book 6:  The Final Battle:   After struggling against the gods and his fate for more than 20 years, Odysseus has returned to Ithaca at last. But things have changed: his island has been overrun by suitors who clamor for his wife's hand in marriage and plague his son Telemachus. With the help of the gray-eyed goddess Athena, Odysseus and Telemachus must set out to regain control of Ithaca.