Saturday, October 14, 2017

themusicaddict's Review of Matthew V. Brockmeyer's "Kind Nepenthe" Madness In California's Marijuana Country

Hello,

My thanks to Matthew V. Brockmeyer and Black Rose Writing for a free hard copy of this book.

Wow! Wow! Wow! That's all I can say about this book. It's a horror novel, but not so much a scary horror novel. There are ghosts and they influence people, but they don't torment them as much.

This novel is based in California's marijuana country, a deserted former commune located at a place called Homicide Hill. The main characters are Calendula- who's in charge of the grow room, his lady Rebecca and her daughter, Megan. Calendula's boss is Coyote, who's the one that markets, sells and makes the deals to sell marijuana after Calendula grows it. They have a business relationship, but aren't friends.

The person who owns the land is Diesel, Coyote owes him $50,000 for the land. Diesel wants the money, but he's not desperate for it. Diesel has a son, DJ, who's more obsessed with getting that money. DJ has a girlfriend, who's pregnant with his son. This couple has its problems, but initially they seem to be a couple we can root for.

The novel follows these two disparate groups as they try to negotiate their lives. But we sense early on that these two groups could come into conflict. With seemingly benign ghosts hovering and a bunch of adults that are more concerned about themselves- a tragic ending is what one should expect. And do we get that. This is one of those books where even the winners don't really win, they only postpone losing.

What are some good things about this book? It ends well, it feels like a very complete ending, a sequel isn't needed. The writing isn't amazing, but there are some nice touches. I love this from page 103 "and an unkindness of ravens beat their black wings and took to the air." Also the supernatural touches are okay, with out going overboard.

The cover uses the words "haunting" and "evil". But I didn't feel there was a lot of evil and haunting in this book. There are ghosts, but they seem more lonely than evil. Again the supernatural touches are fairly mellow. This isn't the kind of book that you'll read and be scared for awhile, in other words this isn't "It".

All the characters have weaknesses, but none of them are one dimensional or are stock characters.

Bad things: very few of these characters are people that you could root or cheer for. But you hope someone eventually reaches some kind of redemption. Some of these people are just bad, but a few feel like they could be decent human beings.

From shmoop:

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite – respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

Now things start to get a little weird. In his grief, our speaker imagines the air filling with perfume from an invisible censer (a globe that holds burning incense).
To top that off, he imagines angels ("seraphim") swinging that censer. He even hears their footsteps on the carpet (80).
Now that he's gone around the bend, he starts to yell at himself, calling himself a "wretch."
He tells himself that this imaginary perfume thickening the air was sent from God to help him forget Lenore. He compares this perfume to nepenthe, a mythological drink that was supposed to comfort grieving people.
He tells himself to "quaff" (that just means drink) this potion and forget Lenore.
Just as we start to really wonder what he's raving about, the raven cuts him off by saying "Nevermore" (84).

Overall I'd give this book a C+. Yes, you'll read better books, but you'll also read much worse books. If a book gets too bad I just stop reading it. That was never an option for me with this book. I felt compelled to keep on reading it, I felt pulled along. Again a satisfying ending, it felt like everyone got what they deserved.

themusicaddict

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