Nicole's Travel Guide to Korea: Jeju Day 2

Day two of my trip began nice and early, because we had some traveling to do. Our first destination on the first full day of vacation was a couple hours away by bus, and we wanted to get there before it got to the heat of the day (we failed), because we were going to do one of the most popular activities in Jeju- hiking.
( There are many hiking trails across Jeju, some easy and others hard. The man area to hike is Hallasan, a mountain which stands tall in the middle of the island (on a clear day, you can see the peak from all parts of the island). )

Book Review: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister- Gregory Maguire

I'll be the first to admit that Cinderella is my least favourite made-popular-by-Disney fairy tale. It's probably no surprise that the plot of putting up with your abusive stepmother who makes you a domestic slave until a guy swoops in and rescues you (if it were a dragon, fine, but not a normal -if cruel- woman) doesn’t thrill me. I also dislike the notion that being ugly makes you mean, as it is implied with the stepsisters. Because of all those above, I figured a book from the stepsister's side would be interesting. I was right.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister takes Cinderella and tells it from a stepsister's perspective, and actually makes everyone have a 3D personality. Iris is the younger stepsister and has always been tasked with watching over her special needs older sister, and eventually with her stepsister Clara after Iris's mother marries Clara's father for sheer survival. Iris develops an eye for art and becomes an apprentice to an artist hired to paint a beautiful painting of Clara. There's a lot of growth, introspection, and examination of class, gender, and appearance, until we come to the fated ball and the aftermath.

Ugliness is examined, but it never stands in to mean 'evil'. Clara's beauty is seen as a curse, one that made her mother keep her away from the world (and kept her in her self imposed exile after her mother died). The stepmother is hard, but because she has had to struggle to survive. Iris can be harsh, but she's been judged and dismissed for most of her life because she's not pretty. Every character is complicated, and you can't pin them down. They're too real for that. Like all of Maguire's work, there is no good or evil here. They are only shades of grey, and everyone knows the best stories rest in the grey.

Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter- Jeff Lindsay

I will admit that I had never heard about this book series until one of my friends started telling me about the show of the same name (shortened to just Dexter). I was intrigued, and he lent me book one to test the waters (because I couldn’t watch the show without reading the book first).

Dexter Morgan is a serial killer. That would normally mean he's the villain of the piece, but here you would be wrong. Dexter is the protagonist (certainly not a hero), which is what makes Lindsay's series so unique. Why is Dexter the protagonist? Because he only kills other bad guys, ones that are probably going to get away with their crimes, and only after he makes nearly 100% sure they're guilty. Dexter is a killer with a code, thanks to his foster father, who saw what Dexter was becoming when he was young and chose to direct the homicidal urges in a more 'positive' direction. He taught Dexter who it was acceptable to kill, and more importantly, how not to get caught. Dexter has a double life- serial killer by night, blood splatter analyst, devoted brother and boyfriend by day. Everything gets murky when the Tamiami Slasher starts killing prostitutes, and Dexter's adopted sister Deborah tries to use the investigation to get into the homicide division. It gets especially difficult when it starts to look like the killer is somehow connected to him.

Dexter as a character is fascinating. There's a reason why, in general, serial killers aren't the main characters- they're not good guys. Yet despite that, Lindsay makes Dexter likeable. How that's possible, I'm not even sure. Lindsay makes someone who could easily be written as a one dimensional character by a less talented writer, 3D. Dexter isn't flat- he lacks empathy, and his sense of right and wrong is really only there because his father instilled it in him, but there are moments when he's as human as the other characters. He can't love, but it's easy to see he genuinely cares (Dexter even uses the word 'fond') for a number of characters (Deborah, Rita, and her kids) to a certain degree. Dexter is a complicated mess, and it's fascinating to read. I won't go so far as to say I was rooting for him, but I certainly didn't want him brought to justice.

'Dearly Devoted Dexter' was a compelling start to a series with a unique premise. It was everything my friend promised it would be (and in case you're wondering, the show is spectacular as well…just pretend the last season doesn’t exist, for your own sanity).

Book Review: Edgar Alan Poe

Long before one Stephen King held the honorary title of the Master of Horror, it belonged to a man named Edgar Alan Poe, way back in Victorian times. I’m willing to bet that most of you have heard the name, if not some of his stories. The most famous is his poem ‘The Raven’, the tale of a man haunted by the memory of his beloved and a raven. ‘The Raven’ is one of Poe’s poems, but he also has a wide range of short stories. Since it’s near impossible for me to pick just one to focus on, I’ve decided to do more of an author review.

First and foremost, Poe had one creative gruesome streak. Just how gruesome varies from story to story (or poem to poem). There are stories that are plain nightmare fuel; in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, a man kills the old man he takes care of, hides the body under the floorboards (a common theme in Poe’s work), only to be haunted by the sound of its beating heart. Poe also offers up some good Sherlock Holmes- type mysteries in ‘The Murder in the Rue Morgue’ and ‘The Mystery of Marie Roget’. Poe also captures some stories that bring up the very real horrifying times in history, including the plague (‘The Masque of the Red Death’), the inquisition (‘The Pit and the Pendulum’) and inside a Victorian era insane asylum (‘The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether). There are many more, covering many more macabre subjects.
The part, at least for me, that makes these stories so creepy, is that, after you’ve finished reading, you’re still not 100% sure you completely got it. That sense of confusion, of the unknown, leaves you wondering…and that wonder just amps up the horror.

Now, to leave you, I give you the poem of Poe’s work that isn’t only my favourite, but speaks to creator and dreamer in me:

Sonnet- To Science

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why prayest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise?
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?