Nicole’s Travel Guide to Korea: Gunsan

Before heading to Korea, I had never heard of the city of Gunsan. It wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook I used as a first round of research. Even when I got in the country, it didn’t come up as a potential destination. It wasn’t until I was making plans to meet up with a friend who moved to Korea a year or so before me, did Gunsan come to my notice. It was the city she was living in and I was to go down there and stay with her for a weekend. ( Gunsan hadn’t been on my travel list, but it would have been worthy of it. )

Afraid

I’ve gone too far
And can’t come back,
And now I see
The bravery I lack.
The journey began
Not hard at all.
But I was setting up
Myself to fall.
I thought it’d be easy
And now here I am,
Not close to being done
And already damned.
It all seems awful
It all seems bad,
And not only that
It all seems so sad.
I drop the pills
And lean back against the wall,
Somehow just wishing
I wasn’t this small.
So I couldn’t stand
For my own life to take,
And now here I wonder
If I’ve made a mistake.

All the Same

A light grows dim
And someone dies,
On this world
Death severs the ties.
A soul does fade
And one is born,
Time and space
Is all but torn.
Love and hate
Are all the same,
Human nature
Anything but tame.
Trapped in Hell
That is our fate,
To save our souls
It’s much too late.

Book Review: Coraline- Neil Gaiman

I’ll come right out and say it- Coraline is one of the creepiest books I’ve ever read, especially in light of the fact it’s aimed at a young adult audience. It’s the creepy factor that makes me recommend this book to you.

A little girl named Coraline moves into a new home, a massive old house that is divided into apartments. Her parents basically ignore her and Coraline is a solitary girl. When she finds an old key that opens a locked door in a downstairs room, she opens it and goes through a tunnel, despite warnings. On the other side, there is an alternate world that mirrors her own. Here there is her Other Mother and Father, who are identical to her real ones except for the big black buttons for eyes. They treat her the opposite of her parents by showering her with affection and attention, and Coraline loves it. She prefers it to the real world in fact, though she slowly figures out there’s darkness lurking under the surface. It’s an evil that has no plans to let Coraline go.

The Other Mother is one of the creepiest characters I have ever read. She’s too sweet, too loving, and you know there has to be something wrong. She’s the perfect mother, who only wants Coraline to stay and be happy…except you know in your gut that this mother is not. It’s an ominous feeling and you feel a lot of dawning horror when you realize just how right your gut feeling is. Coraline is a great book. Coraline is a creepy book. Coraline certainly isn’t a book I’d suggest reading if you’re home all alone after dark.

Book Review: The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

One of the most poignant questions an author can address is the question of human nature. In most cases, authors will take the chilling (and realistic) approach that tells that world that, as a collective group, humans really aren’t that good when it comes down to it. That premise becomes downright horrifying when you throw children into the mix.
Suzanne Collins does just that in her novel The Hunger Games.

In a bleak future, the former North America is divided into twelve districts and ruled (with an iron fist, of course) by the Capital. In order to remind the populace why rebellion is a bad idea, the Capital has the annual Hunger Games- a Battle Royale style competition that puts two people from each district in a landscape arena…last person standing wins. These two people? Children between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Katniss takes the place of her twelve-year-old sister, when Primrose is chosen in the yearly draw. Along with Peeta, Katniss is whisked off to the Capital and will have to kill twenty-three other tween/teens in order to survive.

If the idea of the games itself isn’t terrifying, the hype around them amps up the horror. The tributes (those participating in the games) are treated like American Idol contestants, complete with stylists, interviews, and judges ranking them on their talents (in this case, killing and survival skills). People sponsor and bet on which kid is going to win. Twenty-four kids are going to kill each other (or be killed by the hostile environment and traps the games masters create) and everyone is going to watch it as live entertainment. Then there are the kids themselves. They have to kill to survive, and quite a few of them are going to do it gleefully. One of the girls plans to make Katniss’s death ‘good’ (aka torture) if she’s allowed to kill her. Other tributes are killed by arrows, spears, knives, and with bare hands…all by other children.

Reading the book is gut wrenching, because you know the only way Katniss is going to survive is if the others die. And you don’t want most of the others to die, especially Peeta and sweet little twelve-year-old Rue. The reader is in the exact place as the viewer of the Hunger Games, and that is in a troubling thought. The idea is terrifying, plain and simple. The fact that The Hunger Games is marketed towards a young adult audience doesn’t play down that fact. In fact, it quite possibly amplifies it. Folks, by the time you’re finished, you’ll be agreeing that human nature is a scary thing.

Madness

He tried to fight back
As she lowered the gun,
He tried to get out
But this fight she won.
Blood poured out
From the hole in his head,
Falling to the ground
She killed him dead.
She caught them together
They both broke her heart,
Killing him now
Is only the start.
There will be others
Before her own life she takes,
To flee from this world
So full of mistakes.
Out of the house
And into the street,
Walking towards
The next victim she’ll meet.

Book Review: The Clan of the Cave Bear- Jean M. Auel

I first saw The Clan of the Cave Bear on one of those 100 books to read before you die lists, and truth be told, it didn’t really sound all that appealing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love history, but I’m a bit less into the prehistoric humanoids. How much can there really be to tell about cavemen (excuse the simplistic term)? Despite those reservations I decided to read the book anyway, and I’m glad I did.
Clan of the Cave Bear takes place in the time where Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lived in the world together.

Ayla is a little girl when her village is destroyed and she’s the only survivor. She wanders and after being attacked by a huge ancestor to the lion, is injured and found by a tribe of Neanderthals. They decide to take the girl with them, though she is ‘other’. Ayla is different in more ways than appearance, and that becomes more obvious as she grows. Ayla is a tomboy in a world where, even though women do as much physical labour as men, there are clear gender divisions. Women cannot hunt for example. Yet Ayla defies all that. She teaches herself to hunt and when her child is threatened, she violates the laws to protect him. Those are only a few of the moments where Ayla is like a prehistoric feminist.

Another interesting factor in the book is the culture that surrounds the clan. It’s nowhere near as simple as your cliched caveman tale. There is an extreme amount of mysticism and religion. The bear is a sacred animal, and each person has their own spirit animal. There are medicine women and shamans who preform rituals of deep religious and symbolic value. There is also a large amount of conflicting politics in the story. The issue of succession as a leader and how a personal vendetta can affect the wellbeing of the clan is a key plot point. There is xenophobia and distrust of the ‘other’. All of that makes it feel real. Never could I have imagined a prehistoric culture being so captivating. Auel makes it so real that you can imagine that this is what early people did believe in. Romanticized yes, but The Clan of the Cave Bear is fascinating nonetheless.