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Archive for December, 2013

David Petersen–Mouse Guard The Black Axe (2013)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Children's Books, Christmas Album, David Mead, David Petersen, Death, Fantasy, Fears, Garfunkel and Oates, Harvey Danger, Military, Short Books, South Park on December 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

blacaxeSOUNDTRACK: HAVE YOURSELF A SULLEN LITTLE CHRISTMAS–NPR (December 19, 2013).

charliebrown_wide-ac0b12e7fc8f83eb302cc221a37ba8592ccc2e63-s40-c85NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson and Travis Larchuk hop onto Morning Edition to talk about Christmas songs that are melancholy sad and downright sullen (which is quite a lot of them, if you really listen to the words).

They talk about some new(ish) songs that are depressing  Like David Mead’s “The Smile of Rachael Ray” (which would be bad enough, but that’s just a lead in to the bummer within), Harvey Danger’s “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes),” Garfunkel & Oates’ “Year End Letter” (which is quite funny) and the song “Dead, Dead, Dead” from the South Park holiday album Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics.

Of course, dark Christmas songs are nothing new.  There are plenty of dour holiday standards that originate in the 1940s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “Blue Christmas”  are major downers.

When I try to compile Christmas mixes I try to leave off the bummer songs, but it’s really hard.

Stephen Thompson gives an excellent summary of the season: “Christmas is the one day a year when we’re all supposed to be happy, and so you’re hyperaware when you’re not.”  I hope everyone has a Happy Christmas this year.

[READ: December 10, 2013] Mouse Guard The Black Axe

This book features a preface by Terry Jones.  It doesn’t say a lot, but it’s worth a mention.

The Black Axe begins after the events of Winter 1152 (it is set in Spring, 1153), but the bulk of the book is a flashback to the origin story of the Black Axe.

As the book opens we learn that Lieam, one of the Mouse Guards has been missing for the last three months.  We also learn that even though the Winter was a dangerous time for the mice, the Spring proves to be equally treacherous as all of the predators are awaking from hibernation. But despite the current crises, Gwendolyn’s thoughts turn to Spring 1115 where the story of Celanawe begins.

We see Celanawe on an island building a house.  Suddenly a crow approaches.  On the crow is Em, a mouse who can communicate with the crows and who reveals that he she has been looking for him. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #5] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, Julian Koster, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach, The Flaming Lips on December 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes 5SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-“Silent Night/Lord Can You Hear Me” (2008).

FlamingLipsSilentNight-e688b9521eb5a5b691fc125bf0de77277e6fb7e9-s1The last Flaming Lips Christmas song I heard was their rendition of “White Christmas” which is creepy and just awful.  For this one, they picked a much prettier song (“Silent Night”) and they don’t mess with it at all.  They keep it very simple–echoed keyboards and some backing vocals with Wayne Coyne’s autotuned voice singing properly.  It is certainly not the best version of the song I’ve heard, but it is at least pretty.

The song segues into “Lord, Can You Hear Me” which follows the same simple instrumentation as “Silent Night” and nearly keeps the same melody.  It’s not so much a song as a coda to “Silent Night.”

This single came out around the time of Christmas on Mars and includes as the B-side “It’s Christmas Time Again.”

[READ: December 6, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This is the last book of the series that I have read–there are apparently 14 as of this writing.  I don’t think I’ll be reading any more as I feel like I am getting such a small amount of the story that it would be more worthwhile to simply read the actual stories (which I had planned to do anyhow).  Reading these feels like I’m getting the answer to the puzzle ahead of time. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Dancing Men [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #4] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, John Vanderslice, Josh Ritter, Lucius, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach, St. Vincent, The Flaming Lips on December 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes4SOUNDTRACK: BOB AND ROBIN’S EXCELLENT HOLIDAY ADVENTURE, NPR, December 19, 2013 (2013).

bobrobinEvery year NPR airs a holiday music special (I’ve been posting from them for the last few days).  Initially, they were like any of the episodes, with descriptions of the songs.  Then they became a music only playlist (which was kind of nice).  Then they added some guests.  Last year they did a very enjoyable story of Bob and Robin together having a party that no one came to.  This year, today, they have released the 2013 edition.

In this story, Bob and Robin are driving to Kansas in a huge snowstorm.  They listen to some carols on the radio.  And then when the snow gets too bad they pull over into a small hotel.  Then Bob falls asleep and is visited in his dream by Annie Clark (St. Vincent), John Vanderslice, Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Josh Ritter and Jess Wolf (Lucius) who tell some great memories of Christmas.

The songs they play are wonderfully diverse as usual (although there’s no Hanukkah songs this year, as Hanukkah was last month).  They range from standard favorites (Burl Ives’ “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”) to very traditional songs (“Coventry Carol” an instrumental “sleigh Ride”) to funny songs (“Christmastime for the Jews”) to a brand new one: The Flaming Lips playing “Silent Night/Lord Can You Hear Me” (which completely makes up for their dreadful “White Christmas” from several years ago).

This is a wonderfully enjoyable story/holiday special.  Listen and enjoy.

[READ: December 7, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Dancing Men

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This story features the fascinating name of Hilton Cubitt.  He comes to Holmes with a confounding problem. He has discovered a slip of paper with stick figured men drawn on it.  When he showed it to his wife, she absolutely freaked out.  But she won’t tell him why.  So he brings the paper to Holmes to figure out what the heck is going on.

Since I haven’t read the original of this story,  I feel like the graphic novel is a better medium for this story because of the titular dancing men.  Perhaps the original has drawings in it, but if not, the graphic novel’s version which contains the stick figures corresponding to letters is a very successful way of quickly showing the trick.  (Even if, again, I don’t love the illustrations).

Holmes can’t do much with one slip of paper–he can’t even decode the pattern because there’s so little to go on.  But then more dancing men appear, and Cubitt brings more evidence to Holmes.  Holmes is able to crack the code (I couldn’t, but I wonder if there was more information given in the real story?).  Anyhow, Holmes has cracked the code, but that still doesn’t really solve the problem, which is the message within the code.

This may have been another case where more information would have made the story a bit more compelling.  It seems a little too easy that the “bad guy” is spotted, giving Holmes a pretty easy capture. Nevertheless, I do love a good puzzle and I’m curious to read how well the dancing men are described in the original.

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Blue Gem [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #3] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bootsy Collins, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach on December 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes3SOUNDTRACK: BOOTSY COLLINS-“Sleigh Ride” (2006).

I4evern 2006, Stephen Thompson from NPR made a list of the Best, Worst and Weirdest Holiday Albums. One of the weirdest is Christmas is 4-Ever by Bootsy Collins.  Starting with the wonderfully weird cover art.

Bootsy starts out by thanking Mrs Claus and then calls himself Booty Claus.  He tells us also that he named his weird reindeer Chucky coz he’s funky.

Once the song itself starts, the verse is pretty straightforward, but it’s interspersed with Bootsy’s peculiar sultry talking.  About 2 minutes in (the song is 6 minutes long) a new singer introduces some new lyrics, although it quickly gets back on track.  The song also features a crazy fiddle solo from Charlie Daniels.

What I find so weird about this song is the presumed funk doesn’t really seem to be in the music.  Bootsy’s speaking is certainly funky, but the music itself doesn’t have a lot of funk.  And yet, by around 4 and a half minutes I was starting to feel it (perhaps it was the bow wow wows).

Experience it yourself

[READ: December 7, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Blue Gem

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This was one of my favorite of the five stories I read because of the humorous (in my opinion) way that the titular blue gem was hidden–and ultimately found. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure at the Abbey Grange [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #2] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, Julian Koster, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach on December 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes2SOUNDTRACK: JULIAN KOSTER-“Frosty the Snowman” (2008).

sawThe name of this track doesn’t prepare you for what lies inside.  For that, you need the album title: Singing Saw at Christmas.  Julian Koster (who is part of the Elephant 6 collective) and has a love it or hate it voice, also plays the singing saw (another love it or hate it sound).

And so, in 2008 he released an album of Singing Saw Christmas Carols.  And NPR played it on their Holiday Show.  The version is simultaneously beautiful and terribly unsettling.  It’s hard to even know what it is if you aren’t aware that it is a saw (I at first guessed theremin).

I enjoy hearing it (and it is very short), but I don’t think I could bring myself to listen to a whole album.

Koster released a short holiday video in which he plays a song and tells a story.  To watch him play the saw (with a fellow saw player, tune in around 3:50).

[READ: December 6, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure at the Abbey Grange

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This story also struck me as unusual (perhaps I just have certain expectations of Holmes’ that are not quite right).  Holmes usually comes across as cocky (and frankly, obnoxious) when he finds a clue.  In this case he seemed almost deferential to the police (maybe the modern interpretations of Holmes show him to be more obnoxious).  Even though he felt things were not right about the clues, he didn’t insist upon correcting them immediately.  He even took the police’s word for things (unheard of!).  Although perhaps that was all planned out because of what happens at the end. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and a Scandal in Bohemia [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #1] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, C., Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, James Brown, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach on December 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes1SOUNDTRACK: JAMES BROWN-“Soulful Christmas” (1968).

Ibrown enjoy the funk.  And I enjoy funking up The Christmas.  So this seemed like a song or album I should have been familiar with already.  And yet I wasn’t.  I fear I know too much of Brown’s less than stellar 80s work rather than his awesome 60s and 70s work.

So NPR played this song in the 2010 Holiday Show, and I was immediately grabbed by the funky bass of the song.  The song is all about how much Brown loves us and wants to wish us a Happy Christmas and New Year.

The song doesn’t really deviate from the funky bass line (and indeed why should it?) and it turns more or less into an improv.

The song gets a little weird around 2 and a half minutes when he starts telling us how much he loves his fans, well, because they buy his records and come to see his shows (that’s why he loves us so).  It’s a weirdly worded sentiment, but I’m sure it’s heartfelt.  Next year there may have to be more funk at Chritsmastime.

[READ: December 5, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and a Scandal in Bohemia

I’m always looking for interesting graphic novels for the kids, so I was pretty excited to see this Sherlock Holmes collection (although maybe more for myself than them).  In fact, C. didn’t seem that interested in them.  I was a little surprised as he enjoys detective stuff but when I read this first one I felt the language was a little stilted (for a comic book).  These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.

The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This story introduces us to the infamous (in Holmes’ circle) Irene Adler, the woman who was able to best Holmes. It seems like a really odd place to start this series of books if you are new to Holmes, because Holmes more or less admits that Adler has outsmarted him, which seems to undermine his skills somewhat.  This story was the first short story to feature Holmes, but he had already appeared in two novels.  So readers were familiar with his skills, whereas contemporary readers might wonder what the fuss is about., which you don;t get to read here. (more…)

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David Petersen–Mouse Guard Winter 1152 (2009)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Children's Books, David Petersen, Death, Fantasy, Fears, Matt Wilson, Military, Short Books on December 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

mouse winterSOUNDTRACK: MATT WILSON-“You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” (2010).

mattwiklsonI don’t know who Matt Wilson is, (surprisingly, he is the drummer of the trio and the album is called the Matt Wilson Tree-O (ha)).  Man, I love this version of the Grinch’s theme song.

What’s fun about it is that the main vocal line is played on the upright bass.  While the harmony lines are played on what I suspect is a baritone saxophone.  There’s also some simple snare and brush work for drums.

It’s really simple and it’s pretty much guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.  I haven’t heard anything else on the album, and I’m not entirely sure I need to.  This song ranks up pretty high on my Christmas music list now.

[READ: December 10, 2013] Mouse Guard Winter 1152

Winter 1152 follows on the heels of Fall 1152.  The Mouse Guard have traveled off to various cities to find supplies for the winter.  While they have dispersed in different directions, we are following only our friends from the previous book: Kenzie, Celnawe, Lieam, Sadie and Saxon.  Through tremendous snow (for a mouse) they make it to Sprucetuck, where they seek the elixir which Mistress Gwendolyn needs.

Although offered rest and comfort the mice are on a deadline and must make it back home with their supplies.  But on their way home they are attacked by an owl.  Sadie gets off a great shot that blinds the owl and the mice are free.  But just as they feel that they are safe, they walk into a hole in the snow.  And three of them fall through.

Saxon, Kenzie and Sadie find themselves in an underground tunnel which proves to be a (presumably) abandoned weasel tunnel.  They are nervous of course, but press on in the direction of home as there is no easy way for them to get above ground.  Meanwhile, Lieam and Celnawe proceed above ground.  There is talk of allegiances and who is rightly in charge of these missions (Celnawe, as the elder axe wielder, is testing Lieam’s mettle).  Then both parties encounter some trouble  The underground team finds a bat roost–and the bast (I love the way they speak as a kind of collective) are none too happy to see the mice down here. Meanwhile, as the snow continues to pile on the above-ground mice, they decide to settle in for the night by making a burrow and starting a small fire.  But something awaits them at their opening. (more…)

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David Petersen–Mouse Guard Fall 1152 (2007)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Amiina, C., Children's Books, David Petersen, Death, Fantasy, Fears, Lee Hazlewood, Military, Short Books on December 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

mouse fallSOUNDTRACK: AMIINA-“Hilli” (2006).

220px-HilliThis song (and the single version which features a spoken word track by Lee Hazlewood) was featured in NPR’s 2007 Holiday Music special.  I’m not exactly sure that there’s anything particularly Christmassy or Holiday about it, but it is certainly pretty.

Amiina are an Icelandic band who are known mostly for their strings.  They have played string accompaniment with Sigur Rós on albums and on tour.  I had known about them as a string quartet so I was surprised by this beautiful song which has no real strings (at least quartet strings).  The “strings” sound more like hammered dulcimers and plucked violin strings.  It has a very simple melody played delicately.  And then the voices–layers of sweet female voices–sing notes over the music.  It is calming and a perfect antidote to hectic Christmas time and treacly Christmas music.

I still don’t know if it has anything to do with the holidays, but it’s part of my holiday music collection now.

[READ: December 5, 2013] Mouse Guard Fall 1152

I saw this book in the library and decided to get it for C.  But I also thought the artwork looked amazing so I decided to read it for myself.  I feel like he may be a tad young for the book (it’s kind of slow and vaguely “political”), although I’m sure he’d like the artwork (and some of the fighting).  But I thought the book was absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed every page of it.

The story itself is quiet simple (and feels like it could be much much longer).  It covers six books (and an epilogue) and is all about the mice of Lockhaven as they struggle for survival in the Fall of 1152.  Now these are normal sized mice—their homes and mansions and everything are hidden from view inside trees and ivy, but their problems are very real.  And very dangerous.

So dangerous that they have formed the Mouse Guard.  The Guard is there not only to fight off intruders but also to assist citizens as they wander through the territories.

This book follows three of the Guard: Lieam, Saxon and Kenzie as they become aware of a traitorous plot that threatens all of Lockhaven. (more…)

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Pascale Lemire–Dog Shaming (2013)

Posted in Dogs, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Pascale Lemire, Pets, Photo Essays, Regina Helcher Yost, Short Books on December 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

shameSOUNDTRACK: REGINA HELCHER YOST-“Up on the Housetop” (2008).

winstonI am introducing my selection of new (to me) Christmas music with this bizarre (and topically appropriate) entry.  I heard this song on NPR’s Holiday music show from 2008 (it’s in the 2009 show as well, but the 2008 version includes the CD opening!).  So Winston is, apparently, the pug on the cover.  And this version of “Up on the Housetop” (a song I didn’t recognize but have since heard other version of which makes this even stranger) is a (mostly) instrumental one.

The main melody is played on a tin whistle with flute, accompaniment.  But that’s not the only accompaniment, because Winston chimes in throughout the song.  He makes barks and growls and whines and, at the very end of the song he barks in tune with the beat (or should I say his barks were placed in time with the beat).  Despite how goofy it is, the whistle is done very well and the song is actually quite pretty.

Normally NPR tells you a lot about the artists that they play, but not a word was given about Regina.  Here’s what I found out about this CD: “A fun CD featuring beautiful traditional Christmas flute melodies played by internationally acclaimed flutist Regina Helcher Yost and accompanied by her pug dog, Winston to help support the Pug Rescue of North Carolina.”

Amazon has samples of tracks online.  While I think this track is cute, “The 12 Pugs of Christmas” may be the most interminable version of that interminable song I have ever heard (and I only heard 20 seconds of it).  But there you have it.

Ho Ho Woof.

[READ: December 6, 2013] Dog Shaming

Typically by the time a blog gets a book, the blog has outlived its usefulness, or funny-ness.  I don’t know how long Dog Shaming has been around (not very long I don’t think).  I only visited the site once, but I was delighted by the premise and the entries.  So when I saw this book at the library I knew I had to check it out.

This is the perfect blog-into-book thing.  There is a very brief introduction which explains the origins of the site (something I never bothered to find out online).  It also talks about what a huge phenomenon Dog Shaming is (I guess).  And implies that the site will live forever (I think it’s good they got a book deal when they did).

But snarkiness aside, this book is really frikkin funny.  Evidently it is largely photos that were unused on the site (I’m not sure why they were unused, as it implies that one or the other was not good enough for the photos), but whatever, it’s nice that the book isn’t just the web site.  It also says that there are fan favorites from the site included.  As I said I’ve only visited once, so I don’t know which is which. (more…)

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Daniel Alarcón–“City of Clowns” (New Yorker, June 16, 2003)

Posted in Books about writers, Clowns, Daniel Alarcón, Death, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Sigur Rós on December 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

tny6.16&23.03 cvrSOUNDTRACK: SIGUR RÓS-Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do (2004).

babaI didn’t realize that this was a soundtrack to Merce Cunningham’s dance piece Split Sides.  That doesn’t really change my opinion of the music, although it does make me wonder just what kind of dance this would have been.

There are three tracks on this short EP.  The primary instrument seems to be the music box.  There are no real vocals on the album, except for what sounds like sampled children and a few spoken words in the final track (the words are the title of the EP sampled and thrown around, apparently spoken by Cunningham).  Of course, it’s not all music box, there are synths and interesting percussive sounds (what sounds like the winding up of said music boxes).  The first two songs are quite similar, with the second being a bit more fleshed out.

The final track, with the sampled words, sounds much different and feel a bit more aggressive, although that is all relative of course.  The whole EP is about 20 minutes long.  Of all of Sigur Rós’ varied output (singles and EPs) this is probably the least essential one that is all new music.

[READ: November 8, 2013] “City of Clowns”

I had printed out all of the New Yorker stories that Alarcón had written because I enjoyed his previous ones so much. This was the first and I was blown away by how good it was.

It is a long and somewhat complicated story.

It opens with Oscarcito going to the hospital because his father died the night before.  He finds his mother mopping floors because his father’s bill was unpaid.  And in that very first paragraph, she introduces her son to Carmela—the woman whom his father left them for.  She was mopping the floor with Oscarcito’s  mother.  He is confused and enraged by this.

His half brothers are also there.  He had never met them before, preferring to stay away from his father’s other life.  But he saw them in front of him and clearly saw that they were related to him.  But the most galling thing was that although he was the oldest of all the children, they were clearly the chosen children—after all, his father stayed with them.

Then we learn about his father’s life.  He was born in Cerro de Pasco and moved to Lima when his young family was still young.  He worked hard in semi legitimate businesses and then brought his family to the city.  Young Oscarcito, age 8, loved it.  But his mother hated missing her family in Cerro de Pasco.  And now they we reliving with his father who was practically a stranger. His father worked hard and succeeded, but he was rarely home (more…)

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