For this
week, I decided on reading “Death Note,” written by Osamu Tezuka, and
illustrated by Takeshi Obata. A chilling murderous mystery based around Japanese
folk lore and dark magic, specifically about the Shinigami Ryuk, a dark spirit/god that drops magic
into the human world out of boredom. Following the ensuing chaos that results
from a young man and woman trying to use the murderous artifact known as the “Death
Note,” the story has been very highly respected for decades, being translated
into numerous other languages, has acquired world-wide publication, and even
been reimagined as several live action films, an anime television series, and
even a musical. While trying to rid the world of it’s villains, our main
character, “Light” ends up being corrupted by his newfound power and even
declares himself a “God of this New World,” prior to being betrayed, (once
again, out of boredom) by the same Shinigami, Ryuk. Showing very dark results
of good intentions creates an interesting situation where as our protagonist is
not really the hero of this story, despite the fact that most of the story is
told from his point of view. I found this story to be very interesting,
especially with its role reversal our protagonist as our main villain of sorts
and our antagonist, L, a detective, as our hero of sorts, that is rarely seen
anymore. The story is perhaps most relatable to the European story of Macbeth,
another story heavily involving murder, magic, and the power it promises.
For this week, I decided on reading "Alice in Sunderland," an exploration of famous literature and how it relates to the numerous "wondrous" events that occurred at the city of Sunderland, in North East England. Specifically centering around the famous accomplished writer Lewis Carroll, this sort of biographical novel, sort of review of decades of literature is an interesting mix of art and writing styles. It explores the various connecting factors between the writer, Lewis Carroll and the Sunderland area, with wider themes of history, myth and storytelling. The greatest bulk of the story is told from an elderly “rabbit” performer in a near empty theatre, save one loudmouth youngster, who starts off very detached and jaded from his work and focused more on something as “mundane as age.” This relatively relatable, realistic setting as our basis for the story only furthers the imaginative themes discussed in the novel, and makes for a nice reliable background to g
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