Some Brief Reviews.


Grendel by John Gardner. This 1971 novel is sort-of a retelling of the epic poem Beowolf (well, sort of a pastiche), told in first-person from Grendel's perspective. Told in very modern English, it recounts how Grendel went from being simply a wild beast to a man-hating monster that ravaged the countryside, and the nihilism that grew in his heart.


Kung Fu High School by Ryan Gattis. I expected this novel to be more of a parody, but found it to be a rather violent account of life in a school completely overrun by gangs and drug-dealers. Actually, one of the most violent books I've read in a long time. At The Good Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King High School (more commonly known as Kung Fu High School), everybody ends up in one of a half-dozen gangs just to survive. Everybody gets beat up on their first day, and everybody learns some form of martial art in order to protect themselves, in addition to wearing pieces of make-shift homemade body armor under their clothes along with various bladed weapons. All is status quo until the kung fu champion Jimmy gets transferred there.


Firefly and Serenity by Josh Whedon. This short-lived tv series and its follow-up movie explore the concept of the Space Western. Created by the same guy that wrote Buffy the Vampire-Slayer and Alien Resurrection, the show centers around the cargo-ship Serenity and its small crew. On the losing side of an interplanetary civil war, former solier Malcolm Reynolds and his crew take whatever legal or slightly illegal job that they get in order to survive, and avoid Alliance trouble along the way. The show had several good things going for it: good actors, memorable characters, and very clever writing. Unfortunately, it was stuck on a tv network that hated it and made sure it was cancelled as soon as possible.


Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll. Mark Driscoll recounts his adventures in planting Mars Hill Church in Seattle back in the 90s, and all the mistakes he made and the heartaches they went through as it went from a church of a few dozen people to over 5,000. Both humble and sarcastic, it's sure to offend someone within all of the traditional, contemporary, and emerging camps. Very interesting is his account of how he discovered reformed theology, and had to distance himself from what has now become the Emergent movement, because of their drift from orthodox truths (when trying to explain the movement, many of the footnotes will say something like "for an example, see page X of Brian McLaren's book So-and-So. For a biblical perspective, see page X of John Piper's book So-and-So", haha.) Very funny is his self-aware lack of tact (which he admits is a problem) when trying to counsel people who wake up him at 3am - "You need to stop watching porno and crying like a baby afterward and grow up man. I don't have time to be your accountability partner, so you need to be a man and nut up and take care of this yourself. A naked lady is good to look at, so get a job, get a wife, ask her to get naked, and look at her instead. Alright?" (and apparently the guy did). Anyway, it's both a refreshing look at a humble man's heart for ministry, love for the truth of the Gospel, conviction to stand against heresy, and willingness to admit all the stupid mistakes he made, and a convicting book about what christians' roles in the local church should be.

Labels: film/tv/books/arts