Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Lightening, Dean Koontz

This is a Dean Koontz novel. I started listening to it on Sunday 9/16. It really grabbed me. So--in order to keep listening I had to start sorting through my mom's boxes of photos to divide them up. (I've had these since she passed away 5 years ago). The main character in this book has a "guardian" who begins work the day she was born--preventing an inibreated doctor from delivering her. The story continue through her life in foster care and into adulthood. I don't want to spoil the book.

This genre is a realy popular one among adults as well as young adults. For years I avoided Koontz thinking it was another "Stephen King" kind of predictable horror. Koontz is much more sophisticated. I think the writing is of slightly better quality. He make the main characters interesting and probably more complex than most popular thrillers. I can see using this to let my 8-12 graders enjoy something with "mass popularity." It also reinforces the value of fiction in exploring the world and other people's lives.

Set in California it will also appeal to our "western" oriented students. For so many years it seemed as if writers only lived on the east coast (okay--big generalization--I know Steinbeck, Fisher, etc.).It makes me a little nervous saying I like this with as many English majors as we have in the class. Where do you all stand on Koontz?Finished. I give this a moderate review. Good for doing housework and gardening, but not something that I'm going to necessarily recommend.

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