Reviewed in the Servante of Darkness Blog
William
Cook joins the Modernism School of Poetry. From Wiki: "For the
modernists, it was essential to move away from the merely personal
towards an intellectual statement that poetry could make about the
world." Thus William combines a writing style of prose and poetry to
weave an intellectual tapestry, slipping his words in and out of
subjective and objective observations, pulling and pushing the reader to
envision the completed tapestry while savoring the in's and out's of
the words themselves, much as we watch a movie without thinking about
the camera work or actor interpretations of the screenplay. As Peter
Gabriel points out in The Cinema Show regarding the use of cosmetics:
"Concealing to reveal."
Let's consider the "The edge of the
night" from MOMENT OF FREEDOM: Selected Poetry. First off, two notes:
the title Moment of Freedom is ironic in that the title indirectly
states, a lifetime of slavery to the "moment of freedom", much as the
term "a cloudless clim" from Lord Byron, must incorporate "cloud" to
denote an empty sky: an image to convey emptiness rather than simply
using the unpoetic "empty" to state such. Second, the poem's title
capitalizes the article but not the noun or prepositional phrase,
combining poetic license with standard grammatical rule (namely "The",
the first word in the line, must be capitalized). The intellectualizing
has begun; William flaunts the world's rules by obeying them as he
pleases, this, a moment of freedom.
To discuss William's
deliberate misuse of grammar would be folly as it is part of the pursuit
to reach the reader. Note also his use of metaphor and litotes. To say
simply: "a corpse" is not in his vocabulary; he metaphorically says
"dinner" and the diner, death ("the dead!"). Knowledge is life, and life
is accepting death: "The darkness comes from knowing nothing is ours,
except death...." The first slip into litotes comes from a shift into
prose from the metaphor: "...to wake with a sore splitting back from the
cold floor in borrowed clothes and eyes..." and with the
"borrowed...eyes" shifts back to poetry and metaphor. These are very
aesthetic acrobatics.
Furthermore, in the line "To wake up and
see the sun if not the glare from beyond" we see additional shifts with
the sun at once literal and figurative (as that solar body we find upon
waking and as a metaphor for the afterlife). William maintains the
balance between shifts throughout the work and ultimately "time" becomes
a "cannibal" eating us as we sleep and wake, with varying degrees of
metaphoric intents. Thus, the final line of Part II captures this
fatality of cannibalism of the self as William becomes the "I" of the
poem and states the thesis with the "if", bringing together the personal
and the intellectual in Part III: "The science of the mind corroded the
body, blinded every mile I ever burnt in this life and the next if
there ever were such a thing."
A work in three parts, "The edge
of the night" is representative of the poetry throughout MOMENT OF
FREEDOM. Think of the book as a complete poem with each individual poem
making up the whole. I do not recommend jumping around reading
individual works, but rather beginning to end, as one would read James
Joyce's Ulysses or William Burroughs' Naked Lunch. It is a work worthy
to be mentioned with these modernist authors."
An origin story drenched in blood, "Creep" is an excellent precursor
to an intriguing premise. By reading the title and the story synopsis,
readers will know what to expect from this tale, but Cook's method of
introducing his new brand of madness is where the intrigue lies.
Cassandra's
development is the result of the detailed writing that Cook uses to
capture the sensory deprivation and overload; emotions broil over in
stomach-churning revelation. The story is a moment of self-discovery for
Cassandra; with so many torture movies and stories on the market, the
audience is quite familiar with this scenario. However, this story is
the chrysalis; Cassandra's physical and emotional transformation is
revealed through the amount of detail Cook pours into the environment
around her. On the literal level, "Creep" offers visceral scares and
bestial symbolism to explain Cassandra's moment.
Read by itself
without any further context, "Creep" stands by itself well enough. It's a
quick read if you allow yourself a quiet, dark place to read with low
light. Cook continues to improve as a writer; there are still some
moments / actions that are characterized through "telling" rather than
showing, but this remains a personal preference of mine. Personally, I
don't think Cook necessarily has to include this origin story in the
upcoming novel; it can be referred to in scattered flashback moments,
because this is rather a complete episode in Cassandra's life.
Considering
what the story is designed to achieve/explain, Cook delivers upon his
promise: the terror is personal and life-changing for Cassandra, and he
explains why with well-crafted imagery and moments of revulsion.
Side
note: Cook included one of my favorite scenes from his highly
recommended novel, "Blood Related." There's enough entertainment value
in this package to turn lovers of serial killer horror into William Cook
fans."
I just finished reading this book and was not disappointed! I know it
is a young adult thriller, but it is a great read for anyone fond of
horror, the underdog finally getting his chance at retribution, and a
good ghost story. I read the whole thing in one sitting because it was
so good. It is not for younger readers, the youngest I would recommend
is probably 13 or 14, because it is quite graphic in places but the
theme of the story allows for that factor. Donny is a very tortured
young man and he does the best he can to cope with a cruel world not of
his making. This will grab you and keep you enthralled until the end."
