Scar Tissue

Drugs. What comes to mind when you read or hear the word "drugs"? Some of you may think of the slightly megalomaniacal med-student with the lazy eye that sits behind that big counter at your local Rite Aid. He fills your prescriptions and gives you the goods, but what is he really doing back there behind all those shelves and boxes (and what's in those boxes, asks Brad Pitt)? Or, some of you may think of what I'm actually referring to and that's illegal substances (unless you live in Colorado or Washington, I guess). These are the ones that are all hopped up on dopamine and serotonin in order to give you all those  good feels and that depressing and abysmal crash later. This, and a little bit of the making of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is what Scar Tissue is all about.

I'll be upfront and honest with you, I picked up Scar Tissue because I wanted to know how messed up Anthony Kiedis', the lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, life was. And boy was it incredible! We here at Whiskey Before Breakfast often talk about the mountaintops we've reached with the various virtues and vices that we've attempted. These are mostly metaphorical and we try to use some discrepancy when considering which one to conquer next. Kiedis, on the other hand, literally has made it to these mountaintops, saw that he wasn't quite high enough (pun intended) and then proceeded to construct a psychedelic stairway to Pluto, just to ask it how it feels about not being a planet anymore. Oh, and this stairway was made out of drugs. And sex.

I've read reviews on how this book describes the darker side of rock and roll and how rock and roll really does destroy a musician's moral spirit if they are not careful. To that I say: bull crap! Kiedis wasn't duped or swindled by a "bad side" of rock and roll, he was completely consumed by drugs and having a good time. The book is a really great read and takes you through the life of the RHCP's lead singer and how he formed friendships and bonds along the way.Obviously, it's a biography, but in the same way, it's much more than that. It's a story of a man who recognizes his own destructive ways, but is having too good of a time to stop until it's too late.

Never have I been one to really love the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I can honestly say that this book has helped me appreciate their music more. Kiedis reveals the stories and thought processes behind the writing of their songs as well as the struggles that the band faced throughout their existence. For the music lovers out there, you should pick this up just to see if any of your band members might be showing signs of drug addiction similar to that of Kiedis. For those who just want to be entertained, pick it up because your jaw will be bruised by the end of it for how many times it will hit the floor.

Some highlights of the book are as follows. None of these are really spoilers, but if you are one of those who likes to preserve the magic and integrity of a new read, then just skip ahead to the conclusion.

         -- Kiedis, at the age of 11, had sex for the very first time with his dad's "girlfriend". It was in his bedroom at his dad's house.

         -- At the ripe old age of 12, Kiedis smoked pot and dropped acid. He said that the acid trip was one of the best experiences he's ever had.

        -- In high school, Kiedis attempted to jump off a building into a swimming pool with his friend. He missed the pool and broke his back. Six weeks later, his friend busted him out of the hospital despite the doctor's best wishes.

        -- While spending time in Michigan with his mom, Kiedis got belligerently drunk one night after having a dry spell of coke. Attempting to get in his car and drive home, he smash into a tree just miles down the road and completely broke his face. He sang on tour a week later.

This man took Life by the gonads and told it to give him all its Skittles. I couldn't believe what I was reading at times, and what was more, I couldn't believe it was all true! Kiedis created his own mountaintop out of drugs and partying and yet was a complete success by all standards of the definition. Pick up Scar Tissue today and settle back with your acid strips and bongs for a great summer read!

-- Zach

The Summer Update (You'll Want to Read This)

Welcome back friends, lovers and everything in between! It's been a while. How are you? That's great to hear. Now that we've gotten the formalities out of the way I've decided to write a little something while Spence is out of the office getting us coffee and new candles (we haven't paid the bills in a while). We realize that while summer has graced us with beautiful weather and suspicious ice cream truck drivers with the word "HATER" tattooed on their necks, we here at Whiskey Before Breakfast have not been delivering reviews as consistently as we would like to. Don't get us wrong, we've been reading a lot of great stuff, we're just having trouble finding the time finishing that great stuff. This partially our fault and more partially not. We don't know what the "partially not" is, but we feel good about it so we'll go with it.

This post wasn't written to ask if we're doing our jobs or not. No, instead it was written to involve you, our beloved fans and fellow readers, in all the great things this blog allows us to do. Besides bringing you eye-melting, mind-incinerating, awesome reviews of the books we've been reading, we've also extended the invitation for you to converse with us in our comments section (which, as we see, you've all taken full advantage of *sarcasm*). That's all well and good, but I still feel like there's something lacking in this blog. It's that feeling you get while listening to a Ke$ha song or when talking about Lance Armstrong's biking career. Okay, maybe not that, but there's still something missing from this blog that we have only recently come to a conclusion on.

Starting this upcoming week (or roughly around that time...it's us after all) we are going start writing posts that include tips, books, videos, letters, speeches, telegrams, smoke signals and any other mediums of communication that have to do with anything literature related or writing related. In other words: NEW CONTENT!

 Now, you may think this all sounds pretty vague, and quite honestly, it probably is. But, isn't there a saying out there that says "vagueness breeds creativity"? Well, there should be. In order to bring a little more "BAM" to this blog like Emeril Lagasse's tater tots, we want to start providing resources and exciting content on how to both improve your literary awareness as well as your writing skills so you can finally finish that eulogy for your dead hamster. This, like what was stated above, can include books on writing or videos or even tips from the backwaters of our own sleep deprived and slightly insane minds. It also gives you a chance to apply some of our nonsense to your own repertoire and see what comes of it. We're not saying we're always right (we are), but maybe somewhere amidst the smoldering pile of ash that were once our ideas you may find something to dust off and take home to put on your shelf. The sky's the limit here.

Hopefully you're as excited about the new content as we are. There should be a new section link in the upcoming days that will be strictly devoted to the new content in order to make it easier to find. I hear Spence coming up the stairs now and he won't like it that I'm not wearing pants in his favorite chair. Until next time.

-- Zach

Where Things Come Back

Welcome back lovers and bloggers! I would love to take the time to update you on our lives here at Whiskey Before Breakfast, but I simply can't because I would like to dive right into the review of Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. The reason being is that I think this will mark the first time a negative book review will be done by our blog. So let's get started.

As you know from my previous post on Looking for Alaska I am a fan of young adult fiction novels. If you didn't know that then you should go back and read that review. So, in the spirit of the genre I decided to purchase a lesser known work by John Corey Whaley who fairly recently came out with his debut novel Where Things Come Back. My process for purchasing said work was solely based on the cover and a brief reading of the inside flap. There was something about it that had an inviting and benevolent feel to it. And although it had piles of interesting and page turning material to work with, it utterly failed.

It's the story of Cullen Witter who lives in the godforsaken town of Lily, Arkansas where there is nothing to do and is described as a place that you would move to a short time before you die. It's the archetypal dull town of the south that most young adult fiction novels take place (such as When Zachary Beaver Came to Town) and the kids are forced to cope with the drudgery of life. The thing is, there is a lot happening in Lily ever since a massive woodpecker, known as the Lazarus woodpecker, was reportedly sighted in the backwoods of the town and not to mention that Cullen's younger brother, Gabriel, has gone missing. With the combination of these two events the reader should be pumped to dive into the story, but what they soon find is that they are wading into an ankle high pool of terrible writing and underdeveloped plot lines. It was like buying Gushers only to find that all the goo on the inside had been sucked completely dry.
 
Whaley tells the story in an interesting way where the chapters alternate between the first-person point of view with Cullen and the third-person point of view of a parallel story line that starts with a missionary boy named Benton Sage. To be completely honest, I was more interesting in the third-person point of view story than I was with anything Cullen had to say. Cullen's story line was too flat and repetitive. He is a seventeen-year-old boy who somehow gets laid twice in the book, but he himself claims to be awkward and no ladies man. Also, Whaley decides to start about 90 percent of Cullen's paragraphs with the phrase "When one is..." in order to escape the limited first-person point of view. Look, if you're going to tell a story from a certain point of view, at least stay true to its nature and don't try and find cheap ways to get around it so you can fill your reader in on other characters' traits or behaviors that you forgot to mention earlier in the story.

The writing was horrifyingly awful during the parts that Cullen was telling the story. Actually, I found myself skipping some of Cullen's sections in order to read more of the parallel story that was going on, not because it was written any better, but because it was actually interesting. Here is how I can sum up Cullen's parts for you: "My name is Cullen, not to be mistaken for Edward Cullen, and I'm sad because I had a great relationship with my younger brother that actually wasn't developed much in the story and you should be sad with me. Also, I'm kind of a dick to my best friend who tries to help me through the loss of my brother, but I would rather just hook up with two random girls who play no significant part to the story." You can now skip those parts.

Okay, so I might be laying into Whaley's debut book a little too much and must give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he hasn't been in the game of authorship long enough to know the "do's" and "don'ts" of young adult fiction. Yet, Mark Twain once wrote, "Show, don't tell" and apparently Whaley skipped that eighth grade English class. He left nothing up to the imagination or for the reader to figure out because when he would mention or allude to something that could allow the reader to develop his own thoughts, he would immediately explain what he meant in the next sentence or paragraph. You're not stretched in this novel because the author won't allow you to think outside of the world of his story.

One final note on the work was that Whaley had a tendency to fail with description or just word choice in general. At many times when characters would be speaking, Whaley would revert to the "hyphen tactic" as I like to call it. Here's an example: "'What happened?' I asked in that I-hope-it's-okay-if-I-talk-right-now kind of way." Oh really? As opposed to what other kind of way when you ask a question? Were you speaking in the way where you hope you don't talk about the question you just asked? Another case is when Cullen's best friend Lucas is trying to get him to run a race and is being insistent on the subject. Cullen describes Lucas' look as that "waiting-for-me-to-give-in-to-his-odd-request-and-just-go-with-the-flow sort of look on his face." Thank you John, I wouldn't have been able to guess the look on an insistent person's face unless you would have hyphenated sixteen words together. Believe it or not, this is a common occurrence.

Overall, this novel just didn't have any gusto. The message was lost in the stagnant and flat writing of Whaley. It was sad when I finished the work, not because of the ending (which, actually was one of the strongest parts), but because there was so much material to work with, but never developed. I think Cullen actually summed up this novel perfectly when he said that "all I felt like doing was fading into the background." And the background is where this work shall fade.

-- Zach

Looking for Alaska

Welcome back lovers and faithful bloggers. I apologize for the extended reprieve we recently took, but with college coming to a close and job searching in full swing, it has been difficult to get online and tell you about all the wonderful things we have been reading here at Whiskey Before Breakfast. To save you from any further excuses or apologies we may have let's just dive in to the review you all have been on the edge of your seats for.

Teen fiction is a genre of books that I find myself enamored with more than any other genre. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a "guilty pleasure" of mine, but just a fascination. Yet, as I dig deeper and deeper into this genre, I'm beginning to discover there is more breadth than depth in both content and topics, more substance than sustenance. In an age where teen books seem to thrive on pathetically written series and one word titles such as "Desire", "Crossed", "Blamed", or "Twilight", it really is like finding a diamond in the rough when one actually captivates you. The diamond I recently discovered was John Green's Looking for Alaska.

Before giving you my review I want to briefly paint you a picture of Green and I's relationship. No, I've never met the man, but my first impressions of him formed from merely seeing his name in the Teen Fiction aisle of my local book store. Since I am one to hold The Perks of Being a Wallflower as one of the few groundbreaking, life-changing novels of this generation, I am always quick to dismiss anything or anyone that attempts to come close to it. When I saw that Green had four books already published and a couple of awards under his belt, my first thought was, "fraud". Of course, I had absolutely no evidence to support such a claim, but I thoroughly convinced myself in those four seconds that this man was not a writer, but merely taking advantage of the wave of teen fiction novels that seem to have flooded our shelves. I was also convinced that this man was probably friends with Stephenie Myers. Two months later, I purchased his work Looking for Alaska more out of the inclination to prove a point than to actually read something worthwhile. I was very wrong.

Looking for Alaska is a raw novel about a boy named Miles "Pudge" Halter who enrolls in the Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama after leaving his public school in Florida. He is a tall, lanky glass of water with an overwhelming fascination for famous last words. It is through this "hobby" that he stumbled upon Francois Rabelais's last words -- "I go to seek a Great Perhaps" -- and considers this transfer his time for seeking. At Culver, Pudge meets an estranged and cigarette addicted cast of characters who become his closest and best friends. More importantly, he meets Alaska Young. If there was one thing that I took away from Alaska, aside from her self-destructive ways and unpredictable mood swings, was this: curves. Green's understanding of language and craft pleasantly surprised me and I soon found myself captivated and enthralled by the story that unfolded. The work follows Pudge and his friends as they battle and prank both the Weekday Warriors (the rich students that leave on weekends to be with their rich families) as well as the Eagle (the Dean of Students). Through all of this, Pudge confronts something more than love or friendship or loyalty, but comes face to face with the question of: "What is the labyrinth?". It is a question that Alaska poses to Pudge when discussing their favorite books/last words and is a running theme throughout the work (and one all the kids struggle to answer). Three days after I had the book in my hands I finished it.

Some critics and reviews have mentioned this work in the spirit of Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye and I have to forcefully disagree. I saw no similarities between the two aside from some deviant behavior and a fair amount of swearing. Pudge is far more innocent and retrospective than Holden. In all honesty, he compares more to Charlie from Perks than Holden. But, I can agree on the fact that this book rivals that of most revered teen fiction novels this day an age and should be read if nothing more than to suck a little more marrow out of the bones of life. This novel doesn't surround itself with themes of forbidden love or werewolves or zombies, but begs the question of "what is the labyrinth" and asks the reader to do the same.

-- Zach

The Life of Pi

As school continues to slowly progress through its monotony like a river filled with molasses, I found time to ponder the human existence. It was an experience that started back in January (or was it December? I can't remember) and has led me on a fruitful journey up until this past week. Of course, such an experience could only come from a book, for I know of no other medium that could examine such an issue so in depthly and prolifically. That book is Yann Martel's, The Life of Pi.

First off, I know that Hollywood has stolen this great work and has attempted to string some lights and flashy special effects to it in hopes of making it more appealing. To that, my literary heart breaks because the novel itself is far more appealing and beautiful than anything Hollywood can shop together in their studios. This may just be the purest in me (actually, it is), but The Life of Pi is a stunning work that gently draws the reader into a young boy's life and then refuses to release its grasp until the very end.

At its essence, the story is about the life of Piscine Molitor Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry where his father owns a zoo. When his family decides to move to Canada, they set out on a voyage that ends in a horrific and unexplained sinking of the ship, leaving Pi stranded on a lifeboat with only one other companion: a full grown Bengal Tiger. From the opening pages of the novel, the reader gets a sense that Pi is a boy who's thoughts consume him more than anything else. He often makes deep spiritual connections with the zoo animals his father has and the world and ideologies around him. It must be stated now because it's practically unavoidable, but this novel will force you to think (and to think critically at that). At one of the more amusing parts of the novel, Pi becomes a Christian, Hindu, and Muslim all at the same time due to his curiosity of each religion. He doesn't understand the contradiction that these three pose to each other, but rather, views them as all parts of a unified God.

 If anything, this work is intending to explore the existence of God and the multifarious religions and worldviews that saturate this world. Pi attempts to synthesize these parts into something he can understand which is what makes the novel so fascinating. He isn't a boy searching for one Utopian religion or something to unify the world, but just trying to figure out his own life.

It's interesting that I chose two works to read that so closely compliment, yet contradict, each other. I'm of course referring to Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea, where the novella seems to be a very nihilistic and naturalistic look at life. The Old Man who plays the protagonist in Hemingway's work, views the events occurring around him as "just happening", because the universe is indifferent to man and on the whole, cares not for his existence. As for Pi and his boat, there is a reason and harmony to why he is in his situation. He looks for a God and tries to understand Him. It's a journey that reflects our own lives so clearly that the reader can't help but see a small part of him in Pi.

There is far more to the work than just spirituality if that's what the reader's tentative of. Though the philosophy is one that is filled with spiritual notions, there are plenty of other characters and moments that examine other outlooks on life. There is something in this novel for everyone from the apathetic Christian to the devout Atheist, and is still worth investing in.

-- Zach

The Yellow Wallpaper

Avid readers and faithful fans, I would like to welcome you all back to another episode of Whiskey Before Breakfast. I do apologize for the delay, but with the start of a new semester many events and outings have been brought to the table thus, sucking away any time to write for this blog. Luckily I am taking an American Literature class so if my laziness proves to be a hindrance on my outside reading, then at least this class will force me to have some content. I would like to thank you all again for being such great fans and lovers of books for without you, Spence and I are nothing more than semi-established authors.

Since I mentioned American Literature in the previous paragraph I find it somewhat fitting to review a story from that class. This short story is fresh in my mind and still haunts me in the late hours of the night. American author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman published The Yellow Wallpaper in 1892 and ever since, set the feminist discussion into motion. Now, before you disregard this work as propaganda for women's rights, let me say that this story is chilling. It revolves around a compilation of journal entries written by an unknown woman who is locked away in her bedroom due to a severe nervous depression or "hysteria". The woman's husband, along with her physician, believe that the lack of interactions with people and the absence of intellectual stimulation will eventually cure her. Of course, they are unaware of her journal writings. As the story progresses the reader begins to see the slow dip into insanity that this woman is taking as her entries become more fantastical and all the more horrifying.

If Poe had a female voice this would be it. If Stephen King was born at the turn of the century this would be his story. I say this because there are many elements of the psycho-deterioration of one's mind where Poe and King find the most horrific stories to thrive. I found myself remembering Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart  and kept expecting this woman to hear heart beats and begin tearing up floor boards. In fact, there are some instances of her insanity manifesting themselves in the room and around the house. Throughout the story the woman refers to the wallpaper around her room to be disgusting and oblique. This drives her up the wall (pun intended) to the point where she spends hours a day just staring at the paper, trying to understand its pattern. Again, as her sanity begins to fade, she starts to believe that a woman lives behind the wallpaper and at night she wanders around the room in the moonlight.

The ending to the story is as eerie as you would expect. Yet, at the same time, there is a fairly strong feminist message in all of this, as I mentioned earlier. At the time, physicians and experts hadn't fully understood postpartum depression so they believed that women who suffered from it shouldn't be allowed to stimulate their intellect or any part of their brain for that matter. That, of course, escalated the situation and Gilman attempts to expose that truth by alluding to her own struggles with depression in this story. By rebelling and writing in a journal, the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper is attempting to save the little sanity that she has left.

Reading classic American Literature will never hurt anyone and to be honest, it has far more substance that most of the trash that makes it to the shelves these days (I'm looking at you Hunger Games). Educate yourself and pick up The Yellow Wallpaper today.

-- Zach

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Hello friends and lovers,

It's 2013, and the world is still here.  I hope your New Year's resolutions include a great reading list.  As always, if you want to recommend books to us, or if you want recommendations for books from us, don't be shy.  After all, Whiskey Before Breakfast is dangerous by yourself, but it's a lot of fun with friends. 

Jonathan Safran Foer wrote Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in 2005.  You may have heard of this novel, or the film based on the novel, which was released in 2011.  I have not seen it, but I have watched the trailer on YouTube.  You should, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_quK9SEGYE.

Extremely Loud follows nine year-old Oskar Schell as he struggles to understand the world after his father dies in the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  Oskar feels a sense of personal responsibility for the death of his father.  He works through his feelings of guilt, anger, and sadness as he searches New York City to find the owner of a key that he discovers in his father's closet.  As he meets and interacts with various strangers, he learns more about his father, as well as himself. 

The narrative is primarily told through the young but brilliant Oskar, in his distinctive stream-of-consciousness style. His imaginative narration is woven together with several of his own notes and photographs, as well as a series of letters written by his grandparents.  They tell their own life stories, filled with sadness, pain and loss, as well as profound advice for living and loving. 

Side note: Oskar's grandparents write extensively about the World War II bombing of Dresden, Germany--an event which they both survived.  You may be familiar with the Dresden bombing, particularly if you have read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.  Foer draws a fascinating parallel between the senseless destruction of Dresden and the tragedy of September 11th.  Oskar's close relationship with his grandmother becomes more powerful and meaningful as you begin to understand their shared pain and similar circumstances.  End note. 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close may be the most emotional novel I've ever read.  There are long chapters of heart-wrenching despair and grief, yet the narrative is punctuated with stunningly beautiful moments of triumph and love.  Because Oskar is so young, his feelings have a certain undiluted potency; he describes everything as "extremely" this or "incredibly" that (hence the title).  Oskar is so fascinating because he speaks and thinks with a sense of clarity and rationality far beyond his years, but he feels emotion with the raw intensity of a child.  He's painfully real, too. 

The novel itself is fairly long (300+ pages) and somewhat daunting.  This book is not written in a clean, linear format.  It tends to be run-on, jumbled, and even chaotic.  But that's the beauty of it!  Emotions are messy!    The human experience is extremely cruel and incredibly painful.  Oskar desperately wants to rationalize the horrific tragedy that took his father's life, but he slowly learns the fundamental truth: we do not enjoy life because we understand it; we enjoy life precisely because we don't understand it.  Each moment is too precious to be spent in bitterness or selfishness.

As Achilles (Brad Pitt) famously said in Troy: "The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now.  We will never be here again."

You really should read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I hope I've convinced you, at least a little bit.  Oskar is one of the most emotionally honest protagonists I've ever encountered.  This novel will remind you of what it is to be a child, and that essentially each one of us is a child, looking for his or her reflection in a mud puddle. 

--Spence

P.S.  This novel has an extraordinarily well-developed sense of place.  A true New Yorker might appreciate this story a little more than the rest of us.  Oskar's sadness is compounded by the fact that his father died in the city he loved.