Anbody else read The Rag?
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:08 am
So, not too long ago I read "The Armageddon Rag" by GRRM. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, as this book seems to be his least popluar. I think it was pretty good, by no means his best, but not terrible either. For those that don't know, it's the story of the 1980s reunion of a fictional 60s hard rock band whose career ended in tragedy, with some occult overtones.
Some things I liked:
The Nazgul themselves. I think he did a fantastic job describing the music of a late 60's/ early 70's hard rock band. Everything from the description of the album covers to the musicians themsleves was great. And the concert scenes, both the ones when the music is rough, and those when it "flows" were perfect. I really felt as though I knew The Nazgul, and knew their music, even though not a note of it has ever been recorded for real.
I also really liked the "where are they now" type tour (or at least "where are they in the 80s") of the protaganist's college friends. I think GRRM did a great job of showing how different "stereotypical 60s types" would react to what they perceived as the death of their dream for the future. From the one who lives on a commune to the Vietnam protester who came from a military family, I thought this part was really well done.
What I thought was a little weak though, was the horror/occult portion of the book, and that kind of surprised me. Going in, I would have thought that this was the part that he would do best. And at the start, I wasn't disappointed. The beginning was tense, with little clues laid out along the way, that everything was not to be taken at face value. It seemed this aspect grew appropriately throughout the book, and about halfway through, I found myself thinking that this was a great read. But... somewhere near the back third of the book, probably around the concert at Red Rocks, the horror aspect started to take center stage, and for me, the book just started to loose steam.
I'm not sure exactly why. It may be that common element that I've noticed in other horror books: namely that your own imagination is the scariest, and when the author actually describes "the thing" or whatever, it's a bit of a let down. Stephen King mentioned something like this (I think in Danse Macabre) when talking about the difficulty of ending a horror novel. He essentially said (and I'm paraphrasing liberally) that at the end, when the monster is revealed to be a 10-foot cockroach, or whatever, no matter how terrible it is, there's always some part of the audience that is relieved, thinking "well, at least it wasn't a 15-foot cockroach" and that the difficulty comes in finding a way to live up to all the tension that the author created throughout the book.
So that may be why it sort of fell flat at the end for me. Maybe something else. But I do have to say that GRRM certainly did something right, becuase I read it 6 months ago, and am still thinking enough about it to bring it up now.
Just curious to see if anyone else read it, and if so, what did y'all think?
(Oh, and I glanced through the prior posts and did really see a topic on this elsewhere. If there is one, just direct me there and I'll happily shut up
)
Some things I liked:
The Nazgul themselves. I think he did a fantastic job describing the music of a late 60's/ early 70's hard rock band. Everything from the description of the album covers to the musicians themsleves was great. And the concert scenes, both the ones when the music is rough, and those when it "flows" were perfect. I really felt as though I knew The Nazgul, and knew their music, even though not a note of it has ever been recorded for real.
I also really liked the "where are they now" type tour (or at least "where are they in the 80s") of the protaganist's college friends. I think GRRM did a great job of showing how different "stereotypical 60s types" would react to what they perceived as the death of their dream for the future. From the one who lives on a commune to the Vietnam protester who came from a military family, I thought this part was really well done.
What I thought was a little weak though, was the horror/occult portion of the book, and that kind of surprised me. Going in, I would have thought that this was the part that he would do best. And at the start, I wasn't disappointed. The beginning was tense, with little clues laid out along the way, that everything was not to be taken at face value. It seemed this aspect grew appropriately throughout the book, and about halfway through, I found myself thinking that this was a great read. But... somewhere near the back third of the book, probably around the concert at Red Rocks, the horror aspect started to take center stage, and for me, the book just started to loose steam.
I'm not sure exactly why. It may be that common element that I've noticed in other horror books: namely that your own imagination is the scariest, and when the author actually describes "the thing" or whatever, it's a bit of a let down. Stephen King mentioned something like this (I think in Danse Macabre) when talking about the difficulty of ending a horror novel. He essentially said (and I'm paraphrasing liberally) that at the end, when the monster is revealed to be a 10-foot cockroach, or whatever, no matter how terrible it is, there's always some part of the audience that is relieved, thinking "well, at least it wasn't a 15-foot cockroach" and that the difficulty comes in finding a way to live up to all the tension that the author created throughout the book.
So that may be why it sort of fell flat at the end for me. Maybe something else. But I do have to say that GRRM certainly did something right, becuase I read it 6 months ago, and am still thinking enough about it to bring it up now.
Just curious to see if anyone else read it, and if so, what did y'all think?
(Oh, and I glanced through the prior posts and did really see a topic on this elsewhere. If there is one, just direct me there and I'll happily shut up
)