Why 100?

Last year I set out to read 100 books, but I ran out of time and only read 75. So this year, I will read one hundred books. And you're my witness :) The only thing stopping me this year is 9 seasons' worth of Seinfeld episodes- wish me luck!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

numero 23.... in a flash of violence

Split Second  by David Baldacci

Here is the summary on the back, because my own explanation of the plot would be incredibly long winded:
             The world can change forever in a single...
                                              SPLIT SECOND
Michelle Maxwell has just wrecked her promising career at the Secret Service.  Against her instincts, she let a presidential cnadidate out of her sight for the briefest moment, and the man whose safety was her responsibility vanished into thin air.  Sean King knows how the younger agent feels.  Eight years earlier, the hard-charging Secret Service agent allowed his attention to be diverted for a split second.  And the candidate he was protecting was gunned down before his eyes.  Now Michelle and Sean are about to see their destinies converge.
Drawn into a maze of lies, secrets, and deadly coincidences, the 2 discredited agents uncover a shocking truth: that the separate acts of violence that shattered their lives were really a long time in the making - and are a long way from over...

Okay, so their description was a little long-winded as well, but that about sums it up.  It was interesting to see why and by whom these crimes are done by.  It is also interesting (and a little disquieting) to see how many seemingly innocent people are slaughtered all in the name of these psycho-killers' causes.  Having recently watched the first half of Scarface, I realized that i am certainly not accustomed to these instances of violence.  I cannot watch or read about these things without taking them with me to bed, to the shower, to the grocery store.... the image of Tony Montana's friend being chain-sawed to death in a south beach hotel bath tub will not only stay with me everywhere, it will continue to horrify me and haunt my sweet dreams.  The same is true for these sorts of novels (although not so much with Split Second).  To bring back the doozy that is known as The Road, i will forever picture the naked, starving, rotting people in the basement, screaming for help from the man and the boy.  um, no thank you.  i donl't need to see this.  if it is somehting i can help with, or that i can learn from, for instance, Holocaust pieces, I will do what i need to do by reading/watching what i need to read/watch.  but these things are just unneccesary.  too much violence in our forms of escapism may lead to more violence or de-sensitization to horrible real violence all around us in the world that we actually live in.  so no more for me.  unless it is school sanctioned- then pile it on so i can vomit it back up for an essay (or now, a lesson plan!).  hooray!
i wish you reader, whoever you may be, a safe and happy day! 
just once pretend you are me or pretend you are with some impressionable young child and turn off the heinous crime.  just once today.

1 comment:

  1. The chainsaw tub scene from Scarface is the worst part of that movie for me too. And I try to avoid watching horror movies for the very reasons you describe. I don't enjoy them and I'm just exposed to unpleasent things which aren't necessary.

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