“Your mouth says no,” she purred, but this says yes.”
“That thing is always saying something stupid,” I told her.
We’ve reached Week Two of our group read of Jim Butcher’s first Dresden Files book, Storm Front. I do hope those of you reading it for the first time, like I am, are enjoying it and I hope those of you who decided to re-read it are enjoying it as much or more than you did on your first outing.
We are nearly there.
I’ve been doing really well in the self-control department, spreading the reading out to more closely coincide with the schedule. I must say that at the end of each section it has been hard to put Harry down and wait, but I am enjoying savoring this experience. Especially given the fact that I get to discuss it with you good people.
I came up with this week’s questions, so blame me. 🙂
A reminder to Storm Front virgins, spoilers will arrive after the jump.
1. What are your thoughts on the pop culture references Butcher includes in his work, largely coming from Harry himself?
I have actually been enjoying them a great deal and it is one of many things that make Butcher’s series fun without crossing the line into camp or parody. I was surprised somewhat given the fact that this book was first published in 2000 that some of the pop culture references near the beginning of the book dated back to syndicated shows I saw as a kid 3+ decades ago. I was wondering if younger audiences would get the references. Then of course I remembered Nick at Nite and other stations that still play all these old syndicated shows, like Leave it to Beaver, etc., and it wouldn’t surprise me if younger people actually got these references because of this.
I like Harry being a nerd/geek when it comes to pop culture references. Helps me connect with him and gives him an interesting personality.
2. As I finished part two of Storm Front I realized that each section of the book thus far feels like a distinct act in a three act story arc. How do you compare the events in this second section of the book with what happened it part one? Is there a mood or theme or such that you feel is embodied by part two of Harry’s adventures?
The first act in the book is all about learning who Harry is by not only listening in on his self-narration but also by seeing him in action, seeing him tackle the early elements of the investigation with bravado and charm. This second section feels very much like the “let’s run Harry through the ringer” section. My oh my does Harry suffer some pain in this section. And a good dose of humiliation as well.
Harry is attacked, beat up more than once, loses some of the people he had made contact with on the case through their own murders, has been given his death sentence, is nearly killed by one ugly demon, and has a humiliating, but memorable, first date. What a mess!
And if you need anymore proof that this was a rough act for Harry, just look to his closing lines in Chapter 17 (our last chapter for this discussion):
“Let’s face it Harry,” I told myself. “You’re still screwed.”
3. One of many things Jim Butcher demonstrates in Storm Front is a healthy sense of humor. Share with us your thoughts on one (or more) of the humorous moments in the story thus far.
The whole exchange with Susan as the love potion takes hold and Dresden is trying to fight the frog demon while also trying to fight off her advances. All the while uncovered, except for his head which is covered in shampoo. Gotta love it. Some fun double entendres are there as well as just the comical image of Harry in this kind of intense danger with a beautiful woman passionately hanging onto him and making verbal and physical suggestions that any red-blooded male, wizard or no, would find almost too tempting. Good thing for the sobering influence of the frog demon! LOL
4. Our hero Harry had disastrous interactions with the women in his life in section two of the book (Four by my count). For first time readers, were you surprised by any of these and what are your thoughts? For those who’ve read the books before, had you forgotten about any of these? If so, or even if not, share your thoughts on Harry’s luck with women.
I figured that the Harry who was presented at the beginning was not going to be the next Don Juan, but boy did I not expect him to be so inexperienced and so hapless when it comes to women. Add to that his general bad luck that has been following him throughout the story and the man is doomed! I mean, some of the women in his life thus far have died, others have been threatened with death. He had a woman reveal her true hideous vampire self, a supposed friend begins to mistrust him, people he is trying to help are murdered! Harry personifies the statement, “If it weren’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all”.
I can’t help but feel for the guy. He needs to have a nice, uneventful (by comparison) date.
On the plus side Harry has some strong and interesting females in his life, including the reporter Susan (who I grew to respect more as a character after her Love Potion #9 incident) and Karrin Murphy. If either of him are still talking to him after all this is over he might just get lucky enough to have a couple of close allies.
5. A few other popular characters have been brought up in the first round of discussion about Storm Front. What books, films, tv shows, etc. does this story/these characters call to mind and why?
Storm Front has reminded me of a lot of things, in particular because it is a genre-blending book. That characteristic calls to mind Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse books, which feature a private gumshoe in a fantasy world, although this one is the sword and sorcery world like those created by Robert E. Howard. Harry and Eddie are kindred spirits.
Castle has been mentioned and I can certainly see that. I can especially see that Richard Castle and Harry Dresden share a nerdy love of pop culture and intelligent, witty banter.
The world itself and some of what Harry is experiencing in this first adventure remind me a lot of the Max Payne video games. There is a shared grittiness and some shared story elements between the two.
6. For new readers, what is your overall assessment of the story thus far? For re-readers, what have you picked up on this time that you either forgot about or don’t remember seeing from your first trip through the book?
I am one of the new readers, as I mentioned at the start, and I am really taken with the book thus far. It is fast-paced and just plain good fun. Harry has a rascally sense of humor and an inept charm that make him instantly likeable. Butcher provides and interesting mix of characters that keep you guessing as to who did what to whom. Unless Butcher just completely mauls the ending, I am pretty convinced that there will be more Harry Dresden adventures in my future.
Please be sure to leave a link to your Week Two posts below, and join us next Monday for the concluding thoughts to Storm Front. I’ll get final questions out to all of you around mid-week.
I don’t feel so bad at not having got the pop culture references, having read what you have to say – they are presumably to things that didn’t travel! Does it mean, though, that Harry was more able to watch television without breaking it when he was younger?
You bring up an interesting point, since I doubt Harry could watch much television. On the other hand it does speak to how pop culture references permeate our culture (in the US at least) because there are many shows I haven’t watched but still get pop culture references to them.
Harry’s crazy “date” with Susan is also what chose for a humorous moment in section three but I had forgotten about her drinking the love potion when I wrote my post. Instead I just wrote about Harry’s lack of clothes fighting the demon. Too funny. The whole shampoo in his eyes was driving me nuts, though, as irritated my eyes to read about it.
It is hard not to choose that part of the book, it was certainly memorable! And I understand exactly what you mean. I’ve had to get out of the shower before all soaped up and it feels so uncomfortable. I cannot imagine feeling that way while going through the events Harry went through in that part of the book.
I totally missed the pop references. I looked at that question and was like ‘huh?’ I will answer the questions tomorrow when I am not distracted by other things!
Most of them were in the first part of the book, and there are some in the third section.
Look forward to your post.
1. I most have missed the pop culture references. I can’t remember any of them. I guess I’ll have to look for them on a reread one day.
2. Running Harry through the ringer is an excellent description of section two. I loved the whole “date” section the best in part two. I’m very curious now to watch the tv adaptation of this book to see how they handled it. Harry sure can take a licking though and keep getting back up. I kept imagineing a Mignola designed demon as well that he was fighting .
3. Harry’s sense of humor is similar to my own which is another I think I like him so much. I have especially liked his interactions with Murphy and the humor they expressed with each other. I also liked the barkeep which I found humorous. He kinda reminded me of Morn from the bar at DS9.
4. Yes. Butcher has painted Harry as very unlucky in relationships period I would say. Not only with women but men as well. He doesn’t seem to have any real maale allies except for a 200 year old skull. I hope things get somewhat better for Harry in the ladies department. That’s one thing I like about Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse character is he does develop some healthly relationships with the fairer sex over his series.
5. Well I brought up Richard Castle and I still seem to hear his voice when I read Harry. I like the Eddie LaCrosse similarity as well. As for the setting I keep picturing a world like Buffy and Angel live in.
6. I’m a new reader as well and I just keep enjoying Harry more and more as I get deeper in the book. In fact I couldn’t restrain myself when finishing this section and I blazed right through to the end. I enjoyed it so much it was hard for me not to go right out and pick up the next book. I did however show some restraint though. I’m told I’m hard to shop for at Christmas time as there isn’t much I want so I added some Harry’s next books onto my amazon wishlist. I think it be nice to revisit Harry’s world this upcoming holiday season.
I think you must just be getting Old Timer’s! We talked a bit at the start of the read about the June Cleaver (I think that is who it was, I am getting OT too!) reference and I think a few others because I was saying I was surprised a book written in 2000 was using such dated references.
Yes, either Mignola or del Toro would be THE GUYS to go to for designing the frog demon.
Ah, Morn! That is perfect! I hadn’t thought of him but until the last section of the book his grunts are indeed pretty much Morn-ish.
Ah good, more Dresden books should be easy to track down for Christmas presents for your family and friends. Good thinking there!
I love Harry’s sense of humor too and find him an entertaining narrator. He doesn’t come off as too high on himself which makes him nice to spend time with. I see similar things in Castle, who is slightly smug but also humble enough to take his lumps and be a good sport about it.
I think Castle is a good comparison – he’s only smug because he’s successful, and maybe a bit because he’s goodlooking. I assume Harry is attractive because women do actually like him, they just don’t think he’s reliable. After I found the DVD cover (in this week’s post on my blog) I’m curious about how other people visualize him, because I think the picture there is much to clean cut and smiley looking. Fillion would be just too handsome. I prefer to think of him as a young Clint Eastwood, possibly rather influenced by the cover of the edition I have – and it’s just occurred to me that in a very few years’ time, Daniel Radcliffe might fit quite nicely. Could Harry Potter grow up to be Harry Dresden?
Great suggestion. I can see an older Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Dresden.
I still think Radcliffe looks a bit like the goofy kid all grown up. I’d need to see him age a bit more and see some time go by before I could see him as anything else but a bespectacled boy-wizard.
Fillion would be too handsome, probably. You would need someone scruffy looking like Robert Downey, Jr. only with the comedy edge of RDJ backed off a little bit.
Ah! but you have seen him act in the movies. You’ve only seen the face in the posters. I have watched him grown up through the movies on screen. He has the brooding down part by the last movie that Harry has. Plus he has the same luck with women that Harry does or should I say lack of luck. Ladies find him attractive and he doesn’t have a clue on how to develop relationships with them though himself. Any way I’m just disagreeing with you. 🙂
I agree though Fillion may be too attractive. RDjr is a good suggestion. I could also see Karl Urban and/or Clive Owen in the role.
Jeff’s right, Carl, I saw Radcliffe do a serious play, as Kipling’s son, who died in WWI – nothing goofy there, I can assure you (I haven’t seen the last two HP films yet, so I don’t know what he’s like in those, but I think he can do brooding). Robert Downey Jr’s an interesting suggestion – Clive Owen doesn’t quite work for me, though I think he was good in Children of Men, so maybe he’d be okay.
I read the reviews of his play and from everything I read it sounds like he is a fine actor, but lets be honest, the kid is way to scrawny still to be Harry. He needs a few more age lines and a bit of brawn before I could take him seriously. Elijah Wood is a helluva actor, but I couldn’t see him play Harry either. Body type just isn’t right.
I loved the part with Susan, Harry, and the demon! That was so funny. And he kept getting shampoo in his eye, which kept reminding me that he just got out of the shower. What a funny scene. I’m glad none of my first dates have been so eventful.
I’m so bummed I missed these discussions. But I will post a review of this book when I am back online. I loved the book and I realized when unpacking my books that I have a two more books from this series. One of my friends gave me a lot of books that she didn’t want. I hate seeing a homeless book.
That is a funny scene to visualize, and one that certainly wouldn’t paint Harry in the most romantic light. It was probably a good thing Susan took the potion or she might have found the remembrance of a soapy-haired Harry to not be the most visually appealing for a future date.
Homeless books are no good! I’m sorry you missed the discussions too, but am glad you are all settled. Hope you can join in this final week of Storm Front discussions starting on Monday.
I can see where people are coming from with the Radcliffe suggestion but for me I would just be thinking of HP all the time with him in the role – he wasn’t in my mind when I was reading the book – I was thinking more of Jim Caviezel – although maybe you’d want somebody a bit younger?? Josh Hartnett is very tall, but he doesn’t put me in mind of Harry, maybe a younger Daniel Day Lewis?
Lynn
Caviezel is a great suggestion. I’m not down with Radcliffe at all and I don’t like Josh Hartnett so I definitely would be turned off by him playing the role.