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Author Archives: Susan
Two Books in Brief
I recently finished these two slim novels that are pictured here, and though they were stories about different topics, they did share some similarities. Both are quite dark and are told by flawed narrators who are working their way psychologically through difficult circumstances (one after divorce, the other war). Both use landscape to lend to the plot’s mood (one in New Mexico, the other Iraq), and both forebodingly lead up to an event at the end of the book that makes a shattering impact.
“The Boy” by Lara Santoro, which came out last month, is about a 42-year-old woman (Anna), who’s a single mother trying to put her life back together after a bitter divorce. She crosses paths with a 20-year-old male neighbor, who seems to get under her skin and infatuate her. Though she tries to resist the temptation, she soon finds herself involved in a reckless relationship with the boy. His carefree nature seems to make her happy and she pursues her lust for him despite admonitions from his father and her daughter. Ultimately the consequences of their affair turn devastating for all in its wake.
I found the narrator Anna to be pretty harsh. She’s obviously a damaged soul (apparently from her divorce) who looks at the world in a dark or seemingly uncaring way. Her judgement about her sexual relationship with the boy is pretty screwed up and awful, and the one person she truly seems to love, her young daughter, she puts at risk.
It’s hard to find a lot redeemable about Anna, which marred some of my ability to like the novel. She loves her daughter, but can she really be trusted to raise her? That’s one thing the book puts forth to struggle with, along with the “ick factor” of Anna being sexually involved with a 20 year old. The author writes effectively in casting Anna as both flawed and not totally beyond redemption; her daughter still loves and wants to be with her. But after what happens, you’ll be struggling with Anna’s ability as a mother for long after the book’s climax crashes down.
I can’t say I thoroughly liked “The Boy” but it did raise some disturbing questions.
The same perhaps can be said of my feelings towards “The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2012.
This novel is about a 21-year-old boy, Private Bartle, who with a buddy he meets in basic training, 18-year-old Private Murphy, tries to stay alive while their platoon wages a bloody battle in Al Tafar, Iraq. Before leaving the States, Bartle promises Murphy’s mother that he’ll bring him back unharmed, but after a year or so into the war, Murphy begins to become unhinged. Yet Bartle still feels responsible for him. The actions that follow by both soldiers lead to devastating consequences at the end.
“The Yellow Birds” is told through Bartle’s narration, and alternates chapters of life during the war and then after the war when Bartle is back home in Virginia, trying to piece together his experience in Iraq.
The novel paints a bleak picture of what war is like: the constant stress of danger, the ambivalence toward dead bodies, the fatigue, the body counts, the psychological toll. The author effectively captures it all quite vividly with his descriptive images and account of life among the platoon. Undoubtedly, this is why the book was chosen as a finalist for the National Book Award.
But it’s not an easy read. At times, I grew impatient with Bartle and his malaise and damaged self. I wanted to relate and understand his take on war but found him and the tangents he goes on at times out of reach. My mind started to wander during some of the storytelling and I wanted Bartle to get to the point of what happened. It reads a bit like a gradual march, or a look back on something bad that’s happened but it takes till the end of the book to get there, dangling you along like a wet rag.
While I appreciated some of the writing and insight into war in “The Yellow Birds,” it’s sort of an agonizing place to remain too long, marching. Continue reading
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Rust and Bone
I was a bit worried about going to the French-Belgian film “Rust and Bone” because I read a comment that it’s a dark and depressing film. Hmm was I really up for something like that?
All I knew beforehand was that “Rust and Bone” is about a killer whale trainer (Stephanie) in France who befalls a tragic accident at work and subsequently gets into a relationship with a down-on-his-luck single father (Ali) that turns both their worlds around. The film was hailed by critics as being a very compelling love story between two pretty damaged souls, starring Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts. Hmm, I decided whatever darkness it was, I was game.
The pair in the film meets briefly while Ali’s a bouncer at a club in southern France, where’s he’s just moved with his young son to crash at his sister’s. Not long after, Stephanie suffers the accident at work that alters her life and leaves her despondent. Eventually she calls him and they begin to see each other at first as friends. He seems to see her for herself and not just as handicapped. Likewise, she comes to accept the street kickboxing matches he wants to pursue for extra wages. But despite their mutual love that develops, he’s still having sex with other women and doesn’t grasp his love for her until a set of events transpire that makes him leave town abruptly, where he’s eventually left to face an emergency that he can’t handle alone.
“Rust and Bone” drew me in like a siphon and didn’t let me go till the last scene. It’s quite an affecting little film; a gritty love story with strong performances (it could be Marion Cotillard’s best!). It reminded me slightly of “The Wrestler” with Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. And oddly enough, both films include a Springsteen song, which is awesome. But while this one includes some kickboxing in it, it’s not the main focus of the film, which is definitely the coming together of these two troubled people.
Surely “Rust and Bone” has been quite overlooked in this year’s Academy Awards nominations. It’s in French with English subtitles and should have been nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Actress in my humble opinion. (I think Marion Cotillard likely should have won too!) The film comes from a short-story collection of the same title by Canadian author Craig Davidson. I’d liked to go back and read what’s he’s written because from what I can tell from this, it must be pretty powerful. Continue reading
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February Preview
It’s February already and I’m checking over new releases I might be interested in. For new books (see list at right), I’m a bit curious to read David Shields’ book “How Literature Saved My Life.” I’m not sure I can resist a title like that and Shields is usually quite interesting. I read his novel “Dead Languages” years ago and really connected with it. There’s also quite a few short story collections coming out this month by notable authors, such as “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” by Karen Russell, “Middle Men” by Jim Gavin and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Ron Rash. So those might be something to dip into, as well as some of the debut novels listed at right. Of those, “Autobiography of Us” by Aria Beth Sloss perks my interest. It’s about two friends growing up in Pasadena California in the 1960s whose friendship is tested over the years.
As for films (see list at left) I’m a bit interested in seeing the documentary “The Gatekeepers” that sheds light on the story of the Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency. Many critics have hailed this film as one of the best of the year and it’s nominated for Best Documentary at the upcoming Academy Awards. A.O. Scott of the New York Times called it “essential, eye-opening viewing if you think you understand the Middle East.” (Which I don’t. )
I’m not usually a big documentary watcher but I do think good ones are really thought-provoking, so I hope to see this one.
As for new music this month (see list at bottom right), I’d have to pick “Old Yellow Moon” by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. They’re both talented veterans who’ve put out a lot of great songs over the years.
These are just some of my February picks. Which new releases are you looking most forward to? Continue reading
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The Impossible
I’m not sure my husband will let me pick movies to watch after I took him to see “The Impossible” this past week. I guess his idea of a good time doesn’t include watching people suffer for a couple hours after a catastrophic natural disaster hits such as the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami. It killed over 230,000 people in 14 different countries. I, too, sort of wondered what I was doing there watching wrenching physical pain on the big screen.
But “The Impossible” is a powerful reminder of what happened and perhaps a strong testament to the human spirit of pulling together in times of terrible disaster. The film is amazingly realistic looking. One minute this family is on a delightful vacation at a resort on the coast of Thailand, using the pool area, the next minute a terrible sound pervades the hotel guests’ world, followed by a horrific wall of water that obliterates most everything in its path.
I still don’t know how any of them survived. The film’s an amazing true life story of a married couple and their three young sons. They seemed so close to the beach at the time, where people were just swept away and many never found. The recovery efforts after are quite heroic by the local people in the film, especially considering the magnitude and remoteness of where it happened. The family is torn apart and is left to search for one another, even though they assume the others are likely dead.
It’s a humbling and daunting film, huge in scope, reminding us of our fleeting and at times vulnerable existence on Earth and in the face of natural disasters. I can’t say you’d enjoy “The Impossible” or that it’s easy to watch, but you’d likely take away something about the human spirit from it. To see a photo of the real Spanish family’s it’s about and to read their story click here. Continue reading
The Marriage Plot
I read “The Marriage Plot” for my book club this month, and I found it a great read. It’s the first book I’ve read by Jeffrey Eugenides and now I’m eager to go out and get his two other novels. I’m not sure why I never read his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Middlesex,” maybe I wasn’t sure of the subject matter, but I do want to get to it in the near future. Eugenides seems to really inhabit his characters, making you feel you know them, and “The Marriage Plot” was so easy sink into, so readable, the story and pages just flew by.
It’s about the lives of three senior college students at Brown University in the early 1980s. Madeleine is an English major who’s honors thesis is on the traditional “marriage plot” — the suitors, proposals, and misunderstandings in such novels as those by Jane Austen, George Eliot and Henry James. Leonard is a smart, biology student from Oregon who comes to suffer manic depression. And Mitchell is a religious studies major who like Eugenides is from Detroit.
The book is a take on a modern marriage plot with Leonard and Mitchell both vying for the affections of Madeleine, who soon enough falls hard for Leonard. After graduation, Madeleine goes to live with him while he’s working an internship at a genetics lab, but all is not well. Madeleine spends most of her time helping Leonard cope with his mental illness. Meanwhile Mitchell is traveling around Europe and India, becoming more interested in religion and volunteering with Mother Theresa’s organization in Calcutta, all the while still dreaming of marrying Madeleine.
Later, all three lives intersect again in New York, where events transpire that lead to more uncertainty of whom Madeleine will end up with. Will she stay with Leonard, the manic depressive, or Mitchell, who’s trying to find himself through religion? Or will either one be the one for Madeleine as she pursues her graduate studies in the Victorian novel?
It’s a love triangle that’s up in the air till the very end. I found the lives of these idealistic young graduates to be quite engaging as they pursued their studies, passions, hardships and loves. It’s a book that delves deep and comes out on top. Continue reading
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Zero Dark Thirty
I tried to prepare myself for scenes of torture before going to see “Zero Dark Thirty,” the film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, since that’s mostly what I heard about ever since it came out. Most of the controversy has been over the film’s insinuation that torture played a part in finding bin Laden’s location. Senators Feinstein, McCain and Levin sent a letter to Sony Pictures attacking the film for being “grossly inaccurate and misleading” over the torture. Jane Mayer, of the New Yorker, and others, also strongly took issue with the film. Interestingly, Mark Bowden of “Black Hawk Down” fame says the film isn’t far off the mark of what happened.
So I was forewarned before I saw it. The torture scenes come near the beginning of “Zero Dark Thirty” as CIA agents are trying to get information out of al Qaeda detainees after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Luckily the scenes aren’t as gruesome as I feared though they are disturbing and not easy to watch.
A lot of the film is based around Maya, the CIA agent played by Jessica Chastain, who gleans information from a couple of the detainee interrogations and begins to try and track a possible bin Laden courier. Along the way, there’s various setbacks and other terrorist bombings that preoccupy the CIA, though Maya sticks to her guns about the courier, which leads to disputes with her boss who believes she’s on the wrong track. But very slowly Maya begins to make inroads into finding the courier, eventually tracking him to a large compound in Islamabad. Whether that is where Osama bin Laden is no one then could say for certain. The film’s last forty minutes shows a gripping real-time depiction of the Navy Seal raid on the fortress, where we know now bin Laden had been living for quite some time.
Director Kathryn Bigelow’s film is definitely worth seeing and is in my top ten picks for 2012, somewhere behind “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi” and maybe “Argo.” It’s gritty and maybe a bit overly Maya-concentrated but a riveting puzzle of our times uncovered. Whether torture led to any tips in the hunt for Osama bin Laden remains in dispute, but what’s not in dispute is that harsh interrogations were pursued after Sept. 11, with a few detainees reportedly being waterboarded well over a hundred times. Yet still bin Laden wasn’t found for a decade. I don’t think the film glorifies or justifies torture or is in favor of it, but makes note that it was used in the early years. I agree with the gist of Kathryn Bigelow’s defense of the film, which she wrote about in the Los Angeles Times.
What did you think of the film? Or do you not want to see it? Continue reading
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On the Road
I started out my reading year in 2013 by rereading the old classic Jack Kerouac novel “On the Road.” I had first read it in my 20s but now in my 40s I was curious to read it again because the film of it just came out with Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart among others. I guess I’m still a bit curious to see the film although some reviewers say it is “oddly lifeless” compared to the energy and craziness of the book.
As for the novel, I think I liked it better when I first read it in my 20s. It’s not an easy book for sure. Published in 1957, “On the Road” details the cross-country road adventures of the narrator Sal Paradise and his friends, notably Dean Moriarty, who’s one energetic “mad” dude. The novel is largely autobiographical and is based on Jack Kerouac’s road trips with Neal Cassady and others from 1947 to 1950.
I guess the first time I read it I was caught up in the spontaneous, personal writing style of it, which breathes life into the adventures but also takes a while to get used to. Kerouac claims he wrote it, typing continuously on one long 120-foot roll of paper. Back in my 20s, I also liked the buddy road trip and counter-culture aspect of it: the drinking, drugs, sex, jazz bars and driving like mad for endless thousands of miles.
But this time I didn’t seem to have as much patience with “On the Road.” The partying and irresponsibility sort of grew old (back and forth across the country three or four times), and Dean and the rest weren’t as cool or magnetic as perhaps I once remembered. The women get pregnant and left for the most part. And some of the book reads a bit like gibberish.
Still I was interested to see how Kerouac perceived the wide-open country in 1947 to 1950 and the cities of Denver, San Fran and NYC, which he writes mostly about. What it was like then, what it felt like. Some of his sentences still hold the magic of the time and of a group of friends hell-bent on seeking the marrow out of life. That’s what kept me reading despite the relentless road, the colorful details and language, and what would become of Sal, a writer, who was enamored by Dean but grew apart from him as well. It’s a telling book about a friendship that peaks and ebbs at various times over the years. Sal appears ready to settle down by the end, but Dean is still seemingly in transit after an indelible time on the road.
Have you read this Beat classic and what did you think? Continue reading
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January Preview
This month sees a slew of strong novels coming out, seven of which are debut novels; see the list at the right. It’s a bit hard to choose which ones beckon me most.
I’ve heard good things about George Saunders’ new short-story collection “Tenth of December,” which I likely will pick up.
I’m also a bit drawn to Lara Santoro’s provocative new novel “The Boy,” which has gained high praise according to Amazon from authors such as Anne Lamott, Emma Donoghue and Alice Sebold.
I might also be in the mood for a story set in Africa, in that case “White Dog Fell From the Sky” by Eleanor Morse
could be the one, as I’ve heard good things about it.
In movies, I’m still hoping to see a couple of strong December releases that got by me, notably “The Impossible” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” So far my favorite films of 2012 have been “Lincoln” and “Life of Pi” but I’m still holding out that those two listed above could alter my best of list, but we shall see.
Also in January look for “Broken City,” which could be an enticing film about a political scandal that stars Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe.
As for new music, it’s sort of slim pickings in January (see list at bottom right), so instead I will spotlight the new episodes of “Downton Abbey” ( hooray Season 3 starts tonight!) as well as “The Good Wife,” which is my only other TV show, along with “The Walking Dead,” of course, which is on hiatus till February.
The British show’s latest season seems to hinge on what is going to happen at Downton after the estate goes bust, which should throw an interesting wrench into everything. I’m not exactly sure who my favorite character is on the show, but I sort of like Lady Mary because she is sly and crafty and usually gets the guy she wants. (And thankfully he is no longer impotent from his war injury.) Though my yellow Lab pup likes Isis, Lord Grantham’s dog, who she thinks looks just like her. Go figure.
These are just some of my picks. Which January releases are you most looking forward to? Continue reading
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The Darlings and Les Miz
I finished my year in reading with Cristina Alger’s financial thriller “The Darlings,” which is a quick, entertaining novel about the reverberations surrounding what turns out to be a Ponzi scheme at a large hedge fund in New York.
It begins as the manager of the fund has apparently jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge right as the SEC has started to close in on him, leaving his business associates reeling as the far-reaching sham is ultimately revealed. The fund’s founder, billionaire investor, Carter Darling pleads ignorance of the scheme and tries to keep his wife, two daughters and sons-in-law together in its wake. But chaos and questions abound, notably, will his son-in-law, Paul, the firm’s general counsel, stand by the family patriarch or cut a deal to save his own skin, and who in the end who will be left standing.
“The Darlings” is a story of a rich New York family’s undoing, where bonds and loyalties are put through the ringer. It definitely reminded me of the Bernie Madoff scandal and family, and vividly sets the scene of a New York in crisis, around the time of the financial crash in 2008 when Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns went kaput and thousands lost their jobs. The characters are all seemingly both good and bad and the lines get blurred between who’s guilty, responsible or a victim, which makes for a good thriller-type book. I found “The Darlings” slick and well-done but ultimately I was glad to leave behind the unsettling, Madoff-like moneyed atmosphere it conjures.
Meanwhile, I was able to see the musical film “Les Miserables” this week with eight of my relatives, which was a bit fun. Most of them had seen it before as the Broadway musical or as the 1998 film starring Liam Neeson, but this was my first time seeing it. While I liked some of the songs, music and performances in it, I found that as a musical it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea; I’m not a true fan or follower of musicals generally. Yet I appreciated “Les Miz’”: its history, the book, its period of revolutionary France and its story of redemption. It was epic in scale no doubt and I was curious to see it. But I didn’t feel it was exactly for me, and some parts seemed to drag, while others were more interesting. Perhaps I just need to dive into the soundtrack. What did you think of it? Continue reading
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Silver Linings Playbook
Just a short post today as Christmas is near and we are enjoying the holidays with my family in Southern California. It is so nice to be here! I plowed through my Christmas shopping all in one day yesterday, which must be some kind of record for me.
Although quite busy, I did manage to see “Silver Linings Playbook” this past week, which is about a guy named Pat (played by Bradley Cooper) who goes home to live with his parents after getting out of a mental institution as he attempts to get his life back together. He’s bipolar and coping with treatment but is driven to get his old teaching job back and reunite with his separated wife though both seem sort of far-gone and out of reach. Then he meets Tiffany (played by Jennifer Lawrence) who has mental issues of her own but seems to see through to Pat. They embark on a rocky friendship as they come to grips with their own difficulties and the road ahead.
Though there’s seemingly a lot of yelling in “Silver Linings Playbook,” it’s quite a feel-good movie by the end. Tiffany gets Pat to enter a dance competition, and the father, a bookmaker, has the whole family into the Philadelphia Eagles. So there’s football, dance, family and mental issues along the way.
I enjoyed the movie enough and think Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence did a good job in it. I guess I didn’t LOVE the movie, but thought it was worth seeing. It’s a bit over-the-top or unreal in places, like the football or dance competition etc. I guess it’s not exactly a harrowing view of the mental aspects or impoverished situations that many mentally ill people or their families face but it doesn’t totally duck the hardships or illness either. It seemed a bit careful in that regard. I liked “Silver Linings” but wasn’t overly caught up in it.
So for big end-of-year movies: I’ve now seen “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi,” “Argo” and “Silver Linings Playbook.” But yet there’s still “Les Miz,” “The Impossible,” “The Hobbit,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and perhaps “On the Road” to see. “Les Miz” has got to be the most talked about film of the year so I’m most curious to see that, as well as the gritty “Zero Dark Thirty.” I find it a bit hard to choose my favorite so far between “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi” and “Argo.” What is your favorite film so far this year?
Happy Holidays. Continue reading
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