The Dresser

The late director of The Dresser, it seems, has a great love of theater. He also appears to have an interest in Borderline Personalities. The movie has the amplified acting and general feel of a stage play and provides us with one of the most annoying characters in some time: the peculiarly named Sir, played by the great British performer Albert Finney.

   Sir is dramatic, narcissistic, and generally a pain in the whoseits whatits. "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do!" He bellows at a moment when he feels especially wronged. Appropriately, he's also an actor.

   Behind every jackass there's a victim of their jackasserie, and though Sir's antics cause much unrest, the main victim in question is Norman, played by Tom Courtenay, who works for him, cares for him, and may also be in love with him.

   As Sir's "dresser" and make-up artist, Norman puts up with Sir's Borderline schtick daily. (Norman's name puts me in mind of the classic Norman Bates. "A boy's best friend is his mother," I announced while watching, but my mom didn't get it.)

    Together, Sir and Norman are part of a theatrical group performing Shakespeare in war torn London, England during World War II. Sir has little or no sympathy for the victims of the war, preferring instead to dwell on his own ego and suffering.

   Sir's rants are irritating yet strangely amusing, while Norman is sympathetic, but slightly WEIRD at times. Norman, who is so effeminate he could have come out of Roger De Bries' crew in "The Producers" (not a criticism, just an observation) is not short on funny quips, and this and Sir's frenetic acting out give the film a kind of black comedy quality.

   It is, however, a serious film st heart, as Norman becomes increasingly lonely and put out at Sir's rambling,. The acting seems at times to be a little in your face, though ultimately one can't complain. Norman's homosexual interests are implied rather than shown, so fans of hot gay sex scenes can look elsewhere.

    Ultimately, the viewer feels for Norman, and if they are a better person than me, for Sir, who becomes convinced of his own impending demise. It is mostly well-acted, often funny, and intriguing for people interested in the historical aspects of homosexuality.

 

 

Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

Fifteen-year-old Colie Sparks's life has been defined, in many ways, by not fitting in. After years of moving from one place to another with her struggling single mom, she finally settles down, but she doesn't find peace. Middle school is torture. Fifty pounds overweight, she is ridiculed for being fat. After she loses the weight, she is branded as a "slut" and is relentlessly harassed by popular girls in her school. Vulnerable and uncomfortable in her own skin, she gets a dye job and a lip piercing that don't really suit her and tries to shield herself as best she can.

Colie's mom, once obese, now a born again health guru, is off to Europe to promote her exercise program. Colie is sent to stay with her eccentric aunt Mira on the North Carolina Coast. Overweight and oddly dressed, Mira is the butt of many jokes among the locals. Although Mira seems oblivious to this, Colie finds it excruciating.

Colie takes a job at the Last Chance Bar and Grill and befriends the waitresses, Isabel and Morgan, who have an edgy and volatile relationship but are devoted friends, and gentle, eccentric Norman, a short order cook and gifted artist. Gradually her new friends, along with Aunt Mira, help her gain confidence and self esteem.

This is a lighter novel than Someone Like You, but still rich with human experience. Sarah Dessen's knack for creating unique, quirky, down-to-earth characters really shines here. I saw shades of one my most beloved authors, Anne Tyler, in her odd, richly developed cast of characters. However, for some reason, I didn't find the characters in Keeping the Moon quite as compelling as those in Someone Like You, and I didn't find this novel as difficult to put down.

Nevertheless, I recommend it, and it is a book I would have dearly loved to have had on my shelf when I was a young teen. Colie is easy to relate to and quickly won my affection, and I readily connected to Aunt Mira. This is a story both teens and adults will enjoy.


Rating: 3

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Treacle Jr.

No one does slice-of-life drama and acerbic humor like the Brits, and the curiously named Treacle Jr. showcases this, as well as some damned good acting from the cast, particularly Aidan Gillen (Queer As Folk, Game Of Thrones) as Aidan. (It seems kind of cheap when the screenwriters can't come up with their own names; does anyone agree?)

    Treacle Jr., as it so happens, is a kitten, Aidan is a childlike man in an unhealthy relationship, and Tom (Tom Fisher) steps quite by accident into the situation, in the process of getting out of another. Unable to bear for another minute the responsibilities of parenthood and family life, Tom (Fisher) walks out on his wife and baby and, after running out of cash, seeks a new means of livelihood on the streets of London.

    Inexplicably, he is attacked and injured by a gang of thugs, and while at the police station, he meets Aidan, who is comparing the woman at the front desk's hair to an Irish Setter's in an attempt at flirtation.

    Aidan's the kind of guy most people stay away from. He's earnest, hyper, and completely free of any social graces. Aidan's naive and enthusiastic to a fault, but Tom soon discovers he has problems too, namely Linda (Riann Steele), his "girlfriend," a volatile bag of nuts who beats on Aidan, dubs him a "retard," and in one painful scene, tries to rape him.

   She's a barrel of laughs. People who find this situation unlikely need only think again. What does society think of men who hit women? If Aidan were to so much as take a swing at Linda in self-defense, she'd need only pull a pouty face to the police and Aidan would be sent up to the big house. Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's something to think about.

    The story chronicles the meeting and eventual friendship between the two men, despite Tom's initial urgent attempts to get away from Aidan, who has the boundless enthusiasm of a horny beagle. Now Aidan, he's an interesting character. Devoid of the marketability of endearing innocents like Forrest Gump, he is good-hearted but entirely oblivious to his effect on people. He was not written to be liked. I liked him.

   If this was to be remade in America, there would be some adjustments made. Linda's race would be changed, the gender roles would be switched, and the movie would become a feminist power flick. But it will not be remade because it was not highly successful, and it's a good thing, too. Treacle Jr. intrigues and challenges, doing what British films do best.

 

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks spent six years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. As she traveled around the region, she talked to Muslim women about their lives, their struggles, and their faith. From the first page, I found it fascinating.

Brooks spent a great deal of time in Iran, which has seen a resurgence of Fundamentalism since 1979, when supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah's oppressive, secular government and seized control of the country. She explored Palestinian culture. She went to Jordan, where she chronicled the life and achievements of Queen Noor. She delved into life in Egypt. She studied life in Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive and have no role in public life, and United Arab Emirates, where women serve in the military. She also touched on Lebanon, Iraq, and other places.
She studied the varied, complex roles of women throughout the Islamic Middle East. She discussed hijab (traditional Muslim dress), marriage, including child marriage and polygamy, "honor killings" of women suspected of being unchaste, the role of women in politics and in the workforce, and other topics.

She also studied the history of the Prophet Mohammad, including God's revelations to him, his teachings, and his relationships with his many wives. She analyzed the way his teachings are reflected in -- or have been distorted to justify -- treatment of women.

Brooks is Australian, raised Catholic and a convert to Judaism. Her values are thoroughly Western, and she was shocked by the widespread oppression of women she saw. Nevertheless, although I have little knowledge of Islamic culture to draw on, I found her discussion to be respectful and balanced, trying to understand the faith and lives of Muslim women within the context of their own cultures.
I certainly found her work to be more balanced and complex than other things I have read or heard.

For example, after the revolution in Iran, Fundamentalist Muslims came out of hiding, establishing single-sex schools and workplaces designed to adhere to strict Islamic principles. Women were losing freedom at an alarming rate, facing violence and repression from their new government. They were discouraged from leaving their homes, severely punished for small transgressions in the strict dress code, and forbidden to travel without the permission of a male relative. For more insight into this, I recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

Yet ironically, women were also gaining freedom. Fundamentalist families who had never let their daughters leave the house began allowing them to attend school, since single sex, religious education was available, and some women were afforded the opportunity to leave their homes for the first time. Now in spite of oppressive rules they face, Iranian women have a vital role in public life.

I gleaned a wealth of knowledge from this book, and I felt I gained some insight into religious freedom and Fundamentalist Islam -- from both angles. As frightening as a Fundamentalist Theocracy is, I was also saddened by the way Fundamentalist Muslims were repressed and kept in hiding under the Shah's regime. Restricting religious freedom is a double edged sword, and those who are oppressed are predisposed to become oppressors.

One thing Brooks didn't explore, perhaps because it was simply beyond the scope of her book, was the role the other major monotheistic religions -- Christianity and Judiasm -- play in the lives of women. Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism also places strict rules of females. Exploring this might put her study of women and Fundamentalist Islam in perspective.

Another drawback, though this isn't a criticism of the book, is that all the works I've read on Islam, including Nine Parts of Desire and A History of God by Karen Armstrong have been written by Westerners. Even Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I mentioned earlier, is written largely from a Western perspective. Although she is Iranian, Azar Nafisi was raised in a family that had been heavily influenced by Western thought and has lived in the United States for many years. It would be interesting to look at these issues through the eyes of faithful Muslim women, many of whom have embraced a strictly observant religious life by choice. Geraldine Brooks addressed this by talking to religious Muslim women, including some American converts, but it still left me with questions.

I believe this book is unique, and it combines the author's work as an experienced journalist with the gorgeous writing that shines in her novels, including March and Year of Wonders. Any reader interested in this subject will find it thought provoking and richly rewarding.

Read More Reviews:
Islam for Today
Jannah.org Islam Peace
Invitation to Truth: Islam Explained
Daniel Pipes
Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'?


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

The Young Poisoner's Handbook

Deny it all you want, but films about psychopaths and serial killers can be quite, well, interesting. Take Graham Young for example. Played by Hugh O'Conor as a downtrodden, spiteful nerd genius, Young was the product of a dysfunctional family and a chemistry whiz. If only, as my mother says, he had used his talents for good instead of evil.

     The Young Poisoner's Handbook, the 1995 debut full-length feature by British director Benjamin Ross, follows the "Teacup Killer" Young from the age of fourteen into his early adulthood. And what a fascinating character he is.

   All but incapable of identifying with the suffering of others, Young was both a racist and a psychopath. Later in his life, he laments that things turned out "all wrong" for him. As a boy, he poisons his none-too-bright schoolmate Mick (Jack Deam's) ham sandwich and makes him violently ill and takes over Mick's date.

   There are many good ironic and blackly comic moments in this otherwise dark and morbidly intriguing crime drama. The writer never tries too hard, which is the key. Hugh O'Conor was in a another, inferior film with dark comedy elements, Botched, which applied an over-the-top villain and manic pacing in order to achieve laughs.

     Take the date between Young and Sue (Samantha Edmonds), a girl who works in the London library, for instance. The scene where they pick up his fallen books is set up like a conventional romance, with them awkwardly meeting each other's eyes and Sue initiating a date.

    Then it knocks any "romantic" vibe on it's head, as Graham becomes increasingly inappropriate and morbid, soon bringing the date to an abrupt end. This isn't just teenage awkwardness. Something is just not going to the top floor.

   Hugh O'Conor is quite good, although he doesn't reach the brilliance as a sociopath of Noah Taylor in Simon Rumley's Red, White,& Blue. He is manipulative, wide-eyed, and sometimes strangely likable, and I can think of only one scene where his performance halted.

   I like the film's decision to meld disturbing and funny, like Tarantino, but without the constant f-bombs and gun play. Dated and oddly festive music is used, in order to provide irony and capture the flavor of 20th-century London. (The film starts out in the 1960's.) There are obvious picks about psychotics and anti-social behavior (The Silence of the Lambs, Taxi Driver, and The Shining to name a few.) And that's all well and good, but then there are movies like these, ripe for rediscovery. For the viewing of films isn't all about watching what your friends have watched, but rather, paving the way for new choices.

 

Black Angels by Linda Beatrice Brown

On a warm, moonlit North Carolina night, twelve-year-old Luke escapes from the Higsaw plantation, where he has been a slave all his life. It is September, 1864, near the end of the Civil War. The social fabric of the South is unraveling quickly, and although President Abraham Lincoln has emancipated the slaves, his decree is not being obeyed by the Confederacy.

Left behind by the group of adults with whom he planned to escape, Luke is forced to survive on his own. He heads North, hoping to join Union forces. He meets nine-year-old Daylily, another former slave, who has just witnessed the murder of her loved ones, and seven-year-old Caswell, son of a slave owner, whose home and family were destroyed by invading Yankee troops. Terrified and facing starvation, the three children cling together to survive. They learn to fish, hunt and care for each other, and when illness threatens Daylily's life, they meet a courageous Black Indian woman who saves their life. At myriad painful moments, they sustain each other with stories and games.

This novel is beautifully written, with a wealth of sensory details -- sights, sounds, smells, tastes and sensations -- that drew me deeply in each scene. The time and place seemed remarkably real, and I had a strong sense of each character's emotions and spirit.

Black Angels also offered a thoughtful look of some aspects of the end of the Civil War and the Reconstruction era, including the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. It stays above simplistic moral judgments. We get glimpses of both the courage and brutality of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. This story also touches on the stories and spiritual beliefs of several ethnic groups.

Parents should know that this novel touches on some brutally realistic aspects of slavery and war. This includes depictions of slaves being beaten or killed and female slaves being sexually exploited by their masters, who later sell the children who are the fruits of these unions. While these incidents are not portrayed graphically, they could still be quite disturbing for someone not thoroughly familiar with these aspects of history. There is also a fairly intense, bloody battle scene. I admire the author's courage in telling children the truth about slavery and war, and it certainly could have much more brutal than it was, considering the subject matter. But I suggest that parents and teachers consider a child's readiness for this material before steering them toward this book.

I strongly recommend this outstanding historical novel to adults as well as mature pre-teens and adolescents. Students and autodidacts will find a wealth of opportunities for discussing the Civil War, slavery, Reconstruction, and literature.  

Black Angels is beautiful, and at times brutally honest. Above all, it is a tribute to human courage, loyalty and love and the potential young people have to rise above their suffering and go on to make meaningful changes in the world. This story, and these characters, are richly developed, hopeful, honest and unforgettable.

Black Angels was released in September. Many thanks to editor Stacey Barney at Putnam for giving me the opportunity to review this galley. See the author's site for more information. Also see this interview with Linda Beatrice Brown at The Brown Bookshelf
Don't miss Susan's review at Bloggin' 'bout Books, which is exquisitely well-written, and thank you, Susan, for recommending me as a reviewer for this novel. :-)


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke

They're in the girls' room when they hear the first dot-dot-dot of semi-automatic gunfire. It sounds phony and far away, and they keep doing what they're doing -- brushing their hair, looking at their reflections in the mirror ...
Dot-dot-dot

Seventeen-year-old Diana and Maureen are best friends -- beautiful, radiant and full of life and good health. Maureen is devoutly religious. Diana is rebellious and sexually adventurous. They're both smart, funny and compassionate. As the story opens, they are sharing an ordinary moment in the school bathroom. Then a disturbed fellow student bursts in and points a gun at each of them in turn, asking "Which of you girls should I kill?"

Then we flash forward 23 years. Diana is 40 years old, still beautiful and married to a philosophy professor who wrestles with questions about good and evil and the nature of the human conscience. They have a lovely, healthy eight-year-old daughter, Emma, a house, and a garden. Yet even as Diana reflects on her perfect life, her world seems to become more and more fragile. The narrative fluidly slides back and forth between 40-year-old Diana's life and her life as a teenager.

In her adult life, it is springtime, and the season is described with breathtakingly beautiful imagery that illuminates both natural beauty, with the blooming of new life, and the scent of decay. This creates a mood that reflects many of the novel's themes: the urgency of life in the face of death, the contrast between good and evil, and the fragility of one's existence. There is also a sense of reality being partly created through one's perceptions. For example, the adult Diana suddenly realizes she can't remember how long it's been since she saw birds. When the thought occurs to her, birds suddenly return to the world, and she is surrounded by the sight and sound of them.

This is a gorgeous novel, both a story and a glimpse at Diana's dreamlike inner world. Laura Kasischke is a poet, and this shines through clearly in her elegant, imaginative prose. The book explores the metamorphosis from adolescence to midlife. It also asks some thought-provoking questions. For example, how much of our lives are made up of actual events and how much is woven from our thoughts and perceptions? How much of a person's identity is based on the person she will become? This intricate web of ideas is part of what makes this book, for me, unforgettable.

After I finished The Life Before Her Eyes, I had a burning need to talk to someone about it, but I didn't know anyone else who had actually read it. I don't want to say any more here, because I don't want to reveal spoilers. If anyone has read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts! If you include spoilers in your comment, please just include a spoiler warning at the beginning.

Thoughts on the Movie Adaptation:
This novel was spun, almost in a stream of consciousness style, from Diana's sometimes dreamlike experiences, thoughts, and memories, so it must have been difficult to adapt to the screen. Although inevitably it lacked much of the richness of the novel, I did get absorbed in this movie. I especially enjoyed the excellent performances by Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, and Eva Amurri.

The film's creators tried to capture some of the novel's imagery and symbolism through vibrant images, and the cinematography is gorgeous. For instance, we often see vivid pictures of birds on the screen, and birds are woven into the dialogue. For example, the adolescent Diana's science teacher mentions the Bernoulli Principle, explaining how birds achieve flight, and compares the rather troubled, rebellious Diana to a bird who has flown off course. The opening frames are filled with beautiful images of flowers blooming and decaying, and flowers appear throughout the movie, as they do in the book. These images, highlighting the tangled themes of life, death, and the fragility of our existence and our sense of reality, accurately reflect the novel.

I highly recommend this movie, though it is a bit confusing -- it's even more ambiguous than the book, which had me scratching my head more than once. This is an especially good pick if you enjoy extravagant cinematography and complex dramas.


Rating: 5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Deranged (1974)

   As the days pass, people begin to worry about Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom), who lives all alone in that big Wisconsin farmhouse. After his overbearing mother (Cosette Lee) dies, Ezra doesn't know quite what to do with himself, and a local family takes them under their wing.

    Deranged, a 1974 shocker starring character actor Roberts Blossom as the immeasurably crazy mama's boy Ezra Cobb, recreates the story of Ed Gein, the "Butcher of Plainfield." Norman Bates in Psycho was based on Gein, as was James "Buffalo Bill" in Thomas Harris's novel and Jonathan Demme's adaptation The Silence of the Lambs.

    As you may know, Ed Gein was a Wisconsiner whose mother was a a religious fanatic who provided him with an unstable living environment, to say the least. He had a preference for wearing human skin, and "unclean" women were the target of his rage. Between the years 1954 and 1957, he murdered two women, possibly his brother, and dug up various others from the local graveyard. Ezra Cobb does much more than this.

   First off, and I must say this right now, I HATED the guy who narrated the film, and would frequently appear on screen, fracturing Ezra's isolation, to keep us up to date in a flat, unconfiding voice. He had a parasitic effect on the film, and I hated him. Hated him.

    On the other hand, Roberts Blossom (yes, as in plural) is quite good, although I'm not at all sure what he was doing with the frequent jutting out of his lower lip, like a petulant child. He is campy (in a good way), scary, and completely maniacal as a Freudian madman.

   The film doesn't go overboard in guts and killings, and I like how the women Cobb kills are given distinct personalities and not just created for slaughter, like so many horror victims.

   And it's funny. I feel kind of sick for saying this, but the black comedy runs deep, and I found myself laughing frequently, as well as being caught up in the what-ifs. I was surprised several times, and although some of the effects seemed a little, well... fake, it was quite gruesome as well.

   If you have a pitch-black sense of humor and don't mind a little camp, this may be your third Gein-related pick (I bank on you having seen Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs already.) It's grisly, funny, and scary, and has a nice, subtle plot twist concerning the wrongdoings of "normal" people.

Wild Roses by Deb Caletti

Cassie Morgan, the smart, funny and edgy 17-year-old narrator of Wild Roses, is adapting to her parents' divorce. She's also coping with the fact that he father is still madly in love with her mother and is obsessed with digging up dirt on Mom's new husband. But that's not the worst of her problems. She also has to coexist with Dino, the self-centered, mean-spirited and emotionally unstable composer and violinist who is her stepfather.

My stepfather was both crazy and a genius ... Supposedly there's an actual, researched link between extreme creativity and mental illness, and I believe it because I've seen it with my own eyes. Sure, you have the artists and writers and musicians like my mom, say, who are talented and calm and get things done without much fuss ... But then there are the Van Goghs and Hemingways and Mozarts, those who feel a hunger so deep, so far down, that greatness lies there too, nestled somewhere within it. Those who get their inner voice and direction from the cool, mysterious insides of the moon, and not from the earth like the rest of us. In other words, brilliant nuts.

As Dino prepares for the concert that will mark his comeback to the music scene, an event eagerly awaited by his admirers, he turns a corner. He becomes more hostile and increasingly paranoid. Cassie learns that he was on psychiatric medication and stopped taking it while preparing for the concert because it dulled his ability to compose music. As Dino increasingly loses his grip on reality and slips out of control, Cassie and her mother struggle to keep a grip on the situation and hide the truth about him. This is the beginning of an erratic, terrifying journey, and as Cassie will soon learn, Dino is hiding secrets of his own.

In the midst of this maelstrom, Dino takes on a violin student, seventeen-year-old Ian Walters; he is gifted, handsome and gentle. From the moment he rides up on his bicycle, "his violin case sticking out from a compartment on the side, and his long black coat flying out behind him," Cassie feels a passionate attraction. But dating Dino's student provokes conflict with her stepfather, causing tension in both families. How could this possibly work?

From the first paragraph, I was pulled in by Deb Caletti's beautiful writing and by Cassie's voice, which was intelligent, hilariously funny and heartbreakingly honest. The author painted each scene so vividly that much of the novel felt wholly really. And the frightening story unfolding among Cassie, Ian, Dino, and Cassie's mom was quite compelling; I found it this novel difficult to put down.

I especially loved Cassie's character. I connected with her immediately, loving her brains, honesty and snarky wit. And as I sank deeper into the story, I also saw her compassionate side. It broke my heart when she decided not to move out of her mother's house, to protect herself from Dino, because she cared too much about Mom to let her think she'd failed her daughter. Cassie's fluctuating reactions, sometimes angry and edgy and sometimes open-hearted and wise beyond her years, made her a fully developed, believable character. And I saw her grow and mature during the story, which gave the novel depth and richness.

The weakest point, for me, was the development of secondary characters. There were many interesting characters in the mix, including Cassie's best friend Zebe, who is also edgy and funny, Siang Chibo, a budding musician and passionate admirer of Dino, who becomes Cassie's friend, and Cassie's father, who is unable to break his emotional bonds to her mother. I never felt I fully knew these characters, and I wanted to. At some points, this dulled the clarity of the story for me a bit. I was especially disappointed in Ian's brother Bunny and his friend Chuck. At first glance, they were unique, interesting and fun characters, but throughout the story, I found them one dimensional and predictable.

Overall, this is an outstanding Young Adults' Novel, passionate, funny, and unafraid to tell the truth about serious issues. It also gives readers a narrow glimpse of mental illness, one that is unsentimental but not without compassion. I admire this author's wit, honesty, and above all, her ability to create an unforgettable seventeen-year-old character. I look forward to reading more of her work.

Read More Reviews of This Book At:
Once Upon a Book Blog
Book Addiction
The Zen Leaf


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Hilary and Jackie

Emily Watson is tremendous. At the concluding half of Hilary and Jackie, in which she stars as the titular Jacqueline Du Pre alongside Rachel Griffiths, there's a shift between who she seems to be and who she may, in fact, be instead.

    While she initially appears spoiled, controlling and spiteful, you begin to see her social awkwardness and vulnerability. Who is the famous cellist Jacqueline Du Pre? Will we ever know?

    The memoir on which it was based was written by her sister Hilary De Pre and her brother Piers. But can they really sum up and explain an enigmatic character like Jackie?

 The film seems to be a meditation on lost things -- love, talent, and relationships past. Hilary and Jacqueline grow up close, their bonds seemingly irrevocable.

    Hilary, the eldest, is a talented flautist, and "Jacks," as she is called, plays the cello. Heckled by their mother at an early age to be "as good as each other," the two nevertheless share a bond, which to some extent even contains a twin-like bond in which each can tell what the other is thinking.

    But as time passes, Jacqueline begins to act rather odd. When Hilary hooks up with Kiffer (David Morrissey), Jacqueline laments that her sister is "leaving her" and quickly picks up a man of her own- Danny (James Frain), who is Jewish, much to the chagrin of Jacqueline's Anti-Semitic parents.

   At first Jacqueline's behavior is simply annoying and casually cruel, but soon she becomes increasingly strange and self-destructive. As she grows sicker and sicker, it becomes clear that their sisterly bonds will be tested harshly.

   Rachel Griffiths impresses as the more reasonable, less world-acclaimed sibling, but Emily Watson owns the role as her flighty, needy sister. She is one of the most underrated women in Hollywood. Watch her.

   The first time I watched this film, I felt the setback was the "curse of the mainstream drama," an at times overbearing musical score coupled with an overuse of flashbacks.

    Now I do a double-take on my allegation about the music. It is classical music, after all, and classical music tends to be a bit... rigorous. And if one insists on leaving classical out of a movie about classical music, one shouldn't bother.

   However, I stand by what I said initailly about the series of flashbacks, which are disruptive, overblown, and feel like paranoid hallucinations. I did, however, like the pseudo-religious add-on at the end. As much as I hate pseudo-religious add-ons, this one surprised me.

    As a whole, Hilary and Jackie is is quite extraordinary, like its protagonists -- it seems as though it might be boring, but it is not; it seems as though it might be one-sided, yet it is not, and it shows Emily Watson at the peak of her talents.

   With both the bittersweet ending of the film and the controversy surrounding it and its literary counterpart, we are forced to confront the question -- did anyone really know Jacqueline Du Pre? And similarly -- do we really know each other?

 

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

The thriving romance-with-the-undead genre is funny to me. The classic literary versions of the old vampire myths, like Dracula by Bram Stoker, definitely have a sensual component. But the sexuality is subliminal -- it seems that the Victorians found it easier to see a young virgin ravaged by a blood-sucker than to actually talk about people having, heaven forbid, sex. But it was that subliminal sexuality that gave vampires their charm and made the stories so compelling. In this enlightened age, on the other hand, we have no use for subliminal sex. We put it right out there. And vampire novels like Dead Until Dark are about, well, Doing It with a vampire, with a little blood-drinking thrown in to add sexual spice.

On that note, the thing I liked best about Dead Until Dark, the first novel in Charlaine Harris's popular Southern Vampire series, was the humor. I loved the premise. Vampires do exist, and they've come out of the closet. Now they're a recognized minority group, with the same rights and privileges as any other. And while there are occasional "unfortunate incidents," as the vampire community dubs the brutal killing of humans, the Japanese have invented synthetic blood which can be purchased in any bar, and this keeps most undead creatures on the straight and narrow.

Vampires have their own bars and even their own hotel in New Orleans, which is sort of a mecca for their kind (y'know, the whole Anne Rice thing). Curious tourists flock to these places. And some humans can't resist these creatures, even becoming sex-crazed groupies -- they're called "Fangbangers." Seriously, Fangbangers? Looking around at our contemporary culture, y'know -- I can kind of see it.

Our heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, is a cocktail waitress in a small town in Louisiana. While she's 25 and very pretty, her dating experience is almost nil. This is because of her "disability" -- she can read minds. The effort involved in shutting out the torrent of a person's thoughts makes relationships too difficult. When Bill the Vampire enters her bar, she finds, to her great relief, that she can't hear his thoughts. He's also extremely sexy and, having lived through the Civil War, has a wealth of experiences to share.

Sookie is hopelessly attracted to Bill, and she is definitely ready for romance. But when a string of killings, including several women known to be "Fangbangers," strikes the town, Bill appears to be a likely suspect.

Not as complex or as dark as Let the Right One In, this was a change of pace for me and a fun read. I didn't fall in love with the relationship between Sookie and Bill. While Bill the Vampire didn't annoy me as much as Edward (count me as a Twilight hater), that whole dark, twisted, bad-boy romance thing just doesn't do it for me.

It was a sexy book though, and a decent mystery, and Charlaine Harris drew me in with her vibrant writing and sense of humor. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.


Rating: 3

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Long Pigs

    Long Pigs is a film that shouldn't work. Shaky cam? Done? Serial killer thriller? Done? Faux snuff film? Done, done. Regardless, through its incisive writing and strong performance by Anthony Alviano, who plays the killer, it succeeds in being both consistently interesting and profoundly disturbing.

    Two low-life filmmakers, John (John Terranova) and Chris (co-director Chris Powers) come upon a deal of a lifetime -- they will make a documentary, using serial killer Anthony McAlister (Alviano), who likes to eat his victims, as a subject.

    Didn't your mother ever tell you to avoid scary people? Apparently not. Undeterred, the two accompany Anthony on a ride-along. His first victim is a prostitute named Lucy, who he makes into a stew. From step one, the fate of the filmmakers is as violent as it is inevitable.

    Anthony justifies his eating habits to the extreme. He doesn't seem to be as much emotionless in that Michael Myers way as utterly and completely shallow in his response to wrongdoing. Something, as they say, just doesn't go to the top floor.

    Long Pigs asks the question -- can people who carry out monstrous acts change? Should they forgive themselves when no one else can? Although not reaching the same heights playing a sociopath as Noah Taylor in Simon Rumley's Texas thriller Red, White & Blue, Anthony Alivano, who looks like a more rounded Jason Segel, is effective, dynamic, and chilling.

   Paul Fowles also stands out as the grieving father of Ashley, McAlister's only child victim. His deadened smile as he greets the filmmakers and eventual breakdown ring true. The film also incorporates interviews with a callous radio show host (Roger King), stressed cop (Shane Harbinson), and an uber-Liberal serial killer expert. Through discussions of Ed Gein, fictional killer Norman Bates, and different archetypes of serial murderers, she pleads sympathy and integration into society for their kind. Her words show mercy, but she hasn't seen the things the cop has.

    The documentary-style technique does not become strained or distracting. That's the thing. Sporting the odd and the unusual, this surprisingly good first feature throws common cinematic techniques out the window. In doing this, it gets away with murder.

 

 

Thura's Diary by Thura al-Windawi

This is the journal of a nineteen-year-old girl living in Baghdad. Before the arrival of U.S. troops in March, 2003, she is a pharmacy student at her local college. She and her family have lived with hardship due to UN-imposed economic sanctions. Thura's sister Aula, who is diabetic, has difficulty getting insulin. But for the most part they have lived an ordinary, comfortable middle-class life.

As this diary opens, the residents of Baghdad are watching the vise tighten. U.S. President George W. Bush has given Saddam Hussein and his sons 24 hours to resign and avert an invasion. Demonstrators on the streets chant "Stop the war!" and many people are scrambling to leave the city. The wealthiest people are able to get away from Baghdad, while the poor are left behind.

Soon Baghdad is being bombed day and night. The family leaves the windows open, despite the cold outside, to avoid shattered glass, and Thura and her sisters huddle under blankets, shivering with cold and fear. Hundreds of civilians are killed, either by American bombs or Iraqi anti-aircraft guns. People bury their loved ones in their yards, because they can't reach the graveyards in this war-torn city. The Iraqi government also burns enormous amounts of oil, hoping the smoke will make it more difficult for American bombers to hit their targets, and breathing is painfully difficult.

For a while, Thura and her family retreat to her grandmother's house in the country. It is a dramatic adjustment for Thura. She is used to city life, where women are relatively free and are encouraged to get an education. In the country, women are raised only to be wives and mothers, and they have to keep their heads down in public and cover themselves in the traditional Muslim manner.

Gradually, society unravels, Iraqis begin killing one other and looting each other's homes and even in Baghdad, women begin to lose the freedoms they've enjoyed.

Women who don't wear the headscarves are being kidnapped by men who think their behaviour is disrespectful to our religion. It's much safer to wear a headscarf; that way you don't draw any attention to yourself. People are having their cards stolen, and there are even children carrying weapons and fooling around with them, as if they were acting out an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jean-Claude van Damme film. There are ten and twelve-year-olds wandering about with machine guns, and the only thing that stops them is if an American comes along and takes their weapons away. (p. 97)

I found this book both fascinating and moving. Much of this war, for me, has been a series of superficial images. Here in the U.S., the men and women who serve in the military, along with their families, have borne the sacrifice for all of us. I have been troubled by our media's coverage of the war. We have seen neither the extremes of good or evil. We haven't been permitted to see our dead soldiers being carried away, presumably to avoid the "low morale" this caused during the Vietnam War. We've been kept at a distance from the suffering of the Iraqi people, as well as the suffering of our own soldiers. We haven't really seen our government's acts of violence, nor have we seen our soldiers' daily acts of courage and kindness.

Thura's Diary gave me a glimpse of all this, and let me see, hear, and feel her experiences. I saw the events that unfolded in 2003 from a different angle and experienced the humanity of both Iraqi civilians and American and British soldiers.

I highly recommend this book for middle grade readers and teens as well as adults. There is a wealth of opportunities for discussion here, about contemporary history, war, and human experiences.



Read another review of this book at Teen Book Review.


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Botched

...Mostly bloody. And when an armor-clad direct descendant of Ivan the Terrible shows up to hack and slash our beleaguered anti-heroes, borderline ridiculous.

   In this pseudo-horror, pseudo-comedy, the pseudo-plot follows a thief named Ritchie (Stephen Dorff) who, when a jewel heist goes badly awry, pays a visit to his crime boss Mr. Groznyi (Sean Pertwee) who forces him, under duress, to pull off another crime.

   Ritchie joins forces with sociopath Peter (Jamie Foreman) and his whimpering brother Yuri (Russell Smith) in a high-rise in Moscow, Russia. Their mission: to steal an expensive cross that once belonged to royalty.

    No one ever wanted to watch a movie about a safe and simple jewel heist, however, and things get complicated -- fast. Although he is a thief, Ritchie has a moral code.

    Peter, on the other hand, doesn't, and pretty soon a woman is dead and they have a cluster of hostages, among them shy pacifist Dmitry (Hugh O'Conor), attractive Anna (Jaime Murray), and a strange, religious group of women led by Sonya (Bronagh Gallagher).

  When one of these people pulls a gun and it is revealed the entire floor is booby-trapped and policed by a madman, things get bloody. Although it has some funny moments, Botched dishes out sequence after comic sequence that simply doesn't work, among them the stolen sandwich, the pissing rat, and the scene where Dmitry is slapped.

  On top of that Jaime Murray, as Anna, is mediocre at best and the idea that she would even consider hooking up with Ritchie is really pushing it. Stockholm Syndrome, anyone? The performance of Edward Baker-Duli as the mad slasher is exaggerated and uninteresting, like a role in a stage play -- a really bad stage play.

   Although I did like the Russian music and the hyper-kinetic cinematography, Botched was neither funny nor involving enough to hold my attention. On the back of the box, Slasherpool.com calls it a "brilliant horror-comedy" and compares it to Shaun of the Dead. Fat chance, skippy.

  

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Seventeen-year-old Pasha Shahed has had a comfortable middle-class childhood in Tehran. In the summer of 1973, as he struggles with the ups and downs of becoming a man, he spends his nights on the rooftop with his best friend, Ahmed. Pasha is serious and bookish, and Ahmed is rebellious and funny. They share a deep bond of loyalty. Pasha also nurses a guilty secret -- he has fallen in love with his beautiful neighbor, Zari, who is betrothed to his good friend "Doctor." He and Zari form a special friendship, and along with Ahmed and his beloved, Faheemeh, they share a wonderful summer.

Woven into this story are glimpses of Pasha, the following year, confined to a psychiatric hospital. He is confused, frightened, and trying to remember what happened. As readers follow the summer of 1973, watching Pasha savor his time with his friends and struggle with being in love for the first time, we are brought closer and closer to the devastating events that led to Pasha's hospitalization.

This is an engaging love story that flows smoothly, despite the shifts in time, with a well-developed cast of characters. Funny, brave, rebellious Ahmed is my favorite. On another level, this novel reflects the courage of people who worked against the last Shah, kept in power by the U.S., and the terror wrought by his CIA-trained secret service agency, SAVAK. At the same time, it offers a broad view of Iranian history and culture. It is also rich with literary allusions, including references to Emile Zola, Fydor Dostoyevsky, and some of the great Iranian poets.

At times sad, and at other times laugh-out-loud funny, this book held my interest from beginning to end, and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of its characters.

One thing that might have detracted from the story was the surprise ending. I normally dislike unexpected twists at the end of books -- but I liked this one. If others have read the book, I'm interested in hearing what you think.

I am looking forward to reading future books by this first-time novelist. I understand he has two books in the works, including a sequel to The Rooftops of Tehran.

I recommend this book to fiction lovers, especially those who enjoy getting glimpses of other places and cultures through fiction.

There is another review at Five Minutes for Books and one at Hey Lady Watcha Readin'?


Rating: 3.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

The stone walls of Loretto Academy are so thick I can sit curled up on a windowsill, arms around the knees tucked beneath my chin ... I have only to open a pair of shutters to take in my own private view of the Niagara. Beyond the hedge and gate marking the perimeter of the academy , and the steep descent leading to the wooded shore, I can see the upper river and the falls. Endless water plummets from a brink to the rocks below, like the careless who slip, like the stunters who fail, like the suicidal who leap. I nudge my attention downriver, to clouds of rising mist. In those clouds I have seen aberrations -- flecks of shimmering silver, orbs of color a shade more intense than their surroundings. I have seen them more than once, and I have decided they are prayers, mine and everyone else's, too. (pp. 5-6)

In 1915, seventeen-year-old Bess lives a comfortable life at boarding school, where the nuns nurture her love of books. However, her life drastically changes when her father loses his job. Then a horrifying tragedy shreds the religious faith which as always been an important part of her, and Bess begins a slippery journey on a new spiritual path.

As Bess copes with the disintegration of her life, as she knew it, the first world war has begun. Canada is swept up in pre-war fervor. Young men are being pressured to join the military, with no idea of the horrors they will face in European trenches.

In the midst of all this turmoil, Bess meets Tom Cole, a river man who makes his living by fishing and other less pleasant jobs, and there is an instant attraction. Tom has a special affinity for Niagara Falls, which he inherited from his grandfather, Fergus Cole. Fergus is loosely based on an actual historical figure, legendary Niagara river man William "Red" Hill. Tom can predict changes in the river and the falls, and he can sense when there is danger.

He also sees the flow of his beloved river and falls being leeched away by companies who are making their fortunes building electrical generators. While the growing availability of electric lighting and appliances makes life easier in many ways, these companies are assuring a future for themselves, during increasingly uncertain times, by creating a "need" for things that, until recently, people hadn't even known existed.

Tom connects with Bess. Her upper middle-class family opposes her relationship with Tom, especially when Bess has a proposal from a young man from an affluent family. Yet as Bess copes with an unspeakable loss, her relationship with Tom blossoms.

This book is, at its heart, a love story. It's a historical novel about World War I. It is also a study of the history of Niagara Falls, particularly on the Canadian side, strewn with actual bits of local color and history. All these layers are woven seamlessly together, and this author creates gorgeous prose. She also has a gift for storytelling. I found myself eager to pick up this novel every time I got the chance and reluctant to put it down.

Many thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for this ARC which I won on a random drawing at her site.

See more reviews:
Darlene at Peeking Between the Pages -- she also has the book trailer posted, along with links
Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea
Kailana at Historical Tapestry
Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit
Amy at The House of the Seven Tails
Ti at Book Chatter
The Tome Traveler's Weblog
Julie at Booking Mama

Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Wake Wood

  Wake Wood starts out with an unnerving premise and goes downhill as the film's tyke goes on a killing spree. Her name is Alice, and she has had a happy life. Why does she kill?

  Well maybe if you were resurrected during a Pagan ritual, you'd have problems too. After Alice (Ella Connelly) is killed in a dog attack, her parents Patrick and Louise (Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle) would do anything to have her back.

   They move to Wake Wood, the kind of community that exists primarily in horror movies, cloistered and isolated, with weird locals who come into the house uninvited.

    "How would you like to get you daughter back?" asks creepy villager Arthur, played by Timothy Spall (not a direct quote). "That's not funny," replies Patrick. a believable response. But conveniently, Louise caught a glimpse of a resurrection ritual. She believes him.

   The ritual can bring the deceased back for three days, so the bereaved can say their goodbyes. It requires that another person's body be used in the process of resurrecting the girl. Conveniently (or not so conveniently), an older man in the village was recently crushed to death by a cow.

   The ceremony is prepared, but the child's parents lied about one important detail -- Alice has been dead for more than a year, which creates a rift in the Pagan magic. Will Alice come back a normal little girl? Or the bad seed reborn?

    You should have been able to figure out the answer to this question without my little commentary in the first paragraph. And forgive me, but I don't buy that a seven-something year old girl, albeit an undead one, could rip a woman's heart out of her ribcage. Which also happens in the movie. Keep up with me, folks!

    Notice how I'm using the word "convenient" a lot? "Wake Wood" runs on unlikely occurrences, close calls, and horror cliches, like "car breaks down," "woman runs into *gasp* her husband," and the inevitable "child kills animal" archetypes. All this and a scene pulled straight from Carrie.

   Ella Connelly, as the girl, has all the cuteness and wide-eyed sincerity of a young Dakota Fanning, but Dakota Fanning she is not. Although she could act happy and sweet, she wasn't really convincing as an infernal child-gone-wrong.

    Which brings us to the ending. Eva Birthistle is the highlight of this film, portraying grief and distress naturally. Timothy Spall is a great actor in an underdeveloped, criminally underwritten role, therefore hindering his capacity for greatness.

    Aidan Gillen, who did a commendable job playing a mentally ill stutterer in the indie Buddy Boy some years back, practically sleepwalks through this role.

    His apparent mindset: play the part, jump the hoops, collect the paycheck. There's little passion or commitment to this role. Now that I think about it, his character in Buddy Boy was a bit stiff, a little under-reactionary.

   But it fit the character, and Aidan Gillen had some spark playing the nervous wreck. Gillen now plays Patrick as detached to the extreme, facing horrific and astonishing occurrences with mild anxiety. He plays a concerned husband, but that's about it. Despite it's initially chilling premise, Wake Wood fails to deliver. Although it has potential as a thriller, it ultimately fails as a movie.

Parallel Play: Growing Up With Undiagnosed Asperger's by Tim Page

In the years since the phrase became a cliche, I have received any number of compliments for my supposed ability to "think outside the box." Actually it has been a struggle for me to perceive just what these "boxes" were -- why they were there, why other people regarded them as important, where their borderlines might be, how to live safely within and without them. My efforts have only partly succeeded; at the age of fifty-three, I am left with the melancholy sensation that my life has been spent in a perpetual state of parallel play, alongside, but distinctly apart from, the rest of humanity. (p. 3)

Tim Page was a gifted child and, encouraged by his devoted mom and his quirky, intellectual dad, he explored his interests freely. His teachers were concerned about his abysmal performance in school, and he had to undergo all sorts of testing, both for his giftedness and his limitations. Yet he was an autodidact, passionate about music, writing, and old films. He explored all kinds of music, including classical, opera, and rock, created interesting stories, and wrote, directed and filmed his own movies.

In adolescence, an age in which people become acutely aware of their differences and their yearning to connect with others, he struggled with depression. This is a common experience, especially among those of us who are wired a little differently. However, he went on to pursue his dreams and became a music reviewer for the Washington Post; he won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in 1997. He is also the father of three sons.

In 2000, at the age of 45, he received an Asperger's diagnosis, a label that had not been officially on the books until 1994. He was surprised and also felt liberated -- he knew he was not alone. With his growing self insight, and his incredible gift with words, he penned this memoir. It was an opportunity to tell his story and to help readers grasp this much misunderstood condition.

We are informally referred to as "Aspies," and if were are not very, very good at something we tend to do it very poorly. Little comes naturally -- except for whatever random, inexplicable, and often uncontrollable gifts we may have -- and, even more than most children, we assemble our personalities unevenly, in bits and pieces, almost robotically, from the models we admire. (p. 6)

I won't beat around the bush; I loved this book. I read it in one sitting, mesmerized by Page's beautiful writing, his insights, and his edgy sense of humor. At moments I was deeply moved, and I was often laughing hysterically. His description of his childhood felt familiar to me on several levels. For example, he described eloquently how he came to really understand death at the tender age of four and already distrusted religious answers and comfortable platitudes. This reminded me intensely of one of my children, whose insight and understanding of these issues was beyond her years, unleashing emotions her preschooler's heart was not prepared to cope with. And some of his struggles in school, often driven by his inability to focus on what was "important," could have been lifted from my autobiography.

I also enjoyed the glimpses of his ambivalent feelings toward his younger siblings. These problems are certainly common, but they seemed to be intensified a bit by the anger stemming from Timmy's inability to fit in.

...I was especially jealous of Betsy, who had been born about twenty months after I was. Once, when I was about two, I was caught throwing handfuls of sand and dirt on her as she screamed in her baby carriage. I envied our pediatrician his privilege of sticking needles into he unwanted intruder and making her cry, something that I knew would have gotten me into serious trouble. "Timmy continually uses violent language" my mother noted in her diary. "This afternoon, he got very angry and came up with a real prize: "Betsy, I'm going to smash your little bones!" (pp. 21-22)

In addition to hearing Page's personal story, the reader gets a lighthearted tour through contemporary history, from the apocalyptic mindset of the Cold War, during the 50's and 60's, to the acid-laced culture of the 1970's. I loved the author's dry humor and his honesty in describing the awkwardness of his early sexual encounters and his disastrous experiences with recreational drugs. He also allowed intense affection and sadness to shine through, as when he described the death of adolescent friends in alcohol-related accidents.

I loved the way Page illuminated the way he sees the world, and much of it resonated with me. I wish he had delved more deeply into his relationships with peers. I got a clear sense of his emotions, his connections to other people, and his struggles to relate to others. And I got a peek at various friends from childhood and adolescence. Some of his escapades with friends were hilarious or heart-wrenching. However I would have loved to have gotten a better sense of how he formed friendships, given his difficulty at "reading" other people and having reciprocal conversations, and of the quality of these relationships. I am hopeful that, in time, he will write another book about himself, just as beautifully crafted, insightful, and funny, that will explore these questions further.

I highly recommend this book, especially to people who enjoy memoirs or are interested in Asperger's Syndrome.

Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

The Constant Gardener

When does someone's struggle to make a difference go too far? When that person ends up dead, apparently. That's what happens to Tessa (Rachel Wiesz) when she attempts to reveal a cover-up involving a pharmaceutical company being unfairly tested on African natives.

The protagonist of the film is Justin Quayle, played by the great Ralph Fiennes. He's an easy-going kind of guy, a British diplomat prone to puttering around in his garden. He meets Tessa, a humanitarian, while giving a speech on diplomacy to a bored audience. She stands up and argues her ideals to him, which he takes well. After a discussion, Tessa apologizes, and they go to her house and have a one-night stand. Justin might not think much of it. He may, considering his most intimate moments involve plants.

Whether he expects her to come back is not clear, but return she does, and with a surprising proposition. The proposition is a marriage of convenience, so that she can go to Africa with him. Time passes, and the marriage becomes strained. Justin suspects Tessa of having an affair and is disconcerted by how much time she spends with fellow philanthropist Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundé). Tessa is disheartened by Justin's consistent uninvolvement, and a sudden tragedy presses down on them. And then she's gone.

Reeling, Justin focuses on her final project, the unveiling of a conspiracy that she never got to complete. In doing so, he finds himself on dangerous ground but cannot bring himself to return to his plants.

I honestly cannot find much fault with this movie, a well-developed thriller with terrific acting. The cinematography, story, and character are all well-done. I liked the relationship between the two main characters and how it wasn't heavily romanticized or glib like a lot of romantic couples in movies. Unlike the overrated Academy Award Nominee Blue Valentine, the lead characters are likable and engaging. In this movie, Ralph Fiennes proves why he he one of the best of modern thespians. With each facial expression, he conveys a world of emotion. He never over-emotes or "stage-acts" and remains believable throughout the movie.

The only complaints I have are that some of the child actors are not up to par with the script, and the black characters (other than Arnold Bluhm) are not terribly well developed.

Lastly, I think that most people can relate to Justin's involvement with his own personal interests. I think there is more of the constant gardener in us then we would care to admit.

 

 

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

In a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, 12-year-old Oskar is cruelly bullied by some of his schoolmates. Lacking the strength to stand up to his tormenters, he fantasizes about murdering them. He even compiles a scrapbook of news clippings about homicides. As he gleefully collects these gruesome snippets, he keeps this hobby a secret from his affectionate but somewhat fragile single mom.

Are you creeped out yet? Well, it gets better. Oskar meets Eli, a mysterious girl who lives with her "father" in a neighboring apartment. They form an intense bond of friendship and affection, and Eli inspires Oskar to build up his physical strength and face the bullies. Eventually, he learns that Eli is a vampire, crystallized in a child's body since medieval times. Her "father,"Hakan," is a pedophile with whom she cohabitates. They have an eerie symbiotic relationship. In return for her chaste companionship, which he hopes will develop into something else, Hakan becomes a murderer to help Eli procure human blood.

Oskar and Eli are surrounded by a wide array of supporting characters. These include a small gang of adolescents -- disconnected from their families and community -- who hang out at their apartment building and a loose-knit group of alcoholics who meet at a local bar. This novel is as much social commentary as it is paranormal horror. It gives readers a glimpse of the anomie in a suburban community and of the alienation many people feel, even when surrounded by neighbors and companions.

If you like vampires in their raw form, not morally correct ones who avoid devouring human blood and not vampires who shimmer in the sunlight -- and if you have a strong stomach for violence and disturbing sexual content -- this novel might be for you.

Despite my own squeamishness, I enjoyed this book. The author has a knack for creating intriguing, three-dimensional characters who, while they may seem wholly unlikeable at first, end up drawing you in and inspiring interest, sympathy, admiration, or at least pity. And while the raw brutality might make you cringe, or even turn your stomach, you can't look away. This author also knows how to build tension and suspense. In these respects, he reminds me of Stephen King at his best.

This writer also has a gift for sensory detail. I could feel the bitter Swedish winter and the crunch of snow under my feet, and I could see the imagery, which was sometimes bloody and brutal. I could also feel what it was like to gradually become a vampire.

So while I didn't fall in love with this book, it did hold my attention, and the characters, events, and imagery will probably stick with me for a while. I recommend this for horror lovers who want a slightly different twist on vampire folklore.

Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

American History X

Can people change? The general consensus, if that person is Derek Vinyard, is no. Derek (Edward Norton) was a crazy-mean white supremacist who committed a brutal crime and wound up in prison.

   After a traumatic term, he comes out a changed man. This change is derived from his experiences in prison, including an eye-opening relationship between him and a black prisoner. He comes back to see that although his home has changed, his old gang remains very much the same.

    The middle-aged leader and writer of neo-nazi literature (about as artistic as Mein Kamf), Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) is still rounding up unhappy young men and refusing to do any of the dirty work himself. Derek's girlfriend Stacy (Fairuza Balk), who was there when the crime was committed, is still a shrill, screeching harpy.

But worst of all, Derek's younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) is getting into "the life," heavily influenced by Cameron and his goons. Unsure of the ideals he once held in high esteem, Derek attempts to divert Danny, only to rouse the attention of Cameron's gang. American History X, director Tony Kaye's first film, is violent and depressing, yet at times strangely optimistic in its message of progression and change.

     Derek behaves so brutally that his only hope for the future seems to be as a Nazi poster child. An interesting (if not original) method is used in that the past scenes are filmed in black and white. This eliminates the need for the overused "___ ago" technique. Edward Furlong (the guy from The Terminator 2- Judgement Day who isn't former governor of California) and Edward Norton (the guy from Fight Club who isn't Brad Pitt) give good performances. This is the movie that made me like Edward Norton (no thanks to The Incredible Hulk,) and further evidence he's willing to take on daring roles and not rom-com type blockbusters.

   One of the problems with the film is the overblown portions of the soundtrack, which leave no emotions to the imagination. On the up side, the characters have an interesting ambiguity and are pretty well-developed. Despite the fact the movie is about race, the black characters are not sentimentalized or made into "cute" objects of pity as a plea for tolerance (To Kill A Mockingbird, anyone?)

    American History X is an important movie. It is important as a morality tale about race for grown-ups, and as a showcase for superior acting. In a world full of nihilistic revenge movies and one-dimensional melodramas, there is a lot of strength in showing that people can change, even if it's hard to believe.