The Black Flower - A Novel of the Civil War **1/2

By Howard Bahr
1997 By Picador Books / Henry Holt & Company licensed by Pan Books Ltd.
pages 267

It's been a while since I've done any writing in the blog and several weeks since I finished reading thisbook. I won't go on for ever, simply because I forgot a lot of details, though usually I like to write a lot of details so as to get all my various ideas down.

Being a Civil War book, it's violent, which is the reason many people like to read war books. It's kind of like looking at a train wreck. It horrible and grotesque, but you can't stop looking/reading. In this sense the book does not fail.

But it also seems to have a spiritual aspect that is not seen in many war books. There's a lot of dreaming and people going in and out of conscience so as to make the reality of the book a little unclear. The injured soldiers are drugged and delusional with pain. There are ghosts in this book. One of the characters, when she goes back to visit the site, senses the souls and the personalities there buried in the bushes and the trees and the ground. It's quite poetic and beautifully done at times.

So basically, the story is based an event in the war that took place at the Tennessee/ Kentucky border. A large battle was to commence there, so the officers of the Confederate ask to use a large mansion in the vicinity as a hospital. The cousin of the mansion's family is one of the major characters as she helps to tend the wounded. Not surprisingly, it's a harrowing experience for her. One of the soldiers she takes interest in.

The other main character, a soldier, is wounded in the hand. He is looking for his friend, convinced he is still alive. So he spends his time wandering around the hospital looking for him until the two main characters meet. His wound is on the hand and seems relatively minor compared to the other wounded at the 'hospital'. The two characters seem to form a bond while helping each other with their various problems.

Suprisingly enough, the battle is a very short part of the battle. All the gory stuff happens in the hospital/mansion.

Let Me In ***

by John Ajvide Lindquist
2004 by John Lindquist, 2007 Translation by Ebba Segerberg
Published in Sweden by Ordfront, Published by Thomas Dunne Books
472 pages

A Window Across the River ***1/2

by Brian Morton
published by Harcourt Books
2003
289 pages

The river of which the title speaks of is the Hudson, so that would make this story set in New York City. All of this authors books (at least the ones that I have read) have been based in NYC, so anyone who is a New Yorkaphile would enjoy this book. I really enjoyed the last book written by this author was Starting Out in the Evening which the wonderful film by the same name is based on.

The story started out decently enough, but it looked to be nothing special. Two ex-lovers attempt to hook up again. Nora was a short story writer who felt she was in a professional rut. Her problem was that she can only write quality pieces when she uses people she knows and loves in her books. The problem is that she tends to dissect their personalities and hurt them when they find out. She ends up destroying her relationships. She is torn between writing and hurting her friends and family or not writing and taking care of people.

So she calls her ex, Isaac, a photographer to help her figure her way out of her situation. Nora looks to Isaac because she feels that he is a pure artist and can advise her, plus she's interested in reviving their relationship - perhaps.

Isaac on the other hand has a 9-5 job and is comfortable, but feels as if he has lost that vision and vitality. He feels embarrassed by Nora's admiration since he is not what he once was. He tries to get back on track to doing real art/photography.

Isaac has a couple of protege's. When they become successful, he is basically jealous of their youth, vitality and the fact that their future lies before them. He wants to be happy for them but he seethes in the light of his latest disappointments.

There are lot of themes that are interesting to me . Perhaps the most interesting is the youth vs aging theme. Youth will always pass up their elders, and that's difficult fort them. Aging myself, I can certainly relate. But there's also discussions about writing and art and those worlds and what it takes to make it in those worlds. And like the characters, I once had some half-assed pipe dreams of living that sort of exciting, Bohemian, intellectual life. But then one grows up, doesn't one.

Morton's strengths seem to be character development and the use of setting in his stories. His dialogue is direct and engaging. His books are a quick and enjoyable read, yet still give plenty of food for thought.

Origin **1/2

by Diana Abu-Jaber
First Edition 2007
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
pages 364

This is a story about a forensic scientist who solves a mystery. And that's about it. OK ,there's more. She believes that she was raised by apes until she was "rescued" and brought to her foster parents. And her memories are fond memories of matted fur and loving long arms. She daydreams of birds and foliage constantly. This "questionable" origin is closely tied to the case she is trying to solve.

She seems to be a tightly wound woman, and she blames her past partly for that. This neurosis affects her relationships with men and she blames on her "past".

The story takes place in Syracuse New York, where it seems to constantly snow. She, Lena, is so out of it that she tends to wander in the snow and several traumatic events happen in the snow.

As mysteries go, it wasn't that hard to figure out. I figured it out about midway through the book, once it became clear exactly what was happening. All that was left was to find the culprit. Sure there were a couple of Red Herrings thrown my way, but not enough to stop me from figuring it out. perhaps more mysterious was the question of her origin.

And the story of her origin was probably the better story in the book. It was interesting the affect it had on her when she learned who she was and who she wasn't. I like the pshyodrama aspect of the book. The pain and confusion that she suffered through.

Lena became tiresome to me. If she was functioning in a forensic science lab, why did she have so much trouble functioning elsewhere? I suppose there are instances when people feel best when they are working and feel at a loss when left on their own. I just didn't buy it here completely.

Overall, this was an interesting, fun read with some interesting things to say about identity and sanity, but not enough meat to really go deep into the book.

Goodbye Solo ***

Directed and written by Ramin Bahrani,

with Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Carmen Leyva

2008

A story about a charming Sengalese immigrant who befriends an old man who seemingly has suicide on his mind. He knows this because he is the cab driver who is hired to take him to his rendezvous with fate on the planned day. The cab driver worries and tries to make him part of his own family, though his family life is not picture perfect either. But family is important to our cab driver (Solo) and he states that early in the film. For the rest of the film he practices what he preaches. For the most part. the old man seems to be weakening from his his hard position. But the drop off for that fateful day is still planned and needs to be carried through.

The photography is beautiful. There are many portraits of characters' faces. Silhouettes and closeups of some faces with a lot of charcter. Also some beautiful shots of the Appalachians in North Carolina.

And the character Solo is very charming. Sometimes it was hard to understand how someone could be so upbeat. But he kept fighting, even when things were not going his way. Quite admirable. His litle stepdaughter is quite adorable. She's the one that the old man seems to be attached to. This give hope to Solo seeing that the old man's attachment might forstall his suicide.

Hellboy - Seed of Destruction *1/2

by Mike Mignola
Script by John Byrne
Published by Dark Horse Comics
1st Edition 1994
2nd Edition 1997
3rd Edition 2003
pages 80?

I was interested in this because the Hellboy movies got real good reviews, especially the latter one because of the director who also did Pan's Labyrinth.

Hellboy is a kind of super hero. He's a paranormal detective, which he is perfectly suited to since he comes from the bowels of hell. This story includes his origin which runs into and is related to the second story. An evil wizard conjures Hellboy to aid the Nazi's in their quest to spread evil throughout the world. Of course he has his own reasons to work with them since he's much more powerful that any petty dictator. Hence Hellboy is born, but he's a good guy. He even poses with the American soldiers for a snap shot. So then there's this stroy about monster frogs. The upshot is that there is some kind of sprit in the northpole and the wizard is back changing people into monster frogs so that he can take over the world.

It all seems hair schemed and none of it really makes sense. During the fighting, the preacher is incanting some mumbo jumbo. So what is the basic story here? Evil guy wants to take over the world. A very unimaginative plot in my mind. But its so convoluted that its hard to figure out the plot.

This is typical of what happens to my students when they try to summarize the fantasy books for me that they read. Usually they are too detailed and I cant understand their summaries. When I ask probing questions, "Why did so and so do that?" for example, the upshot is that they are usually evil. No reason that they are evil, they are just evil. I'll try to get some back ground info, "why does the guy do bad things? Did something happen in the past that turned him into a bad guy?" No overbearing mother, no humiliating defeat at the wizardry school. Nope, he's just evil.

So there is no character development and that makes, in my opinion, for a lousy story. A sin that much of the fantasy genre is guilty of. There are some exceptions, so one must not give up on the genre entirely, but this book is no exception to that rule. I did not like the story, though Hellboy himself was an interesting character. I still intend to see the movie. One thing that film provides is someon's imagaination on how other worlds might appear.

And here's what the film looks like.

The Gathering **1/2

By Anne Enright
Random House UK 2007
paperback Black Cat U.SWinner of 2007 Booker Award
260 pages

This is a story of an large Irish family who are "gathered" after the death of of one of the brothers. The gathering could also refer to the gathering of the body, which the main character is charged with doing.

The family is a dysfunctional one, for reasons which may or may not be traceable to the marriage of their grandmother. This is also a book about memory, because the narrator often tells stories about her family's past, and then the narrator isn't sure if that story actually happened. Which make for some pretty ambiguous reading. Why would the author tell us a detail and then claim, through the narrator, that is might not be the case and is ill remembered? It might have something to do with where the blame lies. The blame for the dysfunction in the family and the blame for the death of her favorite brother. The narrator tries to lay the blame at the feet of the other suitor of her grandmother. He wanted her, but she chose the other man who is the narrator's grandfather. This other suitor had some power over the family as he was the grandmother's and grandfather's landlord. He was also in love with the grandmother. The narrator as a child, had witness this man, Nugent, molest her brother and this is what she claims is the reason for her brother's suicide. And consequently for the problems of the whole clan.

And the problems of the family are not clear and cut problems. The brother, Liam, of course, was an alcoholic and was sexually loose sleeping with probably both men and women. The narrator of the story is unhappy in her marriage, but it is unclear why. The mother of the story almost seems vegetable like, but it is never explained. And the uncle is in an asylum.

The book presents the reader with two conflicting ideas at once. The fault of all the family's problems stem from the Nugent character, long ago, (though even before him, grandma was an orphan and probably a prostitute.) On the other hand, the ambiguity of all these details and the faulty remembrance of them make blaming of Nugent debatable. Could he really be responsible for all this?

This is an very introspective book. A psychological drama. I enjoyed it very much, but it took a while to get going. It's not a linear narrative, and jumps around a lot. It's also very slow to reveal key elements of the plot. Add that to the intentional muddying of the details though the narrator's faulty memory and this is one difficult read. If the book would have been just a little less opaque, I probably would have given it three stars. It's really a dark and sad book, which I like of course.

American Born Chinese ***

by Gene Luen Yang
Color by Lark Pien
Publishes by First Second 2006
234 pages

A clever little book with lots of charm. It interweaves three seemingly unrelated stories until they all combine at the end to tie everything up. The tie-in I thought was a little weak and felt forced, but the individual stories are very charming and poignant.

The first story is a folktale about a monkey king who is denied into a party where all the cool deities are because he is a monkey and doesn't wear shoes, even though he has trained to be immortal and god-like. He doesn't like this and vows to become powerful and unmonkey like.

The second story is about a boy living in the United States and going to school. He encounters racism and loneliness, until another Asian friend comes along. That friend confronts him when it comes to a girl.

And the third story is a riotous story about a loud, obnoxious overly stereo-typed Chinese cousin who comes to the states and embarrasses his Americanized cousin. The stereotype is so overboard that it is absurd and very funny.

The one common theme to the book is that of being one's self. Even in the Monkey King story, the monkey learns to be a monkey and is okay with that.

The drawing style is clean, and the color is bright and vibrant. Not draw in the typical alternative comic style but very nice to look at and the stories are good.

here are some images from the book.

And here is someone else's opinion, far more eloquent than mine.

Leap Years **

by Ian Bennett
Published by Candle Light Press
2005

This is an okay little graphic novel. It's a story about a lonely young teenage boy going through high school. The story last exactly through his High School career. He meets this imaginary toad, and things start to go right under the toad's tutelage. He becomes a basketball star (the toad makes sure all his shots go in), he starts dating, runs for president and gets accepted to Northwestern University in Evanston. He does less well in school but everything else is going so great that it doesn't matter. He's untouchable. It's a little inconsistent. The toad preaches learning for learning sake but then preaches about cheating. I guess it's okay to cheat since as the book says several times, "what you learn in High School is not taught to you". So it's anti establishment. He even has the last say at the graduation ceremony.

I'm not sure what the lesson was, but the book had it's moments.

Very crudely drawn figures and art. Though I think that was the point.

Let The Right One In***

2008
Direncted by Tomas Alfredson,
Script by John Ajvide Lindqvist
with Kare Hedebrrant, Lina Leandersson
Seen On DVD

This came right out at the same time as the film Twilight and the comparisons are instructional. But I wont make that my entire discussion.

This is a vampire movie. The two main characters are a wisp of a boy who is not vampire, and his neighbor, a girl who only comes out at night, is of course the vampire. They fast become friends because they are about the same age - but of course they aren't, she's ancient.

They become friends and arguably fall in love. They make sacrifices for each other. Some of the bonding scenes are very touching and tender.



Spoiler Alert! Scroll down to the end if you don't want to know how it ends.

In the end, the boy runs off with the young/ancient girl. The director of the film thinks that this is a happy ending. He states some people disagree with him becasue now the boy is bound to the girl/vampire. I tend to agree with the latter opinion. In the beginning of the film, the girl arrives with a "guardian", but really he is her procurer. He procures victims so that she might feed and survive. My opinion is that this boy will take his place, and it is a nasty, violent business. This older procurer meets a violent and tortuous end. I don't think anyone would wish this boy to follow in his footsteps.

Now I know that boy and girl are romantically attached, and the first thought is that the vampire won't put the boy through what the old man went through becasue she loves him. He was just her procurer and was expendable excepting the service he provded for her. But she loves this boy. She is actually indebted to the young boy. So no - this boy won't follow in the path of the older man.

But this is my argument. How do we know that the older man him self wasn't a former lover of the girl. What else would compell him to do her grotesque bidding for her. Sure he's old now, but she's a vampire and remains eternally young. Perhaps he was young too and had grown older. In fact the old man seems to show some jealousy. Early in the movie he asks the girl not to see the boy. I thought it was to protect their identity, but I now believe that it was jealousy. As in any vampire book/film, the vampire always has her minions. I think that she just recruited her self a new one.

And it doesn't help that the boy seems to have a streak of violence in him. Perhaps because of all the bullying he endured, but even the vampire points this out to him. She saw him fantasizing killing his attackers with a knife againts the tree. This propensity for violence should come in handy when trying to procure victims for his vampire lover.

End of Spoiler Alert!

One has to compare this film to the blockbuster
Twilight because it came out at the same time and it has a similar story. Young vampire falls in love with mortal. It is slower moving and less action packed, so my daughter informed me and the people are less beautiful. But the story is so much better. And let's face it, the Twilight film has some really stupid parts and the obnoxious Hollywood formula of having obligatory knock-down, drag-out fight to near death ending. This is an intelligent film which demands a little more attention from the viewer, but it's worth the extra effort.

And here is someone else's opinion.

Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond *

By Don Cheadle and John Pendergast
Published by Hyperion
2007
272 pages

Luckily this book was read several months ago and I don't remember much or this rant would be much longer than it already is. But it did have some relatively small merits to reccomend it. I'll end this discussion with those merits. First I want to rant.

I really disliked this book. I felt tricked into reading it. I though I was getting the story of Darfur, which I knew nothing about and was curious to learn about. This is not really a book about Darfur. It is a book about how to be an activist. There probably wasn't more than a dozen pages describing what exactly was happening in Darfur. There was tale after tale of examples of people being successfull activists. How they were able to raise money for their cause. Or how they were able to meet politicians and lobby. Certainly, this is an important thing to discuss but that was not what i was looking for. And If I had known what this book was really about, then I wouldn't have read it. Not that that kind of information is not important, but really, it's so much less interesting than what I had hoped for. I want to spend my time reading books that are interesting. It felt like i was reading a large corporate brochure.

It seems that this book was preaching to the choir. The authors made the assumption that we all realized that the situation in Darfur was horrendous and therefore we wwould be ready for active participation. And anyone who is mildly alert and current with today's events know that there is something going very wrong over there. But the book keeps making the point that few people, becasue of the press and politics, know about the situation. I myself knew very little. The little that I did know made me want to find out more. It piqued my interest. This book did make me more interested in the situation. Ok, yes, I know that things are bad over there. You (the authors) need to tell me just how bad it is because there are a lot of things that need my attention, and I need to be convinced that Darfur is THE ONE most important thing and that I should spend my precious litte free time for this cause. Liike most people i havbe a very busy life and a variety of interests including my surviving and taking care of my own family. If you want me to take time out for "your' cause, then convince me that I need to get involved, don't take it for granted.

What this book needed to do if it wanted me to get mobilized was to tell me a story. Tell me a heartbreaking, well told story. The book mentions the movie Hotel Rwanda (another genocide in Africa that happened slightly previous to the one in Darfur) as a piece of art/literature that might get people interested in the casue. Give me a riviting fictional account or even a well written historical/political account of what is happening, and I might feel more dispensed to become active. The book fails to do that.

The book is way too repetative. I guess they are trying to drive their points home, but I got very tired of it. It states that one of the dealiest sins to the casue of activisim is to be boring. Ironically, that is exactly what this book is. It really is, overall, a boring book (though it did have a few moments acattered far and wide through out the book). It says not to be too self- righteous as it's a turn off to possible converts. This book is too self righteous.

There are some redeeming values (hence the 1 star). The information given here is good if you did want to get involved in activism. While the book overdoes the "testimonial" aspect of the success of activism, there is one section which describes these examples which is quite readable. There are some interesting anecdotes written by the actor Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), who is also co-author of this book. And finally there is a nice appendix of information to use if you want to get involved and help. It does suggest some smaller things that one can do with out sacrificing your whole life.

This could be a valueable book if you cut it down to under 100 pages (lot's of repetition!) because it is a good reference. In fact, keep it short was another piece of advise they gave us which the authors failed to follow themselves. And it could be valuable if one was already interested in becoming an activist. What they should have done is attach this quality information to the appendix of a really riveting, best selling book. Get the people hooked first, then preach the activism. That is what Al Gore did with his movie An Inconvenient Truth. He presented rivieting information and followed it with a short "appendix" about what we the people could do to help.

It was also nice to see that so many Jewish - Americans are getting involved in this movement. I was beginning to think that after the hey day of the civil rights movements when Jews were very involved in activism. that the Jewish community had turneed inward and begin to be more concerned about the acquiring of material goods like the rest of America. There are several examples of Jewish leaders in this movement. To be sure the word genocide is partailly what attracts them to the cause, since Jews have went through similar events. I think that's a good thing.

I don't like that the book tried to make me feel guilty. Of course genocide is a horrible phenonema, and we should do all the things necessary to stop it. I would be willing to do some of the smaller activities suggested if I wasn't so irritated with the book that I forgot about it in a couple of weeks. In fact, I kind of did make a plan to do some things. But as time passed the urge grew weaker. A stronger book might have made that urge last longer.

This video might actually be more interesting than the book.

My Most Important CDs/LPs

"Think of 17 albums, CDs, LPs (if you're over 35) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wasu (wazoo?), literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 20 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!"

Here it goes, in more or less chronological order:

Black Sabbath - Volume 4 - My first favorite band. I was in 4th grade or so. How could you not love the long hair, large oversized crosses and the power chords. This was not my first but it is their best. More intricate than the slab of meta that makes Paranoid

Jethro Tull - Aqua lung: Not my favorite now, but back in the day it was. I like the folksier earlier stuff better now like Benefit, Stand Up Living in the Past.

Genesis - Foxtrot - In High School I would sing the whole of Supper's ready to kill time during my daily 3 mile run.

Chris Squire - Fish Out of Water - The bass player for Yes. Better than any Yes album. Had the London Philharmonic backing him up on strings and such.

Gentle Giant - Octopus - My favorite of theirs. The most consistent.

Kink Crimson - Lark's Tongue in Aspic - A super group and their best cd ever. Bill Bruford on drum kit and John Wetton on Bass.

Roxy Music - Viva Roxy - Live album by Roxy Music. Not my favorite, but it has my favorite version of a great song by them "If There is Something".

Brian Eno - Before and After Science - First heard this under a chemical enhanced mood. It sowed the seeds to my later taste in New Wave and Punk Rock.

XTC - Black Sea - the 80's did not hold up to the test of time very well. These guys and Talking Heads are probably all that I will listen to now. Needless to say, the musical motifs of the 80's forms the basis of what I listen to now.

The Birthday Party - Junkyard - My first Introduction to Nick Cave - Also see their Ep Mutiny in Heaven.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The First Born Is Dead - The rolling thunderous bass of Tupelo is an unforgettable start to an album full of dying, blind blues men, criminals on the run and biblical stories of the great flood.

Violent Femmes - Unhallowed Ground - This second album is under valued but just as great, if not greater than their 1st album. It's one of the albums that got me interested in Alternative country.

The Gun Club - Fire of Love - Gothic and horrifying. Country punk. A wonderful version of Preaching the Blues. Another favorite is Jack on fire.

Hunters and Collectors - Jaws of Life - Australian group influenced by the Birthday Party. Great rhythm section with a stand out bass player. Came out inthe height of interest of all things Australian. Good for road trips since all the songs seem to be about cars, trucks and engines.

The Sound - From the Lions Mouth - Think Early rockin' U2 but Much better. Adrian Borland's guitar soared (RIP). dark and haunting.

Echo and the Bunny Men - Heaven up There - Mellow that their debut. I think it sounds better today after test of time.

The Teardrops Explodes - Mount Kilimanjaro (Spelling) - punk/pop from the eighties. Julian Cope's cds are hard to find here n the states.

Chris & Carla - Swinger 500 - this is their second cd together, but my 1st exposure to them. They are the leading musicians in the group The Walkabouts who are one of my favorite all time groups. Sounds like a mix of Portishead (Some weird electronics) and Leonard Cohen (great song writing).

Tindersticks - Curtains - 3rd cd. Alternating beautiful sweeping violins pop vs dissonant punk rock sounds.

16 Horsepower- Sackcloth 'n Ashes - Greatly influenced by The Gun Club. It's old timey music with an insanely religious bent to it. When the singer sings, you fear god dag nab it! Lots of banjo, hurdy gurdy etc.

Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullabye - My first and still by far her best. Dark abnd sinister and beatiful.

Damien Jurado - Where Shall You Take Me - A singer song writer who write beautiful heartbreaking songs. Has been compared to the writing of Raymond Carver who writes about ordinary people in ordinary situations which become transforming and trascendant.

The National - Alligator - Kind of like Tindersticks but more rocking. Get's better on repeated listenings.

Midnight Choir - Unsung Heroine - I heard this cd for the 1st time on one of the more traumatic (emotionally) times of my life. The music brought calmness to my tormented soul that night. And don't forget beautiful emotive singing and swirling sweeping strings.

Willard Grant Conspiracy - All their cds are great so ill pick just one song here - "Dig a Hole".

I know that's much more than 17 (25 to be exact)... Besides

Role Models **

2007?
Written and directed by David Wain
Co written by Paul Rudd
with Paul Rudd, Sean William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Ken Jeong, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks

I have fallen way behind so I will be doing some quick and dirty "reviews" just to keep track of the things I've read, seen or listened to. I've said that before, but I really mean it this time. I mean, I saw this movie back in January I believe so of course I don't remember details. So here goes.

Two travelling guys who work marketing a highly caffeinated drink to college kids run amok of the law after Paul Rudd's character has a melt down. For community service, they have to reluctantly become "big brothers" for two kids. One, a nerdy role playing kid and the other a profanity filled street wise African-American kid with an obsession with boobies. Of course they are perfectly matched up, though they don't realize it at first.

So it's fairly formulaic, though the jokes are good and the ending while expected - geeky guy gets girl etc. has some small twists that keep the audience guessing. There is enough originality in the details to keep it fresh.

Bluford High - Blood is Thicker *1/2

by Paul Langan and D.M. Blackwell
published 2004 by Townsend Press
pages 156

This is a young adult series about teenagers living in urban environments. Apparently it's quite popular amongst teens and preteens. It's easy to see why since I doubt that there is much good literature about urban teenagers. Though I could be wrong.

My problem with it is that there is not enough ambiguity in the narrative. The basic story is that a kid (Hakeem) needs to move to Detroit from California because his father is ill and lost his job and needs to see a doctor in Michigan. He rooms with his older cousin (Savon) who he hasn't seen for years. Apparently his cousin seems to be leading a secret life and running with the wrong crowd. The story is resolved too simply for me. Basically, it was a case of misunderstanding and Savon is an upright kid. I think it would have been more interesting if Savon was actually involved in the things he was suspected of, but would have had inner conflict with right and wrong.

To be sure the characters are appealing. Hakeem's love interest is a "bad" girl who is trying to go good. She ends up leaving Detroit to escape the bad influences that surround her. Perhaps this would be a more interesting story, because she was actually a "bad" girl once. I'm willing to bet that she has her own book.

Jellyfish **1/2

Directed by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen
Written by Shira Geffen
With SArah Adler, Assi Dayan, Tzahi Grad, Nikol Leidman, Gera Sandler, Noa Knoller, Ma-Nenita De Latorre, Zaharira Harifai
In Hebrew w/ English Subtitles
Released 2007

This is an odd little surreal movie with an abundance of symbolism and poetry. There is even a poem written and then read at one of the character's deaths in one of the more beautiful scenes.

There are 3 main story lines that overlap. The first story is about a newlywed couple that has a troubled honeymoon after the bride breaks her leg. Things go all wrong from the start. They settle on a local honeymoon but the bride is never happy. I got the feeling that she was nervous about starting her conjugal duties and looking for excuses to delay the act. To be sure the groom was very frustrated. it's at this point he meets an older, attractive poet. The bride is jealous, though nothing happens between the husband and the poetess. The bride writes her own poetry perhaps in response to the competition with the poet. I'll stop summarizing the story line here since it would be a spoiler.

Then there is the story of a disheveled waitress who meets a mute young girl who comes out of the sea. She takes in the girl, but then loses her and proceeds to look for her. In the meantime, she tries to deal with her past which involves her divorced parents and perhaps a lost childhood. At one point she wants to see a friend's home movies which are boring, because she has never seen any of her own. The child is a catalyst for this journey in the past as well as an important symbol of the movie - the sea and water.

The 3rd story line is about a Philippine woman, who is nursing an elderly lady, crotchety and grumpy old lady that mistreats her. She puts up with this abuse even though she dearly misses her own child. The irony of course is that she's taking care of other people's problems even though she clearly would rather take care of her own son (and who wouldn't). This is perhaps the most conventional story of the film and perhaps the sweetest. The old lady and her nurse come to an understanding of sort and bond.

These narratives all overlap and the film cuts back and forth between narratives. Perhaps the main narrative is that of the waitress. There is a real question as to whether the little girl is real or unreal - perhaps a ghost, or the waitress' imagination or whatever. That's the part that lends its surreal feeling to the film. When the girl and the waitress finally part ways, there is the feeling that the waitress has found what she was looking for and the waitress may now continue on with her life and grow to be a content adult.

And then there was the water motif. I had a better idea what it was about when watching, but since a week has passed, I'm not so sure anymore. But here are some examples. There are periodic images of ships in a bottle. The Philippine nurse buys her son a ship as a birthday present. The little girl comes from and returns to the sea. The waitress has a extraordinary memory of her parents at the seashore. In one scene her answering machine is floating and taking messages in her flooded apartment.

Time and memory are also major themes of the movie. Memories turn into reality, etc. That has to do with the waitress' mind set in the movie.

All in all, a good film, perhaps a little too ephemeral, but plenty to think about, to absorb and some nice visuals and moods to enjoy.

This is a trailer to the film to give you an idea what it looks like -



And here is someone else's opinion -

The Bloody Chamber ***1/2

By Angela Carter
Published 1979 - Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1980 Harper and Row, 1981 penguin Books (UK), 1987 Penguin Books (USA), 1993 This Edition
126 pages

Angela Carter has written several short story books. Is seems to have been her niche. I have only read one other book by her which was also short stories. Her work is a mixture of the baroque love for detailed and flowery language and profane subject matter. So while I'm enjoying the sometimes ribald stories with their contemporary feel, I am also enjoying (and often struggling with too) her beautiful language and poetry.

This is a book of retold fairy tale stories. I won't go into detail about the plots, because they are somewhat familiar, but I will tell you the traditional stories that they are based on. The title story is based on the the Bluebeard tale. There are two different versions of Beauty and the Beast. One of the funnest stories is a version of Puss n' Boots and that scampy cat. There are several varieties and themes of the little girl in the woods (Little Red Riding Hood) and also some vampire and werewolf stories.

I can see several themes being displayed here. There is always a beast or monster. And then there is always the sexually ripe young girl as one might expect. Perhaps the thing that always stands out is the sadness and melancholy of these beasts. Most of them seem to suffer and there is a nobleness. In one of my favorite stories, The Lady of the House of Love, a vampiress mourns her condition, but can't resist her primal bestial instincts and desires. When one young man comes to visit, she changes into a human so as not to kill him out of affection for him, thus ending her own life. The piece is beautiful and tragic.

In our book club, many people hated this book. I think it was mostly because of the difficulty of the dense language. There is the general argument that what one does not understand, one does not like. On the other hand, there is also the argument that elitists only like the difficult works because they are difficult. Yes the language is difficult. I had to slow down many times to figure out what was going on. Sometimes it was impenetrable. But even then, the language was so beautiful, I was able to get a feeling or an emotion though my complete understanding was somewhat obstructed. Sometimes the language has a feel or an emotion and does not always have to communicate straight narrative elements.

And also there is enjoyment in going back and deciphering the text. It's not easy work. The reader has a job to do. With each rereading, the stories and language start to unfold and there is new idea for the reader to think about. It's like what some people say about quality music. Each new listen brings something new to the ear. In this case, each new rereading brings something new to the brain to enjoy and savour. This book will definitely have something to give to the reader after many readings.

Ask The Dust ***

by Jon Fante
!939 and 1980
First Ecco edition 2002
First Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2006
165 + pages (P.S. Section including interviews etc.)

I got the idea to read this book when I heard an interview with the band members of Calexico. Their latest CD is entitled Carried to Dust and they said it was named after this book. Calexico being one of my all time favorite musical artists, I had to seek this book out.

It's the story of a young struggling author trying to make it in Los Angeles in the midst of the depression (if my chronological time frame is correct it would be early WWII or late Depression). The book is gritty with characters trying to eek out a living. For a while, Bandini, really has to struggle scratching out a couple of cents here and there. The amazing part for me was trying to imagine the small amounts of money having such value. He could survive for pennies a day. Of course it was harder to get those pennies back then too.

Anyway, in the midst of this economic struggle, he meets a Mexican-American waitress, Camilla, in a bar/cafe. It is really interesting how he treats her and overreacts to everything that she says and does. Convinced that she is mocking him, he leaves payment for the coffee in the puddle of coffee that he spills. He has a bit of a cruel streak with the women in his life, yet the author writes like it's no big deal. Now whether that's part of the character development or whether that's how women were treated back then hence it was no big deal - I don't know.

Anyways, Bandini starts to be successful in his writing, and of course he falls in love with the Mexican girl, though they drive each other nuts. It's this weird love/hate relationship. Meanwhile he discover that the girl is a marijuana addict and she starts to have a nervous breakdown. He tries to take care of her, but that proves to be an elusive proposition.

In the end, the author as well as the character romanticise her as an Aztec goddess. She of course is simply a waitress and a pot head. She doesn't see this romanticism. In fact in an argument they have, she insists that she is an American. While he insists that he is his "sweet little peon. A flower girl from old Mexico". Clearly his imagination is clouding the reality of the situation. Or perhaps that it was impossible in that day, for someone non-Mexican to think of someone with Mexican background as an American - even though his roots are Italian-American.

Apparently, this is one of a series of 4 or 5 books he wrote with the character Bandini. In his letters he considered this as a less lyrical book since he wrote it from "my - (it starts with a p and ends with a k)"

So the book has some peotic imagery, especailly at the end. It has some interesting characters and a harrowing setting. And at times it is down right funny. Especailly when Bandini is being to mean to his love interest Camilla.
And there is a movie made that is only a few years old. I haven't seen it yet.

Blood of Palomar ***

Written and Illustrated by Gilbert Hernandez
Volume 8 of the Complete Love & Rockets
Original series 1987,1988
This Edition 1989 Fantagraphics Book s, Inc
117 pages + black and white illustrations of original cover

I read my first Love and Rockets in high school. So it must have been about 1980 or 1981. I remember enjoying the illustrations - especially the large breasted, half-naked, beautiful Latina women that were drawn in compromising positions. What red blooded male teenager wouldn't? I also remember that some stories were easier to follow that others. In fact the more I read, the more I realized that the majority of stories were difficult to follow. Consequently, over the years, while tempted to pick up material by the Hernandez brothers, I usually took a pass.

After a shout out from Junot Diaz in his book The Brief and Wondrous life of Oscar Wao a friend of mine convinced me to give it another try - and I did.

And it is complicated and convoluted. There is a cast of characters so large that at the beginning of the book, the author has to map the characters out. And then most of the story lines seem, at first, unrelated. No wonder I was so confused as an adolescent! And imagine that I only had part of the story line in my hands while reading it. But they do come together perfectly and the readers patience is rewarded with pure beauty and poetry. All in a comic book! There is a subtleness and emotionality that one doesn't expect in this media.

So here's the plot. First there's Luba, a large breasted middle aged Mexican woman with a bundle of children fathered by various men. But she is no doormat! Men want to have and possess her, but she will have none of it. Meanwhile there appears to be a serial murderer about and people are dying and disappearing.

Mean while, it appears that one of a pair of beautiful twin sisters has gone mad - bonkers. She's taken to dressing half-naked in native clothing or costume. Everyone thinks she's brainwashed into political socialism or communism by an ex boyfriend but it appears she got her ideas on her own.

Okay, that's enough of an outline. It's not that I worry about giving away the spoiler, its just too darn complicated to try to put it together.

As a recommendation, I suggest reading a whole graphic novel instead of reading the individual comics piecemeal. They are just too complicated.

I tried to find some images, but I didn't want to be stepping on anyone's copyright toes. Go to the Fantagraphics Web site to see some images.

Please Stop Laughing at Me... **

by Jodee Blanco
published by Adams Media
2003 p. 276

Ms Blanco's story is a harrowing and excruciating painful story and it should be read by all those interested in the topic, which is, if you haven't inferred it from the title, about bullying. The story is compelling and empathetic and it keeps the reader engaged. Though that engagement has a certain disturbing element to it. Why do we want to keep reading? Perhaps because we want to learn how she resolves these issues or perhaps more likely, because we the masses, enjoy a good train wreck. And a train wreck it is. But that's not the fault of the author. The balance of sensationalism and true reporting in the best interest of the public is always a fine line to be balanced. It's her story, so lets give hr the benefit of the doubt that it is simply not a story of sensationalism. In fact, she apparently does much grassroots work in the schools to help to try to prevent the severe type of bullying she went through. She certainly walks the talk.

So a quick summary is necessary. This is the story of her school life and experiences. Basically, sometime in late grammar school she turned from a fairly well liked kid into an outcast. It continued into her high school years. In these years she was severely bullied. Especially in high school, when one of her breasts did not develop properly. But let's be clear, the bullying happened way before she hit adolescence. Of course, now she is the successful author of this book and works doing public relations for some high level celebrities. That's the short version.

The book has some issues of course. There are some things that are not quite right. I don't want to discount some very real feelings and experiences. No one deserves to go through some of the things that she went through. But she comes across to me as a person who, if I had known her, might have gotten under my skin. People in the book keep telling her that she's too sensitive. On top of that, she was a bit of a drama queen. She participated in school plays and the speech team. She put her self out there - a target. A target whose buttons are quite apparent and easy to push. So I don't want to say she had it coming, because she most definitely did not, but she did not help her case with her behavior.

Another odd thing is how she was able to get acceptance from the cool crowd, which she so desperately wanted, in the beginning of a new school but kept losing that acceptance and turned into an outcast. Perhaps it was that desperation. But what bothers me is that most outcasts don't usually get accepted and then lose that acceptance. Most outcasts never get that acceptance to begin with. If she is trying to reach out to other kids with universal experiences, that part of her experiences are experiences that other troubled kids would have a hard time understanding.

I read this book for a middle school book discussion group. Most of the students in my group are from the inner city and our school has over 90% poverty. So I was concerned how the students would relate their experiences to hers. Ms. Blanco was an extremely talented child. Her parents were able to provide all the creature comforts plus some luxuries like a trip to Greece and they were extremely supportive and involved in her life. The problem with this is that she is trying to get the message to other kids that if she could survive it than they could too. But clearly, my students don't have the same background as her. I have great doubts that many (not all) would be able to achieve what she has. In her defense, she can only write about what she knows. That was her experience and she can't modify it for the sake of others who have different backgrounds. I found it interesting that some of my students empathised with what she was writing and felt like she did. I guess there is some universal truths to what Ms. Blanco is writing. I just don't know if my students will have the same opportunities to overcome the trauma that they have experienced.

What really bothered me was her desire to be accepted by a certain class of people. If one group didn't want her, she should have searched for acceptance else where. Eventually, some older girl does take her under her wing, and Ms. Blanco learns that there are alternatives to the cheerleading/jock culture she is so obsessed with at school. She learns that same lesson when she goes to a summer camp for kids who are writers. She grows to accept herself and learn that there are other people in the world. It is an awakening for her. That's fantastic. This is the lesson she needs to get out to her adolescent readers. In fact, I have always had the opinion that those kids who were less cool in school, quite often grew up to be very interesting people. Things did not come easy to them so they had to grow and learn. While the cool kids are on top of the world don't need to grow, learn and struggle because they got everything they need already. Ms. Blanco even states that these peoples' best years were the high school years. If I go to my high school reunion, I would surely be curious about those people who weren't part of the cool crowd. They would be more interesting to me. So what's the problem? At her high school reunion, she still wants to be accepted by all those people who tormented her. She even swoons at the idea that her old crush, who tormented her, might be interested in her. She still wants to be part of the cool crowd. Sigh.

Ballast ***

2008?
Directed and filmed by Lance Hammer
with Michael J. Smith, Tarra Riggs, Jim Myron Ross

This is a beautiful, slow, low budget movie. I would NOT reccomend taking your overstimulated teenager to this film. There's lots of waiting going on.

Ok it sounds bad - lots of waiting - but it isn't. The stoic characers show their suffering and scars in mostly subtle ways. Events take time to unravel adding suspense to the viewer. The slow paced Missisppi Delta landscape is haunting and lonely. And one of my favorite scenes is watching a characer sitting in front a portable heater with his coat on inside the house. These Mississippians are poor, and the flm shows what the poverty looks like. It's not abstract in the least.

The film starts out with the suicide of the main character's twin brother. The brother takes it hard and attempts a suicide himself. He is in anguish and lets his business go to pieces. Along comes his sister-in-law with a young troubled, teenager who makes certain demands of him. Not liking the mother very well, but realizing that her son is his nephew, he is torn.

The characters, and course the actors, are all African-American. It's interesting to watch poor, troubled African-Americans in a different context then the usual urban context that movie viewers usually see them in.

Changeling ***

Directed by Clint Eastwood,
with Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich, Michael Kelly, Amy Ryan, Jason Butler
2008 140 min.

Angelina Jolie plays a single mom living in Los Angeles in 1929. One day she comes home to find her son missing. In desperation she calls the police for help, but from the 1st day they seem unconcerned saying that he probably went to a friends house. Eventually, after a long search, a boy turns up on the other side of the country in Illinois. The police think they have found him and bring him home. It is not her son, and she says so from the beginning, but they insist that he is and that he has changed. She takes him in because the boy has no place to go and besides, maybe she is mistaken because she is "hysterical" as the police say. The police insist because they don't want to lose face in light of recent scandals. Thy want to look good in the public eye. They coerce her into accepting the boy as her son though she can clearly see he's not. At one point they institutionalize her, which apparently happens to a lot of women who make too much noise.

So it's a story about police corruption in L.A. Apparently L.A. has a long tradition of police corruption. It's also a story of how a 'weak' woman (this was 1928 after all and Angeline plays the mother well - the meek and submissive mother whose singleness makes her even more vulnerable in this pre-femenist era) becomes strong. She has to learn to become strong and stick up for her self.

In the last decade or so, Clint Eastwood has become one of my favorite directors, and I always look forward to one of his "serious" films. Angeline Jolie is also getting some nice roles recently and I am duly impressed with her also.

The War of the Worlds **

By H.G. Wells
First Tor Edition: October 1988
p. 204 including intros and conclusion

The original date of publishing is not mentioned for some reason, but in the introduction it says that the book originally came out in the decade of the 1890's. Some people (academics, fans etc.)claim that this is the original or granddaddy of science fiction.

It's an odd thing really. It's written in an unemotional, detached manner. It makes for some slow, dry reading. The horror of people getting killed and chased is told in a very matter of fact manner. At our book discussion, someone mentioned that it was supposed to be written like a newspaper article. I guess so that it seems more realistic.

Of course the technology is so obsolete that it seems very unrealistic. You would think that the Martians had some sort of computer technology if they were so advanced. The Martians' mode of communications was very crude indeed. You would think that they would come in a space ship instead of a pod being fired out of a giant cannon. It does make the book intriguing as an artifact though.

I haven't seen the movie since I was a kid, so it would be interesting to see what parts from the book they keep. To my memory, think they kept very little besides the fact that there was total destruction.

An interesting theme of the book is that it seems that Wells is comparing the Martians society to that of Imperialistic England, where the story takes place. He mentions that the Martians have no consideration for the lives of the people. That they are ruthless and that people are less than worthy - ie. less than human. Wells is saying that England needs to be more humane to societies that it is ruling. he says, "Surely if we have learned nothing else, this war has taught us pity - pity for those witless souls that suffer our dominion." In other words, we should be more humane to our opponents in times of war.

There's not much of a plot but here is a synopsis of the book. Some scientists see some explosions on the planet Mars. Those explosions are of course the Martians coming to earth. They land and wait. It seems that they are building there war machines, while humans just wait around waiting for things to happen. Then the Martians finally start their war and complete chaos, destruction and defeat happens. The Martians make their way towards London and cause a stream of refugees to vacant London in chaos where concern for fellow humans begins to deteriorate into every man for himself. It reminded me of Suite Francois which depicts the refugees fleeing Paris from the Nazis. I guess that is a fairly common happening in war time. There is a main character who kind of chronicles all of it and describes the activities of the Martians at work. As he works his way towards London to find his wife and family he learns that the Martians are dying . It seems that they have no immune system and simple viral organisms are the death of them.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao ****

2007 335 pages
By Junot Diaz
Published by Riverhead Books / Penguin Books

This is a book by a Latin American author (Dominican), and it is typical of most books made by Latino authors - NOT! Guys like Luis Borges, Carlos Fuentes and Juan Rulfo do not start their books with a quote from Stan Lee's of Marvel Comics the Fantastic Four. No they Don't! So this is a completely different species were talking about.

Yet the book was gripping all the way through. It had pop culture, (more on that later), poetry, drama, history and it had lots of humor. All of it interweaves in a seamless manner, moving from the urbane to the profound with out skipping a beat.

So Oscar Wao is a Dominican living in New Jersey in the inner city. He's a complete nerd. He's very smart, but he's fat and does not fit in. He does all the nerdy stuff. Reads comic books (hence the quote from the Fantastic Four), plays at role playing games and attempts to write some of his own fantasy stories. He's not your typical Dominican, especially since he has no luck with the ladies (you see all Dominican men are lady killers.) It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't care that much about the ladies, but he is obsessed with them. Of course their affections are not returned. A few break his heart by entering into the friends zone with him, which drives him even more batty.

Funny enough, less than half the book actually deals with him. In the middle two thirds, the book is about his family and ancestors and their times in the Dominican Republic. It delves into detail about Trujillo's reign of terror. Tragic things happen to his family and ancestors. This is all part of the Fuku (The New World Curse) which his family seems to be saddled with. This is all set up for the beautiful and intensely tragic ending that befalls Oscar (no spoiler here - remember the title is a "Brief Wonderous Life...)

The book has these very interesting footnotes, which are asides from the main story and give lots of history about The Dominican Republic and Trujillo. Interestingly enough, these same footnotes also give background information on the characters, who are of course fictional. It makes the characters seem real while at the same time, adding to the narrative. The footnotes are nice, because they give vital information about the history without disrupting the flow of the story. These footnotes are very curious indeed. They are part of what makes this book so fascinating.

And then there are all the pop culture references due to Oscar's interest in these things. The thing is the culture is not mainstream culture, but references to hipper, cooler geekdom. I related to some of these references, because I was and still am interested in these things. Oscar's interests are comic book authors, Daniel Clowes and the Hernandez Brothers. The author himself quotes Marvel Comics' character The Watcher for his more cerebral and ominous moments. The kids, Oscar and his sister Lola, grow up in the eighties so there are lots of music references. They mention Siouxie and the Banshees and Joy Division.

The language may be an issue for some people. It certainly was for some people in our group. The characters live in the inner city and the main narrator is one of the characters in the story (instead of the typical god-like, faceless narrator) so he uses some raw language.

I very rarely rate a book 4 stars, but this story is so fresh and so well told, and so powerful. It's the first thing I've rated this way for probably over a year.

The Duchess **1/2

Directed by Saul Dibb
Adapted from biography by Amanda Foreman
With Kiera Knightly, Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Rampling, and Simon McBurney
Made in 2008 / seen in theater



OK, I kind of like these king and queen films. Not so much for the romance, which is always a large part of the films, but because I am a sucker for Historical Fiction and epics. Though the romance isn't so bad if the actress is a looker, like in this one. I'm a huge fan of Kiera Knightly. I first saw her in Atonement. That scene in the fountain was memorable. sigh....... But I digress.

This film, according to my poor memory, presented little of what was happening in the outside world when the film was supposed to take place. In fact I can't even place when this film takes place as there were little or no time markers. I wanted to see what is happening off screen. I wanted to see the Spanish Armada, the influence of the new world and the decapitation of Queen Mary of the Scots, like in the recent Queen Ann films. None of that in this film.

It tended to be a soapy thing. True it was beautifully acted and it had lush settings and photography. And of course the beautiful Kiera Knightly (have I said how much I admire her yet?) The film has received many good reviews. I thought it was simply a nice film.

It is supposed to parallel the life of Princess Diane. The Duchess, Georgiana, is married to a cold duke who is only interested in a heir. At first I thought that he was perhaps gay for he never showed any interest in her at all. But no, he continued to have many affairs with other women and he barely made an effort to hide these affairs. Now, I could understand how a man could get tired of a woman, but her husband NEVER showed the slightest interest in her except for the sole reason to produce an heir. It was unfathomable to think that any man would have no physical interest in this beautiful woman who was his wife (have I mentioned how beautiful she is) At least in the beginning, you would think he would be interested in some frolicking around even if her wasn't interested in her intellectually. So it goes with out saying that I had trouble suspending belief on that subject. I might have been biased though.

Was Princess Diana's marriage this horrid? Because truly, Georgiana's husband was horrid to her. In fact, there might be a few scenes in the film where the male audience might feel a little squirmy from the male bashing (by means of his behavior - not what is said about him) that takes place.

I do like that the romance of the film was of the darker variety. The themes of the film were morality, misogyny, sexism and aristocratic power. In that respect, it was less of a romance film than most of these ilk.

Three Day Road ***

By Joseph Boyden
Published by Penguin Books,
1st Published by Viking Penguin
2005

OK - I knew I would get behind but sheesh! I have at least 5 blogs to do, counting this one, and I continue to read so more blogs will be necessary. Until then, I think I need to take a break from films until I catch up. I can't take a break from reading since I have a lot of obligatory reading to do - plus I wouldn't want to anyway. So these will be short and sweet.

Three Day Road is an antiwar book about pair of Native American friends that go to the Western Front in WWI and hale from a tribe in western Canada.

It's a coming of age story since the two young men start out naive and end up grown up at the end of the book - ravaged and scarred, but grown up. They end up being snipers for their group which gives them some perks the ordinary soldiers don't have, yet they still encounter plenty of horrific incidents. In fact they, especially the Elijah, commit some atrocities themselves. Which is all well and good since this is war, and this behavior is expected to a certain degree, at least against enemy soldiers. But Elijah takes it too far and starts to enjoy the killings while at the same time becoming addicted to Codeine (medicine). He starts to lose his sanity and humanity.

His partner, who is the narrator and never really receives a name but his Christian name is Xavair and his great aunt simply calls him nephew, also has his sanity tested. And though it is clear that Elijah has lost it, there is a more subtle question about the narrator's sanity.

Meanwhile, there is a subplot going on with the great aunt of the narrator. She is an outcast from her tribe and also has magical powers. (Ever notice that the witches and magical people in many stories are always cast out from the villages and live alone in the woods - this character is no exception.) Her role as a priestess (for lack of better word) is to kill the demon that possesses her tribe members and consequently the person carrying the demon. People get the demon by committing cannibalism. And here is the link to the main narrative. Elijah is committing cannibalism either literally (he comes back from a kill with blood smeared over his face) or metaphorically.

An interesting theme is the idea of justice in this book. Does the great aunt have the right to kill these people? In most cases the cannibalism was committed out of desperation. For instance one woman was stuck out in the woods with her husband and her baby. The husband tried to provide sustenance, but could not find any. He ended up freezing to death. He also ended up providing that sustenance since the wife and the baby ended up eating him. Of course these people were killed when they came back from the tribe. The great aunt's father, who did the killing and passed on his powers to his daughter, was arrested for murder by the white civilization.

My first instinct is to say, well, you can't murder, no matter the cause. These people are not necessarily bad because they committed a desperate act. The wife did not murder her husband. Perhaps they could hold on to their sanity in spite of the harrowing conditions given the chance, but the tribe never gives them a chance. They are killed. And sure, the victim goes nutty when they return to their village, but wouldn't most people lose it too if they knew they were about to be killed. The same questions has to be asked about the soldiers when they come back - in the past or even today. After being so severely mentally scarred, they do get a chance for rehabilitation. Some make it, some don't. What would be the future of the survivors when they come back - a question for me that looms large in the book.

The author clearly knows his stuff and demonstrates it with scene after scene of harrowing war action. Gripping at first, but then perhaps a little too much. Some might say, and did in my book discussion group, that they got the point. Of course we as readers can say enough already, but a soldier can't and maybe that's the point.

Over all a very good book.

The Book Seller of Kabul

**1/2
by Asne Sierstad

I am very remiss in my writing as was expected considering the magnitude of events taking shape in my life now. I read this book back in September, so my memory will be poorer.

The author is attempting to tell this non-fiction tale in a narrative style. As such, she makes assumptions about what the people actually are feeling and thinking. Sometimes, perhaps, she goes a little too far.

The main subject of the book is an ambivilent character. Being a book seller he thinks of himself as a progressive thinker and an instrument in the mission to restore Afghanistan culture to its former glory.

Yet he has the role of the typical patriarch in Muslim society. He takes a second wife to the disgruntlement of his 1st wife, and his daughters are considered important only for their worth in what they bring to the family for their marraiges. One daughter is treated so bad, she is practically a slave to the rest of the family. Even the son can't go to school because he is expected to work in the book shop. An educated man, one would think, would want his children, or at least his sons, to get a good education. He rules the household with an iron fist. Understand that this is no different from most Afghani men, but he claims to be a progressive thinker.

This is a translation from, I believe Swedish, and some of the language seems a little awkward at times. Some of the parts do also drag on a little. I believe a scene where the women are preparing for a wedding is an example of that.

The author does go a little bit into the history of the Russian invasion and the arrival of the Taliban. It certainly added to my knowledge about that issue.

For the most part it was an ejoyable and enlightening book.

In Bruges **1/2

2008 Seen on DVD (107 mins)
Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh
With Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson, Clemency Poesy

This film made in Belgium is about two assassins, Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson), who are on the run after a botched job. They are sent to Bruges to lie low for a while. They are a sort of odd couple in that Ken is older and experienced and Ray is impulsive and almost childlike. Ken wants to see the sights of the town, an old medieval town with lots of period architecture, and Ray is bored and uninterested in it and just wants to get out. The shots of the town, by the way are simply beautiful. It looks like a painting.

As the plot moves on, the audience learns that an accident is the reason that the job was botched and Ray is the one who caused it. He is a wreck of a man because he feels something for the victim, something an assassin is not supposed to feel, even if the victim was an innocent bystander. It soon becomes clear that they are sent to Bruges not to lie low, but because the boss, Harry (Fiennes) wants to get rid of Ray - Nothing personal. And that's all I'll write about the plot because I probably already spoiled a bit of it.

There has been a lot of acclaim for Farrells' acting and I would agree, but there is something odd about his character. Maybe that oddness is waht people liked about his portrayal. Ray is of course a young, loudmouth gangster who has no interest in the beautiful and idyllic Bruges. But he's also nervous and neurotic - almost childlike. He has nervous giggles, and he puts his hand to the mouth as if he were biting his nails. It makes me wonder if he's that way because of the tragedy or because his character is that way anyway. It also shows contrast to his older more subdued partner Ken, who eventually takes a kind of fatherly role toward him and sees hope and a future for Ray.

Overall, this is a funny amusing film, with lots of nice views of Bruges. It's dark and has a bloody ending. Some people say that it is too dark, but for me, an old punk rocker, I have no problem with the darkness. I even embrace it.

Frozen River ***

2008 - Seen in Theater
Written and directed by Courtney Hunt
With Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlei McDermott, Michael O'Keefe and Mark Boone Jr.

The working poor - When your American dream is simply to own a larger double wide trailer home to replace your smaller beat-up trailer home. This dream is the driving force of the narrative. This film is about a single working poor mother and her desperate attempts to scratch out a living. She resorts to some questionable moral activities to make that living. She recruits the help of a young Native American woman with a sordid past and experience to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country. To do this smuggling, they must drive across the frozen St Lawrence River, with the danger of falling through the ice always imminent.

One interesting aspect of the film is the people who they are smuggling across. Ray, the lead character of the film, discovers that the people who she is smuggling are indebted to the smugglers, who appear to be Russain mafia, who pay for their passage. It's not clear what will happen, but it certainly can be assumed that they will be serving their debts in some way Ray and her companion don't want to consider. One group is a group of young Asian women, who will certainly be used as sex slaves. But Ray and her partner are only concerned with their own small part in all this and generally don't worry about what will happen, though you can see by their expressions that it feels a little unsavory to them.

Ray is a woman who the audience roots for, but as described above, her moral compass is not always set on the straight and narrow. Her prejudice shows when she tries to smuggle across a Pakistan couple and she throws their bag out thinking that it is a terrorist bomb. It ends up being the couple's baby. She is a protagonist who is human.

The movie is bleak, but I find a glimmer of hope. While Ray does go to jail, other characters are taught a lesson and with the money she earns she gets her trailer. She has forged some friendships and has constructed a small family of outcasts which will provide for a slightly rosier future.

Cahokia - City of the Sun **

Written by Claudia Gellman Mink
Published by Cahokia Mounds Museum Society - 1992
76 pages

Some things are what they are. This is a book usually sold by a museum. It's got your basic information. At least it is not a difficult read (though for my students it would be difficult), though it is pretty boring. It gives you the facts and that's that! There is very little anecdotes about the people's daily lives. It describes how life might have been but there are no "tales" here to hold the readers' interest.

It would be difficult for me to use in my class, which is the purpose of my reading this book. I could use some of the simpler excerpts perhaps, but the kids would be bored to death.

Ancient civilizations probably present a special problem to historians and archaeologists. There usually is no or little written record. And coupled with the fact that these civilizations were of course existing a long time ago, it is very difficult to get information about them. So that is one reason that it would be very difficult to write anecdotes and narratives. I believe in this book, the author and archaeologists don't even know the names of the kings. Still, I've seen it done where vivid pictures have been painted of what life might have been like. I remember once I read a book about the Aztecs. The 1st third was incomprehensible, but it got much better when it started to describe what daily life might have been like.

Here is a summary of those basic facts.

There were groups of indigenous peoples in the North American continent called The Mississippians. They started out living in the Southeastern woodlands of North America which is called The American Bottom. Basically it centered abound the confluence of Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Prior to the rise of Cahokia (the civilization being discussed here) mounds were being built. There is one famous one called the serpent mound that is shaped like a serpent, which is located in Ohio.

The Mississippians reached their apex with the city of Cahokia, which is located just east of the Mississippi River and current day St. Louis. It was larger than any city in Europe or the United States up until the year 1800. They built great giant mounds which were probably used for religious and communal purposes.

One reason they were able to become large was due to the cultivation of corn. It was the major food staple of their diet. Some historians hypothesize that the lack of a varied diet helped lead to the downfall of their civilization, along with other problems that can arise from big cites such as health, pollution, overpopulation and the depletion of their resources. Being located in the woodlands, wood of course was a major resource which they used for building structures.

They were a center of trade as proven by the seashells that were found which came from the Gulf of Mexico. The used the rivers as highways to travel and trade.

No one really knows what happened to them. it was probably a combination of things that led to their demise. The problems of big cities mentioned above were certainly a contributing factor. They could have also been conquered by neighboring hostile groups. Archaeologists have found proof of a wooden wall that went around the entire city, probably for protecting themselves, but also possibly to keep the social hierarchy of their society from breaking down - Perhaps it kept the riffraff out. And there is no evidence of any great battle.

The city lasted until the early 1400's when it was abandoned. It was too early for European explorers and conquerors to meet them, but they did meet some of their ancestors who told them tales of this great civilization.

I think if I teach this as a unit of study, I'll probably just stick to the information I just summarized. There are lots of ancient objects found, but that would be too subtle for my students to enjoy.