Stuff I did
Apr. 14th, 2011 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalI've been slacking off on book/movie reviews lately, so here's the quickie version.
Books:
Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen Kushner
FINALLY managed to finish this series. For some bizarre reason, the library had the other two books, but not this one, so I had to buy it. Fortunately, it was my favorite of the trilogy. :) I think a lot of that had to do with having a female protagonist for a change. I didn't mind the m/m romances of Swordspoint and Fall of the Kings, but the problem with that is... no female characters! Okay, sure, you have the Duchesses of Tremontaine - first Diane, and then a much older Katherine, but they're still somewhat peripheral. Before Privilege, I never felt like I had a good sense of what life was like for women in this culture. Focusing on a girl coming of age in a very unusual way also allowed for exploration of a whole scope of gender issues that the other books really didn't address.
I also appreciated having the middle filled in, lol. It probably would've been better to read the books in chronological order, but like I said, library didn't have it. But I had definitely wondered how Alec became the "Mad Duke" because what we learned of the rest of his life seemed so very different from the man he was in Swordspoint, so it was great to see that fleshed out and explained.
Once again, Kushner shows great improvement in her writing. (This is one of the reasons I like reading an author's work in publication order. You get to see how they grow as a writer.) So many of the side characters were well-developed and interesting in their own right, and the pacing was much better than her previous books.
Two criticisms: First, it kind of annoyed me the way the POV kept shifting between Katherine's first person and random third person limited. Like, if you're gonna do first person, commit to it. Don't just use it when it's convenient for you. And if you really need to switch narrators, then do it ALL in third person limited. Second, WTF IS UP WITH THE FOOTNOTE? This probably should just be a minor thing, but for some reason, it totally threw me out of the story to see a footnote referencing the backstory in Swordspoint. Seriously, who footnotes a novel? Especially since half the book makes those kinds of references, given how much it builds on the prior story, so why on earth was that one footnote necessary?
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
I'm pretty sure I found this as a rec from someone on LJ, but I cannot for the life of me remember who. It takes my library a long time to get things, I can't help it! Anyway, I think I was inspired to try more YA after The Hunger Games was so good. This definitely feels more like YA in tone. It's narrated in a stream-of-consciousness style by Melinda, a high school freshman who is now an outcast after calling the police and busting an end-of-summer party. None of her friends will speak to her, and kids she doesn't even know hate her. But she doesn't really want to speak at all, because that would mean opening up about WHY she called the police. It's a powerful illustration of the ways in which shame and fear can silence victims of abuse and sexual assault. It's tragic and heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting as Melinda learns to find her voice through art and manages to fight back.
Movies:
Winter's Bone
All right, I watched this in large part because I wanted to see Jennifer Lawrence in action to see how she'd do as Katniss. The verdict? I am totally sold. Ree Dolly is Katniss in a lot of ways, except for the dystopian future and the waging war against an oppressive government bits, obviously. But the maturity and responsibility of a teenager forced by circumstances to grow up too quickly, the absent father and catatonic mother, the younger siblings who need to be cared for, the daily struggle to survive, the grotesque confrontation with death, and the sheer determination in spite of it all - it's all there, and Lawrence plays it brilliantly.
It wasn't quite what I expected. I'm not actually sure what I expected, I guess that the plot would be more dramatic or have more action to it or something. But it's a much quieter form of violence and danger, as Ree tries to track down her meth-dealing father by visiting relatives who pretty much all have something to hide and don't like someone coming around asking questions. It does seem to drag at times, when I wondered if the entire movie would be Ree knocking on doors and getting hostility instead of answers, but there are some tense scenes where the threat of violence is even worse than the actual blows, and the climax is incredibly unsettling.
Never Let Me Go
I had NO IDEA what this movie was about when I rented it, but Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield in the same movie? I was pretty much predisposed to love it. (Sorry, Keira Knightley, you are the weakest link.) Also, kudos to the casting director, because the actors they got to play the characters as children were spot-on. Set in an alternate reality, which I don't want to describe for fear of spoiling it, the movie follows three friends (and sometimes frenemies and lovers) from an English boarding school, oddly cut off from the outside world, where they are taught they are "special," through the post-graduation adjustment to life beyond their sheltered existence, until finally they come face to face with their true purpose.
Despite the premise, it's not a sci-fi movie. It's an emotional drama all the way, a heartbreaking story of love and loss (I'm not ashamed to say I cried). But like all good sci-fi, it's also a lens with which to view our own society, forcing us to question our moral certainty. It's a chilling lesson in the limits of human decency, as well as a fascinating exploration of the value of human life, our desperate need to cling to hope in the face of grim reality, and the ways we cope with the inevitable tragedy of death.
Man, when you put 'em all together like that, it's an awful lot of depressing! I need a happy movie next...
Books:
Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen Kushner
FINALLY managed to finish this series. For some bizarre reason, the library had the other two books, but not this one, so I had to buy it. Fortunately, it was my favorite of the trilogy. :) I think a lot of that had to do with having a female protagonist for a change. I didn't mind the m/m romances of Swordspoint and Fall of the Kings, but the problem with that is... no female characters! Okay, sure, you have the Duchesses of Tremontaine - first Diane, and then a much older Katherine, but they're still somewhat peripheral. Before Privilege, I never felt like I had a good sense of what life was like for women in this culture. Focusing on a girl coming of age in a very unusual way also allowed for exploration of a whole scope of gender issues that the other books really didn't address.
I also appreciated having the middle filled in, lol. It probably would've been better to read the books in chronological order, but like I said, library didn't have it. But I had definitely wondered how Alec became the "Mad Duke" because what we learned of the rest of his life seemed so very different from the man he was in Swordspoint, so it was great to see that fleshed out and explained.
Once again, Kushner shows great improvement in her writing. (This is one of the reasons I like reading an author's work in publication order. You get to see how they grow as a writer.) So many of the side characters were well-developed and interesting in their own right, and the pacing was much better than her previous books.
Two criticisms: First, it kind of annoyed me the way the POV kept shifting between Katherine's first person and random third person limited. Like, if you're gonna do first person, commit to it. Don't just use it when it's convenient for you. And if you really need to switch narrators, then do it ALL in third person limited. Second, WTF IS UP WITH THE FOOTNOTE? This probably should just be a minor thing, but for some reason, it totally threw me out of the story to see a footnote referencing the backstory in Swordspoint. Seriously, who footnotes a novel? Especially since half the book makes those kinds of references, given how much it builds on the prior story, so why on earth was that one footnote necessary?
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
I'm pretty sure I found this as a rec from someone on LJ, but I cannot for the life of me remember who. It takes my library a long time to get things, I can't help it! Anyway, I think I was inspired to try more YA after The Hunger Games was so good. This definitely feels more like YA in tone. It's narrated in a stream-of-consciousness style by Melinda, a high school freshman who is now an outcast after calling the police and busting an end-of-summer party. None of her friends will speak to her, and kids she doesn't even know hate her. But she doesn't really want to speak at all, because that would mean opening up about WHY she called the police. It's a powerful illustration of the ways in which shame and fear can silence victims of abuse and sexual assault. It's tragic and heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting as Melinda learns to find her voice through art and manages to fight back.
Movies:
Winter's Bone
All right, I watched this in large part because I wanted to see Jennifer Lawrence in action to see how she'd do as Katniss. The verdict? I am totally sold. Ree Dolly is Katniss in a lot of ways, except for the dystopian future and the waging war against an oppressive government bits, obviously. But the maturity and responsibility of a teenager forced by circumstances to grow up too quickly, the absent father and catatonic mother, the younger siblings who need to be cared for, the daily struggle to survive, the grotesque confrontation with death, and the sheer determination in spite of it all - it's all there, and Lawrence plays it brilliantly.
It wasn't quite what I expected. I'm not actually sure what I expected, I guess that the plot would be more dramatic or have more action to it or something. But it's a much quieter form of violence and danger, as Ree tries to track down her meth-dealing father by visiting relatives who pretty much all have something to hide and don't like someone coming around asking questions. It does seem to drag at times, when I wondered if the entire movie would be Ree knocking on doors and getting hostility instead of answers, but there are some tense scenes where the threat of violence is even worse than the actual blows, and the climax is incredibly unsettling.
Never Let Me Go
I had NO IDEA what this movie was about when I rented it, but Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield in the same movie? I was pretty much predisposed to love it. (Sorry, Keira Knightley, you are the weakest link.) Also, kudos to the casting director, because the actors they got to play the characters as children were spot-on. Set in an alternate reality, which I don't want to describe for fear of spoiling it, the movie follows three friends (and sometimes frenemies and lovers) from an English boarding school, oddly cut off from the outside world, where they are taught they are "special," through the post-graduation adjustment to life beyond their sheltered existence, until finally they come face to face with their true purpose.
Despite the premise, it's not a sci-fi movie. It's an emotional drama all the way, a heartbreaking story of love and loss (I'm not ashamed to say I cried). But like all good sci-fi, it's also a lens with which to view our own society, forcing us to question our moral certainty. It's a chilling lesson in the limits of human decency, as well as a fascinating exploration of the value of human life, our desperate need to cling to hope in the face of grim reality, and the ways we cope with the inevitable tragedy of death.
Man, when you put 'em all together like that, it's an awful lot of depressing! I need a happy movie next...
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Date: Apr. 20th, 2011 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Apr. 24th, 2011 06:11 pm (UTC)