Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.
Beckford is not a suicide spot. Beckford is a place to get rid of troublesome women.
The very first page of Into the Water by Paula Hawkins whose debut novel The Girl on the Train became a global best-seller is a re-imagining of a horrific historic moment. A young girl accused of witchcraft is ‘tested’ by seeing whether the water will accept or reject her. Her death by drowning ‘proves’ her innocence. This is a story of drowned women with a touch of the uncanny to the whole proceedings. One of the central characters is a self-proclaimed psychic who speaks to the dead and is reportedly a descendant of an executed witch. It’s also a story about stories; there’s a double manuscript within the book, including and most especially those stories we tell ourselves. Like The Girl on the Train, Hawkins explores the fluid, imperfect, nature of memory and how easy it is for people to construct false narratives. Which means we are treated to a series of unreliable narrators.
The first such narrator is Jules Abbott a thirty something social worker who’s shocked to learn that her estranged sister Nell has purportedly jumped off the Beckford bridge and left Jules custodian of her teenaged daughter the beautiful, troubled Lena. Beckford’s bridge and infamous ‘drowning pool’ have seen the deaths of many women over the years, including a teenage girl only a few months before. Indeed Nell Abbott had a morbid fascination with the site and was writing a book about it; something that put her on the bad side of a number of local residents. Jules Abbott is forced to confront the past she’s spent over twenty years running from and learns hard truths along the way. Nor is she the only one. There are more than a few secrets in Beckford. Hawkins is working with a larger canvas here than in her debut and with far more characters. It was risky but she pulls it off with a writing style that’s lyrical, elegiac, melancholy, and macabre all at once. It’s a book you’ll want to read in one sitting and the final pages with echo with you long afterwards.
These are the very first words of Skitter by Ezekiel Boone, which continues where last year’s The Hatching left off. (Read the review.) After thousands of years of dormancy, the flesh eating spider swarms made their global debut. It’s only been a couple weeks since their arrival, but to those inside the catastrophe, it’s been an eternity. In an attempt to eradicate the insects, China has obliterated half its territory with nukes. Los Angeles, thanks to the spiders and the quarantine declared by President Pilgrim, has become a dystopia where a former conman becomes a prophet leading an army of thousands. Many parts of the world have become completely cut off. And it’s only the beginning, Arachnid expert Melanie Guyer has discovered there’s another hatching coming and the new batch of spiders is even worse.
Once again, Boone brings us creepy crawly terror galore. (Anyone prone to nightmares involving spiders and/or other insects should probably give this series a pass.) Characters such as Dr. Guyer, President Stephanie Pilgrim, her aide Manny, Shotgun the survivalist, and others are back. Boone cleverly arranges things so many of the new characters collide and interact with one another in fun and ingenious ways. There’s an especially hilarious segment where the flamboyantly gay Fred welcomes an army platoon with mint juleps and the promise of pulled pork tacos.
In some parts of the world, like a remote Scottish island or for vacationers in Hawaii, life goes on as usual, albeit with more limited supplies. But in other places civilization has broken down completely and, while various scientific geniuses are making new discoveries about the spiders and how perhaps to combat them, President Pilgrim is forced into ever harder choices that in a sense mean abandoning, or worse yet, sacrificing huge swaths of the country altogether.
There are two flaws; one the subplot involving Agent Mike Rich and his family is cut off from the rest of the book and frankly less interesting. Skitter, the middle chapter of a planned trilogy (Zero Hour comes out in 2018),inevitably has several open plot lines which, while they will no doubt be headed for resolution in the conclusion, may well irritate readers who prefer instant gratification. (These people should probably wait for all three books to come out, before attacking the trilogy as a set.) But this second entry once more demonstrates Boone’s talent for building suspense. He certainly leaves the reader hungry for more.
He says ‘Welcome to the frickin Guardians of the Galaxy! Only he didn’t use ‘frickin’.
When we’re first reunited with the titular Guardians they’ve been hired by the Sovereign (a race of golden, snotty, and genetically-engineered super-beings) to defend some valuable batteries from a horrific beast. The beast does indeed come and it’s a grueling battle for the Guardians…but that isn’t the main focus of the sequence. No much of what we see is snippets as the camera follows Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) happily dancing away to Quill’s music tracks.
Rocket (Voiced by Bradley Cooper)
This is pivotal to the core of the movie. Yes, Guardians is a comic book/syfy feature. Yes, it involves lots and LOTS of gnarly battle sequences. But the fisticuffs aren’t really the point here. Guardians’ focus is primarily on family, to the point where it can feel like you’re being hit over the head with it. Still, can’t deny that it works; whether it be blood ties like that between Quill (Chris Pratt) and his hither-to unknown father, the Celestial being known as Ego (Kurt Russell who’s an absolute hoot), or the man who raised him, the alien Ravage Yondu (a surprisingly sensitive and touching performance by Michael Rooker). And it’s not just Quill’s family issues on display. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has some serious sibling rivalry and baggage going with her adopted sister Nebula (an utterly transformed Karen Gillan who shines in the role). Plus, there’s the fact that the Guardians themselves are a fairly bizarre, make-shift family with some members (coughRocketcough – voiced by Bradley Cooper) determined to be as prickly as possible. And everybody finds themselves taking on a parental role when it comes to Baby Groot.
Kurt Russell as Ego
Welcome newcomers include Elizabeth Debicki as the haughty and inhumanly beautiful Sovereign High Priestess Ayesha and Pom Klementieff as Ego’s adorable pet empath, Mantiss, along with a surprise cameo that’s just perfect. Watching all these disparate personalities interact with one another is what Guardians is all about. Well, that and its killer soundtrack.
Not that we don’t get a plentiful share of groovy sci-fi concepts along the way. A Ravager bar on an ice world that’s just the right mix of gaudy and disreputable. Ego’s home world is a visually dazzling delight for the eyes. Yondu’s ‘whistle stick’ is even more glorious this time around. And there’s a space funeral that is one of the most beautiful things imaginable. It’s sometimes a little too evident that Gunn is trying to entertain us with more of the same from the first movie, but in the end it is indeed very entertaining.
It smells like rotten eggs. The air is hazy and gray with gunpowder smoke. Everyone has been shot by me. I haven’t got even as much as a bruise.
Nine months ago, a mass shooting took place at a prestigious prep in one of the wealthiest suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. During the shooting, 18 year old Maja’s best friend, Amanda, and lover, Sebastian, were both killed. Since that time Maja has been imprisoned and is now facing her day in court. As Maja grimly reflects though, it probably won’t be much of a trial since just about everyone in the country with the possible exception of her lawyer Sander seems convinced of her guilt. How is it that Maja, attractive, bright, popular, and from a wealthy family came to be the defendant in Sweden’s most explosive criminal case? What actions – or inactions on her part brought her to this point?
Quicksand by Malin Persson Giglito flashes in and out of the present day time with the trial to recount Maja’s doomed love affair with the charismatic but disturbed Sebastian son of the richest man in Sweden. The book acts as both a gripping courtroom thriller and a psychological thriller. Maja at times seems almost clinically detached to the proceedings that will determine her whole future. Hearing the lead prosecutor paint her as a uniquely evil perpetrator, her primary reaction is boredom at how long the woman drones on. At first this may seem odd or even psychotic, but what eventually emerges is a young woman deeply traumatized by a combination of grief, guilt, and despair.
Giolito examines issues of class, immigration, gender, and teenage alienation while piecing together the complicated web of events. None of the adults, be they teachers, parents, or investigators, seem of any use here except once more for Sandor, who’s not exactly brimming with warmth but whose dedication to factualness and the truth makes him the closest thing the novel has to a hero. The conclusion to what happened in that classroom may be pre-determined, but we’re captivated with finding out how it came to be. It’s not always a smooth or seamless journey, but it is nevertheless a mesmerizing one and with a narrative voice that is as unique as it is unforgettable.
The announcement that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus will be closing on May 21 marks the end of an era. The company began nearly a hundred years ago when the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows merged with Barnum & Bailey’s The Greatest Show on Earth. Both circuses had been around much longer and indeed this closure comes after 146 years. In that time the three-ring Big Top has become one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic images in our culture conjuring up images of popcorn, cotton candy, sequined aerialists, elephants and clowns. Indeed, circuses have inspired a number of literary works over the years as well.
Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks With the Circus (1881) By James Otis Kaler. First published as a serial in Harper’s Magazine before being published as a children’s novel, in the vein of instructing children in moral lessons. Toby runs away from an foster home to join the circus only to learn that the reality isn’t nearly as light-hearted as the shows themselves. His employer is a harsh taskmaster and his truest friend is Mr. Stubbs the chimpanzee. It was considered a classic of children’s literature for many generations and inspired a Disney film in 1960. It was Kaler’s first book and his most well-known and successful.
Spangle (1987) By Gary Jennings After surrendering at Appomatoxx at the end of the Civil War, two former Confederate soldiers join a traveling circus that eventually leaves for Europe. The novel spans six years (from the end of the Civil War to the Franco-Prussian conflict.) Along the way the novel examines both the social structures of the Reconstruction South and of Europe at a time when the monarchy is beginning to crumble. Jennings was widely praised for both his wealth of historical detail and his ability to bring exotic settings to life.
Cirque du Freak (2000) by Darren Shan. Book one of The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan. Darren and his best friend Steve ‘Leopard’ Leonard visit an illegal freak show where they are enthralled by the mysterious Mr. Crepsley and his giant spider Madam Octa. But Darren recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a infamous vampire and this starts a chain of events with enormous consequences for both boys. The novel was also adapted into a feature film starring John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, and Willem Defoe released in 2009.
Water for Elephants (2006) by Sara Gruen. Jacob Jankowski aged 93 is living in a nursing home and begins to reminiscence about his youth. Seventy years before after learning of his parent’s tragic deaths, Jacob leaves Cornell University where he’s been studying veterinary medicine and joins up with a traveling circus; The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Jacob soon becomes deeply entangled with the equestrian director August, his beautiful wife Marlena, and Rosie the elephant. The novel was a huge success that stayed on the New York Times Best Seller List for 12 weeks, was nominated for an Alex Award and a Quill Award, won the BookBrowse award for most popular book and was adapted into a feature film starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz.
The Night Circus (2011) by Erin Morgenstern. This fantastical fairy tale is set near Victorian Era London. Le Cirque des Reves, the Circus of Dreams with black and white tents and costumes, is open only from sunset to sunrise and features such attractions as ice gardens, acrobats soaring without nets, and a Japanese contortionist. It also happens to be employing two bona fide magicians who disguise their actual magic as fabulous illusions and a fortune teller who’s quite genuine as well. Not to mention a whole host of other dynamic figures as well. The novel was a huge splash spending seven weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and winning an Alex Award from the American Library Association. Morgenstern was compared to such authors as J.K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman.
Top Bigstock photo: Cars from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus train which carries elephants and other large animals.
But where are the films about us solving the problem and turning things around?
That was the question that inspired filmmakers Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent to make their two hour documentary Tomorrow. While, there are many, many movies about the dangers of climate change and other looming environmental threats these films tend be more about scaring people and instilling in them a feeling of despair. Tomorrow has the opposite effect; it inspires hope and a belief that maybe just maybe humanity’s future can be a bright one – IF we work to make it so.
Tomorrow is divided into five chapters – Agriculture, Energy, Economy, Democracy, and Education – each exploring something that would need to be changed/revolutionized to make for a better society. Laurent and Dion travel around the world to see reforms in all of these that can offer lessons to others. They interview urban farmers in Detroit and permaculture experts in France who demonstrate how sustainable agriculture practices can not only feed the planet but foster job growth and communities as well. We learn that Copenhagen (and a number of other cities) has made it its goal to be completely carbon neutral. It’s already reduced emissions by 40 percent since 1995 and by 2025 will be powered entirely by renewable energy. Iceland is already nearly self-sufficient thanks to geothermal energy and hydroelectric power – they’re just working on powering their cars via electric battery. We visit San Francisco’s enormous composting program which has been adopted by 300 cities and 1,000 vineyards. We learn of new economic models, including local economies that use their own currency expressly to keep money local. Finally, we visit Finland to see what are some of the highest performing public schools in the Western world.
The visuals are beautiful, with great cinematography. The musical score is quite cleverly chosen as well, but best of all, in a world where it seems that every headline we read is more bad news, Tomorrow has the audacity to hope.
April Fool’s Day is upon us where we all get free reign to play pranks on one another and lie with impunity. In the spirit of this holiday, here are five note-worthy films celebrating hoaxsters, tricksters, and plain old flim-flam men. Enjoy! (But watch your wallet.)
The Music Man (1962) Based on the Broadway musical of the same name, Robert Preston’s performance of slick tongued salesman Harold Hill and how he transforms and is transformed in turn by River City, Iowa is one of the most iconic of all time. Also starring Buddy Hackett, Shirley Jones, and Paul Ford it was one of the highest grossing films of the year. It won the Academy Award for Best Musical Score and was nominated for five more including Best Picture. It later holds up as one of the best and most beloved movie musicals of all time and indeed ‘Harold Hill’ has now become cultural shorthand for swindlers everywhere!
The Sting (1973) Directed by the legendary George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as two professional grifter’s in the Depression era, who pull on a complicated confidence scam on a mob boss played by Robert Shaw. A box office smash, The Sting was nominated for 10 Oscar Awards and won seven including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
Six Degrees of Separation (1993) Directed by Frank Schepesi and adapted from the Pulitzer Prize nominated John Guare play of the same name and based on the true story of David Hampton. Fifth Avenue Socialite Ouisa Kittredge (Stockard Channing) and her husband Flan (Donald Sutherland) get taken in by slick young hustler Paul (Will Smith in his first major film debut) who convinces them that he’s the son of Sidney Poitier. Stockard Channing’s performance was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.
Catch Me If You Can (2002) Steven Spielburg directed this biographical crime film based on the life of Frank Abagnale who successfully impersonated a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer and made off with huge sums of cash-while he was still a teenager. Leonardo DiCaprio gives an astonishing performance as Frank, Christopher Walken plays his father Frank Sr., and Tom Hanks is Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent assigned to take him down. It was a financial and critical success with a 96% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and Christopher Walken was nominated for an Academy Award.
The Hoax (2006) Directed by Lasse Halstrom (The Cider House Rules, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?) and starring Richard Gere as Clifford Irving. It tells the story of Irving’s elaborate hoax of writing and publishing the autobiography of Howard Hughes – without ever even speaking to Howard Hughes himself. Anchored by Gere’s performance the movie also sports an all star cast including Al Molina, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, and Stanley Tucci. Which helps explain why it made the Top 10 Films lists for both the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek.
Until I was fifteen, I hadn’t realized that smiling gave me an advantage. By studying other people I had learned how to socialize.
A seven year-old girl known only as Olivia walks into a bank in Stockholm, naked and covered in blood. She gets away with millions and walks out in broad daylight without being found. The Little Girl Robbery as it’s called becomes a media sensation and experienced officer Leona Lindberg takes the case. Leona is unquestionably competent but plagued with demons of her own; she’s got a serious gambling addiction, a seriously ill child, and a crumbling marriage. All this would be enough to create plenty of narrative drama in its own right. But Jenny Rogneby, former pop star and police investigator in the Stockholm Police Department, and now author of Leona: The Die is Cast, adds a an incredibly daring new wrinkle to the matter.
At first Leona’s chilly and precise narrative voice (alternating with third person scenes with other characters), appears to be autism, it slowly dawns on the reader that it is actually a form of sociopathy. Leona seems to be incapable of human emotions like guilt, empathy, or even conscience. The only time she ever experiences love is for her own children; and it confuses and distresses her. She’s not a character who instills any sense of sympathy, but we do feel empathy. Rogneby has created a protagonist who both repels and compels all at once.
Other characters make their marks too, like annoyingly persistent journalist Christer, Prosecutor Nina, the closest thing Leona has to a friend, and her emotionally volatile supervisor and one-time lover Claes. As Leona investigates The Little Girl Robbery, the novel takes twists and turns that will leave any reader breathless. Child abuse is an ongoing theme from the first page not only for the child turned robber Olivia but Leona herself. It will probably continue to be a theme throughout the books for The Die is Cast, is clearly intended only to be the beginning of a new series. We meet her deceptively perfect family who conceal their dark secrets under a patina of perfection. Rogneby has given us a book you cannot put down, through the frantic final pages that end on a cliffhanger sure to leave you dreading and anticipating what comes next.
