Book Review - Uprooted by Naomi Novick

Eh...I finally finshed Uprooted by Naomi Novick - which is a risky book to review here, due to the fact that it came highly recommended by various people on my flist. I had mixed feelings about it.
Found it to be a very frustrating read, for reasons best described below.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Have you ever started reading a book that you were really enjoying and thought was going one way, when all of a sudden it takes a turn by way of Alberque, and is not what you wanted or were hoping for at all? Then, in the last fifty or so pages, becomes sort of what you wanted all over again? But here's the thing, you still feel shafted. Betrayed. Too little too late, dang it. I'm still not sure if the author is to blame for misleading me, or I'm to blame for wanting something different? Perhaps neither, or both?

This, alas, is the problem with coming to a story with high expectations. Note to self - don't read the reviews first, or read only the negative reviews. ;-)



Before going much further, into spoilers and such: it's a fairy tale - and the writer adopts the voice and technique of the fairy tale.
(Whether this is a good thing or not depends on how much you like reading the old fashioned Brother's Grimm fairy tales. The clean crisp, rambling, at times plotty style of fairy tales. With scant character development, the emphasis on the moral or theme or conflict at the center. In fairy tales, the antagonist or thing that is cursed or must be resolved is the most developed character in it. Unless of course it's Hans Christian Andersons' stories, which tend to have a bit more character development.) At any rate, I applaud the writer for attempting to write in the manner of a fairy tale, even if I don't particularly like that style of writing.


( vague spoilers )

Film Reviews - Ant-Man and Carol

Got dinner in later than intended and its taking longer than I thought, salmon and aspergus, over greens, cucumber, daikon radish. (I'm splitting it in half, for tomorrow's lunch. And if there's enough maybe Tuesday's as well. Grand Central and Madison Avenue have things to buy for lunch, but they are pricey.)

Saw two more movies this weekend:

1. Ant-Man starring Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Paul Rudd, and John Slattery in a tiny role. The casting in these series is pretty good. Also this Marvel action drama, unlike various others, focused on the characters. Lots of juicy character development/back story - with the main focus on the father/daughter relationship, as opposed to father/son, which was there but not a focal point. It also gave us both of Marvel's ant-men, Hank Pym, the scientist who created the character and formula, and the new ant-man, Scott Rudnick, the thief, who Pym trains. They stuck close to the comic book back story here. We even got Janet, the Wasp, tragic demise explained. The villain was silly, but also developed. Overall - fun action flick, with lots of insightful science on ants.
Made me appreciate the ants. Ant-Man is a rather cool, lesser known superhero. He was also a founding member of the Avengers.

2. Carol directed by Todd Haynes, starring Cate Blanchett, Ronna Mooney, Kyle Chandler, and Sara Paulson. I found it hard to get into. Beautifully filmed, but poorly written. No real dialogue to speak of. And I felt as if I was watching the characters from a distance, an issue I often have with Todd Haynes films. Also, you know there's a problem when Sara Paulson (Abby) and Kyle Chandler (Arch) are the most sympathetic and relatable characters and they really aren't supposed to be.
Both Carol (Blanchett) and Therese (Mooney) are beautiful but cold and sort of wishy-washy. I found it difficult to care what happened to them, and as a result, had troubles sticking with the movie.
It reminded me a little of Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides - in that the director is more interested in moody atmosphere and pretty visuals than dialogue or putting the viewer inside the characters. We are always held at a distance...looking through a plate glass window at them.

So, of the two, I enjoyed Ant-Man more, oddly. It had better dialogue and character development.