Last month, I finally saw the film Edge of Tomorrow and loved it. I was initially very reluctant to throw my money at Tom Cruise, because…Tom Cruise. And yet I really wanted to see it, because of this lady. Well done, John Krasinski. When I heard that this fantastic film was based on a book, All You Need Is Kill, I was intrigued and promptly put in a request through my library. In short: Keiji Kiriya is a humble foot soldier fighting a seemingly invincible […]
A Stranger, a Strange Land, a Strange Room
I don’t know if I’ve ever read something as beautiful, evocative, or postmodern as this. Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room is a very idea-driven novel, but one of the most gorgeous pieces of prose I’ve ever read. I first heard of it when I was listening to a panel on the pastoral in contemporary fiction for Modern Language Association this past January (that’s my professional organization), and I was intrigued by the concept. I wanted to see what it was all about. So glad […]
Love is a broken pickle dish.
I’ve read two Edith Wharton novels, so I’d consider myself a fan. I thought The House of Mirth, while extremely depressing, was very compelling and engaging. The Age of Innocence has been my favorite so far, because it is an elegant novel. Also, I read it for a class The Chancellor and I were in when we first started seeing each other, so…yeah. There *might* be a touch of nostalgia surrounding it. I’d never read Ethan Frome, but I remember a student complaining about having […]
Maggie: a poor, unfortunate soul.
In a shocking twist, I read another depressing book by an American author. Something is wrong with me. I think I need a good dose of something safe and saccharine after this. So: Maggie Johnson is a beautiful and innocent girl growing up in a city slum. Her parents are drunks and her brother Jimmie is a fighter, not a lover. What’s a girl to do? Apart from trying to clean up after her mother and keep Jimmie from fighting, she falls in love with […]
(Another) depressing entry by another American author
I read The Glass Menagerie in college, but somehow missed out on the crazytown show that is A Streetcar Named Desire. I’m telling you, these American writers did not get hugged enough as kids. And now they’re taking it out on me. I knew very little about Streetcar before I read it, but I do remember something about a young and beautiful Marlon Brandon yelling “STELLAAAAAAA!” And really, the play is quite simple in concept: Blanche DuBois is a faded Southern belle who comes to […]
The Invisible American
When we Americans talk about World War II from a cultural context, we (rightfully) discuss the Holocaust. It was a horrible crime against humanity, and we should never be allowed to erase the depths to which the human soul can sink. However, we never talk much about the crimes happening on our own soil–namely, the internment of innocent Japanese-American citizens, many of whom were born and raised in the U.S., and most (if not ALL) guilty of nothing whatsoever than looking “Japanese. Yoshiko Uchida’s memoir, […]
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