GENRE OVERLOAD?

Ever wonder if you're stuck in a rut with your ready? Still reading Tom Clancy even after he's dead? Let me tell you about my rut. Here are three novels I read this summer because of reviews or recommendations. Listen to the jacket flap synopses:

1. THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU by Joshua Henken. An American-Jewish family gathers at their traditional summer home to commemorate the death of a son and brother in Iraq a year earlier. But there are simmering problems. Mom and Dad are considering divorce. The youngest sister is now living an ultra-orthodox life in Israel with her husband and three sons, and the rest of the family tiptoes around their disapproval; one daughter has lived with her boy friend for 10 years and doesn't plan to get married: more silent disapproval. The other sister is desperately trying to get pregnant, even though her husband doesn't care much: more disapproval. And everyone feels unwelcome, unloved, misunderstood, you name it. In other words, the perfect dysfunctional novel. Henken writes with assurance, wit, and understanding, so it's very enjoyable. You get to fool yourself once again and sigh, "Thank God I'm not in THAT family."

2. MAINE by J. Courtney Sullivan. This one takes place in a single month, June, at a family beach retreat on the coast of Maine. It is now owned by the family matriarch Alice, a devout Catholic who has a secret tragedy in her past. Among the dueling and misunderstood visitors are her granddaughter Maggie who is pregnant and solo, Maggie's mother, the black sheep of the family who returns from California to help her daughter, and Anne-Marie, her up-tight daughter-in-law whose marriage is in crisis. A series of confrontations and recriminations ensues, and again we are relieved this is not our family, but we are happy to be willing voyeurs. Anne-Marie is the most fully developed character, a woman who wants to do everything right but manages to disappoint herself and irritate everyone around her. Yes, we all know someone like her...but not in our family.

3. SEATING ARRANGEMENTS by Maggie Shipstead. I enjoyed all three of my "rut" novels, but this one really proved entertaining. It's set in pure Cheever or Louis Auchinloss territory (a great place for readers to be) with near one percenters desperately trying to rise above their neighbors while decrying their larger homes and exclusive clubs while longing for them. Winn Van Meter, a successful Boston money manager, was educated at Harvard, joined and loved the best clubs, and became the snob his father raised him to be. Now Winn is approaching 60 and headed for his summer "cottage" on a fictional island off New England to give his pregnant older daughter away in marriage. His younger daughter is recovering from a romantic breakup and an abortion. Bridesmaids are taking over the house, and Winn is overwhelmed by the feminine. Add to that his growing lust for the sexiest bridesmaid and his desperate groveling to members of the vaunted Pequod club. All of this is fleshed out with wit, a little touch of pathos, a dead whale and a real understanding of the characters' strengths and flaws. The satirical targets, especially during this politcal season, are ripe for easy peeling, but they retain their humanity because we often identify with them.

ENJOY!  AND EXPECT MORE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY NOVELS NEXT SUMMER!

The Night the Music Died?

On our recent trip to Connecticut, we listened to Don McLean's classic album American Pie, which first appeared in 1971 and quickly topped the American pop charts. The title song of the same name is the longest popular song ever to reach number 1 at 8 minutes and 33 seconds, too long for a single 45 and forcing the listener to flip the disc. You remember 45's, right? Must have been a whole lotta flipping back in '71. The lyrics have been rehashed, interpreted, and driven into the ground since the song came out. Even Madonna recently sang it, not doing it any good at all. "American Pie" remains one of the most unique songs in popular music history, and that includes songs by Gershwin, Porter, and Sondheim. It evokes the glory and sadness of an era saddened by "the day the music died."

Although "American Pie" is one of the seminal and most important songs in pop history, the album itself is also worthy of great praise. Its second brilliant song, also a hit, is "Vincent" or "Starry, Starry Night," an intelligent and heartfelt tribute to Van Gogh. McLean describes the artist's dilemma of creativity and continued lack of success. With vivid images that evoke several of Van Gogh's famous canvasses, he subtly compares his own striving for creativity and success. McLean's gently soothing guitar provides a loving background for his highly original lyrics. He...."suffered for his sanity,...and took his life as lovers often do."

The album also features other wonderful originals by McLean including a hilarious rock parody about rock idol fame called "Everybody Loves Me, Baby." All of the songs are McLean originals except the closing the traditional and haunting "By the Waters of Babylon." All in all, McLean's greatest achievements are his probing intelligence, his poetic expertise, and his beautiful melodic expression. Just listen.

OTHER LANDS, FINE FILMS

Two recent films deserve movie lovers' attention and even admiration. The first is The Separation, an Iranian film from 2011 that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, a rare honor for a foreign film. The writing, the acting, and especially the direction are far above most American movies. The plot is fairly simple. An Iranian woman doctor wants to emigrate with her teenaged daughter, and her husband refuses to join her because of his father's poor physical and mental health. The doctor leaves to be with relatives, while the daughter stays with her father who is also her tutor. A series of misunderstandings occur when the father hires a care taker for his father, leading to crisis after crisis. The film explores religious and class warfare in modern Iran, but on a personal, gutsy level. The acting is always natural, whether dramatic or humorous. These are ordinary families, like ours, but in extraordinary circumstances that don't get the typical Hollywood treatment.

Another film about the middle east is much lighter and more hopeful. Salmon Fishing in theYemen is a British film about a shiek who wants to build his own salmon stream in Yemen. The Brits, looking for a good news story about the Arabia, supply advisors and through great difficulty start the program. Emily Blunt plays an advisor to the shiek and Ewan McGregor is a fishing expert who is won over by the shiek's kindness and by Blunt.  The great Kristin Scott Thomas is dead-on as the Prime Minister's press secretary, bawdy, brassy, and charming. There are, of course, many complications such as tribal terrorists who don't want western influence and romantic partners who show up at inopportune times. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a warm, witty film with just the right amount of sentiment.

The Wisdom of Clint

 There's a fine line that celebrities tread when they enter the political melee. Just ask Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda. Or perhaps Clint Eastwood. The venerable star of spaghetti westerns, violent Dirty Harry flicks, and chimp comedies eventually became a first-rate director with two
Oscars for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. As he aged, he seemed to be the wise sage of Hollywood, but then he spoke at the GOP convention and wisdom, judgment, and good taste flew out the window.

There he was talking to an empty chair which he addressed as Barack Obana. In a rambling, distasteful, and disrespectful diatribe, Eastwood figuratively told the President to go ¥£€%# himself.
 He also lit into Vice-President Joe Biden, calling the experienced legislator a "joke."  It's one thing for comics, cartoonists and professional muckrakers to rant against their foes. But it is quite another for a special guest at a national convention to do so and to so in a non- sensical, boorish manner. Dirty Harry has really blown 'em away this time. And he doesn't have the last laugh.

BERNIE...A Delightful Surprise

If anyone had told me that a movie starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Shirley MacLaine would be a delightful surprise, I would have laughed. But, sure enough, the dark comedy Bernie, closely based on true events in the small town of Carthage, Texas, provides great characters, quirky humor, and a real sense of local color. Jack Black stars as Bernie, an assistant funeral home director who has won the love and respect of the entire town with his generosity and good nature. Everyone loves Bernie, whether he is singing at a funeral or at church, directing the local theater group, leading the boy scouts, he is always available to help with his cheery and unselfish good will.

So it comes as quite a shock when the town learns that he has murdered his benefactor and long-time companion Marjorie Nugent, a widowed millionarie hated by the entire town. Shirley MacLaine is irascibly perfect as Marjorie, a demanding, lonely, untrusting biddy who becomes dependent on Bernie while he becomes dependent on her wealth. They take cruises together, hit the spas together, go to church with each other for years until she finally demands his full attention and drives him to shoot her in the back in her garage after one last demeaning order.

The film is set up with "witnesses," in the style of movies like When Harry Met Sally. These are real citizens of Carthage, most of whom still love Bernie, despite his crime. The director, Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset),  infuses the film with genuine appreciation for small town relationships, Texas mores, and clever touches. What could have been a scathing satire like Election instead becomes a gentle ribbing of easy targets. We like these people, even Marjorie Nugent. Jack Black gives his best career performance. His character is a gentle, caring man who borders on a gay stereotype but resists that obvious temptation for laughs. Instead, one feels for him, as do the good citizens of Carthage, Texas.

Jane Austen with a hint of raciness and race

We just watched the 1999 version of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park with a capable English cast, few of whom we had seen before. The heroine of this story is Fanny Price, played with wit and grace by Frances O'Connor. As a child Fanny is taken from her impoverished family to her aunt and uncle's estate to be raised with their children. As she grows up, she writes history, novels, and opinions and is befriended by the second son Edmund, while the other children look down on her. As an adult, Fanny is pursued by a charming cad whom the family pushes her to marry. Fanny, like Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, is honest, out-spoken, witty and far superior to those around her. But, as in other Austen novels, it takes her a long time to bring these assets to the fore and realize what to do with them. This is the strongest element of the film.

I wonder what Jane Austen would say about some of the expansions the film makes on her plot. Sir Thomas Benton, her benefactor, seems a good and caring man, but Fanny and we discover that Mansfield Park is paid for by slave labor in Antigua. His eldest son Tom made sketches of the brutal treatment these slaves received, even from Sir Thomas. Another interesting suggestion in the film is that of a lesbian desire on the part of Mary Crawford, the somewhat amoral sister of Fanny's ardent suitor Henry. There are two not too subtle scenes in which she seems to be seducing Fanny. There is also a scene which did definitely not occur in the novel. When Henry fails with Fanny he takes one of the Benton girls to bed. Unfortunately for all, she is married and Henry bails. The scene itself is risque but necessary to reveal truths about the major characters. Would Jane have approved?

Mansfield Park does not have the star power of bigger productions like Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth on Masterpiece, Keira Knightly in the film) or Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, and the wondrous Kate Winslett). But it has solid performances and strong story-telling. I highly recommend this little seen jewel.

Another film now on dvd features a very different young woman from what Austen imagined. Margaret, a long delayed film by director Kenneth Lonergan (the wonderful You Can Count on Me with Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo giving superb performances) is a portrait of a high school girl who witnesses a tragic bus accident and believes that she and the driver were responsible. This idea becomes an obsession with Margaret, played with gutsy aggression by Anna Paquin (Oscar winner for The Piano), who alienates her friends and family. The film takes its good time in developing her character. Part of the problem is that director Lonergam, who originally insisted on a 3 hour cut, can't resist moody shots of the New York skyline or of Margaret wandering the streets where the accident occurred. The supporting cast is almost flawless, especially Mark Ruffalo as the broken bus driver and J. Smith-Cameron as her highly strung but loving mother. Margaret could have been as fine a film as You Can Count on Me, if restraint and fewer plot elements had been used. Still, it is still worth seeing for the performances and for one of the most riveting accidents I have ever seen in a movie.

I heard the news today, oh, boy

Mitt Romney's choice of Representative Paul Ryan for Vice-President is a clarion call to action for anyone who cares what happens to this country in the next decade. As affable, charming, and intelligent as Ryan seems, one has only to listen to what he proposes in his GOP budget plan to realize that he is not in touch with American needs.

As I was driving down Division Street here in Rome recently, I had to slow down for a woman walking on the railroad track. She seemed disoriented and eventually shuffled down the sidewalk. I kept wondering what will happen to her and who would take care of her. There are a number of poorer families (white, black, and hispanic) in the same area. Of the group, only the hispanics seem to be making any progress. Each time I drive out Shorter Avenue I see two or three crippled men on scooters, one of whom has no legs. I see people waiting in the searing heat waiting for a bus and looking forlorn. What are their advantages? Who cares about them? These and millions like them are invisible to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. They are on different streets with different destinations. Why should they care?

Romney keeps demanding that we increase military strength, not cut military spending. He does not seem to realize that defense in this century is going to rely far less on ships and planes and more on diplomacy and good will. His embarassing goofs on his European trip are proof of that. Ryan has little or no international experience. As for Ryan's budget proposals, they threaten to end the current medicare program and offer set vouchers for seniors within 10 years. So, the new health care law will be destroyed, and those 40 million or so Americans without care will have to fend for themselves. Never mind that they and millions of seniors won't be able to afford the vouchers. Other cuts will come for women who care about their health and their reproductive rights. If Ryan and his claque have their way, reproductive rights and planned parenthood will be things of the past.

So, I ask that we start noticing the people on the streets, not just the avenues, that we see many of the folks at our local super market, including the checkout workers, the elderly couples carefully counting their coupons, the downtrodden women with too many children, and all those who need help. If we don't see them, it's a cinch that Ryan and Romney won't.