Reviews backlog
Dec. 4th, 2011 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearInterface by Neal Stephenson and Frederick George
This was another audiobook I decided to listen based on good experiences of the narrator. It's a political thriller with a slight science-fiction edge, tracking the protagonist's rise to presidential candidate through the machinations of a shadowy 'network' trying to secure political power. It's very well written, and very well performed, and kept me hooked right to the end, which I initially didn't like, but realised there was excellent justification for.
AZ by Lars Arrhenius
This is a graphic novel with a twist - it's in the form of a London A to Z, with the various storylines tracking across different pages and intersecting at various points. It was a bit difficult to get my head around it, and most of the stories aren't very jolly, but it's very clever and well executed.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Another graphic novel, entirely without dialogue, but beautifully drawn and highly evocative. It's a gorgeous object in and of itself and the tale it tells of the trials and tribulations of immigration is wonderfully realised. The author sets his story in a fantasy world, so that the unfamiliarities of the characters with everyday processes in their new environment are shared by the reader. It's funny, sad, poignant, terrifying, and ultimately very sweet. A lovely book that I will reread again and again.
Author, Author by David Lodge
I read Lodge's 'Year of Henry James' some time ago, which tells the tale of the writing and publication of 'Author, Author', so decided to give this a try, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a little strange in style - more like a biography than a novel in some ways, but very absorbing and very well written. It told me many interesting things I did not previously know about Henry James, and highlighted the fickle nature of fame - James himself was not all that popular in his time but is now regarded as one of literature's greatest authors, while his friend, George Du Maurier, experienced unprecedented fame on the publication of his second novel 'Trilby', but now very few people have even heard of him. The only problem I had with the book was that it emphasised Henry James' vehement desire that nobody profit from his life after his death by publishing books about him - which is exactly what Lodge has done, and seems an odd tribute to an admired writer.
Hugo
We went to see this in the cinema last night, and I found it quite patchy. All the sections that were taken directly from the book were wonderful, but I really could have done without all the additions - particularly the painfully unfunny comedy station inspector, and the added action scenes, which I thought were entirely unnecessary. The young actors playing Hugo and Isobel did a very good job, particularly with the kind of dialogue and accents that can easily seem stilted and unnatural, and Ben Kingsley provided an excellent weighty adult presence.
Retreat
Watching this was a mistake - I had been led to believe that its explanation was clever and interesting, but it was actually just a schlocky psychological thriller that did nothing for me at all, despite an excellent cast.
This was another audiobook I decided to listen based on good experiences of the narrator. It's a political thriller with a slight science-fiction edge, tracking the protagonist's rise to presidential candidate through the machinations of a shadowy 'network' trying to secure political power. It's very well written, and very well performed, and kept me hooked right to the end, which I initially didn't like, but realised there was excellent justification for.
AZ by Lars Arrhenius
This is a graphic novel with a twist - it's in the form of a London A to Z, with the various storylines tracking across different pages and intersecting at various points. It was a bit difficult to get my head around it, and most of the stories aren't very jolly, but it's very clever and well executed.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Another graphic novel, entirely without dialogue, but beautifully drawn and highly evocative. It's a gorgeous object in and of itself and the tale it tells of the trials and tribulations of immigration is wonderfully realised. The author sets his story in a fantasy world, so that the unfamiliarities of the characters with everyday processes in their new environment are shared by the reader. It's funny, sad, poignant, terrifying, and ultimately very sweet. A lovely book that I will reread again and again.
Author, Author by David Lodge
I read Lodge's 'Year of Henry James' some time ago, which tells the tale of the writing and publication of 'Author, Author', so decided to give this a try, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a little strange in style - more like a biography than a novel in some ways, but very absorbing and very well written. It told me many interesting things I did not previously know about Henry James, and highlighted the fickle nature of fame - James himself was not all that popular in his time but is now regarded as one of literature's greatest authors, while his friend, George Du Maurier, experienced unprecedented fame on the publication of his second novel 'Trilby', but now very few people have even heard of him. The only problem I had with the book was that it emphasised Henry James' vehement desire that nobody profit from his life after his death by publishing books about him - which is exactly what Lodge has done, and seems an odd tribute to an admired writer.
Hugo
We went to see this in the cinema last night, and I found it quite patchy. All the sections that were taken directly from the book were wonderful, but I really could have done without all the additions - particularly the painfully unfunny comedy station inspector, and the added action scenes, which I thought were entirely unnecessary. The young actors playing Hugo and Isobel did a very good job, particularly with the kind of dialogue and accents that can easily seem stilted and unnatural, and Ben Kingsley provided an excellent weighty adult presence.
Retreat
Watching this was a mistake - I had been led to believe that its explanation was clever and interesting, but it was actually just a schlocky psychological thriller that did nothing for me at all, despite an excellent cast.
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Date: 2011-12-05 07:51 pm (UTC)Is Retreat a plague-y type film set on an island? (imdb has 8 films with that exact same name!) cos that looks kind of fun in a Dead Calm-esque kind of way? I don't know. I sometimes like that sort of thing, although I really have to be in the mood!
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Date: 2011-12-05 09:32 pm (UTC)