Author: stumberry

Novel Review- The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes

Title: The Sense of an Ending

Genre: Novel

Grade: B+

Notable People: Julian Barnes

Review: my good find Phil- who many of you know- recommended this to me. I’m not sure I liked it as much as he did- found it a bit slow and found the main character to be wearing- but I’m including his review for your consideration “Small beautifully crafted fiction that follows a life in friendships, relationships, marriage, divorce and an untimely death that haunts throughout. A treatise on memory, loss and mystery. Great with lots of pithy notes on life. Read it in a day.”

Film (Music) Review- The Great Flood

Title: The Great Flood

Genre: Film/Music

Grade: A

Notable People: Bill Morrison- filmmaker Bill Frizell- score and live performance

Review: this is a traveling show, seen at the Wexner Center, of their collaboration on presenting the extraordinary Mississippi flood of 1927. Morrison uses restored archival footage to paint an incredible picture of the physical, social and cultural devastation and Frizell and is three piece band are nothing short of spectacular. This has limited run around the country. Don’t miss it if you get a chance. Incredibly moving.

Novel Review- The Cat’s Table- Michael Ondaatje

Title: The Cat’s Table

Genre: Novel

Grade: A-

Notable People: Michael Ondaatje

Review: I really liked this gentle tale of a young Indian boys’ (dots- not feathers)coming of age tale, crossing the ocean from India to England in the 1950s. Beautifully written with an interesting flash forward element with characters jumping to life off the pages. This is the man who wrote “the English Patient”. What an adventure for a young boy..

Music Review- For the Good Times- The Little Willies

Title: For the Good Times

Genre: Album

Grade: A-

Notable People: The Little Willies- with Norah Jones and Richard Julian

Review: wild…Hank Williams meet Ravi Shankar- with Ravi’s little girl, Norah, fronting this pretty unusual collection of musicians making VERY classic country music. Would never have guessed these sounds would come from these people- but it’s pretty damn good.

Film Review- A Dangerous Method

Title: A Different Method

Genre: Film

Grade: B/B+

Notable People: Michael Fassbinder, Vito Mortensen, Kiera Knightly

Review: wow- a tale filled with analysis, fixation, hysteria, and dueling founders of psycho-babble…what’s not to like. The story of Freud and Jung’s early relationship at turn of 20th century Vienna. Knightly is their famous mega-hysterical, early abused and hyper sexual patient to become the first recipient of Jung’s psychoanalysis. Fassbinder and Mortensen do an admirable job on the competing giants and Knightly is wonderfully exotic and erotic as the object of their fixations. You’d have to see this movie five times to keep up with the dialog and analysis. Mandatory viewing for those of us who have dabbled in the science of the mind.

Novel Review- The Bellini Card- Jason Goodwin

Title: The Bellini Card

Genre: Novel

Grade: B+

Notable People: Jason Goodwin

Review: OK- so this is a real under the radar series about an Ottoman empire Istanbul detective in the mid 18th century who travels to Venice to acquire a famous and mysterious Bellini painting for the new child Sultan. The detective (Yashir) also happens to be a Eunuch. Loaded with intrigue, history, romance and characters that are a cross between film noir and Dickens. What’s not to like??? This is the third in a series and I ran out to the library to get the first two. Written by an academic form Cambridge… this is way out there. A Eunuch detective????

Music Review- Barton Hollow- The Civil Wars

Title: Barton Hollow

Genre: Album

Grade: B+

Notable People: The Civil Wars

Review: Hauntingly beautiful harmonies from this duo with ace session folk on the side. Very sweet and gentle; lots of melancholia. The songs sound a little bit too much alike for a whole album but worth a listen. The opener is called “20 years” and eerily evokes the late great Gene Clark; if you’re a fan, then at least find this one cut and give a listen. Not may sound like him.

Novel Review- Tag Man- Archer Mayor

Title: Tag Man

Genre: Novel

Grade: A/A-

Notable People: Archer Mayor

Review: this is the latest in Archer’s long running Joe Gunther series centered on a Vermont detective. Overall, I think this is his best yet (though many of you know I may be biased about these books). The villain if the first in the series that is also part hero- and this book focuses on him a lot; a real departure for this series. Very complex character development, great story, great serialization of the major characters- and a lot of love writing for Vermont. This a twisting story with a lot of red herrings. The lone down side for me was that the ending seemed a bit pat and formulaic which is not typical of his books. If you’ve read them before- you want to read this one. If not- take a shot.

Film Review- The Descendents

Title: The Descendents

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: George Clooney, Robert Forster, Beau Bridges, Alexander Payne- Director

Review: This film made me cry a lot- but not in a clichéd way. Clooney is really magnificent is this role- against type. The two young daughters are great and the supporting cast is sterling. The cinematography of Hawaii is worth the price of admission and the soundtrack is a good one. Payne is a talented director (Sideways) who tackles a serious story without going for cheap thrills. I liked this move a lot.