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Posts Tagged ‘anger’

‘Sweet Bird of Youth and other plays’ by Tennessee Williams

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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This book contains three of Tennessee Williams’ plays – the title play Sweet Bird of Youth, The Night of the Iguana, and Period of Adjustment. In Sweet Bird of Youth, a wannabe actor named Chance Wayne, returns to the town of his youth with an ageing actress. Chance wants to get back with his one true love, Heavenly Finley, but her family – and most of the rest of the town are not happy, and the violence simmering under the surface threatens to erupt.

In Period of Adjustment, newlyweds George and Isabel visit George’s old Korean war friend Ralph. The marriage has not got off to a good start, and it soon transpires that Ralph has marital problems of his own.

In The Night of the Iguana, a disgraced priest named Lawrence Shannon, has taken on a job escorting coach tours, and brings a coach load of his charges to a Mexican hotel, where he knows the owner. The all-women clientele on the coach hate Shannon as he has had relations with a 16 year old girl on the tour. Another lady named Hannah checks into the hotel with her elderly grandfather, and there is a connection between her and Shannon.

The theme that ripples through each of these plays is frustration at missed opportunities, and regret at bad decisions, which often manifests itself as anger. The writing is beautiful at times, and incredibly sad. But worth reading. Tennessee Williams really digs down into the human psyche and writes without judgement.

Not the most uplifting of reads, but definitely well worth a look.

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‘Legend Of A Suicide’ by David Vann

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on June 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This is less a novel, and not even really a collection of short stories.  Mainly narrated by a character named Roy, at different stages in his life, it is really a series of snapshots about Roy’s father’s suicide when Roy was a young boy, the events that led up to his father taking his own life, and the lasting effects it had on Roy,  Sandwiched in the middle is a longer story (about 165 pages) about an ill fated plan for Roy and his father to spend a year living on a very remote Alaskan island.  About two thirds of the way through this story is a twist that was so surprising that I had to re-read it to make sure I had seen the words correctly.  This twist didn’t fit in with the other stories at all, and actually confused me until I realised what the author was doing.

On the positive side, some of the writing in the book is eloquent and almost beautiful.  Other reviewers have likened it to the writing of Cormac McCarthy and I can see the comparison, although I certainly prefer McCarthy’s work.  However, as good as the writing is, I just felt that I could not connect with this book on any level, and actually looked forward to when I could finish it and put it down.  While I can certainly see how the longer story set on the remote island could pack a punch for some readers, I felt that maybe I was missing the point, and actually almost gave up on reading it (it was the only the fact that I hate not finishing any book once I’ve started that made me press on).

I hope that writing the book may have been cathartic for the author, whose own father committed suicide when David Vann was a young boy.  But for me, something just didn’t click, and all I was left with after finishing the book was relief that it was finished, and a general feeling of malaise.  It’s clear from other reviews I’ve read that some readers felt very moved by this story and it had a profound effect on some people.  Unfortunately, that certainly is not the case with me.  I’d probably hesitate to recommend this to anyone, but if someone did want to read it, I’d suggest that they have something lighthearted on hand to read afterwards.

(Author’s website can be found here.)

 

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21 Grams (2003)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on March 23, 2008| 2 Comments »

This is a truly outstanding movie, and watching it is like being on the proverbial emotional rollercoaster.

Sean Penn is Paul, a critically ill mathematician; Benicio Del Toro is Jack, a former convict now trying to help rehabilitate young offenders; and Naomi Watts is Christina, a young mother and wife, with a murky past.  These three unconnected people move into each other’s orbit due to a horrific car crash which impacts on all of them in different ways.  All three leads are great, but Del Toro and Watts in particular are simply outstanding.

This film deals with grief, passion, love, guilt and anger.  It had me hooked from beginning to end.   The first 30 or 40 minutes are somewhat confusing, as it shows segments of the lives of all three characters, but they are shown totally out of sequence, jumping backwards and forwards in time.  I watched, imagining that it would all come together and make sense, and it did so, about 45 minutes in.

It was one of those rare movies that left me feeling emotionally drained – the way it is shot out of sequence is unusual, and I couldn’t tear myself away from it, even to make a cup of coffee!

I had this movie on my shelf for a long time, and wasn’t really sure that I felt like watching it – however, I am extremely glad that I did so, and will definitely be watching it again.

Year of release: 2003

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Writer: Guillermo Arriaga

Main cast: Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts

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