What I've Been Reading and Watching

My life is getting into a rhythmic pattern as I reconfigure this whole stay-at-home mom thing around doctor's appointments (Bellybean is 27 weeks now!), crazy heat (98 degrees today), and Ben's work schedule.  I've returned to reading books and watching movies again, relying on NPR's book lists and author interviews and the Academy awards/nominations.  This last week, I downed two books down and one movie -- all of which affected me in one way or another.  Thus, a brief highlight and review of each is necessary.



I first heard of this movie during the Academy Awards.  It won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and piqued my interest. Last week, Ben and I found it in a Redbox and checked it out.  I wasn't sure what to expect, having heard nothing about it except for the brief excerpt during the Oscars presentation, and felt very skeptical. I thought it would turn into the ol' husband works too much so wife cheats thus husband is to blame plot but it became a story of a wife in a coma, a husband figuring out their relationship, the far-reaching effects of infidelity on all people involved, and a parent unsure of how to handle his own kids.  I found myself understanding Matt King's (played by George Clooney) frustration as he attempts to parent two daughters who he doesn't understand and who don't respect him.   The movie is set in Hawaii where we quickly learn that paradise isn't always paradise and that money complicates things.  An intense story told with just enough humor to make it bearable.



I haven't read fiction since...I don't know when.  Most books were either not well-written enough or the plots were ridiculously complicated and boring that I lost interest rather quickly.  When I heard of this author on NPR, I decided to check him out.  I was not disappointed.

While slow to start, the author captured me with his thoughtful and descriptive words, intense scenes, and romantic side stories.  Set in two different locations, with a multiplicity of characters, the book follows three parallel stories until they collide.  It's a heart-wrenching thriller that left me breathless and paralyzed until the end.



I actually watched the movie before reading the book.  Both are almost indescribable. The book is a cross between a Quentin Tarantino film and a poem--with its rhythmic narrative, out-of-sequence chapters, and violent scenes--I had to read it twice.  The first as a primer, the second to untangle the plot.  The unnamed and enigmatic main character, Driver, is an anomaly who remains clothed in secrecy that despite the book, I still didn't know him.  Yet this fits perfectly with the plot and seems fitting for a book with mysterious characters who we barely meet before the book ends.  I would recommend reading the book and watching the movie, in no particular order, as they both independently stand as works of art.

I have many more books I am quickly consuming and just may talk about those in another cluster review later.

A Review of Looking Up

Almost a year ago, my dear friend Linda published a beautiful book.  In the description of Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors, and Skokie, it says,

"Written by a child of two Holocaust Survivors, Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors and Skokie, tells the story of growing up with parents who have survived the unsurvivable, who land in an idyllic northern suburb of Chicago, Skokie, where they're suddenly free to live their lives, yet find their past has arrived with them. In a book that's both funny and somber, and a story universal in its scope, Linda Pressman creates an unforgettable world of adolescent angst and traumatized parents amid the suburban world of the 60s and 70s, ultimately finding that her parents' stories are her own." (Emphasis my own.)

While reading this book, I found that her parents' stories, and her stories, could also be my stories.

For example, she talks of her grandma who had multiple children born without rectums and passing away.  I read this with tears pouring down my face as I thought of my own children who didn't survive the embryonic stage.

Linda, the 6th of 7 sisters, also talks of she and her sisters trying to find their place in their family.  Some have an easier time of it and others may never find it.  As the second of ten, I understand the difficulties of figuring out who you are and where you belong in your family.  Yet, like Linda, I have deep love and respect for all my siblings.

Expertly and artistically tying in her parents' and grandparents' Holocaust stories to her own growing up experiences, Linda made me feel like I was in her house as her mother chastised them for complaining about food and clothes by comparing her meager existence in the forest to their current living situations.  I was a guest at the many family functions, listening with growing boredom to my the stories of my grandparents and thinking that every family had Holocaust stories.  And I was with her as they moved away from the Skokie home.

Through it all, many of her family left their religion.  Linda, on the other hand, found strength and courage in her Jewish faith and continues to talk about her rich heritage and traditions on her blog, Barmitzvahzilla.   She gives me hope as I figure out my own spiritual journey while I consider how my grandparents'  and parents' stories impacted how I live.

Linda's book is available at bookstores - on-line and otherwise - and I promise it will be an excellent addition to your library.

As a special treat, I am giving away a free copy. Just leave a comment telling me how your parents and/or grandparents shaped your upbringing and I will randomly select the winner.  If you would like additional entries, "like" Linda's page and my blog's page on Facebook.  Entries will close on Mar. 9 at 12 pm.  Until then, happy reading!

*I was given a free copy of this book but did the review because I loved it so very much.  I know you will too.