Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

I think that everyone knows who Anne Frank is/was. She is renowned for keeping a diary of her time in hiding during the Second World War. It chronicles her life in hiding in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which extended from July 6, 1942 through August 1, 1944 (her last entry although her family was arrested and sent to concentration camps on August 4, 1944).

The diary begins before the family goes into hiding. Specifically, it starts with descriptions of her thirteenth birthday and the presents that she received - most notably the diary. Most of the early sections describe her mundane worries and life - grades, schoolmates and her relationships. However, she also talks about the changes that have come about in The Netherlands since the Nazis had occupied the country.The family, comprised of Anne, her sister, Margot, and her parents (Otto and Edith), opted to go into hiding when Margo received a call up for a work camp run by the Nazis.  About a week later, the van Pels family (referred to in the diary as the Van Daans) moved in. The members of their family included a son named Peter, and his parents. A third party arrived much later on. There was very limited contact with the outside world and that contact was limited to the radio and the people that helped the Franks and Van Pels (Miep Gies, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Bep Voskuijl). Most of Anne's writings focused on her relationships with the people that were in hiding with her and with the people that helped them while they were there. She also provides some detail about their daily life - what they ate, the stresses of not knowing where their food was coming from and the fear of being found out.  Anne focused mostly on her relationship with her mother (whom she had much ambivalence and often contempt for), Margot (her sister, of whom she was often jealous, though she did become closer to her later on) and Peter (with whom she initially despised but with whom she then formed a romantic bond with).

For a girl that wrote for herself initially and who was between the ages of 13 and 15 when she wrote, the writing is of tremendously high quality.  It's apparent that Anne had a talent for writing. Anne showed tremendous insight and a tremendous capacity for self-revelation, even at such a young age.  In some ways, though, she was almost too moody and sometimes repeated herself. The most interesting parts of the diary, for me, were the parts where she talked about her day to day life.  I was most interested in knowing what it was like living in hiding. 

This is a must read.

Factory Girls by Leslie Chang

This book is the first real look at the everyday migrant population in China - the folks that work in the factories that usually make the products that we consume here in the West.  It specifically looks at female migrant workers and was originally conceived as a series of articles that would appear in the Wall Street Journal.

In this book, Leslie Chang journeys to Dongguan, China and follows two women as they attempt to rise through the ranks in industrial factories, starting with the assembly lines to management. In addition, she follows them through their journey into self-improvement and dating.Interspersed in between the stories of the two women that she follows, Chang also tells the story of her own family and their migration from farm to city and from mainland China to Taiwan to the United States.

Chang does a remarkable job painting this world.  It's a world where just about everyone  that has "gone out" to the city from their rural village is under 30 and where friends and boyfriends are lost when a person loses their cell phone (because cell phones are the only reliable way for migrant workers to keep in touch with each other). It's also a world where changing jobs every month or so isn't unusual - people seemingly changed jobs as easily as they changed their clothing.  It's also a world where a small amount of knowledge of English and computers carried you from the depths of the factories to their offices and lies about your qualifications led to you getting jobs, and where employers never took five minutes to verify that. It's also a world where there are factories so large, that they have their own hospitals and own fire departments.

The more interesting parts of the book, for me, focused on the migrant workers, their lives and their motivations.  I found the sections about Chang's family to be a little bit slow and sometimes uninteresting. I appreciated that Ms. Chang didn't draw any moral conclusions (at least not explicitly) so that I, as the reader, could attempt to draw my own conclusions.  I also really appreciated how Ms. Chang didn't seek to propose any solutions.  She envisioned her role as providing information to the reader and she did that adequately, although one shouldn't expect a comprehensive guide to migrant workers going in. I think that a book lie that would take more than the approximately 440 pages that this book was. Her prose is very accessible and very readable; the book moved pretty quickly (even the parts that I wasn't particularly fond of). You should also not expect her to delve into the controversies surrounding factories - unions, human rights violations, etc. - again because I think that this wasn't the point of the book and also would have made the book much, much longer than it is.

This was a really wonderful book that deserved the accolades given to it.

The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

This book was published in 2007, written by Dominican author Junot Diaz and takes place in both New Jersey, where Diaz grew up and in the Dominican Republic, where Diaz was born. It won the Pulitizer Prize for fiction among many other awards and other nominations for prizes.

The novel's namesake is an overweight (as in 300+ pounds) "lovesick ghetto nerd" who falls woefully inadequate in the wooing of the opposite sex.  The only things that he really likes and excels at are role playing games and writing his science fiction/fan fiction stories.  Oscar and his older sister Lola were born in the United States but their family has immigrated from the Dominican Republic.  Most of the family believes that they suffer from "fuku americanus," the curse or the doom of the New World and which seems to be passed down from generation to generation in this family.  The curse began with the family's patriarch, a successful doctor - Dr. Cabral - , in 1946 when he was cursed by the high priest of the malady - Rafael Trujillo (the dictator of the Dominican Republican) and which ended up with him being put in jail. Embroiled in this entire thing is Yunior, another Dominicano, who was Oscar's roommate during their college years and who actually was involved in Oscar's failed attempt at suicide. His experiences with Oscar will forever scar him and follow him for the rest of his life. This novel is intended to follow Oscar's life, albeit a short one.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was just as much a snapshot of the history of the Dominican Republic during Trujillo's dictatorship as it was a novel about the family of this geeky boy. Diaz also manages to show us a snapshot of the political, psychological and emotional issues that the diaspora - the immigrants from the Dominican to the United States specifically - effectively in around 300 pages. The prose used is captivating and I loved the geeky science references and other literary references that were sporadically dropped throughout the novel; it made it feel like I was sharing a part of Oscar's obsession at the least and living in a part of his psyche at the most. I enjoyed the more contemporary parts of the book as opposed to the historical parts, but both parts were really well written and very effective.  The story itself is a very sad, sad story so don't expect to feel great after reading this book.

Generally a really good novel!

With Honors starring Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci

This movie is a comedy/drama that was released in 1994 (you can tell by the hair styles!!) and was directed by Alek Keshishian. I don't think that Mr. Keshishian had directed any movies prior to this - he was most known for directing music videos for singers like Madonna. It stars Brendan Fraser (as Montgomery "Monty" Kessler), Joe Pesci (as Simon Wilder), Moira Kelly (as Courtney Blumenthal), Patrick Dempsey (yes, McDreamy, as Everett Calloway) and Josh Hamilton (as Jeffrey Hawkes).

Monty, Courtney, Everett and Jeffrey are seniors and roomates at Harvard University.  Monty is dead set on graduating with honors in his chosen major - political science. He has opted to write his senior thesis on economics.  The thesis is decidedly conservative and espouses and subscribes to the theories put forward by Ronald Reagan during his tenure as president. One night, after returning from a long day of classes and research, Monty goes to work on his thesis but all of his data and the thesis on his hard drive are lost when power in the house is lost. Understandably, Monty freaks out because his hard drive is fried but luckily, he has a number of chapters printed out as back up, so he opts to go down to the library to make copies that evening, instead of waiting for the morning, as his much cooler headed roomates advised.  On his way, he breaks his ankle and loses the remaining hard copy down a steam shaft. When he finally gets into the library and finds his hard copy, it is in the possession of Simon Wilder, a homeless man that lives in the boiler room of Harvard's Widener library in spite of being a former Merchant Marines. Simon also has a lot of health problems, including asbestos inhalation that was never identified and treated.  This movie details the impact that Simon, Simon's experience and his knowledge has on the four roomates, and, most notably, on Monty, whose entire worldview changes as a result of this interaction.

I enjoyed this movie, not because it really packed a punch or was a movie with a message (a la Hurt Locker) that was being forced down my throat but because it was a pleasant, easy to watch movie.  It's one of those movies that you can watch that is comforting in the sense that it doesn't really push the viewer but is really high in entertainment value.  I enjoyed watching the actors and, quite frankly, I enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing Harvard, Cambridge and the Charles River in some scenes because those days were a little easier for me. And I loved Cambridge very much. Still do. The cast was wonderful, even though the movie itself could get a little saccharine and cheesy and the plot a little predictable. I also really appreciated that this was a college movie - a movie about college students - where the students seemed to try to figure themselves out as people - to increase their depth and figure out their roles in the world, instead of just trying to figure out how to get beer, more money, more pot or how to get to White Castle. They tried to navigate the moral battles that they were given and to learn from them, and I appreciated that this happened in this movie, whereas in other movies, that doesn't always happen. I really enjoyed it in general, even though it wasn't a critically acclaimed movie.

This is one you should add to your collection.

The Lovely Bones starring Mark Wahlberg

The Lovely Bones is a 2009 film directed by Peter Jackson, based upon the 2002 novel of the same name authored by Alice Sebold. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Suzie Salmon (the lead role), Mark Wahlberg as her father Jack, Rachel Weisz as her mother, Abby, and Stanley Tucci as George Harvey. Susan Sarandon and Rose McIver put in appearances as Lynn (Suzie's grandmother) and Lindsey (Suzie's older sister).

In 1973, Suzie Salmon was fourteen, living in Norristown, PA, a nice suburban town and was dreaming of becoming a famous photographer. She lived with her mother, father, older sister and younger brother. The best parts of her life were the camera that she received for her birthday and the crush that she had on a boy that she went to school with (and who was appearing to return her affections). Suzie narrates the film - it's almost entirely in her perspective - and she tells of her murder by a neighbor (Harvey, played by Stanley Tucci) as well as the impact that it has on the people that she loves. The murder happens early in the movie, so it's no surprise. We also learn a lot about her killer - a scary, single man that has an obsessive interest in making dollhouses and big glasses. This guy gave me the creeps as soon as I laid eyes upon him, even before the homicide occurred - just by his appearance. After she is murdered, Suzie wanders around the afterlife in an attempt to figure out how to close things out on Earth so that she can move on to eternal bliss in Heaven because, apparently, one cannot move from one realm to the other without that closure.

There were two shining glories in this movie - the performances of Stanley Tucci and Saoirse Ronan.  They both added to their roles in a way that the rest of the cast didn't really even come close to.  Ronan was an eager and likeable actress that brought these qualities to her vision of Suzie Salmon.  I think that a big part of the reason that I liked Suzie was because I also liked Ronan.  Tucci was rightfully nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That nomination was well deserved. He WAS the character (well, I hope not really in real life. I'm assuming he's not, which is why his performance as so amazing).

There were other parts of the move that were difficult to deal with - sometimes, it was tedious.  The movie itself was way too long for what the characters' motivations were - the movie could have been much shorter than it was. Jackson also made the afterlife a little too literal - almost everyone that believes in the afterlife has an opinion as to what it looks like on the other side and Jackson threatened to isolate many people. Also, if you're looking for a murder mystery/police procedural then this isn't the movie for you because the murder and its perpetrator are identified right off the bat.

Generally, an ok movie.  I enjoyed it.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

I was browsing at the library last week, before I broke my ankle, and saw this book. I picked it up because I adore Kingsolver - have ever since I read The Poisonwood Bible way back when (I think that I was in high school).

The Lacuna is Kingsolver's first novel in nine years!!!  I couldn't believe that it had been nine years since her last novel. Kingsolver's main character is Harrison Shepherd, a young man that has a Mexican mother and American father - as such, he's got dual citizenship with the States and Mexico. In 1929, when Harrison is 12, his mother takes him to live with her in Mexico, because she has fallen in with a wealthy Mexican landowner. Harrison is there, somewhat aimlessly and passively (which seems to be his theme throughout the whole book), and while there, swims and learns to cook from the staff. When he meets Frida Kahlo at the market, he opts to go home with her, where he becomes employed initially in the kitchen and then as a plaster worker for Diego Rivera, her muralist husband. Lev Trotsky eventually moves into the household and Harrison becomes his personal secretary. During that time, he bears witness to the work that Trotsky does as well as his assassination by one of Stalin's agents. After moving back to the States, Harrison becomes a hugely successful writer, creating works of fiction mostly about Mexico's history and some of which provide political commentary. He also is targeted by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee because of his interactions with the revolutionaries in Mexico. From the time that he lived in Mexico, he kept a journal/diary of sorts, which is what most of the novel is based upon and excerpts from.

I really enjoyed this novel. Where some reviewers were turned off by the ordinariness (what some others called the absolute apathy) of the main character, I was actually very much attracted to it.  The perspective of the average Joe to the historical events portrayed in this novel was very refreshing to me - I mean, we always hear how the major players felt (by their own paintings, journals or letters) but never how the average person really felt about the major events that were occurring. The characters were wonderfully and beautifully drawn and I really enjoyed reading about them and wondering what would happen to them.  The prose was, as usual and in the typical Kingsolver style, wonderful.  It was a breathtaking and poignant novel that I would recommend to anyone.

Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford

So, one of the benefits (I guess that you can call it a benefit) of having a broken ankle is that you get to watch a ton of the movies off your Netflix queue that you wouldn't normally have the time to watch and, in my case, to do it in a relatively sober state because I can neither drink or take the "good" pain medications. 

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction/dystopian future type of film starring Harrison Ford and directed by Ridley Scott. Ford plays a semi-retired Blade Runner in LA in 2019. Blade Runners are police officers whose sole job is to chase down and "retire" (a synonym for kill) replicants. Replicants are humanoids that are visually indistinguishable from adult humans, created by the Tyrell Corporation, but which have been banned from Earth due a violent uprising that occurred in the years before the events in this film. They are now limited to off world colonies, doing dangerous work that humans can't or won't do. At the beginning of Blade Runner, we learn that a group of 4, cunning replicants have returned to Earth and are going on a rampage.  Ford's character - Rick Deckard - is a retired Blade Runner who is called back into service to help track down and retire these out of control replicants. During his quest, Ford comes across Rachel, a replicant that is employed by Tyrell company as the CEO's personal assistant, that is somewhat of an anomaly - she's called "an experiment" - because, unlike the other replicants that Tyrell has produced, Rachel actually has memories, albeit ones that come from Tyrell's niece. As the movie progresses, Ford develops feelings for Rachel that he struggles with periodically during his quest.

I had never seen this movie before, ever, even though we have the DVD at my home and my husband absolutely adores the movie.  It apparently also has a cult following - now not so much a cult following as a mainstream following.  And I can see why - it's a pretty good movie. What shocked me is that people agreed that when this film was released in the theaters in the early 80's, it was a complete and utter flop. People hated it.  No clue why because Scott created a really good movie with Harrison Ford as his lead man. Thematically, the movie was attractive because it dealt with themes of memory and identity and how they are intertwined: are they intertwined, how much does one impact the other if at all, etc. I really enjoyed how the scenes were shot and the sets themselves. The darkness, with some brief interludes of light, fit in very well together and added to the overall feel.