Half-Blood Blues: A Novel
by Esi Edugyan
Music is a language we all understand (4/6/2012)
Casablanca comes to mind, most specifically the last paragraph:
"Turn it", Thomas said, without smiling. "Play it again."
In the book the romance, is the love of music, which Hiero and Sid share, and like the song, "As Time Goes By" from the movie - there is some jealousy involved.
And in the end Thomas says to Sid, "I see you like it was fifty years ago. Exactly like that."
Must have been a favorite movie of Esi's. The banter between the characters along with the very descriptive writing is what makes this book.
No scriptwriters needed for the movie.
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Change (7/19/2011)
I think the book deserves the credit it has been receiving, now the movie...I'll see, that may be a different story.
Determination on Skeeter's part is what drives this book. What starts out as a quest to find an answer to a question, finds it's own path, in the context of the times.
It is understandable that one may want their voice heard, but because of circumstances they are unable or unwilling to express them.
The early sixties was a time that deserves stories such as this. It was a time when change was coming, the tree of segregation was being pruned - twig by twig.
Then in 1965, that tree was struck by lightning - The Civil Rights Act severed that tree.
The Help is just one story, on the branch of that tree.
That is what I liked about the book; most everyone in the book branched out and helped to change the times.
I sense that the movie is going to focus on the characters that were uprooted...I hope not.
Before Ever After: A Novel
by Samantha Sotto
Fan of the Spoken or Written Word? (6/20/2011)
A kind of modern day twist on "The Gift of the Magi" and "Romeo and Juliet". I liked the book. If you know someone who adds an extra dimension to conversation, just by using a word not usually placed in a particular sentence, but given the particular circumstance you find yourself in...the word is perfect, then you have and idea of the writing ability of this author. The conversation between the characters, as well as individual thoughts and feelings, are about as real as you can get. I see the movie coming, instead of a feather floating around (as in Forest Gump) you will hear and egg cracking or see Shelley tripping.
