Look at me posting twice in one week! I want to review some books and movies before I forget all about 'em.
For our last book group we read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. I'd never read anything by him and was just dazzled by the writing! It's the story of a community of Blacks and Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who live in a poor area outside of Philadelphia in the 1930s. We meet Moshe, a Romanian Jew, who owns a theater where you're just as likely to hear a klezmer band as a Black jazz band. His wife, Chona, runs the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, which doesn't make a profit, mostly because she is so generous to all her neighbors. Well, except for the town doctor, who she has seen marching in a white KKK hood—and she does not keep quiet about it. Moshe's right-hand man at the theater is Nate, a Black man with an unknown past; his wife, Addie, takes care of Chona when she falls ill. And there's a full cast of delightful neighbors—Big Soap and Bernice and Paper and Fatty and Malachi. The plot comes together around Dodo, a young Black boy who lost his hearing when the kitchen stove exploded, but I won't say any more than that. I wasn't surprised to find out that McBride is the son of a Black father and a Jewish mother—in fact, that explains a lot! Nor was I surprised to learn that he is a jazz musician, because the book really does feel like an improvisation—and I mean that in the best way: it reads with riffs and flourishes and moments of sadness and unequaled joy. I really can't compare it to anything else I've ever read, but I do recommend it. Although it tackles some very tough topics—mostly bigotry and intolerance in all its worst forms—I closed the book with a feeling of warmth and hope.
After that I took the suggestion of faithful blog reader Deborah and read Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, and I am so glad I did! The plot is pretty unusual: A bunch of people are being held hostage (well, sort of) by a foiled bank robber (well, sort of) at the open house of an apartment for sale. We also get to know the police officers assigned to the case, as well as a number of other peripheral characters. On the one hand, there are parts of the book that are pretty sad, and there is reference to a suicide that occurred years before. But I also laughed out loud at dozens of other completely preposterous scenes that somehow rang true. There was so much heart, and so much humor, on every page that I began to put the book aside after a while just because I didn't want it to end. I really loved this one. (Bonus! A friend recommended Backman's Instagram, saying that each post is like a fun little story, and she's right! Check out this one, for example.)
I read some other books but nothing worth talking about. Sigh. Keep those recommendations coming!
We watched The Holdovers long before we'd even heard of it. Julie was home for winter break and Andy and I were looking for something to watch with her. I think it had just been released, and I saw Paul Giamatti's name and thought we should give it a try. And I'm glad the timing worked out that way, because I liked it well enough but definitely didn't love it. If I'd known it was going to get nominated for all these Golden Globes and Oscars, I probably would have been pretty disappointed! You must know by now it's the story of a curmudgeonly teacher at a boys' boarding school in New England in 1970. A handful of students have nowhere to go over Christmas break, and this teacher draws the short straw and has to stay with them. The only other person there is the school's cook, played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph. I did not know who she was, and although I thought her acting was great, I was thoroughly distracted by her attempt to do a Boston accent. I'm very picky about this, and I'm sorry to report that she's right up there (down there?) with Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can and Rob Morrow in Quiz Show. It was not necessary for her to have the accent, so I wish she just hadn't tried it at all, because it kept pulling me out of the film. (I thought it sounded like Boston mixed with Brooklyn or maybe the Bronx, and then I read that she's from Philly, which explains a lot.) The main kid is played by Dominic Sessa, who I liked very much. But overall the film was formulaic and unimaginative, and definitely not "Best Picture" material. There's also a line Giamatti had to deliver at the climactic moment that is probably the last thing his character ever would have said. Ah well.
To change things up, Andy and I watched The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender. There's almost no dialogue in this one, just Fassbender's voice-over letting us know what's going through the assassin's mind. (Things like "Stick to your plan. Anticipate, don't improvise. Trust no one. Never yield an advantage. Fight only the battle you're paid to fight.") We really liked this one, despite some rather sizable plot holes. (I'd also like to point out that an experienced assassin would never use a gag name on his fake passport—having just explained to us the importance of blending into the woodwork wherever you go so as not to be noticed or remembered by anyone.) But the plotting and gadgetry and intrigue were extremely entertaining. If you like the action-thriller genre, you can't go wrong with this one. Oh, and Tilda Swinton is in it, always a good thing!
We then finally slogged through Oppenheimer, all 15 hours of it. It was really interesting, but WHY did it have to be so long?! There were far too many scientists and politicians to keep track of; I found that I couldn't and also that it didn't matter. This was my first time seeing Cillian Murphy, and he's just fascinating to watch. His eyes are so unusual, I couldn't stop staring. (Andy was already familiar with him from Inception and Peaky Blinders.) And I'm happy to watch Robert Downey Jr. do just about anything, so that was a treat to see him in an unlikely role (member of the Atomic Energy Commission). So I'm not sorry I saw this, but I am sorry that the director and editor couldn't have found a way to delete about an hour of unnecessary footage.
And then we watched a Canadian film called The Decline, about a group of people who go to a survivalist training camp. Something really bad happens, and then a whole bunch more bad things happen, but that's all I'll say. This one was really tense and exciting. I liked all the actors and really did not know how it was going to turn out. We watched it in Quebecois French with English subtitles, although I have since learned that there is in fact a dubbed English version—according to Wikipedia, "all of the original cast dubbed their own dialogue to ensure that the accent of Francophone Québécois speaking English would be accurately represented." (But don't go to the Wikipedia page right now because it gives away the entire plot.) Two thumbs up on this one!
This last item is not a book or a movie, but while we're discussing the arts, I thought I'd mention that I played hooky one day over Julie's break and we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We tried to cram in as much as we possibly could, but I think we would both say our favorite exhibits were painters Matthew Wong (this one ends next week, so hurry if you want to go!) and Dinorá Justice (through mid-April).
I loved "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store." McBride is not just an excellent writer, he's a compelling storyteller. I thought the ending was beautiful. I also enjoyed "Oppenheimer" and was fascinated by all of it; my boyfriend said that it dragged for him in spots though. I haven't read Backman since my Book Club read "A Man Called Ove." I liked it OK but didn't love it, so it didn't make me want to read any more by him.
Posted by: Margaret | February 08, 2024 at 02:06 PM
I liked "Anxious People" a lot more than "A Man Called Ove"—I think you will too!
Posted by: Karen | February 08, 2024 at 02:08 PM
Completely agree re: The Holdovers. And love the jazz insight re: Heaven & Earth. Have you seen American Fiction yet? We really enjoyed that- creative, smart, timely and great acting - and also laugh out loud funny at moments.
Posted by: Janet Goldenberg | February 09, 2024 at 11:12 PM
Glad you liked Anxious People as much as I did!
I liked A Man Called Ove but the movie with Tom Hanks (Otto, not Ove) is even better. But then of course it is, see: Tom Hanks.
Heaven and Earth sounds really interesting, so thanks for the review of that!
Posted by: Deborah | February 12, 2024 at 06:56 PM