A Charming Prize

 The Late George Apley
by John P. Marquand

When I first picked this up, I had my doubts.  The title page advertises it as "A novel in the form of a memoir." I thought it would be slow, one of those books you're forced to read in school and then you'll never read it again. But I actually enjoyed this novel.  Published in 1937 it is ultimately a satire of the upper echelons of Boston society beginning with George Apley's birth in 1866 and ending with his death in 1933. It was a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938.
The novel's main point is that we cannot escape our place in life no matter how hard we may try. George Apley, the main character, speaks of this throughout the book; during his childhood and throughout his adult life he always mentions that he feels as though he is never really away from Boston.  Whenever he takes a trip he feels as though he takes Boston with him because he travels with a group.  As he says after taking a tour of England and France, "...I have been impressed by a similarity existing between almost every scene, the reason for which I think I chanced upon today.  It seems to me that all this time a part of Boston has been with me.  I am a raisin in a slice of pie which has been conveyed from one plate to another.  I have moved; I have seen plate after plate; but all the other raisins have been around me in the same relation to me as they were when we were all baked."
 Is it true that we can't escape our position in life? George Apley seems to realize this, but does not try to fight it.  When he has his own son, John, he tells him the same thing he has realized; you can't run away from where you come from.   
  It's amusing to read abut George Apley's struggle with changing conventions during the 1920s. He is forced to adapt to changing ways, especially with regards to young people.  "You and I know that all this idea of sex is largely 'bosh.'  I can frankly say that sex has not played a dominant part in my own life, and I trust that it has not in yours. No right-thinking man permits his mind to dwell upon such things, and the same must be true of women."
Apley also mentions Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises'. "This Hemingway is obviously not a gentleman nor are his characters gentlemen or ladies, yet I am broad-minded enough to admit that the man has a certain startling and crude power, although I feel he resorts to artistically unfair sensational and mechanical tricks." 
At 354 pages this novel is actually a quick read, styled through letters and with chapters lasting no longer than eighteen pages, you'll be through this in no time.  Although you may not agree with the main themes and questions the novel presents, it's still thought provoking and worth the time to sit down and enjoy.

Just Watched...

Nine
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren

Rating: PG-13

Score: 2.5/4


I really wanted to love this movie. When I first heard about it I watched every trailer I could find and I listened to the songs once they hit the Internet. I was salivating in my seat waiting for this movie. Unfortunately, I never got to see it in theaters.  But, I rented it from the library (hey, it's free) and watched it.  Oh dear.

Don't get me wrong, it had flashy scenery, deep meaning and great costumes. But...something was missing. It was probably a mistake for me to sit down and watch this expecting it to be great, there was no way it could live up to my hopes.

The singing was of course great, except for one person: Kate Hudson.  When she hit her high notes in the song 'Cinema Italiano' it sounded amazing! But on her low notes, she just sounded slightly off-key to me which was disappointing.

There are a lot of characters featured in this movie, here's a little breakdown to keep them straight.

Luisa Contini- Played by Marion Cotillard, she is Guido Contini's long-suffering wife
Carla- Played by Penelope Cruz, she is Guido's mistress
Mamma- Played by Sophia Loren, she is Guido's deceased mother whom he sees in flashbacks
Claudia- Played by Nicole Kidman, she is an international movie star and Guido's leading lady and muse
Lilli- Played by Judi Dench, she is Guido's agent and costume mistress and sensible friend
Stephanie- Played by Kate Hudson, she is a Vogue reporter who loves Guido's movies
Seraghina- Played by Fergie, she is a prostitute who Guido meets in his childhood

My favorite songs from this movie were 'My Husband Makes Movies' performed by Marion Cotillard and 'Be Italian' performed by Fergie. Cotillard's song will bring tears your eyes, it's exquisitely emotional. Fergie's song is exciting and raunchy, you can't help smiling at the lyrics and appreciating the nuances of the dance.

This movie felt slow, it seemed to be bogged down by Guido Contini himself.  The purpose of the movie is explaining how all the women in Guido's life affect him when he has a severe case of writer's block.  However, I found myself getting more and more frustrated with Guido as the movie went on. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the tortured artist nicely, but his character is not likeable. Four of the women in the list above are in love with Guido, but he manages to make them all unhappy at some point.  Marion Cotillard's character Luisa is the character that will touch your heart the most; she just wants Guido to love her like he used to before his films took over his life.

The concept for this movie was intriguing, but the movie itself was a bit mucky.

Unexpectedly Good Rom-Com

Killers

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Selleck, Catharine O'Hara

Rating: PG-13

Score: 3/4  


Okay, I know what you're thinking: How good could it be? I personally did not expect Ashton Kutcher to be able to pull off anything but the good-for-nothing goofball. Don't get me wrong, he's pulled off that role fabulously and made great money too.  But this time, he wasn't the goofball.  He was the more serious 'don't-worry-I'll-save-you' hero. And it really worked for him.

I thought this movie was going run like this: Katharine Heigl meets Ashton, they fall in love, she finds out he is in fact an agent for the government, she screams for forty-five minutes, they make up and defeat the bad guy. No big deal.

Well, some of that is true. Katharine Heigl's character, Jen does spend a lot of time squealing and has to be told to calm down several times, but can you really blame her? We can't all be Angelina Jolie and have guns hidden in our bra that we pull out and blast the bad guy with in 2.5 seconds.  I would say the best character in the entire film was Jen's alcohol-loving mother, played wonderfully by Catharine O'Hara. One of the best scenes is seeing her drink a bloody Mary at breakfast from a glass you could fit a bowling ball in.
There's a twist at the end that I have to say made the ending fall flat for me, I was sitting there going, "Really? You're going to do that to me?!" But all in all, it was highly enjoyable.