Reviews - August 29

More book reviews for your reading pleasure.

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
This book is a sequel to The City of Ember which I previously reviewed. The premise is that the people from Ember have found their way out of their underground city and have come to the city called Sparks. While the people of Ember were living underground (for like 200 years), there were several disasters that ravaged the Earth and demolished the population. The book chronicles how the small village of Sparks (of 300 people) works to acommodate the 400 people from Ember. Suffice it to say that things don't always work out smoothly, but the ending is happy. I highly recommend this for family reading or for young adults.

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg
This story of Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the Core 6 readers, so I was prereading it. Eleanor is in Heaven waiting for her husband, Henry II of England, to come Up and join her after his time in Hell is finished. During the wait, she talks with several friends and family members who help tell the story of her life - her marriages to two kings and being mother to two other kings. Clearly, there are theology issues, but the Heaven/Hell thing provides a nice framework for the story. As far as I can tell, the history is accurate as well. It is a children's/young adult book, so it is a pretty easy read. Despite that, it was quite fun. It gives a nice glimpse into medieval court life, including the intrigue and danger. I highly recommend it.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
I had read this back in college or high school. I don't recall that I read it for school - I think I read it out of interest. This is one of the big "anti-utopian" novels (another of which is 1984, which I have also read recently). In Huxley's "utopia", the state has ultimate authority and spends its time making people productive and happy. When someone is unhappy, they take "soma" or engage in some entertainment. Children are not "born" they are "decanted" from test tubes. Serious genetic engineering occurs to ensure that those who are intended for the upper classes get the best prenatal treatment and those destined for the lower classes get less treatment. The idea, though, is that everyone should be engineered to be happy in their place in life. Then, we are introduced to the Savage who was raised on a reservation - where life is still primitive, children are born, families exist. His discontent and his desire to be discontented are confusing to the rest of the people of the city. Well, suffice it to say that Huxley is clearly pointing out that removing all stress, unhappiness, etc. from our lives does not produce superior human beings on any level. This book is a classic and I think everyone should read it in high school or college.

1984 by George Orwell
Can you believe that I never read this book, even though I graduated high school in 1985? For some reason, the regular English classes read this book, but the Advanced class didn't. Did they assume that we'd already read it? Oh, well. This is another of the classic "anti-utopian" novels. But, this one is really quite different. In this case, the Party is the controller of all of life. The Party members are expected to conform radically to all of the Party's rules and regulations. Failure to do so ends up in torture, "re-education", and even death. In addition to the Party, though, are the "proles" which I assume means proletariat or working class. This class is provided plenty of entertainment to keep them from thinking too much. One of the Party's main functions is to control information. The job of the main character is to read news clippings and change past events to match the current events. In this book, state control of information is key. Not only are there news releases, but every Party member's house has a telescreen that monitors the person's every movement and word. In addition, turning people in to the Party for deviant behavior is encouraged. This is a provocative and important book. I think everyone over high school age should read it and take to heart the importance of free spread of information.

The Summer We Got Saved by Pat Cunningham Devoto
I love novels about the South. I used to think that my family was quirky, but I have decided now that my family is just normal "Southern"! This novel is about Civil Rights, voting rights, friendship, and family. There are three storylines, which wouldn't be too bad except that one story line doesn't start till the middle of the book and another storyline stops for almost half the book. But, they all meet up at the very end. The story takes place in Alabama and Tennessee during the 1950s or early 1960s (whenever George Wallace was running for Governor in Alabama). Two of the major plot lines consider a white family in a small town in Alabama. The aunt from California (who is, of course, eccentric in the eyes of her family) takes the two girls from the family up to the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee (a retreat for Civil Rights activists). The family thinks they are going to visit friends and have no idea about the whole Civil Rights thing. Later in the book, the father of this family gets involved with a candidate for governor who favors integration - much to the distress of some of the rest of the family. The third storyline is about a black girl who has recovered from polio who comes to a tiny black church just outside the town where the other main characters live. She sets up a voting class that eventually has six members. Of course, they don't learn as much about voting as she would like, but she does teach them enough reading to vote, open a bank account, etc. I won't say how this whole book wraps up, but I will say that it is surprising but satisfying. When all is said and done, the main characters have all learned a lot about themselves, about people of other races, and about the world. This book is very good for older high school and adults.


Movies reviews:

The Hours
This movie intertwines the stories of Virginia Woolf in the 1920s, a suburban housewife in the 1940s, and a city dweller in the 2000s. The film makers did a great job showing all three story lines without getting things confused or muddy. It was a sad movie - all three women are depressed and two characters commit suicide. But why? There is really no answer. The sadness of the movie is that there seems to be little hope. I enjoyed the movie, but it is clearly only for adults (there are several gay/lesbian characters). My overwhelming thought at the end of the movie was, "How different it could have all been if they had known God!"

The Royal Tenenbaums
What a strange movie!! The main idea is that the father of this family has deserted them and wants to come back into their lives. So, what would any logical person do? Fake a fatal illness. But, the family figures this out and kicks him out so he has to go get a real job. The characters are all very odd. Some are likeable - others are just too weird to be liked. In any case, the idea of restoring family relationships stays central to the movie. The characters do not act in any "normal" sort of way, but the family comes together at the end. This movie is rated R and I would agree that it is not for kids or teens. I'm not sure that I recommend this movie much at all. There are positive aspects to it, but it's not well-paced and the language/sexuality is a little much. So, I wouldn't waste my time with it if I had to do it over.

Well, more later. I'm currently working on The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner, Without God, Without Creed by James Turner, Mary, Bloody Mary (can't recall the author right now) and a book by Dallas Willard (although this one is for teens, so I may return it and get one of his other books).