The Rosie Project Jan 2016

A Valentine’s Day Selection. 

This should have been our selection for February 2016 at the Brown Bag Book Club.[1] 

As you can see from the citations below, this won an “unpublished” book award in Australia (?).  The author sold the movie rights {but no movie}.  He did get an Advanced Diploma of Screenwriting in 2013, and when he wrote the sequel, he got, in 2014, a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing; both from the University of Melborne. [This was not his undergraduate, but his graduate school.]

We all love Canadian R/C novels, but Australian ???  Even Crocodile Dundee wasn’t what I would call romantic.  I can’t recall what prompted me to originally order this book – I actually bought it for a friend.  This is another entry into the genre-world of O/C behavior comedies.  The protagonist is off the charts of “normal” and the reader is encouraged to feel sympathetic as one might to a child with learning disabilities.  Robin or Padma could comment on what variations are being portrayed.  The plot line is a basic boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl  --  a romantic comedy.  It’s funny – it’s romantic – but it’s stupid, and not well developed..

Like Christopher Boone, the 15-year-old narrator of Mark Haddon's 2003 novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, he's appealing not just despite his eccentricities but because of them.  We read that book in June 2005 (see next page for what I wrote then).

The O/C behavior just spices up an otherwise standard R/C plotline that has been done for as long as I can remember: movies like “It Happened One Night”, or anything with Tracy and Hepburn; stage plays like with Burton and Taylor.  Even the author tries to spice things up with mentions of Billy Crystal and Gregory Peck.  This is the basic essence of writing for social communication – Conflict – Yin and Yang – Opposites Attract – Salt and Pepper.

The predictability of the storyline is only matched by our, the reader’s, capacity to insatiably digest an infinite set of variations on this popular theme.  It’s a fun read.  But the unbelievable plotlines appeared to be even too stupid for Hollywood’s mega$$stars. 

Well, while “Oh, gee,” loveable and sweet, this wouldn’t have made it beyond three episodes as a sit-com.  It appears that there are saccharine limits to even Jen Lawrence’s agent’s taste[2].

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[1] Simsion won the 2012 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award for his book, The Rosie Project. Text Publishing has sold the rights to the book internationally for over $1.8m. The Rosie Project was published in Australia in January 2014, and has since sold more than a million copies in over forty countries around the world. The screenplay has been optioned to Sony Pictures Entertainment. A sequel to The Rosie Project, titled The Rosie Effect, was published on 24 September 2014 by Text Publishing.

 

[2] Richard Linklater Follows Jennifer Lawrence Off Sony's 'Rosie Project’ by Borys Kit 10/14/2015 10:57am PDT

Sources say Linklater left when Lawrence left on the heels of Jennifer Lawrence dropping out of Tri-Star’s The Rosie Project, The Hollywood Reporter has learned the romantic dramedy's director Richard Linklater has also departed.

Sources say both actress and director left the project Monday.  Lawrence’s departure had to do with scheduling, according to several sources. The actress has been jumping from one movie to another — she went from X-Men: Apocalypse in the spring and summer to currently shooting Passengers— and the studio was hoping to shoot Rosie in the winter. Instead, the Oscar-winner needed a break.  Rosie was developed as a Lawrence vehicle, and Linklater, then making his first move since nabbing six Oscar nominations for his film Boyhood, came on board for a chance to work with the actress.

The studio considers the project a priority and will look for a new filmmaker and star immediately.

 

 

 

Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein

Recently, I downloaded the ebook, "Revolt in 2100 (note the blurb: "the second American Revolution has begun") by Robert Heinlein. Mostly, it includes the "If This Goes On" novella, in which America is taken over by Nehemiah Scudder, the First Prophet, who establishes a tyrannical theocracy. But I was reading the last piece in the book, "Concerning Stories Never Written: Postscript."

Heinlein writes,

"...the idea that we could lose our freedom by succumbing to a wave of religious hysteria, I am sorry to say that I consider it possible. I hope that it is not probable. But there is a latent deep strain of religious fanaticism in this our culture; it is rooted in our history and it has broken out many times in the past. It is with us now; there has been a sharp rise in strongly evangelical sects in this country in recent years, some of which hold beliefs theocratic in the extreme, anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, and anti-libertarian.”

"It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up,or driving underground all heretics. This is equally true whether the faith is communism or holy-Rollerism; indeed it is the bounden duty of the faithful to do so. The custodians of the True Faith cannot logically admit tolerance of heresy to be a virtue.”

"Nevertheless this business of legislating religious beliefs into law has never been more than sporadically successful in this country -- Sunday closing laws here and there, birth control legislation in spots, the Prohibition experiment, temporary enclaves of theocracy such as Voliva's Zion, Smith's Nauvoo, a few others. ...”

"Could it be otherwise here? Could any one sect obtain a working majority at the polls and take over the country? Perhaps not -- but a combination of a dynamic evangelist, television, enough money, and modern techniques of advertising and propaganda might make Billy Sunday's efforts look like a corner store compared to Sears Roebuck. Throw in a depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here on Earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negroism, and a good large dose of "anti-Furriners" in general and anti-intellectual here at home and the results might be something quite frightening... The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed."

He wrote this while living in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1953.

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

This is an awesome book – very entertaining – and well-written.  I couldn’t put it down – read it straight through over two days.

It’s a lucky day 4-leaf clover book at the library.

It is a brilliant fictional memoir, which is something Diamant does really well (Red Tent).  The style is a series of vignettes mainly focused on a woman’s early youth, but rapidly spanning years as we head to the present.  She is relaying the story of her life to her 22-year old grand-daughter.  Even with that passage of time, “current” is 1985.  If I didn’t love this book so much, I’d say she simply used the structure of “Red Tent” and rewrote the specific vignettes, updated to three millennia later.

But so what, Robert Parker did that for dozens and dozens of remakes of Spencer novels and I loved every one of them.

Diamant writes about Jewish history and family life.  In this book it is immigrant life at the juncture of the 19^th & 20^th centuries; WW-I and the depression.

 

 

I go through a lot of books each month, but currently I’m distracted and have been skipping reads. 

After the first few pages of this book, however, I was hooked – captivated by her story-telling.

 

Circling the Sun by Paula McClain

This is my first choice of book for an afternoon discussion party with my daughter, Patricia, and two couples who are friends of mine; they’re a little older than my daughter, but with shared travel and readership interests. 

x

McLain’s book about Beryl Markham invokes in me the spirit of adventure that pulls together the infrequent assertive and aggressive nature of my English wife, Sue, who like Beryl Markham, spent her teen years in Africa; and with Patricia’s similar youthful rebellious nature.

 

 

x

Patricia’s background stands toe-to-toe with Robin and Padma, who have likewise achieved intellectual independence, albeit a generation earlier, thus all the more difficult.  From my perspective, all three cross paths on many arcs. x

I hope that this specific book, and for those with a bit more time, Beryl’s own book, “West with the Night”, will form the basis for many common talking points: Africa, flying airplanes, raising horses, African-American relationships, education & teaching, and travel.x

Of course, I assume that all conversations will roam through the gamut of this group’s experiences and thoughts.  Flying, horses, England and Africa are just starting points.x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patricia’s background stands toe-to-toe with Robin and Padma, who have likewise achieved intellectual independence, albeit a generation earlier, thus all the more difficult.  From my perspective, all three cross paths on many arcs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

This is an awesome book – very entertaining – and well-written.

It is the “Sonoma County Reads” selection for 2015.  That means it is available for free at any public Library in Sonoma County, in Spanish or English.

No credit for translation is given in the English edition, so we must assume that the author, himself, wrote in one language or the other and then translated himself.

The book works in either language and is a pleasure to read.

Wind / Pinball

I’ve only recently discovered this author, albeit famous to the rest of the world for decades.  This is such surprising, consciousness-shaking prose.  He is always an inspiration to unique thought and alternate views of the world around us.

.These are his earliest works, novellas: just now translated.

Forty years ago, but his style is recognizable and thoroughly enjoyable.

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

I have just finished this 350-page tome, with total satisfaction from another successful Québécois (?) novel.

Chief Inspector Gamache has retired into the not so sleepy village of Three Pines, outside of Quebec.  But author Louise Penny just couldn’t let her Sûreté murder detective quietly retire.  2015 has brought us another novel in this fascinating and unique series.

I’ve lost count of the number of novels in this series, upwards of ten.  The count is important to genre lovers, who like to periodically “binge read” for weeks or months.  This is a good series for that sort of passion.

The family and friends of Three Pines are always central to the plot themes of a Chief Inspector Gamache novel.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Right off the top let me say that this is a brilliantly written book.  The author has captured the argot, if there can be one, of tween cancer kids. 

An author takes on the challenge of directing us, we the readers, into following their plot line.  Not asking too many questions; nay, manipulating us into tears and cheers and suspending disbelief in all else but their story. 

John Green, the author, has done this with “… .. Stars”.  I bought in, almost from the first chapter.  I was following with cheers and tears throughout most of the book. 

Thankfully (or unfortunately), we are not allowed to delve into word choice, sentence structure, motivations, or even characterizations, since this is, in fact, a novel intended for young teenagers.  We, Library book club readers, have long been out of touch with this demographic.  Sympathetic, yes; but unable to judge whether this book merits value to its’ supposed audience. 

I enjoyed the opportunity to read this book.  However, I can’t judge whether or not we went far afield in a domain alien to Brown-Baggers.

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

It’s a series of great vignettes, written well, with wonderful and thorough research.  It documents some of the taming of the American West, which is a gaping hole in American literature.  All we have previously had is shoot-em-up Westerns.  Filling this gap is why it merited a Pulitzer Prize.

There are two thin plot-lines:

(1)  Two mismatched people, sacrificing their lives to the other’s desire for no good reason.  It reminds one of O’Henry’s, “The Gift of the Magi”, without the moral ending; a tragic ending in Stegner’s tale.

(2) The other tale, not nearly so interesting, is the ramblings of an old, lonely man.  He is trying to accommodate rationalizing his self-sorry state with family history, and the world that has passed him by.

It’s a good documentary, but no one has picked up the ideas for a dramatic movie, TV show, or documentary in over forty years now.  It’s a tragic family story, with no redemption.

 

Some of the best scene-scripting of any movie never made was captured in this book:

(a)  Susan’s descent into the New Almaden mine

(b) Susan’s ascent over Mosquito Pass getting to Leadville

(c)  The dreams of Lyman Ward

 

The early scenes of San Jose, Grass Valley and San Francisco are treasures for those of us who have grown up around the Bay Area.  Stegner’s descriptions of the sights, sounds, smells and people in those days 60-70 years before I came to California are inspirational to me.  I am also reminded that 60-70 years ago was when I did come to California.

 

The Dinner by Herman Koch

Well, this starts out being a “Walter Mitty” romp[1] around the dinner table, possibly in the fantasies of Paul Lohman. That’s the first third of the book, and the reader buys into this take.

It’s in second third of the book that we suspect that this might be a comedy of errors[2] , although we note that things have gone to the noir side of story-telling, and we hope that the author resolves some of the nagging questions sooner rather than later, and with a positive, life-embracing twist.

Unfortunately, we move into the final third of the novel, assuming the worst case.  They (this broad family clan) are all mad, psychotic sociopaths, out to whimsically murder anyone and everyone without a care in the world.

In the end, most readers will feel glad that their last family dinner party wound up with only a drunk spouse and a petulant teen; and will be glad to avoid seeing family for another year.

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[1] From Wikipedia: “in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939.  Mitty is a meek, mild man with a vivid fantasy life: in a few dozen paragraphs he imagines himself a wartime pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and a devil-may-care killer. The character's name has come into more general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer and appears in several dictionaries.”

[2] From Wikipedia: A comedy of errors is a narrative work (often a play) that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.  A slight variation of the "comedy of errors" discipline is farcical theatre, which revolves around humor caused by the foolish mistakes of unintelligent characters and the chaos that derives from it. Examples of farces include British sitcom Fawlty Towers and Men Behaving Badly, as well as films like Monty Python's Life of Brian and Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator.

 

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[1] From Wikipedia: “in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939.  Mitty is a meek, mild man with a vivid fantasy life: in a few dozen paragraphs he imagines himself a wartime pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and a devil-may-care killer. The character's name has come into more general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer and appears in several dictionaries.”

[2] From Wikipedia: A comedy of errors is a narrative work (often a play) that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.  A slight variation of the "comedy of errors" discipline is farcical theatre, which revolves around humor caused by the foolish mistakes of unintelligent characters and the chaos that derives from it. Examples of farces include British sitcom Fawlty Towers and Men Behaving Badly, as well as films like Monty Python's Life of Brian and Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator.

The Bangkok Asset by John Burdett

 

The latest in a series that started for me with Bangkok 8 a few years back.  That pseudo-noir novel wowed me then and the author still awes me today.

This novel gives the reader a fascinating glimpse into a murder detective’s view of the corrupt world of Thailand.  The main interaction is with the PRC who have picked up where the CIA left off with the MKUltra project.

Amazingly modern and up to date and yet the noir detective genre sets as well in Bangkok as it does in Berlin or Los Angeles.

Like a fine meal, there are hints of William Gibson’s interest in slightly futuristic technology, but the overall flavour is refreshingly Thai. 

There are very few Americans or Eastern bloc agents until the end.  It’s mostly oriental except written in English; and thus you can’t get it published unless there are a few Brits and Americans. 

Great drugs, sex and corruption are an expected reality of modern life and thus hinted at but never depicted in detail.  There’s violence, of course, in great detail.

It’s mostly fast-paced action developing a Buddhist plot line (?)

 

 

The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr

Oh, those lips; oh!, those eyes.  You just know she’s going to do him wrong.

Who?, Bernie Gunther, of course.

Bernie’s a private shamus in the noir mold of Chandler and my more recent favorite, Robert Parker.  Except it’s 1943 and he’s been co-opted by the Nazis to work for an SS General.

This is now the tenth book in The Berlin Noir series, and it’s Kerr’s best yet: hefty at 400+ pages, and Kerr is now showing mastery of the noir genre.

 

One Summer by Bill Bryson

I love Bill Bryson’s writing.

It’s his dry, sarcastic wit that I enjoy so much;  I think I grew to enjoy his style while living in England.

If Bryson were to write more history books, enough to be used in K-12 schools, America’s children would get a 50-point bump in history, geography, politics and literature scores on what-ever testing they’re using these days.

This is a pure joy, even at 500 pages with full sources, bibliography and index.