The very definitiion of a literary blockbuster. An understatement to say it was impossible to put down. The way the chapteres kept adding to the tension and ending with a cliff-hanger. There were a few times when I asked if it could give me even just a short breather. A chance to say, for a moment, this is a good and safe place to set this down.
Of course, blockbusters aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, so just know what you’re getting into. It has substance, enough to even bolster genuine discussion questions for reading groups at the end, but it is designed to entertain.
I purchased his newest one (Drowning), a follow up book that is also set on a plane. So the good news is, there is more entertainment to come. That’s good, because I’m still feeling the rush of this last one
Reading Journal 2024: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Author: James McBride
There is some payoff in the end, to be sure, but I’m still mulling over whether this is actually able to overcome what were some very real obstacles for me. The writing itself is strong of course, and the book’s premise is alluring. I found the opening chapters to actually encroach on degress of brilliance.
My issues essentially revolve around the sprawling nature of the story. It devotes a lot of time to building out this world, and it takes a while for any notable trajectory to become clear. On top of this there are so many characters it is often difficult to keep track of, even spiralling into places of genuine confusion. The simple construct of the book’s opening chapters, nestling us into the basic mystery concerning the discovery of skeleton bones before rewinding us to the beginning (1920’s America) where we are introduced to two main characters (a Jewish husband and wife), the birth of a town, the Heaven and Earth grocery store that sits at the center of our couple’s story, and the main tension that pulls them forward (the Jewish couple’s interest in a young, disabled black boy being targeted by the law).
Where the payoff comes is in the larger thematic interests of the book. We could say love is its primary interest, or the power of love within community. So much of this book is built on fleshing out that community and exploring the different relationships that hold it together in the midst of larger systemic and oppressive realities. The notion of the Heaven and the Earth grocery store is meant to evoke this space where two competing ideas collide We get the horrific and the sacred, the good and the bad, the tragic and the beauty. One aspect that the author really nails is finding in that an opportunity to infuse the horrific with a sense of humor, giving us as readers permission to laugh in the midst of otherwise deeply uncomfortable realities. The laughter comes as the book prods us towards a greater awarness of the tragedy, opening the door for the journey to also enlighten us about the presence of beauty and joy that runs underneath.
This is the stuff that feels and seems clear. I am just not convinced the story itself is coherent and disciplined enough to support it. They felt a bit disconnected, like the ideas themselves exist apart from the world the author is fleshing out. It is possible that this is a very particular kind of read that needs the right time, space and place to fully immerse ones self in it. I had this tiny feeling early on that I dove into this one at the wrong time, which, for a book like this could easily derail the experience. As it stands though, I remained underwhelmed by this one given what it at least appears to promise in the early going.
Film Journal 2024: Cabrini Directed by Alejandro Gómez Monteverde
The film dedintiely has its issues- it’s far too long given the material it is working with, and this is made more aware by some poor editing choices, both of which challenge the story structure and prolonge the conflict past its effectiveness on a narrative level.
The film is also marred, in my opinion, by the studios decision to submit it to its now notorious pay it forward ticket campaign, popularized by the studio’s release of the controversial Sound of Freedom. If it felt misplaced and agendified with Sound of Freedom, here it just feels entirely out of sync with the subject matter (a story about a genuine Saint who made a real difference in social and political matters in a hands on way). Even if it isn’t true, the whole pay it forward campaign creates the perception that the good is in buying a ticket and watching a movie made by this studio and by this Director. Which of course diminishes the role of art and the Christian vocation.
The story itself though is compelling, even if it ultimately becomes a means of doubling down on the American context of its venerable Saint (her work was global, and her work was technically as an Italian). And that real life story feels authentic in its telling, aided at least in part by a figure who lacked controversy. There are some inspired moments, especially when it came to her visionary approach to turning buildings and spaces into opportunities, and I thought the performances were all decent to good, even if the script keeps some of the depth buried beneath the surface. I definitely didn’t hate or begrudge it, and I even found myself inspired by portions of it.
What remains strange to me, just to add this in, is that given the clear marketing campaign that attaches this film to Sound of Freedom, the nature of this film, thematically speaking and as a message, seems to me to be one that the target audience of Sound of Freedom would actively resist and attach to the “liberal Hollywood” they are trying to counter. A film that celebrates immigration and immigrants along with shedding light on the problem of gender inequality is typically on the list of things that the target audience believes liberal hollywood is corrupting us with. I have no idea if this will prove true, but something in me says that the whole pay it forward thing will backfire in this case, as I just can’t see it being embraced in the same way.
I myself would recommend the film though. Its not great, but I think it has enough there to make it worth checking out.
Film Journal 2024: Imaginary Directed by Jeff Wadlow
Imaginary offers some nice surprises in what is ultimately an uneven effort. Top of the list being just how straight up horror this thing was. And I was here for it, including a handful of legitimate jump scares.
The potential was there to hit a home run in terms of the active metaphor, and I do wish it had been slightly stronger on a thematic front. The film does tend to digress into exposition in the latter half, feeling the need to rush to catch up its story, which contrasts with the slower build of the first. There was probably room to simplify things, but then again, the craziness of the plot is part of the fun.
A couple of the characters are little more than archetypal fillers (the father and the older sister), remaining mostly one note and forgettable, but I thought the step-mother and younger sister did a decent enough job of carrying the weight of the story despite a lack of strong dialogue to work with.
There is some nice set design too, especially due to the world building, and some camera tricks that make this worth a rewatch given where the story goes. There’s nothing too revolutionary or crazy here, but it has the flavor of a film that is free to be a but unhinged and do it’s own thing. Which makes it an intriguing, if imperfect, effort at the very least.
Film Journal 2024: The American Society of Magical Negroes Directed by Kobi Libii
A complicated film to consider and analyze for sure. Not because the material is overly complicated,.but because of how it approaches the satire that informs its working premise (A society where the magical part of the equation is literalized and imagined as a working part of society at large, wherein members of this society function as a magical negroe tasked with ensuring white people are happy. As the mantra goes, happy white people means a safer world for persons of color).
The film functions as an academic treatise on one hand, exploring larger social and systemic realities relating to racial issues. At the same time it wants to be a straight forward rom-com. These two elements end up competing with one another, leaving both somewhat underdeveloped and lacking that needed extra punch that could have take the film to another level.
This only becomes more aware in the films final 30 minutes as things start to come together and reach its climatic moment. There are aspects of the ending that get applied retroactively, which is intended to give the film a more cohesive feel than I think it ultimately earns.
On a lesser level though, there are elements and portions of the film that are intriguing, engaging, fun, dynamic, and inventive. The blend of the fantastical with reality works on a visual level, and the chemistry between the different performances are decent to good. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this film go up a grade when I get a chance to revisit it, and it left me wanting to do precisely that. I think it leaves plenty of space to consider its apparent weaknesses more as intentional choices, which to me means there is opportunity to meet this film again on its terms, now that I know the bigger picture.
A solid, if imperfect debut overall that had the potential to be more.
Reading Journal 2024: Thornhedge Author: T. Kingfisher
A fascinating, and very brief at just over 100 pages long, reimagining of the aged fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty. Characters are swapped and reshaped in ways that turn the story upside down and and sideways and backwards, so much so that it makes the unfolding tale nearly impossible to predict. And in so doing, it allows its voice to challenge our conceptions and assumptions at the same time, exploring themes of good and evil, and how such notions frame our tendency to judge the exterior rather than to allow ourselves and hear and see those internal realities that lie hidden beneath the surface, or beyond the thornhedge. As the book suggests, this is just as true of ourselves as it is of the world we live in, both in a material and a spiritual sense.
In this sense, T. Kingfisher has written more of a myth than a fairytale, one that challenges some of our modern trappings and resistance to a reality framed by more than simply one side of the Thornhedge. Myths are important, and necessary, because they challenge our tightly guarded conceptions of reality and epistimology. The minute we decide that this is what reality must be, is the very moment reality, should we be willing to see and hear, bears itself out as something not content to simply exist within our manufactured restraints. Thus why one of the central characters in this story is a seeker, and the other a protector. It is when these worlds collide that the hedges can be cleared away and greater realities allowed to break in, which brings with it danger and struggle, especially when it comes to our firm grasp on reality, but also beauty and great reward.
Reading Journal 2024: MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios Authors: Dave Gonzales, Gavin Edwards, and Joanna Robinson
A bit of a niche exercise, intended for those who have not simply interest in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), but in Hollywood and the American film industry.
Most important thing to know about this book is that it is written from an outsiders perspective, and one that, taken from the authors note, was stonewalled by the Disney enterprise once word got out that this book would be a journalistic exercise that would be engaging in some digging.
Did that stonewalling, by which I mean limiting access to official sources, hurt the overall end product? Maybe. I don’t know. There are moments where one can hear and feel the forced speculation, even if it comes as no fault of their own. I also got the sense that it added a certain drive to dig harder into the spaces where they could.
This isn’t some kind of tear down of the MCU. You can tell that the authors carry a deep affection for what is in fact a historical and unprecedented time, something they do not want to take for granted given that it seems like this time has come to an end. It shaped who they are as one of the most defining cultural moments in America, and even beyond. It was a once in a lifetime moment, and for those of us alive and around to experience it a moment contained to a parituclar lifetime. Something that defines an era.
It is also true to say, as this book does a decent job of showing, that such an experience comes at certain expenseses, much of which the casual and the not so casual moviegoer is admittedly likely ignorant of. And that’s not a criticism as much as its a reality. How you feel about having that curtain pulled will vary from person to perseon, of course, but one thing to keep in mind is that such a historical moment could have arrived and been achieved in no other way. What that says about reality is up for discussion, cruel as it can be.
I do have to say, I was a bit let down by the fact that it stopped short of exploring one of my all time favorites- The Eternals. I was really looking forward to hearing the story behind this film, and seeing how it fit into the larger narrative of the rise and decline of the MCU as this book documents. But alas, it reaches its end without it.
Worth listening on audio, as it was made for that format.
Definitely overplays its hand, moving from an intriguing premise- imagining how the fact that Jesus’ ministry didn’t arise out of nowhere, and the idea that his hidden years, the spaces that we do not know much, if anything about, contains the necessary roots of the person who’s ministry we do know much about, can be applied to our own lives much in the same way, suggesting that who are and who we are becomming is the product of the hiddden spaces and seemingly insignifcant years of our lives that we rarely give much thought to at all- to a repetitive exercise. And the more repetitive it becomes, the more aware we become of the imagination the author is employing to bring the idea to life.
And I’m not suggesting that such an imaginative exercise is bad or wrong. I actually embrace such approaches to exercises like this. It is more that the premise can only stretch so far before it loses its allure and mystery.
There was enough here though to compell me towards some reflection on my life. We often see our stories as the big, memorable events, transitions, hardships, successes. But most of our story is told from the day to day exercise of moments that do not garner our attention. In fact, it is often the case that we seek those memroable events in orer to make it seem like our life has meaning or purpose and trajectory. In truth, they rarely define us, at least not in the same way as the formative force of time and experience, even if that feels and appears to be mundane. It might not make for good fodder when it comes to telling our story, but we all would do well to spend more time thinking on and thinking about how those hidden spaces and hidden years have shaped us along our journey. It can help us undersand how and why it is that we respond to the memborable events the way we do.
Reading Journal 2024: Small Mercies Author: Dennis Lehane
I’m typically not a mystery-thriller guy. I find them difficult to get into and usually not very interesting. This is especially true when they have a murder mystery element. There are, however, a couple of authors that are must reads, and even must buys for me from this genre. Dennis Lehane is one of them, having penned one of my all time favorite reads (Mystic River). Once again he has written a winner in Small Mercies, which, while deviating ever so slightly from the more complex narratives of his earlier works, retains his ability to breathe genuine character development and important thematic focus into his genre based stories.
Here he is utilizing a familiar motif and genre construct to explore the real world setting of Boston in the summer of 1974. I could feel the period piece dripping off the page with some wonderful and subtle uses of descriptive. I also felt the palpable energy and urgency of the racial tensions plaguing Boston at this time, revolving around the infamous implementation of a busing plan as a way of tackling the segregation problem, which had led to the rift between inner city and suburb. Whatever tropes might be in play here, they feel new and fresh and vibrant.
The context also feeds into one of Lehane’s great strengths, which is establishing the moral complexity of the themes he is exploring. Much of this centers on the book’s main character, a single mother who’s daughter has gone missing during an especially fraught and dangerous time. The moral questions reach from segregation and racism to the different internal and spiritual crisis that she faces over the course of the book. Most of the book is told from her perspective, so we spend a good deal of time with her specific arc, one that is then accented by the handful of characters that surround her, including the detective. It is defintiely a propulsive read to this end, having a really strong sense of the slow build, but one which unfolds with a fervent pacing from chapter to chapter.
Love when I find authors who are so reliable for me personally. The thrill of waiting for the next one, picking it up upon release, and ultimately diving in. Only to start the process all over again.
Reading Journal 2024: Ireland: A Novel Author: Frank Delaney
Delaney’s imaginative exploration of the identity and history of Ireland hinges on this one, single conviction- you cannot come to know Ireland simply through a distant and cold articulation of historical facts, you can only truly know Ireland by hearing and experiencing its stories. The stories of its people, the stories of its places. If the blurring of lines between facts and imagination might leave a modern reader uncomfortable, it is perhaps the modern reader that has become resistant and incapable of grappling with truth. This is, after all, the nature of myth and myth telling, not to anchor us in untruths, but to open us up to something that is more true, about ourselves, our world, about the greater realities that shape our world… about Ireland.
History can never be understood as facts, it can only be rightly be understood as story.
Delaney frames his novel about Irelands storied history around an interconnected relationship between a young boy and a traveling storyteller. As this young boy listens to the storyteller, he learns about Ireland. And as he learns about Ireland, he learns about himself. And as he finds himself in the story of Ireland, he comes to learn about the world.
The book is structured around different stand alone stories that form its chapters, with the story of the storyteller and this young boy forming a connective piece between the chapters (stories). As the novel progresses, the boy grows into a man, and with this Ireland grows into a people and a country. Disconnected stories come alive in a singular narrative arc.
As someone with Irish blood, and as someone who has yet to have the privilege of visiting this land, I have long understood the Irish connection to this land. The story is one rooted in the cycles of exodus and return, but just as this connection persevered the imagination and the art of storytelling in the midst of one of the worlds darkest periods, so does it preserve this same imagination today. One of the most remarkable things about Ireland is its undying sense of preservation and its unique spirit in the face of change. I often wonder if this spirit is ingrained, even in those with Irish heritage who have never set foot on the land, in some connective fashion. When I encounter its story, something in me feels heard and understood. As though my love of story, my fascination with the spirit, my longing for myth to recapture my imagination and liberate it from the trappings of modernity, has a root and a reason. Where this need to fiercely hold on to wonder understands its nature as having a context.
This is the stuff Delaney helps to bring to the page. I have to imagine that this book is meant to be heard rather than read. A way of recovering that deeply held connection between Ireland’s literary history and its surviving oral culture. Perhaps when I revisit it I will take this approach.
The Stories of my Life 