Review in August 2007 issue of Films & Books Magazine:
Recommendation: MUST READ!
Told in snippets and real-time journals, this is a book that will make almost any mother-loving reader cry. The style is immediate, chatty, and irresistible, the read fast and the book almost impossible to put down. You feel like you know these people. They?re old friends. And this is what will make you want to cry. But you?ll at least be served up an equal dose of laughs. I know it?s not polite, but I just could help laughing at ?Mom?s? antics, even when we shouldn?t be laughing. You see, Carol?s mother had Alzheimer?s and Carol?s family brought mom home to live with teenage daughters and family. The scenes are just non-stop hilarity, except when they?re heart-wrenchingly sad. You can?t help but laugh when Carol?s mother stops traffic. You?re not supposed to find her memory lapses funny, but you just find yourself smiling, then laughing. Carol shows us all how to deal with a difficult situation?with equal measures of compassion, laughs and tears. This is one you won?t be able to soon forget.
This review appeared in the Films & Books April issue:
REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ
Fathering two teenage daughters, you?d think detective Alban Bane would have enough to fret about, but in The Game, a hugely cinematic thriller with hilarious dark comic moments, we find him quickly dealing with headless corpses. Not that headless corpses give you much trouble because they?re usually real still and don?t talk back and you don?t have to worry about making meaningful eye contact with them, it?s just that this scrappy, witty cop is pretty motivated to find out how they lost so much weight real quick ? especially after he gets a creepy letter inviting him to come find out. This is an irresistible story that centers around a new American reality television show called ?Haunted Survivor,? where a boiling-pot mix of soon- to- be- dead- but- they- don?t know -it- yet contestants see how long they can survive in an old Vermont mansion haunted by its former occupant, a mass murder, who left the planet in the first chapter by execution by lethal injection. Survive and get one million dollars, but these contestants are having a hard time surviving. They?re having an easy time, however, getting slaughtered. You?ve got to love a novel that crystallizes, in a single line, our squirmy fascination with this sort of thing, delivered by Haunted Survivor?s uptight producer who finally becomes good and unstrung at the end of the story herself, ?We?re assuming,? she said, ?America?s fascination with reality television and crime will continue.? Sure does, lady. Sure does. And you?ve got to love a thriller, like all great literate thrillers, that makes you feel pretty sure you know who the killer is ? but guess what. Depending on how you lean, Bane pulls for the Boston Red Sox, so this gives him a dangerous or desperate quality, or both. The poor cop?s pretty beat up by the end of the story, but he knows how to take a bullet and a good stabbing and bleed all over the place as he attempts to save one of those pesky teenage daughters of his who got caught up in the slaughter. Bane doesn?t know it, but one of the best fight scenes you?ll ever read ? and there are a bunch of them in The Game ? is being videotaped by the show?s sinister creator, and later shown as a news clip as a testament to Bane?s professional viciousness. Good job, Dad, saving your daughter?s head like that. Videotape is fine for now, but from the first few lines of The Game, you can see this book on the big screen, too. Of course, by then you?ll know who the killer is ? but who cares. We?re fascinated with reality television and crime and we just can?t help it ? because it?s so much bloody fun. www.filmsandbooks.com
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Mothering Mother: A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir by Carol D. O'dell
Films & Books, August 1, 2007
Review in August 2007 issue of Films & Books Magazine:Recommendation: MUST READ!
Told in snippets and real-time journals, this is a book that will make almost any mother-loving reader cry. The style is immediate, chatty, and irresistible, the read fast and the book almost impossible to put down. You feel like you know these people. They?re old friends. And this is what will make you want to cry. But you?ll at least be served up an equal dose of laughs. I know it?s not polite, but I just could help laughing at ?Mom?s? antics, even when we shouldn?t be laughing. You see, Carol?s mother had Alzheimer?s and Carol?s family brought mom home to live with teenage daughters and family. The scenes are just non-stop hilarity, except when they?re heart-wrenchingly sad. You can?t help but laugh when Carol?s mother stops traffic. You?re not supposed to find her memory lapses funny, but you just find yourself smiling, then laughing. Carol shows us all how to deal with a difficult situation?with equal measures of compassion, laughs and tears. This is one you won?t be able to soon forget.
The Game by Derek Armstrong
Films & Books, August 1, 2007
This review appeared in the Films & Books April issue:REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ
Fathering two teenage daughters, you?d think detective Alban Bane would have enough to fret about, but in The Game, a hugely cinematic thriller with hilarious dark comic moments, we find him quickly dealing with headless corpses. Not that headless corpses give you much trouble because they?re usually real still and don?t talk back and you don?t have to worry about making meaningful eye contact with them, it?s just that this scrappy, witty cop is pretty motivated to find out how they lost so much weight real quick ? especially after he gets a creepy letter inviting him to come find out. This is an irresistible story that centers around a new American reality television show called ?Haunted Survivor,? where a boiling-pot mix of soon- to- be- dead- but- they- don?t know -it- yet contestants see how long they can survive in an old Vermont mansion haunted by its former occupant, a mass murder, who left the planet in the first chapter by execution by lethal injection. Survive and get one million dollars, but these contestants are having a hard time surviving. They?re having an easy time, however, getting slaughtered. You?ve got to love a novel that crystallizes, in a single line, our squirmy fascination with this sort of thing, delivered by Haunted Survivor?s uptight producer who finally becomes good and unstrung at the end of the story herself, ?We?re assuming,? she said, ?America?s fascination with reality television and crime will continue.? Sure does, lady. Sure does. And you?ve got to love a thriller, like all great literate thrillers, that makes you feel pretty sure you know who the killer is ? but guess what. Depending on how you lean, Bane pulls for the Boston Red Sox, so this gives him a dangerous or desperate quality, or both. The poor cop?s pretty beat up by the end of the story, but he knows how to take a bullet and a good stabbing and bleed all over the place as he attempts to save one of those pesky teenage daughters of his who got caught up in the slaughter. Bane doesn?t know it, but one of the best fight scenes you?ll ever read ? and there are a bunch of them in The Game ? is being videotaped by the show?s sinister creator, and later shown as a news clip as a testament to Bane?s professional viciousness. Good job, Dad, saving your daughter?s head like that. Videotape is fine for now, but from the first few lines of The Game, you can see this book on the big screen, too. Of course, by then you?ll know who the killer is ? but who cares. We?re fascinated with reality television and crime and we just can?t help it ? because it?s so much bloody fun. www.filmsandbooks.com