Ok, here we are in week #2 of our first selection. I think the discussion is going well so far. Anyone else want to weigh in on the love scene between Marie and Kashpaw?
I am debating whether to copy and paste the comments up here but I think I will not and just let us go back to those if needed.
So, comment on this post from here forward….thank you.
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In a word... bad. Christopher Walken made the movie for what it was, but even then he couldn't save it ultimately. I'd say I chuckled at some parts, but I also noticed I've forgotten the entire plot and even those jokes in just 2 days.
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Another great movie by David Aaronofsky (director of Pii & Requiem for a Dream). While revolving around a love story that spans three different places in time, he seemingly hints at the possibility of enlightenment and our ability to truly be at peace.
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So it wasn't the robots looking different, or the love story, or the kids that ruined this film for me. It was every single bad joke that riddled the entire movie. The scene at the kids house was particularly painful to watch. I will be watching 'Transformers the Movie' from 1984
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Compared to Pixar's animation standards the Dreamworks team has never really amazed me with the quality of their stiffer 3D models super flat textures and often strangely jointed rigs. It's a cute story that really relies on the voice talent to sell the jokes - but I have heard the 2nd is much better than the first.
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Even if you think Michael Moore tilts the view and discussion in his favor a considerable amount it is impossible to deny the worlds citizens in this movie doing good, being sick, and acting greedy. The best part is after watching it if you still don't believe the system is broken you can access public records to verify most of the more amazing facts!
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A Classic Alli and I recently saw again -- really started a trend with multiple characters having deeply complex lives (in this case all with 'Daddy' issues). I can't help but think it acted as a pre-cursor for shows such as Nip/Tuck and Desperate Housewives.
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Okay so I have the new version of the book and it seems that the extra chapters are scattered throughout. My books chapters are as follows:
The World’s Greatest Fisherman
Saint Marie
Wild Geese
The Island
The Beads
Lulu’s Boys
The Plunge of the Brave
Flesh and Blood
A Bridge
The Red Convertible
Scales
Crown of Thorns
Love Medicine
Resurrection
The Good Tears
The Tomahawk Factory
Lyman’s Luck
Crossing the Water.
I have read through the Red Convertible so if there have been any mystery chapters listed here that come before that, I can fill you in on what she decided to include in my version
I’ll indicate with an ** the stories/chapters NOT in the 1984 version:
there are 4 extra in yours. So fill us in on The Island (I know Alli and I have 1984 version- how about Mark and Kelly?)
The World’s Greatest Fisherman
Saint Marie
Wild Geese
The Island **
The Beads
Lulu’s Boys
The Plunge of the Brave
Flesh and Blood
A Bridge
The Red Convertible
Scales
Crown of Thorns
Love Medicine
Resurrection **
The Good Tears
The Tomahawk Factory **
Lyman’s Luck **
Crossing the Water.
thanks for being so attentive to this John.
Shirley
I have the new book, sweet! But I am only through The Plunge of the Brave. Kelly has not started due to her work and school and the fact I am reading it, but she should get to it in a week or so.
So I agree with Shirley that they do actually have sex; although John’s insight into Marie’s motives (social climbing, Nector’s shame as a tool against him) still applies.
The Island is a gross and weird chapter and probably the book is better without it. Basically it gives some background on Lulu Nanapush and how her loose ways were born from rebellion against Rushes Bear. Lulu’s mom died or left when she was young and Lulu felt hurt once she returned to the reservation and Rushes Bear treated her poorly. Anyways, an Indian boy grew up on an island, separated from the reservation, because his mother pretended he was dead by not acknowledging his existence, so that he could survive the white man’s diseases. It worked, and he lived on this island skinning cats for their pelts to wear. Lulu thinks he would make a nice boyfriend/father of her child, so paddles to the island with a sack of potatoes to make him hers. It works, she gets knocked up by the island, mystic, cat-man. My interpretation, John can put in his input.
Happy reading.
Okay I know it is a bit premature to be talking about our next book, but I came across one that I really want to read. It is called “First and Last Seasons: A Father, Son, and Sunday Afternoon Football.” I know for the ladies in the crowd that you might immediately reject this because it involves football, however it focuses on the rocky relationship of a father and son and their mutual love of the Cleveland Browns. I have skimmed it and it seems to have a lot about Cleveland, which I like, and is reminiscent of “Tuesday’s With Morrie.” Well, take a look and let me know what you think.
John- don’t worry about whether the girls will like it- I have read some of the most interesting books,chosen by a guy, because of my other book club. Non-fiction, a few:
The Courting of Marcus DuPree by Willie Morris
(high school football player in Mississippi-being courted by colleges. civil rights historyetc. highly recommend)
My View From the Corner by Angelo Dundee…corner man/trainer for M. Ali among others-
The Kings of New York…about a high school chess club in Brooklyn
SO, do you want to be the next to choose? Go for it!
Shirley
so, I’m so bad. I have not read in a week. blech. My kids suck at giving me any time when I’m not dead tired
I’m bringing the book to work tomorrow and hoping to read on my nursing break.
also, I say John is next in line. we can go girl/boy…mix it up a bit. lol.
Alli- the stories are shorter after awhile- keep going- don’t feel as if you HAVE to comment- can read and enjoy others’ posts. I’m grateful for the Family Tree- refer to it constantly
Alli, If it makes you feel any better, I worked over 60 hours in the last 4 days. Needless to say I haven’t made much progress lately either. But I will still plug along. I wish the book had more of a central character/ plot. It still seems to just be a collection of stories rather than a novel…with which clearly the title disagrees. It’s really false advertising and should be titled, “Love Medicine: Family vignettes”
As for next book, I will read anything but I will plug some books I have but have not started yet.
“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond (non-fiction, authored “Guns, Germs and Steel”)
“The Garden of Last Days” by Andre Dubus III (authored “The House of Sand and Fog”
“After Dark” by Haruki Marukami (authored “Norwegian Wood” and “Kafka on the Shore”
Also Johnny or any Cleveland fans, check out a book called “Crooked River Burning” by Mark Weingardener..not the best ever, but set in Cleveland between 1940 and 1980-ish…so many recognizable names and places it is a fun read.
I’m on page 30 (due largely in part to the fact I’ve been reading in the restroom only at this point). I agree with some of Mark’s comments, although I’m hoping for some strings of connectivity to be revealed later in the book. My current challenge is in the writing — I feel Erdrich has some really creative moments and metaphors but then immediately exposes the thinking behind them (’patient abuse’ is my immediate example - great concept with a heavy handed explanation).
Also a few of the descriptive passages tend to get a bit winded where it is unneeded. I come from a school of thought where each sentence should be placed in a meaningful way, so I question where some of this goes — but I am currently chalking it all up to a poets first attempt at a novel — with some obvious missteps.
good comments on the book. I especially loved the author’s description in Flesh and Blood (i think) after Marie finds the note on table from Nector, she starts cleaning and peeling ALL the potatoes in the house while the kids are outside shooting for tonight’s dinner. She does lay it all out there but I find it amusing at the same time.
I have finished Scales and there is more “connection” but in an indirect way. That’s why I like to refer to the Family Tree - seems as if there is unkown cousin-coupling going on!
Mark- your book choices seem a bit scary to me but I’m game for them! I think Meg liked Guns,Germs and Steel, and I saw the movie “House of Sand and Fog” and found it to be one of the most depressing stories.
How will we decide who gets to pick the next selection?
Shirley
John
Mark
Allison
…to start?