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Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The House Girl in Books

May 10, 2018

The House Girl

Tara Conklin | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Carolina Sparrow is a first year lawyer working in New York City. She is great at her job and her boss, Dan has told her that she is on track to become an excellent lawyer. Josephine Bell is a slave at the Bell Plantation in southern Virginia. It is the mid-1800's and she is ready to leave the slave life for something better. When a company contacts Lina's law firm to collect reparations for the slaves, Lina is given the task of finding a plaintiff who is a direct descendant of a slave. When Luann Bell's artwork comes into question at a local art exhibit, claiming the work could have been done by her house girl, Josephine, Lina uses this opening to find the plaintiff she may need. The book takes us back and forth between Lina and Josephine. Lina, trying to find a direct descendant of Josephine Bell and Josephine, trying to escape the Bell Plantation.

I'm torn between giving this book 3-4 stars. I was thoroughly intrigued by the subject matter, but didn't find myself running to read/listen to this book. I think part of this was due to the fact that for a few weeks, reading wasn't appealing to me and everything I picked up, I didn't find interesting enough to keep reading.

One really interesting aspect to this book was the racial divide. Lina, is a white girl from New York looking for descendants for a slave who escaped in 1852, shortly after the lady of the house passed away. This discovery takes Lina on a journey through Virginia that she never anticipated. She will uncover things that will turn history on end. This book has been on my TBR list for a while. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was thoroughly surprised. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in this subject matter or for a good book, with a deep historical message. I look forward to reading more books by Tara Conklin.

Kudos

Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in Movies

Jan 21, 2020

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

1968 | Classics, Sci-Fi

8.0

(47 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

From a Sci-Fi Lover, It's a No

During a space mission, a spaceship supercomputer malfunctions and tries to kill the ship’s inhabitants. That’s the best I got for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Some films don’t translate far past their creation date and a lot of times, people find it hard to admit that. Hate me now because I wasn’t a fan of this movie in the slightest.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 4
The first few minutes of the movie left me scratching my head. You can save the whole explanation of the artistic aspect of this part, I’m not buying it and I feel directors have hid over “abstract art” for far too long. If it’s not good, it’s not good, and this? It made no sense. I had no desire to watch the rest of the movie after the first ten minutes, but I kept pushing.

Characters: 10

Cinematography/Visuals: 10

Conflict: 8

Entertainment Value: 6

Memorability: 7

Pace: 4
I snapped my fingers quite a bit through the duration of this movie. I wanted so badly for things to move along, but I felt like the movie thought looking great was more important. While it is cinematically stunning (and well deserving of a perfect score in that category), the story moves at an extremely slow clip. For example, so much time was wasted with one particular landing, I wanted to poke my damn eyes out. Watching this movie was like being stuck in traffic during rush hour.

Plot: 2

Resolution: 1

Overall: 62
I recently stopped reading a book because it dragged on so badly and was so confusing, I just couldn’t enjoy it any longer. With 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’ll just say this: When the movie ends and I have to wiki your plot, it probably wasn’t a good movie. I won’t argue that it deserved recognition for pioneering a beautiful vision of space, but the rest can honestly stay in history.