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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The House at the Edge of the Night in Books
Dec 7, 2018
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>
Castellamare, a small island off the south coast of Italy, is the perfect setting for a captivating epic tale that traces a family from the beginning of the 1900s until the more recent year of 2009. Centred at the island’s only bar ‘The House at the Edge of the Night’, the island inhabitants suffer through two world wars, fascism, tourism and recession, however, the bar determinedly stays standing. But what happens in the rest of the world is largely ignored by the island dwellers that prefer to come to the bar to learn about friendships, betrayals and love affairs.
<i>The House at the Edge of the Night </i>begins on the mainland where the Dr Esposito removes the foundling Amadeo from care. Following in his foster father’s footsteps, Amadea Esposito trains to be a doctor and eventually lands himself a position on Castellamare. Having never had a doctor on the island before, Amadeo is welcomed by almost everyone, however, an illicit affair puts an end to his career. Fortunately, The House at the End of the Night provides Amadeo with an income and a home for his new wife, Pina, and his four children.
The story takes the reader through the Second World War, something that is interesting to read from the Italian’s point of view. Rejecting fascism, the Islanders are enraged when their boys are called up to join the war, especially as many, including Amadeo’s three boys, never return. With only a daughter, Maria-Grazia, remaining, the Esposito’s keep the bar going for lack of anything better to do.
But war brings good things as well as bad. Washed up on sure, the British soldier Robert brings good luck to the superstitious villagers, eventually marrying the lovely Maria-Grazia. The story continues through the childhood of their unruly boys, coming to an end as their granddaughter reaches adulthood.
A doctor and a barman, Amadeo also had a love for stories. Listening to his patients and patrons fantastical tales, Amadeo keeps note of them all in his personal notebook. Split into five parts, the book contains a story at the beginning of each section that, although mythical, set the scene for the subsequent narrative.
Alienated from the rest of the world, the Islanders are stuck in their ways, attributing any luck – good and bad – to their patron saint, Sant’Agata. Whenever life gets tough, the people on Castellamare turn to prayer, which although is part of their Catholic faith, often comes across as superstitious and irrational. They refuse to believe any logical explanation, preferring to regard their island as a magical, preternatural site.
There is no specific storyline with the usual climax and conclusion; instead, it works as a biography of a fictional family. It is interesting to regard the impact of the rapidly developing world on the island, from the introduction of a building society and the eventual launch of the Europe – something that the Islanders are naturally against. The inhabitants of Castellamare come across as naïve, but their backgrounds and beliefs are far more interesting than the average person.
<i>The House at the Edge of the Night</i> is a story of stories. It provides more than to be expected from a novel. Catherine Banner writes of beautiful settings, compelling characters and fascinating events that both amuse and entertain in a moving way.
With Victoria Hislop’s novels such as <i>The Island</i> being all the rage amongst many female readers, Catherine Banner’s <i>The House at the Edge of the Night </i>is destined for success. It is a great book to read on holiday or at home, and perfect for book clubs. This book is the ideal escape from the stresses of everyday life.
Castellamare, a small island off the south coast of Italy, is the perfect setting for a captivating epic tale that traces a family from the beginning of the 1900s until the more recent year of 2009. Centred at the island’s only bar ‘The House at the Edge of the Night’, the island inhabitants suffer through two world wars, fascism, tourism and recession, however, the bar determinedly stays standing. But what happens in the rest of the world is largely ignored by the island dwellers that prefer to come to the bar to learn about friendships, betrayals and love affairs.
<i>The House at the Edge of the Night </i>begins on the mainland where the Dr Esposito removes the foundling Amadeo from care. Following in his foster father’s footsteps, Amadea Esposito trains to be a doctor and eventually lands himself a position on Castellamare. Having never had a doctor on the island before, Amadeo is welcomed by almost everyone, however, an illicit affair puts an end to his career. Fortunately, The House at the End of the Night provides Amadeo with an income and a home for his new wife, Pina, and his four children.
The story takes the reader through the Second World War, something that is interesting to read from the Italian’s point of view. Rejecting fascism, the Islanders are enraged when their boys are called up to join the war, especially as many, including Amadeo’s three boys, never return. With only a daughter, Maria-Grazia, remaining, the Esposito’s keep the bar going for lack of anything better to do.
But war brings good things as well as bad. Washed up on sure, the British soldier Robert brings good luck to the superstitious villagers, eventually marrying the lovely Maria-Grazia. The story continues through the childhood of their unruly boys, coming to an end as their granddaughter reaches adulthood.
A doctor and a barman, Amadeo also had a love for stories. Listening to his patients and patrons fantastical tales, Amadeo keeps note of them all in his personal notebook. Split into five parts, the book contains a story at the beginning of each section that, although mythical, set the scene for the subsequent narrative.
Alienated from the rest of the world, the Islanders are stuck in their ways, attributing any luck – good and bad – to their patron saint, Sant’Agata. Whenever life gets tough, the people on Castellamare turn to prayer, which although is part of their Catholic faith, often comes across as superstitious and irrational. They refuse to believe any logical explanation, preferring to regard their island as a magical, preternatural site.
There is no specific storyline with the usual climax and conclusion; instead, it works as a biography of a fictional family. It is interesting to regard the impact of the rapidly developing world on the island, from the introduction of a building society and the eventual launch of the Europe – something that the Islanders are naturally against. The inhabitants of Castellamare come across as naïve, but their backgrounds and beliefs are far more interesting than the average person.
<i>The House at the Edge of the Night</i> is a story of stories. It provides more than to be expected from a novel. Catherine Banner writes of beautiful settings, compelling characters and fascinating events that both amuse and entertain in a moving way.
With Victoria Hislop’s novels such as <i>The Island</i> being all the rage amongst many female readers, Catherine Banner’s <i>The House at the Edge of the Night </i>is destined for success. It is a great book to read on holiday or at home, and perfect for book clubs. This book is the ideal escape from the stresses of everyday life.
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Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) in Movies
Oct 6, 2020
Contains spoilers, click to show
10 Cloverfield Lane is the second film in the Cloverfield series but isn't a sequel. 10 Cloverfield lane doesn't follow on from the first film but is set at the same time however, there is almost nothing that links the two films (at least to begin with) and even some of the links aren't obvious. for example, right at the beginning of the film, Michelle is grabbing her belongings when the house is shaken. There is nothing made of this however, according to official sources this is caused by Clover's first attack in the first film.
In my review of Cloverfield I stated that it wasn't necessarily the film for Kaiju fans, especially if you want monster vs monster action and this is even more true for 10 Cloverfield Lane. This is not a monster film it's more a phycological thriller.
After leaving her home Michelle is in a car crash and wakes up in a bunker belonging to survivalist Howard. The only other person in the bunker is Howards neighbour, Emmett.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a slow burn, Howard tells Michelle that there has been an attack and that she can't leave because the air is probably contaminated, Michelle is not sure if this is true. And this is where the film is clever, if you know about the connection to the first Cloverfield film then you know that there could be something out there but that it may not be contamination, if you don't know about the connection then the attack could be possible. It's John Goodman's acting as Howard that really pulls the film along, sometimes he seems believable whilst other times he seems crazy never quite revealing just how much he actually knows, right down to his last line where he tells Michelle that she can't out run what is out there, hinting that he knows what is really going on.
It's the end of the film that (kind of) links 10 Cloverfield Lane to Cloverfield but still possibly not the part you'd think. When Michelle finally gets out of the bunker she is attacked by monsters but nothing we've seen before, there is a four legged dog type thing that is not one of the parasites from the first film and what at first looks like a space ship (an idea that is further enhanced by something Howard had said earlier) but we later see that it is a creature with a mechanical looking shell, this creature also has two tentacles similar to those on Clover. The biggest link to the first film is actually after these creatures, there are radio announcements that 'we have taken back the coast' referring to the fact that we the army have defeated Clover, showing us how much time has past.
As I said, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a good thriller, if you take it for what it is (not a monster film) then it is tense and enjoyable but, if you don't know about the link then the monsters at the end would be just odd as, if it was a stand alone film, it would work better as an invasion, even if it was an alien invasion where as these monsters do just seem to be there.
As an attempt to create a larger world and to show how the events in the first film affect other places it's a good start but there needs to more. Of course there is a third film but more about that next time.
In my review of Cloverfield I stated that it wasn't necessarily the film for Kaiju fans, especially if you want monster vs monster action and this is even more true for 10 Cloverfield Lane. This is not a monster film it's more a phycological thriller.
After leaving her home Michelle is in a car crash and wakes up in a bunker belonging to survivalist Howard. The only other person in the bunker is Howards neighbour, Emmett.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a slow burn, Howard tells Michelle that there has been an attack and that she can't leave because the air is probably contaminated, Michelle is not sure if this is true. And this is where the film is clever, if you know about the connection to the first Cloverfield film then you know that there could be something out there but that it may not be contamination, if you don't know about the connection then the attack could be possible. It's John Goodman's acting as Howard that really pulls the film along, sometimes he seems believable whilst other times he seems crazy never quite revealing just how much he actually knows, right down to his last line where he tells Michelle that she can't out run what is out there, hinting that he knows what is really going on.
It's the end of the film that (kind of) links 10 Cloverfield Lane to Cloverfield but still possibly not the part you'd think. When Michelle finally gets out of the bunker she is attacked by monsters but nothing we've seen before, there is a four legged dog type thing that is not one of the parasites from the first film and what at first looks like a space ship (an idea that is further enhanced by something Howard had said earlier) but we later see that it is a creature with a mechanical looking shell, this creature also has two tentacles similar to those on Clover. The biggest link to the first film is actually after these creatures, there are radio announcements that 'we have taken back the coast' referring to the fact that we the army have defeated Clover, showing us how much time has past.
As I said, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a good thriller, if you take it for what it is (not a monster film) then it is tense and enjoyable but, if you don't know about the link then the monsters at the end would be just odd as, if it was a stand alone film, it would work better as an invasion, even if it was an alien invasion where as these monsters do just seem to be there.
As an attempt to create a larger world and to show how the events in the first film affect other places it's a good start but there needs to more. Of course there is a third film but more about that next time.
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Christina Haynes (148 KP) rated The Wicked Deep in Books
Mar 26, 2018
The Wicked Deep
By Shea Ernshaw
Review: Christina Haynes
Two centuries ago, three sisters, Marguerite, Aurora and Hazel Swan arrived on the coast of a town called Sparrow. There they made their new home, in the back of a perfumery shop which they owned and would create and sell beautifully smelly perfumes. However, this isn't the only thing that they did so well. They made men fall in love with them instantly, it didn't matter if they were older than them, if they were betrothed or married, they all fell in love with the sisters. Some people from the town claimed they were witches, others knew it. But the truth was the sisters were not witches, yet.
In June they were drowned for witchcraft, they had stones tied to their feet and pushed into the sea and died. But every year after that on June 1st the day they were all born - one year apart. They come back from the sea for revenge on the town that killed them. They take control of three girls and each murder a boy, by making the boy fall in love with them. They then call the boy into the sea and he drowns like they did weeks after their birthday. These weeks are called 'The Swan Season'
The girl's whose bodies they possess have no idea that they have become a Swan Sister and no one else knows either. Only the Swan Sisters know. Even the boys are unable to tell they are being drawn to their deaths. You see the sisters weren't witches before their deaths, but in a way, they were after them. By being drowned into the sea, they live their deaths under the waves at the bottom of the Pacific. They then reprise on to land in the month of June like magic.
Penny Talbot can see the sisters, she is the only person who can. Year after year for three years she has been able to see them underneath the girls whom they possess. Like many locals she as accepted the towns fate, that is until a boy names Bo arrives in town looking for work and a place to stay does she soon start to fall for him and realise that he is not safe, because the sisters don't just kill the boys who are from this town they take any boy who arrives. Tourist for the Swan Season, local or even just a visitor it doesn't matter, as long as they cannot resist the call of the sisters, and no one is unable too.
Penny must decide if she will save Bo from the Swan Sisters and keep him safe, or save herself.
Love, Christina
4 – I REALLY LIKED IT
By Shea Ernshaw
Review: Christina Haynes
Two centuries ago, three sisters, Marguerite, Aurora and Hazel Swan arrived on the coast of a town called Sparrow. There they made their new home, in the back of a perfumery shop which they owned and would create and sell beautifully smelly perfumes. However, this isn't the only thing that they did so well. They made men fall in love with them instantly, it didn't matter if they were older than them, if they were betrothed or married, they all fell in love with the sisters. Some people from the town claimed they were witches, others knew it. But the truth was the sisters were not witches, yet.
In June they were drowned for witchcraft, they had stones tied to their feet and pushed into the sea and died. But every year after that on June 1st the day they were all born - one year apart. They come back from the sea for revenge on the town that killed them. They take control of three girls and each murder a boy, by making the boy fall in love with them. They then call the boy into the sea and he drowns like they did weeks after their birthday. These weeks are called 'The Swan Season'
The girl's whose bodies they possess have no idea that they have become a Swan Sister and no one else knows either. Only the Swan Sisters know. Even the boys are unable to tell they are being drawn to their deaths. You see the sisters weren't witches before their deaths, but in a way, they were after them. By being drowned into the sea, they live their deaths under the waves at the bottom of the Pacific. They then reprise on to land in the month of June like magic.
Penny Talbot can see the sisters, she is the only person who can. Year after year for three years she has been able to see them underneath the girls whom they possess. Like many locals she as accepted the towns fate, that is until a boy names Bo arrives in town looking for work and a place to stay does she soon start to fall for him and realise that he is not safe, because the sisters don't just kill the boys who are from this town they take any boy who arrives. Tourist for the Swan Season, local or even just a visitor it doesn't matter, as long as they cannot resist the call of the sisters, and no one is unable too.
Penny must decide if she will save Bo from the Swan Sisters and keep him safe, or save herself.
Love, Christina
4 – I REALLY LIKED IT
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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Deepwater Horizon (2016) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
“Full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing” could be a summary of this modern-age disaster movie. In 2010 the “Deepwater Horizon” drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana failed in spectacular fashion, bursting into flames and spewing millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in what was the worst oil-spill in American history. Mark Wahlberg plays the well-respected electrical ‘Mr fixit’ Mike Williams on the rig, reporting to the Operations Manager Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell).
The exploratory project is way-behind and BP are not happy. Big-wigs from the company add support to Donald Vidrine, the BP site leader, in applying mounting pressure on Harrell to press on regardless without all the necessary and time-consuming tests by Schlumberger being completed. Rogue numbers in further tests are waved away as ‘glitches’. A familiar story of corporate greed and pressure overriding the expert’s better judgment.
When disaster strikes it strikes quickly, with some spectacular and exciting special effects that leave the audience especially hot under the collar. Female support is provided by the comely Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), given the almost impossible job of keeping the floating bomb on station as chaos reigns about her. As an audience we are back on familiar ground here from classic Irwin Allen disaster movies such as “The Towering Inferno” and “The Poseidon Adventure”. Who will make it, and who won’t?
A more telling question here is “Do we care?” and unfortunately for the film, the answer is “Not really”. This feels a callous thing to say when this was a real and recent event and eleven people and – as touchingly illustrated at the end of the film in tribute – many of them family men with young kids, never went home again. But film-wise, we only really get bought into the fate of Williams, whose back-story, with cute wife (Kate Hudson) and cute daughter (Stella Allen) we get to meet and sympathize with.
We get a minimalist view of Fleytas’s backstory, but only enough to provide a recurring “Mustang” reference. And that’s it. All the other characters are just two-dimensional “rig crew”: cannon-fodder for the special effects team. The screenplay by Matthew Sand and Matthew Carnahan really doesn’t deliver enough heft to get us bought in.
While the special effects are good, the sound design isn’t, with much of the dialogue being incomprehensible.
All the acting is fine, with the ever-watchable John Malkovich nicely portraying the corporate head you love to hate. Wahlberg as well delivers enough range to make you forget in this “action mode” that he was also in “Ted”. And Rodriguez as a junior lead holds her own against the big guns in what is a creditable performance in a big film role for her.
While “Lone Survivor”/”Battleship” director Peter Berg neatly provides an insight into life on and around rigs, and (via subtitles) descriptions of the drilling process which I found interesting, this comes down to the sum of a tense build up, an hour of frenetic disaster, and then a whimper of an ending. Where were some of the dramatic scenes of conflict in the congressional hearing that the film’s opening implies might come? Where are the scenes of ecological disaster and local financial ruin to add emotional angles to the story? None of this is really exploited and the whole concoction comes across a bit “meh” as a result. Not a bad film by any means. But not one I will remember in a month or two’s time.
The exploratory project is way-behind and BP are not happy. Big-wigs from the company add support to Donald Vidrine, the BP site leader, in applying mounting pressure on Harrell to press on regardless without all the necessary and time-consuming tests by Schlumberger being completed. Rogue numbers in further tests are waved away as ‘glitches’. A familiar story of corporate greed and pressure overriding the expert’s better judgment.
When disaster strikes it strikes quickly, with some spectacular and exciting special effects that leave the audience especially hot under the collar. Female support is provided by the comely Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), given the almost impossible job of keeping the floating bomb on station as chaos reigns about her. As an audience we are back on familiar ground here from classic Irwin Allen disaster movies such as “The Towering Inferno” and “The Poseidon Adventure”. Who will make it, and who won’t?
A more telling question here is “Do we care?” and unfortunately for the film, the answer is “Not really”. This feels a callous thing to say when this was a real and recent event and eleven people and – as touchingly illustrated at the end of the film in tribute – many of them family men with young kids, never went home again. But film-wise, we only really get bought into the fate of Williams, whose back-story, with cute wife (Kate Hudson) and cute daughter (Stella Allen) we get to meet and sympathize with.
We get a minimalist view of Fleytas’s backstory, but only enough to provide a recurring “Mustang” reference. And that’s it. All the other characters are just two-dimensional “rig crew”: cannon-fodder for the special effects team. The screenplay by Matthew Sand and Matthew Carnahan really doesn’t deliver enough heft to get us bought in.
While the special effects are good, the sound design isn’t, with much of the dialogue being incomprehensible.
All the acting is fine, with the ever-watchable John Malkovich nicely portraying the corporate head you love to hate. Wahlberg as well delivers enough range to make you forget in this “action mode” that he was also in “Ted”. And Rodriguez as a junior lead holds her own against the big guns in what is a creditable performance in a big film role for her.
While “Lone Survivor”/”Battleship” director Peter Berg neatly provides an insight into life on and around rigs, and (via subtitles) descriptions of the drilling process which I found interesting, this comes down to the sum of a tense build up, an hour of frenetic disaster, and then a whimper of an ending. Where were some of the dramatic scenes of conflict in the congressional hearing that the film’s opening implies might come? Where are the scenes of ecological disaster and local financial ruin to add emotional angles to the story? None of this is really exploited and the whole concoction comes across a bit “meh” as a result. Not a bad film by any means. But not one I will remember in a month or two’s time.
Eilidh G Clark (177 KP) rated Dirt Road in Books
May 13, 2017
Kelman is an expert in understanding people
Kelman’s new novel Dirt Road is story that takes both characters and reader on a journey right from the outset, but the journey is more than it seems. The novel begins in the West coast of Scotland where we learn that Murdo - a sixteen-year-old boy - and his father Tom are mourning the death of their mother/wife and sister/daughter. Searching for solace, they embark on a journey to Alabama, U.S.A to spend time with Uncle John and Aunt Maureen. For Murdo, family is just a happy memory, a moment in time captured in a photograph, ‘The family was four and not just him and Dad’, whilst for Tom, family is the bond that holds them together. Throughout the journey, Tom strives to guide his son and keep him on ‘the right path’, yet Murdo, as we will learn, has a path of his own to find. Stifled by the fathers influence, the boy has a tendency to stray, thus when they reach Allentown Mississippi, Murdo stumbles upon a family of musicians led by Zydeco performer Queen Monzee-ay. Murdo is as drawn to music as his father is to family, the boy himself is an accomplished accordion player, and when he is offered an opportunity to play a set with Queen Monzee-ay in two weeks’ time, we watch as the road between father and son diverges and choice and risk becomes the key plot in the story.
While this may appear a simple story line, Kelman’s exploration into the fragmented relationship between father and son gives the reader an honest analysis of family and grief. The third person narrator, with bursts of free indirect discourse from Murdo, allows the reader both an internal and external insight into the constraints of family. This parallel leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable, yet with a conflicting heart. This is Kelman’s unique writing style at its best.
Dirt Road is more than a novel of grief and family relationships though; it is a novel of risk, of following new paths with uncertainties, about leaving behind the familiarities and safety of the past and following the heart. It is about deep connections; for Murdo this is through music and the feeling of freedom that he associates with music, whilst for the other characters it is about cultural connections and Scottish ancestry. Kelman’s clever use of parallels shows the reader the intensity of human connections whilst suggesting that change and progression is possible. This great novel will linger in your thoughts for weeks after you put it down, and it brings to mind a poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
For the full poem visit (https://www.poetryfoundation.org).
Dirt Road by James Kelman
Canongate Books (14 July 2016)
While this may appear a simple story line, Kelman’s exploration into the fragmented relationship between father and son gives the reader an honest analysis of family and grief. The third person narrator, with bursts of free indirect discourse from Murdo, allows the reader both an internal and external insight into the constraints of family. This parallel leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable, yet with a conflicting heart. This is Kelman’s unique writing style at its best.
Dirt Road is more than a novel of grief and family relationships though; it is a novel of risk, of following new paths with uncertainties, about leaving behind the familiarities and safety of the past and following the heart. It is about deep connections; for Murdo this is through music and the feeling of freedom that he associates with music, whilst for the other characters it is about cultural connections and Scottish ancestry. Kelman’s clever use of parallels shows the reader the intensity of human connections whilst suggesting that change and progression is possible. This great novel will linger in your thoughts for weeks after you put it down, and it brings to mind a poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
For the full poem visit (https://www.poetryfoundation.org).
Dirt Road by James Kelman
Canongate Books (14 July 2016)