Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (877)

Content

Hazel (1853 KP) rated Dreaming of Antigone in Books

Dec 17, 2018

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dreaming of Antigone is a contemporary tragedy about sixteen-year-old Andria in the aftermath of the death of her twin sister Iris. It has been almost six months since Iris overdosed on heroin, and also the same amount of time since Andria last had an epileptic seizure. Feeling overwhelmed by her mother’s overprotectiveness, Andria is counting down the days until she can reapply for her driving license – freedom. Only fourteen days to go; unless she has another seizure…

Although she is not over her sister’s death, Andria is keeping her emotions in check; but then, Iris’ ex-drug addict boyfriend, Alex, comes back to school. Andria feels hatred toward him and angrily blames him for what happened to her sister. She is beyond frustrated to discover that she has to work alongside Alex in the library after school. However their love of poetry begins to bond them together, causing Andria to question how she really feels. When more tragedy strikes in the form of her stepfather, Andria is glad to have Alex by her side.

Dreaming of Antigone is a mix of high culture and pop culture. It is written for the contemporary teenager who enjoys love stories, yet it also contains a few highbrow topics. Firstly, as referenced in the title, is the Greek play Antigone. Andria is studying this tragedy at school and likens herself and Iris to the key characters, Antigone and Ismene. Secondly is astronomy. Andria is passionate about the stars and educates the reader a little about the names of constellations and the position of the stars and planets in the solar system. Thirdly, as already mentioned, there are lots of poetry citations.

I was a little disappointed that there was not more focus on Antigone, as this is what attracted me to the novel in the first place. Robin Bridges gives a brief overview of the play for the benefit of readers who are unfamiliar with it, however for readers, like myself, who have studied Sophocles’ tragedies, there is not much more to gain from this reference.

Bridges tackles quite a number of difficult subjects in Dreaming of Antigone. There is the obvious issue of drug abuse, which killed Iris. In this case, Iris was a victim of the addiction, however Bridges counters this with Alex, the survivor, thus saying that it is possible to recover from such a dangerous habit. Later on in the story other challenging problems crop up, for example suicide and sexual abuse. Thankfully Bridges deals with these in a mature and gentle manner, so as not to distress the reader. Having said this, some readers may struggle with this triggering content.

Overall, whilst this was not a terrible book, it was not exactly what I was expecting, and therefore a bit of a disappointment. It is for this reason that I am not giving Dreaming of Antigone more than three stars. Other readers with fewer expectations may enjoy this novel a lot more.

Kudos

JT (287 KP) rated Escape Plan (2013) in Movies

Mar 23, 2020

Escape Plan (2013)

2013 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

6.6

(21 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Arnie and Stallone (1 more)

Entertaining

80s action icons join forces

For those of us that grew up watching action films in the 80s, one can only stand by and admire that Stallone and Schwarzenegger were still going well into their 60s at the time of shooting. Clearly, they’re having fun, which is a good thing as we’re not expecting Oscar material here and those that are may as well leave now.

Escape Plan gives the two giants top billing opposite each other for the first time the whole way through a film (not counting The Expendables), but ultimately they’re on the same side. Ray Breslin (Stallone) breaks out of prisons for a living, making sure that those who are put behind bars have no way of ever getting out.

When a job comes up to test out a top-secret facility Breslin gleefully accepts despite his partners thinking otherwise, it leads him on to a collision course with Arnie who he needs to get onside in order to get out.

Of course once inside its clear that some people have no intention of letting him see the light of day, and Breslin is trapped behind a prison that encompasses everything he wrote the book on.

He teams up with fellow inmate Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) in an attempt to break out and bring those responsible for setting him up, to justice, and that is where the fun begins. Schwarzenegger is enjoying himself even if the dialogue is not the best as we said, we’re not expecting Oscar material. He does, however, get the good lines and pretty much acts as the diversion as Breslin scampers around looking for breaks in the system.

Jim Caviezel is Hobbs, the warden of the facility, in what is actually quite a good turn as the classic pantomime villain, a throwback to the baddies of the mid-eighties. He plays it cold and calculating, which in some parts feels like he’s going a bit OTT. Beneath him is Vinnie Jones, typecast as the bog-standard henchmen who is not particularly needed and to make matters worse probably gets one of the worst henchmen deaths. We don’t regard that as a plot spoiler as most villain sidekicks end up biting the bullet as the stopgap between the hero and the classic ending battle.

There are no illusions going into this, you know exactly what you’re going to get right down to the obvious plot twist that you can see coming a mile off. A subplot is only touched on briefly but it’s a subplot that has been a staple part of any revenge plan. The film has a strong third act once everything has been set up and it unfolds in a pulsating twenty-minute finale which includes quite possibly the best slow motion shot for some time, nodding itself to most classic action films of the Arnie era.

It’s meat and two veg action of maybe not the highest order but certainly better than some of its more recent predecessors, Stallone and Schwarzenegger bring their action A-game and don’t disappoint for a second.