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The Ghosts of the Avant-Garde: Exorcising Experimental Theater and Performance

James M. Harding

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The Ghosts of the Avant-Garde(s) offers a strikingly new perspective on key controversies and...

Great British Shipwrecks

Rod Macdonald

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Book

For more than 30 years, internationally acclaimed wreck diver and best-selling author, Rod...

ClareR (6037 KP) rated The Prophets in Books

Jan 5, 2021

The Prophets

Robert Jones Jr. | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I’ve agonised over writing something about this. How can whatever I write possibly do this book any justice? It’s beautiful, it’s haunting and it’s terrible. I don’t mean that it’s bad-terrible. I mean that it’s a book that I wish never had to be written. What is terrible, is mans inhumanity to man.
The story centres around the slaves on the Elizabeth Plantation (also known as ‘Empty’ to the slaves), and in particular, Samuel and Isaiah. They are betrayed by the other slaves, as if by revealing their love, it will make their lives safer. Of course this is not the case, as we see when we read the chapters centred around some of the other slaves. We learn about the inhumane treatment of the slaves by their immoral white owners (or toubabs, as they are called by their black slaves). I felt that the white people in this book had a mad, mentally unhinged quality about them: after all, how else could you reconcile treating human beings worse than animals?
I found the chapters written from the African people’s perspective, as they were free then captured and imprisoned, so interesting. It made them even more real to me. These were real people (as opposed to the animals that they were seen as by the slavers) with families, traditions, lives, loves and beliefs. The scenes on board the slave ships were harrowing.
It has taken me over a week to tackle this review. This book really affected me deeply, and there were many times that I had to put the book down and walk away. Then, I would feel guilty that I had the luxury of doing just that, unlike the slaves who lived every moment of their lives as some white mans possession to do with as he saw fit.
I can’t believe that this is a debut novel. The writing is beautiful, even in the most horrific moments. The magical elements add a suggestion of hope and the indomitable spirit of these people. And the ending is just perfection. I’m sure that this book will win awards - it SHOULD win - and I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to read it.
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me access to this book via NetGalley. It has been a privilege to read it.

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Ronyell (38 KP) rated MirrorMask (2005) in Movies

Aug 4, 2020

MirrorMask (2005)

2005 | Drama, Family, Sci-Fi

8.0

(6 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The Mirror World of Weirdness

Now, I will admit that even though I have read many of Neil Gaiman's works, I had never heard of this movie before, until just recently and I must admit that I really enjoyed this movie a lot! What was the most interesting thing to me about this movie was that the drawings that Helena had drawn throughout the film was none other than Dave McKean's drawings, who was well known for doing a lot of the artwork for Neil Gaiman's books! I loved the way that the drawings provided a haunting and surreal atmosphere for the film as I found myself either being memorized by the imagery (the scenes with the City of Lights were beautiful) or being frightened by the imagery (the scenes with the sphinx cats really creep me out). I also loved the fact that this film is somewhat of a spiritual successor to "Labyrinth," another film from the Jim Henson Company, as both films dealt with the main character having problems with their families and once they enter another world, they have to save the people who resemble their family members from whatever dark force happens to come upon them. The actors and the actresses in this film were fantastic, with my favorite character being Valentine as he was played wonderfully by Jason Barry and he really brought so much humor to the film. I also loved Stephanie Leonidas' portrayal of Helena as she is shown to be a spunky girl who doesn't seem to be afraid of the frightening world she ends up in and it really makes me get into her character.

The only problem that I had with this film was that the story tend to get a little confusing at times to the point where I don't exactly know what is quite going on with the characters. Like for instance, the movie didn't really explain about what kind of condition Helena's mother had that caused her to go to the hospital in the first place and even though it wouldn't be a major part of the film, I still would like to know what kind of disease Helena's mother had that would be so dangerous to her health.

Overall, "Mirrormask" is a fantastic and surreal film that anyone who is a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's works or surreal movies in general will definitely enjoy for many years to come!