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This story was heartbreaking and maddening, horrific and unbelievable, sad and disturbing. I don't usually read books that are based on real events - something about knowing it's true turns me off, but I wanted to give this a try. It's still not something I found particularly enthralling, but it was definitely an interesting read.
Honestly, I can't decide who I despise more, Shelly or Dave! Both did horrendous things, but Dave's obvious disregard for what happened, turning a blind eye to what he witnessed and *still* insisting that there was no abuse, denying that there could have been anything wrong happening while being a partial participant, his refusal to face the facts seriously pissed me off. As for Shelly, how a person can do such things to another human being, let alone her own children, baffles me and makes me sick. Spout off as much as you want about her having a mental illness, I don't care, what she did was disgusting and I don't think she'll spend nearly enough years in prison. My heart goes out to the sisters. I dealt with abuse from my mother when I was young, but certainly not to this degree, and I can't imagine how painful it was for them (not just physically, but mentally and emotionally). The ending, knowing that each woman was healing and moving on, creating their own happiness, put a big smile on my face!
  
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David McK (3425 KP) rated Joker (2019) in Movies

Oct 27, 2019 (Updated Dec 5, 2021)  
Joker (2019)
Joker (2019)
2019 | Crime, Drama
So, we've had plenty of Batman movies, stretching right back to the Adam West era.

But, prior to this, never one about his most famous nemesis; about the Joker.

And that, I felt, was always part of the appeal: we never really had a clear hold on who the Joker was, why he was the way he was, where he came from.

As the character himself says in one of the movies: "If I have a past, I would prefer it to be multiple choice …"

With that said, this film does just that, giving the Joker a tragic past (and somewhat different than that he had in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film), with - or so I thought, when I first heard about it - taking inspiration from the seminal comic 'The Killing Joke' ("all it takes is one bad day …").

Joaquin Phoenix puts in a powerhouse performance here as Arthur Fleck, a struggling comedian who suffers from a debilitating illness that causes him to break into uncontrollable laughter at the most inopportune of times, who also suffers from severe mental health issues.

With Bruce Wayne only making a short appearance, I do have to say, however, that (to me) the timeline see's somewhat 'off': I always saw Joker and Batman as being roughly the same age, but by the time this Bruce becomes the Dark Knight (and yes, his parent's murder does happen in the film), this Joker would be near retirement age ...
  
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ClareR (5726 KP) rated Double Blind in Books

Jul 28, 2023  
Double Blind
Double Blind
Edward St. Aubyn | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really enjoyed Double Blind, not least because of Benedict Cumberbatch’s excellent narration on the audiobook!
There’s a lot packed in to this book: mental health, love, bravery, illness, fear, adoption, climate change, genetics, inheritance and technology (there might be more, but this is off the top of my head!). These are all pretty meaty themes, but I think they were all addressed with sensitivity, and nothing seemed contrived - even though one of the characters was ridiculously rich!
There’s a fair bit of internal dialogue going on, but it’s all relevant to the story itself, and I feel it was easier to listen to than it might have been to read. In fact, this book seemed to go by really quickly - I thoroughly enjoyed it, and listened to it whenever I could.
The characters were all very likeable: Lucy has a brain tumour, and after the initial shock she takes the news very well. She works for an American called Hunter Sterling, a tycoon and hedonist. He takes a lot of drugs.
Francis is a conservationist on an estate, and he meets Olivia, a biologist. Her father is a psychoanalyst who works with schizophrenics (amongst others), in particular a man called Sebastian. His deeper connections emerge in the story.
All of these people and themes are woven into a beautifully written book. I loved it, and it looks as though I have another authors backlist to investigate!