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Cane

Jean Toomer

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Originally published in 1923, Jean Toomer's Cane remains an innovative literary work-part drama,...

The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790

Ritchie Robertson

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale...

Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Good Luck of Right Now in Books

May 28, 2017

The Good Luck of Right Now

Matthew Quick | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry

7.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Foul language (0 more)

Inspirational

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

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Play Book comes an inspirational tale about a thirty nine year old man who has lived with his mother his whole life. The Good Luck of Right Now is about how Bartholomew Neil copes with life after the death of his mother. Bartholomew is a very awkward man who has no idea how to cope on his own and so is assigned a grief counselor, Wendy, to help him come to terms with his new situation. Due to his mother’s movie obsessions, this story is told through pretend letters written to famous Hollywood actor, Richard Gere, who is also someone Bartholomew admires greatly.

Matthew Quick’s novel entertains the reader through the mishmash of characters from a cat-obsessed man who is convinced aliens exist, to Bartholomew’s obscure friendship with a bipolar priest. As well as being entertaining this novel explores the rhythm of the universe leaving the reader questioning the credibility of fate and wondering about religion and philosophy.

The way in which Bartholomew views the world and his reasons for writing unsent letters to Richard Gere during this difficult period of his life suggest that he his somewhere on the autism scale. Quick explores mental health issues as well as this beginning with the priest with bipolar and again later in the book when Bartholomew becomes friends with a pair of siblings, Max and Elizabeth.

At times humorous and at others thoughtful, The Good Luck of Right Now is a really interesting novel to read. It is easy to understand Bartholomew’s thought processes and he is a very lovable character. One part of the story I personally did not like, however, was the amount of swearing the character Max does. Although this emphasizes Max’s mental state and is not intended to be an insult, it did get a bit tiresome reading a swear word within every sentence he spoke.

Overall this book is definitely worth the read, especially if you enjoyed The Silver Linings Play Book. In fact, The Good Luck of Right Now may even be the better book!

Kudos

StorybookConfectionary (1 KP) rated Call Me by Your Name (2017) in Movies

Mar 9, 2018

Call Me by Your Name (2017)

2017 | Drama, Romance

8.1

(27 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The pace is supposed to feel languid like the summer vacation they are having. (11 more)

The characters are developed early on, like Oliver's knowledge of etymology that would be a cliché of the "protagonist as genius" had it not been a simply test.

Elio's name comes from 'helios' or sun and fits his personality in the sense that he is generous with his time, brilliant by definition of his current state of youth in mind and body, and he is restless in love.

The peach scene is heartbreaking.

The fireplace is a cinematographic style we don't see a lot as an Ameeican audience, where the camera stays in one place and we look through Elios for a long time. It should feel discomforting.

Elios' girl approaches him first even though she recognizes he used her and even when she said she was most afraid of getting hurt. She tells him she's sorry to see him sad, that she loves him, and then extends her hand for a reconciliation.

Elios takes her hand only when she promises her friendship is forever. So while romance is fleeting and he has the courage to proceed, he cannot give up the commitment of duration as prerequisite in a friendship.

The flies throughout the movie feel natural to the countryside but can also signify the attraction to: the sweetness of fruit, the rotting of fruit, and the indiscriminatory chances that warmth gives to living things.

These flies deserve an additional block for their amount of screentime, a motif of desire that obstructs the viewer's sight and buzzes us into a haze. We are, unbeknownst to ourselves, directed towards empathy for the characters.

Romance should be prolonged. Teased until it hits a climax and cannot be resisted anymore. Elio and everyone else hits a note of ecstasy once Oliver gives into the beauty of a body.

It's amazing how this story is founded on and driven by the conversations between Greek philosophy and Roman conquests. The Greeks thought sculpture could answer their question about knowledge/beauty.

Romance, because it ends, remains so good, nostalgic, and desirable.

Summer love

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