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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Wojtek: War Hero Bear in Books
Sep 24, 2020
More reviews at https://bbookinspector.wordpress.com
Well, I think this book is classified as a children’s read, but I noticed, that you should have pretty good knowledge in history, in order to understand what is going on in here. I picked up this book after reading a Holocaust memoir, so it was a very nice continuation to my reading theme. 😀
When Piotr, a polish soldier, discovers an abandoned bear cub, he decides to take him along on his journey to Palestine. But he discovers, that after losing his family to the Soviet regimen, Piotr feels very lonely, and Wojtek’s presence comforts not only him but other soldiers as well. I really liked the characters in this book, I found them charming, warm and pleasant personalities. I really enjoyed that author used multiple perspectives in this novel, I really loved reading Wojtek’s parts, I found them cute and funny. I loved the parts, were author shared Piotr’s story with the readers. It is a very sad story involving concentration camps and betrayal, but these parts made the whole book more complex and more interesting for me. (as an adult with some knowledge of history…)
The narrative follows the army squad accompanied by Wojtek, through their journeys in the middle east, and is very fun to read. I have to agree, Wojtek is a very funny and smart bear, and I loved all his mishaps. The author has done a great research for this novel, however, sometimes it felt like reading a history book, filled with war terminology and facts. Another aspect I really enjoyed was the pictures, Tim Archbold did a great job on them. I am glad that every chapter had a picture, and I was curious to find out, which scene from that chapter he decided to illustrate. 🙂
The writing style of this book was pretty straightforward, and it was quite easy and enjoyable for me. The chapters were a decent length and the pictures helped to make it more entertaining and playful. I did enjoy the setting of this book, it changes continuously, bringing in different scenery and atmosphere. I think that the ending was very realistic and believable for this novel, but some aspects left me a little bit upset with Piotr. So, to conclude, It is a great read for children as well as adults, especially if your child is learning about WWII, I think it would widen up their knowledge and you would have great fun reading it as well. Win-win situation. 😀 This novel has amusing characters as well as lots of serious and fun moments, and I do recommend to give this book a try. Enjoy 🙂
Well, I think this book is classified as a children’s read, but I noticed, that you should have pretty good knowledge in history, in order to understand what is going on in here. I picked up this book after reading a Holocaust memoir, so it was a very nice continuation to my reading theme. 😀
When Piotr, a polish soldier, discovers an abandoned bear cub, he decides to take him along on his journey to Palestine. But he discovers, that after losing his family to the Soviet regimen, Piotr feels very lonely, and Wojtek’s presence comforts not only him but other soldiers as well. I really liked the characters in this book, I found them charming, warm and pleasant personalities. I really enjoyed that author used multiple perspectives in this novel, I really loved reading Wojtek’s parts, I found them cute and funny. I loved the parts, were author shared Piotr’s story with the readers. It is a very sad story involving concentration camps and betrayal, but these parts made the whole book more complex and more interesting for me. (as an adult with some knowledge of history…)
The narrative follows the army squad accompanied by Wojtek, through their journeys in the middle east, and is very fun to read. I have to agree, Wojtek is a very funny and smart bear, and I loved all his mishaps. The author has done a great research for this novel, however, sometimes it felt like reading a history book, filled with war terminology and facts. Another aspect I really enjoyed was the pictures, Tim Archbold did a great job on them. I am glad that every chapter had a picture, and I was curious to find out, which scene from that chapter he decided to illustrate. 🙂
The writing style of this book was pretty straightforward, and it was quite easy and enjoyable for me. The chapters were a decent length and the pictures helped to make it more entertaining and playful. I did enjoy the setting of this book, it changes continuously, bringing in different scenery and atmosphere. I think that the ending was very realistic and believable for this novel, but some aspects left me a little bit upset with Piotr. So, to conclude, It is a great read for children as well as adults, especially if your child is learning about WWII, I think it would widen up their knowledge and you would have great fun reading it as well. Win-win situation. 😀 This novel has amusing characters as well as lots of serious and fun moments, and I do recommend to give this book a try. Enjoy 🙂
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Big Sick (2017) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Just what the doctor ordered: a charming and thoughtful summer comedy.
Romance and comedy work together beautifully on film: love is innately ridiculous after all! But mix in a dramatic element – particularly a serious medical emergency – to a Rom Com and you walk a dangerous line between on the one hand letting the drama overwhelm the comedy ( “Well! I don’t feel like laughing now!”) and on the other hand diverging into shockingly mawkish finger-down-the-throat sentimentality. Fortunately the new comedy – “The Big Sick” – walks that line to perfection.
Kumail Nanjiani plays (who’d have thought it?) Kumail, a Pakistani-born comic-cum-Uber-driver struggling to get recognised on the Chicago comedy circuit. His performances mix traditional stand-up at a club with a rather po-faced one-man show where he explains at length the culture of Pakistan (Naan-splaining?), including intricate detail on the fielding positions and strategies of cricket. Kumail is heckled during a show by the young and perky Emily (Zoe Kazan, the middle daughter from “It’s Complicated”). Lust blossoms (mental note: stand up comedy seems a fabulous strategy for picking up women) and lust turns to romance as the pair grow closer to each other.
A surging romance. Uber gets love from A to B.
Unfortunately Kumail is aware of something Emily isn’t: his strictly Muslim parents Sharmeen and Azmat (Anupam Kher and Zenobia Schroff) believe in arranged marriages to ‘nice Pakistani girls’ and a relationship with – let alone a marriage to – Emily risks disgrace and familial exile. A medical crisis brings Kumail further into dispute, this time with Emily’s parents Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano).
Stand-up is, I assert, a very nationalistic thing. It is a medium hugely dependant on context and while I’m sure great British comics like Peter Kay and Eddie Izzard might rate as only a 4 or a 5 out of 10 for most Americans, so most American stand-up comics tend to leave me cold. And perhaps it’s also a movie-thing, that stand-up on the big screen just doesn’t work well? Either way, the initial comedy-club scenes rather left me cold. (And I don’t think most of them were SUPPOSED to be particularly bad – since they seemed to fill the seats each night). As a result I thought this was a “comedy” that wasn’t going to be for me.
Stand up and be counted. Kumail Nanjiani doing the circuit.
But once Nanjiani and Kazan got together the chemistry was immediate and palpable and the duo completely won me round. Kazan in particular is a vibrant and joyous actress who I would love to see a lot more of: this should be a breakout movie for her.
Broader, but none less welcome, comedy is to be found in Kumail’s family home as his mother introduces serial Pakistani girls to the dinner table.
Holly Hunter (“Broadcast News” – one of my favourite films) and Ray Romano are also superb, delivering really thoughtful and nuanced performances that slowly unpeel the stresses inherent in many long-term marriages. The relationship that develops between Kumail and Beth is both poignant and truly touching.
Where the script succeeds is in never quite making the viewer comfortable about where the movie is going and whether the film will end with joy or heartbreak. And you will find no spoilers here!
So is it a comedy classic? Well, no, not quite. What’s a bit disappointing is that for a film as culturally topical as this, the whole question of Islamophobia in Trump’s America is juggled like a hot potato. Aside from one memorable scene in the club, with a redneck heckler, and an excruciating exchange about 9/11 between Kumail and Terry, the subject is completely ignored. This is a shame. The script (by Nanjiani and Emily Gordon) would have benefited enormously from some rather braver “Thick of It” style input from the likes of Armando Iannucci.
I also have to despair at the movie’s marketing executives who came up with this title. FFS! I know “East is East” has already gone, but could you have possibly come up with a less appealing title? I guess the title does serve one useful purpose in flagging up potential upset for those with bad historical experiences of intensive care. (Like “The Descendants” this is what we would term in our family #notaShawFamilyfilm).
Overall though this film, directed by Michael Showalter (no, me neither!) and produced by Judd Apatow (whose name gets the biggest billing), is a fun and engaging movie experience that comes highly recommended. A delightful antidote to the summer blockbuster season. The end titles also bring a delightful surprise (that I’ve seen spoiled since by some reviews) that was moving and brought added depth to the drama that had gone before.
More Hollywood please, more.
Kumail Nanjiani plays (who’d have thought it?) Kumail, a Pakistani-born comic-cum-Uber-driver struggling to get recognised on the Chicago comedy circuit. His performances mix traditional stand-up at a club with a rather po-faced one-man show where he explains at length the culture of Pakistan (Naan-splaining?), including intricate detail on the fielding positions and strategies of cricket. Kumail is heckled during a show by the young and perky Emily (Zoe Kazan, the middle daughter from “It’s Complicated”). Lust blossoms (mental note: stand up comedy seems a fabulous strategy for picking up women) and lust turns to romance as the pair grow closer to each other.
A surging romance. Uber gets love from A to B.
Unfortunately Kumail is aware of something Emily isn’t: his strictly Muslim parents Sharmeen and Azmat (Anupam Kher and Zenobia Schroff) believe in arranged marriages to ‘nice Pakistani girls’ and a relationship with – let alone a marriage to – Emily risks disgrace and familial exile. A medical crisis brings Kumail further into dispute, this time with Emily’s parents Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano).
Stand-up is, I assert, a very nationalistic thing. It is a medium hugely dependant on context and while I’m sure great British comics like Peter Kay and Eddie Izzard might rate as only a 4 or a 5 out of 10 for most Americans, so most American stand-up comics tend to leave me cold. And perhaps it’s also a movie-thing, that stand-up on the big screen just doesn’t work well? Either way, the initial comedy-club scenes rather left me cold. (And I don’t think most of them were SUPPOSED to be particularly bad – since they seemed to fill the seats each night). As a result I thought this was a “comedy” that wasn’t going to be for me.
Stand up and be counted. Kumail Nanjiani doing the circuit.
But once Nanjiani and Kazan got together the chemistry was immediate and palpable and the duo completely won me round. Kazan in particular is a vibrant and joyous actress who I would love to see a lot more of: this should be a breakout movie for her.
Broader, but none less welcome, comedy is to be found in Kumail’s family home as his mother introduces serial Pakistani girls to the dinner table.
Holly Hunter (“Broadcast News” – one of my favourite films) and Ray Romano are also superb, delivering really thoughtful and nuanced performances that slowly unpeel the stresses inherent in many long-term marriages. The relationship that develops between Kumail and Beth is both poignant and truly touching.
Where the script succeeds is in never quite making the viewer comfortable about where the movie is going and whether the film will end with joy or heartbreak. And you will find no spoilers here!
So is it a comedy classic? Well, no, not quite. What’s a bit disappointing is that for a film as culturally topical as this, the whole question of Islamophobia in Trump’s America is juggled like a hot potato. Aside from one memorable scene in the club, with a redneck heckler, and an excruciating exchange about 9/11 between Kumail and Terry, the subject is completely ignored. This is a shame. The script (by Nanjiani and Emily Gordon) would have benefited enormously from some rather braver “Thick of It” style input from the likes of Armando Iannucci.
I also have to despair at the movie’s marketing executives who came up with this title. FFS! I know “East is East” has already gone, but could you have possibly come up with a less appealing title? I guess the title does serve one useful purpose in flagging up potential upset for those with bad historical experiences of intensive care. (Like “The Descendants” this is what we would term in our family #notaShawFamilyfilm).
Overall though this film, directed by Michael Showalter (no, me neither!) and produced by Judd Apatow (whose name gets the biggest billing), is a fun and engaging movie experience that comes highly recommended. A delightful antidote to the summer blockbuster season. The end titles also bring a delightful surprise (that I’ve seen spoiled since by some reviews) that was moving and brought added depth to the drama that had gone before.
More Hollywood please, more.
100 Lebanese Recipes
Food & Drink and Lifestyle
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Top rankings reached: #1 in Lebanon, #4 in France, #5 in Venezuela, #11 in Germany, #14 in UAE, #14...