Search

Search only in certain items:

Hilarious, observant and inventive. (0 more)
The casual use of racist, misogynist (all the ists really) language really dates the writing. (0 more)
What's not to like (other than the casual prejudice)?
Contains spoilers, click to show
Okay, so I am one of those people who definitely saw the film before I read the book (and having now done the background reading I am even more impressed with Gilliam’s direction which uses some seriously creative camera angles to replicate the constantly expanding and contracting drug dependent points of view).
Whilst I understand that America’s post counter-culture, folksy racism/ misogyny/ homophobia [insert prejudice here] is subject to criticism by the author, there was more than one occasion where I found the discriminatory language jarringly unnecessary. It really dates the piece.
That said, on the whole, this is a really excellent read, and I was in equal parts disgusted and amused by the antics, and found myself (to some degree of shame) identifying with some of the scrapes and situations the Doctor of Journalism and his legal crony got themselves into- I mean who hasn’t found a casualty or two in their bathrooms following an impromptu house party? (Although I do wonder how events might read to those who avoided misspending their youth...)
It’s a short, pithy searing indictment of American culture, society and the tacit implication (or actually come to think of it- pretty explicit statement) that substance abuse is the only way to deal with and make sense of the chaos. So, one could argue, still pretty relevant.
Violence is frequently a first recourse, the idealisation of capitalism is metaphorically “burned to the ground” (yet antithetically also a cause for admiration) and towards the end a primate bites into an old man’s skull. What’s not to like?
  
S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone, #19)
S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone, #19)
Sue Grafton | 2006 | Mystery
8
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Kinsey Tries to Solve a Very Cold Case
On July 4, 1953, Victoria Sullivan vanished without a trace and was never heard from again. Her abusive husband lived under the shadow of suspicion, and her then seven-year-old daughter, Daisy, has lived with the questions about what happened to her mother and why. And so, thirty-four years later, she hires PI Kinsey Millhone to try to finally solve this mystery. Kinsey is reluctant to take on the case. After all this time, what can she find? Yet, as she begins to poke around, she suspects that the people she is talking to know more than they’ve ever told the police or are telling her. Can she figure out what happened?

Cold cases can make excellent novels, and this is a perfect example. It is obvious early on that Kinsey is gaining new information, but how that is going to play out keeps us guessing until the end. I was certain I knew who it was, but I was wrong. Still, the ending did make sense to me. The characters are strong as always. Kinsey spends much of the book out of town, so we don’t see much of the regulars, which was disappointing, but a minor issue. While all the “modern” 1987 scenes are narrated from Kinsey’s first-person point of view, there are sections from other character’s point of view back in 1953. As good as some of those scenes are, sadly, there are some very graphic scenes in them. We could have easily done without them and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all. I’m taking a star off for that. If you are a fan, be prepared to skim those scenes and you’ll still enjoy the book overall.
  
40x40

Carrie Brownstein recommended track Told You So by Miguel in War & Leisure by Miguel in Music (curated)

 
War & Leisure by Miguel
War & Leisure by Miguel
2017 | Rhythm And Blues
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite Watch

Told You So by Miguel

(0 Ratings)

Track Watch

"I’ve always been a fan of Miguel. I remember listening to Kaleidoscope Dream in a hotel room in New York; there’s this real sexy, urbane quality to that album. His next record, Wildheart, has a real lo-fi sultriness—there’s this weird disparity between those two things, because people think of sultry as being writ-large, with this polished quality, but when you give it this bedroom-recording quality, it adds a sensitivity and a vulnerability that Miguel just has in spades. I love the way he spells out the titles of his songs in lowercase, too. He has a way of being sweetly diminutive and then larger than life. “Told You So,” from his new album, War & Leisure, really grabbed me right away. I first heard it when I was in my bedroom getting ready to go out, which is really important music listening for me. It always feels like a motivational soundtrack and returns me to my teenage self: creating an imagined narrative that usually never comes to fruition. I always think the getting-ready part somehow supersedes the experience itself. It’s better than the party. Even when I’m alone, when I’m still in the realm of fantasy of what the night could be, it’s always better than what the night is. And I’m definitely just talking about going out to very pedestrian events—it’s not like I’m going out to some wild dance party. But music has always accompanied those moments of trying on different clothes, looking at myself in front of the mirror, trying to do something even remotely reasonable with makeup—it always feels aspirational, and buoying. That was the first time I heard “Told You So.” I really thought, “This will be my going-out song for the next six months.” And it has been."

Source