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rymdkapsel

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"Rymdkapsel makes its more ornate competitors feel needlessly garnished." - New York Times,...

ClareR (5681 KP) rated I Am, I Am, I Am in Books

Jul 30, 2020

I’m going to have to stop saying that I can’t read non-fiction, because clearly I can. This book was a quick, addictive read, and I vacillated between feeling voyeuristic and horrified. Maggie’s encounter with a man whilst she was walking on a mountain path, resulted in me telling my husband all about it, in detail. He asked me why I was reading it, it sounded horrifying (it was, but that’s where I stopped listening to him!). Another encounter whilst backpacking in South America had me holding my breath, and her illness as a child was upsetting in a different way - as all stories involving sick children do now that I have my own. The last story about her daughters serious allergies and many ‘blue light’ dashes to hospital, resounded with me in particular, and I found myself close to tears. Whilst my own child’s medical condition isn’t life threatening, he has certainly been hospitalised, had serious operations, and had his near death experience (luckily just the one). This is traumatic enough, but to have to be ever vigilant must be emotionally and physically exhausting.

I hesitate to use the word ‘wonderful’ when talking about a book about seventeen near death experiences, but I loved reading it, and would definitely recommend it.

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Bostonian916 (449 KP) rated Burden (2018) in Movies

Aug 4, 2020

Burden (2018)

2018 | Drama

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I'm not sure why this movie is listed as being released it 2018. It was released VOD early this summer due to theaters closing down. IMDb has it listed as 2018, as well. Perhaps that was the intended release?

Anyway, Burden is a true story about Mike Burden, an active KKK member in the deep south. Having lived a life of hate and anger, he falls in love with a woman who shows him that there are other ways. He denounces his position in the Klan and removes himself from it entirely with the help of a local reverend who happens to be black.

The film makers did a wonderful job of showing the mental and emotional anguish that Burden went through by walking away from the only "family" he ever knew, even though they were heinous, it was still not an easy task.

Garrett Hedlund and Forest Whitaker are both absolutely phenomenal in their respective roles. From what I understand, the film stays pretty true to the actual story that played out in real life.

Though the film is based on events that took place in the 90's from what I can tell, the story told is a relevant today (perhaps moreso) than ever.