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    Timo en het toverboek

    Timo en het toverboek

    Book and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Timo and the Magical Picture book An interactive picture book Timo receives a picture book made by...

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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Battle of the Sexes (2016) in Movies

Jul 11, 2019  
Battle of the Sexes (2016)
Battle of the Sexes (2016)
2016 | Biography, Comedy, Sport
8
7.9 (16 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
1972: Billie Jean King (played brilliantly by Emma Stone) just became the Grand Slam Champion of the Women’s Tennis Association. She had challenged the inequity of pay between the Men’s and Women’s Tennis Tour. Once she learns that the tournament for the Lawn Tennis Association is paying Women one eighth of the Men’s purse. She goes up against Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman at his misogynistic best). Billie, with her Manager, Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman in spectacular form echoing a more subdued version of Bobbie Fleckman) leave the LTA and start their own Women’s Tour. Which became the Virginia Slims tournament.

Around the same time, Bobby (Steve Carell, playing Riggs like a manic Pagliacci) the once Pro Slam Champion who now works in a nondescript office at his father-in-law’s business. Bobby, the dreamer, is a gambler figuratively and literally. The man who’s inner child has taken the reins on the run. He is the clown who needs constant attention, and the showman who could sell the Golden Gate. Carell, gives an exceptional performance, riling us up with cringe-worthy moments and showing us the man that is so certain of his abilities that he forgets the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

We are brought into relationships that these two athletes have with their families and loved ones. Of what they went through before the epic, world famous Battle of the Sexes in the Houston Astrodome. The film serves us a picture of the time where women had recently began the feminine movement and Women’s Liberation. The entire feel of the movie is set solidly in the seventies, the sexism rampant and accepted as the status quo. Misogyny is socially acceptable and Riggs and friends epitomize the attitude.

There is also the story of Billie Jean, realizing an attraction to a woman she meets before the starting her tour. Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough was magnetic), the hairdresser that was instantly drawn to Billie. We also get the treat of seeing the magnificent Alan Cumming as Ted, the charming designer of the women’s fantastic tennis outfits. Wallace Langham as Henry, the tailor.

The story is built up to the historic Battle of the Sexes at the Astrodome. We see the work that Billie does in preparation. Daily drills and practice games. Bobby’s confidence in his ability to deliver a win that mirrored the decimation of Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee) who at the time was the top female tennis player in the world.

The directing duo of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) delivers us a well balanced, heartfelt film with a stellar cast. The soundtrack brings us into the early seventies and the costuming is quantum leap back to the time where polyester leisure suits and colorful shirts were the height of fashion. This is a love story of Billie Jean King and Tennis
  
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Ali A (82 KP) rated We Deserve Monuments in Books

Dec 8, 2022  
We Deserve Monuments
We Deserve Monuments
Jas Hammonds | 2022 | Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Trigger Warnings: Generational trauma, racism, mentions of alcoholism and verbal abuse, homophobia, character death

Avery Anderson’s life is uprooted when her family moves from Washington DC to Bardell, Georgia her senior year of high school to look after her maternal grandmother, Mama Letty, who’s in her final stages of cancer. Avery only remembers one visit with her grandmother, cut short by an argument, when she was very young. Bardell is a small town with only two high schools - one public, and one private, the latter being founded by one of the town’s many racist forefathers. Avery quickly gets adopted into the friendship of two girls: Simone Cole, Mama Letty’s next door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, a descendent of one of Bardell’s oldest families.

Avery’s relationship with her grandmother is far from easy. Mama Letty isn’t easy to get to know, especially when she only answers questions in grunts and gruffs. It also doesn’t help that the tension between her mother and grandmother is so thick you can cut it with a knife, but both of them are refusing to address it.

Avery sets out on trying to mend the broken and split relationship but there are events many are refusing to talk about. It isn’t until Mama Letty begins to open up to Avery about her past, that Avery is able to piece together her family history that was shaped by the town’s racist history. As more events come out of the shadows, Avery must decide if finding out the truth is worth damaging the relationships she’s built in Bardell, or if some things are better left buried.

I absolutely loved and adored this book very much. Jas Hammonds masterfully tells this layered story of a young woman finding out about her family’s past within a novel that’s about generational trauma and racism. The amount of trauma the three generations of women must peel back is constantly met with tension. The story is hard to read at times, especially when you’re reading about Mama Letty’s past and the town’s racism, but this book wrapped its arms around me and refused to let go until the Harding family’s story is told.

Alongside Avery finding out about her family’s past, the relationship between Simone and Avery grows deeper and the way the two of them find their footing to their sexuality was well written. I wish I had grown up with a place like The Renaissance where you were accepted no matter what.

Overall, this novel is going to be one I’m going to talk about for months to come. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful, and captivating. Any readers who love reading about family and their dynamics, relationships, and hope will really enjoy this book.

*Thank you Roaring Brook Press and NetGalley for an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review