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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Dark in TV

Dec 4, 2017 (Updated Dec 4, 2017)  
Dark
Dark
2017 | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Dark, gritty, utterly mind-bending
This German series has been compared to @Stranger Things , and in some ways there are similarities in terms of the sci-fi, supernatural element, but it is far darker.

Set around the premise of a missing boy, who seems to have vanished from thin air, there are multiple narratives surrounding the characters of this town called Wisden. The main protagonist is young teenager Jonas, whose father has committed suicide, all the while his friend's younger brother has gone missing in the midst of a spate of murders. The series will require some concentration because you'll quickly realise that it is far more complicated than you'll first perceive.

It really starts to get interesting by the third episode after skipping through the usual drama of a small town ie. Lies, affairs and secrets. Without revealing too much, you'll see by this point how it compares to Stranger Things. The biggest difference is that apart from Jonas, there are very few likable roles in this show - each are tormented in their own way.

The American dubbing can be a bit off-putting as it doesnt seem particularly suited to some characters - but it can be helpful if you just want to focus on the plot. Very good indeed, hoping a new season is in the pipeline.
  
The Book of Life
The Book of Life
Deborah E. Harkness | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.7 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
The best of the trilogy
Wow, this was literally absorbing from start to finish and it is my favourite of the trilogy; it is not often that the final book achieves the highest rating. This truly is a story and a bunch of characters that have built and built.

So much change came to Diana and Matthew's lives in this book, more than in book two in the past. I found the plot to be fantastically planned, intricate and well-researched. There were details for days but not so that I got lost.

Family was more central to THE BOOK OF LIFE than any other book and it was the side characters that enriched the read so fully. I have the biggest soft spot for Gallowglass and I want a book just about him. What was subtly fascinating was the meeting of the human and creature world in this book the crossing of threads, meeting of similarities and shared-being.

The narration was excellent, Ikeda can even sing beautifully in French and German as part of the story. Again, sadness that she doesn't narrate any more.

If you are like me and you found book two a bit of a hard trudge, please don't let that put you off the final instalment, it was the best of the three.
  
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Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) created a post

May 26, 2019  
Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel.

I read about this diary, the history of its author and poet, and an excerpt of the diary in Smithsonian Magazine earlier this year. I'm so excited that I get to read an advanced copy. It isn't released to the public until September 2019.

This is the first time it has been translated into English. It covers 2 years in the life of a 16-year-old Jewish girl living in Poland before and during the German occupation. In it, she records her life, falling in love, and life in a Jewish ghetto, before she was cruelly executed.

She had given the diary to her boyfriend for safekeeping. He recorded the events of her death at the hands of the Nazis. He gave the diary to a friend before he was sent away to a concentration camp and it was returned to him after the war when he was living in the United States. He eventually gave it to her mother in the early 1950s.

Renia's sister, Elizabeth, was unaware of its existence until after her mother passed away in 1969. Elizabeth put it in a safety deposit box for many years because she couldn't bear to read it. However, knowing the significance of it, she eventually had it published and includes her remarks and memories of the events in an epilogue.
     
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ClareR (5726 KP) rated Sal in Books

Jul 21, 2018  
Sal
Sal
Mick Kitson | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story of two sisters.
Sal is the main character in this book : a story of abuse, survival and the love of two sisters.
Sal and Peppa's mum is an alcoholic with a knack of finding unsuitable boyfriends, Robert is a drunk, a drug addict and a child abuser. He abuses 13 year old Sal, and when he threatens to do the same to do the same to 10 year old Peppa, Sal decides to act and save them. She learns all she can of wild camping, survival techniques from the SAS and anything else she can pick up from the internet. She finds a remote place where they can set up camp and live away from Social Services and the 'Polis'
There is a lot of description of their surroundings in the mountains and the Loch that they live near, which I really liked. The elderly East German doctor that they meet is also a nice touch.
It hadn't actually occurred to me that this was a Young Adult book: I enjoyed it and I'm certainly not a young adult (in body, anyway!).
The novel didn't have the ending that I would have expected, but it was a good ending and very appropriate.
All in all, a very good story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of the book.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Golem (Der Golem) (1920) in Movies

Nov 4, 2019 (Updated Nov 4, 2019)  
The Golem (Der Golem) (1920)
The Golem (Der Golem) (1920)
1920 | Fantasy, Horror
Usual disclaimers apply when discussing a movie this old (the pace, production values and performance style should not be judged by modern standards), but this is another one of those films proving that things have, perhaps, not changed as much as we think. This is technically Golem 3, a prequel to the first two showing the creation of the titular monster during the middle ages. The structure of the story is very familiar - it seems like a good idea to create an immensely powerful servant from clay using dark magic, to begin with anyway, but he proves an unruly worker in the end, to say the least.

Another expressionist German fantasy film about the dangers of flirting with the powers of darkness; if you're looking for historical irony the fact it's based on a Jewish legend should give you plenty to work with. Holds up pretty well; the similarities to Frankenstein are very obvious, and the director gives a striking performance as the monster. Many other performances are striking to the modern eye as well, although not in quite the same way. Some interesting cultural baggage to be unpicked here too (the Jewish characters are the heroes of the film, but the Rabbi does have black magic powers which no-one seems very surprised). Interesting historically and a watchable genre movie, too.
  
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
1937 | Animation, Classics, Family
Heigh Ho
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest Disney animated feature film. It was based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

The Plot: Jealous of Snow White's beauty, the wicked queen orders the murder of her innocent stepdaughter, but later discovers that Snow White is still alive and hiding in a cottage with seven friendly little miners. Disguising herself as a hag, the queen brings a poisoned apple to Snow White, who falls into a death-like sleep that can be broken only by a kiss from the prince.


Following the film's release, a number of Snow White themed merchandise were sold, including hats, dolls, garden seeds, and glasses. The film's merchandise generated sales of $8 million, equivalent to over $100 million adjusted for inflation.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has had a lifetime gross of $418 million across its original release and several reissues. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top-10 American film moneymakers of all time.

Snow White was nominated for Best Musical Score at the Academy Awards in 1938, and the next year, producer Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar for the film.

It is a classic and a must watch film.