Good afternoon Bookworms,
Well, after a depressing start to January with the dreary and inconceivable 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow', we were all glad of a bit of humour in the form of Rakesh Satyal's 'Blue Boy' last month! Joy has reviewed this for us, her review will be posted here shortly.
We also had our first Bookworms outing of 2014 - to see the film of our favourite read from last year - Markus Zusak's 'The Book Thief' - again Joy has kindly reviewed this for us but suffice to say we all loved it!
This month we're trying something a little different and are tackling a play in the form of Edward Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' We will be meeting on Sunday April 6th to discuss this - as usual at the Black Lion pub on Welsh Row in Nantwich at 8pm and new members are always welcome.
Our upcoming reads are as follows:
March - 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' by Edward Albee
April - 'Mort' by Terry Pratchett
May- 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte
Remember to keep checking out our twitter @booknantwich or email us at nantwichbookworms@gmail.com
Happy reading!
Kate
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Joy Cassidy's Review of Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal
Blue Boy is a tale of a young Hindu boy in America, trying to find his way through the confusion and turmoil of puberty as he transcends from boyhood to adulthood. A fairly straightforward and common synopsis no? No. Satyal's Blue Boy is in fact a flamboyant, effeminate child who likes to secretly put on his Mother's make-up, play with dolls and take ballet lessons. He also likes to look at adult magazine's and partake in voyeurism most sordid, being very childlike in some ways and very adult in others.
On one hand Kieran has his Hindu life, his family dynamics and the wider Indian culture of large parties, food and awkward social conventions. On the other, he has school, talent shows, friends who turn out to be enemies and a heightened sexual awareness. Not fitting in to either life and struggling to find his way on his own is a breeding ground for much of the humour as we follow Kieran on his voyage of self-discovery.
Despite stating otherwise, we felt that much of Kieran's flamboyant and carefree character was a reflection of Satyal's himself and therefore seemed fairly self-indulgent. Especially as Kieran comes to the conclusion that he must be a reincarnation of the Hindu god, Krishna. Adopting Krishna's habits of eating butter, playing the flute and having blue skin, Kieran descends into the bizarre and finds himself in ridiculous situations where we neither feel sorry or despise him.
Blue Boy was a light-hearted, easy read, but not as laugh-out-loud as we had expected. It had moments of comedy as well as poignancy and it provided an interesting insight into another culture, albeit from the perspective of a stupidly smart, blue-tinged adolescent.
March's read is Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and we will be meeting at the Black Lion, Nantwich at 8pm on Sunday April 6th. New members are always welcome to join us! Please contact nantwichbookworms@gmail.com or see the blognantwichbookworms.blogspot.com
Blue Boy is a tale of a young Hindu boy in America, trying to find his way through the confusion and turmoil of puberty as he transcends from boyhood to adulthood. A fairly straightforward and common synopsis no? No. Satyal's Blue Boy is in fact a flamboyant, effeminate child who likes to secretly put on his Mother's make-up, play with dolls and take ballet lessons. He also likes to look at adult magazine's and partake in voyeurism most sordid, being very childlike in some ways and very adult in others.
On one hand Kieran has his Hindu life, his family dynamics and the wider Indian culture of large parties, food and awkward social conventions. On the other, he has school, talent shows, friends who turn out to be enemies and a heightened sexual awareness. Not fitting in to either life and struggling to find his way on his own is a breeding ground for much of the humour as we follow Kieran on his voyage of self-discovery.
Despite stating otherwise, we felt that much of Kieran's flamboyant and carefree character was a reflection of Satyal's himself and therefore seemed fairly self-indulgent. Especially as Kieran comes to the conclusion that he must be a reincarnation of the Hindu god, Krishna. Adopting Krishna's habits of eating butter, playing the flute and having blue skin, Kieran descends into the bizarre and finds himself in ridiculous situations where we neither feel sorry or despise him.
Blue Boy was a light-hearted, easy read, but not as laugh-out-loud as we had expected. It had moments of comedy as well as poignancy and it provided an interesting insight into another culture, albeit from the perspective of a stupidly smart, blue-tinged adolescent.
March's read is Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and we will be meeting at the Black Lion, Nantwich at 8pm on Sunday April 6th. New members are always welcome to join us! Please contact nantwichbookworms@gmail.com or see the blognantwichbookworms.blogspot.com
A Film Review! Bookworms trip to see The Book Thief Film - reviewed by Joy
Having read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak a few months ago, the Nantwich Bookworms went to see the screen adaptation to see if the film measured up to a book that was enjoyed so much by the group. Although met with criticism and mixed reviews by many, we all left the cinema wet-cheeked and teary-eyed as we were captivated by the emotional story once again.
Despite being set during WW2 Nazi Germany, it was beautifully shot as the world was opened up to us through the eyes of the young, illiterate, Liesel. As her journey into young womanhood and literacy develops and the relationships she has along the way explored, the harsh and unforgiving setting of the war, does not overpower the beauty of the story.
We thought it was well cast, with Geoffrey Rush giving a heartwarming portrayal of Hans Hubermann, Liesel's foster father, and the other characters offering a close match to what Markus Zusak had conjured up for us through his words.
As with many adaptations, much of the story was lost in the film, which although inevitable was still a shame. Our only criticism was, given that language and words were the main crux of the story; Liesel learning to read, describe and narrate, using stolen and abolished books, it was a little distracting that the dialogue was mainly in heavily accentuated English, with a few German words thrown in (mainly by the Nazi's), rather than in subtitled German which would have perhaps smoothed the flow and increased a sense of authenticity.
Joy Cassidy
Despite being set during WW2 Nazi Germany, it was beautifully shot as the world was opened up to us through the eyes of the young, illiterate, Liesel. As her journey into young womanhood and literacy develops and the relationships she has along the way explored, the harsh and unforgiving setting of the war, does not overpower the beauty of the story.
We thought it was well cast, with Geoffrey Rush giving a heartwarming portrayal of Hans Hubermann, Liesel's foster father, and the other characters offering a close match to what Markus Zusak had conjured up for us through his words.
As with many adaptations, much of the story was lost in the film, which although inevitable was still a shame. Our only criticism was, given that language and words were the main crux of the story; Liesel learning to read, describe and narrate, using stolen and abolished books, it was a little distracting that the dialogue was mainly in heavily accentuated English, with a few German words thrown in (mainly by the Nazi's), rather than in subtitled German which would have perhaps smoothed the flow and increased a sense of authenticity.
Joy Cassidy
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