Carol’s Comments March
2019
Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of Carol’s
Comments. After spending a hectic Christmas season with friends and
family as well as attending the fabulous Cut!: Costume and the Cinema exhibit
at The History Museum, I decided to choose an eclectic assortment of books to
keep me company over this topsy turvy winter.
I first selected Michelle Obama’s incredibly popular
bestselling memoir Becoming. Written in a very approachable and candid writing
style, Mrs. Obama’s book contains three sections: Becoming Me, Becoming Us and
Becoming More. Part 1 describes her early years as a child and adolescent with
her brother Craig Robinson growing up in a working class South Side Chicago neighborhood, graduating from Princeton and later Harvard Law
School. Part 2 focuses on her relationship and marriage to Barack Obama while
Part 3 chronicles the Obama presidency through her unique perspective.
My favorite part of Mrs. Obama’s autobiography was
Becoming Me because it honestly discussed the values instilled in her by
supportive parents Fraser and Marian Robinson who stressed the importance of
education especially when they encouraged her to attend Princeton and Harvard
Law School. I also empathized with the struggles she faced with prejudice and
the obstacles she overcome throughout her life - even as First Lady. At times,
the book’s straightforward, exceptionally genuine narrative reminded me of
Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir My Beloved World which I reviewed in
December 2013.
I highly recommend Becoming to anyone who
greatly admires the first African-American First Lady and the Obama presidency.
After reading a positive review in The
New York Times about French author Anne Serre’s hypnotic Gothic novella
The
Governesses, I definitely found it very intriguing. Unfortunately, the
library didn’t own the book so I hurriedly bought my own copy.
Recently published in the United States and
translated by Mark Hutchinson, this weirdly enchanting first novel, originally
published in France in 1992, introduces American readers to one of France’s
most prolific modern writers. Serre’s 110 page novella begins when Monsieur and
Madame Austeur employ three very surreal governesses ,Eleanore, Laura and Ines,
to care for their two little boys as ”mistresses of games and pleasures.” Without
being overly explicit, this strange entrancing story vividly recounts the ethereal
trio’s erotic adventures by describing how the women act like sirens, drawing
men into their alluring, sensual trap. The very arousing tale mixes elements of
Jane
Eyre with a bit of Fifty Shades of Grey.
Devoid of a traditional plot, Serre’s mesmerizing
atmospheric story set in an unknown time and place is more a series of
impressions than a classic Gothic novel. The Governesses is a very
challenging read that symbolizes desire and loneliness. In fact, Eleanore,
Laura and Ines seem more like nymphs in an epic poem composed by Lord Byron
than demure Bronte governesses like Jane Eyre or Agnes Grey.
To commemorate J.D. Salinger’s 100th
birthday on January 1, I decided to read Franny and Zooey, one of my favorite
novels in high school instead of the more obvious choice Catcher in the Rye.
Salinger’s short novel consists of two short stories
originally published in The New Yorker; Franny in 1955 and Zooey
in 1957. Set in mid-1950s New York City, Salinger’s book revolves around
the intellectually eccentric Glass family, mainly concentrating on the two
youngest siblings, 25 year old Zooey (who serves as the novel’s cynical
narrator) and his 21 year old sister Franny. The other 5 older Glass children
and their parents play a peripheral role in the narrative. The only information
the reader learns about them is the parents Les and Bessie Glass were once
famous vaudevillians and all their children appeared as contestants on the
famous radio quiz show- It’s a Wise Child.
Salinger’s meandering stream of consciousness plot
can make it sometimes difficult for the reader to follow. However, despite this
existential slant, Franny and Zooey gives the reader a very realistic glimpse into
privileged family life in mid-2oth century metropolitan New York.
Since none of Salinger’s novels or short stories had
ever been adapted into movies, I wanted to find a film that featured a quirky
family that best resembled the neurotic Glasses. I knew I found the perfect
choice when I remembered how much I loved Wes Anderson’s 2001 movie The
Royal Tenenbaums.
Produced and directed by Wes Anderson and an Academy
Award nominated co-written screenplay with Owen Wilson, this offbeat movie stars
Gene Hackman as the eccentric family patriarch who raises three child prodigies
in New York hilariously played by Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow and Luke Wilson.
Royal’s neglect of his children’s
uniqueness basically obliterates their childhood talents.
When Royal discovers he has a terminal illness and
only has six weeks to live, he begs his estranged wife Etheline ,marvelously
played by Anjelica Huston, to move back home after 17 years to reconnect with
his very dysfunctional adult children. After the Tenenbaum children soon
realize that their father isn’t dying, this disenchants them even more.
Anderson’s fractured fairy tale of an irreverent
clan of New York eccentrics mirrors Salinger’s quirky unconventional Glass
family perfectly. If you enjoy zany understated humor as much as I do, you will
absolutely adore this film especially the performance by Bill Murray as Raleigh
St Clair and Alec Baldwin’s deadpan narration of the film’s convoluted plot. The
Royal Tenenbaums is a worthy substitute for a Franny and Zooey film
adaptation.
The books and movie reviewed in this blog can be
found at most local public libraries. My readers in St Joseph County, Indiana
can visit the St Joseph County Public Library’s web site at sjcpl.lib.in.us for
additional information. Thanks for reading! See you all next time.
