Susan Hated Literature

Mar 23 2008

The Separation

Published by Fence under Books

Author: Christopher Priest
ISBN: 9780575081154 DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; Singling out the duplications ; Guardian Review ; Excessive Candour ; Sandstorm Reviews

The rain was falling steadily on Buxton that Thursday afternoon in March, the town veiled by drifting low clouds, grey and discouraging.

Jack and Joe are identical twins. Medal winners in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, their lives diverge down different paths. One joins the RAF and flies bombing runs during World War II, the other is a pacifist and a conscientious objector.

But it is hard to describe the plot of this novel with a brief paragraph; it is about the choices people make, about the different possibilities that are out there, and about how there is no such thing as being totally right or wrong in war. It is an alternate history, starting with the present-day investigations of historian Stuart Gratton, who lives in a world where Churchill and Hitler stepped down from power after a deal negotiated by Rudolph Hess, and saw the emergence of a far different world order.

Tags: 1936 Olympics, 8 Stars, 823.914, alternate history, Arthur C. Clarke Award winner, Britain - wwii, BSFA Award winner, Christopher Priest, Germany - wwii, London Blitz, multiple narrators, RAF, sff, War, WWII

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Mar 21 2007

Letters from Iwo Jima

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

Dir: Clint Eastwood
Writ: Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, based on the book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tsuyoko Yoshido

Ken Watanabe - General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Kazunari Ninomiya - Saigo
Tsuyoshi Ihara - Baron Nishi
Ryo Kase - Shimizu
Shido Nakamura - Lieutenant Ito
Hiroshi Watanabe - Lieutenant Fujita
Takumi Bando - Captain Tanida

I’m not sure what I was really expecting from this film; but I know I didn’t get it. The companion film to Eastwood’s Flag’s of our Fathers, this tells the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. The story begins with the arrival of Kuribayashi who is taking command of the island’s defences, sometimes without the support of his officers. He does however seem to be well liked by the “ordinary” soldiers, as he stops the endless digging of the beach defences, and instead concentrates on higher up in the island.

Told through a number of different points of views, and with flashbacks, this isn’t as confusing time-wise as I found Flags of our Fathers. However, it still isn’t a great film. If I had to, I’d label it as a worthy film, but not really one that works as a film. Still, it deserved to be made, and the story is one that should be told, so the film makers deserve credit for that. It is simply that as a whole I didn’t care one way or the other about the characters, and never felt myself drawn into their story.

IMDb | Quiet Please | Bright Lights After Dark | PopMatters

Tags: 5 Stars, based on book, Clink Eastwood, Hiroshi Watanabe, historical fiction, Iris Yamashita, Japan - wwii, Japanese, Kazunari Ninomiya, Ken Watanabe, Letter from Iwo Jima, Paul Haggis, Picture Letter from Commander in Chief, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, soldier, subtitled, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Takumi Bando, Tsuyoko Yoshido, Tsuyoshi Ihara, USA - wwii, War, worthy film, WWII

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Feb 19 2007

Suite Francaise

Published by Fence under Books

Author: Irene Nemirovsky trans. Sandra Smith
ISBN: 0099488787
DDC: 843.912
See also: LibraryThing ; wikipedia ; Caribousmom ; Paris Parfait ; Erin’s Library ; Historical/Present

Hot, thought the Parisians. The warm air of spring. It was night, they were at war and there was an air raid. But dawn was near and the war far away.

Two novellas and some appendices make up this book. The two fiction pieces were intended to be part of a series of books about France during World War II, but the author, Irene Nemirovsky died in a concentration camp in August 1942, and that is what makes up the non-fiction element of this book. Of course the real like story of Nemirovsky, and how this book came to be published makes up a large element of the media coverage surrounding the novel, but the fiction element alone deserves attention. The background, and fact that it was written as these events were taking place, adds to the work as a whole.