Them Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates’ book begins in an explosive way.  A girl Loretta finds the boy besides her in bed dead.  There’s no doubt it was her brother who killed him.  Then the rest of the book concentrates on her kids Maureen and Jules.  Maureen goes through prostitution and has an affair.  Jules also is questionable.  The book ends with the character Jules participating in the race riots of the 60’s.  I like Joyce Carol Oates stories more but this was all right.  I’ll probably read the other books in the Wonderland Quartet.  

Count d'Orgel's Ball

Raymond Radiguet wrote two books this, and Devil in the Flesh.  I remember liking the later more.  I need to reread it.  Count d’Orgel’s Ball is about Francois, a twenty-year-old who comes from a well to do bourgeois family. He meets the d’Orgels, a distinguished upper-class couple.  Francois finds him attracted to the wife Mahaut.  She likes him as well.  The wife, Francois, and the husband Anne are drawn into a triangle that has devastating effects on the wife.  The author died at 20.  This is pretty distinguished for someone of that age.  Jean Cocteau, a great writer in himself revised this book which says a lot.  

Lisa and Lottie

This German book was the source that the classic Hayley Mills’ movie The Parent Trap was based on.  It mirrors the two in that the girls meet in summer camp and switch places.  Also, there is a prospective woman for the father as well.  Other than that it is different.  The problem is that the composer father spends too much time composing in a studio across town.  He doesn’t spend enough time with his family.  Eventually, everything is resolved and it ends happily ever after.  I like The Parent Trap better though since it’s more spunky.  

The Troll Garden

The Troll Garden was a short story collection written by Willa Cather.  I found the stories in this book just ok until I read Paul’s Case.  It’s about a troubled teenager.  I was under the mistaken notion that Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye was the first work to do this.  (I’ve read The Member of the Wedding.  She is only 12.)  Since this got published in 1905 it’s obviously not true.  In this story, Paul gets expelled from school.  He evens steals some money and runs away.  It all ends rather tragically.  I’ve been getting into Willa Cather’s work lately.  I’ve read Death comes from the Archbishop and O Pioneers this year.  I feel there is more to come in this blog. 3/5

Homecoming

When I was 11 I quit reading children’s literature.  My older sister told me that I would regret it.  However, at 25, I decided to revisit the genre.  It amazes me how imaginative and innocent they are.  Too many adult books just resort to trash to make a buck.  I remember liking Homecoming when I was a kid so I decided to read it again.  My vague memory of this book was all wrong.  I remembered a science fiction book which it definitely is not.  Some children are abandoned by their mother.  It turns out that it’s a complicated situation though.  The oldest Dicey becomes the leader of the family.  A third of the book is just them surviving trying to find food and money.  Then you meet their cousin Eunice and their grandmother.  It’s interesting who ends up taking care of them.  Not everything ends the way you think it well.  I’m going read the sequel Dicey’s Song soon.  

My Brilliant Career

This is a semi-autobiography about a charismatic girl who rejects all the suitors that come her way and loves independence.  However, she falls for a guy Harold and you as a reader like him too much but you know that this gets in the way of her spirit.  When this book was published it was a scandal in Australia.  Franklin wouldn’t have it published again until a decade after her death.  It’s a feminist classic and I recommend the movie as well.  Miles Franklin had other men in her life but she never married.  She continued writing as well.  I need to read the sequel.

Kwaidan

The movie of this is much superior to the book.  That is not to say the book doesn’t have imaginative tales.  It’s just that there was so much visual imagery and it took more time to develop the stories.  Hearn was not Japanese.  He moved there and found much inspiration.  I liked The Story of O-Tei about a girl who promises to come back again into a guy’s life.  It was sweet but of course with a supernatural edge.  Yuki-Onna is an example of a story that was much better in the movie.  A five-page story became a thriller onscreen.  The best story happens to be the best part of the movie too. The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi about a blind man who is covered with Japanese writing for protection.  I won’t tell more.  You have to see and read it for yourself.