gone girl

I recently finished reading Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. I wanted to read it before I saw the David Fincher film. In a way, I wish I had seen the film first, as the book was so fresh in my mind, and so riveting a read, that I may not have been as blown away by the movie as I could have been.

Gone Girl is structured as a "he said," "she said" novel. It would not be giving too much away to say that both the he and she in the book, husband Nick Dunne and his wife Amy Elliott-Dunne, are unreliable narrators. The fun and the dread of the experience of reading their story is guessing just how unreliable they are. Even when one has finished the book, and ostensibly all the secrets have been revealed, the reader may not be entirely sure just how much of what they have read really happened. That is what takes Gone Girl from just being a thriller or police procedural to a twisted look at modern life.

Rosamund Pike is stunning — and stuns — as Amy in Gone Girl

A lot of people who have read the book and have watched the film view Gone Girl as the ultimate take-down of marriage. It is true that Flynn, in the voice of both her narrators, shows how difficult it can be to sustain a relationship. There are passages when Amy especially voices a female frustration with what men want, and her needing to play a role, the "cool girl," to keep her husband happy, that should resonate with many women. But the sorts of lies and deceptions and masks that we wear are not just found in marriage, but in all aspects of our lives. Flynn and her characters just take things to extremes.

I expect that I will have to watch the film again, at a later date, when I have a bit more distance from the book, to truly appreciate what Fincher and Co. have done. But I will say that Rosamund Pike was sensational as Amy. She was as compelling as her alter-ego Amy and Amazing Amy (wink). Ben Affleck was good as Nick, although I found him to be a bit too world-weary all the way through, without the All-American naiveté that I might have expected, at least at the start of the story. Especially good was Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney and Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister Go (short for Margo). Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris were also good in smaller but pivotal roles. The only bum note was Emily Ratajkowski as Andie. Fincher and Flynn (who wrote the screenplay) chose to beef up the role of Boney, and play down the role of Andie, which both turned out to be excellent choices.

The women of Gone Girl, L-R: Kim Dickens, Rosamund Pike, Gillian Flynn, Carrie Coon, by Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times

Gone Girl the novel was also about writing — truth vs. fiction. We live in a world where that line is consistently blurred, from reality television to anything and everything we read online. Being writers, authors, is the meat and potatoes of the novel. Amy's parents are (once) successful authors of a children's book series, Amazing Amy, where they plundered their daughter's life for "teachable" content. Nick and Amy have both lost their jobs at New York magazines — Nick as a popular culture writer for a men's magazine, and Amy as a quiz writer for women's magazines. These authors have become obsolete, the content they used to provide easily available via the internet. Flynn would know all about this, as she was former television critic for Entertainment Weekly whose job was downsized in 2008. As their narratives unfold, Nick's seemingly in the present and Amy's in the past, via her diary, the reader can judge for themselves who is the better writer. And yes, it is a competition. And yes, it is Amy. Gone Girl is also a book, a mystery, that may benefit from a re-read, to see all the clues and signs one missed the first time around. I am definitely interested in reading whatever Flynn comes up with next.

lawrence block's pulp fiction: borderline

Lawrence Block is one of the country's best-known and successful mystery and crime novelists (8 Million Ways to Die, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart). He has created memorable characters like the hard-boiled detective Matthew Scudder and the charming burglar-turned-bookseller (and crime solver) Bernie Rhodenbarr. But many of his most ardent admirers may not know that Block started his writing career in the pulp field, frequently using pseudonyms to churn out stories mixing crime and sex. Hard Case Crime has been reissuing these lost dimestore novels, now under Block's name, and the latest, Borderline, is a doozy. Originally published in 1962 (but according to the book's copyright may have been written as early as 1958) as Border Lust by Don Holliday, Borderline centers around four people who all converge on the U.S./Mexico border, with tragic results.

Author Lawrence Block

...

Borderline and its accompanying short stories are a time capsule of what publisher's thought would excite the American male in the late '50s, early '60s. The girls are all very busty and aiming to please, and the men are hardly PC in their behavior. It must have been quite risqué at the time to include gay characters, both male and female. Pornography is so readily available these days that it is hard to imagine the role books like Borderline played in many lives, brown paper wrapping and all. But it does show what a training ground pulp fiction played for such a good and prolific writer as Lawrence Block.

You can read my complete review on Cinema Sentries

katharine hepburn: the making of the african queen

In the extremely engaging The Making of the African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind actress Katharine Hepburn recounts her adventures in Africa while making the film classic The African Queen. She set off with director John Huston and Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall in 1951 for what she still calls (more than thirty years after the fact) the adventure of her life.

The intrepid Hepburn, always the iconoclast, stylish as always

Hepburn is endlessly self-deprecating, the first person to admit her quirks and foibles, but she also makes it quite clear that she is also persnickety, demanding, and at times, a real pain to deal with. She is, as Spencer Tracy called her, "A rare bird," and more than a bit old-fashioned about her creature comforts and her focus (even as a 40-something woman at the time) on her Father with a capital "F." She asks him for a letter of credit for her big African trip (didn't the successful actress have her own money?) and is very particular about selecting the perfect gift for him — a hand-carved to order ebony cane.

“Heaven to be the first one up and to eat breakfast all alone.”

She knows what she wants and thinks ahead — carrying her own furniture and other accoutrements. She decides to go off on her own to explore the flora and fauna, refusing to help Lauren Bacall arrange their meals (or take the traditional woman's role?) Hepburn was a vanguard for the time with her style and predilection for menswear, but it really paid off in the jungle, protecting her from bugs and being less binding and layered than women's clothing. Where she ran into trouble was with her holier-than-thou urologist's daughter's insistence on drinking lots of water. She ended up getting sick as a dog. Bogie and Huston stuck to whisky and never got sick.

Reading between the lines, she most definitely seems to have had a crush on Huston. She complains about him constantly, but her brief description of her life with Spencer Tracy suggests that she was used to, and attracted to, difficult men. Although she is against the hunting and killing of animals she is beyond thrilled to join Huston on one of his hunting forays into the jungle. Bogie had no interest. She praises Bogie's bravery and professionalism, but it is clear that he was too no-nonsense, direct, and practical for her to fall for him. But she and Bogie did form a lifelong friendship after making the picture. She briefly describes visiting him frequently with Spencer Tracy when he was dying of esophageal cancer.

“To put it simply: There was no bunk about Bogie. He was a man.”

Bogart and Bacall, having breakfast in their cabin

Some of her statements about blacks and whites are far from poetically correct. But Hepburn is a reflection of the times, and frankly, her class. It is clear from how she approaches the trip and life in general that she comes forms privileged background and was used to having servants and helpers.

Quibbles aside, hers is a fascinating account — it's amazing the film ever got made, with the difficult physical conditions and Huston taking off to shoot elephants whenever he got the chance. Huston's laissez-faire attitude on set and his ability to come up with a classic film makes me want to read White Hunter, Black Heart and his autobiography, An Open Book, next.

Hepburn, Bacall, and Bogart relaxing between takes

The Making of The African Queen is chock-full of behind-the-scenes photos, too. But it is Hepburn's unique voice and perspective that shine through. What an odd assortment of individuals. What a strange experience. And what a great film that came out of it all.

vb6, by mark bittman

The latest "alternative cookbook" that I have checked out recently is VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good by Marl Bittman. Bittman is the well-known New York Times food writer, and author of the very popular How to Cook Everything series. Bittman has spent his life loving and eating food, so it must have come as a blow to him when his doctor suggested that he change his diet to a vegan one, if he wanted to avoid developing diabetes and heart disease:

"He’d laid out the depressing facts for me: “Your blood numbers have always been fine but now they’re not. You weigh 40 pounds more than you should. You’re complaining of sleep apnea. You’re talking about knee surgery, which is a direct result of your being overweight. Your cholesterol, which has always been normal up until now, isn’t. Same with your blood sugar; it’s moved into the danger zone.” 

A more conventional doc would’ve simply put me on a drug like Lipitor, and maybe a low-fat diet. But Lipitor, one of the statin drugs that lowers cholesterol, is a permanent drug: Once you start taking it, you don’t stop. I didn’t like the idea of that. Furthermore, its effectiveness in healthy people has never been established, and it’s also been implicated in memory loss and other cognitive complications; I didn’t like the idea of any of that, either. And at this point, low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets have essentially been discredited: They might help you lose weight, but they’re not effective for maintaining that loss in the long term, and they may even wreak havoc on your system. 

But becoming a vegan? A person who eats no animal products at all? Calling that a radical change to my lifestyle was more than a bit of an understatement. Yet it was clear that something had to be done. I asked Sid, “Is a compromise possible? Any other ideas?” 

“You’re a smart guy,” he said. “Figure something out.”

Bittman did just that. He developed a diet, or more correctly, a way of eating, that would benefit his long-term health but also allow him to continue to enjoy the foods he craved and loved. The basic idea of VB^6, or Vegan Before 6pm, is pretty straightforward. Eat fruits and vegetables in abundance all day and after 6pm you can eat whatever you like. Of course he advises one to indulge sparingly. One should start thinking of meat as a condiment, not a centerpiece of a meal.

There is also a lot of information - about how foods are absorbed and processed in our bodies, if one is interested in the science of food, too. And Bittman is always an engaging and interesting writer. But I have to admit, I want dot just cut to the chase and get some meal ideas. And he did not disappoint. Bittman includes diet and menu plans for different eating styles - the restaurant regular, home cook, grazer, etc. He also includes pantry-stocking ideas and lays out a broad eating plan:

Before 6 p.m.
Eat as many of these foods as one wanted - vegetables, fruit, condiments (spices)
Eat sparingly - beans, whole grains, calorie dense fruits and vegetables (avocado and coconut), nuts and seeds, oils, sweet condiments, nut milks

After 6 p.m.
Eat these "treats" (sparingly) - meat, dairy, fish, seafood, processed grains, white flour, alcohol, dessert, junk food

VB6 also includes many recipes, all with  nutritional information. A few seems like ones I would like to try: easiest vegetable soup (p.160), falafel and tahini (p.180), vegan "creamsicles" (he substitutes yogurt for silken tofu). There was only one recipe, his homemade cereal, that I felt strong enough about to go pick up a few missing ingredients

Homemade Cold Cereal (p.138) 

3.5 cups rolled oats,
.5 cup mixed chopped nuts and seeds
.5 cup raisins or other chopped dried fruit
.25 cup unsweeteneded grated coconut
.5 tsp cinnamon or cardamom to taste
pinch salt
4 cups soy or other nondairy milk

Combine dry ingredients and store in airtight container in fridge for up to 2 months. To serve, put about 1 cup of cereal in bowl with .5 cup of milk. If you have time, let bowl sit for 5-10 minutes to let oats absorb milk and soften.

There was one recipe that completely put me off. I have to draw the line at his "Eggplant un-Parmesan." What is the point of making a Parmesan without cheese? Just wait until after 6 p.m. to have some mozzarella and parmesan.

For the most part I think VB6 is a good guideline for eating healthfully. You may just lose a little weight while you're at it, too.

the happiness project by gretchen rubin

I have been reading a lot of books lately about clearing out the clutter of one's home (and mind), for an easier life. A friend suggested I might want to check out The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin, so I gave it a try. I can't say that there was anything new or startling in its pages, but it was a quick, mostly fun read.

The book begins with Rubin wondering one afternoon if she is really happy, and what that means for her life and for our modern society. The former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is a born researcher — she started reading every book on the subject of happiness and has compiled tons of quotes and distilled theories from great minds through the ages, which she shares here with her readers. After doing a little research of my own I discovered that she also lives in much tonier digs and has a much comfier lifestyle than the "just us folks" tone of her book might suggest.

Gretchen Rubin, happy at home

"... Happiness has four stages. To eke out the most happiness from an experience, we must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory."

Rubin is also a compulsive list-maker and in love with charting and graphing her progress, so she offers ideas about keeping a "happiness chart" and different projects or areas of one's life that could be examined month-by-month for an entire year. The rigid structure of the book left me kind of cold. I like to change things in my day-to-day life — the position of the furniture in a room, what I might eat or drink to see if it has a beneficial effect, but I would tend to feel overburdened if I had to keep a resolution chart to keep tabs on my progress. That would feel like taking a test. I hate the idea of a food diary. It just makes me feel bad if on Monday a turkey sandwich agreed with me and on Wednesday it didn't. But Rubin, as she keeps reminding us ad nauseum throughout The Happiness Project, is addicted to gold stars and recognition for her efforts. She likes writing happiness commandments and setting resolutions. That all seemed a bit gimmicky for me.

So while I might find her a bit overbearing to hang out with on a regular basis (enough about how you live in New York City, and over sharing about the hubby and kiddies, blah, blah, blah), I did enjoy some of the quotes and ideas about happiness that she culled and shared. A quote from the poet William Butler Yeats resonated, "Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth." I like that. Rubin, thankfully, is not all serious, all the time. She can be funny, too, "Love is a funny thing. I'd donate a kidney to Jamie [her husband] without a moment's hesitation, but I was intensely annoyed if he asked me to make a special stop at the drugstore to pick up shaving cream."

The saving grace of the sometimes overly pushy Rubin and her project is that she is human, as the above quote proves. Her happiness project is a work-in-progress, and not a be-all or win situation. It has also turned into a highly lucrative career for her, as the book and its follow-up were both best sellers. It also generated a blog and other associated merchandise. Who's happy now?

So was reading The Happiness Project at all helpful to my own personal journey? I have to say yes. Rubin admits to being an impatient person, but one month she decided to let a bit of that go, and remind herself to give other people some slack. I think that is a helpful reminder on how to deal with that person who cut you off on the road or in line at the grocery store. Instead of your go-to response to curse them out or get ticked or upset or whatever else such bad behavior usually elicits, take a step back and give them some slack. You don't know what their story is, what their hurry is. Yes, the answer may even be that they are a rude jerk, but so what. Let it go. It really doesn't matter, and the foul mood it puts you in simply isn't worth it. Since I read The Happiness Project I have been trying to deal with frustrating people and situations by giving them — and myself — a bit more slack. And I have to admit it helps.

some more feng shui reading — done

My quest continues, to improve my health, my life, my surroundings. I have recently been making some changes around the house, utilizing the age-old practice of feng shui to improve our surroundings. Feng shui must be big in the British Isles, because three out of five of these books on this list were written by Brits. I'm not sure if that means anything, but it is interesting that most of the books that I am picking up to research the subject turn out to be either written by, or published, in Britain. Here are the latest from my reading list.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui, Third Edition, by Stephen L. Field, Ph.D. 

There was altogether too much math in this book. I found myself doing all sorts of calculations to try and determine what my Personal Trigram is, and what the most (and least) auspicious directions would be in my house. Once I got to the Four Pillars of Destiny I gave up. The emphasis is squarely on improving one's luck and fortune, rather than a harmonious living space, which is more what I'm after. The luck, I believe, will come, once I am feeling happier and more at peace in my home. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui also tries to debunk, in a very snobbish way, some common feng shui "cures" which can be found in just about every other book that I have consulted, such as mirrors used to fix problem areas in the home. According to this book, only the five phases (fire, earth, metal, water, wood) can be used to remedy and enhance feng shui. So with all that math and very little return I am filing this book as a big flop. 

The Feng Shui Handbook: How To Create A Healthier Living & Working Environment (Henry Holt Reference Book), by Master Lam Kam Chuen 

This is a nicely illustrated, general guide to feng shui principles. It includes a good history of feng shui, and has some sample room layouts and cures for common problems. The focus here may be more on the exterior of homes, and would come in handy if one was purchasing a new home and was wondering if its position was auspicious — how it relates to nearby hills, water, and other influences. A nice book to dip your toe into feng shui, but not one to consult if you are looking for some real, practical things to do inside your current home. 

Feng Shui for Your Home: An Illustrated Guide to Creating a Harmonious, Happy and Prosperous Living Environment, by Sarah Surety 

Another nicely illustrated book that offers both feng shui basics and some real-life feng shui cures. The author talks about cleansing a space, which I did recently, as well as other elements to introduce into your home to increase prosperity, such as plants, mirrors, and light. It is an easy, user-friendly read, and one that I might go back to often to consult, if I was going to rearrange some furniture in a bedroom and wanted some tips on where to best position the bed, for example. 

Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui: Free Yourself from Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Clutter Forever, by Karen Kingston 

This is a nice little book that makes the connection between clean house, clear mind. I like how the author covers not only the real day-to-day clutter that we all accumulate and should regularly clear out, like paperwork, old clothes, magazines, etc., but also focuses on how that clutter, whether it is your own, or a partner or family member's, affects your health and energy. A quick and easy read, but one that will make you think a little bit about what you hold onto. Hopefully you will decide that you don't need to be featured on the next episode of Hoarders after reading this book. 

Feng Shui In A Weekend: Transform Your Life and Home in a Weekend or Less, by Simon Brown 

This is a very user-friendly, how-to sort of book, with bright, bold graphics and lots of photos. It includes loads of tips and projects — there are actually many weekend projects to choose from. The author doesn't intend the reader to be able to completely rearrange their home in one weekend, but they could implement many of these cures over time. Like Clear Your Clutter, I liked that the emphasis was as much on taking care of your personal well-being as that of your surroundings. One thing feeds off the other, and the greater goal is to achieve harmony in all aspects of one's life. This is another book that I could find myself going back to for suggestions on quick fixes, such as what colors to paint my daughter's room to help her study, or ways to enhance a bathroom or the wealth area of my home.

I'm not completely done on my feng shui project yet, but I have to say that just a few of the changes I have made around the house since I started, such as reclaiming a space and introducing more plants and changing the flow of our main living space seem to already have made an impact. I feel like our home is more beautiful, more peaceful. There is alway room for improvement, of course, but I really do feel like I'm on the right track. Wish me luck as I continue my journey.

barbara stanwyck: steel true 1907-1940

Victoria Wilson's new biography, A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 is impressive, if just for its length and heft. It is just the first half of a two-part exhaustive look into the life and career of one of Hollywood's most enduring, yet shyest stars. Stanwyck, born Ruby Stevens, started life in Brooklyn as a quasi-orphan. Her mother died when she was quite young and her father disappeared soon after, leaving young Ruby and her brother Byron to be raised by friends and family. Her three older sisters tried to help with the two younger children, but had families and struggles of their own, and Ruby and Byron were frequently separated. Her older sister Mildred was in show business, a chorus girl in traveling shows, and as soon as Ruby could, she joined her sister on the road, and eventually, after watching and learning, tried to pursue similar opportunities for herself.

Ruby Stevens, c. 1927

She became a chorus girl and landed a spot, in 1922 and '23, as a dancer for the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1926 she was given the opportunity to step out of the line and play the part of a chorus girl in a play on Broadway called The Noose. During the run of the highly successful play it was suggested that she change her name, and Barbara Stanwyck was born. Two years later saw Stanwyck on the way to Hollywood with her new husband Frank Fay. He was the toast of Vaudeville and Broadway and was, like many stage performers of the time, being wooed to star on the silver screen. But Fay and movies didn't quite mesh.

Wilson mentions the rumor that their relationship might have been the basis for the film A Star is Born, but just as quickly dismisses the possibility and offers other examples. According to Wilson, Stanwyck was unhappy staying at home and playing at being a housewife, something a woman with her vagabond existence had no talent for. Fay asked his connections at the studio to put her in a picture as a favor — it was soon discovered that she was the real deal, and Fay was not, at least as far as Hollywood was concerned. As Stanwyck's star began to rise, Fay's began to decline, not helped at all by his alcoholism. Stanwyck never forgot how he helped start her career and was grateful. She also loved him, but stayed with him far too long.

Wilson, who is also an editor at Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, goes on far too long about the marriage, and how frustrated Stanwyck must have been on a day-to-day basis. Editor, edit thyself? This book may win awards for tenacity and veracity, perhaps, but not really readability. There is altogether too much repetition throughout the lengthy tome. How many times can Wilson mention that Stanwyck was private, shunned parties and such? Or that Fay was a drunk? The book is meticulously researched and detailed, but it is also sooooo loong. A Life of Barbara Stanwyck is only the first in a planned two-volume set. Would the star really want such a detailed accounting of her life and work? After being reminded by the author for the umpteenth time how much the private Stanwyck shunned the limelight, the reader is forced to focus on how intrusive the subject of this biography might find this voluminous undertaking.

On the plus side, Wilson gives as detailed a description of Stanwyck's films as she does the times they were made - notable news events like the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the Depression — highlighting how insular Hollywood was, with it's inflated salaries, from the real struggles going on in the country. The author works hard to bring 1920s New York stage and 1930s Hollywood to life, and much is fascinating. But she is sometimes so wedded to her "just the facts, ma'am" approach that when she finally does have a chance to reveal some folks from Stanwyck's early days - who became who in Hollywood - it falls flat. Friends like roommate Violet Mary Klotz who became actress Mae Clarke (The girl who had Jimmy Cagney infamously shove half a grapefruit in her kisser) and her acquaintance the wild Bille Cassin, later Lucille LeSeur, later her very good friend ... Joan Crawford — names any classic movie buff would know, so why be coy about revealing them? There is a distinct lack of foreshadowing throughout, which would have made this so-serious book a lot more fun.

Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Capra

For fans of Hollywood gossip, there is some, interspersed with all of the descriptive text. Director Frank Capra had a crush in her. Stanwyck had a botched abortion as a teenager that left her infertile. Fay may have hit her and had mental problems. But for the most part, A Life of Barbara Stanwyck is a collection of facts, dates, and research. The author gives blow-by-blow descriptions of each movie plot, but with no interpretation or review of Stanwyck in the role. She does, however cite other current reviews of the time, but no modern look at the films. The quality of the photos in the book were disappointing too — for such a mammoth undertaking couldn't higher quality movie stills be found?

Conflicting or contrasting facts or quotes are included, too. Wilson spends the first half of the book emphasizing how much Stanwyck hated Hollywood and parties,

"I wouldn't wear an ermine coat to a Hollywood opening if I was offered the coat and $1000 bonus. All of the ermine coats the furriers had in stock were rented to movie people for the opening of Grand Hotel. Imagine putting on a show like that just to let people think you're more prosperous than you are. Not for me."

But once Fay is finally out of her life, her feelings about such things change. She little by little begins to venture out, with the help of her friend and agent Zeppo Marx and his wife. Once she left Fay she suddenly became more social, going to parties and nightclubs — even wearing (gasp) ermine. There are more than a few such contradictory passages in the book. Of course Stanwyck could have changed her mind, but after 500 pages of stating (over and over) how she hated to socialize, dress up, etc., why present the opposite so matter-of-factly? The author leaves the reader to come up with the real answer — that Fay — who was tyrannical and abusive, kept Stanwyck close to home. He didn't like to socialize and certainly didn't want her to. This could have been a portrait of a woman who was strong in many ways, in her career and elsewhere, but was also in an oppressive, abusive relationship.

Readers (those with stamina) have to slog through Stanwyck's unhappy relationship with Fay for more than half the book until we and the star finally get a glimpse of the handsome Robert Taylor.

Stanwyck and Taylor

Is it worth the wait? It is certainly interesting that (understandably marriage-shy) Stanwyck and Taylor were pressured by Hollywood's skewed morals squad to make their long-term romance official, as they did with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard and other unmarried celebrity couples. But most readers may be bleary-eyed before they get to this part of the over-1000 page book. It takes until page 610 to really read about one of the few of Stanwyck's early film efforts that even the most dedicated film fan may have seen, Stella Dallas (1937).

Barbara Stanwyck was undeniably a great actress. She made some wonderful movies, although her real Hollywood heyday, and most of her classic  films, the ones for which she is best remembered, will not turn up until the second volume, whenever that one comes out — The Lady Eve, Meet John Doe, Ball of Fire, Double Indemnity, Christmas in Connecticut, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, Sorry, Wrong Number, The File on Thelma Jordon, Clash by Night, Titanic — not to mention her easy transition to television later in her life in The Big Valley and The Thorn Birds. Barbara Stanwyck and her career is certainly worthy of biography. One just wishes that she and her films could have been approached in a more critical and more concise manner.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Book Review: ‘A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel True, 1907-1940,’ by Victoria Wilson

the girl

Samantha Geimer, who in 1977 was the 13 year-old who was "the girl" in the infamous Roman Polanski sexual abuse case, has finally chosen to tell the whole, sordid story in her own words in The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski. The book's title is more apt than might first be suspected. Geimer not only endured the events of that evening so many years ago, but has had her life inextricably, unfavorably linked with the famous director ever since.

In The Girl Geimer takes a mostly unblinking look at her life and Polanski's, and details, step-by-step, the events that led up to her being plied with champagne and part of a Quaalude, and eventually subject to multiple sex acts with Polanski against her will.

Samantha Geimer, at 13, photographed by Roman Polanski

Geimer's mom, an aspiring actress, moved her two young daughters to Los Angeles with her latest boyfriend, who got a job selling advertising for Marijuana Monthly magazine. Welcome to 1970s L.A. Mom didn't just want to secure acting jobs for herself, but encouraged both of her daughters to try out for parts too. One evening she met the director Roman Polanski at a party. He told her he was interested in photographing American girls for a Paris Vogue magazine spread. Excited, she invited him to meet Samantha. He came to their house and then took her on a drive to a nearby park, where they "rehearsed": he photographed her, first clothed, and then, with a little encouragement, topless.

Geimer is able to channel her teenage self, in all its insecurities, as well as attitude. She articulates very well her resistance and fear mixed with the ambition and misplaced starstruck hopes that this "little thing" of taking her top off might lead to a big career. She of course didn't tell her mother the little detail about taking off her shirt when she got back home. Geimer wants the reader to understand that at no time did she think there was anything sexual or untoward about the shoot with Polanski. And most importantly, that her mother had no idea, and would never have "pimped out" her daughter, an accusation that was hurled many times after the rape.

"You know, there's something about fame. There just is. I mean, think about the kids who had sleepovers at Michael Jackson's house and all the accusations that followed. Think about their parents. Were they bad or stupid people? No. They just wanted to believe that being famous made you good."

Polanski came back a second time, a few weeks later, and suggested that he was ready now to do the shoot for real. Again her mother didn't accompany them, as Polanski told her that it might make her daughter nervous, less natural. He took Geimer first to the home of actress Jacqueline Bisset, where she was offered some wine (she declined). They took a few photos and then he took her to another friend's house – the actor Jack Nicholson, who was away from home at the time. Polanski started plying her with champagne, which now she didn't refuse. He also gave her part of a Quaalude and photographed her in the kitchen.

"He asked me if I knew what it [the Quaalude] was. I didn't want to seem like a stupid kid, so I said, 'Sure.'"

Polanski then suggested she take off her clothes and get in the jacuzzi for more photographs, where he joined her. He soon moved her to the bedroom, where he proceeded to have sex with her. Geimer transmits her failing resistance as the drugs and alcohol and general atmosphere took effect. She details the sex acts, and later, the pounding on the bedroom door which helped end things – Nicholson's girlfriend, Angelica Huston, came home early. It's a sordid, upsetting read.

At Jack Nicolson's house

And then things really got ugly. That same evening, after he took her home, Polanski showed her mother photos from the first shoot, which included some of the topless photos. Shocked, she asked him to leave. Geimer's sister quickly discovered the truth and helped her mother put two and two together. The police were called and the nightmare really began. Geimer's life became a cycle of making depositions and trying to stay out of the picture as Polanski was arrested and Hollywood and the public began to take sides. Her family and lawyer tried to keep her identity secret for as long as they could. But as the story was reported (and reported and reported ad nauseum) it seemed that as many thought "the girl" was a slut or an opportunist as an innocent child. Geimer knew she had been used and abused by Polanski, but she was also angry at her mother for bringing the whole embarrassing episode into the public eye.

Geimer never apologizes for Polanski, but over the years she has had a lot of time to consider his behavior. She proclaims she is no fan of his films – Chinatown bored her – but she writes feelingly about his youth, and persecution as a Polish Jew during WWII, and his escape from the Kraków Ghetto. How he watched his parents being taken away to concentration camps. His mother was killed in Auschwitz. His father survived Mauthausen, but they were never as close after he finally came home. He attended film school and eventually began to have success as a director. He life seemed to have finally come together when he met and married the actress Sharon Tate, who he met on the set of his film The Fearless Vampire Killers. But a year after they were married, she was brutally murdered by The Manson Family. She was eight months pregnant at the time.

Throughout the book she tries to frame the events of her life, and especially that evening, in the context of the times. She is very aware that Hollywood, especially in those days, had a taste for nymphets – with Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978), Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (1976) and Foxes (1980), and Tatum O'Neal in Little Darlings (1980).

"In the 1970s ... There was something considered generally positive about erotic experience then, even in the absence of anything beyond the sex itself. The idea was that emotional growth came about through an expanded sexuality – for both the person in power and the relatively powerless. This is important to consider, because this is the cultural paradigm Roman Polanski was sopping up in 1977. As wrong as he was to do what he did, I know beyond a doubt that he didn't look at me as one of his victims. Not everyone will understand this, but I never thought he wanted to hurt me; he wanted me to enjoy it. He was arrogant and horny. But I feel certain he was not looking to take pleasure in my pain."

Geimer and her family accepted a plea bargain from Polanski's lawyers to keep her name out of the public record, and most importantly, the papers. But the judge on the case, Judge Laurence J. Rittenband, seemed more interested in the reflected limelight than justice for either party, and he reneged on his original decision of probation for Polanski (after he had already served 42 days in jail) to additional potential incarceration, of up to 50 years. Not surprisingly, Polanski booked the first flight out, and sought refuge in Europe, staying in countries like France, where he could not be extradited to the U.S. And he has been exiled ever since.

But Geimer's life didn't settle down once Polanski was out of the picture. Every time his name might come up in the news – whether for a new film being released, or an attempt to reopen the case, she and her family would be hounded by the press. She writes unflinchingly of her teen pregnancy, drug use, and drifting aimlessly for a number of years through life, from one crisis to the next. She is not one for regrets, but admits that undeniably her life would have been different if she hadn't taken that ride in the car with Polanski to Nicholson's house.

The Girl is a fast and compelling read, but it doesn't provide any easy answers. The case, even after all these years, is far from closed. Geimer points out that Polanski the artist, the director of such classic films as Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and The Pianist, should be viewed separately from the horny man with a taste for young girls. Many people are able and willing to do that, but there are just as many who aren't. Geimer, who was the victim of a rape, of sex against her will, would also hope that she would not be viewed forever as a victim. She doesn't consider herself one. She comes across beleaguered at times, but always strong.

Samantha Geimer is married, with three sons, and splits her life between Hawaii and Nevada. For better or worse, Geimer's and Polanski's lives, from that evening in March 1977 forward, were forever linked. She acknowledges that Polanski has been just as much a prisoner, as pursued relentlessly by the media and misused by the U.S. criminal justice system, as she has. Strangers but not strangers, they seem to have settled their differences and found some sort of peace with one another. She may not ever be able to completely leave that night with Polanski behind her, but she has finally had the chance to tell her story, unfiltered.

inherit the dead

Twenty best-selling mystery authors have teamed up to write a new novel, Inherit the Dead. Similar to 2011's No Rest for the Dead, each author writes a chapter to tell a modern noir tale that centers around private investigator Pericles “Perry” Christo. Author Linda Fairstein, who contributes the afterword, approached Jonathan Santlofer to edit a novel that would bring together some of the most well-known crime authors to not just create an original mystery, but a book that would benefit the victim assistance charity Safe Horizon.

Santofler not only edited the book, but starts things off with the first chapter, which introduces former cop Christo, who has been hired by the ultra-rich Upper East Side society matron Julia Drusilla to find her estranged daughter Angel. The more Christo finds out about the enigmatic yet lovely Angel the more confused he gets. The girl is set to inherit part of a large fortune in a few days on her twenty-first birthday — if she shows up to sign some paperwork. But nothing quite adds up in the case. Her cold-as-ice mother would benefit financially if her daughter stayed gone. Her father seems distracted and unworried about her disappearance, even when her car shows up, abandoned. Her sometime boyfriend has already moved on to many other ladies. Christo finds himself bouncing back and forth between wintry New York City neighborhoods and the rich enclave of the Hamptons, as well drawing parallels to his own complicated past as he searches for the truth, and tries to find Angel — alive.

Lee Child writes the forward to the novel. The other participating authors include: Stephen L. Carter,  Marcia Clark, Heather Graham, Charlaine Harris, Sarah Weinman, Bryan Gruley, Alafair Burke, John Connolly, James Grady, Ken Bruen, Lisa Unger, S.J. Rozan, Dana Stabenow, Val McDermid, Mary Higgins Clark, C.J. Box, Max Allan Collins, Mark Billingham, and Lawrence Block, who gets to tie up all the loose ends in the final chapter.

The authors, for the most part, all manage to propel the story forward, and Inherit the Dead is a fun, fast read. There's more than a bit of repetition, as each writer seems especially attracted to Christo's habit of self-criticism, most notably in regard to the fall from grace that led to his dismissal from the force, and his regret at not getting to spend enough time with his daughter after his divorce. His domestic issues are a good parallel to the family drama he is investigating, but they are also all too familiar territory in the hardboiled detective genre. While so many different voices may not offer the reader too in-depth a take on any of the characters, they do sketch out a cohesive mystery. Seasoned mystery fans may not be quite as baffled by a last-minute vital clue that has Christo stumped, but they will likely enjoy joining him on his journey to finally figuring things out.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Book Review: ‘Inherit the Dead’ by Various Authors, Edited by Jonathan Santlofer

george cukor: a double life

The University of Minnesota Press has recently re-released George Cukor: A Double Life, by Patrick McGilligan. Originally published in 1991, the book became known for its "outing" of the Hollywood director, the first biography to write about his "double life."

Meticulously researched, George Cukor: A Double Life spends equal time investigating what went into the making of his films as it also tries to go behind the facade of Cukor's Hollywood homosexual life. McGilligan manages to portray Cukor as a well-rounded man, but one wonders what the director, who tried so hard to keep his open secret under wraps would think about his "tricks" being discussed alongside his A-list friendships with such movie stars and celebrities as Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Somerset Maugham, and Vivien Leigh. Cukor would never have mixed the two groups in his life. In fact he went out of his way to keep his public and private lives very separate.

Katherine Hepburn and George Cukor on the set of The Philadelphia Story

While it may have seemed revealing when first published, McGilligan tends to be a bit repetitive when discussing Cukor's homosexuality, constantly emphasizing that the director liked a certain type of "rough trade." He does draw a good picture of Cukor's fabulous Hollywood home, which became a home-away-from home on Sundays to "the chief unit," a group of Hollywood gay men who could relax and enjoy each other's company. Cukor reportedly formed few close relationships, sexual or otherwise. He preferred to keep things light. Even life-long friend Katharine Hepburn, who he championed when her career was labelled box-office poison, directed in ten films, and who lived for many years in a guest house on his estate, was kept at a distance when it came to his personal, sexual, life.

The most controversial anecdote in the book, and perhaps the most impactful in Cukor's Hollywood life is the detailing of how he lost his job as director on the epic Gone With the Wind. There are most likely many reasons, including Cukor's tendency to shoot many takes and spend lavishly on sets and costumes, but certainly the most significant, and most hurtful to Cukor was how his leading man, Clark Gable, felt about him.

"Everyone was dumbfounded. Because whatever else he was, Gable was an absolute professional. Somebody asked, 'What's the matter with you today?' And suddenly, Gable exploded. 'I can't go on with this picture! I won't be directed by a fairy! I have to work with a real man!'

With Clark Gable on the set of Gone With the Wind

The bigoted Gable was the King of Hollywood, but most likely he was mostly concerned that Cukor was spending most of his time showcasing Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland's performances in the film, to his detriment. Cukor didn't find any support from long-time friend and producer David O. Selznick.

“I think the biggest black mark against our management to date is the Cukor situation and we can no longer be sentimental about it. We are a business concern and not patrons of the arts.”

Gone With the Wind wasn't the only film that Cukor was dismissed on as director, but it was the one that he and Hollywood never forgot.

As comprehensive as his behind-the-scenes detailing of Cukor's many films (and film ideas that never came to fruition), McGilligan is not much of a film critic. He completely dismisses Cukor's classic The Women in just a few negative paragraphs, while dwelling on the merits of lesser efforts like The Chapman Report and The Blue Bird. He does help bring Cukor's early days to life and his youth in New York City. Cukor was able to turn a love of going to the theater into a career, first by directing summer stock shows in the 1920s in Rochester, N.Y. and later on Broadway, to joining the talkies revolution and heading out to Hollywood in 1929, first as a dialogue coach, and later as a director.

Once Cukor left New York he never really looked back. He loved living in Hollywood and was an enthusiastic product of the studio system. He worked with all of the great producers, including David O. Selznick and Irving Thalberg. Cukor was dubbed "the women's director," which some came to take as a euphemism for homosexuality. But Cukor truly was interested in actors, and helped direct many Academy Award-winning performances, including Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story, Ronald Colman in A Double Life, Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday, and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.

With Greta Gable on the set of Camille

Cukor was definitely the recipient of homophobic attitudes, but seemed to not hold any grudges. He was especially appreciative of films by the "macho" director John Ford. In his own films he tended to showcase stereotypical homosexual characters. It's hard to determine whether this approach was some inner self-loathing or an attempt to "fit in." Cukor had every reason to try to keep his sex life secret. MGM helped dismiss a morals charge (when Cukor and interior designer friend Bill Haines were involved in a bar fight) and Cukor was apparently very concerned to never breach any moral turpitude clause in his contract.

Hollywood seemed more than a little aware of Cukor's sexuality. Producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz could be both dismissive and insightful on the topic,

"In a way, George Cukor was the first great female director of Hollywood. ... A woman could come on his set and be absolutely safe. ... With the other directors, there was always that moment, Is he going to make a pass at me?"

As good a director of actors as Cukor was, he never seemed to be too interested in the camera, preferring to stage a scene and perfect a particular piece of dialogue or bit of business for an actor. His cameramen were more responsible for a shot's composition — something that seems anathema in our concept of how Hollywood directors/auteurs should work.

What really comes through in George Cukor: A Double Life is the sheer amount of wonderful and eclectic films that were directed by Cukor. He definitely had a flair for comedy, as evidenced by  Dinner at Eight (1933) and two films with Judy Holiday, Born Yesterday (1950 ) and It Should Happen to You (1954). Although not particularly interested in musicals (he would usually have the dance numbers staged by someone else, like choreographer Jack Cole), he directed quite a few: A Star Is Born (1954), Les Girls (1957), and My Fair Lady (1964). He even directed two films with Marilyn Monroe, Let's Make Love (1960) and her last film, the unfinished Something's Got to Give (1962).

With Marilyn Monroe on the set of Something's Got to Give

George Cukor: A Double Life more than anything makes one want to hold their own mini Cukor film festival. So many of his films are Hollywood classics, and film buffs could program a few movie marathons, depending on where they would like to focus. The films he made with Tracy and Hepburn? Try Keeper of the Flame (1942), Adam's Rib (1949), and Pat and Mike (1952). The five that were written by Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon? How about A Double Life (1947), Adam's Rib, Pat and Mike, The Marrying Kind (1952), and It Should Happen to You. Or maybe check out some of the films that helped give him the reputation as a "women's director." Camille, with Greta Garbo (1936); Susan and God, with Joan Crawford (1940); Gaslight, Travels with My Aunt (1972), with Maggie Smith; or Rich And Famous (1981), with Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset. No matter what the choice, it will be impossible not to think of George Cukor reading those scripts and working out the costumes for his actors after one of his lavish Sunday night parties.

Originally published as Book Review: ‘George Cukor: A Double Life’ by Patrick McGilligan

the ghosts of ava gardner

“I either write the book or sell the jewels, and I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.” 

Ava Gardner, in 1988, after suffering two strokes a few years previously, felt pressured to come up with some money, somehow, to cover her expenses. She could no longer act, as the strokes had left her fabulous face paralyzed on one side, and her right arm useless. She toyed with the idea of an autobiography, and friend Dirk Bogarde suggested journalist Peter Evans.

Ava Gardner, in her heyday

Evans enthusiastically took on the task of ghostwriting Gardner's memoirs, and things moved along, if not swimmingly, at least steadily, for several months — until Gardner learned, most likely from ex-husband number three Frank Sinatra, that he had sued Evans and the BBC many years before for writing about his association with the Mafia. The collaboration came to an abrupt halt. After Evans's death in 2012, his publisher, with the permission of Gardner’s estate, decided to publish the notes for the book as Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations.

If one is looking for an in-depth look at Gardner's life and her tumultuous relationships with many famous men, this book will not exactly fit the bill. But it does contain some interesting glimpses of her life, and of Hollywood in the 1940s. What it really does is give a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to write a celebrity biography — with a reluctant, mercurial star and a diffident author. But fans of Gardner will be more than a little disappointed about the lack of coverage of her Hollywood career, and her most celebrated relationship, her marriage to Sinatra, as the book and notes are cut short very soon after he enters her life.

Gardner was a legendary beauty, but never received much acclaim for her acting skills, which she herself said were close to none. But she was good, even great, at times in many of Hollywood's best films, working with its top directors and co-stars:

• The Killers (1946) - With Burt Lancaster, directed by Robert Siodmak
• Show Boat (1951) - Her voice was dubbed in the movie, but she did sing two songs on the soundtrack album
• Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) - With James Mason, directed by Albert Lewin (with amazing cinematography by Jack Cardiff)
• Mogambo (1953) - with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly - Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954) - with Humphrey Bogart, written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• On the Beach (1959) - With Gregory Peck, directed by Stanley Kramer
• The Night of the Iguana (1964) - With Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr, written by Tennessee Williams, directed by John Huston

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations does cover, glancingly, her early life in rural North Carolina, and her unusual path to Hollywood. Her brother-in-law, who owned a photo studio, displayed a portrait of teenage Gardner in his shop window. A man who claimed to be a talent scout for MGM (as a way to get to pretty girls), tried to get her number by saying she should get in pictures. Gardner and her family didn't share her number, but took him at his word and brought her to MGM's New York offices.

Her beauty impressed, but her thick accent did not, so a silent screen test was sent to Hollywood and Gardner and her older sister were soon packed off to the West Coast for her new life as a starlet. She claims to have met Mickey Rooney, who was one of MGM's biggest box-office stars of the day with his Andy Hardy films, her first day on the lot. He certainly didn't waste any time trying to get to know the 19 year-old hopeful, and the two were soon an item, and sooner married. Gardner was quite naive when she arrived in California, and although the two were mad for one another, she was blind to his non-stop womanizing, even, ostensibly, after being warned by his own mother.

Mickey Rooney and Ava

"I still didn’t know that he was the biggest wolf on the lot. He was catnip to the ladies. He knew it, too. The little sod was not above admiring himself in the mirror. All five foot two of him! He probably banged most of the starlets who appeared in his Andy Hardy films — Lana Turner among them. She called him 'Andy Hard-on.' Can we say that — 'Andy Hard-on?'"

“I don’t see why not,” I said. “It’s a funny line.”

Practically as soon as she had signed her divorce papers, tycoon Howard Hughes was auditioning her for the role of his next lover. Their affair lasted many years, but she didn't love him enough to marry him, and soon fell for band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, which would result in another very short-term marriage. Rooney ignored her and constantly ran around with other girls, while Shaw put her down and tried to make her feel inferior. Gardner definitely had a taste for macho men, as she also had romances with famous bullfighters and Hollywood co-stars Robert Mitchum, and later George C. Scott, who purportedly knocked her around. But she found her match in Frank Sinatra, who may have been waiting in the wings all along:

"I was with Mickey in the studio commissary. We had just gotten married. Frank came over to our table — Jesus, he was like a god in those days, if gods can be sexy. A cocky god, he reeked of sex — he said something banal, like: 'If I had seen you first, honey, I’d have married you myself.' I paid no attention to that. I knew he was married. He had a kid, fahcrissake!"

Most of the fun in Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations comes from the sense that the reader is hearing Gardner talk to Evans in her actual voice. But sometimes the Southern drawl and epithets seem to be poured on a little too thick. Ava admonishes her would-be ghostwriter after reading a sample chapter, "Does she have to curse so much?" If Gardner did indeed speak this way, every other sentence punctuated with "fahcrissakes," she held onto her Rat Pack parlance until the end.

Frank Sinatra and Ava

What also comes through in this short and fast read is an inescapable sadness. Beauty and fame don't last, which Gardner was intelligent enough to be aware of, but her strokes also robbed her of her physicality, as she describes how she used to enjoy sports like tennis and swimming. She seems to always be alone, calling Evans in the middle of the night, with a tumbler full of wine or liquor in hand, reliving some of her past exploits. There is not just a ghostwriter, but ghosts everywhere, as she laments the passing of friends and mentors like John Huston and "Papa" Hemingway, and morbidly begins to dwell on death, which she fears and believes is soon coming for her. Gardner died of pneumonia in 1990.

Perhaps most poignantly, Gardner resents that the book must focus on her "mistakes," her broken relationships, which Evans is constantly prodding her to talk about. Ava wants a book, but her way. “Why can’t we settle for what I pretend to remember? You can make it up, can’t you? The publicity guys at Metro did it all the time.” Maybe that isn't just a question from a Hollywood actress past her prime. Don't we all tend to remember things the way we want to and not the way they were? Evans never got his memoir, but Gardner did get to tell it like it may or may not have been, soon after ditching this project, in Ava: My Story. Apparently Sinatra had no objection to that.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Book Review: ‘Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations,’ by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner

bring up the bodies

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall was an amazing read. Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and the first book in a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Henry VIII, Mantel took an oft-told history in an entertaining manner — how Cromwell helped Henry discard his first wife Katherine of Aragon, marry Anne Boleyn, and break away from the Emperor and Catholicism to create the Church of England. Along the way we witnessed Cromwell's personal tragedies — his loss of his wife Liz and two daughters Anne and Grace, to the "sweating sickness," his idolization of his mentor Cardinal Wolsey and his surviving Wolsey's fall from the king's graces, and his hand in the end of Thomas More. One might wonder if there was really that much more to tell, but Mantel's second book in the series (the 2012 Man Booker Prize winner), Bring Up the Bodies, starts off with a bang and doesn't let up, as it chronicles Henry's growing impatience with second wife Anne, who has only been able to produce a female child (who will one day become Elizabeth I) as his attentions turn to the young and pliable Jane Seymour.

“She is very plain. What does Henry see in her?'"
"He thinks she's stupid. He finds it restful.”

Henry VII and his Family, by an unknown artist. L-R: Princess Mary, Prince Edward, Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Elizabeth

Cromwell's charge is his King's desire, and more than political power or religious reform, Henry's main goal is to produce a male heir and continue the Tudor royal line. Cromwell, as intelligent as ever, looks at every situation from several angles, always trying to serve England. His knowledge of many languages and cultures creates a truly diverse household — in fact his home seems more sophisticated in many ways than the King's many residences. Mantel sketches Cromwell's life at home and at court in fascinating detail. If there is anything to criticize in Bring Up the Bodies, it is the author's continued insistence of using a device she used in Wolf Hall, writing from Cromwell's perspective with clunky sentences that start, "He, Cromwell ..." But the rest of the book is so spot-on, so involving, that stylistic quibbles soon seem just that — quibbles.

“How many men can say, as I must, 'I am a man whose only friend is the King of England'? I have everything, you would think. And yet take Henry away, and I have nothing.”

Mantel tells her story from Cromwell's perspective, and at times we are privy to his dreams and memories. But our "hero" is not above using his station to exact revenge. He sees how the inevitable fall of the new queen Anne (of which he shows not much remorse nor pity) can be used to punish men who had insulted his revered Wolsey — the Queen's brother George Boleyn, Henry Norris, William Brereton, and Francis Weston.

"Look, he says: once you have exhausted the process of negotiation and compromise, one you have fixed on the destruction of an enemy, that destruction must be swift and it must be perfect. Before you even glance in his direction, you should have his name on a warrant, the ports blocked, his wife and friends bought, his heir under your protection, his money in your strong room and his dog running to your whistle. Before he wakes in the morning, you should have the axe in your hand."

Thomas Cromwell, by Hans Holbein

Cromwell may be on top at the end of Bring Up the Bodies, but the reader doesn't have to know all the details of his life to know that he is poised for a fall. Medieval politics were rough and frequently brutal, and a rough man like Cromwell, from the wrong side of London was, for a time, the perfect man to get things done.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Book Review: Bring Up the Bodies – by Hilary Mantel

robert hughes on rome

Article first published as Book Review: Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History by Robert Hughes on Blogcritics.

Recently released in paperback by Vintage, Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History, is the art and culture critic's last published book. Hughes died in August 2012.

Hughes has always been good at mixing history with an entertaining story, and Rome doesn't disappoint--but it is a dense read. There is a lot of information in its almost 500-page length. Luckily there are also many color illustrations to aid the reader with unfamiliar artists or architecture.

Rome is undeniably one of the world's great cities. One can learn of its amazing history, from its Etruscan roots, to its Imperial grandeur and fall, to its Renaissance glory, to its 20th century cool. But there is nothing like actually visiting the city, and being able to experience the collision of all of those eras, sometimes on one street corner, or Roman encounter. Hughes (Shock of the New, Barcelona, Culture of Complaint) tries to capture all of Rome's glory and contradictions in his rambling, yet entertaining narrative.

Hughes tries to convey, in only the way he does, how he views the city of Rome. "In other places fountains are special events," he notes, "but in Rome they are simply part of the vernacular of city life; you notice them, you see them as exceptions to the surfaces of stone or brick, but it seems that they are there to be breathed, not just seen."

Throughout Rome he gives his very personal, mostly chronological history of the city, highlighting the art and people that he deems most important or interesting. Hughes starts off by taking the reader through Rome's beginnings, the Roman Empire and all of the magnificent art and architecture that resulted from Emperor Augustus and his successors, through the city's shift to becoming the center of Christianity.

In his chapter on the Renaissance Hughes is truly in his element, focusing on art and architecture. He tackles not only the creation of probably Rome's most well-known artwork, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, but also the more modern controversy around whether they should have been cleaned. He has always stood firmly in the "yes" camp on that issue and reiterates his position here.

Jumping ahead to Rome in the 17th century and its Baroque period of art, Hughes enjoys talking about "bad boy" artist Caravaggio as well as Spanish painter Diego Velasquez. Velasquez only stayed there a year, but Hughes believes he was profoundly influenced by the city and its art.

When he reaches the 20th century Hughes highlights the connection between Mussolini's fascism and art, reiterating the commonly held view that the political movement's roots can be found in the poetry of famed Italian poet and war hero Gabriele D'Annunzio. As Hughes tells it, only in Italy, only in Rome, could art and politics mix so fully.

He ends his tour of Rome with the cinema of the 1950s and '60s. Film studio Cinecittà (also with links to Mussolini, who founded the studio to produce propaganda films in 1937) turned the city into a filming destination, both for location and subject, hosting religious epics like Ben Hur, and Quo Vadis. Native efforts with more contemporary themes, especially Fellini's iconic La Dolce Vita changed and influenced modern cinema. He enjoys dropping fascinating tidbits such as producer Dino DiLaurentis's desire to have Paul Newman play the character of Marcello in La Dolce Vita (sacrilege!)

The overall effect of Hughes' Rome is like the eternal city itself. If you have never been there, whether you are diving in or just sampling, this book will make you want to visit. If you have already been to Rome in the past, Hughes easily and entertainingly reminds you why you need to return.