This episode begins with Katie having a chat with her friend, Rita, who has decided to leave her husband, Dan. Katie is very upset, but of course she is unsuccessful in talking Rita out of it. Katie arranges a job interview for herself, and ends up spending a day shopping, while canceling her appointment with May, and asking a friend to pick up the kids after school. Since she didn’t tell Dave about any of this, he is understandably perplexed when he shows up alone at May’s, and decides to have the session on his own. He discusses his lack of desire for Katie, although he still loves her.
After her session with May, Jamie comes to the conclusion that she is falling in love with Nick, but tells him she wants to slow down. He is obviously not happy about that.
Palek is reluctant to tell his mother that he and Carolyn are expecting. After viewing an early sonogram, Carolyn is very excited. When she returns to work, she abruptly walks out of a meeting and tells her boss “get someone else”. She then calls Palek at work to tell him that she just quit. Palek then gets some bad news about the house they are selling. He then has a full blown panic attack, landing in the emergency room. At their session with May, which ends the episode, Carolyn is shocked that Palek announces that he has been unhappy for a very long time and wishes to separate.
Well-there is only one more episode left this season. At least May and Arthur are getting along!
Dan in Real Life is a very cute movie starring Steve Carell. I’m a fan of The Office, but I think that Carell has been an uneven performer. He was quite good in Little Miss Sunshine, but that movie had an ensemble of excellent performances. I wasn’t quite sure he could carry a movie, although he did a credible job in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
In this movie, he is helped a great deal by Dane Cook, who plays his younger brother. Cook’s character, Mitch, is a lovable happy-go-lucky womanizer (is there really such a thing?). But he is quite amusing, if predictable. Carell’s Dan Burns is a widower with three daughters who, at a family reunion in Rhode Island, falls in love with his brother’s new girlfriend, played by Juliette Binoche.
There are many other characters in this large family, including some very cute children, but their names are irrelevant and impossible to remember. And this family is the ideal of the large, close, happy family. They eat meals together, play games, they generally all get along, and the children are extremely well-behaved. Even Dan’s wayward daughter, Cara, is not so bad.
Overall, this was fun, funny, a little sad, and quite sweet. A real bonus is that Dan in Real Life can be enjoyed and appreciated by almost all ages.
When our book club meets next week, we’ll be choosing our next book. In the meantime, I’m reading a rather scholarly, but interesting, book, To Reveal Our Hearts:Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia. I heard the author, Carole B. Balin, speak a few weeks ago, and she made the subject sound so fascinating. It’s not a lengthy book, but is well annotated and I’m taking the time to read the notes.
While I was considering Russian writers, I thought I’d read some of the acknowledged classics. I’ve ordered War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky from Amazon. Since I don’t read Russian, I’m having to rely on translations. I’ve done a little research, and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are considered among the better translators. I ordered their translations of both books.
This should all keep me busy for quite a while. I’ll be posting updates on my progress.
War and Peace
Crime and Punishment
To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College, No. 24)
Things have turned around for our couples in this episode. In their session May tries to get Dave and Katie to discuss their sexual experiences. Katie is unable to actually have this discussion. She states her wish to stop therapy, while Dave wishes to continue. He likens therapy to cleaning out the garage. You put all this stuff out in the middle of the garage floor, but you can’t use the garage until you put it all away. Well said, Dave. Outside of the session, Katie expresses her desire to have another baby, while their daughter Isabella is discovering her own body.
After learning that Carolyn is pregnant, Palek goes to see May by himself. He is adamant that he does not wish to be a father. Of course May easily uncovers the fact that it has to do with Palek’s father abandoning the family when Palek was little. May suggests that Palek and Carolyn return to therapy together to explore this.
Jamie’s new boyfriend, Nick, has made tentative steps towards moving in with her. Unfortunately, the sex gets bad, but they decide to continue on with their relationship anyway.
We see May and Arthur together at dinner, and learn that they have never had children because May did not want to share Arthur with anyone.
Most of this episode concerned Dave and Katie. Hopefully, the final two episodes will feature more of the other couples so they become more interesting!
This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 2003, and was an Oprah’s Book Club selection this year. I was never quite interested in reading it, but it was my book club’s next choice, so I dived right in. I’m actually surprised they chose it since, in paperback, it’s over 500 pages (we generally have a 350 page limit). One of the reasons for being involved in a book club is to try and read books you might not otherwise go near, I made a semi-commitment to the book and checked it out of the public library.
Once I began reading Middlesex, I was hooked. The author, Jeffrey Eugenides, uses names and concepts from Greek mythology to help tell a wide-ranging tale of incest, betrayal, deceit, genetics, and the American Dream. So of course the book needs to be so long.
The story centers on Calliope Stephanides, the narrator of this story. Her paternal grandparents came to America in 1922, following the destruction of Smyrna. They were members of the large Greek minority living in Turkey at the time. In addition to being husband and wife, Lefty and Desdemona were third cousins, as well as siblings. Unbeknownst to them, they each carried a recessive mutated gene that eventually resulted in Calliope being born, outwardly a girl, but with male internal organs and chromosonal structure.
Calliope (later Cal) recounts growing up and being “different”, but not understanding why. The family lives in Detroit, and we witness the decline of that city as Calliope grows to adolescence. The story involves close relatives of the Stephanides family, as well as events on a much larger scale-Prohibition, the Depression, World War II.
This is a truly original story, and well worth the effort. I recommend this book whole-heartedly!
In USA:
Published in hardcover-Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2002
Softcover edition-Picador 2007
Middlesex: A Novel
In this episode, all the couples move forward in their relationships. Hugo shows up unexpectedly at Jamie’s door, with predictable results. He also accompanies her to a session with May, but that doesn’t work out so well.
Carolyn and Palek fight over selling their house, but Palek accepts an offer from someone who wants to take possession of the house within 20 days. When Carolyn is at the new house with Mason, Palek returns to the clothing store. He suggestively tells the attractive saleswoman that he is looking for “something new”. Carolyn takes a look at her calendar, realizes something is not quite right, and takes a home pregnancy test. Guess what?
Dave and Katie have the opportunity to spend the night by themselves, since their children are staying with Katie’s mother. Dave’s dream night is to memorize the menu on his new TIVO; Katie’s is to take a long, hot bath. They are quite comfortable and satisfied with May’s suggestion that they don’t even try to have sex.
Meanwhile, May has met with John, and she tells Arthur that she has broken it off with John for good.
This episode has lots of adult content-it’s not for the squeamish. But I did enjoy it because there was a lot happening. There are only three more episodes this season, so I’m hoping the plot will continue to move along.
This final book in the Canaan Trilogy really had me going back to my Bible. I had no recollection of anyone named Lilah. I read the entire Book of Ezra, and she is not mentioned at all. In fact the only women mentioned in Ezra are those who were not considered”daughters of Israel”, and thus cast out of Jerusalem by the pious Ezra.
The action in Lilah occurs many generations after Zipporah, during the Babylonian exile, in the reign of Artaxerxes II. Ezra and his his sister Lilah are descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron. Ezra has devoted his life to studying the laws of Moses under the tutelage of the scholar Baruch ben Neriah. Ezra is determined to live his life studying and strictly following the laws.
Lilah is in love with a Persian warrior, Antinoes, whom she will not marry without Ezra’s blessing. Ezra’s blessing in not forthcoming. With the help of Baruch, Lilah convinces Ezra that it is his destiny to lead the Jewish people to Jerusalem. Through the intersessions of Antinoes and Lilah, Ezra is granted an audience with Artaxerxes, who allows Ezra to lead his people to Jerusalem.
It is a difficult journey, followed by many more difficulties once the exiles reach Jerusalem. In an effort to please God, Ezra orders the expulsion of non-Jewish wives and children from Jerusalem, with predictably disastrous results.
Once again, Marek Halter has done a credible job of describing ancient life in the Middle East. However, this story demands a grander scope than Halter is able to provide. Once again, his characters seem thin and unbelievable. In the right hands, this could be a truly compelling tale.
In USA:
Published in hardcover-Crown Publishers 2006
Softcover edition-Three Rivers Press 2006
Lilah: A Forbidden Love, a People’s Destiny (Book 3 of the Canaan Trilogy)
After deciding to give up on the idea of having a child, Carolyn and Palek decide to stop seeing May. When Palek tells Carolyn he doesn’t think he ever wants children, she of course is disappointed. Palek also declares that he has never been happy in their house, and he wants to sell it.
May tells Dave and Katie not to have sex, since it’s not the most important thing in a marriage. This might be the one piece of advice that gets them moving.
Jamie finally has sex with Nick, although she realizes that they are just using each other. Nick invites her to attend a family function with him. She does, but quickly realizes that this is a mistake.
May finally meets with her old flame, John. They only have coffee and chat a bit.
So-the plots are moving along. There a number of graphic sex scenes, as well as some characters getting high. This episode is definitely not for the kiddies!
I have read two of Jon Krakauer’s books, but not this one (although I’ve been meaning to). I’m a big fan of his work and, having made my first trip to Alaska this summer, I was anxious to see this movie. Most of the movie was filmed on location, some of it in Alaska. I actually met someone there who claimed to have been an extra in the movie but whose scene was cut. I guess that happens a lot.
Anyway, the location scenes (not only Alaska) are photographed beautifully and authentically. The music by Eddie Vedder is perfect for the movie. Sean Penn wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. Apparently the screenplay is a faithful adaptation of Krakauer’s book.
Emile Hirsch plays Christopher McCandless, recent graduate of Emory University, who leaves everything behind to become “Alexander Supertramp”. He roams the western United States and Mexico, with the eventual goal of living off the land in Alaska. This true story was pieced together from Christopher’s journals and interviews with his family and the people he met on his journey.
Chris manages to survive an Alaskan winter, but dies all alone after mistakenly eating a poisonous plant. Hirsch apparently lost 40 pounds to depict the starving young man. It’s amazing how thin and sickly he looks. He truly seems to be suffering, and understanding that he is near death.
It took Penn ten years to get this movie made. The end result is worth it. This is an Oscar-worthy film.
I’m not a big fan of movie violence, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see a Jodie Foster movie. Foster plays Erica Bain, the host of a radio talk show in New York City, “the safest big city in the world”. While walking their dog in Central Park, she and her fiance are attacked by three thugs, one of whom videotapes the scene. David, her fiance, is killed, Erica is critically wounded, and their dog is stolen.
Terrence Howard plays Detective Mercer, who sees Erica in the hospital while attending to another case. He believes that “Most everybody lies. The dead can’t.” A good motto for a homicide detective!
Shortly after being released from the hospital, Erica purchases an illegal gun. Is she thinking about self-protection, or revenge? She quickly begins dispensing vigilante justice, and the movie audience cheers for her. Detective Mercer investigates those homicides and, of course, begins to suspect Erica.
Foster looks gaunt, sleepless and angry as Erica. She is definitely believable as the vengeful vigilante. And the next time someone says “I want my dog back”, you’ll hand over the leash. I thought this was a very well done movie. It is violent, and not for those with a delicate nature. Otherwise-go see it!
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