Three Sentence Reviews

June 19, 2007

Here are some very brief reviews of books, music and movies …

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. You should judge this book by it’s cover - at least by the cover on the hardback edition. It is a beautiful book about a family’s decision to eat locally for a full year. It is honest, funny, informative, perceptive, prophetic and reflective all without being kitschy. Website here.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. A book without an ending - at least without an ending that satisfies me. True to real life, this book develops the characters of a haphazard family in India during a time of political turmoil. The characters come alive, the inheritance of loss is beautifully described, but the plot stagnates and leaves me wanting more resolution.

The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits. I picked this book by its title and cover - and the adage held true (though in reverse of how it was initially meant): don’t judge a book by it’s cover. I was not a fan of this particular novel. The dialog for much of the book is intentionally confusing, which I found frustrating and the plot was both lagging and a bit superficial.

Paper Clips. A moving documentary about a school in rural Tennessee that started studying the holocaust and decided to collect paper clips as a way of getting their minds around what 6 million (the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust) looks like. The movie is human and shows the ways in which the project took on a life of its own that moved the people running it and transformed a school, a community, and perhaps a nation still looking for ways to grieve such a massive loss. Documentaries aren’t generally my thing, but this one had me captivated.

Eragon (the movie). For a movie based on a book - this one was good. Granted it’s been a few years since I read the book, but the movie could stand alone as the start of an interesting epic, and with the book behind it, it grows even richer as a story. It made me want to pick up Eldest, which I haven’t read yet.

Gandhi (the movie). Long - really, really long. Three hours, but three hours I’m glad I watched. The acting was incredible (I didn’t realize it was Ben Kingsley playing Gandhi until the end and then I wondered how he had pulled it off) and I learned so much about his life and the situation in India.

One Voice by the Wailin’ Jennys. Josh introduced Adam and I to this song this past spring and it is still one of my favorites. The harmony is beautiful. Definitely worth the 99 cents it will cost you on iTunes.

(You Want To) Make a Memory by Bon Jovi. I know - eighties ballad, pop rock - it’s true. But I enjoy this song. Not quite as much as ‘It’s My Life,’ which I could rock out to all day everyday, but still really good in my pop culture music world.

Posted in uncategorized by Sarah