Matthew Kresal

A Mixed Bag of Hallowe'en Mystery

Revisado: 10-23-24

With autumn upon us and Halloween around the corner, the timing felt right to give this Agatha Christie a seasonal listen. If there’s someone who could take the unlikely premise of a teenager’s murder at a holiday gathering after declaring to a disbelieving crowd that she’d witnessed a murder herself in front of a famed author, it would be Agatha Christie. And whom better to investigate it that Hercule Poirot, yes?

Which makes it a shame that Hallowe'en Party is something of a mixed bag.

Don’t get me wrong: all the ingredients are there. The village full of secrets that both Poirot and Ariadne Oliver come into as outsiders feels like classic Christie. So, too, does the wide-ranging cast of characters (and suspects) that occupy the village. The opening chapter or so, building up to the party and the murder, offer a blurry snapshot of it all and get the ball rolling solidly. Everything that should make this a solid offering are here.

Yet something feels off about the whole novel. Perhaps it’s seeing Poirot in the 1960s (with Ariadne Oliver even comparing him to a computer, which feels both apt and odd at the same time). Alternatively, it could be the repetitive debates the detective has with numerous characters about the changing social mores of the 1960s or mental health. Or, ultimately, that all the ingredients might be present but the eventual solution and the identity of the murderer feels under-cooked. Christie could certainly write to capture changing times (The Pale Horse at the start of the decade, a favorite of this reviewer, proves that) but Hallowe'en Party is a novel that feels out of time.

Dare I say, this might be a case where the adaptations (both featuring David Suchet on television and the ground-up reworking of it for actor/director Kenneth Branagh) are the better versions of this? In both cases, the ingredients and the recipe could be tweaked into something more cohesive. It’s still worth seeing where the inspiration for both came from, even if the source novel isn’t quite the sum of its parts.

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An Even Better Sequel To Batman '89 Than Returns

Revisado: 10-19-24

The release of Tim Burton’s film Batman in 1989 unleashed a pop culture phenomenon. Indeed, alongside Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie more than a decade earlier, it’s the film that launched superhero cinema. It’s no wonder there’s been numerous sequels and attempts to capitalize on the world Burton, his cast including Michael Keaton’s Batman and Jack Nicholson’s Joker, and crew created for that film. Something which has extended from Burton’s own 1992 film Batman Returns to the more recent Batman ‘89 comic from the film’s co-writer Sam Hamm. Now, thirty-five years after the film’s release, comes a literary sequel in the form of John Jackson Miller’s Batman: Resurrection.

What’s clear is that Miller has a great love and appreciation for the 1989 film. It’s something that you can sense almost every minute, from the spot-on characterizations that make it easy to imagine the likes of Keaton, Michael Gough, and Robert Wuhl among others reprising their film roles in the mind’s eye. Indeed, given the characters such as Wuhl’s Knox or Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale who didn’t return for Burton’s sequel, it seems all the more fitting that they should appear here and feel spot-on with Will Damron as narrator capturing the spirit (if not the exact voices) of them as well. Miller also shows an appreciation for the wider universe that’s expanded out from the 1989 film with appearances of characters from Returns and some nods toward the Batman ‘89 comic. Sitting alongside a host of references and Easter eggs throughout, it’s something that goes a long way toward adding to the atmosphere of the novel and the sense that this is a literary sequel to the 1989 film.

As does the world building Miller does. The sense of loose threads from the film, what happened in the aftermath of the panic over cosmetics the Joker caused and the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale along them, linger over the novel for much of its length. The former serving as something of the novel’s backbone, from the origin story for one of the novel’s villains to how the characters (and Gotham City at large) are still reacting to the aftermath some months later. It’s something that makes Resurrection a far closer sequel to the 1989 film that even Burton managed with Returns in 1992, no mean feat given the passage of time.

Atmosphere and (arguably) fan service is one thing, but is there a story to go along with it? Miller delivers in that department, as well, crafting a new mystery for the cowl-wearing detective to solve. One that, as the subtitle suggests, partly involves some potentially unfinished business from the film. A matter that is further complicated for Batman by the addition of new villains from the rogues gallery (to say who would be to diminish part of the novel’s fun) offered in a form not out of place in the world the film created. Nor is there a lack of twists and turns along the way with red herrings and plenty of things which are not what they seem in the classic mystery/thriller tradition. That the world’s greatest detective gets a mystery to solve is something else which speaks in Resurrection’s favor.

Which isn’t to say it lacks action, of course. Far from it as Miller and Damron build up sequences in prose that would have cost millions to realize on-screen. Among the highlights being Batman dealing with an arson, a thrilling Batmobile sequence on a Gotham bypass, and the addition of new vehicles to the Dark Knight’s fleet. All done in service of the plot and leading to a finale that, much like the novel itself, builds upon the original film to a satisfying conclusion.

From Miller’s spot-on characterizations and world building to an engaging mystery and thrilling action, Batman: Resurrection is the sequel to Burton’s 1989 film you never knew you needed. More than that: it’s a better sequel to it than Burton’s own cinematic follow-up. For fans of the original film wanting more of their favorite characters or looking for an (officially licensed) answer to some burning questions, it’s well-worth a read, as it is for fans of Batman and good thrillers in general.

So turn on the audiobook and return to Gotham: 1989.

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Building a Legacy One Episodes at a Time

Revisado: 09-30-24

There is an old expression that says that art does not exist in a vacuum. It is often influenced by, and can have impact upon in return, the wider world in which it was created. The West Wing, the television series created by Aaron Sorkin, has proven to be one such example of that. Having told the story of the fictional President of the United State Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) and his senior White House staff, is a show that not only spawned seven seasons from 1999 to 2006 but also helped inspire a generation of elected officials, their staffs, and creatives. Helping document the series and its legacy across 25 years is What’s Next from authors (and series actors) Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack and read by the authors.

First things first: What’s Next is not an exhaustive guide to The West Wing. That’s something that Fitzgerald and McCormack make clear at one point in the book and it’s worth noting here. While there are dives into best and most important episodes of the series (including the season two finale Two Cathedrals and the live debate episode from the final season) that delve into those episodes and sometimes the minutiae of them, this isn’t the guidebook to the series that some have been waiting decades for.

Instead, as the subtitle says, this is something of a backstage past to the series and its cast. Drawing on interviews new and old (the latter especially in the case of the late and still clearly much missed John Spencer), What’s Next is in part an oral history of the making of the series. Some of the anecdotes and stories told will be familiar from DVD commentaries and The West Wing Weekly podcast (which this reviewer must confess not to have been a listener to), but the gathering of the material all in one place is a godsend in its own right. In one volume are stories of how a misunderstanding about a lunch meeting led to the series creation, the castings that might have been (from CCH Pounder as Leo or C.J. to a whole host of other contenders for the President), and the personal stories of the experiences making some of the most remarkable hours of television you’ll ever watch.

And those memories are a major part of what makes What Next so enjoyable and insightful. There’s plenty of good times remembered from Martin Sheen’s fatherly attitude toward almost everyone on set that extended to paying for cast and crew trips to Vegas to Joshua Malina’s pranks (some remembered more fondly than others) and McCormack finding the series welcoming as a first-time working mom. The rough patches are here too, from the circumstances that saw Rob Lowe leave the series followed in quick succession by Sorkin and executive producer/director Thomas Schlamme with the vacuum they left behind. Indeed, as one of those who maintained that the series never recovered from their leaving, I found a new appreciation in this book for how remaining executive producer John Wells and the team he assembled kept the series going for three more seasons. Revisiting the Wells Administration (as the book calls the latter years) is now something I’m looking forward to doing in my current re-watch. There’s also a chapter dedicated to the passing of Spencer during the final season that is worth the price of the book alone for fans, full as it is of memories of the actor and the remembrances given by his co-stars Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff. It’s a look behind the scenes of a favorite series done with love and fondness but not, thankfully, entirely through rose-tinted spectacles.

What’s Next’s subtitle also promises a backstage pass to “Its Enduring Legacy of Service.” Readers and fans can learn about the causes that many of the show’s cast and crew have been a part of before, during, and after the series from Sheen’s long-standing history of activism to Fitzgerald’s work for Justice for Vets to projects to promote the arts and more. There’s also chapters that explore the series interactions with real-life figures both while the show was being made (where the cast being invited to the 2000 Democratic convention caused havoc on its production) and since with figures on both sides of the political spectrum inspired to run for elected office or to work as public servants as a result of the series and its vision. Or, indeed, it’s impact on larger popular culture in works such as the hit musical Hamilton or the reunions such as 2012’s Walk and Talk the Vote and 2020’s A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote which also display the enduring legacy of the series to raise awareness and the bond between cast and crew or the influence the series has had.

And, it seems, will continue to have as the series continues to resonate even in a very different political and cultural climate than the one it first appeared in a quarter-century ago. Long may it do so. And long may fans seek out What’s Next for insights, joy, tears, and much more about one of the greatest television series ever produced.

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Want to know more about Harris? Listen to This.

Revisado: 09-13-24

When Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee for President in July 2024, attention from the media and public alike shifted onto her. Who was she? What were her stances? Questions that voters have (and continue) to ask even after nearly two months. This reviewer was among them and turned to what seemed the most obvious source of answers: These Truths We Hold, the book released ahead of her previous run for the presidency in 2019-2020.

In some ways, this book is in fact two in a single volume. One part of it is memoir, the story of Harris’s life from childhood in Oakland as the eldest daughter of immigrant parents (and raised largely by her Indian born mother). There are stories of her mother and father’s activism, from their involvement in Civil Rights causes which led to her meeting lawyers for the cause that helped inspire her to enter public service herself. There’s a sense of joy that runs throughout, peppered by the shocks of a lifetime from her parents divorce, her failing to pass her first bar exam, and the battle with cancer that took her mother’s life. Parts of which are quite moving (even more so if you take in this audiobook edition) and even funny such as the now Second Gentleman proposed to her. There’s the odd occasion marred by clunky prose or perhaps a wanting to move onto the next topic that leaves things hanging, including on coming back to pass the bar exam. Yet for those wanting a sense of where Harris came from, it’s a chance to read/hear it from the candidate herself.

The other tract, which often runs in parallel with the memoir tracts once Harris makes it into public office, are her politics and stances. Not surprisingly for a book that essentially launched her first bid for the White House, Harris covers a wide-range of topics. There’s the obvious ones given her background as a DA and California Attorney General including drugs, law enforcement, gun violence, immigration, and racial bias where Harris uses her experiences to delve into the positions she takes. She moves onto issues of national security, climate change, and economic inequality. For all the talk from some pundits and online commentators that Harris has flip-flopped, what’s present here form 2019 suggests otherwise. It’s true that nearly a half-decade of events, experience, and downright political pragmatism have shifted things a little and precise plan details have changed, but the underlying values and even some of the language used in 2024 (including the idea of what Harris has termed an “opportunity economy”) all have their foundations here on the page.

While it has the odd bit of clunky prose and there’s times you’ll wish Harris would go into more detail about events, These Truths We Hold remains well served by its being part memoir and part deceleration of political beliefs. Indeed, for those curious or eager to learn more about the 2024 Democratic candidate, it’s a solid starting point. Not to mention an at times moving and inspiring tale of someone taking up the call for public service, whether you agree with Harris entirely or not.

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A Life in Opposition

Revisado: 08-04-24

When Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife was released in 2008 during the closing months of the presidency of George W. Bush, much attention was focused on how the novel was based off the wife of then First Lady Laura Bush. Indeed, that Sittenfeld had what some considered the sheer audacity to build a fictional narrative (really a Roman a clef) atop the First Lady’s life and marriage. That, indeed, was my knowledge of the novel that I’ve carried somewhere in the back of my mind for much of the last fifteen years after (as my memory tells me) I first encountered a review of it in Entertainment Weekly. Having recently come to the novel at long last, it is also something which does the novel something of a disservice.

Because American Wife is far more than just Laura Bush’s life dressed up as fiction.

Don’t get me wrong: the broad strokes are there. The bookish only child of a family in a small town who as a teenager a car accident that kills a fellow high school classmate (a first love never fulfilled thanks to fate). Who then, as a young woman, becomes a school librarian before having something of a whirlwind romance with the black sheep son of a prominent Republican family despite herself being a Democrat. A marriage with ups and downs that includes his alcoholism while managing a MLB team, his (and their daughter’s) becoming a Born Again Christian, and an unlikely road leading to the White House and a presidency that becomes increasingly unpopular. All of which, drawn from the life of Laura Bush, are all present in Sittenfeld’s narrative.

Yet Alice Blackwell, nee Lindgren, and her life have far more to them. Indeed, much of the controversy around American Wife in 2008 dealt with Sittenfeld’s additions and presumed assumptions (including having her future first lady protagonist having an abortion as a teenager in 1963). Time affords distance and it is easier now to see the richly drawn figure that Sittenfeld created in Alice from the basic facts of a real-life person. The story of a woman’s wife, taking us and her older self on a journey which begins with her grandmother and her friendship with a woman doctor in Chicago even before the tragedy that changes Alice’s life forever after. For much of its length, perhaps surprisingly given its reputation, American Wife moves between genres from coming-of-age, romance, and the story of a clearly loving but sometimes difficult marriage as it hits difficulties in middle-age. The story of a life that, as Alice puts on early in the novel, has been lived in opposition to itself. Or is it, given the facts that we learn of her life?

The novel in some ways feels like an answer in fiction to a question that I myself asked from the middle of the Bush presidency onward: What do people see in that guy? The answer is seen through Alice’s eyes of a charming, if not always bright, man. Loving, funny (if sometimes rude), great in bed (described in lurid detail), and who struggles to find a purpose in life. Charlies Blackwell, like Alice, may share plenty in common with the real-life President of the time but is very much a character in his own right. Indeed, to my surprise, there were times I found myself smiling and even laughing at what he had to say. Yet, like his real-life counterpart and Alice herself, it wasn’t hard to understand why their presidency had all but come apart at the seams by its end.

Indeed the closing section has lost little of its relevancy in the past fifteen years. Set late in Charlie’s presidency with an unpopular war in the Middle East raging and a fight to get an anti-choice justice onto the Supreme Court, it becomes the moment that Alice’s past all but comes back to haunt her, along with the choices she’s made. Choices which have, she’s told, contributed to an ever dividing country, thousands of deaths, and the potential loss to a service she herself partook in nearly a half-century earlier. The talking points about the Iraq War may feel quaint now, but in a world where Roe v Wade has been overturned and the culpability of voters in picking a candidate unfit for the Oval Office are ever present issues, American Wife and its commentary continues to have a timely quality to it.

Even if it’s less a political novel and more the story of an unlikely figure sucked into the world of Washington politics, wondering about the life choices that led them to it.

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The 1980s World at War

Revisado: 05-26-24

If The Hunt for Red October was the novel that launched Tom Clancy’s career in 1984, then it was Red Storm Rising two years later that secured him (and Larry Bond) a lasting place on the bestseller lists. Even if, as it turned out, it was set outside the world much of Clancy’s output would inhabit for the next three decades (and now beyond thanks to a number of continuation writers). Returning to Red Storm Rising having read it in my teens nearly twenty years ago, it’s not hard to understand why that was the case.

Because Clancy (with aid in the plotting department from Bond) wrote one heck of a tale. Running some 650 pages in hardcover and 31 hours (!) as an audio book, Red Storm Rising deserves the overused moniker of “epic.” Telling the story of a 1980s non-nuclear war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact from its instigating crisis to its conclusion, it’s a full spectrum dominance of a novel. One that, by that very definition, covers the war on land, sea, and air, not to mention from conference rooms and command centers both near and far away from the front lines. The calculations and miscalculations, the process of training and planning, and the fog of war are all on display. Clancy’s prose might be straightforward and frank rather than offering literary flourishes, but it adds to the verisimilitude of Clancy’s tale. Indeed, Soviet planning (and over-optimism) and reliance on sheer numbers to achieve their objectives in an unrealistic time frame has proven to be all too real, as the still ongoing Ukraine conflict has shown.

Make no mistake, this is a war novel. As such, Red Storm Rising is at its best when its taking the reader into the heart of battle with the hardware of (then) modern warfare. Chapter 21, in which Soviet bombers stage a daring raid on American and French carriers, remains one of Clancy’s masterpieces and worth the price of purchase alone. From there, Clancy treats readers to tanks battle in Germany, amphibious assaults on Iceland, stealth fighter raids years before such planes were officially acknowledged, and an updated Battle of the Atlantic. Sequences that, at their best, left me as engrossed and breathless as they did twenty years ago, particularly as realized with Michael Prichard’s reading of the audiobook that (along with his wide-range of accents) had it feeling like an audio movie in places.

Yet when a friend of mine and I spoke about the novel a few weeks ago (which caused me to revisit it as an audio book), I realized that I couldn’t recall a single character name or any significant details about them. Coming out of Red Storm Rising, I understood why that was the case. For Clancy perhaps set what was to become both a trope and weakness of this sort of technothriller: a lack of characterizations. With such a large cast, it’s perhaps unsurprising that none of them are particularly memorable, acting as little more than cardboard figures to get Clancy and the reader into the right place at the right time. Don’t get me started on Clancy’s lack of ear for dialogue with moments of both cheesiness and tortured lines. Then again, does anyone go into this sort of novel looking for memorable characters or dialogue?

Perhaps not. And when you get hardware, strategy, and dumb luck on display as Clancy did with Red Storm Rising, it’s to forgive. That the conflict portrayed doesn’t go nuclear feels like a necessary plot contrivance (even more so given what is now known of 1980s war plans on both sides), but Red Storm Rising set the template for everyone who would write a novel of modern war that followed. And few have come close to match Red Storm Rising.

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Through The Decades With Thomas & The BBC

Revisado: 03-20-24

Dylan Thomas as been described as the first rock star poet, remembered as much for his colorful personal life and untimely death as for his body of work. Yet for such a short life, Thomas left behind a treasure trove as both a writer and broadcaster. Both are something that this recently released BBC Radio Collection release will attest to.

Covering from the 1940s to the 2010s, 17 different productions take listeners through the width and breadth of Thomas life and work. There’s chances to hear from the man himself as both a reader and actor, from his cynically nostalgic Return Journey to the biting portrait of the US lecture circuit of the early 1950s in A Visit to America. There are productions of Thomas work, from the legendary Under Milk Wood with Richard Burton to his unfilmed screenplays for the Pimpernel inspired Rebecca’s Daughters and the moody The Beach of Falesá (itself adapted from a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson) and adaptions of well-known pieces such as Child’s Christmas in Wales. Closing out the set are three dramas inspired by Thomas colorful life, from the Wales based Badgers in My Vest to the New York set Investigating Mr. Thomas and Chelsea Dreaming, each presenting very different visions of the poet’s final days.

The result is as much a journey through the history of radio drama and production as it is Thomas’ work. From recordings of Thomas made in the 1940s and 1950s through dramas made from the 1950s right up to nearly the present day, the differing styles of production and acting styles are present. From straightforward readings to the mix of fiction and documentary in The Outing to the “film for voices” presentation of The Beach of Falesá, it’s an eclectic mix. Not to mention with casts that include a number of well-known UK performers and character actors from the likes of Richard Burton to Roger Allam, Philip Madoc, and Siân Philips. All anchored by Matthew Rhys, both as a host for the collection and his appearances in a couple of the productions.

For fans of Thomas or just good audio drama, this set is well worth a listen. From Welsh villages in the 1840s and 20th century to the south Pacific islands and 1950s New York City, Thomas as writer and flawed man are all on display. A celebration and tribute to a rock star poet who was far more besides, nothing short of a modern bard.

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Death on the Ancient Nile

Revisado: 10-08-23

Think of Agatha Christie and what do you think of? Poirot and Marple? Death and mysteries in quaint English villages or exotic locales? You'd be right, of course, at least to a large extent. But that would also be to overlook other parts of her output. Something that would include 1944's Death Comes as the End, set in Ancient Egypt and a curious piece of the Christie bibliography.

True, there's the lack of an obvious detective character, with Renisenb, daughter of a priest, taking their place to an extent. Indeed, Renisenb falls into the Christie tradition of reluctant heroine investigators as her family falls prey to a series of deaths following the death of her father's concubine amidst family drama. But it's how the mechanics of the deaths play out in a time and place without modern detection or forensics that makes it a fascinating experience. Reason and logic versus superstition, modernity (for its time) against tradition. All played out across the backdrop of an ancient civilization and death among family members. It's classic Christie, to say the very least. Not to mention well-realized in this audiobook version with Emilia Fox bringing to life not only the vast cast of characters but Christie's vividly painted portrait of an ancient civilization.

If you're a fan of Christie or someone seeking something outside of her "norm," than Death Comes as the End is a must-listen.

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Bond Like It's 1999 All Over Again

Revisado: 12-31-22

Raymond Benson returned to novelize his second Pierce Brosnan Bond film with The World is Not Enough. Unlike Tomorrow Never Dies, where that film's chaotic production and frequent script rewriting gave Benson freedom to expand rather sizably on the film, this one didn't offer as much opportunity. That said, where Benson can, he turns what was arguably Brosnan's best Bond film into a fuller work. There is an even greater emphasis on the romance between Bond and Elektra King in the first half, including an expanded casino sequence where the closeness between the two becomes all the more apparent. Benson also expands on the backstory of the villainous Renard, with his journey from a young Russian soldier to the terrorist kidnapper of Elektra explored in a chapter late in the novelization.

Simon Vance, as narrator, offers a solid reading of Benson's prose adaptation. His characters are distinct, including fine versions of Bond and the Judi Dench M, though his Renard sounds closer to Steve Carell's Gru from the Despicable Me films than Robert Carlyle's film character. His narration is solid, though even he can't make Benson's descriptions of the action sequences work, as I found myself rewinding during them trying to pick up details I'd missed out on (despite being familair with the film version).

Even so, The World is Not Enough's novelization makes for a solid listen. Especially if you're a Bond fan of the Brosnan-era films or Benson's brand of literary 007. And, besides, how often can you listen like it's 1999 all over again?

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Intrigued By the HBO/Sky Series? Listen To This.

Revisado: 06-17-22

Thanks to the 2019 HBO/Sky miniseries that shares its name, the 1986 nuclear accident involving the Soviet-built RBMK reactor number four near Chernobyl in Ukraine has re-entered the popular consciousness. Nearly two generations on, though, it's an event that has already begun the slide into history, not to mention clouded by secrecy and disinformation from the last years of the Cold War. Adam Higginbotham's Midnight in Chernobyl brings the incredible events surrounding reactor number four to life, from its construction to the accident to the still ongoing work to "liquidate" the results of the world's worst nuclear disaster. With a mix of technical details with human moments of triumph and tragedy, deadly seriousness with moments that wouldn't be out of place in a black comedy satire, Higginbotham paints those events with vivid details and a wide cast of characters. All brought together in an immensely readable form that, be the reader a history/science buff or intrigued by the aforementioned HBO/Sky miniseries, offers fresh perspectives on an incredible event and is everything a good non-fiction read ought to be.

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