Jakk

She spills a lot of tea!

Revisado: 06-09-24

This unauthorized bio was a lot of fun and eye-opening, for me. I frequently giggled out loud at the author's wonderfully b*tchy descriptions of the Queen Mother and her machinations. It's so catty that I have to wonder... what the heck did the old queen consort do to Ms Colin Campbell that brought out such sharp claws? Seriously, if you are a Queen Mother fan, you might want to skip this one. There aren't more than one or two positives about her in this whole book to warm your little heart.

Quite frankly, I was not a Elizabeth Sr. fan. I always got the impression that all that cloying sweetness was a guise. Ms Colin Campbell makes that point abundantly clear. But there are some pretty sinister accusations here that go much deeper. The author's claim to fame is that she's a member of British aristocratic society, so that is supposedly the source of her insider dirt. She is also a survivor of the same upper crust rumor mill regarding her gender.

Anyway, this book is an entertainingly irreverent look at the Queen Mother and the royal mob. Leave it or take it...with a grain of salt.

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Less Than Candid

Revisado: 06-07-24

I only recently learned who Anna Dubrovya was and her "importance" in the sad story of Emperor Nicholas and Empress Alexandra. Anna was a Russian noblewoman who turned out to be one of the few, if not the only friend the ill-fated Empress had. Despite their relationship, this woman played a part in the couple's downfall. But don't expect a completely honest retelling of how Anna accomplished this. Specifically, she never explains her central role in bringing Rasputin to the imperial family.

Anna Dubrovya was a fervent follower of Rasputin some time before he ever met Alexandra. But she downplays her involvement in arranging meetings between the "holy man" and the empress. Such minimization is understandable as Anna wrote this memoir in 1920, while Russia was still very much in turmoil. My personal opinion is that Alexandra had a much better reason for revering and hanging onto Rasputin. He seemed to miraculously heal her desperately ill son, Alexei. What mother wouldn't fight to protect the one person who could ensure the survival of their child?

Anna also skims over the exact nature of the rude rumor clouding her close friendship with Alexandra. No surprise there...they were accused of being lesbian lovers. Again, this memoir was written 100 years ago, so it would have been unseemly to spell out a homosexual accusation, even to deny it. To her credit, she speaks with uncowed admiration of her friend. Supporting Alexandra would have been a courageous public stance to take at that time, even among people who regretted her murder. Anna offers a somewhat less glowing but probably more balanced assessment of Tsar Nicholas.

The more interesting aspects of this memoir are Anna's remembrances of Imperial court life, and her own experiences as a revolutionary prisoner.

Anna Dubrovya turned out to be a fairly good writer. I assume she originally wrote in Russian, so perhaps it's the translation that was good.

Finally, this book is narrated by digital voice. I quite like the AI reader. "She" has a pleasant British accent and all the inflections are excellent. There are a couple of glitches as the voice stumbles over names, but just a couple.

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Patricia Highsmith's brilliant writing

Revisado: 04-20-24

Though not as engaging as "The Talented Mr. Ripley," this second chapter in the Ripley saga is an understated pleasure. It's three years later and Tom Ripley has achieved a very comfortable upper class existence in France. He doesn't work, thanks to the late Dickie Greenleaf's money and an advantageous marriage to Heloise, his morally questionable French wife. Ripley is not content to rest on his murderous laurels, however. He finds an illegal way to make extra money, and when that hustle is threatened, he takes care of the threat. There are a couple light moments... one in particular referencing "The Dying Gaul" had me roaring out loud. But this book is no comedy. Ripley is still very dangerous and very much a sociopath. Highsmith illuminates his psychopathy in a clever way. Faced with situations that would panic normal people, Tom Ripley blithely plays classical music, reads a book or takes a nap. Fans of Brett Easton Smith might recognize similar tendencies in a later anti-hero, the terrifying Patrick Bateman. In fact, I believe Easton Smith must have been inspired by Highsmith's Ripley when he wrote "American Psycho."

My one criticism of Ripley Underground is the ending. It is carelessly anti-climatic and a bit trite. But it does pave the way to the third installment, which I Iook forward to listening to soon.

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Oprah Narrates!

Revisado: 12-28-23

You will be reminded why Oprah Winfrey is an award winning actress as you listen to her lovely interpretation of White Oleander. It is one of her favorite books, as it is mine. It is the story of a fatally narcissistic mother and the painful life she inflicts on her sensitive daughter. Perhaps because mother and daughter are artists, the author felt free to drape their stories in lots of flowery prose. The poetry works well, in spots. But I found it a bit heavy handed through most of the book. That is my only criticism of White Oleander.

I must say I found the movie version to be equally good, if not better, than the novel...and I never say that! The filmmakers did change a couple of things, but I feel the changes actually strengthened the story. Of course, the movie also boasts a phenomenal cast.

Still, I recommend experiencing the audiobook first. You will enjoy both.

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A triumph of research

Revisado: 12-14-23

I had never heard of the Wendels before Audible recommended this book. I was in good company. The fact that an immensely wealthy family of New York City landowners was forgotten is perhaps best illustrated by the lack of even one Wikipedia article! Nonetheless, author Claire Prentiss has unearthed an engrossing story. Anybody who owned billions in real estate in Gilded Age NYC would be fascinating, at least to me. But the cast of oddballs in this particular family was "special," even for an era brimming with rich eccentrics. The Wendels consisted of six unmarried daughters and one unmarried son. Only one daughter married...at the age of 61. Unlike their contemporaries, the Astors, Vanderbilts and Carnegies, there were no further heirs to expand, squander or squabble over the remaining fortune. In their lifetimes, the Wendels stubbornly held on to their vast properties and their privacy. The author really had to dig the archives of old newspapers and historic papers to track down enough details to make a fluent tale out of what she uncovered. Still, I found the story vaguely tragic. It is as cob web covered as the old Fifth Avenue mansion they refused to sell. A large part of the saga is devoted to the family patriarch, John Wendel, who allegedly maintained a 32-year affair with Martha, a former family employee who bore him an illegitimate son. Racy stuff in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Apparently, Martha went through a LOT for love of John. Prentice gleaned the most intimate aspects of her drama from surviving letters, legal documents and God knows what other sources. There was ultimately a financial settlement on Martha and her son, but never a legal acknowledgement of their kinship. The other significant portion of the story covers the travails of one Wendel sister, Georgie, who spent her life running from John's repeated attempts to have her confined in mental hospitals. Finally, there were thousands of would-be "heirs" who burst from the woodwork in 1931 when the last Wendel sister died. With all the money and bizarro elements, the most remarkable thing about this story is the virtual disappearance of the Wendels from history and memory.

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Listenable History

Revisado: 07-06-23

With lively writing and solid research "The Medici" is a wonderful journey through the Italian Renaissance and into the 18th century. This book is part politics, part social commentary, part family legacy and a good measure of art history. It's amazing how many details the author was able to gather from a period so long ago. The Medici were bankers and rulers in Italian city states for 200 years, including four Roman Catholic popes. Medici were patrons of some of the most famous art masters of all time: Donatello, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Cellini, among others. The book covers the family's relationships with some of history's most infamous monarchs, such as England's Henry VII and Henry VIII, France's Francis I, and Spain's Queen Isabella of Castille. Two Medici became queens of France in their own right. We learn how Medici lands were impacted by Protestant reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin, by political writer Nicholo Machiavelli and by groundbreaking scientist Galileo. The Medici history includes assassinations, illegitimate births, dynastic marriages, civil uprisings, religious conflicts, plague, great wealth and dwindling influence. To be sure, this is an ambitious book covering so much in a single volume. I think it succeeds. I enjoyed listening and learning about the Medici dynasty during an amazing era. The narrator is also marvelous. His accent is lovely and his timing is perfection. He keeps you engaged and entertained.

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As dark as the Vegas Strip at night

Revisado: 01-06-23

This is self destruction on steroids, so get ready.

Leaving Las Vegas is gritty, smelly and sad. It is also a masterpiece. I kept wondering... is it even possible to purposely drink oneself to death? I guess with an unlimited amount of alcohol and and a limited amount of time, one can. Ben has decided to check out of his nightmare life in his his own way. Sera is also caught in a dark existence where men cut her up, beat her up, sodomize her and people treat her like trash. She accepts this and minimizes her own pain.

Two lonely people share a few weeks of love, life, death, and terrible understanding.

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Want my 8 hours back

Revisado: 11-10-22

I don't know why they say Persuasion is "the most romantic" of Jane Austen's novels. There's very little romance in it, and a lot of blah blah blah about lots of nothing. The heroine, Ann Eliot, is sad and uninteresting. For me, her father is much more amusing, with his funny comments about everybody having old faces. Lastly, the outcome of this story is excruciatingly predictable. Greta Scacchi does a good job narrating.

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A Medley of the Sad and Terrific - LONG

Revisado: 10-23-22

I liked this book. I would love to say "loved," but "Anywhere But Here" has some lapses.

First, it's a tribute to small town drama in the 20s to the 70s...the scandals that simmer and then are buried by the passage of time as people get on as best they can. The beauties of rural landscapes contrast with the dreariness of living in a milltown. Of course I Googled it, and there is a real Bay City, Wisconsin which today has only about 500 residents.

But it's primarily a tale of mother/daughter angst. That theme always appeals to me because I was a daughter of a difficult mother. My mother was very different from Adelle August, but I knew those fire-storm moods. And I was nothing like young Ann August. Ann is brass and practical and so funny with her dour responses to her mother's bi-polar and narcissistic hysterics. But Ann is also quite flawed, which was nearly inescapable given the haphazard, sometimes abusive life Adelle forced her little daughter to endure.

Mostly, Adelle hates Bay City and wants out. Her big solution is to somehow get Ann and herself transplanted to Los Angeles where pretty Ann will (inevitably) be a major child star. This pipe dream infects Ann herself. She doesn't necessarily want to leave home and her beloved Grandma and cousin Benny, but she comes to see California as the promised land where, at least, her mother might be happy. In the meantime, they are stuck in Bay City and other, more detrimental aspects of her mother's psychopathy have infected Ann. *SPOILER ALERT. Skip to the next paragraph if desired* There is a particularly disturbing (and repulsive) passage where Ann, as a preteen, uses her "power" to coerce younger kids in her neighborhood to let her take nude photos of them. There is indication that she fondled the frightened children, particularly a little girl from an impoverished and ostracized large family. I was not prepared for such a scene, and I didn't like Ann at all, at that point in the story.

The book tries to connect these two, strange main characters to their genealogy. So, there are stories from Ann's family...mainly her homey, humble and nurturing grandmother, and her older and plainer Aunt Carol, who seems mundane but turns out to have had a more interesting young adulthood than anyone knows as she has kept it secret. Carol contributes sparks of insight about Adelle, Ann, herself and everyone. Unfortunately, she becomes an xenophobe and borderline racist. Again, one recognizes the era and location of her world.

But the "why's" about how Adelle ended up so bizarre are not answered. Perhaps the lack of rationale was intentional, because the author felt there really is no logical reason why some people turn out "bad" or so eccentrically different from people of the same family and socioeconomic conditions.

The lapses I mentioned are not deal breakers. I just feel Ms. Simpson spent an inordinate amount of time on minute descriptions of rooms, objects and flora and FOOD (a lot of beef talk), while leaving other important details a bit hazy. For instance, how did Adelle repeatedly manage to rent better and better houses once she and Ann finally reached LA, and Beverly Hills, no less? Throughout the book she has practically zero money and only a marginal salary as a speech teacher. She has no references and (I assume) no or bad credit. I guess credit worthiness wasn't a thing in the 60s and early 70s, like it is now. But that doesn't explain how she overcame first month rent and deposit requirements. She writes about a million bad checks everywhere. There is also a yawning gap in details about Ann's eventual but brief turn as a TV sitcom star. We find out how she got the job, but then there's nothing about her relationships with castmates, how she managed high school while filming, her school mate's reaction to her "stardom" or how much she earned. With all the emphasis on poverty and struggling, I was annoyed with that "oversight." The most peculiar lapse is Adelle's silence regarding Ann being on TV. Except for the initial eruption of joy when Ann snags the part, Adelle never again mentions it. There is a glossing over of Ann's acceptance into Brown University when it is repeatedly noted she has always been a mediocre student.

All in all, "Anywhere But Here" is a beautifully worded book with engaging dialogue (I love first-person accounts), a good plot and very interesting main characters. There are some quirky jumps in time sequences, as characters discuss events and memories. But that didn't bother me as much as it has some other reviewers. I rather enjoyed figuring out how and why the story moved "here" and then "there."

I also appreciated Ms. Rudd's narration. I thought she perfectly captured Ann's brooding dissatisfaction, her snarky retorts to Adelle's nonsense, and her underlying, resilient love for an almost unlovable mother. Even her sing-song voicing of Adelle seemed appropriate. Clipped, confident and the sound of someone educated but hopelessly deluded.

Oh... one more thing. There are many, many plot differences between the book and movie, perhaps more than is typical for adaptations of modern fiction. But I enjoyed both versions. Natalie Portman could not have been more perfect as Ann in the film. Susan Sarandon, as usual, also was wonderful. But they greatly toned down her character from book to film, to make Adelle more likeable.

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Some loose ends are tied. Others still dangle.

Revisado: 09-20-22

For those of us who loved The Handmaid's Tale, this sequel ties up a couple key issues. But The Testaments also left me with as many questions as it answered. Without giving too much away, I can tell you this book does explain what happened to Gilead after Offred, the handmaid, escaped. However, it just dropped the infertility situation without resolution. That was extremely annoying to me. And if you are hoping to find out what happened to Offred, don't bother. Only a brief mention of her is made at the end of the book. Instead, the saga picks up in the household of another high commander, his wife and their young daughter, Agnes, who is now a primary heroine. Her story is one of the "testaments." We do hear more from Aunt Lillian, the semi-villainous women's leader from The Handmaid's Tale. There are some surprising twists in her testimony. This book introduces the third testifier, Jade, a young girl who was raised in free Canada where women have maintained modern day rights. All of The Testament stories are interesting, but nowhere near as engrossing as the original Handmaid characters, IMO. Finally, there are multiple narrators, including a spooky sounding older woman who introduces the chapters.

In her epilogue, Margaret Atwood explains that she was fairly forced to write this sequel by her many fans who kept asking what happened to Gilead! Listen for yourself and see if you are satisfied with her effort.

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