The Unbearable Lightness of Scones

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is the last title of the 44 Scotland Street series. The name of the series is the title of the first of fifth episodic novels by Alexander MacCall Smith, which have been first published by The Scotsman newspaper as a 800 word daily serial since 2004.

Alexander McCall Smith was a Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh for several years, and he served on national and international bioethics bodies.  Being the author of over sixty books on a wide array of subjects, in 1999 he achieved global recognition for his award-winning No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, and thereafter devoted his full  time to the writing of fiction, including the 44 Scotland Street and the Von Igelfeld series. Since then,  his books have been translated into forty-two languages. Nowadays he lives in Edinburgh with his wife Elizabeth, a doctor.

In this new installment, McCall Smith recycles his familiar cast, while introducing some new faces:  lovable and charming Bertie keeps growing and bearing with his “oppressive” mother Irene, while the familiar cast of favorites like Big Lou, Domenica, Angus Lordie and his dog Cyril or Mathew,  among others,  continue the pursuit of a little happiness in the city of Edinburgh.

For a foreign reader like me, the customary charm of the city and the characters (regarding I didn’t know them, since I hadn’t read any of the series before) have provided me with an informative, descriptive and charming idea about Edinburgh mixed with some fantasy, which is a pretty attractive invitation to be transported to the world created by the author. I’ve read that some critics find this mix too whimsy. Personally, it didn’t bother me except for the Jacobitism issue, and some of the conversations between Bertie and his friends which I found sometimes difficult to conceive  as six-year old children.  But even then, neither of both took me out of the story.  The truth is that is really easy and funny to follow the live and daily adventures of these characters, which you become to love without even noticing, and that is what gets you to think that what you are easily reading must have been quite harder to write.

I’ll certainly read more of the 44 Scotland Street series from now on, and I certainly recommend you to get to know these both ordinary and extra-ordinary characters that show us with their daily adventures and misfortune the complexity of human relationships in this magic Edinburgh created by MacCall.

Laia Vilaseca.

Art vs. the practical approach

By Ellen Forney

And yet, it’s probably true…..

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I ran into the English section of the library and this book just happened to be there. I read the back cover and it seemed interesting to me, so I bought it. It was a good decision: in less than 24 hours from starting to read it ( and keeping my usual life, since  as much as I’d rather spend my whole days reading I’m not that lucky) I  was already finished. I closed the book last night with that peace and kind of sadness that good books provide with.

This is an hilarious heartbreaking bittersweet true story, based on the very own’s author experiences , -Sherman Alexie-, who lived in his early years as a hydrocephalic -which means that he was born with watter in the brain- budding cartoonist in the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit and decided, after seeing his mother’s name in one of the school books, to leave his school and go to Reardan’s school, an all-white high school with no Native Americans but their mascot in it.

Junior, as he is called in the rez, or Arnold Spirit as he is known in Reardan,  tell us trough a compelling true diary -dressed with the funny illustrations of Ellen Forney-, his constant conflict of feeling half Indian and half White by moving everyday into such different worlds, only separated by the limiting frontier of the reservation. The price he pays for following his dreams is tough: his best friend Rowdy “hates him”, as do the rest of the rez. But he also learns to live with courage, to experience the pain caused by several losses and to grow up taking care of his own future. He will also meet so many different people that will become important in his life, and with all these experiences he start to understand his two worlds, the rez and the outside, with all bad and good things in both of them.

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is one of those gems worth to spend your time with, written by a poet, writer, screenwriter, director and stand-up comedian,   who has made his first foray into the young adult genre and has accomplished it brilliantly. It’s always a pleasure to discover such literary engaging treasures that surprise you and make you feel the real joy of reading again and again.

Laia Vilaseca

Across the univers, an atypical musical from Julie Taymor

This Revolution Studios’ movie, premiered in 2007, (2008 in Spain) is an original musical springing from the imagination of renowned director Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus, and the Broadway smash hit musical “The Lion King”) and writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (The Commitments).

Taymor decided to use Beatles music to create a love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s, where the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock ‘n roll, have their place. Julie Taymor aim was to conceive a film that would “investigate the 60’s. It had to penetrate all levels of the Beatle’s songs”.

“I really want young people to see the passion in this movie – to see with what fervor these characters invested themselves into social movements as well as self-exploration; I hope it really speaks “across the universe” and across cultures… That anybody could identify with the situations and events that are happening in this movie.”

Mathew Gross produced this atypical musical, in which unlike other musicals, the songs created the story, and the characters were created for the songs: “…beginning with over 200 songs written by the Beatles, we eventually chose 33 that we felt best told the story of a generation and a time” says Taymor.

Composer Elliot Goldenthal helped the director in giving form to this musical in which Evan Rachel Woods (portraying Lucy) is the only cast member with major film experience. Jim Sturgess, who’s been in a rock band, was the chosen one for the role of Jude in the casting specifically made in England for that role, in which Joe Anderson participated and expressed that he was more of a Max character, which seemed to go pretty well for him, as he finally got the role. Dana Fuchs as the singer Sadie, Marthin Luther MaCoy -a singer and guitar player in New York without much acting experience- as Jo-Jo, and T.V. Carpio -a dancer and former ice skater- as Prudence complete the cast, together with the cameos of singers like Bono and Joe Cocker, actors like Salma Hayeck or the British standup comic Eddie Izzard who make their appearances in this psychedelic story.

To give the music authenticity, the team recorded many of the songs using period appropriate equipment, such as analog tape and vintage microphones, and they also decided to make the movie with as much live singing as possible. To complete the work, Daniel Ezralow was the chosen choreographer that managed to direct more than 350 dancing roles in the film; you can see her in her cameo as a possessed dancing priest in “Hapiness is a warm gun”.

On the other hand, two times Award Academy Bruno Delbonnel , (Amèlie) does a great work as a cinematographer, creating the perfect ambiance for this psychedelic musical experiment that wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t for the work of Mark Friedberg ( Far from heaven, The live Aquatic, The Producers) as a production designer and Albert Wolsky, who had to dress nearly 5000 extras, as a costume designer. “I wanted to interpret the 60’s in a way that was relevant and interesting, I didn’t want to re-create it, I wanted to reinvent it”, says Friedberg.

The film was shot over 50 locations in 60 days, mostly in the New York City area, creating sets for such different places as Detroit, Vietnam, a 60’s Greenwich Village, and so many more.

But most of the neighborhoods were supportive and even some of them left some colorful paint and murals up after the shoot was already over. There is one anecdote, taking the comparison so far, that helps to understand the merge that was intended by Taymor when she created this artistic statement with social implications portraying a past epoch that’s not remotely too far from now: the Art department found that they did not have to create mock newspaper stories for set dressing; they just took current newspaper articles about Iraq and changed the names in the headlines.

This is a fine and original movie, with artistic passion in it, which reformulates the classic musical in style and art, and tells a love story using well known songs of the Beatles. You would like it or not, but I can assure you won’t stay indifferent.

If you want to get an idea of what I am talking about, you can see the trailer here.

Laia Vilaseca.

A spot of bother, Haddon’s brilliant domestic British drama

After his first adult novel “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time”, which gave him the recognition he deserved due more than sixteen literary awards in 2003 and 2004, the author published his second adult novel named “A Spot of Bother”.

Through several different viewpoints, Haddon tells us the story of George Hall, a retiree who is convinced that, instead of the diagnosis of Dr. Bargoudhian, the eczema on his thigh is a cancer. George is not a talkative person, so he keeps his problem to himself while all the rest of the family is struggling for his daughter’s Kate next wedding with Ray, who is not their favorite person in the world.

Later, George discovers that his wife is having an affair with his former co-worker David, and being unable to deal with his imaginary illness, the affair, the wedding and the homosexuality of his son Jamie, he starts to lose his head.

This domestic British drama is quite different from the first novel of the author: in this one he uses pretty short chapters and a third person voice to tell us how all the characters are feeling in the given situations, which speeds the book along. On the other hand, the book has a perfect balance of humor, insanity and absurdity, without being too harsh on the reader on the existential themes that could make it darker for some “Curious Incident” readers.

The story moves toward George’s daughter wedding to Ray, “the wrong man”, while the author takes an existential look at life and relationships of what could be any dysfunctional family -if not all the families are- nowadays, until the wedding day finally arrives and so does the story climax, transforming all the character’s which learn to communicate and look behind the appearances to get a new chance in their life with all that knowledge and growth in their souls.

After his first adult book, A Spot of Bother shows that Mark Haddon has interesting things to tell, a style of its own, and the literary force to stay in the market for at least, quite a while.

Laia Vilaseca.