Book Review: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

During a recent PD lunch with friends, I mentioned that I was reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. I spoke a little about the book -- An outwardly popular and successful couple livin' in the burbs whose lives crumble horribly when they realize that their lives (as individuals, as a couple, as parents) aren't extraordinary, that, in fact, they're dull, unfulfilled, and false. One of my friends commented that she disliked books in which the characters or the situations made her feel awkwardly or psychologically uncomfortable. I agreed. But, later, as I continued reading Yates' book, I realized that don't dislike that feeling. Nope, not at all. In fact, it's quite the contrary -- I actually LOVE that uncomfortable feeling! And, many of the books that I've loved best have made me uncomfortable. The best popular example that gives off this feeling that I can think of right now is the play/movie Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The characters in Virginia, as well as Revolutionary Road, are passionate, flawed, desperate, selfish, mean, illogical, vulnerable. And, the thing is you want to look away from them, you want to feel different from them, you want to hate them. But, unfortunately, you can't because, at some level, you can relate to them and their neuroses, you see a bit of yourself in them. Hopefully, you get what I mean. And, if you do and you like what I'm talking about, then Revolutionary Road is a good read for you.

That's Entertainment

I've never been one to go to the movie theater very often but, at one time, I used to rent and watch movies pretty regularly. Over the years, though, I lost interest -- which is why I never have a clue about new movies. I'm the loser at the annual Oscar Party who's never seen or probably never heard of any of the nominees -- unless they were a book first then my odds increase on the latter. Anyway, I have seen a few movies recently that I thought we worth mentioning.

First, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's pretty old now but it's an awesome movie with a very, very awesome soundtrack which you gotta buy.

Second, Coraline which is recently out on DVD. We saw the trailer for this movie in the theater (seeing what I cannot remember now) and it looked very good. And Coraline was good but not as good as I had hoped it would be. But, it is still definitely worth seeing.

And, lastly, Where the Wild Things Are. Super great movie for older kids and, especially, adults. We took Willa, who's almost 5, and she liked it but, I think, found it #1 over her head at times, #2 frightening at times, and #3 a movie that is more appealing to boys. Again, the soundtrack is super awesome and I highly recommend buying it. I already have.

Happy Halloween!

Look who stopped by....It's Little Orphan Annie, Daddy Warbucks, and Sandy!

"The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom that tomorrow......"

Bill's handiwork

Willa at the Pumpkin Patch

Here are a few photos from the Autumn season from the Henske house. I love this time of the year and can't wait to get out and enjoy it some more!

Lil' Buddha

I've written before about our cats, Bernice and Four (a.k.a Lil' Man). When it comes to our cats, I have a BIG ol' case of the I love ems' but I can't stand ems'. One of these days, when I don't have Barbies to play with, lesson plans to write, errands to run, and laundry to do, I'll tell you the tale of how we came to share our house with these two great big lovable pains in the arse. In the meantime, he's Lil' Man giving his best impression of Buddha.

Book Review: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Gist:
After his friend Michael commits suicide, Charlie, a typical angst-ridden teen, begins writing very intimate, very therapeutic, letters to an anonymous person only addressed in the salutation as "Dear Friend". With each letter, Charlie begins to realize that after almost a lifetime of isolation it is possible to "participate" in life.

Side Note:
This is an MTV advertised, hipster novel so it is edgier than I've lead on here in this review. And, yes, it's target audience in the YA (young adult). But who isn't young at heart?

Bottom Line:
It's a great, quick read, reminiscent, at times, of My So-Called Life. If you liked the show and you like poignant, emo coming of age tales, this is a definite must read.

Polish Festival 2009

Despite having had some big plans laid out for last weekend, the only thing that we managed to do was to get to the Polish Festival. I was looking forward to going this year because we hadn't been for a couple of years. The highlight of the festival is always the food, which was as good this time as I had remembered it being -- Polish sausage, Cabbage rolls, Pierogi, pastries. Yum. As for the rest, well, let's just say that time has stood still, somewhere between the 1950's and 1970's, for a lot of the Polish Festival patrons. I think that the picture illustrates my general point. And, yes, you've read it correctly -- the name of this one-man-band, whose possible prejudices I am unaware of, is the Honky Express.

Book Review: I'm Down by Mishna Wolff

Here's the gist of I'm Down by Mishna Wolff -- Mishna, who is white, grows up in a poor, all black neighborhood where she lives with her Dad (who is also white but has assumed the culture of the neighborhood), Step-Mom (who is black), and siblings (white and black). Although I'm purposely leaving out a lot of the story here, I'm Down is a coming of age memoir that recounts the author's story of survival, seeking her Dad's approval, and, ultimately, discovering her place in the world.

I'm Down definitely has it's laugh-out-loud moments, especially early on. In fact, had Wolff's book had been written in the 1970's, it might have been made into a sitcom -- probably in the genre of Welcome Back Kotter, Good Times, What's Happening!, etc. but with a dash of Roseanne (or any other working class white family sitcom/drama) Yeah, it is that funny at times but then there's that, you know, stereotyping stuff. Hmm. But, luckily, there's more than that too -- real pain and sadness juxtaposed with self-discovery and hope. My grade = B/B-