"Tribulations make you realize who you are"

"Tribulations first make you realize who you are." (~Marie Antoinette)

Last night I saw the PBS historical documentary Marie Antoinette, and I loved it! Highly recommended viewing.

I’m a sap for visual history and that. And I mean, the documentary's biography of the infamous queen was meticulously woven in with a thoughtful narration of the French Revolution. Among others, it tackled that momentous period where/when the ideas of equality and liberty (along with brotherhood) were formulated into a constitution—something which incipient governments at that time (like US) have appropriated into the “democracy” that we have come to know and live today.

(For now, let’s suspend our cynicisms/criticisms against Bush’s corrupted brand of “democracy” and “freedom.”)

What strikes me as particularly poignant about that period was that it was when the idea of an "absolute monarchy" fractured, when kings and queens were demystified and stripped down and humbled, thus giving way to the idea of "equality." (And again, let's suspend our cynicisms here and remind ourselves that equality is an ideal that continues to animate contemporary politics.) ...A moment when a particular configuration of power was undone and social change did happen (in spite of the falterings that ensued thereafter).

Anyway, 'nuff with that. Watch the film when you get a chance; check your local listings. =)

About the film Marie Antoinette:
"I have ever believed that had there been no queen, there would have been no revolution."
- Thomas Jefferson

Her name has become synonymous with the French monarchy and all its
excesses, but there is more to the story of Marie Antoinette than the simplistic
tale of a frivolous sovereign whose actions helped provoke the uprising that
became the French Revolution. She was, in fact, a tender-hearted, complex woman, whose tragic awakening came too late to save her from the guillotine.

Without losing sight of the dire inequities in 18th-century France, MARIE
ANTOINETTE, a film by David Grubin, creator of NAPOLEON, paints a surprising
portrait in which the monarch emerges as a sympathetic and, in the end,
courageous figure. The film traces her journey from the splendors of her
childhood in the palaces of the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire to her final
hours in a squalid French prison cell. To tell the story of Marie Antoinette is
to relive the great revolution that unleashed the forces that shaped the modern
world.

More: >>> Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution (on pbs.org)

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Update 09/29:
I stumbled upon this blog, called DameNation, and the blogger posted something brief about this documentary (it's here). She finds the docu "problematic," and she's not as impressed with the portrayal of the French Revolution as I am. But hers is an intelligent and critical blog dedicated to "issues that women face, from the deadly serious to the seriously inane." Check it out.
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*****Related blog post: Couture Fit For a Queen.

Also: If this period in French (and Western) history interests you, Expanding Horizons book club on Yahoo! Groups is currently discussing Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

**(Images: Fall of the Bastille and Marie Antoinette by Gautier-Dagoty)

Writers' Fest

(image source)

The 19th Annual Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival will be held from October 17 to 22, 2006. More info can be found on the official website: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/

There will be 60 events ranging from poetry/prose readings to lectures and interviews and seminars. The guest authors and journalists are amazingly diverse, representing more than 15 countries worldwide. If you're a bookworm and/or writer in BC, you will definitely want to check this out!

As for me, there are 3 events I'm particularly interested in:
(I'll attend as many as I can afford, but these 3 I won't miss)


FROM THE DARK SIDE
Timothy Findlay believed that one of the obligations of the novelist was to descend into the darkest corners of the human psyche and report back what he or she saw. All of these authors explore some of the more disturbing and difficult aspects of human character. Are there consequences for the writer in living so alongside disturbing elements of their characters? What are the benefits for the reader in experiencing the dark side this way?


POLITICS AND THE PEN
Do writers have a responsibility to confront contemporary politics? How does a writer with a political argument avoid polemic? Some writers place imaginary characters in real times, causing us to reflect on the issues that shape our present. Other writers create worlds that are allegorical. Yet others tackle politics head on, putting thoughts into words to try to change our world. Four writers reflect on the artist's role as political commentator.


GROUNDWORK
To write about 19th-century Australia, to recreate 19th-century Afghan culture or to decipher the mysteries that Leonardo hid in THE LAST SUPPER -- and to write these stories well -- takes years of research and historical fact-finding. To bring history to life requires experiencing the taste of sea salt spray or imagining the pressure of the Inquisitors. Three authors who have set their stories in historical times talk about the challenges and the rewards of doing the groundwork.

"Fun" and "Pleasant" Murder Stories?

Lately I've been spending too much time indulging in the intriguing worlds of dark secrets and insanity, so this time I'll try to lighten up. =) I'll start with my reading list. Here are some easy/fun/lighthearted "chick lit" books I'm planning to read:


How to Murder a Millionaire
by Nancy Martin

I know, I know: I'm supposed to be "cheering up," so what the heck am I doing with a book about murder? (and a "how to" murder story at that!) Well, apparently, this novel is supposed to be a fun kind of mystery novel. I don't know how that works out, for there sure is nothing fun about murder or death. But hey, I'll read it then report back to you, okay? Okay.


The Undomestic Goddess
by Sophie Kinsella (author of the bestselling "Shopaholic" novels)

Synopsis and Review from Publishers Weekly:

Samantha Sweeting, the 29-year-old heroine of Kinsella's latest confection (after Shopaholic Sister), is on the verge of partnership at the prestigious London law firm Carter Spink—the Holy Grail of her entire workaholic life. But when she finds she has made a terrible, costly mistake just before the partnership decision, she's terrified of being fired. In a fog, she stumbles out of the building and onto the nearest train, which drops her in the countryside, where she wanders to a stately home. The nouveau riche lady of the house mistakes her for the new housekeeper—and Samantha is too astonished to correct her.

Numb and unable to face returning to London, Samantha tries to master the finer points of laundry, cooking and cleaning. She discovers that the slow life, her pompous but good-hearted employers and the attentions of the handsome gardener, Nathaniel, suit her just fine. But her past is hard to escape, and when she discovers a terrible secret about her firm—and when the media learns that the former legal star is scrubbing toilets for a living—her life becomes more complicated than ever. If readers can swallow the implausible scenario, then Kinsella's genuine charm and sweet wit may continue to win her fans.

(I don't know about you, but this sounds FUN to me! =) ~Marie)


Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
by Joanne Fluke

Another murder story. But hey, chocolate chip cookies are involved, so how sweet is that?!

"Pleasant and easy to take," say some reviewers. Again, I have no clue how a murderous plot could be described as "pleasant" or "easy to take," but then again, maybe they were simply referring to the chocolate cookies.


Here's a brief synopsis, from the book jacket:

Hannah Swenson already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother’s attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden, Minnesota’s most popular bakery. But once Ron LaSalle, the beloved delivery man from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery with Hannah’s famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, her life just can’t get any worse. Determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, she sets out to track down the killer.

Who would have the sheer audacity—and the motive—to kill the most punctual delivery man Hannah ever had? The more Hannah snoops, the more suspects turn up. This is one murder that’s starting to leave a very bad taste in Hannah’s mouth. And if she doesn’t watch her back, Hannah’s sweet life may get burned to a crisp.

Filled with a healthy sprinkling of humor and a delightful assortment of nuts, CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MURDER serves up a great new mystery series and introduces a delicious, down-home sleuth that mystery readers will surely savor for years to come.



Do these books interest you? Then you should check out the Women's Reading Group on Yahoo Groups.

Psychotic Families & Dark Secrets

Life is not a series of isolated ponds and puddles. It is all connected: Life is a river. It flows from the past through the present on its way to the future. Only in the most literal sense are we born on the day we leave our mother’s womb. In the larger, truer sense, we are born of the past—connected to its fluidity, both genetically and experientially.

I just recently finished reading I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb (New York: Regan Books, 1998) and, pardon me for repeating yet again, but I love it! I will not attempt to write a full review of it here, but I will be providing links to other people’s reviews, for those interested.

So why am I blogging about it? Well, it’s just that I am so blown away by its richness/complexity/beauty/humanity; I have to get it out of my system by writing about it, even if my piece comes off as a hodgepodge.

I like it when literature, psychology and history intertwine. I like it when "personal" problems are tied back in to their social and political contexts. Best of all, I like it when social commentary is beautifully woven in to a richly developed human story. Life is not a series of puddles and ponds. Life is a river; it is all connected….

Pardon me for sounding stuffy (I’m a self-confessed nerd, remember?). Like I said, I just wanted to profess my love for Lamb’s latest novel. It struck me on so many levels: emotional, intellectual, carnal, etc. The humanity of the characters—gawd, it stabbed me so deeply in my heart; the pain of it sent trembles throughout my body. If there's anything like an orgasmic pain, this is it.

SYNOPSIS:

From the book jacket:
...I Know This Much is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal.

When you're the sane brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your hands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap.

Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a split-and-polish ex-Navy man, and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control.

Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas. From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery.

But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives.

To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir.

Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confessione--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truths of Domenico's life, of his lonely marriage to the lovely Ignazia and his war against her protector, the murderous monkey-faced Prosperine. Through his grandfather's life, Dominick leans that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin.

Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.

MORE REVIEWS:

* New York Times

* From the book jacket

* Editorial Reviews

Images:

* River - source

* Book cover - source

Quarter-Life Crisis, Generation X

Mid-twenties breakdown
A period of mental collapse occurring in one's twenties, often caused by an inability to function outside of school or structured environments coupled with a realization of one's essential aloneness in the world. Often marks induction into the ritual of pharmaceutical usage.

Historical underdosing
To live in a period of time when nothing seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news broadcasts.

Historical overdosing
To live in a period of time when too much seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news broadcasts.

Brazilification
The widening gulf between the rich and the poor and the accompanying disappearance of the middle classes.

Option paralysis
The tendency, when given unlimited choices, to make none.


...From Generation X: Tales for an accelerated culture, a deliciously bleak postmodernist novel from Douglas Coupland. (It's a strange novel that almost seems like it has no point at all [unless you're skilled at deciphering stories from this genre] -- but that's part of the fun! Nicely peppered with sardonic definitions and comic strips on the sidebar. Highly recommended for people with wry humour.)

First Post

This blog will contain book reviews, recommendations, synopses, etc.