Hello. It’s been a while. Sorry that I’ve been a bit AWOL lately. Now that the weather has improved exponentially here since last month, there’s been much to do and many chores and events that have preoccupied me. We are also getting ready for the annual Victoria Day long weekend bike ride this coming weekend in the mountains with about 350 other crazy cyclists, so cross your fingers that the weather holds. See my husband, at left, whose bike I try to follow when he isn’t too far ahead … always waiting patiently by the side of the road. We had a good training ride on Sunday but are quite behind on cycling due to the snowy month we had in April. Still we will give it our best shot. Hopefully I’ll get some good photos along the way when we are in the mountains, maybe even of bears out foraging. Until then, I’ll leave you with some brief impressions of a few books I’ve finished lately.
Tangerine by Christine Mangan (2018) 320 pages / Ecco
I think I first heard about this debut novel from Susie over at the blog Novel Visits. It’s one of those enticing ones that gets snatched up by Hollywood before it’s barely out. In this case, George Clooney’s company bought the rights to it and Scarlett Johansson is tentatively scheduled to star. It’s about a close friendship between two female college roommates (Alice and Lucy) in the 1950s that turns obsessive and toxic. An accident happens at school and then a year after they graduate, Lucy reappears at the door of Alice and her new husband John, who are now living in Tangiers, Morocco.
Alice is uncomfortable living in a foreign place and Lucy tries to coax her outside to tour the sights, but pretty soon Alice is reminded of their school days, the accident, and begins to question everything around her: her best friend, coming to Tangiers, and her sanity.
Gracious. “Tangerine,” which alternates chapters between Alice and Lucy, builds slowly and creepily. You have to get to the bottom of the college accident and then find out what’s to happen in Tangiers. I thought the novel (whose author originally hails from the metro area of Detroit but has moved around quite a bit) was well done and the story reminded me quite a bit of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” which Matt Damon starred in for the 1999 movie. It also had a touch of the movie “Single White Female” to it with a nod to Paul Bowles’s novel “The Sheltering Sky” as well. I liked its creepy psychological atmosphere and how it builds ominously to its reckoning. It remains to be seen if Scarlett Johansson will play Alice or Lucy for the movie, and if she’s Alice, who will play her wonderful college roommate? (hmm, I can give no more away.)
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (2007) 166 pages / Nan A. Talese
Next up, I finished this little novel, which is coming out as a movie this month starring Saoirse Ronan. It’s a bit hard for me to fathom that they were able to make a movie out of this short tale, but alas drama on such a beautiful stretch of coastline — 18 miles long in southern England — should make for gorgeous viewing. (If Ronan wants to get cold feet on her wedding night on that beach, then so be it.)
I went through various reactions during the reading of this novel, which centers on a young couple — two virgins (Florence and Edward) from different backgrounds, who have jitters leading up to their wedding night in 1962. Some parts at the beginning are quite amusing (the descriptions I found quite funny), and you feel for these 22-year-olds who seem rather clueless and pathetic during the era before the sexual revolution when “the pill” was not yet widely circulated.
Then I sort of had to push my way through the middle part of the novel (my book assistant, at left, fell asleep during it), which delves into how Florence and Edward meet, come to fall in love, and their backgrounds — in which her Oxford parents are well-off and Florence grows up as a talented violinist, while Edward, a want-to-be writer of history books, is from the country and his father is struggling to keep the household together once Edward’s mother becomes brain-damaged from an accident.
But the last part of the story of their fateful wedding night comes on strong and there are some meaningful sentences about changes one’s life can take over the one you fall in love with … that can happen due to unsaid communications or misunderstandings that can haunt a person for the rest of one’s life. You get that here “On Chesil Beach” and quite a bit more (there are hints too of why Florence is so skittish in the story, but whether they will follow that up in the movie I’m not sure). For those who liked McEwan’s novel “Atonement,” which is still my favorite of his, then this one, which is similar in tone, will be right up your alley.
Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips (2017) 288 pages / Viking
Last up, I thought this thriller — about a mass shooting at a zoo and a mother and her 4-year-old son trying to hide from the gunmen — was well done and quite evocative. Good grief, I never thought I could stomach a shooting story though there’s now a whole genre that’s grown up out of all the horrendous attacks in the U.S.
“Fierce Kingdom” though is not so much about the whole gun/attack issue as it is a story about motherhood — and about the risks one takes having and sending kids into the world — and about what you would do to protect the ones you love. I found it thought-provoking and while it is suspenseful and scary — I didn’t find it overly gratuitous, which I was glad about.
I listened to it as an audiobook and found it pretty gripping and I thought the writing and descriptions were quite good in places. It kept me thinking about such a situation with a child and I also kept wondering when the police were going to show up and bust through. Where are they — I kept thinking?! Where’s the SWAT team? But sometimes they just don’t barge in right away, alas.
Meanwhile the mother and son are doing their best to hide in the zoo’s porcupine enclosure, which seems like a good place … if only they had stayed there. But later they’re on the move again to find crackers and it’s no easy trek in avoiding the gunmen. They meet up with a few others in hiding but only time will tell if all of them will survive.
Oh my. While there might have been some plot holes or believability issues along the way in a bit of the action, I realized overall these awful things have happened and under that much duress people will do things that you wouldn’t normally expect, like pitch their cell phone, or leave their kid in a certain place. Generally, I was surprised by “Fierce Kingdom” — it seemed to be a bit more than just a hair-raising thriller — raising issues about motherhood in a unique, albeit scary setting and situation.
What about you — have you read any of these novels, and if so, what did you think?
It’s so sad that we have a “shooting” genre coming out now, but you’re so right that we do. It’s embarrassing to be an American these days. (For many reasons!) I’ve actually tried to avoid the books, but am giving in with Only Child where I’m finally first in line with a library hold.
Thanks for the shout out on Tangerine. I’m so glad you liked it. I hadn’t even considered that Scarlet J. might play Lucy. She just seems like Alice to me! Either way it will be very interesting to find out who the other actress will be.
Hi Susie, I agree about the new “shooting” genre. I don’t plan to read many of these, hmm. Yeah I would say that Scarlett J is likely to play Alice too but I wonder who would make a good (diabolical) Lucy? I’m glad you were one of the first to review Tangerine. I liked it and thought the debut author was impressive.
I agree with Susie. It is terribly sad and tragic that we have a sub genre of shooting books out there. With thaf I think that fiction will not inevitably seek to mirror real life so it is no surprise that these books are popping up. The plot and themes of Fierce Kingdom sound very worthwhile.
Good like and have fun at the bike event!
Thanks Brian. The bike ride will be pretty epic and I just hope I will be able to make the distance this year — with my minimal training, hmm. I agree: The new shooting genre is pretty messed up & tragic. & The president speaking at the NRA convention was to me appalling. The US admin is so troubling right now.
Wow, good reading you have been doing! You have the distinction of being the first to make me want to read Tangerine (Patricia Highsmith, Paul Bowles? I am there!) and On Chesil Beach, which has been on my shelves forever and then there is the movie. But I think I can’t do that other one right now. Am I getting skittish in my old age?
I saw Tully this weekend in the theater with two of my girlfriends. We had to go drink and discuss after. I am still not sure if it was great or only good.
Have fun on your bike ride this coming weekend. We are off to Michigan for a week to visit my favorite sister who is also a soul mate for me. It will be in the glorious state of a midwestern spring.
Thanks Judy, we plan to have fun on the bike. I hope you have a great time in Michigan with your sister & the spring bloom there. It should be gorgeous. And I don’t blame you for avoiding the genre of shooting stories. There’s sadly enough in the papers. I think I will see Tully when it gets to rental. Bon voyage.
Tangerine sounds like my kind of book.
I enjoyed On Chesil Beach but it’s deceptively simple in the telling. I remember it being pretty short too. The movie looks interesting.
Fierce Kingdom. I have a copy and I totally forgot about it. It sounds riveting.
Good luck on your bike ride! Be careful out there. We had a very cloudy, misty weekend which I enjoyed quite a bit. Good nap weather. Today it’s supposed to be about 75. I am thinking this year’s commencement participants might get lucky because it’s usually 110 by the time these kids graduate.
Thanks Ti, we will need all the encouragement we can get to complete the bike ride this weekend. We will be in the 80s here today so perhaps we will be for the first time hotter than SoCal? Perfect weather there for graduation. Yes I think you would like both books: Fierce Kingdom is faster paced than Tangerine but Tangerine gets a bit creepy. It seems On Chesil Beach would make a good book club kind of discussion — don’t you think: short but with some underlying issues.
Good luck cycling this coming weekend, Susan! 🙂
I’ve read good things about Tangerine, even though it’s only rated about three stars on Amazon. If it’s an obsessive relationship, I think Noomi Rapace (the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Jennifer Lawrence, or Rooney Mara could play opposite to ScarJo with great effect. All three have interpreted some versions of “twisted girls” very convincingly.
On Chesil Beach sounds good too. The shooting genre predates Columbine. I read The Life Before Her Eyes, a very literary take on the topic, when those massacres weren’t as common place as they are nowadays. It was quite an experience; then there’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, which I haven’t read but whose movie was powerful and very well acted. I watched in the theater and I remember people leaving in subdued mood when the movie finished.
Thanks Carmen, I’ll let you know how the cycling goes. I admit I’m a bit puzzled that Tangerine rated low with some readers. Maybe they think it’s more of a thriller than it actually is? It builds with time. Your choices for twisted girls are all great. Rooney Mara I think would fit perfect for Lucy. (You need to be a casting director.) Yeah you’re right that the shooting genre … has gone on for a much longer time, but now more books seem to be all over. I remember Columbine 1999 and We Need to Talk about Kevin in 2003 …. that was a whopper of a book & movie, of which I’ve only seen a part of. So disturbing.
I hate that the US legacy today seems to be about our numerous shootings…but what is worse to me is how complacent those in power seem to be. But what can you expect from self-absorbed leaders?
I have Tangerine resting quietly on my Kindle, but now I must pull it forward. It sounds great!
I also enjoyed On Chesil Beach a while ago, and I’m trying to imagine it as a movie.
Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.
I agree Laurel. If the president is addressing the NRA Convention then it doesnt bode well … for the status quo to remain on guns & shootings, sadly. UGH. On on a more upbeat note, I hope you will like Tangerine, & the Chesil Beach movie. Cheers.
I remember that about the middle of Chesil Beach – I wasn’t as interested in the background of their relationship as I should have been, I guess. I’m hoping you read this in preparation for the movie, so you can tell us what the movie is like! 😉
I had no idea that’s what Fierce Kingdom was about – now I think I’ll have to add it to my list.
Good luck with the cycling this weekend! Looking forward to hearing about it!
Thanks Naomi. 3 days of cycling ahead. I will let you all know how it goes! I think I will see the On the Chesil Beach movie but whether I can drag my husband there will be another matter. The Fierce Kingdom book is a quick page-turner, should you need one. Enjoy the holiday weekend.
I’m number 320 in line at my library for Tangerine! On the one hand, happy people are reading. On the other, I won’t get to this book until Christmas.
Wow, on the cycling! That is amazing.
Ha ha ha. Ugh I know how that feels. #320 is usually where I am on the wait list for most good books. I don’t know how I got this one so early. I hope you get it before Christmas, summer would be a nice time to read Tangerine. ps. We survived the cycling adventure last weekend, but I think I need a bit of rest this week. 🙂 thx … i’m slowly working my way through Love & Ruin — not sure why it’s taking me awhile.