Book and Movie Reviews

HOME TO HARMONY, By Phillip Gulley

2009-07-11T17:39:00.001-07:00

Books like this one aren't for everybody. This book was not suspenseful nor full of drama. But...if you do like these types of books...quaint stories about small towns, where nothing too dramatic happens...then I'd recommend Home to Harmony. It's very reminiscent of Jan Karon's Mitford Series, although I'll say that even Mitford has more drama than Harmony!

Sam, a young Quaker Pastor, narrates the book. It's not really a story, but rather, lots of stories. He recalls memories of his childhood, he tells about different people in the town, he recounts experiences he's had as a young pastor, and it's all entertaining and touching, with a bit of humor and emotion. Gulley goes back and forth from the present to the past, and each story leads into the other so that before you know it, you've arrived at the last page.

There are six books in the Harmony Series. I can't say I'm on the edge of my seat to rush right out to buy the next one...but I will read the next one, simply because its the kind of book that takes you back to a simpler time and place, and sometimes we need that!

Side Note: This was the first complete book that I read on our new Kindle. (see photo on the right) I was able to purchase it immediately with their free wireless delivery! Yup, while I sat at Jury Duty, I browsed books at Amazon.com, picked a book, and was able to start reading it in a couple of minutes!

FAST & FURIOUS

2009-04-03T20:11:00.002-07:00

This is opening weekend for FAST & FURIOUS, which is the fourth movie of the high charged Fast & Furious movie franchise!

Here's a brief review of the previous films:

In the first movie, "The Fast & The Furious", Brian, played by Paul Walker, is a cop who goes undercover into a street gang to find out who is stealing high priced electronic equipment. Dom, played by Vin Diesel, is the leader of the gang who is under suspicion of committing the the crimes. Brian becomes involved with Dom's sister and ends up trying to prove Dom's innocence.

In 2 Fast & 2 Furious, the second movie, Brian has left LA due to his illegal actions from the first movie, and now he's in Miami, making a living by street racing. Once he gets caught, he's offered a deal: go undercover to bring down a drug lord, and his criminal record will be wiped clean. He recruits an old friend to help him with the same deal that he was offered himself. (Vin Diesel does not appear in this one)

The third movie, The Fast & The Furious - Tokyo Drift, parts ways with both Brian and Dom, and we meet Shawn Boswell, a high school student who keeps getting into trouble until he finally has no choice but to go live with his father in Tokyo. However, he gets involved in street racing there as well. When he loses a race to the "Drift King", he goes to the underworld to pay his debt.

Now that you're up to speed...

FAST & FURIOUS opens up to an adrenaline charged scene where the gang is hi-jacking a bigrig for its oil - although they're trying to do it without the driver knowing it. We see our old friend Han (from Tokyo Drift). Later, he tells Dom that he's gonna check out Tokyo - so from that scene we know that this story takes place at the same time or a little bit before the story of Tokyo Drift takes place.

After that heist, the gang splits up. Since Dom is a fugitive, he doesn't want his friends going down when the police finally catch him. After some time on the run, he gets word that a friend has been murdered. So he goes back to LA to find out who did it.

This is where Brian comes in. He is still a cop, and he's also looking for the murderer. Eventually, Brian crosses paths with Dom, and while there are some hard feelings there, they end up working towards the same goal. Which proves challenging since Brian is trying to maintain his clean record with the LAPD, while Dom is trying to keep from getting caught by the LAPD. It was good to see those two back together in a movie! Eventually, their search leads them to a big time drug smuggler. They are forced to trust each other to make sure that they get their man.

Of course, there are races, chases, explosions, crashes...the usual. If you are a fan of the series, you will like this one too.

FROZEN RIVER

2009-04-03T20:11:00.001-07:00

Melissa Leo was nominated for Best Actress for her role as Ray, a single mom raising two sons and barely getting by. They live in a small town on the New York/Quebec border, which is a Mohawk Reservation. Her husband has abandoned her and her sons, and she struggles to provide for them with her meager paycheck from her part time job at the Yankee Dollar Store. They are so impoverished that their meals consist of popcorn and Tang.

Ray meets up with a Lila, a Mohawk woman, also a single mother. Lila introduces Ray to a little known crossing area over the frozen St. Lawrence River on Mohawk territory. There, Lila has a contact that pays her for illegally smuggling immigrants into the US. The first time, Ray is tricked into doing it. But once she sees how easy it is to make a lot of money, and considers that her boys needs food and even Christmas presents, she goes back for more. She also needs money to pay off the double-wide trailer that they'd been saving for, since her wayward husband left with the money. She just wants to be able to pay that off before she loses it, and then she will walk away from smuggling. But how long can she push her luck?

While neither woman exhibit a lot of emotion about their situation, we see the pain and fear that they hold inside. We also feel so much compassion for Ray's two boys. The younger boy is oblivious about needing money, but the teenager takes on a lot of responsibility to take care of his brother. FROZEN RIVER won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. It was a a great movie, slow moving at times, but still, a well-told and sad story.

KNOWING

2009-03-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

Are things preordained in our universe, or do things happen by chance? And what if we knew what laid ahead? Could we...or would we change things? These are the questions that the movie KNOWING asks.

We start in 1959, as elementary school children are about to fill a time-capsule with drawings of what they imagine 2009 might look like. One of the little girls, Lucinda, fills a sheet of paper with seemingly random numbers instead of drawing a picture. Later, after the ceremonial burying of the time-capsule, Lucinda disappears. Eventually, she is found in a closet in the school basement, scratching numbers into a doorway, afraid and talking about the "whisper people" that she hears.

Flash forward to present day. Nicolas Cage plays John, the widowed father of a young boy, Caleb. Caleb attends the very same elementary school at which the time capsule was buried. Since it is now 2009, the time-capsule is being dug up. Once its opened, the students are each given the drawings that the 1959 children created. Caleb gets Lucinda's paper. He is confused, but then suggests that it might be some sort of puzzle. He doesn't think too much about it though. However, one evening, after a few drinks, John starts to play with the numbers, and discovers that they are dates of major disasters, followed by the number of the death toll for each event. Disturbingly, there are three events listed that have yet to happen.

Up to this point in the movie, John has established himself as not believing in heaven, or life anywhere but on earth. His philosophy in life is that "____ happens", and that there is no meaning or predestination of events. But when the numbers fall into his hands, he begins to question whether or not that happened for a reason - especially after he finds himself at the exact spot of the next event. (this is the point where he realizes that the numbers also list the locations of each event) After that, he goes to the place of the next disaster to see if he can stop it from occurring.

Soon Caleb begins to hear the "whisper people", just as Lucinda had. They tell him that he can go with them if he wants. And these same mysterious strangers begin to show up at various places, watching and waiting. Meanwhile, John figures out that the last numbers written mean that the end of the world will soon arrive. So how do the numbers' predictions and the mysterious whisper people tie in with each other?

I don't want to ruin the whole movie for you if you're going to watch it, so suffice it to say that there is a lot of Christian symbolism here, but just inaccurate enough to make it weird. The movie was good - lots of action and suspense. The story was intriguing, but the ending was just strange enough to make you wonder if someone had read the bible, but wasn't really paying attention while they read.

THE CHANGELING

2009-03-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

change-ling (ˈchānj-liŋ ) 1. a child secretly exchanged for another

******

Based on a true story, this tragic movie stars Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins, the single mother of 10-year-old Walter. One evening, as she returns home from work, she discovers that Walter is missing. She searches everywhere for him. Frantic, she calls the police, who tell her there's nothing they can do until he's been missing for 24 hours. Eventually, the police begin their search for him. Five months later, a young boy fitting Walter's description is found, alive and well. Christine is told the good news! At the train station, she is "reunited" with a boy she does not recognize. She tells the police that it's not Walter. But the 1928 LAPD was desperate to revise its reputation of corruption, and feeling that this happy ending would be good for publicity, they tell her to take him home and "try him out" for a while. After all, he's been through quite an ordeal, and he has "changed". Shaken and confused, Christine gives in. But he is not her son. And when she insists on this fact, the PD tries to dismiss her as either a liar who's trying to shirk her responsibility as a mother, or a crazy woman. John Malkovich costars as a minister who speaks out publicly against the LAPD corruption. He helps her get her case against the PD together, but the soon the authorities have Christine committed. Eventually, a young cop comes across another young boy that leads him to find out what really happened.

Directed by Clint Eastwood, THE CHANGELING was based on the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders that took place in Riverside County, California. (Incidentally, Wineville is now Miraloma - the name of the community was changed due in large part to the negative publicity received from this case). Christine & Walter Collins were actual people. Most of the story is told as it actually happened, with the exception of some figures being left out, and some characters being a "complilation" of many figures involved. This was a good movie, but one of those that I wish I hadn't seen because the story was so tragic.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

2009-03-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Oscar winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE hits the DVD aisle on March 31st. If you didn't catch it in the theater, make sure you watch it when the DVD drops.

The movie opens with a young man, Jamal Malik in jail. He's being tortured and beaten. The police want him to confess. They want to know exactly how he knew the answers! What Answers? Well, it seems that 18-year-old Jamal was a contestant on India's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He's one question away from the big win. But he's been arrested for cheating because he's just an orphan from the slums of Mumbai. How could he possibly know anything, much less these challenging questions? But Jamal has a story to tell. He takes us back to his childhood and to specific events that reveal how he knew the answers. For each question, Jamal has a significant moment etched in his memory which, coincidentally, is key to each answer.

It was brilliant. I must admit, however, that I've had to digest it for a while before I came to that conclusion. When I watched it, I thought it was "good". But as I've thought about it - the story, the characters, the way the story was told, the cinematography, the acting - I've concluded that this was an excellent and unique film and deserving of the awards it received. The main story in itself is compelling. But there are so many twists and turns to Jamal's past, that we find ourselves invested in his life and how it turns out. Interestingly, it was almost released straight to DVD. Because it was so different, I'm sure it seemed like a risk. But they did take the risk and it paid off. SLUMDOG walked away on Oscar night with Eight Academy Awards.

HOME TO HOLLY SPRINGS, By Jan Karon

2009-02-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

HOME TO HOLLY SPRINGS is Jan Karon's first book in the new Father Tim Series. Having completed the Mitford Series, Ms. Karon has continued Father Tim's story, taking a closer look into his past, his family, and his hometown of Holly Springs.

At 70 years of age, Father Tim receives an anonymous note that simply reads "Come Home". It grabs his curiosity, and he ends up planning a trip "home" to see what he can find out. He leaves his wife, Cynthia, at home, as she has broken her ankle and isn't much up to traveling. So Father Tim and trusty dog, Barnabas, hit the road.

As he arrives in Holly Springs, he visits some of his old stomping grounds, and he begins to remember a lot of events from his childhood. Tim's history is mentioned throughout the Mitford Books, and with this book, we take a closer look at some of the things that have haunted him for many years. For example, he wonders why his father always hated him. He wonders what happened to his beloved caregiver Peggy, who disappeared many years ago without a word. He wonders what became of his childhood best friend Tommy Noles. He also comes face to face with his old flame Peggy Cramer - and we learn the painful secret of their relationship's breakup.

He was able to see his life's history from other people's perspectives once he returned home. The same event can have different memories for different parties involved. It made me think about how we have a certain understanding of events that occur when we're children, but when we become adults or spouses or parents, we understand those things a little differently. We can look back with a grown-up perspective and understanding that we couldn't possibly have had as children. Father Tim goes home and finds answers to many questions he's long carried in his heart and mind. This book is full of secrets revealed!

I'll have to say that it was slow in some places, but about halfway through, I started to feel more interested in what was going on. I read a few reviews from faithful Mitford Fans that felt disappointed in this book, but personally, I enjoyed it. HOME TO HOLLY SPRINGS was released in 2007, but I'm disappointed to discover that so far, it's still the only book in the series. Hopefully we'll hear more from Father Tim in the near future!

THE WRESTLER

2009-02-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

This isn't a movie that I ordinarily might have wanted to see. But I did want to watch all the Academy Award nominees, and this was one of them. Once I started looking into this movie, I was quickly intrigued by the praise Mickey Rourke was receiving for his performance. He won a Golden Globe for this role, and now he's up for an Oscar. After seeing THE WRESTLER, I'm thinking he just might win.

This is the story of a Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler past his prime. He was BIG in the '80's, and 20 years later, he's still wrestling - but now he plays smaller venues, like VFW halls. He's on a steady diet of painkillers and booze to numb the beating that his body takes at his bouts. He lives alone in a trailer, and gets locked out when he's late on his rent. He's got a dead end job in a grocery store. We eventually find out that he has a daughter who despises him because he abandoned her. The only person in his life is a stripper named Pam. Pam is played by Marisa Tomei, who, by the way, is also up for an Oscar. Pam and Randy don't actually have a relationship, they just sort of have a soft spot for each other.

So here's this washed out wrestler, barely getting by. One of his wrestling matches turns out to be especially brutal, and afterward, he passes out on the dressing room floor. When he wakes up, he's in a hospital. Turns out he's got some serious health issues that will force him to retire . So he tries to find some meaning in his life - and he feels pretty alone. He reaches out to Pam, who keeps him at arms length because she's afraid of crossing the line with a "customer". He reaches out to his daughter, but she is angry and he knows he deserves that. He doesn't know what to do - he's got nobody to love him, and the only thing he's ever been good at, he isn't able to do anymore.

This story is pretty rough and raw. We get to go behind-the scenes in professional wresting, and it isn't pretty. The actual matches were tough to watch, too. There were a few times I had to turn away - one particular match included staple guns and barbed wire, if that gives you an idea. There's also a lot of nudity. Since Pam is a stripper, many of the scenes take place in the strip club. But none of it felt as if it was just thrown in for no reason. It was a very real part of the story.

The movie poster says, "Witness the Resurrection of Mickey Rourke".

He's had quite a tumultuous career and life. He was one of the most promising actors in the '80's, but he derailed his own career. He became undesirable to work with. He was angry. His marriage failed. He was arrested for spousal abuse and for a DUI. He says, "After ten years went by and I wasn't working, I thought I'm never comin' back. The only thing I had going was hope." You might think that at 56 years old, he was given a generous opportunity by being offered a part in this film. But I can't imagine any other actor taking his place in this gritty role. I'm sure Director Darren Aronofsky knew what he was doing when he ignored the advice of all the "suits", who wanted him to cast a more "commercial" name.

THE WRESTLER didn't contain a lot of Hollywood glamour or special effects. As I mentioned before, a lot of it isn't pretty. It was honest and raw - a very sad story. If you want to see a skillfully crafted story of pain, sadness, regret, fear, loneliness, and even perseverance, go see THE WRESTLER.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

2009-02-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

I'm sure by now you've heard of THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, and even if you haven't seen it, you probably know the premise anyway: he is born old and ages backwards. Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, it stars Brad Pitt, and also features the beautiful Cate Blanchett as the love of his life, Daisy.

The movie begins with an aged and dying Daisy asking her daughter, Caroline, to read a "journal" to her, which turns out to be Benjamin's life story. Caroline, played by Julia Ormond, doesn't know anything about this "Benjamin" person that she is reading about. We realize that Daisy is unloading some long-kept secrets on her deathbed. It sort of reminded me of TITANIC, with an elderly woman telling the story of the great love of her life. Well, that - and the fact that both movies are 3 hours long.

Benjamin's story begins with his startling birth. No one was as as startled as his father, who grabbed him and ran out of the house, eventually abandoning him on a doorstep. It just so happened to be an old folks home, where a young woman who worked there took him in as her own, expecting he would die soon anyway. Of course, he didn't die immediately, he lived for many years.

When he's about 9 years old, he meets Daisy, who is a child visiting her grandmother. Daisy knows that Benjamin is different, and they become friends. They spend a lot to time playing with each other. He is, after all, a child. In one scene, where they are playing under a table, Daisy's Grandmother pulls her away, and - assuming Benjamin is a grown man - tells him he "should be ashamed" of himself. He cries on his "Mama's" shoulder and asks, "What's wrong with me?". It was heartbreaking.

We see him gradually getting younger, and stronger, growing more hair, etc. Like any young man, he eventually leaves home and tries to find his own way in the world. He works, makes friends, learns how to drink, learns about women, sends Daisy frequent postcards, and once in a while he comes home. Daisy, meanwhile, has gone to NYC to pursue her career as a dancer. After some time, they meet up again, and this time, Benjamin is as good looking as...well, as good looking as Brad Pitt. Benjamin and Daisy's relationship endures many ups and downs before they end up giving in to their love for one another. Soon they discover they are expecting a child. Benjamin is conflicted as reality sets in: He won't be able to be a father to his own child as he continues to grow younger. He also doesn't want Daisy to have to care for "two" children all by herself.

This story was quite thought provoking. It made me think of love and life, and how much time we have with those we love, and how committed we are to them, and that we are who we are, regardless of what we look like. Ironically, even though Benjamin is getting younger instead of older, we are keenly aware of how limited his time is. I also thought about how we look at old people - our grandparents, even our parents - thinking they've always been conservative people. Yet they have a whole lifetime of stories they could tell. Just like Rose on Titanic. And just like Daisy in Benjamin Button.

If anything could have been cut to make this movie shorter, it certainly could have been the story of the clockmaker that is included in the beginning and again at the end. It was told that a man made a clock that was hung in a train station. To everyone's surprise, he made it to run backwards. He explained that perhaps time would go backwards and bring back the young men that had been killed in the war. At the end of the movie, the clock is eventually replaced with a updated working model. We keep waiting for that "A-ha" moment that ties the clock in with Benjamin's case, but there is none. Similarly, when Daisy is on her deathbed, we see that they are waiting for Hurricane Katrina to hit. This fact is emphasized, and we keep thinking that this might also be relevant to the story. It isn't.

But despite those faults, Benjamin Button was a good, entertaining movie. And while it reminded me of Titanic, it seems that this movie reminded others of another movie. So on that note, I'll leave you with this video for your entertainment.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

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CHRISTMAS JARS, By Jason F. Wright

2009-01-27T18:18:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS JARS is the story of a young lady named Hope Jensen. The story begins with a woman finding Hope as an infant with a note from the birth mother telling the finder to take good care of the baby. The woman ends up adopting Baby Hope, and together, they have a wonderful life. The story then fast forwards to Hope as a grown woman. At this point, her adoptive mother has recently passed away, and to make matters worse, she one day walks into her apartment to discover she has been burglarized. She is further taken by surprise when she discovers that someone has left a jar full of money at her doorstep. Being a journalist, she starts digging into past newspaper records to see if she can find any stories about people receiving a mysterious jar full of money. She finds a few instances of this occurring, but oddly, the recipients of the jars aren't very willing to talk about it. Eventually, she's led to a particular family that might be the originators of the Christmas Jar tradition. She approaches the family by telling them that she is a college student writing a report on small businesses, but all the while her intent is to earn their trust and find out the details of the Christmas Jar.

This is a story of the transforming power of giving. Its a story of how the giver of the gift is changed just as much as the receiver of the gift. True giving does not seek attention because it is it's own reward.

The book said "Major motion picture coming in 2008", and since this is 2009, I started googling for information on the movie. I came across the author's blog, which gave a quick update on the movie. The movie has been delayed, and the best guess is for a 2010 release.

CHRISTMAS JARS was a pretty quick read - only 150 pages. But it had the feel of an inexperienced author. It was a good story, but I felt as if I was reading facts, and not at all like I was being drawn into the story or getting to know the characters. It had potential to connect with the reader on an emotional level, but it never quite reached that point. I didn't feel as if the characters were fully developed. I also didn't think Hope was all that likable, but that can also be attributed to lack of character development. I think the movie might be good - I imagine it might be a feel-good movie similar to The Ultimate Gift.

Mr. Wright is a well-known editorialist and also the founder of PoliticalDerby.com. He's published four novels at this time, with his most current book being The Wednesday Letters, which reviewers say is reminiscent of The Notebook. CHRISTMAS JARS is his second published novel, and was on the New York Times bestsellers list. I think he created an interesting plot, but the writing was lacking a bit. I sincerely hope he improves as his writing career progresses, and I would definitely give him another chance by reading his more current books.

THE MITFORD SERIES, By Jan Karon

2009-01-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

I began reading this series a few months ago, and have already reviewed the first book, AT HOME IN MITFORD in a previous post. However, once I started reading one volume after the other, I thought it best to review the series as a whole, since it is, in essence, one story.

Note: I've also read HOME TO HOLLY SPRINGS, the first in the new Father Tim Series, which is a continuation of this story, but a separate series. That will be reviewed at a later date.

THE MITFORD SERIES is the continuing saga of Father Tim, an Episcopal priest, who lives in the quaint town of Mitford. He's been a bachelor for many years, and has taken good care of the parish he leads. In the first novel, we meet most of the characters that will make an appearance in the rest of the series. They each have their own dramas going on, and they all seem to involve Father Tim in some way or another! Throughout each book, there are births, deaths, marriages, storms, fires, health crises, addiction, homelessness - you name it! As for Father Tim, he's a busy man with a lot on his plate - including the unexpected arrival of an 11-year-old boy, for whom Father Tim must now become a guardian. And then there's his new neighbor, who, much to his distress, he finds himself falling in love with. A lot happens in these nine volumes! You'll find yourself laughing on one page, and then crying on the next.

As I had mentioned in my earlier review of the first volume, there isn't lot of edge-of-your-seat-suspense. This isn't to say that its a boring story! It's an engaging story, but with a cozy and relaxing feel. Better still, we are encouraged by Father Tim and his relationship with Jesus Christ. If you feel a bit stressed and need to go somewhere to relax, head to Mitford!

I was sad to reach the end of this heartwarming series, and actually started reading a bit slower when I hit the final book!

The Mitford Series includes:

At Home In Mitford
A Light In the Window
These High Green Hills
Out To Canaan
A New Song
A Common Life
In This Mountain
Shepherds Abiding
Light From Heaven

MARTIAN CHILD, PG

2009-01-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

David Gordon (John Cusak) is a recently widowed, science fiction writer. His late wife had wanted to adopt a child, and so he begins to think that he should do it, even though he is alone. He meets Dennis, a little boy that spends his days at the foster home hiding in a box. The sun bothers him...because he's from Mars. David finds himself drawn to this seemingly disturbed child, and little by little, David befriends him. Slowly, Dennis learns to trust him a little. So David begins the adoption process, telling Dennis that this will be a trial basis so that he can see if wants to live with David permanently. At first, David thinks that his love will help Dennis get a grip on reality. But Dennis maintains that he is a Martian on a mission to learn how humans live. In addition, he insists that "they" will come back to get him soon. Everyone knows that Dennis can't really be from Mars, but he does a few things that make David think twice about Dennis's planetary citizenship. However, the adoption committee keeps questioning if this child is thriving in David's care, so he tells Dennis that he needs to "act" like everyone else. Things go unrealistically well with them, but eventually David becomes frustrated with Dennis' "fantasy" stories and finds that he needs to discipline Dennis. Dennis reacts by running to the place where "they" are going to pick him up and take him back to Mars.

At the same time, David is struggling in his writing career. He is obligated to write a sequel to his latest successful book. But his creative juices are just not flowing in that direction. So he writes a book called "Martian Child", which, as you might guess, has been inspired by Dennis. He loves it - he thinks its great. His publisher, however, tells him "This might be great, but we just want you to do what we want you to do!" Aha! The light bulb goes on for David. Now he knows how Dennis feels.

The best quote of the movie is this:
Sometimes we forget that children have just arrived on the earth. They are a little like aliens, coming into beings as bundles of energy and pure potential, here on some exploratory mission and they are just trying to learn what it means to be human. For some reason Dennis and I reached out into the universe and found each other, Never really know how or why. And discovered that I can love an alien and he can love a creature. And that's weird enough for both of us.

Joan Cusak costars as David's sister, and Amanda Peet plays his best friend. A funny detail that I noticed was that in the scene where a teacher expels Dennis from school, the shot of her face as she's speaks to David has a picture of George W. Bush behind her. And, when the "Adoption Committee" grills Dennis about his life with David, there's a picture of George W. Bush behind them as well. Not sure if that was intentional, but it seem curious that his photo was conspicuously there in the scenes with the rigid, self-righteous characters.

MARTIAN CHILD wasn't a great movie, but it was an enjoyable, sweet, heartwarming story.

BEDTIME STORIES, PG

2009-01-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

BEDTIME STORIES stars Adam Sandler - but don't let that stop you from going to see it, Parents! It is actually quite a delightful story - funny, clever and entertaining!

Sandler plays "Skeeter", a hotel handyman. His father used to own the hotel, but before his death, sold it to "Mr. Nottingham". Skeeter has waited patiently to one day manage the hotel, but it doesn't look like his dream will come true anytime soon. Mr. Nottingham has promised the job to Kendall, a snotty guy who just happens to be dating Mr. Nottingham's daughter, Violet. (Violet's character closely resembles a certain hotel heiress that we see in the tabloids frequently!).

Courteney Cox plays Skeeter's sister, Wendy, who calls on her brother to babysit the children while she goes to an out-of-town job interview, since she has just lost her job as a school principal. (The school she works at is closing).Wendy's friend, Jill, played by Keri Russell helps Skeeter take care of the two kids (she takes the days, he takes the nights). Their relationship has a rough start.

At bedtime, Skeeter makes up a bedtime story for the two kids, and they join in the fun, making up things like "and then it rained gumballs". Once Skeeter finds himself standing in the middle of a street while gumballs fall from the sky, he figures out that these stories are actually coming true! He tries to manipulate the stories, only to discover that the only parts that come true are the parts that the kids are coming up with.

With some prompting from the kids storytelling, Mr. Nottingham decides to give Skeeter a chance at becoming hotel manager. The boss tells Kendall and Skeeter to come up with a theme for his new hotel. Whoever's theme he decides to go with, will also manage the hotel.

What I loved about the story was that the kids came up with some hair-brained story plots, and and when the stories materialized in Skeeter's life, it wasn't anything "magical". The things that happened had logical explanations even though it was their story taking place. (yeah, even the gumball rain!) My favorite part was when they told a story of Skeeter being a space alien speaking an unknown language with a side-kick interpreting for him. What happened in Skeeter's life to parallel that was very clever! Loved it!

The movie was rated PG, and for the most part very clean. You've got a few things that some might object to - for example, in one of their stories, they made up a character for Kendall, and named him "Sir Butt-Kiss". Also, in one of the story sequences, there is a "booger monster". Most of these instances are simple childish humor.

Sandler says, "I do have kids now. I always wanted to do a family movie. I always loved every Sunday night we’d watch the Disney movie. A lot of times kids see my movies anyway, but their moms yell at me. I wanted to make sure I do one movie in my career that moms hug me for. This might be it." It might not be Winnie the Pooh, but BEDTIME STORIES is good clean-ish fun!

PAUL BLART: MALL COP, PG

2009-01-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

This year, I had given thought to seeing as many award-nominated movies as I could.

Instead, I went to see PAUL BLART: MALL COP.

My first reaction had been to skip it altogether. But Hubby and Little Boy wanted to go see it, and this morning I heard it had come in NUMBER ONE at the Box Office this weekend - so I thought, what the heck, maybe it's kinda funny.

As you probably already know from the movie trailers, Kevin James plays Paul Blart, who is...well, a mall cop. He's a police academy flunky, he's been dumped by his wife, and he lives with his mother and daughter. Oh, and he's hypoglycemic. That's an important recurring fact. He's also infatuated with Amy, a kiosk worker in the mall. The story takes place on Black Friday, when an organized group of robbers take over the mall, with a plan to steal the approximately $3 million in sales receipts on the credit card machines in the mall's stores. As it turns out, they end up with hostages. Since Paul was busy playing video games when the criminals entered the scene, he doesn't realize the mall has been evacuated. Once he realizes whats going on - and that Amy is one of the hostages - he decides he's going to save the day. What follows are a few funny moments and a lot of silly moments.

MALL COP was DIE HARD and HOME ALONE rolled into one film. It pretty much is what it looks like - A silly, predictable movie that you can take the family to.

GRAN TORINO

2009-01-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

There are many talented actors out there today - but few elicit the expectations of names like Robert DeNiro. Al Pacino. Clint Eastwood.

Watching Clint Eastwood in GRAN TORINO did not disappointment.

Mr. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet who is a crotchety, bigoted, cranky old guy. The movie opens at the funeral of his wife, where the young priest eulogizes her by saying "Death is bittersweet. Bitter in the loss, and sweet in the salvation". Walt is visibly irritated by this young man trying to sound like he knows anything about life and death.

We are soon introduced to Walt's sons and their families, who share the opinion that Walt is a grumpy old guy who is always is disappointed in everyone.

And so begins his life without his wife in the same house where they lived for years, in a neighborhood that is quickly being overrun with gangs of every ethnicity you can imagine. Walt is alone, except for his dog, and his prized Gran Torino, which he keeps in mint condition.

Through a turn of events, his Asian neighbors - "Hmong" people - become indebted to him for his act that protected the young son, Thao, from the gangster cousin who wants to initiate him into a gang. (In reality, the thugs were beating on Thao, and when the fight inched over to Walt's lawn, he pulled out his shotgun to scare them off his property)What Walt didn't know then, was that a few days earlier, Thao was the kid he had caught trying to steal his Gran Torino. The young man tries to make amends by working around the house for Walt, who soon befriends him and tries to make a man out of him. Eventually, Thao and his sassy sister Sue, find their way into Walt's hardened heart. Though he tries not to get to close to them, their persistence pays off as his exterior begins to soften. We start to think that he is good at heart, as Sue keeps telling him. As the conflict with the cousin's gang continues, Walt begins to protect Thao and Sue, but soon he becomes a target of the gang himself. Walt realizes that the conflict can never end unless the gang is removed for good.

In the end, he does what he has to do, but its only partly predictable.

The movie is rated R - there is a generous amount of profanity, although it's relevant to the type of person that Walt was. There's a lot of of racial comments, and a good amount of violence.

Clint Eastwood was 42 years old when he played Dirty Harry, and at 78 years old, he is everything we expect him to be as Walt Kowalski. You could say that GRAN TORINO was bitter and sweet.

MARLEY & ME

2009-01-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

I love movies that make me laugh and cry...and this was one of them.

MARLEY & ME stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as John and Jen Grogan - a young couple beginning their married life together. It chronicles various changes in their life: marriage, careers, buying a house, etc. They feel like they've got it all - except a little creature to love and nurture. Not sure he's ready for a baby, John buys her a dog. Marley is a sweet little puppy, who soon becomes a large, uncontrollable dog! He chews everything, barks at everything, and has a neurotic fear of lightning (they live in Florida!). He pulls them along when he's leashed, chases birds, poops in the ocean at the dog beach...well you get the picture. He is a nightmare. But for some reason they love him. They try taking him to obedience school - but it doesn't quite work out. (By the way - the doggie teacher didn't look familiar, but that voice was unmistakable. It was Kathleen Turner - and she looked...different.)

It had a PG rating and so my friend and I took our kids (ages 7, 8, 9, 12). Mostly it was clean - no bad language, no violence. But there were some suggestive scenes which surprised me for a PG rating. In one scene, Jen faces John, and takes off her dress and jumps in the pool. (they only show her from behind). A couple of other times it shows them in bed - nothing graphic, but it alludes to what they are about to do (i.e., squeaking bed).

The only other thing I can say critically about it is that Jen and John look the same through the whole movie. I'd guess its a time span of about 10-12 years, and while they wouldn't have been old and gray, you'd think that after three kids, they might have changed a little bit. They could have at least given her a "mom" haircut or something! Also, you never quite feel their characters connect with their children. I felt totally aware that the kids were only playing their children.

But other than that, it was a good movie. Wilson and Aniston are both excellent, and portray the ups and downs of marriage and parenthood very well. From the time Jen got pregnant for the first time, I had a lump in my throat - and it pretty much stayed there til the end if the movie.

As you can already guess, the movie spans the lifetime of a dog. And while you can probably predict the ending, it still is incredibly sad. As I was trying unsuccessfully not to cry, I heard sniffles around the theater.

The friend I was with wondered if it had been a good idea to take the kids to see this movie, since her daughter was sobbing as we walked out. My son said he "almost" cried. The older boys said - a little too enthusiastically to believe them - that they didn't cry and that it was a boring movie. (Methinks they doth protest too much...)

I came home feeling tenderly towards my dog.

But I'm sure I'll get over it the next time I go on a poop safari in our yard.

MANY A RIVER By Elmer Kelton

2008-12-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

While I wouldn't have thought that one of my favorite book genres would be "western novels", I've discovered that I really do enjoy a good old western adventure!

MANY A RIVER is a story is about two brothers, Todd and Jeffrey. As their family heads West, their camp is attacked by Comanche raiders, leaving their parents dead. The younger boy, Todd, is taken captive by the Indians, while the older son, Jeffrey, manages to hide and is rescued by militia men. But each boy thinks the other has been killed! In actuality, Jeffrey is taken in by a home-steading family, while Todd is sold, for a rifle and gunpowder, to a Comanchero trader named January.

However, the young brothers are destined to be reunited after a few years. And since they've both been caught up in the turbulence of the Civil War, we wait to discover if they will meet as friends or enemies. As we read, we go with them through every experience that makes each boy older than his years.

And yeah, I was teary-eyed at their reunion. The only thing I wish was that more time was given to to their reunion - it was covered in the last nine pages of the book.

MANY A RIVER was published in June 2008, so it's a pretty new book. Upon looking at Mr. Kelton's website, I see he's written quite a lot of books (over 50 novels) in his 50 year career as an author! It was also quite charming to see that the bio on the book jacket was a short paragraph, yet mentioned his 60 year wedding anniversary as one of his worthy achievements! Good book - I enjoyed it!

RIGHTEOUS KILL

2008-09-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Could there be bigger names billed together for a movie? They play Rooster and Turk, two seasoned cops in the NYPD who are on the trail of a serial killer. What I keep saying to anyone who asks me if the movie was good, is this: It was a good old-fashioned rated-R movie.

There was violence, but nothing too graphic. There was brief sex, but no nudity (as far as I can remember...and my Dad was sitting next me, so I think I'd remember...). It was suspenseful, and regardless of some reviews I read that said otherwise...it kept me guessing til the end. Or almost the end. Well, at least 3/4 of the way in.

John Leguizamo plays an abrasive cop who is competing with Rooster and Turk to solve the crime. Carla Gugino, who you may remember as the Mom from SpyKids, plays the crime scene/forensic investigator who also happens to be involved with Turk. Other notable appearances are Donnie Wahlberg as Leguizamo's partner, Brian Dennehy (who has lost a lot of weight) as the Lieutenant, and 50 Cent as "Spider", a notorious drug dealer.

Here's what I thought made it such a great film, and there's definitely a SPOILER ALERT attached to this paragraph: All along, you're led to believe that you know the story, because you see the confession at the beginning of the movie. At a certain point, you realize that the killer has not been shown in any of the murder scenes - it's very subtle. So are things as they appear? Believe me, it is worth your time to see these two hard-breathing legends together in Righteous Kill. Great talent, great movie!

BLESSINGS, By Anna Quindlen

2008-08-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is the story of Lydia Blessings, a feisty, crabby woman in her 80's who lives in a beautiful estate, which is also called "Blessings". Widowed when she was young, she never remarried. Her only daughter is married, herself 60 years old with no children. Lydia's family is long gone, her only brother dead as well. So she lives alone in her childhood home, with only her memories to keep her company. She's not entirely alone: her daughter visits every so often, she has a housekeeper that comes on a daily basis, and she also has a property caretaker who lives above the garage. The caretaker, Charles "Skip" Cuddy, has his own story - he's an ex-con, and he had a miserable upbringing. But even though he has a shady past, he's a good, hardworking young man.

The story opens up with a teenage couple dropping off a "package" in the middle of the night at Skip's door. When Skip finds it, he realizes that someone has abandoned a baby there. He tries to keep it a secret, but soon Mrs. Blessing finds out and surprises him by helping him keep his secret. The baby, who he names "Faith", brings a lot of joy and laughter to Skip and Lydia. Faith gives Lydia a way to remember her youth, and she gives Skip a feeling of finally having family to love. Together they plot to keep this baby a secret until they can figure out how to keep her permanently. But then a situation one night turns Skip and Lydia against each other, and soon after that, the birth mother appears on the scene.

The story is simple, but it's made interesting by the details of each character's life. We find out the whole truth about Skip's past crime, and we also find out about Lydia's own indiscretions in her youth. Also told are the Blessings family secrets, some which Lydia had known about for years, and some which come to light during the story. In her old age, she looks back and sees things a bit more clearly than when she was a young woman. She also realizes that some things she thought were secrets, were actually known, but just not discussed "in those days".

BLESSINGS was a bit of a slow read. At first I struggled to get into the story. Once I did, I enjoyed it, although it was not quite the page turner I expected. I read a few reviews that complained about "jumping" around in time: Lydia is in the present, then she is in her past, then we're in the present, but a day later. I was sometimes confused by that, but soon got the hang of it. Also, I was able to guess some of the family secrets ahead of time. But still, it was enjoyable. It was a story about family, secrets, and the effects that generations have on each other. The ending was realistic - which unfortunately, made it sad.

THE BUCKET LIST

2008-08-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

I was not prepared for what a touching movie this would be. I don't know why..I knew the subject matter. Two men meet in a hospital room, with terminal diagnoses. So they compile a list of things they want to do before they "kick the bucket". Their "bucket list".

Morgan Freeman plays Carter, and Jack Nicholson plays Edward. Carter is a family man. His kids are grown, but he's always been there for them - a loyal husband and father. He's worked 45 years as a mechanic to provide for his family. Edward, is a corporate billionare. He's been married four times, and he owns the hospital in which he is now a patient. His trusty assistant Thomas, is played by Sean Hayes. These two men are different as night and day, but they find themselves at the same place in their lives - in a hospital bed, facing death. After a few days as roommates, Edward finds Carter's bucket list in the trash, and begins to add to it. He offers Carter the opportunity to accomplish the things on his list. At first, Carter is hesitant, but Edward tells him that he's "got nothing but money" and wants to do this while they still feel good enough to do it. Much to the frustration of his wife, Carter accepts the offer. So they go off, around the world, slowly but surely crossing things off the list. (Thomas comes along with them to handle the details) But the fun comes to an end when Carter adds a particular item to the list - for Edward to reconcile with his estranged daughter before he dies. Edward throws a tantrum and leaves Thomas and Carter standing on the street as he drives away, furious.
They go back to their lives, but as we know their time is limited, the story takes the turn that we have been expecting all along. The death, the funeral - it was very heart wrenching, but it was the last scene that got me. Have your Kleenex ready.

As I mentioned, I didn't think this was gonna be as good of a movie as it was. I figured I'd enjoy it - after all, how can you go wrong with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? But wow, it was a really really great movie. (note: there is bad language - especially from Edward) There was a lot of contemplating life and death. Carter was a man of faith and Edward just...was. But as their friendship grew and death lurked around the corner, Edward hoped he was wrong.

One of the lines in the movie is: You measure yourself by the people that measure themselves by you. So consider this: who aspires to live life the way you do? As a Christian, this is a very important question. We live in the land of the Christian Lifestyle - but is it enough to be happy and live a clean life? Paul said, Imitate me as I imitate Him (Jesus). A study of Paul and Jesus will tell us that there was more to their lives than just random acts of kindness. Both gave their lives to make sure that we were assured of what awaits us after this life is through. So do we imitate Paul as he imitated Jesus? Do we risk all to make sure that others know the way to be saved? Or do we live a good life and hope that someday, someone will ask us what it is that makes us happy? That doesn't seem to be the way Paul lived, or the way Jesus lived. They laid it out on the table in truth and love. I gotta tell you - I am not doing that. I'm failing miserably in that area. I am afraid, of what? I don't really know. The prayer of the believers in the Book of Acts was for boldness. They got persecuted, and instead of asking for safety, they asked for boldness. Ouch. Lord, give your children boldness to speak Your Word to those who are perishing in this world.

Whereas you do not know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
James 4:14

ADAM By Ted Dekker

2008-08-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

First, I'd like to say that I hope you'll go to the link above and click on the video in which Ted Dekker talks about this book. He explains it beautifully - that this book is about the very real supernatural world.

It's about an FBI agent, Daniel, who has been in pursuit of a serial killer. Actually, he is obsessed with the capture of this killer, to the point that it's destroyed his marriage. Finally, Daniel comes face to face with the deranged murderer and is killed himself...but is resuscitated. Now he's desperate trying to remember the killer's face, as well as tormented with horrible panic attacks. While he has no memory of what he saw, he knows it must lurk deep in his brain...if only he could go into his mind to retrieve that memory...but how? And now the killer is threatening to come after Daniel's wife. He wonders if re-experiencing his "death" could somehow bring those memories to surface.

The story starts out with part one of a magazine article about the serial killer, who has been caught. It tells the life story of this murderer, and how he came to be who he is. But then it switches back to the actual story, in which Daniel is trying to find the murderer. We go back and forth throughout the book. So while Daniel knows nothing about him, we are given a glimpse to who he is, before he even appears in the main story. It was a fascinating angle to take.

One of the reasons I want you to go hear Ted's own explanation of the book, is because he feels its one of the most important books he's written to date. It is about demon possession. It is about the reality of the spiritual realm. It is about how the greatest danger is to not believe in evil at all. Which is how I see the world going now.

Ted Dekker is one of the best. His books hook you from the first sentence, and while they are riveting in their own right, he also manages to include some profound spiritual truth or lesson.

MILK GLASS MOON & HOME TO BIG STONE GAP By Adriana Trigiani

2008-08-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

MILK GLASS MOON and HOME TO BIG STONE GAP are the last two in the Big Stone Gap Series by Adriana Trigiani. I've previously reviewed the first two: Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler, the first which I loved, the second, which I didn't love. The entire series (4 books) spans 20 years, and we get to see many ways in which Ave grows as a person, and many ways in which she continues to struggle with the same weaknesses and fears. As I mentioned, I didn't love BIG CHERRY HOLLER, but I'm glad I continued reading, because these two definitely captured the magic of the first book!

MILK GLASS MOON finds Ave and Jack, happily married now, having grown a lot since the marital troubles they endured in the previous book. Their daughter, Etta, is ready to graduate, and Ave is excited for her to go to college and begin her young life! But Etta seems to want to plan her own life! So Ave's journey of letting go begins.

We also continue to read about the lives of various characters we love: Pearl, who was just a high school girl at the beginning of this series, is a grown woman now - a very smart business woman at that! Fleeta, the crusty cashier at the Pharmacy is still there, providing a lot of comic relief; and Iva Lou, Ave's dear friend, faces a life or death health crisis.

HOME TO BIG STONE GAP is especially a bittersweet story. Ave learns to appreciate the things in her life and to love people for who they are, and not for who she thinks they should be. She has matured a lot, as one can only after they have been through joy and sadness. As Ave and Jack age, their mortality becomes more of a reality, especially after Jack has a health scare. Ave is learning to savor life, and to accept the past and her shortcomings, as well as those of others. She learns to live each day fully, because you never know how much time you have with the people you love. There is a lot of real life going on in these books - and there were definitely parts where I had to wipe the tears off my face as I read.

At the beginning of this series, Ave had just turned 35, and after 20 years, she is definitely retrospective of all she's been through. The final book wrapped things up beautifully, with more time given to what Ave was thinking and how she looked back to evaluate all her life's experiences. One touch that the author added was to include recipes of dishes that were made at various events (although they are old-fashioned full-fat recipes, with heavy creme or lard, or Crisco, or butter as ingredients!)

A very enjoyable reading series!

BIG CHERRY HOLLER By Adriana Trigiani

2008-07-02T18:27:00.001-07:00

This is the sequel to BIG STONE GAP, which I reviewed at an earlier date. There's a couple of different angles I wanna take on this. First I'll tell you what the book was about, and how interesting it was, and then I'll comment on what happened in the story.

BIG CHERRY HOLLER included many of the same characters that I loved in BIG STONE GAP. In this story, we pick up 8 years later, after Ave Maria and Jack Mac have married (they fell in love in the previous book) They now have a daughter, Etta, and they had also had a son, Joe, who passed away when he was four. So Ave finds herself in a marriage that has grown a bit routine, but also a little cold and distant since the death of their son. She grieves, but cannot fully share her grief with Jack. He is quiet, never quite talking about his feelings. Jack suggests a trip to Italy to visit Ave's family, and then at the last minute, he tells her he's not going. He wants her to go alone, so she can decide what she wants to do about their marriage. While she's gone, she is tempted with a handsome stranger. But she finds out when she returns that Jack has also had his share of temptation while she's been away, and it appears that he has given in to it. SPOILER: The story ends with Ave realizing that she has never fully given herself to Jack. Instead of sharing her grief with him, she shut him out. Because of her behavior, he had felt lonely and rejected. Once she realized that she never fully loved him as he deserved to be loved, it was easier for her to forgive him for his indiscretions. He never admitted what he'd done, but in Ave's mind, it didn't matter, since she knew she had never been the wife she should have been anyway.

It was a little corny at times, and some things just didn't make sense. For example, Ave suspects Jack is cheating on her, but when he tells her he's sending her to Italy alone, it doesn't even cross her mind that he will be home...alone...and free. Another thing that didn't make sense is that Ave's friend, Iva Lou, kept telling her that she had to have a "plan" if she wanted to keep Jack. So I was expecting this elaborate "plan" that would be entertaining and clever. But no plan ever materialized. It seemed strange that it was emphasized, and then never a part of the story. Some of the conversations also seemed "stiff" and a bit contrived - without the natural flow of people talking to each other.

As for what happened between Ave and Jack, I came away with a bad taste in my mouth. While it was unclear what Jack did with the other woman, it did infer that he cheated. But it was made to seem like it was all about Ave's problems. I was also disappointed by Ave's reaction to Jack's cheating. It almost seemed like she felt she deserved it for been so disconnected. But who wouldn't go through a hard time after the death of a child? Even though she had experienced her own temptations in Italy, she did not cheat. Yet her friend Theodore told her that she had only restrained herself for "self righteous" reasons. I was so annoyed at the way Theodore spoke to her when she told him that Jack had cheated - it was like he was excusing Jack and condemning Ave. This was one of the conversations that seemed contrived. He is hard on her, and she immediately agrees. I didn't buy that Theodore would say those things, and i didn't buy that she would immediately see his point. I also felt that Jack planned his little tryst by sending Ave away, with the justification that he was letting her figure out what she wanted. He was already being tempted by the other woman, so the timing was just too convenient. He was made to be a man of integrity in the previous book, but I felt like he was a jerk in this book. In the end, it seemed that Ave, who endured the death of her child and her husband's infidelity, was the only one willing to look at herself and consider that she had done anything wrong.

I will continue reading this series because I am invested in, and love these characters. I also hope that the books that follow will be more like BIG STONE GAP. I really wanted to love this book, since Ms. Trigiani was so kind to send me the whole series, but while it was "ok", and semi-enjoyable, it just didnt have the magic of the first one.

THE PENNY, By Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford

2008-06-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

This is Joyce Meyer's first novel, even though she's written a ton of books. It was written with Deborah Bedford, who at one time wrote some "Harlequinn SuperRomance" books, but now writes inspirational fiction exclusively.

THE PENNY is the bittersweet tale of Jenny Blake, a young girl growing up in the 1950's. She lives with an abusive father, a fearful and passive mother, and a sister who is chomping at the bit to leave the troubled home. One afternoon, Jenny finds a penny on the street, and when she picks it up, a chain of events occurs, which she attributes to the penny. Immediately after that occurrence, she is offered a job working for Miss Shaw, who everyone in the area thinks is a strange and mysterious lady. Jenny's best friend is Aurelia, a black young girl, in who's friendship she finds much joy, confusion, pain and finally, hope.

I felt sad as I read Jenny's story. It's told from her point of view, so we get to see how she understands the things she endures. Her defense mechanism is to act like she doesn't care. She learns to hide her feelings - to keep secrets. Her sister, on the other hand, left home the first chance she got. But when she returned for a visit, she told Jenny that even though she had left, she really couldn't escape it. It still affected the rest of her life.

Also mixed in this story is the Civil Rights struggle. Jenny knew her father was a very hateful man, but she never dreamed that others could feel the same way towards black people as he did. When Jenny and Aurelia become friends, Jenny is forced to keep it a secret. But their friendship becomes one of the things that changes Jenny's life the most.

The story is based on true events from Joyce Meyer's life. She has spoken in the past of the abuse she endured as a child, but more recently, of how her father eventually accepted Christ as his savior and how she had the privilege of being the one to baptize him.

One of the themes in this book is having grace on others. When you meet someone, chances are, you don't know their whole story. I heard someone say once that many times we look at people and think that they have a long way to go - but we should always remember that we don't know how far they've come already. I saw this truth in Miss Shaw's character. Jenny's character reminded me that angry people quite often are hurting. The main thing I took away from the story was that many things happen in our lives, and we need to hold on to Jesus through the good times as well as the bad.

THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN, By Paulo Coelho

2008-06-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

This is a story about the biblical prophet Elijah. I've read about Elijah in the Bible at various times, and I would have guessed that I knew his story - but once I got into this novel, I found that I wasn't sure which parts of The Fifth Mountain were embellished details, and which were based on the biblical account. When I finished reading it, I went to the bible and read everything I could find about Elijah.

But this book takes place during the three years of Elijah's life that are not mentioned in the bible.

In the bible, Elijah is a prophet at the time where Ahab is king - the most evil king up to that point - and is married to Jezebel. She is big time into Baal worship, and stirs up her husband's heart to worship Baal and turn his back on God. Elijah goes to Ahab and declares that there will be a drought for years because of this. Then God tells Elijah to hide in the wilderness. There, God directs him to go to Zarepheth, (which, in the novel, is referred to as Abkar). God tells him that He has commanded a widow to care for him. The widow has a son, and after she takes Elijah in, the son gets sick and dies. But Elijah prays for him and he comes back to life. The bible then says that "in the third year" the word of the Lord comes to Elijah and tells him to go back to Ahab, and that He will send rain on the earth. So it appears that Elijah is in Zarepheth(Abkar) for three years. But it doesn't say anything about those three years.

This is where The Fifth Mountain begins.

In The Fifth Mountain, Elijah arrives at Zarephath and meets the widow. It does mention that the widow's son gets sick and dies, and it tells how Elijah prays him back to life. But in the course of the three years, much happens there. Elijah falls in love with the widow, and even though she returns his feelings, their love was not to be. There's also a lot of political turmoil in the city - with the high priest, the governor and the commander of the army. It seems that there was a new system of communication starting to emerge, called the "alphabet", and the high priest was threatened by it. Then the Assyrians attack and almost destroy the city. Elijah spends his time caring for the widow's son after her death, and he is instrumental in rebuilding the war-ravaged city. He struggles greatly with doubt, and fear, and wondering what God wants him to do. Also, from time to time, Elijah's "Angel" appears to him and speaks to him. Eventually, Elijah becomes governor of the city.

That's the synopsis of the book - now here's what I thought about it.

As I read it, I felt as if the story didn't "flow". It seemed the author was just listing facts, as opposed to storytelling. I didn't ever feel I was a part of the story, nor did I feel involved in the character's lives or their feelings. To be fair, I noticed that the author is from Brazil, and the book credits Clifford E. Landers as the "translator". It's possible the flow of the story got lost in the translation.

Another thing that I didn't really care for was that Elijah's "Angel" spoke to him in the King's English. So I found myself reading it, then re-reading it because I didn't quite get the gist of what was being said until I went through it more carefully.

Elijah doubted a lot, which is normal for a human. But he was really angry at God, and even decided to turn his back on Him. (Which, again, is not that far-fetched for a human) But here's a prayer that Elijah prayed to God on page 218:

"O Lord, today is the Day of Atonement, and my list of sins against Thee is long...I have been weak, for I have forgotten my strength. I have been compassionate when I should have been firm. I have failed to choose, for fear of making the wrong decision. I have yielded before the time to do so, and have blasphemed when I should have given thanks.

Still Lord, I have also a long list of Thy sins against me. Thou hast made me suffer more than was just, by taking from this world one that I loved. Thou hast destroyed the city that received me. Thou hast confounded my search. Thy harshness almost made me forget the love I have for Thee. For all that time I have struggled with Thee, yet thou dost not accept the worthiness of my combat.

If we compare the list of my sins with the list of Thy sins, thou shalt see that thou art in my debt. But, as today is the Day of Atonement, give me Thy forgiveness and I shall forgive thee, so that we may go on walking at each other's side."

Yikes.

After this prayer, Elijah's "Angel" appears to him and says:

"Thou hast done well, Elijah. God hath accepted thy combat".

Huh?

I know that Elijah was human. I know he must have doubted and feared. I know sometimes we feel anger towards God at stuff that happens. But I don't think that prayer would be pleasing to God. Let's just pretend for a moment that Elijah really did pray that - I find it hard to believe that God would say "Hey, good job!".

Now, it does seem that Elijah's faith in God is eventually restored. And the book tells us that King Ahab and put an end to the drought.

At the end, it tells the biblical story of Elijah calling the prophets of Baal to Mt. Carmel, and mentions the fact that Elijah never dies, but is "taken" to heaven in a chariot of fire.

To sum it up, I didn't think the writing was that good (which again, might have been the translation). The story was not that engaging - even though it was an interesting premise. I wasn't sold on the fact that Elijah would have been so boldly disrespectful to God when he knew Him as he did. Also, the last line in the book is:

"Maria conceived without sin, pray for us who call on Thee. Amen"

Ok, well, what does that mean? Is that an ending prayer to the writing? Or is it part of the story?

I guess I have to say that I wouldn't recommended this book. Maybe I should have read Coelho's more famous and highly praised book, The Alchemist first - but I can't say that I will. This book did accomplish a good thing, though. In discussing it with my friend, we sat and dissected the scriptures on everything they had to say about Elijah. There is a prophecy regarding Elijah the book of Malachi; He is mentioned in the gospels (John the Baptist had the spirit and power of Elijah); and it is believed that Elijah is one of the two witnesses that are mentioned in Chapter 11 of the Book of Revelation. (Fascinating - and a worthy study if you have the time!)