Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

I read the Tenth of December and found it terrific.  This one threw me off for a time--it seemed oddly simple for Saunders.  A "writing fox" describes the brutality/wonder of modern life. Nothing new.  But . . . this would be a great short story for middle school and even high school kids.  It's clever linguistically, it's funny, and it's got food for thought.  I was lucky enough to use Junior Great Books when I taught, and I'd say that Fox 8: A Story is a perfect fit for that series.  Teachers will love it; kids will love it.  I hope it finds those readers.

Hal smoking dope secretly down in the pump room. Gets call from Orin who is in AZ. Canadian separatism comes up, then a discussion of Ennet Rehab House where people used to be forced to eat rocks. Nice humorous touch--prefer eating rocks to talking to do-gooders . . . next a long (too long) comic scene describing a brick layer who misuses pulley system and yo-yos back and forth, up and down, each time injuring some new body part.  Funny at first, but . . . description of Hawaii 5-O as compared to Hill Street Blues.  Hawaii 5-O hero is tough guy who does things, solves problems, man on his own. Hero of HSB is bureaucrat, post-Modern hero, who is a hero in the way he manages all the complexities around him, criminals, co-workers, etc. but still gets job done.  Liked this section even though I've never seen either program. . . Another black humor section follows.  Woman has artificial heart in her purse, attached to her body, working as heart.  Purse snatcher steals it and kills her .

"Heroin junkie describes robbing guy coming out of bar near Harvard, going to Chinatown to buy heroin, shooting up with his friends. Heroin has been cut with Drano and the first shooter dies. They dump him in garbage can. Quite a section--I wouldn't be surprised nor would I argue if someone accused Foster of racism here, it's close--told in vernacular of junkie. The guy can write."

The Queen's (!) ask questions and puzzle out the mystery. Dead guy is a sleazy lawyer. He was drinking booze at the play and had a kid go get him Ginger Ale as a mixer. His hat is missing--hence the title. All the seats around him, weirdly, were empty even though the play is a smash hit. Body discovered by timid man. Doorman (old) can't remember if anyone entered the theatre during the second act. Still fun, though reviews make me wonder how much longer the fun will last.

Jeff Bridges is cop Two guys rob banks to get enough money to save their ranch in Texas, a ranch that has oil. One of the brothers is a criminal at heart, the other is just after the money to pay off the loan on the ranch. Both embittered by banks/bankers/the man. Bridges is on their trail. Really good movie--solid, believable relationship between the two brothers. Bridges is very good, all the actors are.

Robert de Niro Biography of Roberto Duran.  Panamanian boxer "no mas" against Sugar Ray Leonard, hero to his countrymen.  Well-done, not Raging Bull, but very solid. Duran poor, wins title, flops against Leonard in rematch, comes back to beat Davey Moore and redeem himself. DeNero is trainer who has offended the mob and must train carefully, for free.

Didn't know Ellery Queen was a character in the Ellery Queen books; didn't know his father is the detective. Didn't know anything other than the name--Ellery Queen. So far, so good. Dead man at play--Gunplay--apparently poisoned.

I liked the beginning more than the second half.  The "bad guy" was a good choice, though.  It made sense but was still a surprise to me.  The whole Steam Walker/Fashion Designer/Male/Female character just didn't work.  I suspect that the "martial arts & mystery book" fans have Lancet at the top of their lists.  Not for me though.  I kept thinking of the scene in Indiana Jones where Harrison Ford, faced with a sword twirler threat, takes out a gun and shoots him.  The martial arts scenes were a stretch for me.

The Steam Walker is a female!  Shocking, but actually not so shocking as the hints were fast and furious. Brodie loses Naomi but gets her back.  He has followed the Steam Walker to a volcano where she escapes him.  Now he is flying back to Washington D.C. to follow some other clues. Who does the Steam Walker work for? Atomic Energy powers in Japan eager to silence Naomi.  (Highly unlikely) Japanese Art intrigue (Highly likely) Some sort of San Francisco mayoral intrigue (Highly unlikely) Some karate fights. Brodie shoots one guy in each leg and then threatens to shoot him in his "third leg."  The guy talks.

Semi-exciting stuff continues. Brodie goes out to dinner with a potential girlfriend.  They're going to have blowfish--fatal if prepared improperly. Naturally, the Steam Walker knows they are going to this restaurant. Naturally, our hero--who knows the power of Steam Walker--never suspects that SW could get to the chef.  BUT HE DOES!   Luckily for our hero, the poisonous fish is delivered to the wrong table.  Steam Walker is steamed.  Karate fight with Brodie.  He escapes. The one thing Brodie repeatedly says is that he doesn't want to do is to get his 7 year old daughter involved in any way . . . SO . . .

Semi-exciting stuff continues. Brodie goes out to dinner with a potential girlfriend.  They're going to have blowfish--fatal if prepared improperly. Naturally, the Steam Walker knows they are going to this restaurant. Naturally, our hero--who knows the power of Steam Walker--never suspects that SW could get to the chef.  BUT HE DOES!   Luckily for our hero, the poisonous fish is delivered to the wrong table.  Steam Walker is steamed.  Karate fight with Brodie.  He escapes. The one thing Brodie repeatedly says is that he doesn't want to do is to get his 7 year old daughter involved in any way . . . SO . . .

Brodie isn't going to win any awards for effectiveness.  He flies to Japan to protect the younger brother of the artist found dead in Napa.  He meets the boy, the boy refuses his help, escapes his shadow, and is promptly murdered.  Surprising for a main sleuth to be so inept. I'm still liking this.  Interesting bit of Japanese lore about the Steam Walkers, Japanese mountain people who can lure the enemies to fatal places near the volcanoes.  Odorless gases that kill; holes that open up beneath the feet, etc.  One of these steam walkers seems to be the villain, though there's some unconvincing talk of the murderer being the enemy of the SF mayor. Weakest scenes so far have been Brodie's fights--one with a government man in the airport and the other with a knife-wielding Japanese assassin in an SF hospital.  Both went on too long.

Brodie isn't going to win any awards for effectiveness.  He flies to Japan to protect the younger brother of the artist found dead in Napa.  He meets the boy, the boy refuses his help, escapes his shadow, and is promptly murdered.  Surprising for a main sleuth to be so inept. I'm still liking this.  Interesting bit of Japanese lore about the Steam Walkers, Japanese mountain people who can lure the enemies to fatal places near the volcanoes.  Odorless gases that kill; holes that open up beneath the feet, etc.  One of these steam walkers seems to be the villain, though there's some unconvincing talk of the murderer being the enemy of the SF mayor. Weakest scenes so far have been Brodie's fights--one with a government man in the airport and the other with a knife-wielding Japanese assassin in an SF hospital.  Both went on too long.

Brodie isn't going to win any awards for effectiveness.  He flies to Japan to protect the younger brother of the artist found dead in Napa.  He meets the boy, the boy refuses his help, escapes his shadow, and is promptly murdered.  Surprising for a main sleuth to be so inept. I'm still liking this.  Interesting bit of Japanese lore about the Steam Walkers, Japanese mountain people who can lure the enemies to fatal places near the volcanoes.  Odorless gases that kill; holes that open up beneath the feet, etc.  One of these steam walkers seems to be the villain, though there's some unconvincing talk of the murderer being the enemy of the SF mayor. Weakest scenes so far have been Brodie's fights--one with a government man in the airport and the other with a knife-wielding Japanese assassin in an SF hospital.  Both went on too long.

Brodie isn't going to win any awards for effectiveness.  He flies to Japan to protect the younger brother of the artist found dead in Napa.  He meets the boy, the boy refuses his help, escapes his shadow, and is promptly murdered.  Surprising for a main sleuth to be so inept. I'm still liking this.  Interesting bit of Japanese lore about the Steam Walkers, Japanese mountain people who can lure the enemies to fatal places near the volcanoes.  Odorless gases that kill; holes that open up beneath the feet, etc.  One of these steam walkers seems to be the villain, though there's some unconvincing talk of the murderer being the enemy of the SF mayor. Weakest scenes so far have been Brodie's fights--one with a government man in the airport and the other with a knife-wielding Japanese assassin in an SF hospital.  Both went on too long.

Brodie isn't going to win any awards for effectiveness.  He flies to Japan to protect the younger brother of the artist found dead in Napa.  He meets the boy, the boy refuses his help, escapes his shadow, and is promptly murdered.  Surprising for a main sleuth to be so inept. I'm still liking this.  Interesting bit of Japanese lore about the Steam Walkers, Japanese mountain people who can lure the enemies to fatal places near the volcanoes.  Odorless gases that kill; holes that open up beneath the feet, etc.  One of these steam walkers seems to be the villain, though there's some unconvincing talk of the murderer being the enemy of the SF mayor. Weakest scenes so far have been Brodie's fights--one with a government man in the airport and the other with a knife-wielding Japanese assassin in an SF hospital.  Both went on too long.

Lancet really knows how to move a story along. Murder in Napa followed by attempted murder outside Asian Art Museum in SF. Young female reporter definitely in danger in a hotel room in D.C. Little boy probably in danger as well. Jim Brody as the reluctant art dealer/private investigator/Japanese translator for police involved in it all. 

More deaths (Dad and Mr. Bell), so that Margaret can have some money and bail out Thornton in the end, just before their marriage.  Great final sentence, but not a great final 100 pages. Best part of the ending occurs when Margaret returns to her beloved Helstone and south England in general, and there discovers that she misses the hustle/bustle/grime of the north--the very things she hated at first.  Very believable and insightful. General thoughts:  First half of the book was much better than the last.  Real conflicts in the beginning. I don't know the dissenter/Episcopal controversy, but it's a real conflict. Same with labor/management.  But the last 100 pages are all a misunderstanding, not a conflict.  I also got thoroughly sick of Margaret and nearly as sick of Thornton. They deserve one another! I don't think I'll reread Scenes of a Clerical Life, at least for a while. I have good feelings about it and don't want to spoil them.

Crawling to the finish line. More deaths (Mr. Hale from heart disease). Margaret moves in with Edith. Life in the south now seems silly to her.  She misses the rough and tumble north. She revisits her old home and sees the changes.  Nice scene, inevitable sorrow at change.  She wants Mr. Bell to let Thornton know that the man he saw her with was her brother, not some secret lover. The only question now is what will bring the two together.

Modern day cowboy. Two brothers go on a bank-robbing spree to pay off the debts on their mother's home before the bank repossesses it.  The home now sits on oil, so is worth a fortune.  The bank cheated her mother (and everyone else in West Texas), so no sympathy for them. Jeff Bridges is the Texas Ranger or State Policeman assigned to the case. Robberies totter on the edge of serious violence, but don't topple over until the last one. Older brother is a con and violent, and he ends up killing two people in the bank and Jeff Bridges partner in the chase afterwards.  Bridges kills him. Movie ends with younger brother and Bridges talking, both aware that Bridges knows the younger brother was involved.  There's a hint that it will be settled later, and there's also sympathy for younger brother who has given the ranch and the wealth to his children. Exciting, well-acted, great Texas wasteland scenery, tense.  Solid 3 and maybe a 3.5 out of 4 movie. Coleman, Texas

Meryl Streep Hugh Grant Streep plays FFJ, an art patron who believes she can sing. Hugh Grant is her doting, enabling husband who hides the truth. She ends up croaking through a performance at Carnegie Hall. We're supposed to think that even though she's terrible, there's something grand about her. Didn't work for me.  If you're rich, people protect you and shield you, and that's good?  Hugh Grant bribes reviewers, and that's good?  The one reviewer who pans her is portrayed as bad--a spoil sport.  Made no sense. FFJ contracted syphilis from her first husband, so there's pathos there. Hugh Grant has an affair that FFJ sort of knows about, but his heart is really with her. Well acted I guess, but a hopeless muddle of a screenplay that avoids everything interesting about the story. (I'm tired of Meryl Streep, but like Hugh Grant.) 1/2 star

Okay, I'm slowing down.  The enthusiasm has waned.  The ending is obvious and the obstacles aren't that interesting. 1) It's all a misunderstanding, and everybody looks better for it. Margaret is seen with her brother, helping him escape.  Thornton believes she's compromised by this late night meeting with a male, but he continues to act nobly toward her.  Score one for him. Margaret is confronted by Mrs. Thornton; she gets her back up.  No one questions my morals. Strong, though she cries a lot later.  Score one for her. Thornton hires the union worker even though he doesn't know it's Margaret who is the champion of the man.  Margaret learns of the hire so loves Thornton all the more. Now more complications.  Dad dies out of the blue, so Margaret may fall into the hands of the Lennox family. This won't happen, and I'm trying hard to care why it doesn't happen.

Gaskell's take on unions seems to come to this.  The unions, if they force men to join, are guilty of the same sort of tyranny as owners.  Our strong union man (Higgins) is made to seem somewhat responsible for the suicide of a fellow worker who didn't want to join the union but was forced to. This "freedom first" sounds good, but Gaskell downplays the power of $$$. If management has the money and there is no union or a weak union, freedom won't feed the stomach. Plot now revolves more around Frederick than anything else.  Lennox returns as a lawyer who might represent him in his attempt to get his name cleared.  Thornton continues to (sort of) suspect that pure Margaret has a hidden lover. Margaret, who lied to the police about being at the train station when Frederick pushed his potential Judas down and sort of caused his death, is humiliated by her lie. She has lost Thornton's good will and she has betrayed her own principles. It's all entertainin

The political to and fro has sadly faded away, and the novel has taken a decidedly soap opera turn. The strike loses its impetus when the strikers engage in violence and lose sympathy. (Margaret, standing next to Thornton, is hit in the head by a stone.) Bessy dies--consumption.  Margaret then stands up to Bessy's father as he is out to get drunk. Instead of drinking, she brings him to her father.  Dual therapy session--talking about the existence (or not) of God is good for both. Mrs. Hale (Maria) dies just after son Frederic (mutineer, in danger of hanging if caught) returns for a farewell.  Frederic is spotted by a drunken louse he used to know.  Frederic shoves the louse, jumps on the train.  Louse--sick already--dies!  Margaret had accompanied Frederic to the station and now must lie tot he investigator.  John Thornton, unbeknownst to her, saw her with her brother.  He thinks the brother is actually a lover (naughty Margaret), but he still loves her and does what he can--w

Conflicts raging Thornton's workers have gone on strike. Margaret sympathetic to both Thornton and the workers. Mrs. Hale getting sicker Bessy getting sicker Children of strikers getting hungry. Great confrontation scene between Thornton and his workers.  Margaret gets hit by a rock; the men leave; Irish scab workers hiding upstairs. Gaskell knows how to move a plot along!

Plot is moving along. Margaret, the outsider/southerner/aristocrat, laughs at the thought of being interested in Thornton.  This angers the mother who is also angry at the thought that she was interested.  Pride in both directions. Thornton is the "good" owner--straightforward in his dealings with factory workers, but he insists he has no obligation to explain any of the economics to the men. Bessy's father (she is the sick girl--cotton dust--whom Margaret has befriended) is headed out on strike. Margaret's mother is dying--cancer?--hard to tell.  Margaret will rise to the occasion, first by keeping her weak father in ignorance of the true state of his wife's health. Promises to be an interesting labor/management novel.

I've liked other Gaskell novels, and this one is promising.  Mostly interesting characters. Father (Richard) is a vicar who is forced by his conscience to give up his living and his wonderful little vicarage in the south of England.  He is a dissenter--basically believes that the Church of England is too involved in the world (at least that's what I think it means). I believe this is part of the "disestablishment" movement which wanted the church and stage separated.  He also seems -- in some things -- inert. He doesn't tell his wife any of his doubts, and she learns that they are leaving their home only two weeks before the move--and then from the daughter, Margaret.  Her husband can't bear to tell her, so he doesn't. Margaret.  Nineteen. Has spent 10 years in London with an aunt learning to be a lady so is not close to her mother, though the book pretends that she is close somehow with the father. Hard to see how.  She is haughty, aristocratic, but wi

I've liked other Gaskell novels, and this one is promising.  Mostly interesting characters. Father (Richard) is a vicar who is forced by his conscience to give up his living and his wonderful little vicarage in the south of England.  He is a dissenter--basically believes that the Church of England is too involved in the world (at least that's what I think it means). I believe this is part of the "disestablishment" movement which wanted the church and stage separated.  He also seems -- in some things -- inert. He doesn't tell his wife any of his doubts, and she learns that they are leaving their home only two weeks before the move--and then from the daughter, Margaret.  Her husband can't bear to tell her, so he doesn't. Margaret.  Nineteen. Has spent 10 years in London with an aunt learning to be a lady so is not close to her mother, though the book pretends that she is close somehow with the father. Hard to see how.  She is haughty, aristocratic, but wi

The ending is great again. Stoner feels ill, learns he has cancer, dies.  As he is dying, he looks back over his life. Honest writing--great final 20 pages. So, a wonderful first 150 pages. Then, for me, a dull 100 pages. Then a great ending. And endings matter.  Glad I read it, but I won't reread.

I read some negative reviews early on and thought:   What are they talking about?    Sadly, now I know.  The book now feels like a summary of a book.  I won't go back and reread the first half because I enjoyed it so much and don't want to spoil it, but for me that spark of magic went out with the "wonderful vacation" (yawn) of Katerine and Stoner before they must part. Plot spoilers coming. Since then:  The parting seemed highly unlikely.  Way too literary in the worst sense.  We were told they were passionately in love, yet the part like platonic pen pals--each rationally realizing parting is wise.  Too rational. Stoner's troubles with Lomax over the crippled student continue and continue.  He has to teach freshman composition classes instead of graduate seminars (yawn).  Not exactly a crisis. His wife becomes Nixonesque--referring to others and herself in the third person. His daughter Grace -- out of nowhere -- gains 50 pounds.  Then, a couple of yea

Heist film by John Huston. Sam Jaffe, freshly out of prison, plans a bank robbery.  Goon is Sterling Hayden.  There is also a lock expert and a driver.  It all works, except it doesn't.  A gun goes off striking the lock breaker.  The man who will buy the diamonds is actually broke. Sterling Hayden gets shot in a confrontation over the payoff. Jaffe gets arrested after he stays to watch a teen-age girl dance one more dance at a cafe. (He's portrayed as a pervert.) Everything about the movie was excellent except the performance of Sterling Hayden. He's just wooden. Surly all the time, sneering all the time--why Jean Hagen, his moll, loves him is beyond any rational explanation.  Too bad, because with a subtle performance this would be one of the all time great noir films.  As it is, it's still quite good.

Stoner has an affair with Catherine Driscoll, a somewhat older grad student.  He falls into the affair in spite of himself, assuming that she is getting bored with him. Only when she becomes ill (from depression/sorrow at his absence) does he realize the true state of matters. Not sure I buy what happens next.  His wife is okay with the affair, and the two of them actually get along better once he is involved with Catherine. Also, he gets along better with his daughter, though she is ignorant of the affair.  Hmmm.  Don't see it. Also wasn't too impressed with the description of their two weeks together over Christmas break.  Joy, love, love, joy, conversation, love, joy.  A little much. Anyway, the good times are coming to an end. He's been called in by a Dean at the university.  Having an affair isn't against any rule, but having an affair can lead to difficulties.  Stoner contemplates leaving U. of Missouri, but he won't do that.  So it looks like a sad ending

Poor Stoner.  Edith not only is at war with him, she is winning.  She subverts his close relationship with his daughter Grace, pretending to keep Grace away so that he can work. She takes over his studio, relegates him to a miserable room, then takes that away too.  He has a trouble experience with a student (slightly deformed) who is an academic fraud.  He flunks the students, but runs afoul of a powerful man in the English department (also slightly deformed) who champions this student.  Stoner's enemy becomes head of the English department. He can't fire Stoner, but he gives him a miserable set of classes and an even more miserable schedule. All is going badly, but now a female graduate student who audited one of Stoner's classes stops by his office.  She wants him to read her dissertation (rough draft). He puts it off, then reads at the last minute.  He is so taken that he misses the meeting with the girl--no sense of time. Excellent sense of melancholy . . . Stoner&

I'm liking the book more as it goes along.  Stoner's marriage is a failure. His father dies in the field; Stoner returns for the funeral.  Stoner as a great father to Grace while Edith, his wife, struggles with her general depression.  Stoner coming into his own; getting along with students.  Then, stock market crash.  Edith's father--the successful banker--is bankrupt and has brought down many others with him. Suicide.  Edith goes to stay with her mother for months.  During those months, Stoner grows more into himself.  Becomes a better teacher; embarks on a new book--he grows into the person he is meant to be. Edith returns, changed also.  Fashionable hair, make-up, clothes. She's outgoing, smoking cigarettes. She dominates the conversation when students come to see Stoner, so much so that he stops inviting them.  Stoner realizes that this new Edith has declared war on him. Battleground right now is Grace. Stoner has raised her, enjoys her company, and she enjoys hi

"He wondered again at the easy, graceful manner in which the Roman lyricists accepted the fact of death, as if the nothingness they faced were a tribute to the richness of the years they had enjoyed . . . "  p. 46 His wife:  "She was educated upon the premise that she would be protected from the gross event that life might thrust in her way . . . "  p. 54 Humorous moment where prospective father-in-law warns Stoner that his daughter is used to luxury. Stoner says:  Well, maybe I shouldn't marry her as I won't be rich.  Father:  Oh, no.  Hold on.  I didn't mean that. Stoner falls in love with Edith, proposes quickly, marries. Very sad scenes regarding marital sex.  Stoner, the farm boy, though inexperienced personally has a solid understanding of the basics of life.  Sex is a fact to him.   Edith is unprepared, repelled--marriage quickly falls on the rocks.  She decides she wants a baby, insists on repeated sex until she is pregnant, immediately beco

Stoner is a farm boy who is sent to University of Missouri by his parents to learn agriculture.  It's a big deal--no one has even considered university before.  Stoner is a dutiful student until he takes English literature and is ridiculed for his failure to analyze a Shakespeare sonnet.  He, unknown to the professor, has actually been moved by Shakespeare. His life is changed--he becomes an English major. WWI breaks out. He does not return to the farm but instead takes a teaching job while studying for his M.A. and Ph.D.  USA enters the war but Stoner, unlike most young men at the university, doesn't enlist. Instead he stays and finishes his Ph.D. Teaching:  He feels the literature deeply, but he finds he cannot communicate this to students. Unable to formulate. Other things:  Stoic work ethic.  Work and study . . . and nothing else.    Separation from parents physically and intellectually causes pain to his soul . . .                            

Started this 1000 page book on recommendation of Steve R.  A little wary--does anyone have 1000 pages worth to say?  But I'm seeing this as a 10 page a day read. Can't quite tell what I'm in for. YEAR OF GLAD: Felt like a short story. Tennis player, top-notch, at U of A meeting regarding athletic scholarship.  He says nothing but sees everything.  Very funny at times: He's appalled that one of the U of A people uses whomsoever as a subject, for example. Kid is silent, Uncle speaks for him.  They send Uncle out of room and try to speak directly to the boy.  He apparently explodes in some guttural, terrifying language. They wrestle him to the ground and out of the room.  Liked it a lot. Great observation of details, of thinking, of group dynamics.  "Making it strange." A very typical meeting with the lens just a little out of typical focus and all the craziness is exposed.  The boy's craziness becomes a kind of sanity. Also, great descriptions that a

"Why didn't you stay and love me when I was sixteen, living with my little sisters and brothers, and you danced on the green?" Hounded by Alec; deserted by Angel. Angel changing.   "The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not only in its achievement, but in its aims and impulses." Magic of working late at night in spring, with company:  "The air was fresh and keen; there was a whisper of spring in it that cheered the workers on.  Something in the place, the hours, the crackling fires, the fantastic mysteries of light and shade made others as well as Tess enjoy being there." Tess returns to her parents house--and is spotted, putting her parents in worse trouble.  She leaves. Finally she turns on Angel--he wasn't fair to her, she knows it.  Heartbreaking letters. A short period of love in a deserted manor home.  Really, a wonderful respite.  Then, disaster. What a book!

Angel parts from Tess, unable to reconcile himself to her "past." Hardy is clear to mark this as his "limitation" in spite of all his forward thinking. Incredible scene where Tess hears noises in the night and discovers in the morning that the sounds come from birds that have been shot during a hunt and that are dropping, wounded.  She compares them to herself: "And not a twinge of bodily pain about me! I be not mangled, and I be not bleeding, and I have two hands to feed and clothe me."  She was ashamed of herself for her gloom of the night . Marian and Izz work with her on Flintcomb-Ash, a hell-like place made bearable by friendship. Birds from the arctic circle appear, omens of bad times. Milk:  "Londoners will drink it at their breakfasts tomorrow won't they? Strange people that we have never seen." She meets again with Alec who is now a preacher, fire and brimstone, but who immediately relapses when he sees Tess. Fantastic bo