Book Review: Independence Day – Richard Ford I’ve just completed Richard Ford’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Independence Day’, and I have to admit it left me a bit cold. The novel forms the middle part of a trilogy of large-ish books (beginning with ‘The Sportswriter’ and ending with ‘The Lay of the Land’) narrated by a notionally [...]
‘Realty’ and realism: the inner life of Frank Bascombe
March 9th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Fiction
Tags:Frank Bascombe·John Updike·Phil Hogan·Pulitzer Prize·Rabbit Angstrom·Richard Ford·small town America·The Guardian
Mickey Rourke on the canvas?
March 1st, 2009 · 4 Comments · Film
Film Review: The Wrestler – Darren Aronofsky 8/10 My irrational levels of excitement concerning Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’ were not due to the hype concerning Mickey Rourke’s latest comeback, but rather from a misguided obsession with American wrestling from my adolescence. Not just the glossier WWF (now WWE) end, but the dingier minor leagues that [...]
Tags:comeback·Directed by Darren Aronofsky. With Mickey Rourke·Evan Rachel Wood·Marisa Tomei·Minor League·naturalistic·Professional Wrestling·small town America·steroids·USWA·WWE·WWF
John Updike – Rabbit, Run
August 13th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Fiction
“He’ll get by without his rabbit pie … run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run” 9/10 ‘Rabbit, Run‘ is the first in a quartet of novels by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist that revolve around the varying fortunes of a former high school Basketball champion Rabbit Angstrom. All four novels were written at the end of [...]
Tags:1950s·1950s America·basketball·Death·John Updike·pregnancy·Rabbit Angstrom·small town America·society·USA