Review Round-Up
Books, movies, and shows I read/watched in April.
I write book reviews over on my main website but have been toying with the idea of moving those over here one day. I still haven’t decided what to do yet, so in an attempt to keep this Substack active I’m going to post mini reviews of what I’ve read and watched each month here!
Books
Not that I plan on speaking with the dead at any point, but this was a surprisingly informative read. I loved the different forms of divination that Goodchild highlighted, as well as the history of communing with the dead, including a look at different cultures funeral practices. Also, it’s just gorgeous. I love the illustrations!
Little Fish by Casey Plett - 4/5
An intimate, heartbreaking, complicated look on identity, addiction, being trans and queer, and surviving in this world. Nothing is ever clear or easy for Wendy and her friends, and though things turn bleak they don’t have to stay that way. A fantastic book!
Jennifer’s Body is amazing and I only watched it for the first time last year, also a victim of it’s poor marketing. Bilchert’s bite-sized analysis offers insight into why Jennifer’s Body is good and why it was doomed when it was released. It does get a bit repetitive, but I like a good love letter to a movie that has always deserved praise.
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review! Peter S. Beagle is one of my favourite fantasy authors so I was shocked when I got this in the mail. As usual it’s filled with Beagle’s signature wit and humour, but it also has it’s surprisingly serious moments. I do wish the book focused more on Robert, Reginald, and Cerise from the start rather than following some of the side character at the beginning. Still a great read!
Thank you NetGalley for sending me this in exchange for an honest review! I’ve seen this a lot on Goodreads and honestly, it was disappointing. The story goes between “Then” and “Now” and I figured out pretty quickly what was going to happen in the end. I was bored most of the time while reading, and the author used the word anodyne three times by the fifth chapter and mien four times overall, which is too many times for such odd words.
Movies
In a lot of ways this movie reminded me of Kate Beaton’s Ducks. Sophia Coppola doesn’t go out of her way to comment on Elvis and Priscilla’s relationship, she just shows it to the audience so that they can make their own conclusions. I’m surprised that Sophia Coppola can make something as good as this and The Virgin Suicides and then something as bad as The Bling Ring.
A very strong three stars. It attempts to make a statement about parasocial relationships and internet loneliness before throwing that out the window in the last five minutes. Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen are good in it though!
Another victim of poor marketing (and yes, I’ll readily admit I fell for the Glenn Powell and Sydney Sweeney affair rumours). If I’d known this was an adaption of Much Ado About Nothing, I would have been first in line to see this because honestly this movie was delightful. Light, fun (and funny), I hope Sydney Sweeney has started the modern-Shakespeare-romcom-renaissance!
I’m never going to understand why A24 didn’t campaign for this movie for the 2023 Oscar’s because it would have SWEPT the awards. This movie is so heartbreaking. Such a good look at the love and devotion of family (to a fault, in some ways) and how that love continues through adversity.
TV Shows
Nate’s got a brain disorder called AVM that’s getting worse and he and Brenda’s relationship seems rocky, neither of them enjoying settling into the mundanity of couple hood. Claire’s boyfriend Gabe has been robbing convenience stores and stole embalming fluid for some of the drugs he’s selling. Ruth is restructuring her life and her Russian boyfriend who was a big deal in season one is mentioned but not seen. David is still harbouring feelings for Keith. The show is currently set in 2001 and I don’t think 9/11 has happened in the timeline of the show yet (by my calculations it’s July/August) so I’m curious if there will be a shift in the writing like many shows experienced during that time.
I haven’t finished Arlong Park but I’m loving it so far, as well as the whole anime. Hooray for Nami’s backstory! Sad that the sea monster cow thing got beat up.