So…while I was not super intrigued by P.L. Travers’s rendering of Mary Poppins, I did feel that I needed to “collect” the series. After reading Mary Poppins Comes Back, I don’t really feel that need anymore. Mary Poppins has gone AWOL to where the wind changes, and naturally, the Banks family is in an uproar. Everybody is moody, and neither Mr. nor Mrs. Banks can seem to manage to parent their own children. Par for the course. So, when Michael and Jane take the twins […]
Otherwise called: SeaWorld is an Evil Corporation
I watched the documentary Blackfish on Netflix last month, and it blew my mind. I couldn’t believe the kinds of atrocities that happened to orcas in captivity. I remembered when Dawn Brancheau was killed by the whale Tilikum in February of 2010 and how horrifying it was. I also remembered when David Kirby’s first came out in 2012–I’d flipped through it, but it didn’t grab my attention. This time, however, knowing a bit more about the context and situation made me really invested. Death at […]
A Spoonful of Sugar or Lemon Juice?
When we all think of Mary Poppins, we think of that cheeky songstress, she of the wholesome face and flawless skin, Dame Julie Andrews. After all the press surrounding the film Saving Mr. Banks and learning that P.L. Travers was in fact very much against the making and production of her beloved book, I was curious to see how the movie depicted her heroine and the children. I’m very disappointed to report that the book Mary Poppins is nothing like the Julie Andrews I admired […]
The Many Lines of Beauty
I first read this book two years ago for my Twentieth-Century British Lit. seminar with my dissertation director. It’s the novel that inspired my dissertation, so it holds a special place in my heart. It’s also one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Nick Guest is young, white, British, and gay in Margaret Thatcher’s England. He is a permanent houseguest at the Fedden home, the seeming picture of familial perfection. Gerald, the father, is an MP, and madly “in love” with Thatcher. Rachel, […]
Not All Monsters Are Bad
I’ve been hearing about Lauren Groff’s Arcadia, and my friend S recommended her first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, to me. I thought I’d give it a try. Oh, man. So, so good. In the author’s note, Groff mentions that she was trying to write about Cooperstown, NY, where she grew up. She did–sort of–by weaving in characters from James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales and drawing on his novelistic concepts. While I have not read Cooper’s works, apart from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” I […]
This book really should be called “The Anti-Marriage Plot.”
I read The Marriage Plot a year and a half ago when I was still sorting out my dissertation topic and trying to figure out which texts I was using. After reading this book, I decided that it was necessary for my topic. So, this re-read is in preparation for the writing of my current chapter–and I promise, an unread book review is coming up soon! Madeleine Hanna is rather traditional in her book tastes–she prefers Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Balzac to more contemporary […]