If you have not seen Meryl Streep ripping off her wig in chain-smoking matriarchal delight, here is the summary: a Southern patriarch goes missing, and the family gets together. Old tensions and family secrets come to the fore, amidst a backdrop of stifling heat [sidenote: this is why I put up with long winters in the northern Midwest. I went to Texas to see my grandparents in the summer, and GOOD GOD, WHY IS IT SO HOT? I do not do extreme heat.] Family dysfunction […]
“Double, double, toil and trouble…”
Just to be clear, I am not going to include any spoiler warnings for this play, since it’s somewhere between 406-416 years old (sources seem to disagree exactly when it was written). If, for some reason, you’re worried about having major plot points or deaths (there’s a whole bunch, guys) ruined for you, then it’s probably best that you skip this review entirely. So Macbeth or the Scottish play. Despite having English lit as my minor at university, and Scottish history as part of my […]
Losing 10 years of your life makes for an interesting story
What Alice Forgot (2011) is the third book I’ve read by Liane Moriarty. I’ve enjoyed all of them, although Big Little Lies is still my favorite. The premise for this one was…perhaps a little unrealistic, but very intriguing, putting it in a strong second on my list of favorite Moriarty books. Alice wakes up on the floor of a spin class. She’s told that she’s fallen and was knocked out. Alice doesn’t understand why she’s in a gym, and she doesn’t know half the people calling out […]
All art is quite useless.
Sometimes the classics are classics for a reason. The Picture of Dorian Gray is playful, imaginative, and dark in all the right places. Even today its witty one-liners shine in this fast paced tale of one beautiful man’s great decline. The plot is simple. Amidst flowers and a light summer breeze from the open door into the sunfilled garden Basil Hallward paints a picture of Dorian Gray. It is the most beautiful picture, made so both by Dorian Gray’s physical beauty as well as the intangible […]