Back in December 2010, I picked Inside Job as my favorite documentary of the year. Director Charles Ferguson, with Matt Damon narrating, manages the impossible: clearly describing how the global financial melt-down occurred. It cost $20 trillion dollars and caused millions of people to lose their jobs, their houses, and their life-styles. You would think that Congress and the President would fix the problems that created so much destruction. But you would be wrong. It can all happen again. Corrupt politics, corrupt business practices, corrupt credit rating agencies still conduct business pretty much as usual. You can’t watch Inside Job without getting angry. No one has been held accountable. GRADE: A+
INSIDE JOB [WINNER OF THE 2011 OSCAR FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY]
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Andre Watts, a virtuoso piano player, brought Liszt to life beautifully in an all Liszt recital last night. This was Andre Watt’s third try to perform this concert. The first two attempts were canceled because he was ill for the first date and had fallen just before the second date. But last night, Watts showed up in fine form. From quiet, moody, dark passages to loud, sunny, bright ones, Watts plays in an effortless flowing style with precise and graceful dynamic ranges and transitions. Most notably, Watts separates notes and chords even in Liszt’s busiest, fastest passages. If Andre Watts performs in your neighborhood, you should make an effort to listen to this gifted pianist. GRADE: A-
Once again Subterranean Press has published a book I thought would never see the light of day. Thanks to the lovely Beth Fedyn, I’m now the proud owner of this omnibus collection. Hellcats & Honeygirls collects three sex novels that Lawrence Block and Donald E. Westlake collaborated on four decades ago: A Girl Named Honey, So Willing, and Sin Hellcat. The genre these novels fit into is called “sleaze” (but Lawrence Block prefers the term “erotica”). However, Block and Westlake are too savvy to just churn out run-of-the-mill titillation. Their novels have inside jokes and comic plot twists that will cause you to laugh out-loud. These paperback originals have been out-of-print for dozens of years. Now they’re available again. Buy this book fast before it’s gone!
“Self Reliance” is the last story of this short story collection. It’s about seven pages long. I’d suggest you read “Self Reliance” first as a test drive. If you like the story, then by all means read all of the stories in Binocular Vision. If “Self Reliance” doesn’t speak to you or turns you off, stop right there. All the stories share a unique sensibility. I have a mixed reaction to the 34 stories in Binocular Vision. Any humor in the stories is unintentional. Although Pearlman writes with the precision of a surgeon, the tone of most of her stories is chilly and distant. “Inbound” tells the story of a family touring the libraries of Harvard University. Their precocious young daughter gets separated from her mom and dad and disabled sister. The events are seen through the eyes of the lost child. The story’s conclusion stayed with me for days. There’s no denying the power of Pearlman’s stories. Amy Patchett’s “Introduction” praises Edith Pearlman’s work to the skies. I can’t go quite that far. GRADE: B
Those of you who freaked out after I reviewed The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler, the scenario of how our civilization will collapse, won’t find any solace in the DVD documentary COLLAPSE. Chris Smith, the director of American Movie and The Yes Men, films former LA cop turned rogue reporter, Michael Ruppert, as he predicts how our oil economy will fail, how our banking system will implode, and how we all need to get into “survival mode.” These are not the ramblings of some backwoods survivalist. Ruppert backs up his assertions with data. COLLAPSE is not for the faint-of-heart. I was on the edge of my seat while viewing this gripping monologue. GRADE: A
Karen Russell first wrote about Swamplandia!, the alligator wrestling theme park, in a short story “Ava Wrestles the Alligator” in her fine short story collection, St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves. This 316-page novel version features alligators, ghosts, daring rescues, and humor. Swamplandia! is on the verge of bankruptcy. Ava’s mother, a beautiful gator wrestler, has died. The family starts to fall apart. The grandfather is put in a nursing home. Ava’s sister elopes with a ghost. Ava’s brilliant brother, Kiwi, gets a job at a rival theme park, World of Darkness, and experiences teenage-angst. The father disappears on the mainland. The strongest part of Swamplandia! is Ava’s story. Karen Russell, for some unknown reason, hedges her bets by creating a parallel story of Kiwi working in the World of Darkness. Kiwi’s story is a pale shadow of Ava’s. Plus, Ava’s story is narrated in the first person and Kiwi’s story is told in the third-person, a technique that always annoys me. This is a promising novel that could have used an editor to cut 100 pages of rambling. And, I wish Russell had indulged in magical realism more. She has a flare for it. I can’t wait to read Karen Russell’s next book! GRADE: B+