BOOK REVIEW ; THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Title : The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Author : F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

You want curious? Fitzgerald gives you curious. 

I ordered this book with the Amazon giftcard I received from a survey (yay splurge!) as this book, as a lot of classics, is expensive. 

When it came in the mail I thought I was tricked. 

It was a book larger than normal paperback proportions, very thin, with big handwriting. Really? Best part is when there are empty pages. Imagine. Empty chapters. 

The contents, however, were classy. It tells you about the life of Benjamin Button, right from when he was a newborn old man to his last stages of life as a kid. Yes, it is a reverse agig process that Benjamin had. From being a shunned baby of the society, to the dazzlig husband and the object of admiration, to the last dregs of life spent playing with his own grandchildren. And I mean play as in playmates, not a grandfather-grandson relationship. 

A marvel. 

Rating : 10/10

Review of movie coming up!

BOOK REVIEW ; FATALE

Title : Fatale (translated from French)

Author : Jean-Patrick Manchette

The best book in my Crime Fiction class so far.

Since it is so straight-forward and Aimee is so no-nonsense.

The book tells us about Aimee, who first killed out of necessity then turned it into a job. She jumps from one town to another, avenging the middle class by destroying the aristocrats of the society. She stumbled on this particular town, got to know the high society, and with an insider who is ready to spill the beans, managed to concoct a plan that makes that select group of people hate each other. Hating enough to kill.

Although it does seem a simple story, Manchette writes in a fashion which I found eye-opening. There are some parts of the book where I just stopped reading to catch my breath and re-focus my conscience. She made me as ruthless as she is in the story. But it did not border at all with Hammett's killing where we move on so quickly after a death. In Fatale, all deaths come as a terrible blow. This book made deaths personal.

Some quotes which took my breath away;

 "Well, it's the same as ever, isn't it? It seems slow, but actually it is quite fast. Sex always comes first. Then money questions. And then, last, comes the old crimes."

''SENSUAL WOMEN, PHILOSOPHICALLY MINDED WOMEN, IT IS TO YOU THAT I ADDRESS MYSELF.''

Rating : 10/10

BOOK REVIEW ; LITTLE BEE

Title : Little Bee
Author : Chris Cleave

Beautiful.

That is what I will use to describe this book.

It is about a girl named Little Bee who escaped from Nigeria, fleeing the grasp of capitalism (oil) that destroyed her village and everything she knows of in the world. Little Bee managed to smuggle herself onto a barge heading towards the UK, and she found herself in a detention center for 2 years. Released early, she hold onto only what she has; her new obsession of English and a business card.

A call in the early hours of the morning jolted a family into a spiral of events that subsequently shaped their future. Little Bee repesents fate; and helps us question life dynamics as we know it.

A refresher from the genre i have been delving in a lot recently. 

Although it seems like I can't really run from crime. 

Rating : 10/10

BOOK REVIEW ; THE ALEXANDRIA LINK

Title : The Alexandria Link 

Author : Steve Berry

The end signals a change for me. Move on from Berry, it has became too predictable. 

Cotton Malone comes back to save his son's life, Gary. With the aid of his ex-wife, both try to find their son only to discover that the kidnapping is a ruse for something bigger. Something America, Israel and Saudi Arabia will die for. The truth of the Holy Land. 

The speculations on the Old Testament and the New Testament fuels the plot of this novel. All of the mysteries were said to be cleared by the contents of the long lost Library of Alexandria. Did Cotton saved the day?

Oh yes. As predicted. 

Wiki page on Library of Alexandria, for history readers. (Can't call ourselves buffs yet, eh?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

Rating : 7/10

BOOK REVIEW ; THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN

Title : The Laughing Policeman

Authors : Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Professor's intro : Whomever had encounters with The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (which by the way is awesome!) should be more familiar with this book. 

So I read it. The Laughing Policeman is the 4th installment in the 10-book series by husband and wife team Sjowall and Wahloo. The background is Sweden, and  it is categorized as noir fiction. 

This being my 4th official noir fiction book, I kind of have an expectation and a basis of judging already, which in this case clouded my judgement far too much for my liking. 

But here it goes. 

A mass murder of 9 people in a bus happened on a dreary, rainy night. As the crime scene was "tampered" by 2 deadbeat cops who tried to get the first glimpse, the case was meeting a dead end. A team from the homicide squad was assembled, and as time crept by, additions were made from other precincts. All were puzzled by this big question, why on Earth is Ake Stenstrom, one of their own, was on the bus and subsequently was killed?

The uncertainty of everything brought all if them in circles, abandoning norms to second-guessing and pure trajectories. 

Was this case a result of an unfinished case that happened years ago?

Plot twist: the end was already in the beginning. 

Case solved. 

And my headache intensified with the names and places that I can't get myself familiar with. This is a big topic in class, i predict. 

Rating : 8/10

BOOK TO MOVIE ; TALENTED MR RIPLEY

Curiosity got the better of me. 

Why on earth did Professor Dienst assign the second best when we could read the best?

Having to make do with the resources I have, I turned to the screen. Maybe that was dear Professor's intention anyways. 

Although I said that Ripley's game (refer blogpost before) wasn't that noir, he was an interesting character enough to prompt me to understand his character more. Hence the movie. 

Having not read Talented Mr. Ripley yet, I was in for a surprise. This was the base for our character! How did he get rich, who was Dickie Greenleaf, and who Tom Ripley was before he is who he is in Ripley's Game. It was beautiful watching the preview of the book while knowing that this is about another book entirely. 

Putting both the movie Talented Mr. Ripley and the book Ripley's Game on the table, I suggest that we read the whole series (nicknamed Ripliad)!

1)Talented Mr Ripley

2) Ripley Under Ground

3) Ripley's Game

4) The Boy Who Followed Ripley

5) Ripley Under Water

Boy oh boy, looking at the last installment gives me shivers. (Watch the movie!)

And...that might be a good gift for my upcoming birthday,no?

BOOK REVIEW ; RIPLEY'S GAME

Title : Ripley's Game

Author : Patricia Highsmith

This was more normal than I thought. 

Tom Ripley in this installment of the series has already enough money and happiness in the world to want to dabble in crime anymore. Until a request from an acquaintance came at a perfect timing that he can't refrain himself from suggesting the perfect murder. 

Using the powers of persuasion and threat of death, Ripley brought two strangers together to plan murders of some members of the Mafia. The plan backlashed somehow, and Ripley found himself changing from a spectator to having an active role in events. 

Mafiosi dead, Hamburg safe, money earned, and one regretted but inevitable death. Ripley tried to persuade himself that this death will definitely come in the space of few months, so it didn't matter. 

Ripley wasn't that noir in the first place for me to judge him. He was just taking chances and putting stuff together, great schemer he is. 

Definitely on the light side of noir, although the book cover and presence of garrots suggest otherwise. 

Rating : 8.5/10