New content!!! Yes, I'm an active reader, but I also enjoy watching films. I usually refrain from critical commentary (aside from some mini Letterboxd reviews), but earlier this week I watched Bodies Bodies Bodies, the new A24 film, and I had so many thoughts that I just had to get them out here. Cheers to me turning this book blog into a lifestyle blog instead. Don't worry, upcoming content is decidedly bookish in nature: I recently announced I will be revamping my retired Cover Love feature with a new post for the month of September. First, a brief summary: the film is a horror movie centered around a group of wealthy Gen Z young adults, all of whom are staying at one of their houses for a weekend, during a hurricane. This creates a locked-room mystery when characters start dying. From A24: "When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game goes awry in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong." There is an immediate insider/outsider divide established in the group, as most of them are friends but two of the friends (Sophie--Amandla Stenberg--and Alice--Rachel Sennott) have brought significant others who have never met the group before. These are essentially strangers, and they help add a layer of distrust and confusion when things start to go wrong. Reputation and trust play a huge part in the film, as characters use their prior bonds to justify each others' potential innocence and guilt. As a graduate of a New England prep school (I own this and all the ridiculousness that goes into it), I was most disturbed at the end of the movie by the concept that all of the characters in this film could be credibly replaced by an amalgamation of people I knew in high school. Sure, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a horror film, but it's also a black comedy with moments where characters act with such social and political ineptitude that most audiences would be jarred out of the film experience by thinking "surely nobody would let /that/ come out of their mouth unchecked." Prime examples include (paraphrasing) "Of course he's a good person, he's a libra moon," "'Your parents are upper middle class... they're professors.' 'no they're not... they teach at a *public* university,'" "David’s dad can be a dick but his politics check out," and my favorite: "Don’t call her a psychopath. It’s so ableist." Surely, you think, as you sit in the theater, no one would just... say these things out loud... AND YET. AND YET they do, every day. I promise. The script is heavy handed intentionally, and I approve. Lessening any of the drama and righteousness attributed to each of these characters would do the film a disservice in its pursuit of irony. I would argue that despite being advertised as a horror film, and though it comes with a fair amount of blood, Bodies Bodies Bodies is more interesting as a power struggle drama while audiences track shifting relationships and watching characters fall in and out of favor with each other. Exactly like high school. Director Halina Reijn sticks true to the film's title by including a lot of group imagery--swimming, dancing, close gatherings during partying and arguments. This made sense to me, as the tension of this particular mystery was based on group dynamics rather than isolation-based fear. The more these characters had to be around each other, the more opportunities they had to needle each other and push long-standing buttons. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a critique of social media culture--contrasting a world where social justice buzzwords like "gaslighting" "toxic" and "ally" are thrown around with the same rooms where characters are actually being brutally murdered. It investigates superficiality, where rich young people reveal their venomous sides from the start, and only get worse. The script lets all of these ideas through even while it works overtime ensuring that none of the characters are portrayed solely as villains. They have intense inner lives and conflicts, which we see play out for everyone in group and solo shots. The friends aren't caricatures, they're real people to audiences with interesting problems and relationships. The group casting is standout, and they were all effective in their given roles, but I feel that Rachel Sennott as Alice was the standout performer. I've seen her work before (Shiva Baby) and immediately marked her as a star to watch. This film proves that she is diversifying her portfolio and can succeed in a variety of castings. Alice is, in short, every girl from my high school rolled into one. Fun, vacuous, deeply concerned with appearing socially conscious, terminally online. Bodies Bodies Bodies lets Sennott unleash her impeccable comedic timing, and I can't wait to see what she does next. Overall I'm giving Bodies Bodies Bodies a 4/5 star rating. This is the first film I've seen that I think effectively critiques Gen Z internet culture in a meaningful way. I think satire can engage with these issues while being funny and insightful in a way that we desperately need if we are going to examine our relationships with online visibility and how it permeates our personal relationships.
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Longtime readers may remember a monthly feature I've hosted in the past, where I shared some upcoming releases that had gorgeous covers. I discontinued the series in March 2021 because it was just... a lot to keep up with, and (full disclosure) the web service I use doesn't make it very easy to format these posts. However, I've missed browsing covers and peeking at upcoming publications, so join me in welcoming back this much-loved feature. You can expect to see the September post in a few days, under a new format!
Once upon a time, the kingdoms of Wales were rife with magic and conflict, and eighteen-year-old Mererid “Mer” is well-acquainted with both. She is the last living water diviner and has spent years running from the prince who bound her into his service. Under the prince’s orders, she located the wells of his enemies, and he poisoned them without her knowledge, causing hundreds of deaths. After discovering what he had done, Mer went to great lengths to disappear from his reach. Then Mer’s old handler returns with a proposition: use her powers to bring down the very prince that abused them both.
The best way to do that is to destroy the magical well that keeps the prince’s lands safe. With a motley crew of allies, including a fae-cursed young man, the lady of thieves, and a corgi that may or may not be a spy, Mer may finally be able to steal precious freedom and peace for herself. After all, a person with a knife is one thing… but a person with a cause can topple kingdoms. The Drowned Woods is steeped in Welsh folklore and magic, and it's an absolute joy to read. I blew through this novel in a day, and found it unputdownable. The novel is standard length for a YA fantasy, but feels much shorter due to the fast pacing. I found this quite agreeable, and thought that the character development fit well within the heist framework. To me, The Drowned Woods is not a typical story of heroism--everyone in the book exists within a moral grey area, which makes their actions and relationships with one another particularly interesting. Mer and her former spymaster have a familial relationship that is, at its foundation, built on her kidnapping for example. Therefore the dynamics of the heist are more nuanced than a "hero saves the day" story. Mer ponders past actions, forgiveness both for herself and others, and how to right wrongs as she works to undermine the prince. My copy of this book arrived out of the blue, exactly at the moment I needed it. A big heist story with a large cast of characters, each of whom has a unique reason to be there and a different skill to bring to the quest, appealed to me as I am also about to rejoin a group of friends and fit among others in a new way. My favorite character was Mer. This is typical for me, as I am fond of the characters who are prioritized in the narration and who get the most extensive background. I found her introspection a welcome break from the action-packed chapters, and her backstory felt well-fleshed out. I wish some of the other characters had gotten similar treatment, but with six main characters it would be difficult to allot page time to everyone, I understand. (Here is where I'll insert my lobbying for a Renfrew sequel/prequel, if the publishing gods so please!!) I loved the experience of reading The Drowned Woods, and found it an enjoyable read for my afternoon. It was so pleasing to be lost in this world of magic and Welsh fantasy. 5/5 stars. Isaac Fitzgerald has lived many lives. He's been an altar boy, a bartender, a fat kid, a smuggler, a biker, a prince of New England. But before all that, he was a bomb that exploded his parents' lives-or so he was told. In Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald, with warmth and humor, recounts his ongoing search for forgiveness, a more far-reaching vision of masculinity, and a more expansive definition of family and self.
Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays begins with a childhood that moves at breakneck speed from safety to violence, recounting an extraordinary pilgrimage through trauma to self-understanding and, ultimately, acceptance. From growing up in a Boston homeless shelter to bartending in San Francisco, from smuggling medical supplies into Burma to his lifelong struggle to make peace with his body, Fitzgerald strives to take control of his own story: one that aims to put aside anger, isolation, and entitlement to embrace the idea that one can be generous to oneself by being generous to others. Gritty and clear-eyed, loud-hearted and beautiful, Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a rollicking book that might also be a lifeline. I have been getting into memoirs and essays lately. I think because they're easy to read, the prose is often compelling, and stopping after one or two chapters feels like I've reached a natural end point to a story. There are no surprise cliffhangers (typically) in a book of essays. The other thing about me, is that I LOVE Massachusetts. I've lived here forever, and I'd read any book set in my area. I get such a kick out of recognizing landmarks and experiences pertaining to my home state. So of course when I heard about Dirtbag, Massachusetts, I had to pick up a copy. Fitzgerald absolutely delivers on the promise of grounded, heartfelt stories that convey his childhood and early adult life in an interesting and compassionate way. His varied and wild life experiences tie together to create a self-narrative that still feels cohesive, and he's clearly a gifted writer. Our experiences of the state are vastly different, due to the fact that I am both younger than him and that we grew up in wildly different regions. (Side note: yes, even this tiny state has remarkable regional differences, and we can and do make assumptions about people based on what part of MA they're from). I enjoyed reading about Fitzgerald's experience in MA, which due to his family history has both positive and negative aspects which he analyzes with a critical eye. It's good for me to continue reading other authors on the subject and develop a rounded perspective on how others view my state. I tend to take a rose-colored view, I admit. I don't know if I could name a favorite chapter specifically, but one that struck me was when he discussed serving as a volunteer with an illegal medical aid network in Burma. He understood why he volunteered and discussed aspects of traversing cultural boundaries in an attempt to help people, but acknowledged a lens in which his journey of self-discovery was also a savior narrative since he was not a trained professional in the field. The nuance and consideration FItzgerald is able to bring to his own life experiences, rather than glamorizing them for print, is remarkable. This collection of stories is a hot buy for the summer, and I agree. I will definitely be recommending this one for years to come. 5/5 stars. |
The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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