This is the most original and most entertaining book I’ve read in a while.
I picked up this book after seeing Stella Duffy do a reading (from another book) at my local library, and I’m glad I did.
It is the story of Los Angeles and the importance of image, of deception and lies, of trust and betrayal, all of this on a film background.
Written in the first person, we get an intimate knowledge of the three main characters, it is literally a sort of “behind the scenes” of a world we are all curious about.
The narrator has got Stella’s sense of humour, and we are never bored. In fact, we empathise so much with her that we almost think she is right to commit the crime she does. It’s difficult to be in a lesbian relationship in Hollywood, everyone is in the closet, so we can’t help but root for her.
There is a big surprise at the end - I really hadn’t seen that one coming - and we get to the end before we know it, as it is such a page turner and such an exciting read.
The only criticism I have got for it is the wrap up of the letters at the end - too obvious. However, the book scores pretty much maximum marks in every other way, so this is highly recommended.
At first, I didn’t like it. The first ten minutes. The black and white graphic style was too simple to hold my attention. Then I got drawn into it and I started to sympathise with the characters. Then I empathised. Then I cried. A lot.
This is the true story of Marjane, a young Iranian girl during the revolution. From the tyranny of the Shah to the tyranny of the new Islamic fundamentalists rulers.
Raised by a modern and socialist family, Marjane cannot accept the lies of the new regime and for her safety, she is sent to Vienna to stay with a friend of the family. But all is not easy for the young teenager and she returns to Iran a few years later.
Will she like the new Iran? Will she fit in the new Iran? Will she accept to look “modest” and wear a veil?
This film has a particular resonnance for me because I grew up watching the Iraq/Iran war every night on the news. Also, I grew up in a family not dissimilar from Marjane’s family, except that we were living in France. That little difference - the fact that we lived in France - meant that I didn’t have to suffer the way Marjane did. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have dreams of a socialist revolution and to find yourself in a fundamentalist nightmare.
The film was originally a graphic novel and the style has been kept. Even if you aren’t a fan of graphic novels, don’t let that put you off. You might need a few moments to get into it but I guarantee you that you will soon be rooting for Marjane, her mother, her father, her grandmother and her uncle.
Catherine Deneuve and her real life daughter Chiara Mastroianni provide the voices for Marjane’s mother and Marjane in both the french and english versions of the film. And they make a fine job of it as I found myself fancying Marjane’s mother (until now, I didn’t know I could fancy a cartoon character lol)… which shows the power of voices because I do actually rather fancy Catherine Deneuve but I didn’t know she was doing the voice because I hadn’t paid attention to the opening credits.
Films with lesbian characters in the british asian community are rare enough (Nina’s Heavenly Delights [2006] is the only one that easily comes to mind) but films with lesbian characters in an indian village are even rarer!
Visually, the film seems to be set in the 70s. As no formal identification of the year the story takes place in is given, I will assume this is deliberate and the story is indeed set in the 70s. It doesn’t matter much, it’s only a visual cinematographic style.
The story, though quite obvious from the start, is charming and well done if atmosphere, small every day gestures and a slower pace is your thing. Personally, I could have done with a bit more action, but nonetheless, the film is enchanting.
So what do I know about Indian cinema? Well, not a lot, except that it’s all about Bollywood and people singing. So I was a bit worried it would turn out this way but the director has managed to put in the right amount of Indian music and dancing without turning it into a musical. There is no singing and the dancing and music are limited to short atmospheric scenes. As a side note, I like musicals but I need to be in the right mood for them…
This film is a study of society in small indian villages and touches upon many cultural traditions, including (arranged) marriages. It questions many things through characters of different generations, leaving the viewers to draw their own conclusions.
Both the most touching and the most disappointing thing about this film is the ending. The last few scenes are left open as to their outcome, so we haven’t resolved the “will they/won’t they?” question.
Despite its flaws, this is a good film, though perhaps more appropriate for fans of independent cinema. Well worth a look.
I both loved this book and felt let down by the last page.
This is a true story of a young midwife working in London’s East End in the 1950s. Back then, midwifery was still a relatively new discipline and of course, it was still unusual for women to work, even though the second world war had helped the cause a lot.
The book is an account of her experience, interlacing general observations about the living conditions in the East End with details of specific families and births. Jennifer Worth is very good at giving a sense of the times, mixing up descriptions with dialogue, narration with action.
London’s East End was a tough place to live in the 1950s, striken with poverty, slums, prostitution, overcrowded dwellings, limited future for children and basically, it was seen as a condemned place, yet the authorities were slow at acting when it came to actually demolishing all the condemned houses and tenements.
Jennifer gives a vivid picture of what it was like to live there back then, and if you have any curiosity regarding London’s recent history, this is worth reading.
So why I didn’t like the last page? Well, the last page made it all sound as if what she got from the experience was solely more love for God, as opposed to more love for the human race, or more understanding of the human race, or more tolerance for her fellow human contemporaries.
Jennifer shows great strength of character throughout the book, which made the ending even more disappointing. I was hoping this experience would give her the desire to do something a bit more useful for others (finding God is a personal experience and not really useful for other human beings). Because of the evangelical ending, I cannot recommend it.
Lisa Jewell is the queen of London based contemporary novels, with books such as Thirtynothing and One-hit Wonder.
Well, while “Vince and Joy” features plenty of North London locations (and the token South London location, in the shape of Stockwell, is heavily criticised, but her North London arrogance is besides the point here), it features none of her other qualities.
Weighting in at 500 pages, you’d expect a complex story wouldn’t you. Well, what you get is a story that could have been written by a 8 year old. I’m not kidding, the main plot is very bad and the overuse of flash back is cringing. The slices of London lifestyle and her well observed description of behaviours aren’t enough to keep the book going.
I am baffled because I have always liked her books but this one is a stinker. It’s so simple that you can work everything out before it happens. Also, the characters conveniently bump into each other in London and at Gatwick Airport. I mean, this is London, not a village! How often do you bump into someone you know in Covent Garden? Yeah, thought not. And at the airport, while waiting for your luggage? Me neither.
If you like Lisa Jewell, do yourself a favour and don’t read this book. If you don’t know her work, do yourself a favor and pick up another of her books (my favourite is One-hit Wonder). Not recommended.
It has been a while since a book has enchanted me as much as this book. Following the life of Miss Cordelia Preston, the daughter of an actress and the niece of a mesmerist, is an emotional roller coaster.
Bloomsbury wasn’t the posh area that it is now, the nobility ruled London, actors and actresses might get recognised in the street but weren’t seen as respectable, and Drury Lane wasn’t safe to walk.
London was at the time strongly divided between the social classes. It wasn’t so much about how rich you were but about how respectable you were. More than anybody else, Miss Cordelia Preston knew that society was divided in two, and unfortunately, she belonged to the not-respectable class.
But Miss Cordelia Preston isn’t one to accept her fate without fighting and so, together with her best friend Miss Amyrillie Spoons, they embark on an exciting journey. Wounds from the past appear, scandals abound, but like soldiers of life, they carry on and on. They suffer but they also laugh a lot.
This is an empowering tale of a woman in her 40s, which was considered an old age almost two centuries ago. Strength, humor, courage, surviving. Absolutely recommended.
This film is literally a who’s who of the french actresses dominating the screens for the last couple of decades. So what happens when you put together such a talented cast? A great film or an ego fight?
The film is adapted from a play. They have kept the same locations as for the play and besides a few outside shots, everything takes place in the same few rooms of the house. Still, the actresses have so much screen appeal that you forget about the monotonous locations, you just follow the story.
The film features 8 women and 1 man. It is in essence a social study of women, women from different generations and with different social status. The characters are well rounded, each of them making decisions that fit so well with their personality that you forget they are on the screen and you feel you are at a meal watching your family or your friends.
If you aren’t familiar with french cinema, you won’t recognise all the names but Catherine Deneuve and Virgine Ledoyen should be familiar to you. However, even though they have both crossed over to Hollywood, do not get mistaken - this film is resolutely french, in all its culture and sense of humour.
For a start, the film includes popular french songs, as a way to both push forward the plot and bring a bit of reprieve to the seriousness of the situation they find themselves in. This device had a revival in France in the late 90s with films such as “on connait la chanson” (1997).
While the use of songs might be lost on people not knowing french popular music culture, the characters, so well defined and reminding us of various women we all know, easily build the bridge with other cultures. The 8 women are portrayed neither in negative nor in positive light. Simply, between them, this is a great study not only of women but of human beings, with emotions ranging from jealousy to protection, from freedom to fear.
As these women are meant to represent women, you won’t be surprised to know that lesbianism is included. It’s both a big deal for some of the characters and not a big deal for other characters; again, this is the sort of mixed reaction one often gets when coming out to the whole family, with family members from various ages and social backgrounds. However, considering that the film is set in the 50s, this is rather unheard of to not only mention lesbianism but also have a lesbian kiss scene. Mind you, Catherine Deneuve has some experience in lesbian kisses (”The Hunger”, “Les voleurs” etc)…
8 women. 8 great french actresses. a great study of women and human beings. lesbianism in the 50s. a hot lesbian kiss with Catherine Deneuve. Do you need more reasons to watch it? Recommended.
“Happy-Go-Lucky” isn’t quite everything you would expect from its title. It follows Poppy, a smiling 30 year old primary school teacher in North London.
Most critics have said that this film is a departure from Mike Leigh’s style. I couldn’t agree more, though possibly for different reasons.
The opening of the film sees Poppy ridding her bike through London, and ending up in a bookshop on Lower Marsh. This is a real bookshop by the way - this film is packed with great London locations.
So far so good… until she opens her mouth. The man looking after the bookshop has a beard and a typical alternative intellectual look, and Poppy bombards him with questions and half thought out interjections. He doesn’t warm up to her at all so she becomes sarcastic. Then she gets back to her bike - and horror, it’s been stolen!
So far, I’m already not liking the way she interacts with people. I don’t think she really tried to bring the best out of the shop manager, or tried to make him smile; to me, it seemed like she was criticising him for not smiling, when in fact she doesn’t know him.
But this isn’t the worst by all means. The film is supposed to show us a happy character and how it is easier to live with a smile. But the character is a parody of such a character, and yet very inconsistent. Why do you do if you are a smiling and happy person and your bike gets stolen? Take it in your stride? No, apparently, it’s a good enough reason to learn how to drive, even though she lives five minutes walk from a tube station (she shares a flat on the corner of Finsbury Park Road) and every non-comformist person in London either rides a bike or uses public transport. So why does she want to drive? Ah, the answer is The Plot. Comes in the crazy driving instructor… How convenient…
Other problems with the film include a 10 minutes long scene with a homeless person. This scene doesn’t fit in with the plot at all. Also, relationships between the characters aren’t really shown in depth. We know she’s been living with her flatmate for 10 years and they are both teachers; we know they are good friends, but we don’t know how they met, or how close they are (her flatmate clearly gets annoyed when Poppy gets a boyfriend but we’re not sure why).
Poppy meets a guy, a social worker helping one of her pupils dealing with abuse at home. This shows promise, except that it doesn’t get solved, and we still don’t know what happens to the kid. We also have the classic family argument - three sisters, 1 of them very different from the others.
This film accumulates cliche after cliche. This is why it is a departure from Mike Leigh’s style. In the past, he has delivered us films with first class characters, people that seemed so real on the screen that we couldn’t help but cry and laugh and cry with them. On the contrary, “Happy go lucky” is full of cardboard characters. Happy-not-so-lucky for Mike…
The only good thing about this film is its use of London locations. Most of the locations are in North London, which in itself is quite a cliche too, but still, it’s fun to spot them. Not recommended.
This was one of the first films with a lesbian character I saw on the big screen. Not only was there a lesbian character (Jane, played by Whoopi Goldberg) but she was a very likeable character, someone with a big heart and who did the right thing to help her friends.
This film marks the return to form of Drew Barrymore, and I’m surprised it hasn’t got a bigger place in Hollywood history. Maybe it is because of the themes it deals with?
As not only is there a very likeable lesbian character, but there is also an AIDS sufferer. No, not a gay man, but a straight woman. Sure, in the mid 90s, people knew that AIDS wasn’t a “gay disease” but most films focusing on the subject featured gay or bisexual male sufferers.
The film follows three women, three very different women, who are all running away from something. The film is the story of their friendship, a story of survival, a story of hope that laughter and friendship can solve everything.
The three actresses give outstanding performances and you cannot help yourself but empathise with all three characters. You laugh with them and you cry with them.
Did I mention that the soundtrack is a who’s who of the great female artists of the 70s, 80s and 90s? Annie Lennox, Sheryl Crow, The Pretenders, Joan Armatrading etc
Sadly, the film is only available on Region 1 DVD (= USA). I am shocked that it isn’t available as Region 2 DVD (= Europe) as well because this film was groundbreaking in its day, and still groundbreaking today. Highly recommended.
Every year, England gets excited about Wimbledon, the tennis championship. But what about “Wimbledon” the film?
This is a straight romcom taking place in, you’ve guessed it, Wimbledon, during the championship. The shots of Wimbledon are great and they even got John McEnroe involved to do the commentary on the matches. From a location point of view, the film gets it 200% right, whether it is Wimbledon, or the vibe on London South Bank at night, or the atmosphere on Brighton sea front in the early hours of the morning.
However, this is where the greatness of this film stops. It seems like they have spent more time focusing on the locations than on character development and they ask us to care about the relationship between 2 cardboard characters; frankly, I can’t care.
Paul Bettany plays Peter Colt, a player ranked 119th, who was given a wild card to play Wimbledon and who is expected to lose in the first round. Kirsten Dunst plays Lizzie Bradbury, a young american player, tipped to be the next winner. And the end? I bet you could come up with an endind much better and original than what they came up with…
The film might be worth a look if you like tennis (I do and was impressed by the shots) or if you want to see some London locations, including the Dorchester Hotel, but expect nothing from the story. Not recommended.
I'm Nat JM and "Taking off" is my debut novel, to be published later in the year.
The novel follows Katie, a 26 year old londoner trying to change her life for the better, after a costly mistake.
I have put together this website to share my passion for the central themes of the novel - London, green issues and women - by writing reviews of books, films and whatever else I fancy.
So whether you want to read a good lesbian romance or a novel with a strong female character, find out about London's hidden gems or about various green issues, search no further.
Use the tags below, or the search box underneath, to navigate.
is the only one that easily comes to mind) but films with lesbian characters in an indian village are even rarer!
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