March 2012 Recommended Reads, Listens and Looks

What? I was busy, okay? Writing and then the SHADOWS and ASHES cover reveals. Give me a break. Anyway, better late than never:

READS

Anthony, Lawrence; Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo. (St. Martin’s Griffin; 2008). Conservationist and Earth Organization founder Lawrence Anthony died in March at the age of 61. An insurance and real estate exec turned animal saviour, Anthony came to world attention in 2003 when, alarmed about what might be happening to the capital city’s zoo animals, he rushed to Iraq shortly after the American invasion. When he arrived, only a few weeks into the war, he discovered the zoo savaged by combat fire and ransacked by looters. The majority of the animals were gone, either killed by weapons fire, butchered by the city’s inhabitants for food, or removed to be sold on the black market. Although some American soldiers tried to keep the few remaining, highly traumatized animals alive–a pride of lions, a Bengal tiger, a terrified badger that had managed to burrow itself deep into the ground, and one nearly blind bear that fought off looters–their duties lay elsewhere, and the American military had yet to understand, much less sanction, rescue operations in the middle of an ongoing conflict. Enter Anthony, a man who’d already rescued a herd of rogue wild elephants on his Zululand game reserve. Through his energy and ceaseless efforts, these animal–as well as a pride of Hussein’s lions and his herd of prized Arabian horses–survived. Eventually, the US got into the act, and today, the Baghdad Zoo’s been rebuilt into what is reportedly the best in the Middle East. Whatever you think about zoos, this is a worthwhile read, though not an easy one. If you aren’t moved to tears by these animals’ suffering, you have no heart.  To read or listen to more about this remarkable man, check out the obit in the New York Times or listen to NPR’s interview with Anthony’s brother-in-law and co-author, Graham Spence.

Shriver, Lionel; We Need to Talk About Kevin. (Harper Perennial; 2011). I have to admit I’d been curious about this 2003 novel for some time but was a little turned off by the wallowing, the misery, and the epistolatory narrative about the lead-up to and aftermath of a school shooting, and so just never got around to it. In addition, it felt like a bit of a busman’s holiday; I am a child shrink, after all, and I’ve seen my share of violent, troubled kids.  Other books, fiction and non-fiction alike, on the same subject just haven’t done it for me either.  After a recent visit to the UK, however, I spotted the posters for last year’s movie (which I’ve not seen but which stars the gifted Tilda Swinton–an absolutely fabulous choice, if you ask me) and decided to give the book another try. I will be honest: I think there are many problems with this book–pacing, for one (there are just too many sidebars documenting an exhaustive list of school shootings) and, for another, the “surprise” twist near the end (which you see coming about a third of the way into the book and so makes this a bit of a slog). Ironically and because of this slog, the reader’s more than eager and ready for the “meat” of the matter by the denouement, which I’m not sure is intentional. I suppose the corollary would be sitting through Titanic, a movie I’ve never seen because, you know, the ship sinks and people die. I see no reason or reward in hunkering down for the spectacle–wow, lookit, the ship sinks and people die–but that is what happens in this book. More troublingly is the depiction of Kevin himself–a better candidate for the anti-Christ you’ll never find–which is just too skewed by this novel’s unreliable narrator.

Yet it is this mother’s narration that’s worth the trouble here. As a mom myself, I really could relate to a lot of her concerns and misgivings on just about everything related to the decision to have a child and her abilities as a mother. If you think that you’ll gain insights into what makes these kinds of kids tick (and there’s no concensus out there about what motivates school shooters), look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you don’t mind thinking about the troubling questions posed here, then this is worth your time. I found that this book was best if I traded off reading with listening and vice versa.  I don’t know if I’ll see the movie if and when it makes it over here (or to DVD)–John C. Reilly seems a very bizarre choice for the husband–but I might. 

If I do, though, I worry that I might have to cave and watch Titanic.  Quick, someone; stop me before it’s too late.

LISTENS

Shriver, Lionel; We Need to Talk About Kevin (narrated by Coleen Marlo; Harper Audio, 2011). See my review just above, but I will say that Marlo does a fabulous job here, capturing this highly troubled and somewhat sympathetic woman’s plight. As I said, I related to what she was talking about, and–really–some people shouldn’t become parents. Regardless of what happens, this woman isn’t . . . what the word I’m searching for . . . redeemed by her loss? Or perhaps it is that by the end of this listen (and read), you get the sense of the bizarre justice here: mother and son deserve each other.

LOOKS

Life (series creator, Rand Ravich; starring Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi; 2008-2009) I got interested in this series after watching Lewis’s work on the spectacular Showtime series, Homeland, which I reviewed in October, 2011. This delightful and tragically short-lived NBC series revolves around Zen-spouting, fruit-obsessed LAPD detective Charlie Crewes (Lewis). Sentenced to life after being convicted for murders he didn’t commit, Crewes is set free after twelve years, given a HUGE settlement of 50 million in damages, and returned back to, well, life. A guy who can afford anything, from an orange grove to a solar farm, Crewes returns to the LAPD, with an agenda: to find the real killer and uncover the conspiracy that sent him to prison in the first place. No spoilers here, but he succeeds, and yet those story lines are only part of the fun here. With a very good supporting cast in Sarah Shahi, who plays Crewes’s partner and recovering addict/alcoholic, Dani Reese, and Adam Arkin as embezzler and fellow convict turned personal money manager, Ted Earley, this is very nice ensemble show, without the CSI-schtick, violence or gore of other, grittier cop dramas. The strength of this series rest almost solely on Lewis’s capable shoulders; he can be quirky one moment, full of menace the next, and you can see hints of the kind of haunted, fairly spooky and tortured character he perfects in Homeland.

Warriors (Gavin O’Connor, director; Lionsgate, 2011). I don’t watch the WWF. I know nothing about mixed martial arts. I don’t particularly care for boxing–and yet, I sat through and really enjoyed this film about two estranged brothers (played by Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton) who end up competing in the same mixed martial arts tournament and their relationship to their alcoholic dad played with a swagger and gravelly bravado by Nick Nolte, a guy who’s no stranger to this problem. Nolte has always been highly watchable and he is here, too, although one scene–no spoilers–you can see coming a gazillion miles off because the story just begs for it, and the dad is a recovering alcoholic, after all. Ditto, who ends up in the final match . . . well, I mean, it just has to be. What is fun here—and intriguing, too–is not only how and why guys might do this sort of thing to one another (atonement, money, the thrill, money, notoriety, desperation . . . and did I mention that five million dollar purse?) but how much this film got me to care about and get excited over the spectacle of guys beating the crap out of each other. This is stuff I wouldn’t watch, ever. I just can’t imagine what could be so entertaining about it. But this is a film about war, too, and what’s worth fighting for.  So I was right there, rooting for these guys, gritting my teeth and grimacing at every thrilling punch and takedown. Am I convert? Uh, that would be no. On the other hand, if you don’t mind well-built guys, with some impressive six-packs and muscles on their muscles, whaling on each other and want a very nice, redemptive brother flick in the bargain, this is the movie for you.