About: The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

“In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...”

This first-person narrated tale of a woman on the run is a psychological trip as well as a real one. Although she changes names several times during the book, let’s refer to her a Tanya for the sake of avoiding confusion.

Tanya runs from a dead husband in the opening chapter, but that’s only the top of the iceberg as there is more in Tanya’s past that we are allowed to see at first. The trip sees her through a downgrading spiral both in her economic situation and her sanity, and endless changes of hair and cuts. It is also interesting how she gets her new identities in these new age of technology and records.

Despite her circumstances, at the core Tanya is a decent person with a conscience and although her actions are on the wrong side of the law, her motives somewhat justifies them, at least most of the times.

SPOILER ALERT:

There is a lot said about the twist at the end that I was anticipating a “Brad Pitt was a figment of your imagination in Fight Club,” but no, the reveal is more grounded in reality than that-thank god!

Overall, it is an interesting read, filled with suspense if not action scenes that are only sprinkled throughout the tale.

DISCLAIMER:

I was lucky to get my hands on an ARC from Lisa Lutz’s new novel The Passenger.

New blog post

Here's me at Bookbrowsing talking about the evolution of the dictionary.

https://bookbrowsing.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/the-evolution-of-the-dictionary-by-j-h-bogran/

Thank you,

About The Swans of Fifth Avenue

Some people are mighty curious. I know, I’m one of them. I spend much of my time in the IMDB.com reading the Trivia section of movies, especially the ones I have just watched. But where I’m curious about trivia facts, other people are keen to learn details of the lives of the celebrities.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue is a fictionalization of the story behind closed doors of Truman Capote and his friends in high society from New York, his swans. Author Melanie Benjamin takes us behind closed doors to experience how things may have developed between Truman and his friends, and their later fallen out. We are privy to the sanctum sanctorum of the former socialites like Babe Paley and her powerful husband Bill—none other than the CEO of CBS! We are taken on a journey from the early days when the high court of society fought over who had brought Truman first, and then as the friendship evaporates, those same Swans deny being responsible for letting him into the group. We also have the chance to experience the inner details of the famous Black and White Ball Mr. Capote threw back in 1966. An event that, as far as I can tell, was the place to be if you were somebody in New York in those days.

This is by no means history, and should not be considered as such. I say this because some people often confuse fiction with reality and take events depicted in novels and movies—historical movies mainly—and consider them true historical events.

Nevertheless, this enticing tale is an entertaining one, one that will be soon released. 

Get your copy here.

My interview of Brad Taylor

For the January edition of The Big Thrill I had the honour of interviewing a New-York Times best-seller author Brad Taylor about his new novel The Forgotten Soldier.

Here is the direct link:
http://www.thebigthrill.org/2015/12/the-forgotten-soldier-by-brad-taylor/

Enjoy.

The Force is strong in this one.

Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens

After seeing the movie for the first time, I left the theater with a desire to see the movie again. Yes, I think it was that good. The movie is not by any means flawless, but this time around, the ride to a far far away galaxy is one we can enjoy, a guilty pleasure, like chocolate. 

With J.J. Abrams behind the wheel, I confess that during the first twenty minutes I was expecting lens flares. Happy to report it was not the case. In fact, Mr. Abrams kept the Star Wars format to the letter: scrolling text at the beginning, a climax with actions in different places, and the ending with a long scene without dialogues. I hope that was choice and not just obedience to the contract.

We have three new lead characters, always three they are, and we follow the story through their eyes. Okay, maybe four if we count the new droid BB-8. Good choice to cast unknown because it steered fans away from expectations. We have new villain, and he wears a helmet and a red light-saber. The remains of the Empire has reorganized in what is now called The First Order, led by a character we have only met through hologram. It may be fitting, or a bad joke, but that digitally created character was played by Andy Sarkins.

Of course, fans of the original trilogy are pleased to see the comeback of siblings Luke and Leia, and Han Solo. The Millennium Falcon looks more decrepit than ever, but it still had it where it counts and it is by far the damn sexy ship.

SPOILER ALERT

Skip the following part if you haven’t seen the movie.

After the excitement subsides, you start to see script as a rehash version of Ep. IV, except everything is bigger in both range and scope. There’s a massive weaponized planet called the Star Killer, which is a Death Star on steroids, and to prove its power Star Killer destroys a planet (Alderaan anybody?). There’s a secret stored away inside a charismatic droid, and its search moves the story forward for quite a bit of the movie. We have a character unaware of The Force living in a desert planet, who also happens to be a marvelous pilot and not bad in hand-to-hand combat. Near the end we witness the passing of a wise old man. These are but a few, enough maybe to make the old fan giggle, and the new one wonder where all that came from.

There’s a few things I didn’t like. For example, Luke Skywalker’s original light-saber lost in Cloud City reappears, except now it is more than a simple object. It has the power to call to people who have The Force, it almost felt like a wand choosing a wizard in the Harry Potter world.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the movie is worth seeing. Twice or more. It had plenty of good new things so the reminiscences of the old don’t overshadow the story. It fact, it has the making of an epic story. And this is just the first of the three. 

But for the record, J J Abrams didn’t mess it up, in fact he infused the franchise with a breath of fresh air.