For Feisty Feminists

I’m about 8 books behind in my Cannonball Read reviews, so why not write a movie review?  For those of who don’t know what the movie is about: Milk is the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a major public office - in 1977 he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He, along with Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated by Dan White, another Supervisor, after White resigned, then changed his mind, but was refused reappointment by the Mayor. (That’s not a spoiler, since the first five minutes of the movie feature a montage of newspaper clippings and press footage about Milk’s death). The movie is directed by Gus Van Sant, with Sean Penn as Harvey Milk.

That’s the bare bones outline, but really it’s the story of gay men living in San Francisco and the troubles they faced - a police force who simultaneously persecuted them for being gay and refused to take murders in the Castro district seriously (in one scene, a police officer repeatedly refers to a murdered man’s boyfriend as his ‘trick’); a growing evangelical backlash to laws giving basic civil rights laws, such as a law prohibiting the firing of gay employees on the basis of sexual orientation; and open hostility from neighbors and nearby business owners.

Any description of this movie makes it sounds heavy, and while it does deal with heavy themes, and ends tragically, the movie is surprisingly upbeat.

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These books were not read in this order, but there’s not too much to say about Wodehouse that hasn’t been said far more eloquently by others.

Thank You, Jeeves was one of the first full Jeeves & Wooster novels written by Wodehouse. Bertie Wooster takes up the banjolele, causing Jeeves to leave his post. Bertie moves to the country with his new valet. As with almost every other book, a woman who was formerly engaged to Bertie is now engaged to a friend of his, and there is a rift between the two - and it looks like Bertie will now have to marry her. In this book, it is not the woman who wants to marry him, but her father that wants to marry her off - so much so that he traps Bertie on his yacht, locking him in a room until he can arrange for the two to be married. Of course, love triumphs in the end, but only after Bertie’s new country home is burned down by his new valet - along with his banjolele. With the banjolele gone, Jeeves returns to Bertie’s service.

In Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Jeeves is offended not by a musical instrument, but by Bertie’s new moustache. The book features some of Wodehouse’s more frequently used characters, such as Aunt Dahlia and Roderick Spode. Aunt Dahlia is one of my favorite characters, especially the way she relates to Bertie, in a love-hate relationship that always involves a scheme in which Bertie will play a part. Bertie tries madly to keep an acquiantance, Stilton Cheesewright, engaged to Florence Cray (his former fiance) but the two get into a fight - and Florence, who was once engaged to Bertie, thinks he is in love with her and wants to get married. Bertie, of course, wants to avoid the altar at all costs.

Jeeves and the Tie that Binds finds Bertie stumping for an old friend who is running for Parliament to impress his fiance, Florence Cray. Bertie is anxious to make sure that all goes well, as he knows that Florence may turn to him as a possible husband if things don’t work out. I found this story a bit unique, as both Bertie and Jeeves are unsuccessful in their schemes for most of the book. Everything works out, but more by chance (or the work of others) than by any plan of the two main characters.

All three books are worthwhile if you like Wodehouse - light, airy, with interlocking plotlines intricately laid out.

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time is a murder mystery, but not a regular page-turner or whodunit. It’s told from the perspective of Christopher Boone, a highly-functioning autistic teenager, who decides that he wants to find out who has stabbed his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, with a garden fork. He writes down his adventures, numbering the chapters by the prime numbers that he loves, and alternating between chapters that move the plot forward and chapters that give further insight into his character.

Christopher’s autism sounds like Asperger’s syndrome, but he does not address this in the book, or seem to be aware that the way his brain works would be considered a disease by some. He talks about his love for math; his desire to take the A-level mathematics exam; the death of his mother; and his pet rat, Toby. Christopher will not eat different types of foods if they have touched on his plate, and he hates the color yellow. He does not understand metaphors, because his mind cannot process anything that is not literal.

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