Brief Book and Movie Reviews

If you read my design article with Smashing Magazine, you know I’m not a huge fan of star ratings, but I like writing reviews. They remind me of what I enjoyed or wished was different, and they help me make recommendations, which I also like doing. With that in mind, here are a few brief reviews from recent reads and watches.

You can follow along and see more book reviews on Goodreads and movie reviews on Letterboxd.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Book Review

A novel written by Gabrielle Zevin.

I finished reading the last page and asked myself, Why did I like this book?

It’s a simple premise. Two friends try to make games together with varying levels of success. But success and failure means something different to each of them, and their reactions to outcomes and to each other’s reactions, while hard to agree with at times, always make sense, because Zevin has created two unique characters who are fully, and wonderfully, and tragically human.

That is a long way of saying that I like this book, because the story is well told.

Nanny

Movie Review

A horror movie written and directed by Nikyatu Jusu.

Anna Diop’s—the main actor’s—range from sweet and charming to haunting and angered drives the film. Her actions, speech, and mannerisms do a lot of heavy lifting to create a character, Aisha, you feel for, despite the story sometimes introducing disparate elements that can distract viewers from empathizing with Aisha. Even after the credits roll, you’ll probably still wonder how some of the elements connect, but that reflection feels more like a welcome challenge than one intending to frustrate you with ambiguity. Plus, the strong main character, dark story, and beautiful cinematography are more than engaging enough to make a well-crafted horror film. My biggest wish is that they would remove the “scary” CGI. It actually detracts from the quieter and more grounded horrors Aisha faces.

The Book of the Cat: Cats in Art

Book Review

An art book written by Angus Hyland and Caroline Roberts.

I may have read the best book I will ever read.

Love for The Last House on Needless Street

I wrote a short review on Goodreads for Catriona Ward’s novel, The Last House on Needless Street. It’s early in the year, but there’s a good chance this is my book of the year. Similar to my favorite book in 2021, Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart is a Chainsaw, Ward knows her characters inside and out. Read this book, and you will believe Ward got the characters to write their own parts, even convincing a cat to put down her Bible and pen her parts. Every detail serves to create an intimate and emotional portrayal of each character, making you emotionally invested in the twists and horrors that shape their lives.

I can’t recommend this novel enough, and I am very much looking forward to reading more of Ward’s work. If you want to learn more about her, this book, her other books, check out these links:

• Interview on The Bestseller Experiment (a favorite writing podcast of mine).

• Interview on Lovecraft eZine Podcast

If you give it a read, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

A Starry—Or Not So Starry—Nonfiction Article

It’s been hectic, to say the least. Life in general has been. I’ll add more color to that claim later, but most of my sabbatical goals have been thrown for a loop. Disappointing, but it’s not all bad news around these parts.

The good news is that Smashing Magazine published my nonfiction article, Rethinking Star Ratings for Readers. The piece discusses some of the ways star ratings fail readers, and the write-up offers an alternative solution—with pretty pictures designed by me!—to review literature and better connect people.

The idea struck me a few years ago, and when it wouldn’t leave me alone, I finally decided to get it out of my head onto paper and pixels. I thought I would toss the finished product on this Journal and forget it, but as I wrapped up, I wondered if a publisher might be interested. And someone was. Just goes to show that you never know until you ask.

Big thanks to Smashing Magazine for sharing the piece and helping with edits, and to my friends who gave thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts.

One of the alternative solution designs that you can learn more about in the article.

A Final Date with Tommy Shelby

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

I remember our first date. I started watching Peaky Blinders because, in addition to the dark, atmospheric setting, the opening credits uses the song Red Right Hand by my favorite band, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. I watched until the third episode before I stopped. Something about Thomas and the gang was not resonating.

Years later, after recommendations from several people, I gave the show another go. I overlooked our rocky start, and by the end of the first season, I was hooked. I spent the next handful of seasons watching an antihero commit exceedingly unredeemable acts. By the beginning of the final season, he seemed like the devil that many characters referred to him as.

Without tipping my newsboy hat to spoilers, Thomas performs a number of horrible deeds that could make viewers lose interest in ever rooting for him again. It’s the show’s phenomenal writing that saves him, becoming a magnificent study in how to create and maintain a compelling antihero. Despite all of Thomas’s evil actions, characters more ruthless than him always rise to stand in his way. His only means of overcoming them—of protecting the family and livelihood he gained from his successes—is to become something stronger and meaner and worse. This is the show’s cycle, how it constantly raises the stakes to make viewers understand Thomas’s actions, regardless of if they agree with him. The final season hits a tipping point, and you wonder if Thomas has become that unredeemable devil, or if there is hope for change.

Despite their moralistic flaws, I’m glad I gave Tommy and the Peaky Blinders another chance. I enjoyed our relationship, and we ended on good terms. I’ll miss them.