REVIEWS: A new novelist hit, top-notch performances
Elizabeth Taggart, Kevin Bonneville
Book: The Monsters of TempletonDespite its opening sentence reference to the corpse of a 50-foot prehistoric monster, “The Monsters of Templeton” is no sci-fi horror story.
The book opens with 28-year-old Willie Upton returning to her hometown of Templeton pregnant and disgraced after adisastrous affair with her married graduate school archeology professor.
Willie finds that her formerly hippie mother, Vi, has become a born-again Baptist who immediately drops a bomb more shocking than the monster.
Willie is not, as she was raised to believe, the product of a San Francisco free-love triangle. Her real father is a Templetonian but Vi will tell her nothing except that he, like Vi herself, is related to the town’s illustrious founder, Marmaduke Temple.
The book is about Willie’s search for her father’s identity as she puts her archeological skills to use and digs through the past to uncover long kept family secrets.
Lauren Groff’s debut novel was a surprisingly good read, especially for a first time novelist. Groff switches from Willie’s voice to that of her ancestors and other Templeton residents, past and present, which keeps the narrative really entertaining.
As a fan of James Fenimore Cooper, I was especially delighted to run into a few of my favorite Mohicans.
Groff has clearly renamed her hometown of Cooperstown and readers get to encounter more than a few of Cooper’s characters.
Though I know that some find it hard to relate to a female protagonist, the reader gets to see Templeton through the eyes of everyone, from Remarkable Prettybones and Chingachgook to the Running Buds, a group of older men that have been running together every morning for more than a quarter century.
While at times the story does seem to have an overwhelming cast of characters, you never lose sight of Willie as the central focus and the reader doesn’t get too bogged down in the extracurriculars.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed “Monsters” and while at times I am surprised to find some titles on the NY Times bestseller list, in this case, Groff is entirely deserving of the distinction.
Movie: Revolutionary Road
Revolutionary Road
Drama
Rated R
119 Minutes
Plot: Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet), a 1950s couple dissatisfied with the direction of their lives, decide to move to France, but before that see their relationship turn for the worse due to jealously, adultery, and an unexpected pregnancy.
Review: Despite it having its fair share of flaws, Revolutionary Road is an entertaining and dark piece on the lives of a 1950s Connecticut suburban couple. Frank despises his job at Knox Business Machines, while April is an aspiring, but unsuccessful actress, who is not pleased with her job as a housewife.
With both being so unhappy with their lives, April proposes a move to Paris, where she would be working while Frank would be searching for a job that he would enjoy and would be good at. Frank meets the idea at first with some resistance, but then agrees to the idea.
Frank soon learns, however, that he has earned a promotion at his job and April has become pregnant with their third child, which makes the couple decide against their move.
This is where the movie begins to take shape and where DiCaprio’s and Winslet’s performances take over the screen. The middle of the film offers a few powerful scenes in which the two fight feverishly back and forth and the audience isn’t sure of what is coming next.
However, it does get a bit frustrating and down right depressing at times with the back and forth of her one minute hating him and the next minute loving him.
The ending of the film will throw the audience for a loop. It’s emotional and will leave those leaving the theater talking to themselves and asking what actually just happened.
Despite taking awhile for the story to take shape and a few other problems with the storyline, there is no questioning the performances of DiCaprio and Winslet. Both should be considered the best at their craft in the industry. Their chemistry on screen hasn’t been seen since the days of Bogart and Bacall.
Grade: B-
