Wednesday 23 July 2014

The Sigh by Marjane Satrapi

"Whether this tale be true or false, none can tell, for none were there to witness it themselves".


A little book for kids and adults or for the kid inside every adult, with the unique touch of Marjane Satrapi.
The drawings are just simple but intense. I like the cover, the type, the smell.
I feel like I always repeat myself when I talk of Marjane Satrapi, but her graphics novels are all so constantly nice that there is nothing more to add. I think that it is the third time I read this little book and it is still able to touch the right strings.



Tuesday 22 July 2014

The girl who saved the king of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson

Nombeko is born in a shanty of Soweto with a very low life expectation. One day she is hit by a not-very-clever engineer driving his car and her life changes, we still don't know if it is for the better.
She will become the cleaner of the engineer who is in charge of a vital project for South Africa’s security. With three Chinese girls, two twin brothers-half-existing and other very absurd characters she will be responsible for saving the king of Sweden and the peace among countries.

It is impossible to not link this book to the previous one, as the structure and the atmosphere are very well kept here, but the story itself stands on his own. The leitmotifis of course is the presence, I actually would call it more obsession of the author for explosives, which are always the true protagonists of his books.
I found an improvement in this second book in the flow of the story; the jumping from one situation to another in every other chapter is easier to catch and the flow is not stopped as in the previous book.

I loved it, it is hilarious, sarcastic...so CLEVER. There are some parts that make you laugh out loud. The historical background of apartheid in South Africa with Mandela and the freedom fighter is seen from such a different and absurd point of view, that it becomes almost funny. 

I think Jonasson is a genius!!!

Sunday 20 July 2014

The hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared -the movie

Today I want to talk of a movie, but of a movie, of course, adpated from a book. The book in question by ‎Jonas Jonasson was released couple of years ago in English language and soon became very famous and appreciated. I found it by chance in a book shop soon after it was released and the cover and the title were just so clever (to see what I am talking about click here). After starting reading it I just felt in love!!!
A old man named Allan on the day of his 100th birthday decides to escape the retirement home by jumping out of the window and, almost by chance, he starts a series of absurd adventures that put him in danger.

The book, and the movie, are set in two different time-line: one is the present of his escape, the other is Allan's past, and his casual involvment in the most important episode of our history.

I had big espetations in the movie, despide the fact that I generally get disappointed by the Film adaptations. I thought this book would somehow fit as a movie, and I was right. The movie doesn't lose the clever comic sense and sarcasm of the book. Of course it lacks of many aspects that shaped the various characters in the book, but at the end the athmosphere of the book is well adapted and the overall is quite successfull. The movie end complitely differently from the book, and this was a bit disappointing, cause in the book there was such a clever end, but overall my review is positive.
I was very surprised that I was among the few to laugh all the time in the cinema, but I noticed the same reaction with people reading the book. I think for both is a matter of love or hate, nothing average.

So if you get the chance go to watch the movie, even if you still did not read the book. You might appreciate the scenario and decide to read the book; for me was one of my best reading in the last couple of years.

I am reading his second book now, almost finished, so next review coming soon...

Saturday 12 July 2014

Don’t fall in love with a woman who reads...


Don’t fall in love with a woman who reads, a woman who feels too much, 
a woman who writes...

Don’t fall in love with an educated, magical, delusional, crazy woman. 
Don’t fall in love with a woman who thinks, who knows what she knows and also knows how to fly; 
a woman sure of herself.

Don’t fall in love with a woman who laughs or cries making love, 
knows how to turn her spirit into flesh; let alone one that loves poetry (these are the most dangerous), 
or spends half an hour contemplating a painting and isn't able to live without music.

Don’t fall in love with a woman who is interested in politics and is rebellious 
and feel a huge horror from injustice. 
One who does not like to watch television at all. 
Or a woman who is beautiful no matter the features of her face or her body.

Don’t fall in love with a woman who is intense, entertaining, lucid and irreverent. 
Don’t wish to fall in love with a woman like that.
 
Because when you fall in love with a woman like that, whether she stays with you or not, whether she loves you or not, 
from a woman like that, 
you never come back…

Martha Rivera Garrido