Kate Hilton's "Better luck next time"

You can find this book here.

The book is a multiple-perspective comedy based around a large extended family, with multiple people in midlife struggling to keep their lives together. In fact, their lives are falling apart. and to top it off, as this happens, an iconic feminist leader, who is mother to three of these five adults, is trying to push them into making their past choices work for them.

Each character written in Hilton's book are complicated, deep and strong; even with all their flaws. Whilst Nina (who doesn't have much of a voice in the novel) is less heard in this way, as a character you still see her strength and resilience even when others talk about her. In saying that, it would appear each of these characters are too strong or too successful to be relatable. I think that that's not the case. All of these characters look at new lives, in a way, not because of a midlife crisis, but because of choices, because of connections, or because of a lack of communication. These are very real things that can connect a reader to this family. 

It is also a very quick read. it is witty and flows rather well. I felt there was some discontinuity in a couple of places; overall however, it stands strongly as a recommended read. The wit and humour centres mostly around family relationships and family breakdowns in many ways, and possibly at least one character will ring familiar to any reader's personal life or someone they know. 

I enjoyed this read: it went by rather quickly. It is recommended for anyone interested in (possibly) chick lit, though the characters in the book are older and deal more with divorce than most chick lit heroines. Also, if you are interested in a lighter book for your period of life, or someone wanting to take stock of their own lives (as the characters have those kinds of defining moments in the book too).

Links for you

Read-a-likes in the Library:

First comes love
Emily Giffin

Heart of the matter
Emily Giffin

I almost forgot about you
Terry McMillan

P.S. I love you
Cecelia Ahern

All of these authors and titles may have different writing styles and tones; however they share themes: self-fulfilment in and for women, bouncing back into life, female friendship and middle-aged women.

Book Review—The Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin

Edna Pontellier, wife of Laconce, a successful Creole businessman in New Orleans, has adjusted, over six years of marriage, to her new life and home. Accommodating the expectations of her husband and the upper society of New Orleans, she meets, while vacationing at a nearby Island, Robert Leburn, with whom she becomes infatuated. This young man sparks memories of her youthful infatuations, and she begins to unravel, socially and sexually.

Chopin came to prominence as a local colourist author, presenting the variety of the South and Louisiana in the late 19th Century. Stories like "The 'Cadian Ball" and "Désirée’s Baby" are fine example of this tradition, with the latter highlighting the preoccupations with miscegenation. Other stories, such as "Emancipation: A Life Fable", "Story of an Hour" and The Awakening reveal a focus of Chopin for which she become noted for after her death: a growing consciousness of the restraint of women within society. It was her place as an outsider in this Creole New Orleans (originally from Missouri) that provided Chopin with the distance to observe the vibrance of middle class creole society and, like Edna in The Awakening, to see through the pretences and social fictions. What makes The Awakening unique is that although born out of this local Colour, intellectually it is at home in two literary traditions: the feminist writers of the 19th century, such as George Sand, and fin-de-siecle literature, best known in the English speaking world through Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, with its preoccupations with degeneration but also of new beginnings and new hopes. The social and sexual critique comes not only from her unique position with her new home, but also in the richness of ideas that travelled from far off and helped make sense of these constraints within her fiction.

Deeply personal while at the same time socially relevant, The Awakening and Selected Stories provides unique insights into both the author’s and our society.
Andreas

Film Review—Big Eyes by Tim Burton

Margaret (Amy Adams) leaves her husband and moves to San Francisco to make a living as an artist in the bustling 1950s art scene. She finds it difficult to promote her works, despite their unique ‘big eyed waif’ quality. She meets Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), who is also trying to strike it big with his European street scenes. Walter is a charmer and helps Margaret sell her paintings by pretending they are his works. It’s a success, but the strain of lying to everyone, including her daughter, takes its toll on Margaret, and Walter’s shady stories and past start to unravel.

Big Eyes is a refreshing change from Tim Burton, dropping the zany lead in a bizarre world and adopting a more real world setting, although still with his flair for perfectly framed shots with rich colour and stylised vistas. Here Burton adopts a domestic tale, where Margaret’s desires and skills are usurped by Walter’s own plans despite a lack of skill, giving a direct, if obvious feminist tale. The plot is straightforward, but has some interesting moments between Adams and Waltz. Adams’ delicately brittle performance couldn’t be appropriate, but Waltz, although entertaining as always, fell into the predictable, once again playing the charming deviant. Half way through the film you start thinking a more subtle performance would have aided the story.

Big Eyes is an invigorating and much welcomed development in Burton’s unique filmography.
Andreas