Giant — Review by Chris

When I realized the movie "Giant" was based a book, and Edna Ferber was an author Carole had read and whose work she had enjoyed, I figured I'd find out if the book really is always being better.

It isn't.

Giant wasn't bad, but it wasn't good.

First of all, the book was not as grand and sweeping a tale as the movie — a full three-quarters of the book was set during the first six months Leslie, the new bride from Virginia, was in Texas. The rest of the book coasted along for the next two decades, then petered out. The saga started at the end, which I liked, but nowhere in the rest of the book was the opening scene set up or resolved. We get a few years down the road by the end of the book, but it's a short trip and not in the least bit exciting.

The characters were caricatures. Leslie's best friends were Texans with a capital "Tex" who were gauche and loud and selfish and Texas-centric. Bick's sister Luz was a joke, and she was supposed to be this immovable force who was more legend than real in the book. I couldn't help but see Leslie as Elizabeth Taylor and Bick as Rock Hudson as I read, and the book did them no justice. They weren't interesting or evolving or romantic. They were boring. Even Jett Rink was a snooze-fest, with a tepid love for Leslie, a limp hate of Bick and a alcoholism that wasn't tragic nor self-destructive.

Texas was a non-character. Texas, this bigger than life, sprawling state that is too big to know and too personal to not love, was not really there. Bick's beloved ranch was a minor footnote. His cattle, though, were there, sulking in the background, waiting their due.

There was lots of talk, talk, talk and yet no one really says anything. Everyone and everything skated across the top. Terrible conditions for Mexicans? Leslie hates it but that's only because she says so; there's no evidence that she feels that way. The next generation stirs up a lot of doscontent, with Jordy not wanting his father's life and Luz wanting into the businesses and Vashti's twins being spoiled brats, but we hear about it in passing, like it's background music we're supposed to vaguely recognize but not notice. Even Bick's future medical condition was glossed over, distractedly patted like a spoiled child you want to leave the room. No matter how serious things got, people didn't do more than have polite cocktail party conversation — except once, and that in the second-to-last chapter.

Gramatically, Ferber loved run-on sentences with stacks of verbs and adjectives. When three would do, she used them all without punctuation. It was distracting annoying ungrammatical incorrect. She should stop desist alter her rhythm choose a different tactic. Kind of like that, only really annoying.

So, my recommendation is to watch the movie and appreciate what Ferber brought to the party, but don't waste your time on the book.

Summer Reading — by Chris

With Memorial Day right around the corner, beach and cabin season is nearly upon us. Have you lined up your summer reading? I've given it some thought myself, and I came up with a few books I wouldn't mind finishing before school starts again.

Some are pure Fluff 'n Trash™ while others might have a tad more literary "value." I won't worry myself about all that because — well, it's summer, and it's a time for the kind of reading that makes the days disappear.

• Giant by Edna Ferber. I have to get this classic under my belt. Carole loved Ferber's Pulitzer Prize-winner So Big, so I'd like to give this one a chance. Of course, after reading about the Benedicts, I can pick up the movie and watch it one rainy afternoon. (It's summer, so there will be at least one rainy afternoon!)

• Darcy and Elizabeth by Linda Bertoll. It might be a little steamy for hot weather, but I'll try to brave it as best I can.

• Almost a Crime by Penny Vincenzi. This one will come at the end of the summer, when I deserve a huge treat. There are few reads more tantalizing, scandalous and titillating as hers, and they're always a rolicking good time.

• Rebecca by Daphne DuMarier. Gothic and suspenseful, why not?

• Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. It holds up half a century later, so a glimpse into another town too much like our own will be a delight.

• The Great Stink by Clare Clark. I enjoyed the subterranian world of Drood, and I have found Clare Clark a gifted writer. Good combination, if I do say so myself.

• Dark Angels by Karleen Koen. Karen loaned me this book nearly a year ago, and I've been eyeing it with great interest. Summer is a great excuse to read about 18th century Europe and its royalty. Maybe it will turn me toward....

• The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. Go ahead, twist my arm to send me back to Tudor England. It takes nothing to send me to the court of King Henry VIII or his progeny.

• Prague by Arthur Phillips. Apparently this "stunningly brilliant" novel takes place in Budapest. Maybe I should find out why.

• A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire. This would give me an excuse to re-read Wicked, one of my favorite novels of all time.

I think I'll have enough until Jasp — wait a hot second, the publication of Jasper Fforde's novel Shades of Grey has been postponed until January 2010! And Sara Gruen's upcoming novel Ape House isn't even on the calendar yet. Well, at least there are a few books queued up to keep us entertained while we await the arrival of these two juicy morsels.

What are you hoping to read this summer?

Classics in My Queue

I'm always thrilled to discover a classic I didn't know I wanted to read. Here are five on my list:

• Giant by Edna Ferber. Carole just reviewed another of her books, and she enjoyed it. I loved the movie, and the first few pages promise a great read.

• Peyton Place by Grace Metalius. It's been half a decade since the divine Ms. M rocked the house and coined a new term for "scandalous little town." There's a sequel, and I might just read that, too. (And yes, I loved the movie as well.)

• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Apparently this was as much a treatise on God as it was on humanity. It also sounds like it might be a little dry — but I'd be glad to be wrong. And I'm not sure which movie adaptation would be preferable to watch (though I have a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan!).

• Rebecca by Daphne Du Marier. I loved The House on the Strand and this sounds gothic tale marvellous. Carole love it, so I'm sure I will, too. Again, lots of movie adaptations, but I am not partial to any single one, though the black and white classic sounds like a winner.

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I've started it many times — and fallen asleep before I finished the first page. Actually, I've managed to miss reading many of Dickens' classics, like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Little Dorrit — and after reading Drood, I can't wait to read more Dickens (and maybe even The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins!).

And an embarrassing bonus confession:

• Dracula by Bram Stoker. Must I admit that I have read books about and based on the great Gothic novel but never the tale itself? Carole recently read it with her family and I enjoyed immensely her daughter's take on Mina (accurate in the way she was about Princess Leia).

What are some classics you've been meaning to read?

So Big - Review by Carole

Yikes! I've been doing more reading than writing lately. I've been bouncing from one Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to another lately without taking the time to reflect. Shame on me!

Edna Ferber's So Big started me on this kick. This was the pick of one of my book clubs, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also enjoyed learning more about Ferber. One of the famed Algonquin Round Table members, Ferber devoted her life to writing. Sigh, I was born in the wrong era. I would have loved that life, those clothes...but I digress.

I hadn't read any Ferber--did you know she wrote the novels on which Show Boat and Giant are based? I didn't! She won the Pulitzer in 1924 for So Big.

So Big tells us the story of Selena, a young girl who grows up with a gambler for a father. When he is rolling well, they live the high life; when he's not, they eat at the boarding house table. But he always managed to pay her way at an exclusive girls' school. She gets a strong education from school and from him. When he dies unexpectedly, she has to make her own way. She takes on a schoolteacher job at a small farming community outside of fast-growing Chicago.

Her appreciation of beauty helps her see the color afforded by simple things, such as a field of cabbages, as she approaches her new life. This sentiment arouses rare humor in the taciturn, hard-working Dutch farm family with whom she comes to live. She finds a kindred spirit in their son, Rolff. Her influence, while brief, has a lasting impact on his life.

Before long, she finds herself agreeing to marry one of the community's farmers--a kind man, but no great shakes in the imagination department. Selena tries to get him to see what their farm could be, but he continues in the ways of his father.

They have a son, Dirk, whom she nicknames "So Big" from the old baby game: "How big is baby?" "Sooooo Big". You can just picture her taking the time from digging up vegetables from the garden to play this game with her baby, taking great joy in seeing him hold his arms wide.

When she finds herself on her own again, Selena manages to carve out a life for herself and her son. She raises him with her values, but he internalizes things much differently. His life experiences are significantly altered from her own. It's a classic story of a parent who wants a better life for her child and works hard to make sure of it, but then is surprised to see how different the child turns out. Children who have a better life aren't forged by the same fires as their parents and thus don't form their characters, values, or work ethics the same way.

Selena and Dirk have a great love for one another, even if they don't fully understand each other. The story shifts to focus on Dirk's life. He has many of the things that constitute success in that era. After an attempt at an architecture career (of which his mother has very high hopes), Dirk decides to become a bond salesman (a career his mother doesn't fully understand). He is very good at it--he makes good money--he lives in a lovely a part of town. Yet, it is very clear to the reader that he really doesn't have anything. He has no wife and children; he cannot point to anything lasting that he has created or improved. He cannot see that, though, until an artist comes into his life.

His feelings for the artist force him to examine his life--he sees that she and his mother have more in common than he would have ever envisioned. He sees his life as a "rubber stamp" of Selena's--a cheap imitation in other words. He finds himself at a crossroads.

Chicago looms in the background throughout the story, growing and sprawling across the pages, making it as defined a character as Selena or Dirk. A truly American story of success and how that is defined--I couldn't put it down.