Wild for Wideacre

Wideacre by Philippa Gregory

I've always been a fan of Philippa Gregory, in fact she is probably my favorite author. So I have read several of her works including The Tudor Series and often wondered where did this passion and deftness she has in her craft come from? I had to start at the beginning. So, like any good fledgling historian I went back to the first thing she'd written. Wideacre, book number one in the Wideacre trilogy. 

The story takes place in the English countryside in the 18th century. The novel centers around young Beatrice Lacey and her family. She is part of the "quality" and her family has owned the land Wideacre Hall has sat on for generations. There are strict adherences to ones place in society during this time in England and Beatrice decides to break the rules for love. Not only her love for a certain village boy, but her love for the land as well.

Women in 18th century England did not have many rights. They could not inherit property and were utterly dependent on men for their livelihoods. Beatrice knows this reality, because she observes it with her mother and other wealthy women in her life. She is determined not to be subservient to any man and be the leader of her future. Because of this she eventually becomes obsessed with owning her ancestral home and becoming the ruler of the land and the people. She goes to great lengths to ensure that this happens and reaps the consequences of her reckless behavior. 

Philippa does a wonderful job, in her first novel as in her subsequent novels of writing in such a way that the reader becomes immersed in the world of the book. It was a joy to read and I give it five stars and recommend it for lovers of historical fiction and of course Philippa fans.

[Goodreads - Amazon - B&N]

Have you read anything by Philippa?

Did you absolutely love it?

Do you think you'll read this novel?

Leave me a comment :)

Movie Review: Ken Park (18+ Review)

The Sex Is Real

[IMDB - Rotten Tomatoes - Amazon]

Releases:
Theaters: August 31, 2002
DVD: November 10, 2003

Cast:
-Adam Chubbuck
-James Ransone
-Tiffany Limos
-Maeve Quinlan
-Amanda Plummer
-Wade Williams
-James Bullard

Plot Summary:
An intense scrutiny of the lives of four teenagers, all childhood friends & their parents. Their unmasked lives are full of violence, sex, hatred & drugs.

My Thoughts:

There are not many non-pornographic films that show the amount of explicit real sex that the film Ken Park does. The films director Larry Clark, director of the film Kids (1995), and Bully (2001) has a knack for capturing the essence of teenage angst and culture. 

The film delves into the lives of several teenagers and their destructive home lives. It explores the unsettling themes of teen sex, drug abuse, alcoholism, incest, child abuse, and suicide. In the world of Ken Park, nothing is what it seems and there is little tangible reality besides sex. 

This film is very explicit. If viewing sex acts bothers you than you probably shouldn't watch the film because it can and does get easily pegged as a piece of pornography. However, Ken Park is not a pornographic film. It is not meant to be viewed for sexual purposes but rather the sex in the film is used to underscore the complete tragedy of these teens lives. 

The film is a piece of art. And it offers a real and gritty look into the psyche of the American teenager. It crosses gender and racial lines to show that life is not only fucked up for boys or girls, or for white or colored people, but life is hell for everyone. That theme I think offers a uniting thread for not only the characters in the film but the viewers of the film as well. 

So, I give this movie five stars for the subject matter and the audacity and bravery it took to show it without any censorship. 

Book Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

'How can something so wrong feel so right?'

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
Goodreads -- Amazon

SYNOPSIS:
Sixteen-year-old Maya and seventeen-year-old
Lochan have never had the chance to be
'normal.' Having pulled together for years to
take care of their younger siblings while their
wayward, drunken mother leaves them to fend
alone, they have had to become much more
than simply brother and sister. And now, they
have fallen in love. But this is a love that can
never be allowed, a love that will have
devastating consequences...


**NOTE: IMO, Forbidden is not
suitable for younger readers.**

So... First of all let me say: WOW! Like HOLY-you know what-! I had heard great things about this book, but I definitely wasn't expecting to love it the way I did.

I'm not sure why i was expecting the book to just start out in the middle of craziness and for everything to be like full blown just happening, but it wasn't like that. It didn't have a whole lot of back story, which was fine, but I knew what was going on. It took a lot longer than I was hoping for, for the plot to really get going.

The very beginning was really boring. I suppose I was expecting more conflict and problems, but it just seemed like a bad mother and the siblings trying to do the right thing. And then, it really picked up! And there was a whole bunch of stuff going on... Everything from their mom really messing up, to sibling rivalry, to school problems... It was actually perfect for how we knew the story would go.

So, we all know this book is about a brother and sister falling in love, no spoilers there, it's in the synopsis. Something I didn't like was Maya did too much explaining on why they couldn't be together or how they could lie about it and then they would be happy. I understand those were her feelings and essential parts of the book, but sometimes it just kept going on for pages and pages. It was just a smidgen too much for me. Eventually, I just started to skim the pages waiting or her to be done.

I think Lochan was a very lovable character. He was loving, fun, smart and also very shy. He would and did do anything in his power to help his siblings and keep the family together, and so did Maya, it just broke my heart thinking of how these kids were living their life. Even more because I know there are real families in situations like this. Maya was great also, she cared so deeply about trying to keep the family together and for the little ones to feel happy and not as if the family was falling apart. She tried hard to be a normal teenager, hanging out with her friends at school, getting the latest gossip. It was fabulous!

So let's talk about the last quarter or so of the book.... Wow! I honestly didn't see any of that happening. I thought it was going to go completely different, but after it all happened, I thought it fit very well. Made perfect sense. All I can say about this book is READ IT! READ IT NOW!

It is quite a touchy subject, but it's a great read! I give it 4 stars. The only reason it didn't get 5 is because of the little bit of boring-ness in the beginning and the little bit of over explaining.


I've inserted a little quote I saved while reading the book. In this scene Maya and Lochan are arguing, it was very intense and really powerful. What she said and how she said it made me think- "WHOA!" Enjoy!

'Oh, it's all about you!' I scream at him, sobs threaten-
ing to explode in my throat. 'This whole thing - it's al-
ways been about you! What will people think? How will I
look? How might I be judged? Whatever feelings once
existed between us clearly mean nothing to you compared
to your pathetic fear of other people's narrowminded,
bigoted, parochial prejudices that you once despised
but now adopt as your own!'


Have a good day!