Blanche DuBois is the one of the infamous lead characters in this play, a fading Southern Belle who has fallen from grace and sought comfort in countless men.  But she still hangs on to the image of herself as a sweet Southern lady – which she attempts to portray to her sister Stella who she visits in New Orleans.  But Stella’s husband Stanley – a new breed of man for the time, common, hard-working and passionate – isn’t fooled for a moment.  Blanche’s lies and deceptions bring out his cruelty, the result of which is played out in two devastating final scenes whereby all of Blanche’s illusions are stripped from her.  If you haven’t read any Williams before, get onto it.

Its starts very slow…. an old man smells a scent on the air that takes him back to his childhood in England during World War Two.  He remembers playing games with his best and only friend Keith, who he thoughts was worlds above him in the litle universe they inhabit.  One day, Keith comes out with a shocking revelation – that he believes his mother may be a German spy.

The two boys feel honour-bound to find out what they can.  But in delving into the secret lives of the adults of the close, they do find real secrets.  And Stephen gets caught up in the web of the adult world where he cannot decipher between his childish view of the world, the neighbourhood gossip and the things he has observed that he cannot make sense of.

It takes a while for the story to get going – at first the world of the boys is small and dull.  Stephen is an unimaginative character who waits for Keith to “tell him what to think” and Keith borders on the outright dislikeable. But as the plot thickens and the imaginary world of the boys crashes into the secret world of the adults the reader will find plenty to keep them interested.

Frayn, a well-known playwright – uses an interesting narrative device whereby the older Stephen looks back t the younger Stephen much like they are two different characters. If you can persevere through the first half, you’ll find the second half much more engaging.

Stasiland

And it’s true, in her investigation Funder finds plenty of ordinary Germans who through circumstances find their lives savagely impacted by the Stasi. She also meets a host of characters who worked for the Stasi for their own reasons – some through threats and others through idealogy. But few were not negatively impacted by their association.

Funder writes fluidly and with insight – although non-fiction this is highly readable and highly engaging. It celebrates the bravery of those who stood up against the regime, and attempts to shed some light on the darker side of human nature that these moments in history beg us to understand.

Pictured here is my preferred cover – the one with the girl in the red top on it is laughable.

Two Brothers tell the story of well, two brothers, on different sides of the political divide.  James (better known, unfortunately as ‘Eggs’ – ugh how trite) is the Type A personality wannabe Prime Minister currently serving as Minister for Homeland security.  Tom (who thankfully doesn’t have a ridiculous nickname) is a refugee lawyer heading up a charitable foundation.  Hmmm… easy to see the Costellos have been at least part of the pattern here, and Rayson herself is willing to admit they were part of her inspiration. 

Clearly the two brothers don’t always get along, but an asylum seeker tragedy on Christmas Day (based on the sinking of the Siev X) sets a whirlwind of events into motion.  A lone survivor witnesses Australian Naval ships at the site of the tragedy – who did nothing. Presumably on Eggs’ orders.  It is the classic story of pragmatism versus morality.  We’ve probably all read and seen it before.  It is saved from complete superfluousness by the tiny insertions that show that Tom is also not perfect, and by the sad ending that shows how humanity enables vicious manipulators like Eggs.  At least this gives us a little more to talk about.

There is nothing really here to blow our socks off, although it does contain a thinly disguised rib at Andrew Bolt (who incidentally vociferously wrote against the play and its political agenda) so that gives it extra points in my book.

I have never read, nor ever really been drawn to a graphic novel until preparing to teach Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’.

Satrapi – an author and artist – finds her niche in this medium, one in which she can draw what moves her and tell the stories that drive her.  This is an autobiographical story (keeping in mind that I read Volumes I and II) of Marjane’s childhood years in a politically unbalanced Iran during the return of fundamentalist Islam in the 1970s.  Marjane is born into a family of activists. An outspoken child of strong feeling – both religious when very young, and also an independent and compassionate spirit – it becomes clear throughout Volume I that Satrapi will never survive life in Iran…

The second volume contains the story of her troubled teenage years in Austria where, lonely, she dabbles with drugs in an attempt to fit into a world that whilst more free, is still a puzzle to her.  She still feels like an outsider everywhere she goes.  Eventually Satrapi returns to Iran, where she studies Art, graduates, marries, divorces and eventually moves to France.  She remains there even today, and her novels are published first in French.

Satrapi blends the historical and the personal together beautifully, and gives one of the more engaging history lessons I have ever undertaken.  She is able to weave together the tragic, the comic and the ironic in a way that consistently hits the mark with the reader.  Having seen the film as well – I would definitely recommend the graphic novel above its adaptation. Not that the film doesn’t have some clever parts as well – but this has more depth and provides the reader with a greater understanding of the history that shapes Satrapi’s life, and I suppose the lives of many Iranian women.  But beyond this, many of the concerns are universal.  Persepolis is – as the subtitle says – The Story of a Childhood. 

I found this graphic novel a really intriguing way to be told a story – reading and analysing the pictures all at once.  Satrapi’s black and white images are clear and beautifully drawn – with just the right balance of prose.  Each panel is its own work of art – as you can see from the ones I have included here. It certainly won’t be the only graphic novel I have a look at.

We all know the premise  – Victor Frankenstein attempts to create life from the dead, and somehow manages to create a monster instead.  But the original novel has depths that modern slash-and-dash horror interpretations choose not to delve into.  Its interesting to look at some of the ways the monster has been depicted in popular culture – as you can see from my photos.

While Victor takes one look at the misshapen creature he had designed to be beautiful and flees, the creature is left to fend for itself in the wilderness and learn what he can of humanity – and his separation from it.  The middle chapters of the novel – told by the creature – show a beautiful and intelligent mind that learned from the cruelty and narrow-mindedness of humanity. I felt tremendous sympathy towards this creature, and very contemptuous of Victor.

The two battle right until the end of the novel, when the creature is left to mourn the loss of his creator.  But Shelley feels the need to wrap things up in a nice little bow by having the creature explain all of his motivations.  This was just a bit trite for me.  Its lovelier to show, rather than tell.

It will be a terrific text to work with in the classroom and I am interested in student perspectives.  Shelley was also clearly very interested in exploring the relationship between man and nature  as the metaphors here are pretty constant.

Some interesting set up of the narrative too – I read for a full page before realising that Victor was neither the sole nor the original narrator.  This does give us some outside perspectives on the characters – mostly flattering to Victor – and probably needed given my reaction to him.  Definitely one I will be able to get my teeth into.

This is a wonderfully written story, told in poetic episodes, journal entries, phone conversations, and letters.  The result is a beautifully understated journey from darkness into light.

Jane Arrowood visits the beach with her family one day, and is attacked by a shark.  Jane loses her right arm – dashing her hopes of becoming a professional artist and of fitting the stereotypical model of normalcy forever.

Not only does Jane have to deal with her own insecurities and the everyday little actions that have just become far more difficult, she also has to deal with the reactions of family and friends.  These are heightened by the fact that an amateur video of the attack was released through the media, making Jane somewhat of a celebrity.

Little by little, we see Jane let others back into her heart and begin to imagine a positive future for herself.  Realistic rather than trite, this is a very worthwhile read.  

Although my interest in the overall plot is still strong, the meandering storylines and over-use of different narratorive voices makes this a fairly exhausting series.  And as Martin goes on, he seems to be finding it harder and harder to hold the threads of his epic masterpiece together.  In my last entry, I criticised the plot for leaving all of the important characters’ storylines for this book (set concurrrently to this last).  This time, I will criticise him for splitting the narrative so far and attempting to bring so many characters together (with Daenerys as the juncture point) that many of them simply spend too long travelling to do anything particularly interesting.  There are also some rather neat conincidences, which seem to be Martin’s only way to hurry the narrative.  Fortunately Tyrion’s wit carries us along – he journeys to Meereen to met with Daeneyrs at the behest of Varys the Spider.  He befriends a secret prince before being enslaved and joining a company of sellswords.  The Dornishmen also re-enter the narrative as Prince Quentyn attempts to win our silver Queen too.

In the North, Jon struggles to hold the Wall, reaching out to the Wildlings which bolster his numbers but alienate him from the other men of the Night’s Watch.  Stannis marches on Winterfell, held by the truly contemptible Roose and Ramsay Bolton.  Ramsay has held Theon Greyjoy as a prisoner for several books – we only now are made aware that he is still alive, deeply traumatised by the flayings and dismemberments he has been made subject too, causing him to unearth a new personality, the cringing, toadying ‘Reek’. We also receive notice that Brienne of Tarth (supposedly sentenced to death by Stoneheart) is alive and appears to be bringing Jaime Lannister to die in her place. Similarly we learn that Arya’s blindness is a test as she continues her training as an assassin in Braavos.

Whilst some of the dead appear alive, more deaths ensue. Jon receives word that Stannis Baratheon is dead, and as we leave Jon he himself has been stabbed in the back several times by his so-called brothers.  Daenerys however appears reborn after behaving uncharacteristically cautiously throughout the novel – some choices on Martin’s behalf that I still dont pretend to understand. 

What Martin has appeared to have accomplished though, is to have broken much of the power at King’s Landing, bring the inevitable return of Daenerys Stormborn to Westeros closer.  Either way, with five years between this book and the previous, it may feel like a long time to me.

A Feast for Crows centres around intrigue at Kings Landing.  With her father Lord Tywin dead, and her brother the Imp on the run, Cersei in left to rule in young Tommen’s name unchecked.  To truly understand how mad this is, Cersei is made a narrative character in this book.  Twisted and suspicious, her chapters are truly painful to read.  Jaime turns his back on her duplicity and she sends him afield to solve the minor battles occuring throughout the land.  Brienne becomes a narrator too, as she searches the land at Jaime’s behest for Arya and Sansa Stark, only to fall victim to a re-animated Catelyn Stark’s quest for vengeance.

We also have a very few chapters from Sansa and Arya’s perspectives - Arya is in training as an assassin in Braavos and is blinded by the servants of the many-faced God when she kills for her own reasons.  Meanwhile Sansa is living in the Eeyrie disguised as Alayne Stone, the bastard daughter of Littlefinger (who takes great delight in his daughter’s kisses, which Sansa reports far too naively).  Sansa has won over the difficult little Lord Robert, and seems to be in line to take the Eeyrie herself.

Dizzyingly, the plots for the Iron Throne become even more complex as we get perspectives from the neighbouring Kingdom of Dorne, who have been plotting with the Targaryen heirs for years.  And Maester Aemon from the wall – reveals that he believes Daenerys is the monarch they have all been waiting for in the prophecies.

Without the more colourful characters, Daenerys, Tyrion, and mysterious little Bran, this has mainly become a political thriller and some of the magic – both literally and metaphorically – have been lost in the text.  Fans who had to wait years for the latest installment must have been very frustrated.  Fortunately, its on my bedside table.

The War of the Five Kings all but ends in this book, with Joffrey, Robb Stark and Balon Greyjoy all losing their lives.

Joffrey is murdered at his wedding – and all fingers point to Sansa and her husband the dwarf Tyrion.  Tyrion stands trial while Sansa is spirited away by Littlefinger, who loved her mother and likely has designs on Sansa himself.  Although Tyrion is found guilty through evidence and trial by combat, Jaime releases him due to a guilty conscience around his lies concerning Tyrion’s wife.  Tyrion swears to kill Jaime if they ever meet again, and promptly fulfills that promise with his devious father.

The most harrowing parts of the book – for both the reader and the author I hear, are the “Red Wedding” chapters, where Robb and his mother Catelyn Stark are betrayed and murdered.  Poor Arya was almost with them at this point, travelling with the Hound who seeks her ransom.  Later, Arya leaves the Hound (who appeared of course on her nightly list of men to kill – which is getting shorter and shorter) to die a painful and slow death.  Thinking her entire family dead, she takes the coin left to her by an assassin and seeks out his order across the seas.  Catelyn is re-animated by a red priest (similar to the sorceress working with Stannis Baratheon, the last of the five kings), and seeks vengeance on those who betrayed her.

There is little news of Bran in the North in this novel, and none of Rickon, but Jon stands trial for betraying the Night’s Watch, but his bravery in leading the defences against the wildlings makes him their choice for Lord Captain Commander.

Daenerys continues to practice her ruling skills, and discovers betrayal in her camp.  This plot line is stalling… mostly because I do not believe Martin intends to bring her to Westeros until the final book.

Again, Martin shows he is not afraid to kill off main protagonists, but manages to introduce new ones to carry on the narrative.  The next novel worries me as few existing characters have narrative chapters, a diversion from his usual style, and one that will hopefully not over-complicate events.  But I will give him this – I am never bored whilst reading it.