Edward G. Young: Reception

This wasn’t a treat, rather a theatre of broken people trying to mend some things up. I have thought that Martin was hetero in the first scene when he leaves Jeannette’s bed. When Jeannette’s daughter Sierra comes with Andrew in a surprise visit to announce their happy marriage, I wonder how will Martin and Andrew end up cheating on the mother and the daughter. I have already felt sorry for the girls. 

And then, it was not that the viewers were the only one to be deceived, the characters are in a net of their own illusions. Jeannette is an alcoholic, Martin is HIV positive, Andrew is an ex-prostitute and all that Sierra wants from her mum is money, her presentable marriage just a trick to get it. 

It is a rather sad movie. No reason is given for their unhappy destinies and how did they unfold. Characters are just tragic as they are, tragedy being so big that no movie catharsis can undo it. The only question remaining if they can take a little bit of happiness that is on offer and if can they act on something good when they see it? 

Martin is the most touching character of all, Andrew says that he falls for his integrity. I would also add dignity. Martin’s love may be discreet and cold, like the weather and the northern landscape in which the plot unfolds. The question remaining, if he would allow Sun’s rays to touch him. 

Paul Brown: Breakfast with Scot

Who wouldn’t like Scot as a son? I would have adopted him without thinking. Well, Sam and Eric are a bit different. Eric is still in the closet, five years after he was injured in a hockey match. Sam fixed his legal stuff and his heart as well. They have come to some living together of a sort and then comes Scot.

Scot is just adorable. He wears pink, he sings Christmas carols all day long and he wants to kiss the first boy on the street that he meets. Scot challenges everything in them and for the better. 

I have hated Eric at the beginning, like I dislike all the men in the closet. And it seems that every coming-out is a magic of its own and sometimes one needs a young fairy boy to make another fairy boy live in a grown-up man. 

It is a true gay comedy with a Christmas ending to it. It takes place in Toronto. The original book takes place in Boston and I remember the feeling that I have gotten in the book. Eric’s inner struggles were much more present and Scot was not as adorable. All the better to skip the book and watch the movie! 

Shamim Sarif: I can’t think straight

I have seen this movie a while ago. On second viewing, I could get several other layers. It is a fantastic romantic story of two girls falling in love and rising up to the challenge of love. 

Tala, with Christian/Jordanian/Arab/Palestinian background (that is just to sum up the religious/political labels) and Leila, with Indian/Muslim/British background meet in London by accident. Attraction is swift, acting on attraction is swift too, aftermath a bit slower and more painful. 

It is in the nature of romantic comedy that you want it to succeed, you do cheer for them to end up together and when they finally do, one is indeed happy, especially when they talk about kids and Tala starts kind of using her background in a positive way. Watching this movie is like eating dark chocolate, it is sweet and good for the heart, although it is somewhat bitter. 

When I say romantic comedy, I have overused the term. The topic of falling in love for gays, doing your coming-out, it is still too sad and too burdensome. But I take any little sugar that is offered. 

I have especially liked the character of a maiden who spits regularly in the cups of Tala’s mother who incarnates pure evil in the movie. Dads are more sympathetic to lesbian daughters than mums. Fashion-label girls (a sister of Tala) are sad and cruel. Easy money is a poison and so is the political social image. I have adored the expression of Tala’s other sister who fell in love with a Jew in American college, I wanted us to start our own peace process! is what she says after they broke up. 

An excellent treat for any heart-broken gay person, who still wants to believe that true love is something worth fighting for.

Z.Z. Packer: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

In my world, Afro-Americans had fought for their rights in the sixties and they have won. Now they create rap music and run for presidents. That is, they have become similar to all the other US American citizens. After meeting some Afro-Americans in Europe, my picture is a bit different and less rosy. I understand now why did Halle Berry cry when she has won the Oscar. Although stories from real people are great, they are still individual stories. This book gave me a sort of an overview of what is happening in US America today. 

What is it like to be an Afro-American today? In several stories, the author explores mostly growing-up of young girls. Religion and ghettos rise to the surface quite soon. Skin colours is still an issue. Growing up is not easy. 

I have liked the longest story Speaking in Tongues the most. So many things happened and I could only pick half of the context, but still it was quite a read. Young Tia escapes from her conservative village to Atlanta, only to be picked up by Dezi and taken to his house in what would I believe be Atlanta’s ghetto. He wants to have sex with her, she refuses and they don’t have it in the end. Being closed in his house doesn’t make here feel comfortable. She is finally saved by Marie, a friend of Dezi. Now, that is truly a bad running-away-from-home story. 

Language is rich, interpersonal interaction bursting with meaning, each of the eights stories a sociological study of people.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Half of a Yellow Sun

I didn’t even know that there was a war in Biafra in the 1960ties. I was surprised that there is still somebody today writing fiction based on wars. I have thought that this sort of stories belonged to the age of Tolstoy and that there is nothing more to be said. Why would anybody want to dig into war? Isn’t there enough of it on the TV?

I took the book because I have seen the author speaking at the TED conference. I was really impressed by her when she spoke of the danger of a single story, of what happens with our perception when we know only a single story about a country, people or a continent (answer: prejudice). I have a feeling that her Nigerian background gives an edge to her intelligence. She sounds fresh and inspiring. Her critique is said with the heart. 

My first boyfriend originates from Africa. By knowing him and wanting to know him even more, I have developed a senisiblity to people originating from that continent. His family comes from Rwanda and they had a bloody war. Mine originates from Yugoslavia and we had ours. I guess that I was naive in thinking that war on a different continent should be any different. This book kind of made me realize that they are all the same. It helped me heal some of my own wounds. 

What was new however were stories of people in war. I especially liked the side character of Kainene, sister of Olana. I could easily identify with Olana, she was so natural to me, into books and rather naive. I could not identify so much with Kainene, which seemed cold-hearted and sarcastic, all into money. The fact that in the end I liked Kainene more, well, it was rather cathartic. (It helped that she has reminded me of my ex-boyfriend). 

The story of war is told through the perspective of three protagnist. The first is a young boy Ugwu who is a servant of Odenigbo, a young professor in the university town of Nsuka. The second voice is of Olanna, a wife of Odenigbo, who moves in with him at the beginning of the book. The third voice is of Richard, the only foreigner in the story, who falls in love wtih Olanna’s sister Kainene at the hotel in Lagos. Olanna and Kainene are daughters of rich parents. With this cast, the author has managed to capture both the male and female perspective, that of people who faught in the war, because it was theirs without choice. With Richard, she gives us a glimpse of how the war can be seen through the eyes of an outsider. 

Before the war, sympathies are rather clear, my judgement about characters rather solid. In the war, they start to shift and soon, one has to leave behind the peace mentality and just watch the tragedy unfolding. There is nothing romantic in the war. Pain and loss are the only things that remain. There is nothing interesting in the unpredictability of the war. When the author asked her parents, if they would talk about the war, all they said was that what is important is, that they have survived. That is the whole truth. 

I have cried and I have laughed with characters while I have read the book. What more could I add?