master hunter

My review of Tender is the Night is coming soon!

Darkness is stronger and swallows them like minnows

I finished reading Beloved, and... *shudders.* It's not that it's badly written (it ain't), it's just very unlovable; and why wouldn't it be when it so aptly illustrates the horrors/consequences of slavery?

The inhabits of 124 (Sethe and her daughter Denver) are ever-accompanied by the ominous presence of Sethe's dead baby's (whose tombstone bears one word: Beloved) ghost until Paul D., an ex-slave who worked on the same plantation as Sethe, arrives, drives the ghost out, and settles down with Sethe. Everything is ominously okay until a black woman... named BELOVED.... mysteriously shows up on their doorstep one day. The moment she enters the home, she herself and her presence are as irremovable as a mile-deep root in soil. We eventually learn that Sethe tried to MURDER her children (succeeded in murdering 1) to free them from the horrors of slavery, and that Beloved is the ghost of this murdered child, the same ghost that haunted 124 before Paul D., the emblem of reality and anti-supernatural-elements in this novel, rid the house of it. Denver initially loves Beloved, partly because Beloved is the sister she never had; however, before dissipating (to Lord knows where?), Beloved almost kills Sethe, has sex with Paul D., and by the end, I'm sure, has pretty much freaked the shat out of/severed her arguably-never-was-existent bond with Denver, who evolves into a working woman, not the lonely child she was at the beginning of the book.

Toni Morrison whips this all out in a 324-page novel with fluid and masterful prose; Denver's character development is relieving to witness in the midst of all cray plot turns, Sethe's dedication to Beloved (compensation for killing her... *shudders again*) is haunting, and Beloved's silent eeriness is... terrifying.
Below are 2 quotes from this CHILLING story.

“Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.”

“There is a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up, holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind--wrapped tight like skin. Then there is the loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive. On its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet going seem to come from a far-off place.”

Thank you francoholism for gif-ing this for me!

Roger Ebert

After having spent a large part of
1) My movie-watching life biasedly judging movies depending on Roger Ebert's reviews (thought Warm Bodies would suck until I realized Ebert gave it 4 stars)
2) Pre-Oscars-time checking Ebert's top 10 films of the year list
3) Yesterday (after watching Silver Linings Playbook - review is coming soon!) browsing through more of his reviews,

I was shocked when I found out he died 2 days ago. Along with many other movie-lovers, I've always assumed with confidence that anything he wrote was legit and infallible (he is also a Cormac McCarthy fan, whoop); he will be fondly missed, remembered, and always respected.

“To say that George Lucas cannot write a love scene is an understatement; greeting cards have expressed more passion.”,

“I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.”

As if the darkness had a soul itself that was the sun’s assassin hurrying to the west as once men did believe, as they may believe again

The first time I picked up Love in the Time of Cholera, I thought to myself, "I don't want to read this." The same thing happened with Toni Morrison's Beloved; however, Love in the Time of Cholera appeared much more attractive the second time it fell into my hands, so I decided to revisit Beloved and ... I'm reading it now! Morrison's sentences are simple but hardcore/echoing/billowing (not sure if 2/3 of those adjectives apply, but that's literally how I feel when reading this book). So far, it's incredibly haunting and chilling... her writing is so concise (so I have to pay rapt attention at all times).