Summer Reading: Life After Life

What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you got it right? That is the premise of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and it is so good! I started reading it while waiting to get my car serviced. The dealership was unusually busy and I had to wait for quite a while but I didn't even notice the time because I was so engrossed. I was genuinely surprised to see that three hours had gone by! When I finished the novel in the wee hours of the next morning, I was quite sad to be finished with such an absorbing story. Ursula Todd is born on a snowy night in England in 1910 but she dies before she can take a breath because the umbilical cord is wrapped around her neck. In the next chapter, Ursula is born and lives because, this time, the doctor is able to make it through the snowstorm and is able to save her. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Ursula Todd. Every time she dies (from influenza, from an abusive husband, during the Blitz), she returns with an innate ability to save herself from peril (although it takes her a few tries to save herself from the influenza). She always returns to that snowy night but, lest you think that it becomes tedious, her birth is described differently every time from the perspectives of different characters. It is an interesting device because you become intimately acquainted with everyone in Ursula's life. She leads many vastly different lives, often because of one small decision, but there are common threads in her life (all of the main characters are recognizably the same) which is fun to look for as you read. Ultimately, Ursula realizes her ability and decides that she has a higher purpose. It is absolutely brilliant! Atkinson's writing is beautiful.  Her attention to detail and her descriptions of historical events, especially the Blitz, are incredibly powerful. The theme of this book is so intriguing in that even the simplest decision can have far-reaching consequences.  I'll admit that I have been thinking about this idea non-stop since I finished it.  I highly recommend this beautifully written and though-provoking novel.

Zion National Park

Since we drove to St. George after visiting the Grand Canyon, we decided to drive through Zion National Park on the way home.  It is one of my very favorite places on earth and Sean had never been there.

Even though it was the Fourth of July, it was not as crowded as I feared (after our fun in the Grand Canyon).  We went pretty early and found lots of parking.  Sean really liked the tunnel (we always honk the horn when we go through a tunnel) and he loved climbing the rock formations.

I have so many memories of taking road trips when I was Sean's age, especially to Zion, and I hope that he has fond memories of this road trip with his crazy aunts!

Grand Canyon National Park

On Sunday we drove from Farmington, New Mexico (where we spent the night) to see the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.  It was about a five hour drive to the South Rim.  We had originally wanted to walk along the Skywalk but we learned that it is a five hour drive from the park entrance and that it cost $80.00 each!  We decided to stay at the South Rim instead.  It was unbelievably crowded (I may or may not have had a small meltdown trying to find a parking spot) but we were able to have lunch and see a viewpoint near the Grand Canyon Village.

It is very impressive (almost worth all of the trouble we had getting a parking spot).  We ended up going on the Desert View Drive on our way out of the park and we were able to stop at every viewpoint.  We should have done this to start with!

It was a little bit stressful at first to visit the Grand Canyon but it ended up being a good day.  Go here for more information.

Note: While we were driving through Arizona I noticed a sign for the city of Winslow.  Marilyn and I got really excited and asked Sean to pose on a corner.

He thought we were crazy until we played him "Take It Easy" by the Eagles.

Four Corners Monument

A couple of weeks ago Sean mentioned, completely out of the blue, that he wanted to visit the Four Corners Monument where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado meet.  He had learned about it this year while studying U.S. geography and knew all kinds of interesting facts.  He mentioned it several times and, being someone who is always up for an adventure, I said that we should go there on a weekend road trip and Marilyn agreed.  I'm not entirely sure that I meant it when I said it but Sean definitely thought I meant it and told his parents that Marilyn and I were taking him on a road trip!  How could we disappoint him?  Marilyn and I decided that if we were going to go down south we might as well hit up a few other noteworthy attractions and go over the Fourth of July weekend (when Marilyn had some time off).  We left early Saturday morning (because Sean thinks it is more fun to start on a road trip in the dark) and made it to the monument in about six hours.  It is in the middle of nowhere.  In fact, we made several wrong turns!  It costs $5.00 per person (when we read up on the monument we learned that they only take cash so we were prepared).  You are allowed to take pictures but you have to wait in a line.  We got there at just the right time because after we had taken our pictures, the line stretched out to the parking lot!  Sean wanted a picture of him touching all four states so he did a push-up (his leg is barely in New Mexico).  There are all kinds of stands around the monument selling Native American crafts and they only take cash!  Sean was a little bit disappointed that they had sold out of these beautiful bows and arrows (he's really into archery right now) but he did find a key chain.  There is really not a lot to do here except take your pictures and browse the stalls (we were there less than an hour) but Sean was fascinated.  This was his very favorite part of the trip.  Go here for more information.

The Legend of Tarzan

On Friday I had a Skarsgard movie marathon.  I saw Stellan in Our Kind of Traitor that afternoon and in the evening I saw Alexander in The Legend of Tarzan.  I actually liked this new adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic more than I thought I would (and not just because Alexander Skarsgard looks pretty, which he does).  The film begins with Tarzan (Skarsgard) back in England as the fifth earl of Greystoke with flashbacks to his life in the jungle being raised by apes.  He is lured back to Africa because an envoy of King Leopold, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz, the ultimate villain), has promised to deliver him to a tribal chief in return for diamonds which the bankrupt king desperately needs.  Tarzan is joined by his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) and a former American soldier, George Washington Williams (an ever-amusing Samuel L. Jackson), who suspects King Leopold of enslaving the African people.  The action sequences are great and I loved the scenes where Tarzan plays with a group of lions and communes with elephants, although I was a bit disappointed that the animals are very obviously digital (the animals are much more realistic in The Jungle Book). However, it is the message about colonialism and exploitation that I found to be particularly compelling (and completely unexpected).  The character Rom is so menacing that I spent much of the movie wondering how Tarzan was going to get revenge and I almost cheered out loud when it happened (a great scene).  I also really liked the character of Jane because she is so feisty and self-sufficient (having also been raised in the jungle) and doesn't necessarily need Tarzan to swoop in and rescue her.  To be sure, there are flaws but I enjoyed this movie.  I am always pleasantly surprised when a summer blockbuster has a compelling story so I would definitely recommend it.