The Maidens

My Book of the Month selection for June was The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (the other options were Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon, Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie, Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian, and Mailbu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid). I haven't read The Silent Patient, the acclaimed debut novel by Michaelides, but I was, nevertheless, very eager to read this selection because I love atmospheric psychological thrillers and I was intrigued by the allusions to Greek mythology. Unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed. Mariana is a psychotherapist with a small practice living in London. She is still reeling from the death of her husband Sebastian who drowned while the two of them were vacationing on the island of Naxos over a year ago. She receives a troubling call from her niece Zoe, a student at Cambridge University, with the news that her friend Tara has been brutally murdered. Because Zoe is so distraught, she travels to Cambridge to comfort her and becomes involved in the investigation when someone whom she believes is innocent is arrested. She suspects Edward Fosca, a charismatic professor of Greek tragedy, when she learns that Tara belonged to a select group of students under his tutelage, known as the Maidens, who worship the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone and perform rituals involving death and rebirth. She becomes obsessed with proving Fosca's guilt but there are plenty of suspects when her own life is threatened. I found Mariana to be a really frustrating protagonist because she makes such bad decisions, especially considering the fact that she is a therapist, and her insertion into the murder mystery is incredibly contrived. All of the other characters, especially the eventual murderer, are very thinly developed and their motivations are unclear which makes the big plot twist seem to come from nowhere. The aforementioned allusions to Greek mythology, as well as the allusions to The Duchess of Malfi and the poetry of Tennyson, are interesting but prove to be nothing more than bits of misdirection once the mystery is solved. A major theme of the novel is the effect that childhood trauma can have on future criminal behavior but it is not explored in any meaningful way because there is no resolution for the specific character involved which I found very exasperating. It is atmospheric and foreboding but, with all of the hype surrounding this novel, I expected so much more.

Note:  I wish I had selected Half Sick of Shadows instead (it was my second choice).

Memorial Day Weekend 2021

I have had the most wonderful holiday weekend!  Kristine and Trent purchased some property in Tabiona (near Hanna which is our very favorite camping spot) a few years ago and are in the process of building a cabin.  They have also parked their trailer there for the summer.  I was invited to spend the weekend with them and Sean and I absolutely loved it there!

The area is incredibly beautiful and there are many places to visit in the nearby Uinta Mountains.  I drove up to the property early Sunday morning (they had been there since Friday) and when I got there we all decided to go for a drive.  The first place we visited was Moon Lake which was gorgeous, but cold.

We all enjoyed spending time on the beach but I think Ebony had the best time running around and jumping in the waves!

Next we went to the Yellowstone River which is another really beautiful area, one where Kristine and Trent would like to bring the trailer because the campsites are right along the river.

We also visited the reservoir near the river, another breathtaking area!

We saw this random brick chimney while we were driving around the area and I thought it was cool.

Sitting around the campfire late into the evening is one of my favorite parts of camping!

Monday morning, Memorial Day, we had a breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes outside and I don't think anything has ever tasted so good.  I think everything tastes so much better outside and, since I usually don't eat breakfast, I always love it when I wake up to the smell of bacon on the grill!

Sean and I took the side by side (he drove) up the trail to the top of Mt. Tabby.  It was a really bumpy and dusty ride but the views all the way up were spectacular!

On the other side of the mountain we stopped at Red Creek Reservoir where Ebony, once again, had fun playing in the water.  We got back to the property in the late afternoon and, sadly, had to pack everything up and come home.  I was tired, sunburned, and really dirty (from the dusty ride on the trail) when I got home so, in other words, it was a great weekend!

Thierry Fischer Conducts Jessie Montgomery, Mozart, Schoenberg & Copland

Last night I attended the final Utah Symphony concert of the unusual but highly memorable 2020-2021 season.  I sincerely appreciate the extraordinary lengths to which the Utah Symphony organization has gone in order to perform beautiful music for the community this season and, in my opinion, they definitely ended on a good note!  The concert began with a piece called Strum by Jessie Montgomery, a contemporary composer who was also featured earlier in the season.  I really loved this piece, so much so that I downloaded it from iTunes as soon as I got home!  It is incredibly dynamic and I especially enjoyed it whenever the musicians would pluck their strings.  Next the orchestra played my favorite piece by my favorite composer: Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  My heart just about burst when I heard the instantly recognizable opening notes (you can probably hear them in your head right now) and my delight only increased as every movement was performed.  It is so light, airy, and filled with joy and I always love hearing it (I played my vinyl recording of it over and over when I was in high school), especially performed live!  Next came Chamber Symphony No. 2 by Arnold Schoenberg and, in my opinion, this piece is very atmospheric and brooding and I particularly enjoyed the second movement.  The concert concluded with the Orchestral Suite from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.  This is another piece that I always love hearing performed live but it seemed particularly poignant last night.  I really enjoyed the variations on the Quaker hymn "Simple Gifts," which is first developed by a solo clarinet and then repeated by various instruments, because the pandemic has really helped me to appreciate the simple things in life.  The audience, which was the largest that I have seen at Abravanel Hall since the pandemic began, gave the orchestra a well deserved standing ovation for a beautiful concert last night and, I suspect, for persevering through all of the challenges this season!

Note:  Although the regular season is over, the Utah Symphony will be performing at the Deer Valley Music Festival (go here for updates on the availability of tickets) and at a variety of outdoor venues for the recently announced Forever Mighty Tour (go here for more information and free tickets) this summer.

A Quiet Place Part II

I really loved A Quiet Place so, when I heard that a sequel was in the works, I was quite apprehensive because I didn't think it could possibly compare to the original.  I saw the long-awaited Part II last night and all of my fears were allayed because it is brilliant.  The movie begins with a flashback to the day the aliens arrived and then the narrative shifts to the immediate aftermath of the alien attack on the Abbott family.  Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), and Marcus (Noah Jupe) decide to leave with their newborn baby because their house and barn have been destroyed.  They hope to find other people who have survived and immediately encounter their neighbor Emmett (Cillian Murphy) who is distraught over the fact that he didn't do more to save his wife and son.  They hear a radio broadcast from a nearby island and Regan wants to go to them to tell them that the aliens can be defeated by the feedback from her cochlear implants.  Emmett begrudgingly goes after her while Evelyn stays behind in a makeshift bunker to care for Marcus who was injured in a bear trap.  Both groups must contend with the aliens but Regan and Emmett must also face groups of survivors who may or may not be sympathetic.  I found this story to be even more compelling than the first because it is an exploration of the toll that survival has taken on all of the characters and it is very affecting, particularly Emmett's character arc.  The action sequences are intense, to say the least, and there were several times when I literally jumped out of my seat.  I loved all of the parallels between Emmett and Regan's narrative and that of Evelyn and Marcus and the editing is particularly effective in creating suspense.  The sound design and the atmospheric score add tremendously to the almost unbearable tension.  Blunt and Murphy are outstanding in their roles but, in my opinion, Simmonds gives an incredibly powerful performance as her character tries to live up to her father's memory.  I do think the aliens are more menacing in the original because they are mostly left to the imagination rather than shown as they are in this movie but that is a small criticism.  This is a worthy successor to the original and it is definitely worth the wait necessitated by the pandemic.  I recommend seeing it in a theater!

Note:  Crowds usually give me anxiety but being in a packed IMAX theater at the beginning of a holiday weekend made me very happy because it seemed so normal!  A man stood up just as the movie was about to start and shouted, "Three cheers because we are all at a movie on a Friday night!"  Three cheers, indeed!

Cruella

I had an absolute blast watching a Thursday preview of Cruella with a large and appreciative crowd last night!  Estella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is a brilliant and creative little girl who was born with black and white hair.  She is also rebellious and has a habit of lashing out when anyone crosses her which earns her the nickname "Cruella" from her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham).  After the death of her mother she ends up on her own in London but soon meets up with two street urchins who reluctantly take her under their wing.  Ten years later Estella (Emma Stone), Jasper (Joel Fry), and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) are accomplished pickpockets with Estella designing and creating elaborate costumes to aid in their deceptions.  She finally gets what she thinks is her dream job at the Liberty department store but she is actually relegated to working as a janitor.  She idolizes the designer Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) and is thrilled when a window display she designs in secret one night at Liberty gets noticed by the Baroness.  She is asked to join her prestigious fashion house as a designer and does everything she can to impress her.  However, disturbing revelations about the Baroness soon prompt Estella to adopt the persona of "Cruella" and enlist the help of Jasper, Horace, a vintage clothing store owner named Artie (John McCrea), and her childhood friend Anita (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) to help her compete with the Baroness to exact her revenge.  This movie is so much fun and it is easily one of the best Disney live-action remakes yet but, honestly, I think I enjoyed it more when I didn't think about the fact that it is a prequel to One Hundred and One Dalmatians and just appreciated it as a revenge-heist thriller.  The images on the screen look fantastic and I loved the edgy 1970s London punk aesthetic.  Stone and Thompson give really fun over-the-top performances that are wildly entertaining and I also found Hauser to be very amusing.  The costumes are absolutely spectacular, particularly the gowns worn to the Black and White Ball and Cruella's gowns in her pop-up shows.  Finally, I loved the 1970s pop music featured in the soundtrack, especially "Bloody Well Right" by Supertramp, "She's a Rainbow" by the Rolling Stones, "Livin' Thing" by Electric Light Orchestra, "One Way Or Another" by Blondie, "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" by The Clash, and, of course, "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones.  I enjoyed watching this movie so much and the crowd at my screening seemed to enjoy it as well because they laughed and cheered throughout the whole thing (although the kids seemed a bit subdued).  I highly recommend it!

Note:  The mid-credits scene featuring Anita, Roger (Kayvan Novak), Pongo, and Perdita got the biggest reaction from the crowd!