Book Review: Death in the City of Light by David King

Death in the City of Light

Author: David King

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group

Date of Publication: June 5, 2012

Pages: 462 (Trade Paperback Edition)

     Death in the City of Light is a disturbing look at a fascinating side story to the Nazi occupation of Paris.   It begins with a grisly discovery of dismembered bodies in various stages of decay in an up-scale neighborhood of the 16^th Arrondissement of Paris.  This discovery sets off a search for the strange and puzzling owner of the building who promptly disappears. 

     The book is an attempt to define or describe Dr. Marcel Petiot.  He is a medical doctor whose past as well as his life in Paris is cloaked in mystery.  The author has done painstaking research into Dr. Petiot’s entire life story in order to help the reader try to understand the incomprehensible.    He also includes many contemporary accounts of the investigations of the despicable crimes for which the doctor was eventually tried and convicted.   The author cleverly leaves unanswered (as does history) the conundrum of which of two stories is true.  The first story (expounded at the criminal trial) is that the doctor was a merciless killer who lured innocents into a trap by promising them a road to freedom from the Nazis.  He instead stole all of their belongings, tortured them and then dismembered and disposed of their bodies.  He had a history of mental illness and there arose some question as to whether the doctor was in fact insane.  There was speculation that he had indeed also killed his first wife years before.  The second story as told by the doctor as his defense is that he was a master of deception, working for a faction of the French Resistance, did indeed help people escape to Argentina and was framed by the Gestapo.  There is some corroboration of the Doctor’s version of events.  The author presents all of the available evidence for both stories.

     There are other notable characters whom the author fleshes out in detail, including the police inspector, Dr. Petiot's wife and brother (accomplices or naive relatives?) as well as many of the victims who disappeared.  These secondary characters add a lot of texture to the story of Dr. Petiot.

     It is very interesting to read of the attempts at justice and proper police investigation by the French during the chaos of Nazi occupation.  It is also interesting to read a about a murder investigation which took place many decades before the availability of forensic studies such as DNA analysis which we so take for granted. Death in the City of Light is a fascinating book, although at times the author sacrifices pace and readability for comprehensive reporting.  The character of Dr. Petiot is portrayed as somewhat of a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”  which rings true whichever story you as the reader want or come to believe.

Book Review: Flee by J. A. Konrath and Ann Voss Petereson

Flee

Authors: J. A. Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson

Publisher: Thomas and Mercer

Date of Publication: October 10, 2012

Pages: 241 (Kindle Edition)

         To say that this book is awful does disservice to awful.  I rated it one star on Goodreads.com because that's the lowest rating a reader can give a book.  If I could have given it negative stars I would have.  This came as somewhat of a surprise since I have read several of J. A. Konrath's "Jack Daniels" series and enjoyed them.  They had a semblance of a plot and some character development as well as some humor, none of which shows up here.

     This book has a preposterous premise and the plot line is a giant chase scene through and around Chicago.  There are multiple clones of the main character (all of whom are female and named after male mystery writers: Chandler,  Hammett, Clancy, etc...).  There is violence galore and one explicit random sex scene.  What is missing is a plot, character development and humor.  Did I mention that the writing sounds like it came from a drop out from an on-line creative writing course?  Every page, it seems, has the main character noticing at least three smells ("Creative Writing 101: Have your characters use all of their senses").  The only real mystery here is why I read this whole book.  I guess that I somehow thought it would get better.  Maybe, like watching the TV news coverage of a natural disaster, you get sort of numb to how bad it is.  I don't know.  I've probably read worse books but I don't remember when.

Paul McCartney at Nationals Stadium, Washington, D.C., July 12, 2013

Paul McCartney

"Out There Tour"

Nationals Stadium, Washington, D.C.

July 12, 2013

     I am afraid that Sir Paul McCartney may have ruined rock concerts for me forever.  I think that any show I could ever see would pale in comparison to the virtuoso performance at Nationals Stadium on July 12.  First and foremost, Paul McCartney has created a body of work with no equal.  His music has staying power as evidenced by the huge number of young people at this concert.  His songs energize, entertain and amaze.  And they keep coming.  One after another he pulled out gems which delighted the enormous crowd.  From the set list I have included below, you can see that this was no nostalgia-fest.  He mixed in recent compositions as well as old favorites.

     I was asked yesterday to pick the one highlight of the show which I would experience again if I could.  That was a difficult task.  After a bit of reflection, that one highlight above all other highlights would have to be Paul's tribute to George Harrison.  He played George's "Something", starting out by himself on the ukelele and then joined by his whole band for a truly touching performance.  After the crowd hysteria quieted down a bit, Paul broke the somewhat maudlin tone by quipping "And to think Frank Sinatra said that was his favorite Lennon-McCartney song!"

     Performers take a significant risk performing a set list of such familiar songs.  The crowd knows every lyric, every guitar solo, every harmony, every drum beat (Admit it: you have "air-drummed" Ringo's solo from "Abbey Road").  One slip-up and all 50,000 people in the audience will know it.  Well, Paul McCartney and this amazing band hit every note.  Every harmony was pitch-perfect.  The timing on every song was dead on.  The precision and perfection with which these songs were delivered was truly a wonder.

     Paul McCartney is the consummate entertainer.  From the opening D-E-G, D-E-G jangle of "Eight Days a Week" through the pyrotechnics of "Live and Let Die", the poignant renditions of "Something" and "Yesterday", the raw energy of "Helter Skelter" to the coda of the ending medley from "Abbey Road" the crowd was engaged, energized and entertained.

   Wow!  What a show!

 

SET LIST

1. Eight Days a Week
2. Junior's Farm
3. All My Loving
4. Listen to What the Man Said
5. Let Me Roll It (Foxy Lady)
6. Paperback Writer
7. My Valentine
8. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
9. The Long and Winding Road
10. Maybe I'm Amazed
11. I've Just Seen a Face
12. We Can Work It Out
13. Another Day
14. And I Love Her
15. Blackbird
16. Here Today
17. Your Mother Should Know
18. Lady Madonna
19. All Together Now
20. Lovely Rita
21. Mrs. Vanderbilt
22. Eleanor Rigby
23. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
24. Something
25. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
26. Band on the Run
27. Back in the U.S.S.R.
28. Let It Be
29. Live and Let Die
30. Hey Jude

Encore 1

31. Day Tripper
32. Hi, Hi, Hi
33. Get Back

Encore 2

34. Yesterday
35. Helter Skelter
36. Golden Slumbers
37. Carry That Weight
38. The End

(NOTE: I do apologize for the quality of the photos.  The camera policy on the ticket read "no cameras with detachable lenses" so I brought a point and shoot Canon digital camera with a 20x zoom.  The resolution on these photos leaves a bit to be desired, but I included them anyway to give readers a feel for the visual spectacular that accompanied the musical one)

"Helter Skelter"

Movie Review: The Lone Ranger

"The Lone Ranger"

Starring: Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp

Directed By: Gore Verbinski

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

    "The Lone Ranger" opened July 3 to universally lukewarm reviews.  There have been many criticisms,  not the least of which is that a lot of the material is a rehash, including the aging Tonto (Johnny Depp) telling the story much like Dustin Hoffman did in "Little Big Man" years ago.  I don't really get all of the negativity.  We went to the movie expecting an off-beat, summer blockbuster.  We thought we would see an action packed and entertaining movie, and we did.  We didn't go expecting "Citizen Kane" or a documentary on genocide of native Americans.  We went to be entertained and that we were.

     I watched all of The Lone Ranger TV shows as a kid.  I had a mask, a white hat and could holler "Hi Ho, Silver" with the best of them.  I'm a a fan.  So, I was excited that this story was being reprised as a major motion picture.  When I learned that Johnny Depp was cast as Tonto, my excited anticipation went up a notch..   I don't know much about Armie Hammer, but he certainly looked like he would be a good Lone Ranger.  Knowing that Depp would dominate the movie  made me wonder how this story would work from Tonto's point of view.  Well, I think it worked great.

     The writers were able to tell the familiar story of the survival of Texas Ranger John Reid and how he was transformed from a legalistic, non-violent academic into a gun-toting vigilante.  The writers were able to weld on a plausible back-story for Tonto as well.  The plot becomes a bit convoluted as these two back stories are woven into a new story of greed and deceit perpetrated by the new Trans-continental railroad.  I think the whole thing worked, although other reviewers thought the plot a bit unwieldy.  A lot of the criticisms I have read was that the movie was "choppy" or uneven.  I think that the writers' ambition to tell multiple stories is responsible for that.

     Johnny Depp does indeed dominate the movie, and his interpretation of Tonto is certainly different from Jay Silverheels' in the 1950s.  There is reference genocide of Native Americans but that is not the main thrust of the movie.  Depp does not just take Jack Sparrow to the 1800s.  He definitely creates a unique, conflicted and, yes, humorous Tonto.
   
    The final twenty minutes of the movie, though are the highlight.  The final action sequence, featuring runaway trains, exploding bridges, the Lone Ranger riding Silver along the top of a train and a fitting outcome for all of the "good guys" as well as the "bad guys" brings the movie to a very thrilling conclusion and made me want to know when the sequel would be released.

     Reality was suspended for 2+ hours, I was entertained and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  Isn't that what summer movies are supposed to do?  

Book Review: Help Thanks Wow The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott

Help Thanks Wow

The Three Essential Prayers

Author: Anne Lamott

Publisher: The Penguin Group

Date of Publication:  November 13, 2012

Pages: 112 (Hardcover Edition)

      

     Anne Lamott has crafted another gem in her own quirky, humorous and genuine style.  Anyone who has read her previous essays on faith and religion (Traveling Mercies, Plan B and Grace) will recognize this sincere effort to share her personal journey and struggles with faith and notions of God, salvation and the hereafter.  She uses many of her own life experiences to illustrate the points she makes about what she calls the three essential prayers: Help, Thanks and Wow.  

   The author also uses insightful stories of how others have tried to resolve the same issues.  In the section on
"Help" she recounts :

     "I don't pray for God to do this or that or for God's sake to knock it off, or for specific outcomes.  Well, okay, maybe a little.  When my great hero Arthur Ashe had had AIDS for quite a while, he said: 'God's will alone matters.  When I played tennis, I never prayed for victory in a match.  I will not pray now to be cured of heart disease or AIDS.'  So I pray, Help. Hold my friends in your light."

   She also extols the virtue of intercessory prayer, saying "If one person is praying for you, watch out!  Things are going to start to happen!"  In the end, though,it is the author's self-deprecating and never ending sense of humor which enlightens and uplifts the reader such as when she calls grace "spiritual WD-40."  This is an unusual book about prayer, but one worthy of reading and much reflection.  It reminds the reader that no one has the answers and that we all must come to our own reasoned and self-sustaining "religion" which works for each of us.

     

Book Review: The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler

The Beginner's Goodbye

Author: Anne Tyler

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Date of Publication: January 29, 2013

Pages: 210 (Trade Paperback Edition)

     This book has the most remarkable opening line in recent memory: "The strangest thing about my wife's return from the dead was how other people reacted."  So begins one one of the most poignant and moving stories about death, grieving and marriage which I have ever read.

     The story is told in the first person by a young widower named Aaron.  This man, like most Anne Tyler characters (and like most of us), is flawed.  In this case, Aaron has a physical disability from a childhood illness and confidence issues from growing up with a protective, dominating mother and older sister.  This book is character driven, as are all of this author's wonderful works.  This book is full of imperfect, very human characters.  Characters to which the reader can readily identify, recognize and, well, like!  The magic of The Beginner's Goodbye is that the author takes these wonderfully funky characters and weaves a tale of loss and grief which is all at once sad and uplifting.

     Aaron's musings inevitably evolve into an introspective of his marriage's high points and failings.  Regrets are mulled and areas where things could have been handled differently or with more feeling and concern are examined.  At one point Aaron reflects:

     "I used to toy with the notion that when we die we find out what our lives have amounted to, finally.  I'd never imagined that we could find that out when somebody else dies."

This theme has appeared in many of Anne Tyler's stories.  That is, that we are who we are through our relationships with others.  In The Beginner's Goodbye she distills this notion down to how the lives of us married folk in large part are defined by our choice of spouse and the nurturing (or lack of nurturing) of that relationship over time.

    All of us are human and will at some time or another suffer a tremendous loss: a parent, a spouse or a child.  Everyone can relate to Aaron and his struggles.   This story sticks with you and serves as a not-so-gentle reminder that we need to appreciate our loved ones and make the best of every minute of every day.  Things can change in a heartbeat.

Book Review: Inferno by Dan Brown

Inferno

Author: Dan Brown

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Date of Publication: May 14, 2013

Pages: 558 (NOOK Edition)

   About two pages into Dan Brown's Inferno I had an incredible feeling of deja vu.  I felt like I had read this before.  This author wrote a blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code, in 2003.  He created a unique character in Robert Langdon, an art historian and "symbologist" who deciphered a code painted into "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci.  A sudden act of violence triggered a hectic race against an international conspiracy.  Landon was aided by a female counterpart, a brilliant and beautiful cryptologist, who became more than a colleague.  The Da Vinci Code dashed through Paris, London and New York before it concluded back at The Louvre in Paris.  Substitute Dante for da Vinci, The Divine Comedy for "The Last Supper", a brilliant and beautiful physician for the cryptologist and Florence, Venice and Istanbul for the three cities and you have this novel.  The conspiracy is different here and the stakes are higher, but it's the same formula.

   The author certainly does his research, however.  The descriptions of the locales are superb and I am ready to sign up for an "Inferno tour" of Florence.  The lavish explanations and expositions regarding the artworks encountered are well done also.  My quibble with these, however, is that they tend to interrupt the action.  It's like getting an art appreciation lecture in the middle of watching "Die Hard".  I would also recommend that if they make a movie of this that they replace Tom Hanks with Usain Bolt as Robert Langdon since the character spends most of the story running helter-skelter from police, museum guards, the World Health Organization as well as his own claustrophobia and paranoia.  

     This was an interesting and informative read but, in my opinion, a repetitive one.