Book Review

Book Review

Book title: 20^th Century English Short Stories

Authors: J. Jefferson Farjeon, Laurence Lerner, Dorothy Parker, Allan Sillitoe, Laurie Colwin, Muriel Spark, Grace A. Ogot, John Wain, Martin Armstrong, Graham Greene, Peter Cowan and Roald Dahl.

Publisher/ year: First published by Evans 1979. Fifth impression 1999. Edited by Tina Pierce & Edward Cochrane.

Pages: 168

Summary:

This is a book of short stories, each one dealing a different matter and having different settings from United Kingdom, to U.S., Australia and Africa.

The topics are very attractive such as going into adulthood (Mr. Parker), tribal traditions (The Rain Came), different points of view about human relationships (The Valentine Generation) about the relationship with the land (The Tractor), telling secrets ( The Rivals), unfortunate coincidences (Enoch’s Two Letters), deception (Parson’s Pleasure), all of them have unexpected endings and catch your attention from the very first line to the last.

Opinion:

This collection of short stories is very interesting and entertaining. The stories have beautiful descriptions with lots of details. Some stories are for laughing and others make you think about the dealt topic.

On the whole it is very entertaining and instructive as it has a list of difficult words at the end of each story, it also has discussion exercises.

To sum up, I really have enjoyed the book and I will try to look for more stories from these authors.

Language:

The language varies in each story, adapting to the setting and the social status of the characters.

Every author uses his/her own style and has different ways of telling a story. Their language is clear, however, there are difficult words, specially when they are from specific fields (editing or furniture). However, each story has a list of difficult words at the end with definitions or explanations. Most of the vocabulary refers to concrete things, but in the Valentine Generation abstract words are dominating.

I make a special remark on The Last Tea, because it is full of slang as it deals about two young people, however, nowadays this slang can be a bit “old-fashioned” as it was published in 1939.

Referring to syntax it can be considered simple with normal sentence order however some stories have lots of subordinate phrases and long sentences, specially when describing situations with actions within them.

The most used rhetorical device is comparison (something resembling a moving bush, like the mutter from an aviary).

Pilar Martínez Balaguer

Film Review

Film Review

Film title: The Party

Country/ Year: U.S.A. 1968

Genre: Comedy

Director: Blake Edwards Writing credits: Blake Edwards

Cast: Peter Sellers, Claude Longet, Marge Champion, Steve Franken, Fay Mc Kenzie, J. Edward Mc Kinley.

Plot/Synopsis

The English army walks along a canion where the enemy waits for them, when an Hindi soldier climbs up a hill and calls for charge, then he is shot to death but he does not fall at the first shoot, neither at the second, the third and so on and continues playing the horn and twisting in pain but not dying.

From this point you start laughing till the film ends.

A figurant actor who has been fired from a film shooting is invited by mistake to the party of a very important Hollywood film director. This party starts a quiet and boring reception where film stars are very trivial and talk about their empty lives and thanks to this strange element (Mr. Bakshi), the party turns out to be a hilarious series of gags emulating the best soundless cinema which ends up in a foam party.

Here, dialogues are secondary as movements and facial expressions take over the film. It is much said with gestures than with words. However, dialogues are a veery useful resource to lead to very funny situations and misunderstandings.

Costumes help to the development of the film, from the formality at the beginning of the party to the almost “pyjama” party at the end. The main character, Mr Bakshi, (Peter Sellers) acting as a Hindi actor is the guideline and cause of the many incidents and accidents occurring in the film.

In my views, this film is hilarious, a real demonstration that special effects are not needed to make a great film and imagination in late sixties was in good health, showing that we can laugh at Hollywood society which is not as good and glamorous as we may think.

This film has a wonderful soundtrack deviced by Henry Mancini which accompanies the funniest scenes of The Party (there is a band playing jazz all the party long).

This film can be liked by both men and women, however, each gender may like different aspects of the film, (the gags, the romantic scenes).

Summing up, this film is a valuable jewel of comedy worth watching several times and enjoying and discovering new details each time.

The language used is American English and Hindi English with a very strong accent, which causes several funny situation when both types are used.

Pilar Martínez Balaguer

Book Review

I’M STRANGER HERE MYSELF

Author: Bill Bryson

Publisher / Year: Broadway Trade Paperback, June 2000

Book Type: Collection of articles from Night & Day magazine, a supplement of the Mail on Sunday newspaper printed in England

Pages: 120

Summary:

How would you feel returning back to your own country after more than two decades away? Would it be the same as it was when you were young? Has people’s behaviour changed? Have you been affected by changes too? These questions are answered in some way by the author of "I’m a stranger here myself" with a collection of amusing short articles that make up his book.

After twenty years in Britain, Mr. Bryson and his family moved to America. Finally, he landed in Hanover, a quiet village in New Hampshire, with his beloved British wife and children to discover how both, the land of his birth and himself, have changed in this long period of time.

Mr. Bryson took advantage of the opportunity (and sometimes curse), given by his friend Simon Kelner, to express his opinion about almost every aspect of his daily life as a “stranger” in his own country. In a weekly column you must write something every week so, why don’t you use your own life? This is what the author did but always in a funny way, with a great amount of imagination, sarcasm, irony and a brilliant sense of humour, turning himself the main character of the stories.

The book has no plot as novels have. It’s made up with a collection of amusing interesting short and quite organised stories. Every story has different anecdotes and opinions about lots of little things or aspects in Mr. Bryson nowadays life in the USA. The main goal of the articles is not to show “the meaning of life” or a systematic portrait of America, they are just individual feelings, stories, reflections or experiences making up an entertaining book.

Each article shows the author point of view about his country, its services (sometimes introduced with statistics from books or newspapers), people and customs (the new and the old ones that are disappearing), environment and city problems, etc. Moreover, his daily life or personal experiences are the base of some articles too (in my opinion, some of the funniest ones are one related with Christmas titled “Deck the halls”, and another one about his awful memory titled “Old News”). Many articles have been written in a humorous way, with jokes, although some of them are quite ironical but serious and criticize some political aspects in the USA nowadays (immigration, environmental issues, bureaucracy, etc.).

Obviously, I’m not going to summarize each article (it’ll be too long and pointless), but I have to say that you won’t be disappointed if you start reading this book.

Opinion:

"I’m a stranger here myself" is not the best book I’ve ever read but it’s undoubtedly the best I’ve read in English. The short stories it contains, full of humour and irony, suits for that kind of books you can easily read while you’re in an airport, train or waiting-room. Moreover, Mr. Bryson's attractive style writing can make you wish ten extra minutes just to read another story.

Evidently some stories are better than others but, in general, everyone has something to teach you about the USA and the author's family life (in my opinion these are the best and, after reading the book, I must recognise I really like Bill and his lovely family).

In conclusion, I’m a stranger here myself is a book I recommend. I’ve realised sometimes I was laughing alone in my room reading some anecdotes and it’s something you should take into account. As Mr. Bryson would say; "What are you doing right now? You should be looking for this book!!! Go to the book shop and buy it immediately."

Language / Style:

There are almost seventy articles in the book and many of them have the same structure. A descriptive title followed by a short reflection that leads to a well developed body and a final and sometimes hilarious sentence (some of them have made me laugh for a while). However, there are some exceptions that don’t follow this structure. Two articles (one related with taxes and another with computers) are like no sense instructions or manuals which show the brilliant imagination of the author. Another interesting one is a transcription of a speech he performed at his son’s high school. It’s a fantastic and emotive explanation for teenagers about how they should act in their whole life (it’s really good and can make you think about your own lifestyle so it's not only for teenagers).

Stories are written in first person, using a simple informal register, slang, collocations and a huge range of expressions and daily words (some of them aren’t in some dictionaries but are easily understandable because of the context and root of the word, e.g. goopy stuff or rawl plugs). Sometimes the author explains some expressions or describes situations, places or people quite accurately comparing them with expression or situations more common in Britain or Europe which helps a lot because you can easily get the gist (you should remember those articles are aimed at British). Emphasising is used frequently. Dialogues, descriptions, hyphenation (for pauses) and brackets (introducing smart remarks like this one) are quite common too.

To sum up, articles are written in an attractive simple journalistic style, typical of good writers and journalists, with very interesting and funny contents and reflections.

Pablo Martínez Gil 5th F

BOOK REVIEW

Book title: The Catcher in the Rye

Author: J. D. Salinger

Publisher/Year: Penguin Books, (first published in the USA in 1951)

Book type: Novel

Pages: 192

SUMMARY

This book tells the story of a boy called Holden and his teenage problems. Holden has got the axe in a lot of schools because he failed most of his subjects. The boy was expelled from Pencey, his last school, two weeks before Christmas and so that he doesn’t want to return home before holidays because if his parents know that, they will get angry with him. Then, he decides to go to his city, New York, and spend the fortnight in a hotel. However, Holden has a difficult personality. He has had a lot of sad experiences like the death of a brother, the suicide of one of his schoolmates, problems with friends and the failure at his studies. That is the reason why he is lonely and feels alienated from society. Nevertheless, he uses this alienation as a form of protection against other people. He thinks that a lot of people, especially adults, are phoney and self-centred. Holden is very immature although he is brave to make the decision of living alone in the hotel. During his stay in New York, he meets some old friends but in the end he doesn’t feel comfortable because he can establish no more than a superficial relationship with them. One day, he manages to see his little sister, Phoebe. He gets on very well with her and likes to be with her. It is Phoebe who gives the stability to his life. After talking with her, Phoebe makes him think of his painful situation. Eventually, he returns to his home and recognises his psychological problems. He ends up in a hospital recovering from his unfortunate past experiences and thinking about his future.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Holden Caulfield

This is the main character of the novel and at the same time he is the narrator of the story. Holden is a 16-year-old teenager with a lot of worries in his life. He tries to protect himself from the people he considers superficial and phoney. Alienation and loneliness are his feelings towards society. He only does first judgements to people. He is depressed and his cynic attitude shows his peculiar point of view of the world.

Phoebe Caulfield

She is Holden’s little sister. Holden tries to protect her at any moment because he cherishes her sister. He doesn’t want her to grow up. He hides all things concerned with adult world. But, sometimes, it is Phoebe who is more mature than his brother and she helps him to realize his place in society. Moreover, she also criticises him for behaving like a child.

Ward Stradlater

He is Holden’s roommate at Pencey. He is arrogant and popular although Holden calls him a “secret slob”. Holden gets into a fight with him because he suspects that his friend is meeting Jane Gallagher.

Jane Gallagher

She is an old friend of Holden. He talks with her on the phone and he finds her attractive. However, she is dating Stradlater.

Mr. Antolini

He was Holden’s English teacher in a previous school. Holden doesn’t call him a phoney because his behaviour is unconventional and Holden can talk with him about almost everything. Mr. Antolini lets Holden stay in his house one night that he was all drunk. While Holden was sleeping, the teacher touches his head and he suddenly wakes up nervous. He thinks that what Mr. Antolini had done was a homosexual advance and therefore, he leaves the house.

OPINION

From my point of view this is a very original book aimed at the public in general. It is interesting to see the unlucky evolution of the protagonist. In this non-fiction work, the author has managed to transmit the reader the feeling of helplessness towards the terrible life of Holden. The story is an exhaustive portrait of the life of a troubled teenager and I think it is quite difficult to achieve an amazing description like that. In addition, the book is very entertaining because you can perfectly see the psychological behaviour of Holden and compare it with the one of a normal teenager.

LANGUAGE/STYLE

The book has been written in American English. Salinger has written the book with colloquial and informal vocabulary on purpose. He uses as well a lot of slang words, idioms and collocations (“to be as cold as a witch’s teat”, “to shoot the bull”, “helluva”, “sonuvabitch”, “dough”, “to puke”, ect.). Moreover, the author uses some typical American words like “flunk” (fail), “phony” (phoney), “to get the ax” (to get the axe), “stiff” (person), “checkers” (draughts)... In addition, J. D. Salinger has written a lot of repetitions that become pet words for the protagonist, for example “for Chrissake”, “phony”, “lousy”, “goddam”, “and all”, etc.

On the whole, it is a dynamic and intelligible book but sometimes I think you have to make an effort to understand some passages because of this kind of vocabulary. However, you can get it by the context or look it up in a dictionary.

MARÍA MIGUEL RECATALÁ

Film Review

THE YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Country / Year: United States of America, 1974.

Genre: Comedy /Sci-Fi.

Director: Mel Brooks.

Writing Credits: Mel Brooks & Gene Wilder.

Cast: Gene Wilder (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein), Peter Boyle (The monster), Marty Feldman (Igor), Teri Garr (Inga), Maledeine Kahn (Elisabeth), Cloris Leachman (Frau Blücher), Keneth Mars (Inspector Kemp).

Plot / Synopsis:

“Destiny, destiny. No escaping that for me.” This simple rhyme is what summarizes the whole story, not only the plot but also the film. When two genius of the comedy like Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder start to work together, only God knows what will come of all this, but you can be sure that it will be good. That’s what happened with “The Young Frankenstein”. Excellent plot, fabulous director, fantastic cast, brilliant set designers, very suitable music and sound effects (they fit every scene) and, last but not least, black and white photography, which is very appropriate to get the atmosphere of the film reminding classical movies, only can reach to one of the best comedies ever made. It’s just destiny.

I’m not going to be fair with that master piece because it’s impossible to summarize the film without including jokes or a brief description of the scenes and characters. But the fact is that I have to do a synopsis and if I add jokes, characters and scenes it won’t be a synopsis, it will be an essay about comedy but it’s not the point, so let’s go to sum it up. Someone will say that this is very close to a sacrilege, I know, so I’m sorry.

Everything starts when Dr. Frederick Fronkonsteen (Gene Wilder), receives his grandfather’s legacy, the family’s castle in Transylvania. He is ashamed of his family reputation because of his granddad's experiments, that’s the reason for being called Fronkonsteen instead of Frankenstein, but when he goes to his ancestors castle, leaving his beloved girlfriend Elisabeth (Maledeine Kahn) in the United States, everything changes. He’s leading to find out his grandfather’s notes about “discovering the secret of bestowing life” and then he accepts his destiny. He’s a Frankenstein after all, so with his grandfather secret laboratory and instructions, the invaluable help of his pretty assistants Inga (Teri Garr) and, of course, Igor the hunchback (Marti Feldman, who plays one of the most hilarious characters ever performed), the doctor manages to give life to a lifeless matter, but fortunately without the result he has expected. Tanks to Igor, the huge monster (Peter Boyle) becomes alive with and abnormal brain (Abby Normal as Igor says) instead of the brain of a “Genius and Saint”.

Troubles come when Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman) frees the monster (I think I’ve heard some neighs...). Then a series of hilarious situations take place. One of the best is the monster’s meeting with the blind old man who lives alone. I think it’s one of the best comedy scenes ever filmed (every time I see it, I can’t stop laughing). After that, with the sound of a nice lullaby, which hypnotizes the monster every time he listens to it, “the gang” captures the monster. Once the monster has been captured, the doctor tries to convince him not to be frighten of people and then he realises that the only thing the monster wants is to be accepted although his grotesque appearance.

All this reaches to one of the most strange and unexpected situations in the film, the musical performance with the doctor and the monster in Broadway’s style (ridiculous but comical). Of course, whit that performance, people lose their fear but also their respect for the monster and, after an incident with a lamp, they throw vegetables to the monster which annoys him very much and drives him crazy. The monster is imprisoned but escapes again kidnapping the doctor’s girlfriend, who has just arrived for a visit when the situation is more and more complicated. The monster with his primary instincts and an enormous “schwanztück” (I don’t know what it rally means but it’s the word they use in the film) helps Elisabeth to find, as she sings, “the sweet mystery of life”. Elisabeth falls in love with the huge monster, and probably his huge “schwanztück”, but the monster is attracted again to the castle with the melody of the Frankenstein’s lullaby.

Once in the castle, the doctor tries an experiment with the monster. He is going to give part of his brain to the monster. The experiment starts but a riot, commanded by inspector Kemp (Keneth Mars) and his mechanic arm, arrive just five seconds before the experiment is totally complete. Although the premature end, the experiment works in some way. The monster gets the faculty of speaking fluently and, after a moving speech, he convinces the riot to break up without killing the doctor and himself.

At the end, everything finishes well. Elisabeth and the monster get married, Inga and the doctor get married too and, as a consequence of the experiment, the doctor gets the faculty of an enormous “schwanztück” which helps Inga to find “the sweet mystery of life”.

Opinion:

After my brief introduction in the previous section, you’ll probably guess that I love “The Young Frankenstein”. It’s one of my favourite films and I can’t write anything against that Mel Brooks’ movie. I reaffirm everything I’ve written in the introduction and I recommend you to watch the film more than once because, if you pay attention, you can find something new every time you watch it. It may be because when you’re laughing you miss some funny details or jokes and next time you get it. This is the consequence of a film in which almost every second has something hilarious. Moreover, some killing scenes can make you laugh again and again although you have watched them a hundred times. It’s something very difficult to achieve nowadays, a great movie based on irony and amusing characters with an incredible cast making it possible. Indeed, this is a cult movie for people who love elegant and brilliant humour.

Language:

Language in the film is simple, clear and rhythmic enough to get all the jokes. It’s quite polite with very little use of slang or bad words, although there are some exceptions (only when it is required to make a joke). Vocabulary is quite easy to understand with very common words (at least if you know what they’re going to say because you’ve watched it so many times that you know the dialogues by heart), the most difficult things is to get some puns but characters’ actions or faces help to get it. Puns, jokes, sarcastic and amusing comments are said all the time, moreover rhythm and tone in speech change frequently to produce viewers laugh. A great amount of humorous resources are included so, as a consequence, language is always subordinate to the comic situations, although there are some brilliant philosophical speeches too.

A final remark must be done in relation to the language. Characters in the film use different accents which separate them in groups. Leaving behind the comical way some characters speak, three different groups because of their accents can be distinguished. The first one is the group with German accent. Some characters that are supposed to be native from Transylvania use it (Inga, Frau Blücher, Inspector Kemp, etc.). The second one is the village people that make up the riot. They speak in a particular way (even I have noticed it), and according to Mr. Brooks explanations, it’s Londoner’s accent. Finally, the third group is formed by characters with no special or exaggerated accent. They are the ones that come from America (Dr. Frankenstein, Elisabeth, etc.), my dear Igor, and some supporting actors (the old blind man, the village girl, etc.). They speak with their original accent (usually US or UK accent).

Pablo Martínez Gil

Film Review

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Film Title: Million Dollar Baby.

Country / Year: USA / 2004

Genre: Drama, sport (boxing).

Director: Clint Eastwood.

Writing credits: Paul Haggis, from the stories compiled in "Rope burns" by F.X. Toole.

Cast: Clint Eastwood (Frankie Dunn), Hilary Swank (Maggie Fitzgerald), Morgan Freeman (Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris).

Plot / Synopsis:
“I’m gonna disconnect your air machine, then you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll... stay asleep. Mo cuishle means ‘My darling, my blood' ". This is only one of the great deal of thrilling dialogues said by Frankie Dunn to Maggie Fitzgerald. He runs a gym with Eddie Scrap’s help and is a boxing trainer too. He has always refused to train women but when Maggie, a waitress who wants to be a boxer, arrives in his gym he starts changing his mind. After having observed her talented skills in boxing he accepts to be Maggie’s trainer to convert her into a professional boxer. That’s the beginning of very hard-working training days. Although Frankie and Maggie have several problems with their respective families and are not very lucky with their lives, they forget all about that when Maggie goes out in the ring. She travels with Frankie around Europe and the States defying consolidate boxers. Her passion for boxing and determination makes her win most of the fights and she became famous all over the world. People know her as Mo Cuishle, a pseudonym Frankie has created in Gaelic for her. They’re all happy with her achievements when suddenly Maggie’s life goes to pieces at her World Championship fight. After a wrong fall at the ring she becomes tetraplegic and from then on she will have to decide between life or death. Frankie and Mr. Scrap will be always by her side trying to save her from the unavoidable tragic end.

Opinion:
Million Dollar Baby is a magnificent film which has won 4 Oscars awards included the Best Film Oscar. Indeed, this is a very touching film despite being about boxing. The dialogues are brilliant and they’re marked by the feelings of the characters although they can sometimes be heartbreaking. Moreover, all the main actors and actresses must have had some boxing lessons to play their role so well because they have achieved breathtaking scenes when they’re fighting. The fantastic special effects have been necessary to make these scenes so perfect and the make-up is also a fundamental element for that. The film has got a melancholic and sad soundtrack and it appears for instance when there is the voice-over.

Language:
They speak in American English. We can realize it because of the accent and as there are subtitles we can see the typical spelling from the United States. They speak in colloquial English and sometimes some characters use some slang words and expressions.

María Miguel Recatalá

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