I quite liked it. It has:
1) An Evil Queen (the Red Queen) who gets her fashion tips from the same place Regina (Once Upon a Time) got hers.
2) A knave of hearts with adorable accent
3) A rescuer (of sorts) who stands with his arms folded while Alice fights her way out of the asylum.
4) A marshmallow swamp. Gotta love a show that combines true love and a marshmallow swamp.
5) A rabbit with purple eyes.
6) Did I mention the marshmallow swamp? It has fire-breathing dragonflies, and Alice stops to have a conversation there. It's really gooey. Her planning skills are probably a bit rusty after the whole insane-asylum thing, but don't worry--she gets out.
Til next week!
Currently, Down the Rabbit Hole is up on hulu and on ABC for free & will be for the next few weeks, if they keep to their usual schedule. I usually find Hulu has fewer hiccups than the ABC version, but either way, have fun!
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Friday, October 11, 2013
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Book Review: Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope
It is difficult to review Framley Parsonage without also discussing Doctor Thorne. The romantic half of the novel seemed to me a revision of the romantic plot of Doctor Thorne, though a far superior model.
As with Doctor Thorne, Trollope leaves the confines of Barchester to look at the countryside. Here, too, he deals more with class issues and with the adjustments the aristocracy is slowly making to the many changes in the nineteenth century. He is moderately chatty, though not as much as in Barchester Towers.
While the romance is something of a retread, the motivations and actions of the characters are more comprehensible and nuanced. Lord Lufton and Lucy meet, become friends, and gradually realize how highly they value this friendship, making it much less necessary to insist on his status as a hero. Also, where the Lady Arabella was largely a one-dimensional nasty, making Mary's deference to her increasingly frustrating, Lady Lufton is someone whose good opinion is worth something. She may be overly conscious of her noble blood, but she's also kind, generous, and loving. Thus Lucy's hesitations make sense, even to a twenty-first century reader. All of the other characters benefit from greater depth and nuance in their characters, and there is plenty of interplay beyond and around the twinned main plots to keep things moving , if not at a racing speed (this is a Victorian novel we're talking about), at something approaching a good, brisk walking pace with plenty of stops to enjoy the scenery and plenty of scenery worth enjoying.
The other half of the main plot, the financial and moral difficulties of Mark Robarts, is more difficult to read, not because Mark was unlikeable or unrealized, but because in some ways he is too well realized. His errors and embarrassments often had me wincing on his behalf, and I find it easier, as a reader, to share someone's sorrow than their embarrassment.
All in all, Framley Parsonage was a worthwhile read. So far, I've enjoyed Trollpe's town novels more than his country ones, but all the same, I'm glad I'm reading the series. I'm getting more and more inclined to try the Palliser novels some day.
A note on editions: I read the paperback Penguin Edition. It was well bound and easy to hold and came with a decent supply of endnotes. They are well-organized and easy to locate, but found myself wishing they were more detailed and frequent. For example, I could follow the progress of the bills Robarts signs well enough for the purposes of the plot, but I would still have liked a fuller explanation of the money-lending, interest, and bill selling going on behind the scenes.
For those of you with ereaders, Project Gutenberg has several formats (almost certainly without notes). Librivox has a free audio version read by a number of readers.
--
(1)I started my grand read-and-review of the Barsetshire Chronicles over at The Geek Girl Project. My review of The Warden is up there, as is my review of Barchester Towers. My review of Dr. Thorne was on this blog, last week. The rest of the series will be here, at one a week until the end!
As with Doctor Thorne, Trollope leaves the confines of Barchester to look at the countryside. Here, too, he deals more with class issues and with the adjustments the aristocracy is slowly making to the many changes in the nineteenth century. He is moderately chatty, though not as much as in Barchester Towers.
While the romance is something of a retread, the motivations and actions of the characters are more comprehensible and nuanced. Lord Lufton and Lucy meet, become friends, and gradually realize how highly they value this friendship, making it much less necessary to insist on his status as a hero. Also, where the Lady Arabella was largely a one-dimensional nasty, making Mary's deference to her increasingly frustrating, Lady Lufton is someone whose good opinion is worth something. She may be overly conscious of her noble blood, but she's also kind, generous, and loving. Thus Lucy's hesitations make sense, even to a twenty-first century reader. All of the other characters benefit from greater depth and nuance in their characters, and there is plenty of interplay beyond and around the twinned main plots to keep things moving , if not at a racing speed (this is a Victorian novel we're talking about), at something approaching a good, brisk walking pace with plenty of stops to enjoy the scenery and plenty of scenery worth enjoying.
The other half of the main plot, the financial and moral difficulties of Mark Robarts, is more difficult to read, not because Mark was unlikeable or unrealized, but because in some ways he is too well realized. His errors and embarrassments often had me wincing on his behalf, and I find it easier, as a reader, to share someone's sorrow than their embarrassment.
All in all, Framley Parsonage was a worthwhile read. So far, I've enjoyed Trollpe's town novels more than his country ones, but all the same, I'm glad I'm reading the series. I'm getting more and more inclined to try the Palliser novels some day.
A note on editions: I read the paperback Penguin Edition. It was well bound and easy to hold and came with a decent supply of endnotes. They are well-organized and easy to locate, but found myself wishing they were more detailed and frequent. For example, I could follow the progress of the bills Robarts signs well enough for the purposes of the plot, but I would still have liked a fuller explanation of the money-lending, interest, and bill selling going on behind the scenes.
For those of you with ereaders, Project Gutenberg has several formats (almost certainly without notes). Librivox has a free audio version read by a number of readers.
--
(1)I started my grand read-and-review of the Barsetshire Chronicles over at The Geek Girl Project. My review of The Warden is up there, as is my review of Barchester Towers. My review of Dr. Thorne was on this blog, last week. The rest of the series will be here, at one a week until the end!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Book Review: Dr. Thorne by Anthony Trollope
Dr. Thorne is about one-third too long. The joint story of Doctor Thorne and his niece, Mary Thorne, it gets off to a lively start with an engaging heroine, hits the trials and tribulations of her love life, and then stalls.
Mary Thorne is introduced at the top of the world, teasing her best friend, enjoying wordplay, and being as likeable a heroine as anyone could wish. Her difficulties start when she falls in love with wealthy heir to Gresham, Frank, and, worse, he falls in love with her, causing his aristocratic mother to panic and forbid her to come near the house any more. Matters only get worse when rumors spread that she is illegitimate (as she in fact is).
At first, it was easy to sympathize with her and with her guardian, her uncle Doctor Thorne. It was also not too hard to feel the difficulties class and the need for money posed, and to understand why Mary herself might think marriage to Frank unwise. There are also, as with all the Barsetshire books, plenty of subplots to follow: There's Frank's maturing, Dr. Thorne's work to establish his practice, Miss Dunstable's trials as a rich woman in a fashionable, cash-poor world, and the difficulties of a stone mason who has been ennobled and cannot now be at ease with anyone. So, for two-thirds of the book, I was a happy reader.
Then Frank's mother, the Lady Arabella, who is little more than a cardboard caricature of the aristocratic woman, managed another way to exclude Mary, Frank proposed again, Mary refused again, and the cycle repeated. Dr. Thorne, too, although presented as an admirable man, has a couple of moments of true stiff-necked stubbornness that come close to costing Mary both happiness and a chance of an income after he dies.
When finally reached, the ending proved unsatisfactory, though given the complexity of the problems Trollope is presenting, an entirely satisfactory ending is out of the question.
The book is worth reading, or at least, two-thirds worth reading, particularly if you want to read the entire Barsetshire series, but it's not going to make it onto the reread list alongside The Warden and Barchseter Towers.
A note on editions: I alternated between the Librivox audio book and a library-bound hardback that had no endnotes, and, while the book is comprehensible without, I did miss them. For those with ereaders, Project Gutenberg has the book (doubtless without notes), available in several editions.. Librivox has a free audio version,.
__
(1) For a different (and still Victorian) look at the consequences of illegitimacy, and another complicated balancing act between a heroine who is active and yet still "ladylike" enough to remain likeable, see Collins' No Name. I like Magdalen rather better than Mary, but it's a similar struggle. Or, if you don't mind an heroine with even more domestic virtues, there's Dickens' Bleak House
(2) I started my grand read-and-review of the Barsetshire Chronicles over at The Geek Girl Project. My review of The Warden is up there, as is my review of Barchester Towers. The rest of the series will be here, at one a week until the end!
Mary Thorne is introduced at the top of the world, teasing her best friend, enjoying wordplay, and being as likeable a heroine as anyone could wish. Her difficulties start when she falls in love with wealthy heir to Gresham, Frank, and, worse, he falls in love with her, causing his aristocratic mother to panic and forbid her to come near the house any more. Matters only get worse when rumors spread that she is illegitimate (as she in fact is).
At first, it was easy to sympathize with her and with her guardian, her uncle Doctor Thorne. It was also not too hard to feel the difficulties class and the need for money posed, and to understand why Mary herself might think marriage to Frank unwise. There are also, as with all the Barsetshire books, plenty of subplots to follow: There's Frank's maturing, Dr. Thorne's work to establish his practice, Miss Dunstable's trials as a rich woman in a fashionable, cash-poor world, and the difficulties of a stone mason who has been ennobled and cannot now be at ease with anyone. So, for two-thirds of the book, I was a happy reader.
Then Frank's mother, the Lady Arabella, who is little more than a cardboard caricature of the aristocratic woman, managed another way to exclude Mary, Frank proposed again, Mary refused again, and the cycle repeated. Dr. Thorne, too, although presented as an admirable man, has a couple of moments of true stiff-necked stubbornness that come close to costing Mary both happiness and a chance of an income after he dies.
When finally reached, the ending proved unsatisfactory, though given the complexity of the problems Trollope is presenting, an entirely satisfactory ending is out of the question.
The book is worth reading, or at least, two-thirds worth reading, particularly if you want to read the entire Barsetshire series, but it's not going to make it onto the reread list alongside The Warden and Barchseter Towers.
A note on editions: I alternated between the Librivox audio book and a library-bound hardback that had no endnotes, and, while the book is comprehensible without, I did miss them. For those with ereaders, Project Gutenberg has the book (doubtless without notes), available in several editions.. Librivox has a free audio version,.
__
(1) For a different (and still Victorian) look at the consequences of illegitimacy, and another complicated balancing act between a heroine who is active and yet still "ladylike" enough to remain likeable, see Collins' No Name. I like Magdalen rather better than Mary, but it's a similar struggle. Or, if you don't mind an heroine with even more domestic virtues, there's Dickens' Bleak House
(2) I started my grand read-and-review of the Barsetshire Chronicles over at The Geek Girl Project. My review of The Warden is up there, as is my review of Barchester Towers. The rest of the series will be here, at one a week until the end!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Review: Warehouse 13, Fractures
Short version: Yay! Season 4 is staying good! The writing and pacing have really improved.
Longer version: Up on The Geek Girl Project, natch!
Extra Note: I was thrilled to see my favorite laughing mannequin in that thrift shop.
Longer version: Up on The Geek Girl Project, natch!
Extra Note: I was thrilled to see my favorite laughing mannequin in that thrift shop.
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