THE CRITIC’S CORNER

By Sandi Page, LLS Jupiter Marketing Committee Member

 

Our FAU LLS Jupiter Lifelong Exchange Blog will be closed for the months of June and July for the summer break.  We will start posting again the first week of August.  As this is the last post for two months, I wanted it to be an extra-special gift to all our readers:  a list comprised of reviews from some of our LLS Jupiter family about books, films or music that they love and hope that you will enjoy, too.

But, first, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the LLS students, staff and professors who so kindly answer my calls for contributions to my group blog posts.  I know I have thanked you privately but I would like to publicly express my gratitude for the time and effort you put into sending me such exquisitely written pieces to include in my posts.  Your generosity in sharing your stories……oh, your stories!……..touch me more than you can know for, as they say, in the end, all we really have are our stories.  I have discovered such remarkable writing talent amongst all of you and such rich life experiences and to be able to share that with our blog readers brings me such joy.
Kami Barrett-Batchelder also wants to thank the LLS professors and staff who answer her requests for individual blog posts by sending such informative and timely articles. We are both grateful to all of you for helping to enrich our lives and our readers’ lives.
We have all come to know each other so well through these posts and our LLS community is the better for it.
And you, dear readers!  Where would we, and this blog be, without your interest?  Thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, whether on the blog itself, or in emails to us.  Your encouragement and appreciation give us even more energy and desire to make the LLS Jupiter Lifelong Exchange blog the best blog it can be to serve our LLS community.
Once again, a heartfelt thank you to all of you.

Now, read on to discover our Critic’s Corner choices of books, documentaries, and music for your summer vacation!  See you in August!

LITERATURE

Dr. Robert Watson, LLS Instructor
Animal Farm, by George Orwell

 I recently reread George Orwell’s classic book Animal Farm. I suspect we all read it in high school and/or college, as it used to be required reading. Because, as a professor, I am always around college students, I know that many schools fail to require students to read the classics. It is always dismaying, for instance, to mention one of the “great books” during a lecture and look out at all the blank faces. When this happens, I always ask for a show of hands of who has read the book. Fewer and fewer hands are raised these days.

But, happily, my daughter came home from school a few days ago with a paperback copy of Animal Farm, telling me that her 7th grade class was reading it. Her brother had read it a few years ago when he was in middle school and had both thoroughly enjoyed it and “got the message.” One of the things we do in the Watson house is that, when the kids come home with an assigned book, either my wife or I read the book with them. We have done this with them since kindergarten and have not only found that it can be an important bonding opportunity and a way for our kids to ask deeper questions about the book, but also it has demonstrated to our son and daughter that reading matters. I think this has helped nurture in them a passion for the written word.

Case in point: I was pleased to discover a few years ago that my son’s English teacher allowed the students to select a few books to read as part of the class assignment. I was even more pleased when my son selected Moby Dick, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lord of the Flies. In the intervening years, his English teachers have repeated the policy of allowing students to pick their readings and, to my delight, he has brought home such wonderful works as 1984, Night, The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, and others.

Our “policy” of reading along with the kids has allowed me to rediscover these timeless classics through my children. To that end, I am encouraging all of you to read Animal Farm or another one of the classics with your grandchildren this summer. One young person at a time, we all can help to keep these classics in the forefront of our children’s and grandchildren’s education. Plus, it is a very short book — an afternoon read, ideal for those lazy days of summer (my guess is that it must be one of the shortest of the great books). It is a great way to spend time with them and it never hurts to revisit some of the classics from time to time.

This is certainly the case with Animal Farm, which is chock full of lessons on the dangers of the corrupting ability of political power, the flaws of communism and capitalism, the power of propaganda to subdue and dupe the masses, and, of course, human nature. The book was written at the close of the Second World War and has the added benefit of providing readers today with a history lesson.

We all remember that it is a story about the animals of Manor Farm who succeed in rising up against their drunk, oppressive farmer (Jones). The animals create their “Seven Commandments” and promote equality among all farm animals, reminding one another that they are all equal and that two-legged creatures are their enemies. The various types of animals (just as in Pink Floyd’s classic album of the same title) – pigs, dogs, sheep, horses – all have a role to play on the farm and represent such figures as Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and so on. Orwell writes in such a way that even middle school children can easily pick up on the symbolism and meaning of the tragic events in the book.

Of course, the worker’s revolution goes terribly wrong and the pigs end up behaving just like human dictators. Through propaganda, however, they continue to justify their growing oppressive tendencies and keep the animals dumb and content. The pigs become that which they despised and even end up walking on – gasp! – two legs. Orwell famously ends the book with the adage that “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

Sadly, amid all the oppressive autocratic and totalitarian dictatorships around the world and the recent resurgence of xenophobia, jingoism, and nativism here at home, the book remains relevant. But let me end this review on a lighter note… As I write this essay, just last night I found my son standing upstairs in our family library looking at the books. He asked me if it was alright if he borrowed two more of my books for the summer. He was holding Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. I am still grinning!

 

Dr. Matt Klauza, LLS Instructor
The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi;
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

In 2004, a friend of mine bought me a copy of Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table (1975).  It was a gift for helping her design the curriculum for a course in Holocaust literature.  I had read some of Levi’s work before; for some time, I had taught his Survival in Auschwitz (originally published in Italian as Se questo è un uomo, or If This Is a Man).  However, I had never read The Periodic Table.  When I did, I couldn’t put it down.  This book is a series of 21 autobiographical short stories by Levi, a Jewish chemist from Turin, Italy, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz and was spared his life because of his expertise in his profession.  Each story in the book is named after a different element (hydrogen, zinc, iron); furthermore, in his own beautiful way, Levi incorporates the nature of each element into each respective story.  This structure is only part of his brilliance.  Each of the stories serves as a window into the magnificent mind of Levi himself.

One of my all-time favorite books is Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985).  Set in a future United States, the novel immerses the reader into the life of a woman named Offred.  Due to radiation from an on-going war—among other things—very few men and women can conceive, so women who can do so are forced to become “handmaids,” women who serve as surrogate partners for high-powered leaders in hopes they can produce babies for these leaders’ wives.  As handmaid Offred’s own compelling story unfolds, in the background we learn much about the new government, the means it uses to control its people, and the methods it employed to turn the U.S. as we know it now into a patriarchal, totalitarian state.  I first read this novel in college in 1997, I read it again in 2002, and I just finished rereading it this week.  With each re-reading, the book has become increasingly relevant about the role of government, women’s rights, and the passivity of the average citizen.  But politics is only the backdrop. The real story reads like a gorgeous conversation with Offred and an insight into her mind in troublesome times.

 

Dr. Kurt F. Stone, LLS Instructor
The Job, by Sinclair Lewis (1917)

It’s a shame that Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951), the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, isn’t read much anymore.  Although neither a world-class stylist like Fitzgerald nor as powerfully unique as Faulkner, Lewis was something more: an American storyteller who created humorous, acid-tipped satire sans sentimentality.

Lewis’ first mature novel, The Job, is the story of Una Golden, a strong-willed young woman forced by circumstance to succeed in a male-dominated world. “Goldie” dedicates herself to standing on her own two feet while balancing romance and marriage. Day in, day out, “Goldie” brings home “…the palsying weariness of the day’s drudgery” until she finally succeeds . . . sort of.

The Job is likely the first feminist novel. That it was written by a man says a lot about Sinclair Lewis. Read it and see why Lewis became America’s first Nobel Laureate.

 

Dr. Ronald Feinman, LLS Instructor
The book to read this summer is David J. Garrow’s Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (Harper Collins, 2017) —1084 pages of text, 272 pages of Notes, 35 pages of Bibliography, 68-page Index.

It covers the life of Barack Obama, the 44th President, from his upbringing as a young black man attending an almost all-white elite private school in Honolulu, Hawaii, while being raised almost exclusively by his white grandparents; then, on to his college years in California and New York; then, his time as a community organizer, working in some of the roughest neighborhoods of Chicago; to his years at the top of his Harvard Law School class; and then, his return to Chicago, and his entrance into the rough and tumble of Chicago politics; and on to the U.S. Senate, becoming a national political figure and doing the impossible—becoming the first African American political figure to be elected President.

Obama’s years in the U.S. Senate from 2005-2008 are covered, and his dramatic speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, when Obama was only a state Senator from Illinois, running for the U.S. Senate, and suddenly becoming a national figure.  Obama’s family life and personal relationships are also examined.

This massive biography should be a Pulitzer Prize winner for Biography, which Garrow has already won for his study of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

 

Richard René Silvin, LLS Instructor
American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post, by Nancy Rubin (1995)

American Empress begins with Mrs. Post’s health-conscious father, C.W. Post (1854-1914) creating an alternative to coffee in the late 1890s. He named the drink Postum and, once his idea became commonly accepted, he invented the breakfast cereal Grape Nuts.

Marjorie (1887-1973) was the apple of his eye and, as a child, learned every aspect of the business. Upon her father’s death, she managed to gain control of the Post Cereal Company, but given the times, she was unable to hold a senior executive position in the company she then owned.

Years later, Mrs. Post understood the importance of frozen foods when, quite by accident, her yacht’s chef bought some “frosted foods” from someone experimenting with the strange concept. The man’s name was Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956). With the acquisition of his nascent company, Mrs. Post created General Foods in 1929 and went on to acquire many commonly used food staples such as Jell-O, Maxwell House and Hellman’s Mayonnaise.

Marjorie had four husbands and three children. Since she believed strongly in “giving back,” Mrs. Post became one of the most revered philanthropists of the twentieth century. She is best known for her famous art collections and for building her Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, now President Trump’s winter home and private club.

Ironically, Mrs. Post’s dream was for her Florida estate to become a winter residence for American Presidents.

 

Dr. Benito Rakower, LLS Instructor
Lost Illusions, by Balzac

In 1832, the French writer Balzac had the idea of capturing the totality of France in a sequence of novels.  The unifying inspiration for this project was to have the same characters re-appear in subsequent novels, but in different situations with their importance changed, enlarged, or diminished. Readers were fascinated by the “swirl” of events and by the realization that no human life can be portrayed in a single novel.

It is generally agreed that Lost Illusions is the greatest of the 90 novels and novellas that comprise La Comédie humaine.  It recounts the adventures of Lucien Chardon, a handsome young poet from the provinces, who goes to Paris to make his fortune.  No other writer could have done what Balzac did with this deceptively simple and familiar literary theme. As the naïve Lucien explores the streets and quarters of Paris, he is consumed by a single ambition.  He wants to penetrate and conquer the highest tier of aristocratic French society.  He has only one connection, an attractive, wealthy, and well-connected older woman who accompanied him to Paris as lover or friend.  Their intimate relationship is presented with the nonchalance that only the French possess, and Balzac was its master.

In one bold flourish – too subtle to be called a stroke – Balzac has annihilated the presumptions and ideals of the French Revolution.  After all its destructive fury, the aristocratic hierarchy of France remains intact and controls every aspect of social existence.  Not even Tolstoy had the intellectual audacity to recognize this sort of fact.
To exist in Paris was to have a place in its social structure. That place was defined by one’s clothes, the store in which one bought gloves and cravat, the fit and length of one’s jacket. The opera was the capital of French society.  It was there that you were noticed and where any faux pas [a French concept] could ruin any chance for social advancement.
Balzac hated poetry with a passion.  He recognized its evasive egotism.  With enormous skill and energy, Balzac had the ability of describing every detail of waking life with a vitality that accomplished in prose what only Shakespeare was able to achieve in poetry.  Balzac had the ability of making the most sordid aspects of human character intoxicating to read.  Most impressive is Balzac’s gusto and his vast tolerance for human frailty.

 

Gene Monahan, LLS Student
A Different Kind of Daughter, by Debbie Alsdorf;
Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Two of my recent reads have really impressed me with their stories of survival against horrific odds and the ultimate success of the two main characters. The first book, A Different Kind of Daughter, is the story of a Pakistani girl who grew up wanting to play sports.  In her Islamic society, girls were not allowed to play a sport or wear pants, for that matter.  When the Taliban group came to her village, she was not even allowed to go outside and, for years, she played her sport of Squash against her bedroom walls.  Fortunately, she had a very understanding father.  Eventually, after she had searched for several years for a sponsor to rescue her, a man in Canada saw her request and arranged for her immigration to Canada where she became a world-class player.

The second book, Infidel, is about a girl who grew up in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia in a very strict Muslim household.  Everyday beatings by her mother were common and genital mutilation was practiced.  She escaped an arranged marriage by her father and made her way to Holland where she learned the language and became an interpreter for the government.Because of the strong tribal practices of her family, she was constantly being searched for and is to this day.  Now, she lives in the United States.  This is an amazing story and gave me tremendous insight into the Islamic faith.

 

Barbara DePalma, LLS Student
We Die Alone:  A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance,
by David Howarth & Stephen E. Ambrose

In today’s climate of political division, it is heartwarming to read a true story of complete strangers risking everything to keep a near-dead fugitive alive.  After Norwegian Jan Baalsrud’s fellow fighters were killed or captured by the Nazis, Jan found himself alone in Arctic conditions with nothing but his clothes, one boot, and a pistol.

Constantly being pursued by Nazi soldiers, he did his best to keep moving through snow-covered mountains with no shelter to protect him.  Suffering from frostbite and starvation, only his courage, bravery, and strong human endurance got him through.  Along the way, he was helped by noble Norwegians who selflessly tried to help him.  It is stunning to imagine the mental fortitude necessary to survive such an ordeal and how little we truly need to survive!

 

Francia Trosty, LLS Student
The Other Einstein, by Marie Benedict

The Other Einstein is the fictional, but carefully researched, account of the life of an actual historical figure who was Albert Einstein’s first wife, Mileva “Mitza” Marić. In 1896, she was the only female studying physics at Zürich University and one of the first females to study science at the university level in all of Europe. She left home for more liberal Switzerland to continue those studies and became a scientific genius in her own right. And yet, her renown today is considerably less than that of her physicist husband. There is much debate over the degree of Albert’s famed Theory of Relativity that was, in fact, his wife’s own work.

Recognizing Mitza’s brilliance, Albert became infatuated with her and courted her relentlessly, despite the objection of his mother, professing to her a future life of professional as well as loving collaboration. But that was not to be. Despite those promises, he failed to credit her in his papers, was a terrible father and an unloving, philandering husband. In other words – not a nice Jewish boy!

This book brings to mind the question of how many women in history have made invisible contributions to their husband’s renown. Did Sonya Tolstoy, acting as her husband’s secretary, proofreader and financial manager make any significant edits when she painfully re-wrote War and Peace three times by hand?

I fell in love with Mitza and felt her pain as she fought for her equality in the face of adversity but, sadly, lost.

 

 FILM – DOCUMENTARY 

Katie Muldoon, LLS Instructor
Five Came Back – film documentary (based on the book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, by journalist Mark Harris).  Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, Narrated by Meryl Streep.

Because many of us have heard about WWII most of our lives from family or films, we think we know a lot about it. Think again.  Netflix has put together a three-part series that showcases breathtaking, eye-opening, spellbinding footage shot from five of the most revered directors of that era and beyond.  Already very successful, Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler each put their careers on hold and enlisted in the armed forces, filming with soldiers in action as it took place. One survived a landing with the soldiers on D-Day; one lost his hearing in one ear and became partially deaf in the other from going on multiple bombing runs (this latter one gave me chills, as my dad piloted one of these B-17 tin boxes, being shot down 3 times). Their intent: to create films that acted as powerful motivators to encourage both support and enlistment, thereby using films as marketing tools.

Today’s filmmakers, such as Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro and others help us understand the background behind what these brave men did and what the time away cost them in lost careers. The third part in the series includes films as the American soldiers first discover Dachau, shattering images that are only more powerful all these years later.

Five Came Back balances real life horrors with the joys of survival enhanced by thrilling welcomes all over France.  It’s the real thing and should be seen by everyone who wants to understand what war really is.

 

MUSIC

Paul Newton, LLS Student
I recently stumbled upon something very valuable to me that I would like to share with my fellow students.  My “review” is on a group of musicians rather than a specific CD.  Probably very few, if any, of my fellow students have ever heard of one of Steven Wilson‘s groups such as Porcupine Tree.  What I love about their songs is that there is often a nice melody, interesting lyrics and some strong heavy parts.  I think that Wilson is very special and consistently puts out great “progressive rock” songs with high quality musicians, some with a video story (e.g., Drive Home).  I especially enjoy the live recordings.  If you like Pink Floyd, early Genesis, Renaissance, The Moody Blues, etc., music, then you just may enjoy Stephen Wilson’s music.  It is easy and free to check this out.  Just go to YouTube on your computer and type “Porcupine Tree, Dark Matter live version” into the search box.  You will then be given options for other songs to pick from on the right side.   These songs just may bring some joy into your life like they did mine.  Wilson’s songs are not short, bright or cheery, but a bit on the darker side so you may also find that you hate them.  I would love to get comments back on what you thought of any of Wilson’s songs.

 

Kimberly Bowman, LLS Staff
Just recently, a good friend introduced me to the music of a wonderful Latin music artist. I have since been rediscovering some of the music that I was introduced to as a young girl growing up in culturally diverse South Florida. This has also rekindled my love for the music of my culture – represented by countries across South and Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Summer seems the most perfect time of year to relish the sounds of Son Cubano, or even Spanish Flamenco. Most recently, I have been enjoying the music of the Buena Vista Social Club, with some of my favorites being “Chan Chan” and “Candela,” which epitomize the rhythms of Cuban Son. Songs like “Hasta la Raiz” and “Para que Sufrir,” by Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade and “Mi Primo Juan” by Chambao, a group hailing from Málaga, Spain known for their modern flamenco, have made their way onto my play list as well. The sounds of Latin music are those that bind me to my youth, my family and the tradition of Latin culture that moves across countries and musical genres. I invite you to take a listen, and hope you enjoy it.