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Monday, March 13, 2023

Mini-reviews

Exiles, Jane Harper 
This new Harper novel is the third with Federal Police Detective Aaron Falk as the main character. As with her other books, Harper has crafted an enjoyable and intriguing read. Falk has come to the vineyard town of Maralee in South Australia, for the baptism of his godson Henry, child of good friend Raco and his wife Rita. It’s a satisfying link for this friendship forged in The Dry to be continued here. A pall hangs over the whole Raco clan though, for it’s one year since the disappearance of their good friend Kim, who left her 6-week old baby Zoe behind at a town festival, and no-one is sure what happened. Yet again, Harper has woven the current and past stories so that you have hints along the way of the various relationships in town. While the reveal is sad, Falk is a very likeable character and it’s nice to see his further development. 

The Winners, Fredrik Backman 
This is the third in a series. Two years have passed since the events of Beartown and Us Against You, but the shadows and impacts remain. Backman’s writing is evocative and lyrical, and he weaves stories together in a way that slowly reveals and twists, each time you think you know what is going to happen, and then he changes the focus again and you reset your expectations. I love his writing. You definitely need to read the first two prior, but fans of those will surely enjoy this final instalment.



A Man Called Otto (movie) 

Keeping with the Backman theme, if you liked A Man Called Ove, I do recommend seeing this recent movie release with Otto played by Tom Hanks, and Mariana Treviño as Marisol. It’s a lovely
version of the book, probably because it follows it so very closely. And if you can’t be bothered with the book - that’s fine, try see the movie.










Everything Everywhere All At Once

This movie has just received numerous awards, but I couldn’t see the attraction. I appreciate that is
supposed to be ingenious, with clever sets, eye-catching costumes and skilled actors (including: Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, & Ke Huy Yuan). I did like the prevalence of older actors in key roles. But it doesn’t make sense. We thought of giving up twice in the middle and should have. Weird premise, super violent at points, and unsatisfying. The website describes it as absurdist comedy drama. There was very little comedy, but it certainly was absurd. It’s shot to the top of the list of my least enjoyed movies.






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