Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Title: Behold the Dreamers

Author: Imbolo Mbue

Publisher: Random House 2017

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 416

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Our book club selection for July… and I was very underwhelmed by this story. Let’s start with the good points. I enjoyed the look at Cameroon culture. In fact, those sections were the only ones that I really loved reading. Clearly the author has a love for the people of Cameroon and it shows through the writing. I also enjoyed the interplay of the family in the first half of the book. I found their struggles compelling. Unfortunately, the second half the book begins to show the fractures in the family and I was very annoyed. I was not a fan of Jende and his sexist bullshit. Combine that with the actions of the Edwards family and I really disliked all the characters in this novel. Per the summary, this book is supposed to heavily involve the economic collapse, but it seemed like an afterthought. I forced myself to finish this book, but I wasn’t at all excited about it.

Next up on the TBR pile:

MoM #24: Safe Haven

Title: Safe Haven

Year Released/Rating: 2013 PG-13

Starring: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel

Directed By: Lasse Hallstrom

Written By: Dana Stevens, Gage Lansky, Nicholas Sparks

Genre: Romance, Drama, Mystery

Star Rating: 4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Summary: A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.

Review:

I don't usually like movies based on Nicholas Sparks books with the exception being The Notebook. This one was much better than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed the storyline. And the characters were decent. The overall mystery was very predictable, but that's not what kept me watching. I liked the sections involving Katie and Alex. Decent romance...

Best Bits:

Roger: When did we start selling paint? Alex: Today.
Jo: Good, you can keep me from peeking inside neighbors windows, it's a bad habit of mine.
Jo: The good thing Katie, is that life is full of second chances.
Jo: Promise me something Katie, you'll take a lot of pictures and only regret the ones that you didn't take.
Lexie: Whatcha paintin'? Katie: My floor! Lexie: Floor? Usually people don't paint floors!

MoM #17: The Social Network

Title: The Social Network

Year Released/Rating: 2010 PG-13

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake

Directed By: David Fincher

Written By: Aaron Sorkin, Ben Mezrich

Genre: Drama, Biography

Star Rating: 3/5 stars

Where I Got It: On the server

Trivia:

During one of the depositions, it is mentioned that the invention of Facebook made Mark Zuckerberg "the biggest thing on a campus that included nineteen Nobel Laureates, fifteen Pulitzer Prize winners, two future Olympians, and a movie star." One of the lawyers then asks, "Who was the movie star?" and the response is, "Does it matter?" This movie star was, in fact, Natalie Portman, who was enrolled at Harvard from 1999 to 2003 and helped screenwriter Aaron Sorkin by providing him insider information about goings-on at Harvard at the time Facebook first appeared there.
Most outfits that Mark wears in the film are things that the real Mark Zuckerberg has been seen wearing in pictures, with at least one exception, a T-shirt from a theatre company that Jesse Eisenberg had belonged to.
Andrew Garfield came into rehearsal with a copy of Economics for Dummies. Inspired by that move, Jesse Eisenberg bought C++ for Dummies. According to Eisenberg, both he and Garfield read the introductions of their books and then put them down.
Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield became good friends during filming. According to Eisenberg, the dramatic rivalry between their characters was hard for the two because it affected them emotionally.
Rashida Jones who plays an associate of Mark Zuckerberg's attorney was a graduate of Harvard University, the school Zuckerberg attended.

Summary: Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and the cofounder who was later squeezed out of the business.

Review:

I finally got around to actually watching this one and I was not super impressed. Maybe it's because almost every single on the characters are complete idiots. Or maybe I just don't really like Jesse Eisenberg. The bright spot here is Aaron Sorkin's writing. And yes, you can definitely tell that he had a hand in writing this movie. It's dialogue and monologue heavy. So much dialogue is crammed into small spaces, the audience really has to pay attention to follow all the twists and turns in the conversations. Overall though, I just couldn't get behind any of the characters and therefore I just didn't love the movie.

Best Bits:

Marylin Delpy: The site got twenty-two hundred hits within two hours? Mark Zuckerberg: Thousand. Marylin: I'm sorry? Mark: Twenty-two *thousand*. Marylin: [to herself] Wow.
Mark: You know, you really don't need a forensics team to get to the bottom of this. If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.
K.C.: Seven different people spammed me the same link. KC's Friend: What is it? K.C.: I don't know, but I'm really hoping it's cats that look like Hitler, because I can never get enough of that.
Erica Albright: You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole.
Sean Parker: We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we're going to live on the internet!

MoM #16: Sweet Land

Title: Sweet Land

Year Released/Rating: 2005 PG

Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Tim Guinee, Alan Cumming, Alex Kingston

Directed By: Ali Selim

Written By: Ali Selim, Will Weaver

Genre: Drama, Romance

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: I own it

Trivia:

Most of the Norwegian and German was not scripted, but made up by the actors during filming and is gibberish.
Elizabeth Reasers' Norwegian pronunciation was so bad that after Dagbladet (one of Norway's biggest news-papers) stumbled upon this film, they posted a clip from it with the title "What is she trying to say?"

Summary: In 1920, Inge, a German national, travels from Norway to rural Minnesota for her arranged marriage to Olaf, a Norwegian farmer; bureaucracy and prejudice cause major complications.

Review:

This is one of my favorite movies we own (and that's saying a lot as we have hundreds of movies). I have no idea when or where I stumbled upon this one (maybe $5 Target buy?), but I instantly loved it. It is such a sweet romantic story of two strangers thrown together in rural Minnesota. I can't imagine traveling across the ocean to a brand new country by myself with limited language skills. Inge is such a great character. I love watching her grow and find a place within the community. Definitely a recommended movie.

Best Bits:

Clerk of Court: The judge says we have to be careful about this sort of thing. Young Olaf: What sort of ting? Clerk of Court: German nationals... German nationals engage in prostitution, they encourage polygamy, they harbor dangerous political convictions. Are you aware of the Espionage Act of 1916? Young Olaf: You tink she's a spy? Clerk of Court: Well, I'll tell you what's in her favor. She's not Chinese.
Postal Clerk: No foreign language letters leave the country. Young Olaf: Why? Postal Clerk: We're at war, with Germany. Young Olaf: So they keep telling me. I tought ve von.
Old Inge: [reading] A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

MoM #11: Les Miserables

Title: Les Miserables

Year Released/Rating: 2012 PG-13

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried

Directed By: Tom Hooper

Written By: William Nicholson, Alain Boubill, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer, Victor Hugo

Genre: Musical Drama

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: Library Loan

Trivia:

Typically, the soundtrack for a movie musical is recorded several months in advance and the actors mime to playback during filming. However, on this film, every single song was recorded live on set to capture the spontaneity of the performances. Everyone involved, from Hugh Jackman to Russell Crowe to producer Cameron Mackintosh, have praised this approach as it allowed them to concentrate on their acting as opposed to lip-syncing properly. They have also praised director Tom Hooper for attempting this on such a scale; something no director has ever done before.
Eddie Redmayne said that Tom Hooper shot the "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" scene about 15 times in a row.
The large, crumbling elephant statue that features prominently during several scenes in the movie was both a real statue in Paris (between 1813 and 1846) and a focus of vivid description by Victor Hugo in his novel Les Misérables. Known as "The Elephant of the Bastille," Napoleon originally intended the statue to be a bronze monument to his military achievements at the former site of the Bastille, but the design was only ever rendered in plaster and wood; by the time of its demolition in 1846, the statue had become a haven for vermin and was significantly degraded structurally. In the novel, Hugo describes it as an ugly, dilapidated, widely despised public eyesore.
Due to the physical demands of daily singing, none of the cast was allowed alcohol.Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried both admitted it was a challenge to not be able to drink, and Crowe bought Seyfried a bottle of whiskey as a present after filming wrapped.
During the "Master Of The House" song (at around 49 minutes), you can see the Thenandiers stealing someone's bags. They traded it for a basket with a baby. That baby is actually Gavroche, the Thenandiers' abandoned child. It is not stated in the musical but it is in the book. In an interview with director Tom Hooper, he stated it was a clue to see if someone knew who actually that baby was.

Summary: In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after he breaks parole, agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's daughter, Cosette. The fateful decision changes their lives forever.

Review:

I didn't see it in the theaters, but I snapped it up when it appeared at the library. I do love me some good Broadway musicals. I've never been a huge fan of Les Miserables, but it's not one of the ones I detest. It has an epic quality that I didn't think would translate to movie. Yet, Hooper does a good job with the quiet moments and the large moments. I think the second half works much better than the first half. The first half it a bit stilted with so much time passing and so many different characters in different places. Overall, I really did love it.

Best Bits:

Jean Valjean: To love another person is to see the face of God.
Marius: Do I care if I should die now she goes across the sea? Life without Cosette means nothing at all... Would you weep, Cosette, should Marius fall. Will you weep, Cosette, for me?
Jean Valjean: Who am I? Marius: You're Jean Valjean...
Marius: Oh, my friends! My friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for! Empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends shall sing no more.
Gavroche: This is the land I fought for liberty, now when we fight, we fight for bread... here is the thing about equality, everyone's equal when they're dead.

MoM #9: State and Main

Title: State and Main

Year Released/Rating: 2000 R

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Rebecca Pidgeon

Directed By: David Mamet

Written By: David Mamet

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: We own it

Trivia:

The Waterford Huskies logo is a replica of the University of Connecticut Huskies logo.
The movie, set in Vermont, was shot primarily in a seaside town in Massachusetts.
The script page visible in the scene where Ann slaps Joes finger, is an actual script from this film itself, revealing dialogue from the scene where the mayor invites Marty to the dinner party.

Summary: A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all too ready to give up their values for showbiz glitz.

Review:

Somehow I have never seen this movie. J was appalled and had to buy it from Amazon so we could watch it. This movie really hinges on all the little lines. I just love them! The cast of quirky characters reminds me of a Christopher Guest film. I love the ins and outs of the characters' stories. It's just a fun little comedy/drama with great storytelling.

Best Bits:

Walt Price: It's not a lie. It's a gift for fiction.
Joseph Turner White: How do I do a film called "The Old Mill" when I don't have an old mill? Ann Black: Well, first you've got to change the title.
Marty Rossen: I'm going to rip your heart out, then I'm going to piss on your lungs through the hole in your chest! And the best to Marian...
Joseph Turner White: What's an associate producer credit? Bill Smith: It's what you give to your secretary instead of a raise.
Bob Barrenger: I know my lines. Walt Price: You do? Bob Barrenger: I just don't know what order they come in.
[after emerging from an upside-down station wagon he has just crashed] Bob Barrenger: So, that happened.
Walt Price: Marty, we got a new town. It's uh... Where are we? Bill Smith: Waterford, Vermont. Walt Price: Waterford, Vermont. Where is it? THAT'S where it is.

NMF #27: The War Bride

Title: The War Bride

Year Released/Rating: 2001

Starring: Anna Friel, Brenda Fricker, Aden Young

Written By: Angela Workman

Directed By: Lyndon Chubbuck

Genre: Drama, Romance

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Summary: WW2: In London, Lily marries a Canadian soldier who goes off to war. She and her newborn daughter are invited to come and live with his family in Canada, where conditions are not as splendid as he had described. And nobody knows if and when he will return.

Review: One of those random choices from Netflix and it was a cute one. A little bit of drama, a little bit of romance, we journey with Lily from the uncertainty of wartime London to the uncertainty of the plains of Canada. I've decided that I really like Anna Friel. She's just adorable in everything I've seen her in. And "Betty" and "Sylvia" round out a great cast of women. If you like a bit of period romance, pick it up.

NMF #24: Magic Mike

Title: Magic Mike

Year Released/Rating: 2012 R

Starring: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Munn

Written By: Reid Carolin

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh

Genre: Comedy, drama

Star Rating: 4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Redbox rental

Trivia:

The film is loosely based on Channing Tatum's experiences as a male exotic dancer before hitting it big as a movie star.
Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer allegedly did not get along on set.
In the scene where Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) finally strips, there is a point where he rolls away from all of the women holding his crotch. This is because the extras got a little bit too excited and accidentally ripped his g-string. Instead of stopping the dance, he just incorporated it in.

Summary: A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money.

Review: One of those movies that I just had to see for myself. I finally Redboxed it. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed it. The dance scenes are pretty cringe-worthy, but the character driven scenes are good. I loved seeing the dancers in the rest of the our lives. We get an interesting story. Soderbergh does well here.

Best Bits:

Dallas: [to The Kid] You are the husband they never had! You are that dreamboat guy that never came along!
Paige: Entrepreneur/stripper? Stripper/entrepreneur? Mike Martingano: Either one. Paige: I was hoping this was all a joke. Mike Martingano: It is pretty funny.
Mike Martingano: I have, like, $13,000 saved. Paige: Wow. That's a lot of ones. Mike Martingano: There are some fives in there. Paige: Oh, ok. No twenties? Mike Martingano: Oh, you don't wanna know what I have to do for twenties.

NMF #22: Special

Title: Special

Year Released/Rating: 2006 R

Starring: Michael Rapaport, Paul Blackthrone, Josh Peck

Written By: Hal Haberman, Jeremy Passmore

Directed By: Hal Haberman, Jeremy Passmore

Genre: Drama, Fantasy

Star Rating: 4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Amazon streaming

Summary: A lonely metermaid has a psychotic reaction to his medication and becomes convinced he's a superhero. A very select group of people in life are truly gifted. Special is a movie about everyone else.

Review: An interesting little action drama indie flick. The idea of a man who claims to have superpowers is intriguing. I love the slow progression into madness, or is it? The way we experience the movie, I can never really tell and that's just awesome. It's even shot like a dream making it much more interesting to the audience. I enjoyed this random little movie.

Best Bits:

Jonas Exiler: That was exciting. You have a genuine flair for making a scene, don't you, Les?
Les: [has just run full-speed into a wall] I'm, uh, I'm not like most people. Cop #1: Yeah, I can see that.
Les: Your force field is good; my teleporting is better.

NMF #15: Seven Samurai

Title: Seven Samurai

Year Released/Rating: 1954

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima

Written By: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Genre: Action, Drama

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: We own it

Trivia:

Toho pulled the plug on the project several times when it ran over budget, forcing director Akira Kurosawa to go back and personally argue with the board of directors who were convinced they were making a flop.
First use of a scene which is now commonplace in cinema: The approaching horde coming into view as they crest a hilltop, specifically when Kikuchiyo sees the mounted bandits approaching.
Akira Kurosawa did not get along well with actor Yoshio Inaba, (Gorobei), deriding and yelling at him for most of the shoot. Although Inaba worked once more appeared in a minor role in Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, Inaba apparently found the experience of shooting Seven Samurai so stressful that he limited the amount of film work he did after it.
Akira Kurosawa's ancestors were samurai, roughly up to a hundred years before he made this film.
Kurosawa designed a registry of all 101 residents of the village, creating a family tree to help his extras build their characters and relationships to each other.

Summary: A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

Review: This movie is shot beautifully. Every scene is stages exactly with lighting, scenery, and blocking. Kurosawa even adds the quiet still shots to give us a scope of the film. Each of the characters has a sense of history and purpose, even the village extras. This isn't just a story of the seven samurai, but an entire culture. We see the struggles and triumphs of the people. I'm glad I finally watched this movie (J's been bugging me for ages). It is truly a cinematic masterpieces. Kurosawa was the Orson Welles of his day and place.

Best Bits:

Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.
[on taking Katsushiro as a student] Kambei Shimada: You embarrass me. You're overestimating me. Listen, I'm not a man with any special skill, but I've had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that's all I am. Drop such an idea for your own good. Katsushiro: No Sir, my decision has been made. I'll follow you sir. Kambei Shimada: I forbid it. I can't afford to take a kid with me.
Kikuchiyo: You fool! Damn you! You call yourself a horse! For shame! Hey! Wait! Please! I apologize! Forgive me!
Gisaku: What's the use of worrying about your beard when your head's about to be taken?

NMF #9: Moon

Title: Moon

Year Released/Rating: 2009 R

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott

Written By: Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker

Directed By: Duncan Jones

Genre: Drama, Scifi

Star Rating: 5/5 stars

Where I Got It: On the server

Trivia:

Shot in 33 days for $5 million dollars.
The name of the Lunar station, and written on one of the mineral tubes that Sam unloads from the mining machine has the word Sarang written in English and Korean. Sarang is Korean for "love". Sarang also means peacock in Sanskrit language, and means nest in the Malay language as well.
Duncan Jones directorial debut. Before making this film, Duncan Jones was more famous for being the son of David Bowie. Indeed, one of the producers, Trudie Styler is married to another rock singer,Sting.
Kevin Spacey read the script and agreed to voice Gerty but when the film was finished and only if he liked it. Having loved it, he recorded his lines in half a day.

Summary: Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

Review:

One of those movies that's been on my list since it came ut, but we just never got around to watching it. I'm so glad we did. This was amazing. Right from the start, it reminded me of 2001. It has that same lonely, but sinister, feel to it. I won't give away the twists and turns, but I must say that they are expertly executed. The characters are beautifully constructed. I love Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell. He played the progression wonderfully. And then it have Kevin Spacey voice GERTY was genius. He has that slightly creepy, robotic voice. I loved it! This is a definite must see and Duncan Jones is one director to watch.

Best Bits:

GERTY: I hope life on Earth is everything you remember it to be.
Sam Bell: Listen, why don't you relax. Why don't you take a pill, bake a cake, go read the encyclopedia.
Sam Bell: Gerty, is there someone else in the room?

A to Z Movies: Catch Me If You Can

Title: Catch Me If You Can

Year Released/Rating: 2002 PG-13

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tim Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams

Directed By: Steven Speilberg

Written By: Jeff Nathanson, Frank Abagnale Jr., Stan Redding

Star Rating: 5 /5 stars

Trivia: The blackboard that Carl Hanratty is writing on toward the end of the movie contains a small note at the bottom that says, "Steven and Tom's 4th project". Spielberg and Hanks had previously collaborated on Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, and Joe Versus the Volcano.

First of all, the introduction to this movie is amazing. The shadowed graphics are amazing. I love that this is based on a true story. And that the real Frank Abagnale consulted the film to be the most accurate. I loved it... The relationship between Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. is just amazing. Frank Sr. made some bad choices in his life, but he really loves his son. I can't help but root for him. And the entire movie Frank Jr. is really just trying to make his dad proud. Usually these kinds of stories make me gag, but this one really works. Maybe it's the story, maybe the characters, or maybe the actors, but it works for me. Best scene of the movie--the first time that Hanratty and Abagnale meet in the hotel room. I love the look on Hanratty's face when it starts to dawn on him that the Secret Service agent might not have been the Secret Service agent. The look on his face is priceless! J's rating: "It's the first movie since Romeo and Juliet that I can actually take Leonardo DiCaprio seriously." Agreed!

Best Bits:

Paula Abagnale: Just tell me how much he owes and I'll pay you back. Carl Hanratty: So far, it's about 1.3 million dollars.

Tom Fox: He doesn't have a passport. Carl Hanratty: For the last six months, he's gone to Harvard and Berkeley. I'm betting he can get a passport.

Frank Abagnale, Jr: Brenda, I don't want to lie to you anymore. All right? I'm not a doctor. I never went to medical school. I'm not a lawyer, or a Harvard graduate, or a Lutheran. Brenda, I ran away from home a year and a half ago when I was 16. Brenda Strong: Frank? Frank? You're not a Lutheran?

Frank Abagnale, Jr: [when Carl catches up to him in the print shop in Montrichard] Carl? Carl! Merry Christmas! How is it we're always talking on Christmas, Carl? Every Christmas, I'm talking to you! [laughs] Carl Hanratty: Put your shirt on, Frank. You're under arrest.

P.S. J and I had a discussion other day. Is it just us or is White Collar what happens after Frank was caught by the FBI? Just a great show! He's got me addicted!