Epinions Recent Reviews for jorn

Just Ward S: 'Dangerous Friend' classic Vietnam parable

Sat, 23 Sep 2000 14:14:54 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I'm adding Ward Just's "A Dangerous Friend" to my shortlist of best Vietnam novels, which in chronological order would include:

- Graham Greene's 1955 "The Quiet American"

- "A Dangerous Friend" (takes place...

Very cool female James Bond

Thu, 10 Aug 2000 04:35:31 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I had heard the title of this book a million times before I heard it called a thriller-- I had thought it was some kind of Oprah-bookclub weeper.

But the notion of a thriller with an Oprah-weepy title piqued my curiosity, so I tracked it down...

Where's the plot?

Wed, 2 Aug 2000 04:07:39 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I have enormous respect for the late George V Higgins' craftsmanship.

His recent novels have followed a characteristic pattern, treating one character per chapter, letting each character tell their life story in their own words, slowly...

How they're fleecing you

Fri, 14 Jul 2000 19:42:20 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Not being a fan of Suck.com, I expected this book to be all cynical wisecracks and little insight or research. Instead, I found it to be a perfectly sophisticated warning to the naive investor, that this bull market is not what it seems, and that the...

Dickinson, Peter: "Some Deaths Before Dying"

Tue, 14 Mar 2000 19:18:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I'm one of Peter Dickinson's biggest fans, and have read most of his dozens of mysteries, children's books, and odds'n'ends. Almost all of them were well enough written that they brought a tear to my eye at some point, and all of them included some...

Perry, Thomas: Jane Whitefield gets dumb

Sat, 26 Feb 2000 16:25:57 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I've been a Thomas Perry fan since his first, The Butcher's Boy, but I didn't really think he'd found his niche until he started the Jane Whitefield series.

This is a genre I assume he invented-- instead of watching crimes being plotted or...

Unapologetically immoral

Mon, 10 Jan 2000 06:43:39 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Thomas Harris isn't high on my list of favorite thriller-writers (I like Thomas Perry much better, for example), and I didn't care that much for the 'Lambs' movie, but I saw this on the new-book shelf at the library, and ended up staying up late, turning...

Wait for the movie

Fri, 17 Dec 1999 14:06:45 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I loved "Gorky Park" way back when, but MCS's other works really haven't won my loyalty.

This new one was for me quite a pleasant infotainment (about Cuba in Castro's declining years) up until the last few chapters, when the many,...

Greylord procedural

Sun, 21 Nov 1999 11:01:43 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Scott Turow is by far the most literary author in the legal-thriller genre. He was also intimately involved in Chicago's crooked-judges sting of the 1980s-- Operation Greylord-- and this new one is a fairly low-key exploration of the mechanics of such a...

Familiar territory

Tue, 2 Nov 1999 19:01:53 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I have to place S&S rather low overall among le Carre's works, although that doesn't mean it's not still a very good read.

One reviewer even dropped the name of John Grisham to convey the predictability of the basic plot structure-- timid...

Apprentice masterpiece

Tue, 28 Sep 1999 12:16:44 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - For a very long time I cited this as my favorite movie ever (replaced finally by Blue Velvet), but when I tried to watch it recently I just couldn't sit still.

There's an enormous amount of human psychological detail to cherish, especially in...

An absolute must-see classic

Tue, 28 Sep 1999 11:44:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Everybody knows and loves R Crumb's distinctive, hilarious, seriously-un-PC cartooning style.

This documentary shows for the first time the unbelievably disturbed family background he comes from, offering painfully unguarded interviews with...

Pre-60s time capsule

Tue, 28 Sep 1999 11:33:45 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I always feel, watching movies from the late 60s and early 70s, that I can guess pretty accurately what year they were made, from just a glimpse of the hairstyles, and the expressions on the faces...

I watched Cat Ballou recently for the...

Overrated classic

Tue, 28 Sep 1999 10:56:26 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - My favorite Vietnam movie is Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, followed by Cimino's Deer Hunter. Apocalypse Now is an also-ran, but for all that it has many brilliant, unforgettable images.

The best reason to watch this movie is as a companion to...

A satisfying read

Wed, 15 Sep 1999 08:26:11 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Anybody who bashes Tom Wolfe for writing bestsellers should be forced to read Kurt Andersen's "Turn of the Century" for perspective!

Not that Andersen's book is unpleasant, but it's rough going exactly because he doesn't use the...

O'Brian, Patrick: Jane Austen joins the Navy

Wed, 15 Sep 1999 08:00:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - You may not think you're the type to enjoy a 20-volume (almost) saga of life in the British Navy around 1812, but chances are if you try any one of these "Aubrey/Maturin" tales you'll devour the entire series with sheer delight.

...

An admirable marriage

Wed, 15 Sep 1999 07:23:20 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - The main audience for this rather slight memoir will be Iris Murdoch fans, who will be delighted by the portrait of an eccentric saint.

But a somewhat wider audience may be inspired by the portrait of a very unusual, but in its own way *ideal*...

Tough but rewarding

Wed, 15 Sep 1999 07:10:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - As a fan of Andersen's Spy Magazine, I was very sympathetically inclined towards this novel, and I'm glad I read it because there are many delightful ideas that satirize our culture in a Spy-like way.

But comparing it to Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of...

Lucas can direct

Tue, 14 Sep 1999 17:17:06 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - During all the Phantom Menace hullabaloo, I liked to say I would have been more excited if it were American Graffiti 2 (or 3, really) that Lucas was coming back with.

Although Lucas has claimed he hates directing, I think what he did in this...

Woody's career best

Tue, 14 Sep 1999 17:03:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - I'm not a big fan of Woody Allen's early movies, which seem to me to be aiming rather low, nor of his recent movies, which either aim too high, or just miss their target.

Annie Hall and Manhattan are generally held to be his best, I think, but...

A harrowing experiment in storytelling

Tue, 14 Sep 1999 16:51:36 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - As the credits rolled after my first viewing of this film, I found myself virtually paralysed in my seat, unable to make my arms and legs respond, simply overwhelmed by the experience.

Based on a very fine Vietnam novella called "The...

Best novel of the decade

Tue, 14 Sep 1999 07:27:24 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Robert Stone writes slowly, and cares little for fashion, so he hasn't really had a big hit... but I think he'll be remembered as one of the best novelists of the 20th century.

Damascus Gate for me surpasses even Dog Soldiers in its...

A truly revolutionary classic

Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:12:23 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jorn - Literature advances when an artist discovers new ways of describing psychological reality... and Blue Velvet has new ways in spades!

Since it came out in 1986, there's probably been no movie as influential (even Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, a...