So, by way of a sort of celebration here is a little Prizmo present!
Thanks, Sandy
if only just; and then 1946's 1he Best Years of Our Lives, which was a wholly
different story. A ruminative saga about the despair, and then the
consolations, of homecoming, it summed up the experiences of a whole
generation, including those of Wyler himself, who poured an unmistakable amount
of personal feeling into the project.
Hm'ris's splendid job makes you want to revisit many of the films he mentions,
but most of all this one, which feels totemic, a capstone for the period.
Meanwhile, the fact that we're done with the Oscars for a good six months
should be cause for relief, not least for Mark Harris: he's turning into too
shrewd a historian to be wasted on them.
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by.David Sedaris ABACUS, £8.99
0 This is another book of biting, intimate anecdotes from America's finest humorist. It
purports to be an "educational series" but really it's an excuse for Sedaris to
mouth off about his childhood, and the people he comes across in rural England where he
now lives. And there are occasional sudden moments of honesty, revelation and frailty.
Last Fdends by Jane Gardam ABACUS, £8.99
0 It is 10 years since Jane Gardam published her novel Old Filth, about a
chilly barrister and product of the British Raj. After that came a sequel
telling his wife'S side of the story, and now we have a volume devoted to his
fellow lawyer and deadly enemy, Terence Veneering. This is as mordenfly precise
and moving a novel as you will find anywhere.
0 Har~V compellin We are ric and spent Thus whal argues, ha revealing i a
breezy, e Telegraph j arresting i
Pick of the week
ONE NIGHT IN WINTER Simon Sebag Montefiore
TRr x¢,
t t Melt ttl eX ' SimonSebag Montefiore • [
This week's choice is One Night in Winter, a novel by the acclaimed historian
Simon Sebag Montefiore. Set in Moscow in 1945, it is his second work of fiction.
Oliver Bullough gave the book four stars in The Telegraph. Here is his (edited)
review:
First, a confession: I have been writing about Russia for more than a decade,
but had never previously read a book by Simon Sebag Montefiore, not even his
widely praised biographies Young Stalin and Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.
I did, however, avoid his historical novel about the Soviet elite, Sashenka. I
knew what to expect, after all: an earnestly worthy evocation of the stresses
of family life during the relentless strain of the great purges.
So I opened One N/ght in Winter, a sort-of sequel set in Moscow in 1945, with a
feeling of imminent edification, and could hardly have been more surprised.
This isn't worthy at all. It is Arthur Koestler, rewritten by Phih'ppa Gregory - think of it as
"The Other Beria Girl" or "The Commissar's Concubine" - and it is seriously
good tim.
It opens with the deaths of two teenagers~ who shoot each other in what appears
to be
a tragic accident. But there is more to it than meets the eye.
The book roams through the last days of the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish
drinking games at Stalin's country home, the magnificence of the Bolshoi
Theatre, interrogations, communal aparlxnents, snow, sex and exile. It is an
eminently readable tunicripper, and strangely affecting.
Get our Pick of the Week every week for only £2.99, better than half-price at
WHSmith.
NEXT WEEK: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Sent from my iPhone
--
The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All
new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any
questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a
member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators
directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can
be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
