By Patrick McGilligan
CRITIC'S CHOICE
How sick a puppy was Hitchcock? In the 23 years since the death of the Master of Suspense, we've come to revere the director of Notorious, Rear Window and Psycho as a genius, albeit a deeply perverse one. Outwardly phlegmatic, internally he'd be visualizing a shower stabbing shot by shot—or sexually obsessing over his latest blonde star. In his relationships with actresses, he was a creeping, encompassing menace—the Blob in a black suit.
This 850-page biography offers a surprisingly lively and for the most part persuasive counterportrait. (You may still have some doubts about a guy whose idea of humor was to nick-name Desmond Tester, a kid actor in 1936's Sabotage, "the testicle.") McGilligan's Hitchcock is a valiant but pragmatic artist negotiating the obstacles and bullies of Hollywood, starting with producer David O. Selznick, who brought him over from London in 1939 and wanted to bill him as the Master of Melodrama. Forty years and many classic thrillers later, too infirm to continue the work that was his life, Hitchcock fasted to death: an oddly noble fade to black.
I like this Hitch.
BIOGRAPHY
By Ayelet Waldman
Young and outspoken, Olivia Goodman spends her college years at UC Santa Cruz railing against social injustice. Yet in one ill-considered moment, her life changes after she becomes an unwitting accomplice to a crime. Betrayed by her lover and threatened with jail, Olivia is forced to turn for help to her disapproving mother, Elaine. When Olivia unexpectedly gets pregnant, the already strained bond between mother and daughter faces an even greater test. A slightly underdeveloped romance between Olivia and her defense attorney adds spice if not realism.
Waldman, the wife of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon and formerly a criminal-defense attorney in L.A., offers a compelling portrait of the unintended victims of the American legal system. Crafted with compassion and outrage, Daughter's Keeper is about regret, sacrifice and forgiveness. This is a story brimming with hope and second chances.
NOVEL
By Stanley Bing
Arriving 12 years after Anita Hill pointed a finger at Clarence Thomas, this tale of corporate sexual harassment feels slightly musty. Bing aims to satirize the litigation-happy business world, one in which the novel's seemingly innocent title, when said by a male boss to his female subordinate, can be grossly misinterpreted. And so it goes when CaroleAnne Winter, a gorgeous, highly unstable executive assistant, is showered with kindnesses by her well-meaning boss, Robert "Harb" Harbert. CaroleAnne's lunacy gives the book an absurd comic edge: In her mind even the word "bagels" is salacious. Apart from the humor, though, Bing covers familiar ground, and his send-up of white-collar pretension grows tiresome: One sentence begins, "As I masticated the aggressively raw tuna in the ubiquitous salade Nicoise that is now the mandatory luncheon of the day..." That's a mouthful even for Harvardized corporate bigwigs.
NOVEL
By Diane Johnson
An avalanche at an Alpine ski resort gets things rolling in L'Affaire, the third of Diane Johnson's witty, wise and deliciously enjoyable comic novels about cultural misunderstandings and amorous entanglements between innocent American abroad and their sophisticated French counterparts. When two of the wealthier guests are injured in the snow slide, a cast of international characters assembles at the hotel to scheme, intrigue and make love until, by the book's wry, satisfying conclusion, everything is sorted out. Like French champagne, this fizzy tale will raise your spirits.
NOVEL
MYSTIC RIVER Fans of Dennis Lehane's haunting crime novel will be pleased with director Clint Eastwood's faithful version, easily one of the year's best films. The movie smartly retains the book's characters, plot twists and Boston locale, plus much of the dialogue.
Our advice: Read and see.
UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN Readers who adored Frances Mayes's memoir of renovating a villa in Italy will be taken aback to find that the film's Frances (Diane Lane) buys the house on impulse, dallies with a studly Italian and has a lesbian housemate.
Verdict: Call us shallow, but we like the film better.
THE HUMAN STAIN Though accomplished, the film version (due Oct. 31) of Philip Roth's richly textured novel about an affair between an older man and a younger woman never matches the book's complex characterizations and depth of its back story.
Best bet: See the movie, then read the book.
IN THE CUT Meg Ryan strips to the buff to play the sexual-thrill-seeking heroine of the movie version (opening Oct. 22) of Susanna Moore's erotic thriller. The book's plot holes seem more glaring in the film, and the original tragic ending has been exchanged for a happier one.
Our take: Neither is any great shakes.
- Contributors:
- Tom Gliatto,
- Ting Yu,
- Michelle Tauber,
- Francine Prose.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
