Category Archives: Review

Book Review: Dov Alfon ~ A long night in Paris (translated Daniella Zamir)

Posted on February 18, 2019 by

Dov Alfon is an Israeli who’s novel is autobiographical. He was an intelligence officer in an elite unit- 8200. A lot of the action is centred on this unit. The majority of the action is based in Paris. Away from … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Isaac Babel ~ Odessa Stories (Translator Boris Dratyuk) (1910s and 20s)

Posted on February 4, 2019 by

Babel writes about Jewish life in Odessa at the beginning of the 20th century. Odessa’s a vibrant multi-cultural seaport with a very large Jewish population. Gangsters fascinate Babel and he creates wonderful pen portraits. He also writes about being an … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Stan and Ollie (Steve Coogan and John C Reilly)

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

This film resonated on so many levels that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why I was bowled over. The final scene in Ireland showed the debt that Morecambe and Wise owed to them but there was so much more. The … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Douglas Sutherland ~ The English Gentleman (1978)

Posted on December 31, 2018 by

This is a wonderful quirky book. I read it in about two hours and every moment was a pleasure. This is absolutely not a ‘how-to-be’ a gentleman; indeed it’s the opposite. Gentlemen are gentlemen to the core of their being. … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Sorry to bother you (Lakieth Stanfield and Armie Hammer)

Posted on December 17, 2018 by

Black director Boots Riley has outshone Spike Lee’s BlackkKansman. Riley has simultaneously created a searing indictment of institutional and unconscious racism, a satire on telemarketing and a vicious attack on American capitalism. Cassius Green (Lakieth Stanfield) is a wonderful character. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Sven Hassel ~ The Commissar (Translator Tim Bowie)

Posted on December 10, 2018 by

Sven Hassell is very controversial in Denmark where his ‘fact based semi-autobiographical’ novels have been scrutinised and found to be (astonishingly!) fiction. The style Hassel writes in does lead the reader to believe that there is an underlying truth hard … Continue reading →

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Film Review: The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Claire Foy)

Posted on December 3, 2018 by

There’s nothing so attractive to Hollywood as a money-making franchise. The Scandi-noir novels about the idiot savant Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) has definitely come of age. Their version has all the tropes deemed necessary for a serious money-making film. The … Continue reading →

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