All Forms of Art

My Brilliant Friend is the first book in a series of four ( the second of which is already sitting on my bedside table) from an author who kept her identity in secret for many years. I had no idea of that, or even any hint of the story, when I started reading it. The book was a birthday gift from a person who seemed to really love it. Since I know she likes good literature, I started reading with confidence, and let me tell you: I was not disappointed! Childhood Friends The story is about two really different friends, living in a poor neighborhood near Naples. They grow up dealing with poverty, lack of education and money, violence surrounding them, and, like any other person, they have their own egos to deal with.  Throughout the book, we’ll see them deal with both forces that unite them and those that tear them apart. The atmosphere around them reflects a reality I had only heard about in my mother’s or grandmother’s stories, but I think that actually helped...

Atypical was a great surprise for me, a quite positive one at that.  The way they show and present autism, and a person on the spectrum with their own struggles, but also with every bit of usual teenage problems, just like everyone else, was for me a big step in moving forward.  It makes its contribution toward creating a more tolerant society and more informed people when it comes to autism. Family The whole story has a good structure. The way that this family, especially the mother ( Jennifer Jason Leigh), has her life revolve around her son’s problem is quite realistic. However, this is not just a show about disabilities. It’s a show about a family that happens to have a person on the spectrum in it. And most importantly, it shows us a realistic yet optimistic point of view, full of hope for many families out there. What does it feel like? By watching this show, you can have a closer idea of what a person on the spectrum might feel and think, an...

I watched this movie very recently. I hadn’t read the book, but I tend to trust Netflix ; it has some pretty good originals, plus the trailer seemed cute and the story very sweet.  Recently, most teen movies and shows have focused on their cruelty and how badly they can hurt each other. This one, however, is a beautiful, romantic movie about falling in love, and I had a good time watching it. Emotions All Over While you watch the movie, you may feel emotional. It has a good script, focused on feelings and emotions. And it leads you to empathize with the characters and feel fully absorbed in their reality. Love is probably the main word that comes to your mind after you watch it, but not only romantic love; the relationships inside Lara Jean’s (Lana Condor) family are very interesting and remarkably intense. You'll also be delighted by the work of Noah Centineo ( Sierra Burger is a Loser ) and Janel Parrish (Pretty Little Liars). It Didn't Disappoint I’m...

I can actually do a quicker review on this one show: sorry, I didn’t like it. But let’s slow down and try to think about it for a moment. The show itself has a simple premise. A bullied fat teenage girl (Debby Ryan) becomes beautiful. She wants revenge, so she starts participating in beauty pageants with the help of her lawyer (Dallas Roberts, from Big Sky ), who is also a coach for these events and a very… let’s say, confused man. Sorry, but this is just not for me, yet I gave it a try anyway. It’s a Netflix show, and they’re usually pretty good, so… I'm actually a little sad that it turned out to be disappointing.  Not Fun at All It’s supposed to be a comedy, but it’s empty. The characters are supposed to be deeper than they really are; they have their own background story with some possibly interesting facts, but they’re just… flat. Generally, the comedy genre should make you laugh. Insatiable doesn’t. It’s actually quite boring at some points, tur...

A book about parenting, sort of… When you become a parent, inevitably, you’ll probably read about it. You’ll say you don’t care about these books, and you’ll be filled with fear that you’re somehow doing something wrong. The way I interpreted it, at least, this one basically tells you to “Get over it!” Shaping or Letting Them Flower? Its title might seem odd, but it’s actually a pretty interesting theory about two ways of being a parent and caring for your children. The Gardener The gardener is the person who cares for their flowers, provides the best they can, and lets them flourish.  They do the best they can, but there are many factors interfering with their garden. They know they can’t control everything and do not expect a precise result or outcome at the end of their task. The Carpenter The  carpenter  is the new parenting model that most parents try to adopt when caring for their children, and Gopnik compares it to a carpenter who selects ...

I decided to loosely translate this book’s title myself because it’s an interesting novel by the Portuguese author João Ricardo Pedro and hasn’t been translated into English. It definitely should be, though. The Context Much of Portuguese literature is marked by the oppressive government, the so-called “New State,” and this is one more such book.  The difference is that it isn’t about that time period, but rather about the following decades and how the political police and the lack of development the dictatorship gave the Portuguese people influenced the next generations. 3 Generations The book is about a family, telling us stories from 3 different generations, all of whom are somehow marked by the dictatorship and the colonial war.  The ones who lived it as adults, the ones who lived it as children, and the ones who just heard stories about it. All of them had their lives shaped by this reality. An Average Portuguese Family We have Chronicles about a t...

After all the scandal surrounding the first season of the show, we’re offered an introduction where the actors talk about the issues the show might raise and advise the viewers about the fact that the show might not be adequate for them, as well as cover how they should ask for help if any of these issues have crossed their mind.  I liked that part, but then the story begins to unfold, and I felt like the production team was just brushing off any potential future consequences that might land on their feet… That's the Wrong Way to Go Shockingly, in this season, Hanna Baker (Katherine Lanford, Savage River ) became a heroine. No matter how many times other characters would say that suicide was never a valid way out of any problems, the whole story is about the girl whose death was what it took to get everyone to step forward with their own troubles.  She had to die for others to begin addressing violence, to stop and think about the consequences of their actions...