In the opening pages of her memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Jeanette Winterson makes clear that this is much more than a “re-make” ofOranges Are Not The Only Fruit, her earlier fictionalised account of similar territory. This memoir is much bleaker, darker and, in the end, more redemptive. It is about the Read More
Even those who have never read Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling tale will be familiar withTreasure Island to some degree. The story about parrot-adorned be-crutched villains, mutiny and buried treasure has become the quintessential pirate adventure from which many others have been informed. As one of a selection of twenty books chosen for the 2013 World Book Night event, Read More
Danny Boyle has turned his hand to the heist genre for his latest release Trance. After his success in the horror genre with 28 Days Later (2002) and with a successful children’s film under his belt with Millions(2004), it seems appropriate that Boyle should attempt something new. What he has produced, however, is a misguided attempt at a gritty Read More
The exhibition Synchronise our Eyebrows held at the Hannah Maclure Centre at the University of Abertay until the 26th April 2013 offers the rare opportunity for art lovers and those interested in Dundee and its culture to discover or re-engage with the work of Dundee-born artist Vincent Rattray. This is an important event for a number of Read More
As the director of Gummo (1997) and co-writer of Kids(1995), Harmony Korine is recognised for his indie approach to the documentation of youth culture. Korine’s latest film, Spring Breakers, sees the director scrutinise his adolescent subjects even more closely than he has done in the past. The story follows four college girls who rob a local chicken shack to Read More
The Secret Scripture comes from the pen of acclaimed Irish author, Sebastian Barry. In 2008, it was named the Costa Book of the Year. The novel tells the story of Roseanne McNulty, who has been a patient in a mental hospital for more years than anyone can remember. With the hospital about to close and Roseanne Read More
The Road Home, by Rose Tremain, concerns a Russian man who travels to Britain to find work so he can send money back home to his mother and five year old daughter, Maya. Tremain successfully portrays a man down on his luck, hopeful and thoughtful yet also weak and tired. Sceptical as I was when Read More
“’Your daughter is awful tanned. Is she that colour everyday?’ I imagine for a moment what the world might be like if people could change colour every day. ” Red Dust Road starts in Abuja, in an extraordinary and captivating opening chapter which packs the case for a journey which crosses countries, continents and hemispheres. The book begins with “Jonathan” , Read More
Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader met with much critical acclaim when it was published in his native Germany in 1995. Since then, it has won literary awards in Germany and France, been translated into thirty nine languages, and adapted for the big screen. The Reader also finds itself a staple on high school reading lists in Germany and beyond. So Read More