Must do’s: What we like this week
Tom Cruise's sci-fi movie "Oblivion" surprises us and the "Top of the Lake" finale is a must-watch
Topics: Our Picks: Books, our picks: TV, Our Picks: Movies, Entertainment, TV, Television, literature, top of the lake, science-fiction, Tom Cruise, Oblivion, Movies, The Astor Orphan, harvest, Entertainment News
BOOKS
Laura Miller recommends the memoir of Alexandra Aldrich, a descendent of the prominent Astor family, which provides a glimpse into a less privileged, less happy childhood than one would expect:
In premise alone, “The Astor Orphan” sounds like some delicious children’s novel, the kind of thing you’d gobble a dozen times over by the age of 8. In reality it’s a mournful, curious tale of an anxious child’s longing for security. Aldrich, who kept a diary from an early age, apparently sticks closely to it; her book has a halting, episodic rhythm. It lacks the fluency of truly accomplished storytelling, but the story it tells is so extraordinary, and Aldrich’s tone is so baldly honest, that the reader’s attention will not flag.
Miller was also enchanted by “Harvest,” the dark, fictional tale of a small Irish town that falls apart, narrated by the “less versatile” but still “perfect fit for the book” John Keating:
John Keating’s narration of Jim Crace’s “Harvest” falls into the latter category. His eminently pleasant voice, with an Irish lilt that he turns up and down at will, is more or less the same whatever book he’s reading. In the case of “Harvest,” a deceivingly simple account of the implosion of a small rural community, it is exactly the right voice to convey a story with some of the qualities of a fairy tale. Small things here have big meanings, and Keating, who imparts the flavor of a bedtime story to the proceedings, adds to the novel’s archetypal resonance.
Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.







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