Movie Les Misrables

Les Miserables (2012 film)

Directed by Tom Hooper

Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg

For stealing a piece of bread, a man (Jean Valjean) is imprisoned and then hunted down by Javert, a policeman for years. This version won eight Academy Awards. The awards worldwide are too many to mention.

I, like the Academy, agree that the acting and singing is super. It took me two years to get around to seeing it – I don’t like going to the movies – on TV.

The movie portrays the history of France before and leading up to their 1860s Revolution. Victor Hugo’s book comes alive through music.

Jean and Javert’s journey comes to an end. But you’ll have to see if you enjoy it.

The cast is huge, but the most important are: Hugh Jackman as Jean, who won the best actor; Russell Crow as Javert; Anne Hathaway as Fantine, who won best supporting actor; Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, Fantine's daughter; and many other excellent actors.

This story is about good overcoming evil, leading to a new beginning for France.

It’s just too long.

DVD at Amazon or get on your TV:  http://amzn.to/1EkDZl2

   

Review of Beyond the Great River

Beyond the Great River

People of the Longhouse, Book 1

Written by Zoe Saadia

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Trusting someone is hard when there is a language, religious, or cultural bearer. This still seems to be one of the biggest problems in our world today.

In Ms. Saadia’s Beyond the Great River series, she gets down to the basics of this issue, using a 14^th century Mohican Indian village being attacked by foreigners - the Iroquois. Each side thinks that the others are pagans, not really knowing anything about each other.

The link between the two warring tribes comes from an unlikely source – a woman. And in those days women had no say what-so-ever. This young lady by the name of Kentika is not passive like all the others of her tribe - she speaks her mind upsetting many. She is tolerated, because of her father's position.

Her strong tomboy personality, faith in humans, and her acquired language gift allowed her to become the link to the world Beyond the Great River. She pays a high price for who she is, during the adventure in meeting Okwaho of the attacking tribe on a romp through the woods.

Their story is at times strange, funny, and tragic. Where it ends, leaves the reader wondering what comes next. This is what makes this first book in a series a good one to read – it should go you thinking. This is an excellent example. 

I have read a few of Ms. Saadia’s books, and I recommend them highly. She gets to the core of her characters’ personalities and brings them alive in a no-nonsense writing style.

   

Purchase her books at http://amzn.to/1m2jZNO

Review Bangkok Rules

Bangkok Rules

Written By Harlan Wolff

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

I have been studying detective/whodunit books for about 40 years now. They are my favorite genre. Bangkok Rules has all the ingredients: A cleaver private investigator, villains, and an outstanding background written professionally.

Wolff’s PI Carl Engel is put in a position of doom, where he has no control over the events in his adopted country Thailand – he approved it. He has learned the Thai way of life with its underlining currents of corruption since his teens.

He is given a case by an unlikely source. This client brings about his own future, which leads to the unfolding of an evil person who enjoys his lifestyle. His corruption is so vile that the foul stench upsets Carl into action.

Carl’s action is confusing to the people around him, who are aiding him to the point that most feel he should leave the country. He is up against a truly destructive influential group of individuals.

He finds his way to everyone’s surprise including one of his targets. He overcomes his adversities.

Wolff’s fast-paced novel kept me intrigued. I have been to Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries in Asia. If you haven’t, this is a good read to get you in touch. If you have, the novel will please you with its content.

Purchase at http://amzn.to/1IuKdma

    

Review of On The Rails

Review of ‘On The Rails’
By
Suzan Collins

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

The tedious and boring function of taking the train and then the subway (Tube in the UK) consecutively, is interwoven into this story of a woman named Nikki, whose quests is to find her soul mate. She has found him and commits to a venture that requires her to commute into London from her country home each time his sponsored charity’s organization needs her to be at meetings.

This feat happens three to four times a week – three to four hours each way. It’s a trip I would not undertake myself for any reason, never mind for love.

Nikki has money and time, because of an event that broke her heart and she is trying to fill that void by Volunteering. She tells her friends that the trips aren't bad; because she gets the charity’s work done while riding the rails.

She connects with the man of her dreams, a man she flirts with, and a man who wants her. Those storylines and that of a commuter’s trials and errors in trying to get from point A to point B are incorporated into what the author calls a Chick Lit. Adventure. There is romance, but I feel too much traveling.

The traveling back and forth seems overwritten at times, but it is the glue that brings Ms. Collins’ story forward because it is here we learn about how Nikki is coping with the world around her and the romances in her life.

To find out about those romances and how she deals with them and her traveling experiences, I recommend this adventure which will take a few sittings to understand all of Nikki’s rail adventures. Take the book on a long train ride or many trips in the Tube. It will be enjoyable that way.

Purchase at http://amzn.to/1m2eIpw