james morrow's the last witchfinder
i was challenged by my college friend and fellow morrow fan andy to make this last a whole day, but c'mon! it's morrow's first book in SEVEN YEARS. i had to read it all in one go! (and considering how vividly i remember going with andy's college roommate joe to get morrow's last book at svoboda's [which closed down in 2000, when i was studying abroad] the day he was doing a signing--well, i feel old now.) anyway, for those of you who are unfamiliar with morrow (he has a large fan base at penn state, since he lives in state college, but no one i've met here has heard of him), he's probably best known for his towing jehovah trilogy, which centers on what happens when god dies and his 5-mile-long body falls to earth. my favorite book of his, though, was only begotten daughter, which is about god having a daughter. so obviously morrow has a bent toward religious themes which i have always found fascinating.
his most recent work takes place in the good ol' witchhunting days and spans the globe from england to massachusetts to various other places. now, i will warn prospective readers that there are a few conceits you have to be willing to swallow, not least the fact that the narrator of the novel is a book. also, there's some loose characterizations of historical figures (ben franklin and abigail williams figure most prominently, but there are actual historical personages throughout). still, this story, which revolves around a girl, the daughter of a witchhunter, who witnesses her beloved aunt burned at the stake and vows to get the witchcraft act repealed, is an engrossing one. she has a very eventful life along the way--which sometimes required more than a little suspension of disbelief--but the story itself is a great one and well worth reading. i'm not the only one who thinks so; the book received starred reviews from both publishers' weekly and booklist.
in other news: i DON'T recommend the french movie cache.
7 comments:
What! I saw Cache this weekend and LOVED it. That is totally my kind of movie. Though, I think most of the theater when I saw it felt the same way as you. When the credits started to slowly roll, there was a sound of "WTF! That's it!"
But, my kind of jam.
yes!! me and the other three people i said it with all loudly said "what the fuck!" when it ended. can you explain it to us? was it symbolic of something in french society that we don't know about? did the end indicate that the only hope lay with the young generation?
i mean, what was the point? seriously, none of us could figure it out. was the whole movie jsut an excuse for the suicide scene?
SPOILERS!
Ok, first, when the movie ended, I too had no idea what had just happened. And I still don't. But, I like coming away from a movie with a little something to try and figure out (thus, the love of David Lynch movies). Also, my overarching attitude is that there are probably multiple meanings/solutions. I think what you mention, the symbolism, is probably the most right. You remember the mention of the 200 Algerian-French people that were slaughtered. I think that's what the movie is about. But, I love a puzzle and have thought, probably too much, about who made the movies. There is a great link off of the wikipedia entry for the movie, to a blog with a long discussion of the movie. I recommend it if you are curious. Or if you just hated it, don't worry. Some possibilities:
a) Madjid's son and Pierrot made them
b) George's mind made them
c) The director made them
d) etc.
Plus, I loved the cinematography (I love a still, brightly lit movie [thus my love of S. Kubrick movies]) and there was no score--another big plus for me. I hate when I am watching a movie and there are violins telling me how to feel. Music can work (see John Carpenter or Alfred Hitchcock) but too often it is a distraction. NO MUSIC! Plus I want my house to look like that.
I think what makes the end so confounding isn't that it ends with no resolution, but it ends right as you sense that there is about to be a solution, but then "BURN," the movie is over.
actually, the friend i was sitting next to and i both thought the lack of music was a good effect--it really raised the dramatic tension of the thing.
the lack of resolution REALLY bothered me, though. i was wondering about that ending scene--was the son going to get revenge on pierrot? were they in it together? i just want to know, dammit! i will check out that blog you mention to see what it says.
i guess the symbolism thing makes sense--they kept showing that news footage, too--so i wonder if french people thought this movie was really profound or something.
for the record, thoguh, i hate david lynch. lost highway is probably the worst movie i've ever seen (and i saw it during my teen goth period, where i was inclined to like things like that).
Lost Highway is by far my least favorite Lynch (though I think there are some strong connections between it and Cache. Mysterious videos being left for people of them being filmed. Also, the family in Cache are the Laurents and LH begins with the line, "Dick Laurent is dead."). It didn't click for me. But I love "Eraserhead," "Twin Peaks," "Mullholland Drive,"--all of it.
Movies like "cache" and David Lynch movies I like better than movies like "brokeback mountain," which I liked and thought was really good, but I don't spend any time think about it afterwards. It doesn't really move me. "BbM," "Munich," "Pride and Prejudice,"--all good movies but they just don't do it for me.
oh, actually, i did really like mulholland drive--but one of the things i liked about it was that most of it made sense after a thinking-through. :) i don't mind movies making me think--of course i don't--but i like to feel that the filmmaker had a point of view and communicated it well.
i never saw brokeback mountain or munich or any of those . . . i don't like movies that set out to be melodramatic and heartstring-tugging. anyway, i read the story bbm was based on and that was good enough for me. i don't need to see jake schmyllenhaal saying that "quit you" line--it was better in the story!
yay for a fellow james morrow fan! how did you find out about him? (i'm always curious about these things.)
minty, you are welcome to change the subject any time. :)
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