Right now I’m reading “My Dark Vanessa” by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
The book explores the psychological dynamics of a relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic, manipulative teacher.
Cultural Shifts & The Me Too Movement:
This book brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming society.
2000. Fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane. Strane is her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.
2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student. And this student reaches out to Vanessa.
Vanessa’s Choice:
And now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice. Remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship. Or redefine herself and the events of her past.
But how can Vanessa reject her first love? The man who fundamentally transformed her. And who has been a persistent presence in her life?
Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager may not be the man she thought he was?
What I’m Watching On Acorn TV:
I’m currently watching “Accused” on Acorn TV.
This anthology series is written by Jimmy McGovern. Each episode follows various characters as they await a verdict on their trial.
Each of the episodes follows a different central character. The episode begins with the police unlocking a prison cell. Then they lead the accused up the steps to hear the jury’s verdict.
The episodes alternate back and forth between the past and their current situation. (When the crime was committed).
And the present. (When the accused learns their fate.)
I’ve been watching old Bruce Willis rock’em sock’em movies (primarily in the Die Hard series, but others too) since 2016. The movies are a release – there’s always a resolution where the good guy(s) win. Occasionally I’ll revert to watching my Jane Austen DVDs (Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and the P.D. James “Death Comes to Pemberley”). Yesterday I watched (for the umpteenth time) “The Cutting Edge,” about a prima donna figure skater and her search for a new partner, and the unlikely scenario that they go on to win the U.S. Figure Skating Championship for “pairs” and go to the Olympics. There were two follow-up movies made after it. I also watched “Twister” again, great action storm chaser movie. I haven’t felt much like reading fiction, perhaps I’ve worn out my reading gears by reading hours of news every day – news that is more fantastical and unimaginable than anything I remember reading in books, even my years of reading Allen Drury political novels and Tom Clancy adventure and intrigue military and political novels! Nothing to compare to what’s happened since the 2016 presidential election, or what’s going on right now. I’ll stick to my Jane Austen movie and escape with Bruce Willis taking out his rage on bad dudes. Reality is just impossible to handle these days.
I watched Ebola on Prime Video yesterday…it was a delightful film…it would make a great series.