1 Renoir Film and 2 Neumeier Books
A French movie, the Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, was apparently panned by moviegoers and critics alike when it first came out. Since then it has acquired a reputation of being one of the best movies ever made.
It is terrible. The moviegoers and critics absolutely had the right of it.
It is an unfunny bedroom farce that thinks its a tragedy and where the only likable characters are people we are not supposed to like. It is at tragedy where all tragedy could have been averted if not for a series of coincidences and miscommunications.
Ugh. We didn’t finish once we got an inkling of how it was going to turn out (which turned out be how it does turn out according to the Wikipedia summary).
—
On E.C.’s recommendation, I took up Rachel Neumeier’s sci-fi one-off, No Foreign Sky. I liked it. It was solid and did an excellent job of feeling like a very real and very different place. A little more character-focused than I would like—it’s definitely written by a woman–but quite good. The author has a realistic attitude towards religion, which is highly unusual in the SF world. It’s there, people apparently have religious leanings, without it being in any way what the book is about. There is a self-sacrifice scene which is amazingly epic and could have been milked for much more epicness.
I then started in on the two-volume Invictus series. I have read the first one. Wow, what a book. The set-up of two competing high-stakes deceits between a ship captain and a captured enemy operative sucks you right in and is executed so, so well. The only problem is that what appears to be the one conspiracy is actually lame when its revealed. 90% of people won’t think its lame, but that’s because 90% of people are lame, and frankly I don’t find the conspiracy quite believable. But there are hints that there are still wheels within wheels. If the final revelations in book 2 turn out to be worthy, I would take the series from very good to great.
I will definitely be on a Neumeier binge. Always trust recommendations from JG commenters.
E.C.
February 21, 2024
So glad you enjoyed my recommendation! If you’re more into action, the next Neumeier I would suggest for you is her Death’s Lady series (the first book is not action-oriented, but the other books make up for that). Since it came out, I’ve read the series multiple times, and it just keeps getting better with every read-through.
Tuyo is also excellent, set in a flat world with some very interesting metaphysics, and the main series is already finished.
I cannot be 100% sure you will like the end of Invictus, but there are indeed some twists to the story in the second part that I was not entirely expecting!
Mainly what I like about Neumeier’s books is her characters’ strong traits of responsibility, competence, and general decency, qualities so rare in characters today that I would be willing to overlook a great many more flaws in writing than Neumeier’s generally solid books exhibit.
gst
March 4, 2024
But I liked this movie!
(You would, GST.)
G.
March 4, 2024
Well it is a lot like a wodehouse bpok except all the silly plot contrivances and artificial coincidences are in the service of everyone being miserable