A Model Summer

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

 

 

 

 

A Model Summer
By Paulina Porikova
Published by Hyperion

Shy, gawky, fifteen-year-old Jirina (Yee-ree-na) is invited to come to Paris for the summer by the owner of a modeling agency.  He sees a special beauty in the girl that no one else has ever noticed.  Jirina has always been too tall and too skinny to consider herself attractive, and her schoolmates are of much the same opinion based on the insults they toss at her so easily.

Jirina meets her roommate Britta at the airport.  Britta is perfect, blonde, blue-eyed and beautiful, everything that Jirina has always wished to be.  Jirina is positive that she can’t possibly compete with Britta, a feeling that only gets stronger when her “go-and-sees” leave her confused and convinced that she is uglier than ever.  So why does Jirina keep getting more callbacks and photo-shoots while Britta gets fewer and fewer?

When she first arrives in Paris Jirina is very naïve, a real ingenue.  Through a series of humorous faux pas Jirina eventually becomes more sophisticated as she learns from her mistakes.   She quickly realizes that modeling is a cutthroat business where it’s every woman for her self and models cheerfully sabotage each other to get a cover.

Jirina finds out that modelling isn’t nearly as much fun as she imagined it would be, the hours are long, she often feels like a piece of meat and the model-chasers can be downright scary, but she also discovers that there is nothing else like it in the world. 

Jirina befriends several interesting characters including Emanuel, a flamboyant makeup artist who she is at first shocked to discover is homosexual; Hugo, a gentleman who rescues Britta from certain disaster; Evalinda, a successful model also from Sweden; and Rob, a much-older Australian photographer who steals her heart.

The author is former model Paulina Porizkova who is also the author of children’s book The Adventures of Ralphie the Roach.  She insists that A Model Summer is not an autobiography it’s simply a coming-of-age story featuring a young model.   In a 1989 interview, Paulina said that she never really liked modeling. ''People are shocked when I say I love the money and hate the job, but it isn't very creative to stand in front of a camera all day.'' 

Paulina Porizkova clearly expresses her creativity in her debut novel.   It is a fascinating subject that she describes vividly and quite expertly.  A Model Summer is a book that only a fashion industry insider could write.  The book ends without spelling out Jirina’s ultimate fate leaving to the imagination whether Jirina ends up soaring with the eagles or if her life comes crashing down like a poorly built house of cards. A fitting tribute to the real world of beauty where not everyone ends up "living happily ever after" as they do in fairy tales.

Reviewed for Hyperion Books also submitted to Front Street Reviews

edited by Sarra at 11:17 AM 04/24/2007

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More Pet Food Recall

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Natural Balance has recalled its Venison line (the canned cat food is supposed to still be ok but why risk it?) because melamine was found in a rice protein concentrate that they had started using in the food.  That annoys me on several levels, first because Natural Balance was one of the natural and holistic foods being touted as safe after the big Menu foods recall and many people switched to it.  Secondly, because the cat food at least is promoted as grain-free.  Added rice protein is not grain-free.

 http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/naturalbalance04_07.html

Natural Life pet products is recalling their vegetarian formula, so far no reports of injury to animals, but they say that since it contains wheat gluten the company doesn't want to take the risk.  A reformulated product with no gluten will be forthcoming.

 

 

Cartoon by: Mike Graston, The Windsor Star, Ontario, Canada

edited by Sarra at 10:29 AM 05/17/2007

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The Green Room

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Reviewed for Front Street Reviews.

 

The Green Room
By Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Published by Poisoned Pen Press

This is Atkinson’s second book, after 2002’s Primitive Secrets, to feature Storm Kayama, a promising young Hawaiian lawyer who is working to build a thriving practice.  Storm jumps at the chance to assist a client referred by long-estranged cousin Nahoa.  Even though Storm would prefer not to ever handle divorce proceedings she just recently passed the bar and beggars can’t be choosers.  Stephanie Barstow is the wife of surf promoter Marty Barstow.  Originally from Hawaii, she followed her husband to the mainland when they married.  Now she’s returned to the Islands, with son Ben - a promising young surfer - to put as much space between her and her estranged husband as possible.  This divorce could get messy!
 
When Ben invites Storm to watch him compete, Storm is understandably eager.  Not only are surf meets exciting, but she’ll have a chance to reacquaint herself with cousin Nahoa, also competing and one of the top ranked surfers worldwide.  The atmosphere is a little more subdued than usual, as another top-ranked surfer has recently died under strange and mysterious circumstances.  Are the Barstow’s and the missing surfer linked? If so, how?

Things are going swimmingly until a young boy delivers a package to Nahoa.  The package contains a leo o manō, or shark’s tooth club, used in lua, an ancient form of Hawaiian warfare.  This isn’t a gift; it’s a warning, or a threat.  When Nahoa disappears without warning, Storm becomes worried that he didn’t take the warning seriously enough…

Atkinson peppers the book with Hawaiian lore and lingo and includes a helpful glossary to allow the reader to keep up.  She paints a fascinating verbal picture of the stunning panorama that is Hawaii, and keeps the action flowing with exciting descriptions of Storm and her friends riding the waves.  Atkinson’s characters are well fleshed out and entice the reader to care about their predicaments, making the stunning conclusion all the more an edge of the seat thrill ride.  Several interesting subplots are intermixed with the main story, including Storm’s struggle to overcome her fear of the green room which combined with memories of a tragedy from her past hold her back from really enjoying the water. 
 
The green room is a term that surfer’s use to refer to the underwater space where a surfer is shoved by a wave or dives to escape the crush of tons of churning water.  It’s a scary place to be.  Inside you are disoriented, buffeted, unable to tell up from down.  Everything is just green.
 

edited by Sarra at 03:08 PM 04/12/2007

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Working On

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

In cross-stitch, I'm currently stitching up Chatelaine's First Mystery Sampler which I got when the online class first started and only just started stitching on this year.  Crafting lately has been very slow, between World of Warcraft, book reviewing, working a couple of days a week at the shelter, and the volunteer work I've been doing, I just haven't been finding (or making) the time.  So far, I've got the outer border and one of the motifs from the first inside part done.

I hope to have this finished by September, since I'm signed up for a class with my guild and I know I'm going to want to make that one more.  I've gone back to trying to only work on one thing at a time, the rotation thing just wasn't working out for me.


In knitting, I've set aside my sweater to make another DNA scarf.  This was a request from Dave's cousin.  She asked me at her wedding, and she has a Ph.D in genetics, how could I refuse?  Actually I really don't mind, I really enjoyed making the first one.  The pattern is just complicated enough to be interesting, but not so complicated that it doesn't fly off the needles.  In KnitPicks Telemark, in black since they didn't have a nice emerald green.


 

 


edited by Sarra at 04:22 PM 04/10/2007

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Gun Shy by Ben Rehder

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

Gun Shy: A Novel
By Ben Rehder
Comic Mystery
Published by St. Martin’s Minotaur

“Ben Rehder is a straight shooter and an equal opportunity offender” – Kinky Friedman

Rehder’s fifth comic mystery featuring game warden John Martin in Blanco County, Texas.   In this offering, Rehder remains neutral while poking fun at both sides of America’s gun culture.   

The National Weapons Alliance is planning a big rally to support the God-given right of every American to carry a concealed automatic weapon.  The rally is all set to be held on the back forty belonging to their newest spokesman, country music superstar Mitch Campbell.

Unfortunately for the NWA, they don’t know a few things, first that Mitch Campbell is really Norman Klienschmidt from Vermont.  Mitch is only faking being a cowboy because his agent thinks it will sell more records.  Second, that the pressure of the deception and the superstardom has turned Mitch to drugs.
When a bad trip makes Mitch believe his life is in danger he grabs the gift given to him by the NWA and shoots his Mexican gardener.  In a panic, Mitch calls the president of the Texas chapter of the NWA, a cover-up ensues and John Martin and other members of Blanco County law enforcement end up on the case.  

Added to the mix is John Martin’s conviction that guns aren’t to blame for crime, it’s all the criminals fault.  Testing those views is a very personal situation with his girlfriend, who has had some events in her life that cause her to take the opposite view.  Additional subplots include two good old boys and their wacky schemes to meet Mitch so they can sell him on their song, and a woman who will do almost anything to keep the man who killed her son in jail where he belongs.   Readers familiar with the series will recognize Rehder’s trademark off-beat characters who keep the story fresh and interesting as you never know what might happen next.  

Rehder’s previous books in the Blanco County series have been nominated for Edgar, Lefty and Barry Awards.  It won’t be surprising if Gun Shy is nominated as well, as it is a bold piece of satirical writing on a par with Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey.  

edited by Sarra at 03:51 PM 04/10/2007

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