Liars and Saints

“The Flying Machine” is sillier than “The Tooth,” but it’s still weirdly moving. George’s problem is that he wants to feel special. His attempt at a solution: He has purchased a “flying machine,” and he plans to be “the first of the species” to go airborne. Gently, like Frog addressing Toad, Martha observes that George actually is *not* flying. A quick fix: Lighten the basket. Remove the hippo from the structure. But of course this is an over-correction, and the machine sails away. And here--oddly enough--is where George gets his resolution. Martha says, “It’s OK. I like it better when you’re down here, on Earth, with me.” And George feels special. The End. Why do I feel--more and more, as I get older--that all of life is contained within the covers of “George and Martha: The Anthology”? Some day, I might try to write about adult characters again. We’ll have to see!

The director Rian Johnson is having a big weekend, because his murder mystery--“Knives Out”--has made a major splash with critics. I can’t wait to see it. I’d see any Agatha Christie-inspired work. But there’s a special reason to be excited about “Knives Out,” and that reason is contained within one word: “Ozymandias.” Mr. Johnson didn’t write “Ozymandias,” from “Breaking Bad,” but he directed it, and I imagine he had a say in the construction of certain images. So many moments in this hour are memorable: It’s maybe my favorite hour in TV history. The supreme weirdness of the hour is established right away. We know we’re tiptoeing toward a major gunfight, but the storytellers tease us. They don’t start with the gunfight. They flashback one year to give us a little domestic tidbit: The baby Holly, we learn, earned her name one day when Walt was late home from a “cook.” To appease his wife, he threw her, Skyler, a bone: “Hey, let’s name the baby HOLLY.” We wonder: Why are we seeing t...

Just so you know, the NYTimes Book Review did a podcast this week, giving some insider info on the “Ten Best Books.” I listened just for a bit; some juicy notes and some thoughts.... *It wasn’t always the ten best. It was sometimes eight, or nine. But people assumed ten, so eventually the editors just said: ten. *There is always a split, now, between five works of fiction and five works of non-fiction. Even in a year when fiction seems especially strong (for example). No attention is given to thematic variety: The books with the most beautiful sentences and the most gripping stories and the smartest research are the winners. Always. Period. *One that calls out to me is “No Visible Bruises,” because the title is brilliant. “NVB” is what cops say to address their own worries when they’re leaving the scene of a possible domestic assault. But “visible” is a word that raises questions. What if there are psychological bruises? What if there are actual, physical bruises, and one spouse ha...

“The Dance Recital” is a title with a double meaning. It seems to refer to Martha’s dance recital; the initial conflict has George resisting an invitation, because “dancing is dumb.” George then remembers his manners, and goes, and enjoys the performance. Not much of a story, but then the real reason for the narration kicks in. Seeing Martha onstage awakens a new George. An artistic George. And, of course, George begins dance classes of his own--and the title’s second meaning, GEORGE’S “Dance Recital,” becomes evident. If Martha can do “The Beautiful Butterfly,” then George can do “The Mexican Hat Dance.” Maybe not “Ulysses,” but, still, an opportunity to consider surprise twists, hidden meanings, reversals, character growth. Thank God for “George and Martha."

“Frozen” is not a great movie, and it’s not a great musical. It borrows heavily from “Wicked”--the plot, the emancipation anthem, the star--and “Wicked” itself is sort of a lumpy mess. I see two moments of genius. One, obviously, is “Let It Go,” which is a rewrite of “Defying Gravity.” (And who wouldn’t ask for a bit more of “Defying Gravity” on the big screen?) The other is the decision to unmask one of the male stars as a trickster, a villain--a genuinely bold stroke for a Disney movie. In the earlier days of Howard Ashman, villains were more clearly flagged as villains, right away. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Though “Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast” are both better than “Frozen,” by leaps and bounds, neither seems to lend itself to a big-screen sequel. I think that’s because Howard Ashman didn’t really care about his princes. Eric, the post-Beast reincarnated Prince: Who needs to know what happens to these men? As in a Jane Austen novel, the adventure ends...

One thing that gets me through a long weekend is Ruth Rendell. It's true that Rendell died, and that her output is finite; we won't be getting any new Rendell books, ever again. It's also true that there are some dips in quality; people seem not to get too excited about, say, "Grasshopper" or "Talking to Strange Men." But give the lady a break. She wrote approximately ten trillion novels. And there are mic-drop classics mixed in there: "A Judgment in Stone," "A Demon in My View," "Make Death Love Me," "An Unkindness of Ravens,""The Tree of Hands." Rendell's great gift was for characters who "jump off the page," as one reviewer noted. Even when they aren't admirable, you feel you know them, and you want to follow them on their weird, high-stakes journeys. I especially like Dora Wexford, who is resolutely sensible and courageous. And her daughters, with their young-people dramas. And...

The NYT "100 Notable Books" list can be overwhelming. A few thoughts: *There is an interest in "genre fiction" here. This is slightly rebellious for the NY Times. It's like if Elizabeth II appeared in public and performed a Taylor Swift song. I'm thinking--especially--of "Mrs. Everything," "The Institute," and the Joe Hill title. (Plus the Tremblay stories.) *A surprising omission: Susan Choi's novel, which just won the National Book Award. No comment. *"Say Nothing" calls out to me--not only because people are so breathless about this book, but also because it seems to be (in part) about restitution. Restitution is on everyone's mind, in the MeToo era. When people behave badly, is there a way to "come back"? Apparently, people in Ireland are walking around with monstrous deeds in their past--and people aren't talking. It's a compelling situation. *I'd give a spot to Alison Lurie, for her bo...