Monday Night Movie: The Virgin Suicides

 

Genre:

Drama, Romance

Content Warning:

Suicide

Rating: 

Four out of Five Stars

Buy Link:

https://amzn.to/3cycwGj

Disclosures:

The following is a copy of my review on Amazon for this movie with a few additional statements added.

I will receive a small commission from Amazon for any purchases made through the buy link.

This post contains discussions of suicide.

Ornery Review:

As someone who attempted suicide in my teens, I watched this movie with interest. I was raised Catholic like the female protagonists and became rebellious as a teenager. In fairness to my parents, they were not as ridiculously strict as the parents in this film, but we had a lot of arguments.

My heart broke for Lux, the character played by Kristin Dunst. The boy she trusted abandoned her. He was hell-bent on seducing her, and then when he got what he wanted he dumped her. The same thing happened to me and it was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as pushing me to attempt suicide. 

I really hated Trip for his behavior. When you have sex with someone and then your attitude is "after that it was weird and I didn't care how she got home," you don't have the right to say you loved that person again, ever. You don't treat people you love like that, period. 

Lux was in a vulnerable state. She had been drinking before she and Trip had sex, and then she fell asleep. He left her lying out on the football field alone. Anyone who treats another human being like that is trash. This character really made me angry.

After Trip dumped Lux, she began behaving in a hypersexual fashion, seducing as many willing guys as possible and having sex with them on the roof of the family's house. The film's narrator and his friends watch these liaisons through a telescope, making moronic comments.

What people don't understand is that girls who behave in a hypersexual fashion are reacting to trauma of some kind. Rather than showing compassion, these girls are called unkind names and exploited by men and boys willing to take advantage of them. The other boys were not as awful as Trip but still behaved deplorably acting like the Lisbon girls were prizes to be won rather than troubled human beings who needed a friend.

Girls and women are not objects to be ogled, prizes to be won, pets to be kept, or mysteries to be solved. We are human beings. The film does a decent job of expressing the sometimes extremely painful frustration of being a teenage girl. This is a commendable goal as teenage girls are the demographic whose troubles are least likely to be taken seriously.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Just Jemi: WEP & Human Song

Just Jemi: WEP & Human Song: Humans were exhausting. Loud, obnoxious, destructive. The world would be a much better place without them but Liaka’s powers didn’t extend t...

As a collective, humans are pretty much irredeemable. We are the most destructive species and the only species that displays deliberate cruelty and sadism for entertainment. Therefore we have to consider each individual person because there are those of us who try to be something better. Sometimes it's hard to keep going knowing the awful things people do to each other and the world. 

Writing Off the Edge: WEP August 2022 Challenge: Moonlight Sonata

Writing Off the Edge: WEP August 2022 Challenge: Moonlight Sonata: It's time once again for another Write...Edit...Publish challenge. This month's musical prompt is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. ...

Good work incorporating a real situation into the work of fiction. I don't have any school-age kids in my life, so I wasn't aware of the teacher shortage. The cost of living is so high and teacher salaries are, well, not.

The truth is, I wanted to be a professional musician, but as my father informed the psychologist when we went to family counseling, I was the "least musically talented" person in the family. He wanted me to stop pursuing music, and he got his wish. I never played an instrument again after that day, which was some 32 years ago.

Friday Book Hop 26 August 2022

 

Genre: 

Biography, nonfiction

Ornery Rating: 

5 out of 5 stars

Buy Link:

https://amzn.to/3ACnnrS

I will make a small commission from Amazon for any books bought through this link.

Ornery Owl's Mini Review:

Thank you, dear William, for this book. Star Trek meant a lot to me. I was a socially awkward kid who was often bullied. I felt a kinship with Mr. Spock. I wonder if he would think it was illogical for me to say that I thought he was cool. 

I learned so much about you and Leonard through this book. I laughed and smiled and remembered the things that both of you meant to me. At the end, I cried. 

As someone who has a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth and inadvertently making people angry with me, I could relate to the times when you inadvertently made Leonard angry. I could see your heart in this book. You are a wonderful person and I thank you for sharing your story. 

Beam me up, Scotty!

At the conclusion of the second Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan, the Enterprise is facing destruction.

Shatner, William; Fisher, David. Leonard (p. 5). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

https://www.rosecityreader.com/

https://readingismysuperpower.org/

Leonard campaigned for McGovern anywhere people would listen to him, from large rallies in arenas to talking to a few committed young people in a college dorm.

Shatner, William; Fisher, David. Leonard (p. 132). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

http://www.fredasvoice.com/

Book Blogger Hop Question:

26th - Sept. 1st - If you receive a request from an author to read his/her book and you don't have time, do you suggest another way to help the author? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

Here is what I suggest. Join the Marketing for Romance Writer's group at https://marketingforromancewriters.groups.io/g/main/ You do not have to be a romance author to join. There you can post requests for help at anytime and have a better chance of finding someone who can review or proofread your book. However, I make no guarantees. As you probably know, writers are perpetually drowning in their own tasks. 

I am generally willing to trade proofreading or review tasks although I don't always have time to do so. If I have the time, I will post book promos, cover reveals and such without expectation of in-kind recompensation. Check out Readers Roost at https://bit.ly/ReadersRoost and feel free to leave a comment there. 

https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/p/blog-page.html

uniquely maladjusted but fun: Chuck A Kiss #WEPFF #WEP Moonlight Sonata

uniquely maladjusted but fun: Chuck A Kiss #WEPFF #WEP Moonlight Sonata: writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/08/wep-august-2022-challenge-moonlight.html Chuck A Kiss By Jamie of Uniquely Maladjusted but ...

"You don't want a chance. All you want is some experience."

I found out the hard way that was what the guy I spent my senior year madly enamored with wanted from me. I thought I'd gotten lucky, and he was seeing the light. He was just seeing an easy mark. 

I would have thought that twenty-two years into the twenty-first century, boys might have learned to see girls as human beings. If anything, I think things have gotten worse with kids watching porn from a young age and hookup culture.

The Warrior Muse: WEP - Moonlight Sonata - The Special Place

The Warrior Muse: WEP - Moonlight Sonata - The Special Place: The Special Place Tagline: Sometimes you need to get away for a bit to find some peace Carol Anne crept through the reeds, her shoes squelch...

I must say, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Abusers like this are all the same. They didn't mean it. They were tired, stressed, it just happened, you made them do it. 

My aunt (RIP) was married to a horribly abusive man for 25 years. My mother has speculated that chronic head injuries may have been responsible for the dementia she developed later in life.

Blog of Author J Lenni Dorner: #WEP #NativeAmerican #ShortStory and #BoutOfBooks ...

Blog of Author J Lenni Dorner: #WEP #NativeAmerican #ShortStory and #BoutOfBooks ...: writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com The following is 😉fictionalized. This is about a teen reuniting with his biological parents, and disc...

This is a beautifully written story that makes the reader think about the injustices that continue to be faced by American Indians. 

I never worried that my child would be taken from me at birth. I was 25 years old and married. I had a friend in high school who was pushed into giving her baby up for adoption. She fell into a deep depression after that and disappeared. Nearly 40 years later, I still think about her often and wonder what happened to her.