consume book
Dog solDiers Robert Stone One of the best novels to tackle the counterculture movement of the 1960s and ‘70s in the States, Dog Soldiers is a blistering piece of writing. Part thriller, part treatise on the end of hippy idealism, it focuses on Converse, a failed war reporter in Vietnam who gets his friend Hicks to smuggle a large quantity of heroin back to California. Hicks – on arriving in the States – takes off with the drugs and Converse’s wife Marge, with a dishevelled Converse in pursuit. This is far more than a boilerplate thriller, however; it’s a treatise on the loss of innocence, the death of an American dream, and the moral decay that seems to be eating away at society. Stone’s characters are almost perfectly formed; his ability to set a scene unparalleled, and the dialogue whip sharp. If you want to understand why the 1960s failed, this book is a good place to start.
film
The family
Robert De Niro teams up with Luc Besson for the latest in a seemingly never-ending line of mafia comedies. De Niro and his family are relocated to France in the witness protection programme, which results in all manner of cultural hilarity – particularly since his teenage children seem to be as adept at the dark arts of corruption and violence as their father. In truth most of the gags fall flat, the cartoonish antics quickly growing old – which is a shame given the quality of the cast (De Niro is joined by Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones) and the premise itself. De Niro winces and grimaces his way through the film, and you get the feeling the pay cheque, rather than the script, brought him to this role.
album
The Diving BoarD Elton John You may know Elton John from the pages of celebrity magazines, and witness him grinning and clapping at a variety of sporting events. What you may not know is that he is also a musician (and a quite good one at that), and so here he is with his 30th solo album, The Diving Board. In truth the world’s most famous Watford supporter has not released a decent record in years – and any genius he once possessed has long been submerged beneath his riches, his ego and his social diary. Fans of the man will still buy this, and with T-Bone Burnett producing, and a promised back-to-basics approach, who knows – this might be worth a listen.
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Open skies / september 2013